Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick looked to be on his way to his third top-5 of 2008 during Sunday's LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) - that is until overtime ruined everything.

The No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet started Sunday's event from the 10th position after rain cancelled Friday's qualifying session, setting the field by points. Despite starting in the top-10, Harvick was not a factor for much of the 400-mile event.

For some reason the RCR cars struggled at the 2-mile D-shaped oval Sunday. Harvick's teammate Jeff Burton - driver of the No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet - started the day from 2nd, but quickly slid backwards and was never a contender. The third car at RCR, driven by Clint Bowyer, also had a disappointing day and was only able to salvage a 26th-place finish.

Using pit-strategy late in the race, Harvick and crew chief Todd Berrier took a gamble and decided to chance it on fuel mileage. Stopping for a gas-and-go while the field was under caution for Robby Gordon's incident on Lap 152, Harvick was one lap short of making it to the end. The two decided the gamble was worth a shot and began saving fuel.

Things looked to be going Harvick's way as leaders began hitting pit road for fuel on Lap 184. Staying on track, the No. 29 was running fourth - behind Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne - when Sam Hornish Jr. looped it around in Turn 4 bringing out the caution.

With the race pushed into overtime for a Green-White-Checkered finish, Harvick's chance's dried up with the fuel in his tank. The No. 29 was forced to pit road, where he took four tires and enough fuel to finish the event.

Harvick restarted the race in the 17th-position and was able to work his way back to the 12th-spot before the seventh yellow flag of the day flew, thus ending the race. What had shaped up to be a great call and appeared to be a great finish was spoiled at the end by a bout of bad luck.

"It was a good day for the Shell-Pennzoil team today," Harvick said. "Although we didn't get the finish we were hoping for. If the caution wouldn't have come out there at the end of the race we would have had a top-five finish. However, we just couldn't gamble on gas with that green-white-checkered finish, but overall it was a good day and we are looking forward to Sonoma."

With his 12th-place finish in the Irish Hills of Michigan, Harvick remains in tenth-spot in the series standings heading into Sonoma. One of the series' better road-course drivers, Harvick has two top-10s in seven starts at Infineon, including a runner-up finish in last year's event. Another promising run in Harvick's home-state of California could give this team the boost it is looking for to take it to the next step towards the series championship.