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This past weekend in
California had to have been one of the longest race weekends so far in my
racing career. Being at the track without DeLana and LO, not to mention all
the rain delays really made the time go by very slow. I know we have no
control over Mother Nature, but man it usually never rains in Southern
California.
My adventure started last Thursday morning, stopping in Norco, Louisiana to
visit one of Shell’s largest refineries. It was a pretty cool experience.
The Shell employees at the refinery are really into NASCAR. I want to thank
them again for all their support and hospitality during my visit.
Once the appearance was over, it was off to California where I made a pit
stop in my hometown of Bakersfield to have dinner with some of my family.
After visiting for awhile, I jumped back on the plane and headed to Fontana,
California.
As most of you know, Mother Nature played havoc throughout the entire
weekend. With qualifying sessions in all three series getting rained out,
NASCAR lined the races up according to the 2007 Owner’s Point standings.
This gave me the opportunity to line up in the sixth position in the
Nationwide Race on Saturday and the 10th position in the Cup race on Sunday.
Saturday was a very long day, as the Truck and Nationwide Series were going
to race on the same day, not to mention happy hour in my Shell-Pennzoil
Chevrolet. Having the opportunity to watch Ron Hornaday lead the field to
the green flag in the truck race made me think back to last year’s truck
championship, which is still one of the greatest moments of my life. After
the race and happy hour concluded, the rain once again hovered over the
two-mile Auto Club Speedway of Southern California. The rain continued to
fall for the next few hours causing NASCAR to postpone the Nationwide race
until Sunday evening after the Cup race, meaning I would have to run 800
miles in one day.
When I woke up on Sunday morning, the first thing I did was go to the window
and look at the weather. After a short delay for rain, the 500-mile race got
underway. I felt like we had a race car that was good enough to finish up
front in the 43-car field. It only took 87 laps, before the rain returned.
Despite NASCAR’s attempts to dry the track, it was eventually postponed to
Monday morning.
When I rolled out of bed on Monday morning, I knew it was going to be a very
big day. Not only was I going to be racing 624 miles in two different races
around the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California, but the track changed
dramatically as well. Restarting the Cup race in the 16th position, I
quickly began to work my way to the front of the field. Throughout the race
my pit crew continued to make adjustment after adjustment trying to tighten
up the car since it would get loose on long green flag runs. Late in the race
the adjustments proved to be pivotal as I began my climb into the top-10.
All in all it was a pretty good day in the
Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet. We finished the day in the eighth position and made
up some ground in the point standings.
When the Nationwide race took the green flag, one hour after the Cup race
ended, I began to feel out the handling of the car over the first few laps.
With different track conditions and a different race car than the Cup Series,
I knew it was going to take some work to get the car to my liking. The longer
the race went on, the stronger the No. 33 RoadLoans.com Chevrolet got. I
think if we had a green, white, checkered flag at the end of the race we
might have had a shot a Tony Stewart, but it was still a great day coming
home in the third position.
Besides all the rain and postponements, it was a good points weekend for both
my No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil and No. 33 RoadLoans.com Chevrolets.
Hopefully we can continue this momentum heading into Las Vegas Motor Speedway
this weekend.
Thanks again and I look forward to talking with everyone soon.
Kevin Harvick
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Kevin and DeLana's Diaries