Kevin Harvick reacts to surprising Chase Elliott pit mistake at Atlanta: ‘Took him out of the conversation’

Chase Elliott had himself squarely in the fight at Atlanta. Unfortunately, one uncharacteristic mistake on pit road changed the trajectory of his afternoon at his home track.

On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, the 2014 Cup Series champion reacted to Elliott’s costly miscue during Sunday’s Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway. Elliott ultimately finished 11th and was the highest-finishing Hendrick Motorsports driver, but he overshot his pit stall during a critical stop. 

The No. 9 team was forced to back up, and in the process, Elliott ran over the hose. That led to a 23-second stop. Kaitlyn Vincie set the scene.

“He did have a bad pit stop, basically overshoots his pit stall, has to back up, then he kind of runs over the hose,” Vincie said. “Ended up 23 seconds for the No. 9 team, which is something we don’t typically see out of this group.”

Kevin Harvick didn’t disagree. He shared his view.

“He was in the game at this point. Right up front,” Harvick said. “After he slid through the pit box, it took him a long time to get back to the front. He wound up somewhat in contention, but never where he was at this point. So it really, it took them out of the conversation for the rest of the day.”

At a drafting-style track like Atlanta, where track position is everything and clean air can define outcomes, losing that much ground is difficult to overcome. Even for a team as consistent as Elliott’s and the No. 9 squad. 

Co-host Mamba Smith pointed out another layer to the moment. When Elliott backed up to reset in his stall, he made sure not to impede Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 team directly behind him, which was appreciated.

“If he stays there, Ryan’s hung up there too,” Smith added. “Instead of Chase being like, ‘Ah, I’m just gonna sit here,’ he’s like, ‘Let me make sure I get myself in a position where it doesn’t ruin anyone else’s stop.’”

Regardless, Harvick noted that such mistakes are rare for Elliott’s group.

“Not a normal mistake that we see out of Chase Elliott,” he responded. “Usually, those guys don’t make many mistakes. Usually they overachieve as far as the day on stuff like that. … It definitely hurt their chances of being in contention.”

In a race defined by late chaos and split-second decisions, Elliott’s day may have been decided not on the final restart, but on pit road. That’s got to sting for the sport’s most popular driver.