Kevin Harvick has weighed in on John Hunter Nemechek’s pit road incident at Bristol Motor Speedway, calling it a potentially dangerous situation. The incident involved a loose wheel nut that could have caused a serious accident.

During the Food City 500, Shane Van Gisbergen spun due to contact with Cody Ware, leading to a caution. Nemechek pitted for new tires, but his pit crew failed to secure the left-rear wheel of his No. 42 Toyota properly. As Nemechek left the pit stall, the lug nut came off, causing the wheel to detach and roll down pit road. The loose wheel narrowly missed a crew member from Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 team before hitting the rear of Suarez’s Chevy.

On his “Happy Hour” podcast, Harvick commented on the incident: “This could’ve been a lot worse. You’ll see the lug nut fly off the car right there… the wheel and tire came off the car… and took a beeline straight towards 99 of Daniel Suarez.” He noted how close the tire changer was to being hit.

NASCAR’s Next Gen cars use a single, center-locking lug nut instead of the traditional five-lug system. This change was intended to speed up pit stops but has increased the risk of a single point of failure.

Nemechek was penalized for the pit road mishap and sent to the rear of the field. However, his team avoided further penalties because the incident occurred within the pit stalls. Suarez’s team was also penalized for a loose wheel and impeding a neighboring team’s fueler during the commotion.

Harvick also supported Kyle Larson’s views on the gap between Cup and Xfinity Series drivers. Larson, after winning the Xfinity and Cup Series races at Bristol, criticized NASCAR’s regulations that limit Cup drivers in lower-tier series. Larson argued that junior drivers need exposure to top-tier competition to improve.

Harvick agreed, saying that Cup Series drivers “teach you where to run on the race track, they teach you that you can drive your car harder, they teach you that you can run down pit road faster.”

Vignesh Kanna, who covers NASCAR and Formula 1 for Sportskeeda, wrote the original article. He is passionate about motorsports and enjoys writing about underdogs in the sport.