Harvick crashes after restart at Chicago, angry with Johnson post-race
A mid-race restart dramatically changed Sunday's first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland Speedway. It might have changed the entire Chase, too.
Race leader Kevin Harvick got bumped by Jimmie Johnson as the field accelerated towards the green flag. The impact caused a tire rub on Harvick's left-rear tire and a few laps after the incident, Harvick was into the wall and the tire was flat.
Johnson said he was pushed into Harvick by Joey Logano and the replays indicated that as well. He asked his crew "What the hell is Logano doing?" Johnson's car was squirrely at the start and he was forced to go to the apron to prevent running over Harvick even further. He took Harvick three-wide (with Kyle Busch on the outside) into turn one but wisely backed off entering the corner.
Harvick was unhappy with Johnson and pointed towards the No. 48's pit box as he re-entered the track after his team fixed the damage to his car. He also asked where Johnson was on the track, though the two were never in the same vicinity. After the race, Johnson went to Harvick's RV in the driver lot to talk about the incident and Harvick whacked him in the chest.
While the post-race incident can be a boon for drama and fan interest, it's also incredibly dumb. If we're going to count what happened after the Chicago race a "scuffle," then three scuffles have happened in the last seven Chase races dating back to 2014. They're becoming far too common.
Not every on-track incident is worthy of an off-track one and drivers are looking increasingly childish after these meetings. It also makes the emotion shown in them seem overblown or even fake. We've really reached the point of an on-track bump necessitating physical contact?
Harvick, the 2014 Cup champion finished 42nd. The bad result means he'll need a lot of other drivers in the 16-car Chase field to have horrible days over the next two weeks or he'll have to win at New Hampshire or Dover to make it to the second round of the Chase and avoid elimination.
It's also worth noting that Harvick and his team could have and should have avoided the finish. Had he pitted to fix the damage and get a new tire, he could have gotten a top-20 result and saved himself a lot of points. And maybe some frustration.
While Harvick's poor finish is surprising – he's finished outside the top 10 in four of the first 26 races of 2015 – a dramatic moment coming on a restart is not. Restarts have been the dominant topic in the Cup Series entering the Chase and NASCAR said it had mounted cameras to monitor drivers during restarts.
Drivers are allowed to accelerate towards the green flag in a designated zone before the start/finish line. But the zone and the double-file restarts in the Sprint Cup Series lead to a lot of gamesmanship among drivers to try to gain an advantage.
And that advantage is why Logano was likely trying to push Johnson past Harvick. With passing so hard to do in the Cup Series, drivers know that restarts are their best opportunities to make passes. Just look at how race-winner Denny Hamlin got the lead for the first and (last) time.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
