NASCAR: Kevin Harvick at risk of being suspended?

While it may be a “last resort”, NASCAR has not ruled out the possibility of taking extreme measures if the Kevin Harvick-Chase Elliott feud continues.

It was pretty one-sided on Sunday afternoon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, but more than three weeks after it began, the Kevin Harvick-Chase Elliott feud continued as the round of 12 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs came to an end.

Still bitter about losing the win at Bristol Motor Speedway after Elliott held him up in retaliation for earlier contact, Harvick sent Elliott into the wall on Sunday, dropping him below the round of 8 cut line and severely damaging the rear of the #9 Chevrolet.

Of course, that would prove to be the lone highlight of yet another miserable day for Harvick, as Elliott was able to rally for a 12th place finish and comfortably advance to the round of 8 for the fifth straight year.

Harvick, meanwhile, failed to move beyond the round of 12 for the first time since the current playoff format was introduced in 2014, and he sealed his own fate late in the race.

As Elliott carved his way back up through the field, he approached the #4 Ford of Harvick. With Elliott in his rearview mirror, Harvick locked up and sailed into the turn one barrier, ending his race and his championship hopes.

Afterward, Harvick refused to say whether or not the two were “even” and if the feud was over, indicating that it was Elliott who learned the “real-life” lesson with what happened.

This response indicated to NASCAR that they may end up having to step in — more so than they would like to.

Here is what Scott Miller, senior vice president of competition, had to say about the matter on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday.

"“I don’t know if we’ll have them together or talk to them individually to see where they are right now, but we don’t need that continuing on, and we will do what we think is necessary to kind of get that one calmed down. … We don’t want to park anybody. We want all the fans to see the drivers that they came out to see. That will try to be a last resort. If we keep seeing things then we absolutely will have to take some sort of action there.”"

Of course, Miller wasn’t speaking specifically about anybody when talking about parking someone. But in regard to the Harvick-Elliott feud, it’s obvious who the suspension target would be at this point.

Elliott has no need to retaliate against Harvick. While there was speculation that he would have done so on Sunday if he had gotten the opportunity, he didn’t need that opportunity, as “The Closer” closed out his afternoon on his own.

And another thing: Harvick eliminated himself while Elliott advanced. So again, no need.

Harvick, unlike Elliott, no longer has anything to play for in the big picture, so any future retaliation would obviously be coming from the former; he has already proven that he really doesn’t care and that his 2021 season is one he would like to forget, illustrating this quite clearly in that his only interest at Charlotte was making Elliott just as miserable.

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So if more retaliation were to happen, we could very well see a situation where Harvick ends up like Matt Kenseth after he intentionally wrecked Joey Logano, who was still competing for the title, at Martinsville Speedway in 2015: suspended for two races.

It’s not the desired outcome for anybody involved and it’s deemed a “last resort” for a reason, but it’s on the table for the driver who hasn’t missed a race since 2002 and whose streak of 708 consecutive starts is the longest active streak in the series.