Harvick, Shell-Pennzoil Chevy Rally for Top 10 at Richmond
Despite
grappling with an ill-handling Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS
throughout Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400, Kevin Harvick hung in
for an eighth-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ first
stop of the season at Richmond International Raceway.
At the same time, Harvick was able to move up one position, to
fifth, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings and sits just
22 points out of fourth and 145 behind leader Kyle Busch.
In qualifying Friday evening, Harvick wheeled the No. 29
Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet around the .75-mile oval to its best lap of
21.559 seconds (125.238 mph), which was good enough to line up 11th
for the 400-lap event.
Shortly after the green flag waved, Harvick notified crew chief Todd
Berrier that the Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was suffering from a
significantly loose-handling condition. The first of 11 caution
flags waved on lap 65 and Berrier summoned the 32-year-old driver to
pit road.
Berrier called for four fresh tires, including air pressure
adjustments to the left-side tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment to
help with the loose-handling condition. A quick pit stop by the No.
29 over-the-wall crew allowed Harvick to pick up two spots on pit
road and he restarted eighth on lap 70.
Over the next 59 laps, Harvick’s No. 29 machine continued to suffer
from a loose-handling condition. However, he was able to dig deep
and wheeled the bright yellow and red machine into the third spot
before the second caution flag flew on lap 129.
Harvick made the hard left-hand turn down pit road to the attention
of his crew. They bolted on four fresh Goodyear tires, including an
air pressure adjustment, and added fuel to the No. 29 machine.
Harvick restarted the event in the third spot on lap 133.
The adjustments that Berrier continued to make never really seemed
to help the handling on the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil machine. Harvick
fell as far as 12th before working his way back to the top 10 and
eventually crossing the finish line eighth.
Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer brought
home the second victory in his young career. Kyle Busch, Mark
Martin, Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.
Harvick’s other RCR teammate Jeff Burton finished 11th.
Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Darlington as
NASCAR’s top division takes on the newly repaved “Track Too Tough
Too Tame.”
Live coverage of the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway will
take the green flag Saturday, May 10 beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern
Daylight Time (EDT) and will be telecast live on FOX. The event will
also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius
Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 11th of 36 points-paying Sprint
Cup Series races will air live on SPEED, MRN and Sirius Satellite
Radio Friday, May 9 at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
KEVIN HARVICK - NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET IMPALA SS:
“We were just a little off all race. We need to go back to the
drawing board and figure some things out. Todd (Berrier, crew chief)
and the guys kept working on our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet to get it
better. There was a point there about mid-race when we were pretty
good and made some good moves to (get into) the top three, but then
the car just started going away again and we couldn’t seem to get it
back. It was a decent points night for us but we want to be running
up front and contending for wins. I know everyone at RCR will
continue to work hard on our program to get us where we need to be.”
Crown Royal 400 Links
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Harvick, Shell-Pennzoil Chevy Rally for Top 10 at Richmond
Despite
grappling with an ill-handling Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS
throughout Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400, Kevin Harvick hung in
for an eighth-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ first
stop of the season at Richmond International Raceway. 
