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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Under the weather and with a gravelly voice from lingering sickness, a raspy Kevin Harvick managed to smile his way through a 20-minute media appearance Tuesday, answering pointed questions and clarifying his role in the late-race chaos that punctuated last weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Two days after fellow competitors called his role in a race-ending crash into question, Harvick reiterated his post-race stance, saying that he was merely trying to avoid the pack on both a waved-off attempt and a full-fledged attempt at a green-white-checkered overtime finish, both of which resulted in multicar crashes before the Talladega start-finish line. The final restart effort helped seal the fates of many Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title hopefuls, including Harvick, whose repeat championship bid remains alive.
"I didn't cause the first wreck. I definitely don't believe that I caused the second wreck either, so it's just one of those situations where I did the best I could on the restarts to get going, and I got out of the way," Harvick said at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, site of media rotations for the eight remaining Chase-eligible drivers. "I never really even saw the 6 car (Trevor Bayne) until he was by me and doing what he was doing. It was just one of those situations where, you can't stop. You have to continue to try to let it play out and it really did play out."
Harvick lined up in 10th place for the final restart in the CampingWorld.com 500, but the engine in his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet had soured, putting his championship quest in doubt in the final race of the Contender Round. Harvick's car stepped out of line on an aborted first attempt as Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson spun to the infield grass, forcing another try.
When Harvick failed to come up to speed on the final attempt, he clipped Bayne's passing No. 6 Ford, triggering an 11-car wreck at the start-finish line.
The caution flag emerged, freezing the field and ending the race on its only attempt at a green-white-checkered overtime finish. Joey Logano was ruled the winner, and Harvick salvaged a 15th-place finish, keeping him seventh in the points standings and allowing him to advance to the Eliminator Round with a six-point buffer over the cutoff line.
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Harvick said that though his engine was ailing, he said his car was not leaking fluid, giving NASCAR no reason to black-flag him. On both instances of attempts at restarts, he had hoped for a push from either Bayne or Stewart-Haas teammate Danica Patrick.
"I restarted the race and hit the gas, and as I was going up and Trevor was going down, that was definitely the beginning point of what happened, but I was trying to just get going," Harvick said. "That was really my biggest thing. I thought if I could get going, I might be involved in a situation where something else happened like it did on the first one. So in our second attempt of one attempt, we had more happen."
Harvick denied intentionally causing the crash in post-race interviews Sunday, saying that he was trying to get out of the way as the race returned to green-flag conditions. He sounded that refrain again Tuesday.
"Obviously we were in a unique position with the caution still out and the way that things all shook out," Harvick said. "They can look at it 100 different ways, but you can't quit. You can't just roll over and be done with it and say, 'well, we tried our best,' because you didn't. I quit once in my life and I'll never quit again."
Harvick said he learned that life lesson in high school, when he curbed a successful high school wrestling career as his pursuits took him to motorsports. He also acknowledged the never-say-die attitude in referencing Michigan State's improbable college football victory over Michigan on Oct. 17.
But Harvick also said the stakes are much higher in the Chase than in the regular season, pushing teams and drivers to the brink of desperation.
"I think if you're at Race 13 and you're in a situation like that, you probably pull in the pits," Harvick said. "If you're in a cutoff race at Talladega, you have to play the restart out. I mean, you have to try. If it falls on its face or you crash or whatever the case may be, then you still have that little glimmer of hope, and that's your season. That's it."
NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton said Sunday that officials "don't see anything there that is suspect so far," but left open the possibility for taking action if new evidence presented itself. Tuesday morning, NASCAR issued a statement, saying officials had completed their review of "video, team radio transmissions and downloadable data" and that the race results were considered official with no penalties to be issued for drivers' on-track actions.
RELATED: NASCAR statement on Talladega results
Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth failed to advance to the title-eligible group of eight. Teammates Hamlin and Kenseth were among the most critical of Harvick, joining a chorus with Bayne and others in declaring the defending series champ's move intentional.
"I don't need to defend myself," Harvick said. "Here's the deal: If those guys were in the same situation and their car would still function, it's like a football player. If his knee's blown out and he's playing in the Super Bowl, he's going to play as long as he can. We maintained the speed on the caution. If all the circumstances would have been different, it might've had a different outcome. Those guys have been throwing stones all year, so you just go on with it."