Is Chase Elliott the Reason Why NASCAR Fans Hate Kevin Harvick?

Published 10/15/2021, 5:03 AM EDT

In the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Kevin Harvick has not exactly endeared himself to the fans. This is largely because of his spat with Hendrick Motorsports driver and defending champion, Chase Elliott. Their 2021 rivalry kicked off at the Bristol Motor Speedway when they tangled on the track. Admittedly, many thought that things had calmed down after the incident. Sadly, they were wrong, and the Cup race at the Charlotte Roval proved that.

Another point that works against Harvick is the fact that Elliott is very popular among the fans. In fact, he was dubbed as the ‘People’s Champion’ in the 2017 season. This nickname first cropped up following a heated post-race exchange between him and Denny Hamlin at Martinsville.

Apparently, Hamlin wrecked Elliott from the lead, which majorly ticked off the fans, and handed Kyle Busch a Championship spot. So, given Elliott’s popularity, Harvick was fighting a losing battle on the popularity front.

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Why do NASCAR fans hate Kevin Harvick?

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Prior to his spat with Elliott, he committed another act, which was considered sacrilegious to NASCAR fans. To be precise, he insulted Dale Earnhardt Jr, son of the legendary Dale Earnhardt. Before Elliott, Dale Jr was the original ‘People’s champion,’ despite his lack of on-track success.

He declared, “(Earnhardt) hasn’t been anywhere close to being our most successful driver. For me, I believe Dale Jr. has had a big part in stunting the growth of NASCAR because he’s got these legions of fans, this huge outreach of being able to reach these places none of us have the possibility to reach.”

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Of course, the Stewart-Haas driver has made quite a few enemies in his career. One of them is the aforementioned Kyle Busch, and they have clashed many times on the race track. Back in 2011 at Darlington, he and Busch collided with each other and Clint Bowyer. An incensed Kevin Harvick wished to ‘punch Busch in the nose’ and insisted that he was scared of Harvick.

“Wish I Could Have Punched Him in the Nose” – Kevin Harvick on His Darlington Incident With Kyle Busch

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.