June 27, 2025 • 8 mins
Legendary NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick joined the show this morning to discuss all the great things he's up to....including, but not limited to, how his 12-year-old son beat him in a race and how Kevin plans to beat him this weekend at Evergreen Speedway as part of the Harvick Showdown. Check it out!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have a big event happening at Evergreen Speedway and
Monroe on Saturday. NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick joins the show
now with the details. Good morning, Kevin, Good morning. How
are you.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm doing great? Thank you? How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Doing wonderful over here? I know we are always excited
for races at Evergreen Speedway. It's round two of the
Harvick Showdown happening on Saturday. So for people who aren't familiar,
tell us what's happening and more importantly, who you are racing.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, well, we're we're excited and we're we're coming back
for the second round of kind of the little, the
little Harvick Showdown between myself and my son racing against
each other. We've done this one time in Bakersfield, California,
a couple of weeks ago, and he wound up Actually
he actually finished first. I don't know that he was
(00:48):
the fastest by any means, but that doesn't really matter
in the results. And so Evergreen Speedway will be that
will be the second round round of of their with
their event that they're having up there this weekend, and
our tour, the Cars Tour West has kind of joined
forces with the Speedway to to bring our series up
(01:09):
there and make our second appearance with the little show
within the show with my son and myself competing. So
we're looking looking forward to that. And as as my
son reminds me, the last time I raced that Evergreen
Speedway was in the truck series in a different century,
so it was in the late nineties. Yeah, in the
late nineties. The last time I was in Evergreen, Washington
(01:32):
to race the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. So I'm looking
forward to being being back.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, that's awesome. And you know, a lot of people
go all the time, and a lot of people are familiar.
I mean you, as I said, it's NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick.
But for the people who aren't familiar, your son, who
you are racing, who you said came in first, is
twelve years old.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
He is twelve. Yes, yes, he's he's been As as
I tell a lot of the parents that that we
have a management company that deals with a lot of
drivers and and uh, you know, a lot of them
will say, well, we just want to do like what
you're doing. I'm like, well, it's a little bit different. Kelan.
You know, he has grown up around the sport since
the day he was born. He's sat on pit boxes,
(02:11):
he's been behind the wheel of go karts all around
the world and has probably more experience at twelve than
I had when I was at twenty. So we are
very much a racing family and have you know, our
lives revolve around around racing and and this is you know,
how we make a living and had well how I
did make a living. Now I just do it for fun,
(02:34):
you know, to be a part of the events and
and you know, our primary focus right now is you know,
to to get him experience, but also a major push
towards building the grassroots level of of you know, asphalt
short track racing again. And and as you as you
look at the schedules and the places to race Evergreen,
(02:55):
in in Evergreen Speedway and in Monroe, Washington, there has
been just a state full of that grassroots system for
a long time, and we just like going and trying
to help the tracks make their marquee events just a
little bit bigger than what they had been in the past. So,
you know, this was one that we worked out with
(03:17):
Doug Hobbs and the group there in Monroe, and you know,
it should be should be fun, and for me personally,
I'm a little bit selfish right here. It's currently going
to be one hundred and two degrees today here in
North Carolina, so coming to mid seventies loose the degree
weather is quite the break that I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I've bet yeah, this massive heat wave across the entire
country is not affecting Washington whatsoever. It's going to be
delightful here in the Seattle area and at Evergreen Speedway.
The event is on Saturday and tickets are available now.
Kevin Harvick, do people give you crap for letting your
twelve year old drive?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yes? Absolutely, because a lot of people, just a lot
of people, you know, they think about driving on the road,
and they think about driving a race car fast. And
you know, our sports in racing has become much like
other sports with the development systems and the way that
kids in today's racing world cane on the simulator and
(04:20):
they can race carts, they can race cars, they can
race pretty much anything that they want. It was not
like that when I was a kid. You could not
walk into the infield of a race track until you
were sixteen years old let alone drive the car. So
our sport has evolved a lot of our you know, Exfinity,
some of our NASCAR Cup Series drivers in today's era
(04:43):
of NASCAR racing, you know that some of them go
into the Cup Series when they're eighteen years old. So
in order to do that, that development system has backed
way up on the age. So Keilan's not the only one,
you know, there are other kids that do the exact
same things. They can run their Legend car when they're
when they're ten, which is a you know, development series
that runs it at many of the short tracks runs
(05:05):
at Monroe as well. So you know that that system
has changed dramatically, and I think a lot of people
just don't really they don't necessarily know the details of
of the way that that system works. Not all twelve
year olds are going to be ready to do that.
But he'll actually be thirteen, you know, next to the
(05:26):
first week of July. So not that that makes a
big difference thirteen, there's still not They're still not very smart.
So but you know, it's it's a much different human
being being twelve at home than it is in the car.
And it's if I didn't if I didn't feel comfortable
with it. You know, we definitely wouldn't would wouldn't put
people in the way of something that was uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Now, you've raised a lot of different vehicles. What do
you like to drive in your day to day life.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, I drive a I drive a Chevrolet pickup, so
nothing too fancy. All the fancy cars that I've ever
had in my life just sit in the garage collect dust,
and every time I go to get in them, the
battery is dead. So I learned a long time ago
that fancy cars weren't really for me. And now I
have a seven year old little girl and a twelve
(06:15):
year old son that lug around in the back seat
or throw things all over the floor of my car.
So you don't want anything too fancy that you're worried
about getting tore up. And all the people who have
kids fully understand what I'm talking about for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So I'm guessing you don't get a lot of speeding tickets.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
That's good. No, not many. And I would get the
credit for being the slow driver in the family. My
wife is definitely she is definitely the driver passenger critiquing me.
We would call it a backseat driver. I guess yep,
and she definitely gives me grief about driving too slow,
taking too long to change lanes, and I refer to
her as a maniac in the car. So I am
(06:52):
the cautious one when it comes to driving on the
street and my wife is the maniac in the family.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Kevin Harvick's Happy Or Is Your podcast found on our
free iHeartRadio app? Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, you know, the the broadcasting piece for me, I
do the NASCAR on Fox, you know, from from the
booths for the first fourteen weeks of the of the
NASCAR trucks or the NASCAR Cup season. You do do
a lot of the NASCAR and Fox you know truck
races as well. And the podcast is is really our
It's kind of our weekly show to get the news
(07:25):
out to the fans. We have a lot of great
guests this week. We've We've got Daniel Suarez honors our guests,
who has a great story, you know, coming from from
Mexico and talking about his experience with the Mexico City
event that we just did on the NASCAR Cup Series
side a couple of weeks ago. So great guests this week.
(07:45):
We have a lot of a lot of people in
the racing community that show up on the podcast every week.
So something that I didn't really know that I would
enjoy because when you look at it on the calendar
and you have to do it every week, I look
at retired life and think that looks like work on
a weekly basis. But it's been it's been very enjoyable
just to you know, to put in two or three
(08:06):
hours a week with the podcast and we've had fun
with it and been pretty successful. So that's good.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
That's awesome. Well, we've got Kevin Harvick appearing at Evergreen Speedway.
It's Saturday. He is going to be racing his rising
star son Keelan and you don't want to miss this.
Tickets are available now. Kevin Harvick, thank you so much
for joining us. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I appreciate the time. Thanks for having me.
We have a big event happening at Evergreen Speedway and
Monroe on Saturday. NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick joins the show
now with the details. Good morning, Kevin, Good morning. How
are you.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm doing great? Thank you? How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Doing wonderful over here? I know we are always excited
for races at Evergreen Speedway. It's round two of the
Harvick Showdown happening on Saturday. So for people who aren't familiar,
tell us what's happening and more importantly, who you are racing.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, well, we're we're excited and we're we're coming back
for the second round of kind of the little, the
little Harvick Showdown between myself and my son racing against
each other. We've done this one time in Bakersfield, California,
a couple of weeks ago, and he wound up Actually
he actually finished first. I don't know that he was
(00:48):
the fastest by any means, but that doesn't really matter
in the results. And so Evergreen Speedway will be that
will be the second round round of of their with
their event that they're having up there this weekend, and
our tour, the Cars Tour West has kind of joined
forces with the Speedway to to bring our series up
(01:09):
there and make our second appearance with the little show
within the show with my son and myself competing. So
we're looking looking forward to that. And as as my
son reminds me, the last time I raced that Evergreen
Speedway was in the truck series in a different century,
so it was in the late nineties. Yeah, in the
late nineties. The last time I was in Evergreen, Washington
(01:32):
to race the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. So I'm looking
forward to being being back.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, that's awesome. And you know, a lot of people
go all the time, and a lot of people are familiar.
I mean you, as I said, it's NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick.
But for the people who aren't familiar, your son, who
you are racing, who you said came in first, is
twelve years old.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
He is twelve. Yes, yes, he's he's been As as
I tell a lot of the parents that that we
have a management company that deals with a lot of
drivers and and uh, you know, a lot of them
will say, well, we just want to do like what
you're doing. I'm like, well, it's a little bit different. Kelan.
You know, he has grown up around the sport since
the day he was born. He's sat on pit boxes,
(02:11):
he's been behind the wheel of go karts all around
the world and has probably more experience at twelve than
I had when I was at twenty. So we are
very much a racing family and have you know, our
lives revolve around around racing and and this is you know,
how we make a living and had well how I
did make a living. Now I just do it for fun,
(02:34):
you know, to be a part of the events and
and you know, our primary focus right now is you know,
to to get him experience, but also a major push
towards building the grassroots level of of you know, asphalt
short track racing again. And and as you as you
look at the schedules and the places to race Evergreen,
(02:55):
in in Evergreen Speedway and in Monroe, Washington, there has
been just a state full of that grassroots system for
a long time, and we just like going and trying
to help the tracks make their marquee events just a
little bit bigger than what they had been in the past. So,
you know, this was one that we worked out with
(03:17):
Doug Hobbs and the group there in Monroe, and you know,
it should be should be fun, and for me personally,
I'm a little bit selfish right here. It's currently going
to be one hundred and two degrees today here in
North Carolina, so coming to mid seventies loose the degree
weather is quite the break that I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I've bet yeah, this massive heat wave across the entire
country is not affecting Washington whatsoever. It's going to be
delightful here in the Seattle area and at Evergreen Speedway.
The event is on Saturday and tickets are available now.
Kevin Harvick, do people give you crap for letting your
twelve year old drive?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yes? Absolutely, because a lot of people, just a lot
of people, you know, they think about driving on the road,
and they think about driving a race car fast. And
you know, our sports in racing has become much like
other sports with the development systems and the way that
kids in today's racing world cane on the simulator and
(04:20):
they can race carts, they can race cars, they can
race pretty much anything that they want. It was not
like that when I was a kid. You could not
walk into the infield of a race track until you
were sixteen years old let alone drive the car. So
our sport has evolved a lot of our you know, Exfinity,
some of our NASCAR Cup Series drivers in today's era
(04:43):
of NASCAR racing, you know that some of them go
into the Cup Series when they're eighteen years old. So
in order to do that, that development system has backed
way up on the age. So Keilan's not the only one,
you know, there are other kids that do the exact
same things. They can run their Legend car when they're
when they're ten, which is a you know, development series
that runs it at many of the short tracks runs
(05:05):
at Monroe as well. So you know that that system
has changed dramatically, and I think a lot of people
just don't really they don't necessarily know the details of
of the way that that system works. Not all twelve
year olds are going to be ready to do that.
But he'll actually be thirteen, you know, next to the
(05:26):
first week of July. So not that that makes a
big difference thirteen, there's still not They're still not very smart.
So but you know, it's it's a much different human
being being twelve at home than it is in the car.
And it's if I didn't if I didn't feel comfortable
with it. You know, we definitely wouldn't would wouldn't put
people in the way of something that was uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Now, you've raised a lot of different vehicles. What do
you like to drive in your day to day life.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, I drive a I drive a Chevrolet pickup, so
nothing too fancy. All the fancy cars that I've ever
had in my life just sit in the garage collect dust,
and every time I go to get in them, the
battery is dead. So I learned a long time ago
that fancy cars weren't really for me. And now I
have a seven year old little girl and a twelve
(06:15):
year old son that lug around in the back seat
or throw things all over the floor of my car.
So you don't want anything too fancy that you're worried
about getting tore up. And all the people who have
kids fully understand what I'm talking about for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So I'm guessing you don't get a lot of speeding tickets.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
That's good. No, not many. And I would get the
credit for being the slow driver in the family. My
wife is definitely she is definitely the driver passenger critiquing me.
We would call it a backseat driver. I guess yep,
and she definitely gives me grief about driving too slow,
taking too long to change lanes, and I refer to
her as a maniac in the car. So I am
(06:52):
the cautious one when it comes to driving on the
street and my wife is the maniac in the family.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Kevin Harvick's Happy Or Is Your podcast found on our
free iHeartRadio app? Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, you know, the the broadcasting piece for me, I
do the NASCAR on Fox, you know, from from the
booths for the first fourteen weeks of the of the
NASCAR trucks or the NASCAR Cup season. You do do
a lot of the NASCAR and Fox you know truck
races as well. And the podcast is is really our
It's kind of our weekly show to get the news
(07:25):
out to the fans. We have a lot of great
guests this week. We've We've got Daniel Suarez honors our guests,
who has a great story, you know, coming from from
Mexico and talking about his experience with the Mexico City
event that we just did on the NASCAR Cup Series
side a couple of weeks ago. So great guests this week.
(07:45):
We have a lot of a lot of people in
the racing community that show up on the podcast every week.
So something that I didn't really know that I would
enjoy because when you look at it on the calendar
and you have to do it every week, I look
at retired life and think that looks like work on
a weekly basis. But it's been it's been very enjoyable
just to you know, to put in two or three
(08:06):
hours a week with the podcast and we've had fun
with it and been pretty successful. So that's good.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
That's awesome. Well, we've got Kevin Harvick appearing at Evergreen Speedway.
It's Saturday. He is going to be racing his rising
star son Keelan and you don't want to miss this.
Tickets are available now. Kevin Harvick, thank you so much
for joining us. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I appreciate the time. Thanks for having me.
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