Ahead of the Shriners Children’s 500, Kevin Harvick became the latest entity to weigh in on the Austin Cindric penalty fiasco. During the pre-race show on Fox Sports, Harvick lashed out at NASCAR for practicing leniency with their penalty and claimed that a race suspension should also have been handed to the No. 2 driver.
Last Sunday, Ty Dillon bumped into Cindric in the opening lap of the COTA race, which did not sit well with the Team Penske driver. On Lap 4, the latter would retaliate with a right hook, sending Dillon spinning. Everyone expected the Penske driver to be suspended for one race, but he walked away with a $50k fine and a 50-point deduction.
Kevin Harvick calls out Cindric’s cheap tactics
A right rear hook is one of the most dangerous moves in all of Motorsports, not just in NASCAR. Owing to the same, Harvick joined the likes of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin in claiming that Cindric should have been suspended. The $110 million (via Celebrity Net Worth) driver-turned-presenter subsequently called Cindric’s actions dangerous and cheap.
“It’s just cheap, right? It’s just a cheap shot, dude. You know that instant retaliation and whether it was in the left rear or the right rear, going down the straight – it’s very obvious to see exactly what he did. He definitely got away with one here.” Harvick said via Steven Taranto on X.
Kevin Harvick just shared on the FS1 prerace that, in his opinion, Austin Cindric should’ve been suspended for right hooking Ty Dillon at COTA last week. pic.twitter.com/9p38AT4u3e
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 9, 2025
In addition to calling out Cindric, Harvick also lashed out at NASCAR for its handling of the incident. He claimed the authorities made an “awful call” by letting Cindric walk away without a suspension.
Given how things have been going and the trend NASCAR has set in the last two years, a stricter penalty should have been the verdict. Per Harvick, the way such actions can lead to injuries in the head, certain penalties are unanimously decided on the drivers’ part. It is something that “needs to be black and white.”
However, with the latest verdict, Harvick feels the sport has gone back to being confused about whether to restart, bring out the caution, or allow the drivers to finish the race if something similar were to happen again.
While Harvick remains uncertain of the sport’s position following the ruling, he does know that Cindric should have received a suspension, and he was lucky not to get one.
