Kevin Harvick met with the media Tuesday morning and discussed a variety of topics, including his thoughts on the upcoming Bristol dirt race:
HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHTS TO RUNNING A DIRT RACE IN ADVANCE OF BRISTOL?
“We‘ve talked about a few different things. I don‘t know that we‘ve really decided on exactly what we‘re going to do. I know some of the other guys are doing things and I don‘t know that it‘s 100 percent relevant to the vehicles that we‘re going to be driving, so we‘re trying to figure out exactly what we need to do the week of the race to be prepared for it, but, right now, we‘re worried about Phoenix.”
IS IT A HARD BALANCE TO PUT A LOT OF APPLES INTO ONE RACE WHEN YOU DON‘T KNOW HOW MUCH IT MIGHT TURN OUT TO BE WORTH?
“Yeah, and I think there are so many variables in that race. If I just step back and look at it and say, ‘What would you think about this race? What would be the proper thing to do for us with me personally not having a huge background? Obviously, Tony has a huge background and should be an integral part of what we do as a race team as far as making sure that we‘re prepared, but I think, for me personally, I know that I‘m gonna be a little bit at a deficit as far as when I look at the racetrack and the things that I see and where I need to go. Do I need to keep moving up? Do I need to move down? When does it go dry slick? What‘s the racetrack gonna be like? What are you anticipating? I think, for me, I have to look at Chase Briscoe and kind of take their lead. He‘s got a background in it and just know that I‘m still gonna be driving a Cup car on a dirt track. It‘s not gonna be like a dirt late model or a midget or a modified, but those guys that do that stuff all the time will definitely have an advantage of knowing where they need to go when they need to go and I just kind of have to follow along and keep my eyes open and pay attention. In the end, I still think that it‘s gonna be just survival. It‘s the longest dirt race in the history of mankind, so who knows what the racetrack is going to be like at the end of 250 laps. If you guys can see it, it‘s gonna be exciting.”
— Ford Performance —
