|
NASCAR Preseason Thunder Day 10: Harvick Looks To Continue Dominance In Camping World 300 Presented By Chevy
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 18, 2008) – Kevin Harvick has made three straight trips to Gatorade Victory Lane in the Camping World 300 presented by Chevy NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway – twice as an owner and once as a driver. In last year’s Camping World 300 presented by Chevy NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Kevin Harvick, driving for Richard Childress Racing, captured his first win as a driver at Daytona International Speedway. The following day, he became the first driver to sweep both the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series events at DIS since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2004 when he edged Mark Martin by .020 seconds to win “The Great American Race.” In 2005 and 2006, Harvick won as an owner when Tony Stewart captured the Camping World 300 presented by Chevy in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet. This year, Harvick isn’t driving for Richard Childress Racing in the Camping World 300 presented by Chevy, but instead wheeling the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet for his own team. “To unload and speed-wise, I think everybody is pretty happy with the way everybody unloaded,” Harvick said at lunch. “We pretty much started from scratch with all the cars and just kind of started over. Everybody did a great job putting it together. Now we’ve got to see how they drive and go from there. I’m looking forward to the challenge of running my own cars and creating a different challenge from all aspects of it.” Harvick won’t compete in any Nationwide Series races this year for Richard Childress Racing, which fields the No. 29 Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet for him in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The Bakersfield, Calif., driver will instead race only his No. 33 Chevrolet in 22races as he continues to grow and strengthen his Kevin Harvick Inc. operation. “We basically started over,” Harvick said. “We bought all new downforce cars from the chassis up. We did a lot more development work this year with the current cars. Last year when we unloaded, we were dead last with these particular cars when we came to Daytona and tested. There were a second and half off. I feel like the drag numbers are better, I feel like the horsepower is better, I feel like the cars are well prepared. “I’ve been so fortunate to have run the 21 and 2 (at RCR) and be able to win a lot of races but it was time to do something different for myself and to kind of meet that challenge.” Fastest of the day: Johnny Sauter in the No. 1 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing was the fastest in the morning session on Friday with a speed of 179.076 mph. Rounding out the top five were Mike McLaughlin (178.958), Kevin Harvick (178.873), Brad Keselowski (178.809) and Tim McCreadie (178.781). In the afternoon session, Kyle Busch in a Toyota was fastest at 182.556 mph followed by Dario Franchitti (182.293), Robert Richardson (182.282) and Johnny Sauter (182.017). Wallace: Mike Wallace, who was 27th and 28th fastest in the Friday morning session, is always a driver to keep an eye on at Daytona International Speedway. He has victories at DIS in ARCA RE/MAX Series, the Nationwide Series and the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event. For this weekend’s testing sessions, he is driving a Toyota for the first time with Germain Racing. “Daytona is Daytona so the race track is basically the same as it’s always has been,” Wallace said. “We’re not setting the field on fire at the moment but we’re here to test and we’re learning a lot. We’ve got two cars. We’ve narrowed in on one car to do the reminder of (Friday) with non-drafting runs. We’ll go through our whole list. We’ve got 33 items that we need to go through that they want information and data. Overall, everything is going good.” Busch keeps going and going: Kyle Busch has been a testing machine this January at Daytona International Speedway. He shook down his new Toyota ride for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series three-day testing session, the hopped behind the wheel of the No. 51 Ballew Motorsports Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series three-day testing and this weekend is testing the No. 18 Toyota that he’ll race in the Camping World 300 presented by Chevy. First on track: Harvick was the first to hit the high banks Friday morning as the first wave of NASCAR Nationwide Series testing at DIS got underway. Harvick, who won last year’s Camping World 300 presented by Chevy at DIS, was also the first to hit the track during his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series testing for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Quick hits: Besides Kyle Busch, other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers participating in this weekend’s first wave of Nationwide Series testing include Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Dario Franchitti and Carl Edwards … Misting conditions delayed the start of Nationwide Series testing on Friday and the teams cut a half a hour off the noon lunch break … The late Dale Earnhardt owns the most Camping World 300 presented by Chevy victories with seven … Cale Gale, who will share the driving duties on the No. 77 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet with Ron Hornaday, won’t start testing at DIS until Sunday, but is serving as a spotter to his owner Kevin Harvick during the first wave of testing. The auction started Monday, Jan. 7 and will run through Sunday, Jan. 20 at 5 p.m. Available to bid on are many autograph items from drivers and stars such as Nicolas Cage, Kelly Clarkson, Big and Rich, Jeff Gordon, Michael Waltrip, Buddy Baker, Pete Hamilton and Jimmie Johnson. NASCAR Nationwide Series Preseason Thunder Fan Fest: NASCAR Nationwide Series teams will continue testing through Tuesday in preparation for the season-opening Camping World 300 presented by Chevy. The finalNASCAR Preseason Thunder Fan Fest is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 19 with the NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers. Sprint FANZONE opens at 9 a.m. and the fan forums are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Tickets to the event are $10. Tickets: Race tickets for all DIRECTV Speedweeks 2008 events at Daytona International Speedway are available online at www.racetickets.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP. Speeds: DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Morning speeds from NASCAR Nationwide Series testing in preparation for the Camping World 300 presented by Chevy: 1. 1A, Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet 50.258, 179.076 2. 20A, Mike McLaughlin, Toyota, 50.291, 178.958 3. 33A, Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 50.315, 178.873 4. 88B, Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 50.333, 178.809 5. 21A, Tim McCreadie, Chevrolet, 50.341, 178.781 6. 2A, Brandon Miller, Chevrolet, 50.377, 178.653 7. 41A, Bryan Clauson, Dodge, 50.414, 178.522 8. 5B, David Green, Chevrolet, 50.463, 178.348 9. 88A, Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 50.488, 178.260 10. 5A, David Green, Chevrolet, 50.600, 177.866 11. 21B, Tim McCreadie, Chevrolet, 50.614, 177.816 12. 27A, Brad Coleman, Ford, 50.617, 177.806 13. 60B, Carl Edwards, Ford, 50.698, 177.522 14. 18B, Kyle Busch, Toyota, 50.713, 177.469 15. 33B, Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 50.741, 177.371 16. 40A, Dario Franchitti, Dodge, 50.763, 177.294 17. 20B, Mike McLaughlin, Toyota, 50.791, 177.197 18. 16A, Erik Darnell, Ford, 50.846, 177.005 19. 30A, Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 50.873, 176.911 20. 27B, Brad Coleman, Ford, 50.879, 176.890 21. 41B, Bryan Clauson, Dodge, 50.961, 176.606 22. 37A, Stanton Barrett, Ford, 51.056, 176.277 23. 37B, Stanton Barrett, Ford, 51.094, 176.146 24. 60A, Carl Edwards, Ford, 51.129, 176.025 25. 24A, Eric McClure, Chevrolet, 51.237, 175.654 26. 28A, Brian Keselowski, Chevrolet, 51.276, 175.521 27. 7B, Mike Wallace, Toyota, 51.352, 175.261 28. 7A, Mike Wallace Toyota, 51.383, 175.155 29. 56A, Danny O’Quinn, Chevrolet, 51.392, 175.125 30. 16B, Erik Darnell, Ford, 51.451, 174.924 31. 4A, Robert Richardson, Chevrolet, 51.985, 173.127 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Afternoon speeds from NASCAR Nationwide Series testing in preparation for the Camping World 300 presented by Chevy: 1. 18B, Kyle Busch, Toyota, 49.300, 182.556 2. 40A, Dario, Franchitti, Dodge, 49.371, 182.293 3. 4A, Robert Richardson, Chevrolet, 49.374, 182.282, 5. 1A, Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 49.446, 182.017 6. 33B, Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 49.539, 181.675 7. 20A, Mike McLaughlin, Toyota, 49.587, 181.499 8. 21A, Tim McCreadie, Chevrolet, 49.868, 180.476 9. 2B, Brandon Miller, Chv, 50.010, 179.964 10. 33A, Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 50.085, 179.695 11. 88B, Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 50.086, 179.691 12. 88A, Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 50.304, 178.912 13. 5B, David Green, Chevrolet, 50.328, 178.827 14. 2A, Brandon Miller, Chevrolet, 50.346, 178.763 15. 7A, Mike Wallace, Toyota, 50.370, 178.678 16. 5A, David Green, Chevrolet, 50.373, 178.667 17. 18A, Kyle Busch, Toyota, 50.434, 178.451 18. 16A, Erik Darnell, Ford, 50.441, 178.426 19. 27B, Brad Coleman, Ford, 50.445, 178.412 20. 20B, Mike McLaughlin, Toyota, 50.475, 178.306 21. 21B, Tim McCreadie, Chevrolet, 50.505, 178.200 22. 60B, Carl Edwards, Ford, 50.525, 178.130 23. 1B, Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 50.744, 177.361 25. 30A, Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 50.814, 177.117 26. 37A, Stanton Barrett, Ford, 50.957, 176.620 27. 37B, Stanton Barrett, Ford, 50.990, 176.505 28. 24A, Eric McClure, Chevrolet, 51.079, 176.198 29. 56A, Danny O’Quinn, Chevrolet, 51.161, 175.915 30. 60A, Carl Edwards, Ford, 51.219, 175.716 31. 16B, Erik Darnell, Ford, 51.344, 175.288
Want to purchase race tickets before they go on sale to the general public? Want to know the latest motorsports news? Sign up for our newsletter and receive the most up to date information in the exciting world of racing as well as exclusive alerts to ticket presales. Don't get left behind! Sign up now!
|
|
