Second Top-Five Of The 2009 Season

Kevin Harvick entered the Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win, with hopes of another strong finish in Sunday’s running of the Kobalt Tools 500.

Fighting handling issues throughout much of the race due to the slick track conditions, Harvick and the Shell-Pennzoil team fought back from being two laps down to finish fourth scoring their second top-five finish of the season.

The Shell-Pennzoil driver started the 500-mile race in the 10th position.  It didn’t take long for trouble to find its way on to the track when the first caution flag waved on the first lap.

It was just 10 laps later that caution came out again. During the second caution period Harvick brought the Shell-Pennzoil Chevy down the pit lane to the attention of his crew.  After receiving an air pressure adjustment, tires and fuel the 2007 Daytona 500 champion returned to the track for the restart in the 15th position.

It was on lap 65 when the Bakersfield, California native returned to pit road under green-flag conditions to receive tires, fuel and additional air pressure adjustments. Harvick returned to the track only to have the caution wave at lap 67 putting the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil team on the tail end of one lap down.

When the field took the green flag for the restart on lap 73, Harvick was posted in the 20th position one lap down. Harvick remained in front of the leaders preventing him from going a second lap down and by lap 100 the two-time Nationwide Series champion had worked his way to just outside the top 15 to the 16th-place position.

After another visit to pit road on lap 105, the Shell-Pennzoil driver returned to the track and continued to fight a loose handling race car while running in the top-15. 

Caution waved on lap 157 allowing Harvick another opportunity to bring his No. 29 RCR Chevrolet to pit road for additional adjustments to help with the handling of the car. Harvick returned to the track for the restart on lap 162 in the 13th position.

As the race continued past the half-way point, the Shell-Pennzoil team kept working on the No. 29 Chevy while Harvick worked his way into position to gain his lap back.

When caution waved on lap 215, Harvick was the first car a lap down and received the “Lucky Dog” pass and made his way back onto the lead lap.

The final 100 laps of the event saw the Shell-Pennzoil driver continue to move up in position as the car began to handle better in the closing stages of the race.

Harvick raced in the top-10 for the remainder of the race before a late-race caution set up a green-white-checkered finish. Harvick took the green flag for the final laps in the fifth position and moved up into fourth where he took the checkered flag.

With his top-five run, Harvick gained three spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standing moving into the eighth position.

"Our Reese’s Chevrolet was good all day, and the guys just hung in there,” said Harvick. “Our car was decent enough to make up some ground there and we were able to get those two laps back. It just took us 130 or 140 laps to get back on the lead lap. They all just hung in there, and it made for a good day."

"We got around the (No.) 1 there on the restart, but we didn’t quite have what we needed to get by those top three guys,” continued the Shell-Pennzoil driver. “It was a long day’s work. To come back from two laps down and get a top five out of the thing just shows a lot about our race team.

"We’ve run good every week. You know, at Vegas, it was the same deal (as today). We got caught on pit road when a caution came out and it cost us a lap and we made it up.

At California, we ran in the top 10 all day and had an oil filter issue. All in all, the performance has been good and we’re where we need to be."

Kurt Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 with Jeff Gordon finishing second. Carl Edwards, Harvick and Brian Vickers rounded out the top five.

After taking a week off the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee for the running of the Food City 500. Live television coverage begins on Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on FOX. 

The event will also be broadcast live on PRN (Performance Racing Network) and Sirius Satellite Radio with coverage beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).