Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
· No. 29 Budweiser Armed Forces Chevrolet that Harvick will race in Sunday’s 600-mile event features a “stealth” flat-black paint scheme, complete with flat sponsor and contingency decals.
· The No. 29 Budweiser Armed Forces team will race chassis No. 353 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This is a brand new No. 29 chassis that will make its on-track debut this weekend.
· In 20 starts in the Coca-Cola 600, Harvick has earned one top five and four top-10 finishes. Combined, he’s led three laps, has an average starting position of 19.4 and an average finishing position of 20.1. Harvick has also completed 96.7 percent (6,817 of 7,048) of the laps run at Charlotte in the past 10 years.
· Harvick and RCR’s No. 29 team started 23rd and finished 11th in last year’s Coca-Cola 600.In addition to competing in the No. 29 Budweiser Armed Forces Chevrolet this weekend, Harvick will drive the No. 33 Rheem Tankless Water Heaters Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc. in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kevin Harvick discusses Charlotte Motor Speedway:
Talk about the Coca-Cola 500 – how much you have to adjust the race car throughout the race from afternoon to night, how much you have to work on your race car and how easy it can be to go the wrong way on adjustments:
“You can definitely do it either way. You can make it better or you can dial yourself way out. I’ve been a part of that race several times where you start the race really good and by the times its dark you are in big trouble. So you definitely have to have some past history as far as what the race track does and that’s one reason why the All-Star race was so important. Just for the fact that everything you do in that race is at night and the 600 is going to end at night so you kind of have to take what happens at the All-Star race and then what you do in the day time practices and mix those two together and rely on a lot of past notes and things to try to have a set up that’s adjustable. And you have to make a lot of adjustments during the race just out of past theories and past experiences. If your car is not doing something and its getting dark rapidly you are going to have to make a change on the fly without your car doing something. You are just going to have to trust it’s the right change and just make it if the time is right as far as the sun going down and when the darkness is coming.”
How big of a deal is that extra 66 laps in the 600?
“I think as a driver you are mentally prepared and kind of just know how long a 500-mile or 400-mile race is, but I think the people who worry about it the most are the engine guys just because everything they do is set off of 500 miles, so they probably worry about it a lot more than we do.”
This is the longest race of the year, mileage-wise. Does it feel that way?
“You go into this race knowing it’s an extra 100 miles, so it always just seems like it’s longer. You start in broad daylight and end up with it being pitch black outside, so it just seems like you’re in there all day. The race definitely feels longer to me.”
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