Kevin Harvick shares two big reasons Denny Hamlin would’ve hesitated to pass Ross Chastain at Charlotte

Kevin Harvick broke down Denny Hamlin's final-lap scrap with Ross Chastain at the Charlotte Roval. The Cup Series explained that if Chastain had made the corner without incident, Hamlin would've refrained from passing the Trackhouse Racing driver.

Chastain's battle with Joey Logano took the spotlight in last weekend's Bank of America Roval 400. The two drivers were fighting to lock into the Round of 8, and Hamlin was caught up in the middle of it all.

When Chastain launched an attack on Hamlin, he wiped out both cars in the process, leading to Logano's capture of the final transfer spot. The JGR driver addressed the matter on his podcast and admitted that if he'd known about the duel, he'd have approached it 'a little differently'.

Reflecting upon the same, Harvick outlined the reasons why Hamlin would've held back on Chastain.

"He was not going to pass him. If Ross makes that corner, I mean that whole thing gets stacked up and I think it's two things. I don't think Danny wanted to pass him because I think he knew that it was going to turn into a sh*t storm when he tried to pass him getting run over the curbs," he said via X/HarvickHappyHour "I don't think that he wanted the controversy and I don't think that he wanted to race Joey Logano. There's no way both of those things. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don't moment," Kevin Harvick added.

Denny Hamlin later revealed why his team didn't inform him of the Chastain-Logano drama during the race. The No.11 crew were afraid of attracting a fine for race manipulation.

The reason being, last year's playoff race at Martinsville witnessed a similar situation. Ross Chastain's team was fined $100,000 for helping a fellow Chevrolet driver advance in the playoffs. 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace was also fined for aiding his teammate, Tyler Reddick.

Notably, NASCAR warned Connor Zilisch's No.88 team for just mentioning the points situation during the Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Roval.

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Kevin Harvick comments on NASCAR's plan for increased horse power

Last month, Brad Keselowski revealed that NASCAR intends to increase the horse power by 2026. He believes the numbers may go as high as 740 to 750, a marked increase from the current output at 670.

In a recent episode of his Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick offered an alternate take on the matter.

"Everything I've heard...they put it in, and the drivers couldn't even tell that they changed the horsepower. It needs a ton of horsepower. It needs to be faster.”

Kevin Harvick also mentioned the 'ironic aspect' where none of these new regulations will decrease the engine bill. According to him, new tires would be required to support the increased power output.

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Edited by Vignesh Kanna