Month: February 2023

Post Race Report – Fontana

Date:  Feb. 26, 2023

Event:  Pala Casino 400 (Round 2 of 36)

Series:  NASCAR Cup Series

Location:  Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California (2-mile oval)

Format:  200 laps, broken into three stages (65 laps/65 laps/70 laps)

Race Winner:  Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing

Stage 1 Winner:  Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing

Stage 2 Winner:  Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing

SHR Points:

●  Kevin Harvick (4th with 79 points, 13 out of first)

●  Aric Almirola (25th with 31 points, 61 out of first)

●  Chase Briscoe (33rd with 19 points, 73 out of first)

●  Ryan Preece (34th with 15 points, 77 out of first)

SHR Notes:        

●  The Pala Casino 400 marked Harvick’s 29th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Fontana, the most among all NASCAR drivers, past and present.

●  This was Harvick’s 750th consecutive NASCAR Cup Series start. He is just the third driver in series history to reach the milestone, joining Jeff Gordon (797 consecutive starts) and Ricky Rudd (788 consecutive starts). The last time Harvick was not in a Cup Series race was April 2, 2002 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, a span of 7,623 days between race dates.

●  Harvick earned his first top-five of the season and his eighth top-five at Fontana. This was also Harvick’s 15th top-10 at the 2-mile oval.

●  This was Harvick’s fourth straight top-10 at Fontana. He finished seventh last year, ninth in in 2020 and fourth in 2019. (The NASCAR Cup Series did not race at Fontana in 2021.)

●  Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only two finishes outside the top-15 at Fontana.

●  Harvick finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven more bonus points.

●  Harvick led twice for five laps to increase his laps-led total at Fontana to 243.

●  Harvick has now led 11,492 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,907 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

●  In two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Fontana, Briscoe has never finished outside the top-20. He finished 16th in his first start at the track last year.

●  This was the first time Almirola finished outside the top-12 at Fontana since he joined SHR in 2018.

Race Notes:       

●  Kyle Busch won the Pala Casino 400 to score his 61st career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his fifth at Fontana. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was 2.998 seconds.

●  There were eight caution periods for a total of 38 laps.

●  Only 20 of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  Ross Chastain leaves Fontana as the championship leader by a single point over second-place Joey Logano.

Sound Bites:

“Our GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang was really good on the long runs. I just really struggled on the restarts with the front end. In the end, we had a chance, but I couldn’t put us in the right position on the restarts to guard our track position like we needed to. It was still a great day for our GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang. The guys did a great job on pit road all day and kept us up in the front.”– Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang

“We definitely had high hopes coming in here. This is one of my better racetracks and we just completely struggled all day long from a lot of different issues. That’s not how we wanted to run, obviously. We’ve got a lot of work to do going into next week, but I feel like we can learn from it and move on.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac Ford Mustang

“It’s kind of stupid, to be honest with you, on a professional level and we all wreck on a restart. I don’t know what happened, but just a victim of circumstances. It sucks. I was racing around Aric (Almirola) and we were just trying to be smart and get to the end of the race. Something like that, you’re not expecting everyone to wreck coming to the restart line. It’s unfortunate. That adjustment could’ve gotten us a lot better, and we could’ve kept on making little gains. That was our goal, not to beat ourselves and just be there in the last 50 or 60 (laps). That’s why we stayed out that run – to see what our car would do in clean air and if we needed to work on it, which we did, and I felt like we just kept on making it better and better. It’s really a bad ending for this HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang, and even Aric, so we just have to go to Vegas and be on offense and start digging out of this hole we’re in right now.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.comFord Mustang

“I took off on the restart and went from second to third gear and, all of a sudden, everybody in front of us just stopped. I think the leader was just playing games, trying to prevent the runs coming from behind, and where they stopped in the middle of the restart zone was right about where they should’ve been accelerating. It was just a huge accordion effect. We were back in 16th, so everybody just started stacking up, and you can’t stop on a dime. It’s disappointing to get wrecked out of the race like that on a silly Mickey Mouse restart, but I should’ve known better.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Las Vegas 400 on Sunday, March 5 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

Caymus Vineyards Partners with Stewart-Haas Racing

Family-Owned and Operated Winery Aligns with Driver Aric Almirola and No. 10 Team

FONTANA, Calif. (Feb. 25, 2023) – Caymus Vineyards, one of Napa Valley’s finest wine producers, has partnered with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), the championship-winning NASCAR team.

The family-owned and operated winery debuts with SHR this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, as an associate sponsor on the No. 10 Ford Mustang driven by Aric Almirola in the NASCAR Cup Series. Throughout the 2023 season, Caymus Vineyards will be seen on the B-post of the No. 10 Ford Mustang and on Almirola’s firesuit.

“As we embark on our 10th year of motorsports involvement, Caymus Vineyards is proud to partner with Aric Almirola and Stewart-Haas Racing – a winning driver and a championship organization. SHR has two NASCAR Cup Series championships, so its vision for success and high standards aligns extremely well with our own commitment to producing excellent wine,” said Karen Perry, Executive Vice President, Caymus Vineyards.

“We’re especially pleased that our 10th year in racing will be spent with the No. 10 car, which Aric successfully delivered to victory lane last week at Daytona International Speedway in his Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500. We look forward to connecting with even more NASCAR fans who have been so supportive of Caymus Vineyards over the years.”

Almirola has won races in each of NASCAR’s top-three national touring series – Cup, Xfinity and Truck. This is his 12th fulltime season in the NASCAR Cup Series and he is a two-time winner of the Duel at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2021 and 2023).

“Our annual race weekend in Sonoma is something we always look forward to, and now we have an inside connection to one of Napa’s coolest wineries. I’m not sure who is more excited about it – me or my wife, Janice,” said Almirola, referring to the NASCAR Cup Series’ June 11 stop at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.

“Both of us really enjoy wine. Janice likes Sauvignon Blanc, but I’m more into Cabernets. We already have a selection of Caymus at home, so we’re looking forward to learning more about the family’s diverse offerings and enjoying some wines we haven’t tried before.”

Chuck Wagner and his late parents, Lorna and Charlie Sr., opened Caymus Vineyards in 1972, starting off with 240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Based at its original “home ranch” in Rutherford, California – deep in the heart of Napa Valley Wine Country and just a 45-minute drive north of Sonoma Raceway – Caymus Vineyards remains a hands-on family affair. In addition to their famed Cabernet Sauvignon, Chuck, Charlie and Jenny Wagner make a range of white and red wines, each with a character all its own.

About Caymus Vineyards:
The Wagner Family has a history in Napa Valley dating back to the 1850s. Through the years, they have embraced a hands-on work ethic and are constantly trying out new ideas in pursuit of making exceptional wines. Whether it’s venturing to different regions to find diverse sources of top-quality grapes or experimenting with new farming techniques, the result is a pairing of tradition with innovation, a respect for the old and the promise of the new.

Chuck Wagner and his late parents, Lorna and Charlie, started Caymus Vineyards in 1972. They were a family of farmers who worked together for decades to create a signature style of Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, the family’s two Cabernets – Caymus Napa Valley and Caymus Special Selection – are among the region’s most celebrated wines. Chuck now works alongside two of his children, Charlie and Jenny, and the family produces diverse wines from Napa Valley, other parts of California and beyond. Continually pursuing new ideas, they feel extremely fortunate to spend their days farming grapes and making wine. For more information, please visit us online at caymus.com or wagnerfamilyofwine.com, and on social at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About Stewart-Haas Racing:
Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based organization has won two NASCAR Cup Series titles, one NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and more than 90 NASCAR races, including such crown-jewel events as the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. For more information, please visit us online at StewartHaasRacing.com and on social at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn.

-SHR-

In The Know – Fontana

NASCAR Cup Series Overview
● Event: Pala Casino 400
● Time/Date:  3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Feb 26
● Location:   Auto Club Speedway
● Layout:   2.0 mile oval
● Laps/Miles:   200 laps, 500 miles
● Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 65 laps / Stage 2: 65 laps / Final Stage: 70 laps
● TV/Radio:   FOX/MR

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

Harvick will make some history of his own Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. When he takes the green flag for the Pala Casino 400, Harvick will make his 750th consecutive NASCAR Cup Series start, becoming just the third driver in series history to reach the milestone, joining Jeff Gordon (797 consecutive starts) and Ricky Rudd (788 consecutive starts). The last time Harvick was not in a Cup Series race was April 2, 2002 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, a span of 7,623 days between race dates.

Aric Almirola:

In 14 cup series starts at Fontana, Aric Almirola has three top-10 finishes and seven laps led, all coming since he joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2018. He finished sixth in his most recent start. Almirola will race for his fourth consecutive top-10 finish at Fontana this weekend.

Chase Briscoe:

Briscoe will strap into the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac Ford Mustang this weekend for his second Cup Series race at the 2-mile oval in Fontana. His two Fontana starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series resulted in a best finish of fifth in 2019. In 2020, Briscoe started third and led five times for 16 laps before a spin on lap 126 relegated the team to a 19th-place finish.

Ryan Preece:

Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, will be Preece’s third Cup Series start at the 2-mile oval. His first came in 2019, when he started 26th and finished 23rd. He second was in 2020, when he started 20th and finished 30th. He has three NASCAR Xfinity Series appearances at Fontana with a best finish of eighth in 2019.

Our Weekly Wraps:

 

What Our Drivers are saying:

Kevin Harvick  Driver of the No. 4 Gearwrench Ford Mustang:

When you race at Fontana, is there a heightened desire to win because it is your home track?

“It’s in my home state, and every year you go there, you want to win the race because you’ve got a lot of family and a lot of friends there, along with a lot of race fans who have come there to watch you race. On the Cup side, I’ve only gotten to do that one time. It was against another California native in Jimmie Johnson, and it was a really cool finish. I got to push him all the way down the back straightaway and then pass him coming to the checkered flag. Cup has not been as successful as I’d like it to be in the win column.”

Aric Almirola Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

You ran well at Fontana last year in the Next Gen car’s debut. How much more helpful will those notes be heading back there this weekend?

“I personally do best when I’m prepared. I thrive when I can study and outwork the guys I’m competing against. I can’t just wing it when it comes to performing. Last year, we relied heavily on guessing and hoping the setup was right. This year I get the opportunity to take notes not only from myself but from Ford and Stewart-Haas Racing as a whole. We saw at the Clash that we could turn a bad car in first practice into a heat-winning car that started us on the pole because we have notes and learned from last year. At Daytona, we qualified fourth and won our Duel race and had a fast car, so yeah, notes are really important, and knowing we came from the rear of the field last year to sixth (at Fontana) gives us a big boost of confidence.”

Chase Briscoe Driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Center/Mobil Delvac Ford Mustang:

The plan is for Fontana to be reconfigured into a half-mile track following this weekend’s race. How do you feel about it possibly being the last race on the 2-mile layout?

“I think it’s going to be bittersweet for all the drivers because it’s just so fun from a driver’s standpoint. It’s so slick and worn out. It’s rough and you just bounce around. You can run wherever on the racetrack, especially with the Next Gen car. I thought that it was just a really good racetrack for these cars so I’m bummed we didn’t get more time to race it as is. It’s one of my favorite tracks to go to just because I feel like that’s one of the tracks where a driver can make quite a bit of a difference, so I’ll be sad to see it go. But, if it becomes a short track, that may not be so bad. We don’t have a short track out West, so that would give us some variety during the West Coast swing.”

Ryan Preece Driver of the No. 41 Haas Tooling Ford Mustang:

You’re heading to a track with a completely different configuration than what you experienced in the first two races of the season. What are your expectations for this weekend’s race at Fontana?

“Yeah, we’ve gone to two completely different racetracks so far and we’ve had speed at both of them, so I know this weekend is completely different and more of a baseline track that most teams are looking at to see the speed. I feel confident going into it that we’re going to unload fast. Hopefully, we consistently have speed all weekend and start continuing to lay the foundation that we have with our team.”

HARVICK FONTANA HELMET

Hear from the closer on his special edition Spears tribute helmet that he will  wear this weekend at Fontana.

 

COLE CUSTER RACING ROOTS

Returning to his home track of Auto Club Speedway, Cole Custer takes a look back on his racing roots and how he got to the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Post Race Report – Daytona 500

 

Date: Feb. 19, 2023
Event: 65th Running of the Daytona 500 (Round 1 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (65 laps/65 laps/70 laps)
Note: Race extended 12 laps past its scheduled 200-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., of JTG Daugherty Racing
Stage 1 Winner: Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing
Stage 2 Winner: Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 13th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 212 of 212 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 4th, Finished 21st / Accident, completed 211 of 212 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 30th, Finished 35th / Accident, completed 182 of 212 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 20th, Finished 36th / Accident, completed 181 of 212 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (8th with 37 points, 15 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (13th with 29 points, 23 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (27th with 11 points, 41 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (34th with two points, 50 out of first)

SHR Notes:
● This was Harvick’s 22nd start in The Great American Race. His first Daytona 500 came 21 years ago on Feb. 17, 2002.
● Harvick finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points.
● Harvick led one lap to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 284.
● Harvick has now led 11,487 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,902 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.
● Almirola won his Duel qualifying race on Thursday to start fourth in the Daytona 500.
● Almirola finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points.
● Almirola led eight times for 16 laps to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 45.
● Briscoe led twice for five laps – his first laps led at Daytona.
● Preece finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points.
● Preece led once for four laps to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to five.

Race Notes:
● Ricky Stenhouse Jr., won the Daytona 500 to score his third career NASCAR Cup Series victory and his second at Daytona. Joey Logano was running second when the race-ending caution flag flew on the final lap of overtime.
● Logano leaves Daytona as the championship leader with a two-point advantage over second-place Chris Buescher.
● There were eight caution periods for a total of 38 laps.
● Only 17 of the 40 drivers in the Daytona 500 finished on the lead lap.
● Two overtimes pushed this year’s Daytona 500 to a record 212 laps – a dozen laps beyond its scheduled distance and a whopping 530 miles.
● There were 21 different leaders in the race, tying it with the 2010 Daytona 500 for second-most all-time in The Great American Race.
● There were 52 lead changes, the fourth-most in Daytona 500 history, behind 2011 (74 lead changes), 1974 (60) and 1983 (58).

Sound Bites:

“We had a good car, but then we got caught in the back and got torn up.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #Busch401K Ford Mustang

“Yeah, obviously we wanted a better result. That wasn’t how I wrote it up, but the Smithfield team gave me a fast car all weekend and we had a car capable of winning. That’s all you can ask for and hope a little luck is on your side. Daytona is such a rollercoaster of a race and you just have to be there at the end, and we were there at the end. We were strong all day, running up front until we had to check up with the guys starting to wreck in front of us, but they didn’t and we were all strung out until the caution came out. Then you’re just at the mercy of the ‘big one’ in front of you when you get back that far. I really felt like today was going to be the day. We came out strong as a race team this entire week. Qualified great, we won our Duel, and we really didn’t make any mistakes all day and ran a clean race. The pit crew was on it, and Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and Joel (Edmonds, spotter) were on it, so this 10 team is showing a lot of growth and we’re going to be a strong team all year.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

“We were coming off that pit sequence and everybody was at such different speeds and you could definitely tell the intensity was ratcheting up. Everybody was just making really aggressive blocks trying to position themselves for the end. I don’t know, we just all checked up into one and it was a bad wreck for Stewart-Haas because all four of us were stuck in that. I just hate it. It felt like we were in position. We talked about what our plan was going into it and felt like we were executing that, but we just needed a little luck at the end to go with it. We’ll move on to California and see if we can improve. Obviously, we need to improve.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang

“Everybody was on green-flag cycles. People trying to block the rows are trying to cycle in and I just want to focus on the fact that we had such a fast HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang. This opportunity is exactly what I wanted, so it’s unfortunate because I felt like we were going to put ourselves in position to give ourselves an opportunity to be in contention to win this race, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully, we keep unloading fast Ford Mustangs like we did this weekend and we’ll have some fun.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Pala Casino 400 on Sunday, Feb. 26 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

In The Know – Daytona

NASCAR Cup Series Overview
● Event:  Daytona 500 (Round 1 of 36)
● Time/Date:  2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Feb 19
● Location:   Daytona International Speedway
● Layout:   2.5 mile oval
● Laps/Miles:   200 laps, 500 miles
● Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 65 laps / Stage 2: 65 laps / Final Stage: 70 laps
● TV/Radio:   FOX/MRN

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:
 The 2023 season marks Harvick’s 23rd year in the NASCAR Cup Series. Of his 790 career, points-paying starts, 43 of them have come on Daytona’s 2.5-mile oval. In addition to his 2007 Daytona 500 victory, Harvick won the 2010 Coke Zero 400. He has 11 top-fives and 16 top-10s on the Daytona oval. The 65th Daytona 500 will be his 44th points-paying start on the Daytona oval

Aric Almirola:
 Almirola scored his first career Cup Series win in the rain-shortened July 2014 race at Daytona, when he led 14 laps. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he started on the pole in his first outing in July 2007, and he captured a win there while piloting the No. 98 Biagi-Den Beste Ford Mustang in July 2016. In 2021, he won his Duel qualifying race for the first time in his career. Almirola also has three Daytona starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with a best finish of 12th. This year’s Daytona 500 marks Almirola’s 23rd points-paying Cup Series start at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Chase Briscoe:
 Sunday’s 65th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway marks Chase Briscoe’s third start in the prestigious NASCAR Cup Series event. In last year’s race, Briscoe drove his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) to a third-place finish, his best at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. His Daytona 500 debut in 2021 resulted in a 19th-place finish.

Ryan Preece:
 Perseverance has paid off for Preece. The 32-year-old racer from Berlin, Connecticut, was promoted by SHR to his role as fulltime driver of the No. 41 Mustang in the Cup Series after serving as a reserve driver with the organization in 2022. He spent last season performing simulator work while running a mix of races across each of NASCAR’s top three national touring series – two in the Cup Series, three in the Xfinity Series, and 10 in the Truck Series. His season was punctuated by a Truck Series win from the pole on June 24 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, his second straight win at the 1.333-mile oval east of Music City.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

Check out the schemes we’re bringing to the Great American Race

What Our Drivers are saying:

Kevin Harvick Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang:

What does it take to win the Daytona 500?

“The superspeedways, in general, are difficult to have everything line up to get a win out of the weekend. For the Daytona 500, it’s our biggest race of the year, but it’s also the one race a year that you have months to prepare for. Every team in the garage has their most prepared car that shows up at the Daytona 500. On top of that, you have the most aggression and enthusiasm to try to take risks and do things that you normally wouldn’t do to win races because the Daytona 500 only comes once a year, and it can make a year and it can also make a career out of winning that race. I think as you look at the Daytona 500, it’s just different than any other race and it becomes difficult to win because of all the risk-taking that you don’t see on a weekly basis.”

Aric Almirola Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

Why is the Daytona 500 such an iconic and much-anticipated race for you?

“First off, Daytona is always exciting for me. It’s my home racetrack, having grown up just two hours away in Tampa. I have a lot of childhood memories from going there with my family. To top it off, I’ve won there both in Xfinity and Cup cars. I just have a tremendous amount of fond memories of spectating at Daytona, even all the way back to my beginning days. I would go back and go-kart in Daytona. It’s always exciting because it brings back all those great memories. Not to mention, it’s the world center of racing. It’s the greatest place on earth to go race at. It’s the biggest race of the year, the one everyone wants to win. Your name is forever etched in history. There’s just no other race like it. It’s such a special race because of the prestige and the paycheck at the end. It’s the highest-paying race. Anybody who is alive and breathing knows of the Daytona 500. Even if you’re not a huge race fan or even a NASCAR fan, you know of the Daytona 500. There’s just so much history around this race that being a Daytona 500 champion is a really big deal.”

Chase Briscoe Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang:

You’ve had two very different Daytona 500 experiences. Does this race set the tone for how you approach the season?

“Not necessarily. The Daytona 500 is such a unique race. You never know how the race will play out. No one is really thinking about points, you’re so focused on being in the right position at the right time, so the intensity of the race is a little more than what we see at some other places. Everybody is just trying to get to the end and you see a lot of different strategies. You definitely want to start the season off on a strong note, but at the same time it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have a great run at Daytona. I’ve been on both sides of it. One where we didn’t finish great and then last year finishing up front. It’s definitely a lot nicer when you can have that good points finish to start the year off and kind of build that momentum early. So we’ll see what we can do.”

Ryan Preece Driver of the No. 41 Haas Tooling Ford Mustang:


Some might consider this a comeback year for you now that you’re back to fulltime racing in the Cup Series. What does this moment feel like after all the hard work you’ve put in
“I mean, it’s a dream come true and it’s honestly the perfect matchup. Getting this opportunity at Stewart-Haas Racing is exactly the opportunity I need to succeed. I know what I can do in a racecar and there’s nobody who’s harder on me than I am on myself. I’m going to make the best of every opportunity I get and that’s what I’ve always done. I feel like being in the position I am now with this organization and this team – it can’t get any better. I’m ready to go out there and win races. That is always my goal, every single weekend. Having Chad Johnston as my crew chief this season, too, is just another motivator. We’ve worked together before and we’re very similar. I think we work really well together. We have the same goals for this 41 team. It is a great feeling to be back fulltime in Cup. Sometimes I don’t think I let myself enjoy those moments. They are special and I’m very thankful. I’m just ready to get out there and race.”

2023 Season Expectations

Hear from all six Stewart Haas Racing drivers as they prepare for the 2023 season

Harvick on Daytona

On Sunday Kevin Harvick will make his 44th career start on the high-banked oval of Daytona International Speedway. Hear from the closer himself on what the track has meant to him and his favorite memories of the famed super speedway.