Catchfence

NEWTON, Iowa (August 2, 2009) — In front of a sold out crowd, Kevin Harvick and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Jimmy John’s team had a ‘freaky fast’ car from the drop of the green flag at Iowa Speedway, but a parts failure on the oil pump mid-way through the race resulted in a 30th-place finish in the US Cellular 250.

“Our Jimmy John’s Chevrolet was pretty good,” said Harvick. “We were able to move into the top five and had a good run going, but its unfortunate that we had problems and didn’t get Jimmy John’s a good finish.”

Starting the US Cellular 250 from the back of the field following a driver change after qualifying (Cale Gale qualified the No. 33 car as Harvick was at Pocono Raceway), Harvick wasted no time moving to the front of the pack. Picking off one car at a time, Harvick moved into the top 20 on lap nine and continued to move forward.

On lap 38, running in the 12th position, Harvick radioed crew chief Ernie Cope under caution that the car was loose off the corner and needed to turn better in the center. He also voiced concern about the brakes, saying that they were going all the way to the floor. The team pitted on lap 41 for right-side tires, fuel and made an adjustment to allow air to get to the right-side brakes. Harvick restarted the race on lap 43 in the ninth position.

Continuing to fight a loose-handling car, Harvick slipped a few positions after the start, but was able to move back into the top 10 on lap 67.

The team made another scheduled pit stop on lap 74 under another caution for four tires, an air-pressure adjustment, fuel and an adjustment to allow air to the left-side brakes. Harvick restarted 14th on lap 78.

Back on the move, Harvick resumed the 10th position on lap 84 and was scored in the fifth position on lap 133. Unfortunately, on lap 140 Harvick reported signs of smoke coming from the car. On lap 144 under caution for debris, Harvick brought the No. 33 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet to pit road and after close inspection under the hood, the Jimmy John’s crew determined a line was broken on the back of the oil pump. Moving to the garage, the team feverishly worked to repair the car and Harvick returned to the race on lap 203 to finish in the 30th spot.

Brad Keselowski won the inaugural race and earned $75,000 in the third installment of the Nationwide Series ‘Dash for Cash’ event. Rounding out the top five were Kyle Busch, Jason Leffler, Carl Edwards and Kelly Bires

- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release