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Sprint Cup
CUP: Harvick To Ford - Keep Foot Out Of Mouth
Kevin Harvick says Mike Ford needs to take own advice and not put foot in mouth...
Kevin Harvick has three NASCAR Sprint Cup wins in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Kevin Harvick says the back-and-forth going on between the teams of Denny Hamlin and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson has been entertaining, but has a few words of advice for Hamlin’s team, which leads Johnson by 33 points and Harvick by 59.
“The only good thing that comes from being cocky like that,” Harvick said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, “is you better win."
“Because if you don’t, you’re going to have to answer a lot of questions about your comments when you’re done. … I think when you’re trying to intimidate the guy that’s won four championships in a row, you might need to re-think your strategy and just worry about racing.”
Mike Ford, crew chief for Hamlin, said after his driver’s win at Texas that other teams have “tiptoed around” the No. 48 team in recent years, noted that he took issue with the Hendrick team’s pit selection – which was right beside the Joe Gibbs Racing team – a few weeks earlier and said the decision by the 48 to swap pit crews in the middle of the race was brought on by “panic.”
“You've watched them play mind games with people in the past, and I'm completely immune to that,” Ford said. “I could care less. I'll be right in their face saying, ‘It doesn't matter.’
“I think our race team is better than their race team, and I'm not going to tiptoe around them because of where they're at.”
Two days later, Chad Knaus, crew chief for Johnson, said he thought it was funny “that they’re more worried about us than themselves.
“I think I’d be more worried about the folks on the 11 car [of Hamlin] than the 48,” Knaus said.
Harvick trails the two in the standings, but he clearly likes his position heading into this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500. That his two opponents seem to be playing mind games has taken the focus off his team, and that might be the best mind game of all.
“The worst we can finish in the points is third,” he said. “We have two great race tracks in front of us. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“Whatever it takes to gain is what you do on the race track, … and there’s really nothing else that matters at this point. You just kind of throw it all out there and if it gets rough, it gets rough. And if it doesn’t, you just go out there and race and see where it all falls in the end.
“It’s really a no-pressure, nothing-to-lose situation for us and I like it. I like coming from behind. I like when people write us off, it’s kind of like everybody’s been their whole career. It’s fun to come up and see everybody after that.”
That Johnson’s team made a crew swap in the middle of last week’s race might have been surprising, Harvick said, but the action was no different that a similar move made by Richard Childress Racing last month when the over-the-wall crews of Harvick and Clint Bowyer were swapped.
“When you do it in the middle of the race, … there’s no hiding,” Harvick said. "For us, it’s been very beneficial. We hadn’t gained a spot on pit road in the Chase and we haven’t lost one since we changed [pit crews]. The results for us have been fairly simple.
“I think Mike should take his own advice to his driver [at Dover] and not insert [his] foot in [his] mouth. I think the comments that he made after the race about being better than the 48 team … I think he’s just trying to stir stuff up.
“Whatever it takes to win is what you’ve got to do, so if there’s something wrong with that [crew swap], then I’m missing something.”
SceneDaily.com • Jimmie Johnson says his mind is clear and crew motivated after team's strength questioned
“The only good thing that comes from being cocky like that,” Harvick said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, “is you better win."
“Because if you don’t, you’re going to have to answer a lot of questions about your comments when you’re done. … I think when you’re trying to intimidate the guy that’s won four championships in a row, you might need to re-think your strategy and just worry about racing.”
Mike Ford, crew chief for Hamlin, said after his driver’s win at Texas that other teams have “tiptoed around” the No. 48 team in recent years, noted that he took issue with the Hendrick team’s pit selection – which was right beside the Joe Gibbs Racing team – a few weeks earlier and said the decision by the 48 to swap pit crews in the middle of the race was brought on by “panic.”
“You've watched them play mind games with people in the past, and I'm completely immune to that,” Ford said. “I could care less. I'll be right in their face saying, ‘It doesn't matter.’
“I think our race team is better than their race team, and I'm not going to tiptoe around them because of where they're at.”
Two days later, Chad Knaus, crew chief for Johnson, said he thought it was funny “that they’re more worried about us than themselves.
“I think I’d be more worried about the folks on the 11 car [of Hamlin] than the 48,” Knaus said.
Harvick trails the two in the standings, but he clearly likes his position heading into this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500. That his two opponents seem to be playing mind games has taken the focus off his team, and that might be the best mind game of all.
“The worst we can finish in the points is third,” he said. “We have two great race tracks in front of us. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“Whatever it takes to gain is what you do on the race track, … and there’s really nothing else that matters at this point. You just kind of throw it all out there and if it gets rough, it gets rough. And if it doesn’t, you just go out there and race and see where it all falls in the end.
“It’s really a no-pressure, nothing-to-lose situation for us and I like it. I like coming from behind. I like when people write us off, it’s kind of like everybody’s been their whole career. It’s fun to come up and see everybody after that.”
That Johnson’s team made a crew swap in the middle of last week’s race might have been surprising, Harvick said, but the action was no different that a similar move made by Richard Childress Racing last month when the over-the-wall crews of Harvick and Clint Bowyer were swapped.
“When you do it in the middle of the race, … there’s no hiding,” Harvick said. "For us, it’s been very beneficial. We hadn’t gained a spot on pit road in the Chase and we haven’t lost one since we changed [pit crews]. The results for us have been fairly simple.
“I think Mike should take his own advice to his driver [at Dover] and not insert [his] foot in [his] mouth. I think the comments that he made after the race about being better than the 48 team … I think he’s just trying to stir stuff up.
“Whatever it takes to win is what you’ve got to do, so if there’s something wrong with that [crew swap], then I’m missing something.”
SceneDaily.com • Jimmie Johnson says his mind is clear and crew motivated after team's strength questioned
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