Kevin Harvick is one of the oldest and most successful drivers currently racing in the NASCAR Cup Series so his words tend to carry more weight than others. Harvick has been vocal about the hard hits drivers have been taking with the Next Gen car and went off on officials last week when his car spontaneously burst into flames.
NASCAR released their 2023 schedule on Wednesday and while some drivers just have a PR-friendly social media post about how they like the schedule, Harvick revealed what he likes and what he doesn’t like about next season. Among things he likes include the return of North Wilkesboro after 25 years, racing once again at the LA Coliseum, and the street race in Chicago. He doesn’t like the fact that there’s just one off weekend in the entire 36-race regular season/playoff schedule (weekend of June 18th) and that the same 10 races are in the NASCAR Playoffs. Last, but not least, Harvick especially doesn’t like that the Indianapolis Road Course is still on the schedule instead of the oval.
👍🏻 👍🏻 N Wilkesboro 👎🏻👎🏻 One Off Weekend 👍🏻 👍🏻 LA Coliseum again 👎🏻👎🏻 Same Races in Playoffs 👍🏻👍🏻 Street Race 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻 Indy RC https://t.co/rmsWJTxPms
— Kevin Harvick (@KevinHarvick) September 15, 2022
Harvick responded to others and gave more of his thoughts, including wanting to put the LA Coliseum race into the Playoffs.
Big loss in my book. But the trucks are at the Milwaukee Mile. Big Win! https://t.co/1pYYeM0iF3
— Kevin Harvick (@KevinHarvick) September 15, 2022
LA Coliseum https://t.co/gq8ygQLS3I
— Kevin Harvick (@KevinHarvick) September 15, 2022
No I like the La Coliseum style race and you could really take it to stadiums around the world. https://t.co/4JswSV3iLR
— Kevin Harvick (@KevinHarvick) September 15, 2022
Different car https://t.co/k5TGfSaR8n
— Kevin Harvick (@KevinHarvick) September 15, 2022
It’s hard to disagree with a lot of what Harvick says. Even having more off weekends in the schedule isn’t the worst thing in the world. An occasional off weekend recharges the batteries for drivers as they navigate through the long season. Nevertheless, with a stadium race, a dirt race, a street course, and a variety of ovals and road courses, NASCAR has the most diverse racing schedule in the world.
