Ryan Blaney vs Kevin Harvick: Who Has the Better Career After the Same Number of Starts?

Ryan Blaney (L) and Kevin Harvick (R)

The 2025 Cup Series finale at the Phoenix Raceway was Ryan Blaney’s 378th start. Driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, he reached Victory Lane and recorded the 17th win of his career. This position that he is in makes it ideal for him to be compared with one of the greatest drivers in the sport: Kevin Harvick. Here’s a brief comparison of their stats after 378 races.

In 378 starts, Blaney has secured one Cup Series championship and won 17 races. Harvick, on the other hand, did not win a championship in his first 378 races and recorded the same 17 wins. Blaney has also brought home 96 top-5 finishes, 168 top-10 finishes, and led 5,122 laps. Harvick, meanwhile, had 83 top-5s, 165 top-10s, and 3,628 laps led.

In short, the championship that Blaney secured in 2023 is what separates the two after their first 378 starts. But what needs to be noted is that Harvick’s career caught on fire only after these starts. By the end of his run in 2023, he had won a championship (2014) and secured 60 incredible wins. These wins included a Daytona 500, three Brickyard 400s, and two Coca-Cola 600s.

Currently 31 years old, Blaney still has a long runway ahead of him. If he is able to build on the strong form he has acquired in recent years, he might very well be able to match Harvick’s total number of wins by the time retirement comes calling. In 2025, he secured four wins at Nashville, Daytona, New Hampshire, and Phoenix. He also led 851 laps in total.

Did Blaney’s Phoenix win deserve more attention?

The season finale delivered one of the most enthralling finishes of the year with Blaney speeding past the checkered flag just inches ahead of RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski. Jeff Gluck broke down the finish on The Teardown and explained its impressiveness.

He said, “You look at the overtime and Brad Keselowski is going to win. And even on the last lap, he is absolutely going to win the race. You look at the overtime and Brad Keselowski is going to win. And even on the last lap, he is absolutely going to win the race. And Blaney just almost comes out of nowhere like the last corner in one of the best finishes of the whole year.”

It is a pity that even the media missed Blaney’s move and instead threw all the light on the championship drama.

Post Edited By: The SportsRush Desk
Kevin Harvick Ryan Blaney

About the author

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Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 3000 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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