After a crash with Ty Dillon in the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday, Harvick called the Dillons "punk-ass kids" and "rich kids" who were given everything they've gotten. “That’s exactly the reason I’m leaving RCR is because you’ve got those punk-ass kids coming up," he said.

The next day, Harvick apologized for his comments, which infuriated team owner Richard Childress, the grandfather of the Dillon brothers.

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“Things are said in the heat of battle,” Dillon said on SiriusXM’s NASCAR channel Wednesday. “I’ve learned that it’s better to forgive someone for what they’ve said. I forgive him already.”

Harvick has driven in Cup for 13 years at RCR, where he replaced seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt after Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500. Austin Dillon is expected to replace Harvick in the Sprint Cup Series next year.

“Kevin Harvick is somebody in my family that is a hero, was a hero and probably still will be,” Dillon said on SiriusXM. “At a tough time when RCR needed someone to step up, Kevin Harvick did and has kept RCR up front in NASCAR for a long time.

“I’ve learned a lot from him over the years, good and bad. He’s a great racecar driver. … It definitely hurts to hear those things from him when it comes out like that.”

As far as the actual inference that he has had everything given to him, Austin said he knows he has the benefit of getting an opportunity with his grandfather's team but that he has worked hard to make the most of it. Austin won the Camping World Truck Series championship in 2011, the same year brother, Ty, won the ARCA title. Austin is leading the Nationwide Series standings this year, while Ty is third in the truck series.

“My grandfather has given my brother and I both a great opportunity to go out and take advantage of,” Dillon said on SiriusXM. “If anybody out there doesn’t think that I should go after something that is in front of me, I don’t know what to say.

“I feel like this opportunity has been put in front of me, and I am very blessed.”