This Week’s Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet at Atlanta Motor Speedway ... Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 112 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Nationwide Series stable in the NRA American Warrior 300. Harvick drove this No. 33 Chevrolet to a third-place finish at Kentucky Speedway in June.
Back to Back Appearances ... The two-time Nationwide Series champion will return to the driver’s seat of the No. 33 Chevrolet for a second-straight week in the Nationwide Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 195-lap event marks Harvick’s 287th career Nationwide Series start and 10th of 14 scheduled appearances of the 2012 season. In his first nine Nationwide Series races with RCR in 2012, Harvick has earned five top-five and six top-10 finishes.
Racing in The ATL ... Harvick will make his 11th Nationwide Series appearance at the Hampton, Ga.-based facility Saturday night. In his 10 previous starts at the 1.54-mile track, the Bakersfield, Calif., native has captured one win (2009), five top-five and seven top-10 finishes. Harvick has maintains an 8.7 average starting position, ninth-place average finishing position, has completed 1,899 of 1,990 (95.4 percent) of the laps contested and is credited with 219 laps led.
In the Loop ... Since the inception of NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics in 2006, Harvick has competed in six Nationwide Series events at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In those six starts, the RCR veteran driver has collected impressive statistics and leads his fellow competitors in Fastest Driver Late in a Run (170.848 mph) and Speed in Traffic (172.158 mph). Harvick earned a 119.0 Driver Rating and is credited with 219 Laps Led, ranking him second in each category. The two-time series champions also ranks second in the following categories: Fastest Driver Early in a Run (176.307 mph), Fastest Laps Run (192), Fastest on the Restarts (168.954 mph) and Green Flag Speed (172.894 mph). Harvick also ranks third in laps in the Top 15 (1,057) and fifth in Green Flag Passes (242).
To the Points ... The No. 33 RCR Chevrolet team sits seventh in the Nationwide Series owner’s championship point standings, 88 points behind the No. 18 team. The No. 33 team has earned eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes between six different drivers (Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Harvick, Paul Menard, Max Papis and Tony Stewart) thus far this season.
Bad Boy Buggies ... Bad Boy Buggies is a leader in off-road utility vehicles for hunting and outdoor lifestyles. Bad Boy Buggies pioneered the category of electrically powered 4x4 vehicles, ideal for hunting and outdoor recreation due to their silent, odorless operation and environmentally friendly, emissions-free drivetrains. Today, the Bad Boy Buggies product line ranges from four-wheel-drive electric hunting machines such as the Recoil, a fully electric, 4WD vehicle with an innovative, highly efficient 72-volt AC electric drivetrain, to the Work Series of diesel and gas-powered utility vehicles, including the Bad Boy Buggies XD, a versatile 4WD, diesel-powered utility vehicle with a total capacity of 1,600 pounds. In 2010, the Bad Boy Buggies brand and product line were acquired by E-Z-GO, a business unit of Textron Inc.
Meet the Driver ... Fans can join Harvick for a question-and-answer session at the Bad Boy Buggies booth in the display area at Atlanta Motor Speedway prior to the Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, September 2 from 4:30-4:45 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Dog Whisperer ... Harvick and his wife DeLana, along with their Chihuahua, LO, will be featured in an episode of the “The Dog Whisperer.” Host, Cesar Millan, joined the Harvicks at their motorcoach at Daytona International Speedway in February to help tame the half-pint pup. The NASCAR-related episode is scheduled to air on Saturday, September 1 on Nat Geo Wild at 8 p.m. Eastern Time; check local listings for further details.
Double Duty ... In addition to competing in the NRA American Warrior 300 Saturday evening, Harvick will also drive RCR’s No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Series AdvoCare 500 Sunday night. The race is scheduled to air live on ESPN beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Hunt to Win a Bad Boy Buggies ATV ... RCR partners Bad Boy Buggies, Hunt Brothers Pizza and Team Realtree have teamed up for a unique consumer contest for a chance to win a Bad Boy Buggies Recoil IS 4x4 hunting ATV valued at $15,000. During the ‘Hunt to Win Sweepstakes’, consumers hunt for their nearest Hunt Brothers Pizza location by using the locator map on www.huntbrotherspizza.com/hunttowin. By completing the entry form, consumers are entered for a chance to win more than $25,000 worth of prizes, including the Bad Boy Buggies ATV grand prize. The sweepstakes begins September 10 and runs until December 31.
The Last Time By ... Harvick started the 2011 Nationwide Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway from the eighth position and led for 31 laps before crossing the finish line in fourth.
In the Rearview Mirror: Bristol Motor Speedway ... Harvick and the No. 33 Hunt Brothers Pizza team finished led 98 laps but 15th in Friday night’s Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway after running short on fuel during the final laps of the 250-lap Nationwide Series event.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:
What are your thoughts on returning to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Nationwide Series?
“Atlanta (Motor Speedway) is a very fast track. You can race all over it, from the white line on the bottom all the way up to the wall and still be competitive. Atlanta has always been a good track to me. I’ve had success in all three of NASCAR’s top series there and hope that luck continues this weekend, so we can get the Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet to Victory Lane.”