Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Bell Helicopter Chevrolet SS team travel to Richmond International Raceway (RIR) this week for the Toyota Owners 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race.
Chassis Info... The No. 29 team will utilize chassis No. 420 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable this weekend. Harvick raced this car for the first time earlier this month at Martinsville Speedway and earned a 13th-place finish.
Statistically Speaking… Harvick has made 24 NSCS starts at RIR and has earned two wins, six top fives and 15 top 10s. He has completed 98.8 percent of the laps run in those 24 races (9,486 of 9,603), and holds an average starting position of 16.5 and an average finish of 11.7 at the 0.75-mile track.
Loop Data… Since the inception of NASCAR's Loop Data Statistics in 2006, Harvick has competed in 16 NSCS races at RIR and owns a number of impressive marks heading into this weekend's event, including: first in laps in the top 15 (5,910); second in fastest drivers early in a run (119.435 mph); second in average running position (7.498); second in laps led (895); third in driver rating (111.1); third in fastest laps run (422); third in green flag speed (116.675 mph); fourth in fastest on restarts (117.474 mph); eighth in closers (13 positions moved up); and 10th in fastest drivers late in a run (114.855 mph).
Champion Chat … Harvick will participate in his monthly Champion Chat on Tuesday, April 23, at 7 p.m. ET answering fan questions via Twitter and TweetChat.com. To ask a question, simply log on to TweetChat.com or Federal-Mogul's @ChampionParts Twitter feed and add the #ChampionChat hashtag to the end of each tweet. Harvick’s video "Touts" will be available through the @ChampionParts Twitter feed as well as www.Tout.com (search for "#TeamChampion").
Double Duty… In addition to driving the No. 29 Chevrolet in NSCS competition on Saturday, Harvick will drive RCR’s No. 33 Hungry Man Chevrolet Camaro in Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at RIR. ESPNNEWS will air live television coverage of the race starting with the pre-race show at 7 p.m. ET and MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the live radio broadcast.
Harvick Discusses Racing at Richmond International Raceway
What are your thoughts heading into the second short-track race of the season?
“Richmond has been a great race track for us through the years. It’s always fun to go there and do a little short-track racing. I really enjoy the style of racing that Richmond International Raceway produces. I’m definitely looking forward to getting back in the car there to see what kind of result we can walk away with.”
Short-track racing produces a lot of bumping and banging. How much can you do with the Gen-6 car?
“Not much. You want to bump and bang, but the bottom line is you don’t want to tear the fenders off the car so aerodynamically the car works like it needs to. You can definitely get a few bumps and dings in the fenders, but you don’t want to be tearing it up too much.”