Conversation: Kevin Harvick

CONCORD, N.C. -- For those who know him best, Kevin Harvick's silence in 2002 was as deafening as a sonic boom.

An early-season run-in with the powers that be in Central Florida rendered Harvick speechless -- literally -- for the remainder of his sophomore campaign. From that moment on the swagger was gone, the magic of a fairytale freshman year replaced by the nightmarish reality that he'd far overstepped his bounds.

His hands -- and his tongue -- were tied in a double knot.

But rest assured, with the new year comes renewed vigor. Kevin Harvick is back, swagger and all. He took a few moments recently to prove that statement to NASCAR.com's Marty Smith, offering a brutally honest outlook on where he's been, where he's going and exactly how he plans to get there.

Two thousand two was obviously a difficult year for you professionally. Will we see a new Kevin Harvick in 2003?

VIDEO CLIPS Kevin Harvick in an emotional win at Atlanta in 2001. Play video 04|13|2002: Harvick gets parked after an incident in Virginia. Play video 07|14|2002: Harvick wins the Tropican 400 at Chicagoland. Play video

Harvick: The main reason I put myself in a box last year because every time I turned around I was having to look over my shoulder and point people by. I couldn't talk to anybody. That's not my style. I can go back to racing this year. I put myself in a position last year with NASCAR and I can't blame anybody about that but myself.

I couldn't race anybody. My dang hands were tied and there was nothing I could do about it but just accept it. I had to watch it twice as much when I drove my truck, had to be twice as cautious when I drove the Busch car and in the Winston Cup car, I just kind of did what I had to do to make it through the year. So we had a lot of bad luck and we weren't prepared as a race team going into the season. And I was still worn out from the year before.

They've beat up on us once, and they may beat up on us again, I don't know, but I can promise you one thing -- as a person, as a race team it's embarrassing the way we ran last year and, while I can't promise you it won't happen again, we've done everything in our power to make it better.

You just touched on this a bit right there, but when you look back at what happened in the early season last year, it certainly changed your driving style. When you look back at last year, does it just make you mad?

It's terrible. They can say whatever they want -- that I could do whatever I wanted to. But that wasn't how I felt. I was just crippled. Like I say, I put myself in that position and I wasn't as focused as I needed to be. The year before (2001) it was 100 percent racing. This year we're going back to 100 percent racing.

	Credit: Autostock

We're going to race the Winston Cup car, we're going to race 16 Busch races, 10 Truck races and IROC cars. That's me. Right there. I'm a racer. That's what my fans like and that's what they want to see, so that's what we're going to do. Everybody says, "Well, what if you get hurt?" And I say, "Well, I can get hurt riding my four-wheelers around the yard. I can get hurt walking across the street, too." The hell with it. I got here by racing and that's what I'm gonna do.

So it seems like you've gone back to that gung-ho attitude. That's Kevin Harvick.

That's what got me to where I am. I kind of let the "you're acting like Earnhardt" and the "you want to be like Earnhardt" get to me. Well you know what? I got here by being myself, and people can complain and compare me to whoever they want, and if they think I'm acting like Dale Earnhardt, tell them to go root for somebody else because that's why I got hired -- the way I drive and the things I do in a racecar.

And if that happens to be like Earnhardt, and people want to get nitpicky and say I'm trying to be Earnhardt, well, I'm not trying to be nothing. I'm trying to be myself, and that's what I'm going to go out and do because the only people I have to please are myself, my wife and Richard Childress. That's what they want me to do and that's what I'm going to do.

KEVIN HARVICK  •  Driver Page  •  2002 Stats  •  Harvick plans to run more Truck events

Well hell yeah. You were discussing working out and your preparation tactics for this season. How did last year's struggles help you prepare for this year in a more suitable manner?

I think the best way to compare it is to compare it to other sports. You can compare it to the New England Patriots, the Los Angeles Lakers, you can look at the St. Louis Rams.

What happens is, you go into a year and you win everything in the world and everybody wants a piece of you - media, sponsors, and everything requires time. Well, all the sudden you lose focus on the things that got you where you're at.

And it's happened to all those teams. It happened to us, not only myself but my race team. We weren't content, we went forward with doing things, but we got behind as a race team with our racecars.

Then, the rules were going to be one way and the next thing you know we're going to Rockingham and they say "nope, can't do it that way." So we're cutting our cars up the week before Rockingham and the next thing you know, you're way the hell behind.

And when you're behind as a race team or person, it's hard to get caught back up in Winston Cup racing. This is serious (stuff). You've got to take it serious and I've been in the gym six days a week for the past two months.

We have Monday morning meetings with all our drivers, all our crew chiefs, all our managers. Like I say, we've done everything in our power and they may still kick our butts. But as far as we're concerned we're working as hard as we possibly can to mentally prepare ourselves with the right people, right equipment and do them as right as we know how. That's all we can do.

	Credit: Autostock

If they kick our butts this year, we can honestly say, you know what, we tried as hard as we could and did everything within our power. Richard has given us everything. So we either need to find a new approach or figure out what we're doing wrong. We'll just have to wait and see. I really believe racing more will help me more than anything.

So you don't see 18th, 20th and 22nd next year out of RCR?

No. I don't think Jeff and Robby are proud of where they finished, either. But once you get past 10th, it just doesn't matter. Out of the three race teams, we still had the best stats -- and they weren't all that impressive.

That's not right. The main thing is, is that I understand where NASCAR's coming from, understand what they want and need out of me, understand the field they're working in. And they understand that I have to go out and drive that racecar the way I have to drive it. If it pisses people off, oh well.

What does NASCAR want out of Kevin Harvick?

The main thing is, you know, they just want to be treated like civil people, and at some points I wasn't treating them like civil people. That was probably the biggest reason I got in trouble. It wasn't for the way I drove on the racetrack. It was for the things I did and said behind the doors.

Just childish (things). On the racetrack I can be myself and say what I want, but say it in a professional manner. I can still tell somebody to stick it up their ass, but tell 'em without trying to rip their heads off.

Back to the gym a minute. How are you training? Weights and cardiovascular workouts?

Actually, I've hired a personal trainer for myself and DeLana, so that when I get to the middle of the season and start shedding weight, I'll be back to my natural weight. I've probably put on eight to 10 pounds, and it's been the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

I wrestled for four years in high school, but that was all about lean. This is the other way. I'm trying to get to a body weight that I can afford to lose some weight, and as much racing as I'm going to do -- it's going to be like 2001. Actually, it's going to be more racing than 2001. It's something I felt I needed to do.

You were discussing how you guys got behind early last year. This year, with you guys being the pioneering arm for the new Monte Carlo, you should probably be pretty far ahead, right?

Well, you'd like to think of it that way. But you know, the Dodges basically didn't change a whole lot, so they should be at the forefront. As far as the Chevrolet, I mean, everybody's done a lot of testing, but it's still going to take some time to completely understand how to make the racecar balanced how I like it and what it takes to get it that way.

So we're still going to have a little bit of a learning curve. I think half the field's going to have a learning curve. But it's a much better racecar than what we had and it's probably going to take some problems and magnify them and take a lot of problems and take them away. So, you know, like I say if they kick our butts this year it won't be because we didn't try.

Not that we didn't try last year, but we've focused and have really tried to take everything and streamline it as much as we can and keep everybody involved and knowing what's going on. In my four years at RCR, this is the most everyone's ever been on the same page -- from the motor shop to the body shop to the drivers.

I know it's the most involved I've ever been, with Richard. Ever since Martinsville, he and I have become a lot closer on a friendship level and as people. I understand where he wants me to help and what he wants me to do more than I ever have.

Like I say, I'm not telling you that we're going out to win championships or win 10 races or win one race, for that matter. I'm telling you that we're prepared as best as we know how to be from each person.