NASCAR’s Most Vocal Critics Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin Are All Praises for Efforts Toward Driver Safety

For much of the last season, everyone involved both directly and indirectly to NASCAR, was more or less in unison in one aspect of the newly introduced Next Gen Car – the safety of the drivers. Chief among the critics were two veterans, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. So when the same two names recently ended up praising NASCAR on how they dealt with the concerns around driver safety after the Kyle Larson incident at Talladega, it added extra weight to what other drivers have already expressed.

Ahead of the weekend in Sonoma, it was announced that NASCAR will introduce various safety upgrades by the race in Atlanta. These changes were announced after Ryan Preece T-boned the #5 of Hendrick Motorsports star Kyle Larson at Talladega in an incident that made the fraternity hold its breath.

And NASCAR did not disappoint.

Kevin Harvick on NASCAR’s efforts and where it is headed safety wise

At Sonoma, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick was asked about his take on the whole situation and what he thought about NASCAR’s activity, or proactivity, whichever way you see it.

The #4 driver said, “The concussions are going to be a part of what we do until we keep making progress with the cars but it’s not from a lack of effort or research and I think Talladega was not something that we all wanted to see but also a little bit of data point that we can use to recreate and make things better. I think when you look at the updates of the car and everything that they have done, it’s definitely in the right direction and it’s a temperamental process to make sure you don’t go over the edge but also try to make improvements on the car.”

Some thoughts from veteran drivers on where NASCAR and the Next Gen car is when it comes to safety, from the changes coming to the cars next month to Noah Gragson suffering concussion-like symptoms after his crash last week. What Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski said: pic.twitter.com/S2qCx014vy

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 11, 2023

Harvick, who is set to retire at the end of the season, also commended NASCAR for keeping the teams and drivers updated in the process and making sure they are aware of the changes and upgrades in a timely fashion.

Denny Hamlin echoes the sentiment and lauds NASCAR

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was also asked to give his two cents on the whole safety and upgrade issue, and said, “This is just a kind of an evolution process for Next Gen so it’s just gonna take time to get it all right from a competition and safety perspective. You know I don’t think we did enough proper testing with it before we unveiled it but it is good to see that the changes are getting made and I think we are all confident, especially with the transparency we are showing with the safety stuff.”

 

Some thoughts from veteran drivers on where NASCAR and the Next Gen car is when it comes to safety, from the changes coming to the cars next month to Noah Gragson suffering concussion-like symptoms after his crash last week. What Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman said: pic.twitter.com/ewovaQSyFJ

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 11, 2023

With the stamp of approval coming straight from the biggest detractors, NASCAR is clearly doing something right. Now, one can only hope that for the sake of the drivers, these changes and upgrades are effective before anything serious happens.