The Clash did not seem as fulfilling for Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, as they took a risky decision that didn’t pay off for them. As it rained, both decided to go out in the wet using the wet-weather tires. Hamlin finished in 5th and Busch in 19th. While others criticized this call by them, veteran racer Kevin Harvick differs, as according to him, what they earned from the race is something more important than victory.

Harvick feels Hamlin and Busch made the right call

According to Harvick, their decision to stay out was an important one as it let them understand the track and how it changes under wet-weather tires. By spending more time out there racing, both were able to gain a better idea of their performance in wet weather.

“Well, I wanna go back to one more thing, from the race, we saw Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, a lot of these guys go into the pits, work on their cars, fix their cars for, for to go back out on the racetrack in the wet. You’re gonna get in this position again. And all these guys were, not all of them, but a lot of them were, were craving the time on the racetrack.

“To be able to understand what they needed to do to get better, understand their race cars, and collect that data to be able to know what they needed to do to their car to make it work right in these rain conditions.

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“Because, in the results, it doesn’t say anything about whether it’s wet, whether it’s dry, whether half field crashed, whatever it is you’ve got to be able to navigate these, these different scenarios, and our guys do a great job behind, behind the wheel of being able to adapt and adjust to all these different conditions. So it was definitely something that was really, really useful for a lot of the notebooks for all these teams.”

While talking about the same, Harvick also busted a very prevalent narrative about NASCAR drivers. Since rain makes it risky to stay out racing, some believe that NASCAR drivers do not want to race out in the wet. During the NASCAR Clash, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were aptly able to handle the same. Hence, Harvick heaped a lot of praise on both of them, trying to break the stereotype.

Kevin Harvick says that NASCAR drivers are ready for changing weather

Kevin Harvick suggests that these conditions are necessary for drivers to judge their racing ability for the rest of the season when the situation calls for it. It’s not like Bowman Gray is the last track with cold conditions and wet weather. Hence, the drivers need to show that they can race in the wet.

“So there is another positive that came from all that. There are a lot of positives. If we’re gonna be in the wet-weather business, let’s just own it. Like, let’s not, let’s not overthink it. The tires are good, the cars are capable, the drivers are capable. Let them go out there and just. Get after it, especially in this situation, because there’s no point. So everyone’s trying stuff anyway. So, just let them.”

His best argument was the fact that none of the drivers ended up crashing into each other, just because of the bad weather. As such, they should be able and allowed to experiment more during changing weather conditions. Although he still asked the teams and NASCAR to maintain the safety standards.

“They all drove into turn one, and the whole field didn’t go straight into the wall. It’s not gonna happen. I mean, it’s just not gonna happen. We’ve, we’ve done it at Richmond. We’ve done it at Loudon. We’ve done it at Bristol.

We’ve done it at a lot of the places that it has to just be second nature, and we just gotta quit worrying about it so much. I know that we’re always worried about safety, and we should be. But there’s not that much to worry about with the wet weather tires as what we’re worrying about.”

In the end, Kevin Harvick suggests that racing in wet conditions should come as second nature to the drivers. Hence, they should be allowed to play with setups more and decide for themselves.

Do you also think that Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin gained an edge over other drivers with their risky gamble at the Clash?