Harvick has strong N'wide finishes despite pit stops

Kevin Harvick isn't one to hold back his feelings. Just ask his Nationwide Series pit crew.

This season Harvick is splitting time in his Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 33 Chevrolet and on more than one occasion has criticized his team for poor pit stops.

Fast facts

What	O'Reilly 300
When	Green, 3:16 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	ESPN2, 2:30 p.m. ET
Radio	PRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 3 p.m. ET

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But that hasn't stopped the team from running well, and it is first in owner points heading into Saturday's O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Harvick finished in the top 10 in four of the first five races, and Cale Gale finished eighth in the No. 33 at Nashville.

Harvick will be in the No. 33 at Texas, where he has four wins in eight starts. But all four wins have come driving for Richard Childress Racing.

"Any time you win a race it is always exciting, but going for a fifth win at the same track means a lot," Harvick said. "My first start at TMS I had a top-10 finish. I am looking forward to bringing another win home and my first win at Kevin Harvick Inc."

Harvick has seven top-10 finishes on the 1.5-mile track. His worst finish is 11th, which came last April, the last time he drove the No. 33 at Texas. Harvick knows his pit crew will be crucial to winning Saturday.

By the Numbers

Kevin Harvick goes for Nationwide win No. 5 at Texas Motor Speedway.

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"To be successful at Texas you have to have a good handling car and great stops on pit road to maintain positions and move forward through the field," he said.

Predictably, Harvick has the best driver rating at Texas at 121.3. Also racing Saturday are Nos. 2 and 3, Jeff Burton (109.8) and Tony Stewart (107.7). Defending champion Matt Kenseth has the fourth-best rating (107.0), but he is not entered.

Burton, the Sprint Cup Series points leader, is winless at Texas but has finished in the top 10 in all 11 of his races. He also won the Cup race at Texas last spring. He will be in the RCR No. 29 Chevrolet, which Scott Wimmer took to Victory Lane two weeks ago at Nashville.

News and Notes

• Brad Keselowski, 24, is working on a run of three consecutive top 10s. He finished fourth in the previous two races, at Bristol and Nashville, for his first top-five finishes in the series.

• Kelly Bires, 23, also picked up his first top five at Nashville, finishing fifth.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. is entered in his third Nationwide Series race at Texas. He won in 1998 and finished 10th in 1999.