Posts tagged Lowe S

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series begins the
second half of the 2010 season with Kevin Harvick
(No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) leading the
standings and his Richard Childress Racing teammates
not far behind.
Any notion that Havick’s resurgence was cosmetic,
evaporated last Saturday at Daytona International
Speedway, where he nabbed his second win of
2010 and second career victory at Daytona.
Teammate Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar
Chevrolet) finished fifth and sits eighth in the standings.
Though he finished 17th due to a last-laps shuffle,
Clint Bowyer (No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger
Helper Chevrolet), nearly beat the other two; he
hovers just outside the top 12, in 14th place.
So it’s Harvick out front as the series prepares
for Saturday night’s LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland
Speedway — the third race in the 10-event
Race to the Chase, the summer stretch that sets the
field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Use ink when you inscribe Harvick’s name. He’s
not going away. But he can’t be satisfied if he hopes
to catch series wins leaders Jimmie Johnson (No.
48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and Denny Hamlin (No. 11
FedEx Ground Toyota) when it comes to Chase
bonus points. Hamlin and Johnson each have five
wins thus far; Harvick has two.
“With our current situation in the points, we are
going to do all we can to give ourselves an opportunity
to win each week,” Harvick said.
His Chase competitors should note his Chicagoland record: two wins, five top fives and six top 10s. He’s
similarly strong in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition there, with two victories in that series.
“Every time we go back there it seems like it just fits our program and my driving style and everything
that we do,” said Harvick, who’s enjoying a rebirth in his 10th NASCAR Sprint Cup season, all with RCR.
Thus far, he’s led the standings for a career-high 13 weeks, including the last nine consecutively. The
recent decision to re-sign with RCR quieted any lingering distraction, and last year’s dreadful team performance
(Harvick finished 19th, Burton 17th and Bowyer 15th) has turned blessing-in-disguise.
Significant in-house reorganization, the installation of Burton’s former crew chief, Scott Miller, in a director
of competition role, and overall rededication have yielded a serious challenge to Hendrick Motorsports’
and Johnsons’ four-time and reigning series champion dominance.
Sustaining it is in Harvick & Company’s hands.
“He’s still the champion, and he’s still the guy to beat,” Harvick said. “For us, we’ve just got to keep
working hard. We’re in a fortunate position with the start to our season, that we’ve got a plan to keep working
on our cars and keep trying to make things better. Hopefully when the stress starts with ten weeks to go, we’ll
be as ready as we’ve ever been from the 29 and an RCR standpoint to make a strong run at it “