Ultimately, Kevin Harvick believes the Cookout Clash on Wednesday was a messy affair not because of the winter weather or the tires used because of them but rather how drivers inevitably respond to being pushed around.
The comments were made on Thursday during the latest episode of his Happy Hour YouTube show in response to a question from co-host Kaitlyn Vincie about the well-documented officiating woes that night.
“I think there were definitely some moments that could have been officiated smoother,” Harvick said. “This event is so unique because we don't count caution laps (and) we had rain and sleet in the second half, so when the things started happening and when the event started to become a wet-weather event, I just wish we weren’t so tentative -- especially at the Clash.
Harvick said NASCAR continues to show a little trepidation when it comes to putting drivers on wet weather tires.
"I've driven the cars on the wet weather tires before, and I know we had the wipers, but I didn't turn them on because to me it didn't work," Harvick said. "I'd rather just have the Rain-X wiped on the window. It's a tough decision but either we're in the rain business or out of it. If we're going to have rain tires, and it starts raining, and there's not standing water, and there was not, we're not going very fast."
To wit, Harvick just didn't like losing valuable time on over-the-air FOX waiting to dry the track and decide if NASCAR really wanted to do this.
“If you’ve got the wet weather tires in the pits, give them five minutes, put the tires on, send them out on the racetrack and let’s go," Harvick added. "We heard it from several of them -- Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, guys on the radio saying, ‘Let’s go.’”
“It took 15, 20, 30 minutes. Whatever it was. It pushed us off the air, out of our broadcast window. It pushed us to FS2. I know we're nervous for the safety of the competitors. There's really not a lot to be worried about. There was also the spray, which was never an issue because we're going so slow there."
As for the rash of cautions, Harvick pinned that purely on the drivers, because he's been in their shoes when the 2023 Clash devolved into a similar dynamic in dry conditions at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
"With the double file restarts, I wish we could have gotten them a little more strung out," Harvick said. "The only time they learn what's happening with wet weather tires is during the race. They don’t know how far to drive it in the corner. They don’t know where to run on the race track. The middle lane was like ice with the rubber, sliding and spinning the tires. ...
"Now, this particular situation turned into a shit show. I was in this situation at the LA Coliseum, where I was tired of getting run over, and you just start bulldozing people. And that’s what this turned into. The drivers lost their minds and started bulldozing people because you're constantly getting run into and the way to pass was to slide into the door of the guy next to you and when its wet like that, it becomes finesse or a Bowman Gray in the wet.
"There was nothing wrong with the track or the tires and it was just the fact they were all tired of getting run into and turned into bulldozers."
