Stepping into the humongous shoes of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. is a tough job, and even tougher is being accepted by the people around you. This was the case of Kevin Harvick in 2021.

Following Dale Sr.'s tragic death at the 2001 Daytona 500 in February, a 25-year-old Harvick took over the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing car. He was ultimately accepted by NASCAR fans, but it was GM Goodwrench, an RCR and Dale Sr.'s sponsor, which struggled to accept the new driver.

During a recent episode of Kevin Harvick's "Happy Hour" podcast, the 2027 Hall of Fame inductee recalled the sour experience of going into a corporate meeting with Goodwrench in those early days.

"I don't know that the Goodwrench brand ever really internally accepted me driving that car," said Harvick. "You know, I sat in a meeting at the corporate office one day, and the guy, the marketing director at the time, looks straight across at me and he's like, 'I'm not really sure that you're the goodwrench mould. I'm not really sure you're the right guy to be driving this car.'"

"And you know, really from that day forward, when he told me that, well, I'm like, maybe I'm not the guy to drive that car, but I can drive this car,” Harvick added further. 

What was supposed to be a smooth transition turned out to be one with internal conflicts. The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series Champion highlighted how he was determined to get the brand off his car after that incident.

The partnership between Dale Sr. and Goodwrench was considered one of the most successful partnerships in sports history. The company had been the Intimidator's sponsor from 1988 till his tragic passing in 2001.

Unfortunately for Kevin Harvick, Dale Sr.'s passing wasn't the first and last time that he, along with NASCAR, witnessed the untimely death of a legend. 

Kevin Harvick Remembers Dale Earnhardt Sr. After Kyle Busch’s Passing

After Kyle Busch's untimely death on May 21, Kevin Harvick looked back on the two-time Cup champion's NASCAR journey on his "Happy Hour" podcast.

He also looked back on Dale Sr.'s passing and how RCR had to go through two such tragic events.

"I’ve unfortunately been through this a couple times now," said Harvick. "You look back at everything that happened with Dale and everything that RCR (Richard Childress Racing) had to deal with, and their family, just eerily different but similar in the way we have to deal with it."

The NASCAR world lost Kyle Busch to severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis. And just like Earnhardt Sr’s death left a huge void in the racing world, so did Busch’s, both of whom were multiple world champions.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yask Kotak