Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Phoenix Media Availability | Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, has a track-record nine career NASCAR Cup Series wins at Phoenix Raceway. He was a guest today on the NASCAR Zoom call to talk about this weekend and other issues asked by members of the media.
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang — OVER THE LAST YEAR WHAT STANDS OUT THE MOST TO YOU? “I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is just the fact that, in general, I think as a sport we’ve done a really good job of navigating and adapting to our environment and doing the things that we need to do to put on a race and a show and obviously you’re seeing fans back in the stands. I think our sport has been a leader on a lot of those types of things. I think from a team standpoint and a sport we’ve definitely been able to try a lot of things we probably wouldn’t have tried if it wasn’t for COVID. I think when you step back from it COVID will have forever changed our sport in many different areas. I think we’ve realized a lot of inefficiencies we’ve had as a sport from how many people we take to the track to how we function, how many days we need to be at the track. There’s just so many little things that will make us more efficient, whether it’s how we bring guests to the racetrack, how we sign in, the sheer number of people, the days we’re at the racetrack. I think there are just a lot of things that happened that probably wouldn’t have happened as rapidly if we weren’t in this environment, so in a really, really bad scenario, I think we’re gonna come out of this with a lot of ideas and tried a lot of things we might have not necessarily tried if it was a normal year.”
ANY LEVEL OF CONCERN ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS LAST WEEK? “Every year you don’t really know what to expect when things change. I think, for us, we just missed it on all levels with all the different things that are going on from last year, so I think whether we over thought it or just missed it has yet to be seen, but we just missed it bad.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT A SITUATION WHERE PEOPLE THINK A DRIVER MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE INTENTIONALLY SPUN OUT TO CREATE A CAUTION? “I did not see the truck race, so I can’t really respond to exactly what you’re talking about, but I think from an officiating standpoint you have to be consistent. We’ve seen some inconsistencies on how they react to that particular type of situation over the last couple years, so I think when you don’t officiate those things consistently, you open yourself up to having to talk about it in ways that you don’t really necessarily know is right or wrong because of the fact that one time it was officiated one way and one time it was officiated another way, so it’s a tough scenario that you have to try to balance as to what’s right or wrong, but I did not see what happened in the truck race.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE DRIVING YOUR CAR ON SUNDAY? WAS IT THAT BAD? “Not fun.”
FANS DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO DRIVE A CAR LIKE THAT. HOW WAS IT? “I can just tell you that it’s not that much fun to drive. I’d explain it, but it would take way too long.”
CAN YOU GO BACK TO WHEN YOU FOUND OUT THE NASCAR WORLD WAS SHUTTING DOWN A YEAR AGO? “I was going to Atlanta, so I don’t know that Phoenix is the proper representation of exactly when we shut down. For me, I was actually headed to the race and as we were going to the race it was, ‘Keep coming. Don’t come to the race. Go home.’ I think for those first couple weeks there was just a lot of uncertainty as to what was right, what was wrong, how long was this going to last, it’s not going to last long and now it’s going to last forever. So there are just a lot of things that you remember that you really didn’t have the answers to at that particular moment. For me, the thing that sticks out the most is actually driving to Darlington and wondering whether I should be on the road or not, if I was gonna get in trouble for driving and being on the road. If I was actually going to work, not going to work. Should I drive home? Not drive home? Can I stay in my motorhome? Can I not stay in the motorhome? Should I bring my helmet to the car? You had so many questions about what to do and what not to do that it was just a really strange time.”
WHERE WOULD YOU SAY SHR IS NOW COMPETITION-WISE COMPARED TO GIBBS, PENSKE AND HENDRICK? “It’s hard to tell. I think last week was not good, but we’ve run four races at three different styles of tracks, so we’ll see.”
AS COVID WAS DEVELOPING LAST YEAR YOU WERE GOING TO ATLANTA ON A FRIDAY, BUT EVERYTHING STARTED SHIFTING ON WEDNESDAY. DO YOU REMEMBER THAT GAP AND WHAT YOU WERE THINKING? “I do not.”
WHAT CONVERSATIONS HAVE YOU HAD AT SHR ABOUT THIS WEEKEND AND WILL THERE BE MASSIVE CHANGES TO THE CAR SETUP? “That would probably be a great question for Greg Zipadelli because I don’t really have those exact answers as to exactly what they’re going to do.”
WHAT WAS SOME OF YOUR FEEDBACK ON HOW YOU NEED THE CAR TO BE AND FEEL THIS WEEKEND? “It’s a drastically different racetrack this weekend, so I don’t think that those are really not the same conversations that you would have about Phoenix as you would have about Las Vegas. We’ve gone through Las Vegas and that’s really about it.”
WHY DO YOU THINK WE’VE SEEN SUCH PARITY TO START THE YEAR AND DO YOU THINK IT WILL CONTINUE? “Hard to tell if it’s going to continue. I think as you look at the beginning of the season you look at Daytona and I don’t think anybody would say that Michael McDowell couldn’t have won the Daytona 500. That particular race and the way that he’s run at that particular racetrack has been good, and that led to a lot of momentum for them and they’ve run well going forward, so I don’t think it’s abnormal for where everything could start on a particular season. The start of every year kind of brings something different that you have to adapt to as a team and some teams are better than others and I think in this environment coming off of the winter is much different than what we did last year when you had four races and then you had eight weeks to work on everything that you did in those four races to fix or fine-tune on the things that you had. This year you’re kind of doing everything on the fly. Obviously, for us, we had a good first few races and Vegas we were off but three out of four have been just fine for us.”
BESIDES FANS AND FAMILY ACCESS WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT THE PRE-COVID DAYS AT THE TRACK? “For me, it’s the interaction with the team, just trying to solve a problem, whether it’s good or bad, trying to solve that problem with a group of people is always something that has been exciting for me and challenging for me, so I miss that part and that interaction with the guys on my team to work on my car in person.”
ARE YOU STILL A THREAT TO WIN AT PHOENIX? “That’s a silly question. I think you should go back and look at the first race from last year that we led the most laps and had the fastest car. We wound up finishing second. I would consider us a challenger at just about any racetrack that you go to, but you’re not gonna be that way all the time, so, I think as we go to Phoenix you expect to go there and perform well.”
HAS ONE POSITIVE TO COME OUT OF THE PANDEMIC BE TIME SPENT WITH THE FAMILY? “It’s definitely changed the way that our house functions and how we function as a family. I’ve got two of them that are in school at home and that hasn’t changed even with our schools going back in. We’ve kept our kids at home because we’ve just done so many things differently to adapt to the pandemic and so many of those things have come with more family time, so I think as you look at that and whether it’s how much more we cook at home, how much more we sit at the table and eat together or when the kids are on break from school they’re actually in the house or in the yard or somewhere around you, so you don’t go to the grocery store anymore. Amazon comes a lot more to the front door, so there’s a lot more things that happen at home and even though they haven’t been able to go to the racetrack up until the last couple weeks, they’re actually at home way more, so there’s a lot of things that have changed personally in the way that our household functions in a very good way.”
HAS THIS GIVEN YOU A GLIMPSE OF HOW THE OTHER GUY LIVES? “I think that’s probably something that I would tell you is how racing used to be. I think over the last decade has become more much family-oriented than it even was before just because of the fact of how we travel and how you go back and forth. When you’re done with the race you come right back home and you travel into the next week, and with the lack of testing and the simulation and the way that all that has changed I think that’s something that has been progressing over the last 10 years and been that way for much longer than what it was before, so I would tell you that we have spent more time at home this year than we have in the past, but everything was always you get the race schedule, then you plan your vacations and time with your family and, for us, it was always how do we include everybody to come to as many races as they want, that you miss as little of school as possible. So with the way that everything has changed and school at home and now Keelan is racing, he races more than I do, so there’s a lot that you have to balance, but it’s still all around us being together in some way, shape or form.”
HOW DO YOU KNOW AS A DRIVER WHEN TO ACTIVELY WORK TO HELP SOLVE A PROBLEM? “You can’t just step back. I think you have to be able to push buttons. This is not an abnormal situation for any race team. You’re gonna be in situations where you’re up, you’re down and that problem-solving is actually a piece of it that is always enjoyable because when you have a weekend, because I wouldn’t characterize the weekend that we had as to how the first three weeks have gone for us on the 4 car, you’re gonna have those particular weekends and you have to be a source of information. You’re not gonna fix it. I have no chance of fixing it. I’m merely the source of information from what happens in the car. It’s way too technical. There’s way too many engineers involved and you have to be confident in the things that you’re saying, feeling to deliver that information and then ask enough questions to make sure that the direction is in kind of the magnitude of your suggestions is put into the proper channels to make sure that it’s delivered in the appropriate way as an emergency or just an isolated problem or whatever the scenario is. Vegas is a tough racetrack just because of the fact that it falls into a lot of different categories as far as ride quality, as far as aerodynamic balance. Do you want to work on the front of the car or the back of the car? Do you go to the wind tunnel and use up some of your wind tunnel time and how do you put that into your simulation? Where does that fall into the things that you did last year and how do you categorize all those things to put into perspective of what happened over the weekend? So, you have to look at the things that you did that led to this particular road. Is it your simulation? Is it the setups that your engineering group put into the race car? Did you do things right on the seven-post? Do you need to go to the wind tunnel? There are just a lot of things that you have to try to tie all those pieces together, but Vegas in general it’s a real balance between all those things from a mechanical grip and aerodynamics and aerodynamic balance and bump stop loads and spring choices and all those things come into play at Vegas because it’s just a difficult racetrack to get all those things right.”
I BET YOU WERE ANGRY AFTER VEGAS, SO IS AN ANGRY KEVIN HARVICK A FASTER KEVIN HARVICK GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND? “Most of my races are over by Monday, whether we’ve won or lost. It’s really just whatever the challenge is for the next week and how do you recap the last week, so running first or running last is really no different for me on a Monday morning. Angry takes too much time and it’s hard to carry that all the way through the week and have everybody around the house want to participate in being around you, so I think for me Phoenix is a great example. I told this to Jenna earlier, I think when you look back at the first race last year and you have a chance to win the race and have the best car and then you go back to the second race and things don’t go your way just because it’s not what you expected, that’s just part of what we do. You guys sometimes see the results and look at it and say, ‘He’s gonna be this or that,’ and, really, it’s just the same. It’s really no different as you get into the meetings on Monday. The conversations may be different, but it’s the same routine week after week for me.”
HOW HARD IS IT TO SUPPORT KEELAN’S RACING WHILE ALSO STAYING ON TOP OF YOURS? “It just takes a lot of planning because in order to properly teach somebody how to race they have to race a lot, and I think this is kind of the first time that we’ve jumped into trying to plan two racing schedules and where everybody is going to be and keeping mom happy with where we’re at with school and her having to load up and take everybody to the go-kart track is new for her, so it’s a lot of spreadsheets. That keeps everything organized.”
HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHTS TO RUNNING A DIRT RACE IN ADVANCE OF BRISTOL? “We’ve talked about a few different things. I don’t know that we’ve really decided on exactly what we’re going to do. I know some of the other guys are doing things and I don’t know that it’s 100 percent relevant to the vehicles that we’re going to be driving, so we’re trying to figure out exactly what we need to do the week of the race to be prepared for it, but, right now, we’re worried about Phoenix.”
IS IT A HARD BALANCE TO PUT A LOT OF APPLES INTO ONE RACE WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH IT MIGHT TURN OUT TO BE WORTH? “Yeah, and I think there are so many variables in that race. If I just step back and look at it and say, ‘What would you think about this race? What would be the proper thing to do for us with me personally not having a huge background? Obviously, Tony has a huge background and should be an integral part of what we do as a race team as far as making sure that we’re prepared, but I think, for me personally, I know that I’m gonna be a little bit at a deficit as far as when I look at the racetrack and the things that I see and where I need to go. Do I need to keep moving up? Do I need to move down? When does it go dry slick? What’s the racetrack gonna be like? What are you anticipating? I think, for me, I have to look at Chase Briscoe and kind of take their lead. He’s got a background in it and just know that I’m still gonna be driving a Cup car on a dirt track. It’s not gonna be like a dirt late model or a midget or a modified, but those guys that do that stuff all the time will definitely have an advantage of knowing where they need to go when they need to go and I just kind of have to follow along and keep my eyes open and pay attention. In the end, I still think that it’s gonna be just survival. It’s the longest dirt race in the history of mankind, so who knows what the racetrack is going to be like at the end of 250 laps. If you guys can see it, it’s gonna be exciting.”
WE’RE COMING UP ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF YOUR FIRST CUP WIN AT ATLANTA. IT FEELS LIKE YESTERDAY. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW THE SPORT HAS EVOLVED ON A NATIONAL LEVEL AND FROM A SAFETY PERSPECTIVE? “I don’t know who feels like it was yesterday, but it’s not me. It feels like a lifetime ago. I think as you look at the sport the one thing that sticks out to me is just the massive amount of effort that NASCAR has put into putting our sport where it is today from a safety standpoint, and I think from Dale’s death and to where we are today and the things that accident taught us about our race cars and safety equipment and seats and walls and chassis. You look at how we’ve crashed cars in Nebraska into walls that create these massive wrecks, but also provide a massive pile of information and with NASCAR continuing to push forward on a yearly basis, a weekly basis and learn from all the different accidents and take Ryan Newman’s accident from Daytona and look at the changes to the car, I think it’s changed a tremendous amount. The way that our sport operates and the way that sports operate in general is much different than it was in 2001, but the safety side is the side from a driving standpoint that sticks out the most to me.”
WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE TO THE YOUNGER GUYS AT SHR? “You have to just take it week by week and you can’t overreact to any one situation just because of the fact that that part is gonna be constant as you go through your career. You’re gonna have times when things are not going exactly right and you’re gonna have times when things are going great. You have to figure out how to be a piece of the puzzle to give the information to the fullest degree of how you understand it to try to help be a part of the process to make it better, keep it good, whatever it is. It’s a one week at a time grind.”
ANY CHANCE KEELAN HAS ASKED FOR HIS OWN TROPHY ROOM? “No, and I have to remind him periodically that he’s still just a go-kart racer and until he gets a real job that he’s still under control of mom and dad. So he can have a little bit of space in his little room downstairs with his iRacing simulator and all the things that he has down there, but he’s gonna have to go find his own place if he wants to be in charge of where they all go.”
