Kevin Harvick far from being happy after Paul Menard wrecks him, costing a chance for win - MotorSportsTalk

HAMPTON, Ga. – Kevin Harvick was happily motoring along Sunday night to what appeared would be a second dominating win in two nights at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

After leading 159 laps in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, Harvick led 195 laps in Sunday’s Oral-B USA 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

But late in the event, Paul Menard slid up the track into Harvick, the two cars made contact – collecting Joey Logano in the process – and Harvick ultimately wound up going from what looked like a sure win from the pole to a disappointing 19th-place finish.

Rather than becoming the sixth driver to win three races this season, Harvick dropped one place in the Sprint Cup standings, falling from seventh to eighth with one regular season race remaining this coming Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.

“We all probably could have given each other more room,” Harvick said. “I knew the No. 27 (Menard) was going to get a bad restart and I tried to time it to where I could get on the outside of him.

“I got on the outside of him and he just kept coming up and I wasn’t going to let off the gas; I knew the No. 22 (Logano) was up there. The No. 27 kept coming up and just came up until we all wrecked.”

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BOWYER BOONDOGGLE: Clint Bowyer’s hopes of making this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup appear slim at best following Sunday’s Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Instead of getting closer to locking himself into the Chase in the race, Bowyer instead fell outside the top 16 Chase qualifiers with a disappointing 38th-place finish.

Early in the race, Bowyer suffered a broken shifter in his Toyota, prompting him to go back to the garage and miss more than 20 laps while his team made necessary repairs.

Bowyer is now ranked 17th in the Chase lineup, meaning next Saturday night’s race at Richmond will very likely be a make-or-break situation for him.

He trails Greg Biffle, who remains on the Chase bubble in 16th place, by 23 points – a rather formidable amount to make up in just one race.

Bowyer would have to finish between 19 and 21 positions higher (depending upon how many laps either driver might lead) than Biffle at Richmond.

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AMBROSE’S CHASE HOPES SINK: Marcos Ambrose came into Sunday night’s race hoping to pull out a Hail Mary win and earn a berth in the upcoming Chase.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out quite the way Ambrose hoped for when the motor on his Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion blew up on Lap 123, ending his night.

I AM IRONMAN: NASCAR’s reigning ironman, Jeff Gordon, made the 750th consecutive start Sunday night of his more than two-decade Sprint Cup career.

Ironically, Atlanta Motor Speedway was the site of Gordon’s first career Cup start in the 1992 season finale.

“That is a big number,” Gordon said. “I hadn’t thought about it a whole lot until I saw a decal with it made up. I thought, ‘Man, that is a lot of races, especially in a row.’ I’m really proud of that, it’s been an amazing career in the Cup Series.

“It seems like it was yesterday that it started right here over 20 years ago. I love this track. I love racing here so it’s pretty cool to have 750 happening here.”

Gordon is now in his 22nd full-time season on the Sprint Cup Series. He’s managed to stay behind the wheel for every race of that stretch, even though there have been times he’s been in a great deal of pain resulting from prior crashes or back issues that have beset him the last several years.

Still, Gordon has no regrets.

“Here we are at 750,” he said. “At the time I didn’t really think about that, but now I look back on it and it’s something I’m proud of.”

But don’t expect Gordon to go another 22 seasons.

“I can guarantee there won’t be another 750,” Gordon said with a laugh.

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DETROIT – There’s no rest for the weary as an Indy 500 winner, but Josef Newgarden discovered there are plenty of extra laps.

The reigning Indy 500 champion added an extra trip Wednesday night back to Concord, N.C., for one last session on the GM Racing simulator before Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

After a 30-year run on the Belle Isle course, the race has been moved to a nine-turn, 1.7-mile layout downtown, so two extra hours on the simulator were worth it for Newgarden.

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“I really wanted to do it,” he told NBC Sports at a Thursday media luncheon. “If there’s any time that the sim is most useful, it’s in this situation when no one has ever been on a track, and we’re able to simulate it as best as we can. We want to get some seat time.

“It’s extra important coming off the Indy 500 because you’ve been out of rhythm for a road or street course-type environment, so I really wanted some laps. I was really appreciative to Chevy. There was a few guys that just came in and stayed late for me so I could get those laps before coming up here. I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference, but I feel like it’s going to help for me.”

After a whirlwind tour of New York for two days, Newgarden arrived at the simulator (which is at the GM Racing Technical Center adjacent to Hendrick Motorsports) in time for a two hour session that started at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He stayed overnight in Charlotte and then was up for an early commercial flight to Detroit, where he had more media obligations.

Newgarden joked that if he had a jet, he would have made a quick stop in Nashville, Tennessee, but a few more days away from home (where he has yet to return in weeks) is a worthy tradeoff for winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – though the nonstop interviews can take a toll.

“It’s the hardest part of the gig for me is all this fanfare and celebration,” Newgarden said. “I love doing it because I’m so passionate about the Indy 500 and that racetrack and what that race represents. I feel honored to be able to speak about it. It’s been really natural and easy for me to enjoy it because I’ve been there for so many years.

“Speaking about this win has been almost the easiest job I’ve ever had for postrace celebrations. But it’s still for me a lot of work. I get worn out pretty easily. I’m very introverted. So to do this for three days straight, it’s been a lot.”

Though he is terrified of heights, touring the top of the Empire State Building for the first time was a major highlight (and produced the tour’s most viral moment).

New texts alert sound just dropped.@josefnewgarden| @EmpireStateBldg pic.twitter.com/YWLpS9UWrN

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 31, 2023

“I was scared to get to the very top level,” Newgarden said. “That thing was swaying. No one else thought it was swaying. I’m pretty sure it was. I really impressed by the facility. I’d never seen it before. It’s one of those bucket list things. If you go to New York, it’s really special to do that. So to be there with the wreath and the whole setup, it just felt like an honor to be in that moment.”

Now the attention shifts to Detroit and an inaugural circuit that’s expected to be challenging. Along with a Jefferson Avenue straightaway that’s 0.9 miles long, the track has several low-speed corners and a “split” pit lane (teams will stop on both sides of a rectangular area) with a narrow exit that blends just before a 90-degree lefthand turn into Turn 1.

Newgarden thinks the track is most similar to the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

“It’s really hard to predict with this stuff until we actually run,” he said. “Maybe we go super smooth and have no issues. Typically when you have a new event, you’re going to have some teething issues. That’s understandable. We’ve always got to massage the event to get it where we want it, but this team has worked pretty hard. They’ve tried to get feedback constantly on what are we doing right, what do we need to look out for. They’ve done a ton of grinding to make sure this surface is in as good of shape as possible.

“There’s been no expense spared, but you can’t foresee everything. I have no idea how it’s going to race. I think typically when you look at a circuit that seems simple on paper, people tend to think it’s not going to be an exciting race, or challenging. I find the opposite always happens when we think that way. Watch it be the most exciting, chaotic, entertaining race.

Newgarden won the last two pole positions at Belle Isle’s 2.35-mile layout and hopes to continue the momentum while avoiding any post-Brickyard letdown.

“I love this is an opportunity for us to get something right quicker than anyone else,” he said. “A new track is always exciting from that standpoint. I feel I’m in a different spot. I’m pretty run down. I’m really trying to refocus and gain some energy back for tomorrow. Which I’ll have time to today, which is great.

“I don’t want that Indy 500 hangover. People always talk about it. They’ve always observed it. That doesn’t mean we have to win this weekend, but I’d like to leave here feeling like we had a really complete event, did a good job and had a solid finish leading into the summer. I want to win everywhere I go, but if we come out of here with a solid result and no mistakes, then probably everyone will be happy with it.”