Kevin Harvick’s BIG Announcement! Plus, Ryan Preece Wins the Clash Amid Weather Madness
Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX
Kevin Harvick’s BIG Announcement! Plus, Ryan Preece Wins the Clash Amid Weather Madness
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Car
Chrysler Daytona
The Chrysler Daytona is a sporty car from the 1980s that people remember for its cool look and fun driving experience. It was made by Chrysler and is part of the history of American cars that are designed to be fast and exciting. It's often talked about because many car enthusiasts love classic cars like this one.
Company
JD Motorsports
JD Motorsports is a team that participates in NASCAR racing, which is a popular motorsport in the United States. They help new drivers get experience in racing.
Term
K&N car
A K&N car is a vehicle that uses special filters made by K&N, which help the engine breathe better and perform better, especially in racing.
Company
MDM Motorsports
MDM Motorsports is another racing team that helps drivers compete in races, similar to JD Motorsports. They also focus on helping new drivers improve their skills.
Term
bet on himself
'Bet on himself' means that someone believed in their own abilities and took a chance to achieve their dreams, like a driver trying to succeed in racing.
Concept
Speedway cars
Speedway cars are special race cars built to go really fast on oval tracks, like the ones used in NASCAR races.
Car
Lucid Air
The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that can go really far on a single charge and has lots of cool technology inside. It's made by a company called Lucid Motors and is meant to compete with other high-end electric cars. People talk about it because it's a big deal in the world of electric vehicles.
Concept
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a famous car race that happens every year in Daytona Beach, Florida. It's a big event for NASCAR fans and is known for being one of the most important races in the sport.
Brand
Ram
Ram is a brand that makes trucks and vans. It used to be part of Dodge but is now its own separate brand.
Term
Hemi
Hemi is a type of engine that has a round shape inside, helping it run better and produce more power. It's often found in certain Dodge and Chrysler cars.
Brand
Dodge
Dodge is a car brand from the United States that makes a variety of vehicles, including sports cars and trucks.
LIVE
We can't just be one foot in.
This particular situation turned into a shit show.
For him to go through all the things
that he's gone through, that is not easy.
This was at my house, and my wife
was operating that excavator.
She'd be laughing her a** off.
We will be doing a live happy hour show.
I have been so excited.
Caitlin is so giddy about this.
Yes!
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour.
Presented by Nascar Unbox.
I'm Kevin Harvick.
She's Caitlin Benzzi, and we're still mama.
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
He just said, New England.
OK, well listen, you might as well
walk in the pages, but because you're the New England guy
who went over the weekend, so it's just going to keep going.
I'm so confused on what day it is.
I don't know.
My schedule is in complete chaos.
Trying to move.
It is a disaster.
Kevin, so this is his moving attire.
Is that what you were doing earlier today?
Well, we were moving boxes today,
so I just figured I'd wear this today.
Did you guys wake up today and think, oh yeah,
Daytona's in two weeks, and then I
have to remember that it's actually like.
Yeah, we're leaving in less than a year.
I was driving home last night, and I was thinking to myself,
I'm like, oh, Sunday.
And then I realized that Piper had to go to school.
I had to go to the gym.
I mean, it's just you're in the middle of the week,
but when you go to the racetrack, your brain is trained.
It's Saturday, or it's Sunday.
And Wednesday just totally screwed me up.
At least Piper is in school.
My kids have been home for almost like two weeks,
because of the snow.
She's gone twice.
And I've had to be a teacher, which I realized,
I forgot to tell time on an old clock.
She was learning about clocks.
And I'm like, I don't remember even how to do this.
That's hilarious.
That's pretty funny.
Yeah, well, it's even better with Piper.
She's in the middle of learning all of her states.
You want to test your, am I smarter than a third grader?
Yeah, yeah.
How many did you get?
Well, I can get them all now.
I can get them all now.
Yeah, it's been interesting, but yeah.
You didn't go out to the class.
You said you were cozyed up in your house.
I was inside cheering you guys on.
I was texting Josh Sims when I saw him.
So Josh, obviously he had his hat on and his gloves.
I'm like, Josh, you're making us look bad.
He got Jamie's out here, raw dog in the weather
and the elements and he's like, bro, it is not.
It wasn't worth it.
It was too cold.
I knew we were in trouble when we walked up
in the wardrobe room and there were beanies,
down jackets, gloves, hand warmers.
And I learned something that there are actually lap warmers.
And there you go.
I had no idea.
And it's like a heated blanket.
I told you guys last week I came in and showed you
exactly what you needed for the race.
You did, you did say.
I needed nothing.
It was fine in the booth.
Yeah. Kevin was nice and cozy in there.
Never even left.
From the time we started practice
until the time when the race was over,
I didn't know it was going to be like six hours.
Yeah.
But it was, it might have been longer than that.
It was good to hear you guys back on the tube.
It was.
The good news there.
Yeah. It was good to kind of get back in rhythm.
You know, the short tracks are actually
the hardest things to do on those little tracks
because you can't get long-winded and tell stories
like you can at Daytona or a mile and a half
because so much stuff was happening
that you had to be pretty brief about your thoughts.
And it's hard to circle back
and finish those stories sometimes
because so much happens in between that you forget.
So those little tracks are actually
some of the hardest places to do.
I'm sure they are.
Well, you guys did a good job.
And welcome in to another edition of happy hour.
Make sure all you closers subscribe on YouTube
wherever you get your podcasts
and make sure you follow us on social media, right?
Harvick, happy pod, yo.
You guys know the deal.
Two for two.
Well locked in.
Well done.
Well locked in.
It's going to be all year.
I'm excited.
We are excited.
Today is our first edition of The Sips.
Is it?
Right?
How about it?
How about it?
We didn't do them yet.
So yeah.
No, I know what it is.
I'll just check it on you guys.
Your first sippy sips of the year.
That's exciting.
We have an exciting announcement for everybody
because in Daytona,
we will be doing a live happy hour show.
I have been so excited.
Katelyn is so giddy about it.
She is so giddy.
I really am.
What's all this new again?
You get to have a live audience on stage.
So it's Thursday, February 12th
at the NASCAR Fan Experience at three o'clock.
It's free for all the fans.
That's when the doors are opening
so you guys can all come and hang out with us.
See Kevin Harvick in the flesh.
That's awesome.
Yes.
And mama's going to stay afterwards and sign autographs.
So he'll be right there.
I have to go to my next,
my next gig at that time,
but you're there as long as needed.
Listen, I'm there.
I'm there.
Kevin said he's dropping off beer.
So I come on with it.
Let's toss a few back.
He did mention there could be some beer.
The best wholesaler and one of the best wholesalers
in the country right down there.
There he is.
This is exciting though,
because we have talked about it for a while
that we wanted to do potentially a remote,
a live show on the road.
And for me.
Mostly you, but yes.
Well, the reason is back when I worked at Speed Channel,
those were such neat environments.
Being right with the fans and they get to be a part of it.
There's just a totally different energy that comes with it.
So I'm very excited.
We're going to do this.
And if you follow the show and don't show up,
we're going to block you.
So, so simple as that.
You need to find out who you are.
We've got digital images of all your faces
and we're going to use them.
I am pretty excited because back when I was a kid
watching like Kenny Wallace and all that
and that whole group, the OGs and now John Roberts.
Yeah, man.
They all were just it just really brought the sport together
because there's something else to be excited about.
Obviously we're excited about the racing,
but excited about all the stories and your favorite characters
and cast up there at school.
Well, I mean, it's it's speed week.
So, you know, we're leading into the biggest race of the year
and thank goodness are we have a great partner in Fox
that is allowing us to do stuff like this
and leaning into being a part of the event.
So it'll be fun.
This is a man.
Y'all need to come out with those.
I want to see signs.
Signs.
I want to see signs.
Kevin Harvick standups.
Yeah, the whole thing.
Bring it all.
Bring the whole thing.
Bring it back.
You guys remember it.
Yeah, let's bring it back.
Let's get it back.
Hopefully Keelan's Keelan's first view of doesn't.
That legendary story.
The legendary story.
The people in Florida are not the same as the people in Watkins Glen.
It is really warm there, though.
It means shedding layers.
Yeah.
If I was in Watkins Glen right now, I'd want to be in Florida.
Yeah, but I don't think they'd be just dropping them out like that.
No, you never know.
You never know.
To be determined what we may see, but make sure you join us again.
It's at three o'clock on Thursday before Daytona in the fan zone.
NASCAR fan experience stage.
You're not going to want to miss it.
And it's free.
And it's free.
Free entertainment.
It's free.
Everybody likes free.
Of course.
We all do.
Free's for me.
All right.
So now we can talk about the clash and you get to take over from here.
Guys, you guys know we've been doing this for like two years now.
And now that Fox is back at the helm of the show, it's word of the week.
Let's go.
Let's get it going.
Kevin had a great one this time.
Let's see what Kevin's word of the week was at the clash.
All right.
So that was the 23.
Bubba Wallace and the 97.
We've got a list.
Yeah, as far as he can be a bit of a commudgion as he gets underneath and puts
that helmet on.
So you see Bubba, not happy with him right there.
Gives him a little bit of a break check, slams into the door.
Yep.
Tough in the back of the field tonight.
Mike, we have a bunch more to say about that.
Yeah.
The word went right by Mike this week.
So maybe he thinks my vocabulary is better than it actually is.
You said that you are not telling them anymore, right?
Look, I have to lean on my joy sometimes
if I get a word that I don't understand.
This week I used AI, so I have a new assistant.
And I think it's gonna be better to just have those words
pop up on the broadcast and them not know about it.
I can tell Clint, but he never pays attention to me anyway.
So if I tell him, he's probably not gonna remember,
but it'll be better for them to realize the words naturally.
That was the perfect place to put it in though.
It was, that was the easiest word yet.
You wouldn't have known that was gonna happen though.
The hard part about putting the word into the broadcast
is you never know when that moment is going to come.
And they ran each other over like 785 times this week.
So I knew at some moment there was gonna be
somebody that was pissed off like Suarez was
and we were gonna play it on the radio.
So that was a good one.
Yeah, it's a warm up, it's just getting going by now.
So you came up with that one
or is that one the driver submitted?
No, no, no.
That was yours truly.
Oh, we have a list from the drivers.
Yes, I believe so.
I haven't seen this list yet.
Well, I think Bob asked them.
Yeah, I'm excited to see this list.
Yeah, I think.
We needed to be track relevant again.
Yeah, yeah.
There you go.
I knew that that one specifically was gonna work
because they were gonna get pissed off at each other.
And at some point it was gonna be just really easy.
Did you have to study to find that word?
Well, actually, over the off season our closers...
Submitted?
Well, somebody submitted on X or Twitter, whatever,
like a bunch of cool words
and the closers started tagging me.
And they like...
That's funny.
Like probably like 25 people tagged me in the same post.
I'm like, I'll save this for you guys.
So I pulled it off for that one, cool.
Nice, fans weighing in, I like it.
I love them.
We have quite a bit to discuss here
with this exhibition race.
So I would like to start with the positives
because there will be some negatives as well.
The positive being Ryan Parise got the victory.
It's so refreshing to see the emotion,
the raw emotion out of him
and just the full of gratitude for Ryan.
Well, Ryan has been in a position
to where he thought he was gonna go home,
not gonna make it.
He's been in a position where he's taken a loan out
on his house and borrowed money to race at Joe Gibbs Racing
to prove that he could win.
And he's just one of those guys that just digs all the time
and hard core racer.
Race is race modified, race modified
at Bowman Gray Stadium.
He's already down at New Smyrna racing in a super late model
and race is modified down there.
So he just loves to race.
He's always worked on his cars.
And I think the coolest part about this is, you know,
hard ass Ryan Priest and you'll hear it.
When, when hopefully you guys have listened to the,
to the interview, victory lane interview with, with Ryan
and listened to our interview that I did with Ryan, you know,
after the, after the race, but it's, it's fun to hear
the hard asses when it hits them.
And, you know, I've, I've been hit by those emotions
when you just can't control them and you can't talk
and, and it just overwhelms you because you don't really
realize how much pressure is on you and how much pressure
you put on yourself and, and, you know, those do or die
moments where, you know, you might have to go work
a construction job or, you know, fabrication or whatever
that job may be to, to make a living and, and realize
that your dream's dead.
And, you know, when, when you actually reach the pinnacle
of what you thought you should and get to victory lane
in a cup car and when you've been working your whole life
to get there, you saw exactly what, what that means to him.
And, you know, that emotion coming out was, was pretty
awesome to see.
Yeah. I mean, he's one of, he's, he's one of my New England
brothers. We, it's like the guy, the people that come
from the New England area, they are, we are hard
nose racers up there and we don't get to do it as much
because of the weather. And we made those people up there
probably don't get the amount of respect nationally that
they deserve for being great, not only drivers, but mechanics
on the cars. You know what I mean? Everyone has a second job.
So it's like, it's like a, it's a lifestyle, but it's not
the same as it is down here. And for, for him to go through
all the things that he's gone through, you know, he started
racing at like JD motorsports. Like I worked on his car, on
his, um, K&N car when he came to MDM motorsports, he drove
for us before, like even before that. So he was just
grinding and grinding and grinding. And then he saw
flashes. And then we were in an era where like he bet on
himself and won at JGR. And then it was like nothing. It was
like, well, what he did everything he's supposed to do.
And that's really like a kick in the, in the chest because
you're like, well, what else more could I have done? And, uh, he
just never quit and working out obviously with the KHI group,
getting the partners together and all the things. Um, it's, it's
really, I'm really, really happy for him. Happy for Heather.
Happy for everyone back home. Cause I know they're going nuts.
And now it's just one more reason when we go to New Hampshire
motor speedway for them to be excited.
I asked him, I asked him on, on our, uh, interview this week,
I said, well, did, did, uh, miss Heather wash your mouth out
with soap?
There was a couple of
words in, in, yeah, that was funny, but it's, you kind of
noted this on the broadcast. He's kind of been carrying the
flag for RFK. Can you look at last year, he had 14 top 10
performances. It was the best season he's ever had in cup.
And now he has a lot to build on just coming out of the gate
with this.
You never know when it's just going to gel with a team or the
crew chief and engineers or company in general. And it, it,
it has just gelled for those guys. And you know, it's just that
they've assembled the right group of people with the right
personalities and figured out how to talk to each other and
make their cars fast. And consistently last year, he ran
in the top 10 and that, and that's hard to do in the cup
series. He spent a long time at JTG, uh, trying to do exactly
that. And, and you know, it's, it's not something that you can
just fall into. It takes a lot of work, but it takes the right
people. It takes the right system to be able to put that group
of people together and make it happen. So I'm, I'm super happy
for Ryan and really everybody at RFK because, you know, that
they put a lot of effort into, into trying to make their cars
better and get themselves into victory lane. I think Chris
busher, um, you know, we, we thought that he was going to be
the dominant car last year with all the momentum that he had
from the year before and even Brad himself, uh, Brad being
hurt, not being in the race and, you know, kind of some
questions on, you know, where his health is. I think that that
was a, the timing of Ryan's win was big. Ryan, um, sorry,
KV, but Ryan just, I just want to note, like last year, you
saw his road course stuff get better. Like he has become a
well-rounded race car driver and what we, what he had to do
to win at Bowman Gray with the weather. Like that is not easy.
I feel like his reaction just exemplified what it means to
win. I know it's an exhibition race, but like Carson host of
our was talking about it, we still do all the DIL, the prep
work is the same, even though it's not a points race. Like a
win is a win and you're going to lose a lot more than you're
ever going to win and you could just sense how much that
moment meant to him. Well, it's, it's a race and whether it's
a race for, it's still got money on the line. It's got a
trophy on the line and it, and it really gets your season
started. Those guys hadn't, most of them hadn't been in a car
Ryan had, um, but most of those guys hadn't sat in, you know,
behind the wheel since they, they left Phoenix. So, you know,
to kind of get the rust knocked off, there was a lot of pressure
on these guys leading into those practice sessions to get
their cars right, um, you know, to, to just make the race.
And that was Ryan's goal. He said it. Our goal, our only goal
was to, was to make the race. And that was kind of the first
race within the race was to get into that top 20, uh, or into
the top 23 of the, of the field. So it's, um, you know, I
think there's, there's definitely wins that are popular.
And this, this is definitely one of those wins that's popular
in the garage for sure.
It does seem like that for sure. So you kind of referenced, uh,
the things leading up to it. One of them was the LCQ, the
last chance qualifier. This was very exciting and some good
respectable racing in there. Right.
I don't know about respectable, respectable for Bowman Gray.
Yeah. There we go.
You just have to know at certain places you're going to get
run into. You're going to have to run into people and, um, you
know, the, the LCQ race between Corey LaJoy and Austin
Cinderick and what wound up being AJ Almond Dinger, but it
got technical, uh, and, and these guys passed each other a
couple of times and figured out that they needed to, to stay
wheel to wheel to get Almond Dinger back into the race so
that the retaliation couldn't, couldn't come. And, and really
in the end staying door to door like that, when Almond Dinger
gave Cinderick that shot, having that car up on the outside of
him right there of Corey LaJoy, uh, saved the two from
going up the race track and Almond Dinger driving by him. So
just a, a great finish to the LCQ and, and Bowman Gray has,
has produced some, some good finishes, uh, and good racing
with, with the things that we've had happen up there when the
track's dry. Yeah. When the, when the, when, yeah, it's
really fun to watch when the track is dry. It's really
interesting to watch when it's not, but I thought the racing,
when they got to race and use racecraft that they typically
do, I thought it was really good. And yeah, they were beating
on each other and people were mad, but like that's literally
why we go, why we're doing like that's the matter. That's
part of it and what we, uh, expected to see. So I think if
we didn't see that, we'd think something was wrong. You know
what I mean? So I thought that the racing all in all was
good when they got to do it. It has that nickname for a
reason. The unique part and, and I was, I mean, it was
super cold and sleeting and raining in the second half of
the race. I was surprised how many people actually showed
up for the race. But the people that showed up never left.
They stayed. That's amazing. I think, I mean, how many times
have they got to watch a race in the rain at Bowman Gray?
Shout out to them. Seriously. Cause it must have been freezing.
Those are the MVPs. They are the MVPs.
That's a dedicated race fans. I thought there was a lot more
people there than there was going to be. There was more
people than I thought was going to be there. And then to
Kevin's point, everyone that was there stayed. And that was
this. Yeah. If you're watching along on YouTube, this is
what that racetrack looked like a few days prior. Obviously
the track personnel diligently working to clear that
thing off. We had record setting snow here in North
Carolina. The most snow we've seen in 20 some years. So
this was a pretty large undertaking for everybody
and that community, obviously in Winston Salem, but they
got it. They got it ready. There's not too many times
that I've seen the jet dryers used on the, on the
infield. That's a new, that's new. That is definitely,
definitely a new one for me, but you had to keep up with
it because there was so much snow that was coming
down. And ultimately it kind of bit us in practice a
little bit. The snow was packed up on top of the walls
and it got warm enough during the day. It started
melting underneath the safer barriers and they had to
go out and keep addressing that and actually dug the
wall between the safer barrier and the wall out after
the, you know, after the practice sessions and
things happened before the LCQ to keep the water from
running after track, but they had shovels out there in
between. But yeah, I, I think that we deserve these,
these folks from NASCAR, Winston Salem, Bowman Gray,
Fox, all the people that were on the grounds in
order to just get this event to happen was a massive
undertaking. Took way, way more time than everybody
thought it was going to take as far as being there on
Wednesday. You know, you got to realize our crew was
there a week before the race, getting the trailers
and everything cameras and everything set up around
the racetrack. And so it was a massive undertaking
just to get this event to actually happen with all
the weather and things that happened. So lots to deal
with and the hits just kept, kept on coming on, on
race night. Yeah. Kevin is referencing more weather
made its way in around the halfway point. And I
want to bring up something that James Small said
after the race. Obviously Chase Briscoe and company
had a very strong car throughout the course of
that. He was very frustrated with the officiating
side and NASCAR are bringing cars to fuel, obviously
on pit road. And then just, he said there was a lot
of miscommunication. He felt like on tires, minimal
information on what was going on, your perspective
on the officiating for this race. Well, you know, I
think there were definitely some moments that
could have been officiated, you know, definitely
smoother. I think that this, this event is so unique
because we don't count caution laps. We had rain and
sleet in the second half. And, and so when the, when
the things started happening and the event started
to become a wet weather event, I just wish we weren't
so tentative and just especially at the clash,
like the, the, I've driven the car with the rain
tires on there before and, you know, I know we
didn't have the windshield wiper on. I've never
turned my windshield wiper on one time when we
were in a wet weather race because it just, to me,
it just doesn't work. I'd rather have the window
wiped and rain X, rain X put on the window.
But, you know, I just, it feels like a tough
decision, but I feel like we just either we're in
the rain business or we're out of it, right? Like
if we're going to have rain tires and it starts
raining and there's not standing water, which there
was not on the racetrack, we're going, we're not
going very fast. And, you know, if you've got the
wet weather tires in the pits, give them five
minutes, put the tires on, send them out on the
racetrack and let's go. And we heard it from
several of the, we heard it from Kyle Larson, we
heard it from Chase Elliott, we heard it from
several of those guys that were on the radio
saying, let's go. And, you know, ultimately it
took so much extra time, 15, 20, 30 minutes,
whatever it was that it pushed us off the air
out of our broadcast window on Fox and ultimately
pushed us to FS too. So, you know, I know that
they're nervous about the safety of the
competitors, but there's really not that much to
be nervous about as, you know, I think that the
other conversation was the spray, which was never
an issue because of the fact that we're going so
slow there. So, it was, you know, I feel like, I
feel like on the old ones, if we're going to be
in the rain business, we got to put the rain
tires on, send them back on on the racetrack.
The only thing that I would like to look at, our
guys don't, the only time they learn what's
happening with wet weather tires is in the race.
Right. You know, I think having those double
file restarts right off the bat the first time,
you know, if we, if we could just get the car
strung out, we would have been in better shape.
And because they, they got it, they don't know
how far to drive in the corner. They don't know
where to run on the racetrack. The middle lane
was like ice with the rubber and you saw that
with tie Gibbs immediately on the restart right
there, slid up the racetrack, couldn't go
anywhere, slide and spin in the tires. But if
we're going to be in the wet weather business,
we got to be, we got to be more aggressive and
putting the tires on the car and we got to
figure out how to get good year to build a
right side tire, left side tire, whatever
they want to build that has stagger in it for,
for these ovals. We got to just do it
appropriately. If we're going to, we can't
just be one foot in.
We got to be committed.
If we got to be committed to it and having
driven the, the rain tires before that, you
know, they, they drive fine.
Yeah.
Um, now this particular situation turned
into a shit show because, and I've been
here before at the Coliseum when we went
to LA, I'd finally been tired of getting
run over and you just start bulldozing
people. And that's what this turned into.
The drivers lost their minds and started
bulldozing people. Um, because you're just
constantly getting run into and, and the
way to pass was to slam into the guy's
door besides you. And, you know, when it's
wet like that, it becomes finesse or a
Bowman Gray. Yeah. In the wet.
Yeah.
There was not much finesse. So, um, you know,
I think that we, when we had this scenario
a couple of years ago, it was the same way
at the Coliseum. And this time it just so
happened to be, there was nothing wrong
with the tires. There was nothing wrong
with the track conditions. It was just
the fact that they were all tired of
getting run into and turned into bulldozers.
I, I think too, we need to decide what
we want this event to be. Like from the
standpoint of like what we're doing with
the clash itself, like, um, I think it
being at LA, I loved it at LA. I also
loved it at Bowman Gray Stadium. Um, I
also remember loving it at Daytona. Like
now I don't think we're gonna, I don't
think we'll see it at Daytona because
the amount of work the Speedway cars take
and then risking wrecking, you know, on a
high level and then you're losing cars
and like the money aspect, the business
part of that part is really tough. Even
turning the lights on at Daytona versus
turning the lights on at Bowman Gray is
a lot different, right? Um, I don't know
what exactly the answer is. Maybe it's
the short track situation. Maybe it, we
move it up earlier and do an international
situation like some type of exhibition
in a warm weather climate. Um, I don't
know what it is exactly, but we need to
think about what we want this to be
because we've now you, we've kind of
exhausted a lot of the options and well
what we're gonna do. It's, I think we
should use our resources here. Um, you
know, the international thing is
probably a big check, but I think it's
it's great that we go to a place like
Bowman Gray. You look at the soft walls,
you look at the lights, you look at all
the improvements that went into that
racetrack. Ryan Priest mentioned New
Smyrna in his post race interview.
That place needs some work.
Need some help. And my point in this is
using that race to go to different
places to, um, help rebuild the
infrastructure of the short track system
is, is needed. And if you want to go, I
mean, New Smyrna has the same weather
Daytona is going to have. Bakersfield,
California has great weather this time
of year. There are places that we could
go to be able to put a little money, a
little enthusiasm into that particular
market to cater to, you know, some of
those short tracks. So we could, we could
get, we could get three, four, five years
down the road and then worry about what
we want to do next. But I love the fact
that, and the racing has been good at
Bowman Gray when the racetrack was dry.
And, and racing was good at the Coliseum
the first year, second year it turned
into a exactly what we just saw last
night. So, you know, it's, um, you can get
some good ones, you can get some bad
ones, but I like it at the short track.
So you wanted to stay at Bowman Gray?
I don't, I don't think it's good to stay
at Bowman Gray because of the weather.
I like the short track in general.
Bowman Gray is a great place to have it.
I think our, I think we've put on good
shows. I think the fans are, we have
hardcore rabid fans that, that are at
Bowman Gray and we have a great fan base
there. But unfortunately when that, when
that race falls, it's just, it's so
questionable with the weather and we
got bit by it this year. We got lucky
last year. It's a high risk, high reward.
I think we all, as all, we all are fans.
As we want things to happen and all
other things like that, you got to
remember, be careful, we talked about
last week, be careful what you wish for
because there is the other side of the
coin. So we just can't remember that.
There you go. All right. So let's talk
about some of the things that happened
throughout the course of this race. And
maybe we'll start with William Byron,
who was the runner up. What kind of
flex did you see him demonstrate in
race one? Well, he was in, he was in
contention all night. And, and I think
that, you know, we, we saw a certain
point where he and Larson started to
fade. He didn't fade as, as bad as Larson.
He had his issues during the race and, and
we saw that all night from a lot of
people that were able to rebound from,
from their issues to get back up towards
the front of the field. So a lot of, a
lot of moving and shaking from the, from
the front of the pack to the back of the
pack as, as we went through the whole
night. So it was, you know, look, William
Byron is, you know, he's, he's got the
experience now. He's got the stability in
his team. He's got an organization that
is, you know, proven winners with
Hendrik Motorsports. And they're in a
position to, to contend for a
championship. And, and, you know, I think
the maturity of the team and, and starting
to fill those holes of, of things that
happen, you know, have slowly been
filled to, to put them in a, in a
position to, to be contenders. So
Hendrik swept the front row. We saw four
Gibbs cars lined up right behind them
after qualifying. And I really think
that's going to be the story of the
year. It's Hendrik, Hendrik versus Gibbs.
And, and, and that's, that's just the way
that it is. The, you know, with the small
changes in the rules this year with the
cars and everything that's happening,
it's going to be hard to make up ground
on those guys. I think the only
question mark is that new body and what
tracks does it benefit or hurt the
Chevrolet's on. Hendrik versus Gibbs.
What's old is new again. Yeah. Here we go
again. One driver who had a solid
showing that is with a new team this
year is Daniel Suarez. Had a top five
performance. Seemed pretty happy with
what his group brought to the table.
There were some unknowns obviously with
him going over to Spire on how that
would go. He's paired with Ryan Sparks.
I would say he's probably feeling
encouraged based on what they saw.
Yeah. They, I mean these, it's a race
that like Kevin said, there's still money
involved. There's still a trophy. It's
still a race. You want to show up. You
want to make sure your process is
right to getting the cars right, right?
So that is a good step. You want to
step, have your first step, be a good
one. No matter what, it is throwing me
off him in the seven car. It is a little
bit. It's so like the seven car is
being for Spire. It's like their, their
home car. Like that was their first
number. I'm pretty sure other than the
77, seven in general, right? And so I
look at that. I'm like, I think Spire
is so heavy and Suarez over there. I've
been thinking about trackouts for so
long. So it's going to take me a little
bit to get used to that. I mean during
during practice or qualifying or I
don't remember exactly what it was on
the air, but I called Connor Zillich. I
called him Shane Van Gisburg for
multiple laps and my compadres in the
booth weren't saying that it was the wrong
car. It's like, I don't worry about it.
I'm like, no, I sound like an idiot.
Yeah. I could just called the wrong
car, but it's, but it's, it's the same
for us. We're learning the new cars on
the racetrack and the people who are
driving and when they move around, but
for those drivers and teams, they're
doing the exact same thing. Yeah. They're
trying to figure out the brake pedals
feel different. The way that everything
is done. The process is all different
for those new drivers. So good, good
first outing for, for Suarez and that
team. Let me ask you this. When, when a
driver switched, right? That maybe you
switched from a car that you knew the
driver of and you probably didn't have
any run-ins with, right? With somebody
that maybe you have or haven't, whatever.
And then they do something that you're
not used to out of that car. Does it
catch you off guard? You know what I
mean? Like his Bubba and Suarez, like I
think they've had a couple like little
dust-up, nothing crazy.
Suarez and SVG is of interest. Right. I
mean, like, so when he switches, you're
like, wait, who's in that car again? Like
it's Justin Hayley and Bubba probably
never really run together much. Yeah.
Well, it's, it definitely doesn't take
long. Maybe a race or two and sometimes
you forget who you're racing with. But
when a new guy pops up in there and or
even a young guy that pops up in there
that you're not used to racing with, it
definitely changes the way that you
think about the situation. So you
definitely have to understand who you're
around and what you're dealing with.
You mentioned the trackhouse cars. What
did you think about what we saw at SVG
and Connor Zillich in this event?
Yeah. I thought in the wet, it was good.
In the dry, it wasn't great. You know, Ross
was kind of just middle of the pack all
night. And I think, but that's been our
question. Where would these trackhouse
cars be as the performance of the cars?
Where would they be for these drivers?
And what's that going to be like as we
start the season? So, I mean, there's a
lot of hype around Zillich. And we know
that he has the skill set to drive the
car fast and has won in everything that
he's raced in. SVG, obviously, we know
that he is going to be a contender to
win all the road course races. And we
expect Ross Chastain to win. And really,
from a trackhouse standpoint, Ross
Chastain is expected to be the leader of
that organization to guide the process
of making the cars fast. So a lot of
pressure on all of those guys. Different
scenario for SVG with the points. Connor
coming into the series and the
expectations that are set on Ross to
be that leader and winner of the
organization. I'll be interested to see
how SVG with the point system being
different. Depending on how well he's
doing on the ovals, I expect him to be
better on the ovals. But again, a lot of
it to your point, how's the team
overall doing? Because he could get
better and it might look worse, but like
the cars didn't get better, right? So
it's going to be, we're going to have to
play that by ear. But when he's in the
situation on the road courses, but we
need points, but he's going, you know,
throwing haymakers with like a Chris
Busher. Like how does he now operate?
Because when he got here, it was the
other system. So he only knew one way. So
this is for everyone else. It's back to
the old, but for him, it's completely
different. Well, it's, you know, I think
when you, I want to go back to one more
thing, you know, from the race, we saw
Kyle Bush, we saw, you know, Denny
Hamlin, a lot of these guys go into the
pits, work on their cars, fix their cars
for, for to go back out on a racetrack
in the wet. You're going to get in this
position again. And all these guys were,
not all of them, but a lot of them were
craving the time on the racetrack to
be able to understand what they needed
to do to get better, understand their
race cars and collect that data to be
able to know what they needed to do to
their car to make it work right in these
rain conditions. Because in the end, in
the results, it doesn't say anything
about whether it's wet, whether it's dry,
whether have field crashed, whatever it
is, you've got to be able to navigate
these, these different scenarios and,
and our guys do a great job behind,
behind the wheel of, of being able to
adapt and adjust to all these different
conditions. And so it was, it was
definitely something that was really,
really useful for a lot of the notebooks
for all these teams.
If you don't think that it could be cold
like this at Martinsville, because we've
been cold and it's snowed at Martinsville
before, like we could be in this
situation literally at Martinsville to
track that if there's anyone to compare
to Bowman Gray, it would be that. So
that this could really pay off.
So there is another positive that came
from all this. There are a lot of
positives. You know, I just, if we're
going to be in the wet weather business,
let's just own it. Like let's not,
let's not overthink it. Like the tires
are good, the cars are capable, the
drivers are capable. Let them go out
there and just get after it.
Especially this situation, because
there's no points. So everyone's
trying stuff anyway. So like just let
them, just let them, they all drove into
turn one and the whole field didn't go
straight in the wall. It's not going to
happen. I mean, it's just not going to
happen. We've done it at Richmond. We've
done it at Loudoun. We've done it at,
you know, Bristol. We've done it at a lot
of the places that, that, that we've,
I just, it has to just be second nature.
And we just got to quit worrying about it
so much. I know that we're always
worried about safety and we should be,
but there's not that, as much to worry
about with the wet weather tires is
what we're worrying about.
Okay. Well, there you have it. That was
the clash. And now we are moving on to
the Daytona 500. We can't wait for that.
That's a big race. That's a huge race.
We will talk more about the Daytona 500
on our live show that you can't miss.
Katelyn's live show.
No, it is Kevin's show.
KV special edition, happy hour.
Look at it. It's a show's name.
It's just Kevin Harvick's happy hour.
Presented by Fox, presented by KV.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. You're next.
Mamba social sips.
Look, look, speaking of who's show it is
now.
There you go.
It's your favorite time for the first
time of the year. Mambas, social sips.
Okay. You got to do this.
I can't wait to do this live with y'all.
That's going to be, that's, you guys,
you better come up with something
better than normal.
No, when we do social sips live, you're
going to see that how much of these
clothes is really loved this part.
You're going to see.
But let's get into it.
All right. So when I was looking at
through social, you know, I was like,
do I do stuff throughout the off season?
And I was going to find moments throughout
the off season, but then the snow storm
came.
Perfect.
Well, this ought to be good.
So we have a snowy sips for you.
Let's start with Chris Busher or Texan.
You know, he's a little bit of a cowboy.
They do some cowboy stuff.
They do some cowboy stuff, all right.
Is that him?
He's riding.
He's riding.
Yeah, he's holding on.
Is that a sled?
No, it looks like an air mattress.
Oh, it's an air mattress.
That's a sled.
Yeah.
It's hard to explain what he's doing
because I don't know the proper red
neck words for this, but he's holding
on to a rope that is tied to an
excavator and the excavator is being
slung around in a circle.
And he is, I mean, he's stroking.
He's going pretty fast.
He's lucky.
He's not in bed next to Brad Koslowski.
With an injury.
I want to know who was operating the excavator.
I know one thing.
If this was at my house and my wife
was operating that excavator,
it would be as fast as it could go.
And she'd be laughing her ass off to see
how far she could throw me.
Yeah, yeah.
He'd be gone.
That's the first.
I've never, I've not, I've not seen
that activity before.
I like it.
This seems like a brand new activity.
I would love to run the excavator
and take you.
Yeah, shocker.
There's still some snow out there.
We could still do this.
No, no, no, no, no.
We're good.
We're good.
We're going to stay right here at Jerry Logano.
He's been running around with his son,
Hudson, around his, around the shop and property.
And they, they took the, the UTVs out,
the side by sides, and they were having a ball.
There's some awesome video.
They're drifting around.
Obviously that's a, that's a really good donut.
What do you rate that, Kevin?
That's pretty good.
Those are some ripping donuts right there.
I was waiting for him to shoot through the front door.
Yes.
Great control.
That was a good one.
He's good at them.
That's, Keanu does that in the cup car too, to be honest.
And then this probably is my favorite so far of the things
that I've seen on social.
Obviously we have the race for the seat show here on Fox
with Rams trying to find a driver to fill in their extra truck.
Well, it got one driver, Stephen Malazi.
He basically did a whole ad for them as to why it should be.
Yeah. Let's see it.
Let's see a little bit of it.
Hard to race.
This was my last time in old Jimbo.
With racing being insanely expensive,
I don't get to do it as much as I should,
but that's where Ram comes in.
To celebrate the return of the Hemian.
So I know this kid and he, he is a diehard.
Like he wants it really bad.
And I just felt like if they're,
you're going to have a program like this
that you're looking for someone who's a diehard and for the brand.
You need to, you need to give something like this.
Can you drive?
He hasn't been able to drive much.
So I don't know.
Well, where do you come from?
He just came from cars.
He just came from cars.
Like you just go from law school to trucks?
Kind of.
If you did carting and then he got into a truck
and now he does like starting parks a lot for Reum.
And when they have the funding, they run the whole thing.
He got out back to sponsor him, which I think is pretty,
we had outback at Stuart Hoss.
Yeah. We used to, we used to have Blumen,
Blumen Mondays every time we got a top 10.
I think one year we got 32 of them.
A lot of top 10s back in the days.
Yeah. And no, I don't think it was 32, but it was a lot.
Maybe it was 28, 29.
Still it's a high number.
Something like that.
Yeah.
And they loved it because every time that somebody
would go in to buy a Blumen onion,
they would have an average ticket price of $32 at the outback
with their free Blumen onion.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
That's awesome.
That's pretty good return.
That's not bad.
Yeah. We were driving some traffic.
We were getting a full circle moment.
Good for Stephen though, having his,
putting his story out there.
He sold his own car to race.
I know. That's wild.
That's extreme.
That's pretty extreme.
It's pretty extreme.
And it was, I was some type of dodge, I think too,
that he sold to do that.
So he's really locked into the brand.
Don't forget the mail bag.
We got it back this year.
So, harvickhappyhour4 at gmail.com.
Send us your thoughts.
Yes.
You could also leave a voicemail.
Good or bad.
Good or bad.
Thoughts and questions.
That's right.
Yeah. We love, we love hearing from you any way we can.
And obviously leave a voicemail.
805-317-4175.
That is your first Mamba Sips of the year.
It's going to be a long year.
And I love you guys for it.
You know what my favorite part is other than the Sips?
I know what it is.
And this one was tough.
This one was tough.
But so we got a great amount of curve.
We got to get a little grayish here.
Yeah. We got to get a gray and a little curve.
So let's see Prizes.
The only other ones that I really remember is C-bells at New Hampshire.
And that one, this is better than C-bells at New Hampshire.
Wait. You mean just in general?
Yeah.
Elliott, SPG.
Elliott's last year here at Bowman Gray was really good.
But not on rain tires.
Yeah. That's what I'm saying in the rain tires.
I mean specifically rain tires.
Rain tires are, they look pretty grippy.
He got some smoke out of it though.
He did the best he could with what he had in the situation.
I feel like.
It was loud.
Yeah.
This part kind of.
I don't think it was very good.
He probably should just nose it up and just burn it melted now.
I mean, I look, you guys know I'm honest.
So I'm happy for Ryan Priest, but his burnout sucked.
There you go.
So do you get a grade at it?
Yeah. I, it's not an F, but it's probably more like a C minus.
Cermudgen.
You know the visit.
Is that, is that how we're grading them this year?
Do you want to do numbers scale?
Do you want to?
Yeah. We got to decide.
You got to decide.
Change. So we'll just do it however we want.
So give me a number.
Yeah. I mean, it's not very good.
So he said it wasn't an F, but then he gave it a C and not a D.
So like that's why I like need a number.
He gave it a C.
I mean, he's still one.
So yeah, let's just go five out of 10.
Only because Tyler told me he just got told everybody.
He just got told.
We just got told that in her ear.
So I was like, get her move on.
Kevin pick a number.
Pick a number.
I barely made it.
My GPA was like 2.0.
All right.
So we got five out of 10 for the first burnout of the year.
Not your fault, priest.
The problem, the problem at Bowman Gray is you have only down to go
after Chase Elliott's last year.
So compared to Chase Elliott's last year,
I mean, we should just drove straight to victory lane.
There you go, man.
We will probably see something spectacular at the 500 though.
Whoever wins that.
Well, that's a hard one because of the banking.
Okay. Well, it's hard.
I'm trying to sell the hope here.
Hope is not a strategy.
Hope is a bad strategy.
Hope is a bad strategy.
Okay. Wow.
That was, you just blew through those steps buddy.
I'm pretty good.
Good job.
Yeah, you're a three.
There you go.
I'm glad you showed up today.
You're welcome.
That's right.
Ready to rip.
All right, closers.
Make sure you subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcasts.
We will see you Tuesday for a very fun edition with Bob Pocras,
who is doing a season preview with us.
He will be there.
So thanks for joining us.
We'll see you next time.
Go pants.
About this episode
Kevin Harvick shares exciting news about a live Happy Hour show at Daytona, creating a buzz among fans. The episode also highlights Ryan Preece's emotional victory at the Clash, showcasing his journey and determination in racing. Harvick and co-host Caitlin Benzzi discuss the challenges of broadcasting from short tracks and the unique energy of live events. With humorous anecdotes about their chaotic schedules and weather conditions, the episode blends personal stories with racing insights, making it a lively listen for fans.
Original notes
Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith kick off this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour with a big announcement, revealing a free live show ahead of the Daytona 500 on Thursday, February 12 at the NASCAR Fan Experience Set, featuring the full crew, potential special guests, and live fan Q&A, with the episode airing on YouTube and across podcast feeds for anyone not in Daytona. From there, the crew breaks down a chaotic NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, reacting to Ryan Preece’s emotional win, William Byron’s runner-up speed, the Suárez–Shane van Gisbergen tension after on-track run-ins, Denny Hamlin’s strong finish and comments on wet-weather racing, and the fuel and late-race issues that bit Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. They also dive into the race’s record 17 cautions, NASCAR’s late refuel decision, weather delays, and what it all revealed about who came out swinging and who left with concerns. The episode closes with Mamba’s Social Sips and burnout grades for Preece.
0:00 - Intro
3:59 - LIVE Show Ahead Of Daytona
6:50 - The Clash Recap
34:50 - Mamba’s Social Sips
40:41 - Last Call
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