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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: QUICKEN LOANS RACE FOR HEROES 500November 9, 2014Richard ChildressGene HaasKevin HarvickGreg ZipadelliAVONDALE, ARIZONA KERRY THARP: Let's roll right into hearing from today's race‑winning team, and that was the driver of the No.4 Budweiser Chevrolet over at Stewart‑Haas Racing, Kevin Harvick's team, joined by Gene Haas, Greg Zipadelli from Stewart‑Haas Racing, and crew chief Rodney Childers. Gene, congratulations on having a driver make it to the Championship Round of the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. How does that feel knowing that you'll have a very good opportunity to win a championship down there this next weekend? GENE HAAS: Yeah, I'll tell you, it hasn't fully set in. I think at the beginning of the day, whether we win or lose, it was a heck of a first‑year season. I mean, that team with Rodney and Kevin was fast out of the gate. I mean, unbelievable to do this in our first year. KERRY THARP: Greg Zipadelli, certainly a lot of hard work over at the race shop put in to get this team where it has been this year, and certainly very, very fast race cars week in and week out. Just talk about the significance of having the No.4 Budweiser Chevrolet from Stewart‑Haas Racing competing for the championship next Sunday at Homestead‑Miami. GREG ZIPADELLI: Yeah, what can you say? It's awesome. They have earned it. They've had fast race cars, like you've said, since the beginning of the year. Couldn't be prouder of this group for jumping in and actually being the leaders of our company. I mean, they have stepped up to the plate, Kevin and Rodney have done a phenomenal job, won a bunch of races and could have won a bunch more with the speed that they have built in these race cars. Their chemistry speaks for itself as far as how quickly they got along and learned each other, and it's been pretty special. It's been fun to watch. KERRY THARP: Rodney, congratulations on this, your first year over there working with Kevin at Stewart‑Haas. You're competing for the championship. You had a dominant race car here today. You recorded a 150.0 perfect driver rating, and that doesn't happen too often in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That shows you how on top of it you were today. What's your thoughts about winning this race today and how you set your sights on the championship? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, just really proud of everybody, really, everybody at the shop, everybody on our race team, and the guys at the engine shop and everybody, really. I guess the biggest thing is nobody ever put their heads down, and everybody worked really, really hard. After Martinsville, we came in that Monday morning, it was like a normal day, and we went to work, and it was just a huge team effort. Kevin has done an excellent job at this place. I think his results show that, and he makes it easy on us a little bit. But the guys at the shop and everybody involved have built really good race cars all year, and just proud to be involved in it. Like you said, the first year here, I don't know if we would have ever thought exactly what we'd have done. We had goals of doing exactly what we've done, but until you get going into the season, you just don't know that. Just a lot of fun, and really looking forward to next week. Q. Rodney, I have two questions for you. It seemed to be a given and an afterthought that the 4 would win this weekend. Did you ever feel that confident? RODNEY CHILDERS: No, not at all. I felt like when we‑‑ sitting at home for months at the end of last year and really preparing and thinking about the new rules and everything that was involved, I think going to Charlotte last fall and kind of hitting it right off the get‑go, that helped us a lot when we came here in the spring. We came back with a different car and really close to the same setup, but we had to change a good bit over the weekend to get it going, and really when we started the race today, I wasn't so sure about things. The car didn't look very good and was really loose, and it's hard to know whether you're going to be able to fix it or not. I felt like once we got around halfway, I felt like we had a good car and we could have a shot at it. Q. You and Kevin both had to make tough decisions to leave where you were and come to Stewart‑Haas Racing. I guess both of you saw it as your opportunity to finally win a championship. It cost you months last season that you couldn't work. Do you feel validated now that you're here with one more hurdle ahead of you? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, I mean, I think so. Everybody in life wants an opportunity, whether it's in racing or different things, or really just whatever you love to do. It could be anything. You know, it was a really tough decision. I loved every one of those guys over there and would do anything in the world for them. It's hard to change. The good thing is now a year later, it's turned into exactly what you would want and everything that you had asked for. It's definitely gratifying for sure. KERRY THARP: Let's hear from our race winner. He'll be competing for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship a week from today at Homestead‑Miami and that's Kevin Harvick, driver of the No.4 Budweiser Chevrolet for Stewart‑Haas Racing. Dominating performance here today, your sixth win at Phoenix, your fourth win this season, and by the way, you recorded a perfect 150.0 driver rating today. KEVIN HARVICK: That's a good day. KERRY THARP: That is a good day. KEVIN HARVICK: I'm really proud of all these guys from Stewart‑Haas Racing and Rodney for the group of guys that they put together over the off‑season, and to see this team build throughout the year has been something that for me has been just‑‑ it's just fueled life back into me to come to the racetrack and be a part of something like this. It's been a lot of fun to see the ups and downs. I know that a lot of times they'll look at me like, we just had just a completely disastrous day, and we'll go to lunch Monday morning, and I'll be like, it wasn't that bad, it could be worse, we race cars for a living, you could be working at the Quickie Lube or doing something crazy like that. Coming over here and racing this year has given me new life and a new perspective on the way that things work. Gene and Tony, they give us a lot of resources to draw from within our own company and from a financial standpoint they've made a huge commitment to make this race team right, and then you add in the Hendrick engines and support and chassis and everything that those guys do. It's like a dream. You lay it all out on paper and you say, this is what we want to do and we want to race for wins and championships, and all of a sudden you're a week away from everything that you talk about and dream about and dream up and want it to be like, and here we are. Just really proud. It was a fun week. I know everybody is going to laugh and say, why was it a fun week? But these moments are what you live for when you're racing or a professional athlete. You want these moments. You want to capitalize on these moments and get that feeling of gratification, of being able to do things that other people can't do. I think for us as a company and as a team, we were able to accomplish things that other people weren't able to do, and when you can do that, it gives you great confidence to move forward, and great practice for next week, and we're going to have fun with the week and we're going to do everything just like we've done all year. We're going to go and we're going to eat lunch at the Mexican restaurant and we're all going to be miserable for the rest of the day, and then you're going to go home and talk about it and talk about our test and draw from the information, and we're going to have fun. That's what it's all about. Q. Rodney, as Mr.Tharp pointed out, you joined Stewart‑Haas Racing over the offer season and Kevin Harvick has been decimating the field for years it seems at this racetrack. How has Kevin prepared you for this race and maybe the other drivers haven't prepared you for? RODNEY CHILDERS: Truthfully, I think in the beginning of the year, it was quite interesting, like we knew this was probably one of his best racetracks, and when we came here, we didn't talk about car setups, we didn't talk about anything. We just showed up here in the spring and hopped in there and was fast right off the bat. You know, I think we were fortunate at the beginning of the year, like I said earlier, that we had a lot of speed no matter where we went. We probably had a few things with the new rules figured out that other people didn't and so on and so forth. But the biggest thing is just him getting around here, and he knows what the car needs to feel like and he knows what to say to us in practice to make it better. To have somebody like him, it makes our jobs a lot easier. Q. Two quick questions for you: You guys have been fast all year, but you had some problems early on where you led a lot of laps but didn't win. What happened to get you back to the mode of winning races? KEVIN HARVICK: Who cares? We're going to Homestead to race for a championship. I don't even care how we got here. I'm just so honored to have the opportunity to race with these guys. I think as you went through the beginning of the year and those problems and different things, nobody ever got wound up at each other that I know of. Maybe these guys yell at each other at the shop, maybe. But as far as the perception that was sent to me and the people that I was around, nobody ever got frustrated. Everybody just kept their nose down.  They knew how fast our cars were and the capability of everything going on. Everybody supported each other and fixed the problems and just kept grinding away. I think we've won a couple of the last nine races in the Chase in high‑pressure situations and cars are doing what they need to do, and that's what it's all about. So hopefully we had all of that crazy stuff happen at the beginning of the year, and we can keep it away for one more week. Q. Is Kenseth officially off the hook now? KEVIN HARVICK: I let him off the hook last week. I felt bad after Martinsville. Yeah, you know, Matt and I have become pretty good friends throughout the last 10 years, and he sent me a message last week, and I was kind of an ass to him probably at Texas. He's like, look, this is where things have been over the last 10 years. He's like, I promise you that you know that I didn't do anything wrong, and I know I didn't do anything on purpose. We need to move forward. I said, you know what, I just need to move on, and I didn't need to come here with any of that stuff on my mind. It's just like coming into the media center. I was bound and determined to not talk to any of you unless we were sitting right here, and I was like, that's not the right thing to do, either. You need to fess up and take responsibility and talk about the situations that have gone on. I feel like the last two weeks have been good learning lessons for me in how to approach things with people that are your friends and situations and things when you do things wrong. Last week ate me up. I know from a competitor's standpoint, it was good to have those guys going at each other, but from a dad standpoint, it was like, I don't know that that was the right thing to do. It's a new balance for me, but in the end, it is what it is, and you move on, and you take those as life lessons and try to learn from them. But the biggest failure in the world would be to be a bad dad. That's the thing that sticks in my mind the most. Q. You've done so well here in the past. Any doubts today during the race? Did anyone really challenge you? KEVIN HARVICK: I don't think we ever talked about anything but trying to come here and win the race. You never know how the circumstances are going to play out. These things can get crazy, and you look at Martinsville, somebody can just make a goofy mistake, and you be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This place has been really good to me personally. Personally this is a place that I love coming to race here. I love the fans. I've raced here since the mid‑90s, early 90s, watching the Carellis, Rick Carelli and Chase and Hornaday and all those guys come here and race when none of this shiny stuff was here. It was dirt in the infield and tumbleweeds. This is one of those places that for me as a kid, this was our Daytona 500. So to come here and have this moment and have these wins and be able to accomplish the things that we've been able to accomplish here is very cool. A lot of those fans out there have been coming here for a long time. Unfortunately I'm old enough to have met most of their kids, too. I learned that this weekend. I guess I had my 20th high school reunion this weekend, and I guess I didn't make that. But it's just a neat place for me to come to. It's fun. Q. Does this #Harvicking hashtag now take on a new connotation now with your win? KEVIN HARVICK: I don't really enjoy that. It would have been better if I'd have been on the Gordon side of it and punching somebody in the mouth.  I don't know how Gene feels about that. But in the end, it's not one of my prouder moments, but it is what it is. Q. Kevin, you've led over 2,000 laps now on the season, so just want to ask you what that means for you and your race team overall. KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, you can pretty much sum this whole year up as, holy cow. It's been since we went to the first Charlotte test and unloaded that race car, it's had speed, and it's just different because no matter what the day is and no matter how well we've done or how bad we've done or how dumb the mistake that I made or whatever it may be on the track, nobody ever says, man, that was a dumb move or why did you do that. It's always just been, well, that's part of the deal, and we've all supported each other. You know, that's just different than anything I've ever been involved in. There's just not one guy on this team or in the company that hasn't said, hey, what can we do for you, how can we make this better, how can we support it, whether it's a crew chief or a driver or an owner, whatever the case may be, and that's just not what I've been accustomed to. You try to support everybody as much as you can from your standpoint, but the support and things that we have are just endless. That's something that you don't get to be involved with very often. Q. Kevin, Ryan Newman made it in by pretty much bumping aside Kyle Larson on the last corner, and he bumped out Jeff Gordon who made a point of saying after the race he elected not to rough you up after having had three chances. Were you bracing for that possibility, and if Gordon had done that, would that have been acceptable? KEVIN HARVICK: I think anything. I think we've all proven as the goofy drivers out there driving that we can do anything dumb. I thought the outside was the safest place for me. As the sun crept in, I felt like I had good markers going into Turn 1 to be able to drive in further than the guys on the bottom. But in the end, you've got to be ready for everything. You just never know. I think that the 24 and the 2 on the bottom to me had the most intriguing lineup as you looked in the mirror and kind of analyzed what you had going on on that particular restart. This format has just created that. You have to do things that you normally wouldn't do, and in the end you have to try to make something happen for your team. It wouldn't have surprised me, but you try to put yourself in a position to where you can be on the best defensive side of that to try to make it out of the corner without getting wrecked. Q. Kevin, the 4, the 24 and the 2 were probably the three best cars all year. Do you like your chances any more with this field with those two guys out? KEVIN HARVICK: Somebody tell me who we're racing next week. KERRY THARP: Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman. KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, you just never know. We've been fortunate to have speed. Obviously the 22 has had speed and won races. Denny has a good history, I guess you could say, at Homestead, so you just go down there and approach the week just like we approached this week: Have fun with it, prepare your cars just like you've done all year, and feel like you've already been in that position as far as knowing how to prepare and how to mentally prepare yourself going into the week because we just came here and did it this week. We won the race with our backs against the wall, had great pit stops, we had great practices. They prepared the car great in the shop. Just do it one more week. Q. Does Kevin the dad, does that mean that you won't mess with Denny and get in his head like you did in 2010? KEVIN HARVICK: I think right now you just go out and race your cars. I think for us, we're in a fortunate position to know that we've had an okay test down there. We've had a great year, and our cars have been fast. So we just need to keep doing the same things that we've been doing and see where it all falls in the end. Q. Kevin and Rodney, do you feel like it's your championship to lose? RODNEY CHILDERS: No, I don't think so. These races, they change every week. It's never ours to lose. We've got to go down there and execute and do all the right things just like Kevin just said. I feel like, yes, we've had good speed compared to most guys this year, but on the other hand that doesn't mean anything going to Homestead. We've just got to keep doing our jobs and prepare the car the best we can and go down there and have nice, smooth practices and get ready for the race. KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, you know, I think just to echo what Rodney said, you just do the things that you've done. It's just like every restart at the end of the race. Keep doing the last thing you've done the last restart. Just hit repeat. Obviously those guys are going to race as hard as they can, and you just have to go down there and do the same thing. It's definitely the best position that myself personally I've ever been in, and I would say Rodney and Gene and this guy, Greg, they've obviously been in this position before and made it happen. We're just going to do what we've been doing. Q. Rodney, I just want to double check if I understood you correctly. You said earlier that the car was loose, nevertheless just from the outlook from the press box, Kevin drove an unbelievable speed. Could you fix this problem? He was more than 90 percent in the lead. And the second question, you're driving here in Phoenix two times of the year, earlier in the year and now it's the end of the season. In principle maybe the weather is not the same or maybe different. Could you not roll out the car with the same or identical setup like earlier in the year? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, it was definitely loose at the beginning of the race. We were just fortunate enough that the adjustments that we made kind of got it going the way we needed to. There's some weeks that you can adjust on the car all you want, and it just doesn't seem to do a whole lot. I think the last two weeks we've been fortunate enough to be able to tighten our car up and be competitive. That part of it just happened to work out in our favor. As far as the weather, it was just extremely hot this weekend, warmer than it normally is here for the fall race. The track definitely was pretty slick. The things that we used in the spring definitely gave us an advantage to come here and be close, but we also had to do what we thought was right all weekend and keep working on the car just like it was a normal weekend. KERRY THARP: Gene, Rodney, Kevin, Greg, congratulations, great showing here today. Look forward to seeing you guys down at Homestead‑Miami. It should be a heck of a championship on Sunday, and best of luck to you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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