LOUDON, NH – Kevin Harvick has one last chance to set the record for most career wins by a Cup driver in New Hampshire. Take the checkered flag and Harvick would take home the 20-pound lobster presented to the winner – his young son once kissed the crustacean in the winning streak and also playfully chased a family friend with scissors.
But Harvick may have to give up his musket.
Harvick received the custom-made, handcrafted burlwood musket at the circuit as a final thank you from the circuit for all of his accomplishments before him retires from NASCAR at the end of the season.
The inscription on the silver plaque reads in part: ‘Kevin Harvick. 4X NHMS Winner.”
He wants to make five of them and edit the engraving. The stakes are high for Harvick in Monday’s race New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Heavy rain canceled out Sunday’s scheduled start – where he can not only match Jeff Burton for the most Magic Mile wins, but most importantly, end a 31-race win streak and automatically secure a spot in the NASCAR Championship playoffs
“We were competitive for the most part,” Harvick said. “We had a couple of chances to win races, but it just didn’t all come together to get on the winning track.”
Harvick, 47, has long been one of NASCAR’s most consistent and biggest winners. There was the 2007 Daytona 500 Championship for Richard Childress Racing and the 2014 NASCAR Cup Championship for Stewart-Haas Racing. He won eight times in 2018 and nine times in 2020 before the good times suddenly dried up. Harvick went winless in 2021 and is 0-19 in the final season of his 23-year career.
Harvick made his mark as NASCAR’s version of a major league baseball Game 7 finish. He won at Phoenix in 2014 when he needed a win to move into the championship race. Harvick then won the finals and championship at Homestead. Needing a win in the 2016 playoffs to advance in a win-or-else race, Harvick delivered a win in New Hampshire and advanced to the next round.
With seven races remaining before the 16-rider playoff field is established, Harvick would currently be in the playoffs on points. The 11 riders ahead of him in the standings are all winners of the 2023 race – led by The Four by William Byron — and a solid start to the season has given Harvick a 126-point cushion on the cutline. But a few surprise winners at the last few summer races would certainly put pressure on the general standings and increase the pressure on Harvick to take the checkered flag.
Bring it on.
“It doesn’t really change for us because in 2015 we just decided to race every week like it was a playoff week,” Harvick said. “If you have to change gears, you’re in big trouble. It’s a different way of racing.”
Harvick trudges into New Hampshire on a cold streak and has finished 24th, 29th and 30th in his last three races in the No. 4 Ford.
Part of the winless streak – his last win came on August 22, 2022 in Richmond – is only part of the game for an aging rider. Richard Petty won his 200th race in 1984 and never again in his last eight seasons. Jimmie Johnson won his 83rd career race midway through the 2017 season, the last of his full-time career, which ended in 2020.
The rest of the slump could be down to it general problems at SHR. Harvick, who will be? replaced by Josh Berry next season, is for sure the best of them all. Ryan Preece is 25th overall, Aric Almirola is 27th and Chase Briscoe is 31st. SHR made numerous organizational changes to its crew chiefs in June, but there were no immediate signs of improvement.
Let someone else take care of SHR next season.
Harvick may be retiring from NASCAR, but the driver who once chose to succeed Dale Earnhardt just days after his death at the 2001 Daytona 500 still has a few things on his to-do list as he retires from racing.
Harvick will be in the booth alongside Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer for the Fox Sports portion of NASCAR television coverage next year. He will turn his attention to Kevin Harvick Inc., his growing management company, as well as other business ventures. And he can spend more time at the racetrack – just to support his young son and daughter, both successful racers.
Harvick may not have much time to settle into the rocking chair gifted to him by friend and country star Jake Owen.
“I want to be energetic and do things differently,” Harvick said. “I was studying, and Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. warned me that I would be busier getting out than in the car. Because in the car I already had an excuse not to do things. Outside the car, there is no excuse for doing nothing.”
But if he can get at least one thing done before hanging up his helmet, Harvick would love to get the 61st win.
IT IS RAINING AGAIN
Monday’s race starts at 12 noon on the Magic Mile. This is the third race this season to be postponed due to rain, following Dover and the Coca-Cola 600.
Joe Gibbs Racing captured the front row in New Hampshire on Saturday with Christopher Bell on pole followed by Martin Truex Jr. Bell won last season’s race in New Hampshire.
This is also the third race in a row to be affected by the weather. William Byron won in Atlanta last week in a race that was stopped by 75 laps due to rain. Shane van Gisbergen won his NASCAR Cup Series debut in Chicago in a race that was canceled early due to dwindling sunshine.
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