NASCAR's Kevin Harvick Announces His Retirement With A Toast

In 2020, it was announced that Kevin Harvick signed a contract extension that would keep him behind the wheel until 2023. "I really like racing with the group of guys in the organization where I'm at, and I worked my whole career, and feel like I got here with a group of guys and people that I want to have had success with," he told NASCAR, mentioning that racing for a little while longer "just made sense." He also hinted that the idea of future work in television and radio sparked his interest, but at the time, he was focusing on being competitive for a few more years.

The NASCAR driver detailed the decision to extend his contract on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s "The Dale Dr. Download" podcast. He stated that he was originally planning to retire in 2021. "We started having conversations about what we were going to do next," he said. "And that led to two more years [of racing] in '22 and '23." He also mentioned that his competitive drive motivated him to keep going.

And in December 2022, Harvick still wasn't sure about retirement. "It could go either way at this particular point," he told Racing News, adding that there were a lot of people who needed to know his plans before the news got to the public. "Going into Daytona [in February 2023], I'll know what I'm going to do," he added. And it looks like Harvick has made that decision.

On January 10, a photo of Kevin Harvick surfaced, alluding to a possible retirement. Sports journalist Matthew Breault tweeted that the original poster — who uploaded the photo to Reddit — spotted a patch that said "4EVER" on his racing suit. Because of that patch, fans were thinking that the 2022-2023 racing season would be Harvick's last.

It seems that those rumors were true. On January 12, Harvick took to Twitter to officially announce his retirement. "Come November when the checkered flag drops on the season finale in Phoenix, it will also be my final race as a NASCAR cup series driver," he said in the video. "It's time to call time ... a new chapter is calling. One where being a dad and a husband takes precedence over being a driver." The driver then opened a beer can, toasting to his final season. 

Harvick has been outspoken about family life outside of racing. He spoke to Youth Inc. about the dangers of getting into the sport at an early age, warning listeners about the financial aspect of it. "I tell other parents all the time, you have to be able to do what you can do within your means to not destroy your family," he said. He mentioned that parents will sometimes want to spend as much money as possible so their child can be the best race car driver. "That's just not the case for everybody," he added.