2023 will be Harvick's last as the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, retiring from full-time racing after a Hall of Fame-worthy career.
Motorsport.com reported on Wednesday that Harvick is expected to join the FOX Sports TV booth in 2024, but nothing on that has been confirmed publicly yet.
“There is absolutely nothing else in the world that I enjoy doing more than going to the racetrack, and I’m genuinely looking forward to this season,” said Harvick. “But as I’ve gone through the years, I knew there would come a day where I had to make a decision. When would it be time to step away from the car?
“I’ve sought out people and picked their brains. When I asked them when they knew it was the right time, they said it’ll just happen, and you’ll realize that’s the right moment. You’ll make a plan and decide when it’s your last year.
“It’s definitely been hard to understand when that right moment is because we’ve been so fortunate to run well. But sometimes there are just other things going on that become more important and, for me, that time has come.”
He will end his career with over 800 Cup starts, making his debut under the darkest of circumstances in 2001. With the tragic death of the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the final lap of the Daytona 500, Harvick was chosen to drive the car that 'The Intimidator' piloted to six of his seven Cup titles.
A seemingly impossible task
Just 25 years old, Harvick faced the pressure and found Victory Lane in just his third start, beating Jeff Gordon in a photo finish at Atlanta. The emotional moment was just the beginning as he went on to win dozens of races.
“Dale’s passing changed our sport forever, and it changed my life forever and the direction it took," added Harvick. "It took me a long time to really get comfortable to really even think about things that happened that day."
“Looking back on it now, you realize the importance of getting in the Cup car, and then we wound up winning my first race at Atlanta in the 29 car after Dale’s death. The significance and the importance of keeping that car on the racetrack and winning that race early at Atlanta – knowing now what it meant to the sport, and just that moment in general of being able to carry on, was so important.”
In 2014, he joined Stewart-Haas Racing and earned his one and only championship that very first season with SHR. And he hasn't slowed down much since then.
Last year, at 46 years old, he won back-to-back races and made the playoffs for the 13th consecutive year. Since its inception in 2004, he's only missed the cut three times.
His 60 victories puts him ninth on the all-time wins list, equal with Kyle Busch and just behind Earnhardt himself (76).
Looking at NASCAR's secondary division, he enjoyed immense success there as well with 47 Xfinity wins and two championships in 2001 and 2006.
Tony Stewart's reaction
“I competed against Kevin for a long time and I was so happy to finally have him a part of our race team,” said Tony Stewart, the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and co-owner at Stewart-Haas Racing. “He’s incredibly reliable – consistent and calculated on the track with a drive to always be better. That’s what you want in a teammate. He knows what he needs to be successful, and his will to win helped elevate our entire company.
“I want Kevin to savor every lap this season, to compete like hell and to take it all in. He’s made all of us at Stewart-Haas Racing incredibly proud and we want to make his last season his best season.”
Harvick's farewell '4EVER' tour kicks off next month with The Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, before running the Daytona 500 for 22nd consecutive year. He won the crown jewel event in spectacular fashion in 2007, and hopes to join an exclusive club of drivers to have won it multiple times.
