Kevin Harvick's kids, crew had emotional radio messages for him before last race at Phoenix

Sunday was an emotional ride for Kevin Harvick, as he stepped into the No. 4 Ford for the final time at Phoenix last weekend.

Throughout the 2023 season, there were plenty of tributes and well wishes for the legendary wheelman, and that all came to a head in the dessert at the NASCAR finale. Harvick ran his final race, and it was a sight to behold.

Prior to the race, Harvick’s children hopped on the radio to deliver him a special messages, as well as his crew giving him his many thanks. Check out the video below, where NASCAR shared the love for Harvick from his radio at Phoenix.

All love on the No. 4 radio.@KevinHarvick | #4EVER pic.twitter.com/uYRczoMdc6

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 7, 2023

A mix of gratitude, appreciation and love for a father, driver and by all accounts, a great man. It’s touching to see how much of an impact Harvick has made on the sport, and it’s awesome that was celebrated throughout the 2023 season.

While he’ll be in the FOX booth next season, Kevin Harvick will certainly be missed on the track for the foreseeable future. He’s been a heck of a driver, and he’ll look for continued success in whatever life brings him next.

Denny Hamlin on Kevin Harvick’s retirement: ‘It’s hard to not get emotional’

As emotional a day it was for Harvick and his family, who were in attendance, the same applied to Denny Hamlin, one of NASCAR’s longest active tenured drivers. Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Tuesday, Hamlin called Harvick’s retirement “bittersweet,” before paying tribute to one of the sport’s greatest of all-time. 

“Bittersweet because — it’s hard for me to not get emotional about this as well because I see how much it means to Harvick when he has his family around, they do the tribute videos. I mean, you just can’t help but like know how much this means to this particular person,” Hamlin said. “Kevin — to be as competitive as he was when his team was having somewhat of an off year, Stewart-Haas [Racing] did not win any races this year, to still be competitive as he was in his final year at age 47 is absolutely amazing. 

“He is a unicorn driver to sustain the level of performance — it’s just unbelievable. You can’t list all of his accomplishments. It’s just, you know he was a team owner, he was a guy that if he raced on Saturday in the Xfinity Series, he was gonna win. He had a truck team. He gave so much back to the sport on and off the racetrack. Gave a lot to the drivers and was a great leader for the drivers. I think it will be a substantial loss for the series.”