NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Kevin Harvick recalled a time in the 2010s when young NASCAR drivers with Truck Series aspirations and beyond had to make a decision. Race for Chevrolet and Kevin Harvick Incorporated, or drive for Toyota and Kyle Busch Motorsports.
You couldn’t play both sides. The drivers had to choose a direction. The fans in the stands chose a side and were clearly divided.
“You had to choose a path,” Harvick said on the latest episode of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.” “You either went for KBM and Toyota or KHI and Chevrolet… That’s just not how it worked out.”
Harvick enjoyed that competition. In fact, he helped Busch build his team and create the foundation for a decade-long rivalry. That contest brought out the best in both riders and ultimately brought them closer. After Busch, 41, died suddenly last Thursday, Harvick remembers him and their relationship fondly, reminiscing stories on “Happy Hour.”
On the track, Harvick and Busch were always enemies. Disgust levels, however, fluctuated. They were involved in what Harvick called a “tough war,” stemming from a crash during a 2005 race in Dover, Delaware.
But when Busch wanted to pursue the path of forming his own racing team, Harvick put aside their differences. Busch called Harvick and asked, “Can you tell me how you run your team?” Harvick “bridged the gap,” welcoming Busch to his racing shop, sharing his quotes, giving him “everything he had.” In true antagonistic style, Harvick said, Busch “stole” some of his employees and hired them for his new team.
And thus Kyle Busch Motorsports was born and a new rivalry emerged.
Busch and Harvick pushed each other, making the other a better “driver, owner and teammate,” Harvick said.
“Probably the best thing that happened to me in my career,” Harvick said, “was that I had a competitor who didn’t back down like Kyle did.”
In the end, they raced each other 933 times in NASCAR’s top series. They learned to respect each other and even let their guard down off the court.
“We sat on those two sides and competed, but you know, off the court, we had fun,” Harvick said. “We had a good time and good conversations. It took us a long time to get to the point of being cordial, but we definitely got to that point in the end.”
