Kevin Harvick set the tone for Friday’s question-and-answer sessions at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a simple, frank comment.
“If you drove like this 10 years ago, you’d have had a fist in your mouth,” Harvick said in response to a question about the current level of aggression in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing. “What changed were the rules and when every spot becomes that much more difficult to achieve, you have to defend the spots that you have because you know that you might not get it back, and you know that you have to block.”
With the constant battles to gain and hold positions, restarts have become more important and consequently more frenetic.
“Yeah, it feels like restarts are the craziest they’ve been ever since I’ve been in the Cup Series, just because the cars are so draggy,” Ryan Blaney said. “That’s the easiest spot to kind of make a move, and you can just drive these cars so hard, it’s just about driving harder than someone else a lot of the time. Your right-foot commitment is way higher, I feel like.
“As far as the aggressive level, I think people see that because you’re seeing a lot more blocking and cutting off runs now, just because you have to do it. I’ve thrown big blocks this year on mile-and-a-half race tracks. That’s just how it is and you kind of expect it.
“Have I expected to get punched in the mouth a couple of times this year? Yeah, but at the end of the day you realize that that person would make the same move that you do and vice versa.”
Rick Stenhouse Jr. also thinks job security (or lack thereof) might be a factor.
“We’re all super-aggressive,” Stenhouse said. “I enjoy it, especially when I have a car capable of doing what I want it to do. I could see Kevin saying that, because I feel like that was the mentality of the garage for a long time, and I think every sport changes, and I feel like now you’ve got a bunch of us that feel like we’re racing for our job every lap, so we go out and put it all on the line.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
- Hamlin: ‘We just couldn’t get it going’ - April 14, 2024
- Finally: Chase Elliott wins at Texas in a double overtime finish - April 14, 2024
- Photos: NASCAR at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday April 14, 2024 - April 14, 2024