NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AUTO CLUB 400
AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 20, 2015
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S/BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS met with media at Auto Club Speedway and discussed his outlook for this weekend’s race, growing up racing in California, fellow competitor Brian Vicker’s health issues and many other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE TEAMS MINDSET AND GOAL TO POTENTIALLY WIN ALL THREE WEST COAST RACES:
“I think our mindset right now is to keep doing the same things that we have been doing. Monday morning it was time to prepare for Auto Club Speedway. I know everybody kind of wants to redeem themselves after last year. We ran really well and had two or three flat tires and things didn’t finish well. But it was a great performance for us all in all. Hopefully, this year we can continue to do the things that we are doing. Really just business as usual as we go into practice and qualifying today.”
THIS USED TO BE CONSIDERED SUCH A SOUTHERN REGIONAL SPORT, BUT NOW SO MANY OF YOU GUYS HAVE COME OUT OF CALIFORNIA. CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THE CULTURE WAS LIKE RACING WISE HERE WHEN YOU AND SOME OF THE OTHER GUYS CAME UP AND HOW THAT MAYBE LED TO WHAT WE HAVE NOW?
“I think when you look at California there are a lot of race tracks in California up and down the coast. A lot of whether it be asphalt, dirt tracks, go-kart tracks, there is a well-supported community of racing up and down the stat of California, even into Washington and Oregon. As I was coming up there was the Southwest Tour, Winston West Series and the (NASCAR Camping World) Trucks raced on the West Coast a lot. There was also a fairly good following of late models. Obviously, things have slowed down from what they used to be, but there is still Irwindale. You have the Kern County Raceway in this particular area. There is definitely a lot of racing and I think when you look at way back in the day it was mostly a southeastern sport. I think Jeff Gordon was obviously somewhat responsible for being able to allow guys like myself and pave the way for us to have a path to have an opportunity to come and race in NASCAR. It’s always been a well-supported racing area and I was fortunate to grow up in Bakersfield, California, which is a very well-supported racing town no matter what you race. There is a lot of racing it just took a while for everybody to figure that out.”
WITH THE NEW RULES WITH LESS HORSEPOWER THAN LAST YEAR HOW IS THE BEHAVIOR OF THE CAR? IS IT MUCH DIFFERENT THAN LAST YEAR?
“There are definitely some differences when you look at the set-ups and the things that we are doing in the car, but they are not as drastic as you would think with the amount of less horsepower. Especially at the bigger tracks, I think you will see less difference in things that are going on with the set-ups of the car. Just for the fact I think the short tracks are where you are going to notice the rear-end gear having a lot less rpm.
“Such a Phoenix, Martinsville, Loudon, those types of places, where you aren’t going to have the acceleration like you used to have. These bigger tracks you just have a little more throttle time. A lot of the same driving styles that you had from last year, just more throttle time.”
IS IT A DOUBLE EDGE SWORD TO BE SUCH A STRONG FAVORITE COMING HERE? IF YOU WIN THEY SAY YOU HAVE TO WIN, IF YOU DON’T WIN THEY SAY ‘WELL HE’S DONE’:
“I think we would rather have that pressure of trying to do well. We are going to put that pressure on ourselves anyway. Having everybody expect you to do well is great. But in the end we are going to put that pressure on ourselves anyway. We want to preform and do well for the guys on our team and everybody at SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing). It’s really no different. I know that doesn’t sound right and I know that we have been fortunate to have some early season success. But it really doesn’t change anything that we do leading into this week’s race.”
DO YOU AND (CREW CHIEF) RODNEY (CHILDERS) CONSIDER YOURSELVES BULLETPROOF COMPARED TO THE OTHER TEAMS IN THE GARAGE AREA?
“I don’t know that you are ever bulletproof. That is for sure, you are never bulletproof, just for the fact that there are so many things that can go wrong in a race. The circumstances they are hard to get everything to lineup just to win a race, to be able to be a part of everything that we have been able to accomplish over the last little bit, we have been fortunate to have good luck on our side. We have been fortunate to have fast race cars and have a lot of things lineup for us. At any given moment you could start having the bad luck like we had at the beginning of last year. In life in general you are never bulletproof. About the time you start thinking that there will be, I always tell people, the karma train will come run you over. You just keep your head down and try to continue working. I think we work harder in times like this just for the fact that you don’t want to let your guard down and have things start to go wrong.”
DO YOU SEE JAMIE MCMURRAY AS A GUY THAT IS COMING INTO THE TOP LEVEL WHERE YOU GUYS ARE AND A COMPETITOR THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE TO DEAL WITH FOR THE CHASE?
“I think Jamie has obviously run well this year and won a lot of the big races. It’s not like that they can’t do that or can’t have things lineup. I think as you look at Jamie and Kyle (Larson) really, I think they have both run well. I think Jamie has the experience to do what he needs to do. Felix (Sabates, team co-owner) already guaranteed that they were going to make the Chase so that is a good thing. I think they are running well enough to do that too.”
ON THE ACCELERATION AND HOW IT MIGHT BE DIFFERENT AT SHORT TRACKS, HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR TEAM PREPARING FOR MARTINSVILLE NEXT WEEK
“I don’t know. We haven’t even prepared for this one yet. And to be dead honest with you, Monday morning you’ll have kind of all of the rough set-up stuff done from the engineers and the people in the shop; but we won’t even really start worrying about Martinsville until we at least get done with this one. So, it’s definitely going to be different though, just for the fact that you’re not going to have that acceleration. It’s going to be more like a Truck Series race, I guess you could say, in the way that you have to carry the momentum through the center of the corner and be able to carry that momentum with the car turning and be back in the throttle. So, it will be interesting to see if it’s harder to pass or not, but there’s a good possibility that it will be.”
WILL YOU BE HAVING ANY PROBLEM WITH THE SEAMS IN THIS PARTICULAR TRACK THIS WEEKEND?
“No, we love the seams. If you hit them wrong, it definitely messes up the direction that the car is going; but it also can be a huge help to you as well. If you look at those seams and you look at the amount of grip that’s on one side or the other of them; but they’re definitely slippery and you definitely have to keep them in mind. But I think everybody knows that when you come here, you’re going to have to deal with them.”
ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT BRIAN VICKERS WON’T BE IN THE CAR DUE TO BLOOD CLOTTING ISSUES, CAN YOU EVER THINK OF A TIME WHEN YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO BE IN THE CAR AND HAD TO SIT OUT? WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“First thing is that it’s just a very, very tough situation because I think as you look at all the things that he’s gone through and really, especially the last one with the surgery, and then thinking that everything was just fixed and going to be okay and then you come back and it’s kind of like the same old thing all over again. The first thing is I feel bad for Brian because he does have that drive and determination to be in the car. He’s been through a lot to try to get everything fixed, but it just seems like it just keeps creeping back up. It’s just a really unfortunate situation.”
HAVE YOU EVER NOT BEEN ABLE TO BE IN THE CAR AND HAD TO SIT OUT?
“Only when I didn’t get a 3.0 on my report card (laughter).”
HOW OLD WERE YOU?
“I was probably about 10. I had to sit out a whole quarter.”
HOW WAS IT?
“It wasn’t very good. I never got bad grades again.”
YOU’VE BEEN COMING HERE FOR A LONG TIME AS A CALIFORNIA GUY. YOU’VE UNDERSTOOD OVER THE YEARS SOME OF THE ISSUES THIS TRACK HAS HAD IN TERMS OF ATTENDANCE. NOW THAT THERE IS ONE RACE HERE A YEAR, TALK ABOUT WHAT THE ATMOSPHERE HAS BEEN AND HOW THE CROWDS HAVE GOTTEN BETTER AND WHAT THE DRIVERS’ PERCEPTION IS OF THE WAY THINGS ARE MAYBE TURNING AROUND HERE AT THIS TRACK.
“I think this race track is a great example of a lot of lessons that a lot of people obviously don’t pay attention to that run race tracks. Sometimes, if you take one really great thing and you can really easily make them into two mediocres, and we do that all the time in our sport. And I don’t understand that with race tracks a lot of the time, but this one has come full circle. And I think when you look at the crowds that we’ve had over the last couple of years, they’ve been really good. The racing has been really good here as that track surface has aged; and as a driver you look forward to coming here now because it’s one of those race tracks where you can run all over the place and the cars can slide around and you’re going to have fun from the driver’s seat. So, that bleeds over into the perception that the fans get as well, because everybody is talking about enjoying racing on this particular track.
“And I think some markets are just one-race markets. I would say ninety percent of them are one-race markets, but a lot of them still have two races and you just see those mediocre crowds and I think when people know that you’re only coming one time a year, you have to go to that one particular race. Having a race with a good date is obviously good for the weather and the people to come out and enjoy it. It’s not 115 degrees in August, which was always fun to be a part of in the race car. But I think all in all, it’s all come full circle and I think everything is going good for this particular track.”
ABOUT A YEAR AGO, WE WERE PROBABLY ASKING HOW YOU AND RODNEY (CHILDERS, CREW CHIEF) WERE GETTING ALONG. HOW IS IT NOW?
“We really know a lot more about each other. And I think as you look at the team, we’ve obviously worked through a lot of issues, whether it be mechanical issues, or team. The personnel has been the same, but I think when you look at the team, they’re just a lot more confident in what they do; and understand that we can do what we need to do to win race and be competitive on a weekly basis. So, everybody is a lot more comfortable. I think it was pretty tense, especially this time of the year, last year, because we went out and were able to win Phoenix and then had problem after problem after problem. But I really still believe that built a lot of the character of the team and really allowed us to become closer as a team to communicate and work through those problems and that paid off for us as we got towards the second half of the year. This is a special group of guys that really gets along, on and off the race track; and are all here for the same reasons. They all want to be a part of this team and work with Rodney and myself and be at Stewart-Haas Racing. When you have everything line-up like that it’s pretty rare. And I’m just lucky to be a part of it.”