Kyle Petty recalls filling in for Kevin Harvick mid-race, huge NASCAR fine

Only once during his Hall of Fame NASCAR career did Kevin Harvick voluntarily take himself out of the racecar during a race. It was at Bristol in 2004 when Harvick’s arms fell asleep inside the car.

Harvick needed to go to the bullpen. Richard Childress Racing chose Kyle Petty, who had crashed out earlier in the race.

“My arms fell asleep in the car one day at Bristol and Kyle was out of the race. … He somehow got into my car and he’s about a foot taller than me but somehow got in my car and ran the rest of the race. Only time I ever got out of the racecar,” Harvick said during a sit-down interview with Petty.

Petty was suddenly driving the No. 29 Chevrolet. His job was to keep it off the wall and bring it home in one piece.

“I was driving a Dodge, and you were driving a Chevy and y’all were in the points thing. So, all I needed to do was keep it out of the wall. My job is not wreck,” Petty said. “When you get in somebody else’s car, it’s not to be a hero, it’s just to finish the race. … That’s what you did. My dad grew up doing that where somebody gets sick, somebody else gets in.

“Somebody gets tired, somebody else gets in. Somebody gets hurt, somebody else gets in. That’s what drivers did, you just did it for each other. You might hate each other, but you wanted to get in that car and do it.”

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But there was one problem. At the time, Petty was piloting the No. 45 Dodge. And Dodge wasn’t thrilled to see one its drivers helping out a Chevrolet driver. So, Petty paid a hefty fine.

“The next week, I got a bill from Dodge and Chrysler. We got fined $45,000, which was one race,” Petty said. “So, we had to pay them back $45,000 because I drove a Chevy, and I was a Dodge driver.”

Petty was more than willing to pay the fine. But looking back at it, he’d have cut a deal with Childress to pay it.

“Listen, I’d have paid a $145,000 to drive your car,” Petty said. “I should have cut that deal with [Richard] Childress.”

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