Kevin Harvick's victory Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway that enabled him to capture the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship may have been more cathartic for his team owner than it was gratifying for him.
FoxSports.com reported on the postrace embrace Harvick shared with Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart following Harvick's victory.
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It was Stewart, who agreed after his own hopes for a Cup championship were dashed, to relinquish his pit crew to Harvick as Harvick engaged in the Chase.
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But that was just one turn of the rollercoaster ride for Stewart in the last 18 months.
"At the same time, it had to have been such an incredible moment of satisfaction and quite a bright spot for Tony after the past year-and-a-half he has been through," FoxSports.com reported of the hug between Stewart and Harvick. "You could just see it that it was just more than your everyday hug. That was two guys savoring a moment of time of pure joy and satisfaction."
Those 18 months started with Stewart breaking his leg in a sprint car dirt-track race in early August of 2013 that kept him away from competition until the Daytona 500 in late February.
He celebrated winning a sprint car race on July 19, nearly a year after he broke his right leg. That jubilation was short-lived.
Stewart was involved in the terrible accident that cost Kevin Ward Jr. his life on a dirt track in Canandaigua, N.Y. on Aug. 9. An angry Ward, whose car crashed into a wall after mixing up with Stewart on the previous lap, hopped out of his car and approached Stewart. Ward got too close, and Stewart's right tire caught Ward, sending him airborne some 50 feet, according to reports, and killing him instantly.
Though investigators later would clear Stewart of any wrongdoing, he took a three-week hiatus from racing to deal with the tragedy. The Ward family has threatened legal action against Stewart.
He did not look to be the same when he returned to racing and had negligible results.
Ironically, it was a confrontation involving Brad Keselowski with drivers Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin, in Keselowski bumped Stewart's car after a race that seemed to jolt the "Smoke" back into the fiery Stewart.
He backed up his car into Keselowski's, earning a $25,000 fine, then finished fourth in a subsequent race that was by far his best result since the Ward tragedy.
Harvick's victory Sunday provided a thrilling end to one wild ride for Stewart's rollercoaster season and a half.
Who was happier about Kevin Harvick's NASCAR Sprint Cup championship - Harvick or Tony Stewart? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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