Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Kevin Harvick looked to have a strong enough car to win the race, leading laps early. However, he would fall out of the event after getting into the wall at lap 139 due to a flat left rear tire. Harvick’s tire went flat as a result of a rub, that was caused by contact with Johnson on the lap 135 restart.
For the restart, Harvick would restart 2nd on the outside, with Johnson third and Joey Logano fifth. Logano would push Johnson on the restart, causing Johnson to go below the yellow line. Johnson would then move up the track to get back in line, getting into Harvick and pushing him up.
“I got a fairly good restart,” Harvick commented. “I just had a little tire buzz at the end and shifted into third gear and I saw those guys coming on the apron. They must have gotten together and had a good run up. But I just held my ground and he just slammed into the side of the door like I wasn’t even there. So, the spotter was telling me four-wide and I guess he just figured that he’d come up the race track. But, I’m just really proud of everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Budweiser team for not giving up and doing all the things they had to do to get the car back on the track and we’ve just got to go win one of these races.”
Following the event, Johnson went to talk to Harvick post-race, with Harvick giving him a shove. Harvick would try to get another shot in, though was held by a team member. Johnson said post-race that Harvick didn’t give him any room and he needed to get back up on the track, one way or another.
“He was pinning me down, and I had to get back up on the track,” he commented. “I wouldn’t say that what he did was any different than other situations I’ve been in like that. When you are in his position, you want to get the inside car in a bad angle so they have to lift. I was fine with lifting, but I had to get back on the race track, so I worked my way back up on the track.”
Johnson added that he’s not surprised that Harvick would “assume it’s his fault”, but says he wasn’t trying anything different, but to simply get back on the track.
“I’ve seen him on the flat working his way back up looking for a racing lane,” he continued. “That is what I was doing. I was on the bottom trying to get back up on the racing surface, and he was trying to pin me down and I had to get back up or else it would have been a hell of a mess.”
Harvick would be credited with a 42nd place finish. Now going into the next two races, Harvick says the only way they will move from the first round to the second round is simply by winning. The next two tracks haven’t gone historically well for Harvick as he has an average finish of 13.52 at New Hampshire with one win, to go with a 14.72 average finish at Dover.
Johnson, meanwhile, finished 11th and felt that he had a good solid day in regards to managing the points.
“Restarts were wild and crazy. So, we’re just trying to be smart,” he stated. “But at the same time, we had such a good car from the start, then we were off, and then we were back on. I wanted to be up there racing for the win or at least for the top two or three.”
