Solid Truck Series Finish for Harvick at California

02-26-2007 | TruckSeries.com Report

Solid Truck Series Finish for Harvick at California

Kevin Harvick in the No. 2 Camping World Chevy Silverado at the San Bernardino County 200 at California Speedway. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Kevin Harvick started the San Bernardino County 200 from the 21st position and finished in the top-10. On the first lap of the race he moved his No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet up three spots into 18th position and by lap two he was up to the 15th spot.

By lap 10, Harvick had already cracked the top-10 and was in eighth place, but asked crew chief Charlie Wilson for a little help saying, "the truck is really tight, lets raise the track bar up two rounds." He battled back and forth with Matt Crafton for the eighth position until the caution waved on lap 30; he pitted taking four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. After restarting ninth - Harvick, Johnny Benson and Carl Edwards were racing three wide with Harvick bouncing between ninth and 10th.

The caution flag was back out on lap 51, and Harvick was still suffering from being "way to tight." Wilson said, "let's pit for four tires, fuel and raise the track bar two rounds." On the restart, Harvick sustained slight damage to the left front of the No. 2 truck. On lap 53, Harvick was back in again for a track bar adjustment, four tires and fuel under caution. Harvick pitted on lap 54 to place tape over a hole on the left front grill, and again on lap 55 for more tape and fuel, ultimately ending up on pit road four times to make sure everything was in order.

Harvick restarted the race on lap 57 in the 22nd spot and it didn't take long for him to move through the field, making his way to the 12th position by lap 66. While in 12th, the caution came out and he radioed his crew that "the car is still loose in the corners." Harvick headed to pit road for tires and fuel, restarting in 17th. Harvick was back up to 12th by lap 87 when the caution flew. Wilson told his driver, "we are staying out and should be good to go to the end."

Sitting inside the top-10 with eight laps to go Harvick told his crew, "this thing is so fun to drive." After restarting on lap 95 in ninth position, he passed Rick Crawford and drove his No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet across the finish line to an eighth place finish.

Kevin Harvick Quotes:
"I had a lot of fun out there tonight. Kind of got the front all torn up, which caused it to push getting in the turns. The guys did a great job on our Camping World Silverado from practice getting everything turned around. It was fun and not bad for our first race back in a couple of years."

"The trucks are just so much fun to drive. Whatever we have to do to help Ron win the championship this season is what we are going to do!"

Next up for the No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado team: Clint Bowyer will make his debut in the No. 2 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway March 16, 2007. Atlanta marks Bowyer's first of four races for Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) this season; he will also compete at New Hampshire International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series.