SCR: What was the biggest surprise of last season?
Harvick: It had to be winning at Atlanta. We were just going to the racetracks trying to make it through the weekends at that point because it was so soon after what happened in Daytona. We unloaded off the trailer and were good all weekend. We ended up winning the race very unexpectedly. We thought we would be capable of winning a race later in the year, but not that soon. We were all kind of shocked. It was way above us. You couldn't have written a book any better. We had some ugly circumstances to start the year off, but then to beat Jeff Gordon to the checkered flag was just incredible.
SCR: What area do you think you need to improve upon most heading into your second season of Winston Cup?
Harvick: If I've got a car that's running 10th, that's where I need to finish and not wreck and finish 30th. We need to take the same philosophy we used last year in the Busch Series and turn those bad days into days that aren't that bad. We just need to build on our consistency.
SCR: Looking ahead to next year, you're going to be working with a couple of new teammates at RCR. What are your thoughts on the addition of Jeff Green and Robby Gordon?
Harvick: The addition of those two guys is really going to help this team. Robby's going to have little bit of a learning curve, but Jeff is probably going to be the biggest asset to the situation. All three of us really want to win and that's going to be good for everybody involved now that we're under the same ownership.
SCR: What are your thoughts as you prepare for your first start in the Daytona 500?
Harvick: It's the biggest stock car race there is, so I can't wait to go there and get the year started off right. Maybe I can win my first Daytona 500. That is the biggest race in our sport, so winning it would really mean the world to me.
SCR: What kind of goals have you set for yourself and the No. 29 team?
Harvick: The biggest thing we want to do is contend for the championship, and I know that's setting some pretty lofty goals. I really think we can finish somewhere in the Top 5. Plus I'd like to be in contention to win a few more races.SCR: What is one thing that nobody knows about Kevin Harvick that you think would surprise your fans?Harvick: I like to sing to myself for some reason. I'm a car-singer, the guy you see going down the road singing a song that he really doesn't know the words to. I know my wife would tell you that story.
SCR: You've obviously got a tremendous amount of racing experience under your belt. But looking back on it all, what is the dumbest thing you've ever done in a race car, something you did and thought, "I can't believe I just did that?"
Harvick: I think the stupidest thing I ever did was when I was racing my go-kart at Riverside in 1991 at the Grand Nationals. I was 15 years old and racing against some of the best drivers there were because they'd been racing for years. I started around seventh, and I was always notorious for going from the back to the front on the first lap. So I slammed that go-kart into the grass and slipped back up the track and made it four-wide. I had everybody in the race pissed off at me, but I thought it was pretty cool at the time. Those guys weren't very happy with me.
Harvick ran out front enough in 2001 that he's set high goals for himself in 2002, including a Top-5 finish in points.