Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick Talk End Of NASCAR Probation At Michigan International Speedway

Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick both said being off NASCAR probation for their incident at Darlington changes little about how they’ll race at Michigan International Speedway and beyond – but both left room for possible fireworks down the road.

Harvick, who raced Busch hard at Pocono last week and said afterward he wanted Busch to know payback was coming, didn’t back down from his comment about eventual retaliation.

“A lot of these things, you go out on the racetrack and things happen and you do what you think is right at the right time,” he said.

Busch, meanwhile, said he wasn’t expecting payback – “but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

“It’s fine with me,” Busch said. “Not my problem, I race my race car, he drives his. You saw how I raced (at Pocono).”

Indeed, it appeared Busch was trying to avoid the Harvick situation altogether at Pocono. But the Richard Childress Racing driver ran Busch down to the pit road wall on the frontstretch early in the race, and Busch said he was “trying to get away from the situation.”

“It wasn’t happening; he kept following me,” Busch said. “So I backed off and waited for my next opportunity to pass him. When I did pass him, he then pushed me all the way down the frontstretch.”

Busch said the whole incident sparked memories of how Harvick raced him at Homestead last year, when Busch was intentionally wrecked during the season finale.

Said Busch: “I try to race as best I can each and every week, as hard as I can, as clean as I can. ... Sure, there are times when you get loose and get into somebody and spin them and they’re mad at you, but it wasn’t intentional, there’s no malicious intent involved in it. It’s a product of racing.”

Harvick said probation “ties your hands a little bit on certain things,” but said he won’t change much about how he races anyone – including Busch.

“(We’re) just gonna keep doing most of the same things that we’ve been doing,” Harvick said, “and keep racing hard.”