Kevin Harvick said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway that Denny Hamlin's crew chief, Mike Ford, stuck his foot in his mouth with his bold, confident statements last weekend after Hamlin won the race at Texas. The victory gave Hamlin the lead in the Chase to the Sprint Cup by 33 points over Jimmie Johnson, with Harvick close behind, 59 points back. "I think Mike should take his own advice to his driver and not insert your foot into your mouth when you don't do something that winds up being something that you say it should be," Harvick said. "I think the comments that he made after the race about being better than the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) team and all that stuff, I think he's just trying to stir stuff up."
It's clear that the fender-rubbing has become just as intense in the media centers as on the race tracks as the Chase comes down to the finish with a tight points race between the three top contenders.
Ford was critical of Johnson's team for replacing the pit crew and said the 48's goal "is more about trying to win a championship for the company and not the team."
He went on to say: "I think our race team is better than their race team, and I'm not going to tiptoe around them."
Said Harvick, "The only good thing that comes from being cocky like that is you better win because if you don't, you're going to have to answer a lot of questions about your comments when you get done. I think when you're trying to intimidate the guy who's won four championships in a row, I think you might need to go rethink your strategy and just go out and worry about racing because it's not really something that was probably necessary."
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