Future first ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer Kevin Harvick weighed in on the Kyle Larson vs. Max Verstappen “Who is the best driver in the world?” debate this week. Harvick took to his “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” podcast to share his support of Kyle Larson and explain his reasoning.

In case you missed the genesis of this debate, FloRacing’s Kyle McFadden asked Larson about his thoughts on the subject following Larson’s third Knoxville Nationals title. Larson didn’t hesitate to offer up a rather spicy answer. 

“I know in my mind I am better than him as an all-around driver,” Larson said. “There’s no way (Verstappen) can get into a Sprint Car and win the Knoxville Nationals. There’s no way he can go win the Chili Bowl. There’s no way he can go win a Cup race at Bristol. There’s probably no way I can go win a Formula 1 race at Monaco, but I think I’d have a better shot at him just because of the car element. 

“That’s what gives me ease and confidence that, like, I know I’m better than him. Maybe not in an open-wheel IndyCar or Formula 1 car, but that’s one discipline. I think I would beat him in everything else. You can quote that.”

Since FloRacing’s article with those quotes was released on August 14, the motorsports world has been buzzing about who is the better driver. Naturally, those who more closely follow American motorsports have given Larson the edge, while fans of F1 have of course given Verstappen the advantage over Larson.

Formula 1 has been on its annual summer break, so the three-time F1 World Champion and winner of 61 grands prix himself has not weighed in with any recent comments (he did speak about this subject back in June to American motorsports commenter, Ash Vandelay), but his fellow countrymen, Tim Coronel, weighed in for him. Coronel said “If you think you’re better than Max Verstappen, I’d actually really like to have a match between them, because you’re going to lose. Two practice sessions for Max and then Kyle is going to cry in a corner somewhere.”

Most recently, 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion, future Hall of Famer, and NASCAR on FOX commentator Kevin Harvick chimed in with his thoughts on his “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” podcast. Harvick was adamant that Larson is correct in being the better all-around race car driver.

"Kyle Larson can go out and drive anything." @KevinHarvick agrees that Larson is a better all-around driver than Max Verstappen. #NASCAR #IndyCar #F1 pic.twitter.com/EwryKu227B

— HarvickHappyHour (@HarvickHappyPod) August 20, 2024

“The thing that I can tell you is that if Kyle Larson went to drive Max Verstappen’s car, it wouldn’t be but one or two days and he’d be damn close to be as fast as Max Verstappen,” Harvick said. “But there is no way Max Verstappen comes over here and does that in a stock car. I think Max Verstappen is very talented, and very, very good at what he does for his discipline. I heard him talk about drivers being specialized in their discipline (in the Ash Vandelay interview). That’s not Kyle Larson. Kyle Larson can go out and drive anything. He’s very good at his discipline. But he’s got multiple disciplines. And we saw what he did in an IndyCar. I truly believe Max would do okay, but he’s not going to do anywhere close to what Kyle Larson does.”

Harvick, whose son, Keelan, was once heading down the F1 path by racing go-karts in Italy, said that part of the issue behind the discussion is due to many Europeans not being familiar with what NASCAR racing is.

“The thing that I can tell you is, everyone over there is not very well educated on NASCAR and what NASCAR actually is,” Harvick explained. “I actually had to explain to the guys on the go-kart teams what NASCAR actually was. Because their view of it is it’s a car that you go buy at the dealership, and you go out and you tune it up and fix it up and go race it at the track. They had no idea that we have the shops and the technology and everything that comes with that. They’re poorly educated on what NASCAR is.

“I just think that some of the arrogance that comes from the international crowd on the media side to just say, ‘Ah, you can’t do that Kyle Larson, that’s not even a fair comparison,’ they just don’t even know what they’re talking about.”

Harvick also expressed a desire to get Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, on his podcast because he wants Brown to put Larson in a Formula 1 car to see how he would do. Larson drove for Brown and McLaren at the 2024 Indianapolis 500 through a partnership with Hendrick Motorsports. Brown’s McLaren team also has two F1 victories this year with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri each scoring a win.

“I wish we could get Zak Brown on this show, because I have some pressing questions for Zak on how we can get Kyle Larson into this F1 car to see if we can get him up to speed in a couple of weeks, because I believe that we could.”