Kevin Harvick to retire at end of 2023 season

Harvick, known as "The Closer," enters his final season in NASCAR's premier class with 60 wins to his credit, moving him into ninth place in the Cup Series' all-time win streak. He is just 99 laps shy of reaching an incredible 16,000 career laps - one of only 11 drivers in the history of the sport - and the Bakersfield, California, native Harvick will make his 800th Cup Series start on April 23 at Talladega Superspeedway (Alabama).

"There's absolutely nothing in the world I like better than going to the track, and I'm really looking forward to this season," said Harvick, who drives the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. "But over the years, I knew there would come a day when I would have to make a decision. When would it be time to step away from the car? I went to people and asked them for advice. When I asked them when is the right time, they said that it will just happen and you will realize that it is the right moment. You make a plan and decide when it's your last year. It was definitely hard to understand when the time was right because we were so lucky and doing well. But sometimes there are just other things that are more important, and for me that time is now."

Harvick’s decision to make the 2023 season his last comes as the father of two eyes more family time. Together with wife, DeLana, they’ll continue to visit racetracks, but Harvick won’t be wearing a firesuit. His 10-year-old son, Keelan, is an avid karter who races internationally, and his 5-year-old daughter, Piper, is already following in the family’s tire tracks, wheeling a go-kart of her own.

"I think I saw Keelan race three times last year while he was in Europe. I go to the kart track with Piper, and when I'm there, she does twice as many steps in a day as she does on a day I'm not there. It takes a lot of time to organize the level of racing they do, and it's important for me to be there," Harvick said.

Karting is where Harvick’s career began. He was five when he first started racing in and around Southern California. Twenty years later, after competing and winning on the NASCAR Southwest Tour, earning the 1998 NASCAR Winston West championship, advancing to the NASCAR Truck Series and then the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Harvick was in Cup. However, it was under incredibly trying circumstances and immense pressure. A 25-year-old Harvick was thrust into the national spotlight and tabbed to do the impossible – fill the void left by the passing of the sport’s icon, Dale Earnhardt. A crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 had taken Earnhardt’s life. In the midst of great personal sorrow, team owner Richard Childress needed to steady his organization. He chose Harvick, an up-and-coming racer who had a breakout season in 2000 by winning three races for his team in the second-tier Busch Series, known today as the Xfinity Series.

The No. 3, made famous by Earnhardt, was changed to the No. 29, and Harvick made his Cup Series debut on Feb. 25 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Harvick started 36th that Sunday at Rockingham, but rain washed over the track just 51 laps into the 393-lap race. The race resumed at 11 a.m. ET on Monday, whereupon Harvick drove to a solid 14th-place finish. He then traveled to Las Vegas on Tuesday, got married on Wednesday, and was back in a racecar on Friday, competing in both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After finishing eighth on Sunday to score his first career top-10 in the Cup Series, Harvick headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway where on March 11, 2001 the first of his 60 Cup Series wins was secured in just his third career start.

"Dale's death changed our sport forever, and it also changed my life forever and the direction it was going. It took me a long time to get used to even thinking about what happened that day," Harvick said. "Looking back now, you realize how important it was to get in the Cup car, and then we won my first race in Atlanta with the 29 car after Dale's death. The importance and significance of keeping that car on the track and winning the Atlanta race early - now knowing what that means to the sport, and just that moment in general where I was able to move on was so important."

Harvick, wise beyond his years, was able to separate himself and perform. In addition to the rest of the Cup Series races and his repeat win July 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, Harvick competed in the entire Xfinity Series schedule, winning five races and claiming the championship. "We just found a way to make it work, and we did that all year," said Harvick, who won a second Xfinity Series title in 2006 by again running the entire Cup and Xfinity schedule. Harvick has always done everything right in his career. That was evident from day one at Stewart-Haas Racing, where he joined the team in December 2013 after driving for Childress for 14 years. Along with his crew chief Rodney Childers, Harvick came out strong and didn't let up. It started with a dominant preseason test at Charlotte Motor Speedway (N.C.) and ended with a stunning victory in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway that earned Harvick his long-awaited Cup Series championship. Today, Harvick and Childers are the longest-serving active driver-crew chief duo in the Cup Series, a 10-year partnership that has produced 37 points-earning victories.

"Rodney and I are pretty much the same age and have similar backgrounds in terms of racing. But we're opposites in that he's very calm, cool and collected, while I'm more effervescent and excited. That pairing has earned us a lot of respect because I know his demeanor and he knows mine, and it's a good balance in the middle," Harvick said. "We know each of us can get the job done, and we believe in ourselves and each other, and a lot of it comes down to conversation and the ability to communicate. We're good at communicating, and that's what makes a good team - the ability to talk and communicate and put those conversations into action. And when you're in the wrong, understanding that you're in the wrong and working through that without hurting anyone's feelings and pointing fingers - that's what made it work."

The command Harvick has shown behind the wheel and outside of the racecar was one of the main reasons why Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, wanted Harvick on his race team.

"I competed against Kevin for a long time and was so happy to finally have him on our race team," said Stewart, the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who co-owns Stewart-Haas Racing with Gene Haas Automation founder Gene Haas. "He's incredibly reliable - consistent and calculated on the track with a drive to always get better. That's what you want in a teammate. He knows what he needs to succeed, and his drive to win has helped fuel our entire company."

Stewart retired as a NASCAR driver at the end of the 2016 season. His hope for Harvick's final season is confident and straightforward. "I want Kevin to savor every lap this season, compete like hell and take it all in. He's made all of us at Stewart-Haas Racing incredibly proud and we want his final season to be his best season." Harvick's final season begins with the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum (no points) on Feb. 4-5 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before the 2023 season officially begins with the 65th annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 19 at Daytona International Speedway.

About Stewart-Haas Racing
Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based organization has won two NASCAR Cup Series titles, one NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and more than 90 NASCAR races, including such crown-jewel events as the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. For more information, please visit us online at StewartHaasRacing.com and on social at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn.