Homestead-Miami Speedway and Mobil 1 gave Kevin Harvick a great honor in his final season. The 2023 Cup race was named the 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1. Harvick won his sole Cup series championship at Homestead back in 2014. It was the first ever championship decided by one race. Budweiser was back as the sponsor for the #4 car. The paint scheme was the same one he won the championship in. There have been many great Harvick paint schemes over the years.
After Homestead, there are just two races left in Harvick’s career. Ergo, I figured it would be a good time to look back at some of my favorite Harvick paint schemes across his illustrious career. Instantly, I almost regretted this decision, as there are so many great paint schemes. I will undoubtedly leave some great ones out.
The Best Budweiser Paint Scheme:
Don’t get me wrong. I think that the Championship tribute paint scheme for the 4EVER 400 at Homestead was great. It’s been somewhat of a tough year for Harvick fans. Harvick has yet to win a race this year, and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs due to unexpectedly poor performance at one of his best tracks, Bristol. I suppose one could also place blame for his elimination on Tyler Reddick thinking he could make pit road exiting turn 4, as well. Harvick clearly had the stronger car at Darlington and could have easily won his way into the next round.
Once again, don’t get me wrong. It’s been a tough season for fans of the #4 Ford, so a championship winning paint scheme for a race named after your driver’s retirement tour was a great thing. I liked the call by Budweiser to go with this paint scheme so much that I picked Harvick to win for PPN’s weekly predictions. Still it is not my favorite Budweiser paint scheme of Harvick’s. That honor goes to the black/red #29 Richard Childress Racing Budweiser paint scheme.
The Return to an Intimidating Paint Scheme:
If I’m being honest, this is probably my favorite Harvick paint scheme from his entire time at RCR, not just with Budweiser. It immediately brings to mind the old #3 Intimidator GM Goodwrench paint scheme, just with Budweiser as the sponsor. Harvick has had a ton of great paint schemes, but the Shell/Pennzoil years were a bit boring, as far as paint schemes go. This paint scheme made up for all those years. I can still see it stopped on pit road at Darlington in front of the #18 of Kyle Busch, Harvick walking back to Busch to throw a punch through the window. I can still hear Darrell Waltrip in awe of the #29 car taking off as Kyle Busch drove off scared. That’s great stuff.
This paint scheme was still in use when it was announced in 2012 that Harvick would be leaving RCR for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. It was a time of transition, turmoil, and tension. In 2013, it would be replaced by the scheme being used in the 4EVER 400. Still, it’s easily my favorite Budweiser sponsored Harvick paint scheme.
Best GM Goodwrench Paint Scheme:
GM Goodwrench was the sponsor of the #3 car of the late, great Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt. Following Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500, Kevin Harvick was picked to drive the car by Richard Childress. The number was changed to 29. The colors were inverted for the first race at Rockingham. The main color was white with black letters and numbers. That was a good paint scheme. The paint scheme Harvick won his first race in at Atlanta a couple weeks later was also a great one.
Still neither of those paint schemes are my favorite GM Goodwrench Harvick paint scheme. That honor goes to the paint scheme used from 2003 through 2006. The 2002 season was a rough year for Harvick. While he won a race at Chicagoland (and won the IROC championship), he got suspended for a cup race and ultimately finished 21st in points. The 2002 GM Goodwrench paint scheme moved away from white and red to a silver and black coloration. It was a decent scheme, but it was missing something.
In 2003, they really nailed a paint scheme that seemed to match the driver’s personality. It was an edgier version of the 2002 scheme. The primary color switched from silver to black, and the secondary color switched from black to silver. The car just looked aggressive. With this paint scheme, the GM Goodwrench RCR Chevy truly became Harvick’s ride. He only won one race in its first season with it, but it was the Brickyard 400.
So Many Special Schemes, so Little Time
There is no objective way to choose the best paint schemes from a career like Kevin Harvick’s. I’ve already picked my favorites from the RCR years, so I’m just going to cover my all time favorites from the SHR years. There are only two races left in Harvick’s final season, if I don’t hurry up and finish the article, the season will be over.
Subway Green/Yellow #4 (Bristol Night 2021)
While it was tough to see Jimmy Johns no longer being a Harvick sponsor, the Subway paint scheme certainly provided some huge memories for Harvick fans. Harvick certainly seemed to calm down once he arrived at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. It is widely known that this was part of the deal to bring on legendary crew chief Rodney Childers. Childers did not want a lot of the drama from the RCR days to continue at SHR. He just wanted to win races.
As a result, Harvick’s quick temper took a back seat to, well, winning races and a championship. Harvick still drove somewhat aggressively when needed and never really shied away from expressing his opinion when asked about it. Still, there were less and less moments like his incidents with Ricky Rudd or Greg Biffle from early in his career. There were no more jumps over cars or claims of golden horseshoes being stored in the body cavity of competitors. The distractions were gone at SHR and a championship (and a lot of wins) followed.
Still, the Harvick fan often missed the fire we all saw early in Harvick’s career. Therefore, we were all ready for it when it showed back up in full force in the Bristol Night Race of 2021. In what was probably Harvick’s last big rivalry, we saw Chase Elliott cost Harvick a victory in what would become his fourth winless season. Apparently, Elliott did not like contact that led to a cut tire, and came back on track on fresh tires (multiple laps down) and blocked until Kyle Larson was able to pass Harvick. Finally, this is one of my fiancee’s favorite Harvick paint schemes. She had only really heard stories of angry Harvick prior to this.
Busch Light Red Apple:
This next paint scheme is on my list for a couple different reasons. At Michigan in 2022, Harvick hadn’t won since Bristol of 2020. He probably should have won Bristol in 2021 with the paint scheme listed above, but it didn’t work out that way. It had been a long time since Harvick had won a race, and as usual, one gets tired of hearing all the kids saying that he’s too old or whatever.
Harvick’s win at Michigan in 2022 shut most of the naysayers up. The ones that weren’t shut up by this victory, definitely were after the next race at Richmond, when Harvick became the first driver to win back to back races in the Next-Gen car, which was designed for “parity.” Also, I just like the color red.
Finally, this paint scheme was on a car that was not dominant. No one was really expecting Harvick to pull off a win at Michigan, despite his outstanding stats at the track. This was a race that he wasn’t supposed to win. Instead, he ran decently all day, and had a bit of good luck go his way at the end of the race. Those races stick out in a fan’s mind more than the ones that are almost taken for granted. The Red Apple Busch Light paint scheme will always stand out in my mind because of this.
Busch Light Blue:
I am not a big fan of the color blue. I tend to like the colors black, red, and white on a race car. Still I have to include this one as one of my favorites. In 2020, my fiancee, Emily, and I were able to watch this paint scheme make it to victory lane. That was very cool. Plus, it always reminds me of those humorous Busch Light commercials.
2020 was a difficult year for everyone. Personally, it was a pretty difficult year for me as well. So, I was super excited that NASCAR made the decision to race where they could. There’s nothing like a NASCAR race to take one’s mind off whatever else is going on in life. Harvick had nine wins that season. It’s hard to argue with a primary paint scheme that was part of a nine win season, even if it’s blue. (Just to provide a reference, I live in Kentucky and dislike the color blue so much that I’m a University of Louisville football fan.)
2020 Brickyard 400 Patriotic Paint Scheme:
The 2020 “Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was moved to the 4th of July weekend. No fans were allowed in due to COVID restrictions. Harvick’s Busch Light Ford Mustang had a special patriotic fireworks paint scheme for the race. The oval race at Indy has always been one of my favorite races, (while the road course race has been one that I’ve always hated.)
I include this paint scheme for a couple reasons. First, it’s a 4th of July weekend fireworks paint scheme. Second, for a while many fans thought that this oval race at Indy would be the last. Of course, Harvick grabbed his third Brickyard 400 win with this paint scheme, so that’s a big plus. Finally, whenever I see this paint scheme I remember who Harvick beat that day.
The race was a great back and forth battle between Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Back then, I wasn’t really the biggest fan of Denny Hamlin and I understand why many NASCAR fans continue to feel that way. Back then Hamlin always tried to play it off as if he never moved anyone out of the way to win. He always had some sort of excuse, rather than just saying, “Yeah I wanted to win so I moved him.”  So when Hamlin’s race ended with 7 laps to go and handed the victory over to the #4 team, well that was enjoyable as a fan. Of course, I had to include this paint scheme.
Conclusions?
Despite the fact that I am looking over this article and thinking, “Man that’s not enough paint schemes included,” I am going to have to cut myself off here. Well, that’s at least for the time being, anyway. Perhaps, I will return, later, with a deeper dive into the topic of the best of Harvick paint schemes. I mean, for now, we haven’t even seen all the paint schemes in his career. Given how Stewart-Haas has shown us the #29 Busch Light Ford for the All-Star Race, and the Championship Budweiser scheme for Homestead, you have to expect they have something planned for his final race at Phoenix.
Yeah, I will definitely have to return to this topic. In the meantime, let us know about your favorite Harvick paint schemes in the comments below. (Also wouldn’t it be cool to see the Red Hunt Brothers Pizza paint scheme in Victory Lane this weekend!)
The Return of the Red.@KevinHarvick and @hbpRacing are fresh out of the oven for Martinsville. pic.twitter.com/4T4Em5k2tg
— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) October 23, 2023
