After spending over 2 decades racing in the highest level of stock car racing, Kevin Harvick will be retiring with one Cup Series championship to his name. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver’s final shot at proceeding to the 2023 season’s round of 12 came under the lights at Bristol and he failed to make good on it, finishing at P29. Though crew chief Rodney Childers had earlier expressed, rather promisingly, that they wanted to give their driver a farewell fitting of his career, they couldn’t get the job done. Getting behind the mic with NBC’s Nate Ryan, NASCAR veteran Jeff Burton disclosed his disappointment with the duo.

“The Mayor” is not pleased with Tony Stewart and Co.’s inability 

In Saturday’s race at the Bristol Motor Speedway, the #4 team never really challenged for the win. Going into the race 7 points above the elimination line, Kevin Harvick joined defending champion Joey Logano and two other racers to be thrown out of the contest at the night’s end. Bristol was not a track that he hadn’t won before. And yet, he was a non-factor throughout the night as he finished 5 laps down. While the reason for the lackluster performance cannot be attributed to one single factor, the entire crew of the #4 team was left disappointed after the race.

Former NASCAR racer Jeff Burton appeared on the “Motorsports on NBC” show alongside Nate Ryan and discussed the team’s painful night. Surprised with the below-par performance of the driver and the crew, he said, “I was surprised too because you know we just expect Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers to step up in those moments because he always seemed to find a way to do it. And then you know, when I go back and look at the last two years of Bristol that No.4 car has been right there in the mix in every race having shots to win races.”

While he did go on to acknowledge that they had shown some really good pace with their Mustang, he also commented on their lack of consistency. He said, “They have brought more speed they have had chances to win a few races this year but not to the extent that we expect. So you know looking back on it, yeah, I’m very surprised. But at the same token, you know the consistency of speed with the No. 4 car it just hasn’t been there.”

With the driver finishing his last 4 races at Bristol inside the top 10, it definitely is surprising to see him fail to repeat the magic when it mattered the most.

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Kevin Harvick’s path to failure in his final season in the top tier of NASCAR

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47-year-old Harvick was the only driver who’d managed to break into the playoffs from Tony Stewart’s camp. However, his chances at bringing the championship home were starting to take a hit right from the first playoff race at the Darlington Raceway. Crew mistakes clouding his path to the finish line he completed the race at P19. Speaking in the aftermath of the race, his crew chief, Rodney had said, “Right now, I want to go to victory lane and I want to win races with him. We came here with a good car, we were strong all weekend, and just unfortunate.” 

The words were filled with positivity and were put ahead as a promise to go to the higher stages of the competition. And for a while, it did appear possible with Kevin finishing P11 at Kansas. All that was left to do was go to a track where they had previous success and replicate the performance. But for some phantom reason, they couldn’t do that. Rodney himself was in the blue about what had failed at Bristol. Expressing the same through his “X” handle, he tweeted, “No idea what was wrong tonight. To having one of the very best cars last year, and coming back with the same setup and be terrible is beyond me..”

Out of any possible contest now, all Kevin Harvick can do is go through the remaining races and accept the gratitude from the fans. From building on the legacy that Dale Earnhardt had left behind at Richard Childress Racing, to creating his own at Stewart-Haas Racing, he has put on an incredible show of racing for the NASCAR community and it will definitely be thanked with showers of praise. We will see the legend behind the wheel again at the Texas Motor Speedway over the coming weekend!

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