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NASCAR Comes Together After Tragedy: Honoring Greg Biffle, Michael Annett & More
NASCAR Comes Together After Tragedy: Honoring Greg Biffle, Michael Annett & More
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About this episode
A heartfelt tribute to the late Greg Biffle and others lost in recent tragedies within the NASCAR community. Kevin Harvick, Kayden Bincey, and Mamba Smith share personal stories and memories of Biffle's competitive spirit and humanitarian efforts, emphasizing the close-knit nature of the racing world. The episode reflects on the impact of loss, the support among drivers, and the importance of family, as they also remember Denny Hamlin's recent family struggles. The discussions highlight Biffle's legacy both on and off the track.
Topics:
greg biffle
community support
tragedy remembrance
humanitarian efforts
driver relationships
family impact
memorial tributes
Cars:
Buick Grand National
The NASCAR community comes together after a heartbreaking offseas as Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith reflect on the lives and legacies of several beloved figures across the sport on this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. The show honors the life and impact of Greg Biffle following the tragic plane crash that claimed him and members of his family, discussing his decorated NASCAR career, his reputation in the garage, and the generosity that defined him off the track. They also address the devastating loss experienced by Denny Hamlin’s family, the passing of former NASCAR driver Michael Annett, and the death of longtime team member Rick Otis Hodges, highlighting the often unseen people who make race weekends possible. Through thoughtful conversation and reflection, the crew examines how moments like these reveal the tight-knit nature of NASCAR and the strength of the racing community in times of loss.
0:00 - Intro
1:21 - Greg Biffle & Family Tragedy
11:05 - Denny Hamlin’s Family Tragedy
15:59 - Loss Of Michael Annett
17:58 - Loss Of Rick Otis Hodges
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Buick Grand National
"...it by the throat after, after, you know, the, the grand national race that, that we had at Bristol when, when he s..."
The Buick Grand National is a fast car from the 1980s that looks cool with its all-black design. It has a powerful engine that makes it really quick, and people often talk about it because it was popular in car races back then.
The Buick Grand National is a high-performance variant of the Buick Regal that was produced in the 1980s, known for its turbocharged V6 engine and distinctive blacked-out styling. It gained significant popularity for its impressive acceleration and was a symbol of American muscle during its time, often discussed in the context of racing and performance culture.
- Intro
- Greg Biffle & Family Tragedy
- Denny Hamlin’s Family Tragedy
- Loss Of Michael Annett
- Loss Of Rick Otis Hodges
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For this day.
In our sport, I can be jumping over a car at somebody or mad at somebody, but all those
drivers and all those team owners and all those crew members are always going to support
what you do when something's wrong.
You're going to find a group of people that are going to support you like you've never
seen in basketball or football or baseball.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.
I'm Kevin Harvick.
She's Kayden Bincey and he's Mamba Smith.
Yes.
Welcome in.
Welcome into another season.
Season three.
Hard to believe.
Hard to believe that we've already gone through two seasons of this.
It went by so fast.
It certainly has.
I appreciate all the closers who've been along for the ride.
Make sure you subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow us, of course, on social media.
So today's show is different than weeks past because today is about remembrance.
We lost a lot of members of our community over the last couple of months since we
last had a show.
So we felt it would be best to remember those people for our very first episode of
the year and shed light on some of the people who have made this sport so special
over the years.
And we will have a recap show tomorrow.
But for today, it's going to be about these stories.
So I want to start obviously with Greg Biffle and his family, wife Christina, Emma, Ryder,
his children.
They were killed in a tragic plane crash at Statesville Airport in December.
This was a horrific, just shocking tragedy that took place.
They recently held his memorial service to pay respects to the Biffle family.
Kevin, why don't you start just sharing your memories of Greg?
Yeah, my first memory of Greg was 93, 94, somewhere, 95, somewhere right in there.
Greg was always from the Pacific Northwest and ran his late models up there.
I ran obviously in the Southwest section of the West Coast.
But it was at the October Classic, Greg came and raced in that particular event.
And that was the first time that I got to race around Greg.
And this particular night was what Greg Biffle was all about, driving it no matter what the
consequences were as hard as it would go, trying to chase a win.
And he drove the thing into the fence, running second, so hard off a turn two that it broke
his leg.
Oh my God.
And that was the first time that I got to experience the intensity of Greg Biffle
and his racing.
And obviously from that point forward, we got introduced to Greg Biffle at winter
heat on the, on the West Coast for the rest of the nation.
And I think that, you know, that, that same Biffle that showed up to that late model race
that night was the same guy that ran 20th, ran first, ran 15th.
It was that on the edge, drive it as hard as it would go every single lap.
And, you know, obviously the most famous incident that I had with Greg was grabbing
it by the throat after, after, you know, the, the grand national race that, that we had
at Bristol when, when he spun me out and I hit the fence.
And so we had some, we had some intense rivalries along the way, but always had a, a good relationship
with, with Greg that was very friendly.
He drove for Roush and I drove for, for RCR.
So it was never, it was never like we were, we were best friends, but, you know,
I think from a competitor standpoint and just being able to appreciate who Greg
was on the racetrack for what he did behind the wheel and, and basically coming
from nothing to make a career out of, out of what he did and built a great
life for him and his family.
And, and to see, you know, the way that it all came to an end makes you
really sit back and think about, I know when, when the plane accident
happened, it really made me sit back and think about, all right, what's
important, what, what are we doing here?
You know, it made you look at your kids and, and your wife and realize that
that one moment could happen really, really quick.
But, you know, I think that over the last several years, people have really
got to see who Greg Biffle was and everything that he did from, from a
giving standpoint and flying his helicopter up to the mountains to, to
help with, with the situation that they had with all the floods and, and
everything up there.
So, intense competitor and, and better than anything, you know, a great
human being off the racetrack.
Yeah.
All my interactions with him were always very positive.
He was always so gracious.
I thought kind to the media.
We were kind of starting to see this new era of Greg Biffle because
he won that truck race a couple of years ago, 2019.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He was coming around the racetrack a lot more with Cletus McFarland,
kind of mentoring him, helping him.
His presence at the track, I thought, was always very welcomed by the fan base.
So we were starting to see him a lot more often.
And to your point, I think what will stay with me the most is his
philanthropic efforts to the hurricane, Helene victims, because not many
people would just take it upon themselves to use their own helicopter
and even think to go do that.
And he really started raising a lot of awareness of what was going on
out there because he was filming all of it because there was a lot of
limited information coming from that area at the time.
And as I've mentioned before, I have homes there and employees who live
there and they were like, Greg Biffle has been the biggest help really
that they had seen.
And that speaks volumes about his character to me, far more than something in a sport.
Yeah.
No, I mean, with that, he galvanized a lot of the country in the region to
help and people that had access to their own helicopters and things.
They were like, this guy's doing it.
I want to jump on board with what this guy is doing.
I was out West when it happened and the people I wear, they're like, they're
asking me about Greg.
And I'm like, it was kind of hard because I was like thinking about it.
And I'm like, this for our sport, for our industry, is probably similar to
how a lot of the world felt when Kobe Bryant passed away, just from the
standpoint of what he did for our community.
And he was like a big smile, big personality, one of the best ever
strapping a race car.
Asked for nothing.
Asked for nothing, just did for people.
And like, and when I said it like that, people like, I think that really, they
really understood it because a lot of people around the country understood
what he was doing from a humanitarian aspect, which is far goes beyond what
he did on track, but like the two things coincide, right?
Like this ultra, ultimate competitor was also this huge, had this huge heart
and this person that was able to do that.
And when I first met Greg, I would like to say I was OD 21, but I can't
promise that for sure.
And I met, met him out at a bar and like, when I was that young, it was
like, holy shit, like this is Greg freaking Biffle.
You know what I mean?
He was so nice and we chopped it up and like we became buddies.
And then later on, I ended up working for Randy Goss with Kyle Larson,
when Kyle won the, what was the K&N championship.
And Randy Goss was Greg's crew chief when he won his championships in
trucks and I think it in the Grand National series.
And, and I would have asked him, I was like, who's that, like, who's
the best guy that you ever seen?
He's like Greg Biffle.
And it wasn't even close.
Like it was quick and not even close.
And like, I don't know, man.
It just, it's, it's, it took Kevin's point.
Like you think about what's important in your life and, you know, the
people that you have around you.
And I remember when I, when I saw it, because it was at the beginning,
it was just like a tail number and we didn't know who was on or anything.
And I fired off a text to Greg hoping to get the, yeah, no, bad
deal, like in it, in it.
And it just sat there and it never came back.
And so that, yeah, it's sad.
Yeah.
And I, and I think that, you know, you, you relate him to, to Kobe Bryant.
But I think that what a lot of people don't realize in our sport, no
matter I can be jumping over a car at somebody or mad at somebody, but
all those drivers and all those team owners and all those crew members
are always going to support what you do when something's wrong.
When something goes bad, it's just like Newman's wreck.
I mean, I remember standing around the infield with, with Chrissy and,
and, you know, the people that were not in the know, you know, Chrissy wasn't
there, but not in the know of, of what's going on.
And, and you're going to find a group of people that are going to
support you like you've never seen in basketball or football or baseball
because we're always five feet apart, you know, whether it's in the garage
or it's in the motor home lot, you're always five feet apart.
And what I mean by that is you travel together every single week.
And especially at this time when, when Greg was, was it was, you know,
we were part of the cup series together or the Grand National Series or
truck series, you traveled every single week.
You were together, whether you were with your team or not, because
when you went into the garage, whoever you were around in points that
week, that was who you're around.
And then you go to the driver's meeting and it's not like other sports
where you're competing against a different team every time you go
onto the floor, you compete and see the same people week after week after
week. And whether you are best friends with them or enemies with them,
you're around them, but it is a very, very, very small community.
And that's why these types of situations hit so hard with when these
types of things happen.
It's a very tight knit family.
And when these types of tragedies happen, I think you really see how
much everybody kind of rallies around each other.
And, and it was neat to see all the kind of tribute posts that
people were making in the photos and things, video clips and
stuff they were sharing from their time racing with Greg or just
memories that they had with him after this happened.
Yeah, I just, I loved that everyone was getting the true Greg Biffle
at the racetrack.
I'm so thankful that Cletus was able to pull that out of him and really
start bringing the hymn and Christina, because Christina was behind the
camera all the time, like recording all the dumb stuff that Greg
was doing with his sleeveless stuff.
And I, I remember last year at Darlington, he was there.
I think he ended up in the booth with you, with you.
Oh yeah, that's right.
So he drove the pace car and I stuck my head in the window.
I said, you ain't got a hair on your ass if you don't do a burnout.
He's like, I can't do it.
I'm like, come on.
He's like, right.
So like right before they peeled off all to the race track,
he did like a brake stand with the pace car.
You know what I mean?
And that was just like Greg, like that was just, he was always
down for a good time, man.
Yes, he was.
We continue to think about the Biffle family, also to Craig
Wadsworth family and Dennis Stutton, who were also involved in that
tragic plane crash.
Yes, son Jake.
So we're thinking about all of them.
And we are also thinking about Denny Hamlin's family, because
shortly after the plane crash, his parents home caught fire.
His father passed away.
His mother was critically injured.
He has since told Bob Poppers that his mother is doing better.
Her condition is starting to improve.
But Bob even asked him, you know, did you consider at one
point not competing anymore?
And he said, I considered everything, but I made a promise to Coach Gibbs.
Yeah.
And as we as we went through 2025, you know, I think that that
inspiration for Denny Hamlin to do the things that he kept
doing last year and and try to to win that championship.
And we saw that emotion.
I don't remember what race it was that he won late in the year.
We saw that emotion that he talked about with his dad.
And then, you know, you knew that he was in bad health and Denny was
battling through it week after week after week after week, battling
with his trying to keep his dad healthy, trying to manage the
lawsuit, trying to manage everything that he had going on from
the competition side, manage a race team.
I just, you know, you wonder sometimes when you get into these
scenarios, you're like, man, why does why does it keep piling on
one person like that?
And, you know, to be able to go through everything that Denny went
through and then have the fire and have his dad pass away.
And, you know, his mom, you know, involved in the scenario is
just it's a lot to deal with.
And, you know, I think we saw the we saw the relationship
that was obviously there and the gratitude that he had towards
his father for what he had done to him in his life.
And I think when you get into these scenarios, when you
know time is short, you start to think about those things a lot
more than what you do on a normal day to day basis.
And you could see that on Denny's mind as he went through the
year and then to have it, you know, have this scenario on top
of that to deal with through the off season.
I don't think anybody would have blamed him if he had just
said, I'm going to walk away.
But I think in the end and, you know, we had this
conversation, Richard Childress used to have this
conversation with us a lot as to why he kept racing.
And, you know, I think that the conversation that he and
Dale Earnhardt had about continuing to race if something
happened to one or the other of them.
And that promise that he made, I think that this is
probably a very similar situation.
I don't, I don't know that Denny's dad would have
wanted anything more for him to go out there and do what
he loved to do and the legacy that they were able to
build together and see it blossom into a career and a
life of what Denny has now.
You know, I think that, you know, I think his dad most
likely would have wanted him to keep going.
So tough scenarios to have to deal with.
Denny Hamlin has definitely been battle tested over the
last couple of months.
And he obviously, he's made the choice to continue racing.
I feel like if anybody could be even tougher coming
through something like this, it's probably a guy like
Denny Hamlin.
He said to Bob that he doesn't feel quite race ready yet,
but he knows he's going to get there.
And I imagine in some ways racing is a little bit
therapeutic.
Therapeutic for him.
Me strapped into that race car and let me turn it on
and do what, cause when you're in that car,
nothing else matters.
And it's just that.
And I really feel, I feel for Denny and his family.
The emotional roller coaster of the entire year.
And then that, losing his dad by itself,
like that by itself is just like,
I'm very close with my dad and he's got me to this point
to sit in this chair with y'all.
And like the thought of losing him drives me to do
a lot of certain things like together and all those
things, right?
And I can't imagine how he's feeling when he was trying
to get to this goal throughout this entire year.
And then his dad was with him every step of the way.
And then it to be something like this,
that's not a completely wild event of a fire.
And it's just, I feel so bad for him.
And to you guys' point, if he would have said,
you know what, like I'm done.
I don't think anyone would have thought
anything different about it.
I spoke to him at the hangar shoot.
Obviously I didn't bring this up.
But I mean, he seemed like he was okay.
He seemed like he was in good spirits for the most part.
I feel like he will be very motivated to go out there
and do his job that we know he can do very well.
But we continue to think about the Hamlin family,
his mother, that is just a, once again,
a very devastating tragedy as well.
Continuing that, we lost a driver,
former driver Michael Annette over the off season as well,
had a career path going through
Arca Xfinity full-time competition with Junior Motorsports,
which is what I will remember him for
is racing the Xfinity series.
Just kind of a very outgoing,
just life of the party kind of guy he always was.
But once again, a very sad thing to happen
in our community.
Yeah. And you know, I think as you look at the community
and everything, it's just like it kept coming.
Oh my God.
It was just one event after another.
And Michael was always a great personality
that we had on the Grand National side
to run those cars and his path up through his career.
And like you say, he was always having a good time,
but when he was in the garage, very quiet.
You knew him a lot better than I did.
Yeah, no, he was pretty soft-spoken
and he was about his business.
Like he loved driving race cars.
And he like pilot and the flying J like that.
That they're like synonymous with racing, you know?
Slamming to Sammy Swindell,
like drove those cars all the time on the dirt circuits.
And now, you know, Sammy Smith has that same,
you know, the same paint scheme, the same logos
and their families are very close.
And Michael was just a really nice guy.
Like he was always smiling.
He's always having a good time,
kind of like bare flag at the bar.
It was who needs a drink, who needs that, you know what I mean?
And just, it's just for me, this one,
because we're closer in age, like, you know,
Greg was like an idol of mine and became a friend.
Michael, I always looked at as someone
that was like a friend,
like someone that I grew up with him.
He was just always something you could call
and he was always there to help.
And he's just a very bright spot in the world
as a human being.
So it's very sad.
Yeah, we're continuing to have the Annette family
in our thoughts as we do for Rick Otis Hodge's family as well.
Yeah.
This is tough.
I know you, we're very close with them.
He's a longtime member of our NASCAR community.
You worked with him for a lot of years.
Do you want to share your memories?
You want to talk about a personality.
This man, Otis is the only thing that I ever called him.
Forgot his name was Rick, to be honest.
I mean, from the very first day
that I ever walked in.
But I mean, you remember him from the, from the DEI days, right?
Like he's just one of those personalities.
There's just certain guys that you know in the garage.
And Otis was a truck driver
and obviously involved on the Budweiser team
for a long time.
And then he came over to Stuart Haas.
When I got there, he was already there.
So became friends right from the very beginning.
And he was always over the top
with everything that I ever needed.
No matter what time it was, the truck was immaculate,
all the time.
And if there was a fingerprint, a piece of dirt on the floor,
he was the guy in their vacuuming.
And, you know, you look back at my championship in 2014,
he's the guy that's carrying the flag.
For those of you don't know,
Otis, he's the guy that carried the flag to my car
and stuck it in the window.
And so that was a really, really tight knit group
of people.
As you know, you worked in that shop as well
during that time.
And so even when Otis, you know,
ended his life in his career at Legacy Motorsports,
I'll always remember him as our truck driver
and a great friend of everything
that we did at Stuart Haas Racing.
Yeah, he was like that crazy uncle at the start.
Grandpa, he was a grandpa.
I was trying to give him some credit.
He's called him Gramps.
He was easily one of the oldest guys in the shop,
but his love for the sport,
like his fire was burning hot.
Like he wasn't going,
you weren't getting him out of what he was doing.
Like he was not gonna quit doing what he hated to lose.
He was a hyper focus, hyper competitive.
And he was just like, he wanted everything perfect.
Like he fit into the four group perfect
because the standard was so high for that group.
And he took his job at that same level.
And I think, you know,
every department has like leaders in their department.
He definitely was like one of the leaders
of the truck drivers.
Like this is how we do stuff.
Like look at how Otis does it.
He taught, I know he taught numerous guys
how to do the job and do it well.
And he was just like, he was like a super,
like that's the thing with everyone in our sport,
they're such good people.
And like every time we talk about something,
I was, ah, this guy was crazy.
But that's really how it was.
And Otis was like, how many times did you get this?
It was like, hey boss, during a rain delay
or we were at a test or something.
Hey boss, we're going to run across street
and get some milkshakes.
You want chocolate or vanilla, that was my favorite.
And he's got this like deep Southern accent.
You know what I mean?
It was just like, oh man, Otis was the man.
He actually drove me to the, to urgent care.
Because I had an accident at the shop.
And I remember like, it wasn't that bad,
but it was bad enough, right?
So I have this cut or whatever.
And it took a minute and he's like, all right,
Otis, we need to take him to urgent care.
He's like, all right, so we're getting the truck
and the sun is beating on me through the window, right?
And I'm like, tired.
I got blood sugars getting kind of low.
I said, Otis, I said, my eyes are getting heavy.
But I know I shouldn't shut up.
He's like, but you're fine.
But I just go to sleep.
I said, no Otis, I don't want to die.
Like he was just, he drove me there and we had a,
it was so funny.
I just, Otis was great.
Yeah. He used to always, he loved to play golf.
And, you know, so they were always,
they were always playing golf on the weekends
or I think he went through a small phase as well,
trying to ride the road bikes with everybody.
He did try to do that.
Yeah, that was pretty, that was pretty entertaining.
And, but, you know, he was,
he was always one that was,
that was going to sit down and have a beer with you
and have a good time.
Always really, really high strung.
Yes. Really?
Very energetic person, pace.
Yes, everywhere.
Yeah. And so my favorite, my favorite Otis moment was,
one of my favorites.
There's so many moments with Otis
because of the fact that he's just his personality,
but we had an extra ticket to go to the masters one year.
And I called him and I said,
Hey, you always wear me out about wanting to go to the masters.
I said, I got an extra ticket and he paused.
He said, I have to call you back.
I'm like, okay, I got to call you back.
Call back.
He called me back.
We are going to believe this,
but I, I have promised my wife
that I have to go to the mountain house this weekend.
And I don't even know how I can tell you
that I can't go to the masters.
I've been asking this for probably seven or eight years
and I can't go.
And from that moment on,
I trust you the very first thing
that I would have in that conversation is
you will never be invited again.
Every time that I would talk to him,
just remember Otis,
you are never invited again
because the one time
that you had a ticket to go to the masters,
you did not go.
You declined.
So I never let him live.
Hey, happy wife, happy life though.
He was trying to keep his wife happy.
That's fair.
Yeah.
He was happy.
He was always, he was always happy.
And when you were mad,
there were very few times that I ever saw him mad.
But when he was mad,
it had, it had got to the boiling point.
Yeah, it wasn't like randomly.
It was like, this has been coming for a minute.
Oh yeah.
Whoever got it deserved it probably.
Great person.
We are thinking about his family as well.
We continue to think about all of the loved ones
and families who are impacted by these losses.
And like you said, moments like these put a lot
into perspective about how close
and that this group is that just gets tighter
when things like this happen.
So thank you guys for tuning in to this very first episode
of 2026 on Harvick Happy Hour.
Make sure you subscribe on YouTube
wherever you get your podcasts.
As I mentioned, we will have a full off season recap show.
There is a lot to discuss, right guys?
Yeah, we have plenty of new, plenty of headlines.
It was a busy off season.
Yes.
And I can't wait.
I'm so excited.
I love the start of the season.
Yeah.
That episode drops Friday, everybody.
So make sure you tune in.
All right.
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