Kevin Harvick has been disqualified after post-race tech inspection following the YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega. The ruling found that Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing Ford did not have its windshield fasteners secure, which could have resulted in an unfair advantage against the field.
The disqualification comes after Harvick led several laps coming to the finish of the race and lost to Ryan Blaney by a very small margin. Harvick was initially scored in the second position and it was his best recorded finish at the track since 2010.
This was the first driver disqualification since Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified from the first and second positions at Pocono Raceway last season due to unapproved pieces of tape.
SHR will not appeal the penalty, it said in a Monday (Oct. 2) statement.
Who had the loose rear window braces a year or so ago? That’s right, it was Harvick.
The podcast Door Bumper Clear brought up a good question. If Harvick won, would he have still been disqualified? They would have removed him from the playoffs over that?
A loose windshield is considered a major safety issue. The bolts were in place during pre-race but backed out during the race. The team stated they used silicon to secure the bolts. Since when did a caulking compound replace LocTite as a way to secure a bolt?
This penalty sucks! If the car passed pre-race inspection and wasn’t modified, how can there be a penalty?
Maybe its like the Mark Martin intake penalty — It is not illegal but we don’t like it!
Maybe NA$CAR was trying to manipulate and manufacture 10 more points for some other guy?
Didn’t they take a win from Mark Martin (post race) at Richmond years ago.
Two things. It didn’t give Harvick that much of an advantage, he still lost by a foot. Second, didn’t Ryan Blaney have the same kind of violation last year in the All-Star Race, but NASCAR didn’t disqualify Ryan. Maybe SHR shouldn’t poke the Bear so much.
Window net
And pre race inspection is for what purpose?
NASCAR is still penalizing this team for switching to Fords.
No, they very much penalized themselves by switching to Fords
….and Richard Perry was over by how much! and still kept the win?
I don’t mean to be Petty but….