Kevin Harvick rips NASCAR not suspending Austin Cindric for right-rear hook: 'Awful call'

Before today’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Kevin Harvick weighed in on the Austin Cindric penalty from COTA. Cindric right rear hooked Ty Dillon and many in NASCAR think the Team Penske driver got off easy.

Kevin Harvick agrees with the likes of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin that Austin Cindric should have been suspended for a week. Right rear hooks are dangerous moves in any motorsport. In the last couple of years there have been some high profile incidents.

However, instead of being suspended and losing all playoff points for the season, Cindric was dinged 50 points and $50,000. Still a sizeable penalty, but not as severe.

“Well, I agree,” Harvick said about a suspension on RaceDay. “I mean this is an awful call. I think that as a driver, with the way that things have gone, and in this particular car and the way that injuries are with the head, this is something unanimously decided on from the drivers’ side of it, that that needs to be black and white.

“And now we’re kind of back to this restart thing, or the finish and the caution flag, now we don’t know exactly where we stand. And whether you’re going 35 mph or 135 mph, should have been suspended.”

A clear statement from Kevin Harvick. There have been more voices saying the same thing in NASCAR this weekend.

Kevin Harvick echoes Kyle Busch on Cindric penalty

The more drivers that talk about the Austin Cindric penalty the more we see calls for a suspension in the future. Drivers are fairly united on this and the head injuries in the Next Gen car likely play a role in that.

Kyle Busch said a lot of the same things that Kevin Harvick said to the media on Saturday. Rowdy wants a black-and-white rule.

“I did it once and maybe twice, got off with it the first time, but definitely not the second time,” Busch said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “Sat out a whole weekend, two more races the second time. You know that’s not his first offense, I don’t know if it’s his second offense. Like I said, some guys get off on based off who I think their last name is.”

He reiterated that same belief before the end of his interview. The two-time champ was not happy.

“Put it in the rulebook: A right hook will result in a one-race suspension. Period.”