KANSAS CITY, Kan: Kevin Harvick grabbed the attention of NASCAR and NASCAR nation with his criticism of the Next Gen car in the past week and his arrival at Kansas Speedway this weekend wasn’t any different.
During his media availability Saturday morning at Kansas, Harvick was very candid, outspoken, and calm but incredibly vocal that in his opinion safety in the NextGen car continues to be compromised and the progression speed to make the car safer has lacked.
Following another round of fires with the NextGen car last weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, one that sidelined Harvick and put a dent into his early efforts to contend for his second NASCAR Cup Series championship – the sanctioning body made changes to the car in hopes it will stop that problem.
“The reaction on Tuesday was drastic but way too late,” said Harvick. “As we look at the fire problem for me, I started digging about the whole thing. We’ve seen a lot of these instances and it’s just a really, really slow reaction and I think if the teams were in charge of stuff like that we would have never had more than two fires.
“if the teams were in charge of the whole field because they would have collaborated and not been so slow to react.”
But for Harvick, the fires aren’t just the problem.
He remained critical that the impact of the car during a crash is significantly harder even though NASCAR insists the data showcases otherwise.
“The whole safety thing is really kinda second fiddle right now and I just don’t think that is fair to the drivers,” added Harvick. “I don’t think it’s fair to the drivers and we can debate all day but debating isn’t really fixing anything.
“When I look at the car itself. It’s not rear impacts, it’s not front impacts, it’s not side impacts, it’s all impacts. And no matter what their filter data says, it’s not what the drivers are feeling and we need a louder voice.”
Harvick was even more adamant that money could not be a deterring factor into making the vehicles safer for the sport.
“Safety cannot be about money,” Harvick added. “I’ve lived this, man. I watched when we had all the struggle with Adam (Petty) and Kenny Irwin and it resulted in Dale Earnhardt’s (death at Daytona). And then all of a sudden, it was mandatory to wear the HANS device or it was mandatory to wear the Hutchens device,” he said Saturday.
“We developed soft walls (SAFER barriers). It can’t be slow. Safety cannot be slow. This car is screwed up as far as the way that it crashes. Whether the data says it or not, every driver in this garage will tell you it’s not right and it hurts.
“NASCAR is slow to react and the teams are always worried about money and that doesn’t do anything for the drivers.”
While NASCAR has stated to the drivers that the data shows that the impact of crashes is comparable to the previous car, Harvick remained steadfast that all points of impact hurt with this car.
“The safety cannot be slow,” Harvick added. “This car is screwed up the way it crashes whether the data says it or not. Every driver in this garage will tell you that’s not right and it hurts Feet hurt, hands hurt, head hurts and there has to be a better solution, “NASCAR has been slow to react and the teams are always worried about money and that doesn’t do anything for the drivers.”
“The safety thing should go into a bucket that has a council or board of some sort that handles these types of problems. When it goes into that safety bucket, NASCAR and the teams wouldn’t have a say in it,” he said.
“I’ve been on both sides of this and it’s the reason I didn’t stay on the driver’s council because things were too slow. Like if I was running it, it just happens too slow for me. I think this playing the politically correct, we got to keep our eye on the racing, we got a TV contract coming up – whatever all that is, it’s still not fair to the drivers to be compromised inside of the car, having the slow reaction that we’re having and the not listening to ‘every hit hurts.’
“Because every hit hurts.”
With just nine races to go during the 2022 season, Harvick believes the concern has become an emergency.
“Things have progressed to where we are today but it can’t be that slow. It’s not just the rear-clip – it’s the front clip, rear clip, side – every hit hurts.,” Harvick said. “Now, you’re in an emergency situation because the car doesn’t crash right.
“I don’t what the solution is but I know it needs to be way faster. If you start in the offseason, it’s going to be a complete cluster to try to get it done before the (Busch) Clash. So, where are we headed here? What’s the plan?
Some drivers raised concerns about the car’s safety during its initial testing but in July 2021, an independent panel of experts signed off on the car’s safety following the results of a review of crash test data.
The panel consisted of Dr. James Raddin, who took part in the investigation of the death of the late Dale Earnhardt; Dr. Jeff Crandall, who serves as an engineering consultant to the NFL; Dr. Barry Myers, a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University; and Dr. Joel Stitzel, chair of biomedical engineering at Wake Forest Baptist Health.
In addition, NASCAR meets periodically with the Driver’s Advisory Council and a meeting was held this past Thursday to discuss safety concerns.
Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie and Austin Dillon were among those who took part in the discussion this week alongside council spokesperson and former Cup Series driver Jeff Burton.
“Your data may say it’s the same, but it’s really not the same,” expressed Harvick. “When you start looking at it, and I know Denny has talked about this before, you look at how quick the hits come up and how fast everything accelerates, I think it’s very apparent it’s not the same. The total G (forces) may be the same but the quickness that you get there is very different.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
