Harvick on NASCAR retirement: "All signs pointed to 2023"

It was no secret the 2023 season was the final one in Harvick's most recent contract with Stewart-Haas Racing as a Cup Series driver and there had been no signs – at least publically – that he was interested in extending it again.

The 47-year-old native of Bakersfield, Calif., had also become more much involved in his 10-year-old son Keelan’s budding racing career in recent years and openly talked of his desire to work in the TV booth.

In the days leading up to his official decision on Jan. 12, the CARS Tour Late Model asphalt series had announced Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton and Justin Marks had taken over ownership of the series.

In addition, Motorsport.com reported on Jan. 11 that Harvick would join Fox Sports’ TV booth of NASCAR coverage beginning in 2024.

Clearly, Harvick’s plate was filling, but he said the decision to stop racing remained a difficult one.

“It was tough. It was as tough of a decision as I’ve ever had to make,” Harvick said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. “I had been contemplating it for the last five years probably. You look five years ago and there were really no signs that said you should stop today because of this or that or really anything. So, I just kept driving.

“Then Covid came (in 2020) and everything was really so simple because you really didn’t have to do anything anymore from an appearance standpoint and all the things that we didn’t have to do that come with our sport in a normal year. For a year-and-a-half to two years, everything was really easy.”

Making the call

Following the return to more normal weekend race schedules, Harvick said he knew he had to make a choice.

“These last couple of years it really became a decision of do you retire at the end of 2022 or the end of 2023? There were two decisions that came with that,” he said. “If you retire at the end of 2022 do you go to the banquet, walk of the stage, tell everybody you’re done and you probably leave everybody hanging and you’re going to have some people mad.

“The right way to do that – and we started the process a year-and-a-half ago or so – was to have a proper plan, plan the year out correctly. Do the work that came with it with respect to your race team, the people that have been with you for 10 years now, or people who have – I have some who have worked with me for 25 years – try to go out and give them the opportunity to do what

they need to do going forward, celebrate it with everybody and give the race fans who have supported you for 20-25 years the opportunity to come out and watch one more race.

“All signs just professionally pointed to 2023 and doing it the right way.”

Harvick said he found many things factored into his ultimate decision, with his family at the forefront.

“From the family standpoint, it’s a great time with Keelan being 10, he’ll be 11 in July, and where his racing career is headed. And with (daughter) Piper exploring the things she wants to do and the kids being in school at home, school gets a little bit harder as Keelan goes through the next few years,” Harvick said.

“His racing has consumed a lot more of my time then probably I had expected in everything that he has going on. All signs pointed to 2023.”

Kevin Harvick, Stewart Haas Racing, Busch Light Ford Mustang

Photo by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Images

Getting out of the fulltime competition side will also likely allow Harvick more time to become more directly engaged with his Kevin Harvick Inc. management group, which represents several athletes in different sports.

“I think I can really transition more into a more personal basis with the clients that we have driving cars and being able to help them,” he said. “It’s easy with the younger guys because they’re not in the Cup Series. But we tried to keep it somewhat separated because of the fact you don’t want to cross the lines of anything that would be competition on the Cup side.

“Having more time to being involved in all the business ventures is something is required going forward, just because you want to be successful. And that’s one reason that was a timing of this decision.

“We’ve restructured the businesses that we have and created some new businesses going forward. There’s a lot of things that have taken place and a lot more than will take place.”