During the Naval Base Coronado race on Sunday, 23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Corey Heim had a tussle that went lap after lap. But in the end, Reddick gave way to Heim to pass by after rubbing him, a rare move that has sparked a big debate in the garage.

And it made Kevin Harvick furious when he witnessed the moment, as he felt what Reddick was too soft for Heim.

Harvick sat down to dissect the Anduril 250 events in his Happy Hour podcast. When this topic came up, he shed his frustration.

"Look, I like both guys," Harvick said on the podcast. "I think they're both great race car drivers, but it makes me sick to see somebody let off the gas when you're racing for the win."

With five laps remaining, Corey Heim began pressurising Tyler Reddick with everything he had. The 16-turn 3.4-mile street circuit saw Reddick miss a corner, and Heim quickly took advantage of that.

As Reddick missed the corner, Heim put his car's nose inside Turn 5, and the two made contact while battling for the lead. Reddick initially forced his teammate wide, but immediately backed off and gave the position back rather than completing the pass through contact.

"I could never imagine standing on the brakes and letting somebody gather it up when we're four laps from the finish. I just don't get it," Harvick added.

Even Carson Hocevar spoke against this move on the Dale Jr Download, where he felt fans were deprived of seeing a good battle because Reddick's help to Heim was a bit too much.

"If he spun him out, like half spun him and like waited on him a little bit but stayed in front of him, I'd be like all right, little respect there. But like you gave him six car lanes, you're slower than him, and you gave up any shot at the win, you're racing for the regular season championship," Hocevar said.

Then, after Reddick suffered a tire failure, his attempt to win the race came to a halt, as he crawled to finish the race with a flat tire and came home in 25th place. Tyler Reddick, however, did not hold Corey Heim accountable at all for the incident.

Tyler Reddick shares his side of the story

After the race, Tyler Reddick did not throw Corey Heim under the bus or blame him. Speaking about how he was trying to race, and not hit the young driver and ruin both of their races, here's what Reddick told the media, as reported by AOL.com:

"Yeah, I got beat by our own stuff, so. Yeah, we'll try to figure this out. It definitely stings. First and foremost, congratulations to Corey. I tried to battle back and overdid it. I really did it. I ran him straight in the wall."

"That wasn't right. I wasn't going to pass him for the win that way, especially a teammate. It's a real shame. I don't know if I cut the tire during, before or after. I'm not really sure. Really needed a good points day. Had another really bad one, so. We'll try and scrape together and have a decent finish in Sonoma," he further added.

Notably, Corey Heim also battled Bubba Wallace for the race lead, but luck was also on his side as the No. 23 driver faced a penalty of two laps, which put him out of contention for the race win. In the end, Heim brought home the maiden win of his Cup Series career.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason