Harvick Pacing Early-Season RCR Resurgence

The Richard Childress Racing organization is determined to make 2009 a distant memory, and is wasting no time doing so. After two races this season, Kevin Harvick is the series points leader, Clint Bowyer is second and Jeff Burton is fifth.

This follows Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway where Harvick and Burton finished 2-3, with Bowyer eighth.

Now all RCR needs is a victory. Harvick’s winless streak is up to 109 races. Burton has gone 43 races without a win, while Bowyer has gone 64.

Blickensderfer Named Crew Chief of the No. 60 Nationwide Team; Kelley Named Nationwide Competition Director; Beam moves to Research and Development

CONCORD, N.C. (Feb. 23, 2010) – Roush Fenway Racing has announced that Drew Blickensderfer will take over as crew chief on the No. 60 Nationwide team with driver Carl Edwards effective immediately. Mike Kelley, who had served in that position, will assume the role of competition director for Roush Fenway’s Nationwide Series effort, and Mike Beam will move into the role of speedway specialist in the research and development department for all of Roush Fenway Racing.

“Drew is a wonderful team builder,” said team owner Jack Roush. “He will bring car-of-tomorrow experience to the Nationwide shop. Carl and Drew have a strong track record together. This is great for Copart and Fastenal. It provides them with a great chance to win a championship. This assignment will task Drew’s potential.”

The move will reunite Blickensderfer – who worked last season as the crew chief of the No. 17 Sprint Cup team – and Edwards in the Nationwide Series. The duo teamed for 19 races in 2008, running to seven wins, two poles and a second-place series’ points finish, while closing the season with nine consecutive top-five runs.

Kelley, who was the car chief for the No. 97 team’s Sprint Cup Championship run in 2004, has worked as a crew chief in Roush Fenway’s Nationwide program since 2006, leading drivers Todd Kluever, David Ragan and Edwards. He will be responsible for car builds in Roush Fenway’s Nationwide program.

“Mike Kelley is a fierce competitor and a very loyal employee,” said Roush.
“This is a great promotion for him. We will look forward to watching him continue to grow.”

Beam, a 30-year NASCAR veteran, has served at Roush Fenway as a crew chief in the Camping World Truck Series, and most recently as director of competition for Roush Fenway’s Nationwide program. He will work closely with Jimmy Fennig in Concord, working in research and development, with a focus on the superspeedway program.

“Mike (Beam) has a great track record and his trucks were always really fast on the superspeedways,” said Roush. “We will look for him to bring that knowledge to our overall program and pick up where Todd Parrott left off with that progression.”

Check out photos from the first race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California.  Carl Edwards chats with Andy Garcia, Katherine McPhee sings the national anthem, Jamie McMurray and Juan Montoya started on the front row, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson battled door-to-door, Jimmie Johnson recovers from a dismal Daytona and more.

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PHOTO CREDIT: NASCAR MEDIA

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Photo: NASCAR MEDIA

FONTANA, Calif.— A career came full circle for Jimmie Johnson, who won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in 2002 and on Sunday claimed his fifth victory at the 2-mile track and the 48th of his career — matching the No. 48 on his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

After gaining the lead in the Auto Club 500 during a fortunate exchange on pit road, the four-time defending series champion held off Kevin Harvick during a 20 lap green-flag run to the finish. Harvick had narrowed a one-second lead to .311 seconds on Lap 246 of 250 before a brush with the wall slowed his progress.

FULL RESULTS: AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

Jeff Burton ran third, followed by Mark Martin and Joey Logano. Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle completed the top 10.

With the win, Johnson tied Herb Thomas for 12th on the career victory list and showed the rest of the field that he’s back on course after a 35th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

The key sequence came on Lap 223, when Brad Keselowski spun his Dodge off Turn 4 after contact with David Reutimann’s Toyota and brought out the sixth and final caution of the race. Johnson was on pit road when NASCAR called the caution but beat the pace car to the scoring line at the exit.

When the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted under the yellow, Johnson inherited the lead and held it for a restart on Lap 231.

“They’re really good, but they’re also really, really lucky,” Harvick said. “They have a golden horseshoe stuck up their ass—there’s no getting around that.”

Johnson acknowledged his good fortune after climbing from his car in victory lane.

“Today, fortune came our way,” Johnson said. “We hit pit road, and the caution came out and gave us track position. We lost the handle in the second half of the race. We were making gains coming back, but a lot of other guys were ahead of us, and I knew it would be tough to pass them.

“I’m not going to lie — the fact that we were on pit road gave us track position, and I drove my butt off. We finally got the car turning — it was just a little too loose. The 29 (Harvick) was coming, but then he hit the wall and let us get it.

“Yes, we were lucky today, but you don’t get lucky and win four championships and 48 races.”

Just as intense as Harvick’s pursuit of Johnson was Burton’s battle with Harvick, his Richard Childress Racing teammate and the new Cup points leader through two races.

“I kept running the bottom, because if (Harvick) slipped, I could get the spot,” Burton said. “But me running the bottom, him running the top — we weren’t slowing each other up. Just the way he was running his fastest line, I was running my fastest line.

“I think when we were doing that, we were running (Johnson) down. And then we got a little bit looser. Kevin looked like he got better. When he did, I thought he was going to win the race.”

The brush with the wall, however, ended his prospects for victory. Harvick’s Chevy slid into the barrier after Johnson moved up the track to block the line he was running.

“I caught the wall there just enough to knock the right front fender in,” Harvick said. “You know, if he doesn’t move up, he’s going to get passed pretty easily. He moved up and did what he was supposed to do to take that line away. He was able to drive off. So he did exactly what he had to do.”

Notes: Engine troubles sidelined Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman and Marcos Ambrose. … Despite the good fortune, Johnson’s win was hardly fluke. He led a race-high 101 laps. … Polesitter and Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray finished 17th.

1 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 250 195
2 6 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet 250 175
3 14 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 250 170
4 10 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 250 165
5 19 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota 250 155
6 12 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 250 155
7 20 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford 250 146
8 3 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 250 147
9 16 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet 250 138
10 35 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 250 134
11 13 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota 250 135
12 23 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 250 132
13 31 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 250 124
14 9 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 250 126
15 11 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 250 118
16 8 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Auto Club Dodge 250 115
17 1 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet 250 112
18 36 98 Paul Menard Energizer/Menards Ford 250 109
19 22 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 250 106
20 28 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 250 108
21 21 12 Brad Keselowski AAA Insurance Dodge Dodge 250 100
22 17 36 Mike Bliss Wave Energy Drink Chevrolet 250 97
23 15 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 250 94
24 37 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford 249 91
25 29 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford 249 88
26 41 38 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford 249 85
27 33 71 Bobby Labonte TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 249 82
28 43 13 Max Papis GEICO Toyota 249 79
29 25 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 248 81
30 39 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver’s Ford 248 73
31 38 37 Kevin Conway # Extenze Ford 247 70
32 27 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy Juice / National Guard Chevrolet 238 67
33 40 7 Robby Gordon Warner Music Nashville Toyota 230 64
34 4 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Ford 221 61
35 26 47 Marcos Ambrose Armor All Toyota 170 58
36 18 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet 148 55
37 2 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 140 57
38 42 26 Boris Said Sacred Power/Southern Pride Trucking Ford 67 49
39 34 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Toyota 64 46
40 32 87 Joe Nemechek FrontRowJoe.com Toyota 48 43
41 5 66 Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota 43 45
42 30 55 Michael McDowell Prism Motorsports Toyota 40 37
43 24 09 Aric Almirola Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 34 34
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