Well, that was a less than ideal start to the weekend for Kevin Harvick, as the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang kicked loose off of turn four on his first lap of practice Saturday at Auto Club Speedway.
Harvick’s No. 4 Subway machine backed hard into the wall, and the team will most likely need to go to a backup car.
Here is footage of Harvick’s crash from the FS1 broadcast:
Not how the No. 4 team wanted to start practice ? https://t.co/YYvX6wmRM7 pic.twitter.com/54jUYg1mEu
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 26, 2022
Following the incident, Harvick, who has since been checked and released from the infield care center, radioed to his team that he was hardly in the gas at the time of the spin.
While it was assumed at the time of the incident that Harvick and the No. 4 team would go to a backup car, the team is now working on their primary car to see if they can repair it for Sunday’s race.
Still all hands on deck for the No. 4 team trying to see if they can fix the primary car. No work being done on backup yet. Obviously, Kevin Harvick will not qualify today and start at the back tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/HuEjUwfhg0
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) February 26, 2022
This weekend marks the first NASCAR race weekend at Auto Club Speedway, since 2020, and it’s the first actual normal race for the new Next Gen car, which has been contested at the LA Memorial Coliseum for the Busch Light Clash and last week in the Daytona 500.