Fight night after Harvick wins
concord, n. c. » Kevin Harvick moved into the third round of NASCAR’s championship race with a victory Saturday night at CharlotteMotor Speedway, where tempers flared after the race and two drivers had to be restrained from fighting Brad Keselowski.
Harvick had to win a twolap sprint to the finish to grab his third victory of the season, but attention turned quickly to two nearbrawls in the garage involving Keselowski. Denny Hamlin was held back by his own crewfromgoing after Keselowski, who appeared to try to wreck Hamlin after the race.
Then Matt Kenseth appeared to jump on Keselowski from behind between two haulers, and multiple team members had to pull back Kenseth. Kenseth and Keselowski made contact racing for the lead on a late restart, and Kenseth was livid that Keselowski hit his car after the race.
“It was really the safety. He was doing something with Hamlin, I hadmy seatbelt off, my (head-and-neck restraint) off and he clobbers me,” Kenseth said. “The race is over; come back to pit road. If youwant to talk about it like a man, go do that. But if you want to wreck somebody on the racetrack with people standing around, that’s just inexcusable.
“There’s no excuse for that. That’s a champion, and he’s supposed to know better than that.”
It capped a terrible night for three of NASCAR’s biggest stars: Keselowski, sixtime and defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all go into next Sunday’s elimina- tion race at Talladega needing a victory.
Keselowski finished 16th, Johnson was 17th and Earnhardtwas 20th— last in the 12-driver Chase field. Earnhardt broke his shifter early in the race, which put him in a deep hole.
The four drivers now in danger of being eliminated nextweek areKenseth, Keselowski, Johnson and Earnhardt.
Keselowski, the 2012 champion and most dominant driver of the first round of the Chase, also had a postrace issue with Tony Stewart. Keselowski seemed to run into the back of Stewart after his issues with Hamlin and Kenseth, and Stewart backed his car up to crumple the front of Keselowski’s Ford.
Watching the replay in the media center after the race, second-place finisher Jeff Gordon was clearly entertained. He put his arms in the air and yelled “Kenseth!” and thought Stewart’s move was “awesome!”
Harvick, meanwhile, was celebrating inVictory Lane.
He had the strongest car formost of the race— as he does almost every week, only to have some sort of problem keep him out of Victory Lane. It almost happened again Saturday night as a caution with seven laps to go forced Harvick to win it on a two-lap sprint to the finish.