Charlotte: Kevin Harvick NASCAR Busch Race Preview
YELLOW TRANSPORTATION 300 RECAP: Tony Stewart jumped behind the wheel of the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) No. 33 Old Spice Chevrolet for the Yellow Transportation 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 29, 2007. Stewart began the race 24th and wasted no time moving forward. By lap 33 Stewart cracked the top-10 and got as high as seventh before finishing the day with a solid 11th-place run.
BEHIND THE WHEEL: Kevin Harvick, KHI team co-owner and driver, will pilot the No. 33 Dollar General stores Chevrolet under the lights Friday night for the Dollar General 300 at Lowe's (N.C.) Motor Speedway. This will mark Kevin Harvick's eighth and final start of the season in the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet, where he has recorded three top-10 finishes.
14 AND COUNTING: When Kevin Harvick climbs behind the wheel Friday night, he will be making his 14th start at Lowe's (N.C.) Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Busch Series (NBS). In 13 previous starts at the 1.5-mile track, Kevin Harvick has compiled a record of two top-five and seven top-10 finishes and won the pole three times.
THIS RACE ONE YEAR AGO: Last year while piloting the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet, Kevin Harvick clinched the Busch Series Driver's Championship at Lowe's (N.C.) Motor Speedway with four races remaining in the season. Kevin Harvick entered the race leading second-place Carl Edwards by 729 points. After a late accident ended Edward's night, Kevin Harvick went on to finish ninth and claimed his second career Busch Series Championship (2001, 2006).
TOP-THREE: Kevin Harvick currently sits third in the Busch Series Driver Points Standings for 2007. With 30 races of the season complete, Kevin Harvick has run only 22 races. While running only a partial schedule, Kevin Harvick has compiled an outstanding record. This season Kevin Harvick has added five Busch Series wins to his resume, tying him with Jack Ingram for second on the all-time Busch Series win list. In addition, Kevin Harvick has claimed nine top-five and 17 top-10 finishes this season.
MAKING THE ROUNDS: Lowe's (N.C.) Motor Speedway marks one of 13 tracks where Kevin Harvick has raced in all three of NASCAR's elite series, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, the Busch and the Truck Series. His first NASCAR sanctioned race at Lowe's (N.C) Motor Speedway was in 2000 behind the wheel of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) owned Chevrolet. He began the race 39th and finished eighth.
CHASSIS DEBUT: The KHI No. 33 Dollar General stores team will unload chassis No. 037, a brand new chassis, this weekend at Lowe's (N.C.) Motor Speedway. This will mark the first race Chassis No. 037 has been on track.
FIVE TO GO: With five races remaining, the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet currently sits seventh in NASCAR Busch Series Owner's Point Standings.
DOUBLE DUTY: Kevin Harvick will pull double duty again this weekend as he competes in the Busch Series event on Friday night and the Cup Series event on Saturday night. Kevin Harvick currently sits fifth in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, with five races remaining in the 2007 season.
SLINGING DIRT: While in Kansas for the Busch and Cup Series events, Kevin Harvick took some time to explore the local dirt racing scene. On Friday night, Kevin Harvick joined RCR teammate Clint Bowyer at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas for some fun on the three-eighths mile slightly banked dirt oval track. With more than 80 competitors on hand, Kevin Harvick had to race his way to the A-main feature. With limited experience in dirt cars, Kevin Harvick wheeled Bowyer's No. 07 modified to a solid eighth-place finish.
Kevin Harvick Quotes:
ON RACING MILE AND A HALF TRACKS: "I think for us as a team, the mile-and-a-half tracks like Texas and Atlanta have been good so far this year. I look forward to driving the No. 33 Dollar General Chevrolet at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend."
Dan Stillman Quotes:
ON HAVING Kevin Harvick BEHIND THE WHEEL: "The No. 33 team continues to improve each week and learn more about the cars from each driver. Having Kevin Harvick in the car with his experience and success will only help this week. The last time Kevin was here he notched his first All-Star Challenge win in the Cup Series, and maybe this time we can help him get his first Busch Series win at Charlotte."
ON DEBUTING A CHASSIS AT LOWE'S (N.C.) MOTOR SPEEDEEWAY: "We hope that we can bring this new car to Charlotte and learn a lot that we can use to help us continue to improve this season and into next year. I look forward to breaking this car in by getting Kevin Harvick to Victory Lane."
QUICK NOTES
October 12, 2007
Lowe's (N.C.) Motor Speedway
Dollar General 300
Race length: 200 laps/ 300 miles
Banking: 24-degrees in the turns
5-degrees on the straightaways
Track layout: 1.5-mile Shape: Quad-shaped Oval
Pre-Race Schedule
Thursday:
Practice: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., ET
Final Practice: 6:00 - 7:00 p.m., ET
Friday:
Qualifying: 4:05 p.m., ET
TV: The Dollar General 300 can be seen live on ESPN2 at 7:30p.m., ET.
Radio: The Performance Racing Network (PRN) will broadcast the race live at 7:30 p.m., ET.
No. 33 Dollar General Stores Chevrolet
Monte Carlo SS Specs:
Chassis: 037
Engine: RCR
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