Very well said. JJ was boring but he just won championships. In 2014 he got into Harvick in one of the elimination races and Harvick got a tire rub and walled it a few laps later.
Harvick was jerk about it as expected and thumped JJ in the chest during the post race discussion. JJ stayed classy was a better man and he didn't waste time trying to get even.(Someone can misread this post because Harvick went on to win the championship that year).
But looking back on it all or the full body of work, I think it was a good example of what made JJ so great. He didn't get lost trying to win a pissing contest. It was always the big picture and winning is the best revenge.
Regardless of who started what Elliott had to know that Harvick would try to get even after Bristol and he should have known something like the Roval was going to happen.
That doesn't excuse Harvick and who knows how much it has cost him throughout his career. If he could have matched JJs maturity along with his skill set he would probably have won a few more races during his career. It has a been a great one but his flaws are obvious even to this Harvick fan.
I just don't think many here want to admit that Elliott isn't blameless himself.
I can see why his fans enjoyed the last part of the Bristol race. But in hindsight I think it was cheap moment compared to what he risked at the Roval.
Long post, but I also think if Rick Hendrick wanted it all to stop he should have been on the radio telling his driver to stop it during the last laps at Bristol. The timing is just too convenient when Harvick is eliminated and Elliott is still in the hunt.
Meanwhile Larson has won three races to zero for both of them in the the same time frame.
That incident with Jimmie and Kevin was actually 2015, so it wasn't a championship year. I feel as though Jimmie shut Kevin down by giving Kevin a chance to express himself without being enabled by Jimmie. When Kevin started to escalate, Jimmie walked away. And that was that. Kevin respects the hell of him and probably laughs about it. I understand a competitor wants to get the last word in. But sometimes being the bigger person means recognizing when any sort of engagement is a lose - lose. Their little "spat" had no bearings on how either felt about each other. Kevin was emotion, Jimmie upheld a boundary, and they both moved on.
Look at how Blaney handled his spat with Harvick in 2018 at Martinsville. He did the SAME thing. Harvick was unnecessarily confrontational, and angry. Gave him the chest jab as well. Blaney just stood there and let Kevin chew him out. Blaney didn't engage, let the guy blow off his steam, they talked about it at another point, and it ended. It ended to the point that at the 2018 "After the Lap" show, Rutledge Wood brought up that feud, looking to stir up drama. And Harvick more or less owned it, and pointed to Blaney and said "no but we were good", and Blaney agreed.
I don't know. I feel as though some Chase fans aren't quite hearing that at least to some of us, stating that Chase is NOT blameless does not mean he's as bad as Harvick, a weak competitor, or has some character flaw. He has a role in this spat. That's it. There's no implication.
In fact, I've been saying the last week and a half that any distain I've felt towards Elliott as a fan the last year and a half has totally done a 180. Chase isn't perfect. He's not boring. He's a bit of a calculated instigator. That's a driver who, depending on the narrative I can root both FOR and against. And as I said, it adds an edge to NASCAR's most popular driver that we haven't had in over 20 years. It's a great great thing. It's too bad that some fans may not be allowing themselves to embrace that part of Elliott's competitiveness.
The reality is, Chase Elliott is a frat bro. It's ****** awesome. Enjoy it.
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk