With Kevin Harvick retiring at the end of the 2023 season, NASCAR is set to lose one of its most fearsome competitors in the modern era. But while Harvick is known as someone who never gives you an inch on the track, it is a different story when it comes to his non-racing behavior. ‘Happy Harvick’ is regarded as one of the biggest pranksters in the NASCAR garage, as revealed by Denny Hamlin and team owner Tony Stewart in a recent tribute video by Stewart-Haas Racing.
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The JGR driver went on to claim that if anyone is to blame for Harvick being ‘that presence’ in the NASCAR garage, it was Tony Stewart. Smoke is regarded as a serial prankster himself, and as more revelations in the video followed, it became clear why.
Tony Stewart had the perfect response to Kevin Harvick’s prank
Around the 2012/13 season, Stewart and Harvick were in New Hampshire, where the three-time champion was tricked by Harvick before race practice. In the video, Stewart says, “I woke up on my own and saw the clock beside the bed and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh we got practice in 40 minutes’, walked outside the motorhome and Kevin’s motorhome was right next to mine. Our two bus drivers were talking out front and they’re like, ‘Well, you’re off early going in for practice’, and I’m like we got 15 minutes before we gotta run you know. And he goes no, 2 hours and 15 minutes and somehow my clock got set two hours off in the bedroom back there and I didn’t know about it.”
At this moment, Stewart realized it was Harvick who played the practical joke and immediately went into the Closer’s motorhome and into his bedroom.
“In my uniform, racing shoes everything, go right in there, go right back to their bedroom, DeLana’s in bed, covered up. Kevin is in their shower, just starting a shower and the first thing he does is put his hands over his waist and I just climbed back right inside the bed with DeLana, uniform and all. And when he realized after a couple of seconds I wasn’t going anywhere, he finally just turned around and took a shower and DeLana and I are laying in the bed together laughing about it. So that was probably the one that caught him off guard the most.”
Denny Hamlin on how Tony Stewart was like in the garage
Denny Hamlin has been around the sport long enough to know exactly how the SHR co-owner operated, being on the receiving end of several such pranks.
In the same video, Hamlin said, “I was teammates with Tony for many years and he would do stuff when I was younger while I test that would just make my life miserable. Spray break clean in the bottom of my seat and essentially roasting my a** for hours.”
Might not be too far-fetched to conclude that Tony Stewart was indeed the one who started it all, with Harvick more than able to continue his legacy.
