BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kevin Harvick isn’t a driver who backs down from anyone because he has the attitude of an assassin.
The driver from Bakersfield, Calif., doesn’t take any guff from anyone, and he’s more than willing to stand up for himself if he feels he has been put in a bad position.
That is why he’s still irritated at Juan Pablo Montoya after an incident at Watkins Glen Int’l on Aug. 12 that saw the two drivers climb out of their cars and get in each other’s face. It became so heated, both drivers pushed each other and grabbed each other’s helmets. No punches, however, were thrown.
So as NASCAR Nextel Cup teams arrived at Michigan Int’l Speedway on Friday for the 3M Performance 400, Harvick was still fuming at Montoya, even though the incident was triggered by Martin Truex, Jr.
Before Friday’s qualifications, Harvick was asked if he had worked it out with Montoya.
“Uh, no,” Harvick said flatly. “I’ve had a look at the tape and what I’ve seen is what I saw in my mirror: a car dart to the right, block and run into the side of me.
“He drives like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, to be honest with you. He goes out, he can run fast but he’s all over the place, and every week it seems like he runs into a different person. In four weeks, it’s cost us a couple of hundred points, and he shrugs it off like he doesn’t really care about anybody or anything; that he’s just here to race. You make him mad and it’s: ‘Well, I’ve got a five-year contract, and I’ll just wreck you every week.’ It’s hard to talk to him, and he doesn’t really respect anyone around him.”
Harvick believes he’s not alone in his assessment of the 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, 1999 CART champion and winner of seven Formula One races.
“My opinion is pretty widespread,” Harvick said. “I’m not the only one with that opinion. Everybody’s tired of tearing their stuff up for no reason.”
Montoya took exception to Harvick’s claim that he “doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“If I didn’t know what I was doing, then I wouldn’t have won the Indy 500, the CART championship and Formula One races,” Montoya said. “I’m pretty comfortable with what I’ve done. When it’s been my fault, I’ve said I made a mistake and I’m sorry. Martin Truex came up to me today and apologized.
“Things like that will happen. It’s racing and we understand. It’s a shame that (Harvick) doesn’t. I guess I’m a better story.”
NASCAR officials called Montoya and Harvick to the NASCAR transporter on Friday, but neither driver was penalized because they did not actually assault each other.
Both drivers have been put on probation and told to cool it.
“They said you have to be careful, guys, you are both on probation and that’s the limit of what you guys can do because we don’t want to take any points from you,” Montoya said. “I don’t think we did anything out of line completely. I think we were right on the limit of doing something out of line.
“I was very conscious of that. I got on probation earlier for making a joke with a friend of mine.” Earlier this season, Montoya made an obscene gesture at an in-car camera without realizing it was on live TV.
Montoya stressed that he didn’t do anything wrong in the incident, that he was taken out by Truex, which caused the driver from Colombia to crash into Harvick’s Chevrolet.
He’s had his share of incidents in Formula One and has entered NASCAR with an attitude of respecting his fellow competitors.
“Here, people race a lot more aggressive,” Montoya said. “I’ve been really careful this year to not pick any fights. I think we’ve raced really smart this year, made some friends and have been conscious about the give-and-take in this sport.”