Kevin Harvick Bluntly Rips Audacious Claims by Kyle Larson’s Insider About Denny Hamlin in Just 7 Words

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have been battling against each other quite a lot this season. For the most part, the JGR driver seems to have gotten away with his antics against his rival, and something similar happened during the USA Today 301 race. But, Larson’s spotter, Tyler Monn, was riled up to see his driver not respond against the aggressive moves made by Hamlin.

But, the HMS star wasn’t too pleased with his spotter advising him on how to race, and vented out his frustration by saying, “Shut the f**k up.” While there have been questions about Larson’s use of choice words against his spotter, Kevin Harvick has now come out in support of the HMS star. He stated that the spotters are too involved these days with the racing and should leave the racing to the drivers.

Spotters are stepping out of their shoes, says Kevin Harvick

The job of a spotter is essentially to guide the race car driver in finding the best positions and keeping them updated regarding the entire field. This is again a crucial part of racing, but Tyler Monn notched it up by advising Larson on how to race against his rival, “He runs you like that all the time. You know why? Because you let it happen.” Larson was hearing a call that usually the crew chief would make from his spotter. And next thing you know, he completely lost his cool, which resulted in a radio silence.

Reflecting on the whole scenario, Kevin Harvick didn’t hold back on his criticism of how spotters rub their noses with unnecessary comments on the radio. He applauded Denny Hamlin and Larson both and said, “I can see where the spotter is coming from in that scenario, but I also think that the spotter should probably keep his mouth shut and not say that. I think he needs to stay in his lane … A lot of times these spotters take a little bit more leeway with the things that they say on the radio than they probably should.” Harvick said this on the Happy Hour podcast.

Harvick, who’s been in the driver’s seat himself, knows how irritating it can get for a driver to hear a spotter calling the race. He even went as far as to say that he’d lost his cool, just like Larson, on hearing that call from his spotter. “I think a lot of those spotters talk too much, and sometimes they think they’re driving the car. So everybody’s out there being competitive, but as a driver, you don’t want to hear that. I would have told him to shut the f**k up.”

Both Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin were basically going all out in order to get themselves in the lead with the threat of rain looming at large. Next thing you know, the weather ultimately halted the race for more than 2 hours before NASCAR decided to complete the race on wet weather tires. It was a move that didn’t fare well for either of the drivers, as Christopher ran away with the win in damp and treacherous racing conditions.

Kyle Larson suggests the team should be able to make strategy calls in damp condition

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Although NASCAR decided to go green with the wet weather tires, there was no clarity on how teams could plan their pit stops. Rather, NASCAR decided that they would allow non-competitive pit stops for only fueling. But considering the track was drying out and the rain tires were falling off, they only allowed another set of fresh wet weather tires and not slicks.

With no pit road action, none of the drivers could gain track position on the pit road, and thus they were stuck racing in the damp and struggling to make a pass. Larson, who finished P4 in the race, said that had the pit road dried up, it would put the racing back in the hands of teams and drivers. None of the teams were allowed to switch to slicks and had to complete the race on wet tires.

“I wish we could spend more time drying pit roads. That way, we could have more strategy. You know, they mandate us to put on damps the wet tires, and after that, it’s up to us. I think if they can spend more time drying pit road rather than the track, it would make for a way more exciting strategy-style race, comers and goers. Hopefully, we are inching towards that.” The HMS star told Bob Pockrass post-race.

It was indeed a good move on NASCAR’s part to complete the race despite the delay. But there’s got to be more clarity with regard to tire strategy and pit road action moving forward in case NASCAR is racing in damp conditions again. This is a possibility given how the 2024 season has been plagued by bad weather.