KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (WGHP) — The Closer will retire in 2023.

Stewart Haas Racing announced on Thursday that the 2023 season will be Kevin Harvick’s last, and that he will retire after the Nov. 5 race at Phoenix Raceway.

The 2023 season will be Harvick’s 23rd season racing and he is currently tied for ninth in the Cup Series’ all-time win list. He is 99 shy of 16,000 career laps.

He will make his 800th career Cup Series start in April at Talladega.

“There is absolutely nothing else in the world that I enjoy doing more than going to the racetrack, and I’m genuinely looking forward to this season,” said Harvick. “But as I’ve gone through the years, I knew there would come a day where I had to make a decision. When would it be time to step away from the car?”

He says that he consulted with others and that it’s been “hard to understand” when the right moment would be, but he intends to spend more time with his two children and his wife DeLana.

Harvick came into the national spotlight in the wake of the loss of racing titan Dale Earnhardt, Sr., who died in a crash in 2001. Richard Childress tapped Harvick, who was an up-and-comer at the time.

His final season will kick off with the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in February before the official start of the 2023 campaign with the 65th annual Daytona 500 Feb. 19.