NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 24, 2010
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed racing at Dover, RCR and the penalty to the No. 33 and other topics. Full transcript:
ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT ANY OF YOUR CARS AT ALL AFTER WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEKEND? “No”
WHY NOT? “Because our cars have been through inspection a 100 times this year and they have been to the R&D center and there is just no reason to be so they have sat on the shop floor and been prepared just as they had planned to be.”
ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THE REPUTATION OF RCR AND THIS COULD HURT IT?
“I think anytime you have something that goes wrong you want to rectify the problem and I think obviously that is a pretty big deal to Richard and I think he feels pretty strongly about where he stands on everything and will go forward. So when you have got a guy like Richard Childress who has been a part of this sport for as long as he has and the reputation that he has with his cars on the racetrack I think you have to look at that and say, ‘the guys are pretty honest guys’, so things happen and everybody pushes the limits whether its right or wrong I don’t know but it happens.”
ABOUT THE “BOYS HAVE AT IT”. I THINK LAST WEEK THAT WAS PRETTY MUCH EVIDENCED BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT HERE AT DOVER THIS WEEK?
“I don’t think so. I think because the speeds are so much higher and the fact that Loudon is really hard to pass and you have to kind of force the issue sometimes and things happen and people run into each other there. I think everybody will race hard but I don’t think you can have as much beating and banging as you did last week.”
CAN YOU PREVIEW KANSAS FOR US? “I am worried about Dover right now.”
HOW DO YOU VIEW CLINT RIGHT NOW IN THE CHASE? A GUY THAT IS 35 POINTS BEHIND THE LEADER OR 185 POINTS? “I haven’t really thought about that.”
IS THAT A DISTRACTION EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK OR DO YOU GUYS STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR JOB? “It really hasn’t changed anything that we do and we haven’t had to do anything to our cars and we have prepared as normal and as you can see with this media session everything is low key and the attention is over there and we like that.”
YOU HAVE WORKED WITH SHANE BEFORE AND KIND OF BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE AND HOW WILL HE HANDLE THIS AND WHAT DOES HE DO BEST THAT WILL HELP HIM HANDLE THIS? “Well I think obviously there is a lot of attention and I think that this isn’t Nationwide racing so it’s a much different level but he will stay level-headed through the whole thing and pay attention to the things that need to be paid attention to and the only thing you can do now is to go out and race and that is about it so I think he will do fine.”
IN GENERAL DO YOU THINK THAT A TEAM SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO KEEP THE WIN IF THEIR CAR IS FOUND TO BE ILLEGAL IN THE RACE THAT THEY WON? “That is the way that it has always been done and I think that with the way that the inspection process is on Tuesday morning that it would be hard to go back and change all those newspaper articles on Sunday.”
WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO BE GOOD HERE THIS WEEKEND? “We ran really well here the first race so we have a really good place to start. We sat down on Monday and looked at all the notes and practices and things that we did the last race and I feel really good about where we start with our practice set-ups and I think for us………….the hardest thing this weekend is going to be judging where you need to have your car with a twenty degree difference in the weather from today to Sunday. That is going to be the hardest part that we have to deal with this weekend.”
CAN YOU PUT INTO WORDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LAND THE CAR IN THE CORNER HERE? “You have to decide whether you want to ease past the bump or let off before the bump so it’s one of those things where your car has to land right in order to make the corner go as fast as possible to get back to the throttle and carry that speed through the center of the corner and it’s just turn one that you have that landing but it’s quite a sensation.”
IS IT EASY TO PUT THE PERFORMANCE YOU HAD AT NEW HAMPSHIRE BEHIND YOU SINCE THERE ARE NOT ANY OTHER TRACKS LEFT IN THE CHASE LIKE IT? “We just had a bad day at New Hampshire really from the time that the gate opened for practice and we know that we were running well at the end of last week’s race and wound up getting a finish and that is what this team has been about all year and that is to just keep digging until they close the gate so it was a good finish to start the week and there has been some discussion about how bad it was and we came away with a fifth-place finish and those are the kinds of things that you have to do when you are having a bad day.”
BUT YOU HAVE TO BE BETTER THAN THAT AT SOME POINT DURING THE CHASE TO WIN THE CHASE DON’T YOU THINK? “If we finish fifth every week, we will win.”
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