NASCAR has been bumping into a lot of controversies lately. The latest concerned the removal of pylons from Talladega and other superspeedways. The glaring absence of these scoring towers made things difficult for both drivers and fans. Some racers lashed out at NASCAR’s actions without considering the reasons.

Some insiders dug into the technical reasons for the pylon removal, revealing economic crunches. While this toned down some like Dale Earnhardt Jr, one retired racer is going to have none of that. Kevin Harvick is adamant about the utility of those tracking boards.

Kevin Harvick is unmerciful toward NASCAR

In an unofficial survey conducted on Talladega camping grounds, fans voiced their concerns. Most sided with the traditional view that pylons made the racing experience better. For some, those towering scoreboards were simply nostalgic. Overall, the fans did not like constantly checking their phones to track their favorite drivers.

Kevin Harvick took the side of these fans while discussing the issue on ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’. He ridiculed NASCAR’s policy: “’Hey go to the app, don’t watch the race. Go to the app and see what lap we’re on.’ That makes no sense! How about we put a pylon up so everybody could see what position your car is running in a scoreboard.”

The former RCR driver also added a hilarious insight. “What drunk race fans do you think are going to look at their phone? You don’t wanna hold a beer and a phone.” 

Then co-host Mamba Smith drew the spotlight on NASCAR’s perspective. He considered possible reasons for the pylon removal like obstruction of view or unavailability of obsolete parts. Kevin Harvick retorted: “Let’s put a new one up.”

Then Smith asked Harvick about his idea of a pylon’s cost. Kevin Harvick raged ahead relentlessly with his argument. “I don’t care. I wanna see the pylon back up in the in-field. When it blows down, put it back up. Ensure that, baby, something…Everybody likes to look at the pylon.”

Despite his flaring emotions, Kevin Harvick’s reasoning is not too wrong. Everybody does like to look at pylons, as besides just the drivers and the fans, another group uses them.

Pylons helped with proper documentation

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As pylons display the track positions of drivers, they cater to more than just racers and fans. Photographers also use pylons to track their drivers and shoot accurately before shifting to the next location. The current video boards in Talladega are barely visible from the photo towers. On the other hand, the pylon guided these towers in the dark from all angles on the race track.

One licensed NASCAR photographer shared their perspective with Kickin’ The Tires. “It definitely helps me know where one of my cars could be running…Needing to know the lap count, it all is important at different stages of the race. The video boards are nice but you can’t always see the video board. I was looking for (the scoring pylon). ‘I know it’s in that direction,’ and that’s when I realized it was gone. Even if you can see the video boards from the backstretch, you’re so far away that it was easier to look at the scoring pylon.”

Hence, Kevin Harvick’s diatribe against NASCAR is justified as the pylons indeed helped a diverse array of people on the race track.