Kevin Harvick on hitting 50th NASCAR win milestone: ‘It doesn’t seem real’

Kevin Harvick won NASCAR’s first race back since the coronavirus pandemic shut racing down 10 weeks ago.

Kevin Harvick won NASCAR’s first race back Sunday at Darlington Raceway after the season was suspended for 10 weeks this spring because of the global COVID-19 crisis.

The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver dominated The Real Heroes 400, leading 159 of 293 total laps and earning his 50th career Cup Series win and first of the 2020 season. He’s the 14th driver to hit that milestone and is now in a three-way tie for 12th on the all-time wins list, joining Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson and breaking his tie with team owner Tony Stewart, who retired with 49 career wins.

Harvick, the 2014 Cup Series champ, entered the first of nine currently scheduled NASCAR races as the leader in the standings and is the only driver to finish all five races so far this season in the top 10. Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-5 finishers Sunday.

In Harvick’s post-race, on-track interview with FOX Sports, he seemed to be in disbelief over his career achievement. He said:

“It doesn’t seem real. And I think as you look at Darlington, I think as you look at the things that happened this weekend, I really thought that it would definitely play into our hand just because our guys are so good at hitting the car off the truck for the most part.

“We put a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of studying, a lot of meetings and just have to thank everybody at the shop who has built all these cars. And just, man, I’m excited. It is weird just because there’s nobody up there. … I’m speechless.”

For NASCAR to return after missing eight races because of the global coronavirus pandemic, it needed to establish several safety protocols to keep the limited personnel allowed at the tracks safe.

In addition to health screenings, social distancing rules and mandatory masks, NASCAR is not having practice or qualifying for the first four races back — with the exception of qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 next Sunday. So prior to Sunday’s race, the last time drivers were in their cars was 71 days ago on March 8 at Phoenix Raceway.

Also among the many noticeable differences about this race compared with traditional NASCAR events was the empty grandstands. He said on a Zoom call with reporters after the race that the weirdest part of the day for him was climbing out of his car to a silent atmosphere and described an empty Victory Lane as “awkward.”

While speaking on the track still, Harvick noted how peculiar it felt to celebrate without fans:

“I didn’t think this was going to be much different, and then we won the race, and it’s dead silent out here so we miss the fans. … It’s a pretty big honor to win 50 races in this deal, and just gotta thank all my team guys and everybody for what they’re doing.”

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race is Wednesday, again at Darlington, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

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