NASCAR Playoffs drivers Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones were knocked out of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when the two collided midway through the race.
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Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford appeared to blow a right front tire and veered toward the outside wall on Lap 147 of 267. As Harvick’s Ford slowed, Erik Jones plowed into the rear of his car with his own No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Both cars sustained too much damage to continue in the race.
“It’s unfortunate we had that happen,” Jones told NBCSN. “Nothing Kevin can do, nothing we can do. It’s not the situation we need to be in. We have some work to do now.”
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Jones had started the race on the pole and was riding a surge of momentum entering the race. Harvick entered the race as the No. 2 playoff seed.
“We’ve got to run well at Richmond and the Roval now,” Jones said after being released from the infield care center. “I thought it was going to be a pretty lackadaisical first round, run top 10 in each one. We were on pace to run top 10 today and probably run OK at Richmond. Just unfortunate we’re even behind. We don’t want to be in this spot and nothing we can do to prevent it now, but we’ll just have to move forward.”
The SHR veteran Harvick began the playoffs with 50 playoff points, so while the misfortune impacts him, it’s more of a slight dent into his standing. Jones, on the other hand, was hammered with repercussions. He drops to last place in the playoff standings with two races remaining in the Round of 16.