“It’s not okay to quit”: Kevin Harvick on how he plans to keep his teams’ motivation high despite NASCAR playoffs exit

Kevin Harvick crashed out of his final NASCAR Cup Series playoff appearance following a disastrous outing at Bristol Motor Speedway. The #4 Stewart Haas Racing driver was uncharacteristically slow at the half-mile oval as he finished 29th and five laps down on the leader.

Even after being eliminated from the championship battle, Harvick doesn't want his #4 team to be demotivated. The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion wants to bow out of the sport on a high as he reckons "it's not OK to quit."

Kevin Harvick revealed that growing up as a teenager he had learned to accept failures but it was never ok to quit. The 47-year-old still operates with the same mindset as he aims to rebound from the disappointing result last weekend.

“That’s just something from when I wrestled in high school and raced our Late Models, it was always pounded into my head that it’s OK to not be good, but it’s not OK to quit. It’s never OK to not give it 100 percent," he said to Speedway Media.

"It’s never OK to quit grinding away for every single second of whatever it is you’re doing because you’re letting yourself down."

Heading into the final stretch of races, the veteran driver clearly understands his position at Stewart Haas Racing and doesn't want to let his team down.

“And in this deal, you’re not only letting yourself down, you’re letting your whole team down, and I think that’s contagious because nobody ever lets down...," he said.

"Sometimes it’s just about grinding away and doing the little things right. You don’t have to be the fastest, but if you just do more right than everybody else, you’re probably going to be pretty successful...” he added.

With the #4 SHR team no longer under playoff pressure, Kevin Harvick is hoping to make the best out of his final seven starts in the NASCAR Cup Series career.

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Kevin Harvick is hopeful of repeating his past success at the Texas Motor Speedway

The #4 Stewart Haas Racing driver has an impressive record at Texas Motor Speedway, having won three races on the 1.5 oval. All of his three wins have come in his last 15 Cup starts at the track and also collected nine top-five finishes, including three second-place finishes.

Kevin Harvick and family in the victory lane in 2019

Harvick will be paying one last visit to the track this weekend and hopes to repeat his past success.

“Texas has been a good racetrack for us – old configuration, new configuration – and it’s one of those places that has just fit what we do. Hopefully, it’s the same way this year, but Texas has been a lot of fun to race at for us,” Harvick said about his impressive record on the 1.5-mile oval.

With Kevin Harvick's retirement just a couple of months away, fans hope to see 'The Closer' win one last time before he puts an end to his storied career.