Kevin Harvick stands on table, sends crystal clear message on Bubba Wallace

After a trying week or two, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace appeared to find some peace last week in some advice he received from retired driver Kevin Harvick.

The two spoke following Wallace’s $50,000 penalty from NASCAR stemming from an incident in which he slammed into Alex Bowman during a cool-down lap at Chicago. Wallace said the talk left him feeling much more calm and ready to attack things at Pocono.

So what exactly did Harvick say?

“Just be yourself and don’t go in there and be defensive or be mad,” Harvick explained on the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast. “You can be mad and you can still have your opinion, but it doesn’t have to be that you’re angry, right?

“I used to do the same thing, I used to go in there and just try to be angry and start throwing jabs. It didn’t get me anywhere. It just made me look bad. And I don’t want him to get into that situation any more than he needs to be. You can still do all those things that you do, but you don’t have to be the angry, mad person that’s always barking at people and carrying it right on your shoulder and having it affect your everyday life.”

Harvick’s basic point was that Bubba Wallace is making life more difficult on himself when he lets the negative elements of his NASCAR experience take hold and drive him.

When he’s just being himself, enjoying racing, the results often seem to follow. So even though it’s been a trying season — Wallace is right on the playoff points cut line — Wallace can help himself with his approach.

“Here’s my thing about Bubba: He takes so much heat on everything he does, good or bad,” Harvick said. “Bubba’s a great person, and when he’s not in that pressure and listening to all the people chirp at him, whether it’s on his team or in the industry or off the racetrack or on social media, like he’s a great person. And I just, if he would just be him and not have to worry about everything else that’s going on, people are going to love him no matter what he’s done.”

Harvick was thrilled with the response from Bubba Wallace after the advice he provided, too.

“I loved his interview this week. I loved the fact that he went in there and he said, ‘Didn’t like it,'” Wallace said. “Didn’t get defensive, didn’t get mad, didn’t point any fingers. Because that’s really the boat that you put yourself in in those situations. I’ve been there 100 times, and you put it at the discretion of NASCAR, and sometimes they react, sometimes they don’t. But you can’t blame them. You can, but that’s not going to do any good.

“But I just, I love the Bubba Wallace away from the racetrack and the type of person that he is because he’s a great person, he has a great personality, he’s fun. I hope that he just doesn’t worry about trying to live up to what everybody else thinks he should be. Just go be you, do you, man, because you’re a great guy.”

Harvick continued to harp on how likable a person Wallace is when he doesn’t have a helmet strapped to his head in the heat of the moment. If he can bring that peace to the track without losing any competitive fire, he might just find his winning combo.

One thing is certain for Harvick: The fans want to love Bubba Wallace.

“When you have an attitude and are the type of person that Bubba is, people are going to love you,” Harvick said. “I mean he has a great personality and he’s a great person, and I just don’t want him to ruin that carrying all that weight on his shoulders of what everybody else thinks. Because in the end it doesn’t really matter.

“He doesn’t have to prove he needs to be here anymore. Now he’s just got to figure out the day-to-day grind with your team and get the most out of it. The rest of it, there is no more proving you need to be here, so just let it take a breath.”