Harvick OnLine: Harvick Says Kart Experience Helps With Road Racing

Harvick Says Kart Experience Helps With Road Racing

Kevin Harvick, Nextel Cup's most recent winner on a road course, credits racing karts in his hometown for helping him have success in road racing.

Harvick won at Watkins Glen International last August for his first road-course victory in NASCAR. He finished 24th at Infineon Raceway - site of Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 - after qualifying third.

"I really enjoy road course racing," Harvick said. "I grew up in Bakersfield, Calif., racing karts on road courses, so I enjoy doing it a couple times a year."

Harvick said the 12-turn, 1.99-mile road course is "one of the most challenging tracks I've raced on."

"Infineon is such an incredible road course," the Richard Childress Racing driver said. "It has really

good elevation changes and nice combination of a tight course and high speed sections.

"We had engine failure there a couple of years ago and had some problems on pit road last season, so our finishes haven't shown what we are capable of. We usually run well at Infineon; we just have to make sure we keep it running the whole race, and we should be fine. I feel like we are a top-five road-race team."

The key to running well at Infineon, Harvick said, is "not tearing your car up." Easier said than done, of course, especially when 42 other drivers are throwing their Cup cars around on the road course.

"You have to take care of your transmission, take care of the rear-end gear and don't wheel-hop it," Harvick said. "The main thing is to finish. It's hard to keep from getting your car torn up because the racetrack has turns and hills, and it's hard to pass.

"It's hard to keep the fenders on you race car. It's like going to a short-track race. They usually tear as much up at Sonoma as they do at Bristol or anywhere else. It's hard to run by yourself, let alone with 42 other cars."

One mistake could ruin your entire day...

Read the full story at scenedaily.com