Harvick and <I>Sugar Ray</I> set to rock Richmond.

It will be a night of lights and loud noises on Saturday when automobile manufacturer Chevrolet and Warner Music Group join forces to bring the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 to Richmond International Raceway.

A total of six Chevrolet's will don special paint schemes for the event, including the #29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo, as rock band Sugar Ray team up with Kevin Harvick for the promotion. The band - acclaimed as 'one of the hippest in America' - are scheduled to play songs from their new album 'In the Pursuit of Leisure' after Friday night's Busch Series race, while Harvick's car will run a new gold-and-black paint scheme, designed by Action Performance Group, which features all of the members of the band riding along with the Winston Cup star.

"These special paint schemes are a lot of fun," says Harvick, who ran a special Tasmanian Devil paint scheme for the same race last year, "Ideas like this bring a lot of new fans to the sport and it gives the fans something else to see.

"I think the idea of the concert is really cool because it draws some people that might not ordinarily come to see a NASCAR Winston Cup race. We've been good in the Cup and Busch car at Richmond, so it should be a good weekend for us.

Racing under the lights is neat for the fans and good for the drivers, because it keeps us cool in the cars. I think you get a bigger speed sensation at night, with the brakes glowing and the sparks flying everywhere. Believe it or not, it's actually easier to see from a driver's standpoint when you are racing at night. They've done such a good job with the lights, that there are no shadows around the racetrack. It's crystal clear viewing as opposed to racing during the day."

Harvick has had recent success at Richmond, coming from 36th to finish sixth in the spring race, his second-best finish in five tries and third top-ten.

"Richmond is Saturday night racing at its best," Harvick opined, "Also, I think everybody loves racing there because we know we get a Sunday off!

"It's the style track most everyone grew up on - three-quarter mile, with plenty of room to race. The last couple of races have been a little harder because the sealer's been coming up and sticking to the tyres, making it harder to get grip in the corners and pass. Hopefully, it will be better this time back."

Harvick is riding a wave of three consecutive runner-up finishes and five consecutive top-five finishes since his win in the Brickyard 400 in August, but admits that a return to the top step is becoming maddeningly elusive.

"We've finished third three times in a row and it's actually getting a little frustrating that we're not winning," he confessed, "This sport is very tough - it's very hard to run in the top ten, let alone the top five. To be on the run that we've had in the last three months, we're pretty fortunate. It's a lot of fun to be in the racecars right now - I just get in and drive them, and do everything I can because I know this team is doing everything they can.

"The title races isn't over. It's a long shot [for us to] win it, but we've been a long shot before and overcome the odds and done things they said we couldn't do. If they think it's over, just tell them to quit showing up and we'll keep racing. We can't control Matt [Kenseth]'s fate - we can't control anything he does - all we can do is control ours. Alan Kulwicki came back to win from 270 points down with just six races left, so I don't think it's out of the question."