Not a single Hendrick Motorsports car finished on the lead lap at North Wilkesboro, and issues around the team are coming into question. 

What's more, neither of the HMS cars finished in the top 10 last weekend in over 20 years. Only Chase Elliott has won races for them in 2026.

Kevin Harvick broke down what the issues are for the Chevrolet team, and a lot of it comes down to the package changes that have been made for different tracks across this season by NASCAR. 

Speaking on his Happy Hour podcast, Harvick said, “Everything that they designed that car for was for last year’s diffuser that made a bunch more downforce, and now you don’t have that and everything that you designed to put in the car to make it have more downforce.”

Harvick was addressing the fact that the HMS team has stuck to the older regulations for their cars and an aero package that is becoming less relevant as NASCAR continues to introduce new regulations to improve on-track racing. 

In his view, HMS is left searching for answers this year as their cars are built around an aero package that's obsolete after the current rule changes.

Part of the recent package updates for Superspeedway racing included reducing the spoiler sides to reduce drag. This change was made to reduce the significant speed differences between clean air and running in a pack. 

But it wasn’t just on-track problems; Harvick was also critical of a mistake by the HMS team on pit road in North Wilkesboro. 

Harvick gives his thoughts on the Zilisch-Larson pit incident

Kyle Larson ended his race at North Wilkesboro in 15th but not without complications. On a pit stop as he was exiting his pit box, Trackhouse Racing’s Connor Zilisch was just making his way into the pits. 

When asked whose fault it was, on the same podcast, Kevin Harvick said, “Connor was almost in his pit stall right there, so he was turning into his pit box when the 5 was coming out. It’s probably easier to put the blame on the 5 car than it is that the 88 car was turning into his pit box.”

Harvick said that since Zilisch was already committed, it was on Larson to either brake or for his team to hold him back slightly before releasing him. 

Zilisch finished all the way down in 32nd in an already disappointing rookie season. 

How do you think Hendrick Motorsport can get better? Let us know. 

Read more at Daytona Racing Digest.

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason