No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet
Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
· Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team left Kentucky Speedway with a 16th-place finish in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400.
· Harvick started the night out in 19th position and battled with the car’s handling for much of the race. When he hit pit road under the competition caution at lap 32, the team made a chassis adjustment and changed right-side tires and got him off pit road in the 10th position.
· Harvick remained in the top 10 after cycling through two rounds of green-flag stops, before slipping to 11th place at lap 138. The caution flag waved the following lap and he radioed to the crew that he was “sideways in (Turns) 3 and 4 and loose in (Turns) 1 and 2” as well. The team pitted for right-side tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment under that caution and restarted from the 13th position at lap 146.
· The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet got back inside the top 10 fairly quickly and Harvick was able to hold his ground through the next round of green-flag stops. He came down pit road at lap 189 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. As green-flag stops cycled through, the caution flag waved at lap 199. As some teams had yet to pit, Harvick found himself in the 17th position, a lap down to the leader. Once those cars hit pit road under caution, Harvick was able to take the wave around and got back on the lead lap to restart in the 15th position at lap 209.
· On the subsequent run, Harvick radioed to the team that the car was “plowing coming off and sideways getting in.” He hit pit road under green for the final time at lap 234 and the team changed right-side tires and added fuel. Once again, the caution flag waved before all of the cars had cycled through green-flag stops, catching Harvick down one lap, but again as the leader came down pit road to pit under caution, the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet and a number of other cars were able to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap.
· Harvick restarted in the 15th position at lap 259, and got up to 12th in just two laps before the caution flag waved again at lap 262. He restarted on the outside row for the green-white-checkered restart and lost ground battling a loose-handling race car. The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet slid back four positions before Harvick took the checkered flag in the 16th position.
· Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in the inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway. David Reutimann, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards completed the top five.
· With his victory, Kyle Busch also took over the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He holds a four-point margin over Edwards, while Harvick is ranked third, 10 markers back from the top spot. Kurt Busch and Johnson round out 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.
Harvick on his finish at Kentucky: “We were just too loose at the end of the race. I knew we were in trouble restarting on the outside on that final restart and we ended up falling back a few spots.”
The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the Quaker State 400:
Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Crown Roya Ford team finished sixth.
Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished seventh.
Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, finished 13th.
Brian Vickers and the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota team finished 27th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet team finished 30th.
Dave Blaney and the No. 36 Big Red Chevrolet team finished 33rd.
Mike Bliss and the No. 32 Big Red Ford team finished 34th.
Scott Wimmer, driver of the No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge, finished 37th.
Mike Skinner and the No. 60 Big Red Toyota team finished 43rd.
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the Quaker State 400:
Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 19th.
Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Sylvania/Menards Chevrolet, finished 24th.
Clint Bowyer and the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet finished 35th.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams head north next weekend to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 on Sunday. On Friday, SPEED will have live coverage of practice starting at 11:30 a.m. ET and qualifying at 3 p.m. ET. SPEED will air practice on Saturday starting with the first session at 9:30 a.m. and final practice at 11:30 a.m. ET. TNT will provide the live race broadcast on Sunday starting with the pre-race show at noon ET. Sirius XM NASCAR Radio and PRN will air radio coverage of the on-track action.