Q. Kevin Harvick, an absolutely outstanding Cup Series and NASCAR Series career. There were tears shed. Sum up what this day and career has meant to you?
KEVIN HARVICK: It’s been an emotional roller coaster, for sure. I think as you look at this last week, this really means a lot to me just because I love driving the race car, I love being around the people more. I love our sport. It’s given our family so much through the years to be thankful for and proud of.
I can’t wait to be able to walk in that tunnel with my head up and look around, just look at all the really cool things that are NASCAR racing in every venue that we go to with great fans and people all over the place.
I think for me, you walk into that tunnel laser focused on how do you make your car go faster and communicate with your team the best you can. Sometimes you don’t see everything around you.
I opened this chapter unexpectedly in 2001, and closed it in 2023 how we wanted to. That was to be competitive. The thing that means the most is having the respect of the drivers and competitors and the crew chiefs, my team, organization, all the past people that I worked for or worked with.
There’s been so many great stories and things that have happened over this year but especially this week.
Q. As you talk about the competitors, the fan aspect, you’re not leaving the sport, you’re moving to the TV booth, but what do you hope people remember you by as a racer?
KEVIN HARVICK: I think for me, we gave it all we had, right? Every lap, every week in some way, shape or form we touched every aspect of this race car. I care about how everything looks, whether it’s the color of the car, the stickers. I sit in the sponsorship meetings, marketing meetings, the team meetings, and there’s just not any piece of it that I don’t feel like we are a part of in some way, shape or form.
We built a team here at Stewart-Haas Racing. We built so many things from the bottom up. I think the hard work is something that people recognize. As you guys have seen through the week, I’m a pretty emotional person. I have just done a really good job of hiding that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
