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Custer storms to first Cup career win at Kentucky

In a two-lap sprint to the finish that produced an epic four-car battle for the win, rookie Cole Custer overtook Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney on the final lap to score his first NASCAR Cup Series career win in the 10th annual running of the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Kyle Busch drew the pole position and started on the front row alongside Joey Logano. Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. started at the rear of the field after their respective cars failed pre-race inspection twice.

When the green flag waved and the 17th race of the 2020 Cup season started, Kyle Busch and Logano battled dead even through Turn 1 before Busch received a push from Aric Almirola in Turn 2 to retain the lead and lead the first lap. The following lap, Almirola and Keselowski each gained a spot while Logano fell back to fourth ahead of Alex Bowman. Behind, Kevin Harvick, who started third, had dropped to seventh.

After spending the previous three laps trying to pass Kyle Busch for the lead, Almirola passed Busch on the inside lane in Turn 3 to assume command on the 10th lap. Five laps later, Almirola was leading by above half a second over Kyle Busch. Behind, Logano was in third approximately a second followed by Bowman, Keselowski, Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Elliott. Harvick was in eighth followed by Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

When the field reached the competition caution on Lap 25, Almirola had maintained his advantage by more than a second over Kyle Busch and more than two seconds over Logano. Harvick was in eighth while Austin Dillon, who started 19th, was in 13th ahead of William Byron. Jimmie Johnson was in 16th after starting 20th, rookie Tyler Reddick was in 18th ahead of Cole Custer, Denny Hamlin was in 21st after starting 12th and Bubba Wallace was in 26th ahead of rookie Christopher Bell. Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth, both of whom started at the rear of the field, were in 20th and 28th.

Under the competition caution, the entire field pitted and Almirola retained the lead followed by Logano, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Bowman and Harvick. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon was assessed a commitment line violation and was sent to the rear of the field for the restart.

The green-flag racing resumed on Lap 30, and Logano, who received a push from Kyle Busch on the inside lane, challenged Almirola for the lead through the Turn 2 backstretch before Almirola cleared the field to retain the lead. Behind, Elliott moved into second and Harvick moved into fourth while Blaney and DiBenedetto battled for fifth. Kyle Busch had fallen back to 10th, Keselowski was back to 12th ahead of Truex and Johnson, and Hamlin drifted back to 24th ahead of Wallace.

By Lap 35, the majority of the field towards the front settled into racing in a single file line with Almirola still ahead by nearly a second over Elliott. Behind the leader Almirola, Blaney challenged and made a pass for fourth over Harvick while Truex made his first appearance in the top 10 after passing teammate Kyle Busch. Far behind the leaders, Hamlin continued to drop towards the rear of the field as he was scored in 26th after being overtaken by Wallace, Ty Dillon, Bell and Michael McDowell. His teammate, Erik Jones, was in 19th after running in the top 10 early in the race.

Through the first 50 laps, Almirola stabilized his lead by more than seconds over Elliott and nearly four seconds over Logano. DiBenedetto moved up to fourth ahead of Harvick while Blaney fell back to sixth ahead of Bowman after his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts/Team Penske Ford Mustang popped out of gear. Truex was in 10th ahead of teammate Kyle Busch, Johnson and Austin Dillon while Keselowski was in 14th ahead of Byron. Custer was the highest-running rookie in 16th while Reddick and Bell were in 19th and 23rd. Kenseth and Ryan Newman were in 21st and 24th, Wallace was in 26th and Hamlin was in 28th.

Nearly ten laps later, Almirola caught a bevy of competitors trying to remain ahead of Almirola and on the lead lap, starting with rookie John Hunter Nemechek. A handful of laps later, Almirola lapped Nemechek, Corey LaJoie and Wallace with McDowell, Newman and Hamlin ahead of him. Despite encountering the lapped traffic, Almirola maintained a steady lead over Elliott while DiBenedetto moved into third over Logano and Blaney, who continued to battle with shifter issues to his car.

For the final laps, Almirola was able to cruise to the first stage win for his second stage victory of the season on Lap 80. By then, he lapped 25th-place Newman, but was unable to lap 24th-place Hamlin, who remained on the lead lap. In addition, Stenhouse sustained a flat tire as the stage concluded and he lost a lap in the process. Elliott was in second, four seconds behind, followed by Logano, DiBenedetto and Blaney while Harvick, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Bowyer and Truex were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Almirola exited first followed by Logano, DiBenedetto, Elliott and Blaney. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon was penalized again, this time for speeding on pit road. In addition, Keselowski made another pit stop to have his lug nuts tightened.

The second stage commenced on Lap 87, and both Almirola and Logano, again, battled dead even for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 before Almirola benefitted on the outside lane in Turn 3 to retain the lead. Logano settled in second, but was being pursued by DiBenedetto while teammates Elliott and Bowman were settled in the top five. Blaney was in sixth ahead of Truex and Bowyer. On Lap 92, Blaney moved into the top five after passing Bowman. Behind, Johnson moved into the top 10 in ninth after passing Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. Harvick had fallen back in 14th behind teammate Custer while Hamlin was able to work his way up to 15th ahead of Reddick.

When the raced reached its 100-lap mark, Almirola was still ahead by over a second over teammate Logano and two seconds over DiBenedetto. Blaney was in fourth ahead of Bowman while Truex overtook Elliott for sixth. Johnson was in ninth behind Bowyer, Kyle Busch was in 13th behind Reddick and teammate Hamlin was in 15th. Meanwhile, Harvick continued to lose positions as he was back in 19th ahead of Keselowski. Soon after, Harvick dropped out of the top 20, just behind Byron and Kenseth.

Twenty laps later, Almirola and his No. 10 Smithfield Vote for Bacon/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang stabilized a lead of more than two seconds over Logano and nearly four seconds over Blaney, who had overtaken DiBenedetto for position. Truex was in sixth in between Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Bowman and Elliott while Johnson was in 10th behind Bowyer and Austin Dillon. Joe Gibbs Racing’s teammates Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Jones were in 13th, 15th and 17th, rookies Reddick and Custer were in 12th and 14th, and Byron and Harvick were back in 19th and 22nd. By then, 25 of the 38-car field were on the lead lap.

With the race reaching its halfway mark of the 267-lap feature, Blaney, who had overtaken teammate Logano for the runner-up spot earlier and had trimmed a chunk of Almirola’s lead, caught and challenged Almirola for the lead. On Lap 138, Blaney, who encountered shifter issues early in the race, benefited from the lapped car of Nemechek to overtake Almirola for the lead in Turn 3. A lap later, Blaney extended his lead to above a second over Almirola. Another five laps later, Logano moved into the runner-up spot while teammate Blaney was ahead by more than three seconds. At the same time, green-flag pit stops started to occur as Reddick pitted.

With most of the leaders pitting under green, a handful of cars were on track led by Keselowski in the closing laps of the second stage. Just after Keselowski was making his green-flag stop, the caution flew on Lap 154 when Kenseth blew a left-rear tire and spun below the apron and back across the middle of Turns 3 and 4. Under caution, Kenseth pitted along with Harvick, Elliott and Byron. When the field cycled through, Keselowski emerged with the lead after beating Blaney to the start/finish line at the moment of caution from Kenseth’s spin.

In a one-lap shootout to the conclusion of the second stage, Keselowski was able to edge teammate Blaney by 0.058 seconds to win the second stage and secure his fourth stage victory of the 2020 season. Custer settled in third followed by Logano and Truex while Bowman, Austin Dillon, Johnson, DiBenedetto and Jones settled in the top 10. During this time, Preece took his No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage due to a transmission issue.

Under the stage break, the majority of the leaders remained on track while some like Custer, Austin Dillon, Jones, Reddick, Harvick and Byron pitted. Also pitting was Kyle Busch, who was reporting shock issues to his No. 18 M&M’s Fudge Brownie/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.

The final stage started with 100 laps remaining, and teammates Keselowski and Blaney battled against one another through Turn 1 before Keselowski cleared the field through the Turn 2 backstretch and retain the lead the following lap. Behind, Truex moved into second followed by Johnson as Blaney fell back to fourth. Meanwhile, Logano had fallen back to ninth. Three laps later, Kyle Busch, who was running in sixth, got super loose entering Turn 4, but was able to straighten his car and prevent it from spinning, though he fell back to 15th.

Eight laps later, Truex started challenging Keselowski for the lead, trailing by approximately a tenth of a second, while Blaney overtook Johnson and moved back into fourth. With 86 laps remaining, Truex was able to overtake Keselowski for the lead. By then, his teammate, Kyle Busch, was in 24th, the last car on the lead lap while dealing with shock issues to his car. In addition, Almirola, who dominated throughout the race, was stuck in 10th.

With 70 laps remaining, Truex was ahead by half a second over Keselowski while Blaney, who was still racing with one hand on the steering wheel while the other was holding the broken shifter, was behind by above a second. Johnson trailed by nearly three seconds while Kurt Busch was in fifth, trailing by more than four seconds. DiBenedetto, Elliott, Logano, Bowyer and Almirola were in the top 10. Ten laps later, Truex extended his advantage by more than two seconds over Keselowski followed by Blaney, Johnson and Kurt Busch.

A lap later, the race’s second round of green-flag pit stops commenced as Johnson pitted. With 44 laps remaining, while most of the leaders have pitted, Keselowski returned to the lead along with a handful of cars. Behind the leaders, rookie Brennan Poole’s was smoking due to a left-rear tire hub, a lot through the turns, but he continued under green. A lap later, Keselowski pitted while Custer inherited the lead, but was among eight competitors who had yet to pit.

Then, with 38 laps remaining and just as Byron moved into the lead when Custer made his green-flag pit stop, the caution returned due to debris. At the same time, Austin Dillon, who was also about to pit but opted to remain on track under caution, spun and made minimal contact with the Turn 4 outside wall while returning to the track. Under caution, some drivers like Byron, Harvick, McDowell, Bell, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon pitted. Johnson also pitted after making slight contact with the wall. When the field cycled through, Truex was back in the lead followed by Blaney, Kurt Busch, Keselowski and Byron. Harvick, McDowell, Bell, Austin Dillon and Johnson were in the top 10 with 23 cars on the lead lap.

With the clouds hovering above the track and covering the bright sun, the race restarted with 30 laps remaining as Truex and Blaney battled against one another through Turns 1 and 2. In Turn 3, Truex cleared Blaney to retain the lead. Behind, Johnson, who made a three-wide move on the restart, was up to sixth as he would also return into the top five. At the front, Truex was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney while Johnson was trailing by above a second. Behind, Harvick and Keselowski battled for fourth.

While Blaney continued to pressure Truex for the lead, the caution returned with 24 laps remaining when Nemechek made contact with the outside wall entering Turn 2. Under caution, the majority of the leaders remained on track while some like Kyle Busch, Jones, Bowman, Almirola and Nemechek pitted. Nemechek would, ultimately, retire following his late incident.

On the ensuing restart with 19 laps remaining, Johnson was pushing Blaney on the inside lane and attempted to move in front of Keselowski, who was peaking to Johnson’s left-hand quarter panel, when the two made contact on the frontstretch and Johnson spun his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE below the infield grass, where he was able to straighten his car despite losing all of his track positions. At the time of caution, Blaney emerged with the lead ahead of Truex.

When the race restarted with 13 laps remaining, Harvick made his move on the inside lane in Turn 1 and went three wide with Truex and Blaney to emerge with the lead. Behind, Keselowski went three wide with Truex and Blaney before Truex moved into the runner-up spot. With the field behind scrambling for positions, Harvick was ahead by less than four-tenths of a second over Truex with Blaney in third, Keselowski in fourth and Austin Dillon in fifth. With 10 laps remaining, Harvick was ahead by around two-tenths of a second over Truex, who continued to pressure Harvick for the lead. Two laps later, the caution returned when Kenseth spun in Turn 4.

The race restarted with two laps remaining as Harvick and Truex battled against one another through Turns 1 and 2. Behind, Blaney settled in third while Custer, racing on the outside lane, received a push from DiBenedetto to move into fourth ahead of Keselowski and Kurt Busch. In Turn 2, Truex got Harvick loose and nearly turned on the straightaway as they swapped lanes entering Turn 3. Truex gained a big run on the outside lane to squeak ahead, but Harvick stalled Truex towards his quarter panel as Blaney went three wide for the lead. On the fronstretch, Custer made it a four-wide battle on the outside lane before he came out on top in Turn 1 at the start of the final lap. Past the start/finish line, Blaney ran over a bump on the apron and came back into the side of Harvick, who bumped Truex as Harvick developed a massive left-rear tire rub to his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang. At the front, Custer was able to hold off Truex for one final lap and cross the finish line above two-tenths of a second to claim his first Cup triumph in his 20th series start.

With his thrilling victory, Custer became the 194th driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race, the 33rd competitor to win across NASCAR’s three major national division series, the seventh alumnus from the NASCAR Next initiative to win a Cup race, the sixth Cup competitor to win at Kentucky and the first full-time Cup rookie to win a race since Chris Buescher won a rain-shortened race at Pocono in August 2016. In addition to becoming the seventh driver to win a Cup race for Stewart-Haas Racing, he recorded the 60th Cup victory for SHR and the first series win for veteran crew chief Mike Shiplett.

With the victory, Custer, who came into Kentucky in 25th place in the regular-season standings and trailing the top-16 cutline by 87 points, became the ninth different competitor to be guaranteed a spot in this year’s Cup Playoffs. As another bonus, the Californian became the 16th competitor to secure a spot for this year’s All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on July 15.

“Man, we were so good all day,” Custer said on FS1. “Our car was so good. Obviously, it wasn’t the easiest track to pass on. That was the best car I’ve ever driven in my life. Everybody at SHR brought an unbelievable car. [Team owner] Gene [Haas], I can’t stress enough how thankful I am of him taking a shot at me. It, definitely, was not the start of the year that we wanted. We were way off at some places, but this was, by far, an unbelievable car. We put it all together and I can’t thank everybody enough.”

In the first 15 Cup races of his rookie season, Custer’s best finish was a ninth-place result at Phoenix in March and his average result was 21.7 with two DNFs. Last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he recorded his first top-five result in the Cup level, which hinted a sign of improvement for Custer, Shiplett and the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang team in adapting towards NASCAR’s weekly approach of experiencing the driving and handling conditions of a track on race day without practicing nor qualifying.

“It’s not easy,” Custer added. “You got to adapt as much as you can and I think we’ve gotten better and better at that. It’s just unbelievable. I didn’t think that we were, coming here, coming to win. Now, we’re gonna be in the All-Star Race. I don’t have to run the Open. Hopefully, I can make it to Bristol.”

Truex emerged as the highest-running Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota competitor in the runner-up spot followed by DiBenedetto, who claimed his second top-five result of the season. Harvick, who rallied from his early share of struggles and was in position to claim his first Kentucky triumph, ended his race in fourth and Kurt Busch, last year’s Kentucky winner, finished fifth.

“It was fun,” Truex said on FS1. “[I] Can’t say enough about the guys on the Auto-Owners Camry, everybody back at [Joe Gibbs Racing] went to work this week and tried to get back to what we used to do here. Just hats off to the guys, [crew chief] James [Small], everybody that made this unbelievable racecar. At the end there, we were a bit unlucky, losing the lead to Blaney on that first restart by a couple thousandths and then, again to [Harvick] when the caution came out. We were side by side. That’s, kind of, the way these things go, sometimes. Really proud of the effort, super fast racecar and [I] feel like we’re back in the game now.”

“Our Ford Mustang was not very good today, but we got a good break with the caution [with 38 laps remaining],” Harvick said on PRN Radio. “[I] Had a couple of good restarts there and got the car better. Still just not where we needed to be, but the restarts worked out in our favor. We were able to get the lead and Martin just misjudged there on the backstretch and got me sideways. I got out of the gas and that just brought everybody into the picture. Then, we were four wide on the front straightaway and [Blaney] hit the drain and came up and hit the side of the car. Then, I couldn’t see. Yeah, it got wild, but hey, that’s what you’re supposed to do. Just really happy for Cole Custer and everybody on the Haas Automation Ford Mustang. That’s pretty cool to get your first win. As much as I would’ve loved to win, I’m glad that we kept it in the company.”

“It was crazy,” DiBenedetto said on PRN Radio. “We had a really good car. We could’ve contended for the win. It was really fast. But, yeah, [I] lost track position when things shuffled around. We had to do the wave around and me and my spotter, I got to give him a lot of credit, Doug Campbell. I told him, ‘I think we should win some sort of restart award.’ We were 18th because the track position had cycled out with seven [laps] to go or whatever. [I] Had two monstrous restarts and then pushed Cole there to the win, which, kind of, felt cool, but good for him. Congrats, but this was a big race for us having the Menards, Quaker State Ford Mustang in the Quaker State 400. So, I wished we could’ve won it, but circumstances didn’t work out. We’ll take the strong finish and a really fast car.”

Blaney, Bell, Almirola, Keselowski and Reddick rounded out the top 10 while Johnson finished 18th in his 10th and final start at Kentucky.

There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 42 laps.

With his top-five result, Harvick continues to lead the Cup Series regular-season standings by 88 points over Keselowski, 95 over Blaney and 100 over Elliott.

Results.

1. Cole Custer, five laps led

2. Martin Truex Jr., 57 laps led

3. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

4. Kevin Harvick, 11 laps led

5. Kurt Busch

6. Ryan Blaney, 18 laps led

7. Christopher Bell

8. Aric Almirola, 128 laps led, Stage 1 winner

9. Brad Keselowski, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

10. Tyler Reddick

11. William Byron, four laps led

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Austin Dillon

14. Clint Bowyer

15. Joey Logano

16. Ty Dillon

17. Ryan Newman

18. Jimmie Johnson

19. Alex Bowman

20. Chris Buescher

21. Kyle Busch, nine laps led

22. Erik Jones

23. Chase Elliott

24. Michael McDowell

25. Matt Kenseth

26. Daniel Suarez

27. Bubba Wallace, two laps down

28. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps down

30. J.J. Yeley, seven laps down

31. Brennan Poole, eight laps down

32. Josh Bilicki, 10 laps down

33. Garrett Smithley, 10 laps down

34. Joey Gase, 10 laps down

35. Quin Houff, 12 laps down

36. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

37. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical

38. Ryan Preece – OUT, Transmission

Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the 36th annual running of the All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The NASCAR All-Star Open will occur first at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 followed by the All-Star Race at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, both on July 15.

July 12, 2020
Kyle Busch to start on Cup pole at Kentucky

In the previous 12 NASCAR Cup Series races that have run since May and since the sport’s return amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, eight of them featured a random draw that determined the starting lineup of each race. In those eight races, seven different competitors drew the pole position and led the field to the start. For the upcoming Cup Series race, the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday, July 12, an eighth different Cup competitor will lead the field to the green flag. The pole winner for this weekend by virtue of a random draw will be Kyle Busch, the reigning two-time Cup Series champion.

The Las Vegas, Nevada, native and driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing is ranked 10th in the regular-season standings, 176 points behind Kevin Harvick, and has recorded seven top-five results and nine top-10 results through the first 16 races. He is also riding a 16-race winless drought that scales back to November 2019 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the same day where he won his second Cup Series title. He is one of five Cup competitors to record a win at Kentucky in the track’s previous nine Cup races, having won the inaugural race in 2011 and again in 2015 during his first championship season.

Joining Kyle Busch on the front row will be Joey Logano, who has won at Kentucky in the Xfinity Series for three consecutive seasons, (2008, 2009 and 2010). Kevin Harvick, the series points leader who is coming off his third Brickyard 400 win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, will start third followed by teammate Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman. Brad Keselowski, who holds the most Cup victories at Kentucky with three, will start in sixth followed by Kurt Busch, winner of last year’s Kentucky Cup race following a late shootout with his brother, Kyle. Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto will start in the top 10 followed by Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin.

Starting in positions 13-26 are Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson, William Byron, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Newman, rookie Tyler Reddick, Garrett Smithley and Josh Bilicki.

Starting in positions 27-38 are Corey LaJoie, rookie Quin Houff, rookie Cole Custer, Michael McDowell, rookie Brennan Poole, Ryan Preece, Ty Dillon, rookie Christopher Bell, Joey Gase, J.J. Yeley, Daniel Suarez and Timmy Hill.

The Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway will air on Sunday, July 12, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

July 8, 2020
Harvick benefits in overtime to defend Indianapolis title

For a third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race, the battle for the win came down to a late duel between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, On this occasion, Harvick benefited from a late incident involving Hamlin and an overtime restart while alongside Matt Kenseth to win the 2020 Big Machine Vodka 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The victory was Harvick’s fourth of the season, the third at Indianapolis and the 53rd of his NASCAR Cup career.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Joey Logano drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Kurt Busch. Timmy Hill started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice along with Justin Allgaier, who filled in as an interim driver for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

Delayed by an hour due to lightning reports near the track, the race was able to proceed as the sun came out and cleared the clouds. When the green flag waved, Logano and Kurt Busch were locked in a side-by-side battle through Turns 1 and 2 before Logano cleared Busch for the lead entering Turn 2 and was able to lead the first lap. Following the first lap, the majority of the field settled in racing single file. On the fourth lap, while battling for a top-10 spot, Kyle Busch made contact with Ryan Blaney through the Turn 4 straightaway, but both competitors kept their car running straight with Blaney moving up. As the run progressed, Martin Truex Jr. was losing positions after reporting an issue to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.

On Lap 13, Kevin Harvick made the left-hand turn to pit road for four fresh tires with no fuel. At the time Harvick was having his service complete, the competition caution flew with Logano ahead of Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch. By then, Truex had fallen back to 28th while Allgaier was in 29th. Alex Bowman was in fourth followed by teammate Chase Elliott, Blaney and Brad Keselowski while Kyle Busch was in 10th ahead of William Byron and Bubba Wallace. Matt Kenseth was scored in 14th, Erik Jones was in 16th and Ryan Newman was in 21st. John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-running Cup rookie in 15th while rookies Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell were in 20th, 22nd and 23rd.

Under the competition caution, nearly the entire field peeled on to pit road for the first round of service. Towards the back, however, the field jumbled up that started when Michael McDowell pulled into his pit stall. McDowell’s turn into his stall jumbled the competitors behind and ignited a chain reaction wreck that collected Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bell, Reddick, Chris Buescher, Allgaier, rookie Brennan Poole, Corey LaJoie and Truex. During the carnage on pit road, Allgaier and Poole pinched Blaney’s right-rear tire changer, Zach Price, between the two cars and Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Team Penske Ford as a tire from Blaney’s pit box also flew and landed on McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. Price survived, but was transported to the Methodist Hospital. The red flag was displayed for more than 11 minutes to have the pit road entrance cleared of the wreckage.

Once the red flag lifted and the field cycled through under caution, Harvick emerged with the leader after electing to remain on the track following the competition caution. Logano, the first car to exit pit road first, was second followed by Bowman, Aric Almirola, Keselowski and DiBenedetto. Kurt Busch, who entered pit road in third, had fallen back to 28th after struggling in his pit stall, where the jack dropped and he ran over the air hose while trying to exit his pit stall. Following the wreck, those that were done for the day were LaJoie and Preece. Truex, who was initially held for two laps for too many crew members over the pit wall under the damaged vehicle policy, also retired.

When the race restarted on Lap 20, Harvick and Logano battled dead even for three turns before Harvick persevered on the outside lane in Turn 3 to lead the following lap. Logano settled in second followed by Almirola. During the restart, Bowman, who restarted third, was placed in a three-wide battle between Almirola and Keselowski entering Turn 1 and had fallen back to eighth. Behind the leaders, Allgaier, who returned on the track with front nose damage and multiple laps down, returned to pit road after losing a right-front tire. Ultimately Allgaier took the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage as his return to the Cup Series while subbing for Johnson came to an early end. In addition, Stenhouse and Poole, both of whom attempted to continue following the pit road incident, also retired after failing to reach the minimum speed requirement.

Ten laps later, Harvick was still leading ahead of Logano, Almirola, Keselowski and Hamlin, who had just passed Elliott for position. DiBenedetto was in seventh followed by Byron, Bowman and Kyle Busch. On Lap 32, Almirola made an unscheduled pit stop due to a vibration concern to his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, an issue that cost Almirola a lap and back outside the top 30. During this time, Harvick was still leading and stabilizing a healthy lead over Logano, Hamlin, Keselowski and Elliott.

On Lap 39, Almirola was able to work his way around race leader and teammate Harvick to unlap himself. A lap later, the caution returned when Newman made contact with the Turn 3 outside wall after blowing a right-front tire in Turn 3. Under caution, the majority of the field pitted and Ty Dillon emerged with the lead after taking two tires. Harvick, the first car with four fresh tires, exited in second followed by Elliott, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Keselowski, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Logano. At the front, Byron remained on track to inherit the lead followed by Jones, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain.

With four laps remaining in the first stage, Byron maintained the lead on the outside lane while Jones settled in second. The following lap, Harvick was back in the top five in fifth while DiBenedetto went three wide on Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Hamlin in the Turn 4 straightaway for position. With two laps remaining, Elliott went three wide with Harvick and Ty Dillon while drafting Austin Dillon through the Turn 4 straightaway to move up to fourth. With more battling occurring behind the pack for positions, Byron was able to maintain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 50 while collecting valuable stage points towards his quest to make the Playoffs. Jones finished second followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott and Harvick while Hamlin, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Clint Bowyer were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some like Byron, Wallace, Jones, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Logano, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Almirola, McDowell, Nemechek, Reddick and Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest remained on track with Elliott leading Harvick and Hamlin.

The second stage started on Lap 56 and Elliott received a push from DiBenedetto on the outside lane to clear the field for the lead in Turn 1. The following turn, DiBenedetto moved into second and Hamlin moved into third while Harvick dropped to fourth. By Lap 60, Elliott was able to stabilize his advantage by nearly a second over DiBenedetto, Hamlin and Harvick while Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. Another five laps later, Elliott stretched his lead to nearly two seconds over DiBenedetto, who was starting to be pressured by Hamlin for position. Behind, Kenseth was running in sixth, Bell was in eighth and Blaney was in 11th. Jones was in 10th, Byron was in 13th ahead of Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch, and Wallace was in 16th ahead of Almirola.

By Lap 70, Elliott expanded his lead to above four seconds over DiBenedetto and nearly five seconds over Hamlin. A lap later, with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Hamlin bolted around DiBenedetto on the outside lane in the Turn 4 straightaway to move into second. In addition, Kenseth moved into fifth after passing Kyle Busch a corner earlier.

On Lap 74, the caution returned when Jones blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 3 outside wall, which busted the radiator and ignited flames underneath the hood of Jones’ No. 20 Toyota Camry. Fortunately, Jones was able to climb out of his demolished car and walk away uninjured, though the wreck marked his second DNF in the last three Cup races. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Byron emerged with the lead after opting for a two-tire stop. Austin Dillon exited second followed by Hamlin, the first car on four fresh tires. Kurt Busch and Harvick emerged in the top five followed by Elliott, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto, Kenseth and Bowyer.

The race restarted on Lap 83 and Austin Dillon forced his way into the lead on the inside lane after battling Byron through Turns 1 and 2. Shortly after, Byron blew a left-front tire, which damaged the hood of his No. 24 Liberty University/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE as he also made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. Byron’s misfortune drew another caution of the race. Following repairs in his pit stall, Byron was unable to remain on the lead lap.

When the race restarted on Lap 88, Austin Dillon and Hamlin battled through Turns 1 and 2 before Harvick made a daring three-wide move on both drivers while almost running outside the racing surface to move back into the lead entering Turn 3. Behind, the caution returned when Blaney got loose underneath teammate Keselowski, spun and backed into the Turn 3 outside wall. Despite the repairs, Blaney, ultimately, failed to reach the minimum speed and retired.

With nine laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted and Harvick launched ahead on the outside lane to maintain the lead. Entering Turn 2, Hamlin slipped and made the slightest of contact with Austin Dillon, which allowed Elliott to gain a run for second. By the entrance of Turn 4, Elliott was able to move into second followed by Hamlin and DiBenedetto while Austin Dillon dropped to fifth. By then, Harvick checked out to nearly a two-second advantage.

With three laps remaining, Bowman made a green-flag pit stop and was just able to exit pit road and remain ahead of race leader Harvick to remain on the lead lap. At the start of the final lap of the stage, however, Harvick lapped Bowman and was able to cruise to the win of the second stage. Elliott held off Hamlin to finish second while DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon finished in the top five. Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Bell and Bowyer were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a number of competitors pitted, including Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Wallace, DiBenedetto, Kenseth, Almirola, Custer and Nemechek pitted.

The final stage commenced with 54 laps remaining and Harvick, again, jumped to an early advantage on the outside lane. Elliott, however, fought back on the inside lane to remain in a tight battle with Harvick for the lead. In Turn 2, Hamlin went three wide on Harvick and Elliott to squeak ahead, but Harvick gained a huge run on the outside lane in Turn 3 to thunder back into the lead. Hamlin and Elliott remained in second and third followed by rookies Bell and Reddick while Kenseth settled in sixth.

With 45 laps remaining, Harvick was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Hamlin. Elliott was in third, nearly two seconds behind the front two, followed by rookies Bell and Reddick with Kenseth in sixth. Bowyer, Logano, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. Custer was in 11th ahead of Keselowski while Austin Dillon was in 13th ahead of Nemechek. Kurt Busch and Almirola were in 15th and 16th while Wallace was in 18th. Bowman, who had received the free pass to return on the lead lap prior to the final stage, was back in 20th.

As the run progressed, Harvick and Hamlin separated themselves from third-place Elliott by three seconds while needing at least a final pit stop to complete the race to its distance. With 38 laps remaining, at the time when Reddick made a green-flag pit stop, Hamlin’s crew led by crew chief Chris Gabehart ordered Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry to pit road for a final pit stop under green. A lap later, Harvick pitted along with Elliott and Bell while Kenseth remained on track to inherit the lead. By the time Harvick exited pit road, Hamlin was able to cycle his way in front of Harvick like he did last weekend in the second Pocono race, a move that enabled him to win last weekend.

With 30 laps remaining, Kenseth was still leading by more than seven seconds over Kyle Busch, nearly 13 seconds over Logano and Keselowski, and 14 seconds over Custer. Hamlin was in 12th while Harvick was in 13th and slowly gaining ground to Hamlin. During this time, Bowyer and Nemechek had made a green-flag pit stop.

Two laps later, more green-flag pits stops occurred as Logano pitted. Not long after, the caution flew when Bowman made hard contact into the Turn 1 outside wall after cutting a right-front tire. Under caution, drivers like Kenseth, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto, Custer, Keselowski, Almirola and Elliott pitted while Hamlin and Harvick remained on track to inherit the front row for the closing laps.

With 22 laps remaining, the race restarted and Hamlin launched ahead with the lead on the outside lane through Turn 1. Harvick, who got loose in Turn 1 and lost two spots while nearly making contact with Kenseth on the restart, made his way back to the runner-up spot two corners later as Kenseth moved into third. Custer moved in fourth followed by teammate Almirola while Bell slipped to sixth. A lap later, Harvick drew himself to the rear bumper of Hamlin in Turn 2 and was prepared to make a slingshot move on Hamlin for the lead, but he went high entering Turn 3, which allowed Hamlin to maintain his advantage.

With 15 laps remaining, Hamlin was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Harvick while Kenseth was behind by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Almirola made his way past teammate Custer for position. Three laps later, the top-three competitors of Hamlin, Harvick and Kenseth were separated by seven-tenths of a second and the trio were ahead of fourth-place Almirola by more than two seconds, fifth-place Custer by three seconds and sixth-place Bell by four seconds.

With seven laps remaining, Hamlin’s run went from good to bad after he blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 1 outside wall as smoke and flames erupted beneath Hamlin’s crumbled car. The wreck was enough to end his hopes of winning at Indianapolis for the first time and in his 15th attempt at the famed racetrack.

“It’s tough,” Hamlin said, “I hate it for the FedEx team. We did what we needed to do. It’s just didn’t work out for us, today. [I] Had a fast car, obviously. [I] Was stretching it out there, but wasn’t pushing right front [tire] at all. It’s, kind of, roulette whether you get one that’s gonna stay together or not. Mine didn’t and you saw the end result. That stinks, but proud of the whole FedEx Toyota team. We’ve just been so good here lately. I hate that I feel like I’m doing all I can. These big races, just a lot of things like this just don’t go my way all the time. We’re still gonna go next week and try to win the next one. We’ll do all we can.”

Hamlin’s misfortune allowed Harvick to move back into the lead followed by Kenseth, Almirola, Custer and Bell. Under caution and as the sky was shining brightly into sunset, the leaders remained on track while others, including Bell and Elliott, pitted.

When the race restarted into overtime, Harvick received a push from teammate Custer to clear the field entering Turn 1 and retain the lead. Entering Turn 2, Kenseth moved back into second and Almirola moved into third. The following turn, Keselowski moved into fourth while Custer fell back to fifth. When Harvick started the final lap, he was ahead by six-tenths of a second. For one final circuit, Harvick was able to maintain his advantage over Kenseth and streak across the finish line in first to add another Brickyard 400 win to his résumé.

With the win, Harvick joined Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch as the only Cup competitors to win back-to-back Brickyard 400s at Indianapolis. He also achieved his 30th win driving the No. 4 car for Stewart-Haas Racing and his 750th top-10 result in NASCAR’s premier series.

“Well, we knew that [Hamlin], he was gonna be close on tires and [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] told me on the radio he said, ‘Just make sure you keep the pressure on him,’ and that was all the pressure I could give,” Harvick said. “Those guys do a really good job. Just got to thank on my Busch Light Ford Mustang…everybody who is a part of this program and just keeps bringing good racecars to the racetrack. I didn’t have anymore room [when passing three wide for the lead]. That was for sure, but it’s the Brickyard. This is what I grew up wanting to do as a kid, win at the Brickyard and to be able to come here and have won for the third time is something that I could have never dreamed of. But just really, really proud of all these guys on this team.”

Kenseth finished second followed by Almirola, Keselowski and Custer. Kyle Busch settled in sixth followed by McDowell, Reddick, Wallace and Logano. Elliott settled in 11th followed by Bell while Kurt Busch finished 13th in his 700th Cup career start. Austin Dillon and DiBenedetto wrecked on the final lap and both settled in 18th and 19th.

The race capped off an eventful triple-header, Independence Day weekend of racing activities between NASCAR and IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There were 11 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps.

With his victory, Harvick continues to lead the Cup Series regular-season standings by 85 points over Elliott and 88 over Keselowski.

Results.

1. Kevin Harvick, 68 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Matt Kenseth, 12 laps led

3. Aric Almirola

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Cole Custer

6. Kyle Busch

7. Michael McDowell

8. Tyler Reddick

9. Bubba Wallace

10. Joey Logano, 14 laps led

11. Chase Elliott, 26 laps led

12. Christopher Bell

13. Kurt Busch

14. Ty Dillon

15. John Hunter Nemechek

16. Clint Bowyer

17. Ross Chastain, one lap led

18. Austin Dillon, five laps led

19. Matt DiBenedetto

20. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

21. J.J. Yeley, one lap down

22. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

23. Quin Houff, two laps down

24. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

25. Josh Bilicki, three laps down

26. Joey Gase, four laps down

27. William Byron, five laps down, 15 laps led, Stage 1 winner

28. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led

29. Timmy Hill, eight laps down

30. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

31. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

32. Ryan Blaney – OUT, DVP

33. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

34. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident

35. Brennan Poole – OUT, DVP

36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, DVP

37. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

38. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident

39. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

40. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

The NASCAR Cup Series will return to race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, on July 12 as part of a quadruple-header weekend. The race will air at 2:30 p.m. on FS1.

July 5, 2020
Pit strategy nets Hamlin a win over Harvick at Pocono

It was a tale of two stories at the conclusion of the NASCAR Cup Series’ doubleheader at Pocono Raceway. A day after Kevin Harvick claimed his first Pocono triumph after holding off Denny Hamlin in the closing laps, it was Hamlin who played a strategic call in the late laps that got him ahead of Harvick and the redemption to victory after pulling away and winning the Pocono 350 at the Tricky Triangle, the second of a Cup doubleheader weekend in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The win was Hamlin’s fourth of the season, third since May amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the 41st of his Cup Series career.

The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s 325-mile race at Pocono, where the top-20 finishers were inverted and the bottom 20 were left as finished. After finishing 20th on Saturday, Ryan Preece was awarded the pole position while Austin Dillon, who finished 19th, joined Preece on the front row.

Multiple competitors dropped to the rear of the field. Rookie Quin Houff, rookie Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman dropped to the rear after their respective teams opted to field a backup car for the second Pocono race. In addition, Chase Elliott and B.J. McLeod dropped to the rear of the field due to transmission changes along with William Byron and pole-sitter Preece, both due to engine changes.

Following an early delay due to lightning strikes reported near the track, the race commenced with Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch on the front row. Busch jumped to an early lead followed by rookie Cole Custer. Ryan Blaney also moved into third while Dillon slipped back to fourth. Two laps later, Blaney moved into second as Chris Buescher overtook Austin Dillon for fourth.

Soon after, the first caution flew due to rain. Under the caution laps, rookie Tyler Reddick radioed power steering issues to his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. After running the next few laps on the track under caution despite the rain, the pace truck led the field down to pit road, where the race was red flagged and the jet dryers went to work to dry the track.

Approximately 51 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the caution flag was displayed as the field proceeded back on the track. Soon after, light sprinkles hovered around the track, but the cars proceeded in running on the track under the caution laps. Under caution, Reddick’s crew continued to address power steering issues to Reddick’s car. By the time he returned on the track, he was five laps behind the leaders and in 40th, last of the field.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Kurt Busch retained the lead and was able to stabilize his advantage by a car length over Blaney the following lap. DiBenedetto moved into third followed by Buescher and rookie Christopher Bell, who went three-wide a lap earlier to gain a load of positions.

On Lap 15, as the racing intensified behind the leaders and towards the middle of the pack, the caution returned when Michael McDowell spun after he cut a right-rear tire and made hard contact with the outside wall on the driver’s side in Turn 2. The cut tire was a result of an earlier contact with Elliott in Turn 4. The damage was too severe for McDowell to continue as he took his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford to the garage and retired a day after notching his best Cup result on a non-superspeedway track. Under caution, a number of competitors like Joey Logano, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, Preece, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and rookie Quin Houff pitted while the rest remained on track.

The race restarted on Lap 18, and Kurt Busch and Blaney battled dead even before Busch retained a small advantage in Turn 2. Behind the leaders, Buescher moved into third followed by rookies Custer and Bell. By Lap 20, Harvick, who started 20th and who was coming off his first Pocono triumph on Saturday, made his first appearance in the top five.

With five laps remaining in the first stage, Kurt Busch was still ahead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney with third-place Buescher trailing by over a second. Bell was in fourth while Harvick was in fifth, two seconds behind the leaders. Two laps later, Blaney drew himself right to the rear bumper of Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet in an attempt for the lead while Bell challenged Buescher for third. Behind, strategy started to play into factor of the race when several competitors like Johnson, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer and Hamlin made a green-flag pit stop.

At the front, Kurt Busch was able to hold off Blaney to win the first stage on Lap 30. Blaney finished second followed by Bell, Harvick and Brad Keselowski. DiBenedetto, Buescher, Truex, Kyle Busch and Custer rounded out the top 10. Johnson, who was lapped prior to the conclusion of the first stage, was the beneficiary of the free pass and return on the lead lap after being tabbed the first car a lap down when the caution flew. Under the stage break, Kurt Busch and Blaney remained on track along with others while a majority of the field behind the leaders, led by Bell and Harvick, pitted. DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon and Corey LaJoie pitted for two tires while Harvick was the first to exit on four fresh tires.

The second stage commenced on Lap 36 and Blaney received a push from teammate Keselowski on the inside lane to challenge Kurt Busch on the outside lane for the lead. By Turn 3, Blaney took the lead and led the following lap while Kurt Busch battled Keselowski for second. Soon after, Truex and Erik Jones started challenging Kurt Busch for position as more jostling for positions ensued behind the leaders.

On Lap 39, the caution returned when Bell spun entering Turn 2 and made heavy contact with the outside wall. The damage to the rear end of Bell’s No. 95 Rheem/Leavine Family Racing Toyota was too severe for the Oklahoma native to continue as he took his car to the garage and ended his race with a DNF, a day after notching his first top-five career finish in the Cup Series. Under caution, some that included Blaney, Truex, Logano, Kyle Busch and Harvick remained on track while others led by Keselowski pitted. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon edged Keselowski to exit first after taking only fuel to his No. 13 GEICO/Germain Racing Chevrolet. Prior to the restart, drivers like Kurt Busch, Stenhouse, Byron and the Dillon brothers pitted again to top off with fuel.

The race restarted on Lap 44, and Truex challenged Blaney for the lead through Turn 1 before Blaney rocketed on the outside lane through Turn 2. Two laps later, Buescher slipped in Turn 3 and made contact with the outside wall, thus drawing another caution. With Buescher coming back across the track and straightening his car with rear end damage, the field scattered to avoid making contact with Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal/Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Under caution, a majority of the leaders remained on track while others like Almirola, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez, rookie John Hunter Nemechek and LaJoie pitted.

When the race restarted on Lap 49, Truex made another attempt for the lead, but Blaney retained it through the Long Pond Straightaway. Behind, Kyle Busch was in third followed by Wallace and Hamlin with DiBenedetto falling back to sixth. Six laps later, Blaney was ahead by a second over teammates Truex, Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Harvick was in eighth while battling Elliott and Logano for position. Two laps later, Blaney surrendered the lead to make a scheduled green-flag pit stop. Blaney’s move allowed Kyle Busch to move into the lead followed by teammates Hamlin and Truex with Wallace, DiBenedetto, Harvick and Elliott trailing by more than four seconds. The following three laps, Truex, Kyle Busch and Wallace made a green-flag pit stop while Hamlin moved into the lead. Two laps later, Hamlin was leading by five seconds over Harvick while his fourth Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Erik Jones, was in sixth after passing Logano.

Three laps later, Logano made a green-flag pit stop. By the time Logano returned, he was lapped by Hamlin. When the field reached its halfway mark of the 140-mile race and the sun was shining to its dwindling moments, Hamlin, who had just lapped Wallace, was leading by three seconds over Harvick, eight seconds over DiBenedetto and nearly nine seconds over Elliott. Meanwhile, drivers like Kyle Busch, Blaney and Truex were trapped outside the top 20.

With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Kyle Busch, who was battling Blaney, was bumped by Blaney entering Turn 2, spun and made hard contact with the inside wall as he crumbled the front nose of his No. 18 M&M’s/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, thus ending his day on the wrecker and winless for another week to the 2020 season.

“I don’t know,” Busch said after exiting the infield care center. “The [pit] guys did an amazing job from yesterday to today. I guess it proves that you get a little bit of practice time in and we’re gonna be a force to be reckon with. So hopefully, life gets back to normal, eventually. We’re in [year] 2020, so it doesn’t surprise me to get crashed out of the lead. The M&M’s Camry was pretty fast there. [Crew chief] Adam [Stevens] and the guys did a great job. It’s just very frustrating, unfortunate. I know what happened, but it doesn’t make any sense to talk about it because it will come across as a bad way.”

Under caution, a majority of the leaders, led by Hamlin, pitted and Harvick exited first. Under the pit stops, Bowman was penalized for equipment interference after interfering with Blaney’s pit stop. Keselowski, Almirola, Stenhouse, Newman, Austin Dillon and Truex remained on the track.

With six laps remaining in the second stage, Almirola assumed the lead over Keselowski, but the caution quickly returned when Preece spun in the middle of Turn 2. No one else made contact with Preece as Wallace went all the way below the apron to dodge Preece. Preece was able to return to the pits for fresh tires. Under caution, drivers like Jones, Wallace, Logano and LaJoie pitted.

The race restarted with two laps remaining in the second stage and Keselowski reassumed the lead from Almirola. Keselowski was able to claim the second stage on Lap 85 by more than a second over Almirola. Newman finished third followed by Truex and Stenhouse while Harvick, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Hamlin rounded out the top 10.

Under the stage break, a handful of competitors that included Truex, Austin Dillon, Almirola, Stenhouse, rookie Brennan Poole, Suarez and Preece pitted for four tires.

When the final stage started with 51 laps remaining and the sun was slowly setting, Keselowski retained the lead as Kurt Busch charged into second. Four laps later, Harvick moved into second as Kurt Busch was left in a battle with Hamlin for position. Another three laps later, Keselowski surrendered the lead to pit for fuel, giving the lead to Harvick with Hamlin trailing by over a second and Elliott by six seconds.

Soon after, Logano and Newman made a green-flag pit stop. Logano, however, was penalized for driving through too many pit stalls. During his green-flag stop to change only his right-side tires, Johnson clipped a tire from one of his crew members while exiting his pit stall. With the tire rolling out of his pit box, Johnson was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Other drivers that pitted under green included Blaney, Kenseth, DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch and Elliott.

With 35 laps remaining, Harvick made a green-flag pit stop for two fresh tires and enough fuel to complete the race. Hamlin returned to the lead, still needing to make a final green-flag pit stop, as Bowyer also pitted while Jones moved into second. Soon after, Bowman pitted followed by Wallace. With 30 laps remaining, Hamlin, who was still attempting to stretch his fuel tank to its fullest, was still leading by nearly nine seconds over Jones and 17 seconds over Almirola while Harvick was in 13th and less than 30 seconds behind the leaders. Aside from the top three, other drivers still racing on the track on low fuel included Truex, Byron, Stenhouse, Wallace, Custer, Austin Dillon and Nemechek.

With 26 to go, Jones made a green-flag pit stop as Almirola moved into second. The following lap, Custer also pitted. By then, Harvick had carved his way up to sixth and was more than 33 seconds behind Hamlin, who was still leading by nearly 17 seconds over Almirola.

With 20 to go, Hamlin pulled into his pit stall and pitted for four seconds of fuel and a two-tire pit stop with the driver and crew chief Chris Gabehart banking on exiting pit road and getting up to speed in front of Harvick. By the time Hamlin exited pit road, he was able to fire off ahead of Harvick, who was still nearly three seconds behind and tucked behind Stenhouse. During Hamlin’s stop, Almirola also made a green-flag pit stop as Truex assumed command. With 15 to go, Truex pitted and Hamlin returned to the lead by more than two seconds over Harvick.

With ten laps remaining, Hamlin stabilized his lead by three seconds over Harvick despite encountering lapped traffic. At that time, Keselowski was in third followed by Elliott and Jones while Almirola was in sixth, trailing by nearly 22 seconds. In addition, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse surrendered their runs in the top 10 to pit. As the laps and the sun continued to dwindle around the Tricky Triangle, Hamlin continued to lead while Harvick was unable to narrow his deficit to Hamlin and as Keselowski slowly started catching Harvick for second. Behind, Jones moved into fourth after passing Elliott.

With four laps remaining, Keselowski made a green-flag pit stop after running out of fuel, which allowed Jones, Elliott and Almirola to move into the top five. It did not change anything at the front as Hamlin was able to start the final lap of the race. For one final lap, Hamlin was able to stabilize his gap from Harvick and cruise to the checkered flag for another win to this season.

With his sixth win at Pocono, Hamlin, who won after starting 19th, tied Jeff Gordon for the most wins at the Tricky Triangle track. In addition, Hamlin recorded his 60th win across NASCAR’s three major division series and he recorded the 350th victory for Joe Gibbs Racing across the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series. The victory was Hamlin’s 10th with crew chief Chris Gabehart.

“A lot of adversity early,” Hamlin said. “We got some nose damage, had to fix that. We just worked on the car and got it better and better. I mean, it finished the race there a lot better than what we finished yesterday, and I thought we had a race-winning car yesterday. We knew after yesterday’s race and showing the speed we had, just don’t mess it up and we got a good shot today, and that’s what we did. You got to work [the pit strategy], but ultimately, the two fastest cars finished one, two both days. I think that there’s no secret there and this team’s been strong every week. We were in contention to win every single week and that’s all you can ask for as a racecar driver, and we’re just on a roll right now. We’re gonna keep getting better, keep getting faster racecars and giving me a bigger box to work in. If we don’t have the exact race setup or the handling’s not perfect, we’re still going out there winning races because we got decent car speed. We’re just continuing to make our stuff a little bit better and it’s making that room for error just a little bit bigger.”

Harvick finished second, trailing Hamlin by three seconds, as he came one position short in winning back-to-back races at Pocono in the same weekend.

“Yeah, we just pitted too early today and gave up too much time in lapped traffic,” Harvick said. “Yesterday, we won the race pitting that way. Just really proud of everybody on our Head for the Mountains Busch Beer Ford Mustang. Great two races and we’ll go to the next one.”

Jones finished third followed by Elliott and Almirola. DiBenedetto and Byron finished sixth and seventh while Bowyer rubbed and edged Bowman to finish eighth. Truex rounded out the top 10. Keselowski settled in 11th following his late pit stop while Johnson finished 16th in his 38th and final start at Pocono.

The race capped off an eventful day at Pocono, where all three of NASCAR’s major division series raced on the same day at the exact venue for the first time in the sport’s history. It also capped off a three-day race span at Pocono featuring five stock car division series races and five different winners.

There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 32 laps.

With his finishes of first and second this weekend, Harvick retains the lead in the Cup Series regular-season standings by 52 points over Blaney.

Results.

1. Denny Hamlin, 49 laps led

2. Kevin Harvick, 11 laps led

3. Erik Jones

4. Chase Elliott

5. Aric Almirola, four laps led

6. Matt DiBenedetto

7. William Byron

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Alex Bowman

10. Martin Truex Jr., five laps led

11. Brad Keselowski, 13 laps led, Stage 2 winner

12. Matt Kenseth

13. Kurt Busch, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner

14. Austin Dillon

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Jimmie Johnson

17. Cole Custer

18. Ryan Newman, one lap down

19. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

20. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

21. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

22. Ryan Blaney, one lap down, 21 laps led

23. Ty Dillon, one lap down

24. Joey Logano, one lap down

25. Ryan Preece, one lap down

26. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

27. Brennan Poole, two laps down

28. J.J. Yeley, two laps down

29. Timmy Hill, three laps down

30. James Davison, four laps down

31. Quin Houff, four laps down

32. Garrett Smithley, four laps down

33. Joey Gase, four laps down

34. Josh Bilicki, four laps down

35. Tyler Reddick, five laps down

36. Chris Buescher, five laps down

37. B.J. McLeod, seven laps down

38. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident, two laps led

39. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

40. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next destination is at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. The race will air on July 5 at 4 p.m. on NBC.

June 28, 2020
Blaney records first win of 2020 at Talladega

In an overtime shootout on a cloudy afternoon, Ryan Blaney outlasted a last-lap challenge from Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to win the rain-postponed GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2020 season. The win was Blaney’s fourth of his career in his 175th series start and his second straight victory at Talladega.

The race was postponed from Sunday, June 21, to Monday, June 22, due to inclement weather washing away chances for the race to start as scheduled on Sunday. The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Martin Truex Jr. started on pole position and started on the front row alongside teammate Denny Hamlin. William Byron and Garrett Smithley started at the rear of the field for failing pre-race inspection twice along with Brendan Gaughan, B.J. McLeod and Daniel Suarez, all of whom due to unapproved adjustments. Joey Gase also failed pre-race inspection three times and started at the rear of the field. In addition, he was assessed a pass-through penalty when the race started.

Prior to the opening ceremonies, the competitors and crew members pushed Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the front of the grid and stood in full solidarity behind Wallace amid Sunday’s controversy, where a noose was found hanging in Wallace’s garage stall. In an ongoing investigation with the FBI, NASCAR has yet to identify the person(s) involved with the racial inequality treatment towards Wallace. Once the opening ceremonies concluded, everyone, including team owner and NASCAR legend Richard Petty, embraced the sport’s lone African-American competitor in support before making their way to their respective cars and pit stalls for the race.

When the green flag waved, Truex jumped to an early lead on the inside lane with his teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch trailing behind him. Following the first two laps, the first four cars led by Truex followed by Hamlin and the Busch brothers were racing in a single-file line on the bottom while Kevin Harvick was the first car leading the outside lane. On the fifth lap, when Truex went high to block Harvick, Hamlin made his move on the bottom lane to move into the lead. He then led a five-car breakaway from the pack. Two laps later, however, Hamlin went high on the frontstretch to block a run from Logano, but Logano was able to prevail the following lap to take the lead. On the 10th lap, Truex was shoved out of the draft as he drifted behind the lead pack. Shorty after, Hamlin was able to retake the lead and was followed by Stenhouse and rookie Christopher Bell while Logano fell back to fifth, battling against Kyle Busch. By then, Harvick also dropped out of the lead group and settled near the top 20.

On Lap 15, Logano reassumed the lead on the outside lane on the frontstretch after receiving a boost from teammate Keselowski. Logano settled on the outside lane with his teammates, Keselowski and Ryan Blaney, behind him while Hamlin continued challenging Logano for the lead on the inside lane. After battling Logano side by side for the next three laps, Hamlin rocketed back to the lead on the 18th lap followed by Stenhouse and Kyle Busch while Logano fell back to fourth, battling Kurt Busch. On Lap 22, Blaney and Keselowski drafted Logano back to the lead. For the next three laps, Logano was able to maintain the lead over his teammates when the competition caution flew on Lap 25. By then, names like Chris Buescher, rookie Cole Custer, Stenhouse and John Hunter Nemechek were running inside the top 10. Johnson was in 11th followed by Bell and teammate Alex Bowman, Elliott was in 15th, Byron was in 17th, Harvick was in 20th, Newman was in 23rd behind Reddick, Wallace was in 25th and Truex was in 27th.

Under the competition caution, six of the lead-lap cars remained on track while the rest made an early pit stop. For those who pitted, Logano exited first after taking two tires followed by Blaney, Hamlin, Keselowski and Custer. When the field cycled through, Matt DiBenedetto, who remained on track, emerged with the lead followed by Harvick, Newman, Ryan Preece and Kenseth. The following lap, the top five competitors along with B.J. McLeod pitted, giving the lead back to Logano.

When the race restarted on Lap 30, Hamlin mounted a challenge for the lead on the inside lane before Logano pulled away and cleared the field in Turn 2 followed by Blaney and Keselowski. The following lap, Stenhouse made a move on the inside lane after being drafted by Custer. In Turn 3, Stenhouse attempted to move in front of Logano on the outside lane, but Logano crossed over beneath Stenhouse as Stenhouse was trapped on the outside lane and drifted out of the lead pack.

With potential weather threats and dark clouds approaching the track, the action of the field started to intensify as more competitors started making moves towards the front. By Lap 35, the top-21 cars were running within one second of the lead as Logano continued to lead on the bottom lane while Kyle Busch issued a challenge for it on the outside lane. The following lap, Kyle Busch managed to lead a lap after receiving drafting help from Byron and Austin Dillon. On Lap 40, three laps after Logano was back in front, Byron emerged with the lead after receiving a draft from Hamlin on the outside lane while Kyle Busch drifted back to 17th. The following lap, Hamlin moved on the outside lane and returned to the lead with Bell drafting behind him. As the race progressed, the racing at the front continued to intensify with the field expanding to three-wide racing and drafting one another to draw close to the front. All of this occurred as the winds intensified and the skies darkened into fogginess.

By Lap 50, Bowman emerged with the lead by a nose over Logano. With five laps remaining in the first stage, Hamlin made an unexpected pit stop as a result of making contact with the wall and cutting a right-front tire. The incident costed Hamlin a lap behind the leaders. Soon after, the caution flew due to sprinkles occurring in Turns 1 and 2. At the time of caution, rookie Tyler Reddick emerged with the lead followed by Bowman, Logano, Johnson and Kyle Busch. Shortly after, the field made their way to pit road and the race was red-flagged as the cars were covered and the competitors and crew members went to seek shelter.

Following a delay of more than 57 minutes, the competitors returned to their cars and the race resumed under caution as the jet dryers continued drying the track in preparation for the next green-flag run. The first stage concluded under caution and Reddick emerged with his first Cup stage win followed by Bowman, Logano, Johnson and Kyle Busch. Blaney, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Byron were running in the top 10. By then, there were 21 lead changes and eight competitors who led a lap. Under caution, a majority of the leaders pitted and Bowman exited first followed by Johnson, Logano, Blaney and Keselowski as Reddick fell back to eighth. Drivers like Newman, Harvick, Kenseth, rookie Brennan Poole and McLeod remained on track, but shortly after, they pitted and gave the lead to Bowman. During this time, Hamlin, who lost a lap following his unscheduled pit stop due to a flat tire and had sustained minimal damage, was able to take the wave around to return on the lead lap as he restarted in 34th.

When the second stage and the race resumed on Lap 65, Bowman jumped with the lead, but Blaney made a move on the inside lane to lead the following lap. Then, Kyle Busch formed a third lane on the outside lane and started to march to the front. The following lap, Johnson led a lap before Kyle Busch received a draft from DiBenedetto to move into the front. By Lap 70, as the field expanded to three lanes and the competitors started making efforts to move to the front, the Busch brothers were at the front with Kyle leading Kurt. Blaney was in fourth and challenging on the outside lane with his two Penske teammates behind him.

Ten laps and three lead changes later, the Penske trio were leading the field with Blaney ahead of Logano and Keselowski followed by DiBenedetto, their Penske-alliance teammate, and Kyle Busch. In addition, of the 40-car, the top-30 competitors were separated by less than two seconds with 35 on the lead lap. On Lap 83, Matt Kenseth made a charge on the outside lane towards the Penske cars, but he was nearly turned by Stenhouse in Turn 2, which caused both competitors to loose their momentum from the outside pack and drift outside the top 20. By Lap 90, Wallace, the first car on the outside lane, was battling Custer for a top-five spot and more while being drafted by Kyle Busch.

The race reached its halfway mark on Lap 94 with Blaney still leading his teammates and the field, and with 34 of the 40-car field running on the lead lap. Shortly after, the caution flew when Nemechek got loose entering Turn 4 after reporting a cut right-front tire and spun near the pit road entrance, where he slid his car across the tri-oval grass. He kept his car intact as the field doged him. Under caution, a majority of the leaders pitted and Blaney retained the lead followed by teammates Keselowski and Logano. Drivers like Poole, Corey LaJoie, Preece and Newman remained on track, but once they pitted, Blaney returned to the lead.

The race restarted on Lap 99, and the top-nine competitor on the bottom lane separated themselves from the pack in a single-file line before Kyle Busch started his charge back to the front on the high lane. On Lap 106, Stenhouse led a lap over Blaney as Wallace started to charge towards the front in a third lane on the outside with drafting help from Harvick. Blaney continued flexing his muscles at the front, leading the next five laps, before Stenhouse returned to the lead. Two laps later, Blaney made a bold move on the outside lane entering the frontstretch and nearly slipped sideways in front of Keselowski and the field, but was able to straighten his No. 12 Penske Ford and return to the lead. Not long after, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track, a debris that was hit by Preece. Under caution, the front half of the field remained on track while the second half, which included Preece, Bowman, Ty Dillon, Kenseth, Jones, Harvick, Elliott, Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez pitted.

The race returned to green in a two-lap dash to conclude the second stage. At the start, Stenhouse challenged Blaney for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch. Stenhouse emerged with a nose the following lap with drafting help from Byron. Byron made a move for the lead in Turn 2 before Blaney fought back the following turn. Entering the frontstretch, Stenhouse was nearly turned by Kyle Busch, but he was able to win the second stage. Blaney finished second followed by Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Bell while Logano, Wallace, Custer, Buescher and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, there were 39 lead changes with 13 different leaders.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Bowman exited first followed by Elliott, Bowyer, Preece and Almirola, all of whom pitted for only fuel, while Blaney, the first car on fresh tires, exited sixth in front of teammates Keselowski and Logano. A handful of competitors, led by Buescher, remained on track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch made another pit stop to have a quarter panel brace repaired.

With 63 laps remaining, the final stage commenced led by Buescher, but Harvick and Elliott split Buescher in the frontstretch with Harvick leading the following lap. During this time, Kenseth, who was running inside the top 10, pulled his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet below the apron and made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat tire and a mechanical issue to his car. Kenseth would eventually take his car to the garage for further repairs. Soon after, Preece edged Elliott by a nose to lead a lap before Elliott received a draft from Harvick and Hamlin to lead. Meanwhile, Blaney regrouped with Keselowski and started challenging for the lead on the outside lane.

The caution returned with 55 laps remaining when Elliott, who was running fourth, was blocked by Logano and was bumped by Keselowski from behind, which turned Elliott into the wall, where he made contact and slid sideways with damage to the front nose and rear end of his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Amazingly, the field scattered and dodged him, though Austin Dillon sustained right-front damage after making contact with Elliott’s wrecked Camaro. Under caution, a handful of competitors led by the Penske trio remained on track while others pitted. When the pit stops concluded, Harvick exited first after a fuel-only stop.

Five laps later, the race restarted and Blaney moved from the outside to the inside lane in front of teammates Logano and Keselowski to stabilize his lead. Two laps after the restart, Kyle Busch mounted a challenge on the outside lane. By then, Elliott, who attempted to continue the race with a wrecked racecar, retired with a missed opportunity of winning at Talladega for the second time. After sustaining damage from making with Elliott, Austin Dillon also retired. With 46 laps remaining, Poole and Joey Gase wrecked in Turns 3 and 4, thus drawing another caution. A majority of leaders pitted under caution, mainly for fuel, and Stenhouse led the field off pit road followed by Harvick, Bowman, Bowyer and Hamlin while Blaney exited seventh. The top-eight competitors led by Bell and Jones remained on track. Prior to the restart, a majority of the field returned to pit road for fuel to make it the rest of the way while Bell, Jones, Stenhouse, Harvick, Bowyer, Hamlin and Kurt Busch remained on track.

With 42 to go, the race restarted and Bell made contact with Jones while trying to move to the inside lane in front of Jones’ No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which caused Jones to slip below the double yellow lines (out of bounds). Their contact allowed Harvick to move into the lead followed by teammates Custer and Almirola while Hamlin charged on the outside lane. A lap later, Logano, who restarted 12th, moved back into the lead. Shortly after, Bell was assessed a pass-through penalty down pit road for forcing Jones below the yellow lines on the restart. In addition, Kyle Busch fell off the pace after sustaining a flat right-rear tire. By the time Busch returned on track, he was two laps behind the leaders.

With 34 to go, the field settled in running single file on the bottom lane with Byron leading Logano, Hamlin, Harvick, Johnson and Wallace. The top-20 competitors were separated just above a second while another group of competitors behind, led by 21st-place DiBenedetto, trailed by around two seconds. Six laps later, Wallace emerged with the lead as Byron slipped and fell out of the draft. Shortly after, Logano returned to the lead followed by Harvick while Preece made a move on the outside lane in an attempt to move to the front. He did so the next lap and Bowman made his move to the outside of Preece in an attempt to take the lead. Preece, however, was able to emerge ahead of Bowman the next time the field circled back to the start/finish line as the front pack started racing two by two.

With 20 to go, Bowman was the leader followed by Reddick, Logano, Hamlin and Preece as fuel mileage slowly became the concerning topic for a number of competitors at the front. Five laps later, Reddick was back ahead of the pack followed by Hamlin and Wallace. During this time, Bell, who was running with the lead pack while a lap behind, was forced off the track in Turn 2, but he continued driving straight.

With 10 to go, Reddick was still in the lead ahead of Hamlin and Logano as the field made their way past a five-car pack led by Brendan Gaughan, which the lead pack lapped. With five to go, Reddick continued to lead followed by Hamlin, Wallace and Blaney, who had marched back towards the front. Two laps later, after Hamlin had fallen off the pace due to running out of fuel, Blaney returned to the lead. Just pass the start/finish line, Johnson, who was behind Blaney, was clipped by Harvick and spun below the infield entering Turn 1, which drew the caution and sent the race into overtime. By then, Wallace was also out of fuel. Under caution, a majority of competitors at the front pitted, mainly for fuel. Others like Blaney, Harvick, Stenhouse, Buescher and Custer remained on track while on low tanks of fuel.

Prior to the overtime, Custer and Newman peeled off the track to pit for fuel, which jumbled up the field for the restart. In overtime, Harvick received a draft from Buescher to jump to the lead while Blaney came charging back with drafting help from Stenhouse. Harvick started the final lap and led through Turn 3 before Blaney raced back to the lead. By then, a multi-car wreck ensued that involved Truex, DiBenedetto, Bell, LaJoie and Clint Bowyer. Entering the frontstretch, Stenhouse and Jones made a final-corner charge for Blaney. Jones went high and tried to cross back to the bottom, but was blocked by Blaney. He then went high again followed by Nemechek and Blaney moved up and made contact with Jones, turning Jones into the outside wall. At the finish line, Blaney edged Stenhouse by 0.007 seconds to win at Talladega for his first elusive Cup win of the season and second in a row at Talladega.

With Blaney’s win, all three Team Penske competitors have recorded at least one win this season as Blaney also became the eighth winner of this season. Blaney also accomplished his first win with his new crew chief Todd Gordon as he has now won 15 races across NASCAR’s top three national division series.

“Just another exciting one here,” Blaney said on MRN Radio. “I was wanting to take the bottom [lane]. I thought [Stenhouse] was a really good pusher all day and I thought the bottom lane, just kind of get out there was gonna be good. I don’t know if he spun his tires or what, but [I] didn’t get the help at all, but was able to pick and choose lanes there and wanted to wait for a while till later on that last lap. You don’t want to wait too long because the caution might come out. I was surprised the caution didn’t come out in [Turns] three and four, and I was lucky we were ahead. Then, they got a big run again. I was kind of out too far down the frontstretch. I really couldn’t see who was outside. I knew there were some people, I just tried to go up to slow’em down. We, kind of, hit, beat and banged. I don’t know where [Stenhouse] came from. He came with a big run there. Me and [Jones], kind of, got beatin’ and bangin’. I was trying to slow him down. He almost got us, I guess. ”

Stenhouse settled in second followed by Almirola, who spun backwards across the finish line. Hamlin settled in fourth while Jones was able to limp his car across the line in fifth. Buescher, Bowman, Nemechek, Kurt Busch and Harvick rounded out the top 10. Jimmie Johnson rallied from his late spin to finish 13th in his penultimate run at Talladega

After the race, while Blaney celebrated his race win, Wallace, who rallied to finish 14th for his sixth top-15 finish of the season, went up to salute, greet and celebrate his strong run amid his tough week with the limited amount of fans allowed to enter and watch the race at the grandstands.

“Just a stout day,” Wallace said on MRN. “I didn’t know how our Victory Junction Chevrolet was gonna be. We weren’t very good following. We jumped up to the top just to make something work and man, we were a good lead car. We got the lead there for a short stint, but it was still good to come out with a solid day. Maybe one or two scratches [on the car], which is pretty good for us. All in all, it’s just gonna be a long week, but it’s good to come out with a good finish. [The fans], They’re family, we’re all family out here. I appreciate every fan coming out today, enjoying the day and glad we got it in. That was pretty cool right there.”

The race featured 57 lead changes with 19 different leaders. There were eight cautions for 33 laps.

With his top-10 run, Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 23 points over Logano and 25 over Blaney.

Results:

1. Ryan Blaney, 63 laps led

2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., five laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Aric Almirola

4. Denny Hamlin, 18 laps led

5. Erik Jones

6. Chris Buescher, four laps led

7. Alex Bowman, 12 laps led

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Kurt Busch

10. Kevin Harvick, two laps led

11. William Byron, 11 laps led

12. Ty Dillon

13. Jimmie Johnson, one lap led

14. Bubba Wallace, one lap led

15. Ryan Preece, three laps led

16. Corey LaJoie

17. Joey Logano, 33 laps led

18. Michael McDowell

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Tyler Reddick, 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

21. Brendan Gaughan

22. Cole Custer

23. Ryan Newman, one lap led

24. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

25. Clint Bowyer, one lap down

26. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

27. Quin Houff, one lap down

28. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

29. Christopher Bell, one lap down, four laps led

30. Gray Gaulding, one lap down

31. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

32. Kyle Busch, two laps down, five laps led

33. Timmy Hill, six laps down

34. Garrett Smithley, six laps down

35. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident, one lap led

36. J.J. Yeley, 13 laps down

37. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident

38. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, three laps led

39. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

40. Matt Kenseth – OUT, Rear hub

The following weekend will feature the first NASCAR Cup Series’ weekend doubleheader at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The first Pocono race will air on June 27 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX while the second race will air on June 28 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 22, 2020
Hamlin earns milestone win at Homestead

Denny Hamlin outlasted multiple weather delays due to lightning strikes and a late duel with Chase Elliott to win the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway for his third win of the season. It was his third in Miami and his 40th NASCAR Cup Series career win, moving him into a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin for 19th place on the all-time Cup wins list.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Hamlin started on pole position and was joined on the front row by Joey Logano. Quin Houff started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice along with B.J. McLeod due to unapproved adjustments.

Delayed for nearly an hour due to scattered rain and lightning reported near the track, the race was able to roll under green-flag conditions for the opening three laps, where Logano, who started on the bottom lane, took an early lead and was followed by teammate Brad Keselowski. Shortly after, the first caution of the day flew on the fourth lap due to a lightning strike reported near the area. The field led by Logano was directed to pit road as the red flag was displayed.

Following a delay of more than two hours, all drivers and crew members returned to their respective positions as the track was cleared for racing to resume. When the race returned to green on the ninth lap, Logano retained the lead over Hamlin, who settled in second while being pursued by Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

By Lap 20, Logano, Keselowski and Hamlin separated themselves from the pack by three seconds over fourth-place Harvick, who was being pursued by Elliott and rookie Tyler Reddick, who started in 24th. A lap later, the caution flew when Ryan Newman slid below the apron through Turns 3 and 4 after sustaining a flat right-rear tire. He was able to nurse his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford back to pit road to have the tire changed. Immediately, NASCAR declared the caution for Newman to serve as the competition caution initially established for Lap 25. At the time of caution, Kyle Busch was back in 10th after starting fourth and Jimmie Johnson was in 18th after starting ninth. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead followed by Harvick, Reddick, Hamlin and Elliott. Following the pit stops, Matt Kenseth made another pit stop to address a loose wheel while Ty Dillon was assessed a pit road speeding penalty.

When the race restarted on Lap 25, Logano received a bump from Reddick to retain the lead as Reddick battled Elliott for second. A lap later, Blaney made a three-wide move on Harvick and Hamlin in Turn 3 to move into fourth. Four laps later, Elliott emerged as the new leader after passing Logano in Turn 1 while Reddick wasted no time challenging Logano for the runner-up spot. Two laps later, just as Blaney was about to challenge teammate Logano for third, the fourth caution of the race flew due to another lightning strike reported outside the track. The field was directed to pit road and the race was placed in a red-flagged situation.

Following a weather delay of nearly 40 minutes, the red flag was lifted and the drivers were cleared to return to their cars and reignite their engines. Once the cars returned to track under caution, the field pitted. Following the pit stops, Logano sustained damage after making contact with Houff. Behind, Harvick and Matt DiBenedetto also sustained damage to their respective machines when the field stacked up behind Logano. Harvick and DiBenedetto would pit again to have the damage addressed and repaired, sending them to the rear of the field.

When the race restarted under green-flag conditions under the lights on Lap 37, Blaney made a charge on the outside lane to take the lead by the time the field cycled back to the start/finish line. Eight laps later, Blaney was ahead by more than a second over Hamlin, who slid in front of Elliott entering Turn 2 to move in the runner-up spot. Reddick and Keselowski followed suit.

By Lap 60, Blaney was still ahead by more than a second over Hamlin and Reddick. Aric Almirola, who started 21st, moved up to fourth and was trailing the leaders by four seconds followed by Elliott. During this time, Chris Buescher and William Byron, both of whom started 13th and 22nd, were in ninth and 10th while the Busch brothers of Kyle and Kurt, both of whom started fourth and 10th, were in 11th and 12th. Truex, who started sixth and was coming off his midweek win at Martinsville Speedway, was in 13th while Newman recovered from his early spin to settle in 14th. Harvick and Logano were back in 15th and 17th while Johnson was trapped in 26th. During this time, Erik Jones made an unscheduled pit stop to address a loose wheel.

With the laps of the first stage dwindling, a battle for the lead started brewing as Hamlin caught Blaney. Hamlin made several attempts in charging his No. 11 FedEx Toyota on the inside lane through the corners and try to clear Blaney entering the straightaways, but Blaney would gain momentum from rim-riding towards the outside wall to maintain his advantage through the straightaways. With four laps remaining in the stage, Hamlin moved back to the lead and was able to stabilize his lead to above a second. From there, Hamlin was able to fend off Blaney to win the first stage on Lap 80, his second of the season. Blaney finished second followed by Reddick, Elliott and Almirola. Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Byron, Bowyer and Buescher finished in the top 10. By then, teammates Kyle Busch and Truex were in 11th and 12th, Harvick was in 14th, Logano was in 20th and Johnson was in 25th.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin retained the lead followed by Elliott, Blaney, Bowman and Reddick. Once most of the leaders completed their stops, Logano remained on pit road to continue to have the front-nose damage repaired, but he was able to exit pit road in front of the pace car and remain on the lead lap. In addition, Johnson spent extra time on pit road as his crew went to work to repair a roof flap on top of his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet.

The start of the second stage on Lap 88 featured an intense duel between Hamlin and Elliott for one full lap with Elliott edging ahead at the line. By the next lap, Elliott was able to clear Hamlin for the lead as Blaney followed in second. Behind, Reddick was challenged by Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Bowman and Byron for fourth while Kyle Busch was in seventh. On Lap 91, Blaney reassumed the lead and three laps later, Elliott dropped to fifth after being overtaken by Hamlin, Reddick and Byron. With three Hendrick Motorsports’ drivers of Byron, Elliott and Bowman running inside the top six, the fourth HMS driver, Johnson, was in 23rd. Unlike Blaney, who was leading, his teammate, Joey Logano, was trapped in 29th. By Lap 100, Blaney was still in command by more than a second over Hamlin and Reddick with Byron trailing by nearly three seconds and both Bowman and Kyle Busch by nearly five seconds.

While the race progressed, green-flag pit stops started to occur on Lap 117 when Newman made a pit stop. Following the stops six laps later, Hamlin reassumed the lead by two seconds over Blaney as Reddick trailed by seven seconds and teammates Byron and Elliot trailed by nearly 10 seconds. Kyle Busch and Truex were in seventh and ninth while Harvick was in eighth. Keselowski was in 14th, rookie Christopher Bell was in 16th and Bubba Wallace was in 20th.

By Lap 150, Hamlin was ahead by nearly five seconds over Blaney, who was in a fierce battle with Reddick for the runner-up spot. Elliott trailed by six seconds, Byron trailed by 10 seconds and Bowman by 12 seconds. In addition, drivers like John Hunter Nemechek, Newman, Cole Custer, Johnson, Logano, Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Dillon and Suarez were behind by a lap. Three laps later, Blaney dropped to fourth as Reddick and Elliott moved up the leaderboard. When the second stage concluded on Lap 160, Hamlin won the stage followed by Reddick, Elliott, Blaney and Byron. Bowman, Truex, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Almirola finished in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin exited pit road first followed by Elliott, Reddick, Blaney, Byron and Bowman. Kurt Busch was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

When the final stage started with 99 laps remaining, Hamlin received a push from Reddick to maintain the lead through Turns 1 and 2 and clear the field. Elliott and Reddick duked for the runner-up spot while the rest of the field fanned out across the track while battling one another for positions. The caution returned three laps later when Logano and Newman made contact with one another and against the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Hamlin exited the pits first again followed by Elliott, Reddick, Blaney, Truex and Byron. Following the stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

With 92 laps remaining, the green flag flew and Hamlin received another shove from Reddick to maintain the lead. In addition, Blaney went three-wide with Elliott and Reddick in Turn 2 before moving into second by Turn 4. Both Blaney and Elliott remained within sight of one another while pursuing Hamlin for the lead. Behind, Reddick fended off a charge from Byron to remain in fourth as he started to pursue Elliott for more. Meanwhile, Almirola was in sixth, Bell was in eighth and Jones, who had rallied from his early unscheduled pit stop, was in ninth in front of teammate Truex. Harvick and Kyle Busch were in 10th and 11th while DiBenedetto and Wallace were in 13th and 15th.

With 75 to go, Blaney caught Hamlin for the lead and two laps later, he was able to return to the lead. A lap later, Hamlin returned the favor and threw himself back to the top spot. While Hamlin and Blaney battled, Elliott joined the battle as the top three were ahead by a second over fourth-place Reddick. Not long after, Elliott moved into second and started to pursue Hamlin for the lead.

As the run progressed, Hamlin was able to stabilize his lead under a second over Elliott with Blaney trailing by nearly two seconds. With 61 to go, Harvick’s night went south as he made an unscheduled pit stop due to a flat tire, which left him two laps behind the leaders. Three laps later, Buescher made an unscheduled pit stop after meeting the same fate as Harvick. In addition, Bowman made a scheduled pit stop for four fresh tires. Shortly after, green-flag pit stops started to occur as Stenhouse, Ryan Preece and Austin Dillon pitted. Following the stops, Elliott cycled back to the lead followed by Hamlin with Blaney, Reddick and Jones in the top five.

With 40 to go, Elliott stabilized his lead by more than a second over Hamlin and more than four seconds over Blaney. A lap later, Kenseth, who was running inside the top 10 and was the only competitor who had yet to make a scheduled green-flag pit stop, pitted. Eight laps later, Hamlin was able to cut the deficit to half a second as he started to gain ground on Elliott on the long runs. Another three laps later, Hamlin gained a huge run in Turn 2 to pass Elliott for the lead after Elliott struggled to lap Logano, who refused to yield to the leaders. As the laps continued to dwindle to the final stages, the battle for the lead remained between two cars as Hamlin led a hard-charging Elliott by half a second with Blaney trailing by two seconds.

With 17 to go, Hamlin started to stretch his advantage to nearly a second over Elliott as Blaney started to close within Elliott for the runner-up spot. A lap later, Elliott was able to trim the deficit to two-tenths of a second as leader Hamlin started to approach lapped traffic. Another two laps later, Elliott was behind by a tenth of a second as Reddick started to creep towards the leaders, making it a four-car battle for the win.

With eight to go, Reddick moved into third, but Blaney retook the position a lap later. During this time, Hamlin was leading Elliott by four-tenths of a second and was establishing a possible run for Hamlin as Blaney and Reddick lost ground to the leaders. In addition, Jones made an unscheduled pit stop after making contact with the wall.

In the final laps, Elliott made contact with the wall, which allowed Blaney to challenge him for second while Hamlin to stabilize his lead over a second. With no late cautions nor challenges falling on him, Hamlin was able to cruise around the track for a final circuit and take the checkered flag to claim another win at Homestead.

With the win, Hamlin also became the first three-time winner of this year’s Cup season as he also recorded the 180th Cup win for Joe Gibbs Racing. The win also came as Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, returned to the track following his four-race suspension for the fallen ballast at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

“Definitely, [the crew] just made our car really good,” Hamlin said on FOX. “This is the setup based on what we had in the fall here last year going for the championship. I had a strong car all day, obviously, with the laps led and was able to get around Chase there at the end. This whole FedEx team’s just done a phenomenal job with this Camry. This one’s real special. Gotta thank Coca-Cola, the Jordan brand, FedEx, all of our partners, everyone at JGR for putting together great race cars and keep digging and getting ourselves a little bit better. It seems like the end of these races seems to be Chase’s long suit, best suit. I knew that if I was just patient and ran the pace that I was comfortable with, we were gonna be hard to beat in the long run.”

Elliott held off Blaney to finish second, less than a second behind Hamlin, while Reddick notched a solid fourth-place run for his first top-five finish in the Cup Series.

“This Camaro just needed to get through lapped traffic a little better,” Elliott said on MRN. “That’s really about it. I thought, other than that, we did everything we needed to do.”

“We could be running 20th every week,” Blaney said on Zoom. “You’re proud of the runs that you’ve created in a speed our team’s got. I’m proud of that. Yeah, it stinks we haven’t won, but the way I look at it is just keep running up towards the front like that. Just proud with the speed we have and that we’re close. Just little things will go a long way when you’re this close. If you have to find 15 spots worth of speed, that’s when it’s troublesome. Just proud of the effort. [I’m] Not frustrated or anything. Hopefully, we can keep this up and just keep getting better week in and week out.”

Almirola recorded a strong fifth-place result while Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Bell, Byron and Keselowski rounded out the top 10 as 15 competitors finished on the lead lap. Johnson finished 16th, one lap down, in his 20th and final start at Homestead. Everyone except for J.J. Yeley finished the race on the track.

The race featured 17 lead changes with seven different leaders. There were six cautions for 27 laps.

Harvick, who finished 26th and was a lap behind, continues to lead the Cup Series regular-season standings by eight points over Elliott and 29 over Logano.

Results:

1. Denny Hamlin, 137 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Chase Elliott, 27 laps led

3. Ryan Blaney, 70 laps led

4. Tyler Reddick, three laps led

5. Aric Almirola

6. Kyle Busch, two laps led

7. Austin Dillon

8. Christopher Bell

9. William Byron

10. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Matt DiBenedetto

15. Michael McDowell

16. Jimmie Johnson, one lap down

17. Kurt Busch, one lap down

18. Alex Bowman, one lap down

19. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

21. Erik Jones, one lap down

22. Cole Custer, one lap down

23. Chris Buescher, one lap down

24. Ryan Preece, one lap down

25. Matt Kenseth, one lap down

26. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

27. Joey Logano, two laps down, 27 laps led

28. Ty Dillon, two laps down

29. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

30. Ryan Newman, four laps down

31. Daniel Suarez, four laps down

32. Brennan Poole, seven laps down

33. Quin Houff, eight laps down

34. Timmy Hill, 10 laps

35. B.J. McLeod, 11 laps down

36. Joey Gase, 12 laps down

37. Josh Bilicki, 22 laps down

38. J.J. Yeley – OUT, Fuel pump

The NASCAR Cup Series will return to action at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday, June 21, for its second superspeedway event of this season. The race will air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

June 15, 2020
Denny Hamlin on pole for Cup Series race at Homestead

Denny Hamlin will start from the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It is the first pole this season for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and the 34th of his Cup career.

Team Penske driver Joey Logano will join him on the front row with his teammate Brad Keselowski starting in third. Kyle Busch will start fourth in the No. 18 JGR Toyota and Hendrick Motorsport’s Chase Elliott will round out the top-five.

The lineup was determined by a random draw as explained below.

Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points.

Positions 13-24: Random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points.

Positions 25-36: Random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points.

Positions 37-39 will be filled out by open, non-chartered teams in order of owner points.

The Dixie Vodka 400 will be televised Sunday on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The stages are 80/160/267 laps for 400.5 miles.

The Dixie Vodka 400 will close out a full weekend of racing that also includes an Xfinity Series doubleheader and a Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series race.

Complete Starting Lineup:

1) Denny Hamlin

2 Joey Logano

3 Brad Keselowski

4) Kyle Busch

5) Chase Elliott

6) Martin Truex Jr.

7) Kevin Harvick

8) Alex Bowman

9) Jimmie Johnson

10) Kurt Busch

11) Ryan Blaney

12) Clint Bowyer

13) Chris Buescher

14) Ryan Newman

15) Erik Jones

16) Austin Dillon

17) Bubba Wallace

18) John Hunter Nemechek

19) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

20) Matt Kenseth

21) Aric Almirola

22) William Byron

23) Matt DiBenedetto

24) TylerReddick

25) JJ Yeley

26) Corey LaJoie

27) Josh Bilicki

28) Brennan Poole

29) Joey Gase

30) Michael McDowell

31) Quin Houff

32) Ty Dillon

33) Ryan Preece

34) BJ McLeod

35) Cole Custer

36) Christopher Bell

37) Daniel Suarez

38) Timmy Hill

39) Reed Sorenson

June 11, 2020
Truex reigns supreme under the lights at Martinsville

In NASCAR’s first night race at Martinsville Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. captured his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season in the Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at the paper clip-shaped track. With the victory, Truex achieved his second consecutive win at Martinsville, his eighth driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and the 27th of his Cup career. The win was also the first for former lead engineer James Small as a crew chief.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Ryan Blaney, who achieved his 100th top-five NASCAR national touring series career finish last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, drew the pole position. Aric Almirola started on the front row for the second consecutive race. Joey Gase started at the rear of the field and was assessed a pass-through penalty at the start of the race due to his car failing pre-race technical inspection five times.

When the green flag waved, Almirola prevailed on the outside lane to jump to an early lead. It did not take long for the first caution to fly on the fourth lap due to fallen debris in Turn 2 that came off of Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, where Dillon sustained a flat right-rear tire at the start.

When the race resumed on the 13th lap, Almirola was able to clear Blaney on the inside lane in Turn 2 to retain the lead. Behind, Bowyer, who restarted in the second row on the outside lane, dropped multiple positions as he was overtaken by Joey Logano, Truex, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott. By Lap 16, Logano moved into second followed by Truex. Like Bowyer, Blaney lost positions to the Busch brothers after being stuck on the outside lane.

On Lap 20, Logano took the lead from Almirola as Truex quickly moved into second. The Busch brothers and Elliott also advanced into the top five as Almirola dropped to sixth in three laps. By Lap 30, Logano held a two-second advantage over Truex and Kurt Busch. Behind the leaders, Jimmie Johnson, who started 21st, was in seventh and Corey LaJoie, who started 25th, was in 13th. Almirola and Blaney, both of whom started on the front row, had fallen to 10th and 11th. In addition, Brad Keselowski, who started sixth, fell to 18th while Denny Hamlin, who started 12th, dropped to 21st. Ten laps later, Elliott, who moved to second five laps earlier, was more than three seconds behind Logano, followed by Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Johnson and Kevin Harvick while Truex fell back to seventh. Almirola and Blaney continued to fade in the running order and outside the top 10 due to handling issues.

By Lap 42, Hamlin and Keselowski were lapped by Logano. Three laps later, Matt DiBenedetto, William Byron and Bubba Wallace were running in sixth, seventh and 13th while Michael McDowell was making his way in the top 10.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 60, Logano was ahead by nearly nine seconds and had lapped a multitude of names that included Keselowski, Hamlin, Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Blaney, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Kenseth, Almirola, Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman. By then, 18 cars were scored on the lead lap with Tyler Reddick being the last, but Bowman was able to receive the free pass under caution as the first car scored one lap behind. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead followed by Elliott, Bowyer, DiBenedetto, Byron and Johnson. Kyle Busch, who was lapped, also pitted to have damage repaired as a result of making contact with the wall.

When the race restarted on Lap 68, Logano took off with the lead while Elliott and Bowyer battled against one another for second. By the next lap, Bowyer cleared Elliott in Turn 2 as Elliott settled in third in front of Byron. By Lap 80, Logano held a lead less than half a second over Bowyer followed by Elliott while Kurt Busch moved to fourth over Byron. DiBenedetto, Johnson and McDowell were in seventh, eighth and 10th while Wallace, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Reddick were in the top 15. Hamlin, who was stuck in 31st, was reporting overheating problems to his No. 11 Toyota.

By Lap 100, Logano was leading above a second over Bowyer. Meanwhile, Kurt Busch was in third followed by Elliott, Truex, Byron, Harvick, Johnson, DiBenedetto and Wallace. Blaney was in 20th, Keselowski was in 24th, Kyle Busch was in 25th and Kenseth and Almirola were in 27th and 28th. Two laps later, Harvick, running seventh, reported a dead battery to his No. 4 Ford and was told he could go 180 more laps before he needed repairs.

Ten laps later, the caution returned when Timmy Hill, who was in position to receive the free pass and return on the lead lap, stalled on pit road. Under caution, the leaders pitted except for LaJoie. Following the pit stops, Wallace exited first after taking two tires while Logano, the first with four fresh tires, followed behind in second. Bowyer, Johnson, Truex and Harvick exited behind Logano. During the caution, Blaney returned on the lead lap while Stenhouse Jr. was nabbed with a speeding penalty.

With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted and LaJoie prevailed on the inside lane to retain the lead while Logano and Bowyer went three-wide with Wallace to move up to second and third. By Turn 4 the following lap, Logano was back in the lead. A lap later, Bowyer moved to second followed by Johnson as LaJoie drifted toward the back. Meanwhile, Wallace was locked in a heated battle with Truex for fourth. While a multitude of battles between competitors ensured, Logano was able to drive away and win the first stage by half a second over Bowyer. Johnson finished third followed by Truex and Wallace while Elliott, Kurt Busch, Harvick, DiBenedetto and Byron finished in the top 10.

Under the stage break, most of the leaders remained on track while others like Elliott, Kurt Busch, Byron, Wallace, Ryan Newman and Blaney pitted. The following lap, Truex, who remained on track in the top five, made an unscheduled pit stop to have his right-front fender repaired as a result of damaging it following on-track contact with Harvick. In addition, Truex was penalized for a commitment line violation while trying to enter pit road, which forced him to restart in 22nd. Austin Dillon, who was still multiple laps behind, was also penalized for a commitment line violation.

The second stage started on Lap 140 and Logano retained the lead after clearing Bowyer in Turn 2. Johnson settled in third while DiBenedetto and McDowell battled for fourth. Ten laps later, Logano maintained his advantage by half a second over Bowyer while all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers were in the top 10. During this time, Reddick was in 10th, McDowell had fallen back to 11th and Erik Jones was the highest-running Toyota driver in 18th. By Lap 170, Johnson was in second and was trailing Logano by more than a second. Blaney, who was a lap behind early in the race and restarted 14th, was back in the top 10 in eighth, Wallace was in 13th and Truex and Keselowski were in 21st and 22nd.

With the race settling in a long green-flag run, Logano maintained his advantage by more than a second over Johnson and started to encounter lapped traffic as the field settled in single-file racing. On Lap 202, Johnson, who was able to narrow his deficit to Logano when Logano caught lapped traffic, made his move on the inside lane and took the lead, where he started to stretch his advantage to half a second. By Lap 220, Johnson extended his lead to above a second over Blaney, who overtook teammate Logano for second. Harvick, Elliott, Bowman and Byron were running fourth through seventh while Wallace worked his way back to eighth. Kurt Busch and Bowyer were in the bottom half of the top 10 while Keselowski was in 16th. Truex was mired in 19th while his teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were in 25th and 27th.

By Lap 230, Johnson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Blaney, more than three seconds over Logano and four seconds over Harvick. By Lap 250, Johnson was ahead by 1.5 seconds over Blaney, more than five seconds over Logano and more than six seconds over Harvick. Wallace had worked his way back to sixth while Keselowski was in 12th. Truex was in 16th, the highest-running Toyota driver, while Bowyer had fallen back to 18th and was lapped.

Uncontested, Johnson cruised to the second stage win, his first of the season, above a second over Blaney. Logano, Bowman and Harvick finished in the top five while Wallace, Byron, Elliott, Kurt Busch and Reddick finished in the top 10. Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Johnson exited pit road first followed by Blaney, Logano, Bowman, Harvick, Wallace and Byron. During the caution, Byron was sent to the rear of the field after being penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

The final stage started with 229 laps remaining as Johnson and Blaney battled against one another for one full lap. A lap later, Blaney used the high lane to clear Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet for the lead entering Turn 4. The following lap, Logano made his move on the inside lane to move into second. Behind the leaders, Bowman began to develop a left-rear tire rub after making contact with Keselowski.

With 216 laps remaining, Logano moved back to the lead after passing Blaney in Turn 3. By then, Johnson dropped to fifth as Harvick and Elliott moved up to third and fourth. Sixteen laps later, with 200 to go, Logano settled to a lead nearly half a second over Blaney as only 16 competitors were scored on the lead lap. Keselowski moved into fifth after overtaking Johnson while Bowman was in seventh despite the mild tire rub to his No. 88 Chevrolet. Reddick and Truex were eighth and ninth, Wallace was in 10th while battling Kurt Busch and Newman and Byron were in 13th and 15th.

With 175 to go, the caution returned when David Starr spun through Turns 1 and 2 and made contact with the outside wall after being tapped by Jones. At the time, Blaney, who took the lead nineteen laps earlier, was ahead by nearly a second over teammates Keselowski and Logano followed by Harvick, Johnson, Elliott and Bowman. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano was able to exit first followed by Keselowski, Johnson, Elliott and Truex while Blaney fell back to eighth. The situation went from bad to worse for Blaney, who was sent to the rear of the field due to a crew member jumping over the pit wall too early.

With 168 to go, the race restarted and Logano cleared Keselowski by Turn 2 to maintain the lead. Keselowski settled in second while Elliott battled on the outside lane to move into fourth over teammate Johnson followed by Truex, who rallied from his commitment line violation at the conclusion of the first stage.

With 150 to go, a three-way battle for the lead started brewing as Keselowski drew himself right to the rear bumper of Logano’s No. 22 Ford with Elliott right behind Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford. During this time, Almirola made a pit stop to have the batteries changed due to an alternator issue to his No. 10 Ford. By the time he returned, he was 13 laps behind the leaders.

With 136 to go, as the leaders approached heavy lapped traffic, Keselowski moved aggressively on the inside lane to take the lead after Logano was pinned behind the lapped car of LaJoie on the outside lane. A lap later, Truex moved into second as Logano slipped to third followed by Elliott and Harvick. Six laps later, Truex emerged with the lead. By then, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates (Kyle Busch, Jones and Hamlin) were running 20th through 22nd. During this time, Johnson was in seventh, Roush Fenway Racing teammates Newman and Buescher were in the top 10 behind DiBenedetto and Wallace was in 12th, one position ahead of Blaney.

With 103 to go, the caution flew when rookie Quin Houff spun entering Turn 2. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex exited first followed by Keselowski, Logano, Elliott, Bowman, Harvick and Johnson.

When the race restarted with 97 to go, Truex took off with the lead and Logano moved into second over Keselowski while Bowman, racing with a damaged left-rear fender, moved into fourth over teammate Elliott. At the time the race resumed to green, Austin Dillon exited his car on pit road and had to be cooled off due to being exposed to fumes and heat as a result of the knocked out crushed panels from the cut tire Dillon sustained at the start of the race. Dillon would end his night in the garage and on a stretcher headed for the infield care center while receiving oxygen and fluids to continue to cool off.

With 75 to go, Truex settled to a lead of nearly a second over Logano. Meanwhile, Blaney, who rallied from his late pit road penalty, was in fifth followed by Bowman while Johnson had fallen to 10th ahead of Newman. Byron was in 12th followed by Bowyer while Wallace had fallen back to 17th.

As the laps continued to dwindle, Truex extended his advantage to two seconds over teammates Logano and Keselowski with Blaney pursuing by three seconds and Elliott by four seconds. With 40 to go, Truex settled to a lead nearly three seconds over Blaney, who overtook his teammates and was trying to pursue Truex. Twenty laps later, Truex extended his advantage to four seconds as only 15 competitors were scored on the lead lap. With 10 to go, Truex stabilized his lead to nearly five seconds over Blaney and nearly six laps for Keselowski as he started to approach lapped traffic.

Despite the heavy lapped traffic, Truex cautiously worked his way through each corner and remained uncontested through the final circuits as he claimed the checkered flag to win by more than four seconds over Blaney and become the seventh winner of this year’s Cup Series season.

Prior to the 2019 Cup season, Truex was 0-80 in short track wins. After tonight, he has won four of the last six short-track races.

“We’ve been working a long time on trying to figure this place out and just chipping away at it,” Truex said. “The last couple of years, we’ve been really strong. [October 2018] was a heartbreaker going at the end of the race there, last year to get the win and this year. Hats off to the guys. We started the first run, pushed the right-front tire off and were terrible. Really good adjustments by the guys, I wanna thank all of them, SiriusXM, Bass Pro [Shops], Auto-Owners [Insurance], everybody that makes this possible. Congrats to James [Small] on his first win. He’s doing an awesome job. It’s a big day for us. We did what we had to do. Thanks to everybody back at [Joe Gibbs Racing] for working through all these tough times and everything else. It feels a little strange out here, to be honest.”

Blaney rallied from struggling early in the race to finish second for his fifth top-five finish of the season followed by teammates Keselowski and Logano while Elliott settled in fifth. Bowman, DiBenedetto, Byron, Kurt Busch and Johnson finished in the top 10 as only 14 competitors finished on the lead lap.

The race featured 14 lead changes with eight different leaders. There were seven cautions for 52 laps.

Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 28 points over Logano and 47 over Elliott.

Results:

1. Martin Truex Jr., 132 laps led

2. Ryan Blaney, 34 laps led

3. Brad Keselowski, five laps led

4. Joey Logano, 234 laps led, Stage 1 winner

5. Chase Elliott, one lap led

6. Alex Bowman

7. Matt DiBenedetto

8. William Byron

9. Kurt Busch

10. Jimmie Johnson, 70 laps led, Stage 2 winner

11. Bubba Wallace

12. Ryan Newman

13. Chris Buescher

14. Michael McDowell

15. Kevin Harvick, one lap behind

16. Tyler Reddick, one lap behind

17. Clint Bowyer, one lap behind

18. Corey LaJoie, one lap behind, five laps led

19. Kyle Busch, one lap behind

20. Erik Jones, three laps behind

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps behind

22. Ty Dillon, three laps behind

23. Matt Kenseth, three laps behind

24. Denny Hamlin, three laps behind

25. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps behind

26. Ryan Preece, four laps behind

27. Daniel Suarez, six laps behind

28. Christopher Bell, six laps behind

29. Cole Custer, six laps behind

30. Brennan Poole, six laps behind

31. J.J. Yeley, seven laps behind

32. David Starr, 21 laps behind

33. Aric Almirola – OUT, Battery, 19 laps led

34. Quin Houff, 26 laps behind

35. Joey Gase, 36 laps behind

36. Garrett Smithley, 50 laps behind

37. Austin Dillon – OUT, Fatigue

38. Reed Sorenson – OUT, Electrical

39. Timmy Hill – OUT, Fuel Pump

Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will occur on June 14 and cap off a quadruple-header weekend of racing in south Florida. The race will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

June 11, 2020
Harvick claims second win of the season at Atlanta

Kevin Harvick took command in the final stage and cruised to a dominating win in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The victory was Harvick’s second of the season, third at Atlanta and the 51st of his NASCAR Cup Series career. The win was Harvick’s 28th while driving the No. 4 car for Stewart-Haas Racing and it moved him into 12th place on the all-time Cup wins list. The win also came as Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers celebrated his 44th birthday.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Hometown hero Chase Elliott drew the pole position and shared the front row with Aric Almirola. Kurt Busch dropped to the rear of the field and was assessed a pass-through penalty down pit road at the start of the race for failing pre-race inspection three times. Corey LaJoie and Garrett Smithley also dropped to the rear of the field for failing inspection twice along with Timmy Hill and Cole Custer, both due to unapproved adjustments.

Following the opening pace laps, the field parked on the frontstretch, the crew members stood above the pit wall and the entire NASCAR community paused for a moment of silence/listening before NASCAR president Steve Phelps addressed the competitors and fans in a PA message, citing a need for change toward the stemming acts of racial inequalities and injustices in society. During this time, a video was aired that featured multiple Cup competitors addressing a unified message against racial inequality.

When the green flag waved, Elliott, who started on the inside lane from the pole, rocketed away with the lead followed by Joey Logano as Almirola, who started on the outside lane, dropped to third and battled with Kyle Busch through Turn 2. By the fifth lap, Elliott maintained a half-second lead over Logano followed by Almirola, Busch and last year’s Atlanta winner Brad Keselowski. Behind the leaders, a multitude of competitors were dicing against one another for early positions through each corner and straightaway.

By the 10th lap, Reddick, who started 24th, was in 13th while Erik Jones, who started 14th, was in eighth. Teammates Clint Bowyer and Harvick were battling for sixth followed by Martin Truex Jr., who started 11th. Jimmie Johnson, who started 15th and gave the command for drivers to start engines, was in 12th. After serving his drive-through penalty at the start of the race, Kurt Busch was in 39th, one lap behind.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Elliott had managed to stretch his advantage to three seconds over Almirola followed by Logano, Harvick and Kyle Busch. In addition, Daniel Suarez remained on the lead lap and Kurt Busch, who was in 32nd and the first car a lap down, was the recipient of the free pass and returned to the lead lap under caution. Under caution, the leaders pitted. Following the stops, Logano emerged with the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Harvick and Elliott. During the pit stops, Blaney was pinned behind another car while struggling to exit his pit stall and lost a multitude of positions, where he settled inside the top 20.

When the race restarted on Lap 30, Logano led the field in Turn 1 followed by teammates Harvick and Bowyer as Truex Jr. went three-wide with Almirola and Hamlin in Turn 2. Truex used the high lane to his advantage to gain more spots and make his way inside the top five. In Turn 3, William Byron slipped and made contact with the outside wall due to a cut right-rear tire, which forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 32 to have the damage repaired to his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. The damage cost Byron six laps. The race, however, remained green as the field continued dicing for positions, with Logano leading by half a second over Harvick. Meanwhile, Reddick advanced to sixth and started to pursue Busch and Truex for position in the top five while Elliott fell back to seventh.

On Lap 36, Harvick emerged as the new leader after passing Logano in Turn 3. Nine laps later, Truex and Kyle Busch made their way to second and third while Logano slipped to fourth and in a battle with Bowyer. Through Lap 50, Kurt Busch, who was back on the lead lap following the competition caution, was in 15th.

By Lap 60, Harvick’s lead stabilized to nearly a second over Truex and the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford had also lapped 10 cars. Behind him, Kyle Busch trailed by more than six seconds while Bowyer trailed by nearly nine seconds after overtaking Logano for position following a lengthy battle.

Four laps later, green-flag pit stops initiated when Ryan Newman was the first to pit. During the cycle of the stops, Newman and Keselowski returned to pit road after both were penalized for speeding during their stops. When the stops cycled through, Harvick returned to the lead and was ahead by nearly four seconds over Truex. Bowyer, Logano and Elliott moved into the top five, trailing Harvick by more than 10 seconds, while Kyle Busch fell to sixth ahead of Reddick. Almirola, who was in 13th, pitted again due to a loose wheel and to have lug nuts tightened on his machine.

By Lap 80, Harvick’s lead decreased to above a second over Truex as Harvick started to approach lapped traffic. Six laps later, Truex gained a huge run on Harvick in Turn 2 and made a move on the inside lane to take the lead entering Turn 3 and pull away by half a second. During this time, Kyle Busch overtook Elliott for fifth while Johnson and Kurt Busch were running ninth and 11th.

Just when Truex was trying to lap Bubba Wallace, the second caution flew on Lap 95 when John Hunter Nemechek spun entering Turn 4. At the time of caution, Wallace was able to remain on the lead lap while Matt DiBenedetto, who was in 18th and the first car a lap down, was the beneficiary of the free pass to return on the lead lap. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex retained the lead over Harvick followed by Bowyer, Logano and Kyle Busch.

With six laps remaining in the first stage, Truex received a bump from Bowyer and Kyle Busch on the inside lane to take off with the lead through Turn 1. A lap later, Busch took second while Harvick settled in fourth. In Turn 3, Jones, Reddick and Hamlin went three wide before Jones came out in fifth and Stenhouse and Elliott joined the battle with Reddick and Hamlin.

While the field continued jostling for position, Truex held off teammate Busch by two-tenths of a second to win the first stage and collect his first stage win of the season. Bowyer finished third followed by Hamlin and Harvick. Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jones, Johnson and Blaney finished in the top 10 while Reddick was shuffled back to 18th.

Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road for service. Following the stops, Bowyer gained two spots to emerge as the new leader followed by Truex, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Elliott. Following the pit stops, Logano, Kenseth and Bell sustained damage after making contact on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 112 and Bowyer used the inside lane to lead the field through Turn 1. Truex, however, received a bump from Hamlin to fight back on the outside lane entering Turn 3. Truex and Bowyer battled against one another hard for the lead as Hamlin made a three-wide move on Harvick and Elliott in Turn 3 to gain more positions before settling in third over Elliott, Kyle Busch and Harvick. By Lap 116, Bowyer cleared Truex and maintained his advantage by less than half a second.

Through Lap 125, Bowyer stretched his lead to above half a second over Truex. During this time, Elliott, Hamlin and Kyle Busch settled in the top five, Johnson was in seventh ahead of DiBenedetto, Jones was in ninth followed by Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch was in 11th ahead of teammates Blaney and Keselowski. In addition, Stenhouse and Wallace were in 14th and 15th while Newman and Matt Kenseth were in 21st and 25th. Reddick had fallen back to 23rd while Bell was the highest-running rookie in 17th. After racing toward the front at the start of the race, Almirola and Logano were in 18th and 24th.

On Lap 147, early disaster struck for Bowyer when he made an unscheduled pit stop for four fresh tires and perceived that he had a cut right-rear tire. Bowyer’s move allowed Truex to return to the lead, who was more than two seconds ahead of Hamlin.

With the race reaching Lap 156, a second round of green-flag pit stops commenced. Five laps later, nearly all the leaders pitted, except for teammates Keselowski and Blaney. Once the two front-runners pitted, Bowyer returned as the leader three laps later, leading Truex, who had fresher tires than Bowyer, by more than eight seconds.

By Lap 175, Bowyer’s advantage over Truex decreased from eight to less than two seconds while Kyle Busch trailed by three seconds. During this time, Bowman moved to sixth followed by DiBenedetto, Johnson and Elliott. Keselowski and Blaney, following their stops, were in 10th and 13th and Bell was in 14th followed by Stenhouse. Wallace, who was running within the top 15 prior to the green-flag stops, fell back to 29th to have a left-rear loose wheel fixed on his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet, which cost him two laps.

By Lap 185, after gaining more ground on Bowyer, Truex returned to the lead in Turns 1 and 2. In addition, Kyle Busch gained a huge run in Turn 4 to move into the runner-up spot and Bowyer settled in third. On Lap 198, Hamlin gained a huge run through Turns 1 and 2 to move into third over Bowyer.

With nine laps remaining in the first stage, just as Harvick passed Bowyer for fourth, the caution returned when Michael McDowell spun entering Turn 4 following contact with teammate Nemechek and slid through the grass before coasting his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford through pit road. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Kyle Busch emerged as the new leader followed by Truex, who came to a near stop trying to avoid starting in second on the outside lane. Truex’s move stacked the field towards the end of pit road, but he exited second followed by Harvick, Blaney and Keselowski.

With four laps remaining in the second stage, Busch and Truex battled through Turn 3 before Truex reassumed the lead followed by Blaney as Hamlin battled Busch for fourth. As the laps dwindled, Jones fell off the pace after being pinched into the wall with help from Bell, which cut his right-front tire. With no caution waving, Truex was able to hold off the field and win the second stage followed by Blaney, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Elliott. Harvick, DiBenedetto, Keselowski, Bowyer and Johnson rounded out the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Kyle Busch exited pit road first again followed by Truex, Harvick, Elliott, Keselowski and Blaney.

When the final stage started with 108 laps remaining, Kyle Busch received a push from Harvick to take off with the lead while Truex slipped to third. In Turn 3, Harvick made a move on the outside lane to return to the lead. A lap later, Truex moved into second as Busch battled Keselowski for third. Another lap later, Elliott used a crossover move in Turn 4 to move to fourth over Keselowski.

With 100 laps remaining, Busch, who had retaken second from Truex, narrowed his deficit to two-tenths of a second behind Harvick, but Harvick increased his lead to six-tenths three laps later as Truex retook second. Ten laps later, 90 to go, Harvick extended his advantage to a second over Truex with Kyle Busch trailing by two seconds and Elliott by more than three seconds. Another 10 laps later, Truex decreased the deficit to six-tenths of a second, but Harvick stabilized his lead to over a second five laps later.

With 65 to go, the final round of green-flag pit stops occurred, starting with DiBenedetto pitting. Under the pit stops, Ty Dillon was assessed a speeding penalty. With 54 to go, after the field cycled through the stops, Harvick was back in the lead, leading by nearly two seconds over Truex, four seconds over Kyle Busch and nearly eight seconds over Hamlin.

With 48 to go, Jones, who was trying to race his way back onto the lead lap following his contact with the wall at the conclusion of the second stage, pitted for service to his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but returned shortly after being assessed a speeding penalty.

As the laps continued to dwindle, Harvick started to stabilize and stretch his lead to a comfortable margin over Truex while making his way through lapped traffic. With 20 to go, Harvick was ahead by more than two seconds over Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Kyle Busch was behind by nearly five seconds, Blaney by nearly 11 seconds and Hamlin by 14 seconds.

With 14 to go, disaster struck again for Bowyer as he made his second unscheduled pit stop of the day to have a flat right-rear tire changed on his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. This misfortune cost him two laps and drew him out of contention for a top-10 result.

With four to go, Busch made his way to second as Truex started to fade. By then, Harvick was long gone. With Busch unable to mount a late rally, Harvick was able to cruise to the checkered flag and win by nearly four seconds over Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. After taking the checkered flag, Harvick did a reverse victory lap while holding three fingers outside of his car. His move mirrored the three fingers salute Harvick made after winning his first Cup race at Atlanta in 2001 and paying tribute to the late seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Sr.

“Obviously, [my] first win came for me here at Atlanta and this is just a race track I’ve taken a likening to,” Harvick said. “You always come back and have those memories, and now you want to celebrate everything that Dale Earnhardt did for this sport. To come here and be able to do that with wins and go to victory lane is pretty special. [The pit crew] had a great pit stop. We got a restart on the bottom [lane] and it got my car to take off. I was able to get track position and then, once I could get through those first 10 laps, my car was freed up enough to where I could get in a rhythm and really start hitting my marks. By about Lap 25, I could start driving away. Just proud of everybody from Busch Light, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing, thank you, guys, for everything…you, the fans. We appreciate everything you guys do for us.”

Busch settled in second for his third runner-up finish and sixth top-five result of 2020 while Truex finished third and claimed his first top-five result of this season. Blaney and Hamlin finished fourth and fifth while Kurt Busch rallied from his pass-through penalty at the start of the race to finish sixth for his seventh top-10 result of this season. Johnson finished seventh in his 29th and final start at Atlanta while Elliott, Keselowski and Logano rounded out the top 10.

Following the race, Wallace, who finished 21st, was taken to the infield care center after appearing light headed while exiting his car, but he remained alert and awake. He would later be released from the care center.

The race featured 21 lead changes with nine different leaders. There were five cautions for 24 laps. Only 10 cars finished on the lead lap.

With his win, Harvick extended his lead in the Cup Series regular-season standings as he now leads by 48 points over Logano and 56 over Elliott.

Results:

1. Kevin Harvick, 151 laps led

2. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

3. Martin Truex Jr., 65 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

4. Ryan Blaney, two laps led

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Kurt Busch, one lap led

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Chase Elliott, 26 laps led

9. Brad Keselowski, five laps led

10. Joey Logano, 10 laps led

11. Austin Dillon, one lap down

12. Alex Bowman, one lap down

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

14. Ryan Newman, one lap down

15. Matt Kenseth, one lap down

16. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

17. Aric Almirola, one lap down

18. Christopher Bell, one lap down

19. Cole Custer, one lap down

20. Clint Bowyer, one lap down, 58 laps led

21. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

22. Chris Buescher, one lap down

23. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

24. Michael McDowell, one lap down

25. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

26. Ryan Preece, two laps down

27. Corey LaJoie, two laps down

28. Erik Jones, three laps down

29. Ty Dillon, three laps down

30. Brennan Poole, four laps down

31. Daniel Suarez, nine laps down

32. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

33. William Byron, 12 laps down

34. Josh Bilicki, 12 laps down

35. Garrett Smithley, 13 laps down

36. J.J. Yeley, 14 laps down

37. Reed Sorenson, 15 laps down

38. Joey Gase, 17 laps down

39. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical

40. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Clutch

Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Martinsville Speedway, which will occur on Wednesday, June 10, for the Cup Series’ third midweek race of this season. The race will air at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 7, 2020
Keselowski wins a thrilling race at Bristol

A week after stealing a late victory in the Coca-Cola 600, Brad Keselowski found himself at the right place at the right time to win the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway after leaders Chase Elliott and Joey Logano tangled in the final laps. The victory was Keselowski’s second of the season, third at Bristol and the 32nd of his NASCAR Cup Series career. The victory was also his second with his new crew chief Jeremy Bullins as Team Penske claimed its 13th Cup win at Bristol.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Keselowski drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Aric Almirola. Gray Gaulding and Ryan Preece started at the rear of the field after their respective cars failed pre-race technical inspection twice.

When the race started, Keselowski launched ahead on the outside lane and was followed by his teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. After the first lap, Almirola dropped to sixth, while stuck on the bottom lane, as Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. moved into the top five. The majority of the competitors spent the first seven laps jostling for positions, slipping sideways and nearly racing three-wide through every corner until the first caution flew on the eighth lap, when Ryan Newman slipped sideways in Turn 1 and spun the following turn. He proceeded with no damage.

The following restart on the 12th lap, Keselowski, again, rocketed with the lead followed by Truex, who passed Blaney for second. Keselowski was able to fend off Truex to lead the field through the first competition caution of the day on Lap 20. At the time of caution, Jimmie Johnson, who started 24th, was 11th while rookie Christopher Bell, who started 35th, was 21st.

Under caution, most of the leaders remained on track while 21 cars behind pitted. All took four tires, except for Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher, who pit for two tires. Corey LaJoie nabbed a pit road speeding penalty and was sent to the rear of the field. In addition, Chris Buescher returned to pit road to have a new scoring transponder installed to his No. 17 Ford. Despite the extra stop, he was allowed to retain his restart spot in 25th.

The race restarted on Lap 30, and Keselowski maintained his advantage on the outside lane. Almirola moved back to second followed by Kyle Busch as Truex fell to fourth. By Lap 35, Logano started making the bottom groove work to his advantage as he passed Truex for fourth. Three laps later, he moved to third over Kyle Busch while Stenhouse, who started 16th, moved to sixth and Truex drifted back to eighth.

When the second competition caution flew on Lap 60, Keselowski was still in the lead, having led all the laps. Under caution, the leaders pitted, except for DiBenedetto, who pitted under caution on Lap 23. Keselowski exited with the lead followed by Almirola, Blaney, Logano and Kyle Busch. During the pit stops, Busch nearly ran over Clint Bowyer’s rear tire changer while exiting his pit stall and to avoid hitting Bowyer’s car. The situation soured for Busch, who was sent to the tail end of the field for speeding on pit road along with Suarez.

When the race restarted on Lap 67, Keselowski made a move on the inside lane to retake the lead from DiBenedetto. Blaney would take second followed by Elliott and Almirola. Logano would move to fifth while DiBenedetto fell back to sixth.

On Lap 84, Blaney made a move underneath Keselowski in Turn 3 and took the lead. Two laps later, Elliott moved to second. On Lap 104, Elliott challenged Blaney for the lead as he attempted to move in front of him on the inside lane entering Turn 2. After spending the next two corners challenging his friend for the lead, Elliott took it from Blaney in Turn 1 a lap later and was able to clear him in Turn 2. Blaney attempted a crossover move in Turn 3, but Elliott used the outside lane to his advantage and maintained the lead through Turn 4. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who started at the rear of the field following his speeding penalty, had only made his way back up to 18th after passing his brother, Kurt.

When the race reached its conclusion of the first stage on Lap 125, Elliott, coming off his breakthrough win at Charlotte on Thursday, won his fourth stage of the season. Blaney was able to finish second followed by teammate Keselowski and Almirola, both of whom were repeatedly battling one another for position. Logano was fifth followed by Harvick, DiBenedetto, Hamlin, Stenhouse and Johnson.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for four tires and Blaney was able to beat Elliott off pit road to reassume the lead. Logano exited third followed by Keselowski and Hamlin, who gained three positions on pit road. DiBenedetto was tabbed with a speeding penalty and sent to the rear while Alex Bowman made an extra pit stop for loose lug nuts.

The second stage started on Lap 137, with Blaney taking off on the outside lane. A lap later, Keselowski moved to second over Elliott. By Lap 150, Johnson moved to sixth followed by Hamlin, Bowyer was ninth, Kenseth was 12th and Kyle Busch was 13th. John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-running rookie in 14th.

On Lap 170, Keselowski, who gained a huge momentum in Turn 2, made a move below Blaney in Turn 3 to take the lead when Blaney lost a little momentum in the turn. Four laps later, Blaney mounted another charge through Turns 4 and 1 on the bottom and was about to regain his lead before Keselowski used the high lane to zip past his teammate and pull away. Meanwhile, Byron, who restarted 24th on Lap 135, was up to 14th.

On Lap 185, Stenhouse, Logano and Johnson went three wide for seventh on the track in Turn 2 as Logano and Johnson made contact while being stuck behind the lapped car of Brennan Poole. Stenhouse was able to take the position from both drivers and Johnson went three-wide with Logano and Poole to take eighth in Turn 4.

The caution returned on Lap 199, when Blaney, who was trying to hunt Keselowski back down for the lead, slipped on the high lane through Turns 1 and 2 and spun. His car came to rest on the straightaway near the wall and was clobbered by Ty Dillon, who was unable to slow his car and avoid making contact with Blaney. The collision destroyed the front nose of Blaney’s No. 12 Ford while Dillon sustained damage to the right-front fender. Both competitors would end their race in the garage.

Under caution, the leaders pitted for four tires. Elliott was able to exit pit road first followed by Keselowski, Hamlin, Harvick and Almirola.

The race restarted on Lap 208 with Elliott maintaining the lead. Harvick and Keselowski battled for second followed Byron who challenged Hamlin for a top-five spot. The caution returned on Lap 212 when Joey Gase spun in Turn 2. Five laps later, the race restarted and Elliott, again, powered through with the lead followed by Harvick as Keselowski, who spun his tires, fell to third. The caution quickly returned when Bayley Currey stalled his No. 53 Chevrolet in Turn 2.

When the race resumed on Lap 222, Elliott maintained the lead over the field. A lap later, Logano uses the high lane to move to second over Harvick. Keselowski, who lifted in Turn 3, fell back to fifth. On Lap 225, Logano peaked for the lead in Turn 4, but slipped in Turn 1, making contact with Elliott, but Elliott was able to maintain the lead.

The caution returned on Lap 229 for a multi-car wreck, when Stenhouse, who stepped out of the gas to avoid hitting Kenseth in Turn 2, was turned by Johnson and made hard contact into the inside wall. Stenhouse’s No. 47 Chevrolet came back across the track, where he piled up with Kurt Busch, Bowman, Cole Custer, and Tyler Reddick in Turn 3. Preece and DiBenedetto were also involved as they spun below the apron. The race was red-flagged for 11 minutes and 35 seconds to give the safety crew time to clean the accident scene.

When the red flag was lifted, the pit road opened under caution and a handful of competitors like Truex, Johnson, Kenseth, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace pitted. DiBenedetto and Preece also pitted for repairs to their respective cars.

The restart on Lap 235 saw Elliott maintaining the lead on the outside lane while Hamlin moved into second. The caution returned four laps later when Preece made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. Under caution, Almirola pitted and Suarez, who was three laps down early in the race, was able to race his way back on the lead lap after receiving the free pass.

Four laps later, with seven laps left in the second stage, Elliott rocketed to the lead as Hamlin spun his tires on the inside lane. Elliott would cruise to the win in the second stage by less than a second over Hamlin. The stage win was Elliott’s fifth of this season. Harvick finished third followed by Logano and Kyle Busch. Bowyer, Byron, Jones, Keselowski and Buescher finished in the top 10. By then, the race was also halfway complete.

Under the stage break, Elliott led most of the field to pit road while Hamlin remained on track to inherit the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Johnson, Austin Dillon, Kenseth, Bell, Ryan Newman, Wallace, Michael McDowell, Almirola and Suarez. Following the pit stops, Elliott exited first followed by Logano, Harvick, Bowyer, Keselowski and Byron while Truex gained four spots.

The race restarted on Lap 262 and Hamlin was able to maintain the lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch. Johnson, who restarted third, slipped in Turn 4 and fell back to sixth while being overtaken by Austin Dillon, Almirola and Bell. While the majority of the competitors started to race aggressively and hard for position, Chris Buescher and Byron each made contact with the wall, but continued. On Lap 269, Buescher tagged the wall a second time in Turn 1 and pitted for a cut right-front tire, which drew a caution. By the time the caution flew, Elliott, who restarted 12th, was up to 10th behind Newman.

When the race restarted on Lap 274, Hamlin, this time, benefitted from the inside lane to maintain the lead over Busch. Five laps later, Busch made a move on the inside lane to return to the lead over his teammate. Eleven laps later, DiBenedetto took his No. 21 Ford to the garage due to a broken front-tire rod.

With 200 laps remaining, Busch stabilized his lead to nearly two seconds over Hamlin, who was engaged in a heated battle with Almirola. Johnson was in fourth and Elliott was in 10th, battling Harvick. Bell, Austin Dillon, Kenseth and Logano were fifth through eighth while Wallace fell back to 15th. Bowyer and Keselowski were 11th and 12th.

With 178 laps remaining, Johnson moved into the runner-up spot, trailing Busch by more than three seconds. Four laps later, Almirola moved to third and a lap later, Bell moved to fourth. The caution fell two laps later, when Austin Dillon smacked the outside wall due to a flat right-front tire. Under caution, the field pitted. Busch exited first followed by Hamlin, Logano, Almirola and Elliott. However, Logano, Keselowski, Wallace and Austin Dillon were all sent to the rear due to speeding on pit road.

The race restarted with 165 to go and Busch managed to hold the lead on the inside lane followed by Hamlin. Elliott moved fourth to third while Johnson moved from sixth to fifth. The caution returned with 145 laps remaining, when Newman spun through Turns 1 and 2 for the second time. Under caution, most of the leaders remained on track while some, starting with Almirola, pitted. Truex, Byron, Kenseth, Logano, Nemechek, Wallace, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Corey LaJoie and Newman also pitted.

With 140 laps remaining, the race returned to green and Hamlin used the outside lane to retake the lead from Kyle Busch.

As the laps dwindled, Busch started reeling in to teammate Hamlin for the lead, behind by two-tenths of a second, with Johnson lurking right behind as the leaders also started to catch lapped traffic. With 84 to go, Busch used the lapped car of J.J. Yeley to, finally, retake the lead from Hamlin, who was overtaken by Johnson for second two laps later in Turn 4.

With 68 to go, the caution returned when Harvick got into the Turn 1 wall after making contact with Jones. The leaders pitted and Hamlin, who pitted from third, reassumed the lead followed by Johnson, Busch, Elliott, Truex and Logano, who gained four spots. Bell was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation along with Austin Dillon, who was speeding on pit road.

The race restarted with 61 to go, and Hamlin launched ahead on the high lane followed by Elliott and Johnson. Kyle Busch fell back to sixth. Six laps later, Elliott gained a huge run on the inside lane in Turn 3 and nearly cleared himself for the lead before Hamlin used the high lane to battle back and clear Elliott the following lap. With 43 to go, Elliott established a crossover move to the inside of Hamlin and was inches away from taking the lead when the caution flew as Gaulding slapped the wall through Turns 1 and 2. At the time of caution, Hamlin was deemed the leader.

Hamlin maintained the lead on a restart with 37 to go while Logano moved to second. The caution returned a lap later, when a bump from Wallace in Turn 1 sent Almirola into the left side of Truex, who had slipped and lost momentum in Turn 3, that sent Truex spinning while Almirola and McDowell wrecked against the outside wall.

With the race restarting with 29 to go, Hamlin retained the lead followed by Logano and Kyle Busch. Byron moved to fifth while Johnson fell back to seventh as Elliott passed Kyle Busch for third. With 15 to go, the top-four competitors, (Hamlin, Logano, Elliott, Busch), were separated by less than one second.

With 12 to go, Hamlin slipped in Turn 1, allowing Logano and Elliott to make their way past Hamlin in Turn 2. The following turn, Logano slipped and made contact with the wall, which resulted in Elliott going to the lead and Hamlin making contact with Logano and spinning into the path of the lapped car of B.J. McLeod in Turn 4, which drew a caution the following lap and set the race for a late showdown to the finish.

When the race restarted with five laps remaining, Elliott launched with a slight advantage over Logano, who came back a lap later to squeak ahead with the lead. Entering Turn 4, with three laps remaining, Logano managed to clear Elliott on the inside lane, but not without being bumped by Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet through Turn 1 as Elliott made a move on the inside lane to draw even with Logano’s No. 22 Ford while making contact again. In Turn 3, Elliott slid into Logano and both went up and against the outside wall, which allowed Keselowski to take the lead. Bowyer came out in second followed by Kyle Busch as the field scattered to avoid Logano and Elliott. For the final two laps, Keselowski was able to beat Bowyer by less than four-tenths of a second to steal an overwhelming win at Thunder Valley.

“Oh, my goodness!” Keselowski said. “I think everybody on this Discount Tire Ford Mustang team is gonna go to Vegas. Is it open yet? ‘Cause things have been going our way from the luck of the draw and the qualifying to the last few laps there. We couldn’t get anything to go our way the start of the race with cars staying out and kept getting the bottom lane on the restarts. Nothing was working out. Right at the end, we came in, we put two tires on the lefts and drove up to fourth or sixth, I guess. We put ourselves in position. I didn’t know what was gonna happen, but I knew if I just kept my eye open, something might happen and sure enough, it did. Incredible day! This was a never-give-up effort and that’s where we’re coming as a team.”

Logano and Elliott limped home in 21st and 22nd. After taking the checkered flag and parking their wrecked race cars on pit road, they met to discuss the incident.

“[Elliott] wrecked me,” Logano said. “He got loose underneath me. The part that’s frustrating is, afterwards, a simple apology like be a man, come up to somebody and say, ‘Hey, my bad.’ I had to force an apology, which, to me, is childish. Anyways, man, we had a good recovery with our AutoTrader Mustang and had a shot to win and that’s all you can hope for. [I] passed him clean. It’s hard racing at the end, I get that. It’s hard racing, but, golly man, be a man and take the hit when you’re done with it.”

“Just going for the win,” Elliott said. “Trying to get underneath him, got really loose in. I don’t know if I had a tire going down or if I just got loose on entry, but as soon as I turned off the wall, I had zero chance in making it. I’ll certainly take the blame. I think I just got loose and got up into him. I felt like that was my shot. He was really good on the short run. I felt like I had to keep him behind me right there in order to win the race with only three, four laps to go. I hate we both wrecked, but you can’t go back in time now.”

Bowyer settled in second followed by Johnson in his penultimate race at Bristol. Teammates Kyle Busch and Jones rounded out the top five. Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Byron, Bell and Wallace finished in the top 10.

The race featured 21 lead changes with seven different leaders. There were 17 cautions for 102 laps.

Harvick continues to lead the Cup regular-season series standings by 24 points over Logano, 45 over Elliott and 55 over Keselowski.

Results:

1. Brad Keselowski, 115 laps led

2. Clint Bowyer

3. Jimmie Johnson

4. Kyle Busch, 100 laps led

5. Erik Jones

6. Austin Dillon

7. Kurt Busch

8. William Byron

9. Christopher Bell

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Ryan Preece

13. John Hunter Nemechek

14. Michael McDowell

15. Ryan Newman

16. Matt Kenseth

17. Denny Hamlin, 131 laps led

18. Daniel Suarez

19. Timmy Hill

20. Martin Truex Jr.

21. Joey Logano, two laps led

22. Chase Elliott, 88 laps, Stage 1 & 2 winner

23. Chris Buescher, four laps down

24. Brennan Poole, six laps down

25. J.J. Yeley, eight laps down

26. Garrett Smithley, 11 laps down

27. Quin Houff, 17 laps down

28. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Accident

29. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

30. Gray Gaulding – OUT, Accident

31. Matt DiBenedetto, 44 laps down, four laps led

32. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Fuel Pressure

33. Joey Gase – OUT, Too Slow

34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

35. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

36. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

37. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

38. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident

39. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

40. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, 60 laps led

The NASCAR Cup Series will travel to Hampton, Georgia, to race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 7. The race can be seen at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

June 1, 2020