Tony Stewart downplays ‘goosing’ incident with Harvick’s wife

Charlotte, NC, United States (4E Sports) – Three-time Sprint Cup Tony Stewart downplayed his viral video of grabbing Kevin Harvick’s wife’s behind, explaining that he’s been doing it for years before races to bring him good luck.

“This is old news,” Stewart said during a news conference promoting the Wounded Warrior Project for the October race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I guess it’s just the first time the camera caught us, but we’ve been doing that since I was driving the Nationwide car with them.”

Stewart was caught on tape grabbing DeLana Harvick’s behind before the start of Sunday’s Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway. The video made its way to CNN Headline News and other major news organizations.

After she was grabbed from behind, DeLana jumped and looked alarmed until she realized it was Stewart, with her husband laughing.

“It seems like this week when it got caught on camera, it was a lot bigger deal for some reason,” said Stewart, who had just a sixth-place finish at GEICO 400 behind eventual winner Brad Keselowski.

“I didn’t even know anybody saw it,” Stewart said. “It wasn’t something that was out of the normal for us. Kevin comes up and gets me, I get DeLana, DeLana gets both of us,” he added.

“We’ve got a great friendship. It always makes her jump, and so it’s something we’ve always joked about and talked about it being good luck,” Stewart further explained.

Stewart said the grab was not meant to be offensive to anyone.

“I never grab anybody that I thought would smack me,” Stewart said. “I’m not going to grab somebody that I would offend, because they know that I’m not doing it in any more than a playful way.”

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