NASCAR: Kevin Harvick talks brand campaign, NASCAR’s future and more in exclusive Q&A

We recently had the opportunity to interview 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick about a new brand campaign, NASCAR’s future and more.

We recently had the opportunity to ask 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick several questions about topics ranging from a new Busch Beer brand campaign to his outlook on NASCAR’s future, how he got started in NASCAR, some of the key moments of his NASCAR career and where he sees himself once he retires from NASCAR.

Here is what the 43-year-old Bakersfield, California native had to say in this Q&A interview.

NOTE: This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.

Beyond the Flag: What can you tell me about the campaign launch in which you are involved?

Kevin Harvick: I can tell that it’s been a process from the very beginning and it was definitely an idea that I thought would never actually show up in person to be real, but now that I have seen the whole process take place and see the cans sitting on the desk here, it’s really neat to be able to see pieces of an old car sitting on top of a beer can. Busch has done a great job and I think as you see, the activation is not just sticker-slapping on a car or an in-car camera or something like that. It’s an actual promotion that is meant to be interactive with the fans, and when you see the 40 cans that go along with it and see how special that they are and all the different elements from Twitter to the broadcasts and everything in between, it really makes it so that the fans can get involved with and possibly win a pretty cool piece of memorabilia. 

BTF: Before the 2018 season finale, Busch Beer announced that they would run a “Millennial-inspired” paint scheme if somebody other than you won the title. Is that still in the works for this year?

Harvick: It is, and we’ll run some sort of millennial scheme this year at the All-Star Race, so I’m sure that will be goofy and screwed up just like all the millennials are.

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BTF: On the subject of millennials, it doesn’t take much to notice that NASCAR’s fanbase is not what it once was and that many of the fans who still remain are on the older side. What is your outlook on NASCAR’s future? Will the sport be able to attract new, younger fans?

Harvick: Well, in order to get those new younger fans to the race track in this day and age, you have to have their middle-aged parents bring them to the race track and buy their ticket and pay for their drinks and their food and their transportation and all those things in between. So I think there’s a little bit of a double-edged sword there. I think for us having the Busch brand be involved on our car is obviously a little older demographic that they’re looking for, and definitely on the side of being able to pay for their kids to come to the race track. I think for us it’s definitely being a parent, you want to take your kids to things that are fun. The interaction at the race track and the things that you can do at the race track and getting things to people’s phones and listening on the radios and making the grandstand experience more entertaining from a parent standpoint will definitely make it more fun for their kids.

BTF: What advice would you give a young college-aged fan like myself in terms of trying to attract more people in my age range to the sport?

Harvick: I think you look at NASCAR in general, there are definitely different things that you can do at a race track. There’s always a huge college contingent at the Daytona race track, Talladega is very similar, and really those just become two big parties. As you look at the different race tracks, Watkins Glen is much of the same. You see a lot of college kids. As you select your race tracks, I think you have to select the right venues in order to do the things that most college kids want to, and that’s usually drinking beer and having a good time. Choose the race tracks wisely because a lot of them are not the same. There are definitely some infields that are much different than some places that we go on the schedule.

BTF: What is the best way to respond to someone (aside of ignoring them) who says that NASCAR (or any kind of motor racing) isn’t a “sport”?

Harvick: For me, I can just tell them that as you look at a lot of things in our sport, they are physically demanding. The first I can tell you is if you don’t stay fit, you can’t get in the seat that was built for you year after year. The seat is all molded to your body. So if you’re putting on the pounds, you’re not going to fit into your seat. But I guess the biggest thing that I can tell you is we did a study with Polar on heart rate several years ago, and the only thing that they had to compare the heart rate to was a marathon runner, and it was an average of 152 beats per minute for three and a half hours and burn 3,240 calories I think is what it was. It’s a high calorie burn, it’s a high heart rate, it’s very intense, and I think if you want to experience it yourself, just lock yourself in the car, turn the heater all the way up, and sit in there and drive around for three and a half hours and see how you feel.

BTF: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s reign as the sport’s most popular driver came to an end after he retired in 2017. Who do you believe, in the current field of drivers, has the best opportunity to become the next generation’s “Dale Jr.”?

Harvick: There’s nobody else in our sport that can become the next Dale Earnhardt Jr. except for Chase Elliott. Our hard-core fans are very loyal to the traditions of our sport and not all of us have the name Earnhardt or Elliott, and Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt obviously created some deep, deep family ties into this sport and there are only a handful of people that are going to come through this sport that have that capability to carry those rich NASCAR roots from the southeast like Dale Jr. and Chase Elliott have. Chase will do a great job at that. He’s obviously very good at what he does, and he’s got a great family. His dad won the Most Popular Driver for a long time, and he’s got a great following that came with the things that his dad has done. In my opinion, there won’t be anybody that ever reaches the status of Chase Elliott in his generation.

BTF: As a follow-up, do you believe that this driver can also become the sport’s next superstar as far as wins and championships are concerned, and will this driver help to grow the sport’s fanbase again?

Harvick: I don’t even know that the championships and wins matter. He just has to be competitive and he needs to win races. I think he will be competitive on a week to week basis for a long time, and I think he has the potential to win championships. It’s definitely not the necessity that you have to have when you’re in that position, but I know that he would rather win and he would rather be a champion, and I think he will be.

BTF: How did you start racing of any kind, and at what age did you start?

Harvick: I got my first go-kart for kindergarten graduation when I was five. I think I ran my first race when I was six and have raced ever since. I started in a dirt field just basically messing around on a little fun kart.

BTF: You haven’t missed a Cup Series race since the April race at Martinsville Speedway in the 2002 season. How do you plan on keeping up this streak (currently 604 races)?

Harvick: I think as you look at that one, it should be a lot longer — I got suspended for that race! I think, stay out of trouble. That’s really the main focus in order to get to the next race. You just have to keep doing what we’re doing and show up.

BTF: What have been some of the highlights and lowlights of your NASCAR career so far? What has been your favorite race win?

Harvick: My favorite race win was probably the first win just because you can’t ever have your first happen twice. I think as you look at that particular moment in racing history on the NASCAR side, especially looking back at it now, you see the magnitude of the scenario, the impact of the win from really a whole sport was just the right moment. I think from a Richard Childress Racing standpoint, the team that I drove for at the time, was probably a moment that helped keep them going. I think there were a number of impacts, but it was also my first win, and I think that will definitely be one that tops the list. Highlights, I’ve been fortunate to have won all the big races. Winning the Daytona 500, winning the championship, the Southern 500, the Coke 600, all those crown jewel races. I think the lowlights are probably getting suspended for the racing in 2002 and some of the things that you say and do, but I wouldn’t take any of that back or change any of that because I believe that’s part of the evolution of life and maturing and learning what’s right and wrong or doing things that are wrong. Looking back on them and saying “oh, that didn’t look good” or “that didn’t sound good”. You have to do things wrong in order to figure out how to do them right, and I think they’ve all been a part of the process.

BTF: Have you ever considered attempting the Memorial Day Double and competing in the Indianapolis 500 before flying down to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 like your former teammate Kurt Busch did?

Harvick: I really have no interest in IndyCars. I like watching IndyCar racing, but I really have no interest in driving one just because of the fact that when I drive something I have to put a full effort into it, even whether it’s late models or go-karts. When we’ve done them in the past, it’s something that I’m going to have to go practice, and I want to run a race, and I want to do things that will put me in a position to be competitive, and in order to do that, I just don’t have the time to do that, and I just don’t think that I could be as competitive as I want to be, and that would be to be in position to win the race, without knowing the details of the car and the things that come with driving an IndyCar. At this particular point, with two kids and on the backside of my career, I just don’t have any interest in putting the effort into it that it would take.

BTF: Having driven for two teams since you began driving full-time in the Cup Series in the 2001 season, would you say that having the opportunity to drive for more than one team has had any effect on your growth as a driver, whether that’s positive or negative?

Harvick: I think that the biggest thing that it did was when I left RCR, it kind of re-energized me to really look at everything. It gave me a chance to have a fresh start with a group of people that definitely wanted me there, wanted to work on my car, and there weren’t all these built-in stigmas that were attached to you that had been built up over the years. I think as I came to Stewart-Haas Racing, it was refreshing and re-energizing to me to go out and prove that I could drive the car somewhere else and still be successful, and I think over the past five years we’ve obviously proven that with all the wins and a championship and all the things that we’ve been able to accomplish. When I look at the organization, I feel a sense of pride with the way that all four cars are running and the things that are happening to Stewart-Haas Racing now. I think there are a lot of lessons, a lot of success at RCR, but changing jobs allows you to think about things differently and you aren’t in that same rut of the way that things always were. Just being around new people and new cars and new things and new challenges, I have to have things that motivate me, and it was very motivating.

BTF: What do you see yourself doing when you’re no longer competing in NASCAR on a full-time basis?

Harvick: That’s a good question. I enjoy the TV side of it and the radio things that we do now. I don’t think I’m a person that can be totally out of work, so I think that would be fun, but I also would enjoy not having to have anything to do tomorrow and being able to consistently pick my kids up from school and take them to practice and have fun with them in the yard and all those types of things as well, so it’s going to be interesting as I decide whenever it is time, and I don’t feel like that time is anywhere near, but as it is time, I would think that it would be interesting to see how much you do and don’t actually want to do just because I enjoy doing all those types of things with my kids. I think that that sign will present itself when it’s time, but right now I enjoy driving a car.

Thank you to Kevin Harvick for being willing to do this interview. We wish him the best in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season.