By Toby Christie 
Friday was not the finest day for Kevin Harvick, Rodney Childers and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team.
The team unloaded a car with optimism that the 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion could seriously challenge for a third-career win at the 1.5-mile track in Hampton, GA. It is now apparent that if Harvick is to capture victory this weekend, he will have to overcome some serious drivability obstacles with his race car.
“Today has been a complete waste of time for us,” Harvick said in frustration. “The car won’t steer. It won’t turn to the right. We can’t figure out what is wrong with the steering to make it go straight. It has been a bit of a challenge today. We haven’t really made any laps that you can actually turn the car. We were kind of just hoping for the best there and it didn’t fix any of it.”
Harvick, 43, would go on to say that his car was actually unsafe to drive. It showed on the speed charts as he was not his usual ultra-quick during the frustrating day.
In opening practice, Harvick was just 29th-fastest on the board and he was only able to muster two laps before bringing the ill-handling car back to his crew.
In qualifying, it was more of the same as Harvick struggled again en route to securing the 18th starting spot for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
If the California native has any hope of hoisting the trophy at the end of the weekend, the key will be practice on Saturday.
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