Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for NASCAR on Fox.

[4] During the racing offseason, he competed on the North High School wrestling team, qualifying for a CIF Central Section title in his weight class his senior year.

[1] Harvick made his Craftsman Truck Series debut in 1995 at the Mesa Marin Raceway, in his hometown of Bakersfield, where he started and finished 27th in his family-owned No.

On March 11, 2001, in the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, only three weeks after Earnhardt's death, Harvick won his first career Winston Cup race in just his third start by narrowly edging Jeff Gordon.

After the win, he paid tribute to Earnhardt, driving on the track backward with three fingers held aloft outside the driver's window as a show of honor and respect.

Harvick began the 2002 season making his first Daytona 500 start on the outside pole next to Jimmie Johnson, but his day ended after triggering an 18-car crash on lap 148 while running second to Jeff Gordon, relegating him to a 36th-place finish.

On lap 323, Harvick radioed to his crew that his right arm had fallen asleep on him and had gone numb which made it difficult for him to operate his race car properly and needed a backup driver.

Harvick opened the 2007 Sprint Cup series with a dramatic final lap pass in the Daytona 500, beating Mark Martin by .020 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish, the closest margin at the 500 since electronic scoring started in 1993.

He also ended up unexpectedly winning the inaugural race at Montreal in August, the NAPA Auto Parts 200, after with two laps to go, leader Robby Gordon was black-flagged for intentionally causing a crash involving rookie Marcos Ambrose.

The win was considered a bit of an upset as many expected the road course ringers to dominate and Harvick had started 43rd in the race due to a driver change.

In his statement announcing the closure, Harvick said that the difference in costs of similar bodies between Nationwide and Cup Series cars made it mathematically impossible for a non-Cup-affiliated team to operate effectively.

Harvick also admitted that his original goal in forming KHI was to achieve the success in the Truck Series that he wasn't able to get before driving in Winston Cup, and it blossomed into a venture to build drivers' careers.

At Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick got a second-place finish but started controversy after instigating a fight between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski on pit road immediately following the race.

In the first race of the Chase at Chicagoland, Harvick finished 42nd after getting a flat tire and spinning into the wall due to contact with Jimmie Johnson a few laps earlier on a restart.

The following week at Dover International Speedway, Harvick dominated a majority of the race to earn the third win of the season, leading 351 of 400 laps in the process.

Due to the caution being displayed quickly after the leaders crossed the line, the race was considered official, and Joey Logano was declared the winner.

Trevor Bayne, who was hit in the quarter panel by Harvick which triggered the wreck, accused him of intentionally spinning him out to secure a spot in the next round.

In the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland, Harvick would start at the rear of the field due to unapproved body modifications but quickly moved back up to the front within 30 laps.

He would be put a lap down due to an untimely caution while Harvick was on pit road because he did not beat the leader, Martin Truex Jr., to the start-finish line.

With the retirements of Dale Jr. and Matt Kenseth, Harvick and his long-time rival Jimmie Johnson became the oldest full-time drivers in the Cup Series.

Harvick would start the 2018 season with a DNF at the Daytona 500, after being involved in a crash just halfway through the race finishing 31st, but would earn dominant back-to-back wins at Atlanta (his first since 2001) and Las Vegas.

Coming to California, four consecutive would not work for Harvick, as he was involved in a wreck with Kyle Larson early in the race, and would finish 35th place, nine laps down.

The following week at Kansas, he was again dominant, scoring the pole, finishing second in both stages, and taking the lead with two laps to go to win his fifth race of the season.

Further victories came during the summer in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta (where he celebrated in a similar manner to his 2001 victory there),[38] the Pocono Organics 325 at Pocono (his first win at the track),[39] the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis (after fellow championship contender Denny Hamlin blew a tire late),[40] and a sweep of the Michigan doubleheader (becoming the first driver to win Cup races on back-to-back days since Richard Petty in 1971).

[59] At Talladega, Harvick finished second to Ryan Blaney, but was later disqualified after post-race inspection discovered a violation involving the car's windshield fasteners.

Harvick defeated tour regulars; Glen Luce and Joey Polewarczyk Jr to become the first active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver to win the 250.

On January 9, 2023, a consortium consisting of Kevin Harvick Incorporated, DEJ Management, Jeff Burton Autosports, Inc., and Trackhouse Racing Team purchased the CARS Tour.

[63][64] On January 25, 2015, it was reported that Harvick, along with Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, and Danica Patrick,[65] would serve as a rotating analyst for Xfinity Series races with NASCAR on Fox.

[1] They had met the previous year at Michigan International Speedway where at the time she was working in public relations for fellow driver Randy LaJoie.

In 2004, game show Family Feud hosted a NASCAR special involving Harvick, with help from fellow Californian and then-host Richard Karn.