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Kevin Harvick says he’s not planning to retire any time soon

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series TicketGuardian 500 - Practice

AVONDALE, AZ - MARCH 09: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway on March 9, 2019 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Kevin Harvick says he has contracts through the 2021 season and does not plan to quit racing before then.

There had been some questions about Harvick’s future with a report from the Sports Business Journal that Fox Sports analyst Darrell Waltrip may decide to retire after this season. Harvick has been used on numerous Fox Xfinity Series race broadcasts as an analyst.

Harvick, who is 43 years, old, was adamant he will keep racing.

“I’m not getting out of the race car,” he said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. “I feel really comfortable with where I’m at … in the race car, where my home life is. I feel fairly confident that being a part of TV side of things is something I want to do in the future but it’s not going to happen in the next couple of years, I can tell you that.”

“We have a lot of things that are going really well, the race car is one of them. There’s no way that happens. I have contacts and things that are already in place that are through 2021.”

Harvick also said there’s no reason for him to exit the car. He’s coming off a season where he won a career-high eight Cup races. He’s finished in the top three in points in five of the past six years, including his championship season of 2014. Harvick, a future Hall of Famer, has 45 career Cup wins, which ranks 17th on the all-time victory list.

“The more you talk to people who retired and did things it’s always like, ‘Man, I wish I would have just stayed in the competitive situation I was in and not tried to do something different or quit too soon,’ “ Harvick said.

Harvick also hinted he could be racing for a while

“You hear a lot of talk about the schedule getting shorter,” Harvick said of future Cup schedules possibly being cut from the 36-race lineup now. “As you look at things, that makes life easier to manipulate. If things get shorter, I feel good in a race car and I just don’t understand why a lot of people think you should get out.

“There’s so much to do with being competitive in this sport, there’s so much to do with experience. If it’s going good, why wouldn’t you want to keep going? There’s too many things that I still enjoy about it.”