{"id":165098,"date":"2025-08-22T00:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T00:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/165098\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T00:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T00:12:09","slug":"really-makes-me-mad-kevin-harvick-fires-off-on-nascars-disrespect-toward-west-coast-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/165098\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Really Makes Me Mad\u2019 — Kevin Harvick Fires Off on NASCAR\u2019s Disrespect Toward West Coast Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR<\/a> veteran Kevin Harvick has recently reignited the discussion about how the stock car racing series seems to be neglecting the West Coast region, even though it\u2019s been at the heart of the sport since the beginning.<\/p>\n

Well, technically speaking, NASCAR was born in the Southeast, with Bill France Sr. holding a meeting in the Streamline Hotel\u2019s Penthouse Club in Daytona Beach. So, the East Coast region has always gained more importance in the sport.<\/p>\n

However, over time, the West Coast region played an equally important role in the sport\u2019s growth, like the time when Riverside or the Ontario Motor Speedway were regulars on the schedule.\u00a0Although NASCAR\u2019s presence in the Golden State region has decreased over time, it has made Harvick bitter.<\/p>\n

Kevin Harvick Opens Up on the State of NASCAR on the West Coast<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that the West Coast racing isn\u2019t as significant in NASCAR as it used to be, and it seems to be only getting worse. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum lost \u201cThe Clash\u201d date, as Bowman Gray Stadium has it now, and most likely that\u2019s where it\u2019ll stay for a long time. Even Auto Club Speedway was taken off the schedule as NASCAR sold a significant portion of the land.<\/p>\n

Although the racing series promised to build a new short track there since its closure, nothing has come to fruition. In fact, recently, NASCAR seemed unsure if that would ever happen.<\/p>\n

Remember when NASCAR boss, Steve Phelps, said,<\/a> \u201cDo I think creating a short track out there would be a cool thing for us? Yes. With that said, it\u2019s $300 million to build that facility. Is that the best use of that money? That is the big question.\u201d That\u2019s pretty much been the state of the East Coast racing in NASCAR. And this is what has Harvick \u201cpissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, Harvick had NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson on his podcast \u201cHappy Hour\u201d, where the two California natives discussed this. Harvick said,<\/a> \u201cEven when I go back now, it feels to me like they don\u2019t take West Coast racing as seriously as someone who grew up there. And it really pisses me off. It really makes me mad because when I grew up in racing, you could race anywhere, anything, anytime, if you wanted to go a couple hours in any direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Well, there is no denying that California has given great drivers to the sport. Be it Harvick, Johnson, or the first West Coast driver to win the Cup Series championship, Jeff Gordon. While the North Carolina region, South Carolina, or even further up the East Coast, might be a bigger and more popular racing market, California cannot be dismissed either.<\/p>\n

Read More: Kevin Harvick Calls Out NASCAR\u2019s Costly Mistake As Richmond Race Reveals True Next-Gen Fix<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Even Johnson seemed to agree with Harvick when he said, \u201cNo, I absolutely agree, and I feel like your journey and my journey, certainly, Jeff Gordon kind of started that\u2026We keep knocking down barriers, but still today, even being on the East Coast as a team owner, for whatever reason, the West Coast seems so far away, and I\u2019m not as connected as I should be or need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASCAR currently is treading very lightly on the matter, trying to please fans from both coasts. Like how it\u2019s being rumored that North Wilkeseboro might finally get a points race in the Cup Series, or how San Diego is set to have a street race in the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Well, only time will tell what\u2019s in store for West Coast racing in NASCAR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR veteran Kevin Harvick has recently reignited the discussion about how the stock car racing series seems to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":165099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-165098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115069527356759571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}