Catchfence

Kevin Harvick with RCR Team Owner Richard Childress - Photo Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR

No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet Impala

Race Notes and Quotes

This Week’s Budweiser Chevrolet at Richmond International Raceway … Kevin Harvick will race chassis No. 332 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) stable. The No. 29 team has utilized his car four times in 2011, earning a fourth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway (2/27), a win at Martinsville Speedway (4/3), a 12th-place finish in the season’s first race at Richmond (4/30) and a 21st-place effort at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (7/17).

Harvick at Richmond … In 21 starts at Richmond International Raceway, Harvick has amassed one pole award (September 2005), one win (September 2006), five top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. His average starting position at RIR is 17.8 and he holds a 12th-place average finishing position. Harvick has completed 98.6 percent (8,286 of 8,403) of the laps run in NSCS competition at the track since 2001 and he’s led a total of 727 laps.

Last Time Around … In last year’s fall race at RIR, Harvick started in the 20th position and brought home a ninth-place finish. In the sprint race at the track this year he started and finished 12th.

Solid Streak at RIR … In the last seven seasons, Harvick and the No. 29 team have earned one win, four top five and 11 top-10 finishes at RIR. His average finish at the track during that time is 8.846.

In the Loop … Harvick holds quite a few impressive loop data statistics at the 0.75-mile track leading into Saturday’s race, including: first in laps run in the top 15 (4,768); first in quality passes (420); third in average running position (7.724); third in driver rating (110.2); third in fastest drivers early in a run; third in fastest laps run (358); third in green-flag speed; third in laps led (680); third in speed in traffic; sixth in fastest on restarts; and eighth in fastest drivers late in a run.

Double Duty … In addition to racing the Budweiser Chevrolet in Saturday night’s NSCS race, Harvick will also be at the wheel of the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 33 Rheem Tankless Water Heaters Chevrolet in Nationwide Series competition on Friday night. Live race coverage will air on ESPN2 starting with the pre-race show at 7 p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:

Why do you think you’ve been so successful at Richmond?

“When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time racing at Phoenix and really from day one I’ve been successful on the flatter-type race tracks through the years. I think it’s just kind of how I was brought up. Richmond has been a very good race track for us as a team and it’s probably been our best track on paper. We’ve been fortunate to win there and we expect to be competitive and run up front.”

Why do you think Richmond is the favorite short track of most of the drivers?

“Because it is racy and you can move around the race track. The track has become pretty worn out, and I think as a lot of us were used to that sealer being put on the race track through the years where every time you came back there it was a little different every time how the track would react. It has enough speed and it has enough room to move around and race. You just get that short track feel along with that intermediate feel with the speed to get all the race tracks in there and everybody just enjoys it.”

Talk about the art of short-track racing and whether it’s developed at all over the last few years.

“I don’t think its developed like the bump drafting by any means but I think as you look at (Richmond International Raceway), it’s a little bit different than a Martinsville or Bristol just for the fact that you do carry a fair amount of speed and use a fair amount of brake, but it’s just different. The corners are a little more sweeping and it’s not just a bottom grove like at Martinsville so there’s not as much beating and banging as there would be there. It’s a fun race track. You kind of get that speed and that short-track feel all in the same package so it’s definitely one of my favorites.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release