Kevin Harvick talks broadcasting, IROC, Rolex and which NASCAR driver would win a fight?

DAYTONA BEACH — For the first time since 1995, when he made a pair of starts in the Craftsman Truck Series, Kevin Harvick hasn’t spent his offseason preparing to compete in NASCAR.

But as he transitions full time into life in the broadcast booth, that of the Fox variety, he insists not much about his offseason has changed.

“It doesn’t really feel any different to me,” Harvick said via phone interview. “I always work and that’s what I explain to people; we retired from driving, not from working.

“I approach everything very similarly to the way I would’ve approached it with a race team. The only thing different I won’t be doing is physically getting in the racecar to drive it.”

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A year ago, Harvick capped off a sure-fire, Hall-of-Fame career, retiring after 23 Cup Series seasons with 60 wins and the 2014 championship to his credit. Harvick said he always knew there’d be a “Phase 2” to his career and the fit with Fox makes sense for many reasons.

First, Fox’s initial NASCAR broadcast was the 2001 Daytona 500. Of course, that event goes down in history for the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Harvick was thrust into the car the very next week.

In 2015, Fox began a program of bringing in drivers as guest broadcasters/analysts for Xfinity Series and Truck Series races. Harvick was the guinea pig and has made multiple appearances since.

“Television was always very interesting,” Harvick said. “I’ve always had a great relationship with everybody from Fox since we started.

“Being able to be in the booth and do the things we did, it’s something that gave me a lot of experience and comfort in being able to say, ‘Hey, I can do this. It’ll be something I can enjoy.’ I look at it like watching a race with your buddies and trying to entertain the people watching and listening.”

Certainly, as Harvick came on the air for his first broadcast as a full-time broadcaster on Saturday night for the Clash at the Coliseum, and likely even more so in two weeks for the 66^th Daytona 500, there will be more than just his friends and family watching and listening. But that part, he’s used to.

What is a little different transitioning into the week-after-week nature of it and finding his place alongside veteran announcer Mike Joy, who will call his 45^th Daytona 500 this year, and former racing teammate Clint Bowyer.

“I’m still around all the people I’ve been around but what does that new system look like?” Harvick wondered. “How much information do I need to process and download? What’s too much? What’s not enough? I’m sure I’ll prepare in the beginning. I need to find my footing on what’s good for me and what fits in with everybody else.”

NASCAR short track rules package changes

A few weeks ago, NASCAR announced changes to its 2024 short-track package, focusing largely on aerodynamics and the rear diffuser.

The moves come in response to lackluster competition on short tracks last season.

“I think everybody wants to make it better and I’ve told people the last two years the relationship between NASCAR and the drivers is better than it’s ever been,” Harvick said. “This is another step. I don’t look at it as the last step. I look back to 2009 when we transitioned to the COT (car of tomorrow) and the changes and body styles and spoilers and wings and the different rules that came about.

"I think we’re on a natural progression of a new-style car and as we go forward it will continue to change.”

Who is the toughest driver in the garage now that he’s retired?

As a high school wrestler, it’s long been assumed that Harvick may have been the man to beat should a full-garage battle royale ever break out amongst the drivers.

So, now that he’s retired, who would Harvick pick?

“You never know who is who,” Harvick said. “You never know a good jiu jitsu guy or a good fighter. (Ross) Chastain had a good right last year and Noah (Gragson) was aggressive in the way he took it and continued going forward. So, I think we have a lot of very young guys, whether they know how to fight or not, they seem to be ambitious to be aggressive toward whatever they do. And then we have guys that want nothing to do with it, which is fine as well.

“You could have the dorkiest looking guy in the world and be the biggest bad-ass in the world when it comes time to make something happen. You’ve got to be careful what you ask for in today’s world.”

Will NASCAR drivers come back to the Rolex 24 at Daytona?

Though Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Corey Heim and Cody Ware participated in some of the racing in the lead-up to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, no full-time NASCAR drivers ran the race for the first time in a long time.

Harvick participated in 2002, running the first stint before a mechanical failure ended his team’s day early. But he doesn’t believe the lack of NASCAR presence in the twice-round-the-clock endurance classic will be permanent.

“I think when it has more notoriety, like it’s starting to get back to, that will intrigue more guys to come back and do that,” Harvick said. “I wish more of them did it. The more stages our guys can shine on the better it shows our sport, so hopefully we can get more guys back in there.”

Will IROC return? Should it?

Also last month, word of Ray Evernham’s acquisition of the rights to IROC made minor waves throughout the racing community.

The series, which brought together racers across multiple disciplines, put them in dead-even cars and let them loose, went caput after the 2006 season. Harvick ran three seasons (2002-2004), winning at California in 2002 and claiming the series title that year as well.

Competing in a total of 12 races, it’s an experience Harvick remembers fondly. He still owns two cars from the series, including the one he won in, which he says was also piloted to Victory Lane by the likes of Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin, Al Unser Jr., Eddie Cheever and Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Last year, Harvick competed in the SRX, a similar concept run at short tracks across America helmed by former three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. The series has since announced that it is halting operations and postponing the 2024 season.

So, what would Harvick think about a possible IROC return?

“It would be cool to have it back,” Harvick said. “The short-track stuff is great but as good as SRX was, it would be hard to support it in the short-track system without having a really good TV deal and major sponsor and everything to cover the shortage of people in the grandstands.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Kevin Harvick happy to begin NASCAR broadcast career at The Clash