Kevin Harvick was frustrated with some of NASCAR’s decisions during the race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver had an early exit from the race at Bristol after getting involved in a multi-car incident on the backstretch with Alex Bowman, Corey LaJoie, and Noah Gragson. He came out with right front suspension damage that ended his race.
“The first thing I can tell you is we did a terrible job prepping the track,” Harvick said. “ full of mud and there was nobody here to pack the track, so we all look like a bunch of bozos coming in to pit because we don’t know how to prep the track. And then we don’t get the lucky dog for whatever reason with two cars on pit road, and then we got run over. I don’t know who ran us over at the end.”
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With the grille of his Ford covered in mud, Harvick had to pit on lap 12. On lap 13, NASCAR threw a caution and asked the teams to pit to clean the grille and windshields of their cars. Harvick was deemed to have lost a lap on track as a result. However, he got a free pass to rejoin the leaders on lap 93.
“I had a great car,” Harvick said. “The racetrack was fine; they just did a terrible job to start with. They’ve done this before, but obviously, it doesn’t look like it.”
He was asked about his frustration with NASCAR after the race to which the driver replied: “You can’t talk to them.”
He added that his choice is to not run a dirt race at Bristol.
“I think Bristol is a great racetrack,” he said, “but it must not have been what everybody liked.”
Harvick’s struggle in the Cup Series continues with only one top-five finish so far this season.