Category: Post-Race Reports
07/02/10
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 4, 2010) — Kicking off the week with the Kevin Harvick Foundation ‘Bringing NASCAR Back to the Beach’ event on Thursday by hosting local Boys and Girls club members for a volleyball game and again on Friday night for the first Nationwide Series new car race, Harvick made his 250th career NASCAR Nationwide Series start Friday night at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and earned a solid top-five finish.
“This was a great debut for the new Nationwide Series car,” said Harvick following the race. “I’m proud of my guys. They’ve worked hard on this new car and it was a great day for our Rheem Swimming Pool Heaters Chevrolet. I had a chance at the end, but spun the tires on the final restart and then had contact from behind. All in all, it was a good night and a lot of fun with the new car.”
Starting the Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered by Coca-Cola from the ninth position, Harvick never fell any further back in the field and ran the entire 102-lap event in the top nine.
Moving into the top five by lap two, Harvick was leading the race by lap 12. Racing side-by-side and shuffling in the top five, Harvick slipped back to sixth on lap 28 before returning to the second position on lap 32 when the caution flag waved for the second time. Pitting on lap 34, the No. 33 team changed four tires and added fuel, making no adjustments to the car. Harvick restarted the race second on lap 26 behind Kyle Busch.
Continuing to run in the top five, Harvick radioed crew chief Ernie Cope on lap 44 that he was loose all the way through the center of the corner and off the corner.
At the scheduled halfway mark, lap 50, Harvick ran seventh. Maintaining his position among the top eight, Harvick opted to pit on lap 70 from the sixth position for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure and track-bar adjustment to help with the loose-handling condition of the No. 33 Chevrolet. After examining the tires from the car, the team discovered that Harvick had run over debris on the track puncturing the right-front tire which could have been a factor in the loose-handling condition. With a great stop by the team, Harvick was able to gain several positions on pit road and restarted the race third on lap 74.
With 25 scheduled laps remaining in the race, Harvick ran second behind eventual race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. Staying in line behind Earnhardt Jr., Harvick continued running in the second position when the final caution waved on lap 96 forcing NASCAR into overtime for a green-white-checkered finish.
Opting to stay out during the caution with the leader while others pitted, Harvick restarted the race in the second position and after spinning the tires on the restart and having contact from behind by another competitor, finished the Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered by Coca-Cola in the fifth position. The finish marked Harvick’s 13th top-eight finish this season in 14 starts.
Earnhardt Jr. won the race followed by Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski and Harvick.
STATS RECAP
July 2, 2010
Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered by Coca-Cola
Race: 17 of 35
Driver: Kevin Harvick
Started: 9th
Finished: 5th
Owner’s Point Standings: 4th (+ 1 spot, 265 points out of 1st)
Race length: 100 laps/250 miles
Banking: 31-degrees in the turns
3-degrees on the straight-a-ways
Track layout: 2.5 miles
Shape: Tri-oval
Number of Laps Led: Two Times for 3 Laps
Number of Race Cautions: 4 for 16 Laps
First Practice: 9th (48.212 seconds; 186.676 mph)
Second Practice: 1st (48.006 seconds; 187.477 mph)
Final Practice: Happy with the No. 33 car, the team decided to sit out final practice and focus on preparing the car for the race.
Qualifying: 9th (49.594 seconds; 181.474 mph)
Next on the Nationwide Series Schedule:
Date: July 9, 2010
Track: Chicagoland Speedway
Event Name: Dollar General 300
Driver: Kevin Harvick
Sponsor: Jimmy John’s Chevrolet
Broadcast Time: 7:30 p.m., ET on ESPN and 7:30 p.m., ET on MRN Radio