Kevin Harvick Interview
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Topic
NASCAR Hall of Fame
The NASCAR Hall of Fame is NASCAR’s way of honoring the biggest names in the sport. If someone gets inducted, it means they had a major, award-worthy career.
Topic
Cup Series
The Cup Series is NASCAR’s main top-level racing series. So when they talk about Cup wins or championships, it’s the biggest stage in NASCAR.
Topic
Crown Jewel events
“Crown Jewel” events are NASCAR’s biggest, most important races. Winning them all is hard because you have to be great across multiple tracks and situations.
Place
Darlington
Darlington is a well-known NASCAR track in South Carolina. It’s tough to race well there, so winning at Darlington is a big accomplishment.
Place
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is home to a legendary race track that hosts big NASCAR events. Winning there carries a lot of prestige because the track is so famous.
Place
Charlotte
Charlotte is a major NASCAR racing area in North Carolina with a big, well-known speedway. It’s one of the tracks drivers really want to win at.
Brand
O'Reilly Auto Parts
O’Reilly Auto Parts is a company that sells car parts. In NASCAR, their name is attached to a championship award, so “O’Reilly Auto Parts champion” means the driver won that sponsored championship.
Topic
NASCAR's three national series
NASCAR runs multiple major racing series. “Three national series” means the main top-tier NASCAR competitions, and adding wins across them shows a driver’s broad success.
Car
Buick Grand National
The Buick Grand National is a high-performance car made by Buick. It was designed to be quick and competitive, and it’s remembered for winning in racing. That’s why it comes up when people talk about championship cars from that time.
Term
late model
A “late model” is a race car used at local short tracks. It looks like a regular car, but it’s built and set up specifically for racing.
Part
right front fender
The “right front fender” is the outer panel above the front tire. If it gets torn off in a race, the car can be damaged and usually needs repairs before the next event.
Brand
Goodwrench
Goodwrench is a sponsorship brand tied to car service/maintenance. Harvick is saying he didn’t feel like the sponsor wanted him driving the car, and that affected his relationship with the team and branding.
Brand
Reese's brand
Reese’s is a candy brand. In NASCAR, brands like this can sponsor drivers and show up on the car, and Harvick is talking about how that sponsorship relationship changed.
Term
branding
Branding is how the team and driver are shown to the public—colors, logos, and the overall image. In NASCAR, that can influence what the car looks like and how it’s marketed.
Term
paint scheme
A paint scheme is the car’s exact look—what colors and graphics it has. In racing, it’s not just for style; it also helps people recognize the team and sponsors.
Concept
migrate to change the marketing
This describes a planned shift in how a driver/team is marketed—moving from one established identity to a new one. In racing terms, it often means changing the car’s visuals, messaging, and sponsor presentation so the car feels like the current driver’s “own” brand.
Topic
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s biggest race. It’s the one most drivers dream of winning, so it’s a huge deal for a career.
Term
Harley J Earl trophy
That’s the trophy awarded to the winner of the Daytona 500. It’s a named award that adds extra prestige to winning the race.
Topic
crown jewel wins
“Crown jewel” means the biggest, most important wins. In NASCAR, it usually refers to the most prestigious races.
Place
Phoenix
They mean the NASCAR track in Phoenix. The host is asking why Harvick seemed to do so well there compared to other places.
Term
flat tracks
“Flat tracks” means NASCAR ovals that aren’t as steeply banked. That changes how the car turns and how hard the tires work in the corners.
Place
Loudon
Loudon is shorthand for New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, which hosts NASCAR events. It’s known as a road-course-style oval layout compared with other tracks, so teams often adjust braking points, tire strategy, and handling balance differently.
Term
Southwest Tour car
The Southwest Tour was a regional racing series. Harvick is saying he started out racing there, which helped him learn how to race and get better before bigger opportunities.
Term
truck
Here “truck” means NASCAR’s pickup-truck race cars. He’s saying he raced those too, not just the other types of stock cars.
Term
Winston West car
The Winston West was a regional NASCAR series, mostly for West Coast racing. It was like a stepping-stone series where drivers built experience before bigger national races.
Topic
Copper Classic
The Copper Classic is a specific NASCAR race weekend. Harvick is saying it was a big deal for West Coast drivers because it helped them get noticed.
Term
cup cars
“Cup cars” means the top NASCAR race cars in the Cup Series. Being around them usually means you’re close to the best teams and the highest level of competition.
Term
bush cars
“Bush cars” is an older nickname for the NASCAR series that’s now the Xfinity level. He’s saying he raced those cars too, along with trucks and other series.
Place
brickyard
“Brickyard” is what NASCAR fans often call the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s one of the most prestigious places to win in racing, so drivers treat it like a big deal.
Person
Jamie Mcmurray
Jamie McMurray is a NASCAR driver. Kevin Harvick is talking about McMurray winning an Indy 500 in 2010, and how that felt like one that “got away.”
Brand
Stewart Haas
Stewart Haas is a NASCAR racing team. Teams like this help prepare the cars and strategy, and they’re a key reason drivers can chase big wins.
Brand
RCR
RCR stands for Richard Childress Racing, which is a NASCAR team. Different teams support the driver in different ways, including preparing the car for big races.
Topic
Indy 500
The Indy 500 is a famous 500-mile race in Indianapolis. It’s a big deal in racing, and winning it is considered a major achievement.
Person
Rick Mears
Rick Mears is a famous racing driver, especially known for Indy 500 success. Kevin Harvick says he grew up cheering for him, which explains why the Indy 500 matters so much to him.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a sports car made by Porsche. It’s known for being fast and fun to drive, and it has a long history. People bring it up when talking about performance and what cars can accomplish.
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When you talk about the NASCAR Hall of Fame, it's all about, you know, the respect of the folks
that have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
I mean, I was really the only one there that could emotionally be in the game 100%.
Those moments in that first year were life-changing.
When you win the Daytona 500, that's as big as it gets in our sport.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox.
I'm not Kevin Harvick.
I'm Caitlin Vinze here to interview Kevin Harvick.
We have a little role reversal here today.
I like this.
I'm usually in charge anyway.
I mean, I try to be, but it was only fitting after it was announced last week
that Kevin is officially going to be inducted into the 2027 NASCAR Hall of Fame
that we hear from Kevin with a lot of your stories from your career.
Well, thank you. Yeah, it's been, you know, I think it's been a little weird.
Yeah, just because of the whole process.
And, you know, I think that when you actually got to voting day,
it was definitely, okay, well, this is actually real.
And it's not just a conversation anymore.
So I sat in my truck in a parking lot about two blocks away.
I felt they wanted me to sit outside of the room
so that you could be there when the voting was over.
And I felt like that was just really, really arrogant for one.
And it just, it feels weird, you know, to be in that position where, you know,
odds are in your favor, but you don't want to, to disrespect the process.
And I think that when you talk about the NASCAR Hall of Fame,
it's all about, you know, the respect of the folks that have already been inducted
into the Hall of Fame, the people that are on the ballot
and not doing anything to disrespect that process.
So it all worked out.
We got there, did the media and everything afterwards.
And here we are.
Here we are.
And there's a reason, many reasons he's getting inducted into the Hall of Fame.
I'm going to read these numbers because I know he will not.
Kevin has 60 Cup Series win championship in the Cup Series in 2014.
Won in all four Crown Jewel events in NASCAR.
Daytona, Charlotte, Indianapolis, and Darlington.
A two-time O'Reilly Auto Parts champion.
And across NASCAR's three national series, it combined 121 wins.
Gosh, you really suck.
Yeah.
I can't believe they're putting you in the whole thing.
It was average.
It was average.
That's amazing.
And when you hear those numbers, it just encapsulates what you've done in your career.
But I kind of want to start at the very beginning because we have a lot of fans
who maybe weren't a fan when you started out in the sport, perhaps.
Yeah.
So your parents gave you a go-kart as a kindergarten graduation present.
Yeah.
Were you skeptical of this or is this something you wanted you'd ask for?
I'm not sure.
That's a great question.
I know that I was always very interested in racing.
Like from a young age, I would go to the shop with my dad when I was 234
five years old.
And he was a fireman.
And so on his off days, he worked on local racing teams and people's cars.
Because Mason Marin at that time was something that a lot of people raced and had different
series and big money races and all the things that happened at the track.
So he worked on cars on the side and I'd go roll around on a creeper and find every bolt
and nut that I could shove inside the frame rails or any hole that was available.
And they'd go to the racetrack and everything would fall out.
So I grew up around the shops.
And my dad would take me to the shops and hang out around the race cars.
And so I had a lot of fun.
And in those days, you weren't really supposed to be around, but I was always around.
And, you know, I think back to sneaking into racetracks and because we go race our go-karts
and actually went to one of the last races at Riverside, Kathy Carelli, Rick Carelli's wife.
We were racing go-karts in Riverside and they raced on one of the races before the Sunday race.
And I actually snuck in the back seat and was there for the last race at Riverside.
They'd put a blanket over the top of me.
And then I'd go into the pits and hang out in the back of the race truck.
But I did that a lot.
And so I grew up at the racetrack in the grandstands.
My grandpa and uncle would, we went to every race that was at Mason Marin and watched
whether it was local race, money race, whatever it was and spent a lot of time at the tracks growing up.
You were successful in the go-karts, winning seven national championships and two grand national championships.
What do you remember, though, from just like that blue collar racing West Coast short tracks?
What was that culture kind of like as you were coming through?
Yeah, you know, we started as a hobby in the dirt field that ended under a barbed wire fence on the first day.
That was how my first driving experience ended.
And, you know, that really progressed and it was really a hobby as we started racing karts.
But we always wound up being pretty good at it and, you know, found success.
And, you know, my dad would, he would, we couldn't really afford to race nationally or at the level that we needed to regionally.
So he figured out a way to build go-kart stands or fairings or whatever it was to try to lower the costs.
And a lot of local support from Bakersfield, from friends and family and, you know,
different people that just would help us get from place to place at time to time throughout the year.
So we, I mean, we traveled in our, at one point we had my grandpa pick up with a little house trailer that we towed behind it.
We'd load the go-kart up with a couple of milk crates and a cart and tow the house trailer and stay in the house trailer on the weekends.
But that was, that was how we raced pretty much the whole time as I was a kid.
That's, that's really neat to hear those original stories.
High school you started racing late models.
At what point did you think like maybe I can make this a career?
Like was there a turning point where you thought, I kind of want to do this as a real job?
Yeah, so we built the first late model.
My dad built the first late model over the course of about two years and he would go to the chassis shop when he had extra time and build the chassis on his own.
And because we couldn't afford to just buy it.
So he would build it.
And then the cars that he'd work on, he'd take, you know, the used parts and different things.
And so they built it over, you know, the first year and a half.
And first year wasn't great.
You know, it was, I think I ran seven races because I wrecked in six of them.
And, you know, I think, you know, the really the, the turning point in that was probably we used to have the go-karts and everything at our house.
And so when we got the late model, there wasn't room to put the car and the race car in the garage.
And he had bought this 55 Chevrolet for me, for us to restore and build.
He took me out there one day and he said, all right, we got to make a decision as to whether you want to race or not.
And he took me in the garage and he said, we've got this late model that you've had and we've got this 55 Chevy over here that you got to decide, do you want to restore this Chevy and live a normal life?
Or do you want to keep this race car and try to try to race on the weekends and see where it goes?
So of course we sold the 55 Chevy and started the late model career at the local track.
And really that evolved into, I was wrestling at the time because wrestling was really only the only sport that I could do during the winter and race.
And so I had a great wrestling coach still.
I talked to my wrestling coach still to this day and we laugh about it all the time because he would come to me and say, hey, if you're going to be a great wrestler, you need to quit racing.
So he didn't really understand and nobody at the school really understood.
So we ran the first year and as we went through the first season, we got to the second season and I was like, if I'm going to keep racing, I got a wreck less.
So the next year we tore off one right front fender and I don't know how many races we won of the season races and won the championship.
So over the first course of the year, I didn't get to race a lot and I learned really quickly to take care of my cars and equipment.
The interesting part was, and I still wrestled, but the interesting part was a lot of kids at school were like, racing, what is racing?
It's not football on Friday night and it's not baseball on the weekends and so by the time that we had got done with the second season at the local track,
school actually had its own grandstand section that all the kids would come sit at the grandstands because it kind of had become a thing in town that this young kid was going to race against all the adults and win the races.
So on Saturday night, all the kids would come to the racetrack, we'd race and then we'd go do our thing after the races and everybody kind of got involved and really wrapped their arms around it.
So we taught them about racing and it became a thing at school.
It became a thing.
Little did they know they were watching a future hall of famer.
That's really neat.
Moving ahead, you made your Crafts and Trucks Series debut in 95, moved up to Grand National 97.
A few short years later, you established a relationship with Richard Childress in 2000.
You joined forces.
What did it mean to you to have the support of someone like him at a young age?
Yeah, that whole period was really interesting.
The family race business had turned into a business and my dad was always pretty hard on me about working on the cars and doing it myself.
And that actually created a lot of tension as we got through that point because in 94, I went on my senior trip and he did not like that.
Oh, where was the senior trip taking place?
Mexico.
Oh, yeah.
Quite a trip.
Different times.
Different times.
Yeah.
So we went to Mexico for my senior trip and I got home and he had sold the car.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, we had won like first four or five races and he had sold the car.
And he said, well, you're not going to win a championship because you missed a race.
And so I bought a touring car, Southwest Tour car, which would what would be a super late model today.
And so we did that 95 and we had an investment guy from Northern California say, hey, I want to help.
And so we started a business and got a real shop and had two or three race cars and started racing in the Southwest Tour and doing it ourselves.
And so that all dried up in 96.
Okay.
And so we built in that time we had built our first craftsman truck in our shop and we ran that first race in 95.
And then as we got into 95 and 96, we had started to run the West Coast races and then we crashed the truck.
Walker Evans spun me out in Monroe, Washington and totaled the truck.
And the money started to, you know, it started to be way more expensive than, you know, the gentleman that was helping us had anticipated.
And so we got to 96 and didn't race a lot just kind of here and there and 97.
One of the guys from town had gone to work for for Connie and Wayne Spears.
And he's like, Hey, you know, I think if you came down here and worked, you might get an opportunity to drive.
And so I went to 97 went to work for Wayne and Connie as a mechanic.
So they paid me $25,000 a year to come work.
And so I lived in in Palmdale Lancaster area right outside of Aqua Dulce where the race shop was at Wayne and Connie's house.
And so that was kind of the breaking point of the family business.
I see.
I'm going to get to where I needed to be.
And that was probably the decision that really kind of turned the tide into thinking that, okay, if you're going to make it, this is what you got to do.
And so that created a lot of tension, you know, but with the with my dad and all the things that that we had going on because he felt like I abandoned it.
I felt like, you know, I needed to make a move.
And so went to work for Wayne and Connie got the opportunity to drive the Winston West car and did well.
And then Dan Press was was the driver and not not doing well in the truck.
And I was there every day.
So they they started, they put me in the truck in Louisville, Kentucky for the first truck race.
And I think we finished 11th in that second truck.
And really from that point is kind of when I took over the car or the truck and, you know, 98 ran the truck full time in the Winston West car, won the championship in the West car and ran, you know, okay, in the truck.
And then the opportunity started to come.
I had to make another hard decision.
Didn't handle it well with Wayne and Connie, but made another decision to leave at the end of 98 to go drive for Brad Doherty.
Jim Herrick in the 98 craftsman truck.
They were in Ohio, got myself in my first pickle, because I was just at a at a point where I was like, you know, I got to, I got to keep progressing and taking the opportunities as they come.
Signed a letter of intent sitting at the table for a three year contract and, you know, got to the end of 99.
And the whole sport had blown up and changed because every there was a whole generation of drivers, huge influx of money coming into the sport.
And so at one point I had Cal Wells, Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs asking what what you were going to do.
We grew up, we grew up, I grew up in a house that rooted for Earnhardt.
And so, you know, between myself and my father, it was okay, I need to, if you're going to race somewhere, you need to go race at RCR.
But Cal Wells had started his cup team.
And there was a real opportunity on the table to go drive that McDonald's car for Cal Wells.
And I'll never forget it was myself and Hornaday and my dad sitting outside on Ron's deck.
And we were, I looked over at him and I'm like, well, what, what should we do?
He's like, well, you can, you can do it.
So you just need to go drive the cup car.
And Hornaday was like, I don't think that's a good idea.
I really think you should spend the time to try learn and do the things.
And so, you know, we had the first meeting with RCR and went to meet Richard and I took my dad with me and we had that first meeting.
And we're able to, you know, make the decision to say, okay, I think we think we need to go to RCR.
And so I had to go to the truck team and say, okay, I'm out.
And they're like, okay, well, that's that's great.
Well, here's what it's going to cost to get out.
I had just bought my first house.
And so I had a loan on my house and I had to take a second out to buy myself out of my contract because Richard would not participate in buying the contract out.
He's like, if you want to drive here, you're going to have to figure it out on your own.
So I took a loan out.
We cut a deal to, I think it was $200,000 to buy myself out of my contract in hopes that it all worked out at RCR to go drive the two Bush car, which they were starting for myself and Mike Dillon.
So we got that worked out and lived off of Delaney's credit cards from about the end of 99 until, you know, I made my first paycheck in the next season.
And the rest is his history.
As they say, a lot of moving parts and pieces though that you had to manage trying to just get to be.
Yeah, at that point, you just, yeah, at that point, you know, it was always, you always had, you wanted to be loyal to the people that you were driving for, but you couldn't be so loyal that you didn't take the next step and opportunity.
And there were some tough decisions that went along with all that.
So there was an initial plan for you, obviously, once you joined Childress, but in 2001, everything about the sport as the world knew it changed.
After Dale Earnhardt, you know, seeing your tragically past on an on track incident, the Daytona 500, you were tapped to be the driver for the number 29 at that point.
Did you feel in some ways that that was stepping into an unfathomable position?
It was very unique because 2000, you know, we won a few races in the Bush car, but Dale wouldn't go test.
And, you know, it's just a crazy chain of events that took place in that whole process.
And so 2000, Kevin Hamlin was like, Hey, I'm going to take, take Kevin to go test because Dale won't go test.
So we just started doing it.
Right.
So I tested the three car everywhere that they wanted to test.
We did a whole development program at Kentucky Speedway with all the new suspension things that we had already been developing in the Bush car.
And we, you know, we started to take that to the Cup car.
So in 2000, I actually went to the designated team, three team tests and drove his car with the race team.
And also was doing all the GM development work for, you know, some of the things were changing a lot on the suspension side at that time.
And so I had worked in the team with the team that was actually with that car.
And, you know, I think that during that time it was really interesting because I didn't know Dale well, but had interactions because of the things that we were doing.
And he wasn't somebody that I hadn't met.
But, you know, the first interaction that I had with Dale was actually with Hornaday.
We had decided that we were no good at golf and we needed to start finding a new hobby.
So we decided that we were going to shoot Skeet.
And so the first interaction that I had with Dale was actually just walking straight into his office unannounced with Ron.
And we walk in the door at DEI and walk in the office.
He's got crap all over his desk and got his glasses on.
And, you know, he's got his glasses down.
On the bridge of the nose.
Yeah, looking at all the stuff that he has.
And he says, what do you two idiots want when we walked in the door?
And so we just sit down.
I mean, Hornaday is just Hornaday, right?
So we sit down at his desk and he says, Ron says, well, we're not very good at golf and we want to learn how to shoot Skeet.
And he's like, well, shouldn't you guys be working on your race cars?
And, you know, so we went through that whole process and eventually, you know, he called one of the guys from Remington, the trick shooter, Danny.
I can't remember Danny's last name and said, hey, can you take these morons to go learn how to shoot these guns so they don't shoot their feet off and we can keep them driving their race cars?
And so, you know, that's where I got my first gun, you know, was Dale took us up to the gun room and gave Hornaday and I each gun and loaded us up with ammunition.
And the only reason I bring that up is, you know, that was my first real interaction with him before we had announced the AC Delco piece of it in Michigan.
And the second interaction was in the lounge of the trailer.
And, you know, he's sitting in the lounge of the trailer in his underwear with his gloves on.
And apparently he liked to wear his gloves and break his gloves in before he would get there.
And Richard just barges up in there and he's sitting there in between getting dressed for practice and breaking his gloves in.
And so we go up in there and, you know, had a good conversation about taking over the AC Delco car and all the things that were getting ready to happen that day.
And so, you know, that led into the next year of doing the testing and all the things that we got to do with the three car.
So doing all that, when everything happened, I pretty much knew what was going to happen.
I had told my wife, you know, on Tuesday what was going to happen, what I thought was going to happen.
And because it was just, you know, he, we had all kind of worked together.
And, you know, I think that there were cars that already had my seats in them.
But during that time, it was really interesting because we had just put together a whole program to go run seven cup races.
Atlanta was actually going to be the first cup race that I ran with the 30 car in America online as the sponsor.
And so much different during those times.
We had flown to America online.
We had gone to, I think it was singular wireless at the time.
And we actually had, we had to turn two sponsors down.
Oh, that doesn't happen.
And well, that was normal during those days.
You just, you had to pick a litter as far as what you wanted to put on your car.
And so, you know, we had put all seven of those races together with America online.
And then in 2002 was going to be my first cup season.
It was going to be myself and Dale and Mike Skinner on the cup side.
And so, you know, we had announced all that in Daytona and got all that done.
And then everything happened, you know, at Daytona and had to immediately start unwinding all that stuff
because I was going into the 29 car to replace Dale.
And so it was a very different twist of how things got started.
And you won your first cup race a few short weeks later and just your third start,
which is essentially unheard of nowadays, obviously, at Atlanta.
Unless you're SVG.
Unless you're SVG.
It was an incredibly healing moment for the sport.
It was larger than just racing.
Can you put into words what that moment was like for you?
It was, you know, when Dale had the accident, you know, it's a pretty tight-knit group of people at RCR.
And, you know, we all knew each other pretty well.
So, you know, I think that getting into that car was not as hard as most people would think
because I looked at it from, okay, what do we have to do to go out on the racetrack and be as competitive as possible?
And those guys weren't really learning who I was.
They knew who I was from a testing standpoint, but had no idea who I was from a racing standpoint.
Todd Barrier was a massive part of that.
He was my Bush Series crew chief at the time.
And he was a very integral part of gluing the two sides together and kind of helping keep everything flowing from the standpoint of,
here's characteristics, he's going to be a wacko crazy guy when you get in the middle of these races.
And so dealing with all of the things that he already knew who I was and the things that I dealt with,
but they kind of knew as well.
But it was, it's like I already knew what was going to happen.
I mean, we had the sit-down conversation.
Rick Mast, they would have put Rick Mast in that car at Rockingham if I didn't want to do it.
But I already knew that that's what was going to happen just based on what it was.
And then it just became, okay, I'm really the only guy here that hasn't been here for a long time.
How can I be just the leader of just going out and doing what I need to do on the racetrack
and try to keep everything pushed in the directions that it needed to go.
And everybody was obviously what they were right from an emotional standpoint.
And the first week we went through the funeral, we went through everything that happened
and just trying to navigate all that.
And I was pretty determined to make it work for everybody just because,
I mean, I was really the only one there that could emotionally be in the game 100%.
So we go to Rockingham and actually, Dylan and I got married the week of Rockingham.
So we ran the first race and left the racetrack Wednesday.
And it was probably one of the best things that ever happened,
just because right in the middle of all this, you've got something to celebrate
that's outside of what you do on a weekly basis.
And so we had all the teams and everybody at the wedding had a reception and party
and all the things that come with, and we did that in Vegas
because it was kind of the most neutral spot for her family to get to
and my family already being out there and you could bring all the race teams
and it fit the race schedule.
So we got married and went to Vegas and got our first hop 10
and that led to Atlanta that next weekend and all the pieces just came together
and we were competitive and doing all the things that we needed to do all day
and wound up in Victory Lane with just a crazy set of circumstances
with the finish and I think at that point there was so much going on.
We kind of hid from all the things that were outside of the race car
because we were at the racetrack so much.
We would go test the bush car, we would go test the cup car,
then we'd go to the racetrack and then we'd do it all over again
and the sponsors and people around the scenario were like,
we just need to get to the racetrack, we don't need to overwhelm everybody
with the things because nobody really knew how to handle it.
I'm sure.
At that point as far as should you be in public, should you just have a good
rent shirt on, should you do the things at the racetrack,
should you have merchandise, there were just so many awkward scenarios
that you had to work through and so we just got to race
and it was just week after week, race, race, race, race.
You go out and you win that first race and it's all of a sudden,
I never really realized the magnitude of the situation.
I knew it was the first press conference was massive and weird
and overwhelming and all those things and I knew it was an important scenario
because we were practicing and Rich was like,
no, we're not going to practice today.
You're going to go to the press conference
and we got to get this done and so we did the press conference
at Rockingham and that was the biggest press conference that I ever did.
You win the first race, biggest race that you'll ever win
for more reasons than you ever realized at the time,
but you go back and you just look at just the things
that happened those first few weeks of the season with Steve Park
and Michael Waldrip and the cars that won the races during that time.
It's just very ironic of how things started off that season with Dale Dye
and his cars winning, me winning the race at Atlanta
and so you didn't know whether to be happy, you didn't know whether to be sad,
you didn't want to disrespect people by over-celebrating
and so now you look back at it however many years later
and you realize just the impact that it had on the sport,
it had on RCR in the start of the healing process of things that were happening
but I think when you look back at that and immediately it was accepted
that it was okay that I drove the car.
I mean at Rockingham, Dale Jr. came up in the hall where he's like,
hey, we're here to support you in driving the car
and helping everybody get through this situation
and it was Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace
because in those scenarios you don't really know are you disrespecting somebody,
are you not disrespecting, how do you handle it
and so you had the support from the family obviously with Dale
and that's a major burden off of your back
as to try to figure out is that right or wrong
but it really, you listen to Richard in today's world
that's really what kept RCR going because we got back on the racetrack,
we won races and ultimately that's what it needed to do in order to survive
because it did survive so many years with Richard and Dale doing the things that they did
so those moments in that first year were life changing
but also a healing process for the sport and the things that happened that year.
That's a tough situation for somebody to enter.
As things started to progress, did you feel like you were no longer viewed
as someone who was tapped to be the next driver after Dale
and you were Kevin Harvick, the race car driver in your own right?
That took a while.
Took a while.
Yeah, I was never really thrilled about the,
and I don't know that the Goodwrench brand ever really internally accepted me driving that car.
I sat in a meeting at the corporate office one day
and the guy, the marketing director at the time looked straight across at me
and he's like, I'm just not really sure that you're the Goodwrench mold.
I'm not sure you're the right guy to be driving this car
and really from that day forward, when he told me that,
I'm like, well, maybe I'm not the guy to drive that car
but I can drive this car.
Yes, you can.
I can do it.
And really from that point forward,
one of my biggest goals was to get that brand off the car
just because of that conversation.
And in 2003, it started to happen.
We had a great relationship with the Reese's brand that had started
and so you started to see those brands start to change
because at that point, they weren't supportive of me
and I was not supportive of them at all because of the interaction
that we had had in that corporate building that day.
Understandable.
It took a couple years.
Like 2002 is really when you figured out,
okay, we got a lot of stuff screwed up
and you started to see the repercussions of what happened in 2001
and then because it was, from the brand standpoint,
I wasn't Dale Earnhardt, right?
Like I'm 25 and he was 50
and so all the things that were expected internally,
I didn't like because they wanted to treat me like him
and I didn't want to be like him.
And so there became a lot of internal battles.
We had crew chief changes.
We had branding changes
and because the second year, we had to decide what the car was going to look like.
Well, they wanted it to be back to their colors
and everybody internally was like,
well, we're not driving a black car.
Like that's just not going to happen.
So it evolved into the silver,
the gray silver car with a little bit of black and fluorescent orange
and it had the paint scheme
so it still had the slope of the three in it.
So a lot of those types of battles started to happen
because of the massive branding that the three car had,
but it wasn't Dale anymore, right?
And it was a really difficult time to decide,
okay, when do we start to migrate to change the marketing
and make it so that it was your car?
And so that really 2006 is when it really transitioned
into a good wrench starting to back off of the car
and Reese's started to come on the car
and in 2007 obviously all changed
when Shell and Penzoil came to be on the car.
So it was those first five years were difficult
because they wanted me to be somebody who I wasn't
and I didn't want to do that
and you didn't want to be disrespectful
but I felt it was more respectful to not do that
because that was his brand, those were his fans,
those were his people
and it was two different generations of who we were
and how we acted and the things that we did.
So there were a lot of things that I could have done differently
but at that point I was pretty bullheaded after the conversation
that I had with the good wrench folks in that office
of basically being told that you're not their guy
and it was like I might not be your guy
but I can drive that car.
I want to go through quite a bit of the success you had
in your own right obviously.
You mentioned 2006 and 2007, you won the Daytona 500,
edging out Mark Martin
and one of the closest margins of victory
since electronic scoring started in 1993.
What do you recall about that win?
Well, it was a pretty wild finish.
I think I was like 15th or like 15 to go.
I was like 32nd, 31st, 30th, somewhere in the back of the pack
we'd got a hole in the nose
and so really you're like well there's no chance
but that was just never how I raced, right?
Like you just never know what the cycle of the events
are going to be as you go through that time
and so we had a good restart
and made our way through the field
and I think the red came out with an accident
at like seven laps to go
and we had worked our way up into the top 10
and so restarted the race
and I was the first one to pop out of line
and Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton
and a bunch of them that I thought would follow me
and they did just the way that it worked out
and we had just a massive run there
the last couple laps to take the lead
and finish the race off with a win
but you looking back on it now with everything
that Mark fought at Daytona
and we laugh about it now
and I think that it was great for us
devastating for them
but when you win the Daytona 500
that's as big as it gets in our sport
and we've had that one I felt like
we kind of snuck up on them and won
I felt like we've lost a few of them
just with the different scenarios
but that's how it works at that race
and so we were only able to win that race once
but what a great experience in the fashion
that we were able to win it
and the things that we were able to do
and put your name on that Harley J Earl trophy
next to just the legends
that have won that race was pretty neat
one of many crown jewel wins
so that's Daytona I want to go to Phoenix
because it became a defining racetrack in your career
it was average
almost unbeatable there nine wins
why did that place just suit you so well
I'm sure you have many good memories
yeah that's a great question
you know we spent a lot of time
on the flat tracks at RCR
and you know you look at Loudon
and you look at Phoenix
and you know we probably
for me I grew up at Phoenix
and you know that's kind of
I raced my Southwest Tour car there
I raced our family truck there
raced the Winston West car there
so you know that was always a place
that just kind of took a little bit of
more pride in just because it was
I mean that was kind of our
the Copper Classic and those races where you got to be
around the cup cars at the end of the year
that was just a that was a big deal
for West Coast racers being a part of
of those weekends and so
you know those were always the places
like man if I'm gonna get my shot
this is the place that I got to shine at
so I had a lot of experience there
we always raced
the truck and
bush cars and whatever
whatever we could race on those weekends
because I wanted to race in front of
our fans from the West Coast
and so I had a lot of
laps and seat time there
and kind of knew all the characteristics of the track
but pair that with
the effort that we put into the flat
tracks at RCR
it just kind of became the perfect storm
to be able to have that
success and it carried on and
and everybody leaned into it and knew
how important that place was
it wasn't just another short track for me
so Rodney and Todd and
Gil they all knew how
important it was and we always took our best
swing
at going to those races and it
paid off in a number of different ways
we got our first ever win there
for KHI
I think the first winning cup
was in 2006
and so it was
it made me mad
more than anything because I wanted to win every race there
and on Saturday
it was the most frustrating thing
ever on Saturdays because of the fact
that you know you just
it never worked out as many times as it should have
so it used to make me so mad
it just kept me coming back and so
Sunday was super successful
and we had some
other truck wins there and so it was
it was definitely a place that was
we were very fortunate
to have a lot of success at and for me
very fortunate to do it on the west coast
because you had so many fans there
Phoenix was definitely a special place for you
so too was the brickyard that races
in too far away coming up this summer
it carries so much prestige
of course amongst the drivers
it's sacred ground if you will
you were able to win there three times
how did you do that how did you make that happen
I can tell you the ones that I lost
I hate the fact that Jamie Mcmurray
got the one in 2010
I felt like that was definitely one
that got away from us there
at the end but
at RCR
we're really at
at Stewart Haas as well
and I think it's pretty common
with the teams you put a lot of effort into that race
because it is the brickyard and it is Indy
you know that's as close
as I came to living out my childhood dream
because I grew up
in Bakersfield California Rick Mears fan
if you didn't root for the Mears gang
you were
not from Bakersfield
so
wanting to be at the Indy 500
and be successful
and to go there in 0-3
and win the first brickyard
and be able to
celebrate that was always something as a kid
that you wanted to do
and to go back and do that
a couple more times at Stewart Haas
and I was actually
there doing the
podcast stuff
not too long ago and
I looked down and I'm like
you know I really messed up
the last race that I won here
was in COVID
and I forgot to go take the picture
so there's no pictures of me
with the trophy
on the yard of bricks that exist
because I never
I never went and took the picture
but that time I was bad about that
because like you said at the beginning
I'm not going to read you my own stats
or tell you what I did
but I'm not going to be the guy
that
pats myself on the back
for all the things that we did
but the brickyard was very successful for us
and always super competitive
and able to
have a lot of success
and be able to experience it
in my career when it was full of people
that's a different place
when it's full of people
and you have
such a knowledgeable group of race fans
that live in that area
and show up at that race
is
a different level of
fans so your interactions with the fans
are very different
because of how
much they know about racing in general
sprint cars, stock cars, indie cars
you name it, they know about it
and so
always
top three
areas that were in our fan club
as far as the amount of fans that we had
and I think that that
brickyard success was part of that
but I always think that
there's
places that you go that people gravitate to you
and I think that early success
really set that tone for
indie but for me
as a kid, kind of living out your
childhood dream to be able to go there and win
is pretty neat. It is very neat.
You mentioned COVID which reminds me of the
2020 Southern 500
it was a veteran masterpiece drive
how do you feel like that win
was a complete performance?
Well
what a weird time
to go through
COVID and our sport really
set the trend for getting
back to normal
and very bold
in trying to make it happen
and Darlington was the first race back
and I think that it's another one
of those moments where you don't realize the impact
of what you did until you get done
and
for me
I mean I'm
you drive the racetrack there's nobody on the road
you get to the racetrack they take your temperature
and you go sit in your motor home
and your stuff's already all in there
sanitized and you carry your stuff out to your car
and you get in your car by yourself
and so
really strange times
and so
we beat them up pretty bad that day if I remember
correctly and I think that
we won the race
and that was really
when I realized what we were in the middle of
when I got out of my car because you're always
just in the car you don't care
you just whatever the scenario is
once the window net goes up
and the motor starts you just
you don't realize what's going on in the world
and
that was another one of those moments where you just get in there
and you have the same emotions and feelings
and everything that you just want to race
and you don't realize there's nobody
watching at the racetrack
physically there anyway
I mean there's a lot of people watching on TV
but there is nobody watching
at the track not a soul
not one person watching at the track
and
I got out with all that same emotion
and I got up on the car and I celebrate
and I'm like what the hell am I
you can hear yourself echoing
through the racetrack because once the engines
are off
you go back and you listen to the national anthem
it felt like one of those old war movies
where they're playing the music
in the abandoned city
waiting for somebody to drop a bomb
and that was what it felt like
before that race
they've got the national anthem playing through the speakers
and it's just echoing
around just eerily throughout the complex
but that was what happened
again and I get out and I'm like
oh that was weird
celebrating with myself
and here comes Regan
with his 6 foot pole
microphone on a 6 foot pole
asking his questions
and I get done with the interview
and they're like on the other side of the wall
alright
go to victory lane
you gotta take three pictures
the PR guy on the other side of the wall
so
I go and I kind of gather my thoughts up
just looking around thinking
this is the weirdest thing I've ever done in my life
and
Josh Williams who's SVG
spotter now all I heard was
good job Harv
like he was standing right there
he's standing in a spotter stand
so I get in the car and I drive down a straight away
I'm like well so much for the backwards victory lap
because there's not a soul here
but I'm already pointed that direction so I drive down
and go down into pit lane
and pull into victory lane
and there was three hats and a trophy
and one photographer and take the pictures
same thing
PR person way over there
alright take the trophy and go to your motor home
and do the media session
and you do the media session on zoom
and I get done with all that
and I get my car and drive home nobody on the road
still
and my phone rings
and it's Kevin McCarthy from white house
speaker of the house at the time
and he says hey I just want to let you guys
know
how impactful this was for our country
to be able to get life
back to normal and sports back going
second call was from Joe Girardi
because you know major league baseball
at that time and Joe and I were
good friends
and he was like
I'm so happy that you guys did this
and the things that you did will get our sport
going back in the right direction
and from there it was just one phone call
after another
thank you for getting life back
going and I didn't have a lot to do
with that but participating
in the event
another one of those moments where you kind of fall into it
because you're the guy that won the race
so it's
our sport can do that we did that after
9-11
over the week after 9-11
and rallied the country
and did the things that we did
in so many different moments
whether it was Dale dying or
9-11 or COVID
we could go back and dig out
a whole bunch of those moments that our sport does it so great
monumental moments for sure
you've been a part of several of them
so those were some of the pinnacle races
but I want to focus in on Stuart Haas racing
for a minute and when you won your championship
of course how to being a part of that organization
unlock another level for you in some
ways
it was a pivotal moment
in my life and career
at that point and Delana knew
I was miserable
with the scenario of everything
that was happening at RCR
and not because you didn't like the people
it's just we couldn't
get to where we wanted to be from a performance standpoint
and there was so much
animosity that it had carried over
into home
and she's like look
at this point you got to do something different
and so we had kind of
come up with a
plan to try to
explore what I needed to do next
really
not from
a personal level
with myself and Richard
but how do you do it the right way
to not
to not be disrespectful
and
that was probably the toughest conversation
that was definitely the toughest conversation
that I've ever had with Richard
outside of the Earnhardt scenarios
because
it was a year and a half before
my contract was up at RCR
but I knew
if I didn't go in and tell Richard
myself
and do it face to face
he would never ever ever respect me again
and you saw that
with Tyler Reddick, right?
The way that that all got handled
and I did not want to disrespect Richard
from
a personal relationship standpoint
because he gave me so many opportunities
but it was just at a point where
I'd spent 13 at that point
12 years of my life there
and it was starting to get
it was just starting to get
messy
from that standpoint
so
we cut the deal to go to Stuart Haas
and I told Richard a year and a half
early
and then it got out as we got towards
the end of that season
and it actually got out the weekend that
we won Phoenix that year in 2012
was when the news broke
that I was going to
go into Stuart Haas
and I was at a point
where I'm like well if I got to sit out a year
I'll sit out a year but I felt like if I handled it correctly
that that wouldn't be the case
and we could put our best foot forward as a group
to work through the end of the scenario
because
that's just who Richard is
he wants to finish what he starts
and live up to his word and I felt like
I know who he is
and I need to do the same thing out of respect to him
and luckily I did it that way
because we worked through the end of 2013
together
and were able to
win races and do all the things
that we were able to do at the end of that
portion
of my career together
and I think until this day
that's what saved our friendship
he was mad at me for
he was mad for a couple years
and eventually
after winning the championship
and he was one of the first people
to tell me congratulations
and tell you that
you did the right thing
and hated that it didn't work out
at RCR but at that point
it all made sense to people
with the effort that Tony
and Gene had really
put forth to basically say
well we don't have anything
who do you want to hire
as your crew chief
and so
Rodney was the choice
and he was at Michael Walter Bracing
and it took us about a year and a half
to convince him because
there was so much
out there of who I was
as a person
outside or inside the race car
and just super aggressive
with everything that I did
some people didn't like that
it caught him the wrong way
so once we convinced
Rodney that that
wasn't going to be the case
we're going to clean house
with everything that we do
we sold the race teams
sold my shop
sold my house
did everything different
Keeland was obviously
coming along in 2012
we had Keeland
and just decided that we were going to
move to a different town
we moved to Charlotte to get out of the center of everything
sold our house
and just started over
and said okay
and Rodney was a big part of that
to say okay well
I don't want you to yell at me on the radio
but it really
gave you a great perspective
on the things that you needed to change
and I felt like if I got the same stuff
that I could beat Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson
in their own cars
if we had the right
equipment and the right people around us
and we had
we didn't have a budget
thank god
and we built
and that's what Tony and Gene wanted to do
they were struggling a little bit with where they were
at Stuart Haas at that point
and so Rodney came over
and we built that whole team
from
that day forward of deciding who the crew chief was
and it was all built on people who wanted to be there
and I think that's super important
for any race team or driver
if the people are bad mouth
in their driver or don't like the scenario
or don't like how they act
then they don't need to be on the team
and we got a group of people that just
totally believed in what we were building
and Tony and Gene
left us alone
pretty much the whole time
and we won a lot of races
and a championship
and had some of the greatest people
together that you could possibly
ask for with the relationships
we were all very similar in age
which was very important
I felt like because most of us had kids
and
were kind of going through the same things in life
but that chemistry
and camaraderie that you have
as a group of people directly affects what you do
on the racetrack
and being able to navigate that
and the expectations
were so high
as to what was expected from you
and everybody had bought into that
they didn't want to let the other guy down
so if you weren't busting your ass
and doing everything that you could do
to make that
what you did on a weekly basis
you felt bad about it
and I think everybody on that team
felt that exact same way
and ultimately
we just won a lot
and it was very successful
and fun
we worked hard and had fun
and those relationships were much different
than what they were at RCR
because you didn't have all the
you didn't have all the
combative
combative situations
where it was this power struggle
of
who wanted to do this
and I wanted to do that
and I was just throwing a fit
I went about it a much different way
and learned
that if I had went about it that way at RCR
probably
would have been more constructive
but the only way to win over there
was to be combative
to get the things that you needed
so
I think that you learned if you look back on it now
I'd probably do things differently
at RCR but
having all those lessons from RCR
to what we did at SHR was exactly
the flip
in things that you needed
in order to make it
so that it was about winning
and not about who you made mad that week
or what you said on the radio
and all the things, all the chaos
that came with everything before that
You can't really achieve great things
without good people around you
that are part of your support system
when you reflect back on your career
and you think about all these moments
who are kind of the core people that maybe you would want to express some gratitude
at this point
I've always had a great group of people around me
personally
from Delana
Fred
and Cindy in the office
and Josh, Fred and Cindy have worked for me
for
almost 30 years now
so when you look at that
we had a core group of people
and Josh came in a little bit after that
and we had this core group of people
that when things got tough
those were the only people that we talked to
it wasn't getting outside of our house
people didn't know much about us
they didn't know how we operated
they never knew where we were coming from
and what was coming next
because it was just
it was that tight
so if you thought you knew us
you didn't really know us
but we always had that group of people
that was very close-knit
and very loyal
to what we did
and it was always about
what's best for our family
and what were we going to do to win
and money
because the money
is what makes the race teams go around
and we had our own race teams
we had people that we were driving for
and so you had all these different things to navigate
so it was
having that close-knit group of people
was super important
you know Richard had a massive
as big an impact because he was
he was so good at
all the things off the racetrack
selling the sponsorship, shaking the right hands
being a respectable person
your words are the only thing that you have
and that's Richard
I mean that's just who he is
he's a person that's
what keeps RCR going to this day
is Richard Childress
because of those relationships
and the respect that he has
from the business world
and within the sport
but there's a lot of politics that he taught us
how to play within the games
of the dinners that you needed to go to
the trips that you needed to go on
the things outside of
what you do from just showing up at the shop
and getting in the race car on the weekends
there's just way more to it than that
so that was very impactful
and I think that
you know when you look
Mike Helton was a massive influence
on my career
Mike Helton and Jim Hunter
Jim's passed
but
I think that
as Mike would put it he would yell at me
and then he'd call Jim to make sure that I wasn't
devastated
and that's why
I think when you see
like at Homestead
when we had the honorary
race there with Mobile One
and they said who you want to drop the green flag
I'd pick Mike Helton
because there's people that
impact your life in ways that
are just different than everybody else
he was the guy that would
spank my butt when I did something wrong
but he was also the guy that put his arm around you
and say
keep doing
yeah keep doing what you're doing
just do it in a different way
but you know I think Mike Helton, Jim Hunter
Richard Childress
and Stuart was always very supportive
of everything that we did
ironically didn't really know
Gene that well
Gene wasn't around a lot
during my time at Stuart Haas Racing
I think the first time I actually ever met Gene
was at the press conference
when we announced that I was going to come
come drive his car
so you know I think that
those are probably the
I mean there's a lot more
you know that had massive
impacts on the end of it
and you know I think that
every moment
leads to the next one and
I've been fortunate to go through a lot of that
you've contributed to this sport
a lot outside of just what you did
in the driver's seat I think about the team
ownership side series ownership
track ownership, driver development
why has it been so important
for you to keep evolving
this sport and growing it in the right way
well it gave so much to me
right like it made my
whole life into what it is today
but I feel like we're
pretty good at it and
I think a lot of that comes from the passion
and I think that
and the love of the sport
the love of racing in general I like the people
I like the things that
that come with everything that we get to do
inside of the car
but I love everything outside of the car
I like the chase of the sponsor
I like the
things that fixing things
like our short track system like we've done
with the cars tour
because it was there when I needed it
and it got so
broken
over the past 20 years
and being able to have an impact on hopefully
continuing to move
those things in the right direction
it just gives me something to do
but it's something that I enjoy
you know being able to
share the knowledge
of the things
that you've experienced and I mean we've
negotiated everything from television contracts
to sponsors to
driver contracts to client
contracts you name it we've done it
when it when it has to do
with this sport and being able to share that knowledge
is something that I was fortunate to be around
to whether it was from Richard
or Rusty Wallace or Dale Jarrett
or whoever it was you know you had
people that would help you
if you were in a
situation where you had a question
and being able to share that with
the next generation
you know I think being a dad
and you know with Keelan and
experiencing the things from a grassroots level
and trying to navigate his
career so many times
the parents get just completely
screwed over
get taken advantage of from a lot of different people
and so being able to
help people navigate
the sport is something
that we can do
and have done a good job at and continue
to do on so many levels so
I like sharing that because that's healthy
for racing which is
what you really want right like
when you get done hopefully
you've made an impact enough that it can change
the direction of certain things
and help scenarios and people
whatever it is to get better
NASCAR and the motorsports community
is very fortunate to have Kevin Harvick
thank you so much for sharing
all of your stories you are so
deserving of this honor it's been an honor
to work with you so I appreciate
you taking time to do this and we look forward to
seeing you officially inducted into the NASCAR
Hall of Fame thank you
you
About this episode
Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour spotlights Harvick’s path from go-karts and late models to major NASCAR milestones, including how “When you win the Daytona 500, that's as big as it gets in our sport.” The conversation covers Hall of Fame respect and his 2027 induction announcement, plus career highlights like winning all four Crown Jewel events and his early series progression. Harvick also reflects on team dynamics, sponsorship and branding shifts, and what track prestige—especially Phoenix and the Brickyard—has meant to him.
Original notes
On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kaitlyn Vincie is joined by a special guest, Kevin Harvick, to discuss his election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2027 and tell the viewers his journey throughout his early life and career. Kevin reveals stories about taking over for Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing, winning his first career Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2001, winning the 2007 Daytona 500, notable moments from the biggest races he competed in, how he navigated challenges to make racing a career, the biggest influences on his career, and the contributions he wants to make to the sport.
0:00 - Intro
:26 - Kevin Harvick Joins The Show!
:48- Election To NASCAR Hall of Fame 2027
2:20 - Early Racing Career
5:52 - Making Racing A Career
16:28 - Driving For Richard Childress Racing
22:15 - First Cup Series Win At Atlanta
33:49 - Winning 2007 Daytona 500
35:32 - Success At Phoenix Raceway
38:34 - 3 Cup Series Wins At The Brickyard
41:38 - 2020 Southern 500 Win
46:25 - Driving For Stewart-Haas Racing
54:05 - Influences On Career
58:04 - Contributing To The Sport
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