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Kevin Harvick is having a lot of fun in his first season as an analyst for Fox’s NASCAR coverage. He admitted as much on his April 9 “Happy Hour” podcast. The former Stewart-Haas Racing driver also addressed some of the criticism the network has received during his time in the broadcast booth.
“My favorite thing that people don’t understand is they think we can cover every story,” Harvick said. “It’s impossible to cover every story. I promise you. We cover what’s happening in the front a lot.
“I saw somebody mad at us on Twitter because we didn’t show whatever happened at the end (of Martinsville) with Justin Haley and Austin Cindric racing for 25th. And it’s like, ‘Well, we got a pretty prominent car leading the race, won the race, interviews, everything. It happens — bang, bang, bang. Wish we could show everything, but we can’t.”
Kevin Harvick Addresses Conspiracy Theorists on Hendrick Motorsports 40th Anniversary Celebration
During the April 7 Martinsville race, Hendrick Motorsports was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the organization’s first win by Geoff Bodine at the half-mile track and had 1,500 HMS employees in attendance. On the track, the Nos. 5 and 9 cars ran up front throughout the entire race and were later joined by HMS teammate and eventual winner William Byron.
Fox’s coverage naturally detailed the history of the organization, its many accomplishments, and how the team was currently running well. When Byron won and Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott finished second and third, respectively — the first time in the track’s history that one team had finished in the top three positions — conspiracy theorists suggesting the race was fixed unsurprisingly took to social media.
Harvick saw it like everyone else.
“My favorite is, ‘Oh, we knew Hendrick was going to win from the beginning. They fixed the race,'” he said. “Oh my gosh. How in the world would you ever fix the race? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Kevin Harvick a Solid Addition to Production That Still Struggles
Kevin Harvick has been a solid addition to Fox’s NASCAR coverage. He knows his stuff having driven the car last year, and, more importantly, knows how to communicate it in an easy-to-understand way for the average fan. Some fans also suggest he’s even helped tame down his oft-energetic booth mate Clint Bowyer.
However, the future NASCAR Hall of Famer joining Fox can only do so much. He can’t hide the fact that the overall production quality suffers and has done so for years.
Interestingly, Harvick has been victimized by the poor production on more than a few occasions when he’s describing the on-track action or some developing situation and the cameras are showing the audience at home something altogether different. It’s an all-too-frequent occurrence.
Close-ups of the action are another complaint. The cameras tend to zoom in on a few cars instead of showing a broader view of the racing action around the track. And Harvick admitted the network focuses a lot on the front, which many fans take issue with because those watching at home don’t get to see a lot of the battles happening from 10th on back.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Fans have voiced these same concerns for years. They have not been addressed and likely won’t be anytime soon. Maybe Harvick, after his rookie year in the booth, can provide feedback to his bosses on how they might improve the broadcast in the future based on his first-year experience and they’ll listen to him and implement those suggestions.
One can dream.
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