Multiple drivers say Kevin Harvick started late-race wreck to advance in Chase

Defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick is being accused by several competitors of deliberately causing a race-ending caution Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway that aided him in advancing to the next round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

On the deciding green-white-checkered overtime restart Harvick was lined up 10th with a faltering engine, teetering on Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination. During the subsequent restart Harvick slowed allowing Trevor Bayne to pass him on the outside. As Bayne moved in front of the No. 4 car, Harvick clipped Bayne’s left-rear quarter panel turning him towards the infield and into the path of the field.

“That’s a crappy way for Harvick to have to get in the Chase is to wreck somebody -- what I believe to be on purpose,” Bayne said. ”(But) maybe it wasn’t? The restart before that he had engine problems and got out of the way. I think he realized if the caution came out he was gonna be fine, so I go by and get hooked in the left-rear.

“Harvick is a really good driver. I think he knows the limits of his car and where it’s at, so that’s why I think it was intentional.”

The resulting incident caused a caution that immediately ended the CampingWorld.com 500 and froze the running order as is. A several minute delay then ensued as NASCAR officials attempted to sort out the exact finishing and which eight drivers qualified for the third round.

Officials determined Joey Logano, the leader prior to the final restart, narrowly maintained his lead over second-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. and awarded him the victory. Logano’s third consecutive win brought a chorus of boos from the grandstands with some spectators littering the track with bottles upset Earnhardt, NASCAR’s most popular driver, wasn’t declared the winner.

Had Earnhardt won Talladega, he would have earned automatic Chase advancement. Instead, he failed to qualify, but emphasized he did not take exception with how NASCAR handled the sequence of events.

“Per the rule book, it sorted out and I finished second,” Earnhardt said. “I’m OK with that. We could argue they could have waited another 100-foot to throw the caution, but they didn’t have to. They threw it when they needed to. I’m fine with that.”

Less than pleased with how the final laps unfolded were several drivers, who disputed Harvick’s claims of innocence contending he caused an accident to preserve advancement into the third of four Chase rounds. Among those believing Harvick acted with intent were Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth, who were also eliminated from the playoffs Sunday.

Hamlin and Kenseth are Joe Gibbs Racing teammates and regarded as drivers who could beat Harvick for the championship. Hamlin entered Talladega second in points, but fell to 10th overall and missed making Round 3 by eight points; Kenseth, who needed a victory to transfer, finished 26th.

“(Harvick) could only run about 30 miles per hour so I think he saw people coming and he knew he was going to be 30th, last car on the lead lap so he caused the wreck,” Hamlin said.

Said Kenseth: “(Harvick) knew he was blowing up, so he said he was going to stay in his lane. (Bayne) then went up and outside and he clipped him and caused a wreck because he knew he’d make the Chase that way.”

Hamlin later posted a more vehement tweet accusing Harvick and taking exception with how the events transpired over the final laps.

“What a joke we have a car with no motor wreck the field to end the race,” Hamlin tweeted. “Complete crap. Sorry to anyone who spent $ coming to this circus.”

Harvick denied any malfeasance, saying he did not see Bayne and was simply trying to get his slowing machine out of the way.

Postrace, NASCAR officials met with team owner Joe Gibbs and JGR personnel. Roughly an hour following the conclusion of the race, NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton said officials had reviewed the final restart and determined there was no evidence to suggest Harvick purposefully spun Bayne out to cause a caution.

“There is no evidence right now that there was anything (Harvick) did that was questionable other than moving out of line,” Helton said. “There are some of the teams that questioned what (Harvick) car did on the restarts. We went back and walked through it with them.

“Procedurally from NASCAR, we don’t see anything there that is suspect so far. We haven’t seen anything.”

Helton did said NASCAR reserved the right to reverse its decision if evidence was unearthed indicating Harvick’s actions were found to be conclusively deliberate.