“I Thought He was on the Drivers’ Side” – Kevin Harvick Finally Reveals the Story Behind His Feud with Dale Earnhardt Jr

Ever since Dale Earnhardt Jr announced that Kevin Harvick would appear on his podcast, fans were excited. This is largely because of the supposed feud that they had for a while. The day finally arrived and Harvick answered the all-important question about his feud.

The disagreement kicked off in 2017 due to Dale Jr’s comments about driver salaries. In response to that, Harvick talked about Earnhardt’s popularity and how his lack of success “stunted” NASCAR’s growth. Later that year, Dale Jr seemingly stoked the fire with his comments about younger drivers entering the sport. According to him, they pen contracts for less guaranteed money compared to veteran drivers and that it was good for the sport.

What Earnhardt did not know was that around that time, Harvick was deep in his own contract negotiations. Naturally, this rubbed the Stewart-Haas Racing driver the wrong way. He said, “For me, I was like, ‘Man, I thought he was on the drivers’ side’. Then talking about salaries going down. I’m like, ‘I’ve got to change the narrative of this conversation’. The narrative about driver salaries was gone at that particular moment because of everything that was said on (Happy Hours). I think as you look at that, definitely not the way to handle all that, just in the way it all went down.”

Kevin Harvick regretted his words afterward

In the wake of that year’s race at Watkins Glen, Harvick fired back at Dale Earnhardt Jr. Later on, he confessed that his reaction was not the right way to go about it. Even Earnhardt Jr admitted that he could have handled the situation a lot better than he did. In fact, Kevin Harvick was not the only driver to have an issue with his comments.

Earnhardt said, “I go into that media center every week and they’re asking questions and you just answer them, right? And you tell your truth or whatever you feel like you believe. But that was probably a conversation that I guess I understand absolutely why you were upset about that.”

He also acknowledged that even though the comments hurt, he still respected the Stewart-Haas driver. The good news is that both of them have decided to let bygones be bygones. Now, Harvick will be looking forward to the 2022 season and bouncing back from his disappointing 2021 campaign.

READ MORE: Kevin Harvick Explains Why He Needs to Have a Conversation With Chase Elliott Amid Their Bitter Feud