Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin have been the top-two drivers of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series, so far. After finishing first and second, each scoring a win, the in the Pocono Raceway doubleheader a weekend early. Harvick and Hamlin were the top-two drivers in Sunday’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Harvick claimed his second-consecutive and third, overall, Indy win Sunday, becoming only the third-ever driver to go back-to-back at the Brickyard and joining seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson as the only drivers still active on the Cup Series circuit with more than two wins of the race more commonly known as the Brickyard 400.
“I’m just really proud of all these guys and everybody at SHR,” Harvick said. ”I’ve just got to thank everybody from Busch Light. Our Ford Mustang was fast today. Mobil 1, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Jimmy John’s, everybody at Haas Automation for everything that they do for our car to be able to put it in victory lane is just a big effort right now to get the cars to the racetrack. Denny had his issues, there, and we were able to capitalize and get a great push from Cole [Custer], there, at the end and bring it home.”
Harvick also led a race-high 68 laps.
Hamlin was leading Sunday’s race, with Harvick in second, when Hamlin blew a tire and crashed hard into the turn-two wall inside the final 10 laps.
“They told me that he [Hamlin] was really close on tire wear and our tire wear was good, and they wanted us to push as hard as we could and the pace picked up as it got cooler, so you hate to see people have trouble,” Harvick said. “I’m just glad he’s okay.”
Hamlin wound up 28th as a result of the crash.
“It’s just tough. I hate it for the FedEx team,” Hamlin said. “We didn’t do what we needed to do, and it didn’t work out for us today. I had a fast car, obviously, and was stretching it out, there, but wasn’t pushing right-front at all. It’s kind of roulette if you’re going to get one that will stay together or not, and mine didn’t. You saw the end result. These big races, things don’t go my way all the time. We’re still going to go next week and try to win the next one. We’ll do all we can.”
After the caution for Hamlin’s wreck, the race restarted with two laps remaining with Harvick as the leader and Matt Kenseth alongside in second.
Kenseth maintained second for his best finish since returning from retirement to replace the suspended Kyle Larson in the #42 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford.
Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola finished third for his fifth-consecutive top-five finish. Rookie Cole Custer finished fifth, giving SHR three cars inside the top-five of the finishing order. Custer also was one of two rookies in the top-10 at the checkered flag, the other being Tyler Reddick in eighth.
Hamlin’s crash was one of several single-car wrecks because of blown or cut tires. The yellow flag waved nine times, including a lap-12 competition caution and the two cautions that divided the race into its three stages. None of the cautions were from multi-car crashes, even though the 160-lap race included two. Matt DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon were among those who crashed on the final lap as Harvick took the checkered flag. The biggest crash of the day occurred on pit road when the race was already under the early-race competition caution. After Michael McDowell slowed to pull into his pit box, a chain reaction wreck involved Justin Allgaier, who was subbing for Jimmie Johnson. Allgaier’s car was pushed into Ryan Blaney’s car that was already being serviced in its pit box, and Blaney’s rear-tire changer Zachary Price was pinched between the two cars. Price was taken to the track’s infield care center and, then, transported to a local hospital.
“Kind of like it always has been in the past here,” Allgaier said. “Starting in the back, trying to go forward, the #15 [Brennan Poole] actually got in the back of me. I didn’t know if I got the gentleman on the #12 [Price] or not. Once the wreck started happening in front of us, and we all got bottled-up there, one car after another were getting run into. It’s just a shame. I hate it for these guys on this Ally No. 48. They’ve done such a great job. They’ve prepared so well for the circumstances. Obviously, our hearts and thoughts are for Jimmie and his family right now. That’s the most important piece of all this is getting him back to the race track soon. And I wanted to do well for them today and it’s disappointing to be standing here talking to you, unfortunately. But we’ll go on. I don’t know what next week looks like yet. We’ll go run the Xfinity Series race and go have a good shot at it. It’s a disappointing way to end the Brickyard 400.”
Other drivers involved in the pit-road crash included Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece and Brennan Poole.
Harvick pitted just before the scheduled caution, so he was still on the race track during the pit-road carnage. As a result of staying out, Harvick inherited the lead from pole sitter Joey Logano.
William Byron, though, won the opening stage that ended at lap 50 after he stayed out during a lap-41 caution.
Chase Elliott stayed out during the caution after the first stage to take the lead. Harvick and, who also stayed out, restarted second and third.
Byron led, again, after he and Dillon took only two tires during a lap-75 yellow flag. But as soon as the race restarted, Dillon took the lead as Byron brought out another caution with a cut left-front tire. Harvick was, once again, the leader after the Byron caution.
Harvick maintained his lead to a stage-two win at lap 100 and remained up front until final pit stops with just under 40 laps remaining. Hamlin pitted a lap before Harvick, and as a result, was ahead of Harvick after they had both stopped. When others pitted during a caution a few laps later, Hamlin cycled to the lead and Harvick to second. Hamlin maintained his lead until his last-lap crash.
Two of Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, Aric Almirola and Cole Custer, also posted top-five finishes Sunday. Almirola finished third for his fifth-straight top-five finish and third third-place finish in the last four races. Custer finished fifth.
Brad Keselowski finish fourth. Kyle Busch was sixth, McDowell seventh, Darrell Wallace Jr. ninth, and Logano rounded out the top-10.
