Going into Saturday night’s LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick was on the outside looking in. Running thirteenth in the series standings, Harvick was just two points behind twelfth-place Tony Stewart and looking for a good run at a track he has had success on in the past – Harvick won the first two races held at Chicagoland in 2001 and 2002.

With thunderstorms cancelling Thursday night’s qualifying session, Harvick and the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil team started the evening from the thirteenth-position.  By the time the competition caution was thrown at Lap 35, Harvick had worked his way up to eighth.

Running solidly in the top-5 and top-10 for the majority of the night, Harvick restarted in the third-spot with just two laps remaining.  Unable to capitalize on the battle between Busch and Johnson, Harvick came home in third, capturing his third top-5 of the season.

The top-5 finish bumped the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet up four spots in the series standings to ninth, twenty-five points ahead of twelfth-place Denny Hamlin. After a weekend off, the series heads to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Harvick has one win at Indy, capturing the 2003 Brickyard 400 and laying down one of the most impressive burnouts in the history of the sport.

Things are beginning to look up for this Richard Childress Racing team as the series inches closer and closer to the Chase.

“We’ve had really good cars for the past couple of weeks and just couldn’t capitalize and get a good finish.  It was a really good race and I am just really proud of my guys,” Harvick explained. “We have built new cars the last couple of weeks and we are planning on building all new cars going forward. They have been working really hard behind the scenes to get all this work done.  I would also like to thank the engine shop. They have
really made up some ground. Hopefully, we can gain some momentum and keep everything heading in the right direction these next few weeks heading in to the Chase.”