BACK-TO-BACK WITH DILLON: For the second week in a row, Austin Dillon will join the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team as the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to the Hoosier State for a Saturday night showdown at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. Behind the wheel of the Rheem/Menards Chevrolet, the 21-year-old driver will make his fourth and final start of the season with the KHI team. It will also be Dillon’s second start at the 0.686-mile track. In 2009, he started from the 26th position and drove to an 18th-place finish.
KHI IN INDY: Lucas Oil Raceway is one of 17 tracks on the Nationwide Series current schedule at which KHI does not have a win and one of 14 without a pole. In eight starts at the track with several drivers behind the wheel, the organization has racked up one top-five and three top-10 finishes. Ron Hornaday holds the highest KHI finish at the Indianapolis track in 2007, bringing home a fifth-place finish.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Last Saturday Austin Dillon climbed behind the wheel of the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet for the third time this season as the Nationwide Series returned to Nashville Superspeedway. Dillon, who won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event Friday night, qualified the KHI Chevrolet in the fourth position and maintained track position among the top 10 throughout the 225-lap event. The driver crossed the finish line third, his career-best finish in 10 Nationwide Series starts.
CHASSIS HISTORY: For this weekend’s race at Lucas Oil Raceway, the No. 33 Rheem/Menards team has prepared chassis No. 063. KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick competed with this chassis on June 4 at Chicagoland Speedway. Harvick started in the 18th position and brought home a 13th-place finish.
THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: AUSTIN DILLON
What are your thoughts about racing at Lucas Oil Raceway this weekend?
“I don’t have many laps at Lucas Oil Raceway so I’ll have a little bit of a learning curve which will be interesting. The track is very cool. The racing is always great and the fans there are awesome. KHI builds great cars and has run well there in the past in both the Nationwide and Truck Series. We were fast last weekend at Nashville in this No. 33 Chevrolet. I’m excited to get back in the Rheem/Menards car this weekend and hopefully I’ll be able to thank Kevin and DeLana [Harvick] as well as Rheem and Menards for the opportunity in victory lane.”