Even so, a victory in the 2023 season finale at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday did not appear out of the realm of possibility.
Harvick was fastest in the first round of qualifying on Saturday and eventually qualified third for the race and he remained competitive throughout the 312-lap event, dueling with the four drivers contending for the series title.
The fans in the grandstands almost stood and cheered in unison when Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford swept past championship contender William Byron on lap 93 to take the lead for the first time.
He remained out front until a caution for Christopher Bell’s wreck sent everyone down pit road tires and fuel. He led briefly for four laps after the restart but would never challenge for the top spot again.
Harvick eventually finished seventh, which extended his streak of consecutive top-10 finishes to a remarkable 21 races.
“It’s kind of a relief, to be honest with you,” Harvick said of his final start. “There was just so much going on before the race and this week, but it was pretty cool to lead some laps there in the last race.
“I’m just proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, everybody that works on this car and has worked on this car for a long time. I’ve just got to thank all the fans and NASCAR and my family and everybody for all of their support.
“It’s been a great ride, and I can’t complain.”
Harvick, 47, was thrust into his Cup career in 2001 with the death of Dale Earnhardt in a last-lap crash in the Daytona 500 and took over driving Earnhardt’s rebranded team at Richard Childress Racing the following week.
Three races later, he captured his first series win after a side-by-side, photo finish battle with Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon at Atlanta and his place in NASCAR lore was secured.
Unlike many of today’s up-and-coming Cup stars, however, Harvick seemed to excel in the twilight of his career, winning his first Cup title in 2014 at the age of 38 and securing 32 of his 60 Cup wins since then.
Among his 60 wins, Harvick owns victories in the “crown-jewel” races of the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. The only other drivers in NASCAR history to accomplish this feat are Earnhardt, Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
While Harvick went without a win in his final full-time season, he still remained competitive. He was the only SHR driver to advance to the playoffs and was in the hunt for race victories several times throughout the year.
“It really hasn’t been about wins or losses, but you never want to flop around, so to be able to lead laps in the last race kind of tells you how competitive we still are,” he said. “I think with some tweaks and adjustments to some of the things at Stewart-Haas, you could go right back out there and be where you need to be with everything that we have going on.
“I wanted to leave here and be able to look at all you guys, look at the fans, walk in the TV booth and walk into any trailer in that garage, whether it’s a driver, a crew chief, NASCAR, whoever it is, and be able to end on good terms and I think we did that.”
What's next?
Harvick’s career in NASCAR is by no means over.
He will join Fox TV’s NASCAR broadcast team next season, as an analyst in the booth for Cup races and also occasional work in Xfinity and Trucks.
Since the departure of Gordon, who left the booth following the 2021 season, Fox has used a rotation of guests to fill the third spot alongside Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer.
With Harvick, Fox gets a driver with a Hall of Fame-worthy career, who has had no problem speaking his mind on issues in NASCAR, including safety, the necessity to shakeup the Cup schedule and the importance of grassroots racing.
He and wife DeLana also have an 11-year-old son Keelan who has been successfully racing go-karts and Legends cars and a five-year-old daughter Piper, who has tried her hand at some racing as well.
“We’ve got so many things in motion with the next couple of years with plans and what we want to do, so we’re going to go back to work. I do already have calls next week with the folks from Fox and starting to work on end of the year things for what we want to do there,” Harvick said.
“I still think the responsibility is just as big to go up there and try to give the fans as much information as possible and do a good job for Fox and everybody with this sport to tell the best story that we can.”
