Kevin Harvick delivers a brutally honest verdict on the terrifying pit road incident in Bristol
Kevin Harvick shared his take on John Hunter Nemechek's pit road incident at Bristol Motor Speedway. The former NASCAR driver reacted to a close call where a loose wheel nut nearly caused a serious accident.
During the Food City 500, Shane Van Gisbergen spun from a contact with Cody Ware. The ensuing caution saw Nemechek roll into the pits for fresh rubber. However, his pit crew failed to properly secure the left-rear wheel of his No.42 Toyota.
As he exited the pit stall, his lug nut detached, causing his wheel to come off and roll down the pit road. The loose wheel almost missed an unsuspecting crew member from Daniel Suarez's No.99 team before slamming into the rear of his Chevy.
During an episode of his podcast Happy Hour, Harvick delivered a take on the incident.
"This could've been a lot worse. You’ll see the lug nut fly off the car right there. Rolling down the pit boxes right there as he continued to drive off, the wheel and tire came off the car to outrun his car and took a beline straight towards 99 of Daniel Suarez but that tire changer running around the car right there look how close that is." Kevin Harvick said. (16:47)
Next Gen Cars have a single, center locking lug nut instead of a traditional five-lug system. The change was aimed at producing faster pit stops, but also placed all the risk in a single point of failure.
The Legacy Motor Club driver was penalised for the pit road mishap and sent to the rear of the field. However, his team avoided any penalty since the incident was contained within the pit stalls.
Meanwhile, Suarez's team was hit with a penalty of their own, as they let a wheel loose and impeded a neighbouring team's fueler during the commotion.
Kevin Harvick backs Kyle Larson's take on Xfinity drivers
Kyle Larson attempted a second triple-header of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway. After a second-place finish in the Truck Series, the Cup champion secured consecutive victories in the Xfinity and Cup Series events.
After his two wins, Larson joined Kevin Harvick's Victory Lane and discussed the pace gap between Cup and Xfinity Series drivers. He criticized NASCAR's regulations limiting Cup drivers in the lower-tier series, arguing that junior drivers needed to be exposed to top-tier competition.
Reflecting upon the same, Harvick addressed the impact of Cup Series drivers in the junior series.
"He's right...they teach you where to run on the race track, they teach you that you can drive your car harder, they teach you that you can run down pit road faster, they teach you all the things that you need to be taught," Kevin Harvick said via Happy Hour . (0:34)
Kyle Larson previously felt short of a three-race sweep at Homestead-Miami, where he came home with wins in the Truck and Cup Series races.