Harvick calls seat time in Larson’s Chevy ‘priceless’

After Kevin Harvick retired from full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing, he never expected to get an opportunity to drive a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in preparation for the NASCAR All-Star Race.

But with Kyle Larson otherwise occupied with practice and qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, Harvick was asked to practice and qualify the No. 5 Camaro for Sunday’s $1-million exhibition event at North Wilkesboro Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Harvick considers the seat time in the Gen 7 car essential to his new role as full-time analyst for FOX Sports. The 2014 NASCAR Cup champion took particular note of the option and prime tire choices available to teams for the All-Star Race.

After practicing and qualifying the No. 5, Harvick was back on TV for Fox Sports.(Photo: Greg Engle)

“It’s priceless,” Harvick said of the opportunity. “This sport evolves quickly. To be able to understand the tires, the scenario that goes with how long these tires will last, how fast they go, what the feeling is and what all the scenarios are… listening to someone else’s team…

“I took my team (at Stewart-Haas Racing) for granted because we had been around for so long. To hear other people’s thoughts and process and understand all those things to be able to relate to the fans, it’s a pretty big deal to get a mid-year check of things that go with the evolution of our sport.

“It evolves quickly and can leave you behind quickly. To be still engrained in it and understand where everything’s at is always good.”