MARTINSVILLE, Va. (October 26, 2009)—- Kevin Harvick came back to the track where he scored Kevin Harvick Inc.’s (KHI) first Truck Series victory of the 2009 season with one mission: to defend his title. With a strong truck, Harvick looked to be in contention for his second Truck Series win of the year, but a flat left-rear tire ended his chances of a Martinsville sweep.
Harvick began the 200-lap event from the third position behind KHI teammate Ron Hornaday and pole sitter Mike Skinner. By lap 18 Harvick was battling with Skinner for the second position and by lap 20 had claimed the spot. The 2007 Daytona 500 champion settled into a rhythm behind Hornaday until the first caution of the day waved on lap 32. Opting to stick with their pre-race game plan, Harvick and crew chief John Monsam, along with Hornaday and Skinner stayed on the track while most of the other competitors came to pit road.
Before going green on lap 38 in the second position, Harvick commented that his brake pedal felt low and his truck was fairly loose through the middle of the corners. After only 13 laps of green-flag competition, the caution waved again putting the No. 4 team within their fuel window to make it to the end of the event. The top three trucks of Hornaday, Harvick and Skinner came down pit road for service and were all penalized for exceeding the pit road speed causing them to restart the race from the tail end of the longest line. On lap 58, Harvick began his move back toward the front of the field from the 17th position.
However, six laps later, Harvick brought the No. 4 Chevrolet back to pit road under green with a flat left-rear tire. The team changed both left-side tires and sent Harvick back on the track. “That kind of stinks,” said Harvick.
Falling two laps down to the race leaders, in 27th position, Harvick quickly began to pick of trucks one at a time, passing race leader Denny Hamlin on lap 92 to gain one of the laps back. The following lap, the caution flag waved yet again over the .526-mile oval. This gave the No. 4 team the opportunity to change all four tires and get fuel as well as restart the race on the inside line with the other lap down vehicles and the leaders in sight.
On lap 106, Harvick passed the leader of the race to put his Bounty Chevrolet back on the lead lap in the 23rd position. Fortunately for the No. 4 team, the caution flag waved on lap 114. With other lead lap trucks opting to pit, Harvick would gain several positions to restart 15th on lap 119.
Methodically working his way through traffic, Harvick cracked the top 10 on lap 136 and was fifth by lap 177. As the laps wound down, Harvick was unable to gain any more positions as his brake issue persisted.
“I’m really proud of this No. 4 team,” Harvick said following the race. “We battled back from being two laps down after that flat left-rear tire and finished fifth. That’s impressive here at Martinsville and it’s definitely a confidence booster for this entire team. I really thought we had a shot at the win. We’ll take that and go on to Talladega with (Ricky) Carmichael.”
Timothy Peters scored his first Truck Series victory followed by Todd Bodine, Colin Braun, Hornaday and Harvick. Hornaday remains the championship point’s leader by 224 makers over Matt Crafton with four races remaining in the 2009 season.
STATS RECAP
Race Info
October 24, 2009
Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
Race: 21 of 25
Driver: Kevin Harvick
Started: 3rd
Finished: 5th
Race length: 200 Laps/ 105.2 Miles
Track layout: 0.526-mile
Shape: Oval
Number of Race Cautions: 8 for 39 laps
Next on the Schedule for the No. 4:
Date: October 31, 2009
Track: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
Event Name: Mountain Dew 250
Driver: Ricky Carmichael
Sponsor: Monster Energy
Broadcast Time: SPEED 4:00 p.m., EST MRN 4:00 p.m., EST