With less than a week left for the Daytona 500, Kevin Harvick believes he will not be affected by the fabled high banks of the Speedway. NASCAR teams will be back on track this Tuesday as Speedweek starts for the Daytona 500. The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opener will be green-flagged on February 20.
Harvick's belief stems from his team Stewart-Haas Racing missing out on the most recent two-day test at Daytona International Speedway. His teammate Cole Custer, however, participated in an earlier session that was held last year in September.
Speaking to Motorsports.com about superspeedway testing, the 46-year-old said:
“The feedback was that the cars were very comfortable to drive, very stable.”
Speaking about the Next Gen car, Harvick went on to add, saying:
“It sounds like there may be some tandem racing that comes back into play. And, reading the reports, it sounds like the cars are still very affected by the side draft and that they push well, so it sounds like the speedway racing will be affected the least amount by the new car. It’s everything else that’s going to be drastically different.”
Kevin Harvick hopes to win NASCAR Cup Series
Age is just a number for Kevin Harvick as he will compete for his 22nd full-time season in the Cup Series. The car #4 driver competed in all 36 races of last year's Cup Series. He achieved 10 top-fives and 24 top-tens and led 217 laps, with an average starting position of 9.7 and an average finishing position of 10.9. He was, unfortunately, eliminated before the Round of 8 and finished fifth in the final Cup Series standings.
Harvick is now looking to return to victory lane after going without a win for the first time since 2009.
Meanwhile, Rodney Childers continues as chief of staff, with Harvick signing until 2023 with the Stewart-Haas Racing team. The duo of Harvick and Childers are the longest active driver-crew chiefs in the NASCAR garage. Concurrently, sponsors like Mobil 1, GearWrench and Rheem have committed to major sponsorships with the team so far.
Also Checkout : Nascar Daytona 500 Results