Kevin Harvick collected a NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2014, and over a career that spanned 826 starts in NASCAR’s premier division, the native of Bakersfield, CA, amassed 60 victories. Soon, Harvick will stake a claim to his place inside the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
On Tuesday afternoon, Harvick and Jeff Burton were elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2027 through the Modern Era Ballot, and Larry Phillips was elected via the Pioneer Era Ballot.
Additionally, Lesa France Kennedy will be honored as part of the Class of 2027 as the Landmark Award recipient.
Harvick, who found himself on the NASCAR Hall of Fame Ballot for the first time, was able to work his way into the Hall as a first-Ballot Hall of Famer.
In 2001, Harvick was thrust into the NASCAR Cup Series full-time following the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Richard Childress chose to carry on, as it’s what Childress vowed privately to Earnhardt he would do if the unthinkable ever happened.
Childress re-numbered the No. 3 car to the No. 29, and instantly, Harvick was tossed into the deep-end of the pool.
Three races later, Harvick found victory lane in a photo finish against Jeff Gordon in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
After 13 seasons with Richard Childress Racing, Harvick moved to Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2014 season. In his first season with SHR, Harvick would claim the NASCAR Cup Series title.
Harvick ended his NASCAR Cup Series career with 826 starts, 60 wins, 251 top-five finishes, and 444 top-10s. Harvick was also a two-time champion in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where he won 47 races, and he was a 14-time race winner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
According to NASCAR, Harvick received 92% of the Modern Era Ballot votes. With 50 votes tallied, this means Harvick was just four votes shy of being a unanimous first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Jeff Burton, known through the garage area as “The Mayor” was a driver, who fought hard for everything he got over 20 full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Burton drove for the Stavola Brothers Racing team in the NASCAR Cup Series in 1994 and 1995, and in 1996, he moved to Roush Racing.
Driving the No. 99 Ford for the Roush organization, Burton burst onto the scene as one of the top drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series over an eight-year stretch. Burton scored his first-career NASCAR Cup Series win at Texas Motor Speedway in 1997, which was the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series event at that 1.5-mile speedway in Fort Worth, TX.
In mid-2004, Burton would move on from Roush Racing, and he would join Richard Childress Racing, where he would race for the remainder of his NASCAR Hall of Fame career.
Burton would finish his NASCAR Cup Series career with 695 starts, 21 victories, 134 top-five finishes, and 254 top-10s. Burton also snagged 27 trophies in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Burton secured his place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame by taking home 32% of the Modern Era Ballot vote.
While Larry Phillips only made one career start in the NASCAR Cup Series, which resulted in a 13th-place finish at Ontario Motor Speedway, that didn’t prevent the native of Springfield, MO, from becoming NASCAR’s version of “Larry Legend”.
Phillips was a prolific racer in the NASCAR Weekly Series, which competes on the regional level in different sectors of the country.
Over his impressive career, Phillips claimed five NASCAR Weekly Series National Championships and was a seven-time NASCAR Weekly Series regional champion, and he claimed 13 track championships over his illustrious career.
Phillips received 38% of the Pioneer Ballot votes to achieve Hall of Famer status.
Lesa France Kennedy, who was named the recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR, is the Executive Vice Chair of NASCAR. Kennedy led the way in the revitalization of Phoenix Raceway, as well as the impressive Daytona Rising project, which saw the modernization of Daytona International Speedway.
Over a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Kennedy has been honored by Forbes, Adweek, Sports Business Journal, the National Women’s History Museum, and she is enshrined in the Cynopsis Sports Hall of Fame.
