Kevin Harvick leads NASCAR drivers in television mentions

With a Daytona 500 victory and in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career it would seem that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be talked about more than any other driver during telecasts of NASCAR Sprint Cup races.

Not so, as NASCAR’s most popular driver is ranked fifth. Nor is Danica Patrick ranked No. 1 in mentions by NASCAR’s television partners.

Surprisingly, the top position is held by Kevin Harvick, whose name was brought up 2,533 times on television through the halfway point of the season (18 races). That is according to Joyce Julius & Associates, which since the mid-1980s has tabulated media mentions for teams, sponsors and tracks.

Jimmie Johnson (2,326 mentions), Jeff Gordon (2,181), Brad Keselowski (2,056), and Earnhardt (1,950) completed the top five. As for Patrick, she didn’t even crack the top 10; her 602 mentions were 18th-best.

One explanation for why Harvick was so frequently spoken about was his early season success, which included a pair of victories at Phoenix and Darlington and several near-wins elsewhere. A high-profile move to Stewart-Haas Racing this past offseason after 13 years with Richard Childress Racing also likely attributed to Harvick’s increased popularity.

Although Earnhardt wasn’t talked about the most, he did get more interview time factoring total minutes than anyone else. Earnhardt was interviewed 26 minutes, 21 seconds by Fox or TNT, nearly five minutes more than second-place Johnson. However, Johnson was first in total interviews with 32 overall while Earnhardt was second with 29.

All data courtesy of Joyce Julius & Associates.