2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion and nine-time Texas Motor Speedway winner Kevin Harvick (right) poses with his Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame podium along with Speedway Motorsports President & CEO Marcus Smith (center) and Texas Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Mark Faber during Friday’s induction luncheon at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo credit: Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway.

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

FORT WORTH _ Kevin Harvick’s NASCAR career at Texas Motor Speedway has seen him walk the garage area in the ever-evolving roles of mechanic, race-winning driver, team-owner and TV analyst.

Kevin Harvick listens to Mark Faber, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Texas Motor Speedway while he reads a proclamation from Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker renaming Fort Worth to Fort Würth on May 4 . Photo by Mike Haag/Raceday San Antonio

Indeed, evolution has been a hallmark of the native Californian dubbed “Happy,” who humbly added the title of Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee Friday during a Speedway Children’s Charities luncheon presented by Würth in The Speedway Club Ballroom. The ceremony featured the unveiling of Harvick’s Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame podium destined for the Speedway Club circle.

Harvick is the 24^th driver from various series and innovative motorsports leaders inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame since its inception in 2003.

Harvick recorded nine victories across 63 NASCAR touring series starts at “The Great American Speedway,” highlighted by a run of three in a row during the fall NASCAR Cup Series from 2017-19. Harvick also posted five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins (2001 spring race, fall race in 2005, ‘06, ‘07 and ‘12) and one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2011 fall race).

“Anytime that you can go to the racetrack to be honored for something you did there to be successful is always a lot of fun,” said Harvick, who retired from the cockpit after the 2023 Cup season. “This racetrack has just been high on the success list for our teams. And above and beyond all that, the Smith family, all that they’ve done for racing and my career. Marcus (Smith, Speedway Motorsports president/CEO) and I are great friends, so to be able to have this honor is quite special.”

Kevin Harvick became the 24th person to be inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame during a ceremony and lunch Friday at The Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo by Mike Haag/Raceday San Antonio

Harvick’s 23-year Cup career included successful tenures in Chevrolets fielded by Richard Childress Racing and Fords fielded by Stewart-Hass Racing, including those three Cup victories on TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval.

“It’s just fast. I mean, this is a racetrack that is just full-commitment,” said Harvick, a 49-year-old native of Bakersfield, Calif. “They have knocked the banking down some in Turns 1 and 2 (from 24 to 20 degrees), but it’s still super-fast and more technical than it used to be. This was always a place how much commitment you have, how much throttle you could hold down as a driver, so I always enjoyed that side of things.

“I knew where our ‘good tracks’ were but I never really paid attention to how many times you won at a racetrack. We didn’t win as many Cup races here as we should have but we definitely won our fair share _ probably more than we should have _ on the Xfinity side. So it’s always great to be able to bring those thoughts and memories back up.

“As a driver you would go to these places and you knew going in that this is a weekend you need to capitalize on, and we were able to do that in Texas several times. Took a long time to get to Victory Lane on the Cup side, but in the end it was a good run all the way through the years _ and a few years in a row, too.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Mobil 1 Ford, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 14, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Harvick shared a number of anecdotes about his experiences at “No Limits, Texas” including his initial visit to the facility during its inaugural year of 1997 while working for the Spears Motorsports NCTS team.

“Let me tell you about my first time I came to Texas Motor Speedway,” Harvick said. “I was working on the Spears truck, so my first laps at the speedway were in a (rental) Chevy Astro van _ and I could beat (three-time truck series champion) Jack Sprague. He would beat me really bad down the straightaway, but his Cadillac would bounce the right front tires so much in the corner it would go all the way to the wall, and he’d have to let-off, and my Astro van would make it wide-open around the track. I don’t know if the insurance was approved for that, but we sure took liberty to do whatever we wanted at the time.”

Harvick’s 29-race Cup winless streak eventually became fodder for some friendly media center ribbing courtesy of Eddie Gossage, TMS’ first executive vice president/GM and promoter extraordinaire. That chatter ended when Harvick won the 2017 fall Cup race in an SHR Ford.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer/Ducks Unlimited Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 03, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

“I think he’d be really proud,” Harvick said of Gossage, who died at age 65 on May 16, 2024, after a recurring battle with cancer. “Eddie and I always had a great relationship through the years. I’ve done everything from Fandango to serve Slurpees on the back straightaway. There was always something going on. I got that (promotional) phone call a lot. To be able to participate in those things, I always wanted to because this is a massive market. When you look at things that happen in this part of the country and Texas in general, this is a place we need to be.

“So, it was an important event all the way through my racing career to have success here and entertain a lot of sponsors. I was always happy to be a part of that, because I guess Eddie thought I was somewhat ‘entertaining.’^”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, greets a crew member prior to the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Harvick’s 39 career Cup starts here saw him post 25 top-10 finishes, with 13 of those among the top-five, and a pair of poles.

Currently a television analyst for NASCAR on FOX broadcasts, Harvick concluded his full-time racing career with 121 victories across NASCAR’s three national series. His 60 wins in the NCS ranks 10^th on the all-time list, and he added 47 in the Xfinity Series and another 14 the Truck Series.

Harvick, who shares the FOX broadcast booth alongside Mike Joy and former Cup regular Clint Bowyer, said his current career gig is a no-pressure situation. “That’s the great part,” said Harvick, who was thrust into the national spotlight as the driver who replaced seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt after his fatal crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Budweiser Ford, waits on the grid prior to the NASCAR Cup Series 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 22, 2023 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

NASCAR Nation was still mourning “The Intimidator” on March 11, 2001, when Harvick drove the No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo to an emotional victory in the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a sister Speedway Motorsports facility to TMS. Harvick scored his first career Cup victory in just his third series start, edging then three-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports by six one-thousandths-of-a-second (0.006). Harvick capped the 2001 season by earning NCS Rookie of the Year honors.

“I’ve always told people on the driving side,” Harvick said, “really, the highest amount of pressure and the biggest press conference and the biggest event and biggest win _ that all really came within about three weeks for me in my (Cup) career. Everything after those first three weeks of my career, the press conference was never as big, the wins were never more talked about. And so everything always happened backwards in my career.

NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick speaks with the media during the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day at Charlotte Convention Center on September 01, 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

“The TV piece of it, there really is no pressure. I mean, you always learn, there’s always something different, there’s always something changing. But to be able to understand the last aspect of racing was to sit up there in that booth every week; the rest of it I’ve already done and already been a part of and understand and still function in on a weekly basis. To me, that helps with the booth because we’re so ingrained in the sport to keep up with the evolution of it even though I’m not in the car.

“That racing evolution you live and die by as a competitor still gets you somewhat involved, and to me, that makes the booth a lot easier when you’re in that evolution on a daily basis.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Apple #BuschelOfBusch Ford, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 07, 2022 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

Harvick’s list of major achievements include his 2014 Cup championship; 2007 Daytona 500 winner; three-time Brickyard 400 winner (2003, ‘19 and ‘20); two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner (2011, ‘13); two-time Southern 500 winner (2014, ‘20); 2007 NASCAR All-Star Race winner and two-time NXS champion (2001, ‘06). Harvick also recorded 31 NCS poles driving for Richard Childress Racing (2001-2013) and Stewart-Haas Racing (2014-2023).

“I think for me as a fan watching (you) race your whole career, racing here at Texas, the thing I think a lot of fans love about you and the way you race is that you were there to take care of business and such an amazing competitor,” Smith said during an on-stage chat with Harvick. “You have an amazing perspective on that now as a guy who gets to be in the TV booth and take it all in and see all the cars, not just the car out the front windshield or what’s in the mirror, and it’s really been cool to see that. But I always loved watching you race, you’d come here, and that car was so fast.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Mobil 1 Ford, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 27, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Harvick said he never envisioned his racing career taking him through so many life-altering changes _ so much personal evolution. “Not at all. Look, when I started I was just happy to drive,” Harvick said. “To be able to go through that whole cycle from mechanic to driver to owner to Cup driver, whatever, we’ve been down every path from the NASCAR side. To be able to experience that is something I’ve been pretty fortunate to be a part of, and fortunate to be successful at all of ‘em. So, that is something I never would have thought about.

“To come back and enjoy stuff like this and also enjoy the event, see the magnitude of the event, talk to the people and just have a more relaxed perspective, that has been a lot of fun for me.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light For The Farmers Ford, takes the checkered flag to celebrate winning the NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 07, 2020 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The TMS Luncheon presented by WÜRTH featured a candid “Fireside Chat” with Harvick hosted by PRN personality Brad Gillie, a panel discussion regarding the impact of motorsports on the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and lunch prepared by Levy Restaurants. Mike Doocy, weeknight sports anchor at FOX 4 in Dallas, was master of ceremonies.

Founded by NASCAR Hall of Famer O. Bruton Smith in 1982, Speedway Children’s Charities is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization providing funding for hundreds of organizations that meet the direct needs of children. Speedway Children’s Charities has distributed more than $72.6-million in grants.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer/National Forest Foundation Ford, celebrates winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 21, 2019 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Since 1997, the Speedway Children’s Charities chapter at Texas Motor Speedway has distributed more than $12.3-million in funding to non-profits in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties. Distributed funds are raised via special events held throughout the year including the annual NASCAR tripleheader weekend, Tony Stewart’s “Smoke Show,” Celebrity Clay Shoot, Geared for Greatness, Laps for Charity and others.

The Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame induction served as leadoff event of the May 2-4 WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY NASCAR tripleheader. Racing began with the NCTS SpeedyCash.com 250 on Friday at 7 p.m. The NXS Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 is booked for Saturday, May 3, at 1 p.m. and the weekend will conclude with the NCS WÜRTH 400 on Sunday, May 4, beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Event tickets and camping passes for the 2025 WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY NASCAR tripleheader weekend are on sale. Click HERE for more information and to buy tickets.

TEXAS MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

2003 _ A.J. Foyt Jr., Johnny Rutherford

2004 _ Terry Labonte, Lee Shepherd

2005 _ Kenny Bernstein, Jim Hall

2006 _ Eddie Hill

2007 _ Mark Martin, Jim McElreath

2008 _ Bobby Labonte, Bruton Smith

2009 _ Joe Gibbs

2010 _ John Force

2011 _ Lanny Edwards

2012 _ Jack Roush

2013 _Roger Penske

2014 _ Rick Hendrick

2015 _ Jeff Burton

2016 _ Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2017 _ Carl Edwards, Helio Castroneves

2018 _ Tony Stewart

2024 _ Doug Rice

2025 _ Kevin Harvick