Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team were credited with a 22nd-place finish in Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout after getting caught up in a wreck at lap 54.
• Harvick took the green flag in the 22nd position and quickly mounted a charge to the front, taking the lead for the first time on lap 6 with drafting help from Joey Logano’s No. 20 car.
• Harvick was scored in the third position when the competition caution waved at lap 25 for a 10-minute break. Once the field went back to green he dropped all the way back to the 14th position as he lost the draft.
• When the caution flag waved again at lap 31, Harvick reported a vibration and told crew chief Shane Wilson that the team needed to pit for fresh tires. Following the four-tire stop, Wilson had Harvick bring the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet back down pit road to top off the fuel before the field went back to green.
• Harvick took the lead for the third and final time at lap 46. Nine laps later the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was collected in a six-car wreck that started when the No. 9 car made contact with the No. 20 in turn 2.
• Flames erupted from the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet as Harvick attempted to get the car re-fired and back to the garage. The flames subsided, but the No. 29 machine had no brakes as Harvick hit pit road. He coasted into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team helped bring the car to a stop, concluding their night.
• Kyle Busch went to Victory Lane in the Budweiser Shootout after taking the checkered flag by a 0.013-second margin over Tony Stewart. Marcos Ambrose, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five finishing positions.
• 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.
Harvick on the wreck that took him out of the Budweiser Shootout: “It looked to me like the No. 9 got into the left-rear of the No. 20. It just takes a little bit of patience and a little bit of thinking on the parts of everybody on the race track. All the wrecks tonight were caused by people hitting in the left-rear. I just hate it for everybody on our Budweiser team. The car was fast and in position to do the things we needed to do. Man, you just can’t hit guys in the left-rear.”
Is that one of the big lessons? What other things did you bring out of tonight’s race? “I think the biggest problem is the tandem racing has been so easy for these guys to stay attached that some of them haven’t raced in pack racing. You get those big runs and things are going to happen a lot faster than they used to. They are just going to have to be a little more patient.”
The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the Budweiser Shootout:
• Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished fourth.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet team finished 20th.
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the Budweiser Shootout:
• Jeff Burton and the No. 31 CAT Chevrolet team finished 11th.
• Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Menards/Peak Chevrolet, finished 23rd.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will run the twin 150-mile Gatorade Duel races on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway to determine the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 26. SPEED will provide live television coverage of the races starting at 2 p.m. EST.