48-yo NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick enjoys return to racing in a "fun" outing, finishes 4th at the Bullring

Kevin Harvick made an impressive return to racing, finishing fourth in a Star Nursery Classic Super Late Model race on Friday night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After wheeling his Busch Light Chevrolet to a top-five finish, the 48-year-old spoke to reporters. The 23-year Cup Series veteran was all smiles after the race, as he stated:

"That got fun there at the end. That's a lot of race car. It's been a long time since I've had a real race car. It's fun to be able to spin the back tires when you push the pedal down."

The California native finished behind third-place finisher Jeremy Doss, runner-up Derek Thorn, and winner Kole Raz in the 125-lap event. It was the 60-time Cup Series winner's first race at The Bullring since 1995.

On Saturday, the California native took to his personal X account to talk about the race. The former driver of the #4 Stewart-Haas Racing car thanked his partners for what they do and teased a potential return to the series at some point.

"P4 at the Bullring! Thanks to the [Rackley W.A.R.] guys and all of our great partners for making these races possible. Where to next?"

Harvick retired from full-time Cup Series competition after the 2023 season. He moved on to be a commentator for NASCAR on FOX, where he joined Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer in covering the first half of the Cup Series season. Harvick has also started his own podcast, Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, a show presented by NASCAR on FOX that started this year.

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Kevin Harvick drove Kyle Larson's HMS car during practice for this year's All-Star Race

While he hasn't competed in a Cup Series race since retiring last year, Kevin Harvick took part in a Cup practice session in May of this year to help prepare the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The champion driver was filling in for Kyle Larson, who was in Indianapolis preparing for the Indianapolis 500.

While there was excitement from some race fans in the hope he was coming out of retirement, Harvick silenced those rumors in an episode of the Happy Hour Podcast in the leadup to that race weekend at North Wilkesboro. He said:

"A lot of people don't understand how this sport works and the people who are inside this sport understand that there are a lot of things that people within different teams and organizations do for one another when they're in a jam. So Rick called and said, "Hey, I want you to drive the car(#5)." And I said, let me make a few phone calls. So I had to call my boss here at Fox. I had to call my wife."

Harvick ran practice laps in the #5 machine before Larson took over for the race that weekend. The latter finished fourth in the 200-lap exhibition event.