Kevin Harvick's blunt Iowa NASCAR assessment: 'This car sucks'

Kevin Harvick's blunt Iowa NASCAR assessment: 'This car sucks' originally appeared on The Sporting News

Kevin Harvick did not like what he saw on Sunday when he sat down to watch the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.

His commentary, expressed on his Happy Hours YouTube show, was the continuation of a years long stance about the current generation car now in its fourth season. The 2014 Cup Series champion believes this car was built backwards, has too much grip and not enough horsepower.

The end result, once again on Sunday, was a race where passing was extremely challenging, and Harvick did not mince words about what he saw.

“The Cup cars need to go way faster, especially at the short tracks,” Harvick said. “And I don’t think there was anything more evident than this weekend. The ARCA car outqualified the Cup car, and it was extremely difficult to pass.

“The slower you go, the harder it’s going to be to pass. The faster the mid-corner speed is. In the end, the cars are so damn slow they don’t race good.”

But he wasn’t done.

“The car sucks. It's not fun to see the car not be able to pass like it needs to be,” he went on to admit. “And it turned into a fuel mileage track position race. And that part, I don't like, and it doesn't seem like we're making any ground on making it better.

“I think that Goodyear has done a good job in making the tires a little bit better, but definitely need…it wound up being exciting because there was, it was edgy. Cars were hard to drive. The track is rough. The track's got everything that it needs, but man, it's tough to watch a fuel mileage race on a short track.”

NASCAR has conceded this week that a slight horsepower increase, likely 670 to 750, is planned for next season but Harvick doesn’t think that is enough.

“It seems like just a PR ploy to me.”

Harvick says NASCAR and the teams are both responsible for this. NASCAR is trying to attract itself to new OEMs and teams are cost-conscious and advocate for what is best for their on-track performance and bottom line.

“They’re posturing to try to get the best situation for their manufacturer.”