NASCAR Cup

Texas II: Harvick - Saturday media visit

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Texas Motor Speedway and discussed importance of winning in sponsorship searches, impact of current economic situation on sponsorship search, progress of the fourth RCR ...

Edited: Nov 2, 2008, 1:21 AM

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KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Texas Motor Speedway and discussed importance of winning in sponsorship searches, impact of current economic situation on sponsorship search, progress of the fourth RCR team, racing at Phoenix International Raceway, running all three series at Phoenix, spending Thursday in Houston with Shell employees working on Boys and Girls Club and other topic.

HOW IMPORTANT IS WINNING IN SEARCHING FOR SPONSORS? "It is obviously important, but even winning, we (Kevin Harvick, Inc.) are still short with our Nationwide and our No. 2 truck team so right now winning is very important to make sure we find sufficient sponsors to keep all that stuff going like it needs to."

HOW MUCH HARDER IS IT TO GO OUT AND FIND MONEY? "It is just different right now than it has been because nobody wants to make a commitment because the President is getting ready to change hands, the stock market is up and down, the housing market is down, so everybody is just kind of in panic mode and nobody wants to make a commitment at this point. You are waiting a lot longer for commitments than what you would have before and that puts everybody in a little bit tougher spot than we have been in before."

WHAT IS THE PROGRESS OF THE FOURTH TEAM AT RCR? "Shane (Wilson) has been a part of the team meetings for a while now. The fourth team could go either way. It could be a total distraction to everything that we do. We have put it in place to hope that it is a help to the other three teams and bring in more ideas, more sponsors and more things to the table."

TALK ABOUT YOUR TRIP TO HOUSTON THURSDAY TO WORK WITH SHELL EMPLOYEES ON A SPECIAL UNITED WAY PROJECT FOR THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: "We went to the United Way and did an event at the Boys and Girls Club. Had a lot of Shell employees participate, about 100 employees. We did all kinds of stuff from spreading mulch to sweeping floors to organizing rooms. It is a great program that Shell has. They have donated over $100 million in the last 20 years to the United Way. It is fun to go out and see the employees and different people from that particular community come out and help give the kids a place to go and have fun."

WITH SHELL BEING BASED OUT OF TEXAS, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO RUN GOOD HERE? "It is important to run good everywhere the best you can. Coming here there are a lot more people with their headquarters being right down the road, it is important to run good."

HAS THE CHASE TAKEN FOCUS AWAY FROM WHY YOU ALL ACTUALLY SHOW UP AT A RACE TRACK? "I don't think it has really taken any focus away, I think on a particular day if somebody can win. I think Jimmie (Johnson) has proven that. He goes out, he is winning races and running and doing the things he needs to do. Still winning championships and doing the things on the race track. I think the Chase has added a lot to our sport. You go back and look at the point standings this year, the same guy would win no matter what the point standings are."

DO YOU THINK CHASE DRIVERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO THROW OUT THEIR WORST RACE? "I think that is part of what makes our sport what it is -- overcoming the bad weeks. You throw out the bad weeks, I don't know, there are just a million ways you could do it. I don't think there is a right or wrong way. I think the current system is working ok."

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET AROUND PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY? "Phoenix is one of those places that is just flat. You have to get your car to handle. You have to have good forward bite up off the corner, the asphalt is worn out. I like going there. I grew up racing at Phoenix. That was kind of like our Daytona every year for the Southwest Tour and Winston West. Good place to race and always a lot of fun to go back and see friends and families you don't get to see a lot."

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY FROM PHOENIX? "A lot of things have happened at Phoenix. We have been fortunate to win in all three divisions. I ran one of my first truck races there that we built ourselves. Just a lot of memories on the track and off the track. I don't know if I can narrow it down to just one."

TALK ABOUT RUNNING ALL THREE SERIES AT PHOENIX: "Any time we go there, we expect to be able to compete for a win in all three divisions. It is the same this time going out there."

-credit: gm racing

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