2025 Happy Hour Awards Show: Driver of the Year, Biggest Story, Best Burnout, Craziest Finish, Best Word of the Week, and Best Viral Moment

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I'm a firm believer in karma.

This interview was unfolding.

I was just like, this is real.

If you want to be number one, you got to be odd.

The showmanship is a piece that people forget about in what we do.

I'm glad that the fans are focused on the race.

He said, I bet you didn't think I was tall enough to be here to sit on the door and

touch the gas pedal the same time.

Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.

I'm Kevin Harvick, Caitlin Benzzi, and Mama Smith.

In the house.

We're here for overtime.

We are.

This is overtime.

This is OT.

Yeah.

The awards show.

It's fun.

Second time we've done this.

Well, it is always interesting to see what we think compared to what the fans

think.

This is not the same.

There are a lot of times that we are not on the same page.

A lot of times we're in line and they like what we have to say, but it'll be interesting

to see where all these categories fall.

This is a little different because the way we pick the moments, there's so many moments

that happen throughout the year.

Yeah.

Anyone can pick a few to vote on.

Yeah.

So, you know, you kind of forget because the season so long ago, oh yeah, I forgot

about that one.

Like the Blaney and the Swares one, I was like, I know.

Where did they race at?

I was like, what was that one?

I don't know.

It's crazy.

You know, when you look back at the season and I did this as a competitor, but you lose

track of, if it happened more than two weeks ago, it seems like a lifetime ago.

And going back through all these things, I was like, huh, I forgot that happened.

Where did I use that word?

It seems like a lifetime ago.

Because the Fox half seems like ages ago.

Oh yeah.

When you were in the booth.

It seems like a different season.

Yeah.

It's a 10 month season.

You'll have that.

We are, we are long.

We are long.

Yeah.

What are you guys going to do in the off time?

I'm going to race.

Yeah.

I'm going to race this weekend.

So back for the, my last race of the season, but in the late model world, it's

really big race season.

So they had the All-American 400 last weekend, Keelan Race on Saturday in the pro

late model piece of it.

Got caught up in a Daytona style wreck, but he did a really good job.

He picked, he qualified fifth and then drew eighth to start the race.

Yeah.

So he learned how to draw last.

So that was eight out of eight.

Why were you in Nashville?

You said you were in Nashville over the weekend.

Yeah.

That was for the, for the All-American.

All-American.

Yeah.

Is that the fairgrounds?

Yeah.

So, so you've got the All-American 400.

You've got the Billy Bigley.

You've got Governor's Cup.

You've got the Snowball Derby.

So a lot of, a lot of big races.

Florence has won.

Florence.

And then you've got the Thanksgiving Classic.

Thanksgiving Classic.

At Southern National.

Southern National, yeah.

There you go.

Racers race.

What are you going to be doing?

Racers do race.

It is so crazy, like a Martinsville weight model race.

That one really starts the big race season for, for short tracks.

And I love that.

I'm, I'm, well, first of all,

I need to get a wallet.

Yeah.

Number one thing I'm going to do is get an ID again.

So I don't,

Good luck with that.

Yeah.

And I'm a little, you know,

the government's been shut down for 40 days.

Yeah.

I'm a little nervous about that,

but I do have my credit cards coming back.

So that's good.

Did you see if the DMV was open?

I, well, I did before we came in.

Yeah.

And I got the hours,

but I didn't like call.

And I still have to go back home and get some other things.

So now I'm going to call.

Now I'm going to call and make sure.

The DMV is a dreaded place to deal with that.

There's a DMV and then there's a licensing off,

the license off.

So it's kind of like,

hopefully it's not the same deal.

I'm nervous.

You should have contacted the establishment you're at.

See if on the surveillance, they see.

Well, I did go to the,

where were you?

I was at retro bar in uptown.

Okay.

And I've never been there.

And no, you wouldn't know.

Yeah.

Well, it's kind of new.

You guys would like it.

You would like it.

I don't know.

And then, and then an Uber.

So you would have thought that it would have been found

somewhere in between there.

I think someone just picked it up and went with it.

Yeah.

My favorite bar is the one at my house.

There you go.

That's nice.

You have to leave.

Nice bar.

Yeah.

But you know,

sometimes it's good to be around the public and people.

And I get to be around the public and the people a lot.

So I get my,

I get my,

I get my feel for being around the public.

Yeah.

But that's like Kevin Harvick driver.

Sometimes you got to be Kevin Harvick.

Like just the guy,

you can't separate them.

Especially if you're in race market.

Like if you're driver at the track,

you're driver at the retired driver.

Like it all blends together,

especially if you're in race market.

That's right.

I have zero plans to be perfectly honest.

I worked a lot this year,

so I'm excited to do nothing.

Yeah.

I just got back from Miami.

I was telling you about this,

the electric boat race that I went to see,

the E1 race.

Very cool.

Our Fox co-partner,

our worker has a team, Tom Brady.

Okay.

His team won the championship.

Of course it did.

Yeah.

So it's really neat.

I just don't understand

why you'd invest in electric racing anything.

Well,

they're very big on the sustainability of the environment.

I know, but,

but is it really more sustainable?

I just thought we've gone through all this.

It's clean tech sports.

It's really weird.

We didn't take the wind out of myself.

I'm sure you did a great job

in supporting their adventure,

but think about this.

We're going to take an electric boat

and put it in the water.

Yes.

That does sound

on its face a little strange, right?

Electricity and water.

You go to a race,

you don't want to watch a boat go by

and just go...

I want to hear noise.

They're very quiet.

They are very, very quiet.

I want to hear noise

when I'm at a racetrack.

You would have had fun at this.

Oh, this was definitely your vibe.

Is it in Miami?

It was in Miami, yeah.

There's some Ritzy people

who are interested in some good food.

It was a really neat experience.

Okay.

I'll take your word for it.

Different people from motorsports

that have worked in Formula E

and Formula One,

and they're all kind of involved

in this new endeavor,

so that was cool.

I think the funny thing about that

is the more different it is,

racing is racing.

Racing is racing.

It kind of comes back

like you're doing the same.

If you say electric racing,

I'm out.

See, he said that to me

immediately last week.

He's like, hey, I have something

I think you might be interested in.

All these team owners

are on the same level as you.

No, you lost me at E.

You lost me at E.

Way lost me.

There's no snow go fuel

and Kevin does not want to hear about it.

I want to smell the fumes.

When you talk about racing boats,

I think of Miss Budweiser

and all the big boats

that used to just glide

across the top of the water.

And Jimmy Johnson went

and got back into one of those boats

not three or four months ago.

But those are the boats

that I remember racing.

And that boat racing was cool.

The speed boats, those things are sick.

Kevin, not impressed.

No, I haven't even seen it.

He's like, no sound.

I'm not going.

All right, guys.

So as we mentioned,

we have six different awards

determined by us.

Also the closers weighed in

on social media

to put in their fan votes.

So I think it's time

to kick off the second annual

Harvick Happy Hour Award show.

Yeah, I mean, there's only one way

to kick it off

with your favorite segment

of the Kevin Harvick Happy Hour podcast.

We are kicking it off

with The Word of the Week.

And if you forgot,

because again,

it was a very long time ago,

we have a full video

of all the words.

Let's run it.

When you can push

like he was able to do in practice,

that just has a lot of risk to it

when you look at the field

wanting to be pushed.

Yeah, that was definitely

one of those ice in the veins,

cold-blooded moments

right there from the driver

to not overreact.

It's definitely been quite

the metamorphosis,

you know, for this 11 car

from where it was 20 laps ago.

It's been quite the

the attitude for Kyle Larson.

He won that stage,

got a speeding penalty.

Typically, Clint is our lead

rapscallion up here in the booth.

So when we see Kyle Larson

right here,

definitely he's the best guy

up against the fence.

Well, you definitely don't want

to be all hat-no-cattle

in this type of situation.

Well, Clint,

we saw shenanigans

on the pre-race

with you, my friend,

making fun of me.

I'm still blown away

by the reciprocity

from the 19 team of Chase Briscoe.

And it looks like Chase Elliott

right there

rubbing up against the wall

down the back straightaway.

He's got that thing

high-widen handsome up there

down the back straightaway

in that fourth lane.

Those cars three-wide

some of those guys

are putting it on the top

and letting the big dog eat.

Well, that guy right there,

he's been busing all day.

It's fun to watch him

drive this racetrack.

I got it.

I got to be honest.

I forgot

what that looked like.

Lot of great moments there.

So funny.

I just think it's cool

you've leaned into it

and you actually do it.

It's fun.

And I think that

one thing I remember

that Eric Shanks told me

when I took this job

and talking about

what makes it more fun

and what makes you

be okay at it

is being able

to poke fun at yourself.

So screwing up

allows everybody to

make fun of me

which we usually

make fun of Clint.

Right.

And so

easy to do.

I did screw up

a few of those words.

They were several of those

Yeah, but I mean

there were several of those

mornings that I looked

at the word

and I'm like

So I would go to

Mike

and usually say

Mike, how do I say

this word?

And then you get

so wound up

when you're getting ready

to say the words

half of them are screwed up.

It was great.

I thought you executed well.

It was great.

And my joy

like

when it's a big

when it's one of those

big vocab words

you can just tell Mike

loves it.

And I love that.

So ladies and gentlemen

here are the

here are the nominees

Riz

Rapscallion

Indubitably

There you go.

and Bussin

Nailed it.

So

Indubitably

We got nice little

envelopes and everything.

Rapscallion

One which I love

this one because Biff was in there.

And for that one

this was one of my favorite ones

that I picked.

That's what I voted for

but you must not have.

I didn't.

I voted for Bussin.

Really?

You know why?

Why?

Because it was the easiest to say.

That makes sense then.

I voted for Indubitably

because I remembered

him struggling to say it

so I thought that was it.

Anything that I struggle with

he's happy about it.

No, I was happy about it.

So our producer

Tyler must have cast

the tie vote

which agreed with me

Rapscallion.

It was just like a really funny

moment in the booth.

It was a good moment in the booth.

Yeah.

There you go.

So what about

who the

closers?

Oh, yeah.

Closers.

I want to know what you guys did.

Let's see.

Let's take a look.

There we go.

Wait.

Oh, Rapscallion.

Dang.

That was pretty even though

with everything that

was up there on the board

I was expecting something to be

the standout vote.

The standout?

I guess it's

11% more.

24% of you voted for Riz.

35% Rapscallion.

18% and doodably.

Even the professional

can't say the word.

23% Bussin.

That word is hard.

And doodably.

Yeah.

Especially when you have to say it.

You're reading the first two

getting to the third one going

oh shit.

How do I say this?

That one is tough.

I love that.

I love this.

How do you say it?

And doodably.

I don't know.

That's it.

We look forward to seeing what

words Kevin has to say next year.

Okay.

Now it is time for our next award

and it is best viral moments.

Time now to look at the nominees.

We have quite a few good moments

here.

I want to start with the very

first one which was Keelan

Harvick beats Kevin in their

first race together.

So let's take a look back at

some of the footage from this

epic day out in Bakers

Field, California.

Kevin, what do you remember about

all this going down?

Well, I remember I was racing

for the lead and we all wrecked

and then Keelan stepped into

an early Christmas gift there

and wound up racing for the

lead here at the end and making

a good crossover move.

But that was a cool moment to

have that race and be able to

compete against each other for

the first time.

Sure.

Yeah.

He's pretty much got the best

of me this year.

No, not pretty much.

You beat him once.

I've got him the last two.

Have you?

Yeah.

Once he won the whole thing,

I stopped racing.

He wrecked in the other two,

so I wrecked in this one

and he wrecked in the other two.

Okay.

I've kind of got a little bit

back.

He was at one point,

his average finish was like

1.5 or something

against you.

Still a very cool moment for

the whole Harvick family.

I'm sure this whole

experience has been.

Okay, so that was one nominee.

The next nominee,

this one is hilarious,

it's Ryan Blaney's nephew.

He hijacked the radio during

the race.

Let's take a listen back to

what happened.

Hi, Ryan.

What in this race?

Mom.

Get podium on the scanner.

Okay.

He found Gianna scanner in the bus.

Found I had to turn it off.

Freak smart.

I just wonder what was going

through his head initially

when he heard that

like the little child voice.

He was probably like,

what is that?

It's really weird

because all the radios

that we always had

that were not somebody

that was on the team.

They don't talk.

You can't talk.

So I'm surprised that they had that.

But it made for a great moment.

It really did.

It made for a great moment.

That was not a scanner.

That was definitely a radio.

Usually it's everyone else

to get the scanner.

So they probably will not

be having radios anywhere else anymore.

A cute viral moment though for sure.

Okay.

This one, I don't know

if this one's cute or not,

but it involved me

interviewing Cleetus McFarland.

It's a very legendary sound bite

from him at Daytona.

Take a listen.

A lot of anticipation

obviously with Cleetus

in the field.

I know this isn't how

you wanted it to

come to a close.

What was your experience

like as a whole?

Well, I was having the best

day of my life.

Ripping around Daytona

like a bald eagle.

It was flat out.

You know,

avoided a wreck,

which was awesome.

I thought I was the best

driver to ever exist

in that moment.

And it's probably

because my sleeves

were cut off

because I was able to pull

off that maneuver,

come down Pit Road.

Then someone slammed

into my rear left quarter,

spun me out,

lived through that,

got some fresh tires,

went back out there.

I'm hot dogging

into one and two.

And the car

lost it in front of me.

And I saw it.

Didn't have enough brakes

to get slowed down

before it and

tried to go around it,

misread it,

zigged instead of zagged.

And I should have zagged

and I zigged

and bam,

blew the front end

right off my hot rod.

I hate that for you.

And before we came

to this interview,

you were watching that jet

taken off.

Have you ever seen anything

like that?

You seemed pretty impressed by it

when you were just standing

here.

Yeah, I'm a pilot

basically the baddest aircraft

in the country,

but that at 16 is pretty cool.

You just rolled it,

like you didn't check.

I'll be just rolled

right into another

professional question.

I don't think I would have

been able to do that.

I go, I hate that for you.

As this interview was unfolding,

I was just like,

is this, this is real?

He's, this is,

he's really seen all this.

As an amateur

interviewer.

Yeah.

When you got to the point

of hearing that interview,

I'm like,

Mamba, I would have just

been like,

that was the greatest

interview ever.

I don't know,

I don't know that I could have

asked him about an F-16

fighter jet.

I think the producer

got in my ear and said,

ask him about that jet.

So that they

directed me to ask another one.

It's a team effort.

It's team effort.

But yeah.

See, I would have been,

at this point,

I've learned to just ignore

the producer because

he's usually telling me

something that he's

tied on time

or something along those lines

or, you know,

that Mamba has screwed

something up.

That's weird because he

never tells me that in my

ear.

He just tells it in your

ear.

That interview was epic.

I will remember that one forever.

That was epic.

Okay.

The next and final nominee

for best viral moment

is Kyle Larson telling

our own Kevin

he wants to embarrass

NASCAR.

Take a listen.

This is going to come across

like very cocky.

I want to embarrass them.

I want to embarrass

NASCAR a little bit.

They probably think

they're in a good spot.

I want to smash the

field when I run.

That's motivating

for me for sure.

And that was,

I like that.

That was him talking about

when he races down

in the other

series of the O'Reilly

series and he just wants

to smash the competition.

Look at you.

You nailed that.

O'Reilly already.

We can't refer to it

as its old title anymore.

Yeah.

It's the Grand National

series.

That has to be coming.

We're just going to refer

to it and it'll just

catch on.

I think the O'Reilly

people would really

love that.

If it was that.

They probably wouldn't

because nobody would

say O'Reilly.

Yeah, exactly.

That would not get

their branding out there.

You get like a

$50 gift card to get

some free auto parts.

I don't know.

We'll have to find out

what the incentives are.

I hope that they're listening

and, you know,

I got you in the first show.

How much boy.

Good job, Mamba.

All right, let's take a look

at the winner for Best Viral

Moment.

It is Cletus McFarland.

I'm surprised there.

He has an unfair price.

Yeah, he's a very large

baller.

I bet you on YouTube

he probably won the vote

by like 95%.

Yeah, he might have.

There you go.

Kevin, who'd you pick?

Did you pick that one?

You must have.

I did.

Yeah, you must have

picked that one.

That's all right.

No.

Brian Blaney.

Of course you did.

Yeah, but I thought it was

your super fan.

I am a super fan.

Support me, I guess.

The one that had me.

I was definitely supporting

you.

Oh, that's why you did it?

Yeah.

That's exactly why I did it.

It was the best interview of

the year.

It was funny.

Okay.

So who do the closers

vote for?

We want to see what you

guys had to say on Best

Viral Moment.

Here are the results.

33% said Kevin.

Where are the closers?

I love you guys

for picking that one

just because it's an L for Kevin.

Thank you so much.

You guys are the best.

24% Blaney's nephew on the radio.

31% Cletus and 12% Larson.

Embarrassing.

I think you've learned this

over the last two years.

We have a very loyal fan base.

No, no, no, no.

You have a very loyal fan base.

That's what I'm saying.

I mean, in general,

have a very loyal fan base

that's always had my back.

Perfect.

Any of the votes?

There you go.

Cool.

I like that Kevin won.

Okay.

You're up, Kevin.

Some driver stuff now.

So, you know, the best burnout for me

is obviously a category that

I take a little bit of pride in

because I always felt like

our burnouts were pretty good.

So I think it's fair

that we get to critique these guys

because, you know,

I've done a few of them in my day.

They obviously listen.

Here are the nominees.

So here are the nominees

for a best burnout.

The first one we have is Chase Elliott

after the clash.

He really set the tone

for what a burnout.

And the things that go with the burnout

that can set you apart.

Yes, he did.

There you go.

Started out right this season opener

at the clash with a solid burnout.

And the cool part about this burnout

was the fact that

he started down the back straightaway

and he drifted.

We've seen SBG do this,

but he did a backwards drift

with a Kawiki.

Yeah, well, yeah.

A Polish victory lap

and basically dragging the tail,

but not dragging the tail

all the way around the wall

at Bowman Gray.

So that one was,

that would set the standard really early

in the year as to

not just doing a burnout,

but doing a burnout

that was good enough

to set yourself apart

from a guy that just sat there

and melted the tires.

There are some days

that you just need to sit there

and melt the tires,

but that one was not.

The second one was

another trend setter.

And we've seen SBG really step into

the showmanship of what comes

with celebrating after the race,

but his burnout at Watkins Glen.

And we've seen some good ones.

The middle finger out the window

with Austin Hill last year,

but he basically went

everywhere around this racetrack

doing burnouts.

I was surprised that the tires

lasted as long that they did.

And he made it all the way back around

to the front straightaway at Watkins Glen.

And then as this burnout ends right here,

this is the best part.

Still doing burnout.

And we're going to do some high fives

along the way.

So working the car over,

getting close enough to the team.

Very special moment for the whole crew.

So that was definitely

rubber flying in the camera right there.

That was definitely that one.

And Chase Elliott's were high marks.

The third one was William Byron

at Martinsville.

I think when you look back

at that win for William Byron,

obviously it meant a lot.

But his burnout right here

after the race

was definitely William Byron's best burnout.

Yeah.

When you can kind of lock

the left front or the right front

and do a perfect donut like that,

I always think that's really impressive.

And this is a huge moment for this team.

It was a, it was a, it was.

And I think, you know,

those are the moments that we talked about

throughout the year,

but the celebration of this burnout

and the smoke in the donuts

and just the longevity of it.

But William Byron up there,

obviously in our top four,

but he did a great burnout

and wound up parking it

at the start finish line eventually.

Eventually gets there.

He was, he was a little excited.

And he got out to that.

Again, you talk about Kevin,

when you get out,

give me a little bit of juice.

Yeah.

When he got out, he had a,

he was pretty loud yelling at the fans

and I thought that was pretty.

He was jacked up.

Well, and I think, you know,

each burnout kind of represents

where you are in your season.

Yeah.

What it means to you.

I think as you,

as you win multiple races

during the year in a row,

the enthusiasm for that

kind of goes down.

And William hadn't won in a while.

So to see that enthusiasm

after the race was,

was pretty cool.

You see that the, the,

where somebody is in the type of burnout that they do.

The last one was Kyle Larson

after winning the championship.

And there were a lot of elements

to this particular burnout.

And, you know,

I think being the surprise winner at the end

with all the strategy

and not being in contention all day.

And then Cliff making a great call at the end

and Kyle Larson,

you know,

keeping that car ahead of Denny Hamlin

and the rest of them that were,

that were in the race,

still racing for the championship.

But this burnout right here,

getting out of the car,

car against the fence,

got the wave in the flag on the gas,

team standing on the wall

and the celebration afterwards.

To me,

was definitely one of the top moments.

He told me at the banquet,

he said,

I bet you didn't think I was tall enough

to be able to sit on the door

and touch the gas

but at the same time,

I said,

you're right, I had no idea you could do that.

He got his,

he's got a little baby seat in there.

Little baby seat.

So let's see who the winner is.

Yeah, this is the best burnout of the year.

Who do you pick?

The winner is Larson.

Larson the champion.

There you go.

That's who I voted for.

That's who I voted for as well.

I mean, it's hard to beat a championship.

I mean, unless it just was a complete dud,

it's hard to,

it's hard to bet against the champ.

Also because they're,

they're like,

when they're in that burnout,

that celebration,

there's just so much going on with it

and he added a lot to it.

So it was deserving.

Cool.

There you go.

I like it.

Who do the fans think?

Let's see who the,

let's see who the fans pick.

What did the closers get?

Closers, did they agree with us?

No.

They didn't.

Not even close.

Well actually,

that's not surprising.

SVG at Watkins Glen at 48% got it.

22% to Chase Elliott,

12 to Byron and 19 to Larson.

The SVG one was as far as pure like.

We just saw the view clips of it.

Yeah.

As far as pure burnout,

it was amazing.

Yeah.

When we first saw that,

we're like,

we've never seen anyone do this like this before.

And I feel like SVG has a lot of fans.

Like I'm wondering if he is going to overtake

2025 Happy Hour Awards Show: Driver of the Year, Biggest Story, Best Burnout, Craziest Finish, Best Word of the Week, and Best Viral Moment

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