Article

NASCAR investigating post-race fracas involving Harvicks, official and member of No. 10 team
By JIM UTTER
The Charlotte Observer


FORT WORTH, Texas – NASCAR officials are investigating a post-race incident in which a member of driver Scott Riggs’ team allegedly shoved driver Kevin Harvick, knocking Harvick, his wife DeLana and a NASCAR official to the ground.

The team member shoved Harvick from behind shortly after the conclusion of Sunday’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway as he and his wife were walking from pit road to the garage area, witnesses said. NASCAR declined to identify the Riggs team member.

The Harvicks, as well as NASCAR official John Sacco, fell to the ground in front of the Riggs’ team’s crash cart, an oversized toolbox on wheels used to carry equipment needed for quick repairs. Sacco was taken to the infield care center and diagnosed with a bad sprain.

The Harvicks were unhurt, NASCAR officials said.

On Lap 332 of the race, Harvick and Riggs were racing for position exiting Turn 4 when Harvick hit Riggs from behind, knocking him hard into the wall and demolishing his car. Riggs was not hurt.

At the time, Riggs was poised to make a late-race charge on Tony Stewart for the victory.

Riggs has not won in the Nextel Cup Series.

“One of the guys on the No. 10 team came up from behind me and shoved Harvick, pushed him hard enough to knock him and DeLana in front of one of the war wagons (crash cart),” said Mike Dillon, director of competition for Richard Childress Racing, who was walking with the Harvicks.

“A NASCAR (official) got in the way and tried to stop it. DeLana twisted her leg.

"You’re going to have heated moments, but when it turns physical it turns into a different story.”

Dillon’s account of the incident was confirmed by another witness, Bryan White, the jackman for Ryan Newman’s No. 12 Dodge. He happened to be near the incident at the time and helped assist DeLana Harvick to her feet.

“This guy from the No. 10 just came up from behind them. He hit Kevin and they all fell down in front of the cart,” White said.

Officials with Evernham Motorsports, who own Riggs’ No. 10, also declined to identify the crew member.

Asked about the incident, Riggs’ crew chief Rodney Childers said, “I was in the garage with the car, so I didn’t see what happened. We’re working with NASCAR right now to figure out exactly what happened out there.

“There are always different sides to the story, and we’ll work with them to find out what the truth is.”

NASCAR officials declined to comment until their investigation is completed.

They did say there were at least two NASCAR officials on hand who witnessed the incident, including Sacco. They also said they were not aware of any video of the incident.

Interesting!

so from that article it sounds like the guy didn't actually push DeLana, she was just walking with Kevin and when Kevin fell, she fell........

at least thats the jist I get from that article, but we'll see more articles I'm sure

I imagine whoever that team member of the 10 is, will not be a team member by the end of this

Absolutely ridiculous...

I can really see Ray firing this guy. I don't think that Ray wants that sort of guy on his team

So can I

I can too.

The whole thing is just crappy. Like I said in the race thread, I'm all for sticking up for your driver and your team, but once it gets physical -- I don't care whose team you're on -- that's uncalled for. Simple as that.

:nod Agreed!

Man, I hate when I make typos and they get quoted. Oh well.

According to Wind Tunnel, they're now reporting that the Official has a broken ankle. :(

That's not good. Talk about making a bad situation worse for the 10 team

what typo?

Yeah.. that guy's gonna be done for. Besides Ray letting him go, I won't be surprised if he's banned from NASCAR

Oh, the "I don't care who's team you're on." Should be whose, and I edited it, right around the time you quoted me. :lmbo

I'm a nerd! Don't mind me!

Oh okay, I see! lol I was curious because I was thinking that maybe I was agreeing to something you didn't mean to say. And I didn't even catch that! LOL Sorry, don't mind me either...nerd, meet dork! :wave LOL


I feel bad for DeLana and the official, they were just innocent bystanders...Yeah, that #10 crew guy is not only toast...he will be burnt toast by the time ray is done with him...

Well at least we know we have a great name! :) :wave

I guess Harvick had to make the 29 look like the 3 again.

I seriously cannot believe this. I mean come on...like Harvick did it intentionally? I mean we all know how agressve he can be at times, but never would he do that intentionally. The crew member over reacted, and ended up hurting two people who really had nothing to do with the incident. I sure hope he gets suspended.

Yes it is a pretty awesome name...and the best way to spell it! Teehee :)

You know...isn't there a saying...or rule (lol)...whatever happens on the track, stays on the track? Wait, maybe I am mixing it up with vegas....lol But same deal, right? This is a situation where this rule applies...when it gets physical...

I would say that crew member didn't like his job very much. He has to know that behavior like will most likely get him fired.

here's another article.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6140936

Oh thats real nice like no one could tell who he was anyways

If you're "man enough" to push a man from behind... then your "man enough" to take the punishment... I mean seriously... what is this Kindergarten!

no cause Kindergarteners freak out and run over to make sure they are ok

Good point... The kindergarteners I work with wouldn't even attempt the pushing in the first place...

This whole thing just... I can't believe it... wow...

I would agree with you, except the 29 will never be the 3.

I hope the 10 crew guy that did this isn't the one that I know.. because that would suck terribly.

Why were the Harvicks anywhere near the 10 crew? There was no reason for them to be there at all. You just wrecked Scott and now your going over to his area? That's foul! Harvick should be fined for that alone and Delana should have her credentials revoked for the rest of the year. They had no business being there! The crew member needs to be canned yesterday if it was done on purpose.

we have differing opinions, let's just leave it at that.

We wonder ...

... what would the proper punishment be for the Riggs crew member who pushed Kevin Harvick?


Let's get this out of the way now -- physical confrontations are nothing new in NASCAR. Heck, "Lo-Def Productions" reminds us of that every week with that commercial -- that runs 600 times a race.

Still, you've got to think this one will carry a little bit more weight considering DeLana Harvick was injured and a NASCAR official was knocked to the ground.

Clearly, this unidentified crew member didn't have the foresight to pull Kevin Harvick aside to talk over his issues. Perhaps this guy was provoked. Who knows? There are always two sides to a story, no matter how obvious it may seem.

Still, before things got physical, wouldn't you at least make sure the driver's wife and the NASCAR official were out of view? I know 12-year-old kids with better fight strategy than that.

NASCAR will certainly have a say in this, but I think the big punishment here should come from Evernham Motorsports and you have to believe that it will. Should a guy be fired over this? Again, we don't know the entire story and speculating would be irresponsible, but I would at least think some double-secret probation would be in order.

wow. i agree if he had beef with Harvick why involve others, and shouldn't be resorting to violence like that anyways.

now i'm not siding with anyone on this (Harvicks or 10 team) but didn't Kevin call the 10 team 'morons'?? either way, the way both parties acted was very immature and i hope that it can be resolved maturely....

Carrie and I were discussing this via text today while I was at the airport and I really hope whoever did this gets let go. That just makes EMS as a whole look bad, we don't need that kind of behavior on that team.

Kevin called them Morons AFTER the incident had occured... at least that was my understanding cause he said something about them wanting to start something and pushing him and delena over in his post race comments.

I also don't think kevin was in the 10 teams "area" as another poster had stated... i think they were walking through the garage area and wlaked by the 10 teams crash cart... which would be parked w/ every other teams crash cart by the pit road/garage entrace... at least that's how it was in Daytona... I could be wrong... but again that's my understanding...

They were on their way to the media center for the post-race interviews, and two of the 10 guys saw them and started yelling at 'em, which then started everything.. at least that's what I got from the article.

yeah Kevin called them morons after the incident. which i think is a light insult coming from Kevin. Considering some of his more 'animated' opinions on competitors.