"Remember last season": Kevin Harvick warns Denny Hamlin despite 'great job' with new crew chief 

Kevin Harvick recently commented on the partnership between Denny Hamlin and his crew chief, Chris Gayle. At Michigan, Hamlin recorded his third win of the season with Gayle as his crew chief.

Before the start of the 2025 season, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Hamlin's longtime crew chief, Chris Gabehart would be replaced by Chris Gayle. And as per Kevin Harvick, the partnership has turned out to be a fruitful one so far.

Speaking on the Happy Hour podcast, Harvick read into Gayle's post-race comments, claiming that the Michigan win served to be a 'great confidence builder'.

The former NASCAR driver claimed races at Michigan are generally ones where fuel has to be managed in the strategy along with the right sequence of stops. However, Kevin Harvick also shared a word of caution for the #11 team despite the momentum they currently have.

"We've seen him win it with pit crew. Now we've seen him win it with strategy. So #11 car definitely starting to gather that momentum that they need. But we got to carry it all the way through. We have to get through the end of the summer with the same speed. We have to start the playoffs with the same speed, the same mentality. Remember last year playoffs started and it just completely unraveled," Harvick said. [5:30]

He added that JGR have done 'a great job' of rebuilding by putting Gayle in as the crew chief, which has been a successful decision so far.

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Kevin Harvick believes Denny Hamlin is having fun with his image among the NASCAR fans

During his podcast, Kevin Harvick spoke about his conversation with Denny Hamlin regarding his post-race celebration at Michigan. The #11 driver rehashed his iconic 'I beat your favorite driver' phrase at the frontstretch as a mixed chorus of boos and cheers landed on him.

Harvick revealed he and Hamlin had a conversation where he found the #11 driver to be getting comfortable in his image.

"You're having fun with it. He's like, 'Look I give them the first opportunity to show their reaction and then I figure if they can flip me off and boo at me then I can go right back at him.' So he definitely seems to be getting more and more comfortable with the position that he's that he's in with the fans but I think they love to hate him," Kevin Harvick described.

As for the addition of the word 'Daddy' in his taunt to the fans at Michigan, Harvick claimed it was because of Hamlin's father getting frustrated with him talking about everybody. He said Hamlin's father found that to be 'disrespectful' and didn't want him to say that anymore. However, Hamlin 'went right back into it.'