Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team collected an 11th-place finish under the lights of Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night after battling handling issues and experiencing an untimely caution. The California native started the 400-lap event from the 17th position and fell back into the top 20 during the early laps as he battled handling issues on the red and white Chevrolet. The Gil Martin-led pit crew made multiple chassis adjustments during routine four-tire pit stops on laps 91 and 137 to improve the handling of the car. As the race progressed, Harvick worked his way into the second position on lap 307, but a powerful run was halted by bad luck when the caution flag was displayed while the No. 29 Chevrolet was on pit road for a scheduled pit stop on lap 342. Harvick returned to the track in the 15th position, one lap down to the leader. Before going back to green-flag racing, the Richard Childress Racing driver took the "wave around" and returned to the lead lap in the 14th position for the ensuing restart. Harvick slowly worked his way forward during the final laps, ultimately crossing the finish line 11th. Harvick is tied with Carl Edwards for the fourth seed heading into the first event of the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Chicagoland Speedway.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
"Well, if the caution didn't come out I feel like we could have won the race tonight. The Budweiser Chevrolet was really good, but we had made a lot of adjustments. The car was just really loose to start the race, so when you can do things to adjust your car and take it from a 25th-place car to a winning car in the same night, that's a sign that things are going to be okay. We are as good as we've ever been, and hopefully we can continue to get better over the next few weeks. I'm just really proud of everybody for their work tonight."