Kevin Harvick reflects on winning first Brickyard 400, incredible gift from Richard Childress

Ahead of the 2024 Brickyard 400, which is NASCAR’s return to the fan-favorite format at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick reminisced about his first win at the track, during the 2003 iteration.

Harvick was able to hold off Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon on his way to the win, which was the first time the winner of the Brickyard 400 also started on the pole. During the latest episode of Harvick’s Happy Hour, the former NASCAR Cup Series champion reflected on the most rewarding moment.

“So, the coolest part about winning that first Brickyard in ’03, at that point, there were 300,000 people around the racetrack, and they treated it like the Indy 500,” Harvick explained. “So, you would ride in the back of the pace car, or one of the show cars, with your — I rode with (Harvick’s wife) DeLana myself, crew chief and owner. So, it was myself, my wife and Richard [Childress] and crew chief. We rode around, and all the Indy fans, they’re trained in this tradition, they hadn’t left.

“It was one of the coolest things that we were able to do, because of all the people that were still there, and just take that moment in, of being able to win the Brickyard 400, and everything that it meant, before you went to you know, do all the all the post-race stuff, but that ride around after the race was pretty neat.”

Aside from his win, fans remember Harvick’s epic burnout after capturing the win during that race. Well, Harvick’s former team owner Richard Childress actually kept the car from that race, and delivered it to his former driver as a retirement gift last season. Pretty awesome.

“Another cool thing is Richard actually kept the car like it was. Kept the tire that I did the burnout with, going into Victory Lane, which was still probably one of the best burnouts ever. Richard kept the car, and actually gave it to me as a retirement gift,” Harvick added. “So that first Brickyard 400 win car, I actually have.”

That’s a NASCAR collector’s dream right there. Maybe that car should be in the Hall of Fame in Charlotte, or even at the track in Indianapolis, but the sentimental value it holds for Harvick is too incredible for him to ever let go.

At the moment, Kevin Harvick is still the last Cup Series driver to win the Brickyard 400, as he captured back-to-back wins in 2019 and 2020. That’ll change this weekend, but his impact on the track won’t be soon forgotten regardless.