Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
· Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team took home a ninth-place finish in Saturday night’s Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
· Harvick started the race from the 15th position and was inside the top-10 by lap 17. He worked his way up to the fourth spot before he hit pit road for a green-flag stop at lap 46. Crew chief Shane Wilson called for a four-tire stop with a slight air pressure adjustment.
· As the green-flag pit stops cycled through, Harvick moved up to the second position. The caution flag waved 20 laps later and the team pitted at lap 68 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Trouble with a lug nut slowed the team’s stop and cost Harvick seven spots. He restarted from the ninth position at lap 71.
· Stuck back in traffic, Harvick struggled with a tight-handling car. Trash on the grille caused the car’s water temperature to spike several laps later and Harvick had to get behind another car to get it off.
· Harvick was running 11th when he came to pit road under caution at lap 96. Wilson called for tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment to help improve the car’s handling.
· After the field restarted at lap 100, the remainder of the race ran under green-flag conditions, setting a race record for fastest race and fewest number of cautions.
· The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet developed a loose-handling condition in the second half of the race and the team continued to make adjustments on each trip to pit road to alleviate the problem. Harvick ran as high as sixth and as low as ninth during that stretch.
· As the team approached the final stop of the night, Harvick reported that the water temperature was starting to get too hot again with trash on the grille. Wilson called him to pit road at lap 279 for a four-tire stop and to clean off the grille.
· Harvick cycled around to the seventh position as all of the teams completed their green-flag pit stops. He reported the car was still too loose as he slipped back two spots to ninth.
· At lap 300 Wilson told Harvick they were a couple laps shy of the finish on fuel and that he needed to save fuel. He lost one spot with six laps to go, but gained a position on the final lap as another driver ran out of fuel. Harvick’s fuel savings paid off as the car ran out of gas just after he took the checkered flag in the ninth position.
· Greg Biffle scored the win in Saturday night’s race. Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth completed the top-five spots.
· Biffle continues to lead the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings following the seventh race of the season. Kenseth is second followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. Harvick sits fifth, 24 points back from Biffle.
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. Fans can also interact with Harvick on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OfficialKevinHarvick.
Kevin Harvick on his finish at Texas Motor Speedway:
“The Budweiser Chevrolet started off strong tonight, but we lost a lot of ground on the second (pit) stop. We fought the handling back in traffic after that and the car got too loose. There at the end it started to get really loose in (Turn) 3. All in all, this is better than I’ve been (at Texas) lately, so we’ll take that and work on what we need to improve for next time.”
The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the Samsung Mobile 500:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet team finished 10th.
Landon Cassill and the No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota team finished 30th.
Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished 36th.
Travis Kvapil and the No. 93 Dr. Pepper Toyota team finished 38th.
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the Samsung Mobile 500:
Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 29th.
Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet finished 18th.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to Kansas Speedway next weekend for Sunday’s STP 400. SPEED will air live coverage of both practice sessions on Friday, from 1:30-2:50 p.m. and 4:30-6 p.m. ET, as well as qualifying on Saturday starting at noon ET. FOX will provide the live race broadcast on Sunday starting with the pre-race show at 12:30 p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will carry the radio broadcast of the event.