DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Kevin Harvick says he’s signed with Stewart-Haas Racing through 2023, confirming it to reporters Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
Harvick, 44, has been with Stewart-Haas Racing since 2014. He won a Cup title in his first season with the team. Harvick has scored 26 of his 49 career Cup wins with Stewart-Haas Racing. He has advanced to the championship race in five of the six years of the format.
Harvick’s contract was through 2021 and he was adamant last March that he would continue racing when questions were raised about him going to the Fox Sports booth with Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon.
Harvick is cutting his duties with TV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this season to focus on family and racing.
“The TV and radio stuff is definitely something that I’m extremely interested in, but I talked with some of my friends over the offseason just about where I was at with things and everybody told me the same thing, if you’re not done with that competitive side of it, just keep chasing that side,” Harvick told reporters Saturday. “I’ve got everything around me that I need to be competitive so I’m just going to continue doing that.”
Harvick also cited the time with the radio and TV work beyond on-air work.
“There’s a number of things that went into those decisions,” Harvick said. “I think the first and foremost, Wednesdays (for his SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show) just don’t work very well for me with (son) Keelan with picking him up from school and going to events. He didn’t really like it. It frees up another day for me. That was a piece of the equation for me. The other piece was in order to do that stuff right, it’s not just the show, it’s the production meetings and the time and you have things coming up from a development standpoint that are going to take a lot of time at the end of the year to get prepared for 2021 from a testing standpoint. For me, I’m intrigued by that and that will keep me in the car for a few more years as we go through 2023 and see where we’re at.
“That timing works well for me from a media standpoint just because of the fact you have the TV contract coming up (in 2024). I think at that particular point you’ll have a fair amount of experience in the new car. You will have hopefully been through the engine change, the vehicle change. There were a number of things that go along with that. I really like racing with the group of guys and the organization that I’m at.”
Brett Frood, president of Stewart-Haas Racing, said in a statement: “Kevin Harvick is a world-class wheelman, leader and steward of the sport. We are very fortunate to have him as an integral part of Stewart-Haas Racing. While we don’t comment on the status of our contracts, we do look forward to working with Kevin and chasing championships into the future.”