EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsKevin Harvick started his NASCAR Cup Series career under the worst of circumstances, having to unexpectedly fill the shoes of the late Dale Earnhardt. On Tuesday, the industry recognized that career as Hall of Fame worthy, giving Harvick the ultimate feather in his cap by selecting him as a first-ballot inductee."I was sitting in a pickup in the parking lot," Harvick said. "It's been really weird. It felt so arrogant to come sit in the room. I've never been somebody who wants to pat myself on the back or show that you're so confident in something. I wanted to be respectful, and I wanted to be so that it feels right, and I don't want anyone to think it's taken for granted. No matter what you think the scenario is on the voting process, or where you stand."He received 92% of the vote.The numbers make it easy to see why Harvick was a lock for selection. In his 20-year career at NASCAR's top level, he won 60 races, including at least one in all four crown jewel events: Daytona, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Darlington. He was the 2014 series champion.He is also a two-time O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion. Across NASCAR's three national levels, he has a combined 121 race wins."Even though you're expecting the call, it's still somewhat weird to get the call," Harvick said. "When this all started, I was just a kid out in the middle of the field racing go-karts, and then you go through the years of what's next week? It's always been looking forward, grind, grind, grind. You never really stop and think to look around."To be amongst the best that have ever done it in our sport, it's pretty rewarding."It goes further, though.Harvick successfully transitioned into broadcast work with Fox Sports and has become a trusted and respected voice in the industry. He is a championship-winning car owner, a partner at a racetrack, the owner of a series and the owner of a management company, among other roles."It's justified," Tony Stewart said of Harvick's first-ballot selection. "He's definitely deserving, for sure. The thing that I learned firsthand working with Kevin and driving his cars, he is the complete package, and I've been saying this ever since he came to [Stewart-Haas Racing]. Everyone knows the stats and the circumstances of how he came into the Cup Series, and what mental toughness he had to have for that, but I think the stats are a piece of it, but not all of who he is."He's such a well-rounded person. He's a great race car driver, and he's great in the booth, but he's an amazing car owner; he knows how to build the packages and hire the right people, he's excellent with sponsorships, and excellent on the management side. People don't realize how good he is."Stewart, a driver, owner and promoter in his own right, went as far as to say Harvick is the most well-rounded person in NASCAR right now, and has been for a while. "There is nobody," Stewart said, "that can do what he does. I'm not even close to what he does."Harvick would say that sometimes he wasn't the fastest, so he had to figure out how to do everything else. From the beginning of his racing career, he was told to figure out how to buy his tires, and if he couldn't, call someone who could. He learned from his father that reaching out to sponsors, not having someone else do it, was important."When you look back at my Cup career, we had a lot of slumps, but we had a lot of really loyal sponsors," Harvick said. "We engaged with them. We sent them a text on their birthday. We did the things we weren't supposed to do. We delivered everything we were supposed to under the contract."Richard Childress was a good mentor for that, and many other things, as were veteran drivers that Harvick observed.At 25 years old, Harvick entered the 2001 season competing for an O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship when Childress suddenly needed him to drive Earnhardt's car in the Cup Series. Earnhardt was killed in a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500, and it made Harvick the inheritor of the grief the sport was feeling.It was not a role he wanted. They were not shoes he could fill. He told everyone as much in his introductory news conference."It wasn't like he volunteered for anything," Mike Helton, NASCAR president at the time, said. "But it wasn't like he ran from anything. He was matter-of-fact about stepping into the responsibility and standing up to it."Harvick would go on to become one of the sport's most polarizing figures. When he wasn't enjoying the fruits of his success, he was creating highlight reels for, depending on the viewpoint, the wrong reasons. He never shied away from a microphone or a rivalry. And because of that, ending up spending a lot of time in front of folks like Helton."Ironically enough," Helton said, "Kevin and I became real good friends not over the good things that happened but the big brother, little brother -- he would say father and son -- discussion that we had to have and the authority that I had to represent on behalf of NASCAR."Over the years, with time and maturity, Harvick evolved as a driver and as a person. Helton had a front-row seat for it, and it's why he didn't hesitate when asked if he would be the one to inform Harvick of his Hall of Fame nomination, doing so on the Fox pre-race show at Martinsville Speedway.Harvick's career reached new heights driving for Stewart and being paired with crew chief Rodney Childers. It's where most of his victories (37 of them) came, and his championship."He could just make the car go faster than others," Childers said. "It wasn't that it could be looser or tighter, it would just go faster. He was smart and could tell you what he needed, and the one thing that would make him go faster. You would fix that one thing, and it was game on."Childers credits Harvick with changing his life through their success, and he is also one who believes Harvick's impact and meaning in the sport are far greater than might be recognized. There are only certain guys, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick, whom Childers would trust to address where the sport is and needs to go."He means the world to so many people who have worked for him and with him," Childers said. "We are all proud, and so thankful."Those closest to Harvick cite his discipline and work ethic among the reasons he was so impressive. Then there was his mindset. Harvick wanted to be the best every day.Mission accomplished. And now Harvick has officially taken the last step into NASCAR greatness."Hopefully, a winner," Harvick said of he'll be remembered in the sport. "Your reputation is the first thing that you have. The result is your results. Ultimately, whether I was high-strung or competitive or rambunctious or the guy that everybody didn't like or liked, hopefully, they can still respect you."
