New England 200 - Kevin Harvick Notes

Kevin Harvick / PayDay Racing Pre-Race Notes
New England 200, New Hampshire International Speedway

EVENT INFORMATION – Event: NASCAR Busch Series New England 200; Time and Date: 1 p.m. EDT, Saturday, July 19; Site: New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, N.H.; Live Coverage: TNT (television) and MRN (radio) at 1 p.m. EDT; Qualifying: 1:30 p.m. EDT, Friday, July 18; Happy Hour: Friday, July 18, following the NASCAR Modified race.

TOTALLY NUTS ABOUT RACING – The PayDay peanut caramel bar is in its first season as the primary sponsor of the No. 21 PayDay Chevrolet. The No. 21 PayDay Chevy comes out of the Richard Childress Racing Busch stable. Three other Hershey brands will accompany PayDay throughout the season: Zero, Whoppers and Whatchamacallit. PayDay Racing driver Kevin Harvick will compete in approximately 16 of the 34 Busch Series events this season. Fellow RCR driver Johnny Sauter will drive the No. 21 PayDay Chevy in the 18 other events on the schedule.

TV PANEL SPONSOR – Stop & Shop will ride along on the PayDay TV Panel this weekend. Growing from a single corner grocer to a chain of more than 335 stores throughout New England, New York and New Jersey, Stop & Shop has offered its customers the best selection, quality and value for more than 85 years. Today, Stop & Shop is a multibillion-dollar corporation and the largest food retailer in New England. Stop & Shop employs 41,000 associates in its network of stores, distribution centers, manufacturing plants and offices, which stretch across more than 180 communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

KEVIN HARVICK’S BUSCH SERIES SEASON TO DATE – In seven starts this season, Harvick has two wins, two poles, five top-five and seven top-10 finishes. Harvick hasn’t been in the PayDay Chevrolet since May 24 at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

ONE-MILE MASTERS – The PayDay racing team has proven to be successful at distances of one mile or less. The team has garnered two wins so far this season: one at the half-mile high banks of Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, and one win at the .75-mile Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. New Hampshire International Speedway has a 1.058-mile track.

CHICAGOLAND WOES – The July 12 event at the Chicagoland Speedway started great for the PayDay team and driver Johnny Sauter. Sauter qualified the PayDay Chevrolet in the second position and competed in the top-five for the majority of the day. While running in the fourth position late in the race, Sauter experienced an engine failure and was forced to bring the PayDay Chevrolet into the garage for the day, resulting in a 27th-place finish.

SAUTER HAS BEEN IMPRESSIVE – Johnny Sauter’s string of six consecutive races with the PayDay team ended this past weekend in Chicago. During that period, Sauter has posted several strong runs and qualifying attempts. The period was highlighted by a fifth-place effort July 4 at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

PAYDAY TEAM REMAINS ATOP TEAM RANKINGS – With the second half of the Busch Series season underway, the PayDay team remains the top-ranked unit in the team standings. The PayDay team holds a 51-point advantage over the No. 10 team of Scott Riggs and the No. 1 team of Jamie McMurray and David Stremme. The No. 10 team and the No. 1 team are tied for second place.

THE CAR – This weekend, crew chief Butch Hylton will load chassis No. 019 onto the PayDay transporter. The car is an old No. 2 team car from last season. Over the winter the car was rebuilt, and this will be its first race.

BUTCH HYLTON ON HARVICK IN THE CAR – “We’ve been successful with Kevin in the car. We’ve got a new car this weekend, so it’ll be good to have Kevin apply some of his experience to the car once we get to the track.”

ON NEW HAMPSHIRE INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY – “I’m a little concerned this week about the track. There’s a new asphalt surface, so we don’t really know what the car is going to do. There’s going to be four different divisions competing on the track, and there’ll be three different tire compounds. So basically, it’ll just be interesting to see how the track will react.”

ON THE TEAM’S PROGRESS THIS SEASON – “We’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve had good racecars all year long. Lately we’ve had some bad luck, but at the same time, we’ve been solid each week. The guys are really doing a great job.”

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