Kevin Harvick berates NASCAR for throwing Katherine Legge “to the wolves” at Phoenix

NASCAR Hall of Famer Kevin Harvick gave his verdict on the Katherine Legge controversy after the Phoenix Raceway drama.

Kevin Harvick berates NASCAR for throwing Katherine Legge “to the wolves” at Phoenix

Katherine Legge and Kevin Harvick (Via @IndyCar/X and IMAGO)

The Phoenix Raceway witnessed the NASCAR Cup Series debut of Katherine Legge, the first female racer since 2018 to race in the elite tier. But her debut race didn’t go as planned the Live fast Motorsports car was among the worst ones on the traffic and the lack of experience made it extremely hard to tackle the Next-Gen traffic.

Katherine Legge had multiple spins throughout the week, and the last one ruined her race, as Daniel Suarez was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The No:99 Chevy crashed into the Live Fast Chevy and Suarez who was furious about the incident slammed NASCAR over her approval to race. Now 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick discussed the topic and claimed the approval process isn’t good enough.

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I think that this is part of the process from the approval process that is probably not good enough. I think that Katherine has a lot of experience in the things that she’s raced throughout her career.

Kevin Harvick said via Happy Hour podcast.

The ex-SHR driver felt, Katherine Legge was thrown to the wolves with the approval as she was driving the worst car of the day. He asserted that the criticism wasn’t targeted at the car nor the team, but aimed at NASCAR for letting someone with no Cup experience race in an event like Phoenix Raceway.

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But she was really thrown to the wolves in this situation with probably not the best car in the field, probably the worst car in the field, don’t run every week. It’s not a knock on the car, but she’s in the worst car and showing up to Phoenix in a Cup car that she’s never driven, not a lot of NASCAR experience.

Kevin Harvick added.

Kevin Harvick demands accountability from NASCAR

Further talking about the point, Kevin Harvick pointed out that NASCAR needs to be accountable regarding giving the drivers from different series an opportunity to race in the top division. He urged the sanctioning body to be give approval to only the racers that are properly prepared for Cup Series.

Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick (Via IMAGO)

I know that we want people from different series to be able to come into the Cup Series, but we got to get back to some accountability of making sure that the people that are driving these Cup cars and properly perpared to go out on the racetrack and can do the things that they need to do.

Kevin Harvick said.

The comments from the veteran as well as many in the racing community proves NASCAR didn’t do enough to make sure Legge was ready for the top division. It would be interesting to see how the sanctioning body is going to respond to the controversy.