Kevin Harvick, the driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, stands in the garage during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 2, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Perhaps Kevin Harvick had a tinge of compassion for a rookie driver.

Perhaps he forgot for a moment that his Stewart-Haas Racing organization was no longer affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports and that SHR had switched from Chevrolets to Ford.

Perhaps Harvick was so confident in his No. 4 Ford that he didn’t mind giving 20-year-old Hendrick neophyte William Byron a lap back when the caution flew for the first time last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Whatever the case, Harvick slowed noticeably coming to the yellow, allowing Byron to regain his position on the lead lap. And Byron wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“He did me a big favor,” Byron said on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I had corded both my rear tires, and I was fading quick. Yeah, he cut me a big break there. Definitely, appreciate that.

“That was exactly what it was. He just let me have the lap back. He was flying. He was lapping people left and right.”

And, yes, Harvick won the race in dominating fashion, leading 181 of the 325 laps.