Kevin Harvick Exposes Conflict Between Joe Gibbs Racing Exec and Martin Truex Jr. Crew Chief

Kevin Harvick reviewed the Bristol Night Race on his "Happy Hour" podcast Tuesday and provided some clarity to a curious moment shown on the broadcast after the race when a member of Martin Truex Jr.'s team deliberately stepped in front of the camera to block the view of what was happening near the No. 19 team hauler.

Some fans on social media speculated the crew member was attempting to hide something the team was doing with the car. The Fox broadcaster said that wasn't the case at all.

"I saw a video on social media with James Small just going right into (COO) Michael (Guttilla) from the upper management side of things at Joe Gibbs Racing," Harvick said . "We saw the crew member trying to protect that conversation."

The 2014 Cup Series champion then suggested the crew chief is frustrated with his soon-to-be-retiring driver's commitment to racing.

"You cannot race this car with a one-foot-in-one-foot-out commitment because there's a workload that is required to go with this car on a week-to-week basis," the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver said. "And I think when you look at the race, Martin was running second, made a mistake on pit road. That happens. But you can't tell me that the second-place car couldn't pass one car after the pit stop.

"You have to feel for those guys and I think that some of James's frustration from the crew chief side of it is, was my driver fully engaged to go do what I need him to do? And Martin kind of said it last week, 'I'm frustrated, don't really like what I'm doing, and happy it's almost over.'"

Now eliminated from the playoffs, Truex shouldn't feel any pressure in the remaining seven races. Whether that results in less tension with his crew chief remains to be seen.

The No. 19 team returns to the track on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. ET at Kansas. The first Round of 12 race will be aired on USA Network.