Harvick wins at Brickyard 400, grabs 4th win of the Season (7-5-20)
By: Becca Cottingham
Headline Photo Courtesy: NASCAR
After another week of weather delays we start the Brickyard 400. Joey Logano lead us to the green flag. Joey and Kurt Busch battled it out for the first lap. However, Joey Logano was able to lead the way. Kevin Harvick came in before everyone else and just took tires for track position. Now the game will be saving fuel. The competition caution comes out and pit road became very busy. So busy that there was a major incident on pit road. On the restart we have three wide racing for positions. Jimmie Johnson’s car being drove by Justin Allgaier has to quickly come back down pit due to a possible tire issue. Several drivers were not able to keep required speed and they were required to park their cars. Ryan Newman ends up hitting the wall and bringing out the caution. Several drivers came down pit road while we had several stay out. The end of stage one was wide and William Byron scores the stage one win.
We start stage two with some great racing with Chase Elliott leading the field. The Wood Brother’s driver Matt DiBenedetto is making moves through the field. Along with drivers such as Christopher Bell. Erik Jones hits the wall hard and brings out a caution. William Byron who won stage one had an issue and has brought out a caution. William Byron having a left front tire blowing and damaged the car even through the hood of the car. We got back under green and Ryan Blaney has an issue and brings our another caution. This will leave us with less than ten to go in stage two. Kevin Harvick made a bold three wide move to get back to the front of the race. He was able to get out front and score his stage two win.
Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott bring us to the green flag. Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin make contact when Denny Hamlin had a huge run. Denny Hamlin made a huge move three wide to take the lead. Kevin Harvick made a huge power move and some how kept the lead. Kevin Harvick knows if Denny Hamlin gets in front of him it will more than likely be a battle. Both Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick have had some great races recently. As we are going through green flag pit stops Alex Bowman hits the wall hard and brings out the caution. This caution allows Denny Hamlin to get out front and leaves Kevin Harvick chasing him. Matt Kenseth is having an awesome race. Cole Custer and Christopher Bell are also having great runs too. Denny Hamlin from the lead blows a right front tire failure and hits the wall hard. Smoke billowing out of his car. Crew chief reminding him to catch his breath and that the safety crew is with him. He was able to get out and walks to the ambulance unassisted. Kevin Harvick showed great respect after seeing Denny Hamlin’s crash. The crew even gave fist bumps and pats on the back to Denny’s Crew chief as he heads to check on his driver. This is a huge restart for the front drivers. We will have a three lap shoot out when we go back green. We go three wide on the restart, Cole Cluster gave his teammate a huge push at the restart. Kevin Harvick has a good lead on Matt Kenseth. Kevin Harvick repeats the win at The Brickyard, while drivers are crashing behind him. Kevin Harvick climbs the fence in honor of Tony Stewart. This will give Kevin Harvick his 53rd win.
