Harvick OnLine: Post-Race Report: Infineon

Great Fuel-Mileage Strategy Gives Harvick Second at Sonoma

Race/Date: Toyota/Save Mart 300/June 24, 2007
Location: Infineon Raceway – Sonoma, Calif.
Start Position: 22nd
Finish Position: Second
Points Position: Eighth

There are two keys to a strong finish at a road course race – having a good handling car and sound pit strategy.

Kevin Harvick and the Shell-Pennzoil team put both into play at Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 300 and crossed the finish line second behind rookie Juan Pablo Montoya.

The finish marked the seventh top-10 finish for the No. 29 entry. The Bakersfield, Calif., native remains eighth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point standings, just 120 markers out of the top-five.

The No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS was the 23rd of 52 cars to roll off in Friday’s qualifying session on the 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course in the scenic Sonoma County wine country. Harvick ran a lap of 1:18:459 seconds (91.309 mph) to line up 22nd on Sunday’s starting grid.

Sunday morning’s meeting of the minds between Richard Childress Racing’s (RCR) crew chiefs and team engineers was time well spent as they devised a pit strategy that ultimately landed all cars in the top five. The plan called for a two-stop race, with the final stop falling just inside each team’s respective fuel windows to make it to the end.

At the drop of the green flag, Harvick gained a spot in the bottlenecked traffic that tends to develop at the start of road race events. The 2007 Daytona 500 winner settled into the 15th position as the 43-car field was shown the second caution flag of the day on lap 13.

Harvick raced in the top 15 for the next several laps and worked his way as high as eighth prior to pitting under green flag conditions on lap 34.

Fuel mileage was the talk of the town with Harvick’s crew chief Todd Berrier calculating the No. 29 Chevy could make it on two stops if they pitted late enough in the first run. After pitting for fresh tires and fuel, the 31-year-old driver returned to action 38th in the running order but wouldn’t stay there long as several other teams began to make their pit stops over the next several laps.

The fourth caution flag of the afternoon was displayed on lap 42 but Berrier ordered Harvick to stay on the racetrack to keep the No. 29 team within it predetermined fuel window. Back under green in the 13th position, Harvick informed his team that the No. 29 Chevy was suffering from both loose and tight conditions and would need major adjustments to fix the ailing race car on the final pit stop.

On lap 66 the sixth and final caution flag flew over the race track. Berrier made a split-second decision to bring the No. 29 machine down pit road for its final stop of the day. A lightening-fast pit stop by the crew allowed Harvick to pick up several spots on the other teams that had pitted at the same time.

Harvick restarted the race in the 11th position on lap 69. As the teams that elected to stay out during the caution began to pit around lap 72, Harvick began moving up the scoring pylon. He was eighth on lap 73, moved into third on lap 75 and was second on lap 80.

With only 20 laps remaining in the 110-lap event, Berrier informed his driver he needed to make up one lap of fuel to make it to the end of the race. Harvick allowed Montoya to pass him for the second position and was hoping he would not make it the distance.

Unfortunately, Montoya would not run out of fuel and Harvick crossed the start finish line second.

Harvick was followed by fellow RCR drivers Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle.

Next up for Harvick and company is the LENOX Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway where the No. 31 Chevrolet Impala SS will be adorned with the race sponsor’s paint scheme. Live coverage of the event will be televised on TNT on Sunday, June 31, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will also be covered live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 17th of 36 NASCAR Cup Series races will be televised live on SPEED on Friday, June 29th beginning at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

KEVIN HARVICK - NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS –
“It was a good for everybody on the Shell-Pennzoil team. We had the right pit strategy, however; Todd was a little nervous at the end because the race went green and we were banging on at least one caution there to make it to the end. So he came on the radio and said I had 20 laps to make up one. I decided to back off and let the 42 to and just put it in second and third gear and just tried to stay in the front of Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. All in All, it was a good day and everybody played the strategy right and we wound up with a top-five finish.”