Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
· Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, enters this weekend’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway as the leader in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. It marks the third time this year that the Bakersfield, Calif., native has held the top spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) driver point standings.
· The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team will race chassis No. 378 from the Richard Childress Racing NSCS stable. Harvick utilized this car at Chicagoland Speedway to earn a second-place finish last month.
· With 11 starts at Kansas Speedway under his belt, Harvick has scored one top five and four top-10 finishes. His average starting position is 23.0 and he holds a 14.3 average finish at the 1.5-mile speedway. Harvick has led a total of 83 laps at Kansas Speedway and he’s completed 96.2 percent (2,770 of 2,880) of the laps run in NSCS competition there.
· Last fall, Harvick started 24th and finished third at Kansas Speedway. In June the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team started 10th and finished 11th at the speedway.
· Harvick holds several Loop Data statistics at Kansas Speedway heading into Sunday’s race, including: third in green-flag passes (492); eighth in average running position (13.879); eighth in drivers fastest late in a run; eighth in fastest laps run (64); eighth in laps run in the top 15 (1,073); eighth in speed in traffic; ninth in driver rating (89.4); and 10th in drivers fastest early in a run.
· Three races into the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Harvick and Carl Edwards each have earned 2,122 points, but as a result of NASCAR’s tiebreaker, Harvick holds the top spot in the driver point standings. He has one top-five and two top-10 finishes in the first three races and his average finishing position is 8.0. All told this season, Harvick has earned a total of four wins, eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes.
· In addition to his duties in the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet this weekend, Harvick will race the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet entry in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition at Kansas Speedway.
Kevin Harvick on Kansas Speedway and the Chase:
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Kansas Speedway?
“I think when you look at the facility itself, when you look at the surrounding area, there are not too many places that we go to that have built around the race track like this particular track. From a fan standpoint, when you look at the race track, there are things to do and place to go, so that part of it is good. The race track itself is a lot like a lot of the other race tracks we go to as far as the race track shape and size, so that doesn’t really set it aside from a lot of other places. The one thing that does set it aside is the way that the race track has aged, which is a good thing. You look at Charlotte, those types of race tracks, the asphalt has not changed much over the years and this particular race track, the tires wear out, it gets slick and the cars start to slide around, which makes the racing groove move up, which it has done here over the past couple of years so that part of it has changed a little bit differently than a lot of the mile-and-a-half tracks.”
With a number of changes at the top of the standings during the first 26 races, why does it seem more competitive this year than maybe in the past?
“I think the competition level is so even. I don’t think you’re going to see anybody come in here and dominate like you have before, as far as just taking off and running away. You’re going to be consistent and solid and it’s just a matter of keeping yourself in it until you get to the last couple of races and if you can keep yourself in contention, hopefully you’ve eliminated most of the other guys in the Chase.”
The new points system this year, do you think that plays a factor in how you look at the competition, seeing, wow, they are only two back or five back or the top five or 10 back or something like?
“It’s definitely easier to add up. I think the points system definitely has changed the complexion of having a bad day. I think when you have a bad day it hurts you worse than it had in the past. Maybe it just seems that way, but it also seems like if you can win some races, you can make up ground fairly quick and get up front and get the bonus points and the things you need to do…You just have to take it one week at a time and I would much rather be sitting on top of the points three weeks in than sitting 12th. So we’ll just keep at it.”
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