Photo – Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Kevin Harvick had to be gutted as he watched Martin Truex Jr. pull away in the closing laps in Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway to win his second race of the season.
But, it wasn’t an ill-handling car or contact with the “Lady in Black” that kept the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) champion from his third win of the season, it was a growing evolution of slow pit stops from the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team that cost Harvick 17 positions overall during the course of 367-laps at the track dubbed “Too Tough To Tame.”
Afterwards, Harvick clearly upset and yet somewhat angered by the performance of his pit crew unleashed stern but clearly warranted words about their performance.
“Yeah, we had a great car,” said Harvick, “The guys in the garage and at the shop continue to do a great job, and we continue to give it away on pit road. Pretty much summed up the night. Just the dominant car and just three bad pit stops on pit road.”
One of those pit stops that Harvick eluded too saw the No 4 Busch Beer Chevrolet SS lose 11 spots on pit lane at lap 281 when the team experienced a problem with the air gun and forced the Bakersfield, California native to rally from behind to contend for the race win.
Still, with the Chase for the Sprint Cup looming, even Harvick admitted he doesn’t have the answers on how to fix the situation on pit road – a situation at times has been redundant on a weekly basis.
“I really don’t know,” said Harvick. “We have championship cars and we’re just mediocre on pit road. It’s kind of been that way for a few years, and they’ve moved some things around, but it just seems like it’s just week after week after week.
“You have a couple good weeks here and there and every once in a while, you just put together a day, but they just can’t put together a whole day on pit road right now.”
When asked about taking more a subtle approach like being an in-race cheerleader to his team, Harvick’s been there and done that and didn’t change things.
“I’m over being a cheerleader,” Harvick added. “Those guys get paid a lot of money to perform on pit road, and cheerleading hasn’t really been working. You’ve got to get after it on pit road and do your job.”
There isn’t an issue on whether Kevin Harvick can drive fast and turn left or whether crew chief Rodney Childers can sit atop of the box and make the right calls to keep his driver alive on a weekly basis, but in races where the win can be won or lost on pit road – the eyes have never been more open at Stewart-Haas Racing.
And with the Chase for the Sprint Cup looming, a change is needed (again); otherwise, Harvick doesn’t have a chance at winning his second Sprint Cup title in three years.