JOLIET, Ill. – A decision not to pit after contact with Jimmie Johnson on a Lap 135 restart at Chicagoland Speedway proved to be a costly mistake for defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.
With an aggressive push from Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson made a split-second decision to drop to the bottom of the race track, but as he returned to the racing surface entering Turn 1, contact was made with second-place runner Harvick, which caused smoke to appear from the left front of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.
Franticly, Harvick was worried about the tire rub leading to a blown tire, but reassurance from crew chief Rodney Childers and spotter Tim Fedewa informed the reigning champion that the smoke from the on-board camera had disappeared.
A lap later, all hell broke loose.
At the end of the backstretch on Lap 138, the tire gave way on the No. 4 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet sending Harvick spinning into the outside Turn 3 wall causing substantial rear-end damage.
The Bakersfield, California native drove his battered car to pit road, where he immediately turned into the Sprint Cup Series garage for repairs. He climbed from his car without comment, while
his SHR team immediately began to repair his race car.
Meanwhile. While Harvick was driving back to the garage area, Childers felt the contact from Johnson may have been intentional saying, “The 48 was off of him, turned back into him, right in front of him on purpose.”
Harvick returned to the race and finished 42nd and is currently 16th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
“Yeah, I got a fairly good restart,” said Harvick. “I just had a little tire buzz at the end and shifted into third gear and I saw those guys coming on the apron. They must have gotten together and had a good run up. But I just held my ground and he just slammed into the side of the door like I wasn’t even there.
“So, the spotter was telling me four-wide and I guess he just figured that he’d come up the race track. But, I’m just really proud of everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Budweiser team for not giving up and doing all the things they had to do to get the car back on the track and we’ve just got to go win one of these races.”
After the race, Johnson went to Harvick’s motorhome at Chicagoland Speedway to talk about the incident. Harvick exited his motorhome where heated verbal words were exchanged, with Harvick delivering a closed punch to the chest of the six-time Cup champion.
Harvick was further restrained by business manager Josh Jones with Harvick’s wife, DeLana arriving on-scene exiting from a parked vehicle.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director Richard Buck said the sanctioning body will review the post-race incident.
With nine races remaining, it’s more than a fair assessment that this just the first epoxide of what’s expected to be a drama-pegged battle to the Sprint Cup.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
