Inside the Garage: Berrier

Two different races. Two different ways of taking care of business. But the results were the same last year: Kevin Harvick in Victory Lane at Phoenix.

Harvick won the spring race at PIR last season after starting 15th and working his way to the front before leading the final 10 laps.

The fall race was a different story. Starting second, Harvick owned the race in leading 252 of the 312 laps and cruising to victory.

Crew chief Todd Berrier said the reason his driver was so successful at the 1-mile oval in the desert was simple -- patience. That virtue will carry even more weight this weekend when the Nextel Cup Series returns to Phoenix in the Car of Tomorrow. Gone are the advantages under the hood and in the shop that Berrier's bunch created.

Remaining, however, is Berrier's No. 1 bullet in his arsenal -- his driver.

Q: Your team won both races at Phoenix in 2006. What was the secret?

Berrier: I don't know that there's a secret we're banking on. Obviously, our driver likes the place. It's somewhere he's raced a lot and it fits us well. We've had success there by winning both those races plus having success leading up to that. So he can adapt pretty well to the racetrack. That's the big secret we have, the wheelman.

Q: What are the challenges you will face at Phoenix?

Berrier: Both ends have a fare amount of differences. You have to really be almost spinning out off Turn 4 to get off of Turn 2. If the pace slows down you've got to be able to move around and slow your entry to the corner.

Kevin's really a disciplined driver. If he finds something, he can do the same thing over and over and over. Places like that seem to fit him well when you have to apply a lot of discipline and roll the corner. Every short track you've ever been to in your career, it seems like the slower you try to go the faster you go. They know it, but it's hard to make yourself not do something. You think you can get speed or go a little faster and it ends up costing you. Once he hits on something, he's good about disciplining himself enough to keep doing it. (Continued)