Harvick Talks About Family, Dale Earnhardt And Leaving RCR

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

This weekend “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” will feature an intimate interview with 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick. The interview which will air nationally is going to cover an array of topics. One of the more interesting things of note from the interview is that for the first time Harvick really delves into his home life when he was growing up. Harvick comes from a broken home and as a result has a strained relationship with his father. In the interview Harvick touches on that subject and correlates it why it’s so important for him to have a strong relationship with his son.

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Below you will find a sneak peek at some of the interview questions. Aside from the family stuff Harvick was also asked about Dale Earnhardt Sr. and what it was like to leave RCR after the 2013 NASCAR season. Be sure to check your local listings to find out when “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” airs near you.

Harvick discusses growing up in a broken home and cites his father (Mike) as an example of how not to parent your children.

"I grew up in a little bit of a broken house. You know, the night I won my first late model race was the night my mom moved everything out of the house. So you go from, you know, having this moment where you think you’ve taken another step in your career to, you know that dad’s coming home to, he’s coming home to nothing… There was a lot of situations like that… He had a drinking problem as I grew up and you see and are exposed to a lot of things that you probably don’t want to do as a parent.I don’t know that that’ll actually ever all come back around… There’s just so many things that happened along the way that, you know, I don’t know that you could fix all of that stuff."

Harvick talks about Dale Earnhardt and the chain of events after his death.

"I think it was the Wednesday night of the next week, I got a call from Richard [Childress] as I was laying in bed. And he asked me to come to the office… and I’ll never forget walking in… Richard was sitting behind his desk – looked like he hadn’t slept in three days, which he probably hadn’t. Kevin Hamlin [Earnhardt’s crew chief] had a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in a cup just sitting there, and he obviously had plenty of cups of Jack Daniel’s. And they were just trying to figure out what they wanted to do, and they asked me to drive the car. And at that point it was really about just trying to keep the company afloat and survive and not just have the emotions of the whole situation shut the company down."

Harvick talks about leaving RCR and when he said he was quitting.

"I understand the hardest or most difficult part of all of it for you was having to tell Richard [Childress]. That was definitely the hardest part about the whole deal, and I’ve never been more nervous in my whole life… I didn’t really like going to my job anymore and that wasn’t healthy for everything at home… I just went into the meeting and I remember them starting the meeting with some competition items and notes of where they were headed and what the company was doing and then I finally had to stop them and say, ‘I’m not here to talk about the future. I’m here to tell you that I quit."

What do you think of Harvick’s comments above? Were you surprised by anything that he said? Be sure to comment below and let us know what you think.

Christopher Olmstead is the Editor of BeyondTheFlag.com on the FanSided Network. Follow us on Twitter @Beyond_The_Flag and “Like” us on Facebook.

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