KEVIN HARVICK
Becoming a Road-Course Guru
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (August 5, 2003) - GM Goodwrench driver Kevin Harvick is
starting to find his knack when it comes to road-course racing. Prime
evidence was the first NASCAR Winston Cup Series road-course race of the
2003 season at Infineon (Sonoma, Calif.) Raceway in June. Going in with a
finish no better than 14th in his first two starts, he left with a
career-best start of sixth and career-best finish of third under his belt.
Heading into this weekend's race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., Harvick sees the
making of a similar, if not better effort than what the circuit witnessed
earlier in the season. He admits that the racetracks are a little
different, but it will still be a matter of finding a balance between
getting the car to handle and making sure he stays on the racetrack.
"Watkins Glen is a lot faster than Sears Point," said Harvick, winner of
last Sunday's Brickyard 400. "The corners are a lot more sweeping and there
is a lot more speed involved. Sears Point is very technical, much more a
road race. Watkins Glen is one of those places where you have to make your
car handle because you carry so much speed through all the corners. It's
really easy to make a mistake at Watkins Glen, and if you do, you usually
end up in a lot of trouble."
In two Winston Cup starts at The Glen, Harvick has not qualified outside the
top-10 and not finished outside the top-15. He's coming off the biggest win
of his NASCAR Winston Cup career at Indianapolis (Ind.) Motor Speedway, and
will try his best to make it a sweep for Richard Childress Racing at road
course races in 2003.
No. 29 GM Goodwrench driver Kevin Harvick on The Glen...
How's the racetrack?
"Out of the two road-courses, this is probably my favorite. The key to
Watkins Glen is don't burn up the brakes going into the corners. It's
typical road-course mentality - keep it on the track, keep the fenders on
it, the transmission under it, and you should have a good day. We've always
been really good there in the Winston Cup car, the Busch car, the trucks.
Pretty much everything we've really driven there we've been good with it. I
guess it just fits my driving style."
Are brakes the most important part of the car?
"Brakes are a huge part of it, along with getting your car to turn and
getting up off the corners. The brakes are tortured because you are
carrying so much speed down off the straightaways into the corners. Going
into Turn 1, it's like a 90-degree corner and you are hauling the mail.
Down the back straightaway, you go into the interloop and pretty much have
to stop right there."
What's the difference between ovals and road courses?
"There's a lot more to do on road courses. You have to shift, stop, shift,
gas it and slide. The hardest handling characteristic is to get your car to
get forward bite up off the corner because you are coming off a low gear and
there are a lot of hills and off-camber corners. You have to try and hook
your car up the best you can. It's kind of like trying to find a balance
between taking care of your stuff and driving the heck out of it. It's
definitely different from our weekly routine."
How cool was winning the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Saturday?
"It gave us a lot of confidence, that's for sure. I'm not the greatest
qualifier in the world, and to get a lap like that and sit on the pole at
the Brickyard was pretty cool. The guys were all pumped up, and it gave us
great track position heading into the race. I didn't expect to do it at
all, so that was probably what was most interesting. It really didn't set
in until late Saturday night."
What about following that up with a Brickyard 400 win on Sunday?
"It's really hard to put into words. I know how much it means to me. I know
it means a lot to these guys, too. But just growing up, you know, obviously
an open-wheel fan, to know what it meant to win the Indy 500 in an Indy car
meant a lot to me. But I think for me personally, this is something you put
a star beside every year, just for the fact that it's big. It's bigger in
all ways. There's nothing that's not bigger about racing at the Brickyard.
You know, if we'd have finished third, heck, it would have still been a
great weekend. To sit on the pole and come back and win the race is just
unbelievable."
No. 29 GM Goodwrench crew chief Todd Berrier on The Glen...
What are your thoughts on the racetrack?
"Watkins Glen is a rhythm racetrack. It has a ton more grip than Sonoma and
it's got a lot more right hand turns. You can't make mistakes at Watkins
Glen because there's no room for error with all the gravel pits. Track
position is everything and it takes discipline and hitting your marks every
lap. We're taking the same car we ran at Sonoma so we should be good to
go."
Points of Interest...
* Team GM Goodwrench will take chassis No. 67 to the Empire State for
Sunday's 90-lap event. This car participated in both road course races last
season, and is the same one that Harvick piloted to a third place finish in
wine country earlier this year.
* Harvick's win at Indy last Sunday gave him a big boost when in comes
to the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup driver points standings. With 2,623 points,
he's now within 31 points of cracking the top-five and only 34 points
outside of fourth.
* After Saturday's two race practice sessions in Watkins Glen, Harvick
will head to Lake Erie (Pa.) Speedway with Michael Waltrip, Dave Blaney, and
Greg Biffle to participate in a Race of Champions Late Model event which
will consist of two 10-lap shootouts.
* Start time for the Sirius at The Glen is slated for 1:30 p.m. ET.
TV coverage of the race on NBC starts at 1:00 p.m., with radio coverage on
MRN beginning at 1:00 p.m. as well. Remember times and dates of the race
may change, so check your local listings.
