Kevin Harvick shares ruthless take on NASCAR trash talking - 'Go do something'
Kevin Harvick made it clear that he wants to see drivers actually act on the trash talking they mete out, rather than just letting incidents slide.
Kevin Harvick often expresses his thoughts on NASCAR events, and the legend has also made his feelings clear about trash-talking.
Harvick recently gave a candid answer to losing to his 13-year-old son Keelan Harvick for the third time at Hickory Motor Speedway, claiming he got his "ass kicked." What's more, the 49-year-old shared how he felt about NASCAR returning to Chicago and how a certain NASCAR star did not have the "respect" of his peers.
Now, the former Cup Series champion is making it clear what he thinks of drivers trash-talking other racers without following through on what they tell their crews via the radio. In particular, the former star believes drivers ought to "do something" if they talk trash to their competitors.
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"I don’t know about the fights, but if you’re going to call somebody out on the radio and you’re going to talk a bunch of s---, at least go do something, or immediately just hammer them," Harvick said, according to on3.
He added: "Just all the s--- talking that happens on the radio, and then nothing happening on the racetrack. There’s just no better message that you can send than just wiping somebody out in retaliation. Then they know you’ll do it, right? When they know that you’ll do it, they’re not going to wipe you out. Because they don’t want to deal [with that]."
Harvick then noted that during his career, which spanned from 2001 to 2023, drivers often took matters into their own hands, letting out their frustrations on the track rather than just telling their crew about them, with nothing happening afterward.
“That’s one reason why, back when I drove, you just — every once in a while - you just had to wipe somebody out. You had to just send a message. You had a bunch of chaos — do you want to deal with the chaos, and do you want to get wiped out? Fine, let’s do it. But I don’t know that anybody is going to do that," he concluded.
Every now and again, drivers let their emotions get the better of them and confront others to give them a piece of their mind. Among those often confronted is young star Carson Hocevar, with the 22-year-old finding himself on the receiving end of tirades from his fellow drivers.
At one point, star Ryan Blaney called Hocevar a "moron" for how the youngster drives on any given weekend. In the same vein, Harvick believed Hocevar isn't respected among his peers because of his history of seemingly driving recklessly.
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"I don’t think he has the respect of the garage right now, personally," Harvick said during an episode of his 'Happy Hour' podcast. "They’re going to like him less because he’s faster than them and that sometimes in itself without running over people, pisses people off because he’s going to take someone’s spot.
"He’s not going anywhere because he’s going faster than they are.
"His ability to drive the car fast and apparently, relate that to his team guys, is making those cars faster. Having that cornerstone in a company is important, but companies also look for the fastest guys. The fastest guys will learn how to manage all that stuff. Now, the competitors will stir it all up and say he’s a hack or whatever it is, but in the end, he’s faster than most of you."
