Conversation: Harvick
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
April 4, 2006
03:17 PM EDT (19:17 GMT)
Six races into the 2006 Nextel Cup season, Kevin Harvick has resumed his position as the lead driver at Richard Childress Racing.
After a second-place at Bristol and a scrappy seventh at Martinsville last weekend, Harvick comes to this weekend's Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway with a No. 29 Chevrolet that's primed to get back into the top 10 in the standings.
Harvick has repeatedly addressed questions about his future and successfully put them in the background.
But he did speak candidly about just how competitive the entire Richard Childress Racing organization has been, the success of his own Kevin Harvick, Inc. operation, why he doesn't miss "the TV show" and how he feels about special paint schemes.
Q: Kevin, talk about the increased performance across the board at RCR this season, and what that's meant to your No. 29 team?
Harvick: I think the performance of our team was good last year. We just didn't have the circumstances work out.
Our performance has been good this year. At Bristol was the first time everything's come together, circumstance-wise.
But having the other two teams run good means a lot. If you're off a little bit you can go see what they have. It makes all three teams stronger when everybody's running good.
Q: The three crew chiefs, Todd Berrier from your team and Gil Martin with the 07 and Scott Miller with the 31 have all worked together for some time now, but are they communicating any better?
Harvick: I don't think the communication is any better than it has been. I think it's always been done reasonably well. I think everything is just starting to show up, now.
So I don't think anything has happened overnight to make everything better -- it's happened over a period of time.
Q: In general, where's your comfort level on the mile-and-a-half tracks with this new Chevy Monte Carlo SS?
Harvick: I think for us, Atlanta was really good and Vegas was pretty good. The high-banked, mile-and-a-half stuff is where we felt like we were off a little bit, but Atlanta went really good so I think Texas should go just as good.
Q: The Busch program is almost a throwback to where you were in 2001, when you last ran both full schedules. Obviously the circumstances are totally different, but after six races you've got a 121-point lead, so how much of a positive experience has that been?
Harvick: I think 2001 was different just for the fact that you weren't prepared to do anything like we attempted to do in 2001, when we did it.
This year, we're prepared and we know what we're up against. We know we have to manage our time, we know we have to take care of ourselves and do things almost to a T as far as keeping a schedule goes, to make it all right.
I mean, really, that's the only thing. The schedule is easier now; to make it all happen, than to go back and forth (so much).
So if we make it through June (where there are three distinct conflicts, on Pocono, Michigan and Sonoma Nextel Cup weekends) we'll be in good shape and everything should be fine.
But just being able to prepare for it is definitely a big help.
Q: How much overlap has there been in the actual on-track, performance end of it?
Harvick: There hasn't been that much. It's better than it ever has been because the packages that we run are very similar.
Obviously, what tire pressures we run and all the little characteristics of the racetrack when it comes to a weekend -- all those things help, so with the different spoiler package and the different wheelbase between the two cars, everything is not going to be the same.
The Busch cars, you have to run a little bit looser than you do the Cup cars just because of the better downforce, so there are a lot of similarities, but there are a lot of differences.
Q: You mentioned time management, and we don't want you to give away too many secrets, but how do you keep all the balls in the air, with all you've got going on?
Harvick: I think the biggest thing is keeping track of what you can and can't do, and when you can't do something, you say "no."
Some people get frustrated and say, "Why can't you do this" or "why can't you do that?" But there is always a reason why you can or can't do something.
If you need your day off, you have to take it. And sometimes, like I say, it hurts peoples' feelings that you can't do something, but it is what it is and you have to take care of yourself first.
Q: Do you feel like more people need to look at a bigger picture of what's going on, and not always think "me first?"
Harvick: Some people look at it and they're looking out for themselves -- but I have to look out for myself and our race teams and, all-in-all, it all usually works itself out just fine, and you can find another time to do things.
There are a lot of people that come out of the box really strong and do things really well and you go, "Man, this guy's going to go like gangbusters." And then all of a sudden they disappear because they get burned out or wore out.
You'll see the same thing happen, year after year.
Q: Speaking of time management, do you miss the TV show?
Harvick: The reality show? No, I don't miss it at all.
I miss watching the show on television, but doing the show was a little bit of a pain in the butt, so I don't miss the time that you have to put into it to make it all look good.
Q: Not only do you have the Busch Series lead, with a combination of your own car and RCR's No. 21 Coast Guard ride -- but also your two operations are in the top 10 in owners' points. Is that beyond your wildest expectations?
Harvick: Definitely. I think the expectations were there for the 33 (KHI) team to be somewhere in the top 10 but the 77 (Burney Lamar's Chevrolet) has surprised everybody in the sport.
Gene Nead (crew chief) and all those guys have done a great job and Burney has exceeded all of our expectations up to this point in the season; so it's been good for the team and I think both teams are working together well.
I think the best thing that's happened is we've surrounded Burney with a lot of experience. Gene Nead has obviously been in the sport forever and knows the ins and outs -- and he's assembled a really good team.
But to have both teams in the top 10 six weeks into the season is definitely above where we thought we'd be.
Q: What's been the most pleasant surprise about Burney, because you knew he had potential?
Harvick: I think the biggest surprise has been the performance level at a lot of the places where he hasn't been. He's just exceeded our expectations on the performance side -- by a lot.
I think that's probably been the most pleasant surprise.
Q: I remember when you unveiled your new KHI facility in Kernersville, N.C. How's that whole deal working out?
Harvick: It's working out real good. Every year it gets a little bit better and you get a little stronger and you have a better understanding of things that are going on.
So we've been fortunate to put good people in place. The Busch teams have done well. The truck team has struggled this year and it's been kind of the backbone of the whole operation for the last three years.
But those are the times that you get better, when something is struggling and you have to fix it and make it go better.
All-in-all, it's happened pretty fast, and everything has gone better than anticipated.