News

Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest

• Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet team rebounded to score a second-place finish in Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after pitting to address a loose wheel put the team a lap down to the field just past the halfway point of the race.
• Harvick started the 600-mile race from the 11th position and took over the lead for the first time at lap 75. When the team pitted under caution at lap 150, the No. 48 car beat them off of pit road. Stuck back in dirty air, Harvick radioed to the team that the car was tight in traffic. As a result, crew chief Rodney Childers called for a track bar adjustment to help improve the car’s handling on the subsequent pit stop.
• Harvick eventually regained the lead and the No. 4 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet stayed up front until Childers called him down pit road under caution at lap 224. While the No. 4 team elected for a four-tire stop, a few teams opted not to pit and one took just two tires, which put Harvick sixth for the restart.
• The caution flag waved again a few laps later and Harvick radioed to the team that he thought he might have a loose wheel as he felt a vibration. After some discussion, the team decided not to pit. Several other teams came down pit road, which put Harvick third for the lap 241 restart. Four laps later he told the team, “We’re in trouble here, guys. The wheel’s loose.” He stayed out as long as he could and brought the car down pit road at lap 263 for four tires and fuel.
• The caution flag waved 10 laps later as the No. 41 team’s engine expired. Harvick was scored one lap down to the leader in 15th, but was in position for the lucky dog award, so he was able to get his lap back. The team pitted during the caution and Harvick restarted 15th, at the tail end of the field at lap 282.
• Harvick cracked the top 10 at lap 308 and was scored in the fifth position at lap 331 when Childers called him to pit road for four tires and fuel. The No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet ended up fourth once the field cycled through green-flag pit stops at lap 345.
• The No. 4 team pitted again at lap 374 for what they planned to be their last stop of the race. However, when the caution flag waved a few laps later, Childers called Harvick back down pit road for another four-tire stop. Once again, pit strategies varied and Harvick restarted ninth with 17 laps to go.
• Harvick quickly moved up through the field and was scored fifth at lap 385, third at lap 388 and moved into second with one lap to go.
• While Harvick led on five occasions for a total of 100 laps, he ran out of time at the end of the race and wasn’t able to catch the leader. Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag 1.272 seconds ahead of Harvick.
• Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray completed the top-five positions.
• Jeff Gordon continues to lead the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings following the 13th race of the season. Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. round out the top-five spots. Harvick gained three positions to move up to 12th following Sunday’s race. He’s now 87 points back from the leader and 16 markers out of the top 10.

Harvick on his finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

What took you out of contention for the win tonight?

"Just a loose wheel. We got behind and it took us the rest of the night to get our Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet back up front. Rodney (Childers) and all these guys are doing a great job. We're just shooting ourselves in the foot on pit road. We have to clean that up because we obviously can't win races with the fastest car if we make mistakes continuously on pit road. It's frustrating but everyone on this team has done a great job."

The following is the starting position of the other Stewart-Haas Racing teams in Saturday’s race:

Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet team finished 13th.
Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet team finished 39th.
Kurt Busch and the No. 41 Haas Automation Made in America Chevrolet team 40th.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to Dover, Delaware, to compete in FedEx 400 next weekend at Dover International Speedway. FOX Sports 1 will provide coverage of Friday’s practice session at 11 a.m. ET followed by qualifying at 3:30 p.m. ET. On Saturday, FOX Sports 1 will air both practice sessions at 9:30 a.m. ET and 12:30 p.m. ET. FOX will provide live coverage of Sunday’s race at 1 p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will have radio coverage of the event. 

---

Next News Story →

← Previous News Story