Kevin Harvick continues to be a dominant force in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season as he scores his second consecutive Brickyard 400 win.
The official name of the race was the “Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records.” However, most NASCAR fans will always simply call this race the “Brickyard 400.” It happens at perhaps the most famous race track in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That makes this race one of NASCAR “Crown Jewel” races.
With no practice, NASCAR told drivers they would issue a Competition Caution early in the race to allow teams the chance to make adjustments to the cars. The cars were entering the narrow pit lane for this caution when a crash happened on pit row damaging several cars. The crash caused the red flag to be issued stopping the race for just over eleven minutes.
When the race resumed stage one settled down with no more caution periods during the stage that William Byron was able to win.
Stage two would include three yellow flags with Kevin Harvick completing the stage in the lead position.
Stage three would see the same two drivers battling for the win as the past two NASCAR Cup Series races … Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. Kevin had led the most laps in the race when Denny was able to get by him with the lap count winding down. However, like other drivers had experienced in the race, Denny had a tire issue. When his tire blew with just five laps left, it sent him crashing into the outside wall ending his chance of his first Brickyard 400 win.
The cleanup of the crash took long enough that the race was sent to a green-white-checkered NASCAR overtime finish.
Kevin was able to retain the lead on the restart. He held that lead for the final two laps scoring his second Brickyard 400 win in a row. That also gives him four wins for the 2020 Cup Series Season.
Matt Kenseth scored the runner-up finish. Aric Almirola finished the race in third place, Brad Keselowski claimed fourth place and rookie Cole Custer rounded out the top five. See the complete race results for the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records here.
Kevin Harvick continues to hold the lead in the point standings. Chase Elliott jumps up a couple of spots to second place. Bard Keselowski remains in third place, Ryan Blaney slips two spots to fourth place. Despite crashing near the end of the race, Denny Hamlin remains in fifth place in the standings. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
The series heads to Kentucky Speedway next for the Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart Sunday, July 12th.
By: Buck Stevens
