The glittery evening at the annual NASCAR Awards is the talk of the town. While Ryan Blaney celebrated his championship victory alongside the sixth consecutive winner of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award, Chase Elliott and 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick stole the show. 2023 was a special year for Harvick, with the end of the season marking the end of his career.

Invited to grace the stage and profess his emotions about his incredible Cup Series career, the 47-year-old expressed gratitude to his competitors. Revealing his favorite segment from the night, he disclosed his bet with Bubba Wallace, who put his money on Kevin Harvick crying onstage. With Harvick showing no vulnerability or tears on the stage, Bubba now has $100 to pay.

Kevin Harvick and Bubba Wallace’s bet on farewell tears

Bubba Wallace and Kevin Harvick have a knack for some comic moments. Looking at his participation in the award ceremony with a farewell speech to the NASCAR community, the 23XI Racing driver had imagined Harvick would be shedding tears. However, the closer had no such emotions to show as he was motivated to win the $100 bet.

Following a vote of thanks for his colleagues and rivals who have pushed him to the brim in his years of racing, Kevin Harvick revealed his favorite moment of the evening as he said, “I can’t wait to sit down and do those one-on-one interviews with some of you to know some of the questions that I haven’t asked. My favorite part about tonight that I will remember the most… Where you at, Bubba? Oh, he’s not gonna raise his hand? He’s backstage. He owes me a $100. He said I was going to cry like a baby. So I want a hundred dollars.“

Kevin Harvick has always been a safe option to bet on. While he does it again onstage, Bubba arrives from the backstage area to have some small talk with Harvick about the bet. Before revealing the details of the bet, Harvick summarized his career into a short passage as he commends the sport’s success and how it has withstood the test of time.

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Harvick thanks the grid for the countless memories

Kevin Harvick began his farewell speech on a sarcastic note, as the crowd’s applause seemed unending when he walked up to the spotlight. “Alright. Sit down. That’s enough.” said the former Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Mustang driver. As he continued the speech, he spoke about the taunts he might have thrown at some of the drivers in the crowd on the track and how that fuelled him to enjoy his speech.

“You’ll all be yelling at me shortly because I called your car slow or I told you something dumb on the track, so I’m gonna enjoy this. I’m honored to be up here because, for me, I’ve been in a little bit of trouble as I’ve gone through the years and done some things right, some things wrong.”

Harvick broke onto the scene amidst a difficult situation. Having to replace the legendary Dale Earnhardt after his tragic Daytona crash in 2001, Harvick spent little time and went on to win at Atlanta in his only third start. A successful stint with Richard Childress Racing continued until friend and team owner Tony Stewart called with a SHR No. 4 spot. He thanked the two teams for providing him with the platform to make a change in the motorsports world.

“Thank you to everybody in this room. It’s been one heck of a ride,” claimed Harvick. “I’ve enjoyed racing with the two teams that I’ve had. Going through this year, I learned that we are very fortunate to be able to celebrate all the great things that we’ve been able to accomplish. That doesn’t happen with our great people. There are a lot of great people sitting in this room. I’m honored to be around them.“

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The Closer’s journey in NASCAR might have ended, but he wishes to continue his involvement in NASCAR. Harvick has recently invested in the ownership of CARS Tour and has been fielding Late Model cars under Kevin Harvick, Inc. To ease his replacement, Josh Berry’s transition into the No. 4 car has also helped him get some practice in the off-season. From all this, one thing is definite: NASCAR will never have another Kevin Harvick.