Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Joe Gibbs Interview

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Kevin Harvick sits down with Joe Gibbs to talk about his incredible journey from NFL coaching legend to NASCAR Hall of Famer. Gibbs shares how he got into racing, what it took to build Joe Gibbs Racing into a championship powerhouse, and how he’s led some of the sport’s biggest names to victory. He also reveals what he looks for in a driver, lessons from decades of success, and the moments that defined his legacy. 0:00 - Intro 0:28 - Joe Gibbs Joins The Show! 1:17 - NFL To NASCAR 12:00 - Racing Against Penske/Hendrick 16:47 - JGR Bringing Tony Stewart To NASCAR/Kyle Busch 34:40 - Joe’s First Car Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who was harder to deal with? Kyle Busch or Tony Stewart? I knew that was coming up. He goes, now who's your driver? I went, we don't have one. John Riggins made me famous. You know, Koi got me in as much trouble or I got myself in trouble. I saved your life.

I would call the girlfriend and say, where's Tony? Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. And today we've got a legend of minisports, NFL, NASCAR, Joe Gibbs. and I can't wait to some of the stories that you have. I just, it's so much fun to hear and think about the guys that have driven for you, the players that you've coached and the championships that you guys have won in both sports. So thanks for taking the time to come talk to me. You got it.

Everybody around the race shop are tired of my stories. So I'm glad I could get someplace where I can share a few of them and you actually think they're funny. Well, I do think they're funny. And, you know, I think that when I, let's just start at the beginning because, you know, I think it's important for, we have a much different generation, newer generation of fans than when you started this sport. So how in the world did you go from NFL coach to NASCAR owner? It was actually really crazy. I was born right here right up in the other side of Morrisville. And so I was raised in North Carolina, had nothing to do with race cars, football basketball basketball.

and baseball. Moved to California when I was 16. My family did. And honestly, it was a great time to grow up out there. It was hot rods, drag racing, and I was football. Yeah. And so I fell in love with cars. Wanted to drag race.

I had everything from a gas coop, gas draggster, top fuel drags, build a top fuel drags. So thank goodness that blew it up. And right off the bat, didn't have enough money to put it back together. But I fell in love of the cars at that point. So then I go all the way through, started coaching and moving all over the country. J.D. and Coy came along. And when J.D. graduated from college, he said, Dad, I'd rather do something in racing.

Could we do something in racing? And honestly, Coy was right there. And I said, well, we don't have enough time to try and find a sponsor. We'll just put a dream on a piece of paper. And that's what we literally did. Wow. showed up on Norman Miller's doorstep, interstate batteries. I still remember the meeting.

And he goes, now who's your driver? And I went, we don't have one. He goes, now, where's your race shop? And I said, we don't have one. He goes, I said, Norm, this is a dream on a sheet of paper. And I was honest with it. And I say to this day, Norm is the only CEO with enough guts to step out and go racing with a football coach.

Yeah. And so that's how we kind of started. And Norm, we just signed our last contract with interstate batteries. It'll take us through 34 years. My goodness. And we're best friends. We've got all kinds of stories. We've vacated together.

But it's one of those great things about racing. The thing that baffles me about where we are, the first year it was one car, 17 people, and it's got Jimmy May car to be the creature. Sheaf. And it was just get that car ready. I figured this is easy. It's going to be a hobby. And it started growing. And today, I said, we're racing nine cars, three different divisions, 450 people, and it's totally out of control. It is definitely a different world. So back up to this, to this dream. It's yourself. So who, did you watch NASCAR? Or was this JD? It loved, loved all forms of racing. I had a motocross bike, race some motocross stuff.

Most some drag racing and stuff. Loved it all. And just kind of fell in love with cars, period. Watched NASCAR course, never dreamed. I would have a chance, you know, to get in it. People told me, they said, hey, if you want this thing, Rick Hendrick, you know, is the guy you may want to talk to. I found out he's a big Redskin fan, invite him to a redneck fan, invite him to a

Redskine game. That's a great story because he almost froze a death on the sideline. But Rick let Jimmy Johnson at that point was his GM, helped me. And that's how we kind of got started. Gosh. So that is, I had no idea that it was just on a piece of paper and you didn't have anything. So did you go get, I mean, you just started looking for shops and said we're going to. Yeah. Release the place on Harris Boulevard, right down here, right down the road. And didn't, you know, never thought that we'd be able to talk like Dale Jarrett. We were kind of interviewing people. And I remember Jeff Gordon, they said,

you need to talk to this kid. And so I'm over. I remember he walked in the room and I went, I'm used to football. You know, you get big guys when you invest in something. And I looked across there and he looked like he was 12. I said, I'm not giving that guy a race car. And so talked to Dale Jerry.

into coming on board. And then I never thought we'd have a chance with Jimmy Maycar. But Jimmy really started us off. I just let him have everything. What were the biggest challenges that you guys faced together right there? In the beginning, getting it built. Yeah, I think just getting it started and talking people. But it was much easier in those days, you're trying to get 17 people.

Today, I really feel because for people who want to start because you got to get 60. 70 people to get off the ground, much easier that way. But we got people that Jimmy's still in our meeting this morning. Yeah. You know, he's still there. Robin is still there. We still get, you know, we give out 30-year awards and it's great. That's my dream is the people at work there.

I want it to be something successful so they get to spend their entire life there. Yeah. So you go from NFL coach to team owner. What was the biggest difference from being coach at one to coach at the NASCAR team, from coach on the sidelines to coach in the office? Okay, the biggest difference was that really frustrates me now at times. In football, I could kind of make it happen. I was designing and working on the offense, calling the plays.

So I was a technical guy. I grew up in it. Okay, so I could kind of, hey, something's off. I could make it happen. And when I moved over to racing, it was totally different because I didn't grow up in racing. I wasn't a technical person. I can't set a car up. And so here, I really said, I got to be smart here.

I can't do the technical stuff. So I need to work on picking the people, working with the people, getting our sponsors. And I say the biggest thrill I have is the first of every month trying to pay the bills. but it's totally different but it's still the people and so that's where I kind of you know try and keep everything paid for and going in the right direction but it was two different worlds you asked me what's the challenge I get frustrated a little bit when things in racing if it doesn't go you know I tell Chris Gabe Hart and our crew chiefs I say I get frustrated because I want to make this happen and I can't and so I think that's the

biggest difference. Now, in the two sports, it is so similar, you can't believe it. In football, you're not going anywhere if you don't have what? Quarterback. Over here, not going anywhere if you have a driver. Right. Okay, so that's the same thing. In football, you want to have a coach that really knows what's going on, hopefully. Over here is Cruachies. Same thing. And then it's the people. The only difference over here is the car. Many times that's... thing doesn't behave. Yeah. But, you know, it is.

The two sports are really, really a lot like. What was your, what was the hardest NFL situation, player situation? I have to imagine that you had an NFL Tony Stewart, NFL Kyle Bush. Who were those guys on that NFL side that you coached? We did have. I tell a lot of stories about John Riggins. You know, our big, big foolback because he was a real character. And I actually, he had set out the year before when I got there in a contract dispute.

I just got out of plane when I got the job and flew to Lawrence, Kansas, knocked on the door. And right away, I knew I had a chance to get him to come back because Mary Louie's wife was there, hairs up and rollers, and kids were running through the house. And she said she wanted to come back. The only way you get a football player do something, find him or get his wife to come. I went out the next day, started the sales pitch. I still remember it. And he was giving me nothing.

He said at breakfast across from me, and I'm sales pitch, young coach, John, you offense, put you in the back field. I'll give you the ball and over down. I'll never ask you to block. I'm a salesman. You expect me telling the truth, dude. So I'm going as hard as like, nothing. And about halfway through that conversation, he leaned across the table and he goes, you need to get me back there.

I'll make you famous. He went just like, and I went, oh my gosh, he's an egotomaniac. I said, it's a nutcase. I'm going to get stuck coaching a fruitcake. And so I'm thinking to myself, how do I get out of this? And I went, trade him. So I just finished the sales pitch. I go back to Washington.

I get a phone call two days later. from John. He goes, coach, I'm going to play. I'm coming back. And I went, yeah, get him back, trade him for a first. This is awesome. He goes, there's only one thing I want to put in my contract. I said, what's that? He said a no trade clause. Now, the moral that story is, John Riggins made me famous. That's right. So it's stuff like that. John was a real character. I had, there are a lot of characters in both sports. where I've been. It fascinates me because, you know, I love that aspect of it.

You know, everybody kind of kidded about me in football being milk toast because I was always, you know, thinking about calling plays. You're not running around throwing a fit. You're calling plays. But I really love that part of team sports. The characters, the guys are joking, you know, here you guys. And it takes all kinds. It takes the jokesters.

It takes the serious guy. It takes the guy who. has no clue, does it pay attention in the meetings, whatever it is, it takes them all. It takes everybody. And it's the thing that never changes is human nature. Yeah. Everything else changes in sports. I said 30% a year in football and racing, if you think about it.

Yeah. One thing it doesn't change is human nature. The same thing's excited us a thousand years ago. Yeah. Excited us today. discourages discourages today. So one thing that I talked to

a lot of our young drivers about, I talked to Keelan about it, and I never won as much as a lot of the young kids did coming up because it was different. You know, you race different than what they do now. How did you get used to not winning most of your

games? Because in racing, you have to be, you don't want to be satisfied, but you have to be happy sometimes with a third place and a fifth place. And that's the part that a lot of people don't understand is you're going to lose way more than you're going to win. How did you adapt to that when you came into racing, realize you were going to lose more than you win? I got to tell you, it was really hard for me. Think about this.

I was very fortunate. I got the right place in football, the right staff, the right players, right? So we went to a Super Bowl of the second year. I coached. Okay? So I come down here. Yeah. Nine years.

You talk about this sport is really, really hard. Yeah. And so as you know that, well, but yet that's the, I think the thrill of it is, it really is hard. Yeah. And in our case, we're trying to get four teams to work together. I love that part of it too. And, you know, football was the one team. Over here, it's trying to get four teams together to work together and then go to

the racetrack and then everybody's kind of after it on their own for their sponsor and their career but i i just i love the fact i get up every morning with the challenge you to hey yeah we get to go i get i get a racing is roger pinsky yeah rick and jack rouse and all these guys uh and so i get a kick out of it i get you know it's fun to compete and um i don't i I love it. I love it as a sport. I think it's absolutely great. And the other part of it, for me, has really been rewarding both of my boys, J.D. and Coy. J.D. worked in it all the way up. Coy was when his brother got sick, stepped over. So the boys, I missed them a lot in football because I just couldn't be there. A lot of football just kind of eats you up. But here,

I had a chance to spend time with J.D. and Coy. And so now that they've gone to be with the Lord, I got my grandkids. They got the first three. Yeah. Or rock and roll. They're in the middle of it. Yep. And I got, you know, I got another four.

We're going to see what they're going to do. So I actually five. So we're going to see. I got one granddaughter. She's awesome. She's horses and everything else. She may be the boss of everything for us over with Elle. Well, I think that that's probably the natural progression from the female side in my house.

I'm, you know, it's Piper first, Delane's second, and then myself and then Keehan. So that rank becomes pretty natural across the board with, you know, the moms and the daughters of the household to be in charge. So, you know, Koi got me in as much trouble or I got myself in trouble. Do you remember that when Koi and I went out at Martin'sville? I'm going to tell you the highest truth. I saved your life. You did? You don't know this.

Yeah, I did. Oh, I can't want to hear this. When you got into it that day. Yeah. Where were we were? Martin'sville. Yeah. I remember this.

You put that truck right up against NASCAR. That didn't go over well. Not at all. And then Koi, when he got out of there, Coy said, I'm going to get him someday. I said, hey, we can't be doing this in the sport. So anyway, I don't know who would have won that fight. Yeah, probably, Corey.

I think it would probably, probably. I would put the odds on coil. I would agree. Outweighs you about 100 pounds. So, yeah. But I do remember that. I remember those early days. I used to joke with you all the time.

I don't remember you would come up with the funny comments about other drivers and stuff. And I would kind of, then you backed off for a while. And I remember walking up to you and I said, hey, what's the deal? You get lobotomy or something? Come on. Let's get back with the funny stuff. And I think that for me, you know, that's the part that's very unique about our sport. You have these interactions when you're just smashing heads with people over disagreeing on races or these or this or that or whatever it is.

But it's always, it's such a small community that you have to figure it out, you know, between people. And you always, you always joked with me about that. But I mean, it's, to me, you have been able to deal with some. some of the craziest, toughest personalities in the sport. And I, obviously, I know Tony Stewart really well. Tell me how that got started. How did you go and find Tony Stewart? He was in an indie car, and you were at the, you know,

at the beginning of your cup owner career. How did you get him out of that indie car into a Joe Gibbs racing car? I think it's a great story. And because we were setting down with, at that point, Shell, and we were talking about future drivers and stuff. And so we had kind of all seen Tony. And I just said, I had a meeting with him, and I said, what do you think if we could get Tony Stewart?

They freaked out. They'd get Tony Stewart. That's who we want. Well, he had a contract with Harry Reneer at that point. And so I start trying to chase him down. So I can't find him half the time because he's all over the place. Yeah. And so I finally found, he had a girlfriend at Indy.

And so I would call the girlfriend and say, where's Tony? And she would tip me off and I would find, that's the third time I call, and she goes, that no, because I know it's, oh my gosh, that's over. So I lost that. But I kept after Tony, kept talking to Harry and I said, this is there, could we work a deal here? And finally talked Tony into it. I will say this, too. Tony really understood himself, and he said, hey, he said, hey, Joe, I'm not ready for Cup.

No, that was my problem. They wanted me to drive Cup. I'm not ready. So he put him in Exfinity. I don't know if you remember that or not. That man wrecked more cars. And sometimes he would wrecked three times. I would say, hey, just park it after the first time, crying out loud.

And didn't win a race. Yeah. Matt Kinseth beat him at, I think it was Rockinghammer. I think so. I was the closest that he came. A kid, Matt, I said you moved him out of the way. He goes, now it was legal. It was legal.

But put him in the cup the next year, and he just, he was gone. Yeah. You know, really great. And at times, there were things that came up, you know what I mean? Yeah. But we kind of handled them. I tell you, the great thing about Tony, whatever the mess was, okay, the next day,

he honestly would say, what I got to do? Tell me, you know, the sponsor, what I got to do? What are I got to pay money? What do I got to do? You know what I mean? Yeah. And so, but we had, it was really, really enjoyable with him.

And he helped us really get started. Now, Dale Jared gets us going, Bob and Labani, and then we get Tony. And so it was great. I enjoyed him all. I was a good sense of humor. He's funny. I'll tell you one of my funny stories on him. So he comes to me, we're building the new race shop.

And he goes, I got something I want you to do for me. And I said, what's that? He said, I want you to put a sauna in the new race shop. And I went, what? He goes, yeah, he says, I'm going to put a stationary bike in the sauna, and I'm going to train myself in the sauna. And I said, really? You know, because this must be the time that he decided to go around with the personal trainer,

and he had the guy that was feeding him. No, this was before then. Before then. Okay, so he said to me, he says, I'm going to work out right now. I said, really? So he left. And, of course, I put the sauna in there. So about six months later, I don't think he'd have but one workout since.

I said, I saved myself $30,000. I didn't put that sauna in there. But Tony was just a real talent. Yeah, I got to tell you, when he wanted it, he was hard to beat. Yeah. And I think when you look at Tony Stewart, I think one of the, he drove some of my affinity cars as well. and one of the great stories about Tony,

we were at Richmond sitting up on the pit box, and, you know, Tony was running ninth or tenth or whatever it was that day. And the next lap, no car. Car didn't come around, no caution, no nothing. And I'm like, what in the, where did my car go? And so Tony has decided it's not running good enough, and he's done with it.

He took it to the hall or parked it. Never saw him. He just left. And that was the end of that was the end of that race. He's like, ah, thing was garbage. We can't just pull in, but he just did those Tony Stewart-type things. It's the same thing. You couldn't be mad at him because on Monday he's like, man, I should have.

I could get mad at him every now. What's the closest, did you ever come close to just saying, I'm going to fire your butt? No. Yeah. I never did that. But it was, yeah, there were some scrapes that we had to get out of. Even on the other side. So who was harder to deal with?

Kyle Busch or Tony or Tony Stewart. I knew that was coming up. Yeah. Because I normally get to Kyle Busch and Tony. They were both very super talented. Yeah. And both of them a little bit alike. And they were all kinds of stuff.

They were kind of into all kinds of stuff. Houses, buying racetracks, Tony, all the different things he was in. And Kyle a little bit that way too. But really, both of them, I really appreciated their talent, the way they went after it for us. Both of them, like if you get Kyle, he's got a great sense of humor. You get him in a social setting and stuff. Or a couple beers in him. Yeah.

Yeah. But both of them really talented. So obviously that was great for us. And, you know, we, ever now and then, there was some challenges. Oh, yeah. But really, they helped build our race team. They really did. And I appreciated both of them so much because, you know, they won a ton.

I got to tell you, Mars is an example. When they got in a sport, they'd been in, like eight years or something, had won two races. And the first year we put Kyle in that thing. I remember that. We got him signed up. He won seven races the first year. Things like that where you just can't, you know, can't imagine how important that was for us.

Yeah. Well, it was great times. And one of my favorite times, I mean, I love Tony Stewart like a brother. I mean, we became great friends through the years and competed hard against each other. Kyle and I are social friends here and there, not quite like Tony. but I appreciated the competition that was always presented with Kyle Bush because it was in trucks, Xfinity, Cup, and it didn't matter what you were racing.

He wanted to rip my head off, and I wanted to rip his head off. And I wanted to beat him bad, and he wanted to beat me bad. And it went through those years of just that head-to-head competition that just made us better racers. And the drive behind both of those guys, you know, was... unique, but very, very good for their situations and the success that they had in their moments. So I love, and as I've learned, you love strong competition as well, because that's really why we do this is to compete. I loved to compete and beat the guy in the garage next to you. And that,

that to me was something that both of those guys did well. We know how hard this is. This is really hard, a hard sport to break in. And then to kind of see what you. what those guys did. Yes. And you did. You just got to realize what, you know, how much you got to appreciate that. Yeah. I do.

And, you know, I just think it was, we were blessed to have those two guys with us. Absolutely. You know, and so we got a history there. Bobby gave us our first championship. Dale got us started, got the ground floor. And then, you know, to where we are today. Yeah. But the guys that came after that.

We've had fantastic guys that have driven for us. I haven't mentioned the others. I won't try and mention everybody because I'll miss somebody. But, you know, that's one of the exciting things about our sport is as hard as it is. And the fact that our sport is different and that you've got to have a sponsor. They're more than a sponsor. I think their partners really. What I look at.

They have to be successful. They have to be. And both of the guys that have come in a pass for us that drove for us, keeping the sponsors happy and doing all the things that you've got to do there, it's just really, really, it helps you build a race team. And as you know, building a race team is really, really hard. Yeah. And it's a constant evolution because this guy leaves, that guy changes. This works, that doesn't work. It's this big chess match that you have to constantly push stuff around. So let's talk about next gen car, where we are today. Where do you think we are as a sport? We just went to Mexico City. Do we need to do stuff like that? What's your opinion on some of that stuff that NASCAR kind of is starting to kind of push the limits of where? where we go, what we do, is that good, bad?

What's your opinion on some of that stuff? I think it relates all the time to our fan base. You know, I think it's so important. And now we're kind of focused on some of the things with streaming and what have a younger generation. How do we attract them and yet keep, you know, our fan base, our core group there. So I think that is kind of where we are.

I think for me, I really enjoy what Ben's kind of done, you know, being in the Coliseum. You know what I mean? Yeah. That to me, we haven't done much since then with the stadium, but it did open up a whole new world. Right. If you think about that. Yeah, we could go in other stadiums. That's right.

We could go to New York. Yeah. We've been begging and trying to get to New York as an example. I kind of mentioned that to him, you know. But then the. the street racing. I was excited about that. And I got to tell you, when we,

Chicago, I felt like, I thought the fans loved it. We had rain, messed us all up. They didn't care. No. They were there. And I felt like both of those races were a real huge plus.

And now I think, you know, we're talking about some other road racing in the country. So I love that. And so I like, stepping out outside the box. We've got our core racetracks. But I really think we're in a good place.

Gen 7, totally different, you know, for us. In the old days, we came up. Somebody was making our chassis, and then we started looking at it and said, well, we can probably make this better than they are. So we started making a chassis. And then we go from, you know, so we had all of that that we were doing.

And then we went Gen 7. So that is definitely a different wrinkle. Yes. But to me, I think our sport, here's what I think about our sport. I hope that we'll continue with the idea of being, we want to reward the best team and the best driver every single weekend. That is what our fans want. They want to see, they know how hard it is.

and they want to see somebody for the weekend challenges. So anything that kind of holds us back on any of that, I'm, you know, I'm hoping that we stay focused on, because it is we all, in pro sports, look at something. We've all driven cars, and we look at that, and they can picture ourselves in the car. But really, when you see somebody at 180 miles an hour? Yeah.

And, you know, I got in once or twice. I got in at Charlotte. I thought I set a record. You were driving? Yeah, about 120 miles an hour. It felt like you were going 200. Yeah, I felt like I set a record, man. Is that the only place that you've ever driven that fast?

Listen, I was terrible. All sports, the only award I ever got was most improved. Yeah. I figured I better coach. And I better get in team sports because if I get to individual sport, I'm going to get killed. Yeah. So getting team sports around some real good team players and then take to credit when they do something good.

And I'm still doing that with the race team. What's the best race that you remember for your team that you won? What was the one moment that sticks out to you as an owner? I know they're all impactful, but there's one that's always a little bit. Well, there is one. And we started our first year, didn't win a race. Dale Jarrett's our driver. And so JD had come on board my son with Todd Meredith and Dave Alpern.

who's now our president, all those young guys. I gave them to Jimmy Maycar, said, find something for them to do. And so they take off. JD wound up on the pit crew for this second year. And because the second year was, you know, 93, Daytona 500. And I'll remember this forever. And so that race starts, and we're pretty good, you know. the next thing you know, we're up close to the front.

Now, I got my son, he's on the pit crew, very first race. Oh, boy. Okay. And so all of a sudden I start going like this. I go, oh, my gosh, this could come down to the last pit stop. Okay? So sure enough, it comes to the last pit stop. And so this is what happened. Todd Meredith was carrying the tire. In those days, we did left side tires. And J.D. was doing left side. He goes over, does the front tire. Goes to the back. It hits about three lug nuts.

And they dropped the car, and the car's gone. And he stood up like this, and Todd says, I looked at him and I went, did you get those tight? And J.D. goes, I got three of them tight. He goes, can we go on that? And J.D. looked up at Jimmy Maycar. And Jimmy Maycar is. nickname in those dog days was mad dog. Yeah. Okay, so he looked up at Jimmy, and he looks back at Todd, and he goes, we're going to find out. He was not going to tell Jimmy, and can you believe we won that race,

beat Senior. Yeah. And honestly, Norm Miller, our sponsor, I still remember he had a T-shirt on with a big picture, Dale Jared, on the front of it. Our boys are rolling in the end field. we don't even know where Winter Circle is. So they're wandering around. We finally go into Winter Circle.

And so I'm in there. I'm in there for about 10 minutes, 15 minutes. They throw champagne and stuff. And I figure, well, hey, that's the end of this. I didn't know you're supposed to go to media. Oh, yeah. I didn't know anything. I look over, and the trophy was there.

And so I just grabbed the trophy and Pat, Pat, and I said, come on with the boys, let's go. I didn't know we're supposed to do anything else. We'd go out and get in the car. go out, took her head down towards the beach, and there's that steak and shake down there on the left. And so the boys go, hey, dad, we're hungry. Let's go on steak and shake. We pull in steak and shake.

There's about 100 fans there. You know, and a few of them have had a few. A few beverages. They spot that trophy. They spot us. We spent 30 minutes in the parking lot taking pictures. It's steak and shake. And every time after that,

We've won? Going to steak and shake. We're going to steak and shake. You'll know where to find us. That's right. So that win, though, was our first. And I think it kind of said, because I was questioning after the first year, is this too big for us, you know, should we be in this?

It just verified a lot of things. Norm, interstate, can't thank them enough. Dale Jarrett won that thing and everything it took place with it. It kind of got us going. Yeah, and JD got the tires tight enough. He got three lug nuts tight enough. Yeah. We got that.

Yeah. All right. I have one last question. Okay. And we ask everybody on this show. And I have a feeling with your car interest that's going to be good. What was your first car? Where did you get it that you drove on the road?

I remember my dad said to me, he said, hey, look, we're going to get our first car. We're going to the junkyard. went to the junkyard. It was a 49 mercury. Now, I still remember it was up on blocks. We paid 150 bucks for it. Get tires, put it on it, took it to the house, sanded it down, painted it blue, pretty dark blue.

And in those days, we had names. Yeah. My Blue Heaven. Yeah. Forty-nine Mercury. That thing is running someplace today. We'll promise you. It just went forever.

How long did you keep it? I probably, like, four years. Okay. And I remember my dad was so disappointed in me. I worked one whole summer, and I put side stacks on it. Oh, man. Oh, yeah. I spent my whole summer money with a size stack.

The flippers. You were too young. Yeah. But those were great days. I lowered it. And I remember my dad came out and he goes, What's that? You have ruined this car.

There was a size tax. And he goes like this. What'd that cost? I told him and he went just like this. He went, good guy. He turned around and walked off. But that was my first car. And then I got off into hot rides.

I had all kinds of 37 Chevy. I had all kinds of hot rides stuff. And did you, I mean, you worked on them? I worked on them. None of them would run after I worked on them. Yeah. Pat and I got towed out of every parking lot in Southern California. Yeah.

But loved it. And I fell in loving cars, you know, with the hot rod stuff. I absolutely loved it, working on them and everything. And then I mentioned the drag racing stuff. Well, it all makes a lot of sense now, the passion that you have for cars and everything that you do in NASCAR. But I want to thank you for taking the time today. I know that, you know, you've been a big part of this sport.

and we appreciate everything that you do for NASCAR racing. And congratulations on all the success. But I knew everybody listening and watching would love some of these stories. So thanks for telling them. No, you got it. Thanks, Kevin. I appreciate you having me on. Thank you.

I love our sport. Yeah. Love our fans. Well, thank you. You got it.