Kevin Harvick put his self-owned No. 33 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet atop the leader board in Saturday’s final practice for the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Harvick ran a total of twenty-six laps in preparation for tonight’s Degree V12 300, with his fastest – a lap of 31.143 seconds at 178.018 mph – coming on his first turn around the speedway.

The owner/driver is looking to better his finish from last year’s Nationwide Series event in which he led five laps and finished second. Piloting the No. 33 for the seventeenth time in 2009, Harvick heads to Atlanta with one pole and three top-fives in his last three races.

“Atlanta is fast, very fast,” Harvick explained. “You can race all over the race track, from the white line to the wall, and still be competitive.  You have to have the complete package to contend for the win there.  Horsepower is always important.  I struggle with finding the right feel for me to be comfortable.  It’s just something that I need to get better at and really focus on getting my car right.”

Braun Racing’s Brian Vickers backed up his quick run in the early session with a lap good enough for second-quick in the final practice of the day. Making his thirteenth Nationwide start of the year, Vickers has been able to produce strong runs when he climbs behind the wheel of the No. 32 Toyota. With five top-fives, nine top-tens and one pole on the season, Vickers is eager to take the team to Victory Lane.

“We had such a great weekend at Michigan and came so close to the win,” Vickers said leading up to this weekend’s race. “I really want to get a win for these guys. They work so hard every week and build fantastic cars. Atlanta is a fun track to race on. It’s a fast track and you can run in either of the two grooves.”

David Gilliland was third-fastest in the final session, followed by Greg Biffle and points leader Kyle Busch. Paul Menard, Justin Allgaier, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dave Blaney and Joey Logano rounded out the top-10. The session was slowed when J.C. Stout lost control of the No. 0 Chevrolet in Turn 2.

                  Degree V12 300 FINAL PRACTICE

                  Degree V12 300 PRACTICE 1

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