{"id":445409,"date":"2026-01-31T15:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T15:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/445409\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T15:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T15:42:07","slug":"kevin-harvick-teases-potential-return-to-nascar-as-driver-following-tony-stewart-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/445409\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Harvick teases potential return to NASCAR as driver, following Tony Stewart announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick<\/a> might not be done behind the wheel after all. Speaking on the latest episode of his podcast Kevin Harvick\u2019s Happy Hour<\/a>, the former champion joked that seeing fellow legend Tony Stewart<\/a> return to competition<\/a> has him thinking about a comeback of his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might just make a comeback, why not?\u201d Harvick said<\/a>. \u201cTony Stewart\u2019s going to drive the truck race at Daytona. Why not? What should we race? I\u2019m starting to get the bug again, I think. Cup is too much work. What could I just get in and drive?\u201d<\/p>\n

After floating a few possibilities, Harvick ultimately settled on the idea of running a NASCAR Truck Series race. Though he stopped short of confirming any actual plans.<\/p>\n

Alas, Harvick stepped away from full-time racing following the 2023 season, with his final start coming at Phoenix Raceway where he finished seventh. His most recent victory came in August 2022 at Richmond Raceway in the Federated Auto Parts 400, marking the final win of a Hall of Fame career that produced a Cup championship and 60 wins at NASCAR\u2019s highest level.<\/p>\n

The conversation comes as Stewart prepares for his own one-race return. The three-time Cup champion will compete in the 2026 Truck Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway, driving the No. 25 Ram entry for Kaulig Racing.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Stewart\u2019s appearance also marks Ram\u2019s first NASCAR start since 2012, following parent company Stellantis\u2019 announcement last summer that the brand would return to the sport for the 2026 season. Stewart will compete as part of Ram\u2019s \u201cFree Agent Driver Program,\u201d adding another chapter to a career that already includes championships across NASCAR, IndyCar, USAC and IROC competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve raced just about everything with four wheels at Daytona, but never a truck,\u201d Stewart said in a statement announcing his return. \u201cWhen a seat in the new Ram was offered, I didn\u2019t hesitate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaulig Racing owner Matt Kaulig called Stewart\u2019s participation a dream scenario for the organization as it launches the Ram program: \u201cHe\u2019s a legend. His name alone brings energy to the sport. We couldn\u2019t be more fired up to have him in our camp,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

With Stewart returning for at least one race and Ram re-entering the series, it\u2019s no surprise Harvick admitted the competitive itch may be coming back. Whether his comments remain playful banter or evolve into an actual Truck Series entry remains to be seen, but the idea of Harvick back on track is already enough to excite longtime NASCAR fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick might not be done behind the wheel after all. Speaking on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-445409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}