Dale Earnhardt Jr Crosses Swords With His Ex-Crew Chief Over Tony Stewart’s Playoff Misery

The second race of the 2023 Cup Series playoffs is close in time. Yet, the fire from the first one hasn’t quite died down. Darlington Raceway declared Kyle Larson as the winner thanks to the misfortune of the experienced Kevin Harvick. Coupled with the fact that this season will be his last, a missed opportunity of a potential win because of a pit road mishap of all would certainly not have gone down well at Tony Stewart’s SHR camp.

Discussing the issue that had cost the driver positions, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mike Davis went over the comments of ex-Hendrick Motorsports’ crew chief Steve Letarte.

Dale Earnhardt Jr makes a strong point against his former crew chief

Back in the onset of the previous decade, Dale Jr and Steve Letarte had formed one of the most successful combinations on the grid. Dale Jr’s first Pocono win, the 2014 Daytona 500 win, and many other notable achievements came with Steve heading his crew. Though he is not the center of the main picture now, Steve continues to work as a commentator for NBC Sports and a consultant for Spire Motorsports.

Discussing Kevin Harvick’s Darlington mishap, the Dale Jr. Download co-host Mike Davis brought up the name of the crew chief and shared his comments on the incident. Quoting Steve, he said, “So the box is on the line. Same location. They always are. The #24 didn’t hit either. That convo is very far off facts. FYI.”

Countering the comments of Steve about the box being on the line, Junior said, “Look, my point is, is that when Harvick comes down… When Harvick’s sitting there right in front of the box, lights on. The movement Harvick would have to make to avoid Pit Road would take him over the box, which is a penalty. And so in my head, the guy shouldn’t be penalized for the position he’s in.”

Clarifying the contrasting opinions, Mike talked about how Steve said that the pit box was on the line and Dale Jr.’s thoughts were that there needs to be another ‘grace’ line that drivers need to be able to go to in such scenarios.

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Dale Jr backs Tony Stewart’s unfortunate driver in his final season

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Kevin Harvick had been racing out in the front at Darlington with 56 laps left in the race. As he’d attempted to make a green flag pitstop, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick decided to follow him to the pit. Changing his mind at the last second, he steered his Camry away from the pit road. The movement he caused resulted in Ryan Newman spinning out and the caution flag being brought up before Kevin could enter the pit road. Having already committed to the stop, Kevin wasn’t able to steer clear like Tyler had done and ended up pitting his car.

Able to empathize with the tough spot that the driver was in, Dale Jr. put his voice up in support of the driver. He said, “There needs to be some grace for people in that position. If he makes, if he were to turn his steering wheel right and try to avoid going down pit road, he crosses over the box. And that’s a penalty. (…) So that’s where I think, hey man, we need some sort of a scenario where that particular person that’s in a no-win situation has an out.”

Despite the shoulder that he has lent, Harvick does not sit in the best of positions to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Finishing the race at P19, Kevin and his #4 crew face a tough challenge ahead at Kansas and Bristol. Tony Stewart’s crew will be hoping to avoid debacles like the one at Darlington and give their driver a proper send-off. 

Read More: Kevin Harvick’s Spotter Cost Him His Dream Darlington Finish and Maybe a Championship