Running up front, finishing in the top 10 and leaving with his points lead intact made for a typical Kevin Harvick day during Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
NASCAR New Hampshire: Kevin Harvick ‘disgusted’ by slow pit crew, demands improvement
A pair of slow pit stops prompted Harvick to vent his frustration following Sunday’s race.
Chris Trotman/Getty Images
But as has happened many times previously, Harvick again had to overcome sloppy pit work by his Stewart-Haas Racing team. Twice Harvick pitted during the New Hampshire 301 only to lose multiple positions. On one stop his crew struggled with the lug nuts on the right front wheel. On another an air gun proved problematic.
And on an afternoon when track position was important, those lost spots made a difference. Rather than contending for the victory, Harvick finished fourth. Afterward, he couldn’t mask his frustration.
“I’m disgusted to tell you the truth,” Harvick said. “It’s the same thing every week. We just make mistake after mistake and until we clean that up we don’t have a chance to win races putting ourselves in a hole every time we make a mistake. It sucks because the cars are plenty fast, but we are just not executing.
“We just have to perform better. We under-execute as a team on a weekly basis and got to do a better job.”
This season, Harvick leads all drivers in points and is tied for the lead in top-10 finishes, but has just a single victory. His lone win occurred in March at Phoenix International Raceway.
Pit road gaffes have been a reoccurring problem since Harvick joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. The issue became so pronounced prior to the start of the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff that SHR swapped the pit crews of Harvick and teammate Tony Stewart to give Harvick a better chance at the championship. Harvick would go on to win the title.
On Sunday, he implored changes to be made if he is to win a second championship.
“It’s really going to have to come from the top,” Harvick said. “They’re going to have to clamp down and there is no way we can win a championship like this unless they straighten some of this stuff out.”
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