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Kevin Harvick No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet SS NRA 500 Advance

Pre-Race Reports | NASCAR Cup Series | 04/09/13

Kevin Harvick No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet SS NRA 500 AdvanceKevin Harvick and the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet SS team travel to Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) this week for Saturday night’s NRA 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race.

Ultimate Training… On Wednesday, Harvick will join UFC fighter Johny “Bigg Riggs” Hendricks in an ultimate training session in Dallas. A former high school wrestler, Harvick recently began training in Taekwondo and will learn everything from takedowns to clinch work and standing submissions when he practices with the top welterweight contender in the world. A special feature highlighting this event will air during the FOX pre-race race show on Saturday night.

Chassis Info... The No. 29 team will utilize chassis No. 404 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable this weekend. Harvick raced this car to a ninth-place finish at TMS in last November.

Statistically Speaking… Harvick has made 20 NSCS starts at TMS since 2001. During that time he has earned three top fives and 10 top-10 finishes. He has completed 99.8 percent of the laps run in those 20 races (6,677 of 6,691), and holds an average starting position of 20.8 and an average finish of 12.5 at TMS.

Loop Data… Since the inception of NASCAR's Loop Data Statistics in 2006, Harvick has competed in 16 NSCS races at Texas Motor Speedway and owns a couple impressive marks heading into this weekend's event, including: first in closers, having gained 33 positions in the last 10 percent of the races in that span; and second in green-flag passes (1,248).

Winner, Winner... Harvick has yet to visit Victory Lane in NSCS competition at the 1.5-mile track, but the Bakersfield, Calif., native has been crowned a winner in both the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) at TMS. With five NNS wins, Harvick currently is tied with Kyle Busch for most victories in the series at TMS. Harvick has earned one NCWTS win at TMS, which came during the 2011 November race – his last NCWTS start at “The Great American Speedway.”

A Lap for a Cause… Fans attending the NSCS race at TMS this weekend have the opportunity to take the ride of a lifetime with Harvick prior to the start of Saturday night’s event. By attending the Speedway Children's Charities - Texas Chapter - Live Auction on Friday at 3 p.m. in the 9th Floor Ballroom of The Speedway Club, Harvick fans can bid on the chance to join the RCR driver during the pre-race parade lap. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Kevin Harvick Foundation.

Double Duty… In addition to driving the No. 29 Chevrolet in Saturday’s race, Harvick will pilot the No. 33 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet for RCR in Friday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race. ESPN2 will provide live coverage starting with the pre-race show at 8 p.m. ET. Performance Racing Network affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will carry the live radio broadcast.\

Harvick Discusses Racing at TMS
Share your thoughts on Texas Motor Speedway and what makes it unique to you as a driver?

“The track is just worn out. It’s becoming a lot more like Atlanta Motor Speedway than it has in the past because the grip level has gone down, which is a great thing for racing. It’s got some pretty good bumps in it, which gives it some character. The cars fall off a tremendous amount as you go through the run while you still carry a lot of speed, so it’s definitely a handling race track. You’ve got to move all around to try and find a line that works for your car, and you definitely have to drive it hard every lap just to keep up.”


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