A mid-race restart dramatically changed Sunday's first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland Speedway. It might have changed the entire Chase, too.
Race leader NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick got bumped by Jimmie Johnson as the field accelerated towards the green flag. The impact caused a tire rub on Harvick's left-rear tire and a few laps after the incident, Harvick was into the wall and the tire was flat.
Johnson said he was pushed into Harvick by Joey Logano and the replays indicated that as well. He asked his crew "What the hell is Logano doing?" Johnson's car was squirrely at the start and he was forced to go to the apron to prevent running over Harvick even further. He took Harvick three-wide (with Kyle Busch on the outside) into turn one but wisely backed off entering the corner.
Harvick, the 2014 Cup champion will undoubtedly finish near the bottom of the field on Sunday. The bad result means he'll need a lot of other drivers in the 16-car Chase field to have horrible days over the next two weeks or he'll have to win at New Hampshire or Dover to make it to the second round of the Chase and avoid elimination.
While Harvick's poor finish is surprising – he's finished outside the top 10 in four of the first 26 races of 2015 – a dramatic moment coming on a restart is not. Restarts have been the dominant topic in the Cup Series entering the Chase and NASCAR said it had mounted cameras to monitor drivers during restarts.
Drivers are allowed to accelerate towards the green flag in a designated zone before the start/finish line. But the zone and the double-file restarts in the Sprint Cup Series lead to a lot of gamesmanship among drivers to try to gain an advantage.
And that advantage is why Logano was likely trying to push Johnson past Harvick. With passing so hard to do in the Cup Series, drivers know that restarts are their best opportunities to make passes.
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