Happy trails: Kevin Harvicks NASCAR peers pay tribute to a Hall of Fame career -

When Kevin Harvick first entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 2001, he did so amid unimaginable circumstances. In the aftermath of Dale Earnhardt dying in a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500, Richard Childress Racing tabbed Harvick, who at the time was running for the team full-time in the then-Busch Series (now Xfinity Series), to replace Earnhardt. The team renumbered its iconic No. 3 Chevrolet to No. 29.

What no one knew then was that Harvick was embarking on a career where he’d go on to firmly establish his own legacy as one of NASCAR’s all-time greats. He won his first Cup race in just his third start, beating Jeff Gordon in a memorable, and emotional, finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway that has become one of the most replayed in NASCAR history.

Atlanta was the first of Harvick’s 60 Cup wins (10th most all time), a robust number that includes triumphs in each of NASCAR’s four crown jewel races — the Brickyard 400 (three wins), Coca-Cola 600 (two), Southern 500 (two) and Daytona 500 (one). He won the 2014 title and had five total berths in the Championship 4 playoff round. He’ll unquestionably go down as one of the sport’s best, a driver who made an impact on and off the track.

In January, Harvick, 47, announced that the 2023 season would be his last, opting to retire to spend more time with his family — his wife, DeLana; son, Keelan; and daughter, Piper. He is taking a position as a Fox Sports television analyst next year, an opportunity that allows him to remain active in the sport but without the requirement of being on the road 38 weekends a year.

On Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, when Harvick fires up his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and rolls off pit road, it will mark his 826th and final Cup start. He’ll be putting a cap on a fascinating 23-year career arc that’s seen the driver nicknamed “Happy” evolve from being a brash upstart who often angered veterans to a respected voice in the garage that young drivers look up to and admire.

As Harvick prepares to exit, a collection of NASCAR drivers, crew chiefs and executives shared reflections on their favorite memories of Harvick, his leadership in the garage, his famous fiery personality and the legacy he leaves.

The memories

Mike Helton (longtime NASCAR executive): The one that I always go back to, the one that opened my eyes, is when he won that race in Atlanta in that white 29 car in 2001. Knowing the pressure that he took on to climb in that car and the way he handled it, I knew at that time that he’s a serious competitor.

Brad Keselowski (Cup Series competitor): I look at Kevin and think of the opportunity that he had 23 years ago, and I can’t imagine having to go through that set of circumstances and the weight that would come with that and trying to take that forward and to be able to do that and to overcome that weight and to win races at all three levels and championships as owner/driver at all three levels. I can’t think of anyone else that’s done that — at least not in this era to the regard that he’s done, so I think that’s a tremendous accomplishment. It’s easy to lose sight of.

Ross Chastain (Cup Series competitor): I was a fan when he won at Atlanta for the first time, I was up in an agriculture suite with a bunch of farmers and guys and girls. And then to get to know him, wreck with him, race against them, and just get to know him, it’s wild to think he’s going to be stepping away. I just look at him and the guy I see on track and the guy I’m racing against is as good as anybody out there.

Steve O’Donnell (longtime NASCAR executive): From the time he got in the car in Atlanta and how tough that had to be and his performance, I think it is an incredible achievement to be able to do that. And the way he carried himself throughout that is a testament to that first race, and that carried throughout his career.

Kevin Harvick celebrates his win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 2001. It was just his third race in Dale Earnhardt’s old seat, with the car converted from No. 3 to No. 29. (Jonathan Ferrey / ALLSPORT via Getty Images)

Ryan Blaney (Cup Series competitor): I remember watching his 2014 season in his first year that he went to SHR, and he and (crew chief) Rodney Childers were dominant the whole year. As the younger guy who is just getting started, that was really neat to see him do that.

Tony Stewart (SHR co-owner), speaking in a Stewart-Haas Racing tribute video to Harvick: If I had to pick one moment, it’s probably climbing the fence together after his Brickyard win (at Indianapolis in 2019). I knew how much that meant to me when I got to do it, and to do it with him, together, that was a pretty special moment. That and having his family down there at the yard of bricks to kiss the bricks for the photos was something that for me was personally special.

Richard Childress (RCR owner): I got some really good ones, but probably winning the Daytona 500 (in 2007), that was really special to be able to pull that off in the way that he did.

Denny Hamlin (Cup Series competitor): Every time I try to think of one, it’s not a favorite, that’s for sure. Just the battles we’ve had over the years. In (2019-20), when we were winning a bunch of the races, we just had so many 1-2 battles. One in particular, was at Loudon (in 2019). It was really interesting, as he knew what I was thinking, but I thought I was playing a chess move ahead of him, yet he was onto it. The way we battled there at the end was a lot of fun and I gained a lot of respect for him as a racing driver.

Kyle Larson (Cup Series competitor): I think he’s only been mad at me like one time, so that’s pretty good, I feel like.

Greg Zipadelli (SHR competition director): Honestly, I don’t know if it’s a single memory other than just what a fighter he is from start to finish every race, every week. The energy and the passion that he brings to the racetrack for the race team, week in and week out.

Kevin Harvick (second from left) and Tony Stewart (second from right) climb the fence after Harvick’s win at the Brickyard in 2019. Harvick won three times in Indianapolis, also in 2003 and 2020. (Matt Sullivan / Getty Images)

The leadership

Hamlin: He’s very calculated and he likes to be in control, that’s for sure. I really like his style and how he leads. I believe he’s a very important person in the sport. In my opinion, he’s like a Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart-type person in the sport, and when he leaves, you’ll notice he’s gone. … (He might) be the last legacy guy we have that knows how it used to be, so he’s an important figure. We’ll certainly miss him on this side.

Childress: I don’t know of anybody that could have come in and did what he did as a driver and take the pressure of getting in Dale Earnhardt’s car. … He meant a lot to RCR. Without Kevin, I don’t know where we’re at today because he carried a lot of the pressure on his back.

Austin Cindric (Cup Series competitor): I would categorize him as a polarizing figure just because I feel like he speaks his mind, and I feel like that does a lot for the industry.

Rodney Childers (Harvick crew chief, 2014-present): What he’s taught me as far as being a leader and working hard and just never accepting being mediocre. It drives (Childers’ wife) Katrina absolutely crazy sometimes because nothing is ever good enough, it doesn’t matter if it’s how the carpets vacuumed or if it’s whatever. But that all comes from (Harvick), sadly. … He just expected everybody to give their absolute best all the time and to try to make everything better. And he never wavered from that.

Stewart, in the SHR video: Kevin is one of those guys that if you’re in his circle of trust and circle of friends, if you need something, he’s always there for you. … He is somebody that when you have a problem, he’ll listen to the entire problem, but he normally right away can help you come to a solution. And I think that’s one of the things I really like about Kevin is not so much how he helped out, but just you understand how levelheaded he is about everything and how he’s able to make really good decisions with every aspect of his life.

Blaney: His leadership skills are awesome. Having him in the driver’s council (that frequently meets with NASCAR) and being the voice of it has been huge. It’s good to learn off him and see, “OK, how does Kevin go about this? And what are his thoughts on certain situations?”

Chris Buescher (Cup Series competitor): He’s really stepped up at the time when he really didn’t have to, as far as talking about what’s good for our sport, what’s good for safety, what’s good for drivers and having somebody that’s been around for a long time to really lean in to help everybody and those that don’t really have a voice, a lot of those that don’t feel like they can speak up in certain moments. It’s been neat to see him really take on that role and say, “Look, I want this to be better for everybody. I’m not washing my hands and walking away.” He’s stayed fired up in a lot of those instances to try and help and make this whole place better.

Aric Almirola (SHR teammate, 2018-present): Kevin’s been the epitome of what it looks like to be driven and to be successful. You see the Kevin Harvick on Sunday when the cameras are turned on, but a lot of people don’t see the Kevin Harvick behind the scenes and just the focus that he has and the work ethic and how he rallies his troops and makes everybody rise to the level that he wants them to.

Tyler Reddick (Cup Series competitor): Just how straightforward he is as an individual, driver-to-driver off the track, and his willingness to share information is probably something I enjoy the most about him. He’s the type of guy if people ask him a question, he’s going to give you a straightforward answer. His willingness to help others improve or get better or when they seek out advice is great.

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The intensity

Cindric: I have gotten an a– -chewing from Kevin at (Circuit of the Americas) last year and that was an interesting experience.

O’Donnell: I have (been on the receiving end of Harvick’s anger), but probably deserved. I think the great thing about Kevin is, I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I think sometimes he does as well, but Kevin will call me out on that. And I respect that. I think that’s helped our relationship in terms of being able to just have a candid conversation where we may not agree all the time, he’ll call me out — and he’s usually right — and then we’ll go from there and usually come out in a better place.

Childress: I mean, I ain’t saying I antagonized him to do more of that (getting into confrontations) but he did his share of it and I was proud of him. What I liked about him was his fiery attitude. His will to not lose made us better.

Chastain: Obviously, the Darlington Xfinity 2018 deal, those words carry a lot of weight. At the moment that was really tough. It was really hard to hear those words. It was really scary to hear him say that I wasn’t going to get any more opportunities to drive these things. Now I use it as motivation. I use it in my speeches when I go and speak to people. And I use that as motivation for me and anybody who’s listening that people will say bad things and people will talk down about you. And they’re human, and I don’t hold that personal anymore. I did in the moment that night. He said those things and I took it personally, but now it’s not personal. I understand where he was coming from.

Harvick and Greg Biffle have a little chat during a 2011 race at Martinsville. “He’s just an intense guy,” fellow driver Kyle Larson, who’s been on the wrong end of it before, explains. (Geoff Burke / Getty Images for NASCAR)

Helton: The different confrontations he’s gotten into on pit road with other drivers, they’ve always been, I think, indicative of a pure hardcore athlete that is passionate about the sport he’s in. And I felt Kevin was that passionate athlete that some of those things come from.

Larson: He’s just an intense guy. I’ve made it a point this year not to piss him off because he’s probably on his “Zero F—s Given Tour,” so I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of anything.

Martin Truex Jr. (Cup Series competitor): I caused him and (Juan Pablo) Montoya to get in a fight at Watkins Glen (in 2007). It was going into Turn 1 on a restart, and I just hit the brakes a little too late and got into Kevin, he got into Montoya, they spun out, wrecked, whatever, and then they were about to be fighting after that. So it’s kind of crazy.

Buescher: We haven’t fought on pit road, so that’s good.

Childers: (The guys on the team) love him to death. And it really comes down to maybe a misrepresentation of what he was in the past and everything that was going on. When you’re 20 years old versus 40 years old, there’s a big difference. … Right off the get-go, he’s been fantastic to all of us and great to work with and treated all of us like gold. And just a lot of fun.

The legacy

Helton: The future is going to be very complimentary of Kevin’s career because of his ability to do what he did on the racetrack, his commitment to motorsports across the board and his tenacity, figuring out how to win and how to be competitive and his legacy with RCR, his legacy was Stewart-Haas. But I think a big part of his legacy 25, 30 years from now, when the history books start talking about (NASCAR’s) 100th anniversary, is that the Kevin Harvick story will be bigger, bolder and better told with the passing of time.

O’Donnell: It’s very rare in NASCAR for someone to not just care about their own personal results and kind of think about the bigger picture, but Kevin was a guy who you may not always agree on things with, but Kevin was always the guy who’s thinking about the bigger picture: How do we grow the sport? How do we grow drivers? How do we grow owners? How do we grow racetracks? And I always respected that because even if we didn’t always agree, he always came with an opinion of what he believed was really going to grow the sport, and you have to respect that. He’s made incredible contributions to the sport.

Chase Briscoe (SHR teammate, 2019-present): Seeing how smart he is and how he approaches the weekends, there’s a reason why he’s going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Blaney: He’s one of those guys that, like all the greats who have gotten to the age of retirement, you’re going to really miss them when they’re gone, so you have to appreciate them when they’re here.

Truex: I just have a lot of respect for the way he did things and the kind of driver he is.

Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers look on during practice in Atlanta in 2019. “It’s the easiest relationship that you could possibly have,” Childers says of working with Harvick. (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)

Mark Rushbrook (Ford Performance senior executive): He’s won a lot of races with us and he’s helped us even when he hasn’t won the race, his presence in our program has helped us win other races with other drivers because of what he’s done to help elevate our program. We’re certainly going to miss him.

Childers: When you talk to somebody every day for 10 years, it’s going to be a culture shock when we don’t do that. And it wasn’t really about race cars, it was this or that today, or I’m going to do this, or you’re not going to believe what I saw today, and just normal friendship stuff. … That’s how it’s been for 10 years. There was never poking each other in the chest and all that kind of stuff, we just naturally want the same things. And it was, honestly, easy. It’s the easiest relationship that you could possibly have.

Joey Logano (Cup Series competitor): The one thing that all of us sitting in this room and everyone in this industry are very blessed to have is Kevin Harvick, and the fact that Kevin Harvick isn’t going away. Kevin cares about this sport. He cares about the people in this sport. … I get to see (it), but … the world is going to see in the Fox booth next year, and I think that’s something that we all should be pretty grateful for because, obviously, he has a great fan following, but he also has a very loud voice within the industry that is very well respected. … He has decided to stay involved and continue to build the sport for the next generation. That says a lot about a person to me. If it wasn’t for people like that, I wouldn’t be sitting here today talking to (the media), and you wouldn’t be sitting here watching the sport either or writing about the sport. This, to me, is a true Hall of Fame move that’s probably even bigger than a few race wins that he’s had. The fact that he cares enough to continue means a lot to me.

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(Top illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photos: Sean Gardner, Brian Lawdermilk / Getty Images)

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