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The old saying in motorsports is that competitor drivers most want to beat is their teammate. While NASCAR doesn’t have extreme team orders like in other motorsports, only one driver can take home the trophy at the end of the race. This is why some of the most intense NASCAR rivalries can come from within race teams, and here are some of the ugliest conflicts between teammates in NASCAR.
Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill fought hard for a Championship 4 spot, and neither driver got it. Hill spun off of turn four and Creed lost in a photo finish to Justin Allgaier. What ensued was a war of words featuring Andy Petree screaming at Sheldon Creed, both Creed and Hill implying that they couldn’t wait for Creed to leave, and Richard Childress calling Creed the “Stupidest” driver that has ever raced for him.
Creed soon left for Joe Gibbs Racing, and Jesse Love took his place. This was a classic example of an argument that nobody really won as both drivers failed to make the Championship 4. It’s also not the last time that RCR will be included on this list.
What happens when you take two of the most aggressive drivers in the sport and put them on the same race team? You get the fireworks seen at the 2010 NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. While battling for the lead late, Hamlin pushed Busch up the track and into the wall causing Darrell Waltrip to scream, “HE PUT HIM IN THE WALL!”
Again, nobody won this argument as Busch eventually crashed out and Hamlin failed to get the trophy. Ironically enough, it was Kyle’s brother, Kurt, who went on to win the race. This was Busch and Hamlin’s biggest conflict during their 15-season tenure as teammates.
Yet another of RCR’s ugly driver exits, the departing Kevin Harvick found himself in conflict with the boss’s grandson, Ty Dillon. After Dillon spun Harvick out in turn two late in the race, Harvick parked himself in the No. 3 truck’s pit box, stopping until the crew members pushed him away. When Harvick got out of the car, he said he was happy to leave RCR because drivers like Ty and his brother Austin Dillon, “Had everything fed to them with a spoon.”
This was the moment for Kevin Harvick to vent frustrations with RCR that had been building up over the years. It also played a role in Dillon losing the 2013 Truck Series Championship. Based on the recent Kevin Harvick documentary “I am Kevin Harvick”, it seems Harvick and Childress have moved on from the conflict.
While this all boiled to a head-on pit road at Kansas in 2023, this actually goes back to 2022. There was the block Kyle Larson threw at Auto Club Speedway which caused Chase Elliott to hit the wall and cut a tire. There was also Larson pushing Elliott wide at Watkins Glen later that season on a late restart. Then Elliott decided to door slam Larson at Kansas for contact on pit road in 2023.
What added fuel to this fire was comments by Danielle Trotta after the incident, where she claims that Elliott’s judgment all year has been “Questionable” and that Elliott does not like Larson. This set off major discussion throughout the media about the status of Elliott at HMS and all that happened throughout a difficult 2023 season for Elliott.
Yes, this is the third time that Richard Childress Racing is included on the list. For this one, we go back to 2003, when Jeff Green was wrecked by Kevin Harvick at Richmond. Green told the media after the race, “Tough to be teammates when it seems like there’s only one car at RCR.”
Green had struggled in the RCR No. 30 car for the last couple of seasons, so, he was dropped from the team. He ended up swapping seats with Steve Park, who drove the No. 1 car for Dale Earhardt Inc. Harvick stayed with the team for another decade before the number 3 moment on this list prior to. the departure.
Teammate conflicts can range from one race to multiple races, and they can cause drivers to lose rides. Could we see that more this season?
