CONCORD, N.C. — Kevin Harvick started the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup pretty much like he did the first one — in trouble and off the pace.
Harvick was running fourth in Sunday’s rain-delayed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway when he slowed on the track and headed to pit road, coasting into his stall. Harvick could fire his engine, but could not keep it going.
Meanwhile on the track, Joey Logano hit the wall for the second time of the afternoon, causing the caution period on Lap 152.
MORE: Kyle Busch, Logano deal early setbacks
His team was under the hood and working on the car during the caution, but Harvick sat idle on pit road.
Harvick finished 20th in the opening Chase race, then followed that up with a win at New Hampshire to advance to the second round of the Chase. He then finished 37th at Dover after suffering a tire failure.
Harvick’s team was working to diagnose the problem as the race went green once more.
Harvick was just pushed behind the wall as they continue to work.
— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) October 9, 2016
The setback likely will put Harvick, the 2014 champion, in a big hole again with two races — at Kansas and Talladega — remaining in Round 2 of the Chase. He has a knack for rallying, however, with wins in the Chase. He won at Dover last year to advance to Round 2, and did the same this with his win at New Hampshire.
Logano, meanwhile, won three straight races in last year's Chase, starting with the race at Charlotte. He was eliminated after Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked him at Martinsville.
Harvick and his team continued to work to diagnose the issue. During the Lap 228 caution period, he said on NBC that he thought it could be an oil issue, but admitted that was simply a guess.
“It seems like it’s something to do with no oil pressure," he said, then added. "That’s just a guess. I think the process of elimination, we’ve narrowed it down to a few things.”
Harvick said that hte power just suddenly went away in his car.
“No, it just suddenly shut off and the things that it points to are no oil pressure," he said. "It’s definitely not a power issue with the battery or anything like that. They are trying to diagnosis it. I hate it for everybody on our Busch team they made some great adjustments today and got our car back where we needed to be to run up front and everything was going fine.
Lots of things can go wrong and today they did.”