SVG's Victory Lap

SVG's Victory Lap Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX · Jul 1, 2026

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Person

Kevin Harvick

A legendary NASCAR driver who won the championship in 2014 and retired from racing to become a TV commentator and podcast host.

Person

An incredibly talented racing driver from New Zealand who shocked the NASCAR world by winning his very first race in 2023. He is famous for his amazing car control, especially on twisty tracks with lots of turns.

Place

Sonoma Raceway

A famous, twisty race track in California's wine country that features lots of hills and sharp turns, making it very different from NASCAR's usual oval tracks.

Term

superspeedway

The largest and fastest oval tracks in NASCAR, where cars race in giant, tightly packed groups at speeds over 190 mph.

Term

Roval

A hybrid race track that combines a traditional oval track with a twisty road course built inside the infield, forcing drivers to handle both high-speed straightaways and tight corners.

Place

Chicagoland Speedway

A 1.5-mile oval race track near Chicago that NASCAR used to race on regularly, known for being fast and bumpy.

Concept

tire management

The art of driving a race car gently enough to keep the tires from wearing out too quickly, saving their grip for the end of the race when it matters most.

Company

Trackhouse Racing

A modern NASCAR race team co-owned by the singer Pitbull that is famous for bringing in top drivers from other countries to try stock car racing.

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The burnout this week?

Oh my god, brother, chef's kiss, unreal.

Which one?

Wow, damn, he got me.

California's Kevin Harvick, Kevin Harvick.

What's going on, NASCAR Nation?

Your boy, Mamba Smith, back in the house for the Kevin Harvick happy hour.

Victory left.

And you know, you know, no one's surprised.

You know, there might be a little relief, but no one's surprised to see Superman SVG

back in the seat with us.

Man, what a run this weekend.

Hey, how's it going?

Yeah, thank you.

It was pretty amazing week.

Good to make up for the week before.

It was certainly wasn't easy.

We're getting pushed along there.

But yeah, really cool to get another one.

You talk about making up for the week before.

Was there any added pressure?

Maybe not externally, but maybe you put on yourself to go to Sonoma,

have a really good race, and by really good, I mean, like, just go off and win the race.

Yeah, I think so.

I tried to not think like that, but yeah, there probably was, you know,

especially in our points position, we really needed to capitalize on those races.

And after not getting any points the week before, we were trying hard to make up for it.

And, you know, it was a lot of pressure.

I guess the car wasn't really good, and we expected to be up front.

You know, qualifying six wasn't really that great for us.

So yeah, really cool that the guys did a great job making the car better for Sunday.

And when the race started to start moving forward, it was pretty cool.

It seemed like you had to use a lot of the tools in your toolbox to navigate

and kind of get the car where you wanted to.

And then obviously Steve Dorn, your crew chief, did a great job on making the proper adjustments.

When you're trying to make it through, I know you like to dominate.

Everyone likes to dominate races and just go off and win.

But it's kind of fun cutting your way up through the field, is it not?

Yeah, that first thing was really cool.

You know, we all sort of were struggling at the start trying to get the tires going

and then picking my way forward.

I was like, okay, we're not too bad here.

And I got to the 54 for the lead and yeah, he was really strong.

I could tell he kind of had been saving till I got there.

And then once I got there, he took off.

So yeah, when he flipped the stages or didn't flip them, I guess, they went for points.

And that was probably a good thing.

It would have been a really tough race, racing two or three of those guys up there.

And thankfully, I only had to race one.

I started actually sat beside Chase in the driver intros and he was like, yeah,

my car's really good.

He was looking forward to the race, worried about him.

And I could see him pretty much all day in my mirror.

So it was a good way forward, racing forward with him.

And at the end, he was super strong.

Not much of a poker player, Shane, you're usually like, I would not very good.

And then you come out and you're pretty good.

Chase is like, nah, mate, I'm good.

I'm coming for you.

So that's pretty dope to be able to have that relationship with somebody.

And then actually they kind of come to fruition on the racetrack.

You say, you know, Ty Gibbs, obviously he has a lot of confidence on the road course.

I feel like you have shown some of these guys a new way to race on the road course.

And you kind of took, you said you kind of took your strategy a little bit with saving

the tires early and then going when kind of you started getting close.

Yeah, I don't think so.

I think it's just been our strength of our car and on the weekend it wasn't.

We really were eating up the tires.

So yeah, I tried to manage as much as I could, but yeah,

we still struggled in that last stand and the 19 really, he was catching up.

You talked about that last day and we talked about last week about how, you know,

you felt like the competition was a lot closer than people would give him credit for.

And then the last 10, they really were, what was going through your mind, you know,

especially like about three to go and you got a mirror full of the 19.

Well, it was probably about 10 to go.

I started stressing.

I started sliding and moving around and then the gap just started incrementally closing.

And then the last few laps, he was really fast.

He made a mistake at turn one and then the gap increased.

And I thought, okay, we might be okay.

And then he just rapidly caught me back up.

So yeah, I was really struggling with my rear tires and had a bit of dirt from the guys in front.

I kept sliding.

They kept dropping wheels and I struggled on that and couldn't bring my tire

temperature back down and yeah, just, I just ran out of grip really.

So lucky it was not one or two laps longer.

I mean, thank goodness you used to drive in the shit boxes back home, you know,

in the dirt and stuff so you could get through it.

Who would have thought that that would have came up in a cup series race?

But that's Shane, the burnout this week.

Oh my, ah, brother, chef's kiss, unreal.

Which one?

Wow, damn, he got me.

That's a good call.

I, I was standing on pit road for this one on Sunday.

I just felt like you kept going and like shit's flying everywhere.

And I was like, how did you stay on tire to do this?

Yeah, I couldn't believe how long it lasted.

Even on Saturday, it was, it was awesome.

And yeah, both races, I mean, it was almost an identical skid and having

the guys there on the pit wall and doing the high five.

Yeah, it was, it was awesome.

Been lucky enough to win there a couple of times and it's always cool

with that big grandstand in front.

And I mean, yeah, I couldn't believe how long it lasted.

So I just kept going.

This is kind of going, it was great.

So looking, kind of looking ahead a little bit, um, you know, what, what are you

looking at for your strengths?

Where you guys looking to capitalize, um, what, what's kind of on your mind

looking forward?

Well, it's all points now, um, for us, we're right on that bubble kind of on the,

for 16th, um, it's very tight, you know, from 14th to 20th, basically.

So just got to do the best I can every week, no mistakes, trying to accumulate

points and getting our way into the chase would be, it would be epic.

But, um, the next eight weeks are going to be really, really tough.

Some tough tracks and, uh, super speedway in there as well.

So anything can happen.

That's right.

Uh, when you look at kind of into the chase too, um, did, when we adjusted

the schedule, cause we were, obviously we go to Charlotte, but for a long time,

we've been doing the roble and now it switched back to the oval when that came

down, cause we were pretty much already in almost all the way into the season.

Did that change your guys' mindset of how you're going to attack the season

or was it still kind of the same thing?

I mean, I don't think so because it was in the playoffs anyway.

Um, yeah, obviously we'd want more road courses, but that's one of my better ovals.

So, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't matter too much, but, um, yeah,

certainly you want it to be a road course, but it can't help it.

This week, this week we're going to Chicago.

Um, now this is very different.

It was like a new track for you all over again.

So, uh, what have you learned from, you know, your experience of being a rookie

and then, you know, your second year for like new tracks like this, what is kind

of your, how are you going to attack a Chicago land?

I mean, it's going to be good having a longer practice to learn a new track.

It looks very difficult from what I've seen on the, from the tire test footage

a couple of months ago and very bumpy high commitment.

So yeah, looking forward to that.

Um, all the footage I've seen, everyone's wrapped around the bottom.

But when I look at the racing stuff from years ago, it's all over the place.

Everyone's on the fence, the middle down the bottom.

So it looks like a really cool race track.

Um, hopefully it widens out and we can move all over the place.

Definitely have some character, you know, it's in Illinois.

So like the frosties and the track kind of getting some bumps and then it's going

to be, it's going to be handful.

I think for you guys for sure.

I was talking to some of the other drivers about, uh, the tires.

You've mentioned tire management a couple of times and I just want to get your opinion.

Do you feel like the tires have grip, have grip, and then they kind of hit a wall

and just kind of drop off and now you're managing differently?

Or do you feel like they sustain pretty good through a whole run?

Or is it more set up?

Like, where do you kind of fall on that thought?

Uh, I mean, it's different.

Every track is different.

You know, it's kind of felt like it was thermal at Sonoma.

You could kind of make them recover a bit if you took it easy, but other times

it would be fall off and you just couldn't bring them back.

So yeah, it kind of just depends.

It does depend a lot on your car setup and how you drive it.

But yeah, I feel like the tires are in a good spot though.

Like you can really make a difference as a driver and get the most out of them.

And I've been with other tire, tire deals and you, you really can't have influence on it.

So I think this tire is really good and you can make the difference as a driver.

Well, Shane, you're making the difference for that 88.

All right.

It's 97 group.

Excuse me.

Over at track house looking forward to seeing you, uh, this weekend and keep

climbing through the points, man.

Step by step, day by day.

Y'all just brick by brick make it happen.

We'll try.

Thank you, mate.

Thanks, buddy.