NASCAR Cup Series: Was Kevin Harvick’s penalty unfair?

By Asher Fair | Aug 3, 2018

LONG POND, PA - JULY 29: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Mobil 1 Ford (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

Kevin Harvick was given a 10-point penalty after the 21st race of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Gander Outdoors 400. Was this penalty unfair?

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick took the pole position for the 21st races of the 36-race 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Gander Outdoors 400, this past Saturday evening by recording a lap at 177.750 miles per hour (50.633 seconds) around the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Pocono Raceway triangle in Long Pond, Pennsylvania in his #4 Ford.

However, Harvick and 12 other drivers were penalized for failing post-qualifying inspection. As a result, they were all sent to the back of starting grid for this past Sunday’s race, and they were sorted by their respective positions in the Cup Series championship standings. Harvick ended up starting the race in 29th place, and he finished it in fourth.

After the race, 10-point penalties were handed down for these post-qualifying inspection failures. However, only Harvick and Leavine Family Racing’s Kasey Kahne were issued these 10-point penalties.

This has led many people to believe that it is unfair that Harvick was issued this penalty, and it has prompted many people to make claims such as “NASCAR just wants Kevin Harvick to retire” or “NASCAR is rigged for Toyota” — not that people don’t make the second claim every week anyway, but that is totally beside the point for this particular article.

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These claims were made largely due to the fact that Harvick, who currently sits in second place in the Cup Series championship standings, trailed Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who drives the #18 Toyota by 48 points (891 to 843) for the lead of the standings before this 10-point penalty was issued.

Harvick now trails Busch by 58 points in the standings, and with just five races remaining in the regular season, it will be very hard for Harvick to overcome that deficit, win the regular season championship and collect the 15 playoff points that come along with doing so.

As a result, Busch, who was one of the 13 drivers who was sent to the back of the grid for this past Sunday’s race, has a slightly better chance to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in mid-November than he did before Harvick was penalized.

However, was Harvick’s penalty really unfair?

Not at all, and not just because Kahne was also penalized. Before I go any further, NASCAR didn’t penalize Kahne just to make it “look good”, either.

What many people don’t realize is that Harvick and Kahne both failed post-qualifying inspection three times. None of the other drivers who were sent to the back of the starting grid for Sunday’s race failed it three times.

Those 11 drivers failed post-qualifying inspection at least once, as the penalty for failing it once is starting at the rear of the field with a disallowed qualifying time. The penalty for failing it twice is starting at the rear of the field with a disallowed qualifying time along with the ejection of a crew member, likely the car chief. Only after three failures are these two penalties issued along with an additional 10-point penalty, which is what Harvick and Kahne were issued.

In short, Harvick’s penalty was NOT unfair in any way, shape or form. NASCAR simply did their job, and they did it correctly.

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Do you believe that Kevin Harvick’s penalty was unfair, or do you believe that NASCAR had every right to issue it to him? Does knowing that he failed post-qualifying inspection three times affect your opinion?

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