“This is a great space to be in”: Kevin Harvick’s recent guest Alvin Kamara recalls his first encounter with NASCAR

NFL athlete Alvin Kamara appeared in a recent episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour Podcast. Among other things, the 28-year-old running back for the New Orleans Saints recalled his first encounter with a NASCAR race, which happened shortly after the governing body reinstated racing following the COVID-19 pandemic.

It took just one race for Kamara to develop an initial interest in the sport. After having watched the race on the TV at his home in Miami, Kamara decided to take things a step further. The NFL star wanted to watch a race from the grandstands.

"I'm down in Miami at home watching (a race)," Kamara recalled. "I kind of reached out to NASCAR and I'm like 'Yo, this is cool. You got a fan in me,' and then (they) reached back out like 'Thanks Alvin for watching'. (They) send me some gear and I'm like, let me take this a little step further. I'm like, I wanna come to a race."

However, the global pandemic had restricted live viewership back then and, therefore, Kamara reached out to the officials, wondering if he could watch the then-upcoming race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"Just so happened that the race was in Homestead coming that week," he continued. "There's COVID, so I'm like, yeah, I wanna come and they're like, alright, let's see what we can do."

Luckily, NASCAR did not turn him down. They arranged a suite for Kamara to watch his first race.

"They ended up allowing me to come. They put me in a suit; the stands were empty. So that was my first NASCAR experience," Kamara added.

Kamara explained that although watching NASCAR is not what people from his community do often, the way NASCAR welcomed him to the sport changed everything. Reflecting on the same, he said,

"Obviously in our community, nobody is looking at NASCAR like oh, that's somewhere where it's a comfortable space or that's where a lot of us are but you know, from then till now, it's like, man, this is a great space to be in."

Little did Kamara know that he would meet Steve Phelps, the President of NASCAR.

Alvin Kamara reveals his hilarious encounter with the President of NASCAR

While Alvin Kamara was watching the race from the grandstands, Steve Phelps went and sat next to him. Kamara, who knew very little about NASCAR back then, started asking all sorts of questions to Phelps about the sport. However, Kamara had no idea who he was speaking with.

"I'm just sitting up there by myself. Guy walks in with a suit and some slacks... just sits down and he starts talking to me and I'm like asking him questions about NASCAR," Kamara said of his encounter with Phelps. "So that goes on for about an hour."

There was no one on the grandstands that day except for Alvin Kamara and Steve Phelps. Therefore, Kamara, who still didn't know who the man in the suit was, wondered why the latter had come up to him to answer all his questions about the sport.

"I'm engaging with this guy and I'm like, man, who is this? I'm still sitting up there and he's like, oh, you know, I gotta get going, gotta go do some things...by the way, I'm Steve Phelps, I'm the President of NASCAR," Kamara laughed.

Meanwhile, NASCAR prepares to hit Pocono Raceway, also known as 'The Tricky Triangle,' for its upcoming race on Sunday, July 14, at 2:30 pm ET. The 160-lap event, also known as 'The Great American Getaway 400 Presented By VisitPA.com', will air live on the USA Network and NBC Sports. Furthermore, radio updates can be heard on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.