Kyle Busch during the NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 10, 2021. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)
Kyle Busch, Rick Hendrick comment on Kevin Harvick after ROVAL crash
Shane Walters
Kyle Busch: “The 4 was bout running over everybody.”
Several weeks ago, Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick got into each other at Bristol Motor Speedway while racing for the lead. They engaged in a heating pushing match and many conversation after the race.
On Sunday at the ROVAL, the tension boiled to the surface. Harvick dumped Chase Elliott in the infield at of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
The rear deck lid on Elliott’s machine was knocked off and their season looked to be over. As one point, the No. 9 team was discussing wrecking Harvick to bump themselves into the playoffs.
However, the team was able to repair enough of the damage to keep Elliott in the race. He then drove through the field and into a top 20, bumping himself back in the playoffs.
Just as Elliott ran down the No. 4 machine, Harvick wrecked himself. He was late on the brakes into turn one, locked up the front wheels and slid right into the wall.
“Karma,” the No. 9 team stated over the radio after Harvick’s crash.
The race was drama filled. Here’s some comments from the garage after the ROVAL…
Rick Hendrick is the owner of the race winning No. 5 driven by Kyle Larson as well as the No.9 of Chase Elliott. He shared his thoughts on the incidents…
“I think they handled it well,” Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick stated in the media center after the race.
“Of course, they were upset. Everybody was upset when that happened today. It looked like Chase could be done and out of the Playoffs.”
“So, it was a lot of heated feelings but came back and [Larson] was able to win and Harvick wrecked himself, I guess.”
“I hope it’s over. We don’t want to race that way. We want to just race. That’s not our style. Just go out, if a guy’s better than you are, he wins.”
Hendrick concluded, “If you get beat, get beat and call it done. It never feels good to push somebody out of the way. A little rubbing or something, that’s ok. But, just to wreck somebody, that’s not good.”