Kevin Harvick and the No. 33 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet team finished third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway Friday night after overcoming a persistent loose-handling condition. The Bakersfield, Calif., native started the 200-lap affair from the second position and ran within the top five before informing crew chief Ernie Cope that the Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet had developed a loose-handling condition. The crew worked to alleviate the handling issue through scheduled pit stops during the early portion of the race, allowing their driver to maintain a position near the front of the field. Harvick continued to run in the top five until lap 128 when he came onto pit road for a scheduled green-flap pit stop for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Before all green-flag pit stops could cycle through the field, the caution flag was displayed and the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, running in the 10th-position at the time, fell one lap down to the leader. Harvick was the awarded the “Lucky Dog” award, placing him back on the lead lap in the sixth position for the lap-149 restart. As the race came to a close, Harvick continued to work his way toward the front of the field, ultimately crossing the finish line in the third position.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
“Man, we just got beat by our own car today. It always feels like a bad day when you don’t win. It was great to see Austin (Dillon) get his first Nationwide Series win tonight, but it would have been even better to drive the Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet into Victory Lane and bring home a win for Ernie (Cope, crew chief) and the entire No. 33 RCR team, who worked so hard on this car.”