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April 10, 2012

Kevin Harvick Event Preview: Samsung Mobile 500

"If you're going to qualify well or win the race, you're going to have to have a car that's comfortable to drive with a lot of throttle time."

RCR/HHP Photo RCR/HHP Photo

Event Preview Fact Sheet

Kevin Harvick
No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet

Event/Date:
Samsung Mobile 500
April 14, 2012

Venue:
Texas Motor Speedway

Race Notes and Quotes:

This Week's Budweiser Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway ... Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 391 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Harvick scored an 11th-place finish in this Chevrolet last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Solid Start for Harvick ... As Sprint Cup Series teams embark upon the seventh race of the season, Harvick is off to one of the strongest starts of his career. In the first six races this year, he's earned a career-best average starting position of 7.83. Harvick's ninth-place average finish at this point of the season is the second-highest of his Sprint Cup Series career, trailing only his average finishing position six races into the 2008 season was 7.83.

Media Availability ... Harvick will be available to members of the media at 3:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, April 12 in the Texas Motor Speedway infield media center's deadline room.

Statistically Speaking ... Harvick has made 18 Sprint Cup Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway since 2001. During that time he has scored three top-five and eight top-10 finishes. He has completed 99.8 percent of the laps run in that time (6,008 of 6,022) and has led five laps at the track. Harvick holds an average starting position of 21.0 and an average finish of 12.9 at Texas.

Loop Data ... Since the inception of NASCAR's Loop Data Statistics in 2006, Harvick has competed in 14 Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway and owns a couple impressive marks heading into this weekend's event, including: first in Closers, having gained 29 positions in the last 10 percent of the races in that span; and fourth in Green-Flag Passes (1,030). In addition, Harvick ranked first in Quality Passes (82) in the fall event at the speedway.

Looking Back ... In last year's Samsung Mobile 500, Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team scored a 20th-place finish after struggling with handling problems for much of the race. In the fall race at the track, he took home a 13th-place result.

Ten-Gallon Hat ... While Harvick has yet to don a cowboy hat in Victory Lane in Sprint Cup Series competition at Texas Motor Speedway, he has had the honor of wearing one four times in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition (March 2001 and November 2005, 2006 and 2007) and once in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (November 2011). Harvick's Nationwide Series wins at Texas in 2006 and 2007 were under the leadership of crew chief Shane Wilson, who now serves in the same capacity on the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team.

In the Rearview Mirror ... Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team started second and led the first 21 laps before handling issues dropped them back to a 19th-place finish two weekends ago at Martinsville Speedway.

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:

The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team has been fairly solid so far this year. Do you feel like you guys can take it to the next level and get a top five or even have a chance to win at Texas Motor Speedway?
"Texas (Motor Speedway) was probably the worst track for us last year. We struggled with what we needed to get in the car to be able to have speed and race well. We're going there with a different mindset this year to try to get some speed out of the car. In Las Vegas, we had a lot of speed, so our first mile-and-a-half race went really well and hopefully when we get to Texas we can have it all together."

What are the keys to running well at Texas Motor Speedway?
"Texas (Motor Speedway) is a really fast race track, especially for qualifying. I think it's probably the fastest race track we go to. If you're going to qualify well or win the race, you're going to have to have a car that's comfortable to drive with a lot of throttle time."

From the driver's standpoint, can you feel the speed at Texas Motor Speedway?
"(Texas Motor Speedway) is a really fast race track and the banking is where you can really feel how fast you are going. It's one of the few race tracks where you feel the speed in the car. The unique part about this race track is that you have that big speed for about three or four laps and as you go through the tire run the speed really drops off a tremendous amount. From a driver standpoint, you have a lot of options and the race track has a lot of bumps, which adds character. You have to make your car work good and you have to get up off Turn 2, but you can run all over the race track. Obviously we'll run the bottom for qualifying, but when race time comes we will be moving around all over the place so it's fun from a driver's standpoint."

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