Edwards has found a qualifying groove at New Hampshire, sweeping the top spot for both races this season.
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There was no reason for any drivers to lace up the gloves and channel their inner Floyd Mayweather and spar a few rounds Friday against the bag.
Harvick’s SHR team mate Kurt Busch will start alongside Penske’s Brad Keselowski on row 2, while Jimmie Johnson himself will be on row three alongside Ganassi’s Kyle Larson, the highest-placed non-Chase contender on Sunday’s starting grid.
“I truthfully don’t know what to expect”, he said. “I practiced that one this morning”.
“We got a great start to the Chase and we’re just keeping that rolling”, Edwards said.
After the race, Johnson and Harvick got into an altercation where Harvick shoved Johsnon.
Asked about Johnson, Harvick pulled his best Marshawn Lynch and said, “I’m just here so I don’t get fined”.
“I can’t see where he did anything wrong”, Gordon said of Johnson in the actions that resulted in Harvick crashing.
Round 1 may have gone to Harvick in the motorhome lot. Joey Logano has to be looking at the New Hampshire event as a prime opportunity to make his statement to advance to the next round and he should definitely not be forgotten on Sunday.
“I don’t have a lot to say about any of it”, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver said. This year, he needs a win at New Hampshire or Dover just to get out of the first round.
“You still have to go out with the mentality of trying to win the race”, Harvick said. “Believe me, I knew good and well going over there that he wasn’t going to be in the best of moods, so it was just important to me to try to make contact with him and try to talk to him, based on experiences I’ve had and the position it’s put me in, so that’s what led to me going over there”.
JGR’s Matt Kenseth missed out on making it into the final round by just one thousandths of a second and he will therefore start Sunday’s race from 13th place. “I can do that myself”. He has two victories in 2015, the last being the Southern 500 at Darlington. His New Hampshire record includes three wins and seven top five finishes among 11 top ten results. He led the field to green in July before finishing seventh. September.
Was Johnson caught off guard by Harvick’s abrupt punch to the chest? Harvick finished 42nd.
Second fastest in the three-session qualifying format was Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing.
“I wasn’t surprised that he was that upset”, Johnson said. “I thought I got everything I could out of it, just not enough speed”, the driver of the No. 20 told NBC.
“I think we all agree that maybe Jimmie should have waited a little bit longer before he approached Kevin on that one”, said Jeff Gordon, Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
Fast-forward to 2015: Harvick aims to finish fast, and isn’t afraid of any rumblings that may happen in the process.
Now, the No. 48 Chevrolet could be locked in Harvick’s sight. “I wouldn’t call that a hit”, Gordon said.
To win at Dover, Harvick would likely have to beat one of his stable mates – none other than Johnson.
Kenseth leads the standings and has four wins.
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Logano, in sixth, would love to see a Chase heavyweight in Harvick eliminated after one round. “It’s so hard when you’re trying to pick-up time in practice and every time we freed the vehicle up, we got quicker”.
