"Mr. Hendrick called me..." - Kevin Harvick breaks down his surprise All-Star practice ride for Kyle Larson

Former NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick recently revealed that he has been asked to replace Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) on All-Star weekend.

Harvick's two-decade-long career came to an end last season with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). The 2014 Cup Series Champion confirmed in a recent announcement that he will come out of retirement and will be piloting the Next-Gen car for a practice race on the All-Star weekend at North Wilkesboro.

In a recent episode of Happy Hour with Kevin Harvick, the 48-year-old Harvick described how Rick Hendrick, the owner of HMS, asked him for a favor. He said:

"Mr. Hendrick called me and he said, "Hey", and I know when these conversations from him, when he, when he doesn't call me all the time, but when he does call, there's usually something behind it. And his conversation started by, "I need a favor.", And I was like, "All right. Well, whatever you need." (0:09)

The Bakersfield, California native then continued the conversation by emphasizing the bond the NASCAR community shares despite being part of different rival teams and organizations. He said:

"A lot of people don't understand how this sport works and the people who are inside this sport understand that there are a lot of things that people within different teams and organizations do for one another when they're in a jam. So Rick called and said, "Hey, I want you to drive the car(#5)." And I said, let me make a few phone calls. So I had to call my boss here at Fox. I had to call my wife."

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Kevin Harvick's interaction with his wife about the opportunity with HMS

The retired NASCAR Cup Series driver-turned-commentator will be potentially driving the #5 Chevy Camaro for HMS in a one-off practice at North Wilkesboro as the standby driver for Kyle Larson, the current No. 5 driver.

In conversation with a NASCAR analyst on Harvick's podcast, Harvick described the scenario where he broke the news to his wife DeLana Harvick.

"I called my wife and I was like, "Hey, are you sitting down? She's like, "Um, driving." I said, "Well, maybe you should pull over." And so she's like, "oh man, this is obviously a pretty serious question that you're getting ready to ask me." I said, "So they've asked me to go drive Kyle Larson's car during the North Wilkesboro weekend." (1:02)

Harvick added:

And she's like, "Okay, well, what'd you say?" Well, I said, "Yes, of course, because you know, there's just not too many opportunities that are presented the way that this one was presented from Rick(Hendrick) to say I need a favor." And she's like, "Well, Mr. Henrdrick needs a favor. He's done us good. You should go do it."

Harvick also claimed that he was "excited to be a part of the equation" where he could help Hendrick's team.

"I'm excited to be a part of the equation, I hope Kyle Larson goes up there and qualifies on the pole and wins the race. It's, and you know, the bigger platform that Kyle Larson is on that weekend and that week, the month is good for everybody," Harvick said.