Harvick using epic 2017 Atlanta chassis at Fontana this week

Kevin Harvick is 3/1 to win at Fontana

Going 4-for-4: Kevin Harvick will go for his fourth consecutive Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Harvick has scored consecutive wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and ISM Raceway near Phoenix. Only eight drivers have scored four Cup Series wins consecutively – Cale Yarborough in 1976, Darrell Waltrip in 1981, Dale Earnhardt in 1987, Harry Gant in 1991, Bill Elliott in 1992, Mark Martin in 1993, Jeff Gordon in 1998 and Jimmie Johnson in 2007. Johnson’s 2007 wins were at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Atlanta, Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and Phoenix.

Back Where it Started - Harvick, a native of Bakersfield, California, grew up approximately 150 miles northwest of Auto Club Speedway. He graduated from Bakersfield’s North High School in 1994. When he wasn’t racing, he competed on the high school’s wrestling team. Harvick competed at local racetracks in the Late Model division while attending high school and won the Late Model track championship in 1993 at his home track, Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield. After high school graduation, Harvick decided to follow his dreams and pursue a professional racing career. He advanced to the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour full-time in 1995 and made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut late that year. Harvick kept a busy racing schedule, competing full-time in both the Truck Series and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West in 1998. Harvick’s commitment to his racing career paid off as he won five races en route to the K&N Pro Series West championship. His hard-charging style and success behind the wheel caught the eye of team owner Richard Childress, who put him behind the wheel of the No. 2 car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the 2000 season. Harvick graduated to full-time competition in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2001. 

Harvick in the NASCAR Cup Series at Auto Club Speedway: The Auto Club 400 will mark Harvick’s 25 th career NASCAR Cup start at Fontana. Harvick has one win, six top-five finishes and 11 top-10s at the 2-mile oval. The 42-year-old driver has led 237 laps, has an average starting position of 15.5, an average finish of 15.0, and has completed 98.7 percent (5,483 of 5,556) of the laps he’s contested there. 

California Boys: Harvick is one of only three California natives to have claimed NASCAR Cup Series victories at Auto Club Speedway. The others are Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

Chassis Information: Chassis No. 4-929: Kevin Harvick will pilot the No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Fusion built on Chassis No. 4-929 Sunday in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Built new in 2016, Chassis No. 4-929 made its debut at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in October, when it won the pole with lap of 27.547 seconds at 196.029 mph, led 12 laps, but failed to finish the race due to a mechanical issue. It made its second appearance in the 2016 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where it won a second consecutive pole with a lap of 30.399 seconds at 177.637 mph. In 2017, Chassis 4-929 made five starts, scoring one pole, two top-five finishes, three top-10s with a lowest finish of 14th in June at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. It won its third consecutive pole with a lap of 29.118 seconds at 190.398 mph in the final round of qualifying in March at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where it dominated the majority of the event, leading 292 of 325 laps before suffering a pit-road penalty that led to a ninth-place finish. Its most recent appearance came at Homestead in the 2017 season finale, where Harvick started ninth and finished fourth.

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What makes racing at Auto Club Speedway so challenging? 

“I heard Greg Stucker of Goodyear Racing on SiriusXM talking about the tires for this weekend’s race – and they are bringing a new left-side construction to the track. They did that a couple of years ago because we were all letting the air out of the tires. The more air you let out of the tires, the more grip the tires make, but when you let the air out of the tires and you run over those big bumps down the back straightaway, it tends to break everything in the sidewall of the tire. Goodyear has developed some new tires. It might be easier just to grind the bumps down the back straightaway and just put a new strip of asphalt back there, but Goodyear just keeps developing new tires. They do a great job with it.” 

Is Auto Club Speedway a place you look forward to going to, and why? 

“Auto Club Speedway is by far one of my favorite tracks we go to. This is top three on my list as far as tracks that I’m excited to go to, just for the fact that the asphalt is so worn out. It is very similar to Atlanta in a much different shape of a racetrack. It’s a very unique racetrack because it is so wide and you have so many options to run all over the racetrack. Then you add in the tire falloff, then it becomes strategy and how many laps do you stay out when everybody else starts pitting because you’re going to give up three seconds a lap. If the caution comes out, you can get caught a lap down. So there are so many things that come into play, but it has become a great race and a great racetrack to race on. The crowd has been great over the last few years since we went from two races down to one. It has changed the whole vibe at Auto Club Speedway. It’s in my home state. I’m going to get to race on Thursday night at Kern County, then head down to Auto Club Speedway for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s a big week and I know, from a driver standpoint, Auto Club Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway are right up there at the top of everybody’s list because there is so much fall-off and the asphalt is so worn out.”