Notes: Harvick glad to get to Daytona with new goals

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kevin Harvick's best memory of Daytona International Speedway, obviously, is the one in which he out-raced Mark Martin over the last quarter-lap of the 2007 Daytona 500 to score the defining victory of his career.

Harvick and his Richard Childress Racing team were back at Daytona on Monday morning as the second session of Sprint Cup Preseason Thunder opened, and even though their No. 29 Chevrolets were mired far down the first morning's speed chart, Harvick wasn't concerned.

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"I liked the fact that our main goal [Monday] was to be the first ones on the racetrack, and we accomplished that," Harvick said. "We kind of came down with a little bit different plan than normal but we accomplished our goal and that was to be the first ones on the track, so mission accomplished for the day."

Harvick said his team would work with a number of different engine and car combinations to determine which would be best during February's Speedweeks, and he praised his teammate Clint Bowyer for giving the team a good starting point for their tests this week; Bowyer tested last week.

"Clinton coming last week was great because right out of the box the car drives good, and there's a definite difference between the two cars," Harvick said. "We came down here with kind of a specific plan engine wise with components that they started with last week just to kind of get a handle on our whole company's grasp of what car is the fastest and what car is not fast.

"So we're trying to sort that out between the six or eight cars that we have, just deciding which car is which. And after we get through with that, we're still not done. We'll have changed two or three different engines and just going through those motions."

Burton on bumping

Harvick's other teammate Jeff Burton was asked about Elliott Sadler's comment last week that bump-drafting might be even more of an issue this Speedweeks than it has been in the past, and as usual, Burton had a well-considered opinion.

"I think he's probably right," said Burton, who was third in last year's Daytona 500. "The great question is honestly how the car is going to handle. My inclination is that they're going to handle bad enough where I don't think bump-drafting is going to be a factor -- I think the factor is going to be who can put the car where they want to put them.

"Bump-drafting really becomes a problem when you have the 43-car packs with no other option to pass somebody other than get the bump-draft thing going. I think this is going to be a different kind of race. I think handling is going to be really important.

"Ultimately the bumpers lining up are a good thing, but I honestly believe that handling is going to be so important after 15, 20 laps that bump-drafting is not going to be the major issue."

Burton said to check back with him after drafting practice begins, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

"We haven't done any race runs [so] I'll be much smarter or more confused [Tuesday] afternoon; I'll let you know which one it is," Burton said. "I don't think that any of us right now have enough information to really go on. They certainly drive differently than the other car, and their ride is much more harsh than the other car, but what really matters is how they race [and] I don't have an impression on that yet." (Continued)