Monday

Kevin Harvick Auto Club Speedway Preview

Kevin Harvick

HOME BOUND WITH ONE GOAL: For the second race of the 2010 season, the NASCAR Nationwide Series will make its way across the country to Auto Club Speedway where Bakersfield, California native Kevin Harvick will pilot the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Rheem Tankless Water Heaters Chevrolet. Looking for his first career win at the two-mile California track, Harvick will make his 15th career Nationwide Series start when the flag waves for the Stater Bros. 300 on Saturday.

In 14 previous Nationwide Series starts at the track, Harvick has eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. He has led 118 laps and completed 99.9 percent of laps attempted (2101 of 2102 laps). His worst finish is 14th in his first career Nationwide Series start at the track in 2000.

The only victory Harvick has at Auto Club Speedway came in 2002 behind the wheel of an International Race of Champions (IROC) car as he went on to win the 2002 True Value IROC points title in just his first year competing in the series. The win helped him to become the sixth rookie and the first driver representing the Nationwide Series (for his 2001 Nationwide Series title) to win the IROC championship. In addition to the win at California, he also finished ninth at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, third at Chicagoland Speedway and fourth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the four-race IROC series.

THIRD YEAR CHARM: Rheem Manufacturing returns to Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) for their third season as a primary sponsor of the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet. In addition to the primary sponsorship, Rheem also serves as an associate sponsor for the entire season on both the No. 33 Nationwide Series car and on KHI’s No. 33 2009 Truck Series championship team with Ron Hornaday.

WEST-COAST PAIRING: The 2010 season will mark the second full season that Harvick and crew chief Ernie Cope join forces in the Nationwide Series. Both west coast natives, Harvick from Bakersfield, California and Cope from Tacoma, Washington, enter the season looking to continue to bring their west coast swing to NASCAR’s top ranks. During the 2009 season, the pair earned two wins, including Harvick’s first win in a KHI-owned car, two poles, 14 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes in 22 starts for Harvick.

CHASSIS HISTORY: For the second week in a row, the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team will unload a brand-new chassis for KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick. The two-time Nationwide Series champion will pilot chassis No. 053 as he looks for his first career Nationwide Series victory at Auto Club Speedway.

PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: For the 2010 Nationwide Series season opener, Harvick piloted the No. 33 car from the fourth starting position to his first top-five finish of the season with KHI teammate Tony Stewart winning the race. With a “freaky fast” Jimmy John’s Chevrolet, Harvick led 37 laps and overcame a mid-race accident to earn a strong third-place finish.

ARE YOU A FOLLOWER? Twitter users can now keep up-to-date with Kevin Harvick Inc.’s NASCAR Nationwide Series by following @KHI_NNS. In addition, you can follow KHI’s Truck Series teams @KHI_TruckSeries. Want more from KHI? Follow KHI’s co-owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick @KevinHarvick and @DeLanaHarvick.

Kevin Harvick

Auto Club Speedway is one of seven tracks on the 2010 Nationwide Series schedule that you have yet to score a Nationwide Series win. With this being the closest track to Bakersfield, what would it mean to mark this track off the list and win in front of family and friends?

“I think it would be a cool place to win just for the fact that we’ve run really good there over the past few years and have never been able to close the deal and get it done. So, obviously we have a lot of fans there and family and friends there and it would be cool to run in front of them because the only race I’ve ever won there is an IROC race. Like I said, we’ve been really close several times in the Nationwide car and just have to get it done.”

Can you talk about the local racing program in Bakersfield and the things you have done to support and give back to the local racing community?

“We’ve always been very supportive of the racing community. I used to go back and race there when they had Mesa Marin and I went back a couple of years ago and raced at the dirt track. Now we have the local youth racing series that we support.”

No. 33 Rheem Tankless Water Heaters Chevrolet Specs:

Chassis: 053

Engine: ECR

Kevin Harvick Nationwide Stats at California

Year No. Team Start Finish

2009 33 KHI 10 4

2009 33 KHI 9 2

2008 33 KHI 9 11

2008 33 KHI 6 3

2007 33 KHI 12 7

2007 33 KHI 6 6

2006 21 RCR 3 2

2006 33 KHI 28 8

2005 21 RCR 6 2

2004 21 RCR 23 3

2004 21 RCR 3 8

2003 21 RCR 1 3

2001 2 RCR 5 5

2000 2 RCR 38 14

*KHI: Kevin Harvick Inc.

*RCR: Richard Childress Racing

QUICK NOTES

Race length: 150 laps/300 miles

Banking: 14-degrees in the turns

11-degrees on the frontstretch

3-degrees on the backstretch

Track layout: 2 miles

Shape: D-shaped Oval

Pre-Race Schedule:

Friday:

First Practice: 2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m., ET

Final Practice: 4:40 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., ET

Saturday:

Qualifying: 12:35 p.m., ET

TV: The Stater Bros. 300 can be seen live on ESPN2 at 5:00 p.m., ET.

Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast the race live at 5:00 p.m., ET.

About Rheem:

Rheem Manufacturing Company (www.rheem.com) is a privately held company with headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. In its 81st year of operation, the company distributes throughout North America and world markets an award-winning line of eco-friendly, technologically advanced residential and commercial heating, cooling, water heating, whole-home standby generators, controls, pool and spa heaters, indoor air purification products and commercial boilers. The nation’s leading consumer products review magazine recently reported that Rheem products have been rated most reliable among all leading brands by tens of thousands of consumers. The premium brands of Rheem Manufacturing Company include Ruud, Raypak and Rheem. Rheem Manufacturing Company is the primary sponsor of Kevin Harvick Inc.’s No. 33 Chevrolet Nationwide® Series car and is an associate sponsor of KHI’s No 33 truck in the Camping World Truck Series.

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