Kevin Harvick was the dominant car as he drove to his second win of the 2020 NASCAR season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was a very competitive race with nine different drivers exchanging the lead 21 times. Martin Truex Jr. was one of the top cars. He was able to race his way to the lead to be the winner in both stage one and stage two of the race.
There were just five caution periods during the 325 lap race. That includes the competition caution at lap 27 and the two cautions at the end of the first two stages.
With a lot of green flag racing, Kevin Harvick got out front when it mattered most. Kevin led a race high 151 laps including the final 55 laps to score his third career win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track is where he scored his first ever win in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2001. Kevin got that win after the death of racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. in the Daytona 500 that year. Kevin was brought in to race for Richard Childress Racing in the spot left open by Dale Sr.’s death. However, they changed the number of the car to 29 instead of 3.
After winning the race in 2001, Kevin drove around the track in the reverse direction holding his hand out the window with three fingers raised as a salute to the fallen NASCAR legend. Kevin repeated the salute when he won at the race again in 2018. Yesterday (6/7) even without fans in the stands, Kevin again saluted Dale Earnhardt Sr. with the same salute after winning.
Kyle Busch was able to finish in second place with Martin Truex Jr. claiming third place. Ryan Blaney was the fourth place car and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five. See the complete race results for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 here.
Winning the race ensured that Kevin Harvick would hold his position at the top of the NASCAR Cup Series point standings for this week. In Fact, the top four places did not change hands with Joey Logano (2nd), Chase Elliott (3rd) and Brad Keselowski (4th) remain in the same spots after the race. Martin Truex Jr. did move up to take over fifth place. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
The drivers and teams will not have to wait a week to get back on the track as there will be another mid-week race this week. Wednesday, June 10th will be the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
By: Buck Stevens
