Harvick good at Bristol, but March race was better still

By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
August 20, 2009
11:30 AM EDT

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Kevin Harvick knows a thing or two about winning in the Nationwide Series. He's a two-time series champion and has 33 victories. No. 33 came earlier this year at Bristol Motor Speedway, and it holds special significance. It was his first series win as an owner/driver.

However, it didn't take long for Kevin Harvick Inc. to reach Victory Lane when its signature car, the No. 33 Chevrolet, debuted in 2005. Tony Stewart won the season opener at Daytona. KHI has made 240 starts since.

4Victories for Kevin Harvick Inc. Tony Stewart followed through with the repeat at Daytona in 2006. Bobby Labonte drove KHI's then-secondary car, the No. 77, to victory at Talladega in '07.

39Top-fives for Kevin Harvick Inc. Harvick has 17 including eight in 15 starts this season. Tony Stewart has 10.

85Top-10s for Kevin Harvick Inc. Harvick has 30 including nine in 15 starts this season. Tony Stewart has 15 while Tony Raines has 12 and Ron Hornaday 11.

Harvick dabbled in his own equipment for the first time in 2006 while primarily driving Richard Childress Racing's No. 21 Chevrolet to the series title, and split time for both teams in '07. Since the beginning of '08, he has raced his own car exclusively.

Coverage of the Food City 250 (Entry List | Tickets) begins at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN2. BTN looks back at the top 10 from the March race from Bristol.

1Kevin Harvick posted his fifth victory at Bristol, tops among all drivers. In 18 starts, he has 11 top-fives (tied for most all time with Dale Jarrett), 14 top-10s and has led a track-high 984 laps.

2Carl Edwards finished where he started and scored his first top-10 since his victory in March 2007, leading 75 laps. In 10 starts, he has three top-fives and five top-10s.

3Clint Bowyer raced to his third consecutive top-five and fifth consecutive top-10 finish at Bristol. He has five top-fives and six top-10s in nine starts overall. The reigning series champion, who won at BMS in March 2008, has run a limited schedule this year but will make his seventh start in RCR's No. 29 car.

4Matt Kenseth has nine top-10s in 16 starts at Bristol. All nine happen to be top-five finishes including six of his past seven starts there. Kenseth is a three-time winner at BMS, but in his seven other starts he has never finished better than 20th and four times has been 30th or worse.

5Justin Allgaier scored his first career top-five and best finish to date (equaled twice since) in his first start at Bristol.

6Kyle Busch led a race-high 156 laps before a pit mistake took him out of contention. It was his eighth top-10 in 10 starts at Bristol, however, to go along with two DNFs (crashes). He also has one win (March 2006) and five top-fives.

7Steve Wallace scored his second consecutive top-10 and best finish to date in six starts at Bristol. After having never finished better than 31st in his first three starts, Wallace hasn't finished worse than 16th since the start of the 2008 season.

8Scott Speed was making just his second career series start. He has four top-10s in eight starts this season including the past three races he has entered. He is not entered in this week's race.

9Joey Logano posted his first top-10 in just his second start at Bristol. He finished 16th in his debut at the track last August. He is not entered in this week's race.

10Jason Leffler posted his fourth top-10 in 12 starts at Bristol, all coming in the past six races. His best finish at BMS came in August 2007 when he finished second, after starting on the pole, and led 81 laps (the only laps he has led there). Overall, he has two top-fives.

THE BUSCH WATCH

One Kyle Busch streak ended last week at Michigan while another one continued. His record of 10 consecutive top-two finishes came to a halt with a third-place finish. But he led a series race for a record 20th consecutive time.

5Races at Bristol that Kyle Busch has led. He has led 344 laps overall.

THE WOW FACTOR

16Lead changes in the race at Bristol earlier this year, the most in track history and just the second time it reached double figures. Seven drivers led in the race, but only three for more than 12 laps.

THE SUPER LOOPER

100.0Percentage of Laps in the Top 15 for Justin Allgaier, not bad for a rookie at Bristol. Allgaier had an Average Running Position of 8.9.

• Loop Data: Season-to-Date Box Score

BLAST FROM THE PAST

15Top-10s for Tommy Houston at Bristol, second-most in series history (Kenny Wallace, 18). Houston was a 24-time winner in the series but never at BMS. He finished second in April 1994, the last of his five top-fives. One of the pioneers of the series, Houston finished in the top five in points seven of the first eight years and was runner-up in '89. He finished in the top 10 in points in 10 of his 12 full-time seasons. He made his last start in '96.

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Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Kyle Busch	3,816	--
2.	--	Carl Edwards	3,477	-339
3.	--	Brad Keselowski	3,427	-389
4.	--	Jason Leffler	3,203	-613
5.	--	Justin Allgaier	2,756	-1,060
6.	--	Steve Wallace	2,673	-1,143
7.	+1	Jason Keller	2,612	-1,204
8.	-1	Mike Bliss	2,595	-1,221
9.	--	Brendan Gaughan	2,538	-1,278
10.	+1	Michael McDowell	2,474	-1,342