Kevin Harvick: Jeff Gordon Trying To Stir Up Controversy In Chase

With Jeff Gordon questioning Paul Menard’s spin last weekend at Richmond, and NASCAR confirming they are still looking into the incident, Kevin Harvick is ready to move on and not get caught up in the head games.

Heading into the 10-race championship battle, Harvick said each Chase contender “thinks everybody is out to get them,” but says his team cannot lose its focus on the ultimate goal.

“I know Jeff is very good, he’s been here before racing for championships, he wants to stir as much stuff up as he can,” Harvick said. “We’re going to focus on our job and race as hard as we can and do what we can. We’ll take it one week at a time and one situation at a time and have fun with it.”

While the majority of the conversation has focused on Menard’s late-race spin, Harvick said the case could be made against the Hendrick affiliated cars as well.

“Does Jeff Gordon ever catch me if the 51 car (Landon Cassill) -- which is a Hendrick car, has a lot of Hendrick support -- does he ever catch me if he doesn’t sit there and block and ride and spin out twice during the race?” he asked Friday in Chicagoland. “There’s a lot of things we can debate, and Jeff’s just debating the things he’s been told.”

Harvick said this is the time of year in which teammates and friends on the race track cause suspicions in the garage. He believes Gordon is just “voicing his opinion” and there is “nothing that needs to be riled up” or any controversy to be created.

“There’s a lot of smart people you’re racing against that have done this for a while,” he said. “You got to know how to navigate your way through the game.