“I’ve never felt more unsafe in my whole career”: When Kevin Harvick criticized NASCAR's 'worst' decision

NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick once left angry over NASCAR’s decision to race in rain during the inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in 2021. Following the race, Harvick called racing in the rain at COTA the most unsafe thing he has ever done in his racing career, as low visibility resulted in a slow Harvick being run into from behind.

It began to rain on the first lap at COTA, and NASCAR chose to race in heavy rain. The visibility was poor due to rain and the large spray of water from the cars on the wet track. Due to this decision, several multi-cars crashed, including one that ended Harvick’s day early when Bubba Wallace collided with him due to low visibility.

Speaking to NBC Sports’s Dustin Long in the garage area, Kevin Harvick expressed his frustration over NASCAR’s decision to proceed in weather and said:

“We don't have any business being out in the rain, period, so, you know, all I can say is this is the worst decision that we've ever made in our sport that I've been a part of, and I've never felt more unsafe in my whole racing career”

Kevin Harvick made an early exit at the inaugural EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix at COTA after getting heavy damage on making contact with Ryan Blaney, which also collected Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace.

---

Kevin Harvick explains the difficulty of racing in rainy conditions

In the post-race interview at COTA in 2021, the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion described how the lack of visibility made it impossible for drivers to react to incidents ahead. He recalled his wreck where he was hit from behind because Wallace couldn’t see him slowing down.

Harvick said (via NASCAR on NBC):

“You can’t see anything down the straightaways. These cars were not built to run in the rain and when you can’t see, my spotter said, ‘Check up, check up,’ because he thought he saw two cars wrecking. I let off and the guy behind me hit me wide-open because he never saw me.”

Harvick further mentioned that safety was compromised, as the cars were not designed for wet-weather racing.

“It’s unbelievable that we’re out there doing what we’re doing because we’re in race cars that aren’t made to do this, and if you can’t see going down the straightaway it’s absolutely not safe, not even close,” Harvick continued.

Due to heavier rain, NASCAR called off the race with 14 laps to go, and Chase Elliott, who was leading at that time, was declared the winner of the inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at COTA.