Catchfence

Kevin Harvick Maintains NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Point Lead

Long Pond, PA – In a wild ending to the rain-delayed Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 at Pocono Raceway, Tony Stewart, No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet took a solid third place finish and was the first of six Team Chevy drivers to cross finish in the top-10. Stewart gained three positions and is now 13^th in the point standings.

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet crossed the stripe in fourth place, and continues to lead the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 14 events in the 2010 record books.

The race was won by Denny Hamlin (Toyota) and his teammate Kyle Busch finished second.

Four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, scored a fifth place finish and moved up one spot in the standings to sixth place.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, and Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet claimed 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th place finishes, respectively.  Burton holds on to 8^th place in the point standings, Montoya remains in 20^th, and Bowyer moved up one spot to 12^th place in the points.

Team Chevy drivers Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, and Ryan Newman, No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet were involved in a multi-car  crash on the last lap of the 500-miler, and finished 32^nd, 29^th, and 14^th respectively. Gordon and Martin remain in the top 12 in points, but Newman dropped to 14^th in the standings.

The Series moves to Michigan International Raceway Helluva Good! Sour Cream Dip 400 on June 13, 2010.

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OLD SPICE/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET – Finished 3^rd:

THE MODERATOR:  We’re now joined by today’s third place finisher, Tony Stewart.  Tony, tell us about your run.

TONY STEWART:  Not a very stellar day by any means.  Ended up with a top three.  You know, obviously happy about that.  But would have liked to have been running in the top 3 All day and end up that way.

THE MODERATOR:  We’ll continue with questions for Tony.

Q.  To start the second half with this top three run here, optimism?  If this place is similar to Indy, does it lead you to believe you can translate or be a little better when you go to Indy?

TONY STEWART:  I don’t know.  I mean, we just never got good track position all day.  Finally when we got good track position at the end of the day, we were decent obviously.  We drove away from the 18 car.  He probably said he thought we were going to run out of fuel.  His lap times, he wasn’t backing off of it.  We were able to drive away from him at the end of the day.  I’m happy where we ended up because of it.  But we still got a lot of work to do I think.

I feel like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s still a long ways away.  We still got a lot of work to do.

Q.  About the last restart, could you describe, did you have any shot with Denny?

TONY STEWART:  No, not really.  I mean, he sailed it off down in there and slid all the way across, almost got us in the crumbs.  We slid the same way.  We both drove it in deep, deeper than we both should have actually.

You know, restarts were idiotic today.  I’ve seen some of the worst driving I’ve ever seen in my life in a professional series right here today.  So for anybody that’s looking for drama for the next couple races, start looking ’cause I can promise I’m going to start making the highlight reel the next couple weeks.

I know you love that.

THE MODERATOR:  Tony, congratulations.  Thank you for your time.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

- Team Chevy, Press Release