Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - All four JGR drivers on the battle with Hendrick Motorsports, horsepower debate, and best Joe Gibbs stories!

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

On Episode 20 of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour,” brace yourself for an electrifying conversation featuring NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick and Joe Gibbs Racing Drivers Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs. In this episode, join us as the drivers offer exclusive insights into their experiences racing for Joe Gibbs Racing, with Ty Gibbs sharing a unique family perspective. Kevin also discusses the fierce rivalry between JGR Racing and Hendrick Motorsports! The conversation also ventures into the dynamics of racing, exploring the trade-off between power and managing tire wear. Additionally, the group discusses their picks for the ultimate Cup Series Championship location and debates the age-old question: Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Chase Elliott, who reigns supreme on the track? And more!Don't miss out on this action-packed episode filled with insider stories and thrilling revelations. Tune in now for a front-row seat to all the excitement! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The worst but chewing I've taken from my grandfather of this day, and it never equilated as close as my dad's butt shoeing. That was different, right? My dad was way worse. But the worst one, out of all the stupid stuff I have done, was shooting my brother with an airsoft gun with about the distance between me and you, just wide open and I held it to him. And that was the first time, and the only time I ever seen Coach's teeth.

Hello, I'm Kevin Harvick. listen to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR and Fox. You can follow us on YouTube or anywhere on social media at Harvick Happy Pod and download us anywhere that you get your podcast. So today is an interview that I think was very fun. It gives us a little bit of insight into some of the personalities of all four drivers at Joe Gibbs Racing. We had some great stories from the young Ty Gibbs. We had some jabs back and forth. And in the end, Christopher Bell took $100 from me in the chipping competition. So follow along. I hope you enjoy this interview. All right. Well, they figured that I couldn't interview one person well, so they brought four of you to see if I can actually figure out how to make this all flow correctly. So pardon me if I screw this up.

But I wanted to make sure that we took you guys somewhere that wasn't normal. So we wound up at the golf course, which I only think there's one of us. that can actually golf here, and that's probably you. He claims not to be a good golfer. I golf once a year. You guys sound like about the same, and you shoot golf balls. I'd like to, yeah. Is that right?

I could. That's how I started playing golf. We went and shot, went to the driving range to do this, and Hornaday and I were like, man, we are not very good golfers, so we went and got shotgun. Earnhardt gave us our first shotgun, and we started shooting. Like way more fun. Denny can chip them up in the air.

I'll shoot them. Hey. I could do that. That's what we should have done. We're in Texas. What are we doing? We should be blowing stuff up. Not trying to hit golf balls.

But I thought it was, I thought it would be interesting to have you guys come as a group because right now I feel like it's you against Hendrick Motorsports. And you guys came in with a new car, new body, knew everything. And with the short track stuff dominated, kind of got your legs underneath you at the mile and a half. And I just, I feel like you guys are in a spot to do things that is expected out of Joe Gibbs racing. So I guess my first question would be, and I'm just going to go right to it, is this a championship year? Because it feels like everybody's leading laps. You're on the verge of winning your first race. You've been battling for wins. You've won races and you've been doing

the exact same thing leading labs and doing everything you guys need to do. So is this a Joe Gibbs Racing championship year? Am I starting it off? You are. I mean it's yeah it seems like we've got the we've got the resources to do it for sure and you know the last since the introduction of the next-gen car we've had our strengths and our weaknesses but that year in 2022 it was the short track stuff the road course package wasn't good for our cars and so we put in a lot of effort into trying to increase our performance on the road courses and the short track stuff which was phoenix a big hole was phoenix and And then this new car seems like it's bridge the gap a little bit, and that was my best race today.

So you've been through a number of these years, racing for championships, won a championship. How does it feel different this year compared to other years? Because from the outside looking in, it feels different to me. Yeah, I mean, I would say it's hard to compare to, like, the championship year and stuff with the old car, right? because whether we're better or not, it's the whole field still way tighter than it was then, right?

So I feel similar in the fact that I feel like we're very well-rounded. We can go anywhere and be fast. One of us is going to be fast everywhere we go, which we haven't really had that the last two years. Like Christopher mentioned, we've had struggles at roadcourses, the struggles, short tracks one year. It just has been not,

we haven't all felt like every single week we go to the race track we win. And I feel like this year, from the way things have failed, It's like one of us is going to have a chance. Yeah. So I feel similar in that respect, but the field is still way closer than it was in all those years we race for championships, you know? How is it having all the experience around you? I know a little bit about you.

A lot of people don't know a little bit about you. I know your work ethic and the things that you do behind the scenes. So how much do you lean on these guys and how much of it is, okay, I take a little bit, from him, I take a little bit from these two and has morphed into your own driving style with what you do. Yeah, you know, it's definitely, you know, really cool growing up in this in this time, you know, the generations are changing as well. So we still got some of these guys. I grew up watching these guys and then me and Christopher are, you know, roughly new. So it's definitely cool. It's, in another aspect, it's cool because I grew up kind of studying their data,

so then I end up kind of knowing about that, more about how they drive and about their own personalities my whole life and until now. So it's been cool. I've had a lot of great help from my teammates and very blessed to be in a position I'm in and having a great time. So you've been here for a long time

and been within Joe Gibbs Racing. You've seen the ups and the downs, and I think for the years that I've seen everything go on, there seems to be somebody that has to be the leader of where the direction of the cars go. Do you need more rear down force, front down force? Is that you? Is that all of you? How would you explain the process of how you arrived with getting a car like you guys have?

Because I feel like your car is really as superior as it's been in a long time with what you guys designed and developed. And so what's your, you're the one that's been here the longest. What's the difference from where you were when you started, as far as Joe Gibbs racing, to where you are now, to how you develop this car and how that's led within the group and the organization. From the driver's standpoint, we all know that there's engineers and people that are smarter than us. Well, I would say that I'm probably the most vocal in the driver's meetings, but it's because of the experience. Martin is also, you know, we have seen different generations of different Camrys,

and we've seen the positives and the negatives when we go down a certain direction. So I probably in the most vocal, and then we go to kind of Martin to say, do you feel the same way? Because we've been through so many generations of different cars that, you know, we're trying to send these guys in certain areas to work on. Now, they're kind of soaking things up. They haven't been around as long. Christopher's now starting to get to the point where he's driven now multiple generations of cars

and knows when we went down this path, here's where's the positives. When we went down this path, here's been the negatives. And so I just try to kind of think of what I might think and see if they kind of agree with that, I would say. Who's your driving style, the most like of these three? Man, I don't know. I think I'm on an island, sort of, with kind of how I use the pedals. You mean that heartbeat?

Yeah, but I would say, you know, there's aspects that I would say that me and Martin on mile and a halfs are more similar. But really all of them. I mean, the great thing about having really fast teammates is that I'm not afraid to look at any of them. Right. Information. That's what's fun about this is that every week we're all fast. And there's some corners that one is faster than the other, and both are faster than me and this question. or that corner and I can just pick apart which ones that I want to kind of take from.

So it's really hard to compare nowadays unless you're driving the exact same thing as other drivers. And so I've got teammates that have their own individual skill levels and expertise in certain things that I like to pull from. All right, don't give me a BS answer. What's been the hardest thing that you've had to learn coming from the Xfinity car to this new style cup car? Yeah, you know, I think the biggest thing is how everybody's a lot quicker, you know, the field's a lot tighter, as they said. And then just the experience

level has been the biggest thing for me. You know, Xfinity I can get in and, of course, it's a lot easier to make mistakes and still run well. Here it's a, it'll bite you. So that's been the biggest thing for me. And just gaining time at tracks and any more experience is really important. So you go through, you go through Richmond and obviously you guys, you guys I mean, you had the dominant car. And I know that when I was, when I was, you have this dynamic of a team. And obviously you guys get along. Yeah.

It's very apparent that you guys get along good enough to be, to be decent humans to each other. I've been on teams where it was, hey, we're going to do a group interview with each other. And it'd be like, no, we're not. We're not going to do a group interview. So I think it's, it was always interesting for me when you go through a situation, Like you guys went through Richmond, and you know how fast your cars are, and you know the situation, you don't get these cars all the time. And I live the frustration through you at Richmond.

Tell the folks watching what it's like when you have to go back and say, hmm, probably not my best moment, and how you have to go about that, how you guys go about it when you guys get into that situation as a team, to go back and say, okay, I need to set this right, that was wrong. What's the process like on what day are your meetings? Mondays? Mondays, Tuesdays.

Are you there all the time? No. No. I mean, I'm there, but I'm not in person. Are you a textor or a phoner? I'm,

I'm generally a textor and I call in. Okay, so how do you go about that with Denny on a Monday? When you know that, did you, did you text him? Yeah, he texted me first. He texted you first.

Yeah, and I was like, I don't know what exactly I said. I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. Yeah. I mean, it's like, you know,

basically we've been around he's there long enough. Yeah. We've raced each other for so many wins and so many different things over the years. It's a respect level, right? Yeah. No matter what happens on the racetrack, I get it. We're there to race.

We're there to win. We're there to do the best for our team in that moment. And then, you know, it comes down to respect it after the race. When you do something stupid, you got to swallow your pride and say, sorry, I'm an hit. Oh, it's terrible. You know? God, I hate it. And it's one of the toughest things about this sport is the disappointments, learning how to deal with those because there are so many.

you know, I can think of five or six other times. That same exact scenario happened at Richmond, right? Yeah. And it's like, how do you keep your emotions in check? That's the hardest part of this sport. And, you know, I think Ty, as a young guy, is learning that, that it's so competitive, it's so difficult. And, you know, you're judged on how many races you win.

When something happens that takes a win away from you that had nothing to do with you, that's super hard to deal with. But when you're talking to teammates, like with Danny, we, you know, I have so much respect for Danny. I had so much respect for you. guys you've raced with for years. Yep. We all lose our minds once in a while, right?

And we understand that. And you just have to... Pop the top. It's... It is. I'm just guilty of it as anybody. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

So that was a... It was a simple thing, you know, just whatever. I'm an idiot. And I knew how upset he was because I knew the history that this has happened to five times. Like, so I knew. Yeah. Like, I was empathizing, like, and I said it after the race and says, the guy is six times has dominated this race and not won it for various reasons.

Where you like, holy... That's the maddest Martin's ever. I understand why he is going off the rails. I get it. Every moment's right. So you've been very, I would say, at another level for the last few years. But to me it seems like you don't get the credit that you deserve for the performance that you guys have had in your car. And it seems like there's always something over here that's happening that doesn't include Christopher Bell.

and all of a sudden, bam, there you are. Why do you think that is? Because I view you as a consistent weekly contender week in and week out with the performance of your car and the things that you do as a race car driver. But it's not like you're out there trying to make headlines or anything along those lines of dealing with it. Is that a choice that you make?

I mean, I try to not be an idiot. but you know, I, it's interesting because you look at Martin's wins, right, in the races that you won. I think I saw an interview of like, or maybe it was a mean tweet deal where people hate on you because you win the races you dominate, right? Yeah. And for whatever reason, it hasn't happened for me yet. Like out of the races that I've won, I haven't really led laps.

I think Loudon and Phoenix were two races that I led the most laps. But even then I was, you know, mid-packed the first half of the race in both of those scenarios. So I haven't gotten to the point yet to where we've put a whole race together where we qualify up front. We lead laps, win stages, you know, have good pit stops and good restarts where I'm the guy up front. And it's good that we've been able to win races and be there at the end. But on the flip side, I think that's why I'm kind of this underdog is because I'm not the guy that's leading all. the laps like Martin did at Richmond or, you know, just leading laps and controlling the race. We haven't been able to do that yet.

See, I just, I don't, I don't picture you as that. Like, I look at, when I look down the, when I look down the list of lap times and all the things that happen on a weekly basis, I'm always, I always include the 20 car in that list. And it just, it amazes me what fans do or don't gravitate to as far as what's exciting or or what's not exciting. But I want to talk about Joe. I'll start with you. Okay.

Because Joe has had some pretty incredible personalities as he's gone through the years. And I look at you guys as pretty tame compared to the Kyle Bush days. I don't think all four of you could probably add up to the amount of work that it took to keep Kyle under control. I come close. Close? I come close at times. Really? What was the closest?

Yeah, the whole thing that Christopher was saying about not being an idiot. Yeah. I kind of crossed that line sometimes. So you're in a different position from a family perspective, and I know he's probably just had to chew your butt. What's the worst butt chewing that you've taken from Joe? The worst butt chewing I've taken from my grandfather this day, and it never equilated as close as my dad's butt chewing.

That was different, right? My dad was way worse. But the worst one, out of any, all the stupid stuff I've done, was shooting my brother with an airsoft gun with about the distance between me and you, just wide open and I held it to him. And that was the first time, and the only time I ever seen Coach's teeth. I was really young. So that one, that was probably got the top of the charts for. What was the worst but two and your dad gave you over racing?

Oh, gosh. A handful of times. There's a couple of them. I used to race bicycles. and we were at BMX, so I was an LCQ, and they only took the top two of the LCQ. And me being an idiot and being, I think I was probably 10, I wrecked the guy, the leader for the LCQ.

I was second, so we were going to make it in. And I wrecked the leader coming to the line, so we both didn't make the transfer at all. So my dad just took the bike and flung it, and then we went home, and that was the only time we talked about. So how long did you... I don't even think we got the bike back to me. How long did you race BMX bikes?

For four years, I think, five years. Really? Yeah. Was that something you enjoyed? Yeah, it was definitely the most. Out of anything I've ever competed in, that was the most nervous I was going to hit the fan. We didn't finish Will. What's the, what's the worst? Oh, it's not even close. But chewing from Joe.

After practice for the Dayton 500, 2019, he specifically told us, do not practice in a, in a group because he didn't want to risk tearing up the cars. I practiced with my Toyota teammates, and then there was a pack out there, and I'm like, I'm just going to, I just need to see what it's going to do at the very tail of this pack. There was a crash. Someone came from behind me and got me into it, wrecked the car, and he says, you are paying for that car. Every nickel. He told me, you're paying for it. I'm not paying for this car.

You're paying for it. And I says, yes, sir. I mean, he was really, really mad. He yelled at me. He never really is. yelled at me, but he yelled at me. Do you remember that, Martin? Yes.

We're all like, what is Denny doing? And so, luckily for me, a couple days later, I won the Daytona 500, and he says, I'm going to let you slide on that car. Different car. Yes. He said, I'm going to let you slide on that. How about you? Honestly, I have never been yelled at by coach.

Really? I mean, we've had lots and lots of conversations, and he has never yelled at me. So I guess I'm doing okay. What did he say to you on pit road when you were walking by him at Richmond? It was the most classic reaction that I've ever seen. Have you watched it? No. Oh, my God.

I have. Really? You want to know, too. You walk by him. You walk by him, and he was like, you walk by and he was like, he kicks his. Well, should have said something. Yeah. Yeah.

How about you, Christopher? So I'm with Martin. I don't know if I haven't been around long enough yet. But I will say, we were here. It was either 2020. or I think it was 2020. These guys, I didn't do good. It was the spring, the fall or the summer race,

because it was the COVID year. I know you guys will remember this. We had two or three cars maybe running one, two, or one, two, three. You were in the 95? I was in the 95. Yeah, so the yellow flag comes out, and it's either a green white checkered or like three to go. You remember this?

We all pitted. Everyone pitted. Everyone pitted, and the two RCR cars stayed out and ran one two. Yeah. And that was the massive. We were basically a bunch of idiots. Yes. That's for sure.

Because they were running one, two, three, or one two, and they both came down pit road, gave the lead up to guys who stayed out, and they won the race. So is this a competition meeting? Competition meeting, yeah. So Joe, I thought Joe sat against the wall. He told me he sat against the wall, didn't sit at the table. That's not the case? He's at the table.

He's at the table. Okay. And every time we end our meetings with Joe, is there anything you'd like to add? So who starts the meetings? Uh, not Joe. Not Joe. Yeah. Is it typically you?

No, he just kind of goes in order of kind of like whoever finishes the highest start there and then you go clockwise. Okay. So Joe ends the meeting. But Joe always gets to final word. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll never forget that Texas debrief, though.

He let everyone in the room have it. So is this a situation like when Joe's mad, does anybody fire back or do we just end the meeting? Yeah, it pretty much stops there. That's it. The buck ends there, yeah. Just listen to Joe. and you move on. Yeah.

Who's the most aggressive if you had to pick out of these three? Like on track? Of you four. Yeah, no. Who's the most aggressive in the meetings? Him? I would say the experience of Denny kind of leads the charge. Would you say that over the past couple years you've gotten more vocal in the meetings?

I've gotten more confident in what I'm saying. Yeah, and you know, you show up as a kid and a rookie and you don't feel like anybody values your input. So, you know, you go and you fill out your sheet and you're talking about your car and you just don't want to waste time. But then the more, the better you do, the better races you have, better results you get, then you feel like you're a little bit more valuable to the group and you can speak up and share your information. How much time do you spend in the shop during the week? For me, you know, I really don't have a whole lot going on outside of it. So I feel like by three or four days, three today is usually in the shop for me.

You know, Monday is kind of a half day because we just have our meeting, but Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm usually... And are you, are you at the point where you're just cup cars only, or do you want to race more? I want to race more, for sure, yeah. What's the problem there? Why can't we race me? Well, yeah. Is there somebody putting a restrictor plate on this? Yeah, I think just we have... Who's putting the rest?

I don't know. I mean, Christopher, you can ask Christopher about that, to be honest with you, but... I get one expediting race a year, man. Come on. I actually, I went, I chose to go to four. Would you run? Yeah. Yeah, I ran one a couple years ago. I got to that point, too.

I was like, sending this guy to Richmond. Yeah. I'll take Richmond. I don't get back some of them wins. He got cheated out of. You're always mad in the Xfinity races by the time it's over, though. Yeah, yeah. I backed myself down to four this year.

Just the row courses. Because you don't want to. Nobles, I'm not done. You don't want to get in any more trouble. Yeah, I just, yeah, it's just doesn't help. and it's not fun racing. And you grew up racing all the time, and you don't race near as much as I think you should.

Yeah, I run 36 races a year. That's it. That's it. Why? I mean, I guess. Why? You're going to get him in trouble where he's going to get yelled at. Okay, time out.

Let me rephrase that. We don't want to get, their goal is to not get anybody in trouble. So you run 36 races a year. Or 38, whatever than you. 38. So we'll give you two weeks off. You can run 36. Absolutely.

What would you race? Uh, it doesn't have to be. We're going down a wrong path here. Oh, God, I don't even know. Something on dirt. Yeah, yeah, I... Just be honest. I would rather know.

He don't need to be running that. All right. Well, obviously, there's... I would love to run Expendity races, though. All right. I'd like to run some dirt races. What kind of dirt races? What kind of dirt racer?

Do it together? Who'd be the best dirt racer of these three? Oh. So, Martin, I'll be honest. Actually, Ty did, too. We did a... We did a... I don't even know what it was.

These guys went and ran dirt midgets. At Indy. At Indy, at the racetrack at Indy. And Martin and I... Wait a second. At the little track in the field? Yes. Yep.

2021. You guys raced? It was amazing. It was just like a potlap session or whatever. Oh, okay. I didn't get invited to that. Yeah. But Martin did great.

He did amazing. And Ty, I don't think he got a fair shake. Yeah. But Martin did great. Some excuses. What? He flipped it, too. You did?

That's awesome. Shhh. Yeah. I tipped it over. They call it tipping it over. Okay. Run the cushion, you ride the cushion, you know, right rear up the wall and it just kind of tipped over.

So you'd like to run dirt races? I'd love dirt races. All right. I got some hard hitting questions now. Tireware or power? Which one? Both. You can't have both.

Okay, tire wear. We're not getting power, so just say tire wear. As much as Bristol? Yeah. If we went back to, well, let me rephrase that. The left sides didn't wear it all Bristol. The right sides were gone, so even that out. we could do 60 laps, no problem, tomorrow.

Yep. 100%. So, okay, here's my question for you. You never once ran hard, right, at that race? I mean, I got close a few times. Late in the race. Call it 90%. Okay.

Yeah. So was that an experience difference at Bristol? Was that like experience, experience, inexperience, inexperience, is that? No, I was watching. I was watching them and I knew they were going too hard. No, but. I watched you getting sideways off the corner. I'm like, oh, no.

So they're telling me, you know, take it easy. I had a pintero penalty and I came from the back to lead. And I drove it three times as hard as I did the final stage. This final stage when I, courted me and Christopher quartered red tires probably within the same lap. I drive it way easier. So I have a conspiracy. I don't know.

He don't think it matters. I drive it so hard. I drove it so hard. I was like, I was waiting for my. I'm like, it's gonna get me here in a second. No problem. Came in, did, ran our last segment, ran three times easier.

All the issues. Should have went five. You should have five times easier. Yeah. Bad set of tires. Yeah. Bad set of tires. Yeah.

And did you have the same tires? So I don't know. I just, I left Bristol frustrated because I felt like it was a crew chief race. And Denny drove the car properly. Martin drove the car properly. But like, I'm following these guys, running. running the same pace as these guys and way under the tire. And he saw me slipping, but at that point I was already cooked, right?

Yeah, yeah. So I'm looking at data and, like, all of our stuff is pretty much line over line. And you have some cars that make it and some cars that don't make it. So, I don't know. Bristol was a little extreme. There's no question about it. You want to have certain aspects where you can go 100%. I agree it was at max.

I probably was at a 90%. like on any given lap. But again, the teams could make adjustments. If nothing changed moving back to the same tire, same conditions. I have full faith the teams would fix most of the problems. That was as close to a late model stock race as I've ever seen a cup race. Have you run a late model stock? No, I've run supers, and it was, yeah, the same way.

Like you're just under the tire, the leaders kind of sets the pace and everyone kind of falls in line. Yeah. It was just interesting at the end because we were just, we were, we were on the TV side, we were on the experience cell and then it lined up, you two, you guys fell off, and here comes Brad, kind of poking along, winds up, winds up third that night. Trust me, at the end, it was, I saw him in my mirror thinking, which one's going to go off first, me or him? And it was like the same time, like three or four to go. I'm like, oh, I'm dying. And I'm like, oh, he's dying too. So it was crazy. Championship four, location, final rate.

Has to rotate. Has to rotate. It's got to move. Where? Back to Miami. I mean, Miami's fine, but not every year, right? I don't know where else we're going to go because of weather. We could end about a month and a half earlier.

You make that happen. I can't make that happen. But I've been trying to make stuff like that happen. You agree? I agree. I agree, yeah. It needs to move around for sure. I mean, I love Homestead, yeah. Homestead Phoenix. There's only so many options, like he said, you know, if we're going to race in November, a lot of places is too cold. Yeah. You know, so we, yeah, ended earlier. That sounds good. And we can move it wherever we want.

I think that would be great. Not Daytona, not Talladega. Yeah, no. That can't happen. It can't, it certainly cannot end at a super speedway race. That's just, that wouldn't be the right. You're going to have people say in Atlanta now, too. No, not enough. What's... Unless this is part of a championship round. All right, this is going to be the hardest question I've ever answered in your whole life. Who's... I'm going to let him go first.

I won't even make... I'm going to let you have time to think about it. Who's the better driver? Dale Jr. or Chase Elliott? That is wrong for you to ask me that. I told you this is going to be the hardest question you ever had to answer in your whole life. Chase Elliott. Well, it's definitely hard question. You have to pick, though.

Yeah. You have to pick. I would say Chase Elliott, right? I don't know if that's right. You don't think so? Statistically, I don't... It does have a championship. Yeah, that's...

Cup championship. Chase? Yeah. I'm going to say Chase as well. Okay. Well, that was... You guys were way easier at that than I thought. We have to answer to Chase on the race track.

We don't have to answer Dale Jr. on the track. What's the... When's this air again? Yeah. What's the... What's the... What's the first track you'd tear down? right across the street.

Same. Atlanta times, oh, any day of the week. That you can just do that place out. This one. Okay. Restart zone. Here's a second.

Timing line or take the lines off the track? If you're going to... If you're going to enforce the rule, it needs to be enforced with timing lines, yes. Whatever they set the rule as, just call it. Do you want to put a timing line? Or take the lines off the track? To give them...

more so that it's not a hard point. I mean, we need a visual. Yeah. You're saying open it up where you can go anywhere? Yeah, I like that. Keep the signs on the wall, but it gives them, it's not a hard line. I just, like, turn four. But how do you turn four?

Yeah. The leader should have an advantage. You know, because right now it's just everyone's, you just see everyone's timing their run to the leader. And so I would, the bigger the area, the better. But just agree. whatever the... All right.

Call it whatever it is. So he might have had... He might have had the best car story I've ever heard. I don't know if you guys heard it. But tell them about your first car. Tell him about your first car. Oh, yeah.

Do you hear it? Yeah, Ford Ranger. Tell them about your first car. Tell them why you wanted a Ford Ranger. Because my goal in life was to be in mini truck and magazine. Yeah. So...

I lowered this thing, put airbags on it. I mean, just scraping the ground, tubbed out the back. Hemped out. Oh, that was like... Tweed interior. Tweed. It was, and I finally got my, my picture.

I got a little tiny picture from the, it was a car show in Charlotte called the Booger Bash. The Booger Bash. The Booger Bash? I finally got a... Booger Bash? Yes. Booger Bash?

Booger Bash? Okay. Yeah. And so that was a big car. show in Charlotte that used to happen and so I finally got in that magazine so my life was made. I was working at Subway when I was driving that thing now. Now you got to you got to finish telling the story. How did its life end? How did the truck? How did the truck keep going. Tell them what you ran into. Oh yeah, I mean I ran in the back of a school bus.

What was your first car? Changing a CD? I was actually grabbing a CD. My first car was a Camaro actually I don't even know if I should say this. It's fine. Everybody lives a life Ty. My dad's first car's a Camaro so he's like we'll do the same thing we'll keep it going. So my first car is a Camaro. I don't know how I... 2018. A 2018 Camero? Yeah. I don't know how I didn't get myself killed or just guys guys five years ago. Yeah five. Yeah. That was that was it. It was a good time. Had a good run. What happened to it? It got sold. You didn't wreck it. Yeah, didn't wreck it. It got close. Burn a lot of her tires off of it.

How would you explain that? Just go look at the Xfinity shop parking lot. You can just go look at that and be like, oh, that's me. My dad, my dad had this, we had this old brown 1981 stepside pickup, and he had put like exhaust pipes and headers, a whole exhaust system on the thing. And, I mean, it sounded like a race car. Well, he would, we shared the truck because I couldn't afford to buy it. So we would, we would take this truck.

I would take him to the firehouse and drop him off. and then I got to drive it for two days. But it was a similar situation like that. It would burn the rear tires off. So I would go pick my buddies up and we would go spin donuts in this thing and just burn the rear tires off of it. And I never did think about the fact

that we might have, we would go clean the truck up, polish it all up, and I never thought about the fact that he would look in the wheel wells and see the rubber caked up on the back of the wheel wells. And that's how I got caught doing all those donuts. But you were doing them at the shop, so I guess...

Yeah, late, late, nobody was there. Oh, really? They got cameras. They have cameras. I don't know. Didn't think about that part. Yeah, I want to go back and see what I can see on those things, though, for sure. Martin, what was your first car?

I had a Jeep. So we had like a Woods Jeep that we kept at the house for messing around. And then when I was 16, talked my dad into giving it to me so I could work on it. And I went the opposite way of Denny. I went up. Yeah. Big tires, you know, suspension, put a V8 Chevrolet engine in there. four-speed transmission, all the whole nine yards.

So there was many days driving a school where I'd blow the drive shaft out of it, have to have to drive in front wheel drive, stop at Napa, get a U joint. Like did you have like 38s or? 35 is when I started. Okay, okay. Forty-four is when it ended.

Whoa, 44? Forty-four inch tires, you had mudders. Holy now. Yeah, that's what we did. Like we just went and played in the woods, you know? And like, whoever had the baddest truck and go through the biggest mud home. Yeah, yeah.

That's kind of what we did. So, yeah, still fun. left it in my dad's or left it in my parents house when I moved to Carolina It pretty much rusted away and I brought everything down took all the good parts off of it and built a new one I still got a jeep Christopher I don't have any cool stories Well you had to have a car yeah, I probably had a 2003 or four Toyota Tacoma

Yeah, that was it just a everyday driver just cruised around a day driver Every day driver Fortin Fortin That's so Christopher Bell of you to it from the dirt track yeah it did it went to a lot of dirt tracks fortnight or i racing

uh i racing believe it or not i don't know if we're racing are you a gamer still um i get no like i get in streaks where all of a sudden I'll get on eye racing and I'll do it for like you know two or three nights a week for a month or two and then I won't do it for two years

yeah I'm on the two years right now I haven't done it so I'm with you yeah um I'm gonna split the middle I'm this one to be honest with you so if you're going into if you're going into your rig. Are you- My house? I don't have anything in the rig, but in my house, it's 50-50.

Yeah. Do you stay up all night? Not anymore. I've learned my lesson. Okay. I'm getting older here. You still? I've never played Fortnite and I haven't been on that racing since COVID.

You probably had an Atari, right? Yes, I'm that old. I played Atari. You had an Atari too. I didn't own one. I had, I played it. The first one I had was Nintendo. I was pre-A-Tarri in television.

It's like it had the little number pad on it with a little dial on it. All right, so last thing we gotta do, this is gonna be right up your alley. So, closest to the pin out of U-4. 100 bucks? Which pin? This one.

The close one? The yellow one. Okay, I got a chance. Yeah, I got inside of this. We got some left-de-celtier. You realize? We all bet in a hundred or just? Just you. No, just me.

Who you betting on? I'm just giving it to whoever's the closest. Oh, okay. Yeah. So. All right. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that interview. I know for me, that's a lot of fun to sit down with those four drivers.

And I can't believe that Ty Giv lost his bike over a last chance qualifying race. But we encourage you to follow along at Harvick Happy Pod anywhere on social media. Follow us on YouTube or anywhere else that you get your podcast. So we'll be back next Tuesday with another great episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR and Fox.