Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick feud continues at Roval

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CONCORD, NC – After their feud erupted again in stunning setbacks on Sunday at the Roval, Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick didn’t say much – but their few words were singled out.

“As for Kevin, I just want to wish them a happy offseason and a merry Christmas,” Elliott told NBC Sports pit reporter Dave Burns after qualifying for the Round of 8 with an impressive road to 12.e after being destroyed by Harvick midway through the second lap cutoff race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

It was the latest flashpoint of what has become NASCAR’s most passionate first-series rivalry this season with taunts thrown between their wrecked cars.

Elliott said his problems with the Harvick race go back years. The most important happened last month at Bristol Motor Speedway – Elliott suffered a tire cut after contact with Harvick and then hampered the leader’s progress, leaving Harvick feeling deprived of a victory.

Did Harvick retaliate for Bristol by hitting Elliott at Roval?

“Sometimes real life teaches you good lessons” Harvick cryptically told NBC Sports’ Parker Kligerman after being knocked out of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs when he crashed with 10 laps to go.

He later added: “You remember Bristol” when asked if the Elliott wreck was a rematch.

So were they even? Harvick smiled and walked away without answering any of the five questions he asked in two brief talks with NBC and PRN outside the health center.

The timing of his accident – Harvick blocked the left front tire of his # 4 Ford and slammed into the barrier at Turn 1 with Elliott’s # 9 Chevrolet about 50 feet behind – prevented another chapter of the quarrel. Elliott and the crew had discussed the destruction of Harvick on their team radio.

Elliott said “I’m not sure” when asked if he would have destroyed Harvick if he had hit him before the crash.

But that was about all the defending Cup Series champion was willing to say after stepping out of his battered Camaro and checking for damage to his right-back before exchanging punches with the boss. team Alan Gustafson and other team members.

“I’m excited to move forward, and that’s all that matters to me,” Elliott said with a smile after the third question on Harvick. “You don’t get anything else, so you might as well quit. “

The questions still came.

Was the feud over with Harvick?

“I’m going to Texas next week, concentrating on my job.”

Has Harvick experienced karma?

“I’m going to Texas next week to concentrate on my job.

So are you done talking about it?

“I’m certainly not talking about it here,” said Elliott, who then thanked reporters and ended the group interview.

Rick Hendrick, whose team had two lead drivers in the playoffs with Elliott and race winner Kyle Larson while Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron and Alex Bowman were knocked out, said he wanted NASCAR to intervene in the Harvick-Elliott feud because “they’re the only ones who can really stop it. I hope they will because the team leaders and everyone else can do their best, but it depends on the pilots themselves. I’ve been in this situation before. NASCAR can handle it.

Hendrick was the owner of Geoffrey Bodine’s team during a 1980s rivalry with Dale Earnhardt. This feud involved enough intentional wrecks from Bodine and Earnhardt to spark a famous reunion with NASCAR president Bill France Jr., which inspired a “Days of Thunder” plot.

“I hope it’s over,” Hendrick said on Sunday. “We don’t want to run that way. We just want to run. It’s not our style. If a guy is better than you, he wins. Just do your job. If you are beaten, you are beaten. It is never pleasant to push someone aside. I mean, a little rub or something like that is okay. But just destroying someone is not good.

Hendrick said Elliott “wanted to get this car up there” after the impact of the Turn 7 spin destroyed the back of his car and required major repairs to the trunk lid and the windshield. shocks.

Despite the damage, Elliott’s team managed to stay in the lead lap, then took a major break when a warning flew off for his bumper which flew off his car on lap 87 .

“Our team did a really good job putting our car back together,” said Elliott. “It was really the result. They just took the allotted time to fix it properly, no longer rubbing the tires and not cutting a tire to completely end our day.

“I had the caution and was able to keep fighting so I’m really proud of that. We could have easily given up or not fixed it to proper standards and had something broken or tire rubbing. so everyone did a really good job with it. Proud of it. It was a very fast car and I thought we had a chance to win. Obviously that didn’t happen, but in the big scheme, that was the most important thing, and our season is still alive. Super excited about that. Excited for three more weeks and another chance to win a championship.

Elliott wasn’t the only driver at Roval unhappy with Harvick, who entered the race nine points behind the cut line for advancement.

“(Harvick) wanted to crush everyone,” Kyle Busch said. “He didn’t make a lot of friends today. It kind of shows what you have to do in these races. It doesn’t matter what feelings hurt you and what will come back to you next week. We saw it with me last year: (Harvick) dumped me in Martinsville. I can’t say I’ve been guilty of it yet. There are some dirty guys out there.

Dustin Long contributed to this story



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