Kevin Harvick has given a glimpse into NASCAR drivers’ pre-race routines, and the picture is anything but predictable. The idea came during his appearance on The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck’s “12 Questions” series, published September 18, 2019. Harvick, a former Cup Series champion and longtime Stewart-Haas Racing driver, spoke openly about the range of topics drivers discuss moments before getting into their cars.
According to Kevin Harvick, there is no set storyline. Conversations vary depending on who is present and what is happening that day. It could be something technical like car performance, or something completely off-topic like a funny social media post or story of the week.
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“It depends on the person. Some weeks it’s about your race car and what happened in practice with your teammates and some weeks you’re sitting up there with your kids and you’re talking about something that happened during the week…It’s a very broad conversation that tends to start and you never know what direction it might go,” Harvick said.
In the same interview, he admitted that he is more likely to stop and interact with children than adults, simply because he knows how impactful those moments can be. Harvick also gave some insight into pre-race eating habits.
When asked if there was one food he wouldn’t recommend before a race, Kevin Harvick didn’t hesitate to answer: Mexican food. Although he declared his love for cooking, he mentioned that the risk of stomach cramps before a race made it a bad idea.
Kevin Harvick reacts to dangerous moment on pit road involving Nemechek at Bristol
Kevin Harvick spoke on a near-miss involving the No. 42 Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 99 crew of Daniel Suarez in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The incident occurred during a caution triggered by a spin between Shane Van Gisbergen and Cody Ware. As Nemechek entered pit road to look for fresh tires, his team failed to properly secure the left rear wheel.
As Nemechek went off, the wheel came off and was shot down in pit road. The rolling tire nearly hit a member of Suarez’s team before hitting the back of his Chevrolet. The moment, caught on camera, was a close call that could have ended much worse.
On his Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick commented on the situation and said:
“It could have been a lot worse. You’ll see the lug nut flying off the car right there. Driving into the pits right there as he kept going, the wheel and tire came off the car to outrun his car and took a straight line towards Daniel Suarez’s 99, but that tire iron running around the car right there, look how close that is.” (from 4:47 p.m.)
The introduction of the Next Gen car introduced a single center-locking wheel nut, designed to speed up pit stops. However, this change also means that a point of failure could lead to incidents like this. Nemechek’s team avoided a full penalty since the incident occurred within the confines of pit road, but the driver was moved to the rear of the field.
Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar
