Harvick Sends Strong Message to NASCAR Drivers After Stewart Friesen Crash

Newsweek

4 days ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Former NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick has a strong message for young NASCAR drivers after Truck Series driver Stewart Friesen's horrific crash during the Super DIRTcar Series race at Autodrome Drummond in Quebec.
Friesen was seen battling multiple cars into Turn 3, when he suddenly swerved towards the ARMCO barrier and crashed at high speed. The impact toppled his car multiple times. Making matters worse, the car burst into flames as it was flung back onto the racetrack, where trailing cars collided with the wreckage.
Stewart Friesen was involved in a major wreck during his Dirt Modified race at Autodrome Drummond.
The latest update confirms that he has been helped from his car and is being transported for further evaluation.
🙏Keeping Friesen in our thoughtspic.twitter.com/bPINQrWPl8 — Taylor Kitchen (@_TaylorKitchen_) July 29, 2025
The safety crew got him out of the car and rushed him to a local hospital for further evaluation. Friesen suffered a fractured right leg and a broken pelvis. Although he is recovering, he has been moved to a hospital in New York, where he will undergo multiple surgeries.
Harvick has used Friesen's crash as an example, highlighting the lack of safety in short-track series, and cautioning young drivers to drive responsibly, regardless of the safety layers NASCAR has in place. He said on Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour podcast:
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver, Kevin Harvick speaks at the Busch Light activation on the midway prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2025 in Daytona Beach,...
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver, Kevin Harvick speaks at the Busch Light activation on the midway prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida. More"This is just an absolutely horrifying wreck right here. You see him just hit the end of that wall and then hit by cars and fires. Just glad that he's not in worse condition than he is. It was a tough couple weeks for dirt racing with everything that happened at Eldora with the sprint cars. And then you have Friesen's wreck right here. So glad everybody's still here.
"These series don't have the investigations and things, and that's one thing NASCAR does a really good job at, is making sure they understand each wreck. Making sure that they look at all the equipment. They hold the people accountable to wear their equipment right, to get their headrests right. That doesn't happen in the short track world. Some of the stuff you see is pretty scary.
"And that's one thing I stress to all of our young guys and just people in general that just get a little lax about it from the safety side. You're not preparing for every time you get in. You're preparing for that moment like we just saw with Stewart Friesen.
"So it's super important that all that stuff is right and you evolve with the safety aspect of it. That's the difference between weekly racing and Cup, Xfinity, Truck racing ... that NASCAR holds you accountable. Not so much the case on stuff like this."