NASCAR: Kevin Harvick’s surprise admission leaves just one question

Kevin Harvick admitted on The Dale Jr. Download that the initial plan for him was to retire after the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick was featured on this week’s episode of Dirty Mo Media’s The Dale Jr. Download podcast, and he had more than a few interesting things to discuss.

One such subject was that of retirement.

Harvick, who has now competed in 712 consecutive Cup Series races going back to April 2002, is coming off of his eighth season driving the #4 car for Stewart-Haas Racing and 21st as a full-time driver. He has competed in 754 races, second most among active drivers (Kurt Busch, 756).

The 45-year-old Bakersfield, California native entered 2020 under contract to compete through 2021, but before the season began, he signed a two-year extension in February 2020 to remain behind the wheel of the #4 Ford through the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

However, this wasn’t the initial plan.

Had the initial plan played out, Harvick would have retired after the 2021 season ended.

Here’s what he told Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"“I was [going to be done]. ’21 was originally it. As far as, you know how it goes, as far as the financial planning and how life was going to look, it was all set up. It was all set up.“We started having conversations about what we were going to do next — and that led to two more years in ’22 and ’23. And I think at this point in my career, it’s really just about being at the race track with the group of people and the people that you like being around.“Racing the car is, I love the competitive side of it, and being in there and being able to develop a new car and have that knowledge — it’s going to be frustrating! It’s going to be frustrating, but there’s also that reward.”"

You can listen to the full episode of the podcast here.

While this admission in itself will certainly get fans talking, it also has them asking another question: will the 2023 season now be “it” for Harvick?

Harvick stopped short of confirming that the 2023 season will be his last, but given how this whole deal came about and the manner in which he discussed the whole thing, is it effectively implied that it will be?

He would be 48 years old by the time the 2024 season begins.

Even though the debut of the Next Gen car was pushed back from the 2021 season to the 2022 season as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions throughout the 2020 season, this deal still gives Harvick the opportunity to help develop this car for two years, as he discussed.

So it’s not as though this aspect of losing a year in the new Gen 7 car would lead to him signing another deal.

Harvick, of course, has no need to confirm anything right now. Even if he has already decided that the 2023 season will be his last, that is still two years away, so there is no rush in making that plan public.

And of course, that plan could very well change, as we saw it did for the 2021 season.