Homestead-Miami Throwback: Kevin Harvick wins 2014 championship
For this week’s throwback, of course, we are going to 2014 when Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Cup Series championship. This weekend, the Homestead-Miami race is named after Harvick, the 4EVER 400.
Kevin Harvick is returning to Homestead-Miami for the race named after him and with a familiar paint scheme. Before all of that, let’s talk about that 2014 race. It was down to Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Ryan Newman in the first winner-take-all championship race.
Harvick and his competitors were running 1-4 at one point during the race. It looked like any of the four could get the job done. Jeff Gordon led 160 laps in this race. Harvick and Newman fought it out to the end.
Hamlin faded to seventh. Logano, after a botched pit stop, fell to 16th. It led the way for The Closer, in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
This season, nine years later, Kevin Harvick isn’t in the championship race. He’s just hoping to finish the year off with a win. Harvick has so many great memories at Homestead and that 2014 race is on the top of that list.
This year, Kevin Harvick will be driving in a very familiar looking scheme.
Budweiser joins Kevin Harvick for one final race
Not only will the 4EVER 400 be named in honor of Harvick, there are some cool easter eggs included as well. Harivck is going to be in the red and white Budweiser Ford Mustang. One last ride with Bud as he changes his Busch Light scheme in for the King of Beers.
Crew chief Rodney Childers and his family are going to serve as the Grand Marshals, giving the command to start engines. It’s an entire celebration of this team, driver, and that 2014 chapmionship. Harvick is the last remaining vestige of Dale Earnhardt’s time in NASCAR.
Harvick was there to pick up the steering wheel and help RCR, and NASCAR, navigate through losing the sport’s greatest figure. Throughout the 20+ years, it has been clear that Harvick was the man for the job, even if he didn’t ask for it.
Now, Kevin Harvick is headed to retirement. His legacy cemented as one of the sport’s greatest of all time.