Kevin Harvick vehemently calls out Saturday night NASCAR races: 'Why do we keep going back and doing dumb sh*t?'

This Saturday is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Round of 16 finale in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. It will be the third race of the last five to take place on a Saturday night.

Kevin Harvick is confused as to why NASCAR keeps going back to Saturday nights. To him, it makes “zero sense.”

“Why do we ever race on a Saturday night? It makes no sense — zero sense,” Harvick said on Tuesday’s Happy Hour podcast. “Just look at the TV ratings when you get done. I know it’s football season, but the TV ratings are historically, completely well-known by everybody in the industry that it does not score ever, ever, ever, ever on a Saturday night.”

Recent history has shown us that Saturday night races don’t draw nearly as much viewership as Sunday races. Take last month’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway for example. That race was held on a Saturday night and drew just 1.4 million viewers on USA Network. The 2024 fall race at Richmond was held on a Sunday and had 2.2 million viewers.

Kevin Harvick fired up over NASCAR having races on Saturday night

The data is clear: Sunday races bring in more viewership than Saturday races. The Bristol Night Race has been held on a Saturday night since 1978. It’s a tradition, but things have changed, Harvick said. It’s now a playoff race in September, as opposed to an August race. Harvick called out NASCAR for “going back and doing dumb sh*t.”

“We went from Saturday to Sunday at Richmond, TV numbers go up. We go from Sunday to Saturday, crowd goes up. I’m more concerned about the TV ratings than I am how many people are sitting in the grandstands, because that’s what makes it go around,” Harvick said. “No NASCAR race should ever not be on a Sunday. Every one of them should be on a Sunday. … Just run it on Sunday afternoon.

“The Bristol Night Race is forever not there. It’s not in August; we’re in the middle of September now. It’s a playoff race that got moved to September; it’s not the Bristol Night Race anymore. As I go back and look at the Richmond TV ratings, they know it doesn’t score on a Saturday night — it’s a dumb move. … There’s no Saturday night racing in the history of NASCAR since the Bristol night races that have scored well in the last five years. … The numbers don’t lie. Why do we keep going back and doing dumb sh*t?”