CHASING NO. 1 ON HOME TURF: For race number 30 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) Jimmy John’s Chevrolet. Looking to rebound from a blown motor in the February race and to earn his first career win at the two-mile California track, Harvick will make his 16th-career Nationwide Series start Saturday for the Camping World 300.
In 15 previous Nationwide Series starts at the track, Harvick has eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. He has led 118 laps and completed 98.4 percent of laps attempted (2218 of 2254 laps). Harvick’s average starting position is 11.1 with an average finishing position of 7.7. His only Did Not Finish (DNF) at the track came earlier this season with a blown motor which relegated the team to a 38th-place finish. The finish also marks Harvick’s only finish outside the top 14.
On the Cup side, Harvick has 16 starts with two top-five and six top-10 finsihes.
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.
KEVIN HARVICK FOUNDATION: The Kevin Harvick Foundation, founded by Kevin and DeLana Harvick earlier this year, is excited to head to California to announce one of its first initiatives to benefit the Kern County community in Harvick’s hometown of Bakersfield. The Harvicks will be on-site, along with a few special guests, on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. PST in the Auto Club Speedway Media Center to make the announcement. Following the announcement, Harvick will have his weekly media availabilty in the media center.
“In just the first year of the Kevin Harvick Foundation, DeLana and I are very proud of the things that we have been able to accomplish and support,” said Harvick. “We’ve held several golf tournaments and raised funds that we can now turn around and support programs throughout the United States that we feel will positively benefit today’s youth.”
The mission of the Kevin Harvick Foundation is to support programs that positively enrich the lives of children throughout the United States. The foundation works to not only improve the quality of life, but to help underprivileged youth find and realize their dreams by supporting various youth programs across the country.
BEFORE THE RACE: QUOTES WITH DRIVER KEVIN HARVICK:
Auto Club Speedway is one track 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. Obviously we have a lot of fans and family and friends there and it would be cool to win 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, including earlier this year before we blew a motor, and now we 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.”
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 33 Jimmy John’s crew will unload chassis No. 061 for Harvick this week at Auto Club Speedway for Harvick. This chassis was last on track at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Harvick started the race eighth and led 52 laps before finishing fourth. Prior to Atlanta, this chassis made its race debut at Chicagoland Speedway where Harvick earned his 21st-career pole and finished the race seventh.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: For stop number 29 of 35, the NASCAR Nationwide Series moved to the 1.5-mile track of Kansas Speedway. Harvick started the race third, ran most of the race in the top-five and led 43 laps before finishing the day fourth. The finish marked Harvick’s fifth top-four finish at the track.
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.
ONLINE MEDIA KITS: Media members can now access KHI media kits online at KevinHarvickInc.com. Included on the site are driver bios, driver and team images, KHI history and statistics, team profiles and schedules. Please contact Alicia Deal (adeal@kevinharvickinc.com) at KHI for access to the new site.
Kevin Harvick
Nationwide Stats at California
Year No. Team Start Finish
2010 33 KHI 8 38
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
About Jimmy John’s:
Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches was founded in 1983 by 19-year-old Jimmy John Liautaud in a converted garage in Charleston, IL. Since its inception, the company has grown to over 1,000 corporate and franchised locations in more than 37 states throughout the U.S. The company is known for its obsession with fresh, quality products and high-speed execution. For more information, visit www.jimmyjohns.com.
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.
