For those who don't know her and have only an outsider's perception of her, DeLana Harvick can come across as a bit intimidating.

But during a recent 1-on-1 sit-down interview with NASCAR.COM recently in a conference room at Kevin Harvick Inc., the racing organization she helps run along with her husband, driver Kevin Harvick, DeLana was nothing but DeLightful. And no, she did not wear a firesuit.

“

He has his office at the other end of the hall. We're far enough apart that if we start screaming, I can go trotting back down the hall to my office and take a breath.

”

-- DELANA HARVICK

Harvick talked openly about how she believes much of the racing public has misunderstood her, the challenges she and her husband face as owners of teams in the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series, and why she has no immediate plans to pursue any off-track hobbies.

Question: How did you come to be so involved in running such a successful racing business?

Harvick: Learning to manage people and owning a business, those are difficult things to do, and certainly I've made mistakes. But I think Kevin and I have learned from them. We're a team. We've always been together as a team. We knew by starting these teams that our ultimate goal was that when Kevin stops racing, he'll still be able to be a part of something that he loves to do -- and that's racing. So we knew we wanted to be team owners.

He's not going to drive forever, or at least I hope not. So yeah, it is challenging -- especially now -- in terms of securing sponsorship when economic times have changed a little bit. But I still pride myself on the fact that we've been able to continue to bring new people into the sport and we've been successful on the track. It didn't come overnight, but I'm proud of what we've accomplished.

Q: Do you foresee eventually fielding Cup teams, or did that look a whole lot better two years ago?

Harvick: It's hard to never say never. But Kevin has always said this: it would have to be the right time, the right sponsor, the right situation. So I don't know. It interests me, but not enough to jeopardize what we've done so far -- because I'm pretty happy and content with where we are.

It's so competitive, and we're talking a couple million [dollars] budget [for each team in the lower series] vs. a $20 million budget for a Cup team. That's a huge responsibility, and I take it as a responsibility because there are 100 people here who rely on us. I feel a responsibility to them and their families. I wouldn't be ready to make that commitment [to field any Cup teams] unless I was 100 percent secure in the situation. (Continued)