Getty Kevin Harvick during pre-race show at Daytona.
Since Kevin Harvick joined the NASCAR on Fox broadcast booth for the 2024 Cup Series campaign, the 2014 champion has provided the viewing audience with a unique perspective and insight into the Gen 7 car and how it races on Sundays.
Fortunately for NASCAR fans, the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver hasn’t limited sharing his knowledge to the broadcasts. He often expands on things he says and/or sees during the race on his weekly “Happy Hour” podcast.
The May 13 episode is the latest example, where the 48-year-old talked about Brad Keselowski snapping his 110-race winless streak at Darlington and what he was thinking in the booth about the approach the driver should take during those closing laps.
“Going to the green flag for the last green flag, Clint said something,” Harvick recalled on the podcast. “He said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘It’s time for Brad Keselowski to get dirty. I mean, he’s got to get dirty right here if he has to. If he can’t make the pass, if he has the opportunity, he has to race dirty.’
“Yeah. I’ve raced dirty and you know what a lot of the other guys have raced dirty and some of them need to race dirtier. They need to get more aggressive and they need to throw caution to the wind and just if you wreck you wreck and you suffer the consequences later.”
Kevin Harvick Accused of Racing Dirty in the Past by Kyle Busch
While Kevin Harvick admitting that he raced dirty in the past might come as a surprise to some fans, it’s not to Kyle Busch. The Richard Childress Racing driver admitted as much several years ago when he was still driving with Joe Gibbs Racing.
.@KyleBusch: “The 4 was bout running over everybody. He wasn’t making any friends out there today…There’s some dirty dudes out there.”
“The 4 was ’bout running over everybody,” Busch told reporters after the October 2021 race at the Charlotte Roval when the SHR driver wrecked Chase Elliott. “He didn’t make many friends out there today. That just kind of goes to show what you got to do in these races. It doesn’t matter whose feelings your hurt and what’s going to come back on you next week.
“We saw it with me last year. The 4 dumped me in Martinsville. Can’t say that I’ve been guilty of that yet. There are some dirty dudes out there.”
Kevin Harvick Wrecks Kyle Busch at Martinsville
The specific incident with Harvick that Busch was referring to occurred in the November 2020 Martinsville race in the playoffs when the No. 4 pilot intentionally spun the No. 18 car on the final lap just feet before the start-finish line. The then-JGR driver made a 360 and crossed the finish line. Harvick spun out and backed his car into the inside fence.
Busch advanced in the elimination race. Harvick did not.
Aggressive driving or driving dirty is a two-way street. It may work in the moment, but drivers have long memories. They remember who did them wrong and drove them dirty in the past and, when appropriate, will get their payback.
That doesn’t necessarily mean wrecking someone as Harvick did with Elliott. It could mean just racing someone especially hard and not cutting them a break during a critical point in an important race.
But Kevin Harvick understandably isn’t worried about payback. He has no fear of consequences. He sees the sport now as a fan and knows aggressive driving and the rivalries that are born from it are entertaining and have been an integral part of the sport for the last 76 years.