Inside the Bristol Scuffle: Kevin Harvick’s Fiery Encounter With Greg Biffle That Almost Sparked a Brawl

Bristol Motor Speedway has always been NASCAR’s concrete coliseum—a half-mile pressure cooker where close-quarters racing inevitably leads to bent fenders and flaring tempers. In 1995, we saw Dale Earnhardt pull off a good old bump and run on Rusty Wallace, which led Wallace to throw a water bottle at the Intimidator. The two drivers had an agreement to wreck young hotshot Jeff Gordon, but Wallace was livid after receiving the bitter end of the stick. In the aftermath of this heated confrontation post-race, Dale Earnhardt was black flagged.

Now, there’s a long list of brawls and scuffles that transpired at the iconic half-mile racetrack. But very few come close to the theatrics that Kevin Harvick pulled off back in 2002 during the Xfinity Series race. He channeled his inner WWE personality to get even with Gregg Biffle after the race. For that reason alone, this event is still amongst the most memorable one in the history of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway.

How a Racing Incident Sparked Harvick’s Fury

The incident began innocuously enough—Harvick and Biffle were battling for position late in the race when contact occurred. As race footage showed, Biffle got into the back of #29 Chevrolet, sending Harvick hard into the outside wall. “He got a little nudge from behind and just lost control of the car and it turned dead right into the fence,” the commentator observed as Harvick’s race ended prematurely.

The RCR driver wasted no time expressing his displeasure in his post-crash interview. “I always said Greg Biffle was a good guy, but he’s about the most impatient thing,” a furious Harvick declared. “I’ll be waiting when he comes in here.” True to his word, he climbed atop a pit box, plotting his revenge while waiting for Biffle to complete the race.

What happened next became instant NASCAR folklore. As Biffle pulled onto pit road, Harvick launched himself over Biffle’s car in a surprising display of athleticism, grabbing his rival by the collar. “I let Greg Biffle get away with some stuff earlier last year,” Harvick later explained. “He comes and just rams me in the a–, pretty much puts us in the fence and ruins a brand new race car.” When told that Biffle claimed he had to lift, Harvick’s response was blunt: “Biffle’s an idiot. That’s pretty much enough.”

What fans didn’t realize at that moment was that the confrontation could have been much worse had Biffle not shown remarkable self-control in the heat of the moment.

Years later, Biffle revealed that he had deliberately held back during the confrontation. “If I wouldn’t have got fined and that, I probably would have hit him with an uppercut. Just knocked him outright as he jumped off the back of the car,” he admitted on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast. His restraint wasn’t from fear but from painful experience—he had previously been fined $15,000 and docked 100 points for a fight at Richmond in 2001, a penalty he had to pay personally.

Well, this wasn’t the last race where Kevin Harvick lost his cool. The very next year, he was mired in another heated exchange at Richmond Raceway. This time around, he had to pay a heavy price for his post-race antics, and let’s just say he had a thing for climbing on the roof of the car to settle his differences.

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Harvick’s Richmond nearly cost him $155,000

During the 2003 fall race at Richmond, Harvick found himself on the receiving end of the bump and run with just four laps remaining. Ricky Rudd was the one who used his bumper in the No. 29 RCR Chevy. Harvick had to settle for a 16th-place finish as the race ended while Rudd finished 3rd, but the RCR driver wouldn’t let this incident slide. After the race, he parked his race car right next to Rudd’s vehicle, climbed on his door and hurled not-so-sweet words at his rival.

Little did he know that NASCAR would deal this situation with an iron fist and what came next was a list of fines and penalties. Two of Harvick’s crewmen were suspended, and seven people were fined $62,500. This included a fine of $35,000 that he incurred for hitting Rudd’s race car and using improper language. Not just NASCAR officials, these antics left team owner Richard Childress fuming with his driver, and as a punishment, Harvick was the one who paid all the fines.

“Oh, he was so mad. He made me pay. I had to pay every fine for every crew member that got fined. It cost $155,000. He made me pay them all. Without Jim and Richard, I’d have been in big trouble.” Harvick confessed during the Happy Hour podcast. Well, the former RCR driver learned a lesson that day.

Given that the NASCAR circus is headed back to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, it will be interesting to see how the drivers handle their emotions. Watch out, as we might see some retaliation and payback from the Martinsville race earlier in the season.