NASCAR: The all-time record Kevin Harvick is about to break
By Asher Fair
Kevin Harvick is slated to break an all-time NASCAR record simply by competing in Sunday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway marked the 727th Cup Series start of Kevin Harvick’s career going back to his debut in 2001, and it also marked his 1,197th career national series start going all the way back to his Truck Series debut in 1995.
By competing in last Sunday’s race, the 45-year-old Bakersfield, California native tied an all-time NASCAR record that had been held solely by Joe Nemechek since November 2019.
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Nemechek broke this record by competing in the Truck Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He went on to compete in both the Xfinity Series season finale and the Cup Series season finale at the same track before running eight more Xfinity Series races and one more Truck Series race last year.
Nemechek, who has competed in NASCAR for 32 straight years, has yet to make a start this season.
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He did try, however, although he failed to qualify for the Truck Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
The record he broke was the all-time NASCAR national series starts record, which had been held by Richard Petty. Petty made all 1,185 of his starts in the Cup Series. Nemechek’s start in the 2019 Truck Series season finale was his 1,186th. He is now up to 1,197 career starts, and that’s the number that Harvick just hit last Sunday.
With Nemechek having not competed in yesterday’s rain-shortened Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway and Harvick set to compete in this afternoon’s Cup Series race at the track, the 2014 Cup Series champion is set to become NASCAR’s new most experienced driver.
Simply by taking the green flag for today’s 188-lap GEICO 500 around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama, Harvick will have competed in 1,198 NASCAR races, an all-time record.
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Tune in to Fox at 2:00 p.m. ET this afternoon to watch Kevin Harvick make history by competing in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.