Ken
Gone but not forgotten
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Duel Leads to Showdown
Harvick draws complaints, anger after Turn 2 bump of Johnson causes 7-car pileup
BY NATE RYAN
Feb 18, 2005
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The garage was littered with twisted piles of sheet metal. The pits were filled with long faces and tears of joy from surprise qualifiers and unlikely exiles. And victory lane was occupied again by Dale Earnhardt Inc., which regained its restrictor-plate mojo with a nip-and-tuck 1-2 finish.
Those were the sidelights yesterday from a wild two-race, four-hour preview of Sunday's Daytona 500.
The drama revolved around Kevin Harvick -- and it was an unwanted starring role in a salacious story at Daytona International Speedway.
"Kevin Harvick is driving like an idiot, and he cost a bunch of people race cars," Joe Nemechek said. "They need to make his [butt] pay for it."
Michael Waltrip edged Dale Earnhardt Jr. by a few feet to win the first race, and Tony Stewart held off Jeff Burton with an assist from teammate Bobby Labonte to capture the second. But the talk of the field-setting Gatorade Duel qualifying events at Daytona International Speedway was the collision between Harvick and Jimmie Johnson that re-ignited a rivalry and triggered a seven-car pileup.
Johnson, who started the second race on the pole after qualifying second, was entering Turn 2 with the lead when his No. 48 Chevrolet was nailed by Harvick's No. 29 Chevy.
Johnson's car spun to the left, and the chaos began. Rusty Wallace's Dodge went airborne into a barrel roll ("It was probably as hard as I've hit in my life," Wallace said), and the cars of Nemechek, Dave Blaney, Mark Martin, and Harvick also were totaled.
The damage to Johnson's car was minimal comparatively, but that didn't temper the emotions of the normally stoic native of Southern California. Johnson accused Harvick, who started second, of trying to flatten his tires at the green flag, and he didn't stop there.
"I hope [team owner Richard] Childress fires him or NASCAR does something about it," Johnson said. "This is absolutely ridiculous.
"You'd think with all the races he's watched on TV he'd know the bump draft in the center of a turn is a bad idea."
Harvick and Johnson once stayed on separate couches at Ron Hornaday Jr.'s house together while breaking into NASCAR in the late '90s, but a feud erupted between the California natives at Phoenix last November and continued into the Southern 500.
Harvick insisted yesterday's incident wasn't a continuation of any bad blood.
"I just got to him, and he slowed down," said the driver who has been in hot water more than once since succeeding the late Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing. "I feel sorry for the teams and everybody involved. It's not something where you want to bump draft in the middle of the corner."
The apologies didn't matter to Nemechek. He hurled a water bottle at Harvick, who returned fire as he exited the infield care center with a bruised sternum.
"By Lap 3, Harvick was beating the tar out of me going in the middle of the corner," Nemechek said. "It cost a lot of people a lot of money and a lot of hard work."
Waltrip watched a replay of the wreck and also blamed Harvick.
"It was his option not to run him over," Waltrip said. "You don't get runs like he got on Jimmie without the other guy losing momentum, but if you're in the turn, don't hit the guy."
NASCAR refused to assign blame in the incident, summoning Johnson and Harvick to its Nextel Cup Series hauler for a reportedly civil conversation. NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said they were advised to have dinner last night, a la Geoffrey Bodine and Dale Earnhardt in a 1980s makeup session immortalized in "Days of Thunder."
"They were told they could either work it out between themselves or NASCAR would work it out for them," Hunter said. "We see it as a racing accident. If they get into it again there could be some severe penalties like missing a race."
NASCAR could be meting out its fair share of punishment in Sunday's Great American Race. A smaller restrictor plate has sapped horsepower, making passing difficult and turning Nextel Cup into a contact sport during Speedweeks.
Bump drafting, hitting a competitor to maintain speed as Harvick apparently tried with Johnson, has turned into slam drafting.
"It's stupid we're even in this position when we have to do bump drafting," Stewart said. "When that's the key is to winning the race, it's stupid. But it's exciting for everybody, so I guess whatever happens, happens."
It could happen a lot during the 47th running of the Great American Race.
"I'm happy to be able to walk away from that one," said Ryan Newman, who finished fourth in the first race. "I thought we were [going to take it easy], but you get a bunch of overegoed drivers out there, you never know what's going to happen.
"I'll guarantee you it'll be twice as wild on Sunday."
Contact Nate Ryan at (804) 649-6851 or nryan@timesdispatch.com
Duel Leads to Showdown
Harvick draws complaints, anger after Turn 2 bump of Johnson causes 7-car pileup
BY NATE RYAN
Feb 18, 2005
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Rusty Wallace (2) is lifted in the air as Dave Blaney comes underneath him in a wreck caused by Kevin Harvick (29) in the second 150-mile qualifying race for Sunday's Daytona 500. Michael Waltrip and Tony Stewart won the races.
AP
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The garage was littered with twisted piles of sheet metal. The pits were filled with long faces and tears of joy from surprise qualifiers and unlikely exiles. And victory lane was occupied again by Dale Earnhardt Inc., which regained its restrictor-plate mojo with a nip-and-tuck 1-2 finish.
Those were the sidelights yesterday from a wild two-race, four-hour preview of Sunday's Daytona 500.
The drama revolved around Kevin Harvick -- and it was an unwanted starring role in a salacious story at Daytona International Speedway.
"Kevin Harvick is driving like an idiot, and he cost a bunch of people race cars," Joe Nemechek said. "They need to make his [butt] pay for it."
Michael Waltrip edged Dale Earnhardt Jr. by a few feet to win the first race, and Tony Stewart held off Jeff Burton with an assist from teammate Bobby Labonte to capture the second. But the talk of the field-setting Gatorade Duel qualifying events at Daytona International Speedway was the collision between Harvick and Jimmie Johnson that re-ignited a rivalry and triggered a seven-car pileup.
Johnson, who started the second race on the pole after qualifying second, was entering Turn 2 with the lead when his No. 48 Chevrolet was nailed by Harvick's No. 29 Chevy.
Johnson's car spun to the left, and the chaos began. Rusty Wallace's Dodge went airborne into a barrel roll ("It was probably as hard as I've hit in my life," Wallace said), and the cars of Nemechek, Dave Blaney, Mark Martin, and Harvick also were totaled.
The damage to Johnson's car was minimal comparatively, but that didn't temper the emotions of the normally stoic native of Southern California. Johnson accused Harvick, who started second, of trying to flatten his tires at the green flag, and he didn't stop there.
"I hope [team owner Richard] Childress fires him or NASCAR does something about it," Johnson said. "This is absolutely ridiculous.
"You'd think with all the races he's watched on TV he'd know the bump draft in the center of a turn is a bad idea."
Harvick and Johnson once stayed on separate couches at Ron Hornaday Jr.'s house together while breaking into NASCAR in the late '90s, but a feud erupted between the California natives at Phoenix last November and continued into the Southern 500.
Harvick insisted yesterday's incident wasn't a continuation of any bad blood.
"I just got to him, and he slowed down," said the driver who has been in hot water more than once since succeeding the late Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing. "I feel sorry for the teams and everybody involved. It's not something where you want to bump draft in the middle of the corner."
The apologies didn't matter to Nemechek. He hurled a water bottle at Harvick, who returned fire as he exited the infield care center with a bruised sternum.
"By Lap 3, Harvick was beating the tar out of me going in the middle of the corner," Nemechek said. "It cost a lot of people a lot of money and a lot of hard work."
Waltrip watched a replay of the wreck and also blamed Harvick.
"It was his option not to run him over," Waltrip said. "You don't get runs like he got on Jimmie without the other guy losing momentum, but if you're in the turn, don't hit the guy."
NASCAR refused to assign blame in the incident, summoning Johnson and Harvick to its Nextel Cup Series hauler for a reportedly civil conversation. NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said they were advised to have dinner last night, a la Geoffrey Bodine and Dale Earnhardt in a 1980s makeup session immortalized in "Days of Thunder."
"They were told they could either work it out between themselves or NASCAR would work it out for them," Hunter said. "We see it as a racing accident. If they get into it again there could be some severe penalties like missing a race."
NASCAR could be meting out its fair share of punishment in Sunday's Great American Race. A smaller restrictor plate has sapped horsepower, making passing difficult and turning Nextel Cup into a contact sport during Speedweeks.
Bump drafting, hitting a competitor to maintain speed as Harvick apparently tried with Johnson, has turned into slam drafting.
"It's stupid we're even in this position when we have to do bump drafting," Stewart said. "When that's the key is to winning the race, it's stupid. But it's exciting for everybody, so I guess whatever happens, happens."
It could happen a lot during the 47th running of the Great American Race.
"I'm happy to be able to walk away from that one," said Ryan Newman, who finished fourth in the first race. "I thought we were [going to take it easy], but you get a bunch of overegoed drivers out there, you never know what's going to happen.
"I'll guarantee you it'll be twice as wild on Sunday."
Contact Nate Ryan at (804) 649-6851 or nryan@timesdispatch.com
