Kevin Harvick
No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet
Event/Date:
STP 400
April 22, 2012
Venue:
Kansas Speeedway
Race Notes and Quotes:
This Week’s Rheem Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway ... The No. 29 Rheem team will unload Chassis No. 378 prepared from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This chassis was used during the 2011 season when Kevin Harvick earned a second-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway in September and a sixth-place finish at Kansas Speedway in October.
Greetings Mr. President … On Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, Harvick and the rest of the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field will travel to Washington, D.C., where President Barack Obama will honor 2011 NSCS champion Tony Stewart. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 4:50 p.m. ET and will be live-streamed at www.whitehouse.gov/live.
Holding Strong … The STP 400 at Kansas Speedway marks the eighth event of the 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. With seven races in the books, Harvick sits in the fifth position in the overall driver championship point standings, only 24 points out of the lead.
Statistically Speaking … Since 2001, Harvick has made 12 Sprint Cup Series starts at the Kansas City, Kan.-based facility and has collected one top-five and five top-10 finishes. He has completed 3,042 laps of the 3,152 run at the intermediate-style track (96.5 percent), with 83 laps led. The 36-year-old driver has an average starting position of 22.2 and an average finishing position of 13.6.
Looking Back … Last June, Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team finished 11th at Kansas Speedway. The veteran driver battled handling issues during the majority of the race, but managed to remain within the top-10. In the end, the team’s fuel mileage strategy played against them. Harvick and his crew found better results during the October race at the Midwest facility, finishing sixth.
Seeking Victory in the Midwest … A Sprint Cup Series victory at Kansas Speedway still eludes Harvick, but the Bakersfield, Calif., native has been victorious in Nationwide Series competition at the track, collecting his sole win at the 1.5-mile facility in 2006.
Loop Data … Harvick has competed in eight Sprint Cup Series races at Kansas Speedway since the inception of NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics in 2006, and fairs well in several categories at the track, including: second in Green-Flag Passes (599 – tied with Earnhardt Jr.), ninth in Quality Passes (270) and ninth in Average Running Position (13.545).
In the Rearview Mirror … Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team started from the 15th position in the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway last Saturday night. The team battled pit-stop and handling issues during the event, but brought home a ninth-place finish.
Gotta Have a Rheem … This weekend in Kansas, Rheem will join the No. 29 Chevrolet team for the second of 10 races. Rheem is privately held with headquarters in Atlanta and U.S. operations in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Indiana, Minnesota and North Carolina. In its 86th year of operation, the company manufactures a full-line of eco-friendly, technologically advanced residential and commercial heating and cooling systems; tank, tankless, solar and hybrid heat pump water heaters; whole-home standby generators, controls, swimming pool and spa heaters; indoor air-purification products; and commercial boilers throughout North America and world markets. The company’s premium brands, including Rheem, Raypak, Ruud and Richmond have been recognized with countless industry and consumer awards for reliability, innovative design and high quality. Rheem is the official heating, cooling and water heating supplier to Richard Childress Racing.
Media Availability … Harvick will be available to members of the media at 11:50 a.m. CT on Friday, April 20 behind the No. 29 hauler in the Sprint Cup Series garage.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:
You have done really well at Kansas Speedway. What do you need to do in order to get a win there?
“A lot of the same things that we have done should work on our Rheem Chevrolet this weekend in Kansas. It’s a fun race track because it is so wore out and the cars slide around. We just have to put a whole day together. We have to get a little bit of a momentum rolling with all the things that we are supposed to be doing right and not make the little mistakes. Whether it is in the seat, in the garage or wherever it may be. The speed has been there. We just have to put it all together and it’s just a matter of time.”
They’re repaving Kansas Speedway after this race, but what do you think of the track’s surface as it is now?
“It has been a fairly good race track for us performance-wise. The track has aged to the point to where the tires fall off. You can move up the race track, run in the middle and the bottom of the track. You still have to carry a lot of speed at the beginning, but there’s a lot less throttle time than some of the other tracks we go to. As far as them repaving the track, in my opinion, any time you repave a race track you’re in trouble because it’s going to take a long time for the surface to get to the point where you can race all over it.”