NASCAR disqualifies first driver of 2023 at Talladega
By Asher Fair
Kevin Harvick initially finished in second place at Talladega Superspeedway, but he has since been totally disqualified by NASCAR from the YellaWood 500.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick came within 0.012 seconds of securing his first win in his 23rd and final season of NASCAR Cup Series competition in Sunday afternoon’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
He finished in second place behind Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who now owns three victories at the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval by a combined 0.026 seconds.
But Harvick officially finished in 38th place.
After the race, the No. 4 Ford was found to have not had its windshield fasteners secure. As a result, Harvick was disqualified from the race, moving everybody else (other than Blaney) up by one spot on the official results sheet.
Kevin Harvick is the first driver to be disqualified from a NASCAR Cup Series race during the 2023 season.
In fact, his disqualification is the first across all three NASCAR national series — Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Truck Series — in 2023.
Most notably, Harvick’s disqualification means that Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron finished in second place and that Spire Motorsports’ Corey LaJoie and Front Row Motorsports part-time driver Riley Herbst secured career-high finishes of fourth and ninth, respectively.
Harvick’s disqualification also affected the stage results, since he is now scored in last place throughout the entire event, not just the end of the race.
However, the only change to the playoff standings is that Trackhouse Racing Team’s Ross Chastain is now 10 points behind the round of 8 cut line, which currently sits below RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski, instead of nine.
Because Harvick’s disqualification only moved the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet from 38th to 37th place in the final order, Chastain did not gain a point, as all drivers who finish outside of the top 35 score just a single point. All other drivers (other than Blaney, who locked himself into the round of 8 anyway) gained one point.
Harvick did initially score three stage points, but the drivers who gained stage points because of his disqualification are not among the drivers in the round of 12.
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The round of 12 finale is scheduled to take place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval this Sunday, October 8. The Bank of America Roval 400 is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss it!