Shell-Pennzoil Team Posts Third Top-10 Finish of the Season at Atlanta

Kevin Harvick grabbed his best finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway since 2001 with a hard-fought seventh-place showing in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500.

The solid effort was Harvick and company’s third top-10 performance in four races of the young 2008 season. The strong result also moved the Bakersfield, Calif., native up two spots, to third, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship point standings.

In qualifying Friday evening, Harvick lapped the 1.54-mile quad-oval in 30.357 seconds (182.627 mph), posting the eighth-best time of the session.

Over the early-goings of the 325-lap event, Harvick hung in the top five while crew chief Todd Berrier formulated a plan to help alleviate the tight-handling condition of the bright yellow and red No. 29 machine.

The Shell-Pennzoil team’s first shot at relief came in the form of the event’s first caution flag on lap 37. Berrier summoned his driver to pit road two laps later, calling for four fresh tires, including air pressure adjustments and fuel. Sound work on pit road allowed Harvick to maintain his track position and when the green flag waved again on lap 42, the Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS was fifth.

Over the next 42 laps, Harvick’s Chevrolet came to life as he worked his was up to the third position. However, the 11-time NASCAR Sprint Cup winner advised Berrier the car was starting to become too loose to make any progress on the two front-runners.

The yellow flag flew again on lap 84 and Berrier seized the opportunity to keep working on his car’s handling. The Shell-Pennzoil crew chief called for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment as the No. 29 team worked for their first win of the season.

Back under green in fourth, Harvick worked his way back to the third spot before the third caution of the day waved on lap 114. Harvick informed his team that the No. 29 Chevy was to his liking and he would need no adjustments during this round of pits stops. The 2007 Daytona 500 winner restarted the race third on lap 118.

Harvick’s Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet continued to improve as he passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the second spot on lap 129. Unfortunately, as the long green-flag run continued the No. 29 Chevy began to suffer from an extremely loose-handling condition. As the field began to pit under green-flag conditions on lap 163, Harvick continued to race in the third spot before he was summoned to pit road for his fourth stop of the day on lap 168. Again, Berrier called for four fresh tires, including air pressure adjustments, fuel and a chassis adjustment to help tighten up the No. 29 Chevy Impala SS.

As green-flag pit stops cycled through the field, Harvick continued to race in the top five and was fourth when the yellow flag was displayed on lap 198. After a stop on pit road for another round of chassis adjustments including the removal of a right-side spring rubber and lightning-quick service by the No. 29 crew, Harvick was back on the race track in the fourth spot for the restart on lap 204.

A loose-handling condition continued to plague the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil team over the next 22 laps. However, a caution flag for a single-car incident in turn four brought out the day’s fourth caution period and gave Berrier another chance to fix the ailing machine. Another four-tire-and-fuel stop with a major chassis adjustment was in order and Harvick restarted the race in fourth on lap 225.

Over the next 42 laps, Harvick visited pit road twice under yellow flag conditions to help ease the ill-handling machine. Finally, after the pit stop on lap 263 the Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet began to come back to life. Harvick was able to work his way back into the top five and was fourth when the final caution flag flew on lap 281.

Berrier summoned Harvick to pit road on lap 285 to hopefully fine-tune the bright yellow and red machine and give Harvick a chance to compete for the win. However, a slight hiccup on pit road landed Harvick in the eighth spot for the final restart on lap 288.

Harvick was able to fight his way to the seventh spot before the field took the checkered flag on lap 325.

Kyle Busch won the event followed by Tony Stewart, Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon. Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton finished sixth and 10th, respectively.

The Shell-Pennzoil team heads to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this weekend for the running of the Food City 500. Live coverage of the event will be televised on FOX Sunday, March 16, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will also be covered live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the fifth of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races will be televised live on SPEED Friday, March 14 beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

KEVIN HARVICK - NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET IMPALA SS –

"It was a good day for us today with our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet. We got another solid finish and had a good points day. Like everybody else, we went from tight to loose and on that last run at the end, we just got so loose and couldn't do anything with the guys in front of us."