NASCAR: Kevin Harvick signs with Stewart-Haas Racing through 2023
By Asher Fair
Kevin Harvick has signed a two-year contract extension to remain with Stewart-Haas Racing through the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
When seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson steps down from full-time Cup Series competition at the end of the 2020 season, it will make Kevin Harvick the oldest full-time driver in the field.
But Harvick, who was already under contract to drive the #4 for Stewart-Haas Racing Ford through the 2021 season, solidified past claims that he has no plan to step away from Cup Series competition anytime soon.
The 44-year-old Bakersfield, California native has signed a two-year contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing to continue driving for the team through the 2023 season, meaning that he is now committed to at least four more seasons at NASCAR’s highest level.
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Harvick began his full-time Cup Series career in 2001 following the tragic death of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt.
After 13 seasons driving for Richard Childress Racing behind the wheel of the #29 Chevrolet, he made the move to Stewart-Haas Racing and won the championship in his first season driving for the team in 2014, which was the first season of the modern Championship 4 playoff format. He has driven for the team ever since, driving the #4 Chevrolet through 2016 before the team switched manufacturers to Ford in 2017.
He has only missed one race since making his series debut back in February of 2001 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, that being the March race at Martinsville Speedway in the 2002 season for which he was suspended. Going back to that race, he has made 640 consecutive starts, giving him 682 starts in his career.
Harvick is currently tied with Stewart-Haas Racing team co-owner and three-time champion Tony Stewart for the 14th highest win total in Cup Series history with 49 victories.
His win total of 45 in the playoffs era (2004 to present) ranks third behind Johnson’s (77) and Kyle Busch’s (56). He has won races in each of the last 10 seasons, the second longest active streak in the series behind Busch’s (15).
Harvick has qualified for five of the first six Championship 4s, tied for the most in the series with Busch. He has qualified for each of the last three along with Busch and Martin Truex Jr.
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With Kevin Harvick under contract with Stewart-Haas Racing for another four NASCAR Cup Series seasons, speculation about his retirement that had begun to heat up will surely pipe down for the foreseeable future, as he has no plans to go anywhere.