NASCAR: Kevin Harvick goes back-to-back at the Brickyard

Kevin Harvick secured his fourth victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season and his second consecutive win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after Denny Hamlin wrecked.

It appeared as though Indianapolis Motor Speedway would produce the third consecutive 1-2 finish for the #11 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and the #4 Ford of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, with Hamlin taking his series-high fifth victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season and his first ever victory at the Brickyard.

But with seven laps remaining (before the 160-lap race was extended by one lap) around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana, Hamlin had a tire go down and his #11 Toyota went straight into the turn one wall.

Harvick inherited the lead and used a strong push from the #41 Ford of rookie teammate Cole Custer on the ensuing overtime restart to hold off Chip Ganassi Racing’s Matt Kenseth by 0.743 seconds and tie Hamlin atop this year’s wins list with his fourth victory.

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Harvick is now a three-time winner of the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400, and he has won the race in two consecutive seasons.

Since he took over the driving duties of the #42 Chevrolet for Kyle Larson 12 races ago when NASCAR returned to action following the unexpected 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Kenseth had not finished higher than 10th.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola finished in third place in his #10 Ford after overcoming an early tire issue, giving him five consecutive top five finishes. Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski finished in fourth in his #2 Ford, and Custer settled for fifth, giving Stewart-Haas Racing three of the top five drivers.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch finished in sixth place in his #18 Toyota, and Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell had an impressive race en route to a seventh place finish in his #34 Ford. He has now finished in the top eight in two of the last three races, a rare accomplishment for a driver who competes for such a small team.

Richard Childress Racing rookie Tyler Reddick, Richard Petty Motorsports’ Bubba Wallace and Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who started the race from the pole position, rounded out the top 10 by finishing in eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #8 Chevrolet, #43 Chevrolet and #22 Ford, respectively.

The race featured a total of 11 lead changes among nine drivers. Harvick led more laps than anybody in the field with 68 laps led. The other leaders were Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, Hamlin, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, Logano, Kenseth, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, Spire Motorsports’ Ross Chastain and Rick Ware Racing’s Garrett Smithley.

Byron won stage one and Harvick won stage two.

The race also featured nine caution flag periods, including a planned competition caution and the usual two caution flag periods to end stage one and stage two. Several of the wrecks were violent wrecks caused by tire failures. Only 28 of the 40 drivers who competed in the race finished it, and 19 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Kevin Harvick
2nd – Matt Kenseth
3rd – Aric Almirola
4th – Brad Keselowski
5th – Cole Custer
6th – Kyle Busch
7th – Michael McDowell
8th – Tyler Reddick
9th – Bubba Wallace
10th – Joey Logano
11th – Chase Elliott
12th – Christopher Bell
13th – Kurt Busch
14th – Ty Dillon
15th – Clint Bowyer
16th – John Hunter Nemechek
17th – Ross Chastain
18th – Austin Dillon
19th – Matt DiBenedetto
20th – Daniel Suarez
21st – J.J. Yeley
22nd – B.J. McLeod
23rd – Quin Houff
24th – Garrett Smithley
25th – Josh Bilicki
26th – Joey Gase
27th – William Byron
28th – Denny Hamlin
29th – Timmy Hill
30th – Alex Bowman
31st – Chris Buescher
32nd – Ryan Blaney
33rd – Erik Jones
34th – Ryan Newman
35th – Brennan Poole
36th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
37th – Justin Allgaier
38th – Martin Truex Jr.
39th – Corey LaJoie
40th – Ryan Preece

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The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Quaker State 400, which is set to be broadcast live from Kentucky Speedway on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 12..

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