Race Shop Review: Kevin Harvick Inc. in Kernersville, North Carolina

When my best friend and I started planning our week long trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, there was one race shop that I knew I had to see firsthand: Kevin Harvick, Inc. Since I first started watching NASCAR, Harvick has been my favorite driver, and I was very eager to see his race shop for myself. We actually made a stop there in 2007, but the shop was closed for the holidays. This time we made sure to add Kevin Harvick, Inc. on our list of things to see and do.

Kevin Harvick, Inc. is actually located in Kernersville, North Carolina and is a pretty nice drive from Charlotte. I think our directions stated that it would take us about an hour and twenty minutes if we went right there from our hotel. Instead we decided to make it a longer trip and hit the other race shops up north. After getting lost in High Point trying to find Bill Davis Racing, we ended up skipping straight up to Kernersville.

Though seeing my favorite NASCAR driver's shop for myself was exciting, I have to say that his race shop is actually a little small. Though now that I've been to some of the other shops that specialize in Craftsman truck and Nationwide cars, it's a pretty large size.

We walked through the doors of Kevin Harvick, Inc. and were immediately made to feel at home. The receptionist was nice and friendly and pointed us on our tour. They have a long L-shaped hallway that leads you back through the building and the walls are lined with memorabilia from Harvick's career and his career as a car/truck owner. We saw fire suits, pictures, posters, and a whole lot more.

I stopped to use the bathroom, not expecting to see very much and being pleasantly surprised. There were several large posters framed on the walls, detailing Harvick's magazine covers, including a few that I have in my personal collection.

The fan walk ended at the gift shop where you can buy tons of different Harvick merchandise, including some Kevin Harvick, Inc. merchandise. I was a little disappointed because just a week later I bought a tank top from his souvenir hauler with the KHI logo on the front, but they didn't have them in stock yet at the official gift shop. His souvenir hauler actually had more KHI merchandise than I saw at the gift shop.

After leaving the gift shop we walked up a set of steps and found the fan view where you have an eagle eye view of the crew working on the cars. We saw several of Harvick's Nationwide cars as well as a few that would be run by Cale Gale. The fan view was left completely open so you didn't have to peek through the glass to see the cars, which was a nice treat.

When we started to leave, the lady working the front desk was nice enough to give us directions to Richard Childress Racing, which was the next stop on our race shop tour.

Kevin Harvick, Inc. is definitely interesting, and I don't think you'll find nicer people working in any other race shop. My only complaint is that my throat started to have some problems after leaving the race shop, mainly because of the fumes I breathed in. That's a small price to pay for seeing Kevin Harvick, Inc. in person though.