Rivals at scene of last-lap duel

Harvick, Hamlin running strong

Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick spent the final lap at New Hampshire a year ago jockeying for the lead, the two clearly the class of the field as the NASCAR Cup Series race approached the checkered flag.

It turned out to be a harbinger of the wacky 2020 season.

Hamlin and Harvick have been the strongest cars on a weekly basis amid the coronavirus pandemic, combining for nearly half of the wins through 19 races. Hamlin won his series-leading fifth just over a week ago at Kansas Speedway, where Harvick — the winner at New Hampshire last season — lamented how off his No. 4 Ford felt despite a top-5 finish.

“Those guys have been solid. They’re going to be in the top 5 even on their bad days,” Hamlin said ahead of Sunday’s return to the flat, mile-long track at New Hampshire. “You call it a bad day; he nearly won it with 10 to go or so. He still finds a way to get to the top 5. That’s just a really strong race team.”

Then again, so is the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hamlin could match the six wins he posted a year ago, when he made the final round of the playoffs, and begin setting his sights on the eight wins he had during the 2010 season. And more importantly, he could continue to rack up playoff points to help usher him through this year’s postseason. Hamlin is pursuing his first series championship.

Hamlin and Harvick both have been pretty successful at New Hampshire. Harvick leads all active drivers in wins with four there while Hamlin has three. He has five second-place runs there with the most recent being last year.

Remember? When Harvick beat him?

“I thought he just kind of outsmarted me really on that last lap, kind of protecting the bottom there,” Hamlin said.

Playoff positions

If the season ended now, Clint Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto and William Byron would be the final three drivers to slip into the playoffs based on points. Left out would be Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time champion who finds himself 18 points out in his final fulltime season.

“We obviously need to get some points,” Jones said. “The worst case would be having another person behind us in points win and jumping us again. That would put us in a pretty tough spot. Winning is the goal, but I think we do have to focus a little bit on stage points coming up, especially with some of the wild-card races.”

Fan friendly

There were no fans at Kansas last week and there won’t be any for the upcoming doubleheader at Michigan. But officials are planning for about 12,000 fans in New Hampshire, which is about 30 percent of the maximum they could have allowed with social distancing. The speedway had capped ticket sales at 35 percent of the roughly 75,000 seats.