Race/Date: Dodge Dealers 400 – Sept. 23, 2007
Location: Dover (Del.) International Speedway
Start Position: Seventh
Finish Position: 20th
Points Standing: Ninth (up one position)
After racing in the top 10 for the first 163 laps of the race, Kevin Harvick had to scramble (and get some good luck) to coax a 20th-place finish out of his No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet in Sunday’s Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover International Speedway. The drastic turn of events was the combination of a loose wheel on lap 156 and a flat tire on lap 237, which, ultimately left the Bakersfield, Calif., native four laps down to the leaders.
The never-give-up effort by the Shell-Pennzoil team moved Harvick up one spot in the point standings, to ninth, after the second of 10 races of the 2007 NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship.
The 31-year-old driver was the 42nd of 47 drivers to make a qualifying attempt at the Monster Mile. He put down a lap of 23.548 seconds (152.879 mph) that held up as the seventh quickest circuit of the session, placing the Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS on the inside of row four for NASCAR’s main event.
At the drop of the green flag, the 2007 Daytona 500 winner began knocking off position after position. Harvick’s red and yellow machine was pretty good but it just needed to turn better off the corners. By lap 27, “Happy” knifed his way into the top five.
While running in the fourth position, the third of 13 caution flags flew on lap 53. Harvick informed crew chief Todd Berrier that the Shell-Pennzoil Chevy needed just a small adjustment to help the car turn better off the corners. Following a rock solid routine four-tire pit stop, the Shell-Pennzoil team gained one spot on pit road leaving the team third when the 43-car field was shown the green flag on lap 58.
For the next 17 laps, Harvick raced in the top 10 and was sixth when the fourth caution flag flew on lap 75. The 2006 NASCAR Busch Series champion began to suffer from a loose-handling race car. Berrier called Harvick down pit road to the attention of the Shell-Pennzoil over-the-wall crew. Four tires and fuel, including air pressure, were in order and Harvick restarted ninth after several teams opted for only two tires during this round of pit stops.
The changes made to the bright yellow and red machine did not immediately improve the handling and the 2007 NASCAR All-Star Challenge winner fell back to the 12th position. However, on lap 122, the 11-time NASCAR Cup Series winner informed Berrier that once the tires began to heat up his Impala SS was just as good as the leaders.
On lap 146 another caution flag flew for debris. Berrier summoned Harvick to pit road for four fresh Goodyear tires and fuel, including air pressure and chassis adjustments. Harvick returned to the race track in the 11th position.
Just as the team thought they had a chance to compete for a top-five finish, Harvick came on the radio on lap 163 and informed the team that he had a loose rear wheel. The Shell-Pennzoil Chevy hit pit road for an unscheduled four-tire stop. The No. 29 machine returned to the track in 37th, two laps down to the leaders.
With fresh tires, Harvick was the fastest car on the race track. He set his sights on the leader and attempted to race his way back to only one lap down. Unfortunately, with “Happy” only three seconds behind the leaders, a caution was displayed on the track.
Harvick hit pit road for a routine four-tire pit stop on lap 206. Racing resumed on lap 211 and the 31-time NASCAR Busch Series winner was listed in the 31st position.
Another caution flag flew on lap 228 and once again Harvick made the hard left turn down pit road for a routine four-tire stop with no adjustments. Harvick was the second car on the inside row for the restart. His hopes were to race past the leader on the restart and for a quick caution to be displayed. This would only put him one lap down and then he could start racing for the “lucky dog”.
However, to add insult to injury, Harvick informed his team just after the restart that he had a flat right-rear tire. The Shell-Pennzoil driver hit pit road for an unscheduled two-tire stop. He returned to racing in the 36th position four laps down.
Over the final 148 laps, six caution flags were displayed which allowed Harvick to pick up several positions on the race track. He crossed the finish line 20th.
Carl Edwards earned his third win of the season. The balance of the top five consisted of Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin and Kyle Busch. Fellow Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer finished seventh and 12th, respectively.
The third race of the 2007 Chase to the Championship will take place Sunday, Sept. 30 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The LifeLock 400 will be televised live on ABC beginning at 2 p.m. EDT and can be heard live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying will air live Friday, Sept. 28, at 4 p.m. EDT on ESPN2, MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
"If it wasn’t for bad luck I don’t think we would have any luck at all this year. We had a really good Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet but we had a couple of things happen to us today that we couldn’t recover from. Todd (Berrier) did a great job setting up this car for Dover. I really think we could have given Carl (Edwards) a run for his money today.”
