After taking Kevin Harvick out of last week’s Martinsville race and relegating the No. 4 car to a 33rd-place finish, Matt Kenseth said Friday morning he wanted to have a face-to-face meeting with Harvick to discuss the accident.
On Lap 228 of 500, Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota wheel-hopped into Turn 1, spun and collected Harvick’s Chevrolet, which crashed hard into the outside wall at the apex of Turns 1 and 2. Harvick lost 40 laps as his crew repaired the car.
After the race, Harvick made a promise.
“He won’t win this championship,” Harvick said. “If we don’t, he won’t.”
In the week since, Kenseth has been trying to connect with Harvick to mend fences.
“We have tried to connect several times,'” Kenseth said. “It hasn’t happened yet, face-to-face, but we’ve been trying. I will talk to him at some point, (but) I can’t fix the situation.
“It’s kind of like the guy who causes the wreck at Talladega. He feels terrible about it and ruined a lot of people’s days from a mistake he made. Last week, it was the same way. It just unfortunately wrecked Kevin, who was probably the favorite going into the Chase.
“It was terrible timing. It was the wrong place at the wrong time — and I understand his frustration.”
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