Regretful over their Martinsville run-in, Matt Kenseth is hoping he hasn’t ruined Kevin Harvick’s championship hopes.
Kevin Harvick has a new No. 1 fan, as Matt Kenseth is openly rooting for Harvick to advance out of the Eliminator Round and make the championship finale Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
If Harvick could advance past Round 3, it would be of great relief to Kenseth, whose mistake a week ago has placed Harvick in a severe points hole and in danger of being eliminated from the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
"If he makes it to Homestead, then I'll feel better about it," Kenseth said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. "If he doesn't win a championship and at least makes it to Homestead, at least it wasn't because of my stupid mistake. Until then, I don't know how much better I'll feel about it."
With two races remaining in the third of four Chase rounds, Harvick is last among the eight playoff drivers, 28 points below the cutline. He virtually needs a victory Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway or the following week at Phoenix International Raceway to make it to Homestead with a shot at the championship.
The deficit Harvick is in comes from an accident Kenseth triggered at Martinsville Speedway, which sent Harvick spinning into the Turn 1 wall. Harvick finished 33rd and vowed afterward Kenseth would not win the 2014 championship saying, "If we don't, he won't."
Immediately after Martinsville, Kenseth, who finished sixth, apologized for the contact and took full responsibility saying he understood Harvick's frustration. Kenseth again expressed contrition Friday, but didn't expect Harvick to follow through on his promise. Kenseth and Harvick spoke in the Nationwide Series briefly at Texas.
"It was terrible timing; wrong place at the wrong time," Kenseth said. "I understand his frustration. I would be just as frustrated. I couldn't feel any worse about it. The only way it would have been worse was if you wrecked a teammate."
"I hope he has a really good week this week or next week and wins one of these races. Even if he doesn't, hopefully he'll run good enough to get in that last round because I know that he doesn't want to get taken out of it for something that he had nothing to do with. And I certainly don't want to be the guy to take him out of it."
In his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, Harvick has been among the most consistent and dominant drivers. He owns four victories and has led a series-best 1,817 laps. Were it not for several fluky occurrences and mishaps on pit road, Harvick would likely have several more wins.
That performance has caused Kenseth to take notice.
"Kevin and I have gotten along really good the last eight or nine years -- we've really raced each other well," Kenseth said. "I've actually been pulling for him this year. I've been trying to encourage him this year when he's been frustrated because they've run good enough to win eight or nine or 10 races.
"If me or a teammate can't win it, he's been my favorite to go and try to win the championship. I hope (Martinsville) doesn't end up being the determining factor whether he gets to Homestead or not. He doesn't want that, I don't either. I don't want to live with that. I hope that they can go out and can make it into the final four."
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