Harvick wins Brickyard 400
INDIANAPOLIS — Sunday’s race to kiss the bricks should have come down to this: Two NASCAR heavyweights, two future hall of famers, two of NASCAR’s hottest drivers going toe-to-toe for the victory in one of the sport’s crown jewel races.
In a 2020 season championship fight that looks like it could come down to Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, it looked like it was going to be the same two top contenders fighting for the win on the legendary oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But Denny Hamlin’s right front tire had other ideas. Hamlin was leading rival/points leader Kevin Harvick with just seven laps to go in the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 when tragedy struck. His tire blew, sending him and his No. 11 Toyota careening into the wall and ending his day in bitter disappointment.
“It’s roulette if (the tires are) gonna stay together
or not ... mine didn’t,” Hamlin said after the race.
So, instead of the Joe Gibbs Racing star fighting for his fifth win of the season, his fourth since NASCAR’s COVID-19-forced hiatus and his first at Indianapolis, Harvick instead cruised — in overtime — to his fourth victory of the season and his second consecutive Brickyard 400 victory.
Matt Kenseth, the 48-year old Chip Ganassi Racing driver who replaced Kyle Larson in the No. 42 Chevrolet earlier this season, finished second and Aric Almirola third.
Harvick looked to be in control of the race at the start of Stage 3. Hamlin, using a push from Christopher Bell, went three wide and briefly took the lead away from Harvick, but Harvick got him back seconds later, going around the outside and pulling away. Hamlin however, came out in front of Harvick after the latter suffered a slow pit stop. That would have proved to be the difference in the race, if not for Hamlin’s tire.
Along with the race win, Harvick also picked up the Stage 2 victory after executing a phenomenal maneuver, dipping into the infield grass and making a bold inside pass of both leader Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin. Harvick executed the rare pass for the lead under green just before Ryan Blaney hit the wall and brought out the sixth caution of the race.
Harvick found himself with the opportunity to make the pass after a series of cautions, the worst of which was caused by Erik Jones’ scary collision with the Turn 3 wall on Lap 75. Despite the hard contact and his car catching fire, thankfully the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was able to climb out of the cockpit under his own power and walk away from the scary wreck.
“I guess we had the right front (tire) go down, I felt it pop and then I was just along for the ride,” said Jones, who entered the day 16th in points. “It’s a shame. It’s kind of the story of our season. It’s been a rough year.”
Before losing his left front tire on Lap 83, William Byron, the former Xfinity Series champion, conquered a chaotic 50-lap first stage that took about an hour and a half to complete.
The delay was caused by a red flag following a rare pit-late pileup on the 14th lap. The majority of the field headed to pit lane for a NASCAR-scheduled competition caution when several cars at the back of the field got stacked up, causing a massive multi-car wreck that included Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Allgaier, Martin Truex Jr., Brennan Poole and Corey LaJoie.