Kevin Harvick is trying to get into Chase Elliott's head, which is no surprise
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
LAS VEGAS — The common theme after drivers get into drama with one another is to try to downplay it and move on.
Kevin Harvick opted for the opposite Sunday, and that wasn’t much of a surprise.
The 45-year-old Harvick, from Bakersfield, California, doesn’t like to back down. And if he sees a chance to maybe get into an opponent’s head, he’ll do it.
What was his motive Sunday as he reiterated his frustrations with Chase Elliott? It was probably more the not liking to back down, rather than trying to get into an opponent’s head.
After all, Harvick said: "That’s probably the maddest I’ve ever been."
To refresh: In the Sept. 18 race at Bristol, Elliott thought Harvick banged doors with him on purpose, flatting his left-side tire. Elliott, a few laps down on fresh tires, drove by Harvick and then slowed enough to run Harvick’s preferred line just ahead of him, stalling out Harvick and allowing Elliott teammate Kyle Larson to blow by him for the win.
A week later, Harvick wasn’t as emotional as he was that night following his postrace confrontation with Elliott, but he didn’t mince words.
"It was like I was talking to Keelan," said Harvick, referring to his 9-year-old son. "It’s identical, it’s 100 percent exact same scenario. They get hung up on one thing, and you can’t speak to them about the broader picture of how the whole thing works.
"It was like speaking to a 9-year-old, so I have good experience with that."
Harvick has often said he needs to find things to motivate himself, so maybe that is all this is. But that is a pretty deep dig at someone else to motivate yourself.
Then again, Harvick is known for trying to play mind games with other drivers, as he once did with Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin isn’t so sure that Harvick is playing mind games in this situation.
"Harvick's kind of mind games was more so earlier in his career," Hamlin said. "I think he was just generally pissed off last week and this week. I just think he probably legitimately had a gripe.
"I can't condone one way or another. He had a gripe, and he voiced it."
Elliott, who won the 2020 Cup title, would be hard to rattle. He didn’t seem fazed by what Harvick said about him.
"I don’t really have much to say, to be real honest," Elliott said. "Everybody’s got their opinion. ... I care less about this confrontation than I have any other one in the past.
"I don’t know if that’s just time being around more, you just are focused on the right things a little more."
For Harvick, it has been a frustrating season as he appears to make the most out of what his car gives him, but he hasn’t had the speed he would like, going winless following a nine-win 2020. He finished a respectable ninth with a damaged (and potentially top-5) car on Sunday at Las Vegas, where he struggled in March.
He is still seven points behind the cutoff with two races remaining in the Round of 12 and will be without crew chief Rodney Childers next week at Talladega after having two loose lug nuts following the Vegas race.
Childers has worked with Harvick for eight seasons, and he has no concerns about Harvick getting into a little drama.
"Anything like that motivates him," Childers said. "We all know that from his past. He always has a lot of motivation on his own. But that adds more fire to that motivation, for sure."
The team has not addressed it.
"He didn’t come to the shop. We didn’t have a meeting about it. We didn’t do nothing," Childers said. "What happened he has kind of handled on his own, and the race team is just worried about our jobs and bringing the best cars we can."
If the team wants to know about it, they can read about it on social media, where Harvick’s comments lit up the chat rooms.
"You can’t say I want to race hard for eighth and then not want to be raced hard for eighth," Harvick said about Elliott. "And you can’t lay on somebody’s door and expect to not have the car come up the race track.
"You chose to put your car in that position. And those choices happen with that particular car a lot."
Picking a fight with the sport’s most popular driver is nothing new for Harvick, if he thinks it can help him or if he wants his views public.
"I’d rather be wiped out than have some bulls--- like that happen," Harvick said. "It was a 9-year-old temper tantrum. ... It can’t go both ways. That’s just not how this deal works.
"I don’t care if you’re the most popular driver or not. You can’t race everybody, side-drafting, bouncing off their doors and then slam into them. That stuff all comes full circle in this deal and has a funny way of teaching you."
Those comments make one think that somehow, some way Harvick will get the message across to Elliott. It might not even be this year, as long as Harvick still has a chance to win the Cup title.
Elliott said he can’t spend time worrying about it. And that’s true. But Harvick won’t mind trying to see if he can make Elliott worry about it. And he doesn’t want NASCAR to step in.
"I’m fine with however this whole outcome is as long as it is officiated the same way when the shoe is on the other foot. ... As long as it’s the same for everybody, those are the rules of engagement," Harvick said.
"I just hope the rules don’t change."
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Thinking out loud
Hendrick Motorsports will take a lot of grief about the decision not to pit when the caution came out early in stage 2 at Las Vegas. And it should: It turned out to be the wrong decision.
But it shows how races can depend on wild circumstances. A chase vehicle — the vehicle that "chases" the safety vehicles to an accident scene to shield that vehicle and workers from the cars — broke down and had to be towed off the track. That created extra laps of caution, helping those who pitted either stretch it on fuel or get the opportunity to top off on fuel.
With the solid decisions crew chief Cliff Daniels has made this year for Larson, one bad decision shouldn’t outweigh the success this year. It cost them Sunday, but it isn’t worth getting too worried about.
Social spotlight
Stat of the day
Having won his second race of the year Sunday at Las Vegas, Hamlin now has had 10 seasons with multiple wins.
They said it
"I feel so good. I can’t tell you how good these next two weeks are going to be." — Hamlin after his Vegas victory
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!