Stewart-Haas Racing announces contract extension for Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick is officially a member of Stewart-Haas Racing for the foreseeable future.
The team announced Thursday that Harvick has signed a long-term extension with the team. Harvick arrived to SHR on a three-year deal that started in 2014, meaning that the 2016 season was the final year of his original deal.
“It was a big decision to join Stewart-Haas Racing and it has turned out to be my best decision,” Harvick said. “I came to Stewart-Haas Racing to win championships. We have one, but that only made us hungry for more. I’m very happy to have my future secure with a team so dedicated to winning.”
Harvick won the 2014 Sprint Cup title in his first season with SHR. He finished second in 2015 to Kyle Busch, both in the championship standings and in the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The announcement of the extension doesn’t come as a surprise. Consider what Harvick tweeted in April 7 after he had previously said that he didn’t see any reason to leave the team when it switches from Chevrolet to Ford for next season.
But despite all of Harvick’s public proclamations that he would be staying with the team that’s elevated him from a threat to finish in the top five every season to a driver on the very short list of annual title favorites, printed discussion of a possible move to Hendrick Motorsports to stay with Chevrolet lingered. Perplexingly.
The latest “report” regarding Harvick and Hendrick, which we won’t link to here, came out following Sunday’s race at Dover. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the team made an official announcement of the extension this week after Harvick said the mentions of Hendrick come from people who “make s**t up.”
Harvick, who won at Phoenix earlier this season, is atop the points standings, 21 points ahead of second-place Kyle Busch.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
