Catchfence

“Earns Eighth Top-Five Finish at Auto Club Speedway”

ONTARIO, Calif. (October 11, 2009) — Returning to the West Coast, Bakersfield, California native Kevin Harvick and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Rheem Chevrolet team started the Copart 300 at Auto Club Speedway from the 10th position and after running the entire race in the top 10, finished in fourth place. The finish marked Harvick’s seventh consecutive top-five finish of the season and his eighth top-five finish at the 1.5-mile track.

“The Rheem team did a great job preparing the No. 33 car for the race,” said Harvick following the event. “We just missed it on pit road today, but good job overall. It had to be one of the wildest races I’ve ever seen at California, but definitely exciting for the fans.”

Looking for his first career Nationwide Series win at Auto Club Speedway, Harvick had one goal on his mind when the green-flag waved and immediately began his march to the front of the field. Starting the race from the 10th position, Harvick moved into the third position on lap 16 and when the caution flag waved on lap 37, pitted from the fourth position for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment to help with the handling of the No.33 machine.

Restarting the race on lap 42 in the fifth position, Harvick continued to run in the top five, working his way as high as second on lap 61 before falling back to fourth when the second caution of the day waved on lap 71. Making a routine stop taking on four fresh tires with no adjustments and fuel, Harvick restarted the race on lap 75 in the fifth position.

Slipping back to the ninth position on lap 107, Harvick began to maneuver his way back through the field. Battling for seventh position, Harvick had to take evasive action on lap 141 to avoid the spinning No.18 car of Denny Hamlin (who replaced Kyle Busch under the first caution due to illness).

With another late-race caution, the scheduled 150-lap event was extended to a green-white-checkered finish. Havick restarted the race from the sixth position and following the wild restart and shuffling of positions, was able to cross the finish line in the fourth position.

Joey Logano went on to win his second race in a row, followed by Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards, Harvick and Brad Keselowski.

Next on the Nationwide Series Schedule:

Date: October 16, 2009

Track: Lowe’s Motor Speedway

Event Name: Dollar General 300

Driver: Ryan Newman

Sponsor: Hungry-Man

Broadcast Time: 7:30 p.m., ET on ESPN2 and 7:30 p.m., ET on PRN Radio

- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release