A wreck triggered by Kevin Harvick knocked out contenders Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. In retaliation, Hamlin responded by throwing a piece of equipment at Harvick’s car.
NASCAR Bristol 2014: Kevin Harvick starts wreck, takes out Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Denny Hamlin threw his safety harness at Kevin Harvick after a wreck ended his race Saturday night at Bristol.
Patrick Smith
Hamlin was leading on Lap 161 when second-place Harvick slid up the track and tagged Hamlin’s rear bumper off of Turn 4. The nudge sent the No. 11 car sliding down the front stretch into the inside wall and then up the track into the path of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was running fifth.
The contact between Hamlin and Earnhardt was significant, with the nose of Hamlin’s car destroyed and the left side of Earnhardt’s Chevrolet sheared off. After removing himself from the car, Hamlin expressed his displeasure with Harvick by walking towards the track and throwing his head-and-neck safety device at Harvick as he circled under caution.
“I just wish I had some kind of car left so I could show him the favor back,” Hamlin told ABC/ESPN. “We’re not even halfway -- we’re racing for the lead. ... It was a misjudgment. He’s a good driver, he knows better. He just made a mistake.”
Harvick was quick to apologize for his role in the accident.
“I’m sorry, totally my fault,” Harvick radioed to his team. “I apologize; I didn’t mean to do that.”
Left with little time to react, Earnhardt had no opportunity to avoid Hamlin’s spinning car. He tried to go around the outside to no avail.
“There was a lot of smoke so I couldn’t really judge the speed of (Hamlin’s) car to know whether I needed to be going up there and go around him on the top,” Earnhardt said. “I had to make that choice. I just went ahead and went to the top and ended up getting into him.”
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