The Great Outdoors at Bristol
KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (Aug. 17, 2017) – As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the high banks of Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Kevin Harvick will be in the outdoors hunting for his second win of the season and his second straight win in the night race at “The Last Great Colosseum.”
The No. 4 Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) will feature the Busch Outdoors paint scheme this weekend at Bristol.
Busch Beer has embodied the spirit of the great outdoors since its inception in 1955. This fall, Busch Beer will launch an evolution of past fishing and hunting programs: The Great Outdoors program, which will celebrate this rich history with outdoor pursuits.
From Sept. 4 to Dec. 4, Busch and Busch Light packaging will be converted to Great Outdoors packaging featuring bold colors, varied wildlife and the iconic stream. During this time, consumers who find a gold trophy can will have the chance to win an epic outdoors trip by visitingwww.Busch.com.
Those who find a gold trophy can are able to enter Busch Beer’s Great Outdoors contest. Busch fans can submit a picture of their gold trophy can on social media using #TrophyCan and #Contest for a chance to win weekly prizes, or the grand prize: a trip to Big Cedar Lodge, America’s premier wilderness resort, with pro angler Kevin VanDam.
The Busch Beer Great Outdoors program will officially launch Sept. 4, but fans at Bristol for this weekend’s race will get a preview of Busch’s new Great Outdoors Packaging on Harvick’s No. 4 Ford.
The background of the car will mimic the Great Outdoor cans featuring a blaze orange and silhouettes of trees and common game. The driver and passenger sides will display an image of the coveted gold trophy can.
Harvick is likely to do well in his outdoor pursuit at the .533-mile high-banked oval.
In August 2016, Harvick scored his second win of the 2016 season, when he started 24th, led 128 laps and beat runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 1.933 seconds. The win was his second in NASCAR’s top series at Bristol. He scored his first win at the .533-mile oval in April 2005, when he started 13th and led 109 of 500 laps and beat Elliott Sadler to the finish line by 4.652 seconds.
In fact, Harvick is one of five drivers to win at Bristol in all three of NASCAR’s top touring series – Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series. The other four drivers are Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Mark Martin.
Harvick has five Xfinity Series wins at Bristol with his most recent coming in March 2009, when he started 13th and led 46 laps to beat runner-up Carl Edwards by .798 of a second. He also visited victory lane at Bristol in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in August 2011, when he started sixth, led 103 of 200 laps and beat Johnny Sauter by .434 of a second.
As the second half of the 2017 season continues, Harvick and the No. 4 Busch Outdoors team are ranked fourth in points with a win to their credit and eight playoff points. The goal moving forward is to score as many playoff points as possible in the remaining three regular-season races.
The best way to gain playoff points is to win races and win stages. Harvick and the No. 4 team will attempt to do both this weekend in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol as he continues his march toward a second NASCAR Cup Series championship.
For more information on Busch or its involvement with NASCAR, visit www.Busch.com, https://twitter.com/BuschBeer or www.Facebook.com/Busch.
KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Outdoors Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:
What did you take away from your win last August at Bristol?
“For me, I was excited that you were able to use the bottom of the racetrack, and the lapped cars had an option. You just didn’t get pinned up high. Really, I just want to applaud the racetrack for the effort they made to really get that bottom groove working so we had multiple grooves of racing, and I think, as a driver, you had a lot of options to make your car work and maneuver through traffic and make up positions. We started 24th and pretty much drove through the field because of that.”
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you get asked about the Bristol Night Race?
“The Bristol night race is just intense. And, for me, it’s a place I love going to race because it reminds me a lot of my home track and the rhythm and things that you used to do there, running around the bottom of the racetrack. That changed for a while, when they changed the racetrack. But, since the changes and with the addition of the VHT and things, with the groove coming back to the bottom you’ve kind of got those memories rekindled with the rhythm that used to be for me at Mesa Marin.”
Chassis Information - Chassis No. 4-884: Kevin Harvick will pilot the No. 4 Busch Outdoors Ford Fusion built on Chassis No. 4-884 in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race Saturday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Built in 2014, Chassis No. 4-884 made its debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where it won the pole, led 12 laps and finished eighth. It also won the pole in its second appearance at Atlanta Motor Speedway in August, when it led 195 laps and finished 19th. It won its third appearance at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in October, when it started seventh and led 162 laps. Harvick won the Bass Pro Shops NRA Bristol Night Race in August 2016, when he beat runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to the finish line by 1.933 seconds in. It has scored two wins, six top-two finishes, eight top-fives and 10 top-10s in 11 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
Bristol Motor Speedway Notes of Interest: