NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick suffered from crappy-ass parts with a Next Gen DNF; Now, he put it on a t-shirt
In early September, the NASCAR Cup Series visited Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. It was the opening race in the NASCAR Playoffs.
Kevin Harvick exited the race in a ball of flames. No contact took place before the flames erupted, Harvick was just a victum of the design of the Next Gen car.
Ahead of the 2022 season, NASCAR introduced a spec chassis that’s identical from team to team. The idea was to level the playinf field and also reduce development costs for teams.
Beyond the car, many parts and pieces on the car come from a single manufacturer. Teams are unable to adjust those parts, in any way.
On lap 275 of 367, Kevin Harvick’s machine caught fire. This was a result of rubber build up. Flames breached the firewall, reached the cockpit and forced the driver to come to a stop.
Kevin Harvick’s crew chief vocal on NASCAR fire; Deletes tweets
Kevin Harvick blames crappy parts for NASCAR fire at Darligton (Video)
“I’m sure it’s just the crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times,” Kevin Harvick told NBC after exiting the infield care center.
Just a few days following the fire, NASCAR was reactive. They adjusted the rule book, to help prevent fire from rubber buildup.
Harvick was unable to advance into the Round of 12 in the following two races in the Round of 16. He suffered eliminated at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Rules Change: Darlington fire brings update
Crappy-ass Parts 4 Less T-Shirt
And now, brilliance has kicked in. Kevin Harvick has listed a crappy-ass parts 4 less t-shirt via his online store.
The description of the shirt states, “If flames are your game, add a crappy-ass parts shirt to your cart.”
The shirt is currently absent from the official Stewart-Haas Racing online store. However, it’s listed as a pre-order via Happy’s E-Shop, the official online store for Kevin Harvick.
Pre-order are accepted until October 3, 2022. The shirts are expected to ship on October 17, 2022.
Click here to view the online store
Dale Earnhardt Jr comments
“I would love one of those shirts,” Dale Earnhardt Jr stated via the Dale Jr Download.
“As much as I would be absolutely furious, if I was them. And the reason they can be furious is because when they look at these parts that they’re putting on these cars, they can see 100% … Rodney Childers and all these guys go, ‘If you give me five minutes, I could fix this thing, where it won’t break.’ “
“But, they can’t touch it. They can’t modify it. They buy these parts from a provider and they are not allowed to alter them. Even to make them safer or stronger.”
“But, they can look at it and see, ‘Aw man, that’s not good.’ That’s the frustrating for them.”
The race at Bristol we saw another issue with the Next Gen car. The steering box failure for multiple teams. However, as with things in the past, NASCAR will address and fix those issues.
“As a viewer, there’s a part of me that wants every car to be pushed to its limits. I’ve always felt that at some point, you make the cars so bulletproof that you never question, an engine failure was freaking rare.”
Dale Jr added, “We got a car that will eventually, after a few more bugs get worked out of it, will be unbreakable. Then, you got a tire that don’t wear. That’s just not going in the right direction.”
NASCAR addresses ‘crappy parts’ on NextGen at Bristol
