Insider's View: Kevin Harvick

This is more like it.

The past five weeks have been awesome for the Goodwrench team. Chicago bit us a little bit, but mistakes like that are just part of our sport. There's just so many things that can go wrong these days, and we had something flukey occur with the fuel cell that never happens.

	Harvick feels he has the best package he's ever had at Richard Childress Racing. Credit: Autostock

It didn't get enough fuel. I mean, the gasman and the catch can man had gas pouring out into the catch can, and that's when you go. Well, the cell wasn't full -- had an air pocket in it. Of the 22 gallons the cell holds, I'd say only 20 got in there and we ran out.

But overall, we've been a different team of late. I think we're better now than we were as rookies, right at this point. We don't have two wins before halfway like we did then, but in 2001 we started off really strong and faded off at the end.

I think right now it feels like the opposite effect. It feels like we're just now starting to hit our stride. It's the best package I feel I've had at RCR yet.

The main difference is the bodies and the motors. Since the beginning of the year I think we've had three different styles of bodies, or what we call "styles" at RCR. The guys in the fab shop have just cut up until it's worked.

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The motor shop has made huge gains since the beginning of the year. And Todd and myself and all the guys and Gil, we've been testing as much as we can and have been trying to do the things we know will make us successful. It's been working. We haven't changed any personnel, haven't done anything different than what we've always done. We're just figuring it out I guess.

Success makes racing more fun for everybody. It makes it fun for me because I don't get frustrated, even when there's a frustrating situation. The last five weeks, man, awesome. Even if you're put back in the pack and lose track position, or you make a mistake or something happens in the pits, our cars are good enough to pass people and race and get back to the front.

That makes my job a lot more fun and makes it a lot more fun for those guys that work 80 hours a week on these cars, makes them feel their getting it done.

To be honest with you, I've been so busy over the past five weeks with all the testing and the things that are going on, I haven't been to the shop. We've tested at Milwaukee, Chicago and Michigan, and we're going back to Kentucky for two days.

Robby's been to Indianapolis. Steve's been to Indianapolis. Steve went with us to Milwaukee. That's all in the last five weeks. We've been everywhere. It's not just me, it's everybody. Richard's had us gung-ho.

It's paying off, too. We worked really hard on our stuff at Milwaukee trying to get our flat-track stuff better. Last year we started off OK on the flat-track stuff and got some good finishes, but we faded toward the end of the year. So we went to Milwaukee and busted our butts to try everything we wanted to try, and try some off-the-wall-stuff.

Because honestly, that's what got Todd and I to where we are. We'll try the stuff nobody else wants to try. Those are the types of things we do, and a lot of them worked and that's the way we've always succeeded in the past. Getting out front is everything right now.

	Harvick says Richard Childress has all three of his teams very motivated for the second half of the season. Credit: Autostock

It's hard as hell to pass these days. That's why you see everybody running into each other. If you're up beside somebody and you don't finish that pass, you know it's going to take you just as long to get to that point again as it just did.

So you better finish it right then and there, because you can't waste time. The longer you waste, the further the leader gets out there and the better chance you have of getting lapped or further behind. Everybody's aggressive right now.

If you're not aggressive you're running in the back. Once you get to the back you're staying there, because if you're not leaning on somebody or letting somebody know you're ready to go by, you're getting left behind.

Right now we're up front. We got hit with the points deduction, with is frustrating. But like I explained to my guys -- you've got to do what you've got to do to gain an advantage. In all reality, that really probably isn't an advantage because you have to keep up with what everybody is doing.

We just happened to be the one that got caught doing it. If you're not trying new things you're going to get beaten. If you're not pushing the envelope, well, you have to do that today. You hate to lose the points and you hate to get caught doing something, but in all reality it's all about winning.

We're all about winning, as if you couldn't tell by our recent improvement.