Lap 334: Harvick finishes 18th.

Lap 324: The car is still "plowing," according to Harvick.

Lap 322: Harvick has dropped back to 19th since the green flag. He's 5.66 seconds behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Lap 318: The Shell Chevrolet is 15th when the race gets back under way.

Lap 313: After going four wide into turn three, Greg Biffle crashes on the frontstretch to cause another caution. Harvick is just behind the incident when it takes place, but he's able to drive past unscathed.

Lap 309: The green flag is out with Harvick listed 18th in the running order.

Lap 304: Immediately the caution comes back out when Carl Edwards appears to blow an engine on the fronstretch.

Lap 304: Harvick is 17th on the restart.

Lap 302: With only a few cars behind him on the lead lap, the team opts to bring Harvick down pit road during the caution. The over-the-wall crew clicks off what should be its final stop of the night in 14.2 seconds.

Lap 300: David Gilliland's mishap brings out another yellow flag.

Lap 296: Harvick is 14th when the caution ends.

Lap 293: Harvick pulls into his pit stall for the eighth time tonight. The stop lasts 15 seconds.

Lap 291: The caution is out after Max Papis apparently blows an engine.

Lap 282: The front of the car is pushing, the back is still sliding, says its driver. Harvick is currently in 15th place, 25.93 seconds behind leader Kasey Kahne. On the track, Kahne is only about a straightaway behind Harvick.

Lap 271: More Harvick tirade: "About spun out for some reason ... I'm loose of a sudden."

Lap 268: "Not only are we a straightaway behind, it doesn't drive good, either," Harvick says.

Lap 265: Harvick is still fuming. He asks about the pit stop, and Martin says that it wasn't a very good one. "Maybe I'm missing something," Harvick shoots back.

Lap 258: There's a quick exchange between Harvick and crew chief Gil Martin. "We lost a full freakin' straightaway," Harvick begins. "Yeah, we sure did," replies Martin. "Hard to keep up that way," Harvick concludes.

Lap 250: Harvick continues, "I guess no one heard me." Crew chief Gil Martin replies that he was checking on other information, and admits that Harvick stayed on the track a couple of laps too long.

Lap 249: Harvick is not pleased, saying, "We got passed by seven cars by staying out."

Lap 248: Harvick brings his car into its pit stall for a four-tire stop. The stop takes 16.8 seconds to finish.

Lap 240: The next scheduled pit stop for Harvick should take place in about eight laps.

Lap 238: Harvick asks how his times stack up against those he's running against. He's about two tenths of a second quicker.

Lap 228: Keselowski goes high in turn one, allowing Harvick to get position under him. Harvick is back in 14th, 15.24 seconds behind leader Kasey Kahne.

Lap 226: Harvick is closing back in on Keselowski for 14th place.

Lap 208: Harvick is 15th, 8.9 seconds behind leader Matt Kenseth.

Lap 206: Harvick: "Won't turn ... won't turn ... won't turn."

Lap 203: Brad Keselowski drops Harvick to 15th between turns three and four. Harvick says that he's too tight in traffic.

Lap 195: When the green flag comes out, Harvick is 14th.

Lap 191: The team takes two tires on the stop, which takes 8.4 seconds to finish.

Lap 190: Harvick says the car isn't handling well through the turns, but adds that it's OK off the corner.

Lap 189: The caution is out for debris on the track from Juan Pablo Montoya's car.

Lap 169: Harvick is 17th on the restart.

Lap 166: Harvick pits. The stop takes 16 seconds to finish. Harvick says, "We're going backwards on strategy. ... We lost three (spots) on that pit stop."

Lap 164: Juan Pablo Montoya, who was having some major trouble, spins off turn four to bring out the caution.

Lap 161: Harvick's spotter says, "The 20 (Joey Logano) isn't very smart." Harvick readily agrees.

Lap 156: Harvick takes 14th place from David Ragan between turns one and two.

Lap 148: Harvick says, "I don't need much, Gil. Just a little bit."

Lap 147: Now running 16th, Harvick is 12.35 seconds behind leader Jeff Gordon. On the track, that's a little less than half a lap.

Lap 135: Harvick says the car is too loose.

Lap 126: Harvick says that Juan Pablo Montoya's car has a lot of damage from a nearly disastrous restart.

Lap 125: Harvick is 16th when the green flag comes back out.

Lap 123: The team's earlier two-tire stop netted it about 16 spots on the race track, according to crew chief Gil Martin. Martin asks if it's warm in the car, because it's most definitely not on pit road.

Lap 121: Harvick brings the Shell Chevrolet on to pit road for its fourth stop of the night. It takes 14 seconds flat to complete the stop, the crew's best effort so far tonight.

Lap 120: The yellow flag is out for Kyle Busch's spin off of turn four. Harvick is 13th, and says that his car is a bit loose.

Lap 106: According to crew chief Gil Martin, Harvick is a little bit faster than the cars he's chasing. Jeff Gordon is 13th, Kurt Busch 12th.

Lap 96: After the leaders finish making their visits to pit road, Harvick is now listed in 14th place, 11.3 seconds behind new leader Matt Kenseth.

Lap 92: Harvick drops onto pit road during a cycle of green-flag stops. The stop is identical to the first of the night, at just 14.2 seconds.

Lap 88: Harvick has cut nearly 2.5 seconds off leader Denny Hamlin's lead in the last several circuits. He's now shown in 14th place.

Lap 79: Harvick moves past David Ragan to regain 15th place. He trails leader Denny Hamlin by 14.16 seconds.

Lap 66: Kurt Busch takes 15th place from Harvick.

Lap 60: Now running 15th, Harvick trails leader Jimmie Johnson by 11.77 seconds.

Lap 43: Harvick is 11th on the restart.

Lap 37: Harvick is on pit road. Taking on just two tires, the stop takes just 7.6 seconds to complete.

Lap 36: The caution is out for rain. Harvick says that he's a little tight, but thinks it might be traffic. He's also still "baffled" by the speeding penalty.

Lap 31: There's some rain falling on pit road, but no caution so far.

Lap 24: Harvick takes 30th place from Elliott Sadler between turns three and four.

Lap 18: Harvick has shot up to 35th since the green flag came back out. He's made no comment about how his car is handling.

Lap 14: Because of the penalty, Harvick is 41st when the green flag comes back out.

Lap 12: Harvick is going to be penalized for speeding while entering pit road. He'll have to go to the end of the longest line on the restart. Harvick doesn't agree, saying that he was in line with others making their stops.

Lap 12: The team is playing the strategy card by coming in under this caution. The crew bolts on four tires and adds fuel, but makes no chassis adjustments. The stop lasts 14.2 seconds.

Lap 10: Hornish spins again to bring out another caution. Harvick says that he's "way faster" than those in front of him, but he just can't get position.

Lap 7: On the restart, Harvick is 31st on the leaderboard.

Lap 6: Brian Vickers has thanked Harvick for giving him some room when he got a bit out of shape prior to the caution. Harvick replies, "It's all good."

Lap 4: Crew chief Gil Martin asks Harvick how the balance of the car is, and the driver responds that it's fine. Harvick adds that he got himself pinned on the bottom of the track.

Lap 3: Sam Hornish Jr. pops the wall in front of Harvick, who is able to scoot by without incident. Harvick says that Hornish had been trying to wreck since the first lap.

7:49 p.m.: Green flag!!!

7:46 p.m.: Two laps to go before the green.

7:45 p.m.: Team owner Richard Childress tells Harvick that he hates the team didn't give Harvick a better car for qualifying, but said that crew chief Gil Martin and the rest of the crew would help move him to the front.

7:43 p.m.: Tonight's race is scheduled for 334 laps, 500 miles.

7:40 p.m.: The field begins to roll off the starting grid.

7:38 p.m.: Harvick qualified 32nd for tonight's race. Only twice before has the California native qualified worse at Charlotte.

7:34 p.m.: Brian France, grandson of Bill Sr. and son of Bill Jr., Teresa Earnhardt, widow of the late Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and Junior Johnson give the command to fire engines.

7:27 p.m.: The North Carolina A&T marching band plays the National Anthem.

Race Day, 7:26 p.m.: Joe Gibbs says the opening prayer.

Pre-Race: The car Kevin Harvick is driving this weekend is the same one that he used to finish 10th last weekend at California. That was the car's first appearance on the race track.

In 17 Cup starts at Charlotte, Harvick has one top-five and three top-10 finishes. His best career Cup finish at Charlotte is a second in May 2001, his first start at the 1.5-mile facility on NASCAR's premier circuit.

In 107 total races here, team owner Richard Childress has five points-paying wins. Four of those came with Dale Earnhardt behind the wheel. The fifth victory was scored by current Richard Childress Racing driver Jeff Burton in this race last fall. Childress, a former independent NASCAR driver, scored two top-10 finishes at Charlotte.