Catchfence

No. 33 Jimmy John's Chevrolet Impala (Kevin Harvick) - Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR

HALFWAY POINT: This weekend for the 18th (of 35) race of the year and the official halfway point of the 2010 season, the NASCAR Nationwide Series rolls into Chicagoland Speedway.

As the team unloads the No. 33 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet, Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) co-owner Kevin Harvick prepares to make his eighth career Nationwide Series start at the 1.5-mile oval. In seven previous Nationwide Series starts, Harvick has two wins, four top-five and four top-10 finishes.

On the Cup side, Harvick will be making his 10th career Sprint Cup Series start at Chicagoland Speedway. In nine previous starts, Harvick has two wins, five top-five and six top-10 finishes. He has completed all but one lap attempted (2405 of 2406 laps) and led 282 laps.

250 STRONG: When two-time Nationwide Series champion Harvick took the green flag at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway to start the Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered by Coca-Cola last weekend, he hit a career milestone. It marked his 250th-career start in the Nationwide Series and added to his stellar stats and accomplishments in NASCAR’s second tier.

In those starts, Harvick has recorded 36 wins to put him second on the all-time win list behind Mark Martin and tied with Kyle Busch, 20 poles, 128 top-five and 181 top-10 finishes. He has 241 races where he was running at the finish of competition and 202 races where he finished on the lead lap. His average start in the series is 9.4 with an average finish of 8.7. He has completed 46,830 laps for a total of 58,642.8 miles and led 6564 total laps in his 12-year career in the series. To top his stats, Harvick earned the 2001 and 2006 Nationwide Series championship titles.

Kevin Harvick

What’s unique about Chicagoland Speedway?

“Probably that you go through the corners pretty much wide open. You let off sooner than you do at most places, and you drive it all the way through the corners under power. That’s not extremely different from other tracks, but there is a lot more throttle here than at most places. You get back in it (the gas) a lot quicker than you do at most places.”

What is the fastest way around Chicago?

“The fastest way around Chicago is to run the white line the entire race. However, you never know what the tires and all the other circumstances are going to be when we go back. The track is still aging and it loses grip every time you go back. Over the past couple of years, we have been able to run up the race track a little bit. But I think the person who can run the white line the entire race will win.”

CHASSIS HISTORY:

For the second week in a row, the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. crew will unload a brand-new chassis. This week, the team will unload chassis No. 061 carrying the Jimmy John’s colors for Harvick at Chicagoland Speedway.

PREVIOUS RACE RECAP:

For the 17th stop of the 2010 season, the Nationwide Series returned to Daytona International Speedway and made history as they debuted the new body style Nationwide Series car. Starting the much anticipated race from the ninth position, Harvick never raced further back in the field than his starting position.

Making his way to the lead by lap 12, Harvick ran the majority of the race shuffling around the top five running nose to nose and side-by-side with competitors. Harvick ran the last 25 laps second behind eventual race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., but a late-race caution where Harvick spun the tires on the restart and had contact from a competitor to the back of the No. 33 car shuffled Harvick to a solid fifth-place finish.

Kevin Harvick Nationwide Series Stats at Chicagoland

Year No. Team Start Finish

2009 33 KHI 10 5

2008 33 KHI 4 18

2007 21 RCR 8 1

2006 21 RCR 9 4

2005 21 RCR 5 1

2004 21 RCR 5 41

2001 2 RCR 4 27

*KHI: Kevin Harvick Inc.

*RCR: Richard Childress Racing

About Jimmy John’s:

Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches was founded in 1983 by 19-year-old Jimmy John Liautaud in a converted garage in Charleston, IL. Since its inception, the company has grown to over 1,000 corporate and franchised locations in more than 37 states throughout the U.S. The company is known for its obsession with fresh, quality products and high-speed execution. For more information, visit www.jimmyjohns.com.

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.

- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release