◆ Kevin Harvick snaps an 0-for-38 drought at Pocono Raceway.
LONG POND, Pa. — Kevin Harvick hit pause on that victory swirl of scorched rubber and billows of smoke at Pocono Raceway. Sure, Harvick needed to save the engine for a repeat run in the same Ford and a shot at a weekend sweep in a Cup Series twin bill. He stood on his car alone again in victory lane in front of another race with barren grandstands and the only noise at the track just a few cheers from his Stewart-Haas Racing crew.
It’s not much of a blowout if there’s no one at the party.
“I’m not doing anymore celebrations with nobody out there to celebrate with,” Harvick said. “Until the fans come back, I’m not doing a burnout, I’m not standing on the car, I’m not doing any of that stuff. It doesn’t feel right not having my team in victory lane.”
Harvick snapped an 0-for-38 drought at Pocono, taking the checkered flag Saturday at one of two tracks where victory had eluded him.
Harvick won the first of two NASCAR Cup races in front of no fans this weekend at Pocono and will start 20th Sunday with the field set by inverting the lead-lap finishers.
The 44-year-old California driver has won at every active track except Kentucky Speedway (nine tries) and the 2014 series champion has three wins overall for SHR this season. He has three career wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway, though he’s lost two races on the roval configuration.
Harvick held off a hard-charging Denny Hamlin, whose efforts were hampered by a late vibration, for his 52nd career Cup victory. He had 12 top-five finishes in his other 38 starts at Pocono.
“That’s great to finally check Pocono off the list,” Harvick said.
Aric Almirola was third, followed by Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch.
Ryan Preece finished 20th and will start on the pole Sunday. Teams brought cars straight to the garage instead of lining them up on pit road.
The race was scheduled as the second Saturday, but rain washed out the Truck Series race. That sets up history: Truck Series, second-tier Xfinity and Cup will all run Sunday. It’s the first time three NASCAR National Series races will race on the same day at the same track.
NASCAR wanted the trip to Pocono to settle one of the most tumultuous weeks in its history after a noose found in Bubba Wallace’s stall last week at Talladega led to a federal investigation. The incident was not ruled a hate crime. NASCAR President Steve Phelps stated “the noose was real,” though it remains unknown who tied it. Wallace, who sparked NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag, has become NASCAR’s advocate for social change and acknowledged his time in the national spotlight left him “wore the hell out.” He finished 22nd in the No. 43 Chevrolet.
Politics were in play as Corey LaJoie, who finished 23rd, ran with a Trump 2020 logo on the rear quarter panel of his Ford.
The weekend should have been one of the wildest ones in Pocono history. Track officials were optimistic the infield would be jam packed with race fans who wanted to experience four NASCAR races in two days.
There was a new look all around the 2½ mile tri-oval in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The track cloaked its leaderboard in advertisements because the pandemic wreaked havoc with plans to upgrade to a modern LED scoring tower. Pocono also had 1,250 fans virtually sign the start-finish line. Staff members hand wrote each name on the start/finish line ahead of race weekend.