DARLINGTON, S.C.: A vocal Kevin Harvick lashed out at NASCAR and the new Next Gen car after a fire ended his race in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
It’s no secret that the Stewart-Haas Racing driver has been loud about the safety elements of the Next Gen car this season, but Sunday’s incident enraged the former Cup Series champion further insisting that faulty parts contributed to his 33rd place finish Sunday night.
Harvick struggled at the beginning of Sunday night’s race, but throughout the night, the handling improved on Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Mustang which allowed him to climb inside the top-10 where he hovered until the fire broke out in the heart of Stage 3.
“I’m sure it’s just crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times,” Harvick said. “They haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the safety stuff. We just let it keep going and keep going.
“The car started burning and as it burned the flames started coming through the dash. I ran a couple laps and then as the flame got bigger it started burning stuff up and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out the brakes and part of the brake line, but the fire was coming through the dash. “
Harvick’s anger on Sunday night seemed to stem from a non-racing incident wiped him from contending for not only his third win of the season but earning crucial points in the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Leaving Darlington, Harvick will be seeded last amongst the Playoff drivers, 13 in the arrears to Daniel Suarez who sits in the current cutoff position in 12th.
“What a disaster for no reason,” added Harvick. “We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burned-up car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of crappy-ass parts.
“We just keep letting cars burn up, letting people crash into stuff, get hurt and we don’t fix anything. Now we’re just riding around and cars catch on fire. Just shitty parts.”
Harvick appeared insistent that the leaders of the sanctioning body won’t do anything to improve the ongoing concerns moving forward.
“They don’t care,” Harvick vented. “It’s cheaper to not fix it.
“Find someone to run the show who can run it.”
Some speculated that an engine failure could have bene the culprit of the flames from his race car, but Harvick immediately shot down that down.
“No, I just stopped,” he added. “The rocker was on fire for a couple laps. I just stopped because I couldn’t see anymore because the flames were coming through the dash and I couldn’t make myself sit in there and burn up.”
Shortly after Harvick, JJ Yeley, another Ford went to the garage after flames could be seen from underneath his No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang. He retired in the 34th position with exhaust issues, the same reason Harvick was listed out of the race.
Sunday’s race was at least the fifth time this season a Ford Mustang has suffered issues with fire this season. Earlier this season Chris Buescher and Joey Logano both experienced flames at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Couse, Harvick’s teammate Chase Briscoe had an occurrence at Richmond Raceway and Sunday night with Harvick and Yeley.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
