Harvick: "Out of control rumor mill" sparked meeting with Kahne

He even contacted Kasey Kahne to assure him reports of him being approached by Hendrick Motorsports to take his ride were not true.

“For me, I had an automatic two-year extension that the team held and everyone understood they were going to take that option,” Harvick said Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where rain disrupted track activity.

“With all the changes in the sport, changes on the team, changes with sponsors who wanted to do things further, we sat back and said ‘Let’s mutually agree to forget that contract and restructure everything.’ I know the scuttlebutt affects the guys in the shop a lot more than it affects me.”

Harvick reached out to Kahne

Harvick said the rumor mill got so out of control as far back as the beginning of the season, he decided to speak directly with Kahne himself.

“I told him there has not been one person who has called me from your organization and I want you to have trust in your team. I want you to believe in your team and keep working on what you’ve been working on,” Harvick said.

“I told him what I was doing, how it would go. You can only say so much before you start crossing lines with legal responsibilities but I tried to be as upfront as I could.”

SHR announced Thursday Harvick had signed a new long-term contract just days after yet another false report surfaced in the media that Harvick had been offered a contract from Hendrick Motorsports.

“As far as the position of going out to talk to other (teams), that was never the case. It was simply extending an extension that needed to be put in place,” Harvick said. “Like I’ve said several times, I feel like I have the best crew chief in the garage, I like the challenges that face us in the future and I want to have those things in place.”

Harvick said the new charter system and the subsequent changes to how race purse money is distributed drove the need to alter his original contract.

“I would tell you yes, that is what originally started the conversations and things snowballed from there,” he said. “We just decided to get rid of the whole thing and start over and make sure it was all right going forward and everybody was on the same page.”

Retirement on his radar?

Harvick, 40, has mentioned in the past he wanted to be involved in the activities of his son, Keelan, as he grows up.

Asked if he had given any thought to whether this five-year deal would be his last in NASCAR, Harvick was unwilling to commit.

“You hear too many guys talk about retiring too soon. I’m going to quit when I’m not having fun anymore. I’m having way too much fun right now being competitive and driving fast race cars,” Harvick said.

“It kind of makes up for a little bit of lost time at the beginning (of his career). It’s been fun. I’ve felt rejuvenated that last three years. It would have to be pretty painful at the end of this one to say I’m done because I’ll still be in my mid-40s.

“I’m not going to commit to quit before I need to.”