LOUDON – For more than 20 years, Kevin Harvick has been one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ big guns.

On Saturday, he received a gift befitting of that status. Harvick will be retiring from full-time competition following this season, becoming a TV analyst for Fox Sports’ race coverage. To mark the end of a tremendous career, New Hampshire Motor Speedway executive vice president and general manager David McGrath presented Harvick with a custom-built musket made in Stonington, Connecticut. The gun bears an engraved plate marking Harvick’s record-tying four victories at the Magic Mile.

“For me, it’s been a great place to race,” Harvick said ahead of Sunday’s scheduled Crayon 301 (2:30 p.m., USA Network). “I feel like four wins should be 10, but I think that at a lot of places. We have a great fan following up here.”

NHMS is also honoring Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Ford for Stewart Haas Racing, with a “Thanks, Kevin” decal on the wall of the track and renaming Turn 4 “Harvick 4.”

The weather forecast for Sunday does not look promising, with a 90 percent chance of precipitation, meaning the race will likely be run on Monday. The previous two Cup races – on the Chicago street course and at Atlanta Motor Speedway – were shortened by rain. If the precipitation is not too bad, there is a chance Goodyear’s wet weather tires can be used for one of the first times on an oval.

“Every Sunday, it seems like we’re getting rain,” Bubba Wallace said. “It’s a short track; a lot of people are happy about rain tires. It’s a glass half full, glass half empty situation.”

Whenever the race goes green, Christopher Bell will lead the field. The defending race winner qualified on the pole Saturday in 30.524 seconds, but the young Joe Gibbs Racing driver believes that might not be as big an advantage at NHMS as in years past.

“I think it’s going to be a different race than what we saw last year with the downforce change and the tire change,” Bell said. “I honestly believe that track position will be the least important it’s been at this racetrack, at least compared to what it was last year.”

Harvick, 47, grew up racing flat short tracks out west, which served as good preparation for a track such as New Hampshire. 

“It’s a balance of knowing what the pace is and what you were doing in practice,” said Harvick, the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

With his career finish line in sight, it would be easy for Harvick to coast into retirement. However, he remains as focused as ever on securing what could be his last career wins and, potentially, a final championship. He currently sits ninth in points and 12th in the playoff standings with seven races to go before the 16-driver playoff field is settled. Harvick and his team have plenty of experience to rely on.

“I don’t think anything changes anymore,” Harvick said. “There’s definitely some Hail Marys at work. For me, it doesn’t really change because in 2015 we decided to race every week like it’s a playoff week.”

Harvick was thrust into the Cup Series spotlight in 2001, as he was hired by Richard Childress Racing to drive the renumbered No. 29 car following the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. at the 2001 Daytona 500. He delivered the first of 60 career victories in just his third start at Atlanta, a moment which was honored last weekend at Atlanta when Childress drove the No. 29 car on the pace laps before the race.

In addition to his TV work, Harvick will keep his hands full in retirement. He plans to run several Late Model and Super Late Model cars out of his shop, primarily for drivers represented by his Kevin Harvick Inc. management firm. He and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also have ownership stakes in the CARS Tour, a Late Model division that provides a mix of up-and-coming stars and cagey veterans. Harvick has also started a retail business.

“I want to be full of energy and do things in a different way,” Harvick said. “I’ve learned, and Dale Jr. warned me, that I will be busier out of the car than in the car. During the week, I have to work. My wife will kill me if I didn’t work.”

Loudon’s other four-time winner will also be honored this weekend. Jeff Burton, who won at NHMS in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, will perform double duty as he will serve as the honorary pace car driver in addition to his job as a race analyst for USA.

“I’m honored to be asked to drive the pace car on Sunday,” Burton said in a press release. “NHMS has been a huge part of my career, and it’s humbling to have an opportunity to celebrate my success at the track.”

William Byron, who won last weekend’s rain-shortened thriller at Atlanta, is looking to extend his series-high win total to five. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is looking to buck a trend in which Chevrolet drivers have won only one of the last 16 races at the Magic Mile (Kevin Harvick, 2016).

“We just have to keep up our effort and our performance,” Byron said. “We’re trying as hard as we can every week.”

Byron leads both the points and playoff standings, but the No. 24 team is far from the only contender.

“I would say there’s a consensus of probably eight or nine guys that are in that top, that are championship contenders,” said Kyle Busch, who is second in the playoff standings with three victories. “The 24 is super good every week.”

NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott, enters Loudon needing a win to qualify for the playoffs. Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident earlier this season and missed several races, leaving him currently in 23rd in the playoff standings. There is still an outside chance Elliott could squeeze in on points as positions 15-23 are separated by only 60 points entering this weekend.

He’s not the only driver chasing a playoff berth. Wallace sits one position out of 16th, just three points behind Michael McDowell for the final spot. He knows the easiest way to clinch a playoff berth is to win one of these next seven races.

“We want to win. We have to win,” Wallace said. “We can’t point our way into a championship. Mistakes don’t create points.”

Jason Remillard is a copy editor and page designer for Newspapers of New England. He can be reached at jremillard@recorder.com and followed on Twitter @racinwithjason

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