Kevin Harvick had some interesting thoughts regarding the last-lap incident between Ross Chastain and William Byron from Texas Motor Speedway.
While Harvick was in the booth, he had a fantastic view on the moment where Byron got into the back of Chastain, sending the No. 1 from a top five finish to a rough spot on the final lap. On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, the former NASCAR champion elaborated on what he saw.
“Just watching it from the initial angles that we showed it, just you know, it looked like, it looked like the No. 24 just kind of spun the No. 1 out,” Harvick stated. “Then as you go back and analyze it, it looks like the No. 1 may have gotten tight up off the corner, and came down to try to, you know, put himself in a position to be in front of the No. 24. But when you see those in-cars from the dash cameras, I think we can see it either way.
“Honestly, I think Ross had to lift for just a second, and came down and tried to a little block a little bit, but the No. 24 and never really thought about lifting. I think it’s the last lap thing, and so I can see it from both sides of the fence right here. But in the end, the No. 1 car was in the fence and wrecked.”
Evidently, Harvick doesn’t believe either driver is necessarily innocent in this situation. Both could’ve handled things better, but the No. 1 certainly got the raw end of the whole ordeal.
“Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how these two navigate this, because I could see how either side could say, ‘I was frustrated with with how you drove or blocked, or or how you didn’t cut me any slack whatsoever.’ You know, it’s one thing to to run into the back of me, it’s another thing to run over me,” Harvick added. “But I can also see, ‘Well, you shouldn’t have blocked, or you had to lift,’ or whatever this scenario is in that particular moment.”
Moving forward, there likely won’t be a lot of love between William Byron and Ross Chastain, especially when it comes to the end of the race. Whether there’s another incident remains to be seen, but we’ll be watching closely to see what transpires.
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