More horsepower. More horsepower. More horsepower. That seems to be the two words, the never-ending demand, the seemingly impossible thing to get as of today in NASCAR. After many big names in the garage advocated for more horsepower, Kevin Harvick also shared his take on the subject.
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Speaking on his podcast show after Bristol, Harvick not only revealed why the demands for more power under the hood aren’t as simple in execution as they sound like, but he also tried to give NASCAR a pathway in how to get there.
Harvick claimed that according to him, the reality is that the teams can’t just simply switch over to big horsepower. “Because in the end, there’s no way that the developments of the manifolds, and all the things that are happening in the engines, can’t be different in order to maximize power,” he explained.
“Now, sure, they’re gonna spend the same amount of money on development that they would. But if they have a different horsepower for short tracks and road courses, they would need to have a different engine rotation.”
The recently retired driver emphasized that there’s “more to it” and there needs to be a runway to get there. So how do the teams get there?
Kevin Harvick demands a test with more horsepower from NASCAR
“Well, the first thing we need to do is to put the freaking horsepower in the car at one of these damn tests and let’s see if it’s better,” Kevin Harvick demanded from NASCAR. He pointed to the fact that right now, there are three different engine builders in the sport who can do what their name suggests.
“Please build me an engine and just tell me it’s better. If it’s not, I will shut up. And if it is better, let’s give the engine departments a runway to get there next year so we can have more horsepower,” he claimed.
“If not, let’s just be done with it.”
In the end, Kevin Harvick once again returned to his point of “there’s way more to it” than what meets the eye as he pressed on the need to be fair to the engine shops and give them a proper path about the engine rotation, the development, and everything that would come with this change. But still, Harvick couldn’t wrap his head around why NASCAR isn’t testing more horsepower.
He urged that there should be a little less conversation and a little more action on this subject.
