WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Kevin Harvick is still the hunted. He’s got a 116-point lead in the NASCAR Busch Series standings heading into Sunday’s GNC Live Well 250 at The Milwaukee Mile.
Yet it’s Harvick, who has a pair of Busch Series victories this season, who feels like he’s got a little something to prove at Milwaukee. He’s fully aware he’ll be returning to a track where defending Busch Series champion Jeff Green won last year, and where he struggled to finish 11th in his first Busch Series race there.
He wants to let his competitors know he can run up front at any track on the circuit, including The Milwaukee Mile.
“We made some mistakes, team and driver, at Milwaukee last year, and that cost us a good finish,” Harvick said. “We probably had the air pressure down too low for most of the day. It caused us to struggle on the short runs. We ran great at times during the long runs, but with all of those cautions (seven), we didn’t always have the long runs we needed.”
Green’s misfortune at Kentucky two weeks ago (he wrecked and finished 32nd) dropped him to third place in the Busch Series standings, 188 points behind Harvick. He hopes to be able to make some of that up this weekend at Milwaukee, a place where he has three top-five finishes during his Busch Series career.
Previous to last year, Harvick had run two races at The Milwaukee Mile in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He finished 11th in 1998, then 17th in 1999.
The Milwaukee Mile is one of the older tracks on the Busch circuit and is a flat track, in the mold of tracks like New Hampshire International Speedway.
It’s a place where track position is crucial, and that’s why Harvick and his No. 2 team have placed a premium on a getting a good starting position.
“Qualifying is really important,” he said. “On the flat, tricky tracks, it’s always important. You have to start up front to have a chance to win. It can be difficult to pass there. You have to set them up to pass. You work on a guy and stick your nose in a couple of times before you make your move.
“Milwaukee’s a track with a lot of heritage. All types of series have been running there for a long time. It’s a little bit like Loudon (NHIS), but the corners are longer. In Turn 1, you turn down in, and it straightens out in the middle and you turn it again. It has a double apex.
“You accelerate down the backstretch and get ready for (turns) three and four. Three and four have two groves. Most guys run three and four higher, but some will have the car working down on the white line.”
As he did last weekend at Sears Point in the Winston Cup Series (the Busch Series was off), Harvick will get a breather from his brutal schedule this weekend and race only once. Six times this summer the Winston Cup Series and the Busch Series will race at different venues, and because he’s trying to run a full schedule in both series, he’s been jet-setting back and forth between the two.
Harvick has raced a total of 10,064.94 miles between the two series, and has shown no signs of letting up. He’s coming off a top-15 finish at Sears Point and a victory two weeks ago at Kentucky.
He’d like nothing more than to win his second straight Busch Series race, a feat he has yet to accomplish in his year-and-a-half in the series.
Oh, and there’s one other reason why Harvick would like to end up in victory lane at Milwaukee this Sunday.
“I would love to win the race because Milwaukee has one of the coolest trophies on the series – it’s a big, crystal trophy,” Harvick said.
Respect and a big crystal trophy – what more motivation could you ask for?
Qualifying for Sunday’s GNC Live Well 250 is set for approximately 5 p.m. (ET) Friday, following qualifying for Saturday’s NCTS race. The green flag is scheduled to drop Sunday shortly after 2 p.m.
