Kevin Harvick has posted three top-10 finishes in four races at Chicagoland. Credit: Autostock

Harvick eager to turn season around -- now

After three consecutive finishes outside the top 20, Kevin Harvick has fallen from seventh in the Nextel Cup point standings to 14th, 432 behind leader Jimmie Johnson -- and out of the Chase for the Cup with nine races remaining until New Hampshire.

However, the No. 29 team has a spring in its step this weekend as the series blows into Chicago for Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400. Harvick has two wins and an average finish of 7.2 in four races at the 1.5-mile track.

CHICAGO •   Entry List •   Track Page FedEx PreviewNBC/TNT's Marty Snider previews the action at Chicago Fantasy ReportDanielle and Marty make their picks for Chicago Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"Chicagoland Speedway has definitely been good to us," Harvick said. "It just fits everything we do at RCR and it really fits my driving style. It is one of those races we look forward to and it couldn't come at a better time for this team.

"We have struggled putting an entire race together lately. We broke a motor at Sonoma and then we got wrecked at Daytona. It's been frustrating because we have had fast cars. We just can't seem to get them to the finish line without some sort of problem."

Harvick will race chassis No. 137, the same one that he raced to an eighth-place finish at Pocono, the team's last top-10 run. Harvick also raced the car at Charlotte (14th place) and at Darlington (11th).

"We know we've got a chance to win [at Chicago] because we've done it before in the past," crew chief Todd Berrier said. "That automatically gives the guys on this team a boost and I know it does the same for Kevin.

"We're taking a car that Kevin really likes. We have run it on just about every type of track out there and it just responds to whatever we throw at it."

Harvick said that despite his success at the track, this year is different. "I think everybody has got the driving part figured out," he said. "Right now, it's more about the little things, like shock package. Shocks are probably the biggest part of it.

	Inside the Numbers Kevin Harvick at Chicago Year Start Finish Laps Led 2004 17 10 0 2003 11 17 46 2002 32 1 29 2001 6 1 113 Total 16.5 7.2 188

"It's really more about picking apart your racecar and coming up with that unique set-up. We had it the first two years we went to Chicago and were pretty close last year as well."

But this is the series' first visit to Chicago with the new spoiler and tire combination.

"For the most part we haven't seen a whole lot of difference from the spoiler," Harvick said. "It has been more the change in the tire. This is barely a two-groove track and you are in the gas through the corners, so it might make us a little more free than we have been in the past.

"I know our team has realized how to compensate for the new rules, so we'll just have to wait and see."

Notes: Terry Labonte is entered in Sunday's event, his eighth Cup appearance of 2005. He will drive the No. 44 Chevrolet. ... ... A NASCAR-focused episode of the E! True Hollywood Story will air July 10. Check local listings for the documentary. ... CNBC will air a one-hour documentary about the sport. NASCAR Gold will feature industry personalities, including the France family and team owner Rick Hendrick. The program will air July 11 at 8 p.m. ET. It will be re-broadcast at 11 p.m. ET. ... David Stremme on Sunday will be making his Nextel Cup debut in the No. 39 Dodge. ... Rusty Wallace will carry a special "retro" look in this weekend's race: "Just tell 'em that black is back," he said of the team's return to the familiar black-and-gold Miller Genuine Draft color scheme. Wallace drove the black-and-gold No. 2 entry to 30 wins, 82 top-five finishes and 120 top-10s in 179 races.