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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: KOBALT 400March 8, 2015Rodney ChildersGene HaasKevin HarvickLAS VEGAS, NEVADA KERRY THARP: Let's hear from our winning race team in today's Kobalt Tools 400 here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We have our car owner Gene Haas and our crew chief Rodney Childers. Congratulations to the No.4, Jimmy John's Chevrolet on today's win here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Certainly continues a streak of outstanding performances by the No.4 team. I believe you've finished first and second or first, second, and third like the last six or seven races or something like that. Also you get your ticket punched for the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, so that means you indeed can defend your championship. I'm going to ask you, Rodney, just talk about this win here today and just how the No.4 team has really risen the bar and become the team to beat week in and week out. RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, I mean, it really comes down to everybody at the shop and our road crew and the guys at the Hendrick engine and chassis shop. Everybody is just doing a really good job right now bringing good cars to the racetrack, and really just our road crew in general and the communication with Kevin and everything has just been really, really good lately. Everybody is just clicking. You've seen that over the years of a group of people that get going and click week in and week out, and it's fun to come to the racetrack. When everybody is having fun, it doesn't seem like a job, and you just end up working that much harder. These guys have worked over this winter, and this is one that was on our list. We felt like coming here last year, this was a track that Kevin had never won at. He said that it would mean the world to him to come here and win. We came here with a good car and was able to get in the lead of the race, and we had a problem with our car and a failure and took us out of it. Just dwelling on that for 12 months and thinking about everything that you needed to do better and how much this race and all would mean to him, we just put a lot of effort into it. Excited to be up here and to have people like Gene that support us 100 percent and give us everything that we need. Like I said, it's just a lot of fun to be able to come to the racetrack, and when you've got that going on, it's half the battle. KERRY THARP: Gene, just talk about this No.4 team. Obviously defending Series champion, and certainly looks like they're back in that mold once again this season. GENE HAAS: Well, yeah, that's correct. I think last year when we started off with the 4 team, there was just a lot of unknowns, Rodney and Kevin hadn't been together, and brand new team, brand new crew, everything was new, so there was some missteps. And his car was fast, they were doing good there, but I think we had a lot of problems at the beginning of the year. That fortunately sorted itself out near the end of the year, and that was a very exciting Chase, came right down to the wire where we won by basically one car length or one car. This year I think the team has been‑‑ had a lot of time to gel together, and that's showing itself. The crew, the engine department, chassis department, they're all working together. One thing about winning these races is that you have to have consistency. You can't make mistakes, and you pay dearly when you have any kind of a penalty or a pit road puts you in the back, and sometimes it's almost impossible to get out of it. Sometimes I think that's the sign of a true championship team is they do things so smoothly and execute so well that they make it look easy to win these races. Quite frankly that's really not true. Anything goes wrong, you can be put right to the back. When they do win and make it look easy, you kind of scratch your head, well, how can they do that? But that takes tremendous amounts of preparation, it takes training, it takes picking the right crew people, it takes so many little things to make it look that easy, but that's what they do. Q. Rodney, kind of following up on what Gene said, you guys finished a strong run to win the championship at the end of 2014. Everyone talks about wanting to start off the new season well. You've kind of picked up where you left off, but can you talk about how difficult that is in this day and age to have a run of, I guess it's now six straight races of finishing first and second, particularly with the competition that it is today? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, I mean, it's extremely difficult. These guys are so close right now, and you've got so many really good teams. The biggest thing was just trying to work hard over the winter. One thing that scared me a little bit is we worked really hard trying to build the team and get things going, going into 2014, and after winning that championship and spending all that time out here in Vegas, by the time we got done with the banquet and everything, I felt like we were already behind. There was guys at their shops working really hard, thinking that we've got to improve our stuff, and we've got to go out there and be better. So really when we got back, we just went to work and tried to start preparing the best cars that we could. We ended up having to cut bodies off of seven‑‑ I think seven race cars and go down to a bare chassis and start over again and just try to keep making ourselves better and better. You just don't know how long that's going to last. I mean, we could get ten races from now and start struggling with different things, or when it starts getting really hot outside or whatever. But like I said before, the good thing we've got going is everybody is working together really well. There's never any doubt when we go to the racetrack whether we've got a good car or not or whether we have a good engine or not or whether Kevin is going to do his part. It's 100 percent every time we come, and sometimes you're not going to hit it perfect, but more times than not, if everybody is on the same page, you're going to be pretty close. Q. Gene, going back to the consistency question, your team has had considerable disruption in the last 18 months, part of it, and yet you also are a championship team, and now you're also off to a great start with this car so far this year. Can you talk about sort of how that's at least lent a good amount of stability to the team? GENE HAAS: Well, you know, going back to Tony and myself, one thing about Tony is when he's driving a race car, and I've learned to appreciate that, when he gets in the middle of a big wreck, he's always had that ability to drive through the wreck and come out on the other side looking good. And after a while you start to realize that that's just not luck, he has some ability to do that. Quite frankly, we've had a lot of turmoil over the last year, and we just kind of keep going.  I don't know what it is, but I think it's just the nature of, like I say, Tony and myself, how we deal with things. Things we have control over, we try to control, and there's just a lot of things we don't have any control over in both Tony's side and my side. Dealing with those kind of things is just part of what it takes to be in this business. Racing is an interesting business because you never know what's going to happen. You never know if you're going to win until the race is over, and I guess running a race shop is very similar to that. It's a challenge, and when things are thrown at us we just basically deal with it and try not to complain about it and do your best to get out of it. Q. Rodney, you said that not winning Vegas last year stuck with you for 12 months. How do you carry one race with you for 12 months and address it? RODNEY CHILDERS: Well, really all those races, whether it was Vegas or whether it was Bristol. Bristol has been a place, that was my favorite racetrack since I was a kid, and I've been so close there with Reutimann so many times and Vickers so many times, and we went there and had a dominant car and was leading the race, and same thing. That stuff sticks with you, but because it sticks with me doesn't mean I can't focus on what else I've got going on. But really when you get into that off‑season is when you start thinking about that stuff a lot. It's like, all right, what have we got to do better as a race team, what racetracks do we need to focus on, what cars do we need to work on, so on and so forth. You've got to have a list of what you're working on or you're never going to get anywhere, or you've got to have some goals at least. All those places that we had mechanical failures or problems, or I caught a bad race, whether it's the first Michigan race, we had the best car all weekend and gave it away. All that stuff you've got to do better, and all because you finish second, you can't be happy with that. You've got to keep working hard and try to keep making your race team better. Q. Do you have any indication when Kurt might be back, and would he be in the 41 when he comes back? GENE HAAS: At this time that's really up to NASCAR. Some of our concerns are obviously if he does come back, can we get in the Chase? But those issues really now kind of reside with NASCAR. Q. As great as Kevin has been running with the two runner‑ups and the win now and the championship last year, the other teams on Stewart‑Haas have not done as well as that. Just kind of could you address where the team is and how that all reconciles because you've really done great, and there's really been a stability to the team. RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, I mean, we've actually worked really hard on that stuff over the off‑season. We changed a lot of things around in the shop and made it to where there's only two shop foremen, the 14 and us have the same shop foremen. We've built the cars the same, the same parts, pieces, and really all the teams are doing the same deal now. We want all four teams to finish one, two, three, four. That's the goal of the company. I think we've been fortunate as a team. We found some stuff that worked for us and worked for Kevin at the beginning of the year last year, and we've just been able to carry that through. And until you really click on something, like I said before, you've just got to find that. We've been able just to‑‑ we found that and we've been able to work with it and keep making it better. A lot of the guys‑‑ I'm not talking about Stewart‑Haas Racing‑‑ the other people in the garage, if you don't win a race or you don't finish in the top ten or the top five, you go back to the shop and you want to redo your whole package. You want to come back the next week and change everything because you want to try to win. That's the best thing about us right now is we don't have to do that. We don't have to go back to the shop and reinvent anything. We just keep making small details better and better and better. Hopefully we can get all that stuff going better for the other guys and get all four up there in the top five. KERRY THARP: Let's hear from Kevin Harvick, driver of the No.4 Jimmy John's Budweiser Chevrolet for Stewart‑Haas Racing. 29 wins now in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, your first win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Rodney alluded to the one that you didn't get here last year, ate at his craw, he said, for all year, 364 days. So Kevin, congratulations. Certainly just the streak that you're on right now, six straight races you've either finished first or second. The last time that a driver in NASCAR has had six straight top‑two finishes, you've got to go back to 1996, Jeff Gordon. The little run you're on right now is pretty special. Just talk about that and winning here at Las Vegas. I know that's got to be a big deal. KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, any time you say Jeff Gordon in a streak, obviously things are going okay. I think for me, I'm just excited to be a part of this team. You have Gene and Tony who have put so much effort into everything that we do, Rodney and all these guys that have come over onto this race team, and everybody is pulling in the same direction. We all came for the same reasons, and for whatever reason it's just‑‑ it all clicked. And Rodney and I have a lot of similarities, a lot in common of how we think and how we grew up and things that we raced and the things that we like. Our ages are the same, and there's so many things that are similar. When you look at Stewart‑Haas Racing in general, and I know you guys look at me and say, oh, he's going to talk about how everybody is closer in age and can communicate better, Gene allows all of us, our crew chiefs to do things in their own ways, and I think for us, that's just been something that I really enjoy being a part of and I know that he enjoys being a part of, and you can be creative. So it's just worked. To win here in Las Vegas, I've been racing before the Bullring was ever here. I raced here in the mid‑'90s, whether it was at the big track here‑‑ we won the Winston West Championship here and locked it up in 1998, so this has just been a great place for us to race. And unfortunately, we hadn't won up until this point, but the longer that it goes in my career, it's just like the championship last year, being able to enjoy all those moments and enjoy being around the guys and seeing all the sponsors and everybody involved is something that's pretty special to me at this point in my career. I'm excited to come on the West Coast swing, but when we can start winning races, I know that there's a lot of those fans that have sat out there since the mid '90s and, at least since my rookie year, supported us and you'll see them at all three races this time. And there's just a little extra incentive and a lot of fun to hear all the positive remarks, I guess, as you walk through the garage. It's just awesome to be a part of this team, and look forward to just continuing racing. Q. Kevin, does it feel like you sort of drove right from November into the beginning of the season, and what are the capabilities, the potential of this team, if you guys continue to do that and eliminate the mistakes that dogged you a little bit last year? KEVIN HARVICK: I have been absolutely terrified that we would never sit up here again, and I think that's the motivation that he and I have talked about, and just making sure that you don't let everybody down. You want to‑‑ you have to figure out ways to motivate yourself and motivate our team, and for us, it's just that motivation of trying to be the best you can in every practice and be the best that you can in qualifying. Friday, you would have thought that the end of the world had come because you looked at everybody on the team and it was like, oh, my gosh, we qualified 18th. I just went back to my motor home and laughed and realized that we were really disappointed about qualifying 18th and knew that these guys were going to go home and concentrate on what they needed to do. And they came back the next day, and they're like here's what happened, here's what we're going to do, here's what we did with the balance of the car. It's just fun, and for me, I've been fortunate to be around it a long time, and I know Rodney has been around it a long time, too, because you see how emotional these guys are. And I think that they actually have forgot that we won the championship last year, and that's the best thing that could have happened because it's a week‑to‑week goal of acting like you've never won a race in your life. Today might be the last one, and that's how we have to approach it. We're going to celebrate it like it's the last one. We're going to approach next week like we've never won a race because that's what keeps it fun and that's what keeps us motivated, and you have to continuously find motivation, and these guys have all bought into each other. You look at pit road, you look at the guys in the garage, and you look at the people in the shop, and you feel that sense of enthusiasm and support from each other as they're going on a daily basis and just walking through the shop. If something is wrong at home, it's like, hey, buddy, go home, get everything straight, we'll take care of everything at the shop and make sure that your personal life is straight. There's so much emphasis on everybody's kids and everybody's spouse to make sure that everything is healthy at home because it's all a vicious circle, whether it's your finances or your personal life or the support that you have at the shop, it's all one circle of life. And I think all these guys understand‑‑ and for me, with my son, it's been something that has been a lot of fun to have that balance in life, and they see how much effort I put into trying to be a good dad, and I think these guys all want to do the same thing, and we all do it as a group. I think that's a positive for our team. Q. Kevin, you just kind of hit on this, and Rodney, you have a little bit, too, but is this the most satisfying moment in your entire racing career? KEVIN HARVICK: That's hard to say because we'd probably all say we had more fun when we were racing go‑karts because we were traveling across the country and we were‑‑ Gene, you'd probably say this, too. This team was formed by three guys sitting at Oxnard go‑kart track working on their go‑karts one day‑‑ is this a fact? Pretty close? GENE HAAS: Well, it was actually at Jim Hall's racetrack out in Oxnard. KEVIN HARVICK: These guys are at the go‑kart track having a good time, just three buddies. And Gene sent them off on a mission and Rodney and I grew up racing go‑karts and traveling across the country and winning races. For me it was something to where it was me and my grandpa and my dad and we'd get in a box van and kind a local KOA, pull up, go to the go‑kart track and park our van, and you'd go back to the campground and play with your buddies. It's just different now. I think in my professional career, this is by far the most fun I've ever had, just for the fact that I get to enjoy it with just a lot of great guys and a lot of great people. Gene, he likes to race, and he likes to be around people and win and do all the things that have come with what they've built at Stewart‑Haas Racing. Rodney has come and won his whole career, and I think as you look at the relationship that we have, it's just different because we have so much in common, and for me it's just fun. I like coming to the racetrack, and I can go home after Friday and laugh while these guys are all stressed because I know they're going to put so much effort into everything to come back, and it's really just going to motivate them. Just something that I've never been a part of and something that ‑‑ I'm just enjoying everything that's happening. Q. Kevin or Rodney, this streak, as amazing as it is, makes me wonder, has any superstition crept into your daily preparation during the week, leading up to race weekend? KEVIN HARVICK: I have this dumb superstition I used to look at the clock and it used to say 9:11. I'd say, oh, man, this is going to be a terrible day. I looked at the clock this morning and it said 9:11, and I said, "I've got your ass today." RODNEY CHILDERS: The weird thing is, like he said, we have a lot of similar stuff that happens. The day that I left Evernham and went to work at Michael Waltrip Racing, every time I looked at the clock it was 9:19, and I thought to myself, what in the world is going on, because I'm leaving there and all that stuff. I thought, what? I don't understand this. But I have wore the same rain shoes for the last six races, so I'm not going to take them off. KEVIN HARVICK: And just so you know, I've never known about the 9:19 thing. That's something I just learned about today. His is 9:19, mine is 9:11. There you go. Q. You often talk about what a great job that Rodney and the guys do for you, but are we getting your best performances right now as a driver, the feedback you're giving the guys, the decisions you're making on the track, that kind of thing? KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think Rodney would probably tell you this, but I like just giving the feedback and I like seeing where it goes. When I owned my companies‑‑ I'm a lot like Gene, you want to go in and push some buttons and then you want to go back and see what happens and see where the people take it. I think for us, I try to just be a source of information and let them make the decisions, and sometimes when you go to a racetrack, you kind of know where the characteristics are going to go, and sitting in the booth yesterday, you look down at those race cars‑‑ and I've raced the XFINITY cars here a lot ‑‑ and you know that they're going to be loose. And I know that all the JR Motorsports guys are going to tighten their cars up before the race starts, and I look down and they're all sideways. Last night I got home and I was texting him, I think it was 7:00, and we sent the exact same text yesterday at like 7:01 to each other, and it was, "hey, I think we need to tighten up a little more than what we have in the past just because it's going to be warm and the cars are going to be loose." It's just that strange kind of chemistry that stuff like that happens a lot. You just can't‑‑ I think you can explain it just because I think everybody believes in each other so much and is on the same page that you just almost know what each other is thinking about as far as when it comes to the race car. That makes it fun. Q. How soon is it going to take for you and your team to get ready for your next race? KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think the logistics of the West Coast stuff, and Rodney can speak to this more than me, the logistics are pretty planned out just for the fact that I would assume that we're going to send haulers out with all the primary cars that are already here to be able to switch them out, and then the guys will take them to Phoenix, and they're different cars. You have your mile‑and‑a‑half cars here, and you'll have your kind of short track cars as you go to Phoenix, and then you'll have to go back to your mile‑and‑a‑half cars as you go to California. Definitely won't be the same cars. I know that you're probably six weeks out, five or six weeks out as far as planning just for the beginning of the year as far as the logistics go. There's a lot of things that go into these West Coast swings, but as far as better or worse, I don't know. They'll have to tell you if it's cheaper or more expensive. I don't know. It's still expensive, but the weather sure is nice. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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