Notes of Interest |
● Kevin Harvick has always been an all-star. Since his 2001 NASCAR Cup Series debut, Harvick has been a part of every NASCAR All-Star Race. The driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing first earned entry into the All-Star Race by winning in his just his third career Cup Series start on March 11, 2001 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth marks the 37th anniversary of the All-Star Race and it will be Harvick’s 21st straight appearance in the race – the most of any active driver.
● Harvick is a two-time winner of the All-Star Race. He won the specialty non-points race for the first time in 2007 by leading the final 20 laps and crossing the stripe .141 of a second ahead of second-place Jimmie Johnson. Harvick scored his second All-Star win in 2019 when he led twice for 36 laps, including the last 11, to take the victory by .325 of a second over Daniel Suárez. Both victories came at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
● Charlotte hosted the first All-Star Race and 34 in total. The All-Star Race debuted on May 25, 1985 at Charlotte’s 1.5-mile oval and it was won by Darrell Waltrip. Atlanta hosted the All-Star Race in 1986 before returning to Charlotte for a 33-race run. Last year’s All-Star Race was held at the .533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, the first and only time the All-Star Race wasn’t held at a 1.5-mile oval. This will be Texas’ first time hosting the All-Star Race, returning the non-points event to a 1.5-mile oval.
● Harvick has seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in his 20 career All-Star Races. He comes into Texas riding a streak of three straight top-threes and four consecutive top-10s in the All-Star Race. Harvick has finished third or better in five of the last seven All-Star Races, including last year’s All-Star Race at Bristol when he finished third.
● This year’s All-Star Race at Texas will be 100 laps and broken into six stages with random lineup draws, inverted starts and a pit stop. The final stage is a 10-lap dash with the winner earning $1 million. That’s the overview. The details are as follows: ▬ Starting lineup for Round 1 will be determined via random draw. ▬ Rounds 1-4 will be 15 laps each. Round 5 will be 30 laps. The final round will be a 10-lap shootout. ▬ At the beginning of Round 2, the field will be inverted via random draw (minimum of eight/maximum of 12) live on FS1. ▬ The Round 2 random draw will also be seen live by fans attending the race on Texas’ Big Hoss TV. ▬ Before the start of Round 3, the entire field will be inverted. ▬ At the beginning of Round 4, the field will be inverted via random draw (minimum of eight/maximum of 12). ▬ Starting positions for Round 5 will consist of the cumulative finish from Rounds 1-4. The lowest cumulative finisher starts on the pole, second-lowest starts second, and so forth. All cars must enter pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop during Round 5. ▬ The fastest team on pit road during the mandatory pit stop will earn $100,000. ▬ The starting positions in the final round are set by finishing positions of Round 5. ▬ Only green flag laps will count.
● While Harvick is racing for some cold, hard cash in the All-Star Race, fans can tweet for some new-age Bitcoin from Busch Beer. All fans need to do is invest in watching FS1’s broadcast of the All-Star Race beginning at 8 p.m. EDT on Sunday. Tweet #BuschToTheMoon and #Sweepstakes at the launch of each stage and one lucky fan can walk away with $10,000 in Bitcoin. The sky is not the limit with Bitcoin – it’s value is going to the moon – and just like drivers can hit a moonshot payday with an All-Star Race victory, Busch wants to give fans their own shot at a Bitcoin payday with #BuschToTheMoon.
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Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 #BuschToTheMoon Ford Mustang |
The 37th All-Star Race takes place Sunday at Texas. There’s likely been 37 different set of rules and formats for the All-Star Race. When do you attempt to figure out the rules and what you need to do during the race? “I’ve just gotten to the point where I don’t even pay attention to the rules and I just let them tell me the rules when we get there. It’s just too much to take in until the week of the race. So, this week we’ll just kind of go through everything and that’s really the extent of it because it can be a little overwhelming. I leave most of it to the pit box.”
The one thing that has stayed the same over the years is the $1 million payout. How much of that do you get and what do you get to do with it? “I would say that each driver probably has a little bit different of a deal. Usually that percentage kind of varies between drivers, but you definitely don’t get it all.”
How helpful is the All-Star Race in determining what you need to do when you return to Texas in the fall for a points-paying race? “Not much at all because of the different horsepower rules and the differences that you’ll have in your car for the short run. When you go back in the fall, you’ll have to have something a little bit different than what you have now.”
You’re making your 21st All-Star Race appearance. How valuable is all of that experience, especially when there’s a new format? “I used to tell Danica Patrick this all the time – ‘I have 25 years on you and you will never catch up.’ And that is the truth. Experience matters, more so in our sport than maybe in any other sport. The knowledge of the racetrack, things you have been through, things you have done – it all makes a difference.”
TSC PR |