Harvick OnLine: Top Story: Behind The Hauler Chat

Behind the Hauler Chat with Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Monte Carlo SS
Pocono 500, Pocono Raceway

CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
POCONO 500 WEEKLY TOP 12 - KEVIN HARVICK
POCONO RACEWAY
June 8, 2007

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL MONTE CARLO SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT HIS APPROACH TO THE CHASE, THE CHALLENGE OF POCONO, AND MORE.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PENALTY NASCAR HANDED OUT TO KURT BUSCH?
"I don't really know what's right or what's wrong. I haven't really even seen the pictures of his car hitting the other car on pit road. But we've got to take care of our guys on pit road and keep the safety of the sport. I just kind of feel sorry for Roger (Penske). He's one of those guys who is probably one of the world's most respected businessmen and he's got to deal with something like that."

DO YOU THINK IT WAS FAIR?
"Oh, I don't know. It was a pretty stiff fine. It could have been worse though. He could have had to sit home a week and not race. I've done that before. Been there, done that. And that's no fun."

HEADING INTO THE CHASE, HOW DO YOU APPROACH THESE NEXT 13 RACES?
"Well, we've just got to keep stuff from falling off our car. That's the biggest thing. The performance of our cars has been really good. And we just can't make mistakes. And we've made a lot of mistakes. We've had a lot of things go wrong that shouldn't go wrong and I think everybody knows what we need to do. We have a very mature team. We all know when we do wrong and what we do wrong and what we need to do better. We've just got to do it and everything will be fine."

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO THE POCONO TRACK?
"This place isn't nearly has hard as it used to be. We don't shift anymore. A lot of the challenges that used to be here aren't here anymore. Its kind of one of those normal driving places now - other than the corners are a little bit different at each end. It still has the unique characteristics of the race track, but it's kind of lost some of its stuff that set is apart from the other race tracks when we didn't get to shift anymore."

IS IT MAYBE NOT AS FUN?
"It's not really as fun, but it's still challenging to get your car to work. You've got to get off of Turn 3 to make time down the front straightaway, and Turn 1 is really bumpy. So it has different challenges, but it's just not quite as challenging as it used to be."

DALE EARNHARDT JR. WANTS TO GET A NEW CONTRACT FINALIZED SOON. DO YOU KNOW HOW ANY OF THAT STANDS WITH RCR?
"No, I don't get in the middle of it. It's none of my business."

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE JUNIOR AS A TEAMMATE?
"Ah, it's none of my business."

WHY DOES EVERYBODY LOVE THE MICHIGAN TRACK SO MUCH?
"I think everybody loves Michigan because you can race from the bottom of the race track to the top of the race track and tires wear out and everything changes as you go through a fuel run. So it's a lot of fun for the drivers to go there and race and move your car around and adjust as things change."

DID YOU HAVE A LOT OF DEALINGS WITH BILL FRANCE JR, OR WAS IT MORE THE OLD GENERATION?
"I didn't have a lot of dealings with him. I've dealt a lot with what I guess you could call the new generation of NASCAR. But I think you have to respect everything that the France family has done in general to give us a place to do what we love to do. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't all be here enjoying the things that we get to do. He's made a lot of things happen in our sport that probably couldn't have happened if he wasn't in charge. You just think about the families and everybody involved and that's the most important thing right now.

"If something is going to happen to you, this is the place you want to be. You want to be in the garage around your peers and friends because these people will take care of you. If you need something, this is where you want to be because this is the biggest family you'll ever be involved with."