Harvick Grabs Pole Again at Charlotte; Claims Another Top-10 Finish

Kevin Harvick

CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 11) - When Kevin Harvick signs on for double-duty, competing in a Busch Series race and Winston Cup race on the same weekend, he does not expect the races to be on the same day. Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Harvick competed in both races on the same day because rain forced the postponement of the Little Tree's 300 until Saturday morning, eight hours before the start of the 500-mile Winston Cup event. The change put Harvick in the position to race 800 miles on Saturday.

Harvick started the PayDay Chevrolet from the pole. It was his second pole of the season at Charlotte and 10th pole of his Busch Series career. Harvick continued his streak of top-10 finishes in the Busch Series this season with a ninth-place finish. He now owns 15 top-10 finishes in as many starts.

"We just missed somewhere on the setup today," Harvick said after the event. "We got a decent finish and did what we needed to do in the points."

The PayDay team remains at the top of the NASCAR Busch Series team standings with a 156-point lead over the No. 37 team (David Green).

Harvick posted another spectacular qualifying effort on Thursday afternoon to clinch the pole for Friday night's race by blistering the Busch Series qualifying record at the track. Rain showers began to close in on the Charlotte area throughout the day on Friday. By the start of the race, a light rain shower had begun, and the cars competed under caution for nine laps. NASCAR then postponed the event until Saturday morning.

At the drop of the green flag on Saturday, Harvick kept the lead from the start and paced the first 20 laps of the event. The car became tight, or too hard to steer, so he brought the car in for service on lap 66 under green flag racing. After service was complete on the car, he returned to the racing surface in the sixth position.

Harvick continued to battle an ill-handling car and brought the PayDay Chevrolet down pit road again for service on lap 91. He returned to the racing surface in the ninth position.

Harvick battled in the ninth position for the rest of the day, even after his final pit stop under the green flag on lap 152.

Race winner Greg Biffle lapped all but eight cars. Harvick finished the race in ninth place, one lap down to Biffle.

Next week, the Busch Series travels to Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park. The Sam's Town 250 can be seen live on TNT at 3 p.m. EDT and heard live on MRN radio at 3 p.m. EDT.