Kevin Harvick announced this morning that he will retire after the 2023 NASCAR season, bringing an end to a Hall of Fame-caliber career after two-plus decades at the sport’s top level.
Harvick enters what’s scheduled to be his final full-time season as a 60-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. The 47-year-old driver’s accomplishments include the 2014 Cup championship, achieved in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 4 team.
Harvick’s run of success has come with two organizations — 23 Cup Series victories with Richard Childress Racing and 37 more with team co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas. The Bakersfield, California, native also scored championships in the Xfinity Series in 2001 and 2006.
Harvick was thrust into the Cup Series under tragic circumstances in 2001, called up from the Xfinity ranks by Childress after the death of Dale Earnhardt in that season’s Daytona 500. The ride he took over was changed from Earnhardt’s iconic black No. 3 to a primarily white Chevrolet carrying No. 29. Harvick made that car a winner in his third race out, edging Jeff Gordon by 0.006 seconds at the checkered flag in an emotional victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He went on to win Rookie of the Year honors.