NASCAR Xfinity Series: Kevin Harvick should stop complaining

By Asher Fair | Sep 2, 2018

DARLINGTON, SC - SEPTEMBER 01: Ross Chastain, driver of the #42 DC Solar Chevrolet, leads Kevin Harvick, driver of the #98 Hunt Brothers Pizza Throwback Ford, during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 at Darlington Raceway on September 1, 2018 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images) /

Following his accident in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway, Kevin Harvick was not happy. But at this point, he should stop complaining.

Over the past few years, 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick has become the king of hot takes in addition to one of the best drivers in the sport. The thing is, whether you like it or not, he’s usually right when he makes what are typically seemingly bold claims.

But after his accident in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, it would be best for the 42-year-old Bakersfield, California native to stop complaining for the sole purpose of saving himself from looking foolish.

On lap 111 of the 147-lap Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington Raceway oval in Darlington, South Carolina, Harvick challenged Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ross Chastain, who started the race from the pole position, for the lead.

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Harvick dove to the inside of Chastain’s #42 Chevrolet in his #98 Ford heading into turn one, and he tried to pull off the pass coming out of turn two. In doing so, he hit Chastain, sending the 25-year-old Alva, Florida native into the wall.

Chastain, who won the race’s first two stages and a field-high 90 of its laps, was clearly not happy that Harvick put him into the wall with 37 laps to go in an attempt to take the lead, and he got revenge. As the two drivers made their way down the back straightaway, Harvick was on Chastain’s inside. But Chastain made sure that this did not last, as he slammed into the right rear of Harvick’s car, sending him spinning and causing him to hit the wall, effectively ending his race.

Here is a video of this feud.

Here is what Harvick had to say about the matter, according to Sporting News.

"“Got a really inexperienced guy in a really fast car. Made a really bad move and then wrecked me. Probably the reason that he’ll never get to drive many of them again.”"

I agree that NASCAR needs drama. But as far as drama goes, is a Cup Series regular putting an Xfinity Series driver into the wall and then crying about retaliation really the best the sport has to offer? Not a chance.

Plus, there is already a debate about whether or not Cup Series regulars should be driving in Xfinity Series races. The fact that Harvick, who could score a maximum of zero points in this race, put a full-time Xfinity Series driver, one who is competing for the championship and currently in the mix to make the playoffs, into the wall and then insulted him for retaliating certainly does not help the case of Cup Series regulars in this debate, at least not in the eyes of the fans.

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Harvick, like any driver, has the right to be upset at the fact that he was wrecked, and even as a full-time Cup Series driver, he has the right to try to win Xfinity Series races. But him lashing out at Chastain on a deeper level than simply expressing his frustration at the fact that he was wrecked when he was the one who started it by putting Chastain into the wall is pushing it.

Many fans have likened Cup Series drivers winning Xfinity Series races as “stealing candy from a baby”. Harvick is essentially complaining about the fact that one of the “babies” would not tolerate his “stealing” without putting up a fight, as if that “baby” is just supposed to stand by and put up with being shoved into the wall.

I’m pretty sure if Chastain, who also competes on nearly a full-time basis in the Cup Series but is not eligible for points in the series because of his status as a full-time Xfinity Series driver, had a more competitive Cup Series car and put Harvick, who is competing for the Cup Series championship, into the wall late in the race, Harvick would also retaliate.

Just look at the fact that Harvick moved Kyle Busch out of the way to win the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July. After that, Busch made it clear that “how you race is how you get raced”.

That held true at Darlington Speedway. Harvick put Chastain into the wall in a race that clearly meant far more for Chastain than it did for Harvick, and Chastain got revenge. Harvick’s complaints are essentially those of a father publicly complaining about his son and calling him a no-talent bum for beating him at his own game, a game that only truly means anything to his son,

The fact that even Harvick can take his own complaints seriously is amusing in a way that is not necessarily beneficial to NASCAR in the short run or the long run.

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Do you believe that Kevin Harvick went too far with his criticism of Ross Chastain following the incident between the two drivers in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, or is he right to say what he had to say about Chastain after Chastain intentionally spun him out?

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