NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 1, 2015
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed the new qualifying format for superspeedways, his thoughts on the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, this past week’s test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and many other topics.
ANOTHER STRONG RUN FOR YOUR TEAM LAST WEEK AT RICHMOND YOU COME INTO TALLADEGA THIS WEEK TALK ABOUT YOUR TEAMS OUTLOOK GOING INTO SUNDAY’S RACE:
“We talked a little bit about the outlook I guess at the beginning of the week. It’s just going to be try to stay up front and hopefully stay out of trouble. We all know that is hard to do, but I believe in today’s rules package and all the things that go with it it’s just better to be in the front. I feel like you are safer up there. If you are going to win the race, which is what we want to do, you are going to have to go through or be a part of the pack at some point. It seems like that is the best way to do it for us.”
THERE HAS BEEN A LOT MADE ABOUT DECLINING ATTENDANCE AND FAN SUPPORT WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW NASCAR CAN GROW THE FAN BASE?
“I mean the last three races that we went to last year were sold out. I don’t know that is a 100 percent true statement. I think it just depends on where you go and what you do. Now, if you want to talk about growing the sport I believe that some venues need one race. I believe that the schedule needs to be mixed up. People like things that change they don’t like stagnant things. In my opinion the most stagnant thing in our sport is our schedule and our venues that we go to. You can beat a dead horse as much as you want, but it doesn’t come back to life. And sometimes you just have to change things up to keep the excitement and enthusiasm in the sport. I think our schedule is definitely the weak link along with some of the venues that we go to. That is my opinion.”
QUALIFYING IS NOT GOING TO BE THE WAY THAT IT WAS AT DAYTONA. DID YOU LIKE OR DISLIKE DAYTONA QUALIFYING? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO TOMORROW?
“I feel really good about what it has evolved into. I think all the competitors feel that way. I think the guys in the garage feel that way. We were tearing up a lot of racecars in qualifying. I think when you look at the format and how much better it has made qualifying at all the other venues, it’s hard not to just really try to make our current format work at the downforce races and try to make that work here. But it just didn’t work; running last to be first just didn’t make sense in a lot of our heads. I think the sped up single car process with one lap hopefully it makes as much sense as everybody thinks it’s going to. And make the process that much better. I think there have been a lot of things that have changed, but I think our qualifying change has been week-in and week-out probably one of the better changes that we have had in our sport in a while. I think when you look at the adjustment and the time everybody has put in; I hope it evolves to that on this weekend as well.”
HOW MARKETABLE OR HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE FOR THE TEAM TO FIND SPONSORSHIP FOR DANICA (PATRICK) AND HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR THE TEAM TO FIND SPONSORSHIP FOR HER?
“I think when you look at the way that you have to go out and approach sponsorship; I think for myself personally I’ve been on both sides of it as the owner and as the driver. I sat in this room in 2009 and Shell Pennzoil announced that they were leaving the car that I was driving at that particular point. You just, when you are not in that position and you haven’t approached that before it can be a little bit intimidating. But I think when you know on May 1st and you have somebody like Danica Patrick that is obviously very marketable and I think she has done a good job on the racetrack and had some good results this year. I think that the opportunity to do that and go out and find a sponsor is very high. She has been a great part of being a teammate of me and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. I think there are just a lot of decisions to be made on what that costs and how you approach it and where you start. I don’t know the ins and outs of when that process was started or talked about or what the whole story is behind as far as when everybody knew that GoDaddy was in or out.
“In my opinion it takes several years to get that solid foundation of money and sponsorship on one car. Even for our car there is room for improvement on just what you think you should have for sponsorship on a car. When you are starting with the primary, obviously that is the first task, but the primary nowadays doesn’t bare all the load of the primary sponsorship. As a primary sponsorship you have to have other primary sponsors, you have to have associate sponsors and things like that. There is a lot to talk about and build and go through. I think that the opportunity with her and the company are very high when you look at what you need.”
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE SPONSORS TECHNICALLY WANT? FOR EXAMPLE YOU HAVE A CHAMPIONSHIP DOES THE CHAMPIONSHIP HELP? IS IT RACE WINS? IS IT MOVING THE NEEDLE ON JOYCE JULIUS? DOES IT GUARANTEE YOU MORE NOW THAT YOU ARE A CHAMPION?
“Well I think that definitely adds value to the scenario of whatever we have to appeal to a sponsor. But I think in the end it is really and this goes back to the first question that you asked me. The most important thing to the sponsors are those TV numbers and social media outreach. The fans are important to the event in the grandstands, but in the end the people – the Joyce Julius number and those sponsor numbers are the most important thing. I think I mentioned a little bit of something like that last week and I know that we talk about Saturday night races a lot and a lot of people like Saturday night races, but more people watch Sunday at 1 p.m. That to me – we need to be on the TV when the most people watch, because the sponsors are a big part of what makes this go around. And the fans watching on TV and in the grandstands seeing those products are important, but the TV numbers are the most important thing we have.”
IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE WHAT THREE OR FOUR PLACES WOULD YOU ADD TO THE SCHEDULE?
“I know the first place I would go is Iowa. I think that everybody wants to see more short tracks and more venues. I think road racing – we have a couple of road races on the schedule and most every team has two road race cars and spends a lot of money on their road race program. Adding a road race here or there would definitely be something that I would vote for just for the fact internationally road racing is very recognizable to race fans. Whether it be Formula 1 or any other form of racing there are not many ovals. You could take your pick on road courses, Montreal (Canada) does a great job, you could go to Laguna Seca (California), you could go anywhere in the world and race on a road course. There are lots of good venues. I would have to really think about the rest of the question. I have always been a fan of let’s go to the banquet and roll the pills around of race tracks across the country and have a wild card race every year. Go to the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Mile and really you could go to test these venues and see how the markets react. And see the reaction you get from the market, even if you only have 30 or 40 thousand people in the grandstands if you put on a good event for TV and do the things that it takes to have a unique event that is really what people want. They want unique things.”
YOU HAVE SORT OF BEEN LEADING THE CHARGE ON THAT WITH YOUR COMMENTS OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS MENTIONING IT A COUPLE OF TIMES. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE HOLD UP IS? WHY ISN’T THERE MORE MOVEMENT IN THIS INDUSTRY TO GET THAT SORT OF ACCOMPLISHED?
“Two publically traded companies. I think when you look at what NASCAR has done when you look at what the manufacturers have done. When you look at the teams and then sacrifices and the changes that all three of those groups have gone through, I mean they have gone through major changes. When you look at the body style changes and the effort that the manufacturers have put into this and the rule changes for these particular superspeedway races and the safety effort that NASCAR has put in, it’s not that the tracks aren’t putting in an effort it’s just there needs to be a different type of effort. This is just my opinion. We are just talking today.”
WITH MOTHER’S DAY BEING NEXT WEEKEND WHAT ROLE DID YOUR MOM PLAY IN YOUR CAREER AND GETTING YOU WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
“For me most everything I did was away from my Mom and my sister because on the weekends it was my Dad and Grandpa and myself that would go to the go kart races. It’s much like DeLana (Harvick, wife) is now. Somebody has to hold down home base and make sure there is food in the refrigerator and the house is clean. Getting sister to events and then when you get home on Monday morning make sure you show up at school and do all the things you are supposed to do around the house. There definitely has to be somebody who keeps us all in check. That is how my Mom was and DeLana definitely keeps us all in check nowadays as far as where we need to go and what we need to be doing. Otherwise I would forget everything.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SPOTTER AND HOW IMPORTANT THAT IS AT A TRACK LIKE THIS? IS THIS THE MOST IMPORTANT TRACK FOR THE SPOTTER/DRIVER RELATIONSHIP?
“Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and I spent a lot of time really looking for the right spotter to fit into, not only with what I was looking for, but fit in with the team. Tim Fedewa is the spotter on our car. For us I listened to a lot of guys and just really felt like he was basic and simple. For me that is really what I’m looking for. We are not looking for a cheerleaders or somebody to tell you how to drive the car or anything like that, but you are looking for somebody that can give you advice. And somebody that, especially at these places, tell you when the line is coming, when the line is going and really what is going on. And be able to have that confidence in that person as far as what is around you and believing it when he says clear and not looking in the mirror. So Timmy (Fedewa) fits everything that we’ve put together as a team and that is really the most important thing is he gets along with all the team guys and myself and does a good job on the radio is kind of bonus.”
YOU TESTED AT INDIANAPOLIS THIS WEEK AND SEVERAL DRIVERS SAID THEY THOUGHT THEIR LAP TIMES WERE GOOD UNTIL THEY SAW YOURS. DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WERE THAT FAR AHEAD OF THE FIELD DURING THAT TEST? ARE YOU PLEASED THAT YOUR TEAM SEEMS TO BE STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME A YEAR AND A HALF INTO THIS RELATIONSHIP?
“I never, as I normally do, I don’t look at lap times. I didn’t even know they were keeping lap times for everybody. I think as you talk about the team and the things that they do Rodney (Childers) is constantly pushing. I know that leads everybody else to push things and try to come up with new things and we ran through a lot of those things at Indy. A list of things from top to bottom of things that hopefully we can utilize in the future, but that is just Rodney’s M.O. (Modus Operandi), that is just what he does to keep up. That is just how he is on a day-to-day basis. He wants to try to make everything as perfect as possible. He is a detail freak and he is always looking for something to be better and push in another direction. That helps with everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. All those guys are pushing just as hard in the things that all the crew chief’s dream up. I felt comfortable in the car, but I’m not telling you a story when I tell you that I normally don’t look at lap times. We try to just keep our head down and stay within our box in the garage and do our own thing and not worry about what everybody else has going on.”