Kevin Harvick fires back at Denny Hamlin, reaction to critical comments

Last week, Kevin Harvick openly wondered why Denny Hamlin would say he was “not in it mentally” after Kansas. That led Hamlin to respond by posting an old Harvick quote – and the back-and-forth has taken another turn.

Harvick fired back on the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour when Mamba Smith showed the quote in question. It was from a 2016 clip when the former NASCAR driver, who openly criticized his pit crew.

Harvick said he wasn’t even sure where the quote in question came from. But he also made it clear he wasn’t talking about Hamlin’s pit crew with his criticism. He was talking about Hamlin’s response.

“Whatever it was, the dunk hit the rim and the ball’s at half-court because listen here, bud. We had nothing to do talking about your pit crew or anything like that,” Harvick said. “We were talking about your comments and being mentally focused. I love you, man, I love the way you drive the race car. I don’t like the things you said after the race, and that’s my job. I’m sorry.

“I don’t like the comments about the mental weakness. Had nothing to do with your pit crew. I appreciate the attempt to divert the comment in a different direction, but you said it. I didn’t.”

Hamlin’s comments came after he finished eighth at Kansas and got one step closer to Round 8 of the playoffs. He notably called out his pit crew, noting he’d fall back despite heading into the caution in the Top 3.

“We should have won the race,” Hamlin said. “We had the fastest car, but every time we get to the top three the caution comes out and we restart 15th, 20th. Can’t show how fast your car is when you’re back of the pack. All you can do is just keep making positions back up to the front over and over and over and eventually, you just run out of laps and someone else wins.”

That led to Harvick’s comments. He questioned why Hamlin would make such critical comments about his crew and cited the need to be a “poker player.”

“I give up,” Harvick said. “Why in the world would you say that? Why in the world would you get out of the car and say that? Part of what you do as a race car driver is you have to be a poker player. When you have that driver’s suit on, you have to play the game and you can’t open your mouth to put yourself in positions to be in a worse spot than you already are.”