Kevin Harvick: John Hunter Nemechek never lifted in bone-headed Toyota wreck at Talladega

Kevin Harvick took the Toyotas to task for their single-file wreck that ended the afternoons for many of the manufacturer’s cars during the GEICO 500.

On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick touched on the wreck that injured Erik Jones, and also sent drivers like Denny Hamlin and John Hunter Nemechek to the garage. In speaking on the incident, Harvick specifically pointed out the No. 42 of Nemechek, and his inability to lift during the ordeal.

“When you go back even further, Reddick was put in that position, he and [Martin] Truex [Jr.] were put in that position, because it was just a pure, boneheaded move from the from the seven or eight Toyotas that were drafting together,” Harvick said, regarding the lack of Toyotas at the front of the race near the end. “They had kind of fooled everybody on the strategy, and put themselves in a position to be really in control of the race. And you saw that play out for a couple of them, but the other, the other four or five of them, were wrecked running in a single file line. Yeah, and I just, you know, there’s always things that can happen, but that is just, that is just — it’s just a terrible, terrible move by the group of Toyota that were running there together.”

“I think we talked about it on the broadcast. When you go into turn three, and you go over all those bumps, I think the cars kind of got out of shape, and they were all pushing and got misaligned. And I think, by the time you got three or four cars back in that group, I don’t think John Hunter [Nemechek] ever lifted. I think he just, I think he was so late to the lift party that you know, Erik Jones was the, kind of the one that got shot out of the cannon and wrecked, and then they bounced off the wall and collected Denny Hamlin. Knew that they were in a position, needed to make time, and just got to pushing him too hard and got misaligned over those bumps, and crashed each other running single file.”

Alas, now it’ll be up to Hunter Nemechek to use Harvick’s thoughts on the matter as constructive criticism. It’s obvious he’s talented, but his mistake on Sunday almost ruined an entire race for Toyota at Talladega.

NASCAR doesn’t have a superspeedway on their schedule for awhile, so John Hunter Nemechek will have some time to work on his drafting. Regardless, it’s certainly something that’ll stick with the No. 42 for a bit, as Toyota went from a potential dominant victory, to a scattered finish.