Harvick's past shows him as favorite at Chicagoland

By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
July 9, 2009
11:28 AM EDT

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If you're looking for a favorite to win this week's Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, Kevin Harvick would be the trendy pick. Harvick has won the past two races in odd-numbered years and is the only driver in the short, eight-race history at Chicagoland with more than one victory.

3Top-fives for Kevin Harvick in six starts at Chicagoland, tied for second-most among all drivers. Harvick finished fourth in 2006.

5.8Average starting position for Kevin Harvick, who is the only driver who has made three or more races to start inside the top 10 in each of them.

18Place of finish for Kevin Harvick in last year's race, his first at Chicagoland in his own No. 33 Chevrolet. His three top-fives were in the No. 21 Chevrolet of RCR.

47Combined laps led by Kevin Harvick in his two wins. He led only the final 20 laps in 2005 and the last 27 laps in '07. He also led 38 laps in '01 for 85 total.

684Points for Kevin Harvick in the five races since 2004, second-most in that span to Matt Kenseth (709). Harvick has scored the fourth-most points overall (771).

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2Runner-up finishes for Matt Kenseth, most of any driver. Kenseth is tied for second among all drivers with three top-fives and four top-10s in his seven starts. Kenseth is not entered in Friday's race.

3Top-10s in as many starts for Tony Stewart, finishing ninth, eighth and ninth, respectively, the past three years. Stewart is not entered in Friday's race.

3DNFs for Greg Biffle (crash, overheating, electrical). In three of his four other starts he has posted top-10s including a runner-up finish in 2005. Biffle is driving the No. 16 car for Roush Fenway Racing.

4Consecutive top-10s for Clint Bowyer, the second-longest active streak and tied for second-most top-10s among all drivers. Bowyer, last week's winner, is not racing this week.

4Top-10s for Jason Keller, tied for second-most among all drivers. However, Keller hasn't posted a top-10 at Chicagoland since finishing second in 2004 and has a 23.6 average finish in his past three starts there.

6Races won from a top-10 starting position although no driver has won from the pole and only one started on the second row. Bobby Hamilton Jr. started third in 2003 and led 186 laps, the most in any one race at Chicagoland.

8Place of finish in last year's race for Jeff Burton, the first time in six starts at Chicagoland he didn't finish third. He leads all series drivers with five top-fives and six top-10s. Burton is driving RCR's No. 29 car.

14Place of finish for Kenny Wallace in his first start at Chicagoland in 2001. He hasn't finished better than 28th in five other starts and throwing out a DNF (engine) in 2004, has finished 29th twice and 28th twice including last year.

18.0Average place of finish for Carl Edwards in the past two races after finishing fourth and second in his first two starts there.

209Laps led by Kyle Busch, most of any driver. Busch led 101 laps in winning last year's race -- joining Hamilton as the only lap-leaders to win at Chicagoland -- and 58 the year before when he finished fifth, accounting for both of his top-10s in five starts.

THE LEFFLER WATCH
Jason Leffler finished 19th at Daytona, ending his consecutive top-10 streak at 11 races in the No. 38 Toyota of Braun Racing. He'll try to start a new streak at Chicagoland.

1Top-10s for Jason Leffler in five career starts at Chicagoland. He finished seventh in his first race there in 2004, the only time he has finished on the lead lap. He has finished 19th, 38th and 27th, respectively, in the past three races in the No. 38.

THE WOW FACTOR

1Top-10s for Justin Labonte in 17 series starts in 2004. At Chicagoland that year, Labonte passed Mike Wallace on the last lap for the victory, joining his father, Terry, and uncle, Bobby, as series winners. Justin started 34th, the farthest back of any winner, in his family owned No. 44 Dodge. He led 12 laps, the fewest of any winner.

THE SUPER LOOPER

160Laps Led in the past four races for Kyle Busch, the most during that span. However, his Average Running Position is 18.9 with a 21.0 Average Finish. Busch led only one lap in 2005-06 when he finished 36th and 42nd (DNF after 79 of 200 laps/engine), respectively, before consecutive top-five finishes.

Driver Rating

Since 2005 (nine races)

Pos.	Driver*	Starts	Rating	Pct. Laps/Top 15	Avg. Run Pos.	Avg. Fin.

1.	Jeff Burton	117.6	3	98.5	4.5	4.7
2.	Brian Vickers	117.5	1	72.0	11.1	4.0
3.	Carl Edwards	109.6	4	72.6	9.2	10.5
4.	Kevin Harvick	109.1	4	80.5	8.1	6.0
5.	David Reutimann	100.7	2	50.0	11.5	11.0
6.	Kyle Busch	97.3	4	54.0	18.9	21.0
7.	Brad Keselowski	96.0	2	52.8	12.8	8.5
8.	Greg Biffle	94.9	4	69.1	12.9	17.8
9.	Mike Bliss	88.3	1	86.0	12.1	11.0
10.	Joe Nemechek	83.5	1	56.0	15.8	13.0

• Loop Data Statistics: Season-to-Date Box Score | * Entered in this race only

BLAST FROM THE PAST

1Career series wins for Jimmie Johnson. He started sixth and led 48 laps to win the first series race at Chicagoland in 2001 in the No. 92 Chevrolet of owner Stanley Herzog. That was the only year Johnson competed in every race in the series. He made his only other series start at Chigagoland in 2005, finishing 17th in the No. 48 Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick. In 91 starts in the series Johnson has eight top-fives and 23 top-10s.

Chicagoland Speedway

Series winners

Year	Driver	Make	Year	Driver	Make

2001	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	2005	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
2002	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet	2006	Casey Mears	Dodge
2003	Bobby Hamilton Jr.	Ford	2007	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
2004	Justin Labonte	Dodge	2008	Kyle Busch	Toyota

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Nationwide Series

Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Kyle Busch	2756	Leader
2.	--	Carl Edwards	2584	-172
3.	--	Brad Keselowski	2488	-268
4.	--	Jason Leffler	2367	-389
5.	--	Joey Logano	2200	-556
6.	+1	Justin Allgaier	2006	-750
7.	-1	Mike Bliss	1986	-770
8.	--	Brendan Gaughan	1956	-800
9.	--	Steve Wallace	1950	-806
10.	--	Jason Keller	1907	-849