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Kevin Harvick on inconsistent pit guns: ‘It’s becoming a safety issue’

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 - Practice

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 10: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 10, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

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Kevin Harvick heightened talk about pit guns Tuesday night by saying the inconsistent equipment was creating “a safety issue.”

Harvick made his comments on his “Happy Hours’’ show on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick said the pit guns were “pathetic” and “embarrassing to the sport” after pit gun issues led to loose wheels.

He had more say on his radio show Tuesday night.

“I think in theory, I think the pit gun idea is a good idea,’’ Harvick said. “I just don’t think at this particular point it’s being executed to the point where it’s fair for the race teams and safe. It’s becoming a safety issue.

“We saw five loose wheels on the run that I had a loose wheel on on Sunday. Five cars had loose wheels on that particular run. That is way outside the norm of what we do on a weekly basis. As a driver, I’m very uncomfortable in the car because I don’t know whether, is it a loose wheel, then you see some tire issues creep up during the race. Is it a loose wheel, is it a tire coming apart? In your mind you’re running through these things (thinking) ‘What the hell do I do?’

“If it was the first week where something has happened, it would be like, ‘Oh maybe we just made some mistakes, maybe it could be this or maybe it could be that.’ But there’s so much doubt about what you have as a gun. On Saturday (in the Xfinity race at Texas) it was a rear tire issue. On Sunday, it flipped. The rear tire changer had no problems. His gun turned probably 2,000, 3,000 RPMs more because the front guy drew the short straw on Sunday. It’s kind of Russian Roulette at this particular point.’’

In the first 10 minutes of the discussion of the pit guns, Harvick used the word safety or a form of it eight times.

On Monday, Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, addressed the pit gun issue on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“Everybody is always quick to blame the gun, not saying that it may not have been a gun problem, but we have to look at everything before we can flat out say we had a gun problem,’’ Miller said. “That’s what we do.

“The program has had a few more hitches in it than, obviously, we wished it would, but we’re making progress with it. We’ll continue to do that and continue to evaluate and continue to try to get better every week and make sure that we dig into whatever problems happen up and down pit road and get them rectified.

“Everything in motorsports is a development process and this is no different. It’s unfortunate that it’s caused some people some problems but development is what it is. We’ll continue to keep it ramped up and get it right.’’

Harvick also cut through the banter Tuesday on what teams voted for and what teams did not vote to go with standard pit guns as a cost-cutting measure before the season.

“For me, I’m in the I don’t care who voted for it, I don’t care what team you’re on, I don’t care what the situation is at this particular point, I want to be safe inside the race car, and I want my wheels to be tight,’’ said Harvick, who has won three of the first seven Cup races of the season. “This is the same type of situation that we went through with the three lug nuts. Is it safe or is it not safe?

“Right now, if you have a good gun, you’re going to have tight wheels. If you don’t have a good gun, and as the race goes on it seems like the guns get progressively worse, they don’t work as well as they do at the beginning of the race. For me, I just want to be safe in the car.’’

Harvick alluded to April 2016 when his boss, Tony Stewart, complained about NASCAR not requiring teams to tighten all five lug nuts on each wheel.

Stewart said then about the lug nut issue: “For all the work and everything, all the bulletins and all the new stuff we have to do to superspeedway cars and all these other things they want us to do for safety, we can’t even make sure we put five lug nuts on the wheel.

“It’s not even mandatory anymore. I mean, you don’t have to have but one on there if you don’t want. It’s however many you think you can get away with. So we’re putting the drivers in jeopardy to get track position. It’s not bit anybody yet, but I guarantee you that envelope is going to keep getting pushed until somebody gets hurt.’’

NASCAR fined Stewart $35,000 a day later for his comments and mandated that teams must secure all five lug nuts less than a week later.

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