Harvick continues to test well on West Coast swing

Perhaps it was the West Coast air or proximity to his hometown of Bakersfield, but Kevin Harvick was happy to go to work Thursday at California Speedway.

"I think everybody has figured out why everybody likes to live in California -- because of the weather [Thursday]," he said.

Interchangeable cars

When he was asked during Thursday's lunch break at California Speedway if the chassis that Sprint Cup teams must use this season will enable organizations to use the same cars at different tracks, Kevin Harvick said yes, but only to a point.

"With these cars, you could use the same thing from a track like Bristol [short track] to here at California [intermediate, downforce track]," Harvick said. "We're using the same cars we had at Las Vegas, with minor setup changes.

"As far as the other tracks, we'll always have road-course cars and we'll always have speedway cars [for Daytona and Talladega]. But the interesting thing is, one of the cars we have here is the center section from one of last year's road-course cars, with new front and rear clips."

Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM

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Sunshine and a calm atmosphere aside, the fit and feel of his car during the first session of a two-day Sprint Cup Series test at California also had Harvick -- the defending Daytona 500 champion whose nickname is "Happy" -- distributing verbal kudos.

Thursday's and Friday's California test (speeds) was preceded by a two-day session earlier in the week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, all part of NASCAR Preseason Thunder -- NASCAR's annual January test sessions -- and all in preparation for the first full-time season of competition for NASCAR's new car.

With the snow-capped San Gabriel mountains overshadowing the backstretch and none of the wind that plagued drivers Monday in Las Vegas (speeds), Harvick said positive results from earlier in the week in Nevada seem to have crossed state borders.

Harvick was 13th-fastest during Thursday's morning session -- 180.180 mph (39.960 seconds) while Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer was ninth-quickest at 180.537 mph (39.881 seconds)

"As we went to Las Vegas, I think everybody was surprised just how well the cars unloaded," Harvick said Thursday. "I think the most difficult thing we've experienced probably over the last few days is just the different mind-sets coming into the different styles of racetracks.

"Las Vegas is very wide open, lots of grip. Here you slide around and there's a lot of fall-off on the tires. So just trying to understand the difference from the setup that you're going to take from Las Vegas to here was a good experience for us."

This week's West Coast test is yielding research crucial to early season races. But regardless of data accumulated and lessons learned, Harvick says one reason for the new car's genesis should not be forgotten -- safety.

"You can get in and out of the cars no problem with your helmet on," he said. "You've got plenty of room. Your head's not resting against the window net. You don't have any problems getting the seats mounted in the cars.

"It has to be applauded just for the fact that the safety side of it is tremendously better just because the drivers are more comfortable in the cars, able to get in and out of them easier."