NASCAR insider Kevin Harvick, who drove the 1971 Mercury during the throwback weekend at Darlington just ahead of the Cup Series race, revealed how the brakes lacked friction, nearly causing him to run over a track worker at high speed. The incident could have had serious repercussions and potentially jeopardized the entire Cup race.

The car driven by Harvick was used by NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson in 1972 when he won the Darlington race. Explaining the scary incident on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, the FOX NASCAR commentator said:

“Apparently, the people on the front stretch that were taking down the stage and doing everything didn’t realize that we were going to do two laps. Well, when we got back around to the front stretch, they were not paying attention, and we were approaching them at a high rate of speed, and I went to hit the brake pedal, and the brake pedal had no friction… it freaked me out.”

“I was thinking to myself, ‘my God, I’m gonna mow this guy over,’ and the truck in front of me that’s leading us around this pace lap and all those people on the front straightaway taking these cables up are in harm’s way.”

Fortunately, Harvick managed the situation well and prevented a huge accident from occurring. He added:

“I was going slow enough to where I had time to analyze the situation and try to navigate my way through the scenario.”

The Cup race that followed saw a last-minute twist when Bubba Wallace hit Kyle Larson, causing Larson to spin out and hit the inside wall. The incident brought out the caution flags, prompting Denny Hamlin to capitalize on the situation.

Following an excellent pit stop, Hamlin was the first to line up for the overtime restart and eventually led his way to a second consecutive victory this year. Blaney, whose lead was compromised by a botched pit stop, finished fifth.

Hamlin credited his pit crew for the quick pit stop and Larson’s spin for his win since it triggered the caution flag. Newsweek Sports reported his comments after the race:

“There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson. Had a little assist there, so thank you. Man, the pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week, they won it this week. It’s all about them. Thanks SportClips, they have such a big deal here in Darlington, South Carolina.”