Kevin Harvick to compete in late model stock race at North Wilkesboro during All-Star week
Before Kevin Harvick competes in this year’s NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race piloting a throwback scheme, he will return to his short-track racing roots during that week‘s preliminary events at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The 2014 Cup Series champion will drive his own late model stock car in the CARS Tour feature Wednesday, May 17, ahead of the All-Star Race on Sunday, May 21. Harvick in the CARS Tour race at North Wilkesboro will run the No. 62 as a tribute to his wife DeLana Harvick‘s late father John Linville.
RELATED: Watch the CARS race at North Wilkesboro on FloRacing
Along with being a regular competitor in the NASCAR Xfinity Series during the 1980s, Linville was an accomplished short-track driver. He won three Late Model Sportsman Division titles at Bowman Gray Stadium between 1968-71, also claiming the final Limited Sportsman championship at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in 1970.
Like Linville, Harvick also developed his talents on short tracks, albeit on the other side of the United States.
After earning his first NASCAR Southwest Tour victory at Tucson Speedway in 1995, Harvick established himself as one of the best young drivers on the West Coast by winning the 1998 ARCA Menards Series West championship by 100 points with Spears Motorsports. He accomplished that title while balancing a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule with the same team.
Five of Harvick’s seven West Series victories came in 1998, when he took checkered flags at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Altamont Motorsports Park, Auto Club Speedway, Pikes Peak International Raceway and Sonoma Raceway.
Harvick also earned a West Series win at Iowa Speedway in 2007 and another at Sonoma in 2017.
The efficiency Harvick showed on the West Coast short tracks is what ultimately led to his driving for Richard Childress Racing‘s Xfinity Series program. That in turn led to Harvick putting together one of the best NASCAR careers in history with 60 Cup Series victories, one title and wins in all the sport‘s crown jewel events.
Harvick will look to remind the current generation of short-track racers and young prospects of his short-track heritage when the green flag for the CARS LMSC Tour feature flies on May 17.
The race will be shown live on FloRacing.
