Comfortable Harvick: NASCAR driver prepared for ultimate playoff run

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kevin Harvick’s obtained little time for nostalgia, at the same time as his stellar profession winds down together with his ultimate NASCAR playoffs.

“I mean, I don’t really go through it like that,” the 2014 Cup Series champion mentioned Thursday. “I think for me, it’s all a last, right?”

Harvick, 47, has 10 occasions left earlier than retiring to the TV broadcast sales space the place he’ll be an analyst for Fox.

Harvick didn’t get weepy about his ultimate drive round Daytona final week or any of the venues he has seen for a ultimate time as a driver.

Harvick was a younger racer with a little bit of an edge when he first raced the Cup Series because the late Dale Earnhardt’s alternative at Richard Childress Racing in 2001. Harvick received in Atlanta simply three weeks after Earnhardt’s deadly accident.

Back then, Harvick didn’t a lot care whether or not anybody on or off the monitor preferred or admired him. He solely needed to win. “I wanted them to think about me all the time when I was in front of them, when I was behind them, when I walked into a room,” Harvick mentioned with a smile.

Things are totally different nowadays. He’s grateful for one more championship likelihood – Harvick’s tied for NASCAR’s lead with Denny Hamlin with 17 journeys to the playoffs – and that he’s considered statesman of the game who’s left a optimistic affect with youthful rivals.

“I’m in heaven,” Harvick mentioned. “And I think that’s what’s great about being where I’m at. I think that having those relationships with a lot of the other drivers and having the respect of your competitors in the garage is something that is hard to come by.”

This has not been the season Harvick anticipated when he mapped out his ultimate drive round NASCAR final fall. He and his Stewart-Haas No. 4 workforce are winless and enter fifteenth among the many 16 racers who’ll chase a title the following few months.

That doesn’t imply Harvick can’t be a menace to make some noise earlier than he’s accomplished.

Hamlin mentioned on his podcast this week that whereas Harvick’s workforce hasn’t had the required velocity to search out Victory Lane this 12 months, he and his crew chief Rodney Childers are each able to surprises.

“That number four team, they’ll just find a way,” Hamlin mentioned with awe.

Harvick hopes so. He’s had 10 high 10s this season, the perfect a second place on the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, the place the NASCAR playoffs begin Sunday night time.

Harvick has three profession victories at Darlington, the final coming on the Southern 500 in September 2020.

One of Harvick’s most unusual and memorable wins got here on the monitor “Too Tough To Tame” earlier that very same 12 months when NASCAR turned the primary skilled sport to return to motion after shutting down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harvick received’t ever overlook how amped up he was after crossing the ultimate line, stepping out of his automotive and listening to silence as followers weren’t permitted within the stands for well being causes.

“Still one of the most empty and awkward feelings that I’ve ever had at a racetrack,” he mentioned.

Weirder nonetheless was a fast celebration within the winner’s circle on the monitor the place they took “three pictures and (me) carrying the trophy back to my motorhome myself,” he mentioned.

Harvick believes his workforce has come near success this season and he’s nonetheless chasing victory regardless of his short-timer standing on monitor.

It’s “not the first time we’ve had performance struggles,” he mentioned. “It’s all in how you overcome those things. And here we are again, right?”

Harvick mentioned his planning on the entrance finish of his ultimate season has meant a extra pleasurable expertise. He’s appreciated the followers’ assist and indicators celebrating his achievements at many tracks this season.