CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 15, 2025
JACK HARVEY, driver of the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold with Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Press Conference Transcript:
THE MODERATOR: Continuing on this morning, great to be joined by Jack Harvey, this year driver of the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet in his ninth year being associated in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and he’ll compete in the Indy 500 with the team later this year.
Just 130 days away from the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. We talked to you when the announcement was made, but how is the transition going to Dreyer & Reinbold? You’re at the shop a lot I’m assuming.
JACK HARVEY: Yeah, live in Indianapolis. I get to the shop a lot. It’s been a very easy transition. Obviously I’ve never worked with these guys and girls before, but everything that you hear about them is always very positive. What a great working environment that they provide everybody.
I’ve got to say, it’s absolutely true, their reputation is more than warranted and justified, and that transition has been so easy.
Q. What has impressed you in the last couple years about the program they’ve had for the 500?
JACK HARVEY: I mean, just generally how competitive they are. They always come and everything always looks really well prepared. Obviously they’ve always been very fast. Then you go to the race shop and it’s exactly the same way.
This is just the standard of racing that everybody at Dreyer & Reinbold hold themselves to, and they might only be in the 500 right now, but it’s a team that operates as high a level as I’ve been a part of. So whether they did the whole season or just one race, you just know that they have a basic standard they hold themselves to, and I feel very lucky to be a part of a program like that.
They’re just really nice people, as well. Dennis’ passion for the track extends to even how his race shop is esthetically, how it looks, having the old garages from Indy and whatnot.
So when you go to the track and see them be successful, it’s just through a lot of hard work and effort and passion for the track. Brett and Chase have been great to work with, as well. That kind of makes up their hierarchy there. It’s been a fantastic time so far, and we haven’t even turned a lap yet.
Q. If you can elaborate a little bit on Dennis, his background. It’s like he grew up at the 500 with the history, the heritage of that family, and just to have a guy that loves it that much in a team ownership position, even though you can’t do all the races all the schedule, he’s still full speed ahead for the 500.
JACK HARVEY: Yeah, honestly, it’s really cool when you go to the shop, just the amount of memorabilia, genuine memorabilia that he has. I don’t want to get in trouble because I don’t know how much of it is meant to be had and how much he promotes, but there are some really cool things there.
So then when you see how he runs his race team and also his car dealerships and everything, Dennis clearly just has a standard that he holds himself to, which is really cool.
But then when you see his passion for the speedway and then you start talking to him about just the events that I’ve been a part of and what he remembers and then how far back that knowledge goes. I mean, Dennis in his heart really is just a huge race fan, as well, and a huge advocate for the Indy 500 and really a lot of things in Indiana.
When you’re around somebody who has that much passion, it’s a thing that rubs off on you. Then you want to keep matching his enthusiasm and his effort level. I think that’s why they have a successful team is Dennis as a person and the way he goes about motor racing is an elevator because you don’t want to be the person not pulling your weight.
Obviously they’ve had a fantastic INDYCAR team for a long time, and I think with Ryan this year, as well, coming to do — is this his third race with Dreyer, I think? Having him stay on and have that continuity, it’s something that’s new for me, a new team. First time working with Chevy, but having Ryan there as that steady anchor point I think is going to be really good.
I’m hopeful that we have a really strong month of May because there’s a lot of effort that goes into it, and it really all just comes back down to Dennis’ passion for the Indy 500.
Q. Ryan was another thing I wanted to ask you about. He’s an Nico owe had a great career as a full time driver, former Indy 500 winner, class act. Just to have him as a teammate, how important is that to you?
JACK HARVEY: Well, I actually luckily have been teammates with Ryan before in the past when we were with MSR and the partnership they had with Andretti. I actually have done more 500s with Ryan as a teammate than I haven’t before.
I would say what’s going to be different about this coming year is perhaps it’s a bit more intimate. It’s just the two of us, whereas before it’s been a part of a very large team. I’m going to be leaning on him a little bit more, a little bit closer.
But he’s always been very open with his feedback, very happy to try and help, because at the end of the day he knows that helping me is also going to be pushing him, which helps just elevate the entire team, and ultimately that’s what we’re here to do as a single race entrant, I guess.
In some ways it’s an advantage I would say having that singular focus, and in other ways it’s a bit of a disadvantage perhaps.
The more that we can just work together and push each other along in a good way, just kind of the better really. When you look at what Ryan has achieved, there’s really nothing that he hasn’t. I think I said it when the announcement happened, I don’t have a set here’s what I do at Indy because I haven’t won.
He has won the Indy 500. He knows exactly what it takes. He knows what a successful month looks like, what the buildup can look like, when you’re in a good place, when you’ve got to do, and just having a teammate with that level of experience is always a good thing.
Q. These last two years, your 2024 season with Dale Coyne Racing and this year with Dreyer & Reinbold, very polar opposites in what you are spending all off-season focusing on. This year the sole focus is the 500. How different has this off-season and your mental approach been to this season where you’ve got essentially three hours of racing ahead of you that you’re training 365 days for?
JACK HARVEY: I mean, really it all came back down to a couple of conversations that I had with our primary sponsor, Invest, you know, just kind of throughout the year when we were starting to prepare for 2025. The decision to go racing for me isn’t entirely mine.
I have to be collaborative with people I’m working with, what are your objectives, what are your goals, and how can we basically bring these together so that everybody is happy. Not doing the 500 last year, at the start of the season we were just grateful to be racing. I think that gratitude has always got to be a primary feeling and one that you keep very high up your list all the time and very at surface.
That being said, when you are there in May and you’re on the starting grid but you’re not driving, not just for me but also for our partners and our sponsors, that was a bit of — that was a bad moment, really. It was a great moment but it was a bad moment that we weren’t going to be actually in the race.
I think it really just hit home to everybody how important doing Indy was. We’d had a few different conversations with people, and the reality was what budgets are now being required for the seats that were available at the time wasn’t going to be something that was achievable for us, and instead of trying to do another program that was a little bit pulled from numerous places to try and come together, I think we all collectively just felt that if there was a seat open at Dreyer, it was going to be the one that we pushed the hardest for because of that singular effort and focus that they’re renowned for having at Indy.
It was really just a case of a simple phrase of, is this coming season, is less more? I think in this moment it’s slightly less racing, but I think outside of my time at MSR, it’s probably the best opportunity that I’m going into Indy having. Certainly I really believe that.
Hopefully it comes to fruition.
But number one, I’m always grateful to be racing. I wouldn’t be here without some really great partners like Invest who are going to be our primary, so if they said, hey, we’re going to do all the street circuits, then I’m in. I just want to be in the car. Just want to be driving. But it really did center around the 500.
Q. You’ve been with two teams in the past, MSR won the 500 when you were with them, RLL had won a couple of years before. This Dreyer & Reinbold team has won — it’s been running just the 500 for a little while, but year after year they are constantly right around the top 10. Ryan put the car in the Fast 12 last year which was an impressive feat. I know it’s early days and you haven’t been in the car with them yet, but what do you take from this team, and does it feel like one that can seriously challenge for a 500 win one of these days?
JACK HARVEY: For sure. I think that’s the biggest thing when I went and met with Dennis, straightaway he wanted to see what my passion was for winning. I wanted to see what his was for winning, because obviously you see these people and you have a lot of respect for them as competitors but we hadn’t met in person or spent a lot of time together.
Our first conversation was just very good in the sense of we just were aligned on everything that you’d want to be aligned on. Some of the guys that go full time say just focusing on Indy is an advantage. I have no idea if it is or it isn’t. I think you could make a strong case either way that there’s aspects that that singular focus probably does free up some time and resources to focus on it.
That being said, us getting where people are St. Pete after testing and get into a rhythm with their engineers and stuff like that, clearly that’s not the case for us. That being said, they do employ a lot of people all year-round, so that car group of people are working together every day with a focus of winning the Indy 500, which one of my favorite things about Indy really is if it’s your year, it can happen for anybody.
First thing is make the race. After that, try and be on the lead lap. If you’re doing all those things and you’re in the right position and it’s your time, then I feel like anybody can win the 500. That being said, that’s something that’s easy to say, but in my heart, I really do believe, especially with Dreyer, if the opportunity comes up to win, that they are a team that is capable of winning.
That’s why in the end we felt like they were such a great place to be. Yes, I think we could feasibly go and at least know that that team is capable of it.
Q. You were on the coaching side of things last year at the 500. I was just interested, have you taken away anything from that sort of coaching side, taking that step back, which you can take into this year?
JACK HARVEY: Yeah, actually you get to see from not the driver’s seat, the flow of how a month can go, and obviously more so was working a little bit with Katherine. We were teammates at Rahal together, so I already knew Katherine.
Nolan was getting support some other ways.
But to go and just offer some experience of what good and bad months have looked like for me and pass it to them but also when you are one step removed it was wild how little pressure I felt during May which was something I’ve never had before, which really gave you just a bit more capacity to observe, things that were good, things that were bad.
At the end of the day it’s not the position I would choose to be in, but I really felt like I learnt a lot. I made the most of it and certainly will be bringing things — I will try to bring things forward into this coming May that I learnt last year for sure.
It was just a simple case of no matter what team I’m in, I want to do my part. I want to contribute. Last year at the 500 it was trying to help the guys and girls just do the best they can, and coming forward I’ll try and do the same just with new things that I’ve learnt.
Q. I know your focus is obviously on the 500 this year, but Dennis has said the team could be looking at going full time maybe as soon as 2027. Whether in a driving role or not, is it something you’d like to support the team and be involved in?
JACK HARVEY: Oh, for sure, absolutely. We already have chatted about that, not in an intense way or a way that would lock anybody up together, but from just purely if this project went ahead the way we all hope it might, it’s big time a project I’d like to be involved in for sure.
Q. You’ve had a very unique journey coming into INDYCAR racing with several different teams, and obviously you’ve mentioned that you learned a lot over those seasons that you’ve been here. Talk to me about how you’re planning to maximize the performance of the car, especially compared to preparing for a complete season, just for you as a driver?
JACK HARVEY: I’ve had very good teammates the whole time that I’ve been in INDYCAR racing really. What I’ve learnt really, you always should ask the question. I think the best environment I’ve been in is one where you can leave your ego at the door and really just immerse yourself with the team, with the engineers, and just ask. Ask as much as you can.
In terms of this isn’t the first time that May has been our first race. My first Indy 500 that was the only race we had sorted for that year. However, at this point — it’s not my first 500. I think this is actually going to be No. 8 for me. I think it gives you — you understand what it means on both sides of — a good and a bad month, what that can look like.
I don’t know if there’s any one thing that really I’m approaching it with other than a super open mind. Happy to have lots of conversations, will ask lots of questions, and will leave my ego at the door, because ultimately all I want to do is put myself in a position to compete the best we can.
Obviously if winning is on the cards we’ll go for it no matter what it takes, and if it was the final lap we’ll do whatever it takes to try and win. But I think it’s more so just the mindset of just complete openness and willingness to learn, and that’s probably my biggest thing heading into 2025 in general.
Q. Are you planning on being on call for some of the races just like Conor was last season?
JACK HARVEY: Well, I live in America all year-round, so it kind of makes sense to have my helmet available. I’m not targeting anything really before May. That was kind of one thing that me and Dennis had chatted about. If something pops up, then really it’s his call. I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize the 500 program.
But absolutely ready in case something should happen or someone calls to do it. We haven’t got the rest of our 2025 sorted yet. There’s some things that we’ve been obviously working on and trying to put together that isn’t just driving.
Obviously the season starts somewhat soon, so that’s everybody’s timeline to get things sorted. But as far as just being ready and available, the 500 will be my first focus and my primary focus. After that, if someone wants to put me in a car, then that would be probably pretty groovy. We’ll wait and see what happens.
Obviously I don’t wish it on people, and having been someone that’s not finished the season we were meant to, we obviously won’t seek that out, but we’ll be willing and ready if someone approaches me about it.
Q. Is it a rumor that you want to be a pit reporter and you and Ryan were going to do that?
JACK HARVEY: I did hear that rumor.
Q. Is it something you’re interested in?
JACK HARVEY: Yeah, I’ve been pretty vocal about it I think a couple times that I think that’s a very — I think what FOX are doing right now is very cool. I came in yesterday to see part of content day before we got here, and I think it looks absolutely fantastic. I’ve said that I’d like to do it. Whether it comes together is not really in my hands.
Yeah, I think it would be fun. Ultimately it comes back to this. In my heart first and foremost I’m a race fan, and I absolutely love living in America. I love the INDYCAR paddock. If I could drive, then obviously that would be my very primary desire, but if this was a way to still be in this environment and in this industry and in this community, then I wouldn’t see it as a plan B or a — maybe a sidestep, but I would see it as something I would throw myself into and try and do the very best that I could because I love being here and everyone has made me feel very welcome the whole time, and I think I could contribute something kind of insightful to it.
But if it comes together, that would be fantastic, and if not, then I hope it’s a really fantastic presentation because this series deserves to have the eyeballs on it. It’s the best series in the world. It’s definitely the most competitive series in the world.
Either way, I’m a fan. I think INDYCAR really deserves to have this level of exposure.
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