The Chase Elliott vs Kevin Harvick saga has rolled into Texas Motor Speedway for the opening race of the Round of 8.

The repeated run-ins between the pair at Bristol (pictured above) and last week’s race at the Charlotte Roval led to NASCAR talking to both teams earlier in the week on Wednesday. During a media availability at TMS on Sunday morning, Elliott, the defending Cup Series champion and one of eight drivers remaining in the playoffs, shared his take on whether the feud has reached its end.

“Again, up to those guys,” Elliott said. “NASCAR certainly has had a strong stance on it. They don’t want to get involved, right? I mean, I think people kind of mis-perceived that and no one has asked them to get involved, either, myself included. But, they have a sport they’re trying to keep everything in line. You know, we see this across the board in other major sports as well. I don’t think any of the sanctioning bodies want to get involved, but after last week, I guess they felt like they needed to at least have a conversation and do their part. I don’t work there and I don’t run the place, so I don’t exactly know what all is discussed.

“But, for me, just to try to be respectful towards them and listen to what they have to say and, like I said last week, go do my job and focus on these next four weeks.”

Those walking into the media center at TMS were greeted by a Christmas tree, befitting of last week’s post-race comments by Elliott when he said, “As far as Kevin goes, just want to wish them a merry offseason and a happy Christmas.” The tree was decorated with both drivers’ respective merchandise.

“Well, I think that’s you guys [the media], honestly, more than anything,” Elliott said. “I get y’all have a job to do, and it’s exciting to talk about and whatnot. So I don’t fault the media for trying to continue it forward and have something to talk about. It’s what y’all do, so I get it. Just looking forward to the day and looking forward to the race. Hopefully, you guys enjoy your Christmas tree. I love the holidays and they’re right around the corner.”

"A happy Christmas and a merry off-season" .. looks like 🎄 came early to @TXMotorSpeedway… #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Q7e3S7pf1N

— Joey Barnes (@JoeyBarnes85) October 17, 2021

The green flag for the Autotrader Echo Park Automotive 500 will wave at 2:08 p.m. ET.