Harvick OnLine: Post-Race Report: Goody's Cool Orange 500

Bad Luck Strikes Harvick at Martinsville

Race/Date: Goody’s Cool Orange 500/April 1, 2007
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
Start Position: Sixth
Finish Position: 41st
Points Position: 10th

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil team would have had no luck at all during the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

The multitude of misfortunate resulted in a 41st-place finish and 55 laps off the pace. The finish dropped Harvick five spots in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series standings to 10th, 279 points behind current leader Jeff Gordon.

The weekend wasn’t all bad for the Shell-Pennzoil team. On Friday, Harvick posted the third-fastest speed during the team’s first practice session. During Friday’s qualifying session, he lapped the .526-mile paper-clipped race track in 20.028 seconds (94.548 mph), lining up the Shell-Pennzoil Chevy in the sixth spot on the starting grid.

On Saturday, the Shell-Pennzoil team continued to top the charts with the fifth-fastest time in both practices and felt they had the car to beat for Sunday’s race.

The green flag waved just past 2 p.m. and Harvick made quick work of the cars in front of him and was sitting in third when the day’s second caution flag flew on lap 37. Four fresh tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment were in order for Harvick as the crew sent him back on the track in the fourth position.

The 11-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series winner continued to battle in and around the top five until he lost fuel pressure on lap 290. “Happy” Harvick drove the No. 29 behind the wall and the Shell-Pennzoil team went to work to fix the problem. Harvick returned to the track 42 laps down in the 41st position.

After a 33-minute rain delay, Harvick’s bad luck continued. On lap 425, the bight yellow-and-red machine started filling with smoke. Harvick was forced to pull out of traffic and exit the smoke-filled cockpit. After the fire was put out, Harvick jumped backing into his Impala SS and drove it behind the wall.

The No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil team realized the fire was started by protective foam, which is a new safety feature on the Car of Tomorrow, meant to absorb side impacts. The No. 29 crew began pulling out the melting pieces of padding and Harvick returned to the track 55 laps down.

The No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet filled with smoke once more, on the final lap, before Harvick finished the race and quickly exited his smoke-filled machine.

Jimmie Johnson won his third race of this season followed by Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammates, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer, finished sixth and 11th, respectively.

After enjoying a weekend off, Harvick and the Shell-Pennzoil team will head to Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the Samsung 500. Live coverage of the event will be televised on FOX Sunday, April 15, beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will also be covered live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the seventh of 36 NASCAR Cup Series races will be televised live on SPEED Friday, April 13 beginning at 8 p.m. EDT.

KEVIN HARVICK - NO. 29 SHELL CHEVROLET IMPALA SS –

“Once again, we had a top-five car and something went wrong and we finished 41st. So far this season we should have finished in the top 10 in every race but one and that was Las Vegas. I can’t say enough about my guys. They keep giving me a great car and hopefully soon we will break out of this slump.”