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BRISTOL, Tennessee – Kyle Larson denied Kevin Harvick his first win of the season with a masterful pass at Bristol Motor Speedway that was overshadowed on Saturday night by a post-race skirmish between Harvick and the defending Chase Cup champion Elliott.
Spirits were so hot that Harvick, his exactly one-year back-to-back losing streak, said “I’m ready to rip someone’s head off” to a crowd unsure whether Harvick or Elliott should be booed or cheered.
“We were running for the fucking victory in Bristol, we’re three down the middle and he’s having a temper tantrum like I’m just trying to take the lead and beat him hard,” said Harvick. “Then he stopped in front of me and just sat there until I lost all of the lead.”
The crowd at that time was very decidedly on Elliott’s side.
“They can boo whatever they want, I don’t care,” Harvick said.
Elliott, meanwhile, has indicated that Harvick is pushing people onto the track and the pattern needs to stop.
“It’s something he does all the time,” Elliott said. “He constantly bumps into your left side on other tracks and sometimes it cuts your left side and other times it doesn’t. He did it to me at Darlington a few weeks ago because he was tired of running. with me and if he did it on purpose, it doesn’t matter.
“I don’t care who he is or how long he’s been doing it. I’m going to defend myself and my team and continue on the road.”
Elliott led a record 175 laps, but Harvick passed him with 33 laps to go in an aggressive streak in which their cars touched. This caused a flat tire on Elliott’s Chevrolet while Harvick was able to walk away unscathed.
Harvick seemed to be heading for his first win of the season (his last win was at Bristol a year ago), but an enraged Elliott returned to the track after a tire change and deliberately slowed down in front of Harvick in an attempt to ruin the Harvick race.
The slowdown gave Larson a chance to close the gap and win the race with four laps to go. It was a Cup-top sixth win of the season for playoff seed Larson.
And it was a record-breaking night for Hendrick Motorsports, who took Larson’s victory and kept all four drivers in the playoffs. Alex Bowman and William Byron were both in danger of elimination in Bristol, the third and final race of the first lap when NASCAR reduced the field from 16 to 12.
Instead, Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch and Michael McDowell were eliminated. Busch’s elimination means Chip Ganassi won’t win a championship in his 20-year NASCAR career. He sold his team at the end of the season and Busch was his last title shot.
But as the eliminated drivers sulked their fate and Larson celebrated the front row, Harvick and Elliott fumed on the pit lane.
The two first parked their cars next to each other on the pit lane after the race, then followed each other until they parked face to face and both drivers had jumped out of their vehicles. Harvick kept his helmet on and Elliott’s finger immediately rose to Harvick’s face.
The jaw continued, briefly turned physical, and ultimately led to a private discussion in Elliott’s Transporter.
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