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Kevin Harvick Darlington Raceway 05.09.08 Post Race Report

Monday May 12, 2008

 

Kevin Harvick
No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
Diamond Hill Plywood 200 Race Recap

Harvick Salvages 13th-Place Finish at Darlington

Darlington, S.C. (May 12, 2008) — At the newly repaved Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Kevin Harvick and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Camping World Chevrolet started the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 from the 17th position and managed to score a top-15 finish, crossing the start-finish line 13th.

“We just missed it tonight,” said Harvick. “We were never in contention no matter how much we worked on the car. We ran hard and stayed out of trouble, and we were able to secure a decent finish for our Camping World Chevrolet.”

Looking for his first NASCAR win at the track called “The Lady in Black,” Harvick battled a tight-handling car for most of the practice sessions. The team made numerous changes in an effort to improve the handling before the race, but soon after the green-flag waved on Friday evening it was clear the changes had not fixed the car.

Harvick was able to move as high as 14th by lap 6, but spent most of the night battling among the 15th and 20th positions. On lap 54 while running 18th, the No. 33 car was put one lap down when passed by the leaders.

Throughout the race, Harvick radioed crew chief Wally Rogers the car was not handling to his liking, with the tires chattering when exiting the corners. With every pit stop Harvick stayed on pit road longer to allow the crew to work on the car, but despite the never-give-up attitude of the No. 33 team, the car remained ill-handling.

After a green-white-checkered finish, Harvick was able to take the checkered flag from the 13th position and record his eighth top-15 finish of the season.

STATS RECAP

May 9, 2008
Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Diamond Hill Plywood 200

Race: 12 of 35
Driver: Kevin Harvick
Started: 17th
Finished: 13th
Owner’s Point Standings: 5th (+/- 0 spots)

Race length: 147 laps/200.8 miles
Banking: 25-degrees in turns 1 and 2 23-degrees in turns 3 and 4 3-degrees on the frontstretch 2-degrees on the backstretch
Track layout: 1.366-miles
Shape: Oval
Number of Race Cautions: 8 *Red flagged two times for a total of 22 minutes and 51 seconds.
First Practice: 14th (29.015 seconds; 169.485 mph)
Second Practice: 10th (28.134 seconds; 174.792 mph)
Final Practice: 15th (28.274 seconds; 173.927 mph)
Qualifying: 17th (28.315 seconds; 173.675 mph)

Next on Nationwide Series Schedule:

Date: May 24, 2008
Track: Lowe’s (N.C.) Motor Speedway
Event Name: CARQUEST Auto Parts 300
Driver: Kevin Harvick

Broadcast Time: 7:00 p.m., ET on ESPN2 and PRN

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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