Kevin Harvick announces retirement from full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing after 2023
Kevin Harvick is readying to retire.
The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the oldest full-time driver at the Cup level announced on social media Thursday that the 2023 season will be his last as a full-time NASCAR driver.
Jim Utter of Motorsport.com reported that he’ll join Fox Sports as a TV analyst ahead of the 2024 NASCAR season.
“I’ve seen a lot, and I’ve done a lot, and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” Harvick said in a video Thursday morning. “I’m always ready for a new season. It presents new challenges, and it forces you to find new ways to outsmart and outrun the competition. But come November, when the checkered flag drops on the season finale in Phoenix, it will also be my final race as a NASCAR Cup Series driver.
“It’s time to call time, to enjoy all that we’ve achieved as a race team, and to savor it with the ones who have made this journey possible. The unbelievable became the believable thanks to the help and support of so many.”
Harvick, 47, is saying goodbye after a special career. The driver has spent the past decade in the No. 4 car with Stewart-Haas Racing — the organization with which he won his 2014 Cup title, as well as a bulk of his 60 career Cup wins.
He is tied ninth all-time in Cup wins with Kyle Busch. He also has two Xfinity Series championships (in 2001 and 2006) and the Daytona 500 (in 2007) to his name.
Harvick got his start with Richard Childress Racing in 2001, when he replaced Dale Earnhardt after the legendary driver died driving in the 2001 Daytona 500. He drove through the 2013 season with RCR before joining SHR.
The veteran was a force in 2022. Not only did he advance to the playoffs thanks to two back-to-back wins — the first at Michigan which broke a 65-race winless streak, and the second at Richmond that resurrected images of his longheld nickname, “The Closer.” (After his win at Michigan, he provided one of the season’s iconic quotes: “Everybody who doubted us doesn’t know us.”)
He also proved his value off the track. Harvick was one of a handful of veterans to call the sanctioning body and the Next Gen car out for its safety shortcomings — which was one of the biggest story lines of the 2022 season. The car will be adjusted in 2023, NASCAR officials said during the Charlotte Roval weekend in October; he helped make that happen.
Harvick’s retirement comes months after the retirement of his Cup champion peer, Kurt Busch, who retired from full-time driving after suffering a concussion during the summer of the 2022 season.
“I want Kevin to savor every lap this season, to compete like hell and to take it all in,” team owner and three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart said. “He’s made all of us at Stewart-Haas Racing incredibly proud and we want to make his last season his best season.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 8:10 PM.
