Kevin Harvick was looking forward to being away from his own race car during NASCAR’s two-week break during the Olympics, but he also had plans to be wrapped up in his little son’s fledgling career behind the wheel.
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., teammates with Joe Gibbs Racing, are also grateful for the break and the opportunity to enjoy summer vacation things in the summer rather than the winter, when the sport takes a long break from racing. Others, such as Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, and Erik Jones, have raced in other series.
The Cup season returns to Watkins Glen International on August 8th (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN).
“I’d rather have a summer break and not have all the breaks at the beginning of the year,” he said of the intermission, which comes with just four races left before the 16-driver playoff field is set – and at the end of a stretch of 14 consecutive weekends of racing.
Another 14-week stretch beckons when the racing resumes.
Harvick believes that a slow start to the season is unnecessary, and that the break now benefits not only the drivers, but also everyone involved in the weekly grind of getting a car ready for a different track every week.
“I’d take it off the front end because everybody’s fresh and energized,” he said of moving the break to the summer months. “I think having this two-week break really allows these guys in the shop and on the road to be able to actually have two, for-sure weeks off that they can plan around. That’s something very important to the families of those individuals.”
Harvick, on the other hand, had no intention of taking a break from racing. His plans included taking his 9-year-old son, Keelan, to three races. It is, however, a break, he stated.
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“I think not having to stress out about what your car did in the last race or what it’s going to do in the next race for a couple of weeks is obviously nice,” the 2014 champion said. Harvick won a series-high nine races last year, but like points leader Denny Hamlin, has only visited Victory Lane this season to congratulate other winning drivers.
“Shut the shops down – make it mandatory that nobody can be in the buildings for the first week,” Harvick suggested, referring to Formula One as an example.
Also admirers of the layoff are Busch and Truex. They are one of the 13 drivers who have secured a place in the championship race, making it a little easier to relax and enjoy some time away from the track.
“Having an off-week is good,” Busch, the series champ in 2015 and 2019, said. “I think it’s about time for us, a good summer break anyways to be able to go out and do things in the summertime that typically you’d always have to wait for the winter time. I can’t tell you how many winter vacations I’ve been on and places that I’ve gone in December, January versus actually being able to go somewhere far away in July.”
Truex, who has three victories and is tied for second in the standings after 22 races, one win behind Kyle Larson, said he planned to enjoy his time away as much as possible.
“Chilling, fishing, whatever,” the 2017 series champion said. “Just hanging out.”
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