Only a few more months to go before the curtain falls on Kevin Harvick and his illustrious career. The driver who has been the driving force of Stewart-Haas Racing is finally set to hang up his suit and take his seat in the FOX booth as a NASCAR analyst starting next season.

Harvick, in the ongoing season, is surely setting the tone for his successor. However, he is yet to score a victory as the regular season begins to culminate and enters the playoffs. Even the former HMS crew chief Steve Letarte seems to believe that Harvick may not be a big contender in his final Cup Series season.

Steve Letarte seems to have given up on Kevin Harvick

The 2023 Cup Series so far has been the worst for Tony Stewart and his Stewart-Haas Racing team. The plight of the team began at the onset of the season with the announcement of Kevin Harvick’s retirement. While the team was troubled with finding an alternative for the veteran, they were also hit by a domino effect as concurrent issues cropped up.

While many of the internal issues were resolved within the team, on the racing front, the Stewart-Haas Racing team was surely limping with their OEM manufacturer Ford Performance. But Kevin Harvick has been consistently running up in the front and has delivered impressive results. However, the driver is yet to take the chequered flag and surely lacks the vitality that fans had expected from him in his final year.

The driver who has raked up 4 top 5 finishes and 7 top finishes is surely leading the pack within the SHR stable. But he lags behind the other veteran drivers on the grid. Even Steve Letarte seemed to have given up on the 2014 Cup Series champion, which was evident in the latest episode of Dirty Mo Dough.

The former crew chief of Hendrick Motorsports, in a conversation with the Chopper, revealed his stance when it came to betting on Harvick. While discussing the odds for Crayon 301, the SHR driver was compared with RCR’s Kyle Busch. Letarte asked his co-host, the Professor, “Harvick-Busch, which side do you want,  because I have an opinion too.” To this, the guest chose Busch over Harvick.

Letarte agreed with the choice. The Professor also added, “I have been waiting for that Harvick breakout,” to which the veteran retorted, “I have actually given up on it too, I hate to be that way.”

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Kevin Harvick’s retirement adds salt to the wounds of the Stewart-Haas Racing team

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Kevin Harvick plays a pivotal role in his team and has been an active voice within the NASCAR community. But the announcement of his retirement at the beginning of the season has cast a dark cloud over his team’s future.

To add to the worries of the team, who are still reeling from the hefty penalty slapped on them, the primary sponsor of Harvick, Anheuser Busch, announced that it will be parting ways and joining Ross Chastain in Trackhouse Racing from the upcoming season. The beverage company that sponsored Harvick since 2016 took his retirement as an opportunity to look for a new driver.

Nevertheless, with just seven races left, it is to be seen whether Kevin Harvick will prove that he’s still got it. Will he be a victor in the Crayon 301 or will the drought continue? All will be revealed in Sunday’s race.

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