“It’s an awful call”: Kevin Harvick drops his verdict on Austin Cindric’s $50K penalty by NASCAR

Kevin Harvick has criticized NASCAR’s decision to fine Austin Cindric $50,000 instead of suspending him for his actions at Circuit of The Americas (CoTA). In a recent interview, the veteran NASCAR driver cum analyst expressed his disappointment with NASCAR’s ruling, calling it an “awful call” and underlining that Cindric should have been suspended.

The comments were made in a video posted by FOX: NASCAR on X. The video, captioned with Kevin Harvick’s statement, showed him discussing the penalty in detail. The caption read,

“Kevin Harvick: “That’s an awful call … [Austin Cindric] should have been suspended.”

Harvick firmly stated that the decision to penalize Cindric without a suspension created inconsistency in NASCAR’s enforcement of rules. He pointed out that drivers had collectively agreed that right-rear hook maneuvers should be considered clear-cut violations. However, by only issuing a fine, NASCAR has now created uncertainty about how such incidents will be handled in the future.

“Well, I agree. I mean, it’s an awful call,” said Harvick in the video posted by FOX: NASCAR. “I think that as a driver, with the way things have gone and in this particular car, this is something unanimously decided on the driver's side that, that needs to be black and white. And now we’re kinda back to this restart thing, or the finish in the caution flag. Now we don’t know exactly where we stand.”

Harvick also said that the severity of Cindric’s actions warranted a suspension. According to him, this should’ve been the case regardless of the speed at which it occurred.

“Whether you’re going 35 miles an hour or 135 miles an hour, should’ve been suspended,” he added.

NASCAR’s decision to fine Cindric rather than suspend him has sparked this debate. In similar past incidents, NASCAR suspended drivers. Bubba Wallace received a one-race suspension for wrecking Kyle Larson in 2022 at Las Vegas, and Chase Elliott was suspended for wrecking Denny Hamlin in 2023 at Charlotte. However, NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Forde explained that Cindric’s situation was different due to the location of the incident.

“The reason we landed on the points and fine is we take every situation and every violation as its own unique incident,” Forde said. (via NASCAR)

He shared that Cindric’s incident occurred on a road course at lower speeds and did not bring out a caution flag, which played a role in NASCAR’s decision. In his own words,

“When I hit social media after this penalty is announced, my guess is that there is going to be several people who feel this is the wrong call,” Forde was quoted as saying by NASCAR. “And it may not be the popular call, but when we look at penalties, we do not really care how popular we are. We try to do the right thing here.”

Cindric’s penalty dropped him from 11th to 35th in the standings. The Team Penske driver had a promising start to the season but faced setbacks after crashes at Daytona and Atlanta.

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Kevin Harvick on Connor Zilisch’s rising threat in NASCAR

Kevin Harvick also weighed in on the rise of young driver Connor Zilisch and the impact he could have on Trackhouse Racing. Zilisch, who recently made his NASCAR Cup Series debut, has already made an impression, leading Harvick to suggest that his presence will create pressure on existing Trackhouse drivers like Ross Chastain, Daniel Suárez, and Shane van Gisbergen (SVG).

Speaking on his “Happy Hour” podcast, Harvick pointed out how Zilisch’s talent will force other drivers to elevate their performance. He said,

“Well, you start looking around. Let’s just take Hocevar for example; when you look at Justin Haley and Michael McDowell. So, he’s ultra-fast, well he’s in the same cars. That immediately puts that pressure on those two teammates. And you look at the Trackhouse situation. It immediately puts pressure on Ross Chastain, Daniel Suárez, and SVG because of the speed he has on a road course.” [27:59]

Harvick explained that when a new driver enters the series with exceptional speed it disrupts the existing lineup. He noted that someone will inevitably lose their seat if they don’t adapt and improve.

“A new guy coming in like that, it makes everybody have to stand up and pay attention. Because somebody’s going to lose their seat when it’s all said and done,” Harvick said. “There’s constantly pressure from somebody new coming in if you don’t elevate your game,” Harvick added [28:30 onwards]

With Zilisch under contract, questions remain about how Trackhouse will handle its lineup in the coming years. Harvick believes Zilisch won’t spend much time in the Xfinity Series before jumping to the Cup.

At just 18 years old, Zilisch has already positioned himself as a future Cup Series star. Harvick suggested that the young driver could shake up the NASCAR Cup series sooner rather than later.