All eyes were on the oldest driver of the lot, Kevin Harvick as he geared up for a final run at the half-mile track in Bristol. Harvick who earlier announced that this would be his final year in NASCAR certainly had a lot riding on him as the community’s expectations bore its weight on the 48-year-old.

However, things quite did not go according to the veteran’s plan. In fact, it was more of a heartbreak for ardent Ford and SHR fans assembled in the stands as they witnessed their favorite driver slowly fading into the fray. While the fans were hoping to see the driver make a final stand, the inadequate SHR equipment did him dirty.

Reflecting on his sub-par machine, struggling to hold his ground in the field, the 2014 Cup Series champion let out an expletive, summarising his emotions towards Tony Stewart‘s below-average equipment in three words.

Kevin Harvick slaps back on his boss, doubling down on his inadequate equipment

In a career spanning close to 12 years and countless wins, this isn’t the fans or even Harvick himself imagined he would go out. The 2014 Cup Series champion known for his superior race craft and tenacity wanted to go out fighting on his shield but his Stewart-Haas Racing #4 Ford just did not give him a fighting chance.

To put things into simple perspective, “Happy” Harvick certainly wouldn’t be too happy to retire from the sport with 0 wins. Except for the occasional blitz that gave his fans a glimmer of hope, even the veteran couldn’t save his team from a miserable season.

The plot thickens even further when one realizes that none of the 4 SHR drivers in the Cup Series managed to claim a win. Now, there’s no way around it, there’s definitely something going awfully wrong in the Ford camp and all fingers point towards the Stewart’s inadequate Next-Gen Cup Series cars that can’t keep up with the field’s blistering pace.

In fact, this was pretty evident in Bristol, the #4 Ford of Harvick started 21st in the grid and quickly found this out the hard way. His car simply didn’t have the steam to go against the consistent Toyotas or the fast Chevys, finishing 8 positions below where he started at 29th.

With the commentators relaying the obvious, as the commentary booth echoed, “Kevin Harvick, he is struggling,” Harvick also did not mince his words. The driver simply shortened his frustration with his car in 3 words, “Piece of s**t,” crying out his disappointment over the radio to his legendary crew chief, Rodney Childers.

WATCH THIS STORY: Kevin Harvick blasts Tony Stewart in 5 words for ruining his last race at Bristol

The driver’s disappointment was very clear in his post-race interview. He said, “I didn’t really have many expectations, you know, with this up and down year. It is what it is, and that’s probably about what we deserve.” 

Fan event put in place to honor the outgoing veteran, Harvick in Texas

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While the Cup Series playoffs head to Texas Motor Speedway, the unpredictable nature of the sport is pretty apparent. Following the first playoff eliminator in Bristol, Joey Logano, the reigning champion, and Harvick are 2 of the 4 drivers going out. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the Front Row Motorsports driver, Michael McDowell being the other 2.

Despite the final short track race of his career going awry, Texas Motor Speedway has organized a fan event for the outgoing event this Friday. As Harvick puts on the helmet for one last time for a speedway race in Texas, 700 fans are expected to honor the driver in Texas Motor Speedway’s Grand Ballroom.

The 2014 Cup Series champion who is also a 3-time Texas Speedway winner will be presented with gifts, official proclamations, and accolades to honor his contribution to the sport. The event will be on Friday(22nd) evening 4-6 p.m where TMS executive and Speedway officials will commemorate the driver for his achievements.

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