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Harvick Still In Thick of Battle
By: Pete Pistone on September 30, 2011 | 11:00 A.M. EST
Kevin Harvick’s Rheem Chasing the Cure Chevrolet will have a pink and black paint scheme to mark the start of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (Photo: Getty Images)
PrintEmail ShareKevin Harvick sits only seven points out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup lead and will try to climb closer to the top in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
Despite coming up short in the fuel mileage game that played out at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday and coming home with a 12th-place finish, Harvick firmly remains in the championship picture.
Harvick trails Tony Stewart by seven points heading into Sunday’s third race of the NASCAR playoff season and feels comfortable about where his team is heading back to “The Monster Mile.”
“We should be fine in Dover,” said Harvick, who has a pair of top-5 finishes to his credit at the track. “I felt like we’ve run well there the last few times so I don’t really have any specific concerns. I think as you go to every racetrack there is always concern on whether you’re going to run good or bad and you never really know until you get there and see what the tire is and see exactly what the weekend brings with weather and all the different things that come with putting a weekend together.
“We can run really well at any racetrack. Along with anybody in the garage we have that opportunity to run bad, too. You just have to make the best out of whatever the weekend gives you.”
Harvick has tasted some success at the one-mile concrete track as evident of his pair of finishes inside the first five. But he has a ways to go to pump up his overall statistics.
In 21 starts at Dover, Harvick has also accumulated eight top-10 finishes. But his average starting position is 21.2 and he holds a 17.0 average finish at the track.
However, Harvick isn’t concerned and believes he’ll have a car capable of competing Sunday and an opportunity to add some positives to his statistics at the track.
“We’ve had a good car there the last several times and haven’t necessarily got the finishes that we probably have deserved with where we ran all day, but it’s been a decent racetrack for us,” said Harvick, who finished 10th when the Sprint Cup Series visited Dover back in May. “It’s a fast racetrack. You’ve got to keep up with the racetrack as the groove moves around and the rubber builds up on the track. The biggest challenge is being able to get the car up off of the corner under power, wide open throughout the whole run.”
The familiar Richard Childress Racing No. 29 Chevrolet will have a different look this weekend in Dover. Rheem and RCR will mark the start of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a pink and black paint scheme on Harvick’s Rheem Chasing the Cure Chevrolet for Sunday’s race.
Harvick’s proud to be associated with the cause and confident he’ll have a car capable of competing for a trip to Victory Lane on Sunday.
“We’ll have to have our Rheem “Chasing the Cure” Chevrolet handling good because it’s so fast and there are so many things happening so fast at Dover that the driver has to be comfortable in the car,” Harvick said. “It seems like at Dover they always have one of those runs where you have green-flag pit stops and halfway through that run the caution comes out, so you have to be a little bit lucky to not end up on the wrong side of that there.”
By: Pete Pistone on September 30, 2011 | 11:00 A.M. EST
Kevin Harvick’s Rheem Chasing the Cure Chevrolet will have a pink and black paint scheme to mark the start of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (Photo: Getty Images)
PrintEmail ShareKevin Harvick sits only seven points out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup lead and will try to climb closer to the top in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
Despite coming up short in the fuel mileage game that played out at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday and coming home with a 12th-place finish, Harvick firmly remains in the championship picture.
Harvick trails Tony Stewart by seven points heading into Sunday’s third race of the NASCAR playoff season and feels comfortable about where his team is heading back to “The Monster Mile.”
“We should be fine in Dover,” said Harvick, who has a pair of top-5 finishes to his credit at the track. “I felt like we’ve run well there the last few times so I don’t really have any specific concerns. I think as you go to every racetrack there is always concern on whether you’re going to run good or bad and you never really know until you get there and see what the tire is and see exactly what the weekend brings with weather and all the different things that come with putting a weekend together.
“We can run really well at any racetrack. Along with anybody in the garage we have that opportunity to run bad, too. You just have to make the best out of whatever the weekend gives you.”
Harvick has tasted some success at the one-mile concrete track as evident of his pair of finishes inside the first five. But he has a ways to go to pump up his overall statistics.
In 21 starts at Dover, Harvick has also accumulated eight top-10 finishes. But his average starting position is 21.2 and he holds a 17.0 average finish at the track.
However, Harvick isn’t concerned and believes he’ll have a car capable of competing Sunday and an opportunity to add some positives to his statistics at the track.
“We’ve had a good car there the last several times and haven’t necessarily got the finishes that we probably have deserved with where we ran all day, but it’s been a decent racetrack for us,” said Harvick, who finished 10th when the Sprint Cup Series visited Dover back in May. “It’s a fast racetrack. You’ve got to keep up with the racetrack as the groove moves around and the rubber builds up on the track. The biggest challenge is being able to get the car up off of the corner under power, wide open throughout the whole run.”
The familiar Richard Childress Racing No. 29 Chevrolet will have a different look this weekend in Dover. Rheem and RCR will mark the start of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a pink and black paint scheme on Harvick’s Rheem Chasing the Cure Chevrolet for Sunday’s race.
Harvick’s proud to be associated with the cause and confident he’ll have a car capable of competing for a trip to Victory Lane on Sunday.
“We’ll have to have our Rheem “Chasing the Cure” Chevrolet handling good because it’s so fast and there are so many things happening so fast at Dover that the driver has to be comfortable in the car,” Harvick said. “It seems like at Dover they always have one of those runs where you have green-flag pit stops and halfway through that run the caution comes out, so you have to be a little bit lucky to not end up on the wrong side of that there.”
