On Sunday (Feb. 26) at Auto Club Speedway, Kevin Harvick celebrated his 750th-consecutive start in the NASCAR Cup Series.
It’s an impressive feat of endurance. He joins Jeff Gordon (797 consecutive starts) and Ricky Rudd (788) as the only drivers to start 750 races in a row. And assuming that Harvick starts every race in the 2023 season, he will retire with 784 consecutive starts dating back to April 2002.
…but wait. Harvick’s Cup career didn’t begin in April 2002, it began in February 2001. When did he miss a race?
That missed race was at Martinsville Speedway on April 14, 2002. Harvick was racing in the Craftsman Truck Series the day prior, and during that race, he said that he would spin Coy Gibbs over the radio and then proceeded to do so.
Harvick was parked for the remainder of the event, and while such an incident wouldn’t traditionally draw extensive discipline from NASCAR, Harvick was already on probation following a post-race altercation with Greg Biffle in the Xfinity Series at Bristol Motor Speedway a month prior. Thus, NASCAR made the decision to suspend Harvick for the Cup race the following day.
And that one race will deny Harvick the title as NASCAR’s next Iron Man. If Harvick hadn’t been suspended, Auto Club would’ve been his 793rd start instead of his 750th, and he would only be five away from Gordon’s record. And if he were to start every race this season, he would be the first driver to crack 800 in a row and finish with 827.
Of course, Harvick also had the option to keep racing beyond the expiration of his contract in 2023. If he had decided to sign an extension, he would have broken the record in the 14th race of 2024. And that was a question I had asked him at Phoenix Raceway last November (question is at 4:49):
Harvick made himself very clear: he didn’t have any interest in going for the record. And with 60 Cup wins, the 2014 championship and a plethora of victories in NASCAR’s crown jewels, he has nothing left to prove on the racetrack.
Thus, Gordon’s Iron Man record will live to see another day. But with Harvick out of the running, are there any serious challengers for 798 starts in a row?
Perhaps — but the record won’t be on thin ice for a long, long time.
Martin Truex Jr. has the longest consecutive starts streak behind Harvick with…
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