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Kevin Harvick, like any NASCAR driver, knows a little something about being creative with a car and trying to find that extra advantage. His No. 4 team’s major penalties in back-to-back years (2022 and 2023) confirm that.
Harvick doesn’t have to worry about getting busted by the NASCAR police anymore now that he’s retired, working in the Fox broadcast booth, and hosting his own podcast. On the February 27 episode of “The Happy Hour Pod,” the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver discussed one of the big news items of the week from the Atlanta race – Joey Logano getting caught using a webbed glove during qualifying and receiving a penalty.
During that conversation, the future NASCAR Hall of Famer unsurprisingly appreciated the creativity, but then unexpectedly delivered a piece of breaking news.
“I love the innovation part of our sport,” Harvick admitted. “I love the creativity. It sucks when you get busted. But when you think of things that other people aren’t doing, to me that’s a feather in the cap. And I think that’s a feather in those guys’ cap because I heard that it was used for multiple years. And if that’s the case, kudos to them.”
What Kevin Harvick Didn’t Say on Podcast
While Harvick talked at length with co-hosts Kaitlyn Vincie and Mamba Smith about Logano’s situation, it was somewhat surprising that they failed to even mention the other big off-track news item from the Atlanta weekend – NASCAR officials confiscating the roof rail deflectors from the Nos. 10 and 41 Stewart-Haas cars of Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece.
That infraction resulted in an L1 penalty, which included the docking of 35 driver and 35 owner points for both cars. Logano was sent to the tail of the field and had to serve a pass-through penalty before the race for a competition violation and then received a $10,000 fine for a safety violation.
Harvick knows that penalties are a sore subject at SHR because the organization has been on the receiving end of them numerous times in the last couple of seasons, including the pair by his No. 4 team, plus Chase Briscoe received the harshest punishment in the system in 2023, an L3, which resulted in the loss of 120 points, 25 playoff points, and a six-race suspension and $250,000 fine for crew chief John Klausmeier.
Harvick Also Called Out Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Harvick has appeared quite comfortable in his first few stints in the broadcast booth as a full-time analyst and on his podcast as a host. He’s followed in the footsteps of his friend and fellow CARS Tour co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose name interestingly came up on the podcast during the discussion about Logano’s webbed glove when Vincie asked Happy if he had seen something similar.
“I know of a lot of stories,” he admitted. “There used to be guys that would have a huge piece of plexiglass that would pull that baby up from behind the doorpad. Pull that thing up to the top of the window net.
“Dale Jr., you might be able to elaborate on this story,” he said, which drew a big laugh from his co-hosts. “Not to say that we didn’t have them,” he added.
Harvick’s transition from the driver’s seat to the broadcast booth has been a positive for Fox. He brings his firsthand knowledge of racing in the Next Gen car with him, and more importantly, can break down his understanding into easy-to-digest parts for the fans watching at home.
He does the same with his podcast and has already provided a breaking news nugget in the first few episodes. All that remains for him now is covering his former SHR team, even in its worst moments because those struggles are news and fans want to hear about them, no matter how uncomfortable it might make him feel.
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