Kevin Harvick hung up his helmet in 2023 and transitioned seamlessly into the broadcast booth with Fox Sports. Although his final season didn’t yield a victory, his resume speaks volumes. From winning the 2014 Cup Series title to securing the Busch Series championships in 2001 and 2006, Harvick checked every box on a NASCAR driver’s bucket list.
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He claimed all four crown jewels of stock car racing, including the 2007 Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 in 2003, 2019, and 2020, the Coca-Cola 600 in 2011 and 2013, and the Southern 500 in 2014 and 2020. With that kind of hardware in his trophy case, it’s no wonder he recently declared zero regrets about the timing of his retirement.
Previously, the average retirement age for NASCAR drivers hovered between 47 and 50. Today, veterans like Martin Truex Jr. are calling it quits at closer to 43. Reflecting on this shift during an interview with Autoweek, Harvick opened up about life after racing and why the timing couldn’t have been better.
He said, “It was the perfect time for me. The way everything worked out in the Fox booth, I think the timing of it would have been a couple of years sooner if COVID hadn’t happened.
“But I got a couple more years in the car, then when this opportunity with Fox came, I was at the end of my contract. The most important thing was that I fulfilled the end of my contract with Stewart-Haas so I wouldn’t put them in a bad spot.”
Although Harvick once admitted he missed the thrill of Cup racing following his retirement, he has since found joy behind the wheel in a different capacity. These days, he occasionally straps in just for fun, something he hadn’t done since his youth. Without the weight of performance metrics and pressure to deliver, he has rediscovered the pure joy of driving. And that is worlds apart from the grind of competition.
Beyond the track, Harvick wears many hats. He’s a hands-on father supporting his son Keelan’s budding racing dreams, an analyst in the Fox booth, and the host of his podcast Happy Hour. But interestingly, he was initially hesitant about podcasting as he feared it might be more work than it was worth.
Now, Harvick has embraced the format. It has struck a chord with fans too, and Harvick has come to see it as a key part of his weekly rhythm. In fact, the podcast has become his early-week prep session. By the time Tuesday’s production meetings roll around, he’s already got his finger on the pulse of the past weekend and an eye on what’s ahead.
Fans, meanwhile, appreciate the long-form format. While the live booth often moves at breakneck speed, Happy Hour tends to offer a chance to slow things down, unpack climactic moments, and chew over the storylines that matter.
