Date: Saturday, September 7
Track: Richmond International Raceway
TV: ABC, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN Radio affiliates, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio
Track Facts
Track Length: 0.75 miles
Race Length: 400 laps/300 miles
Grandstand Seating Capacity: 97,912
First Race: April 19, 1953
Banking in the Corners: 14 degrees
Banking on the Frontstretch: 8 degrees
Banking on the Backstretch: 2 degrees
Frontstretch: 1,290 feet
Backstretch: 860 feet
Rearview Mirror
Last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Harvick earned a ninth-place finish and moved up one spot to third in the driver point standings.
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS team travel to Richmond (Va.) International Raceway (RIR) this weekend for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race.
Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup… Last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Harvick finished ninth and earned enough points to officially clinch a top-10 spot in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – the championship format used throughout the final 10 races of the season. Following Saturday’s race at RIR, the 12-driver field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will be locked in. The top-10 drivers in points earn a berth in the 10-race Chase and spots 11 and 12 – the Wild Card spots – go to those drivers outside the top 10 with the most wins, provided they are in the top 20. Once the Chase field is set, each driver’s point total will be reset to 2,000. For those in the top 10, three bonus points are added to that total for each victory scored during the first 26 races.
Chassis Info… The No. 29 Budweiser team will utilize Chassis No. 420 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable at RIR. Harvick earned a win with this car at RIR in April. He last raced the car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July and earned a seventh-place finish.
Statistically Speaking… Harvick has made 25 NSCS starts at RIR and has earned three wins (September 2006, September 2011 and April 2013), seven top fives and 16 top 10s. He has completed 98.8 percent of the laps run in those 25 races (9,892 of 10,009), and holds an average starting position of 16.5 and an average finish of 11.3 at the 0.75-mile track.
Loop Data… Since the inception of NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics in 2006, Harvick has competed in 17 NSCS races at RIR and owns a number of impressive marks heading into this weekend’s event, including: first in quality passes (575); first in laps in the top 15 (6,310); second in average running position (7.610); second in fastest drivers early in a run (119.555 mph); third in fastest laps run (445); third in fastest on restarts (117.597 mph); third in green flag speed (116.721 mph); third in laps led (898); third in speed by quarter; third in speed in traffic (116.201 mph); third in driver rating (111.1); seventh in closers; and 10th in fastest drivers late in a run (114.898 mph).
A Look Back… In last year’s race at RIR, Harvick started 13th and finished 10th. In April he rocketed to the lead on a green-white-checkered restart and scored his 20th career NSCS win by a 0.343-second margin of victory.
Harvick Discusses Racing at Richmond International Raceway
You won the last race at Richmond International Raceway earlier this season, are you excited to head back there before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins?
“This little stretch leading up to the Chase (for the NASCAR Sprint Cup) for us is kind of a trial-and-error period as we go to different styles of race tracks and try different things. Obviously, we won the race at Richmond (International Raceway) earlier in the year on a crazy restart. We ran ok during the first half of the race and ran fairly good toward the end of the night, and one thing we have learned and try to remember about Richmond is that tires are king at that track. I’m hoping we can repeat the outcome we had there in the spring, but the big thing is making sure we can continue to learn things that will help us in the Chase.”
Even though you have secured a position for yourself in The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup going into the race at Richmond International Raceway, do you feel the pressure of others who are hoping to race their way into the Chase?
“We’ve been on that side of the fence as far as being in the position of trying to race your way into the Chase (for the NASCAR Sprint Cup), or racing to hold onto our position to get into the Chase. It’s an intense race and portion of the season for sure. It’s tough on your body, mind, team and everyone involved. You try to stay aware of what everyone else is doing, and you don’t want to interfere with what others have going on because you don’t want to be the one to change the outcome of things, but you always want to do the best for your team and make sure you’re in the best position for yourself. It’s definitely an interesting balance from a driver standpoint.”
