Kevin Harvick answers what he used to do differently to avoid any potential Ty Gibbs-William Byron-like crash 

Kevin Harvick reacted to William Byron’s crash with Ty Dillon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a video shared by Harvick Happy Hour on X. The clip shows the former NASCAR Cup Series champion explaining what caused the wreck and what drivers can do to prevent similar situations.

As a 2014 Cup Series champion with more than two decades of experience, Kevin Harvick put out his own manner of avoiding a similar situation. In the short video, Kevin Harvick breaks down the crash where William Byron’s No. 24 car slammed into the back of Ty Dillon’s No. 10 as Dillon slowed to enter pit road. Harvick said:

"There's a number of things that could’ve gone a lot better here. You know, when they go back, the 10 car of Ty Dillon never put his hand out the window. Like when I was coming to pit road, I always would kind of weave my car, put my hand out the window to make sure that the guy behind me knew I was coming."

He also mentioned the confusion between the two spotters. Dillon’s spotter claimed he informed Byron’s spotter about the pit entry. Harvick added:

"Now the 10 spotter says that he told the 24 spotter, and the 24 driver says the spotter never told him. So there were a number of things that could’ve gone better right here in this situation.”

The crash happened with 31 laps to go in the 267-lap race. Byron was running second at the time and chasing the leader when Dillon, who was off the main pit sequence, slowed suddenly to pit.

Byron, traveling nearly 50 mph faster, had no warning and crashed straight into the back of Dillon’s car. The impact ended the race for both drivers.

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“That’s probably the worst way to lose a race,” says Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour podcast

In an episode of Harvick Happy Hour on FOX, Kevin Harvick discussed the Las Vegas crash again, offering more details about what went wrong. He said that Byron didn’t expect Dillon to pit at that point in the race since most drivers had already completed their final stops. Dillon was dealing with problems in his Ford Mustang and decided to pit, but Byron was right behind him with no space or time to react.

“When he [Dillon] was pitting, I don’t think William knew he was pitting,” Kevin Harvick said. “William didn’t think he was pitting because of where they were at from the cycle, thinking it was done and then all of a sudden, you know, all that just compiled into a bad situation right there in a massive, massive wreck.”

Co-host Mamba Smith agreed, calling it “the worst way to lose a race.” Both he and Kevin Harvick agreed that Byron had already committed to his line and was “too far into the situation to abort”. Once Dillon slowed, Byron had no way to avoid the hit.

The crash ended Byron’s race in 36th place, just ahead of Dillon in 37th. John Hunter Nemechek, who was caught up in the wreck, managed to finish 29th, while Denny Hamlin took the win, the 60th of his career.

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Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar