NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 17, 2014
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway to discuss advancing to the next round of the Chase, the challenge of Talladega and the fallout from the Charlotte weekend, among other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
YOU CLINCHED A SPOT IN THE ELIMINATOR ROUND OF THE CHASE WITH LAST WEEK’S WIN AT CHARLOTTE. DOES THAT AFFECT YOUR STRATEGY COMING INTO TALLADEGA?
“Obviously it takes a lot of pressure off by not having to worry about a strategy. You just go race. Those guys have worked hard on the cars to make them as good as they can no matter the scenario. At the bare minimum, we owe it to them and the fans to race as hard as we can and take the same approach as we have all year – try to run well in practice, qualify well, lead laps and try to win a race. If it works out, it works out. That’s the thing that comes out of last week. If it works out, fine and if doesn’t, fine. Just race hard.”
DO YOU COME INTO TALLADEGA WITH THE BIGGEST SIGH OF RELIEF YOU’VE EVER COME IN HERE IN YOUR LIFE?
“I don’t know about that. There’s obviously still a lot of things to worry about coming to Talladega no matter if you’re on the good side or bad side or in between. I look at last week as what we’re supposed to do and what we should have done a number of times if it wasn’t for crazy things happening, mistakes and different things that have happened. But I think that’s part of the building process. You look at last week as great timing for our circumstances. With building a new team, having new people in new situations and a lot of things to learn, this format has allowed us to mature throughout the process of a year. Hopefully you’re getting to a refined point that you think is where you need to be to race for a championship. Last week was kind of the beginning of that and hopefully we can close out the last several week at the same level we had then. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing. I think there is a huge sigh of relief in a way but it’s also that this is what you want to do and expect to do at this time of year.”
IN A WAY, DOES NOT HAVING TO WIN THIS RACE OR HAVING TO DO WELL ALMOST INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING?
“You might be right there. The mindset went to completely aggressive after the win last weekend. Everyone is relaxed and it really doesn’t matter what the outcome is unless you win. It’s still in my opinion very important to try and win just for the fact that you keep someone else from winning. Obviously there are some people who are in a pretty vulnerable spot unless they win. Being aggressive, trying to lead laps, taking those points away, winning the race and not allow that automatic bid going forward is really the main goal.”
HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE INFIELD AT TALLADEGA?
“Fun. Every time you go out there, everybody’s having a great time. With the parade and the events the Speedway created last time is adding to that. I’m looking forward to tonight’s events and seeing what tonight’s contests are for the people to participate in. By that time, they’ll be a lot of fun to watch!”
WAS THERE ANYTHING LAST TIME THAT STOOD OUT TO YOU?
“Just the amount of people who showed up. We started the parade last time, and I was like, ‘Eh, there’s not very many people here.’ There were a lot of empty spots. The next thing you know, you look behind the trail of the parade and everybody didn’t fully understand what was going on. Next thing you know, you had thousands of people following you to the end of the strip and it turned into a big party. So it was fun.”
GIVEN THE SPEED YOU’VE HAD IN THE CAR ALL YEAR AND THE CALMNESS YOU’VE HAD, ARE YOU MORE CONFIDENT THAN EVER THAT THIS IS YOUR BEST SHOT AT A CHAMPIONSHIP?
“We’re doing as good a job in anything I’ve been involved in. The main thing is the speed in the race cars. You know what piece has been there all year and you don’t have to worry about that. We’ve continued to have that and it becomes a matter of controlling all the things we can control. I feel good about all those pieces.”
AS A CHAMPIONSHIP FAVORITE, DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE 2, THE 48 AND 88 KNOCKED OUT?
“Anytime you see people in a vulnerable position where they could not advance to the next round, from a competitor’s standpoint you want to do everything you can do to try and keep an upper hand. Whatever your best shot is for your team is what you want to see happens. You may have some feelings one way or the other toward teams and drivers and different people, and you want to see different scenarios play out and the excitement that goes with it. But in the end, you want the best scenario for your team to win a championship from pure greed standpoint, I guess you could say. Really that’s what we’re here to do and that’s win the championship and you want the best scenario for your team. It will be an interesting weekend regardless of how it all shakes out and who wins the race. It will be as interesting a lead-in to a weekend that we’ve had just because of the format, the scenarios, the cars on the outside looking in, how close everyone is, coming to Talladega… there are just so many variables in what could happen. For me, I’m just excited for the sport and looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out.”
HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR TEAM PREPARING FOR MARTINSVILLE TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START IN THE ELIMINATOR ROUND?
“Heck, I haven’t even gotten past Talladega yet (laughs). Is that a Saturday or Sunday race? I haven’t even thought about it. And that’s just the approach we’ve taken. Martinsville can be as crazy as Talladega if things start getting out of hand and I think for us, we probably ran then better than seventh. We had a failure on one of the pieces on the rear end at the last race there. So, I feel like we should run well. It’s just a matter of, like every other weekend, you’ve just got to put it all together.”
WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF THAT MESS AFTER THE CHARLOTTE RACE LAST WEEKEND?
“That’s a week’s worth od videos to catch up on. I didn’t know that the whole Chase went through the garage and through transmissions and parts and pieces and people didn’t know that Matt Kenseth had that in him, to be that fired-up. And so, I think it just shows you the intensity and everybody knowing that every moment matters. Those guys all know that whatever moments they were mad about could be the moment that ended their championship chase. And I think as a competitor, you’re frustrated and obviously we all kind of lose our minds at times and do things that you wish you could take back, but in the end, it just goes to show you how much everybody wants it and how intense it is to be racing in this particular format. Obviously, driving through the garage and all those things are not something that is taken well in the big truck over there. But all in all, sometimes we do things that we do wish we wouldn’t have done.’
WHEN WE COME TO TALLADEGA AND YOU TALK ABOUT LOSING YOUR MINDS OCCASIONALLY, ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FACT THAT AT TALLADEGA THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN BECAUSE IT’S SO FAST AND SO CRAZY?
“Yeah, you just come here crazy (laughs). I think here you just hope for the best and you try to put yourself in whatever spot you think is the safest. There is really no good spot to race in as far as avoiding trouble, just for the fact that you know that anything can happen at the front of the pack or the back of the back or the middle of the pack. I think all of us who have been in this long enough have wrecked at some point in all those different spots. So, there is no safe spot. The best superspeedway race we’ve had all year we raced as hard as we could all day and were racing for the win here in the spring. So, that’s the approach we’re going to take. Whether that’s right or wrong, it’s like rolling the dice. You just hope that your number doesn’t come up and you just do what you think it is the best thing to do and you just see how it all shakes out.”
IS IT EASIER TO GET PROVOKED HERE AT TALLADEGA THAN AT OTHER PLACES?
“Oh, I’ve left here mad too; so, if you see somebody that just didn’t make a good move or you made a bad move or whatever the case may be, it’s no different than anywhere else. You just come here knowing that you’ve got a 50-50 shot whether you’re going to roll out of here on the tow truck or on your own four wheels.”