Kevin Harvick expresses frustration after NASCAR incident

Kevin Harvick once again voiced his dissatisfaction with NASCAR officials after failing to complete Sunday night's playoff opener at Darlington Raceway.

Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang caught fire on lap 276 of the Southern 500, forcing him to retire from the race. He ended up finishing in 33rd place.

"I'm sure it's just poor-quality parts on the race car, like we've seen so many times," Harvick said. "They haven't fixed anything. It's like the safety equipment, we just keep ignoring it. The car started to burn and the flames started to come through the dashboard."

"I ran a couple of laps, and as the flames grew bigger, they started to damage parts of the car. If you look at the TV replay, you can see all the brake fluid and part of the brake line, but the fire was coming through the dashboard."

"This is a disaster for no reason. We didn't hit the wall, we didn't hit another car, and yet here we are in the pits with a burned-up car, unable to finish the race in the playoffs because of these poor-quality parts."

Harvick has been criticizing the Next Gen for some time now. Last month, the former Cup Series champion made strong comments about the car's safety and stated that NASCAR officials do not prioritize it, despite drivers continuously expressing how hard the impacts are. He reiterated these concerns at last week's NASCAR Cup Series playoff media day, emphasizing that the crashes are violent and no improvements have been made.

The driver of the No. 4 car is now in last place on the playoff grid, sitting 13 points below the cutline. Daniel Suarez currently holds the final transfer spot as they head into Kansas Speedway.