Kevin Harvick will take one final lap in the car that started his racing journey before he stops competing in the NASCAR Cup Series entirely at the end of this season.
The first NASCAR All-Star Race will take place at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway on May 21. Harvick will race a No. 29 Ford in that race, which Stewart-Haas Racing and Harvick confirmed on Thursday.
A “throwback” paint job will be applied to the car, recalling the appearance of Harvick’s then-No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevy when he earned his first Race win at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 11, 2001.
It was only Harvick’s third series race with RCR’s No. 3 team at the time, which had changed its name to the No. 29 after driver Dale Earnhardt passed away in a last-lap collision in the season-opening Daytona 500 two weeks earlier.
In the end, Harvick and Jeff Gordon raced side-by-side at Atlanta’s finish line, with the rookie beating the future Hall of Famer by by 0.006 seconds as they came out of Turn 4 on the closing laps.
“When I sat in the No. 29 for the first time, it really wasn’t by choice, but I definitely wouldn’t have done it any differently,” Harvick, 47, said. “Dale’s passing changed our sport forever, and it changed my life forever and the direction it took.
“Looking back on it now, I realize the importance of getting in the Cup car, and then I wound up winning my first race at Atlanta in the No. 29 car after Dale’s death. The significance and the importance of keeping that car on the race track and winning that race early at Atlanta – knowing now what it meant to the sport, and just that moment in general of being able to carry on – was so important.”
Harvick wants to highlight numerous memorable moments from his NASCAR career, which is why he chose to drive in the No. 29 car.
“I had a great 13 years at RCR and really learned a lot through the process because of being thrown into Dale’s car, where my first press conference as a Cup Series driver was the biggest press conference I would ever have in my career, where my first moments were my biggest moments,” he said.
“With the All-Star Race going to North Wilkesboro – a place with a ton of history – we thought it made sense in a year full of milestones and moments to highlight where it all started.”
For the All-Star Race, Harvick will drive a white Ford with a red stylized No. 29, the same number he used in 2001 to rank 9th in the championship standings.
Moreover, Busch Light, Harvick’s main All-Star Race sponsor, will return its iconic logos.
Since he began competing in the Cup Series in 2001, Harvick has taken part in every All-Star Race. He has participated in 22 of the 38 starts out of which he has two victories (2007 and 2018).
North Wilkesboro will once again play host to the All-Star Race this year. This is a racetrack that first featured on the Cup Series schedule in 1949 but hasn’t hosted NASCAR national series competition since 1996.
“I don’t know the last time the All-Star Race was the most anticipated event of the season,” Harvick said. “Fans are going to show up in droves.
“North Wilkesboro is a great short track, the asphalt’s worn out, and I think it’s going to be a fantastic event.”
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