No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet
Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• A penalty for speeding on pit road ended Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team’s chances at a top-five finish in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and instead left them with a 17th-place result.
• Harvick started the race from 26th position, was running inside the top 20 by lap 10 and made it all the way up to the second position as teams made green-flag pit stops at lap 57.
• Once the field cycled through their stops, he was running 16th at lap 60. Harvick raced his way into the top 10 in less than 40 laps and told crew chief Gil Martin to not make any adjustments to the car when he brought the Budweiser Chevrolet down pit road on lap 98. When he got back on track he wasted no time picking off more positions and was running in the top five within less than 10 laps.
• Harvick was fourth when the caution flag waved on lap 149 and he brought the No. 29 Budweiser Chevy to pit road for four tires and fuel two laps later. As Harvick went back onto the track following the stop, the team was informed that the No. 29 car would be assessed a penalty for speeding on pit road.
• Harvick was forced to restart from the tail end of the field when the green flag waved at lap 156. Mired in the back, he radioed to the team the car was too tight in traffic as he ran in the 21st position at lap 165.
• The Budweiser pit crew helped Harvick gain some ground on pit road during the final two stops and he was running 14th with 20 laps to go. In the closing laps he fell back several positions and took the checkered flag in 17th.
• Carl Edwards scored the win in Sunday’s race. Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five finishing positions.
• Stewart and Kurt Busch are tied for the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) driver point standings with 113 total points. Edwards is seven markers back and Montoya and Newman complete the top five.
• With his 17th-place finish, Harvick gained two positions in the NSCS driver point standings and is now ranked 20th. He sits 20 points outside of the top 12 and is 42 markers out of the lead.
• Follow along each weekend with Harvick and the team on Twitter. Check out @KevinHarvick for behind-the-scenes information straight from the driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Get live updates from the track each weekend from @Black29Car, the PR team for Harvick. Also, follow @RCRracing and @RCR29KHarvick for additional information about the Richard Childress Racing organization.
Kevin Harvick on the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
You were running in the top five halfway through the race, but a speeding penalty at lap 151 seemed to leave you guys stuck mid pack. What happened? “Gil (Martin) and the guys on the Budweiser crew gave me a good car today. That speeding penalty killed us. We got stuck back in traffic and just couldn’t go anywhere after that.”
The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the Kobalt Tools 400:
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet team finished eighth.
• Brian Vickers and the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota team finished 10th.
• Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford team finished 11th.
• Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, finished 14th.
• Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished 26th.
• Robby Gordon and the No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge team finished 31st.
• Tony Raines, driver of the No. 37 Race Fuel Energy Drink Ford, finished 35th.
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the Kobalt Tools 400:
• Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Moen/Menards Chevrolet finished 12th.
• Clint Bowyer and the No. 33 Wheaties Fuel Chevrolet team finished 15th.
• Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 21st.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will enjoy an off weekend before traveling to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the Jeff Byrd 500 presented by Food City on Sunday, March 20.