NASCAR Cup

Daytona II: Kevin Harvick qualifying press conference

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Qualified 2nd NOTE: Harvick won the pole for last year's Pepsi 400 and and qualified 2nd here Thursday. YOU'VE HAD QUALIFYING SUCCESS HERE BEFORE. TALK ABOUT THE LAP AND THE EFFORT ...

Edited: Jul 5, 2003, 2:26 AM

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KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: Qualified 2nd

NOTE: Harvick won the pole for last year's Pepsi 400 and and qualified 2nd here Thursday.

YOU'VE HAD QUALIFYING SUCCESS HERE BEFORE. TALK ABOUT THE LAP AND THE EFFORT THE RCR TEAM PUT FORTH TODAY.

"Our speedway effort has been great for a lot of years. Every year I've been here and every year I've watched it on TV, they throw a lot of effort into it. I'm pretty much just a passenger at that point. The guys in the shop and on the race teams shined today. This is the same car we ran at Talladega and Daytona, and it's got every fender and every piece on it is the same. They've pitched in and fine-tuned and you can make your cars better when you don't get them torn up. We're really happy with it. The Goodwrench car is notorious for running well at superspeedways, and we've got a really good piece. We're real excited about Saturday."

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE YELLOW-LINE RULE?

"I didn't hear Jeff's answer, but I really don't understand the rule, to tell you the truth. The best thing to do is just not go down there. If you get shoved down there, you just have to hope it goes in your favor and let off and be smart about it. If it comes down to the last few laps, you have to do what you have to do and hopefully the cards fall your way. The best answer I have is just don't go down there."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE THAT CLOSE TO DEI?

"That's our intention. But they have all the trophies. We felt that we've been close to them and had the opportunities to win races, but we haven't won, and that's the bottom line, what it all comes down to. It's who takes home the trophy and the check. Our check has been a little smaller and we don't have any trophies. Not that we haven't run good or haven't been in contention to win the races, but they've got it done and that's the way you have to look at it. We feel we can contend with them. We just have to figure out how to wind up in front at the end of the race."

STEVE PARK LEFT DEI AND THEN WINS THE POLE FOR RCR. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?

"Jeff Green might not feel too good about it. I'm glad for Steve. It's great for the whole organization to come down here. Jeff Green sat on the pole for the 500, Robby qualified third and I qualified sixth. What can you say? We're first and second, and you can't really ask for anything more than that. Like I said earlier, Richard works really hard and the guys in the motor shop and the fab shop worked really hard on the restrictor plate stuff and it's paid off for us. I'm just really proud of all of them."

DID STEVE PARK GIVE YOU ANY INSIGHT ON HOW DEI IS SO SUCCESSFUL AT RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS?

"They just have a package together, the whole package. A lot of it has to do with little things. Our package was pretty strong when he came over and we haven't changed anything. We're both just pretty fortunate to be sitting in what we are sitting in. They're really strong race cars. I don't care who sits in the seat, they're going to go that fast at these places."

RICHARD SAID THAT IT'S BEEN A LONG REBUILDING PROCESS. DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT AND WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE BEING THE LEAD DRIVER?

"It's been tough at times. This year we've been in contention to win races and things have happened. We started the year off great at Daytona, had a chance to win the 500 and went to Rockingham and the next three weeks we were totally junk. We came home and the guys cut all the bodies off and started rebuilding race cars and we have made a 180-degree turn from what we had. Richard is as committed as I've ever seen him. He's enthused about everything that's going on. I'm committed to everything that he wants to do and always has done and I'll stand behind him 100 percent. That's what he's done for me and that's what I'll do for him. Like I say, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be sitting in Winston Cup racing or Busch racing or anywhere else. Whether we're winning or rebuilding, I'm going to stay by his side and trust what he says. The man has done a lot for this sport and he'll fix anything that goes wrong."

-gm racing-

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