Q&A: Kevin Harvick.

Saturday, 11th February 2006

One of the more outspoken members of the NASCAR community, Kevin Harvick has had pressure on his shoulders right from the moment he stepped into the Nextel Cup Series five years ago in place of the late Dale Earnhardt. Having proved his wares, Harvick shows that as far as speaking your mind goes, he has picked up a lot from ‘The Intimidator.’

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KEVIN HARVICK:
I think, you know, we decided to do that obviously before they changed the schedule on the impounds. But the practice has backed off a little bit.

I think with the limited testing and the limited amount of tyre availability, I think it will be important to understand the tyres and understand, you know, cambers and tyre wear and air pressures and things like that. Those are the main reasons that we're doing it.

Q.
Won't it be tough to run both Cup and Busch?

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KEVIN HARVICK:
I think, you know, I mean, I wind up running 20 some Busch races a year anyway. You know, to do 10 or 12 more, there's really only one month, I think it's June, where all the races are back to back, and the first part of July. So it's a lot easier than it was in 2001, I think. I think we'll be fine as long as the weather cooperates.

Q.
As the owner of a Busch team, how do you look at the Cup teams financially?

KEVIN HARVICK:
You have to have the money to spend. If you don't have the money to go test and spend, build cars and hire people, you know, you're not going to compete. You have to make sure that your marketing guy does a good job so you can have enough money to go race.

It's a challenge, but we've only done it for one year. I think we did okay at it, so we just have to do it again.

Q.
How do you feel about plate racing in general? Do you find it exciting, boring, scary?

KEVIN HARVICK:
The testing part of it is very boring. The racing part of it is -- I enjoy it. I'd rather see the Busch package on the Cup cars. I think it's more exciting of a race. I think it gives you a little bit more room and a little bit more forgiveness if you make a mistake, have to let off the gas and recover.

But, you know, I think there's a few of them that don't like that, so... Politics.

Q.
In regard to the amount of pit stops needed to stay up front every weekend, what does it take to develop that chemistry within the team? Do you see your guys are close?

KEVIN HARVICK:
I've had the same guys, this will be the third year. Our guys do a really good job on pit road, you know, have done a good job for the past couple years. It takes a while to find all those guys. It's harder to keep them than it is to find them. That's the hardest thing, is to keep the same group of guys year after year so you can develop and build on a scenario and situation with people on your race team.