NASCAR: Kevin Harvick takes over; can he break Jeff Gordon’s record?

By making his 656th consecutive NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick now leads active drivers. Can he break Jeff Gordon’s record?

Entering this past weekend, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson had competed in 663 consecutive races going back to his debut as a full-time driver for Hendrick Motorsports back in the 2002 season, the longest active streak.

But before the weekend, Johnson tested positive for COVID-19, and as a result, he was sidelined for Sunday afternoon’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was replaced by JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Justin Allgaier behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet.

Johnson entered the season tied with Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman atop this list with 648 consecutive starts, but Newman was sidelined for three races after suffering a head injury in a horrific last lap crash in the season-opening Daytona International Speedway back in February.

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Now Johnson no longer sits atop this list. That honor now belongs to Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

Harvick, who replaced seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing after Earnhardt was killed as a result of a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500, has missed just one race since making his Cup Series debut back in February of 2001. He was suspended for the race at Martinsville Speedway in April of 2002, but he has competed in each of the 656 races which have been contested since then.

Can the 44-year-old Bakersfield, California native break the all-time record?

That record belongs to four-time champion Jeff Gordon. Gordon made his Cup Series debut in 1992 and never missed a race before retiring from full-time competition after the 2015 season. He competed in 797 consecutive races during this 24-year span. He did also compete in eight additional races in 2016 as one of the replacement drivers for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr.

On paper, it is possible.

Harvick signed a contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing, where he has driven since leaving Richard Childress Racing following the 2013 season, ahead of the 2020 season to continue driving the #4 Ford through the 2023 season.

Of course, we have already seen the longest two active streaks, both of more than 18 years, come to an end within just a few months of one another earlier this year. So there are no guarantees, especially amid the pandemic.

Should Harvick compete in each of the 2020 season’s remaining 20 races, he would boost that streak up to 676. With him being under contract for another three years, he would be on pace to boost that streak up to 784 by the end of the 2023 season, assuming Cup Series seasons continue to feature 36 races.

At the level he is currently performing, it is not crazy to think that his current contract won’t be his last, and even a one-year extension would be enough to put him over that 797-start mark, assuming he doesn’t miss any races before 2024.

Harvick is set to make his series-high 657th consecutive start in this Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.