Harvick: Closing Out a Hall of Fame Career

One question has lingered throughout the NASCAR off-season. Will 2023 be Harvick’s last full-time season?  Previously, Harvick stated that we would know the answer to this question prior to Daytona. Recently, rumors about Harvick’s decision to retire arose when a social media post showed him with a “4EVER” patch on his fire suit.  The post was deleted soon thereafter.  Then at 8:00 AM on 1/12/23, Kevin Harvick’s retirement announcement was made via his Twitter account. 

Being a fan, this is an article I did not want to write. Yet, here we are.  In this article, I will look back on a hall of fame career, while also looking forward to the final season.

The RCR Years

Kevin Harvick began his Cup series career in 2001.  The world of NASCAR was in a state of shock after having lost Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of the Daytona 500 season opener.  Harvick had been slated to race a few cup series races in the RCR AOL #30.  After Dale Earnhardt’s fatal crash, Richard Childress picked Kevin Harvick to take over the ride.  The next week at Rockingham, the GM Goodwrench car had its colors inverted, and was now white, with black numbers and letters.  Finally, the number was changed from 3 to 29.

As a Dale Earnhardt fan, watching that Rockingham race lacked a certain feeling that I had grown accustomed to having when watching racing.  There was good news.  DEI won the race with Steve Park.  The #29 GM Goodwrench car finished 14th with Kevin Harvick driving.  The following week, Harvick followed up his top 15 debut with a top 10 at Las Vegas, finishing 8th.

The First Win

I still remember listening to the Atlanta Race on the radio while travelling to Louisville.  Up until that point in time, watching races hadn’t felt the same.  The previous race at Las Vegas had given me some optimism.  Yet, no one really expected what was to come on March 11, 2001 at the Cracker Barrel 500.  To this day, I believe that to be one of the most exciting races I’ve followed.  Maybe it was due to the circumstances in which the race occurred. Perhaps, it was the fact that I was listening to it on the radio.

No one expected Kevin Harvick to jump into what was the #3 car and go out and win in his third race.  Yet, that is exactly what he did.  Not only did he pull that off, but he beat Dale Earnhardt’s old rival, Jeff Gordon by .006 seconds.  While no one would ever fill the shoes of Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick was definitely the driver to drive his renumbered car.

The rest of Harvick’s debut season went well.  He was able to get a second win at Chicagoland.  Furthermore, despite not having earned any points for the one race in the season in which he didn’t compete (Daytona 500), he managed to finish 9th in points. This was under the old points system as well.  Unlike today, a driver couldn’t miss multiple races and still pull off a decent final rank in the points standings.  Harvick was also awarded the Rookie of the Year award for the Cup series, and won what is now the Xfinity series championship.

The Man of Many Names
(And Also Many Emotions, Feuds, Altercations and Words)

The Bakersfield Basher / Happy Harvick

In those early seasons at RCR, something became apparent rather quickly.  While Harvick had ample talent, he also had plenty of personality to go with it.  His aggressive driving style, take-no-BS attitude, and temper quickly earned him a reputation (along with some nicknames.)

Kevin Harvick has had issues with many other drivers, well before his most recent feud with Chase Elliot.  Whether it was waiting to jump over a car at Bristol to go after Greg Biffle or a post-race pit-road incident with Ricky Rudd at Richmond, Harvick was never a driver to let something on track go.  This was especially true during his days at RCR.

These days, in NASCAR, Ross Chastain may pass as the guy willing to do whatever it takes.  To be fair, that “hail melon” was quite the coup, but Chastain has nothing on the younger version of Kevin Harvick.  He has feuded with Joey Logano, Carl Edwards, both Busch brothers, Greg Biffle, Ricky Rudd, Joe Nemechek, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth.  I am quite certain that I have left some names off that list.

As a fan of the sport, I have to say that I loved every second of it.  Harvick brought real emotion and real passion to a sport that was ever-increasingly corporate and polished.  While some accused him of trying too hard to fill the shoes of the Intimidator, Harvick was always his own driver, with his own style and personality.  Growing up I was a big fan of the Intimidator, but I became a much bigger fan of The Bakersfield Basher.  The whole sport was moving in another direction, culturally speaking, but he kept driving his own way.

The Bakersfield Basher nickname didn’t stick with Harvick for long, as soon it was replaced with the somewhat ironic “Happy.”  That worked as well.  There was nothing like a guy nicknamed “Happy” telling Denny Hamlin after a championship race at Homestead that he had just parked Hamlin’s teammate (Kyle Busch.) This was in response to Hamlin saying that Harvick’s teammate had raced him the same way.

The Closer

The nickname Harvick is probably most known for is “The Closer.”  This one has less to do with his aggressive driving style and outspoken personality.  Instead, this moniker has to do with his ability to perform in clutch situations.  While he is known mostly as “The Closer,” for his performance in such situations while at Stewart-Haas Racing, it really goes back to the 2007 Daytona 500.

Harvick’s only Daytona 500 win came in 2007.  As the field took the white flag, no one would have thought Harvick was going to get the win.  The Closer certainly closed that race well, as he seemingly came from nowhere to just sneak by leader Mark Martin at the line.  Harvick would go on to win all the big races, whether it was the Brickyard 400, the Southern 500, or the Coca-Cola 600, but he would not win a championship while driving for RCR.

Stewart-Haas Racing

Harvick’s first season with Stewart-Haas Racing was in 2014.  Rodney Childers was named his crew chief, and he began driving the #4 car.  While Harvick would scale back some of the aggression that had perhaps become a distraction at SHR, his results would go in the opposite direction.  In his 9 seasons at SHR, Harvick has won a total of 37 races and has become not just a consistent force in cup racing, but a dominant one.

Harvick’s first 13 seasons took place at RCR. During these seasons, he won a total of 23 races.  In nine of these seasons he had top 10 finishes in the final points standings.  Out of those nine seasons in the top 10 in points, six were top 5 finishes in the points.  His highest finish in the points standings during these years was third, which he achieved three separate times.  Those were really good numbers, but those numbers only got better.

First Cup Championship

While Harvick had been one of NASCAR’s elite drivers throughout his career, he had yet to achieve a Cup Championship.  This would change in his very first year at Stewart-Haas.  In 2014, Harvick would win a total of five races and lead 2137 laps.  While he had previously won five races in one season back in 2006, during that season he had only led 895 laps.  Furthermore, in his first 13 seasons, he had a total of six pole positions. In 2014, Harvick qualified pole position a total of 8 times.

The 2014 season was the first year of the elimination style playoff system.  The Closer would really earn the right to be called “The Closer” this season.  Three of his wins came during the playoffs.  One was at Charlotte, another was the final cutoff race at Phoenix, and the final one was the Championship race at Homestead.

Always a Threat to Win 

Kevin Harvick, Rodney Childers, and the #4 team started off the 2015 season on fire.  In the first six races, they only finished outside the top 2 once.  The one time they finished outside the top 2 was an 8th place at Martinsville.  Overall, during the 2015 season, Harvick finished in second place 13 times.  He would win 3 times.  Furthermore, he would take home 4 third place finishes.  Given that his son, Keelan has shown an interest in F1, let’s think of this in F1 terminology.  That’s a total of 20 podium finishes in 2015!  There were only 36 races!

During the 2015 season, Harvick, in many ways, outperformed his championship season of the previous year.  He finished with 28 top ten finishes (23 of which were top fives.) Also he led more laps, finishing the year with a total of 2294.  Harvick finished the year second in the points standings.  Statistically speaking, 2015 was a much better year than 2014, and if not for special “medical waivers,” which allowed Kyle Busch to qualify for the playoffs, Harvick would have had back-to-back championships.

Some say Harvick even pulled off his own “video game” move, to do what needed to be done to make it to the next round of the playoffs in 2015, at Talladega.  He was having engine trouble at the end of the race, and back then, there were limited attempts for a green-white-checkered finish.  Rather than pulling off the track for the restarts, he stayed in line and on track.  This was the smart move, as it led to enough cautions to end the race.  While some questioned both his intentions, as well as the “ethics” of his actions at the end of the Talladega playoff race, he did what he needed to do to advance.  Personally, as a fan, I was thrilled.  (Ross Chastain’s Martinsville move this past season was just as thrilling.)

The 2016 season would be Stewart-Haas Racing’s last year with Chevy.  Harvick would lead 1384 laps, have 27 top tens, 17 top fives, and four wins.  Despite these top level numbers, Harvick would finish 8th in the final points standings

The Switch to Ford:  A Different Manufacturer – Same Harvick 

The 2017 season was SHR’s first season with Ford.  During this first season with a new manufacturer, the team had to adjust.  Harvick and the #4 team “only” managed to get to victory lane twice.  Across the board, statistically speaking, performance was down slightly.  Yet, they still managed to finish 3rd in the championship.

By the 2018 season, whatever needed adjusting had been adjusted. Harvick was back to his old winning ways.  After a rough season opener in the Daytona 500, Harvick won three straight races.  The #4 car would go on to win 8 times in 2018, having led 1990 laps.  Harvick would finish 3rd in the championship for a second year in a row.  He would repeat that points standing finish again in 2019.

The 2020’s

The 2020 season really seemed like the year Harvick would walk away with his second championship.  After all, he managed to get to victory lane 9 times that year.  Two out of the three races during the first round of the playoffs were won by Harvick (Darlington and Bristol.)  Then came Martinsville.  Needing just one point to make it to the Championship 4 for a 4th straight season (and Erik Jones in no danger of passing teammate Denny Hamlin), Harvick took it upon himself to try and make something happen.  In the final turn, Harvick attempted to spin Kyle Busch as they exited turn 4, and both drivers spun around.  The spectacular 2020 season ended with a disappointing 5th place finish in the standings.

The 2021 season was a very different season.  Harvick went winless for the first time since 2009.  He would only lead 217 laps.  While he probably had the Bristol Night Race won, NASCAR has increasingly become more of a team-oriented sport over the years. This of course led to his most recent feud, with Chase Elliott.  Harvick and Elliott had been racing for the lead and made some contact.  Elliott had a flat tire, pitted under green, and proceeded to help out his teammate, Kyle Larson.  Still, even going winless and not leading many laps, Harvick managed to finish 5th in the final points standings.

The 2022 season was the first year of the parity-focused “next gen” car.  In a season of 19 different winners, Kevin Harvick was the only driver to win back-to-back races.  The Closer won these two races (Michigan and Richmond) in classic Harvick fashion. Harvick had hung around the top ten and top five for most of each of these races.  Then when the time came to close, the Closer closed.  Still though, Harvick finished 15th in points.  It was Harvick’s lowest finishing points position since he finished 19th in 2009.

Conclusions and The Final Season

Harvick is going to be competing in his 10th season with SHR in the upcoming season.  Stewart-Haas had a rough 2022 season.  Furthermore, Harvick had some bad luck in the first round of the playoffs when his car burst into flames at Darlington.  Come to think of it, Harvick has never really had great luck on a consistent basis.  Every finish was earned.  Regardless of the obstacle in his path, the Closer either closed or gave it his all.  I’m sure 2023 will be no different.

As a fan, I have enjoyed writing this article.  Going through all the years trying to sum up the entire career of my favorite driver has brought up some great memories.  There really isn’t much left to say.  Kevin Harvick, Rodney Childers, and Stewart-Haas Racing have one last season to compete together.  Harvick has enjoyed an amazing career.  It has been an honor to watch it all unfold. Regardless of how 2023 turns out, it will be an honor to witness it…

Here’s to the last season being the best season.