Mike Harmon (racing driver)

Michael Joseph Harmon (born January 24, 1958) is an American professional

NASCAR career

Harmon made his NASCAR debut in 1996 driving the No. 24 Chevrolet at South Boston Speedway, where he finished 31st after a transmission failure. He ran seven more races in the car that season, with a best finish of 23rd, but a sponsorship struggle caused his team to close down. He was scheduled to return to NASCAR in 1999, when he signed with

Harmon drove his own No. 74 Chevrolet in the 2011 season, running approximately half the season's races; he also competed in several Truck Series races later in the year. He returned to the Nationwide Series in the No. 74 in 2012 and 2013.^[2]

In the 2020 Xfinity season opener at Daytona, Harmon scored a career high finish of 16th.

2002 Bristol crash

Harmon is also famous for an incident at Bristol Motor Speedway in August 2002. Harmon was practicing his No. 44 car, when he crashed into the track's infield entry gate in Turn 2. The gate was improperly secured when Harmon's car crashed into it causing it to swing open. His car then impacted the end of the concrete wall head-on. The impact was so violent, the car was nearly split in half. The remnants of the vehicle were then struck by the car of Johnny Sauter, fortunately hitting the half that Harmon was not sitting in. Harmon walked away from the crash unharmed.^[3]

Mike Harmon Racing

For the last several years, Harmon has primarily competed in NASCAR driving his self owned 74 car in the Xfinity Series, as well as part-time in the 74 truck for his own team, with additional drivers filling out the schedule. Harmon is one of only two teams that still fields a Dodge Challenger in NASCAR and one of the few remaining owner/drivers. Harmon's team usually relies on week to week sponsorships to help keep his team open. In 2017, the team partnered with Veterans Motorsports Inc., a company that provides jobs for veterans; in accordance with the deal, MHR allowed veterans to work for the team.^[4]

The team also fields vehicles in the Truck Series, with the ride being filled primarily by Jordan Anderson. Anderson left the team after the 2015 season. Harmon attempted several races in early 2016, but failed to qualify. Tim Viens failed to qualify at Atlanta and he made the race at New Hampshire. Viens also withdrew at Las Vegas. Paige Decker ran at Martinsville. Jordan Anderson returned to the team at the penultimate race at Phoenix. Harmon formed partnerships with teams last year to get his truck on track. Faith Motorsports partnered with Harmon at Iowa but failed to qualify with Donnie Levister. They also attempted to run Bristol with Levister, but the team withdrew. Harmon partnered with Brandonbilt Motorsports at Texas (spring) with Viens driving. Harmon also partnered with Bolen Motorsports at Las Vegas, also with Viens driving. The team returned in 2017 at Daytona with Anderson, who failed to qualify.

In 2019, MHR partnered with Rick Ware Racing to field the No. 17. The following year, the team expanded to include a No. 47 car in addition to the primary No. 74.^[5]

In 2020, Harmon only ran the plate races in the No. 74 to make way for other drivers to drive his car. Joe Nemechek, Bayley Currey and Kyle Weatherman all drove races in the 2 cars. In the end, Currey went full-time in the 74 and Weatherman went full-time in the 47. The same lineup remained for 2021.

In 2021 at Phoenix Raceway, Currey got his & the teams best finish ever, finishing 7th.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Car No. 74 History

In 2011, Harmon debuted the team and No. 74 at Auto Club Speedway, start and parking after 3 laps and finishing 43rd. The next race the No. 74 attempted was at Texas Motor Speedway with J. J. Yeley behind the wheel, who parked the car after 5 laps. That season, Harmon ran 14 races and Yeley ran 2, all of them being start and parks.

In 2012, Harmon remained to start and park the car, with Kevin Lepage, Rick Crawford, David Green and Scott Riggs being brought in for one race apiece.

During 2013, Harmon began to bring in many new drivers. That season, Harmon himself only drove seven races, with Kevin Lepage, Juan Carlos Blum, Danny Efland, Carl Long and Kevin O'Connell running races. Notably, the team did not start and park in most races they entered that year. O'Connell scored the team their best non-superspeedway finish up to then, a 22nd-place finish at Road America while staying on the lead lap. Harmon also scored their best finish up to then at Daytona, finishing 17th on the lead lap.

Harmon ran most races in

For

In 2016 the team would qualify for 25 races in 29 attempts - Harmon attempted 26, Nicolas Hammann attempted (and made) 2, with Roger Reuse returning for Mid-Ohio. The 74 car’s best finish was 24th in the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 with Harmon behind the wheel.

In

For the

In 2019, the 74 made 31 races. There was a more vast lineup of drivers this year, with Harmon making 18, Kyle Weatherman making 3, Tyler Matthews making 2, Camden Murphy making 2, and veteran Joe Nemechek making 2. The drivers who made one race in the 74 were - Dan Corcoran, Bayley Currey, Nicolas Hammann and Aaron Quine. The 74 scored 2 top 20’s that season - Hammann finishing 15th in the CTEH Manufacturing 180, and Currey finishing 20th in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300.

The 74 got a complete revamp in

Legal issues

On May 15, 2013, Harmon was arrested and charged with stealing a hauler and racing equipment belonging to fellow competitor

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

Daytona 500

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

ARCA Racing Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References