NASCAR: Harvick Staying With Ford In 2017? Ford Believes It
2014 NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick is slated to drive a Ford in 2017 when SHR switches manufacturers. Some believe Chevy will retain Harvick but Ford doesn’t see that happening.
Let’s be honest, breaking up is hard to do.
Stewart-Haas Racing has been with Chevy and had a technical alliance with Team Hendrick since they became a team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This partnerships have resulted in two championships (2011 with Tony Stewart and 2014 with Kevin Harvick). That relationship has also taken Harvick’s career to another level.
After leaving RCR after 2013 to join SHR in 2014, Harvick has easily been one of the most dominant drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This level of dominance was something we saw glimpses of before the jump to SHR, but it was never something that Harvick had ever sustained.
Prior to coming to SHR Harvick finished inside of the top-10 in 45 percent of the races that he ran in. In 2+ seasons with SHR, Harvick is finishing inside of the top-10 in nearly 70 percent of the races that he competes in. That number becomes even more mind blowing when you consider that he has finished inside of the top-10 in 33 of his last 42 races (78.5 percent). Harvick’s success with the Chevy/HMS partnership had many speculating that he would not want to move to Ford and that Chevy would do something to keep him from making the jump.
Ford Performance boss Dave Pericak recently spoke with Motorsport.com about 2017, Kevin Harvick and Team Ford getting stronger. Pericak was not afraid to stake his claim that Harvick will be staying with SHR and driving a ford next season.
"There is no doubt in my mind. He will be in a Ford [in 2017].We’ve always said we’re here to win races. We’re not just here to have fun. We have to have more than just a couple bullets in the chamber every time you show up on the weekends. So we’re going to strengthen all the way across the board and adding a championship caliber team like Stewart-Haas is putting more bullets in the chamber."
Of course there are always two sides to every story.
Even if Perciak and Ford had any concern about Harvick not coming over in 2017, they certainly would not publicly discuss it. Ford needs Harvick a lot more than Harvick needs Ford and that’s the simple truth. If you look at the SHR acquisition without Harvick what are you left with? You have a recently retired Tony Stewart, a former champion in Kurt Busch who has been decent with SHR but not spectacular, an average driver in Clint Bowyer who has been horrible in 2016 and a below-average driver in Danica Patrick who some will say is more marketing than she is results on the track.
Related Story: Kevin Harvick Leaving SHR Is A Real Possibility - Here Is Why
The diamond in this whole deal truly is Harvick and one has to assume that he is more than aware of that. If Harvick truly has any reservations about joining Ford in 2017, he holds more cards in this game than some might think. Ford might feel like it’s a done deal but don’t forget that where there is smoke there is often fire. Since the announcement there has been plenty of smoke around Harvick about not wanting to move to Ford; that all had to come from someplace of semi-truth.