RELATED: Watch Harvick’s shove, Jimmie’s reaction
LOUDON, N.H. — When asked about his teammate Jimmie Johnson‘s post-race dust-up last week at Chicago, Jeff Gordon took both the high road and the middle ground.
Gordon, who had his own highly publicized, oft-replayed scuffle in last year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with Brad Keselowski at Texas, was asked about a confrontation between his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson and fellow Chevrolet driver Kevin Harvick after the two collided in the Chase opener at Chicagoland.
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After the race, Harvick was seen on video shoving Johnson after the six-time champ came over to discuss the incident. After pushing Johnson, Harvick was restrained by his business manager while Johnson walked away from the situation.
How would Gordon have reacted?
“I wasn’t in that situation so you don’t know how you’re going to react in those situations until you’re in them,” Gordon said Friday from New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “We all agree maybe Jimmie should have waited a little longer before he approached Kevin on that one.
“When I look at Jimmie, his sincerity of trying to patch things up with somebody I believe he respects on the track and give his side of it is admirable, just maybe off on the timing of it.”
Gordon said he also understood Harvick’s extreme frustration. After the contact with Johnson’s car, Harvick’s car blew a tire and hit the wall, suffering enough damage to send the team to the garage for an extended amount of time. He returned to the track but finished 42nd — putting him in a big deficit with two races left to advance to the next elimination round.
“On the flip side with Kevin, I can completely understand the frustration and anger that would be built up in a situation like that,” Gordon said. “I can’t see where he did anything wrong. He tried to restart and didn’t get as good a restart as he wanted. Someone got inside of him and he’s holding his ground and they made contact.
“It was a racing incident in my opinion.”
And, Gordon conceded, the whole situation held a familiar feel.
“It does remind me of the incident I had with Keselowski last year where a guy’s being aggressive and making a move and that’s all fine and good until your tire blows,” Gordon said. “You need to understand the level of anger that’s going to be built from that, especially if it takes you out of the Chase.
“That’s why I reacted the way I reacted and probably why Kevin did as well.”