When Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by 12 inches last year to win the Daytona 500, his racing career changed forever. He will make his return to the Daytona International Speedway next month to defend his 500 victory, as well as his win in the Nationwide Series race.

Harvick talked about last year's win, his disappointing performance in the Chase for the Championship and his role as a car owner in the Craftsman Truck and Nationwide series during a recent test session at Daytona. Here are excerpts of that interview:

Question: After you won the Daytona 500, you were on top of the racing world. But your team seemed to fade during the playoffs. What happened?

Harvick: Well, I think our cars were strong. Every time we had a good day, something went wrong, and every time we had a bad day it got worse. In the end I think it shows the maturity of the team. I don't look at last year as really any different circumstances that we were put through than 2002, and the results at the end of the year were better. So it's just - we had a chance to win seven or eight races, and just every time something, whether it was our fault or just circumstances, it went wrong. The year before everything went right, and last year, just we couldn't make everything go our way when we needed a break here and there.

Question: You won the truck championship last year with Ron Hornaday Jr. as a car owner. Did you learn anything that can help you as a driver in the Sprint Cup Series this year?

Harvick: I think his attitude. Ron has a great attitude with his people. I've tried to over the off season tried to apply and come in with a better attitude and tried to apply that to my team. Hornaday, car to truck wise, these cars and those trucks, they don't drive anything similar. I know a lot of people have talked about the way that they drive, but they don't drive very similar. I think the biggest thing Ron does is he's so good with his people, and I think that's probably the biggest thing that we've tried to apply from my standpoint to our team.

Question: Would the Daytona 500 be better served at the end of the racing season?

Harvick: Our sport is a little bit different, it doesn't come down to two teams. With all the different teams, I don't think there's any other way you can build any more hype because everybody has kind of put some spring back in their step, I guess, with their team, and everybody has got new cars and a new attitude towards everything that's going on. So the winter gives you a chance to kind of revitalize, I guess you could say, everything that was wrong and try to make it right, and whether you did that or not, you don't know that until after the Daytona 500 starts. Leading up to that point, I don't think you could build any more hype. And then to have our biggest race fall first, falls right into all the hype from all the race teams. I don't know that you could build it up any more. I don't know that you could put it last and have the same prestige and hype that comes around this race.

Question: How has the Car of Tomorrow progressed?

Harvick: I think there at the beginning of the COT races last year, we used the same car for a while. We have a lot of different cars now. I think the biggest thing I'm looking forward to this year is racing the same car week in and week out. Our Impala has been a lot different than what our Monte Carlos were last year.

It's just hard on the race teams to run two completely full time race teams. It's basically two teams within one team, and then you multiply that times three and it becomes a lot of work. I think for my guys and for me, I think you can focus on one particular car and you can focus on the handling of one particular car and make it better, and I think that's going to make the racing even better yet.

So I think for us just getting to the same type of car is the most important thing and being able to focus on one thing.

Question: What are your goals as a car owner?

Harvick: The plan is to just keep it like it is. Whether we run - this year we're going to run one full-time (Nationwide) car, and then in the 33 with myself I think for 21 races or so. And then the two trucks. Right now it's just to have fun and basically be competitive and win races. That's what we built it for. I don't have any long range plans to go Cup racing. I like to be at the shop and around the race cars. To me it's almost like playing a game of - any kind of game, I guess, to try to put all the people in the right places, and to try to put the right chemistry of people together is challenging for me. In the (Nationwide) car, I needed a different challenge. I'm a person that has to have challenges, so I wanted to drive my own Busch Car, and to be able to do that week in and week out is something that I'm really looking forward to. The 21 car was a lot of fun to go out and win races, but I didn't have my hand in everything to feel like it was something that would give you that fulfillment of an accomplishment from the start to finish, and if we could do that with my (Nationwide) car, it's just a different reward in the end.

After realizing that with Ron and the truck team, being able to start that team from scratch was something that just - it's a different reward, and it's hard to explain the feeling that you get from that. Not to say that - I was not bored in the 21 car, but I just needed more of a challenge in the Nationwide car. To do that I think is going to be pretty exciting for me personally.

Question: What have you learned as a car owner?

Harvick: Well, the biggest thing I've learned is just that you can't jump to conclusions right off the bat. You have to take a lot of information from a lot of different people, from a lot of different parts, pieces. In the beginning of owning the race team I would just jump to conclusions, and whether it was changing this person, changing that person, change is good, but it has to be at the right time.

I think it's helped me understand, whether it's from a NASCAR aspect or - it really has helped me communicate with Richard (Childress, Sprint Cup car owner) and just how important the people are. The people around you are what make it go. Everybody in this garage can buy the right parts and pieces, and it's all about the detail work after that.

Question: Is there a new buzz in the garage area with Dale Earnhardt Jr. working at Hendrick Motorsports?

Harvick: Well, for him personally I hope he does well. I think everybody in the garage is kind of rooting that direction. I don't think anybody wants to see him not do well. I think he will do well. I think he made a decision that was personally right for him, and that's the most important thing. You guys all know, when you go to work in the morning, and if you're not happy, then it's not a fun day and you're not having fun at your job.

Question: Can Earnhardt Jr. help restore racing's television ratings?

Harvick: I don't know. I don't think it's going to hurt anything. I mean, I don't think you can have as much drama as they had last year, so I think that got a lot of headlines from a lot of different angles. I don't think it's just our sport that's in a position to worry about TV ratings and sponsorship and things like that. I think that the whole world is kind of - the whole country is in kind of a state of limbo right now. It's something that I think as we get into these elections and get them over with that will come back, whether Jr. does good or not.

Question: How has your life changed after winning the Daytona 500 last year?

Harvick: We've been fortunate to win a few of the big races, and I always thought it was -- I thought I wanted to win the Brickyard, but I was wrong, just experiencing everything from the 500 and being able to be a part of the weeks after it. Everywhere you go, that's all anybody wants to talk about is winning the Daytona 500. That's why this is such a big deal for all the race teams and all the sponsors. This one race can carry you for a long time. So to come back and I guess have the 50th anniversary gold edition, right? I guess that's what everybody works all winter for and comes down to try to win. It's definitely something that you never forget.

Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com