Superspeedways and big wrecks have always gone hand-in-hand and last weekend at the Talladega Superspeedway was no different. The multi-Toyota wreck was one of the biggest moments of the race, and then there was the ‘Big One’ right at the end, which even saw Corey LaJoie finish the race on two wheels!

Wrecks may be a part of the sport, but drivers usually steer clear of wrecking or getting wrecked in fear of spoiling their run. However, as far as Kevin Harvick is concerned, drivers don’t always need to avoid it like the plague!

Kevin Harvick unfurls the modern driver’s ‘living on the edge’ racing style

Pushing is an art, and it has, evidently, been prevalent in the sport for decades. For someone who has raced as much as Kevin Harvick, it’s one of the most essential skills to become a successful driver in NASCAR. However, too much of one thing can never be good.

But with the Next-Gen car, drivers have little choice. Firstly, the lower horsepower package means that overtaking someone is a challenge. Secondly, this car is the heaviest in the history of the sport, so perhaps it takes a lot of push to get the car to a good position. Taking note of this debacle, the retired veteran shared how just pushing won’t work, as drivers need to learn about getting better results from them, too.

Firstly, talking about the current situation on his Happy Hour podcast, the driver noted that pushes aren’t as effective now, saying, “When you look at the pushes that you give right now, they’re just not rewarded for what they should be in order to move the car in front of you to make a big enough difference and right now you push as hard as you can and sometimes you gain a half car length.”

Later, he also mentioned how the drivers have figured out a loophole, which unfortunately leads to unfavorable incidents on the tracks. “So these guys have figured out that you just push and push and push and push and at the end, you know it’s going to result in a wreck because everybody’s gonna push until somebody wrecks and you have to be living on the edge of wrecking somebody all the time and you know, that’s fine. But I want the pushes to mean something. I want the guy in the middle of the pack not just to have to sit there. If he wants to get in that third lane and push somebody, yeah, I know it might be risky but I want it to make that car go faster,” he said.

But, what does Kevin Harvick mean when he says that the pushes must ‘mean something’? He cleared that up earlier in the podcast and that’s where the characteristics of the Next-Gen car come into the picture.

Has NASCAR racing become too predictable?

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With almost no room for creative improvisations, as opposed to the older days of NASCAR, has stock car racing become too bland? In a time where the organization has become too stringent with its rules, the Next Gen car seemingly is another issue that the teams have to tackle. While uniformity is a trait that was adopted to give all teams an equal chance, that has simply resulted in drivers not being able to even push or pass each other.

This means that one driver can push their teammate or someone else with everything they have, but the advantage gained by the car ahead would be nowhere near enough. Hence, according to many, the risk is greater than the reward. And that has, perhaps, made the racing “boring” which fans have also been complaining about.

But, according to Harvick, it’s not just the car’s fault. It seems that teams have already figured out the Next-Gen car, and it makes races kind of predictable, at least to his experienced eyes. In this regard, he urged NASCAR to make some changes to the car that will make the teams think.

“I think the teams need to be trying to figure the package out. I think everybody’s got the package figured out at this particular point to say, ‘Okay, this is how we race, this is what we do, we save fuel so that we can spend less time on pit road, we do ABCDE and that’s the process’. Everybody knows the process. We gotta mix it up way different for next year from a speedway package to keep these guys trying to figure it out,” the former Cup Series champion explained.

Do you agree with Kevin Harvick’s point of view or is the Next-Gen or is the car and the package fine just where it is? Let us know your opinions on the matter.