Harvick OnLine: Top Story: Behind the Hauler Chat: Harvick

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL IMPALA SS

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL/PENNZOIL IMPALA SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT FEELING PREPARED FOR WEEKEND WITH NEW-GENERATION IMPALA SS RACE CAR

ON THE NEW CAR: "I don't think anybody really knows what the circumstances are going be or the outcome is going to be. I think everybody is just excited to get in to the race and anticipating getting in to the race. There might be 100 cautions or two cautions, I don't really know. I don't think anybody really knows. I think there has been a lot read in to something that we all don't know anything about. We have all have tested the car the car a lot, none of us have ever raced a lot, we actually haven't raced it at all. We haven't really raced it around anybody.

"It is hard to know what is going to happen and what isn't going to happen. It might be one of those things that everybody is so far off that you can't go any faster and you can't hardly wreck. Who knows what is going to happen. I think it is going to be your normal Bristol race just for the fact there is going to be beatin' and bangin' and a lot of cautions."

ON FEELING BETTER ABOUT THE CAR TODAY: "Yes, I understand why we were where we were after the first practice session. While we were in here, I read somebody's article, from West Virginia, I don't remember who it was, but they were talking about how bad the test was and obviously they didn't look past the first practice session, they just wrote what they wanted to. We were top-five and top-10 in the rest of the practice sessions and were very happy with our car. We just went down a different path just to see if it would take some of the things we have been doing at the flat tracks stuff, but it wouldn't."

ON BEING ABLE TO TRANSFER INFORMATION USED ON MONTE CARLO SS TO IMPALA SS AT BRISTOL: "We don't have any information. Everything is 180 degrees from what we did on the other cars. But you still have that same feel that you want. You still have the same techniques that you use. I think the biggest thing we are going to fight with this car is forward bite, loose up off the corners after 25 or 30 laps. That seems to be the pretty common theme throughout the garage.

"I think the guy who can get up off the corner the best and not be completely sideways up off the corners will be hard to beat."

ON NEW GENERATION CAR BEING THE GREAT EQUALIZER: "I think you are going to see the same guys be successful. This is just one of those places where technique and just getting a rhythm are more important than anything. You still to have your car right but if you find that feel, you are going have the same kind of things happen. I think it is wrong to read in to what we think is going to happen, we are just going to have to see what happens when we race."

ON PLAN IN PLACE WITH TEAM FOR DAMAGE THAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO SPLITTER OR WING DURING THE RACE: "We have a whole crash process that we have already developed and gone through. I don't know what the deal is with the wing; I think if you knock one off, you go get another one. I can't 100% answer the question, but I know we have taken the time to build extra front ends and splitters and all those things in case we do have some damage. I know we have extra deck lids, noses, splitters, fender, doors and everything you can imagine."

ON IMPROVEMENTS TO SAFETY OF RACING SINCE HE STARTED DRIVING: "Oh man, I think the race tracks are safer with the soft walls, I think that has been the biggest improvement. Our seats are so much safer it isn't even funny. I'd say, I mean, it hard to even put a number one it, but they are so much safer, it is hard to even put in to perspective. You get in the car, you don't worry about anything, you just go."

ON VALUE OF RUNNING BUSCH RACE NOW: "Well, three of the last five Busch race winners here have won the Cup race too. That is kind of a self-explanatory answer there. As I said earlier, this is a rhythm track and once you get in to a rhythm and you find a feel that you like and it works for you, if you can find that feel in a particular car, then you are going to be successful."