Stewart-Haas's Harvick told Kahne he wouldn't take his NASCAR seat
Kevin Harvick has revealed he personally reassured Kasey Kahne he would not be replacing him in the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup team for 2017
Harvick and Stewart-Haas Racing announced a long-term contract extension last week, ending rumours that 2014 Cup champion Harvick was set to move to Hendrick to replace Kahne.
That speculation first arose after news of Stewart-Haas's switch to Ford next season, with Harvick having spent his whole top-line career in Chevrolet machinery.
Harvick said he approached Kahne to dismiss the rumours back "probably two, two-and-a-half months ago".
"The scuttlebutt got so out of control I actually went to Kasey Kahne and said 'look man, here's what's going on: there's not been one person that's called me from your organisation. I want you to have the trust in your team, I want you to believe in your team and I want you to keep working on the things that you're working on because here's where it's at,'" said Harvick.
"I thought that was important for him to know."
Harvick added that moving teams for 2017 would have meant breaking a contract with SHR, and that both parties preferred to extend it anyway.
"I had an automatic two-year extension that the team held," he said.
"It was a mutually agreed restructuring to extend the contract and make it go further so that we could extend our sponsorships and extend our relationships that we had."
He also dismissed any inference that he had been unsettled by the switch to Ford machinery.
"I like the challenges that face us in the future," said Harvick.
"That motivates me.
"There have just been some crazy rumours."
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