“He Was Not in Control” – Kevin Harvick Pacifies Joey Logano After Being Left Stranded by Ford Teammate

While William Byron and Alex Bowman‘s photo finish quickly became the talk of the NASCAR community after the Great American Race, one man had lost out on what looked to be a golden weekend. After qualifying for the Daytona 500 in pole position for Team Penske, Joey Logano and the #22 Ford were shaping up to be one of the prime contenders for the Harley J. Earl Trophy. The Penske driver felt like he was controlling the pace alongside fellow Ford driver Todd Gilliland but Logano’s hopes of a solid result at the 500 were shattered by the Big One. And while many might be nitpicking Logano’s performance and what he could’ve done better to avoid the pileup, Kevin Harvick feels there is little the #22 could change.

Harvick believes Joey Logano and Todd Gilliland could not have done things differently

For the debut episode of the iconic Kevin Harvick‘s new podcast ‘Harvick’s Happy Hour’, the new NASCAR on Fox member sat down with co-hosts Kaitlyn Vincie and Mamba Smith for a deep dive into the incidents of this year’s Daytona 500. While Harvick felt Joey Logano was the one who had controlled a majority of the race despite frequent setbacks, it all changed owing to an incident Logano could not have control over at all.

Speaking of Logano’s control, Mamba Smith shared a heated moment regarding the Penske driver when he was reportedly ‘stranded’ by Todd Gilliland, who was running right behind him for several laps leading to the Big One. Smith shared, “Logano was controlling the race, Todd Gilliland was at the bottom. So Logano felt like they were both in a good spot and Todd moves up to the top, Logano keys up the radio, and he’s like, “What is he doing?” Feeling that Logano was infuriated at Gilliland’s move, Smith felt there was some lack of control at that moment.

Adding to the incident, Kevin Harvick shared his take, “What happened in that particular moment with Joey and Todd Gilliland was that Joey felt like they were controlling the throttle position and the saving at that particular point because it had everything jammed up. On the radio, during the broadcast, Todd said, ‘I wanted to move up because I felt like I couldn’t trust any of the guys behind me and I needed to put myself in a position where they weren’t going to put me three wide’. And Joey didn’t really have all that information.” 

Whilst Logano’s anger at his Ford teammate would be justified if the manufacturers failed to herd together at a drafting circuit, Harvick unravelled how Gilliland could not have done things differently either. Harvick concluded, “But I agree with Todd, they weren’t gonna put him three wide when he was at the top and it wound up being everybody together there from the Ford camp to be able to put themselves in a position to still do the same thing, but Joey was not in control.” 

READ MORE: Ryan Blaney Vows Retribution as He Failed to Find a Helping Hand in the Daytona 500

For Kevin Harvick, witnessing such chaos ensue only minutes away from the last lap was a common sight during his time in the Cup Series. But this time around, Harvick wasn’t in the driver’s seat himself.

Kevin Harvick saw things unfold from a new perspective

Back then, Harvick’s idea of the incident would be limited to his rearview mirrors and his spotter’s insights. But now that Harvick has stepped into a presenter role for FOX, the veteran got to witness the big one from a completely new perspective. Harvick had a bird’s-eye view of the Daytona 500 live for the first time and he skillfully dissected the moments leading up to the pileup, and the magnitude of what unfolded.

Harvick stated, “In the end, you definitely could feel that it was just a matter of when it was going to happen. They were three wide, pushing and shoving, and you just didn’t know when it was actually gonna happen. They tried several times as we let up to the actual wreck itself, but I think it wiped out 18 cars, a lot of the good cars there were up front and 18 was actually probably a lower number than it looked like on television because we had multiple in-car cameras and a lot of big shocks.”

With various angles and shots at Harvick’s disposal in the FOX booth, the veteran was able to go through most of the on-board and paint a gut-wrenching image. He shared, “When you look at these in-car shots and you see a lot of the driver’s head whip forward, a lot of the bigger shocks come from getting hit from the back of the car and the whiplash that actually comes with the rear impact. Man, there were some big, big hits.”

READ MORE: Almost Snapping of Ryan Blaney’s Wrist, Did NASCAR Take a Step Back in Safety With the Next Gen Car?

Now that Harvick has a brand new perspective on superspeedway racing, it’s safe to say that ‘Harvick’s Happy Hour’ is here to stay. With that said, do you think the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be another minefield for drivers?