“Could you imagine a world with no beer? What would you do?” asks Kevin Harvick

Credit: Richard Childress Racing

Kevin Harvick will start his 400^th race this weekend and along with that, he and sponsor Budweiser will also commemorate the 79^th anniversary of the end of prohibition. A little history lesson, prohibition ended back on April 7, 1933. 

Harvick couldn’t imagine going back to the days when you couldn’t drink beer, “The enthusiasm, and the Clydesdales, and everything that 1933 brought back to the beer industry was something that was pretty cool. It’s fun to do programs like this, and to drive a little bit of awareness to it and be a part of it.”

In honor of this special paint scheme Harvick is driving a white "Budweiser is Back" Chevrolet, and wearing a matching white firesuit. "Happy" even was sporting a 1930s era newsboy hat with Budweiser written on the back during Friday's press conference.

When asked if he could imagine being a part of the celebration, and being a part of that (the announcement that prohibition has ended) he responded, “Just think about it. Could you imagine the world with no beer? What would you do? What would you do at night? What would you do period? It’s a good hydrator for you,” he joked.

Harvick says he would find something to do if he couldn’t drink beer, but it wouldn’t be as much fun.

"Is that this week?" Harvick asked jokingly when he was asked how he was reflecting on the last 13 years and 400 races. "Yeah, you know it's kind of piled up pretty fast." 

It has been a long path to those 400 races for Harvick after originally replacing Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing following Earnhardt's untimely death in the 2001 Daytona 500. 

His first race was February 25, 2001 at Rockingham, N.C. and throughout his career he has won 18 times, scored 88 top-fives, 177 top-10s and five pole awards.

"There's been a lot of changes, and I feel like its taken seven or eight years to get through the Earnhardt transition," he said candidly. "There's a lot of things you look back on now and that effect it took a lot of time. Then as the grandkids, Austin and Ty (Dillon) came, you really saw that enthusiasm level come back that I first saw in Richard in 1999 and 2000 as we led into the start of my career at RCR."

To date, Harvick has one win in Martinsville, it was last year when he passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. within the last four laps. He's also posted three top-fives and 10 top-10s in 21 starts.

When asked who his biggest competition is, him self or someone else, he responded by explaining that because the competition is deep, “you never know who or when or you are going to be in those positions to race for wins, and  race door-to-door with somebody on a weekly basis. But everyone on the Cup side is good and they've all won races."

In the final practice session today, Harvick  finished 14th, and will go out to qualify 35th tomorrow at 11:30 am. You can watch the qualifying live on SPEED.