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Pre-Race Report: Pocono 500
Event/Date: Pocono 500 - June 7, 2009
Venue: Pocono Raceway - Long Pond, Pa.
Notes
This Week's Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet at Pocono Raceway … Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 257 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built brand new in 2008, this car was driven by Clint Bowyer (as a No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet) in the 2008 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he finished 19th.
Stat Facts … In 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Pocono Raceway, Harvick has notched two top-five and four top-10 finishes. Additionally, he has earned a 19.3 starting average and a 15.4 finishing average.
Loop Data … Harvick has an average finish of 9.6 over the past eight races at Pocono, second only to Denny Hamlin (6.2 average finish) during that span. Of the 607 green-flag passes Harvick made in those eight races, 276 (45.47 percent) occurred on the frontstretch of the 2.5-mile speedway, 139 (22.9 percent) were completed in Turn 3 and just nine passes were completed in Turn 2 (1.48 percent).
Points Check … With his 17th-place finish last weekend at Dover International Speedway, Harvick now sits 24th in the NSCS point standings.
Milestone … Harvick will make his 300th-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Dating back to February 26, 2001 the Bakersfield, Calif., native has earned 11 wins, five poles, 58 top-five (19.3 percent) and 122 top-10 finishes (40.8 percent) in NSCS competition, in addition to one win each in both the Sprint All-Star Race (2007) and the Budweiser Shootout (2009). He has led 2,991 laps and earned close to $53 million in purse money. Over those 299 starts, Harvick has logged a 17.9 starting average and a 15.6 finishing average. The 11-time Sprint Cup Series winner has been running at the finish in 285 of those 299 races and finished on the lead lap 193 times.
Race Recap … Harvick and the No. 29 team fought back from an ill-timed caution that left them a lap down at Dover International Speedway to score a 17th-place finish in last weekend's Autism Speaks 400. The caution flag came out while Harvick was in his pit stall on lap 118, putting him a lap down to the leaders. When the ninth caution flag of the event flew on lap 365, Harvick was awarded the "lucky dog" pass back onto the lead lap and rallied to post his second top-20 finish of May.
Prelude to the Dream … Before heading to Pocono Raceway, Harvick will take part in the Prelude to the Dream charity all-star race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, on Wednesday, June 3. He'll drive a No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet dirt late model with support from Team Dillon Racing, owned by RCR's Vice President of Competition, Mike Dillon. Among the TDR crew members assisting Harvick at the event will be 20 year-old Ryan Gifford, one of RCR's development drivers, who is also sponsored by Shell-Pennzoil.
Harvick's RCR teammates, Clint Bowyer and Casey Mears, are also a part of the 26-man entry list, which includes NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch, among others.
The live, commercial-free Prelude to the Dream broadcast will be aired on HBO pay-per-view, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, with an immediate replay following. Ordering information and up-to-the-minute racing information is available at www.hbo.com. Proceeds from the event will benefit several military-themed charities.
RCR at Pocono … In 98 starts at Pocono, RCR team owner Richard Childress has two wins, both of them coming with Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt won the Summer 500 on July 19, 1987 and the Miller Genuine Draft 500 on July 18, 1993. Additionally, RCR has earned one pole, 12 top-five and 41 top-10 finishes at the uniquely-shaped three-turn speedway. Childress, a former driver in NASCAR's top division, contributed two of those top 10s from 1976-1980.
Catch all the Action … The Pocono 500 from Pocono Raceway will take the green flag Sunday, June 7 at 2 p.m. EDT. Race coverage will be televised live on TNT beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT, and broadcast worldwide on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 14th race on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will be televised live on SPEED Friday, June 5 at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
Kevin Harvick Quotes
Pocono was a pretty solid track for you last season.
"This part of the season over the past several years has been really good. Pocono's a fun race track to race on. The past couple of years, it's come down to strategy and we've been solid. It's got that unique patch in turn 3 that seemed to kind of lose some grip last year, so hopefully that's gone and it'll be kind of even from top to bottom as far as which groove you choose.
"It's a fun track, and really rough in turn 1 on the bottom. A lot of times you run through the middle. If your car's working really good you can run anywhere you want through turn 1. The tunnel turn is a really fast corner that you run right at the bottom. It's got a really big curve at the bottom that you really don't want to hit at all, because it jumps you up in the air. It's a challenging race track, and has three totally different turns."
Some drivers say the "tunnel turn" at Pocono is one of the most difficult turns in all of NASCAR. Do you agree?
"It's a very challenging corner. It's very inviting to drive the car in too far and then you push up in the center of the corner. When you get it right, it's a really, really fun corner to go through because it's really fast and the car's right on the edge getting into the corner and you're in the gas really early on exit.
"The car just kind of has that loose swing as you come up off the corner and you're right up against the wall. It's really flat. There's a little bump in the middle of it that you hit. It's really fun when your car is right. If it's not right, you lose a lot of time there."
The frontstretch is so long at Pocono. When you're coming out of Turn 3, can you even see Turn 1?
"You can kind of see (Turn 1). It's a long ways down there. The Turn 3 exit is the most important corner on the race track, just because you have something like a three-quarters-of-a-mile straightaway that you have to get down.
"If you screw up the exit of 3, you screw up the place where you can gain the most time. You've got to have a lot of horsepower and you've got to have your car handling. You've got to get over the bumps right and there's a lot of technique in remembering what you need to do in each corner. A lot of elements come into play at Pocono."