NASCAR: Breaking Down Kevin Harvick’s Late Contact
By Cole Mentzel
Talladega provided NASCAR fans with a rather boring version of the race compared to recent years and recent races at the track. Throughout the whole race there was a total of two cautions; one for Justin Allgaier and one for Jamie McMurray. However, the ending of the race provided lots of drama for fans, including two more cautions, and created a few controversial situations that have been hot topics on social media ever since they took place.
It was certainly different with only one green-white-checkered attempt, which was a change that NASCAR made earlier in the week. On the first attempt, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson both spun but NASCAR said that they were going to try again since the field had not made it to the finish line when the incident happened.
On the second try, about 10 cars made it across before Trevor Bayne connected with Kevin Harvick, causing a massive wreck right on the finish line. Since there was only going to be one attempt at a GWC, NASCAR determined the results by seeing what position each driver was in as soon as the caution was thrown.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr., in second place at the time of the incident, eventually passed Joey Logano for the lead in the first turn but since the caution came out when he was in second place, he was ultimately eliminated from the Chase.
Though that event stirred NASCAR fans up quite a bit, it wasn’t the most talked about thing that happened in the race. Kevin Harvick’s late contact with Trevor Bayne has a lot of fans thinking that Harvick might have had a little meaning to it. Let’s dive in a little deeper:
On the first attempt, there was an obvious issue with Harvick’s car. Once the pack began to accelerate, he had to move up to the top of the racetrack because his car could only go as fast as he was going under caution. He managed to get out of the way of everyone else and had nothing to do with the Johnson/Larson wreck.
The second attempt was where things got very interesting. Again, Harvick was not going to go any faster than he was under caution. His car never gained any speed and he began to hold the line up behind him. Trevor Bayne had enough of that and went up high to pass Harvick, but when he came back down, his left side bumped Harvick’s right side and Bayne immediately turned sideways, which led to the race-ending wreck.
The whole situation is highlighted here by the crew on NBCSN:
The interesting part that had some fans suspicious was Harvick’s position in the Chase at the time. He was set to drop all the way out of the main pack and finish below the cut line, which would have led to him being eliminated from the Chase.
Many fans and drivers alike think Harvick intentionally wrecked Bayne in order to save himself and keep his Chase run going. The point is very valid and if you watch the re-start closely, you can see Harvick’s car turn right.
To counter that point, you could say that Harvick was simply moving up to get in front of a line that was coming so that he could try to gain some momentum. That’s what Harvick says he did, but with the current Chase format, you never know what drivers are willing to do to keep their spot in the next round.
Though it certainly looks like Harvick spun Bayne on purpose, it doesn’t really matter now because, fair or not, he is a part of the Eliminator 8. There will definitely be a closer monitor on him in the remaining races.