JOLIET, Ill. (AP) – Nonplussed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s red-hot ride into NASCAR’s playoffs, Kevin Harvick confidently predicted they wouldn’t get in his way of a second consecutive championship.
“We’re going to pound them into the ground,” Harvick said of JGR’s four-car title push.
Instead, it’s Harvick who is on the ropes after the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Contact with Jimmie Johnson led to a blown tire for Harvick that caused him to crash and finish 42nd Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, where he had a brief post-race scuffle with Johnson.
Denny Hamlin, meanwhile, won the race for Gibbs and earned an automatic berth into the second round of the playoffs.