UPDATED (8:23 p.m. ET): Looks like Kevin Harvick isn’t ready to forgive Matt Kenseth for knocking him into the wall in last weekend’s Eliminator Round opener at Martinsville Speedway.
Earlier today, Kenseth said he was still remorseful about the incident, which began when Kenseth wheel-hopped going into Turn 1. Kenseth then spun out and as that occurred, he got Harvick, who was turned around before tagging the wall.
After the race, Harvick vowed that Kenseth would not win this year’s Sprint Cup championship – and following tonight’s Sprint Cup qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick did not appear to back off that threat.
When asked by USA Today if he was still upset about Martinsville, Harvick responded: “Absolutely.”
He was then asked if his face-to-face conversation with Kenseth earlier today over the incident had changed anything, to which he shook his head no and added: “I gotta do what I gotta do for my team to make it happen. He put us in the hole.”
Harvick is currently 28 points behind the cutoff to advance to the Sprint Cup Championship Race – dead last among the eight remaining Chasers.
Before Kenseth met with Harvick, he talked with the media this morning.
“I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever feel better about,” Kenseth said in reference to what occurred last weekend. “The only way I’ll probably feel a little better about it or whatever is if he makes it to Homestead, because if he doesn’t win a championship, at least it wasn’t because of my stupid mistake.
“But until then, I don’t know how much better I’ll feel about it.”
Kenseth also said that the only way the Martinsville situation could have been worse is if he had wrecked one of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, and that prior to last weekend, he and Harvick had gotten along well enough on the track for some time.
As for being on guard against possible retribution from Harvick in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500, Kenseth said he couldn’t worry about the things he can’t control.
“I don’t feel it’s ever constructive no matter what it’s about,” he added. “I really can’t spend any time worrying about it. He knows it was a mistake. I’ll try to make it as right as I can possibly make it and move on from there.
“I can only control my own car and what I do and all that stuff, and obviously, I did a poor job of that last weekend.”
Kenseth recovered from his incident with Harvick to finish sixth and hang on to the fourth and final advance position for the Sprint Cup Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.