Denny Hamlin Reveals How Tony Stewart’s Garage ‘Illegally’ Tried to Dominate Talladega as NASCAR Refuses to Throw a Bone

For Kevin Harvick, his farewell season has been absolutely disappointing. The 2014 Cup Series champion is out of the playoffs and has failed to win a single race so far. The 47-year-old did come mighty close at Talladega on Sunday but was beaten to the line by Ryan Blaney. The veteran was happy with how his car performed on the day, but even his runner-up spot was taken away from him. NASCAR disqualified the #4 car after the race, piling on even more disappointment for the retiring veteran.

But why did NASCAR disqualify Kevin Harvick? Well, yet again, it was Stewart-Haas Racing whose mistake cost the 47-year-old. In the post-race car inspection, the officials found that the #4 Stewart-Haas Racing car was not compliant with their rules. NASCAR concluded that the windshield fasteners were not secured throughout the entire race which went against their “Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules.” But how can a windshield affect a car’s on-track performance?

Denny Hamlin explains Stewart-Haas Racing’s aerodynamic advantage

That question was answered by Denny Hamlin on a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast. The Joe Gibbs Racing star first made clear that the evidence was not shown to anyone apart from Stewart-Haas Racing, so there was no way that he could be sure if NASCAR was right to disqualify Kevin Harvick.

“These are things that were deemed illegal at the tech center, not at the race track. So will they show us pictures? Will they show us bolts, windshields, things like that?” he asked before arguing in NASCAR’s favor.

According to Denny Hamlin, the position of the windshield and how well it is fastened can make a big difference to on-track speed. The driver of the No. 11 car explained how a loose windshield gave the car an aerodynamic advantage. He also went on to say that no one would take that extra step to ensure that the windshield was not 100% properly fastened to the greenhouse.

“You would want, aerodynamically it would be advantageous for the windshield to be higher than the greenhouse that it bolts to. Because it would then deflect air. It would escape air out of the inside of the car. It would deflect the air over the spoiler,” the 42-year-old explained.

As per Rodney Childers, the windshield was fastened to the greenhouse. However, the car was buffering a lot during the race and the bolts had gotten loose as a result. While that does make sense from a mechanical standpoint, NASCAR was having none of it, as per Denny Hamlin.

“That’s his story to tell and we don’t know because we don’t have the information or the pictures to prove otherwise but NASCAR is just saying, well, they were not in and they were loose so we have to uphold our rule book because that’s what we have done in the past,” the Actions Detrimental host added.

Tony Stewart’s team had initially tried to talk to NASCAR over the disqualification. However, they later decided that they would accept the decision and focus on the rest of the season.

Read More: “Chasing a Cure for Loose Windshield Bolts?”- Racing Fans Mercilessly Dump Fuel Into Kevin Harvick’s Flaming Misery

Tony Stewart’s team says no to appealing disqualification

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After the penalty was levied, SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli confirmed that the team would refrain from appealing. He did mention that the team was disappointed in NASCAR’s decision.

“At the completion of the race, not all of our windshield fasteners were secure, as we had bolts that hold the windshield in place back out over the course of the 500 miles. We are in the process of diagnosing why this happened and how to prevent it moving forward,” Zipadelli said.

“We are disappointed in NASCAR’s decision to disqualify our race car and the hard-earned finish by our driver and team, but we will not appeal. Our complete focus is on the remaining races on this year’s schedule,” he added.

Regardless, it was another day of disappointment for Kevin Harvick. The veteran is not having the farewell season he had hoped for. Fans will hope that the former Cup Series driver can somehow win at least one race before hanging up his boots.

Watch This Story: Denny Hamlin Blames Tony Stewart for Letting Down Slowest Kevin Harvick