Kevin Harvick highly critical of Hendrick teams despite Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson Dover finishes

It wasn’t a bad afternoon for Hendrick Motorsports at Dover this past weekend. Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson netted top-five finishes, while Chase Elliott followed behind in P6. 

While William Byron had a DNF and came home P31, the weekend was an overall success for the Cup Series team. However, Kevin Harvick has some things he’d like to see Hendrick fix as the summer progresses. 

He pointed out the team’s flaws on the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. Byron’s lack of wins since the Daytona 500, along with the inconsistency we’ve seen from Larson, among other things, has the former champion wondering if the team will have enough come playoff time. 

“I had to just had the feeling that they were going to run better this weekend,” Harvick said, regarding the No. 5 team. “I think that, at some point, it becomes about that challenge. We talked about it with Denny, at some point, you just buckle down and you have to get the ship turned around. We know the cars are capable. Now, we’re back to a little more Hendrick vs. Gibbs type of racetracks. That’s exactly what we saw this weekend. Dover was Hendrick vs. Gibbs. 

“(Larson) was slower to get up through the pack than I thought he would be. Once he finally got up there, he was in the mix. I thought, at the end, he might have a shot to win this thing, with the tire situation. They definitely needed to get back on track and be able to try to get themselves in a position to get the ship right. You’ve got five more races to do that before the playoff start. Man, I hate that inconsistency. 

“I think that’s the thing that the No. 9 (Elliott) does better than those other three cars is, even when they’re off, they’re figuring out how to finish sixth, seventh, eighth. When the No. 24 (Byron) and the No. 5 (Larson) are off, it tanks. The No. 24 situation is the exact same as it was last year and the year before. They starts off with a win, go through the summer slump, and then show back up at the end of the year. It’s just so hard to keep up with the progression. 

“I think, last year, the Hendrick cars lost a little bit of speed, because they went through that summer slump and then they didn’t keep up with the progression. You find a little bit all the way through that summer at all the different styles of racetracks to match the speed. They’re really good at having the speed. They’re always seems like a little more prepared, from a speed standpoint, at the beginning of the season than everybody else. They fire off really good and win a bunch of races. But I just struggle with that summer slump.”

As Harvick pointed out, this isn’t a new feeling for Hendrick. They’ve gone through summer slumps in the past, but it doesn’t make it alright for the FOX Sports analyst. Moving forward, he wants to see more consistency out of the team.

This coming weekend there’s a good chance he’ll see some. As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s been an awesome track for Hendrick in the past. Last season, Kyle Larson was victorious, so we’ll see if he can kiss the bricks again in 2025.