"He actually does know we do care" - NASCAR shoots down Kevin Harvick's 'crappy-ass parts' remark against Next Gen cars while ordering investigations

NASCAR has ordered an investigation as it attempts to address car-fire issues that left Kevin Harvick frustrated after his #4 Ford Mustang caught fire during the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway.

NASCAR, which is already investigating Next Gen car stiffness based on Harvick and other drivers' feedback, has admitted that it is unacceptable for the cars to catch fire. Meanwhile, NASCAR president Scott Miller also said that officials are investigating the matter.

Harvick, who made a strong word on NASCAR’s safety efforts and called Next Gen cars as having "crappy-ass parts," is now being slammed by Miller for criticizing the work of the governing body.

In an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Miller spoke about Kevin Harvick’s claim that NASCAR failed to address Next Gen car issues, saying:

"To say that NASCAR doesn't care is about as far from the truth as you could get. I think he actually does know we do care. We've been working on different solutions for different things along the way that seem to maybe be the trigger. Obviously, we still have work to do."

He continued:

"There's a lot of work going on, a lot of collaboration within the industry to get to the bottom of it. We have to get to the bottom of it quick, obviously."

The debut season of Next Gen cars has achieved some of its goals, but it also raises safety concerns unrelated to the fires where the power of the impact of drivers causes accidents.

Apart from Kevin Harvick’s car burned incident, there have been several instances this season when the Next Gen car caught fire - Alex Bowman’s #48 burst into flames at Darlington Raceway in May, Chris Buescher’s #17 and Joey Logano’s #22 both had car fires at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Chase Briscoe’s #14 caught on fire at Richmond Raceway.

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Kevin Harvick left frustrated after Darlington race exit

Kevin Harvick blasted NASCAR and Next Gen cars after his #4 Ford Mustang caught fire on Lap 275 which forced him to park the car on the apron and make an early exit from the race at Darlington Raceway.

After exiting the race because of the fire, Harvick expressed his frustration and blamed NASCAR for not fixing the safety stuff.

Harvick said:

“I’m sure it’s just crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times. They haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the safety stuff. We just let it keep going and keep going.”

The incident brought an end to Harvick’s night and dropped him from 9th to 16th place in the playoff standings with two races remaining in the Round of 16. He currently holds 2016 points, below the cut-off line.