Ahead of the Dover race, FS1 dropped some big news during their pre-race show. Kevin Harvick is stepping in for Kyle Larson to handle the practice session at North Wilkesboro on May 17. With the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race calendar all set and Larson tied up with Indy 500 qualifiers that same weekend, Harvick’s been tapped as the “standby driver” for Larson’s #5 Hendrick Motorsports ride at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Although Harvick mentioned that Rick Hendrick personally asked him for this favor, Denny Hamlin can’t help but wonder if NASCAR might be orchestrating Harvick’s return behind the scenes.

Kevin Harvick being the driver on behalf of Kyle Larson is a PR move according to Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin raised some eyebrows on his podcast “Actions Detrimental” when co-host Jared Allen asked about Kevin Harvick stepping in for Kyle Larson. Hamlin hinted that there might be more to this than meets the eye, suggesting it’s a slick PR strategy by NASCAR. “Yeah! I mean I think it’s a big thing. It’s certainly from a PR perspective I think it’s golden. I think they [NASCAR] did, you know, great job making sure that the #5 car is definitely gonna be a focal point of what we’re talking about during practice and qualifying because you’ve got Kevin Harvick in that car. And so, I think it’s genius on their part for sure,“ he said.

Hamlin also tipped his hat to Larson’s decision to focus on the Indy 500, noting, “He [Larson] can’t afford to miss any if, if he’s gonna really take this whole indie thing seriously, which he is. You don’t have enough reps in those cars to miss any of those practices. So, I think he’s doing the right thing by staying in Indie and then you know, letting his guys, you know, they know what they need. He’s got three good teammates he can lean off on for setup stuff.”

Kyle Larson tore up the track at the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, leading a whopping 145 laps and cruising to a victory over Bubba Wallace by more than four seconds. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick, rocking a retro paint job on his #29 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang that nodded to his first Cup win in 2001, ended up 18th out of 24. And despite that result, Rick Hendrick picking Harvick as a stand-in could really be a slick PR stunt, just like Denny Hamlin hinted.

Also, Hamlin found himself taken aback by Harvick’s tweet about stepping in, whereas Larson didn’t bat an eye. Why wasn’t Larson surprised, especially since Harvick had sworn off NASCAR Cup racing after hanging up his helmet? Maybe Larson knew a thing or two about Harvick’s readiness to jump back in, even for a one-off.

Kyle Larson wasn’t surprised to learn that Kevin Harvick agreed to drive the #5 car

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After Larson fell just a little short of Denny Hamlin at Dover Motor Speedway, chatting with Bob Pockrass, Larson explained, “I wasn’t surprised that he said yes or whatever just because who wouldn’t want to say they got to drive a Hendrick Motorsports Cup car?”

Larson added with a smile, “So, no I wasn’t surprised, but just happy. I know there’s a lot of kinda hoops probably to jump through kind of on everybody’s part. I’m excited to have him be a part of our team for a practice session, and get to kind of see how we work a little bit and hopefully work with Cliff to get our car even better.”

And with Harvick taking on this role, fans are hopeful it’ll help Larson as he pushes to surpass Tony Stewart’s record, showing off his chops in the double-duty challenge just like he’s been acing the tracks all season.