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Harvick and No. 29 Team Finish 11th in Brickyard 400

Post-Race Reports | NASCAR Cup Series | 08/01/11

No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet
Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet team took home an 11th-place finish in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after starting the race from the 19th position, fighting a tight-handling car and gambling on pit strategy late in the race.
• Harvick worked his way up to 15th by the time the team made their first pit stop of the day at lap 25. He radioed to the team that the car was tight in and off of the corner, so crew chief Gil Martin called for air pressure and track bar adjustments during the four-tire stop. Quick work by the No. 29 pit crew picked up three more positions for Harvick after the round of green-flag pit stops cycled through, moving him up to the 12th spot.
• He continued to battle a tight-handling condition over the course of the next two runs. The team made additional chassis adjustments that seemed to make some headway as they reached the halfway point of the race.
• However, despite improved handling off the corner, the No. 29 Chevrolet became too tight entering the corner, so Martin called for further chassis adjustments as Harvick hit pit road under caution at lap 95.
• On the next round of stops, Martin called for a two-tire stop to gain track position, moving Harvick up to the eighth spot with a little more than 40 laps to go.
• When the caution flag waved just a few laps later, Martin and Harvick discussed trying a different pit strategy than most of the other teams in an effort to place them up front at the end of the race. Knowing they couldn’t make it to the end of the race on just one more stop, they elected to come down pit road at lap 122 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment and then make a subsequent stop under green for just a splash of fuel, while most of the other teams would need to make longer stops later in the run to get enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.
• Harvick made the second trip down pit road for fuel only under green-flag conditions on lap 129. He dropped back to the 33rd position, but quickly started gaining spots as other teams had to come to pit road. Running out of traffic and by himself for the first time all race, Harvick reported the car was now loose on lap 131.
• He cracked the top 20 by lap 134. A little while later, Martin radioed that some of the drivers in the top 10 were shutting off their engines and coasting to conserve fuel as the race wound down to the closing laps, allowing them to stretch their fuel to the end.
• The No. 29 Chevrolet made it all the way up to the 11th position when the checkered flag waved at lap 160.
• Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammate Paul Menard collected his first-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race win in Sunday’s Brickyard 400. Jeff Gordon, Regan Smith, Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five positions.
• Carl Edwards continues to hold the top spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He holds an 11-point margin over defending champion Jimmie Johnson. Harvick sits one marker back from Johnson in third position and Kyle Busch and Kenseth complete the top-five in the standings.
• 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.
 
The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the Brickyard 400:
• Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford team finished fifth.
• Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished ninth.
• Brian Vickers and the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota team finished 15th.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet team finished 16th.
• Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, finished 18th.
• Dave Blaney and the No. 36 Big Red Chevrolet team finished 31st.
• Mike Skinner and the No. 60 Big Red Toyota team finished 40th.
• Robby Gordon, drive of the No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge, finished 43rd.

The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the Brickyard 400:
• Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet, finished first.
• Clint Bowyer and the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet finished 13th.
• Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 35th.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will travel to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., for the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 on Sunday, August 7. ESPN will air the live television broadcast of the race starting with the pre-race show at noon ET. MRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio coverage of the race. 


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