THE MODERATOR: Kevin, talk about your first runs out there today.
KEVIN HARVICK: Got a lot more headroom in my car. Feel good about that.
It’s just been a struggle for us. We’ve had a really tough time just getting going. We came here with a lot of different things. We’re just going to work in a different direction here after lunch.
It will be fine. Just had a tough morning.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Kevin.
Q. You said “struggle. ” Can you expand on that and describe what struggles exactly?
KEVIN HARVICK: Our car is just not handling like it needs to be right now. We’re really, really tight.
Q. Bristol being what it is, so much of a chassis track, all this testing that y’all do here, then racing that you do here, are y’all going to leave here knowing a whole heck of a lot more about the Car of Tomorrow for general purposes than when you came here?
KEVIN HARVICK: No, and I think that’s – we haven’t tested anywhere of the magnitude of banking that we’re on here. We’ve done all the flat track stuff. We feel really good about our package with that. We hadn’t done a whole lot on the bank stuff. We didn’t really know where to start. That’s one reason why we were a little bit off in the beginning. We’ll get it figured out. It’s a whole different package. Obviously everything is different on the car. It’s just going to take time to get it figured out.
By the time we leave, we’ll have it figured out and know where we need to be for Bristol. We feel like we’re good for Phoenix and Loudon. Jeff did the tire test at Phoenix. Our cars were pretty good. We had a lot of different ideas coming here. We’re just kind of taking a couple steps back.
Q. Kevin, with the Car of Tomorrow that you have here today, how much difference do you see in your setup as far as sway bar, swings and shocks go?
KEVIN HARVICK: We took a 180 approach from what we have normally. We’re venturing back towards more what we have normally. Probably not going to be a lot different than probably where we wind up normally. From the inside, you have a lot more headroom. You have a lot more room in the cab. You have a lot of things better inside of there.
Looking out the front windshield, it’s really not a whole lot different other than you have more room to move around in the car. I really feel like once we get everything setup-wise where we need to be, I don’t think the car’s going to really drive a whole lot different here, to tell you the truth. I don’t think it’s going to be as big a deal as everybody wants it to be.
Q. We know Jeff tested here last year. I was going to ask you, your starting point on your setup, was it pretty much the same with what they left here last year with?
KEVIN HARVICK: No, a lot of things have changed. We didn’t have a lot of the right pieces and parts we needed to. As the Car of Tomorrow has evolved, we’ve kind of been able – we just kind of made makeshift parts and springs and stuff to get to the test. Now that we’ve come back, we have all the right parts and pieces and can develop a package now to make it go as it needs to go.
There’s nothing wrong with the car. There’s nothing wrong with anything. There’s nothing wrong with the splitter, the splitter height. It’s just a matter of us developing our package as to what it needs to be. We’ve just been – our teams are very different as far as setup just so we can narrow in on what we need to have.
Q. Did you have to be cautious about the splitters? Were you kind of holding back today? People were worried about that.
KEVIN HARVICK: I was a little bit I guess not very knowledgeable about the splitter material, what it was. I’ll be honest with you, last week at California, I mean, on the 33 truck, we drug the ground every lap. The splitter was fine after the race. I don’t think the splitter’s going to be a problem. We sat on it today, drug it across the racetrack. It just kind of turns almost into like a hard little plastic ball. I think you can drag a lot. I think it’s going to be pretty durable. I think they’ve definitely picked the right material for it.
I was a little bit wary of the splitter. I think after watching Hornaday drag his truck all across the racetrack last week, it ran 200, 250 miles, I think the material’s going to be great.
Q. (Inaudible. )
KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t think so. I think the teams here have so much more technology and things to work from. I mean, obviously we have run things in the truck that we’ve run across that have helped us in the car a little bit. Most everything is pretty advanced from here to the truck.
Q. A lot of the drivers have been very vocal about how the Car of Tomorrow is not a good thing for NASCAR. Do you think it’s fair for them to make these kind of judgments while they’re still testing?
KEVIN HARVICK: I think most drivers have an opinion, I think we all have opinions. NASCAR didn’t get where it was today based on all of our opinions. I think everything has to evolve. Our points system has evolved. Our cars are evolving. The first thing about it is the car is safer. Whatever it is after that is a bonus. The drivers have more room inside. There’s a lot of things built into the car to absorb energy when they hit the wall. That’s just the starting point.
I mean, running a company, if you listen to all the people that work for you all the time, you want to take their opinions, but in the end you want to make the best decision for the company. The bottom line is, NASCAR has to make the best decision for them. They felt it was time to evolve the car and make it safer, and the teams will figure out the rest.
Q. You had to go through a situation a couple years ago where you had your crew chief suspended yet you were able to win a race with him not around. We’ve seen a couple other teams be able to do that. In this era of technology, being able to communicate through cell phones, text messaging, emails, how easy was it to stay in communication? Does not having a crew chief at the track, is it really that much of a factor? Doesn’t seem to be.
KEVIN HARVICK: I can’t remember how the communication part went. I know these crew chiefs build their teams day in and day out. They’re at the shop putting the stuff together. Once you get to the racetrack, for the most part you have an agenda of what we’re going to do, how it’s going to work, where it’s going to go. These guys have put together their teams. Those guys usually have worked together so long they know what the crew chief would do in certain situations, what springs to put in it, on and on and on.
In my situation, I think Matt’s situation, I think it’s probably affected just because our crews have been together so long, everybody kind of knows where everybody’s coming from. You leave him out of there, it’s not a plus by my means, I can promise you that. You leave him out of there three, four weeks, things start to fall apart a little bit as you run across situations you haven’t been in before.
Q. What was it like? Scott Miller was your interim crew chief. Was he your engineer at the time or somebody that came in?
KEVIN HARVICK: He was our engineer.
Q. The communication level was still the same?
KEVIN HARVICK: Right.
Q. Since you won the Daytona 500, what is the neatest thing you’ve got to do since then?
KEVIN HARVICK: They tell me I’ve become the grumpiest person in the garage (laughter). I told them that’s probably because I haven’t been home but one day since the Daytona 500.
You know, I think I underestimated the magnitude of the Daytona 500. I knew it was a big deal for myself and our team. I knew we all thought it was a big deal. But I didn’t really realize how big a deal it was to not your everyday media outside, to the normal everyday people. I really underestimated that part. I realize how big the Daytona 500 is now and the magnitude of the situation.
THE MODERATOR: Kevin, thanks for your time.
KEVIN HARVICK: Thank you.
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