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Pre-Race Notes - LifeLock 400
Event/Date: LifeLock 400 – June 14, 2009
Venue: Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich.
Notes
This Week’s Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet at Michigan International Speedway … Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 247 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Built new for 2008, this is the same car Clint Bowyer finished 39th with (as a No. 07 Jack Daniel’s entry) in June 2008 at Pocono Raceway after being involved in an incident on the front straightaway.
In its most recent outing, Bowyer qualified third and finished fourth with this car at Texas Motor Speedway in November of last year. Since then, the car has been rebranded as a No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil racer and outfitted with a new body. This weekend marks the third time this car has been used in a race.
Stat Facts … In 16 NSCS races at Michigan International Speedway, Harvick has earned two top-five and six top-10 finishes. Additionally, the 11-time NSCS winner has earned an 18.4 starting average and a 15.2 finishing average. In those same starts, Harvick has led 88 laps, completed all but 41 laps of competition and finished on the lead lap12 times.
Season Recap … In 14 races this season, Harvick has two top-five and two top-10 finishes. He has a 21.8 average starting position and an average finish of 22.8. Harvick has completed 4,327 of 4,448 laps contested (97.3 percent), and earned over $2.7 million in purse money. With his 24th-place finish at Pocono Raceway, Harvick is now 26th in the NSCS point standings.
RCR at Michigan … RCR has earned two wins at Michigan International Speedway, both of them by Dale Earnhardt, who snagged the checkered flag in the Miller American 400 on June 28, 1987 and again in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 on June 24, 1990. Additionally, RCR boasts 15 top-five and 34 top-10 finishes with seven different drivers including Richard Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, who recorded top 10s at Michigan in June 1978 and in August 1979.
The Collective RCR … In 14 races this season, RCR-prepared Sprint Cup Series entries have notched seven top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. Additionally, the No. 29 team scored the win in the 2009 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. The Welcome, N.C.,-based race team has completed 17,196 laps in 2009 with four different drivers including Harvick, Jeff Burton, Bowyer and Casey Mears.
Meanwhile, RCR teams have been on top of the leaderboard for 95 laps and all four teams have earned just over $9 million combined in purse money in 2009.
Birthday Boy … Dustin Stanley, shock specialist for the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil team, will celebrate his 31st birthday on Sunday, June 14. Born in Lewisville, N.C., where he still resides, Stanley is also the rear-tire carrier on the No. 29 over-the-wall crew.
Race Fans Save on Fuel … With summer travel season underway, Shell is providing a way for travelers to save two cents per gallon on Shell-branded gasoline and diesel purchases by using the Shell Saver Card. The new Shell Saver Card is an easy and convenient way to pay since it links directly to the cardholder’s checking account.
It doesn’t cost anything to get the card and is a non-credit payment solution that can help travelers save money and budget more simply. Shell is the first gasoline retailer to nationally launch a product like the Shell Saver Card, the latest addition to the Shell family of payment products that can help you lower the cost of driving without sacrificing the quality of your fuel. For more information, visit www.shellsavercard.com.
Up to Speed … The LifeLock 400 from Michigan International Speedway is scheduled to take the green flag Sunday, June 14 at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Pre-race coverage begins live on TNT at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The race will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.
Qualifying for the 15th points-paying race on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule is slated to air live on SPEED Friday, June 12 at 3 p.m. EDT.
Online With the Times … To keep up with the latest news and information about Richard Childress Racing and to view exclusive online content, visit the team’s official website at www.RCRRacing.com.
Kevin Harvick Quotes
Michigan was a pretty good track for you last year, with the No. 29 team posting two top-15 finishes there.
"Michigan has been good to us and was good to us last year. It's a fun race track, because you can race from the bottom of the race track all the way to the top, so the track gives you a lot of options. It's really wide, and it wears out the tires. The tires are good for a lap or two and then it's all about making your car handle good and picking out the right place on the track. It's a fun track to race on because there's so much room and options if your car's not exactly right."
How do you go about finding the best line around a track like Michigan?
"For me, I'm a ‘bottom feeder.' I like running on the bottom of the race track. At Michigan, in particular, you can use the apron to make your car turn. There are three seams – it's almost a progressive banking as you go through Turns 1 and 2. You can use those seams to help your car turn if you're tight and if you're loose, you can kind of let it drift to the top of the race track. Or, you can run it on the bottom of the race track and use a little more brake than you want to keep the thing from getting loose and then drive it straight up off the corner. A lot of times, you wind up getting tight there and you try to loosen the car up and then it gets free in the center of the corners. It's a tough race track to get your car to handle, but there are a lot of options and little things you can do to try and help that."
When you're searching for the best line, do you vary your line by inches or by feet from lap to lap?
"I think it all depends on where you're racing. If you've got some room to move around, sometimes you'll vary by feet just searching for that line and something to make your car faster. If you're in a pack, you've got to be in a place to be able to look around and try to find a different groove. A lot of times, people get inside or outside of you and you have to go to a different place on the track, and then sometimes you pick up because you're forced down to a position. It all depends on where you are on the track and what you've got going on."