NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FORD ECOBOOST 400
HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
NOVEMBER 16, 2014
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER (CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER)
WHAT IS THIS MOMENT LIKE FOR YOU?
“Well I just really don’t know what to even to say about how much I appreciate this. Everybody on this Budweiser, Jimmy Johns, Outback team – Stewart-Haas Racing, Gene Haas, Tony Stewart, for everything that they put into this team. It came down to a pit call and I thought man, we are in big trouble here. Rodney Childers (crew chief) and all these guys that have put together these teams have just done an amazing job. Without Chevrolet and Hunt Brothers, Bad Boys Buggies, Mobil 1, Bass Pro Shops…”
TALK ABOUT LAST RESTART:
“I was just going to hold the pedal down and hope for the best. I knew our car was fast…”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN AS A DAD TO SHARE THIS WITH KEELAN:
“I’m just really excited. It’s really special for everybody. Really happy. Been trying for 13 years. I just have to thank Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson for helping me through this week. Jimmie was in my trailer as much many of my teammates, and calling me and on the phone – doing all the things that it takes to tell me what I needed to do today. I want to thank all the fans. Every fan out there, we appreciate you coming today. This new format has been stressful, but the racing has been phenomenal.”
WHAT ABOUT YOUR CAR OWNERS:
“Well they gave us all the resources that we needed, and said whatever you guys think you need, you go get. We never talked about money we never talked about any anything financial. It was just go get what you need. We built all brand new race cars, trucks, trailers…all new people. This format really helped us build through the year. We had really fast cars but it helped us build as a team. All the character-building moments that led to this moment here; to close that deal out at the end to get a championship.”
TALK ABOUT THE CALL FOR FOUR TIRES NEAR THE END OF THE RACE?
“Yeah, it didn’t pan out real well there to be honest with you but I didn’t know as many guys had two (new) car as did. But that was the call that won us the race. We were able to go so hard on the restarts. Rodney Childers (crew chief) isn’t scared to make a call. He does what is right, and right or wrong we had to believe in what we did and kept going with it. I have to thank everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing team. What a year!”
TALK ABOUT THE FIRST RESTART WHEN YOU MADE UP SO MANY POSITIONS.
“I knew I needed to get a bunch of them. I was fortunate to start on the outside. The seas kind of parted there as I came off of Turn 2 and was about to get four or five of them; I don’t really know but it was time to go for broke at that particular point. When the next caution came out, we were fortunate enough again to line up on the outside. That was pretty much what we needed – to get the run on the outside down the backstretch. I can’t say thank you enough to Stewart-Haas Racing team, Budweiser, Outback, Chevrolet and all these fans for everything they did.”
YOU’RE THE 30TH NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES CHAMPION. HAD YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THIS WEEK, AND HAS THAT STARTED TO SINK IN?
“This week ate me up. If it wasn’t for Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart, I would have been in bad trouble this week. Those guys really helped me get through the week. Today was fine. I was a little anxious both days of practice, overdriving the car and not doing things I needed to do. After every practice, Jimmie was in there, and in our team debriefs Tony was constantly telling me just to go race and that it’s just another race. Today it was. It all worked out. I’m just really proud of everybody.”
A WALK OFF WIN AND NOW A WALK OF CHAMPIONSHIP:
“I forgot we won the race, how about that. I think this Chase is about the best thing that has happened to this sport over the last decade. This is probably going to shorten the drivers careers because it’s been so stressful but I want to thank every single fan for sticking with this sport, and to the industry for working to get it right. You guys are what makes us go around, and we love racing hard for us. So thank you to you guys, and thank you to ESPN for all you’ve done for this sport.”
TONY STEWART, TEAM OWNER, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS
WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO BE A CHAMPIONSHIP CAR OWNER WITH YOUR NEW TEAM AND NEW DRIVER?
“It’s just an unbelievable feeling to do this with a good friend in Kevin Harvick, Gene Haas – who believed in us to come and be a partner with him – everybody at Chevrolet, Budweiser, Jimmy John’s, Outback Steakhouse… everybody that is a part of this who came on with Stewart-Haas six years ago when we started this, believed in what we were building and what are trying to do. We have a great partnership with Hendrick engines and chassis. All four of these teams work together. This is the result of hard work.”
YOU’VE ALWAYS SAID THIS IS ABOUT THE PEOPLE. IS RODNEY CHILDERS (NO. 4 CREW CHIEF) THE EXCLAMATION POINT?
“He’s one of many. Watching him on the pit box at the end was just awesome to stay that cool under the circumstances. You couldn’t ask for two guys that are cooler under pressure than Rodney Childers and Kevin Harvick. Greg Zipadelli and everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing… I’m so proud of them. I have a small feeling this is just the beginning.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON KEVIN HARVICK WINNING CHAMPIONSHIP:
“I think from December last year when Rodney, him and this whole No. 4 car team went for their first test, they were going to be a force to be reckoned with. It just shows how tough this Chase was this year to get to this last day and then to watch this race and have all four contenders be up front at the end there. It shows how hard it is to win a Sprint Cup Series championship. Proud of Kevin, Rodney, everybody at Budweiser, Outback, Jimmy Johns, Chevrolet, and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. Our great partners at Hendrick Motorsports; they give us great engines and chassis to do this with. So I’m excited for everybody at Stewart-Haas. And Gene Haas to have the trust in us and the faith in us to help builds this program. He’s always given us everything we’ve needed.”
GENE HAAS, TEAM OWNER, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU?
“Well, I’ll tell you. I’m totally in awe. Tony Stewart had the faith in me to do this, and I had the faith in him and it has all paid off. I tell you, this second championship is unbelievable. I’m just in awe.
“Kevin has pulled a rabbit out of his hat so many times, and you had failure right in hand, and you just stayed in it and kept going because it isn’t over until it’s over.”
DELANA HARVICK, WIFE OF RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER KEVIN HARVICK:
WHAT DOES CHAMPIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
“It is surreal. To come fight for this championship with one of the best group of guys I have ever been around…they did this. They deserve it. They are champions.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO START COMPLETELY OVER:
“A lot of people thought it would be scary, but for Kevin, he wanted that challenge. To have Rodney Childers and everybody at SHR believe in him, meant the world to him.”
WHAT DID THOSE LAST LAPS FEEL LIKE?
“It was some of the longest few laps of my life.”
GREG ZIPADELLI, COMPETITION DIRECTOR, STEWART-HAAS RACING:
WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS TEAM?
“Oh my God, they’ve had so many ups and downs this year but when it comes time to get tough, they get tough. They seem to do it all right. I couldn’t be prouder of a group of guys.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
TALK HOW THIS RACE WENT FOR YOU AND THE LAST RESTART
“We were in a good spot and just didn’t have the best tires. We did that on purpose. That was our strategy. Luke did an excellent job calling that shot. Kevin was a little bit faster than us, especially on the shorter runs. But I’m proud of these guys and proud of everyone – RCR, ECR, Caterpillar, Quicken Loans, WIX Filters. Thanks to all of the fans for coming out and being part of this. The Sprint Cup Series was fun this year. Hopefully we can have more fun and be one spot better next year.”
DESCRIBE THE THOUGHT PROCESS ON THE LAST RESTART. WAS THERE ANY THOUGHT OF TRYING TO LEAN ON HIM AT ALL?
“If I was closer on the last lap I would have thought about it, but I just couldn’t keep up with him. We were good at the end but we weren’t quite good enough. We made a lot of adjustments on the race car today. There’s a lot to be said about that; the guys did an awesome job.”
TAKE US THROUGH THE FINAL RESTART:
“Restarts haven’t been my strong suit with the package that we run, so a little bit tough. I thought about hauling it in there wide open under Kevin (Harvick) but that wasn’t the right thing to do. I wouldn’t have wanted him to do that to me. Just a great year for us, for our Caterpillar, Quicken Loans, WIX Filters Kwikset team. I have to thank Chevrolet, Sprint, everyone at Coca Cola. It’s been an amazing year. They say you have to lose one before you can win one. I’m really to win one now.”
WHAT IT DOES IT MEAN FOR PERSONALLY TO BE IN THIS POSITION IN YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH RCR?
“It says a lot about the organization. It says a lot about how quick we grew. Luke Lambert (crew chief) and all the guys did an awesome job. The whole RCR/ECR group…it’s been a whole lot of fun. We weren’t victorious so we didn’t win many battles, and we sure came close to winning the war. It’s still a lot of fun. I appreciate all the guys hard work”
YOU BATTLED RIGHT UNTIL THE VERY END. YOU SAW THAT CHAMPIONSHIP RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AFTER ALL THIS?
“I drove my heart out; there’s no doubt about that. They guys did an awesome job all year long. We fought back hard. We were one spot short and probably one caution too many for us. But that’s what way it happens. That’s part of racing. Kevin (Harvick) and those guys did a good job of putting themselves in position and had the better tires in the end and it paid off for them. But it may not have.”
WAS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT ON THAT RESTART THAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE?
“No, we both spun our tires a little bit. I got down into Turn 1 and he carried it in a little farther than I thought he was going to and I backed out; and he had the air, he had the position, he had everything. We just didn’t have enough to get back up to him on that last lap. Two tires versus four.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11TH
“We had a tough battle. The handle on the car wasn’t where we thought we were from practice. The pit stops didn’t really help us keep the track position. We battled we were the last car on the lead lap a few times. Restarts they sometimes were good, sometimes I missed it and at the end of the day to come home 11th after battling it was almost good to get a tough day out of the way in 2014 with Tony Gibson (crew chief). Trying to communicate and build on the cars set-up throughout the race and find some of our weak areas that will help us. I’m glad it wasn’t all easy for these final three weeks. But we know we have to pick up the game. Congratulations to Kevin Harvick they are true champions. I have never seen such a dominating season from one organization.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH (CLINCHED ROOKIE OF THE YEAR TITLE)
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BEING ROOKIE OF THE YEAR THIS YEAR?
“It’s pretty special to me to win Rookie of the Year. I would say 80 maybe 90 percent of the people out there didn’t think we would be the Rookie of the Year at the end of the season and I don’t blame them. Just happy with how this season has gone. I want to thank all my guys for making it so fun for me this season. Thank Target, thank Chip (Ganassi), Flex (Sabates), everybody on the No. 1 and No. 42 teams, everybody at the shop. I wish we could have gotten our win this season, but we challenged for a handful of them so that is pretty awesome. To win Rookie of the Year feels great.”
LOOKING BACK ON A MEMORABLE ROOKIE YEAR WHAT IS A MEMORABLE MOMENT THAT STANDS OUT TO YOU?
“I think just being competitive and challenging for top-fives and top-10’s most every week has been really good. There are a lot of moments that stand out, a lot of heartbreak moments as well. We will come back next season peel the rookie stripes off and try and go out there and win a race and get into the Chase and do what Kevin Harvick did tonight.”
HOW WAS YOUR RACE TONIGHT?
“The first third of it was really good. I was almost in the top five a handful of times. Then as the sun went down everybody else kind of got faster. You couldn’t really run the top as much because the bottom stayed good so much longer, so I think we ended up 13th. I wish we would have been better, but it was a pretty solid weekend for me.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS CHASE FORMAT? AND OUR NEW CHAMPION KEVIN HARVICK?
“That was amazing. That had to be super intense for everybody in the cars or the four drivers in the cars and everybody in the stands and watching at home. I was paying attention there at the end, you had the No. 22 I don’t know what happened to them on pit road, but had he not had a bad pit stop all four of them would have been in the top four probably on that last restart. It’s pretty crazy and they definitely deserve to be in the final four. Harvick has been superfast all season long so just hats off to that team.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 HUNGRY JACK CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN AN ON-TRACK ACCIDENT ON LAP 237, FINISHED 40TH
“That’s a really tough way to end out night. I’m really disappointed we were not able to finish the race because that’s not the way we wanted to finish out the season. I’m just proud of my guys and proud of all the hard work they put into this year. It gives us something to build on next year.”
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