DPR Sports & Racing News

Kevin Harvick wins wild COKE ZERO 400 at Daytona

NASCAR Photos

In this 52nd Running of the summer event and the last before a major resurfacing of the speedway,  Kevin Harvick captured his 13th victory in 340 Sprint Cup Series Races. 

There were an event record 18 different leaders.

The previous record was 15 (1986, 2006). 

 This is his second victory and 13th top-10 finish in 2010.

This is his second victory and eighth top10 finish. in 19 races at Daytona.

Kevin Harvick leads Kasey Kahne, teammate Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon during the closing laps of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Bowyer, who led the race four times for 19 laps, ended up spinning on the final lap of the Green/White/Checker and finished 17^th.

The final restart "wasn't the situation we wanted to be in," Harvick said early Sunday in Victory Lane. "I wanted to be behind him and be able to push him, because it was working pretty good for us."

Pretty unstoppable, he could have said. Just before the caution came out, just shy of the white flag of regulation, Harvick had pushed Bowyer past leader Jeff Gordon so powerfully that they left Gordon dwindling in their mirrors.

"Then we had to split up because of the double-file restarts," Harvick said.

That is, they had to race each other side by side. Harvick hated it, but, hey, adios.

"It was every man for himself at that point," Harvick said. "You know the guys behind you are going to push you as hard as they can. So if I'd slowed down to let him in or something like that, it would have just given the other line more momentum. At that point you just hope your line goes faster than the other line.

"Tonight we were in the right line, on the bottom," Harvick continued, "and it wound up working out."

Kasey Kahne (second) posted his fifth top 10 finish in 14 races at Daytona .  

Kahne was the one who gave Harvick the winning push out front of Bowyer on the final restart. Gordon tried to give Bowyer a push in the other lane, but Bowyer couldn't make anything of it.

All Kahne knew in the final frenzy was that "I was just pushing the 29. That was my only choice.

"I never had a chance to pass the 29, so I just kept pushing him," Kahne said, and it netted him a second-place finish.

It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2010.

 Jeff Gordon (third) posted his 18th top 10 finish in 36 races at Daytona International Speedway.

"I never had a chance to pass the 29, so I just kept pushing him," Kahne said, and it netted him a second-place finish.

Said Gordon, who wound up third: "I was pushing the 33 [Bowyer], and we had a great start. I gave him a big shove."

Trouble was, "I think maybe he was afraid he got too big of a shove or something," Gordon said. "He seemed to let off the gas or get on the brakes. I hit him again."

Finally, "I needed to go," Gordon said, "so I went to the outside of him. When I went to the outside, the 29 and the 9 pretty much just cruised on by."

And that was that, for the last race on the battered, worn, 31-year-old pavement of Daytona International Speedway. A massive $20 million repaving job will begin next week.

If they give away chunks of the old surface, "I want a piece of that start-finish line," Harvick said.

Next Up… The LifeLock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.

http://www.kevinharvick.com/

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Chicagoland Speedway Photo Gallery 2009

Harvick's Pit crew keeps him in the hunt.. finishes 19th

Photos by Dan Peters

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Kevin Harvick at The Brickyard, 2008

Kevin Harvick Atop Washington Post’s Online March Madness Celebrity Challenge Standings After First Two Rounds

Brendan Gaughan, who played Basketball at Georgetown, poses in a Davidson Jersey after thier win over the Hoyas

NASCAR Photo

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 26, 2008) – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing (RCR), leads a power-packed field of athletes, political personalities and media in The Washington Post’s Online March Madness Celebrity Pick standings after the first two rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Brendan Gaughan, who drives the No. 10 MaxxForce Diesel Ford in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and played college basketball for the Hoyas of Georgetown University, is currently in fourth position to give NASCAR a big presence atop the standings.

Also participating from NASCAR is Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Stanley Tools/Best Buy Dodge, and Jeff Burton, Harvick’s teammate at RCR and driver of the No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet, who are in 16th and 21st place, respectively.

Others in the field include pro tennis player Serena Williams, Washington Wizards all-star forward Antawn Jamison, political commentator Tucker Carlson, political strategist James Carville, DC blogger Dan Steinberg and Washington Post columnist and co-host of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, Michael Wilbon, who is currently in third place.

“I am pretty excited to be leading the Washington Post celebrity NCAA tournament pick challenge,” said Harvick. “Having last weekend off gave me a chance to watch a lot of basketball and keep up with my bracket.  If North Carolina can win this deal, I will be sitting pretty.  However, I can’t believe my teammate Jeff Burton, is among those bringing up the rear. He must have picked Duke to win.”

In fact, Burton, a devout Duke fan, played with his head rather than his heart in picking Kansas, not Duke, to have that one shining moment, but lost Pittsburgh, his other finals team, in their loss to Michigan State.  He also has North Carolina and UCLA in the final four in San Antonio.

Although Harvick is in good position for the time being, Sadler should not be overlooked as he is the only driver to have all his final four picks still intact (North Carolina, UCLA, Texas and Kansas – with North Carolina as his national champion overtaking UCLA in the final game). Harvick picked Memphis to bow to North Carolina in the final game and also picked UCLA in the final four, but saw one of his final four teams eliminated.
 
Although Gaughan got off to a fast start, his hopes of besting the field were dealt a fatal blow when his alma mater, Georgetown (also Harvick’s lone final four pick to be ousted), who he picked to win the national championship, was eliminated by cinderella Davidson this past weekend. Said Gaughan (Hoyas basketball member from 1993 – ’97), “The good news is that I’m sitting in fourth right now.  The bad news is that there’s only one way for me to go now – down.  My Georgetown Hoyas got beat by a very strong Davidson team.  I’ve said from the get-go of these brackets that’s there’s one team that I was worried about through the tournament.  I didn’t think that Kansas would be a problem for us, but I felt that if Davidson got by Gonzaga, that that was going to be tough game from for us.  The boys from Davidson – which I now live five minutes from that campus – I’m very proud of what they’ve done.  Dell Curry did a great job of teaching his boys how to step up when he needs to.  Go Davidson.”

“You will most likely see me in a lot of Davidson garb this weekend at Martinsville because everyone at Circle Bar Racing wants to make sure they get their dig in.” 

To view the overall standings heading into Thursday’s Sweet 16 action and track the celebrity picks until the end of the tournament, go to: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/ncaa/madness/standings/celebs/

NASCAR Photos

Kevin Harvick
No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala
Chicagoland Preview Fact Sheet

This Week's Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet at Chicagoland Speedway ... Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 301 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable.  Built new for 2010, this Chevrolet was tested at Charlotte Motor Speedway in April.  Harvick finished seventh with this car at Texas Motor Speedway in April and finished 11th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May. 
 
Follow the Leader ... Fresh off his win last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Harvick remains the leader in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. Harvick stretched his lead to 212 points, and has two wins, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in the season's first 18 races. At the same time, Harvick has finished 13th or better in 16 of the season's first 18 events.
 
Remarkable Turnaround ... At this point last season through 18 races, Harvick was 26th in points and had accumulated 1,683 points.  In 2010, the point leader has amassed 2,684 points, an astounding 1,001 more points than last year.
 
Race to the Chase ... With just eight events remaining before the 2010 NSCS Chase field is set, Harvick enjoys a 553-point lead over 13th.  The Bakersfield, Calif., driver leads all competitors with 13 top-10 finishes.  Additionally, he has finished on the lead lap in every event but one, with the lone exception being Martinsville. At the paper-clip shaped facility, Harvick led 57 of the first 58 laps, but suffered a brake failure that forced the team to go behind the wall for repairs. 
 
Career Chicagoland Stats ... The LifeLock.com 400 marks Harvick's 341st career start in the NSCS.

• In nine NSCS starts at the 1.5-mile oval, Harvick owns two wins, five top-five and six top-10 finishes.

• He owns an average start of 14.9 and an average finish of 8.7 at Chicagoland.

• His wins came in back-to-back fashion in 2001 and 2002.

• He has completed all laps contested but one in his nine starts (2,405 of 2,406 total laps).

• He has led at least one lap in five of his nine Chicagoland starts, for a total of 282 laps led.

In the Loop ... Harvick owns some very impressive loop data statistics over the season's first 18 races.

• First in average finish (8.1).

• First in Closer category, total positions improved during the last 10 percent of each race.

• Fourth in fastest speed in traffic.

• Fourth in fastest drivers late in a run.

• Sixth in Driver Rating, a formula combining the following categories:  wins, finishes, top-15 finishes, average running position while on lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps, and lead lap finish.

• Sixth in average running position.

• Seventh in green flag speed.

• Seventh in percentage of laps run on the lead lap.

Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola Recap ... In last weekend's Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, Harvick led the most laps and scored the victory, his second points-paying win of 2010. Harvick started on the pole and scored his fourth top-five finish in his last five starts.  It was Harvick's 13th NSCS win, which ties him for 51st on the all-time win list.
 
Double Duty at Chicagoland ... In addition to his driving duties with the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, Harvick will race Kevin Harvick Incorporated's No. 33 Chevrolet in the July 9th Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series event.  The race will air live on ESPN2 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

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RCR and Harvick Sign Contract Extension

Richard Childress Racing and Kevin Harvick have signed a multi-year contract extension for the 2007 Daytona 500 winner to continue his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driving career with the 12-time NASCAR championship-winning organization.

The announcement was made at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Harvick, 34, began his RCR driving career in 1999. All of his 334 Sprint Cup Series starts, beginning with the second race of the 2001 season, have been in RCR's No. 29 Chevrolet. The 12-time race winner in NASCAR's elite series has also been part of three NASCAR Nationwide Series championships with RCR, winning the title outright in 2001 and 2006 and co-driving for the owners-only championship in 2003.

"I'm happy to be able to continue my relationship with Richard and RCR because, over the last 10 years, we've been through a lot together," said Harvick.  "Being able to put this piece of the puzzle in place couldn't have come at a better time for me and this team because we can focus solely on winning this championship."

Harvick leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings after 12 of 36 races. The winner of the April 2010 race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway leads second-place Kyle Busch by 69 points. RCR teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer are eighth and 15^th, respectively.

"Kevin has been a big part of RCR for more than a decade now so it's good to know our relationship will continue for years to come," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing. "The No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil team is leading the points and really working very well together this season. This new contract should only help build on their momentum."

Harvick wins Back-To-Back Bud Shootouts.. Wins First race of 2010 Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Photo

http://danspitstopracing.com/nascar_sprint_cup 

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Kevin Harvick Wins a Wild 2009 Bud Shootout at Daytona

                     NASCAR Photos 

The crew of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet, take over Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night. Driver Kevin Harvick later said during a news conference with the media that a major factor in taking the checkered flag was simple: "The car was fast."

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet, poses with his trophy for winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout Saturday

Crew members work on the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick, on pit road during Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout at Daytona (Below)

 Crew   

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Kevin Harvick at the 2008 Lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway

Photos Above By Dan Peters

Kevin Harvick Makes a visit to the Coca Cola Bottling Plant

Kevin Harvick loads crates at the Richmond Coca-Cola bottling facility in Sandston, Va

Kevin Harvick (left) and Richmond International Raceway president Doug Fritz try out freshly canned Coca-Cola Classic at the Richmond Coca-Cola bottling facility.

Richmond International Raceway president Doug Fritz (left) looks on as NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick tastes a fresh-off-the-line Diet Coke at the Richmond Coca-Cola bottling facility.

Philadelphia Flyers center Jeff Carter (left) shows off his new Shell/Pennzoil jacket while Kevin Harvick displays his personalized #29 Philadelphia Flyers jersey.

NASCAR Photos

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 18, 2008) – When Kevin Harvick (No. 33 RoadLoans.com / Camping World Chevrolet) took the track first Friday morning at Daytona International Speedway for the start of NASCAR Preseason Thunder, he officially began his 10th year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

He’s won two championships (2006, 2001) and helped owner Richard Childress earn the series’ first split title when Harvick and Johnny Sauter claimed the owner championship in 2003.

And Daytona has been good to Harvick with RCR and with his own Kevin Harvick Inc. team. Last February, he won the season-opening NASCAR Nationwide Series race before capturing one of the most exciting Daytona 500 victories in the event’s history driving for RCR. In 2005-06, Tony Stewart won the first race of the season in NASCAR Nationwide competition driving for KHI.

But this season’s kickoff has a different feel to it for Harvick. For the first time in a decade of series competition, he won’t be driving for Childress. Instead, he’ll be driving his own KHI cars. And he’ll be helping to develop new talent, bringing newcomer Cale Gale into the fold.

“I’ve been so fortunate to run the 21 and the 2 (for RCR) and win a lot of races (32, second all-time in series history),” Harvick said. “But it was time to do something different for myself.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge of running my own cars and creating a little bit different challenge from all aspects. I know what it’s been like the last few years to be winning races and being competitive week in and week out, and that’s what we are shooting for.”

Harvick and his wife, DeLana, have built KHI into a championship-caliber team with their NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series organization, capturing the title in that series last November with driver Ron Hornaday Jr., who also will drive in select NASCAR Nationwide Series events for the team.

Gale relishes the opportunity to learn from two champions as he begins his NASCAR national series career.

“To be able to race with (Kevin and DeLana) and share a car with Ron Hornaday is a dream come true for me,” Gale said. “The main thing is to go out and do everything I can as a race car driver when I am in the car. Start to race consistent, get better finishes each and every week and learn as much as I can as quick as possible.”

That learning curve will be just fine with the boss, who is one of four current or former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers who are returning to the NASCAR Nationwide Series as owners to develop drivers, crew members and team personnel as well as help grow the series.

“With Nationwide coming on board, it’s a huge boost for the Series,” Harvick said. “I think as we go forward (the series) will be as strong as ever and you will see more young guys, more independent teams and hopefully more Cup drivers having Nationwide teams and participating in the series, supporting the sport as they should.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 31, 2008) – Perhaps it was the West Coast air or proximity to his hometown of Bakersfield, but Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) was happy to go to work Thursday at California Speedway.

“I think everybody has figured out why everybody likes to live in California –  because of the weather today,” he said during a lunch-break visit to the track’s infield media center.

Sunshine and a calm atmosphere aside, the fit and feel of his car during the first session of a two-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test at California also had Harvick – the defending Daytona 500 champion whose nickname is “Happy” – distributing verbal kudos.

Thursday’s and Friday’s California test was preceded by a two-day session earlier in the week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, all part of NASCAR Preseason Thunder – NASCAR’s annual January test sessions – and all in preparation for the first fulltime season of competition for NASCAR’s new race car.

With the snow-capped San Gabriel mountains overshadowing the backstretch and none of the wind that plagued drivers Monday in Las Vegas, Harvick said positive results from earlier in the week in Nevada seem to have crossed state borders. He was 13th-fastest during Thursday’s morning session – 180.180 mph (39.960 seconds) while Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet) was ninth-quickest at 180.537 mph (39.881 seconds)

“As we went to Las Vegas, I think everybody was surprised just how well the cars unloaded,” Harvick said Thursday. “I think the most difficult thing we've experienced probably over the last few days is just the different mindsets coming into the different styles of racetracks. 

“Las Vegas is very wide open, lots of grip. Here you slide around and there's a lot of fall-off on the tires. So just trying to understand the difference from the setup that you're going to take from Las Vegas to here was a good experience for us.”

This week’s West Coast test is yielding research crucial to early-season races. But regardless of data accumulated and lessons learned, Harvick says one reason for the new car’s genesis should not be forgotten – safety.

“You can get in and out of the cars no problem with your helmet on,” he said. “You've got plenty of room. Your head's not resting against the window net. You don't have any problems getting the seats mounted in the cars. 

“It has to be applauded just for the fact that the safety side of it is tremendously better just because the drivers are more comfortable in the cars, able to get in and out of them easier.”

NASCAR PHOTO

Kevin Harvick's GM Goodwrench Car at The USG 400. July, 2005