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Kevin Harvick No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Event Preview: Darlington
Pre-Race Reports |
XFINITY Series |
08/30/17
NASCAR XFINITY Series Overview
Event: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200
Date: Saturday, September 2, 2017
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Layout: 1.366-mile oval
Kevin Harvick Notes of Interest
- Hunt Brothers Pizza makes its fourth start with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) as a primary sponsor with driver Kevin Harvick.
- Hunt Brothers Pizza will pay tribute to its first year in NASCAR with a throwback paint scheme on the No. 41 Ford Mustang Harvick will drive during the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race Saturday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The 2017 scheme was inspired by Hunt Brothers Pizza’s No. 70 car that debuted at the 2008 Talladega Superspeedway for what was then known as Haas CNC Racing, the precursor to SHR.
- In addition to the iconic green base, the No. 41 Ford Mustang will feature red and white ribbon accents mirroring the brand’s former “pizza shoppe” design that race fans recognize from convenience stores across the country.
- Hunt Brothers Pizza and Haas CNC Racing first teamed up for the 2008 season. In 2014, Hunt Brothers Pizza reunited with what had become SHR to serve as a sponsor in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. When SHR formed an XFINITY Series team for the 2017 season, Hunt Brothers Pizza became a primary sponsor with Harvick and the No. 41 team.
- The No. 41 Ford Mustang will also include a nod to Harvick’s early days in NASCAR with the Camping World Truck Series. A classic pepperoni pizza is displayed on the car, just as the saw blade sliced across the rear quarter panel of Harvick’s No. 98 Porter Cable Ford F-150 truck in 1999.
- Harvick is making his final of six scheduled XFINITY Series starts in the No. 41 Ford Mustang for SHR in 2017.
- He finished fourth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, third at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth in April, second at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in May, fourth at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta in July, and sixth at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in early August.
- Harvick has one pole, two top-five finishes, eight top-10s and 135 laps led in 14 XFINITY starts at Darlington.
- Harvick won the pole at Darlington in August 2003 with a lap at 167.516 mph.
- His XFINITY Series career includes 46 wins, 182 top-five finishes, 255 top-10s, 25 poles and 9,444 laps led in 340 starts.
- Harvick will be joined Saturday by SHR teammate Cole Custer in the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang at Darlington.
Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang
Hunt Brothers Pizza is running a paint scheme that throws it back to its roots in racing and also gives a nod to your history. What does running the Hunt Brothers Pizza throwback scheme like that mean to you?
“As Hunt Brothers Pizza celebrates its 10th season in NASCAR, I am honored to have been a part of its journey as it has supported me in the Truck, XFINITY and NASCAR Cup Series. But I am completely floored by the company’s creative way of implementing an element of my beginnings in NASCAR for this memorable weekend. This is our eighth season together and Hunt Brothers Pizza has been a great sponsor over the years. I’m looking forward to a strong race in its throwback car.”
What makes Darlington Raceway so unique in terms of the racing?
“Darlington is a track with a lot of history and is one that you circle on your calendar each year. This track has a lot of character and it is easy to make mistakes, so we just focus on ourselves, race the track and try to avoid making any of those mistakes.”
What is it about Darlington that makes it special for you as a competitor?
“For me, personally, I look forward to coming to Darlington every year just for the fact that it means so much to our sport and has such a huge history in what we have accomplished as a sport altogether. To be able to come back and race and be able to experience things that they have experienced through the years on a racetrack that has been repaved, but its original shape is still the same. To me that is something that is pretty neat. I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
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