Lap 113: Harvick finishes the afternoon 29th. As he takes the checkered flag, Harvick apologizes to the crew. "I'm sorry guys. That was really, really stupid on my part." Childress tells him to "keep diggin'."

Lap 112: Harvick avoids an accident in the hairpin.

Lap 111: The end of the race is almost in sight as the green flag is unfurled for the last time today. Harvick is 36th.

Lap 110: Harvick pits to repair damage from his scrape with the tires.

Lap 108: The caution slows the pace with just two full laps to go. That means the race will end in a green-white-checkered finish.

Lap 104: After his mishap, Harvick has fallen all the way to 35th. He thinks he has a broken tie rod.

Lap 102: Harvick is off the pace dramatically on the frontstretch. He says he got into a stack of tires in the hairpin turn.

Lap 99: There are just 11 laps to go when the restart takes place. Harvick runs eighth. If Harvick is able to maintain a top-10 spot, it would be only his second such showing in the last six Cup races at Sonoma.

Lap 97: Somebody on Harvick's radio says that Jimmie Johnson took a "Playstation shortcut" through one of the turns.

Lap 96: Yet another caution is out for debris. Harvick thinks his car is better than David Ragan's, and hopes the driver will work with him so that they can both hopefully move past Denny Hamlin.

Lap 95: A fender on Harvick's car has been knocked in, but it appears not to be rubbing on the tire.

Lap 93: Harvick is eighth on the restart. There are just 17 laps left in the event.

Lap 91: According to Martin, double-file restarts have done away with any problems with fuel mileage.

Lap 90: With 20 laps to go, a caution slows the race again. This time, it's because of Kurt Busch's mishap. Harvick turns commentator for a second, saying, "That's about the third person Jimmie Johnson's wrecked today."

Lap 87: The green flag is shown once more. Harvick is eighth.

Lap 82: The caution is out again. Harvick is ninth with 28 laps remaining. Running just behind Joey Logano, Harvick says that the teenager needs to pit because he has sheet metal "rubbing pretty hard."

Lap 79: The caution has ended. Harvick is 12th with 31 laps to go until the checkered flag. Just before the green, Harvick tells his spotter to tell Michael Waltrip, who runs just in front of Harvick, to stay calm.

Lap 76: Another yellow flag slows the pace of the race. Harvick is listed 16th in the running order. He asks if there are any worries on making it the rest of the way on fuel, and Martin emphatically tells him that there are none.

Lap 75: Running fourth, Harvick brings the Shell Chevrolet onto pit road. It's a four-tire stop that lasts 16 seconds.

Lap 73: NASCAR is talking about potential debris on the track. The decision is made, however, for Harvick to stay out one more lap.

Lap 70: There's some damage on the left-front fender, but the crew probably won't touch it during the stop.

Lap 67: As cars in front of him continue to pit, Harvick is now fifth.

Lap 66: Harvick has made his way into the top 10, running ninth behind leader Tony Stewart.

Lap 65: Harvick asks, "Where are we runnin'?" He's in 13th, 11.33 seconds behind leader Denny Hamlin.

Lap 64: There are two laps to go before the team's planned stop to make its fuel window. Harvick wants to stay out until some of the leaders start pitting, and Martin agrees.

Lap 62: Harvick is up to his original starting spot of 16th, and before the lap is over, passes Jamie McMurray for 15th. He says the car is better.

Lap 60: Cars spin in front of Harvick, but he's able to clear them without becoming involved in the mishap. There's no caution.

Lap 59: Harvick softly nudges the rear of Greg Biffle's Ford as they come through the tight hairpin turn just before the frontstretch.

Lap 56: When the green flag comes out, Harvick finds himself in 25th place.

Lap 55: The race has reached the halfway point ... 55 laps down, 55 to go.

Lap 54: Harvick pits for service which will, hopefully, include changes that will help the car's handling.

Lap 52: The caution is out for debris. Harvick comes on the radio afterward to say the car won't turn in the corners, and won't grip coming off.

Lap 51: The team's next scheduled stop is in 15 laps. Harvick asks what the plans are for when he comes in, adding, "We've got to do something."

Lap 47: Harvick is upset, saying that the front end of the car won't turn. He says, "It's all over the place."

Lap 46: Jamie McMurray passes Harvick on the frontstretch. After he's passed, Harvick says his car just won't go. He says that if the team has a chance today, it'll have to be on fuel mileage.

Lap 45: As Earnhardt and Harvick close in on Jeff Burton, the gap between them also seems to narrow.

Lap 42: Harvick has been chasing Dale Earnhardt Jr. for quite some time. When Junior brakes going into a turn, Harvick typically closes in. But when they get back in the throttle, the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet pulls away by a few car lengths.

Lap 40: It's interesting to hear -- or not hear, whichever the case may be -- radio chatter during the road-course event. Because Harvick is concentrating so much on making his shifts and hitting his marks, there's very little conversation on the radio. Whatever talk there is, for the most part, it's very quick and clipped.

Lap 38: Harvick is running the same pace as the cars in front and behind him.

Lap 34: With others coming onto pit road, Harvick has made his way to 25th in the running order. He's 36.28 seconds behind current leader Denny Hamlin.

Lap 28: Somebody on the team has a radio with its microphone stuck open.

Lap 26: Harvick drops onto pit road for a gas-only stop. Martin tells the gasman to "pack it". The stop lasts just 3.2 seconds.

Lap 25: For a split second, Harvick goes three wide with Max Papis and Sam Hornish. Harvick backs out. He'll be pitting this lap.

Lap 24: The green flag comes back out. Despite a late warning from Childress that RCR driver Jeff Burton will be coming in for fuel just before the green, Martin tells Harvick to stay out. Harvick is 38th on the restart.

Lap 23: Childress and Harvick think it might be a good idea to go ahead and come back in for fuel, rather than waiting for four more laps. Nevertheless, Martin tells Harvick to stay out.

Lap 22: Harvick is on pit road for a four-tire stop. Just before the green flag comes back out, Harvick drops to the tail end of the pack.

Lap 21: It's going to be a "quickie" yellow. There's a debate on whether or not to pit if several of the lead cars come in. The decision is to come in.

Lap 20: The caution is out. Immediately, crew chief Gil Martin starts making plans for what the team will do on its stop. Harvick tells Martin that he doesn't want to hamper any strategy that the crew chief might have in mind.

Lap 18: Team owner Richard Childress tells Harvick that the leader is running laps at about 80.5 seconds, while Harvick trips the timer at about 80.6 seconds.

Lap 16: Watching Harvick's animated car on TrackPass' Race View and the real thing from a roof-top camera on TNT's RaceBuddy is quite the experience.

Lap 14: From behind the wheel of the Shell Chevrolet comes the message that the drivers needs some major grip.

Lap 10: Harvick says that Richard Childress Racing teammate Casey Mears hit him, but his spotter responds that it might have been Joey Logano.

Lap 9: Harvick now says his car is tight and loose.

Lap 8: On the road course, language has changed between Harvick and his spotter has changed. Rather than calling traffic to the inside or outside, the spotter now says that cars are to the right or left.

Lap 7: Harvick has told the pits that his car is "terrible tight."

Lap 5: After dropping back a couple of spots, Harvick has regained them. He's back in his original starting spot of 16th, 13.78 seconds behind race leader Brian Vickers.

5:24 p.m.: The green flag is out.

5:16 p.m.: Engines have been fired, and cars are on the track.

Race Day, 4:44 p.m.: Harvick will start 16th in today's race at Sonoma. It's his best start in the last three races on the California road course.

Pre-Race: Kevin Harvick will drive a car that was built new in 2008. Clint Bowyer used the machine at Pocono and in both Cup races at Michigan last year. Its best finish was a 20th at Michigan in August.

In eight Cup starts at Sonoma, Harvick has two top-five finishes. His best showing was a second in June 2007.

Team owner Richard Childress has two wins at Sonoma, one with Dale Earnhardt and the other with Robby Gordon. In a combined 40 starts, Childress' teams have scored one pole, 11 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes. The organization has also led 130 laps and completed 4,016 of a possible 4,062 circuits during those 40 starts. Only once has an RCR car failed to finish a race at Sonoma.

RCR teammates Harvick, Jeff Burton and Bowyer finished second, third and fourth, respectively, at Sonoma in 2007.