pandr
02-12-2011, 11:09 PM
Fast starts don't always spell success
By Jim Utter - charlotteobserver
Friday, Feb. 11, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Budweiser Shootout serves as the unofficial start to the NASCAR season each year.
The past two seasons have started with Kevin Harvick celebrating in Victory Lane after this race.
The first win signaled the start of what he considers his worst season in the Sprint Cup Series.
The other, signaled the start of his best.
What will Saturday night’s race result reveal?
A season more like 2009, when Harvick and his teammates at Richard Childress Racing all went winless and missed the Chase?
Or will it be a season more like 2010, when Harvick won three races and was in the hunt for his first series championship all the way down to the last lap in the season finale at Homestead, Fla.?
“Obviously there was a lot more questions than there were answers when we started the year last year. But we went in with the approach of just having fun and not being mad and down,” Harvick said.
“If things aren’t going right we’ll brush it off when we get on the airplane and go home and come back the next week with a fresh attitude.”
Harvick said his crew chief, Gil Martin, has worked hard to maintain that philosophy.
“He’s very good with the guys and if you have a bad day or I say something wrong it doesn’t become a bigger deal than it needs to be,” Harvick said.
“They understand that I’m emotional and they don’t want me to not speak my mind or hold it in. They want me to get it out and get it over with and move on in the race and that’s it.
“It’s a good chemistry and a good balance between everybody.”
Harvick wasn’t the only beneficiary at RCR last season. All three teams made the Chase and his teammate Clint Bowyer won two of the final 10 races.
Harvick finished a career-best third in points, just 41 shy of Jimmie Johnson, who won his fifth consecutive Cup title.
All three RCR drivers and their crew chiefs return this season and the organization has added a fourth team, with driver Paul Menard in the No. 27 Chevrolet.
“I think for us it’s doing a lot of the same things that we did last year. Our main focus was rebuilding the pit crew. We completely rebuilt the pit crew and I think this year brings a lot of new challenges,” Harvick said.
We need to “just fine-tune everything and not let down on the areas that we were strong last year, continuing to focus on those areas. Obviously, they all talk about wanting to qualify better and if we do we do. That’s fine.
“I think the main thing besides the pit crew is just trying to win a couple more races.”
Two of Harvick’s three wins came in restrictor-plate races like Saturday’s, in the spring at Talladega, Ala., and in July at Daytona.
That likely makes Harvick a favorite to become the first to win three consecutive Shootouts.
And if that's not enough pressure, Harvick also changed sponsors in the offseason.
The sponsor of his No. 29 Chevrolet now? That would be the race’s title sponsor.
c/p Thats Racin
Read more: hxxp://www.thatsracin.com/2011/02/11/55339/fast-starts-dont-always-spell.html#ixzz1Dmxo0aDg
By Jim Utter - charlotteobserver
Friday, Feb. 11, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Budweiser Shootout serves as the unofficial start to the NASCAR season each year.
The past two seasons have started with Kevin Harvick celebrating in Victory Lane after this race.
The first win signaled the start of what he considers his worst season in the Sprint Cup Series.
The other, signaled the start of his best.
What will Saturday night’s race result reveal?
A season more like 2009, when Harvick and his teammates at Richard Childress Racing all went winless and missed the Chase?
Or will it be a season more like 2010, when Harvick won three races and was in the hunt for his first series championship all the way down to the last lap in the season finale at Homestead, Fla.?
“Obviously there was a lot more questions than there were answers when we started the year last year. But we went in with the approach of just having fun and not being mad and down,” Harvick said.
“If things aren’t going right we’ll brush it off when we get on the airplane and go home and come back the next week with a fresh attitude.”
Harvick said his crew chief, Gil Martin, has worked hard to maintain that philosophy.
“He’s very good with the guys and if you have a bad day or I say something wrong it doesn’t become a bigger deal than it needs to be,” Harvick said.
“They understand that I’m emotional and they don’t want me to not speak my mind or hold it in. They want me to get it out and get it over with and move on in the race and that’s it.
“It’s a good chemistry and a good balance between everybody.”
Harvick wasn’t the only beneficiary at RCR last season. All three teams made the Chase and his teammate Clint Bowyer won two of the final 10 races.
Harvick finished a career-best third in points, just 41 shy of Jimmie Johnson, who won his fifth consecutive Cup title.
All three RCR drivers and their crew chiefs return this season and the organization has added a fourth team, with driver Paul Menard in the No. 27 Chevrolet.
“I think for us it’s doing a lot of the same things that we did last year. Our main focus was rebuilding the pit crew. We completely rebuilt the pit crew and I think this year brings a lot of new challenges,” Harvick said.
We need to “just fine-tune everything and not let down on the areas that we were strong last year, continuing to focus on those areas. Obviously, they all talk about wanting to qualify better and if we do we do. That’s fine.
“I think the main thing besides the pit crew is just trying to win a couple more races.”
Two of Harvick’s three wins came in restrictor-plate races like Saturday’s, in the spring at Talladega, Ala., and in July at Daytona.
That likely makes Harvick a favorite to become the first to win three consecutive Shootouts.
And if that's not enough pressure, Harvick also changed sponsors in the offseason.
The sponsor of his No. 29 Chevrolet now? That would be the race’s title sponsor.
c/p Thats Racin
Read more: hxxp://www.thatsracin.com/2011/02/11/55339/fast-starts-dont-always-spell.html#ixzz1Dmxo0aDg