“You Just Have to Stop”: Kevin Harvick Underlines the Biggest Problem With Riling Up Tony Stewart

The 2023 season has shown the relationship between Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart in a new light to NASCAR fans. In the most recent post by Stewart-Haas Racing on social media, the 2014 Cup Series champion revealed why the SHR owner is not someone you would want to mess with.

Stewart already has a reputation as one of the biggest pranksters on the scene, and Harvick’s recent revelation just proves it further. In the video, Harvick talks about the time when he joked about the 3-time Cup champion’s weight on Halloween by using a pillow inside his costume.

And what was Stewart’s reaction?

“He always just laughed. The problem with Tony is he never gets worked up about anything and then when you do stuff, all it does is antagonize him to do something worse. So at one point you just have to stop because he won’t,” the retiring driver said.

Expectedly, Harvick was duly paid back for this joke.

“I wound up with more wedgies and stuff in my cars, it was endless. It never ended.”

Denny Hamlin on Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick’s bond

During the initial phase of his career, Harvick was known as anything but a prankster. So what changed? If Denny Hamlin is to be believed, it was his growing relationship with Tony Stewart.

In a tribute video by Stewart-Haas Racing, Hamlin said, “I think him pulling pranks comes from probably his friendship with Tony Stewart, who really does that quite a bit. You always see those two guys messing with each other on pit lane or whatever it might be.”

Hamlin did spend a few years with Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing, with Smoke always looking to pull off one prank after another.