Tough Breaks Continue for Harvick

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), hoped that setting a new track qualifying record at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on Saturday would parlay into a successful run in the Duck Commander 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, but it wasn’t to be as an engine failure just 27 laps into the rain-postponed event ended his day prematurely Monday.

“Something happened with the engine right after that restart,” Harvick said. “The Jimmy John’s Chevrolet was really fast. It’s frustrating. I don’t know what else I can say. I didn’t get any indication that anything was going wrong. Hendrick engines are among the fastest and most reliable engines in the garage. We’ll take it back to the shop and figure out what happened. But that’s a disappointing end to the day.”

The first 10 laps Monday were run under the green and yellow flags as NASCAR worked to confirm that the racing surface was ready for competition. Once the yellow flag was lifted on lap 11, Harvick advanced to the second position, where he would ride until the caution flag was displayed on lap 13 for an incident involving the No. 88 Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt Jr. When green-flag conditions resumed on lap 25, Harvick passed his SHR teammate Tony Stewart for the race lead. He relinquished the position the following lap and began to slow drastically.

Harvick keyed his radio and reported to the Jimmy John’s crew that the engine had expired. Crew chief Rodney Childers instructed Harvick to bring his No. 4 Chevrolet to the garage so the crew could diagnose the problem and see if there was a chance that Harvick could get back on track.

The problem was determined to be terminal after members of the No. 4 crew and the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop inspected under the hood. Harvick’s day was over after just 28 laps.

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