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NASCAR CUP SERIES: FIREKEEPERS CASINO 400August 8, 2020Kevin HarvickBrooklyn, Michigan THE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us, Kevin. We're joined by our race winner, Kevin Harvick, driver of the No.4 Busch Light Apple Ford for Stewart‑Haas Racing. Kevin, you just dominated today. Can you walk us through your day and how you're feeling getting to victory. KEVIN HARVICK: Anytime we come to Michigan since I've been at Stewart‑Haas Racing these cars have been just lightning fast. It's definitely a place we feel like we should come up here and contend for the win, and today our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang was just on rails, could go bottom, top, middle, was fast down the straightaway, would do everything that you wanted to do. Just got challenged by a whole bunch of restarts at the end that made it kind of crazy. But in the end it was a great day for us. Everybody did a great job, called a great race, and we capitalized on a fast car and put it in Victory Lane. Q. Kevin, just wondering your impressions of how the choose rule worked today; what did you see, what did you like about it, what did you not like about it? KEVIN HARVICK: Well, the best thing about it is they had a race with it yesterday with the Truck Series, made a lot of adjustments or a few adjustments this morning to the process, and I thought it went well today. You know, I think it definitely gave some guys a chance that were kind of buried eighth or ninth, and I think the 9 car was one of those and wound up racing for the win. So definitely a lot to think about right there and definitely some processes that you have to go through, but you can take a chance and gain some track position. So I thought it went well and did exactly what everybody thought it would do. Q. Along those lines, there was a point where Rodney said, you make the choice pretty much, I'm with you either way. Is that type of decision pretty much a driver choice or do you want any sort of input before you make that choice? KEVIN HARVICK: Well, we talked about it before the race and had kind of a number in my mind of how many spots that you would gain before you went to the bottom. I think for us, a lot of it depended on‑‑ at the end when I could have started fourth or could have started on the inside, for me it was which car I wanted to race and which car I wanted to push. I felt like my best opportunity to get the 9 back was on the restart and capitalize on that, and it wound up working out. I felt like he could run fast enough once we got strung out to be more difficult to pass than some of the other cars. I thought if I was going to race the 9 then I needed to pass him right off the bat. Q. Your 54th career victory ties you with Lee Petty on the NASCAR all‑time wins list. What can you say about how this stretch has been for you and what it means to be in the same sentence, same breath as a NASCAR legend like Lee? KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, well, that's a lot of pressure. I ask myself that all the time. It's what have you done for the sport, what are you doing for the sport because when you start talking about Junior Johnson and Lee Petty and Rusty Wallace and Ned Jarrett, all those guys that are on that list around my name on the win list, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that for our sport. I think as you look at that number, I've been fortunate to drive a lot of really fast race cars and we've been fortunate to be successful throughout the years, but when you start getting up there with those names and those icons in our sport, they've been a part of a lot of big moments and helping change the sport in a positive direction. That's the way I look at it and the responsibility that I think I have. Q. I wanted to look ahead a little bit to the Daytona road course. NASCAR said there's no practice there. What are your thoughts on having no practice for that race, a track that no one has ever raced on before? KEVIN HARVICK: I think it'll be interesting. I have no clue what I'm doing. The last time I only made a little bit of a 2002 24‑hour race, so it's been a long time since I made any laps there. I'm a week‑of preparation guy, so I'll start Monday and Tuesday on iRacing just to get acclimated with the track. We'll go to the simulator on Wednesday, back on iRacing Thursday, Friday, Saturday, just to make sure that it's fresh in your mind so you know where to shift and things like that, and then it's just trial‑and‑error after that. I've watched enough races there that I know the racetrack in my mind, but I don't know where our cars need to be and what gear I need to be in. I'll learn that next week, and we'll be ready and hopefully have a good day. Q. Are you okay with no practice? Are you okay with that decision? KEVIN HARVICK: I love everything that we're doing right now. The shorter schedules, I think it mixes it up. I think it makes it exciting. I voted for 1 through 36 random draw every week, but I see we're going to do something different than that. I think that would really mix it up. All charter teams should be random draw every week, all the way through the end. Q. I'm curious, you talked about how fast you had been here since joining SHR; how big of a part of this has Rodney Childers been because I remember he built fast cars for Michael Waltrip Racing, as well. What has he meant here for you specifically? KEVIN HARVICK: You know, it's just been a racetrack that fits our engine package, especially since we've come to Ford. The Yates, Doug Yates and his group put a lot of effort into running well at this racetrack because for the Ford Motor Company they want that Heritage Trophy in their lobby, so it means a lot to the Ford Motor Company. Our race cars right now with this rules package and the way that the aero is and any other rules package for that matter have just been really, really fast at Michigan. We come here expecting to be competitive for the win, and today was no different, and hopefully tomorrow is the same way. Q. First of all, this race was a little bit shorter, a little bit quicker than we've normally seen at Michigan, a little over two and a half hours for you guys. How did that compare to a normal race here? Did you like the shorter format? KEVIN HARVICK: I didn't notice any difference. I think shorter races obviously make things happen a little more frantically. It really makes the pit strategy mix things up, the stages happen quick and then you add in a competition caution. There's just a number of things that happen a lot quicker. From inside the car it didn't really seem any different. I'm all for shorter races. Q. The last couple years this August weekend has kind of been like your boys' weekend with Keelan here. What's it like this weekend not having him here, still winning the race? Is it different when you have that tradition with him there? KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, kinda sucks. We always for the last couple years, we've spent the whole summer together by ourselves traveling to the races. This year we've traveled by ourselves to go‑kart races. We've been racing, but he misses coming to the racetrack. I miss having him at the racetrack. He asked me to have a cardboard cutout made of him so that I could put him in the side of the car if we won. Maybe he knew something that I didn't, but I thought that would be a little bit cocky just because of the fact if you had the cutout made thinking you're going to win and then throw it on the side. He has some random ideas. Q. Is Michigan starting to feel like your East Coast playground? And what are your thoughts starting 20th tomorrow? KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, you know, I think like I said earlier, Michigan has been a great racetrack for us and we look forward to coming here every time. It has been a lot of fun for us. Starting 20th, I think it's great. I think our car is capable of passing people. We just need to get as many as we can before that first stage and go from there. Q. In this case last year you could see that cars could catch the leader but they couldn't pass him. This year there was a lot more passing for the lead. What do you think contributed to that? KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, well, I think NASCAR did a really good job of making that third lane available so you had options as a driver to move your car around and really make things happen. I think getting that third lane right with the PJ1 really made Michigan and the race here, especially with this rules package, just way better from a driver standpoint. We're getting close to having the races that everybody wants here. I thought today was a good race, and I think having multiple lanes is really what it's all about. THE MODERATOR: Kevin, thank you so much for joining us. Congratulations and we'll see you at the road course. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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