Harvick is still searching for his happy place with NASCAR's new aero package
Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images
FONTANA, Calif.—One year ago, Kevin Harvick was going for his fourth consecutive win entering Auto Club Speedway.
Harvick completed 38 laps in the Auto Club 400 before colliding with Kyle Larson on the backstretch in an accident that ended any shot of achieving the feat.
After dominating three of the first four races in 2018, he fell nine laps off the pace before finishing 35th.
“I honestly had forgotten we wrecked until you brought it up,” Harvick said. “I could care less. Sometimes I wreck. Sometimes I win. Honestly, I have grown so numb to what people think or the things I have done that I just love going to a race track with a fresh mindset on a week to week basis.
“I have learned that what I did last week has no merit in what I need to do this week. I don't know. I guess I have done this for so long that I just have a short memory. I can laugh those things off.”
Still, Harvick hasn’t come close to enjoying the same success in 2019. So far, he has just a pair of fourth-place results.
Yes, it’s early. Yes, there’s a new aero package and a new Ford Mustang. And yes, with NASCAR’s Cup tour spending three weeks on the West Coast, there has been little time to dial in the race cars.
If Harvick is concerned—whatsoever—he’s not showing it.
“I think we are seeing some of the unintended consequences of this package, because it's a lot of work,” Harvick said. “It isn’t what everybody expected from the testing with the drafting and low drag and things you are prepared for. The aero balance and all the things that come with that.
“For us, I feel like we have had top-five, top-three cars the last three weeks. They're just not quite winning cars.”
Finding the balance on these cars has been a moving target for the race teams. In the first five races, there have been four different packages at four different-sized tracks. NASCAR shelved the old superspeedway package after the Daytona 500. While both Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway are intermediate tracks, teams did not use drag ducts on the cars until Vegas. Last week at Phoenix, the cars had full power but still featured major downforce and drag due to the aero package.
This weekend at Auto Club Speedway is the first track where competitors have run the same package twice.
“I think as you look at it, I think we have just raced a superspeedway package we aren’t going to race anymore,” Harvick added. “A package at Atlanta that we might not race much and then the last two weeks. You have had cars all over the country.
“It is really just a survival game at this point, trying to keep up with the schedule. We are learning at such a rapid pace right now that the changes to the car will be extreme by the time you get to Texas.”
While Harvick would have advocated running the new aero package in a few races last year, there’s no turning back now. A few drivers from mid-range teams have emerged with the introduction of the new package, but as far as providing parity in the garage? Harvick expects the cream to rise to the top.
“That is never going to change,” Harvick said. “That hasn’t changed. The time and distance may have changed from where first to last is, but I think the teams will line up the same way.
“I don't see the middle tier or back part of the field getting closer to the big teams. Really, I wouldn’t say it's this package or the last package. I don't think that's going to happen in any package.”
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