Stewart-Haas Racing driver trades shots with Kenseth, winds up 33rd
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Kevin Harvick, owner of perhaps the most consistently fast car of the 2014 season, now finds himself at the bottom of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings following the opening race of the Eliminator Round at Martinsville Speedway.
On Lap 226, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver made contact with fellow Chase driver Matt Kenseth, sending his No. 4 ride careening into the outside wall. He was forced to the garage with major cosmetic damage, along with a spoiled oil cooler and radiator. Harvick later repaid the favor after making it back out on the track, brake-checking Kenseth to give the No. 20 some nose damage. Harvick finished 33rd — exactly where he started — and 33 points behind points leader Jeff Gordon in the Chase standings.
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CHASE BUBBLE
| Pos. | Driver | +/- |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Gordon | +7 |
| 2 | Ryan Newman | +4 |
| 3 | Joey Logano | +3 |
| 4 | Matt Kenseth | +2 |
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | -2 |
| 6 | Carl Edwards | -15 |
| 7 | Brad Keselowski | -26 |
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | -28 |
Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 inexplicably slowed on Lap 436, causing a rare “big one” at the Virginia short track and relegating the Team Penske driver to a 31st-place finish after battling many issues throughout the course of the race.
Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards is also on the outside of a transfer spot looking in, failing to find the grip necessary to perform well in the 500-lap race and struggling with high water temperatures. He finished 20th.
Despite his eighth-place finish and 68 laps led, Denny Hamlin is the first driver on the wrong side of the bubble. Hamlin has wins at every remaining track, however, and should be able to continue his strong Chase.
Jeff Gordon was the highest-finishing Chase driver, pulling in second after leading a race-high 130 laps. Ryan Newman was right behind the Hendrick Motorsports driver, continuing his bout of consistency that has propelled his charge to being a legitimate title contender, despite leading no laps in the race.
Joey Logano led 60 laps on his way to a fifth-place finish — a career-high 16th top-five of the season — followed closely by Kenseth in sixth, after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver recovered from his fracas with Harvick.
Even though some heavy hitters put themselves in a significant hole at Martinsville, there’s still plenty of hope. Since Dale Earnhardt Jr. — who was eliminated last week at Talladega Superspeedway — won the race, no Chase drivers earned an automatic berth to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 16, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The bad news for the four drivers currently on the outside of the Chase cut: only one of the four drivers on the outskirts after both round-opening races at Chicago (Challenger) and Kansas (Contender) wound up making it on to the following round. We’ve seen Keselowski hit the Hail Mary once with a last-second win at Talladega.
Can he do it again at Texas (Nov. 2, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN) or Phoenix (Nov. 9, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN)?
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