NASCAR: Why Kevin Harvick should go into broadcasting after his Cup Series career

By Asher Fair | Oct 17, 2017

CHARLOTTE, NC - OCTOBER 07: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John's Ford, stands in the garage during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 7, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick should consider going into broadcasting after his career in the NASCAR Cup Series comes to an end.

Following his retirement announcement in late April, Dale Earnhardt Jr. secured himself a seat as a NASCAR broadcaster for NBC Sports Network next year. Securing broadcasting positions is not all that uncommon for former NASCAR drivers. Take current broadcasters Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Kyle Petty and Darrell Waltrip for example.

One current Cup Series driver that should undoubtedly become a broadcaster following the conclusion of his NASCAR career is Kevin Harvick. Harvick, 41, won the Cup Series championship in the 2014 season and is in a good position to qualify for the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway once again this season, so he doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

But given the fact that NASCAR team owners have looked toward younger drivers as opposed to extending the contracts of older drivers, Harvick’s career may not last more than five or six more years.

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Even if he does end up being replaced by a younger driver within the next few years like Kasey Kahne, 37, and Matt Kenseth, 45, will be next year by William Byron, 19, and Erik Jones, 21, respectively, Harvick should stay close to the sport as a broadcaster. Here’s why.

Kevin Harvick is known for his hot takes. Over the summer, he placed the blame for NASCAR’s stunted growth on Dale Earnhardt Jr., the sport’s Most Popular Driver Award winner in each of the past 14 (soon to be 15 seasons), and the fact that he has not had much recent success and was never able to win a championship despite his popularity and the fact that he has driven for the sport’s top team, Hendrick Motorsports.

But then when Harvick’s teammate Danica Patrick announced that she was leaving Stewart-Haas Racing following the conclusion of the 2017 season, he talked about how important she was to the sport despite the fact that she hasn’t had nearly the amount of success over the course of her career that Earnhardt Jr. has had over the course of his yet she is one of the sport’s top drivers in terms of popularity as well.

Then recently, Harvick, who is still alive in the Cup Series playoffs himself, talked about wanting to see Chase Elliott, who is also still alive in the Cup Series playoffs, win races because of the good effect it would have on the sport as a whole.

I’d say that Harvick should host a talk show, but he already does. It’s called “Happy Hours“, and it airs every Tuesday night from 7:00 PM ET to 9:00 PM ET on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.

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Kevin Harvick just has that ability to get people talking and to stir the pot on issues that are controversial but should definitely discussed even though many people will inevitably disagree about the subject of discussion.

While many people are quick to hate on him for that as we have already seen over the course of the past few months, NASCAR needs someone like Harvick to keep it real for everyone involved in the sport, and a spot as a race broadcaster would be a great position for him to do that at.

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