NASCAR Rivals: Kevin Harvick vs. Tony Stewart
June 25, 2008 by Tim Zaegel
Filed under Racing
Okay, so they’re actually pretty good friends and probably the furthest thing from being rivals with one another, but still. It’s pretty abnormal for Smoke to run this deep into the season without a Sprint Cup win to show for it, but so far in 2008, he’s managed to do just that. Of course, the racing Gods haven’t really seemed to help Stewart out much in that department, either. What … a pit road speeding violation during the last round of stops at Pocono … the cut tire at Charlotte … the late race wreck at Talladega … the mid-race wreck at Vegas … and, of course, the last lap pass at Daytona … all races that Stewart could have won – but, didn’t.
But, wait … I believe there’s two more, the most recent of which came this past Sunday at Infineon Raceway at the Toyota Save/Mart 350. With only a small handful of laps remaining and Stewart 2nd and Kevin Harvick in 4th, Harvick got into the turn to fast and clipped the no. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray. McMurray then got into Stewart, once again taking a winning opportunity out of Smoke’s hands, though he did somehow manage to come back for a top-ten finish.
That wasn’t the first time that Harvick took the race out of Harvick’s hands this year, though. When the series ran at Bristol back in March, Harvick was racing Stewart for 2nd place in the last five laps of the race when Harvick got down on the apron going through turn 2, and he climbed up the track and got into Tony, sending him from 2nd to 14th just like that.
Despite attempts from the media, Stewart refused to show any angst towards Harvick following the incident at Sonoma this past Sunday, and all indications are that the two are still on good terms. But, of course, anytime they feel that their friendship has hit a rough patch, I’m sure Kevin will be more than willing to wax Tony again. Eeeewww.
Both drivers pretty much have a cocky attitude when they’re pissed…I still find them cool cuz they’re not scared to shake things up a bit. Racing is Racing. (You have some good and bad moments.)
Seeing what Tony said in the last video was funny. I can see that the media tries starting rivalries between drivers…Dude, Tony hadn’t seen the tape yet!
Yeah, they’ve both been known to be a little politically incorrect over the years, and neither has ever been shy to voice their opinions … but, they usually do a pretty good job of not jumping to conclusions when it comes to certain people. Tony knows that Harvick would never intentionally wreck him, so I think the two of them will be just fine.