CONCORD, N.C. – Rick Hendrick first began to worry Sunday afternoon when two of his team’s four cars, the No. 5 Chevrolet driven by regular-season champion Kyle Larson and the storied No. 48 wheeled by Alex Bowman, had electrical problems at nearly the same time.
By the time the Hendrick No. 9 Chevy was deliberately crashed by Kevin Harvick – nearly knocking reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott out of the playoffs – Hendrick had seen enough destruction on the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I was upset. I was ready to go home. It was time to get the helicopter and get out of here,” Hendrick said. “We wrecked everything we had down there.”
Good thing the boss stuck around: Larson rallied to earn his seventh win in a points race this season and storm into the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs. It ended a topsy-turvy day for Hendrick Motorsports in which Larson and Elliott advanced, Bowman and William Byron were eliminated, and Elliott was nearly sabotaged by a vengeful Harvick.
Harvick laid in wait to deliver payback for Elliott costing him a win at Bristol Motor Speedway three weeks ago, and the retaliation came at about the halfway mark of Sunday’s race on the course that uses part of Charlotte’s oval and the venue’s road course. The 45-year-old Stewart-Haas Racing driver, who entered Sunday below the cutline to be among the eight drivers into the next round, sent Elliott into the wall.