Kevin Harvick didn’t lose final NASCAR race. Like all greats, he just ran out of time

Kevin Harvick had done so well holding onto his emotions up until that point — a tallboy Busch Light in his hand, an easy smile on his face, his presence holding court with a swarm of teammates and friends and media around him.

That all changed, though, when he was reminded of something he heard during Sunday’s pace laps.

“Good luck Dad!” Piper Harvick, Kevin’s daughter, said over the radio.

“Thank you Piper!” a surprised Harvick responded.

When asked about that moment, Harvick, after finding a way to hold off tears all day in his final NASCAR race in his legendary career, felt tears well up inside him.

“Yeah, well, that’s not normal,” Harvick said, trying to joke his way through the emotions that come from stepping out of the No. 4 Cup car for the last time. “They probably loved that. So ...”

He trailed off, stepped away, gave his kids a big group hug and tried to collect himself.

It’s true Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series championship on Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway, the driver of the No. 12 car holding off series wins leader William Byron and generational talent Kyle Larson to do it.

It’s true, also, that Ross Chastain was the one who actually finished in first place Sunday. The TrackHouse Racing driver has become known for being a disruptor in the sport and lived up to that billing this weekend when he became the first non-Championship 4 driver to win the final race since Denny Hamlin did in 2013, during Jimmie Johnson’s reign as champion.

But immediately after the race, the person so many people gravitated to was Harvick, standing just outside his car on pit lane, holding off tears. The 2014 champion, for so long the sport’s voice of reason, had a valiant final run. He led a third-most 23 laps, getting out front early, and then hung around in the Top 10 all day before finishing seventh. Everyone around him felt his presence, from Chastain, who said he was “emotional” on a late-race restart when he was running next to him, to Larson to Byron, even champion Blaney.

“It was a tough week,” Harvick said. “A tough week with everything going on. Lots to do. And for me, it’s been a great ride. I don’t have anything to complain about. And I can kind of close the book on our own.”

They felt his presence afterward, too. His daughter, Piper, and his teary-eyed son, Keelan, certainly did. So did his wife DeLana. Rodney Childers, his crew chief and one of his best friends, gave him a big hug on pit lane. Tony Stewart, his championship-winning co-owner and friend, shared his congratulations. Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Ryan Preece and Chase Briscoe stopped by to share their thanks. So many others — a meek Tyler Reddick and some pit crew guys and engineers and even some sneaky fans — walked over as well.

Even though he didn’t notch a win in his final season (a stated goal), even though he couldn’t get out of the Round of 16 this playoffs, even though he’s leaving the sport in which he’s so long been Mr. Consistent, clearing a void that will need to be filled by another leader — Sunday wasn’t a loss.

“This really hasn’t been about wins or losses,” Harvick said, downloading his final day.

After he fulfilled his media obligation, he offered a cheers to the throng of Anheuser-Busch blue-wearing people around him. He seemed to linger on pit road as long as he could. It wasn’t until a little over an hour of talking to everyone on pit road that he hopped in a golf cart and headed into the retirement-tinted sunset.

It seemed as if he knew he had a shot to win so long as he stayed on the pavement.

As if he couldn’t lose.

As if, like all greats, he’d either win or run out of time.