It’s safe to say that both Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick would want to forget what happened this past Sunday at Darlington in the first playoff race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series. The two veteran race car drivers had good track positions at one point of the race, but circumstances out of their control would turn unfavorable and they ended up finishing at Darlington a lot lower than they would have expected.

There is no doubt that both drivers came out of the event frustrated and bitterly disappointed. There are decades of experience between Hamlin and Harvick and for them to fall victim to the situations that they did is never something they would enjoy. But the race was fun to watch, regardless. Former racer Kenny Wallace was also a fan of the Darlington event, but he didn’t hesitate to take a jab at Hamlin and Harvick’s fans.

Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick’s Pit Miseries at Darlington

Denny Hamlin was one of the best drivers on track on Sunday. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing man won the first two stages of the race convincingly and looked all set to go out and claim that much-needed race win.

However, things didn’t go according to plan at all in the final stage. Hamlin had come out after his pitstop on new tires, but there was a problem. One of his wheels had not been fit properly and the 42-year-old was really struggling on track, being passed by a number of cars, before he came into the pits for a second time.

His caused him to lose valuable track position. From being first in the two stages, Hamlin went on to finish in a lowly 25th place at the end of the event at Darlington.

Kevin Harvick’s issue also involved pit road, but it was a different problem. In the final stage, Harvick found himself in second place at one point, with Tyler Reddick ahead of him. The veteran had plans to pit so that he could undercut Tyler Reddick.

Reddick’s crew, which was monitoring Harvick’s radio, opted for the same thing at the same time. However, the 23XI Racing driver was on the outside of the track and had to slow down before he could come in. As he slowed down, a charging Ryan Newman almost slammed into his rear, but checked himself and spun at the last second.

All this chaos brought out the caution, meaning that pit entry was closed. But Harvick was already on his way to the pits and it was too late to change his course. He came into the pits under caution and was forced to re-join at the back. The veteran finished a bit higher than Hamlin, in 19th place.

All this drama was extremely disappointing for Harvick’s and Hamlin’s fans, and Kenny Wallace was quick to catch up on that. On a recent episode of the Kenny Wallace show, the former Cup Series driver said that the people who expressed that they did not like the Darlington race, on a poll that NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck had posted on X (formerly Twitter), were Harvick and Hamlin fans.

“You know I always talk about Jeff Gluck over there on Twitter. He holds his little poll which is one of the best polls around because it’s there for everybody to see, usually around 30,000 people.”

“So, 86, 87% of the people said that they loved that Darlington race. And you know, as a joke, the people that don’t like the Darlington race were definitely the Kevin Harvick or Denny Hamlin fans,” Wallace quipped.

Amidst all the drama at Darlington, Kevin Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers revealed how the veteran’s spotter confused him on the pit road and was responsible for Harvick attracting the penalty for pitting under caution.

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Kevin Harvick’s Crew Chief Blames Spotter for Darlington Penalty

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According to a report by The Athletic, Childers said that had Harvick not pitted on pit road and driven through, he would have been safe from the penalty. But it was his spotter, Tim Fedewa who insisted on pitting.

“Timmy was yelling, ‘Might as well go ahead and pit,’ and that confused me. We should have drove through, but we were going to be 25th no matter what,” Childers said as they looked to recover from the mishap and get things right next week in Kansas.

This is Harvick’s last season in the Cup Series and he would definitely want to go out with a last hurrah. Even if it was not winning the Cup, but at least the race. His crew chief and the rest of his crew are working towards that goal.

“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,” Childers said.

Harvick currently is not the strongest driver on track but he would certainly want to win one last race before hanging up his boots. Will the veteran be able to win a race in his final Cup season? Let us know your thoughts.

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