Harvick OnLine: Event Preview: Phoenix

Kevin Harvick/No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS Event Preview

Event/Date: Checker Auto parts 500 presented by Pennzoil/
November 11, 2007

Venue: Phoenix International Raceway – Avondale, Ariz.

NOTES:

This Week’s Race Car at Phoenix International Raceway: Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 223 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. This is the same Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS Harvick drove to a 10th-place finish three weeks ago at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Phoenix Facts: In nine NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR), Harvick has two wins and three top-five and four top-10 finishes. Additionally, the 31-year-old driver has a 13.7 starting average and a 14.0 finishing average. He has completed all but 16 laps in those nine races and has earned just over $1 million in winnings.

Driver Rating: Harvick is ranked first in NASCAR’s Driver Rating category (113.8) at PIR. The Driver Rating is a formula that combines the following categories: wins, finishes, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum points a driver can earn in each race is 150. The Driver Rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.

Now that is Performance: “Happy” Harvick is also ranked first in NASCAR’s Average Running Position category (5.8) at PIR. Additionally, he has the most laps in the top 15 (1,452) at the desert track.

The Hat Trick: After Harvick won the NASCAR Cup Series event in 2006, he became the first and only driver to win in all three of NASCAR’s top series at PIR. He won the spring Busch Series race at Phoenix and carried over the momentum into the NASCAR Cup Series event to complete the weekend sweep. Additionally, Harvick won NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at PIR in 2002 and 2003.

RCR Drivers Lead the Way at Phoenix: Jeff Burton, who’s currently seventh in the point standings, and Harvick lead all Chase participants with two wins each at PIR.

Points Check: Harvick fell one spot to, eighth, in NASCAR’s Cup Series championship point standings after his 10th-place finish last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The 2007 Daytona 500 winner is 439 markers out of the lead and just 82 markers out of fifth.

Did you Know: Harvick leads all NASCAR Cup Series drivers in laps completed in 2007, 99,9 %, 9,903 of a possible 10,003.

RCR at PIR: In 45 races at Phoenix, RCR has earned three wins including Harvick’s sweep of both races at PIR last season. Prior to that, Dale Earnhardt won the Checker 500 on November 4, 1990. Additionally, RCR boasts 10 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes at the one-mile desert-oval.

Chevy’s 50th Promotion: To help celebrate the 50th running of the Daytona 500, Chevrolet will be providing 50 race fans from 50 different states a once-in-a-lifetime weekend experience at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17, 2008, while 10 of those individuals will win a brand new Chevy Impala. Beginning on Oct. 16 and through Dec. 3, fans can visit www.chevy.com/Daytona500 to enter.

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