Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team brought home a 10th-place finish in the rain-delayed Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night. The Richard Childress Racing driver started the 400-lap event from the 13th position and alerted his crew he was battling a loose-handling condition as he traveled around the 0.75-mile race track during the early laps of the final race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Crew chief Gil Martin called Harvick to pit road on lap 47 during the competition caution for four tires and fuel, along with air pressure and chassis adjustments. The Bakersfield, Calif., native returned to the track in the 12th position for the ensuing restart and quickly worked his way into the top 10 by lap 51. As Harvick continued to move toward the front of the field he reported the No. 29 Chevrolet was handling well, but had become a touch tight in the middle of the corner and was still loose on exit. On lap 139, NASCAR officials displayed the yellow flag for rain and the Budweiser pit crew was called to action as Martin instructed Harvick to return to pit road for four fresh tires, fuel and another round of chassis adjustments. A few laps later, NASCAR officials brought the cars down pit road and displayed the red flag as the rain intensified. Following a 51-minute delay, green-flag racing resumed on lap 155 with the 36-year-old driver listed in the ninth position. As a slight threat of rain loomed, Harvick continued a charge toward the front of the field while battling the loose-handling condition on the Budweiser Chevrolet, but was able to work his way to the fourth position before ultimately crossing the finish line in 10th place. Following the 26th-points paying event, Harvick earned a position in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and will start the 10-race “Chase” next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway as the ninth seed.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
“This No. 29 team has been real competitive the last three weeks and raced at the front of the pack. That is what we have to do. Tonight we probably had a fourth-place Budweiser Chevrolet and thought it was going to rain there, but it didn’t. Then we pitted because we knew that we didn’t want to wind up in the boat that all those other guys were on old tires. All in all, we took a chance there with the rain, but we had a solid car and we have had a solid car the last three weeks.”