Kevin Harvick Proposes Big NASCAR Changes Ahead of Playoffs

NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick has recently stirred the pot by suggesting significant changes to the NASCAR calendar, particularly targeting the schedule’s exhaustive nature. During his podcast, Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick advocated for combining two high-profile races, the All-Star Race and The Clash, into a single event.

Speaking with Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Officer, Harvick highlighted just how difficult the dense schedule is for teams and their employees.

Harvick outlined his vision, noting how both the All-Star Race and The Clash bear similarities that could justify their joining.

“When you look at going and doing — well, let’s just take the special event races, the All-Star Race and The Clash. Do you ever see a time where you combine those?

“Because I look at the length of the schedule right now, and my goodness, it’s not as hard for the drivers, as it is for the team guys, and sometimes I feel like, when you talk about the logistics of what they have to do to get from Michigan to Mexico City, you know, you think about all of those things.

“But when I look at the All-Star Race and The Clash, I look at — they’re very similar. Do you ever think about combining those types of races, to open up another weekend?” Harvick asked.

The idea of merging these events aims to provide an extra week off during the NASCAR season, addressing the extensive travel and logistical challenges that teams face, similar to that of Formula 1 now the F1 season has grown hugely.

The Californian driver drew attention to the demanding travel schedules, such as moving from Michigan to Mexico City, which puts severe strain on crew members and support staff.

Responding to Harvick’s query, Ben Kennedy admitted that NASCAR has considered something like this.

“You know, we’ve talked about it. I think The Clash in particular being two weeks before the Daytona 500 makes sense on many levels. It’s an exhibition race.

“I think we’ve always said to ourselves, and we’ve heard from our fans, that we want our first points race to be at Daytona, to be at our biggest event of the year.

“So, kind of keeping that in mind, if you have any of these exhibition races, like The Clash, I think that’s a huge opportunity for us, to promote the Daytona 500,” Kennedy explained.

Kennedy continued to elaborate on the way the All-Star Race is evolving, describing its journey through various venues such as Charlotte, Bristol, Texas, and North Wilkesboro.

“To that point, I think the All-Star Race has taken on so many different evolutions over the past few years. We were at Charlotte. Eventually we went to Bristol, went to Texas, and now we’re at North Wilkesboro.

“So, something we also talk about with Speedway Motorsports is what does the future evolution of the All-Star Race look like? I think there’s a theory around the All-Star Race, every weekend is the All-Star Race.

“We have our biggest names and our biggest drivers on all of these races. It’s a different format, and it’s a format similar to The Clash,” said Kennedy.

This proposal comes at a critical moment for NASCAR as massive expansion looms and a larger calendar hangs over teams. But maintaining the tradition of starting the points races at Daytona remains very important for fan engagement.

While Harvick’s proposal is still speculative and would require further evaluation and detailed planning, its potential to modernize and streamline the NASCAR calendar cannot be overlooked.

“So, you know, we’ve talked about all sorts of different concepts of, you know, do you continue to have the exhibition race? Do you look at something different? We’ve still got to work on what that’s going to be, but I do think that there’s an opportunity we could look at with SM,” Kennedy added.