Kevin Harvick looked poised to return to victory lane and grab what may have been the final win of his NASCAR Cup Series career in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Instead, he will have to wait once again after a controversial pit road penalty left him below the cut line.
And with all of the storylines surrounding the playoff drivers at Darlington, Carson Hocevar was quietly one of the most impressive figures from the Southern 500 in his second Cup start. Why should you be focusing more on that run than what its been given credit for?
Frontstretch‘s Luken Glover addresses this week’s comments on NASCAR Mailbox on Frontstretch‘s YouTube Channel. Find out in the assessments below.
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a news writer before elevating to a columnist, where he served as the longtime writer for The Underdog House. Currently, he is an editor for the site and conducts feature interviews. Glover has covered several forms of racing for the site including NASCAR, CARS Tour, and SRX events.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a promotional writer, elementary athletic director, and basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.
The “closer” is any driver who leads at the end of the last lap.
“I was committed. I was past the commitment line. There’s no way to turn back out. I don’t know how you turn back out. ” – Harvick protests on the radio
Then he should have driven through and minimize the mistake. He knows what to do. Even if the crew chief says to stop. The drive through would have cost him a few positions but not go to the back.
Harvick was named the closer by those in the booth. But during Kevin’s career, Jimmie Johnson was the real closer.
Chad made jimmy. No one in the history of nascar ever benefited more from their crew chief than jimmy. That damn man always picked the right time to either pit for 2, 4 or just gas. I thought evernham was the best, but chad just kept making the right call. No doubt jimmy was one of the best drivers, but Chad’s calls probably gave him 25% of his wins and he definitely wouldn’t win 7 in Earnhardts time.
With that logic then NASCAR created Richard Petty. He was allowed to run illegal cars most of his career. Side note, he won his 7 championships when only a few drivers ran all of the races.
I wonder how kany drivers today would be able to run all the races if they wrecked their car on Wednesday and had to race again on Thursday in another state?