LOS ANGELES (AP) – Kevin Harvick won’t spend a single day in retirement when his NASCAR driving days are over: Fox said Sunday it has hired Harvick for its broadcast booth next season.
Harvick announced last month that he will retire from NASCAR competition at the end of the 2023 season.
He will then move to Fox, which has regularly used Harvick as a guest analyst since 2015. He is scheduled to call four Xfinity Series races this year and three Truck Series races this year for FS1, and next season he will join Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer for Fox’s full portion of the Cup schedule.
“I knew it was something I wanted to do because it gives you such a unique position to be able to talk about the sport and be able to use your knowledge and relationships to be able to give fans and people a great perspective,” Harvick said. for the Associated Press.
“This has really been a conversation that’s been going on for several years, it’s just that the timing has never been right. Now it’s all settled and it’s a great time to be able to change and have a voice in the sport and be a part of NASCAR racing on a weekly basis and talk about the things I love.”
Harvick was the centerpiece of Fox’s “Drivers Only” shows that began in 2015. The network began using a combination of active drivers and crew chiefs to call lower-level races, and Harvick, who has called more than 25 races for the network, was a natural fit from from the very beginning.
He’s so stable in the booth that many predicted Harvick would develop into a play-by-play announcer and lead the broadcast team. Harvick, entering his 23rd Cup season, is the 2014 Cup champion and is tied for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list with 60 career victories.
Harvick has 13 straight playoff appearances.
“Credibility is off the charts. His longevity in NASCAR will only help him explain the evolution of the sport to viewers,” said Fox Sports Executive Producer Brad Zager. “For him, that next step in the booth is something that’s almost been a fait accompli since he first stepped into the booth with us.”
Zager said the network had to do very little to prepare Harvick for the booth.
“We never want to try to convince somebody that they should be a broadcaster, and with Harvick we didn’t have to,” Zager said. “He’s someone who already has a passion for it. We’re very excited about everything he brings, and we think he’ll be the perfect third man for Clint and Mike with his style, his personality and his credibility.”
Fox has primarily been a two-man booth since Jeff Gordon stepped down at the end of the 2021 season. The network used guests in place of Gordon, but was content to wait for the right person to fill the role full-time.
It will be Harvick’s third different job with Bowyer.
The two were teammates at Richard Childress Racing early in their careers, reunited at Stewart-Haas Racing and will be side-by-side as Fox analysts in 2024.
“Obviously we have completely different approaches in the things we do and say, and I think that’s fun,” Harvick said. “Clint and I have become good friends over the years and we have a good relationship, but we’ve never been able to have a relationship outside of the car that wasn’t competitive.”
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AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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