Here are some highlights from Kevin Harvick’s media availability on Friday morning at Phoenix, where he addressed the penalty issued to his team this week.
— On his previous success at Phoenix:
“Nobody wants to talk about that. Let’s just go to the first question. They all have the stats.”
— On whether NASCAR issued a penalty in response to social media posts:
“The car passed all the Optical Scanning Station inspections and everything after the race. The car was built to tolerance. The scary part for me is the fact that (NASCAR) went far enough to find something on the car at the NASCAR R&D Center. They could find something wrong with every car if they took it apart for a whole day at the R&D Center.
“The (incorrect) side skirt material is on us. That rule was put into place Feb. 18 and it should have been aluminum, but ours was steel. That is really kind of the meat of what gave them the ability to actually get the fine to where it was meaningful enough to appease everyone on social media.”
— On social media posts leading to NASCAR’s additional scrutiny:
“If you look at Atlanta, the car was there the week before. Same team, same window bracing, same roof, same side skirts, same everything. It was in the R&D Center the week before (for inspection). It has been there 49 times in three years. Technicalities.”
— On photos of other cars (some from races last year) with similarly dented roofs:
“If we want to officiate it with fan pictures, if you want to officiate it with pictures during the race and call people to pit road and do those types of things — from a NASCAR standpoint. I am fine with that. As long as it is consistent. As you can see from a lot of the pictures roaming around on the internet this week, it is not consistent.”
“You could have called the window attached to the brace penalty on 20 cars last week, easy.”
— On why seven playoff points were taken away if the penalty wasn’t big enough to suspend crew chief Rodney Childers:
“That is the other confusing part about the penalty. If it is such a big deal, why is my crew chief still here? I don’t understand that.”
— On the penalty detracting from the conversation about racing:
“As a sport, you don’t want to be talking about penalties. We are right back to where we were with the LIS machine and all the conversations we had about that. The conversations that went away (because of the new Optical Scanning Station) are now right back into play. We have an encumbered win.”
— On how to stop social media from influencing penalties:
“Keep your executives off of it during the race.”
— On the impact of the penalty:
“It just motivates us. I can’t wait to win another race and jump up and down in victory lane on the back of my car.”
Column: Why nothing feels good about Kevin Harvick’s penalty
Excellent job Kevin. You concisely addressed a half dozen points about your team’s post-race adventure. The main point is, the steel side skirts came close to justifying the penalty. The window brace deal was mainly NASCAR “firing for effect”… All teams will be “by the book” with their window braces for the rest of the season.
As far as the post-race forensic exam at the tech center, I lump that in with things like identical car bodies for a 4-door Fusion, a Camaro and a 4-door Camry… NASCAR ignoring the wishes of the fans. I remember this quote from a couple of decades ago. Captain Sparrow said, ” NASCAR doesn’t issue rules; they’re more like ‘guidelines’.”
By the way, I’m mainly a Tony Stewart/Gene Haas fan. In sports today, it seems like the owners and coaches are getting way more important than the players… Not a good thing!
Sorry Jeff, I also meant to say you did a great job of formatting this article. Most writers would have simply printed blurbs from Harvick’s statements. Your categorizing the quotes made everything easy to read and understand. Keep up the good work!
I agree with Kevin on the the inconsistency of the pics on social media and the inconsistency of penalties. If Denny Hamlin had given those answers and comments regarding NASCAR, it would have resulted with a fine. That is the inconsistency that bothers me the most! Great job, Jeff….as always.
I agree with Kevin on the the inconsistency of the pics on social media and the inconsistency of penalties. If Denny Hamlin had given those answers and comments regarding NASCAR, it would have resulted with a fine. That is the inconsistency that bothers me the most! Keep up the great work, Jeff.
How was certain things missed pre race inspection?????????? I am sure if it was another manufacturer, their favorite. Nothing would have been done. NASCAR has created this mindset like mine, with their obvious favoritism towards certain manufacturers. Consistency WITH ALL TEAMS is what we ask for! No matter who contributes more coin to Brian’s bank account! Wow, what a dream, a moral and just dream!
Another fair and concise presentation. Thank you Jeff.