Kevin Harvick is tired of the air blocking debate between Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson

This week the debate over air blocking was brought up once again and frankly, Kevin Harvick is over it. He heard out Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin. But Harvick wants NASCAR fans to realize that this is not a new phenomenon.

Ever since wind tunnel testing, and really, before, aerodynamics have played a major role in motorsports. Before anyone knew what to call it, drivers knew that if they got up on the back of another car they would get tight or they could possibly get that car loose.

Playing around with the air is something drivers do in all other motorsports. Defensive driving exists in almost all motorsports. While Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson go back and forth about air blocking, Kevin Harvick wants to move on.

“When you go and you look at the race and you look at the scenario, the pit crew gave him [Hamlin] the lead again,” Harvick said on his Happy Hour podcast. “They did their job on pit road, they put him in a position to win. Then they come back in for the last time and Kyle Larson beats him off pit road and what did he do? He passed him. … Denny Hamlin passed Kyle Larson, it’s an amazing thing. He did pass Kyle Larson for the lead. Kyle Larson was up front, Denny Hamlin beat him on a restart and passed him.”

He went into it further, breaking down exactly what we’re talking about when discussing “air blocking.” Mirror driving, dirtying up the air, air blocking, defensive driving – it’s all more or less in the same family.

“Look, you know the drivers learn quickly. They understand the vehicle that they’re racing and I heard Kyle Larson’s comments and Denny’s comments after the race about the air blocking,” Harvick continued. “Can you air block? Yes. I go back to 2020. Joey Logano did not the exact way you do it in this car, but he took my line away, he would make me cross his wake at Kansas. [I] dominated the race all day, felt like we should have won the race, Logano got track position, could never get past him.

“The most aerodynamic cars in the world are F1 cars. They have the biggest aerodynamic problem in the world of going slower. So, I can just tell you that aero tight and those things are not new, they’re not going away. This car just like everything else that all these teams do, they get smarter, they come up with words. Now, is this car more sensitive than the last car? Yes. But it’s not a new technique.

“It has nothing to do with the electronic mirrors, it has nothing to do with having mirrors in the cars, it’s just more sensitive than the other cars and now there’s a term. There’s a term: air blocking. So, these guys nonchalantly talk about it, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin because now it’s just part of the tools in your tool chest. Do you wish it wasn’t that way? Yes. Is it that way in pretty much every form of racing? Pretty much. I hear them talk about it in go-karts, I hear them talk about it in dirt cars. So, it’s there and that’s just part of it.”

Is the Next Gen car more sensitive to these aero issues? Yes. Kevin Harvick admits that. However, it’s not something new and eventually, drivers and teams will find a way to work around it.