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Late-Race Incident Leaves Harvick and the Budweiser Team 17th at Darlington

Post-Race Reports | NASCAR Cup Series | 05/07/11

No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet
SHOWTIME Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway

Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• A late-race incident cost Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team a top-five finish in Saturday night’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Despite leading 47 laps and earning an average running position of 4.4 during the race, Harvick ended up with a 17th-place result.
• The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet started the race from 13th position and Harvick worked his way up to the top 10 before lap 15. From there he remained inside the top 10 until the final laps of the race.
• Harvick was scored as the leader for the first time on lap 222 as the field came down pit road under caution for the team’s fifth pit stop of the race. The Budweiser team made only minor air pressure adjustments during the race to aid the car’s handling as the sun set and the track cooled off.
• Following the pit stop, Harvick restarted from the third position at lap 225, and moved back into the point position just 11 laps later. He held the lead until the team pitted again at lap 281 and another car beat him off pit road. During the subsequent run, he radioed to the team that the Budweiser Chevrolet was too tight as he dropped back to third position. The No. 29 team made a green-flag stop at lap 330 for four tires and fuel and cycled back to third position once all the teams pitted.
• When the caution flag waved at lap 357, the No. 29 team made what they planned to be their last stop of the night two laps later, taking only right-side tires. Harvick restarted in the sixth position at lap 362. He and Kyle Busch in the No. 18 car made contact several times during the next lap. Then Harvick’s RCR teammate, Clint Bowyer, got into the mix and the trio went three wide, resulting in contact that sent the No. 33 car spinning into the inside retaining wall. As the cars continued down the frontstretch, Busch hooked the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet in the right-rear quarter panel, sending Harvick spinning up in front of the rest of the field.
• The No. 29 team pitted twice under caution to make repairs to the Budweiser Chevrolet and Harvick restarted in the 18th position for the green-white-checkered finish. He was able to pick up one position before the checkered flag waved on lap 370 and finished 17th.
• The on-track conflict between Harvick and Busch continued onto pit road following the race. Both drivers were called to the NASCAR hauler after the event to discuss their post-race actions with NASCAR officials.
• Despite the finish, Harvick is still ranked fifth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He’s 50 points behind first position.
• Regan Smith scored his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in Saturday night’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five finishing positions.
• Edwards continues to lead the driver point standings and holds a 23-point margin over Jimmie Johnson. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick complete the top five.
• Follow along each weekend with Harvick and the team on Twitter. Check out @KevinHarvick for behind-the-scenes information straight from the driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Get live updates from the track each weekend from @Black29Car, the PR team for Harvick. Also, follow @RCRracing and @RCR29KHarvick for additional information about the Richard Childress Racing organization.

Harvick on the end of Saturday’s race:
“Obviously we were racing hard and doing what we had to do there at the end and things happen.”

The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the SHOWTIME Southern 500:
• Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished third.
• Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, finished fourth.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 AMP Energy Sugar-Free/National Guard Chevrolet team finished 14th.
• Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Wiley X Eyewear Ford (usually Crown Royal-sponsored) team finished 25th.
• Brian Vickers and the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota team finished 34th.
• Mike Skinner and the No. 60 Big Red Toyota team finished 37th.
• Robby Gordon, driver of the No. 7 Fast Five/SPEED Energy Dodge, finished 40th.

The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the SHOWTIME Southern 500:
• Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Turtle Wax/Menards Chevrolet, finished 22nd.
• Clint Bowyer and the No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet finished 31st.
• Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 33rd.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to “The Monster Mile,” Dover International Speedway, for the FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks on Sunday, May 15. SPEED is scheduled to air Friday’s practice sessions live at 11 a.m. ET and 2:30 p.m. ET. On Saturday, SPEED will air live coverage of qualifying starting at noon ET. FOX will provide the live race broadcast on Sunday starting with the pre-race show at 12:30 p.m. ET. SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio and MRN Radio will air radio coverage of the on-track action at Dover.


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