DILLON & KHI TOGETHER AGAIN: Austin Dillon returns to the driver’s seat of No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet Impala this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway for his third start with the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team. Dillon made his first NASCAR Nationwide Series start at the track and first start with the team in April. The young driver qualified the No. 33 Chevrolet in the third position and finished the day in seventh. In May, Dillon piloted the Rheem KHI entry at Iowa Speedway where he finished 10th after starting from the third position.
NASHVILLE NUMBERS: KHI collectively has 18 starts in the Nationwide Series at Nashville Superspeedway. Team co-owner Kevin Harvick has the company’s only win at the Tennessee track. In 2010 the driver led 52 laps en route to victory lane. In addition to Harvick’s win, KHI has four top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 33 Rheem team has prepared chassis No. 071 for this Saturday’s race at Nashville. The KHI team has utilized this particular chassis five times thus far this season. Team co-owner Kevin Harvick drove to a third-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., earlier this year and to a 16th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. Paul Menard competed with this chassis twice, including a third-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April and fourth-place finish at Michigan International Speedway in June. Driver Clint Bowyer ran this chassis at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May where he finished sixth.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Kevin Harvick and the No. 33 Rheem team collected a second-place finish last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after starting from the same position. With the runner-up finish, the KHI co-owner set a new Nationwide Series record, becoming the all-time top-10 finishes leader with 199. In the week prior to New Hampshire, Harvick tied record-holder Tommy Houston with a second-place result at Kentucky Speedway The second-place finish is the No. 33 team’s eighth top-five and 12th top-10 finish in 19 races this season.
THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: AUSTIN DILLON
“We’ve been fast all year in the KHI Chevrolets with two top-five finishes. Now, I’m looking forward to getting this No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet into victory lane. I really like racing at Nashville, and I have a bunch of experience there between NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series starts, so I think experience will play to my favor this weekend. It’s a great track to race on. There’s a lot of room to move around and the track is unique because of its concrete racing surface.”