Going into Chicagoland Speedway, Kevin Harvick was one of the favorites to win the first race of the Chase. His swagger of confidence coming into Chicago was clear when Harvick told the media last Thursday, that he intended to pound the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers throughout the Chase. The JGR drivers have won eight of the last ten races leading up to the Chicagoland race – the first in the ten-race playoff. So, obviously, Harvick sees them as his biggest rivals in defending his title this season.
On Sunday, Joe Gibbs Racing responded with a Denny Hamlin victory in the myAFibRisk.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. The rest of their drivers finished in second with Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth finished fifth and Kyle Busch finished ninth – all four drivers with top-ten finishes. In contrast Harvick finished a rough day in 42nd-place and is now last of the 16 drivers contending for the championship.
An on track incident between Jimmie Johnson and Harvick resulted in a cut tire on the No. 4 car. Harvick blames Johnson for the incident, and confronted Johnson after the race with a shove, before an ally, and his wife Delana intervened and separated the two drivers. Johnson pointed his finger, but that was the extend of the exchange.
The skirmish between Harvick and Johnson certainly contributed to the problem, but Harvick didn’t help his situation by staying on the track until the tire blew.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but Harvick could have changed the tire and would have most likely lost fewer positions and certainly would have lost fewer laps, giving his team a chance to regain their track position and perhaps even contend for the win in the end. By staying out and letting the tire blow out, Harvick wrecked his car, causing his crew to feverishly work to get it fixed enough that he could return to the track. Harvick then finished the race 58 laps down, sending him from first to last in the Chase point standings, not only deflating to his team, but bursting his Joe Gibbs Racing threat bubble.
Perhaps a tire changed in time could have saved Harvick and his No. 4 team, 58 laps in this case.
Harvick is now 43 points behind the Chase points leader, Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Matt Kenseth. Apparently, Hamlin, Kenseth and the other Joe Gibbs drivers were not rattled by Harvick’s threat to pound them in the Chase. Harvick instead pounded himself right into 16th place after the first race of the Chase – seems his threat ended with a back-fire at Chicagoland Speedway.
