Fontana, Calif. (Feb. 22) – A potential top-10 finish was spoiled by engine trouble on Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in California.

Running in the top 15 with just over 40 laps remaining in the 250-lap event, Harvick suddenly lost oil pressure on his No. 29 machine entering Turn 1 of the two-mile speedway. As oil spilled from underneath his Richard Childress Racing entry, Harvick slid through it and hit the retaining wall, damaging the right side of his car.

A wrecker towed the injured machine back to the garage area while a disappointed Harvick spoke with reporters about the abrupt end to his team’s day. He was credited with a 38th-place finish.

The engine issue broke a streak of 81 races in which the No. 29 was running at the end of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, a modern-era record.

The Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was strong throughout the event, running in and around the top 15 for most of the day.

After qualifying 19th, Harvick wasted little time in improving his position once the race got underway. By the time the No. 29 completed the first lap, Harvick had already broken into the top 10 on the leader board.

A few laps later, he radioed crew chief Todd Berrier to report the car had a tight handling condition in the middle of the speedway’s wide, sweeping turns. Just after sharing that information, Harvick noticed raindrops on the windshield of his Chevrolet. On lap six, officials displayed the yellow flag for rain, slowing the field for the next 17 laps.

As the rain dissipated, the race returned to green flag conditions for another 19 laps before more precipitation forced NASCAR to again display the yellow flag.

Berrier instructed his driver to come to pit road during the caution period, where the Shell-Pennzoil crew made chassis and air pressure adjustments to improve the car’s handling.

When the race restarted, Harvick found the changes did not have the desired effect, and the car’s handling was not greatly improved. Despite the issues, he managed to keep the No. 29 in the top 15 until he could pit again on lap 85 for more adjustments.

In the middle part of the race, Harvick worked his way up as high as eighth position, with his over-the-wall crew turning in fast pit stop times while continuing to make adjustments to reduce his car’s tight handling condition.

On the final stop before the engine problem developed, the crew made a tire pressure adjustment and sent Harvick back out. A few laps later, he reported the change had been too drastic and the handling was much tighter than before. Over the long green flag run that followed, this led to slower lap times that caused him to drop as far back as 15th.

On lap 208, just a few laps shy of his next pit stop, Harvick’s RCR Chevrolet began billowing smoke as he entered Turn 1. Harvick made hard impact with the retaining wall, ending the Shell-Pennzoil team’s night.

The finish drops Harvick down to 16th in the Sprint Cup Series drivers’ point standings, while team owner Richard Childress holds the 16th position in owners’ points.

Harvick’s RCR stablemates finished 19th (Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet), 24th (Casey Mears, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet) and 32nd (Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet), respectively.

The RCR teammates now head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of the Shelby 427 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the third points event of the 2009 campaign. That race airs live on FOX, Sun. March 1, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The race can also be heard on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.

Qualifying will be televised live on SPEED Fri., Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. EST. PRN and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio will provide live qualifying updates.

Kevin Harvick Quote: “We had an engine problem and I just got in my own oil going in the corner there. The Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was decent. We just dumped a bunch of oil going into Turn 1 and it just didn’t give me any warning. We were full speed all the way to the end of the straightaway and the bottom fell out there and just went straight. We got off a little bit that run and tightened it up a little bit too much. But we had a top 10 car. We just didn’t quite finish there.”