No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet
Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team will close out the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) season in Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So far this year, Harvick has earned an impressive four wins, nine top-fives and 18 top-10 finishes. His average starting position is 18.8 and he holds an 11.6 average finish. Harvick currently sits third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings and is 51 markers back from first place.
• Prior to traveling to Homestead-Miami Speedway, Harvick will fly to Bristol, Conn., to participate in the ESPN Carwash. While there he’s scheduled to appear on a number of shows, including Mike and Mike in the Morning, SportsCenter and NASCAR Now.
• Harvick will be available to members of the media in the Homestead-Miami Speedway infield media center at 10 a.m. on Friday.
• The No. 29 team will race chassis No. 373 from the Richard Childress Racing NSCS stable. The No. 29 team has raced this car twice this season. Harvick finished 22nd in the car at Michigan International Speedway in August and scored a sixth-place finish in it at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October.
• In 10 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Harvick has scored five top-fives and eight top-10 finishes. His average starting position at the 1.5-mile track is 13.2 and he holds a 7.9 average finish. Harvick’s best result at Homestead is second place, a finish he’s recorded twice (2003 and 2008). He’s led 116 laps at the track and completed 100 percent (2,674 of 2,674) of the laps run at Homestead in NSCS competition since 2001.
• Last November, Harvick started 28th and raced his way to a third-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He’s scored top-five finishes in the last three races at the track and has only finished outside the top 10 twice.
• Harvick holds several impressive Loop Data statistics at Homestead, including: second in closers; second in drivers fastest early in a run; second in laps run in the top 15 (1,264); third in average running position (9.8); third in fastest on restarts; fourth in driver rating (102.8); fifth in green-flag speed; sixth in quality passes (243); sixth in speed in traffic; seventh in drivers fastest late in a run; eighth in laps led (58); and ninth in fastest laps run (62).
• Harvick will close out the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) season aboard the No. 2 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc. in Friday night’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The No. 2 Chevrolet team locked up the 2011 NCWTS owners championship with Harvick’s fourth Truck Series win of the season in the last race at Texas Motor Speedway and he is looking for win number five this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. SPEED will provide the live television coverage of Friday’s race starting at 8 p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast.
• For the second year, the Kevin Harvick Foundation is partnering with local radio station 93.1 The Wolf to host a holiday concert at Johnny and June’s Ultra Saloon in Winston Salem, N.C., on Friday, December 16. The Kevin Harvick Foundation Christmas Concert presented by Budweiser will feature RCA recording artist Jake Owen, as well as Eli Young Band, which holds the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles Chart with their latest single “Crazy Girl.” Rising star Bridgette Tatum rounds out the show. The concert will benefit the Kevin Harvick Foundation and help raise funds to support the Christmas for Kids program, a private holiday party held at Proehlific Park in Greensboro, N.C., for children in foster care in Guilford and Forsyth Counties. Visit www.kevinharvickfoundation.org for more details and information on how to purchase tickets.
• For the online version of the Budweiser Racing media guide, please visit http://www.budracingmedia.com.
• Follow along each weekend with Harvick and the team on Twitter. Check out @KevinHarvick for behind-the-scenes information straight from the driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Get live updates from the track each weekend from @Black29Car, the PR team for Harvick. Also, follow @RCRracing and @RCR29KHarvick for additional information about the Richard Childress Racing organization.
Kevin Harvick on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
Why is Homestead-Miami Speedway one of your favorite tracks? “Homestead is one of those race tracks that you don’t know when it is going to stop aging. It seems like every time we return to the track it loses a little grip, which is a good thing. Since they repaved the track a few years back it has become one of my favorites. You can move all around trying to find a groove that works for you. There are a lot of different places where you can make your car work. For me it has been a lot of fun to race on.”
How does Homestead fit your driving style? “It’s just unique. You can charge turn one a little bit more than you can at most places, because as you get through the corner, the banking seems to get steeper all the way through, and you have options. You can run the top, you can run the bottom, you can run the middle, or you can split the middle-top or middle-bottom and make your car turn. It’s just a unique race track, and it seems to fit the guys that like to move around and make their cars work in different spots.”