Kevin Harvick is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, a four-time winner already in the 2018 season and the most recent race winner Sunday at Dover International Speedway. Safe to say he’s used to pressure and to meeting those expectations.
But a seemingly sweet and innocent tweet from Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Tuesday led to Harvick admitting that even he sometimes feels the burden to do well for others.
Specifically, for Mammaw.
Martha (Mammaw) Earnhardt, Dale Jr.’s grandmother and the mother of Dale Earnhardt, visited Junior’s newborn daughter, Isla, and happened to mention that she still watches every Monster Energy Series race and still pulls for Harvick, who drove for Richard Childress Racing in the renumbered No. 29 car after Earnhardt was killed in a 2001 wreck in the Daytona 500.
https://twitter.com/DaleJr/status/993890618672844801
This was news to Harvick, who was quick to react, complete with emoji.
https://twitter.com/KevinHarvick/status/993897914979282944
Harvick was asked about this on Friday at Kansas Speedway and smiled widely as he talked about it.
“Seeing the reaction from a lot of fans is a lot of responsibility, honestly. As I said on the show Tuesday night (“Happy Hours” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), when you look at the Earnhardt family in general, the legacy they have in our sport. … it’s a major backbone of what has happened in this sport,” Harvick said.
“When you look at that, I feel like I have a small part of where that changed, took place and where it’s going.
“For me, there’s a lot of pressure but also a lot of pride in that as well, trying to do right, whether it’s for the family or those old Senior fans, you want to do to the right thing. I haven’t always done the right thing but I feel like as you go through the years you transition more into the right direction than you did in the beginning so for me, personally, that feels good.”
Harvick, of course, honored Earnhardt earlier this year after he won in Atlanta, the same track where he earned his first premier series win in his third career start in the series.
Contributing: NASCAR Wire Service