Category: Pre-Race Reports
05/31/10
MUSIC CITY MAGIC: Mike Bliss will make his first career start for Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) this week behind the wheel of the No. 33 Charter Chevrolet at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
This will mark the 13th-career Nationwide Series start for Bliss at the 1.333-mile track. In 12 previous starts, Bliss has scored three top-five and six top-10 finishes. He has an average start of 14 and an average finish of 13.6. Bliss has led 23 laps on his way to completing 93.5 percent of laps attempted (2525 of 2700 laps).
In addition to his Nationwide Series career at Nashville Superspeedway, Bliss has seen success in the Truck Series in just three starts. In his very first Truck Series start at the track in 2002, he won the race from the pole position. In three Truck Series starts, Bliss has one pole, one win, one top five and one top-10 finish. He has an average start of 8.3 with an average finish of 18. 3. He has led 29 laps and completed 96.2 percent of laps attempted (435 of 452 laps).
WELCOME TO THE TEAM: This week the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team welcomes Bliss to the driver line-up for the race at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, Kentucky Speedway and the October race at Gateway International Raceway. In addition to Bliss, Ron Hornaday also joins the line-up for the Nationwide Series races at Road America and O’Reilly Raceway Park.
LOOKING FOR NO. 500: Following his 12th-place finish at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Bliss moved one step closer to his 500th-career start across NASCAR’s top-three series. Bliss has 104 Cup, 189 Nationwide and 203 Truck Series starts totaling 496 career starts. Bliss added the Truck Series championship to his résumé in 2002.
BEFORE THE RACE: QUOTES WITH DRIVER MIKE BLISS:
Talk about being in KHI equipment and driving the No. 33 Nationwide Series car for the first time. “To start off with, I’m pretty excited to be able to run for Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) and KHI. The places that we are going to run are places that I like and have won at in the past. It also just happens to be where they (KHI) won their last race (Nationwide Series race at Nashville Superspeedway in April), so it will be kind of disappointing if we finish second.
Is there added pressure going into the Federated Auto Parts 300 with the team that is the most recent winner in the Nationwide Series at Nashville Superspeedway? “I don’t feel any added pressure. Ernie Cope and I use to compete with each other and have known each other for a long time and I am excited to work with him. I think Nashville is Nashville. It has always been the same with everybody getting better and better. Their (KHI No. 33 car) car was really fast there earlier this year and that makes this really exciting, the cars are really good.
What are the keys to getting around Nashville Superspeedway? ”Nashville gets tight in the long runs. It’s a concrete track and like all concrete tracks, they just get tighter. Track position is big at Nashville and it seems like every year it gets worse for track position. Track position is real important. The biggest thing is getting the car to roll around the bottom of the race track and drive up off the corner a little free and if you’re not, that gets worse as you go through long runs.
CHASSIS HISTORY: This week the No. 33 team will unload chassis No. 051 from the KHI stables. This chassis was last on track at Dover (Del.) International Speedway where two-time Nationwide Series champ Harvick piloted the chassis to a sixth-place finish. Prior to Dover, the chassis visited victory lane in its last appearance at Nashville Superspeedway and earned a fifth-place finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: The Nationwide Series rounded out the month of May at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway where KHI team co-owner Harvick started the 300-mile race from the 18th position and after running in the top 10 for most of the event, finished sixth. The finish marked Harvick’s 11th top-eight finish of the season.
ARE YOU A FOLLOWER? Twitter users can now keep up-to-date with Kevin Harvick Inc.’s NASCAR Nationwide Series by following @KHI_NNS. In addition, you can follow KHI’s Truck Series teams @KHI_TruckSeries. Want more from KHI? Follow KHI’s co-owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick @KevinHarvick and @DeLanaHarvick.
ONLINE MEDIA KITS: Media members can now access KHI media kits online at KevinHarvickInc.com. Included on the site are driver bios, driver and team images, KHI history and statistics, team profiles and schedules. Please contact Alicia Deal (adeal@kevinharvickinc.com) at KHI for access to the new site.
QUICK NOTES
June 5, 2010
Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway
Federated Auto Parts 300
Race length: 225 laps/300 miles
Banking: 14-degrees in the turns
9-degrees on the frontstretch
6-degrees on the backstretch
Track layout: 1.333 miles
Shape: D-shaped Oval
Pre-Race Schedule:
Thursday:
First Practice: 6:00 p.m., ET – 7:15 p.m., ET
Final Practice: 7:45 p.m., ET – 9:00 p.m., ET
Saturday:
Qualifying: 4:05 p.m., ET
TV: The Federated Auto Parts 300 can be seen live on ESPN at 7:30 p.m., ET.
Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast the race live at 7:30 p.m., ET.
No. 33 Charter Chevrolet Specs:
Chassis: 051
Engine: Earnhardt-Childress Racing (ECR)
Mike Bliss
Nationwide Stats at Nashville
Year No. Team Start Finish
2010 40 CK 42 27
2009 1 JF 8 4
2009 1 JF 7 8
2008 1 JF 3 12
2008 22 AF 2 11
2007 22 AF 12 16
2007 22 AF 3 10
2006 34 FC 28 26
2004 20 JG 11 4
2004 20 JG 9 8
2003 20 JG 6 33
2003 20 JG 37 4
*CK: Curtis Key
*JF: James Finch
*AF: Armando Fitz
*FC: Frank Cicci
*JG: Joe Gibbs
About Kevin Harvick Inc.:
Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001 by Kevin and DeLana Harvick, is an 80,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. Home of the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship team, KHI enters 2010 in its seventh full year of competition with two full-time Truck Series teams and one full-time Nationwide Series team. Four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday returns to the helm of the No. 33 Truck team looking for his fifth title and third championship for KHI (2009 and 2007), while Sprint Cup series stars Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler guide the No. 2 Truck team. Two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Harvick will again shine as the lead driver of the No. 33 Nationwide Series team as he continues to make his mark in motorsports and establish KHI as one of the top teams in NASCAR competition. For more information about KHI and its teams, please visit www.KevinHarvickInc.com.