No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet
Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega Superspeedway
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Halfway through the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Kevin Harvick sits second in the driver point standings, just five markers behind the leader heading into Sunday’s Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. In the first five races he’s scored one top-five and four top-10 finishes. Harvick’s average finishing position thus far in the Chase is 7.2.
• Harvick will be available to members of the media in the Talladega Superspeedway infield media center at noon on Friday.
• Prior to Friday’s practice sessions, Harvick and the No. 29 team will spend Thursday participating in NASCAR’s Electronic Fuel Injection test at Talladega Superspeedway.
• The No. 29 team will race chassis No. 377 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) stable. It is a brand new racer that will see its first on-track activity this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
• In 21 starts at the superspeedway, Harvick has scored one win, one pole award, six top-fives and 10 top-10 finishes. His average starting position is 22.5 and he holds a 14.3 average finish at the 2.66-mile track. Harvick has led a total of 129 laps at Talladega and has completed 97.9 percent (3,894 of 3,977) of the laps run in NSCS competition at the track since 2001.
• Harvick nearly swept both races at Talladega Superspeedway last year. He started 14th in the October race and moved all the way up to first by lap 2. He led a total of 12 laps and was passed for the top spot as the caution flag waved on the final lap of the race by his Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer. In April, Harvick started 38th at Talladega, led five laps and finished fifth.
• Harvick holds several Loop Data statistics at Talladega heading into Sunday’s race, including: fourth in closers; fifth in green-flag passes (4,258); sixth in fastest laps run (54); eighth in laps led (93); and eighth in quality passes (2,323).
• Harvick is one of more than 10 drivers scheduled to participate in the NSCS autograph session at Talladega Superspeedway starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Ticket holders selected to attend by the track were notified earlier this month. For more details, visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.
• For the online version of the Budweiser Racing media guide, please visit http://www.budracingmedia.com.
• 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 Budweiser 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.
Kevin Harvick on racing at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR rule changes and the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Are you really excited about racing at Talladega this weekend? “I am, restrictor plate stuff has been great for us, you never know how it is going to go at Talladega, but we have been pretty good there in the past.”
How are the changes to the restrictor plate going to change racing at Talladega? “I don’t anticipate the restrictor plate change doing anything. I think the speeds will be a little bit higher. I think the pop-off valve will probably be a bigger change than the restrictor plate for sure.
With the changes, will two-car tandems still be a factor at Talladega? “Absolutely. I don’t think it’s going to change the two-car tandem other than you’re going to have to switch spots a lot more to keep the engine cool.
What has made Talladega such a successful track for you? “For whatever reason, we’ve just always had a good plate program at RCR and when you have good cars, it makes it a lot easier to have success. We’ll stick with our teammates and see where we fall at the end.”
You’re currently second in the point standings. What’s been the key for your team’s strong finishes in the Chase so far? “Just battling. Everyone is just battling to keep the cars up front and doing the things they have to do. We haven’t had the fastest cars in the first few races, but we just have never given up on it and wound up with decent finishes. Hopefully we can keep at that and get a little more speed out of them.”