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Harvick and the No. 29 Rheem Tankless Chevrolet Team Finish 9th at Sonoma

Post-Race Reports | NASCAR Cup Series | 06/27/11

No. 29 Rheem Tankless Chevrolet
Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway

No. 29 Team Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Rheem Tankless Chevrolet team salvaged a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway after battling a loose-handing race car and sustaining damage in a mid-race wreck.
• Harvick started the race from 26th position and reported a loose-handling condition as he moved inside the top 20 and up to the 17th spot before coming down pit road at lap 18 for fresh tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.
• Harvick worked his way into the top 15 after the field took the green, but as the caution flag waved at lap 32, he told crew chief Gil Martin that he needed a bigger adjustment to help tighten up the No. 29 Chevrolet. The team pitted again on lap 34 for more changes.
• On lap 37 Harvick got caught up in a wreck at Turn 11 and the No. 29 Rheem Tankless Chevrolet sustained damage. The team pitted twice for repairs, and also changed the sway bar and made additional adjustments to improve the car’s handling.
• The No. 29 Rheem Tankless Chevrolet team continued to work on the car on subsequent pit stops and Martin elected to try a different pit strategy than most of the field to put Harvick on fresher tires at the end of the race. As the strategy played out, Harvick led five laps before pitting for the final time at lap 88.
• Harvick took the green flag in the 13th position at lap 91 and worked his way up to the seventh position before slipping back to 10th with eight laps to go. In the closing laps he was able to pick up one more spot and crossed the start/finish line in the ninth position.
• Kurt Busch scored the win in Sunday’s race. Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer and Marcos Ambrose completed the top-five finishing positions.
• Edwards continues to lead the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings by 25 markers over Harvick. Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch round out the top five in the standings.
• As Rheem Tankless Water Heaters was featured on the No. 29 Chevrolet this weekend for the first of four races this season, Harvick and team owner Richard Childress joined the company’s guests at the track on Sunday morning for a question and answer session at the Rheem Tankless chalet prior to the start of the race.
• 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 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 roller coaster day at Infineon Raceway: ““It was all strategy. I mean, we got up to about 14th or 15th there and just kind of stalled. The car was really loose. Then we got in a little wreck and tore it up even worse. As the run would go on, we would just get so loose. The car has a lot of damage on it. A lot of credit to these guys for getting it fixed and for the strategy. It was the best ninth-place finish I can ever remember.”

The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the Toyota/Save Mart 350:
• Clint Bowyer and the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet finished fourth.
• Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Duracell/Menards Chevrolet, finished 17th.
• Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 21st.

Next Saturday night NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will compete under the lights in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. On Thursday, SPEED will air first practice at 4 p.m. ET and final practice at 6:35 p.m. ET. SPEED will air Friday’s qualifying session starting at 4 p.m. ET on Friday. On Saturday, TNT will provide the live race broadcast starting with the pre-race show at 6:30 p.m. ET. Sirius XM NASCAR Radio and MRN Radio will air radio coverage of the on-track action.


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