Kevin Harvick is one of the most recognised names in the world of NASCAR, both on and off the track.
The 48-year-old made his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series with Richard Childress Racing in the No. 29 car, taking the place of the legendary Dale Earnhardt after his tragic passing at Daytona in 2001.
Harvick won his first Cup Series event after just three races at Atlanta and he went on to spend the next 13 seasons with RCR before moving on to Stewart-Haas Racing in the No. 4 car.
In his debut season with the team, Harvick won the 2014 Cup Series after winning five races across the season. The American went on to spend seven season with Stewart-Haas Racing before retiring from full-time racing in 2020.
Harvick went on to race the Daytona 500 from 2021 to 2023 before moving on to his television career with FOX. In a staggering 826 races, the 48-year-old won 60 races and finished in the top 10 444 times, more than half of the events he competed in.
Kevin Harvick names Robby Gordon as the ‘best driver’ he ever raced with
Since leaving full-time racing, Harvick now hosts Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour on FOX, and in his latest interview, he sat down with his former team boss Richard Childress to reminisce over the great times they had together from 2001 to 2013.
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During their conversation, Harvick shared who he felt was the ‘best driver’ he ever raced against, with Childress saying that he was ‘absolutely right’ with his selection.
The driver in question was Robby Gordon, who joined RCR towards the end of 2001 and moved to a full-time seat in 2002. Gordon won three Cup Series races in his time with the team before moving on to his own team in 2005.
While Gordon’s results in NASCAR do not bear much success on paper with just three victories and 39 top 10s in 396 race starts, Harvick says that he had the ‘most raw talent’ behind the wheel.
“When I look back and I think of all my teammates and people that I raced with, I thought that the best driver that I ever raced with was Robby Gordon,” he said.
“I thought that he had the most, I mean I never got to race with Dale, so I can’t even compare to him. Of the drivers that I got to race with, I thought Robby had the most raw talent.
“Did you see it that way? I mean he had his own ideas and different things and wanted to go but I thought he had the best natural car ability of any driver that I raced with.”
William Byron leads the 2024 standings going into Talladega
In the present day, neither RCR driver – Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon – reached the NASCAR playoffs, with Busch yet to win a race in 2024 which would break a streak of 19 seasons where he has won a race.
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Dillon did claim a win this season at Richmond but in controversial fashion, as he took out Joey Logano towards the end of the race to take the win. Dillon kept his win, but he had his playoff position taken away from him.
After the first of three races in the Round of 12, William Byron ‘woke back up’ at Kansas to take the lead of the standings heading into Talladega over Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell.
Kyle Larson had automatic qualification for the Round of Eight along with Logano, but slipped to fourth in the standings after a puncture at Kansas left him finishing 26th.