Kevin Harvick’s Retaliation to ‘Not Being a Scab on Earnhardt’s B*tt’ Triggered a Love-Hate Relationship With Martinsville

Kevin Harvick has only won at Martinsville once in his Cup Series career. In his first season replacing The Intimidator, RCR’s rookie #29 made headlines on only his second start on the 0.526-mile short track for tussling with 2004 Truck Series champion and NASCAR legend, Bobby Hamilton. And it has been more than two decades since he split thirteen of his driver years at Richard Childress Racing and the other ten at Tony Stewart and Gene Haas’ SHR.

But one outlying factor, just like his 2014 championship, has been a tumultuous relationship with the world’s fastest conveyor belt, and a major reason for that, as Kevin Harvick recently revealed, could be an insult, courtesy of late NASCAR legend Bobby Hamilton.

Kevin Harvick sparks controversy with Bobby Hamilton at the half-mile of mayhem

At the time, 25-year-old Kevin Harvick had spun Hamilton in Martinsville’s second race of the 2001 season, in retaliation for the #55 Chevy driver pushing the circumstantial rookie ‘out of contention’ earlier in the race. This had caused quite a stir, then. Driving for current RCR VP Andy Petree’s other full-time Cup Series entry, besides the #33, Hamilton would even bluntly dismiss the idea of a rookie Kevin Harvick filling the shoes of the recently deceased Dale Earnhardt, stating Harvick “wouldn’t make a scab on Dale Earnhardt’s b*tt,” in comparison to the 7x champ’s impact. 

The now-48-year-old FOX broadcaster revealed exactly what kind of impact this post-race fallout had on his extensive NASAR career. Speaking to Mamba Smith and Kaitlyn Vincie on his podcast, ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour,’ the man explained, “I’ve had a lot of people flip me off at Martinsville. Something about Martinville… Martinsville was one of those places, it was kind of a Love-Hate relationship. The fans love going there. I hated going there because I just never did very good. There’s nothing wrong with Martinsville it’s a great racetrack, fun to watch.” 

Stating that he had “way more fun watching this weekend than” he ever did driving, Harvick then continues to give fans an incredible story. “So for a long time, I didn’t start off on the right foot at Martinsville my first year, and it was towards the end of the season. I spun Bobby Hamilton out as he passed me for the lead-up there in the cup race… He passed me and I’m like, well, the only chance I have is to spin him out, so I spun him out, and that didn’t go over well. That’s when he said I wasn’t a scab on Earnhardt’s b*tt.”

“So that was kind of how I got off the ground at Martinsville and then the next year I got thrown out at Martinsville, for spinning Coy Gibbs out, he added.” The following year, at the Trucks race in Martinsville, Harvick made headlines again, but this time for all the wrong reasons. 

A tumultuous short-track record

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Entering his sophomore year as a full-time Cup Series RCR driver, Harvick also entered his seventh season in the Truck Series. 2002 was a disruptive year for Happy Harvick and his attempt at Martinsville glory. Driving his race team’s #6 Chevy’, Harvick was found intentionally wrecking former Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner Coy Gibbs’ #20 Truck through radio communications. This resulted in a 35,000-dollar fine and a year-long probation, also resulting in Harvick missing the Cup race with RCR the next day.

This would not be the first time Harvick would face legal problems. In 2011 at Richmond, Harvick was fined 35,000 dollars and handed another probation for a nasty post-race encounter with Rick Rudd, who would finish third after wrecking the #29 Chevrolet with just nine laps left.

Nevertheless, earlier that season, Harvick had finally claimed his first Martinsville victory after ten years in NASCAR’s premier division. So what do you think it was that made Happy Harvick ‘not so happy,’ at Richmond?

Read More: Kevin Harvick Unveils Martinsville’s ‘Middle Finger’ to Denny Hamlin as He Risked Wrecking Chase Elliott