Racing for a championship spot is not the only task at hand for Kevin Harvick for this upcoming weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff event at Martinsville Speedway. By taking the green flag at Martinsville on Sunday, November 1, the 2014 Cup champion is set to achieve another major accomplishment to his racing resume. That accomplishment is moving into second place on NASCAR’s national series starts list with his 1,186th career start.
Following Wednesday night’s Cup event at Texas Motor Speedway, where he finished 16th, Harvick reached 1,185 career starts between NASCAR’s top three national series (Truck: 123, Xfinity: 346, Cup: 716). He also moved into a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty, who made all of his 1,185 career starts in the Cup level, for second place on the all-time national series starts list.
Through 1,185 career starts, Harvick has amassed 119 wins, 60 poles, 459 top-five results, 709 top-10 results and over 27,000 laps led between NASCAR’s top three division series. He has also achieved two Xfinity Series championships (2001 and 2006) and one Cup championship (2014). Other accomplishments include the 2007 Daytona 500, three Brickyard 400 victories, two Coca-Cola 600 wins, two NASCAR All-Star Race wins, two Southern 500 victories and the 2001 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Once Harvick surpasses Petty’s mark in national career starts, veteran Joe Nemechek will be next on Harvick’s radar. Nemechek holds the all-time record for starts between NASCAR’s top three national series with 1,197 career starts. He has made eight Xfinity starts and one Truck start throughout the 2020 season.
This season, which marks his seventh season driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, Harvick has claimed a career-high nine victories, 20 top-five results, 26 top-10 results and the 2020 Cup regular-season championship through 34 of the 36-race schedule. He also became the 17th competitor to reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series, a feat he made at Texas Motor Speedway in July 2020.
Harvick enters this weekend’s Playoff event at Martinsville with a 42-point cushion for the finale at Phoenix Raceway scheduled on Sunday, November 8, as he attempts to qualify for the Championship 4 round and contend for his second Cup title.
Catch Harvick’s milestone start at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
