Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS Event Preview - Texas
Kevin Harvick
No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Dickies 500 – November 8, 2009
Venue: Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas
Notes:
This Week’s Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway … Kevin Harvick will pilot chassis No. 285 from the Richard Childress Racing Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevrolet Impala SS was previously raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June where it finished 34th, Richmond in September where it finished ninth and Martinsville Speedway last month where it finished 10th.
Stat Facts … In 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick has earned two top-five and five top-10 finishes. The Bakersfield, Calif. native has a starting average of 19.9 and a very respectable finishing average of 13.9 while completing 4,340 of 4,352 (99.7%) laps contested. His best start at TMS was fourth in November 2007 with a best finish of third in November 2006. When the NSCS last came to Texas, Harvick started 17th and finished 27th.
Kevin’s Krew at Texas … Once again, Harvick and Shell-Pennzoil will host a group of at-risk children from area schools to attend Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race. The children are treated to a day at the track which includes lunch, a free Shell T-shirt and hat, which is all capped off with a personal visit by Harvick just before driver introductions. This program is in it’s second season and the coordinator, California Police Officer Todd Smith, says it has grown from five students the first event, to the 75 that attended their recent race at Auto Club Speedway.
Two Steppin’ Texas Style … In addition to his Sprint Cup Series driving duties, Harvick will put on his owner/driver hat and race in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event. His prowess there is backed by the four winner’s trophies he’s taken home from the 1.5-mile oval.
Detour to Vegas and Houston … Before arriving in Texas, Harvick will join team owner Richard Childress and fellow RCR driver Casey Mears, and others, for a ride-a-long at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for media and Shell-Pennzoil dignitaries on Wednesday, Nov. 4. After staying the night in Vegas, Childress and Harvick will fly to Houston, Tex., the home of Shell-Pennzoil, for a Team Childress vs. Team Harvick softball game at Minute Maid Park that morning. Afterwards, they will visit the Shell-Pennzoil headquarters located nearby. Then, they will make their way to Ft. Worth later that evening to ready for the weekend’s race.
RC on PARADE … Childress was ranked fourth in the “Celebrities Who Give Big” article in the November 1, 2009 issue of Parade Magazine. Childress and his family donated $5 million in July 2008 to start the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. Other celebrities included the late Paul Newman, Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie, Mel Gibson, Oprah Winfrey, Oscar De La Hoya, Barbra Streisand and Leonardo DiCaprio.
RCR at TMS … In 47 starts at TMS dating back to 1997, RCR has recorded one win, five top-five and 17 top-10 finishes with drivers Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Harvick and Jeff Green. Prior to TMS’s inaugural season, Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, earned a pair of top 10s while he was still behind the wheel at the now defunct Texas World Speedway in College Station.
The Collective RCR … In 33 races this season, RCR’s four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entries have notched 10 top-five and 32 top-10 finishes. The No. 29 team kicked off the 2009 season with a win in the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. RCR-prepared cars have also completed 37,457 laps with four different drivers including Jeff Burton, Bowyer, Harvick and Mears. RCR teams have led 244 laps and all four teams have earned just shy of $19 million combined purse money in 2009.
Tune in for the Win … ABC’s live television coverage of the Dickies 500 from Texas Motor Speedway will begin Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The event will also be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 34th points-paying race on the 36-race tour is scheduled to take the green flag on Friday, Nov. 6 at 4:30 p.m. EST and will be telecast live on SPEED. PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will carry live qualifying updates
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:
Is this race important to show just how much progress has been made with how the RCR cars are running now, compared to earlier this year?
“I think our cars are definitely running better. We finished seventh in this race last year, then came back here in April and ran 27th. That was definitely one of the bigger struggles we had this year with how things were going for our team.”
Were you surprised at how much of a difference there was between the race here last November, and earlier this year when you returned to Texas?
“No, because we were behind the minute we got to California. We just really struggled right from the beginning of the 2009 season. That’s just part of how things went this year.”
How would you describe all the work that has gone into it getting better by the drivers, crew chiefs and everyone involved with the cars at RCR?
“They’ve done a good job of making the cars more competitive. We’re still not as fast as we need to be, but we’re definitely more competitive than we were in the beginning of the year.”
You reach some pretty high speeds at Texas and there is a bump in Turn 1. Does that make this place more unique than the other 1.5-mile tracks?
“With these cars, I think the unique characteristic of the race track now is that the tires seem to fall off so much once the race starts. That’s the really thing that sticks out in your mind because it’s so hard to pass at Texas. “