WELCOME TO THE TEAM: Shelby Howard will be behind the wheel of the No. 2 Foretravel Motorcoach Chevrolet Silverado for this weekend’s AAA Insurance 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park (ORP), It will be the first of a three-race partnership between Howard and Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI). In addition to ORP, the 25-year-old Greenwood, Indiana native will take over the No. 2 truck driving duties at Chicagoland Speedway (8/27) and Kentucky Speedway (9/3).
LOOKING FOR NUMBER ONE: Although Shelby Howard has three wins in the ARCA Racing Series (all in 2003), he has yet to find his way to Victory Lane in NASCAR’s top-three series. Howard hopes to take the checkered flag for the first time this weekend at his home track. In his 38 Nationwide Series starts and 33 Truck Series starts, Howard’s best NASCAR finish of fifth came at ORP in 2008.
THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: Shelby Howard
How do you feel about making your KHI debut at ORP?
“I’m really looking forward to driving the KHI truck at O’Reilly Raceway Park because of the caliber of trucks that come out of the KHI shop. I consider ORP my “home” track as my home is so close to the track. I’ve logged more laps at ORP since I started racing when I was nine years old than any other track. I love short track racing and I am looking forward to racing the Truck Series and Nationwide races in one weekend.”
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: After earning his first career Truck Series pole award, KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick had a dominating performance at Gateway International Raceway, leading 143 of 160 laps before bringing the No. 2 Chevrolet to Victory Lane. The win was Harvick’s ninth career Truck Series victory, his third of the season.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 2 team will utilize chassis No. 037 this weekend at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Chassis No. 037 was most recently raced at Gateway International Raceway by Ron Hornaday, who started eighth and finished 26th due to a broken left-front sway bar arm.
ARE YOU A FOLLOWER? Twitter users can now keep up-to-date with Kevin Harvick Inc.’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Teams by following at http://twitter.com/KHI_TruckSeries. In addition, you can follow KHI’s Nationwide Series team at http://twitter.com /KHI_NNS. Want more from KHI? Follow KHI’s co-owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick at http://twitter.com/kevinharvick and http://twitter.com/delanaharvick.
MEDIA ACCESS: Members of the media can now log on to www.kevinharvickinc.com to gain access to press kit information online. For more information, please email Jessica Trippy at KHI: jtrippy@kevinharvickinc.com.
QUICK NOTES
Race Info:
July 23, 2010
O’Reilly Raceway Park
AAA Insurance 200 presented by J.D. Byrider
Truck Specs:
Chassis: 037
Engine: Earnhardt-Childress Racing (ECR)
Track Layout:
0.686-Mile Oval
Length: 200 Laps/137.2 Miles
Banking:
Turns: 7.5-degrees
Straightaways: 2-degrees
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday:
Practice: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. EST
Final Practice: 12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EST
Qualifying: 5:10 p.m. EST
Race: 8:00 p.m. EST
TV: SPEED will broadcast live at 7:30 p.m. EST
Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast live at 7:30 p.m. EST
Shelby Howard
Truck Series Statistics at
O’Reilly Raceway Park:
Starts: 1
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Top 5: 1
Top 10: 1
Laps Led: 0
Average Start: 6.0
Average Finish: 5.0
Shelby Howard
Nationwide Series Statistics at
O’Reilly Raceway Park:
Starts: 4
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Top 5: 0
Top 10: 0
Laps Led: 0
Average Start: 20.0
Average Finish: 24.8