Published: March 16, 2008 11:52 pm      

Spotters for Harvick and Stewart at odds after late-race wreck

BRISTOL, Tenn. — When spotters attack.

No, it's not the name of a reality television show one might find on the FOX network. But following Kevin Harvick's contact with then-race leader Tony Stewart with just under 10 laps to go in Sunday's Food City 500, it almost became one.

The wreck occurred after Harvick, who was in second-place at the time and had been in hard pursuit of Stewart for several laps, clipped the apron of the race track and then slid up underneath the Home Depot Toyota.

The incident damaged Stewart's car and sent him to pit road. He lost valuable track position and consequently the race as well. He went on to salvage 14th place.

After the incident, Harvick told his spotter to tell Stewart's spotter what had transpired. According to Harvick, the recipient of the bad news didn't take it too well.

“The first thing his spotter did was commence to saying he was going to whip somebody's ass. If Tony didn't do it, he was going to do it,” said Harvick. “Tony and I are big boys and we can handle that. The part that ticks me off is that the spotter is up there bad-mouthing you and making you think it's coming from Tony.

“I just lost it. It's just the way it goes. He did the same thing in Indianapolis, and I did the same thing here. I just made a mistake. They can take it for what it's worth and go on with it.”

Stewart was understandably upset following the race, but was uncharacteristically reserved, albeit sarcastic, in his remarks.

“I thought I left him plenty of room, but I don't know,” Stewart said, who led a race-high 267 laps. “I was far enough ahead of him that I didn't see when or where he hit me. I'm sure somehow it was my fault. I'm just sorry I got in his way.”

The primary beneficiary of the mishap was race winner Jeff Burton, who admitted he didn't have the best car, but raced well enough to be in contention should a late caution come out.

He only led two laps, but at the same time, never ran lower than sixth the entire day. He was a bridesmaid last spring to Kyle Busch, the third time he had finished second at Bristol Motor Speedway, but caught the bouquet this year when he won the 500 for the very first time.

“When Harvick and Stewart got together there, that opened the door for me to squeeze in. Then Hamlin quit — I don't know if he ran out of gas or not — and I kept going,” said Burton. “It feels good to get to Victory Lane here. We just kept ourselves in position and drove real smart. This team won this race today.”

Following Burton across the finish line were teammates Harvick and Clint Bowyer, marking the first time ever that Richard Childress Racing had the top three finishers.

It was Harvick's 10th top ten finish in 15 races at Bristol, while Bowyer posted his third top ten in five B.M.S. starts. As the winner of the Sharpie Mini 300 on Saturday, he left Bristol with two impressive performances.

“It was a great weekend. I'm finally starting to figure this place out and it's about time,” Bowyer said. “We just raced hard and had a solid day.”

The highest finishing rookie in the race was Regan Smith, who piloted his No. 1 Principal Financial Chevrolet to a 26th place finish. Other notable rookies to finish the race were Dario Franchitti (36th) and Sam Hornish, Jr (29th).