The playoff opener at Darlington was anything but great for Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick. After being unlucky with his pit stop penalty, thanks to fellow competitor Tyler Reddick causing Ryan Newman to spin out, Harvick could only muster a 19th-place finish. Had that incident not taken place, the soon-to-retire driver may have had the chance to score a win and move himself out of the bottom four cutoff.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, NASCAR insider Parker Kligerman shared his thoughts regarding the #4 SHR team and how he felt that Darlington was a missed opportunity for them, which could ultimately come back to haunt them.
Kevin Harvick’s loss at Darlington may have been a missed opportunity
While discussing which team had it the worst during the race at Darlington, Parker Kligerman mentioned, “…The team that I want to focus on, and I know that they are in a good position points-wise, still have an opportunity here. But I felt like this race was such a miss for them, and that is the number 4 of Kevin Harvick.”
“That Stewart-Haas Racing team, a team that has struggled to have speed. As of late now only find themselves two points out. But he was in position, that team had put themselves in position to win this race. And with that whole pit issue there, in terms of the #45 slowing down and him beating the #45 to pit road. And then having the light come on and obviously pitting under a closed pit road.”
Kligerman believed Harvick suffered a significant setback with the recent loss. He noted that the pit penalty at Darlington not only affected their points and chances for a race win but also had a demoralizing effect on the team.
“I felt it was such a devastating moment for this team in their playoff hopes. Because I look at the last couple of weeks and how they just seem to not have the speed. They felt like at times, even if they got close, there wasn’t the execution there. And they were doing everything right this past weekend and just didn’t have it come together.”
Harvick’s crew chief revealed why they decided to risk a penalty
Despite entering the pits just as the lights turned red, the #4 team still had the chance to save themselves from that penalty. All they had to do was power on through the pit road and come back in later for their service stop. Yes, that would have completely ruined all of the strategy advantages they had planned all this while. But it could have avoided the penalty right?
Well, as per Harvick’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, “In those 15 seconds, we didn’t know if we made the light or not. So the safe bet was to pit, so if you made the light you would be the leader. Driving thru, and then finding out we made the light would be even more of a disaster.“
It could have also been a case of miscommunication since his spotter had asked not to pit right as the lights turned red. Regardless, they ended up making the decision to get Harvick’s car serviced anyway, and not take any more further risks. But it was unfortunate that he ended up receiving a penalty through little fault of his own.
