Despite a jaw-dropping photo finish at Talladega Superspeedway, Stewart-Haas Racings’ Kevin Harvick seemingly did not have a great day. Soon after the race was finished NASCAR announced that the #4 car of Harvick had been disqualified from the race. This was owing to missing windshield fasteners observed on his car after the race.
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Later on, while speaking on the Motorsports on NBC podcast, former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte took his time to explain why NASCAR was correct in enforcing the rules to disqualify Harvick, despite the infraction not being intentional.
Steve Letarte elaborates on why Kevin Harvick was disqualified at Talladega
During the conversation regarding Harvick’s disqualification, Letarte mentioned, “First thing I’ll say is if Rodney says it was unintentional, sure I’ll believe him but intent doesn’t matter. The bolts have to stay tight. ”
He added that it was the team’s responsibility to make sure that the car had been adequately prepared since there could be potentially several unfair advantages if someone messed with the windshield.
“You can have the top of the window, kind of grow with temperature and create a trip which which reduces drag. You can let the front window not be sealed very well which creates some high pressure inside the cockpit, which also reduces drag. So you know, I’m not going to say here what exactly happened because in the end… I know it is awful to say, but it doesn’t matter how it happened.,” added Letarte.
“The simple fact is the bolts must be tight. They aren’t tight. Therefore it’s against the rules. The four-car DQ’d. I applaud NASCAR this had to be an uncomfortable situation for a guy in his last season to throw him out, out of the second-place finish. But I liked that NASCAR is sticking strong with the rulebook.”
He further noted that the only way people would follow the rulebook was if it was enforced in both “good and bad” circumstances. Hence, he believed that NASCAR did not have any other choice but to disqualify Harvick despite this being his last season.
What did Rodney Childers say about Harvick’s missing windshield fasteners?
Not so long after the conclusion of the race and the SHR driver being DQed, his crew chief Rodney Childers took to social media to share their side of the story. In a series of posts, Childers noted that the bolts flying out over the course of the race had not been intentional.
Nope.. I said exactly what happened, just like I always do. Sad thing is people don’t want the truth. They just want to believe what they want.
30 to go every bolt was still in. 20 to go two were gone. So 448 miles we’re good, and unfortunately 52 were not. It sucks for sure.. https://t.co/VzGCEee3wv
— Rodney Childers (@RodneyChilders4) October 2, 2023
Instead, they had ensured by several means to keep them in place. But according to the footage they reviewed, the bolts unscrewed and flew away mid-race. In a separate post, he noted, “We have always used black RTV silicone. Have never had issues with that. But obviously did this time. You can’t use Loctite with Lexan. The chemicals in it crack and it shatters the lexan around the bolts.“
Now with the DQ in place, SHR has decided not to appeal any of the decisions put in place by NASCAR. It makes sense, there had been some mistake on their part. Additionally, Harvick is out of the playoffs in the first round, so there would not be any purpose to try and challenge the verdict.
