The weather-delayed start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season certainly got off to a dramatic start, and a social media debate blew up around Kevin Harvick after fans on social media pointed out what they saw as a pretty hypocritical contradiction in his comments about racing in the rain.
The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium got underway after being pushed back by winter storms, and even then it was a bit of a gamble to run mid-week. As it turned out, not a great call with rain and sleet hitting, hammering the 200-lap exhibition. Drivers were forced to make the switch to their wet-weather tires and navigate the repeated cautions on that tight quarter-mile oval. Naturally, visibility and grip became some of the key topics of conversation on the FOX broadcast.
During coverage, Kevin Harvick spoke relatively calmly about racing in wet conditions. That didn’t go unnoticed by fans at home, who started digging up his reaction to a pretty infamous rain-soaked race from his past and started making comparisons online.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but did Kevin Harvick just say on the Fox broadcast that ‘it wasn’t that bad’ once he raced in the rain?” NASCAR journalist John Newby wrote on X, echoing the reaction from viewers following the broadcast.
Harvick’s old quotes resurface after 2026 Clash comments
Newby then resurfaced Harvick’s comments from the 2021 Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas, where a whole mess of spray and standing water caused a lot of incidents and caused strong criticism from drivers.
“It’s the most unsafe thing I’ve ever done in a race car by a lot. You can’t see anything down the straightaways. These cars were not built to run in the rain,” Harvick said at the time. “It’s unbelievable that we’re out there doing what we’re doing because we’re in race cars that aren’t made to do this, and if you can’t see going down the straightaway, it’s absolutely not safe, not even close.”
That comparison went viral as people revisited those old comments from back then while watching the 2026 Clash, which had a pretty wild changing track conditions, with frequent cautions.
Some took it as a sign of a hypocritical shift in tone from the 2014 champion, while others framed it around the circumstances saying that it’s all about the type of track and the circumstances, i.e., short-track exhibition compared to a high-speed road course, were different.
Still, the whole discussion added a bit more drama to an already unpredictable season opener. The Clash had been postponed by snow before running in mixed winter weather, creating a stop-start race that saw teams adapt on the fly and drivers struggle for grip and visibility.
Harvick, who retired from full-time racing after the 2023 season, has settled into his role as a broadcaster and podcast host, often offering blunt opinions about the sport. But the resurfaced quotes show that fans are quick to connect the dots between what drivers once said behind the wheel and what they say in the booth.
