Kevin Harvick, who entered this race at the bottom of the standings, was in need of a good day.
While battling up inside the top-ten, he had to lift as two cars in front of him pushed up the track. Harvick’s car lost grip and slammed the outside wall exiting Turn 4. He sustained significant damage to the right-front and the team was unable to fix it, so he will finish in last-place (36th).
“When those two cars came up in front of me I just got super tight,” explained Harvick. “When I lifted it grabbed and got loose. I just wasn’t expecting them to come up and my car getting that tight.”
Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend will serve as the cutoff race for the Round of 16, and it will be a must-win situation for Harvick. If there’s any positives to take from all this, he has a great record and multiple wins at the half-mile short track.
“Yeah, it is what it is,” he added. “We were racing to win anyway today, so that is what we will do again next week.”
Tyler Reddick entered this race in a much better position than Harvick, 23 points above the cut line. He took pole position at Kansas, and looked strong in the early remaining.
However, it all went wrong as the end of Stage 1 neared. While leading the field, he cut down a right-rear tire and slammed the outside wall. Reddick exited the race as well, and will finish 35th.
“The right-rear tire just blew like we’ve had a few times,” said Reddick. “At Fontana (Auto Club Speedway), I was able to save it. But here, it snapped at the worst possible point and we just killed the wall. It broke the control arm on the right-front, so our day was over. We leave here with not a lot of points, so we’ll have to fight hard at Bristol (Motor Speedway).”