Kevin Harvick Driver Bio

In 2014, Kevin Harvick reached the pinnacle of his racing career by capturing his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. In his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, Harvick persevered through the revamped playoff format. He won the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway – beating the three other drivers in The Championship 4: Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.

Harvick notched five wins in 2014, three of them coming during the post-season at Charlotte, Phoenix and then in South Florida. He totaled 20 top 10s in his 36 starts, with regular-season victories coming in the spring stop at ISM (Phoenix) Raceway and in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Harvick entered the post-season as the No. 6 seed.

He began racing go-karts at age five, capturing seven national titles and two Grand National championships at that level before moving on to Late Models. He won the 1993 track championship at Mesa Marin Raceway and was crowned Rookie of the Year in the Featherlite Southwest Series in 1995.

Harvick then captured the 1998 NASCAR Winston West championship, and also spent a couple winless seasons in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Harvick was part of the three-rookie onslaught that stormed the top-10 in the Xfinity Series in 2000, but the Bakersfield, Calif. driver’s impact was the most dramatic. Harvick enjoyed one of the best rookie seasons in Xfinity Series history, posting three wins and earning rookie-of-the-year honors while finishing third in the standings.

He garnered worldwide attention when he was named to drive the No. 29 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing following the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 season opening Daytona 500.

Harvick was named to drive the car beginning with the second race of the season at Rockingham and he continued his quest for the Xfinity Series championship at the same time. Harvick proved he was special, by winning in only his third Cup start, and he put the exclamation point to that statement with the Xfinity Series title in only his second season.

Harvick also won the 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Award and finished ninth in the point standings after winning another race, the Chicagoland Speedway inaugural, and posting six top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. He had only one DNF in 35 starts.

The 2002 season did not bring Harvick the same amount of accolades. He finished 21st in the standings. A win at Chicagoland was one of eight top-10 finishes, but six DNFs, including two in the first four races of the season, eliminated him from contention.

He did, however, win his first Truck Series race in Phoenix in November, where he started third.

Harvick finished fifth in Cup series points in 2003. His season was highlighted by being the first driver to win the pole and the race in the 10th anniversary of the Brickyard 400. He also helped Richard Childress win the NASCAR Xfinity Series owners’ championship in 2003.

2004 was a rough year for Harvick. It marked the first year he went winless in the Cup Series to that point and he finished 14th in the standings. He posted 14 top 10s that year and five top fives.

He was able to bounce back a little in 2005, although he didn’t finish any better in the final standings. That year, Harvick scored his first NASCAR sweep at Bristol Motor Speedway, in April 2005, winning the Xfinity Series race and the Cup Series race on the same weekend. That marked his only Cup win that season.

In 2006, Harvick won his second Xfinity Series championship by a record margin of 824 points on the strength of nine wins, one pole, 23 top-five and 32 top-10 finishes in his first full-time season in the series since 2001. At the same time Harvick made the Cup series post-season for the first time in his career. Harvick finished fourth in the standings after posting his best Cup season to date with five victories, 15 top fives and 20 top 10s.

Harvick’s only win of the 2007 NASCAR Cup season came when he persevered to the very end and slipped by Mark Martin to win his first Daytona 500. Harvick finished the 2007 season in 10th place, gaining four top-fives, and 15 top-10s in addition to his dramatic victory at Daytona in February. He also won the All-Star race, which was his first ever non-points victory.

Harvick finished his 2007 Xfinity Series season fourth in final standings running a partial season. In the Truck Series, Harvick and his wife Delana won their first championship as owners with driver Ron Hornaday Jr.

Harvick made the playoffs for a third consecutive year in 2008 but continued a winless streak that had lasted since the previous year’s season opener. His solid season that resulted in him finishing fourth in the points for the second time in his career saw him post seven top fives and 19 top 10s.

He also went winless in 22 starts in the Xfinity Series. But, Harvick was able to get a taste of Victory Lane when he won the Phoenix Truck Series race driving his own truck. It marked his first victory in that series since 2003.

Harvick’s 2009 season appeared to start well as he won the Budweiser Shootout and finished fourth a few weeks later at Atlanta, but that ended up being his last top five for the next 21 races. He ended up posting his second-worst finish in points in 2009 (19th) after failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and failing to win a race for the second straight season.

Harvick bounced back well in 2010, leading the point standings for much of the regular season.

Harvick scored three wins, 16 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes in a season that saw him dominate the 26-race regular season and head into the post-season trying to give Childress his first Cup title since 1994.

He ultimately came up short, ending up 41 points behind champ Jimmie Johnson but not before giving a valiant effort that went all the way to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2011, four wins during the regular season gave Harvick the No. 2 seed in the playoffs – behind only Kyle Busch.

Harvick had six top 10s during the post-season title series. But a 32nd-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway sealed his fate and he ended the year third in the playoffs … behind champion Tony Stewart and runner-up Carl Edwards.

Harvick finished with 19 top 10s in 36 starts. The wins came at Auto Club Speedway and Martinsville Speedway on consecutive weekends, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600 and in the regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway in September.

In 2012, Harvick once again qualified for the post-season – as the No. 9 seed. His lone victory came in the next-to-last race of the year, at Phoenix. Harvick finished eighth in points, 79 behind champion Brad Keselowski, with 14 top 10s in 36 starts.

Harvick also started 13 Xfinity Series races, winning at Richmond and Texas. And in three Truck Series starts, he had one victory – at Martinsville Speedway in March.

Harvick made his final season with Richard Childress Racing a memorable one in 2013, winning four races and finishing third in points – only trailing six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth. The wins came at Richmond, Charlotte, Kansas and Phoenix.

Harvick also started 11 Xfinity Series races, winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. And he drove in both Truck Series events at Martinsville Speedway, posting finishes of 25th and 30th.

Harvick moved to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 where he was a teammate to Kurt Busch, Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart. In addition to his Cup Series championship, Harvick also made 15 starts in the 2014 Xfinity Series and won at Richmond, Kentucky, Atlanta and Chicagoland Speedway.

In 2015, Harvick narrowly missed back-to-back championships, finishing second to Kyle Busch. He returned to post-season competition in 2016 as the No. 4 seed but was eliminated from title contention in the semifinal round following a fourth-place finish at Phoenix. Harvick ended the year eighth in the standings.

In 2017, Harvick was victorious in June at Sonoma Raceway – helping him secure the No. 6 seed in the playoffs. He added a post-season victory in Texas and qualified for The Championship 4 before ending his year with a fourth-place finish in Miami.

The 2018 season saw Harvick tie Kyle Busch for the Cup Series lead in wins (8). He led all drivers in top fives (23), top 10s (29) and laps led (1,990), but finished third in the final standings.

Harvick finished the 2019 Cup Series season with 26 top 10s, marking his fifth consecutive season with at least 25 plus top 10s. He also wrapped up the season third in the points standings for the third consecutive year.