NASCAR Cup

Harvick - Friday media visit

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Edited: Jun 1, 2018, 12:50 PM

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KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET met with members of the media at Auto Club Speedway and discussed restrictor plate sizing at Talladega, enjoyment of Martinsville racing and other topics.

IS CARL EDWARDS THE GUY TO BEAT RIGHT NOW?: “I don’t think so. He hasn’t won every race has he?”

DO YOU THINK THE OTHER RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING DRIVERS ARE LOOKING FOR MORE SPEED?: “I think those two teams obviously are in different situations than the 27 (Paul Menard) or the 29. Our cars have really had speed three out of the four weeks. Vegas was my fault, we drove up into the top-five and were where we needed to be and I got a speeding penalty and kind of ruined that day. We’ve had top-five cars every week and I felt like three out of the four weeks we had cars capable of winning races. I feel comfortable about where our team is.”

WERE YOU MAD ABOUT THE WRECK IN BRISTOL?: “Things happen. You’re going to be mad at the moment. You sit there and you led the race, ran in the top-three all day and something happens then your first reaction is to get mad. Things happen.”

HOW LONG IS THE MEMORY AND WHAT IS THE ETIQUETTE FOR PAYBACK?: “I think a lot of that just depends on kind of where you’re at with everything and a lot of times as you get to the end of the year you have to let a lot of things go. There’s a lot that rides on what you do on the race track from a results standpoint and it affects a lot of things that you do. If you carry a lot of things too far too long sometimes it affects your team and the results that you get on the race track. That’s not fair to those guys.”

WHICH SHORT TRACK DO YOU PREFER AND WHY?: “I’ll tell you, when I came into this sport Bristol was always my favorite race track and now that they changed it -- it’s now to me just not near as much fun to drive. I think as you look at Martinsville and for us, it’s a home track and really close to our shops and our homes and everything that we do. Where we are right now with the world, I would rather go to Martinsville than go to Bristol.”

DO YOU CONSIDER MARTINSVILLE TO BE AS BIG OF A WILD CARD AS TALLADEGA?: “I don’t think there’s any bigger wild cards than Daytona and Talladega, that’s for sure. Just because of the types of racing and especially the way that it was at Daytona and has been at Talladega. You just never know what’s going to happen at those two places. Martinsville, if your cars fast, you can obviously get caught up in something, but the odds of it being like a Talladega or Daytona -- it’s just much different.”

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT MARTINSVILLE?: “You just have to have your car turning well. You have to be able to really qualify up front -- it makes things easier. It’s not a necessity, but just being able to keep the forward drive up off the corner all day and keep your car turning are the two biggest things.”

ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE RACE AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY THIS YEAR?: “Honestly I wish all the race tracks would be held accountable for how many people are sitting in their grandstands. I think sometimes there’s just certain places that we go to -- I think this particular track is a good venue that when we first started coming here supported one race very well. Sometimes a lot of people want more and you try to make two races out of it. I always tell people there is no reason to make two mediocre out of one good. This is a good one event and there’s several race tracks that should be held to the same accountability on a yearly basis in my opinion. I think that new markets and new, fresh fans that haven’t been able to see the races year after year would be an eye opener for a lot of race tracks.”

IS THIS RACE WEEKEND A FAIR TEST FOR THE TRACK?: “I don’t see why it shouldn’t be considered a fair test.”

WHAT SPECIFIC OTHER TRACKS WOULD YOU WANT TO SEE LOOKED AT?: “You’re smart -- figure it out.”

HOW MUCH DOES THE NEW RESTRICTOR PLATE SIZE MATTER AT TALLADEGA?: “I don’t think it’s going to change the style of racing. With the way that everybody’s figured out the pushing and shoving of what’s going on, the speeds are going to be a little bit greater than what they were so I think they’re just trying to be conservative to that.”

DO YOU ANTICIPATE A CHANGE DURING THE RACE WEEKEND?: “We still have the two car stuff at Talladega last time, it just wasn’t lap after lap. It was more when you needed to get back up front or at the end of the race. I think they have a pretty good idea of what the speeds are going to be. I don’t anticipate much change.”

HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THE TRUCK PROGRAM?: “I’m pretty happy with our truck program. I think it’s gone well. Obviously, with the weeks of racing coming up or back to more racing for them is going to make them better as they get a few of the kinks worked out. It’s just hard for them at the beginning of the season as you’re only racing one week on and a couple weeks off, one week on, three weeks off. Once they get going, they are going to be really good. They’ve done a good job so far. I’m happy with it.”

-source: team chevy

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