Kevin Harvick always had a ton of success at Texas Motor Speedway, where the NASCAR Cup Series will return this weekend.
On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick elaborated on why he “expected to never lose” when NASCAR went to Texas throughout his career, no matter the series. His three wins at the track back up his sentiment.
“We always had a good time at Texas,” Harvick explained. “It took a long time to get to Victory Lane in the Cup car. But we were always in contention to be able to run up front. I think the first time we went there as a group with with SHR, I think the front of the engine broke off. The front of the crankshaft broke off here, while leading the race. Just absolutely destroyed it.
“It seemed like that stuff just happened for a while. And then all of a sudden, we were able to get to Victory Lane, and then we did it again. Clicked them off.”
The Cup Series wasn’t the only place where Harvick had success at Texas. He also was able to perform well in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series whenever NASCAR went to the track throughout his career.
“Our trucks were always really good there. We went there in Xfinity cars while we were at RCR and had the KHI teams. It was a lot like Richmond. We expected to never lose there,” Harvick added. “If I didn’t win, I expected one of my teammates to win, because that’s just where our cars were, and the racetrack was really good for us. So won a bunch of races there.”
Alas, Harvick will now return to Texas for the first time as a broadcaster. Who does he think will join him among the top drivers at Texas? He’s taking the No. 23 of Bubba Wallace to get to Victory Lane on Sunday.
“I’m taking Bubba,” Harvick theorized. “… They expect it. In order to do that, and run the top five and win races, you have to expect to do it. And they’re at a point where they expect to go out and perform like that. … We’ve all talked about it. He’s talked about it. He can kind of go through these phases of being down on himself, but that man has no reason to be down, at any point, on himself.
“When it’s not going good, it’s not because of him. You know it’s, ‘Hey, he needs to know that I just need to get in here, get with my team and figure it out.’ And that seems like what he said a couple of weeks ago. Is we just need to put ourselves back to some consistency. We know we can do this, we just need to go out and get it all together, and they have.”
Time will tell who matches Kevin Harvick’s prowess at Texas Motor Speedway, but the former wheelman always had a ton of fun at the track. Now, he’ll continue to do so as a broadcaster, watching the next generation handle their business.
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