This Week’s Armour Vienna Sausages Chevrolet at Richmond International Raceway ... Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 106 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Nationwide Series stable in the Virginia 529 College Savings 250. Built new for competition in 2012, Harvick raced this RCR Chevrolet to a ninth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, a third-place finish at Richmond International Raceway in April and a fourth-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July.
Three In a Row ... The two-time Nationwide Series champion will return to the driver’s seat of the No. 33 Chevrolet for a third consecutive week in the Nationwide Series event Richmond International Raceway. The 250-lap event marks Harvick’s 288th career Nationwide Series start and the 11th of 14 scheduled appearances of the 2012 season. In his first 10 Nationwide Series races with RCR in 2012, Harvick has earned six top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
Racing in the Old Dominion State ... Harvick will make his 23rd Nationwide Series appearance at the Richmond, Va.-based facility Saturday night. In 22 previous starts at the 0.75-mile tri-oval, the Bakersfield, Calif., native has captured five wins (spring 2003, fall 2005, spring and fall 2006 and fall 2010), 14 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes and three pole awards (fall 2003, fall 2010 and spring 2012). Harvick maintains an 8.6 average starting position, 7.2 average finishing position, has completed 5,506 of 5,513 (99.9 percent) of the laps contested and is credited with 948 laps led.
In the Loop ... Since the inception of NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics in 2006, Harvick has competed in 14 Nationwide Series events at Richmond International Raceway. In those 14 starts, the RCR veteran driver has collected impressive statistics and leads his fellow competitors in Fastest Laps Run (370) and Laps Led (803). Harvick maintains a 118.4 Driver Rating and has spent 3,111 Laps in the Top 15, ranking him second in both categories. The 36-year-old driver is the third-fastest Driver Late In a Run (119.908 mph) and ranks third in Green Flag Speed (117.785 mph). Harvick also ranks fourth in Fastest Driver Early In a Run (119.908 mph) and fifth in Average Running Position (7.445), Green Flag Passes (337) and Speed In Traffic (117.089 mph).
To the Points ... The No. 33 RCR Chevrolet team sits seventh in the Nationwide Series owner championship point standings, 77 points behind the No. 18 team in the lead. The No. 33 team has earned nine top-five and 16 top-10 finishes between six different drivers (Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Harvick, Paul Menard, Max Papis and Tony Stewart) thus far this season.
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Double Duty ... In addition to competing in the Virginia 529 College Savings 250Friday evening, Harvick will also drive RCR’s No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Saturday night. The race is scheduled to air live on ABC beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
In the Rearview Mirror: Atlanta Motor Speedway ... Harvick and the No. 33 Bad Boy Buggies team brought home a disappointing third-place finish in the NRA American Warriors 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway after leading 157 laps and dominating the 300-mile event Saturday night.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:
What are your thoughts on returning to Richmond International Raceway the Nationwide Series?
“We had a good run at Richmond (International Raceway) in the spring and I’ve had a lot of success there in the past. Richmond is a flat track that really fits my driving style. This is also the third consecutive weekend that I’ve driven the No. 33 Nationwide Series car for Richard Childress Racing, we’ve been competitive each week and I think we have a great chance to get the Armour Vienna Sausages Chevrolet in Victory Lane Friday night.”