RELATED: Watch Harvick shove Johnson | See the incident that led to altercation
One day after Kevin Harvick shoved Jimmie Johnson in the driver’s lot following an on-track incident in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener at Chicagoland Speedway, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell told NASCAR.com he doesn’t anticipate action from the sanctioning body.
“Don’t expect any penalties to come from that,” O’Donnell said. “I think that’s emotion coming from an incident that happened on the track. Huge stakes are on the line, as we all know, our reigning champion had a tough day and that’s some emotion coming out. We don’t expect to issue any penalties from what we’ve seen.”
Contact between Johnson’s No. 48 and Harvick’s No. 4 resulted in a smoking tire for the 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion. The problem appeared to get better for Harvick, but one lap later his car spun and smashed the outside wall.
The incident led to a 42nd-place finish, putting Harvick on the outside of advancing in the Chase with two races remaining in the Challenger Round — four drivers will be eliminated prior to the next of four rounds, the Contender Round.
RELATED: See the updated Chase standings
It means Harvick may need to win one of the next two races to advance, and certainly has to at least log top-five finishes. O’Donnell will be at Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to see first-hand if the No. 4 team gains ground.
“He (Harvick) is going to be out there competing for a win, like he always does,” O’Donnell said. “We usually see a lot of things happen at New Hampshire and I expect to see that this weekend as well.”
• While at New Hampshire, O’Donnell confirmed he will also meet with stakeholders — team representatives, drivers, Goodyear, engine builders, manufacturers — for a conversation on the 2016 rules package.
RELATED: New Hampshire meeting could finalize 2016 rules package
Prior to that, O’Donnell said he has two meetings this week with tracks to work on finalizing the 2016 NASCAR schedule.
O’Donnell said he hopes to release both the 2016 schedule and the 2016 rules package within the next two weeks.