Richard Childress Racing

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July 3, 2012

Kevin Harvick Event Preview: Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola

"It used to be a lot different before they repaved the race track. You had to really worry about handling."

RCR/HHP Photo RCR/HHP Photo

Event Preview Fact Sheet

Kevin Harvick
No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet

Event/Date:
Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola
July 7, 2012

Venue:
Daytona International Speedway

Race Notes and Quotes:
   
This Week's Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet at Daytona International Speedway ... Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 295 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend's Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola. Harvick drove this Chevrolet to a top-10 finish during the 2009 Daytona 500 and into Victory Lane in the July event at Daytona International Speedway in 2010. The No. 29 team most recently utilized this car during the Budweiser Shootout earlier in February. 
 
Racing at the Superspeedway ... Harvick has 22 career starts at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, collecting two pole awards (July 2007 and 2010), two victories (February 2007 and July 2010), five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. The Bakersfield, Calif., native holds a 16th-place average starting position and a 15th-place average finishing position. Harvick has completed 93.4 percent of the laps contested (3,609 of 3,865) and has been credited for leading the field for 178 circuits. 
 
Going for a Loop in the Sunshine State ... Harvick has made 15 starts at the Daytona Beach, Fla.-based facility since the inception of NASCAR's Loop Data Statistics in 2006. He holds a 19th-place average starting position, an average finishing position of 15.2 and has completed 91.5 percent (2,154 or 2,353) of the laps contested. The RCR veteran driver has posted 70 of the Fastest Laps Run ranking him second among his fellow competitors and has an average Green Flag Speed of 187.583 ranking him fifth. 
 
Points Racing ... With 17 points-paying events in the books, Harvick remains sixth in the Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, 68 markers behind the leader. Harvick has collected three top-five and eight top-10 finishes thus far this season, completing 99.76 percent (5,015 of 5,027) of the laps contested.
 
Red, White and Blue Summer ... The patriotic red, white and blue Budweiser Folds of Honor paint scheme will again be featured on Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet this weekend at Daytona. The special paint scheme reflects the "Red, White and Blue Summer" packaging featured on the iconic Budweiser bottles and cans as part of a summer initiative in which the brand will contribute a portion of all sales from May 20 - July 7 to help raise as much as $2.5 million for the Folds of Honor Foundation*, which provides post-secondary educational scholarships for families of U.S. military personnel killed or disabled while serving their country. The Folds of Honor logo will also be featured on the TV panel of the No. 29 Chevrolet. (*Maximum donation of $2.5 million includes $5,000 for every walk-off in select 2012 professional baseball games and a portion of sales for every case of Budweiser sold, 5/20-7/7.)
 
Gotta Have Freedom ... Rheem will adorn the quarter panels of the No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Rheem is privately held with headquarters in Atlanta and is the official heating, cooling and water heating supplier to RCR. For more information about Rheem please visit: www.rheem.com. 
 
Meet the Press ... Harvick will be available to members of the media on Thursday, July 5 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time in the Daytona International Speedway infield media center.
 
Double Duty ... In addition to competing in the Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola Saturday evening, Harvick will also drive RCR's No. 33 Rheem/Menards Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event Friday night. The race is scheduled to air live on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
 
Meet the Man ... Fans will have an opportunity to meet the 2007 Daytona 500 Champion, while enhancing their race experience during an at-track hospitality appearance at 31 Degrees on Saturday, July 7 from 4:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET. Those who would like to attend the event will need to purchase an additional pass that includes access to food, drinks, a climate controlled environment, driver appearances and comes with a pre-race/Sprint Fan Zone pass. For more information please visit http://bit.ly/DISKH31Degrees. 
 
The Last Time Around ... Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet team utilized teamwork and strategy during last year's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway to bring home a seventh-place finish that positioned them in the lead of Sprint Cup Series driver point standings.
 
In the Rearview Mirror: Kentucky Speedway ... Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor team crossed the finish line in the 11th position in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway after battling handling issues during the 267-lap event.
 
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:
What are your overall thoughts heading back to Daytona International Speedway?
"Speedway racing has been good for us. The last couple of races at Talladega (Superspeedway) haven't been great due to some crashes, but Daytona (International Speedway) has been a good race track for us. I think the main talk when we get back this year is going to be about cooling as we go to the restrictor plate stuff again. Obviously, with the race being in July the cooling isn't going to be better than it was in February, so it will be interesting to find that balance as to how hard you can push the engine and keep yourself in a position to be able to run up front and hopefully win the race."
 
Do you have different strategies for the weather differences between the two Daytona (International Speedway) races?
"It used to be a lot different before they repaved the race track. You had to really worry about handling. But July is definitely the hottest time of the year that you could go and race in Daytona. I don't think handling is as big of an issue once the track was repaved, so now it's just a big chess game."
 
How did the Daytona 500 start the season out for your team?
"We ran a pretty conservative race at the 500 and didn't really get ourselves in the right position there toward the end of the race to have a chance to win, but we were competitive and took care of our stuff. We knew we were going to have some cooling issues and probably couldn't race all day, but all in all, it was a good start to the year."

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