DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kevin Harvick lashed out at NASCAR and the new car after a fire ended his race early in Sunday’s Southern 500.
Harvick, who has been a critic of NASCAR’s safety efforts this year with the Next Gen car, was upset when a fire developed in his car and forced him to stop. He finished 33rd and will among the four drivers below the cutline going into next weekend’s playoff race at Kansas Speedway.
Asked by NBC Sports’ Marty Snider what caused the fire, Harvick said:
“I’m sure it’s just crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times. 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.
“What a disaster for no reason. 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.”
Asked if it was an engine issue that caused the fire, Harvick said:“No, I just stopped. 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.”
The finish dropped Harvick to last in the playoff standings. He has 2,016 points. Harvick is 13 points behind Daniel Suarez, who holds the final transfer spot to the second round with two races left in this round.
A frustrated Kevin Harvick explains what happened inside the car as it caught fire. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/VK35Bal3kv
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 5, 2022
Kevin Harvick's car bursts into flames! #NASCARPlayoffs
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 5, 2022
📺 : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/WWW53y2y3d
Complete bullshit… Was going to be a great night…
— Rodney Childers (@RodneyChilders4) September 5, 2022
