Race reports
Speedweeks 2020
In Daytona 500 qualifying, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the pole with Alex Bowman qualifying second. [201]
In the Busch Clash, Ryan Newman started on pole. Brad Keselowski led the most laps. Joey Logano was leading, but got into the wall after contact with Kyle Busch that also collected Keselowski. On the restart, several drivers spun their tires causing a crash before the start-finish line including Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., and Jimmie Johnson. In overtime, Denny Hamlin had a tire go down and collected several cars. On the next overtime restart, Chase Elliott spun after contact with Kyle Larson. Erik Jones made a last lap pass on Newman with help from Hamlin for the win. [202]
In the Bluegreen Vacations Duel, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the first Duel. Daniel Suárez got into the wall after contact with Ryan Blaney. Joey Logano held off Aric Almirola to win his second straight Duel. In the second Duel, Alex Bowman led. J. J. Yeley hit the wall after contact with Corey LaJoie. William Byron and Jimmie Johnson drove past Kevin Harvick and Byron held off Johnson to win. Suárez, Yeley, and Chad Finchum failed to make the race. [203]
Round 1: Daytona 500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started on pole. After the first 20 laps, the race was red flagged due to rain and the rest was postponed until the following day. William Byron spun and slammed the wall after contact with polesitter Stenhouse as Chase Elliott won the first stage. Stenhouse was hit from behind coming to pit road as Denny Hamlin won the second stage. In the closing laps, Kyle Busch blew an engine as Brad Keselowski was turned into the wall collecting Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Matt DiBenedetto. Ross Chastain had a tire go down and collected Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Ty Dillon, Tyler Reddick, and Christopher Bell. Clint Bowyer and Michael McDowell spun sending the race to overtime. Ryan Newman took the lead from Hamlin on the last lap, but was turned by Ryan Blaney and went airborne and landing on the roof before being plowed into by Corey LaJoie. Hamlin edged Blaney at the line for his third 500 win in five years and his second consecutive Daytona 500 win, becoming the first driver since Sterling Marlin to win back-to-back 500s. Newman was found unresponsive and was removed from the car and was rushed to the hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. [204] [205]
Round 2: Pennzoil 400
Kyle Busch won the pole after qualifying was cancelled due to rain. Chase Elliott dominated early and won both stages. Martin Truex Jr. had to return to pit road to tighten lug nuts and later slammed the wall after having a tire go down. Elliott also had a tire go down and slammed the wall. Ryan Blaney, despite a tire rub, took the lead from Joey Logano and was heading to the win until Ross Chastain spun. Blaney and Alex Bowman pitted while Logano stayed out. William Byron had a tire rub and wrecked along with Blaney, Kyle Busch, and John Hunter Nemechek as Logano held off Matt DiBenedetto for his second straight Vegas win. [206]
Round 3: Auto Club 400
Clint Bowyer started on the pole. Alex Bowman won the first stage. Bowyer brought out the caution after having a tire go down. Kyle Larson got into the wall after contact with Denny Hamlin, but was able to keep going. Ryan Blaney won the second stage. Hamlin made contact with the wall. Bowman took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. and continued to lead with Blaney in second. Blaney had to pit for a flat tire with three laps to go. Bowman continued to lead for his second career Cup victory over Kyle Busch. [207]
Round 4: FanShield 500
Chase Elliott started on pole. Ryan Blaney slammed the wall after making contact with Denny Hamlin and collected Brad Keselowski. Kevin Harvick passed Elliott to win the first stage. Erik Jones got into the wall as Keselowski won the second stage. Tyler Reddick ran well until he got loose and got into the wall. Martin Truex Jr. plowed the wall after contact with Aric Almirola. Ross Chastain spun and an accident between John Hunter Nemechek and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sent the race to overtime. Joey Logano held off Harvick for his second win of the season. [208] Kyle Larson finished 4th but unbeknownst to all at the time, this would be his final race with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Season paused for two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The fifth race of the season was supposed to be the 2020 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, the first race at Atlanta since its rescheduling from being the second race of the season (in late February or early March, which it was for 5 years) to mid-March immediately after the west coast swing (the races at Las Vegas, Fontana, and Phoenix) as part of the 2020 schedule changes.
Prior to the Atlanta race, NASCAR announced that no fans would be permitted to attend it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [209] However, it was announced the following day that the race would instead be outright postponed to sometime later in the season. The same restrictions applied to the following race, the 2020 Dixie Vodka 400, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. [210] It was supposed to be the first Homestead race since its rescheduling from being the season-finale in November (which it was for 18 years) to March as the sixth race of the season as part of the 2020 schedule changes.
Round 5: The Real Heroes 400
This was NASCAR's first race back since the pandemic hit. It was run on May 17 as a one-day show, with no fans in attendance. This additional race at Darlington replaced the race at Chicago in June on the schedule. NASCAR announced that there would be no practice or qualifying held so that teams would not need to bring additional crew members to the track and would not need to bring backup cars. [192] [193]
Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole position by a random draw, which was done on the Thursday before the race and televised on NASCAR Race Hub. [211] Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecked on the first lap of the race. Jimmie Johnson was leading at the end of the first stage but wrecked after contact with Chris Buescher on the last lap of the stage, with William Byron winning the stage. Keselowski won the second stage of the race. Kevin Harvick led the most laps and won the race, his second win at Darlington and 50th career win. [212]
Round 6: Toyota 500
The second race to air during prime time this season [213] also saw no fans in the stands much like the previous race. Positions 1 through 20 from Sunday's race were inverted, which meant Ryan Preece started on pole by virtue of his 20th-place finish on Sunday. [192] [193] Positions 21 through 40 made up the remaining half of the grid. The Tommy Baldwin racing entry driven by Josh Bilicki did not enter this race which meant only 39 cars started. J. J. Yeley and Gray Gaulding started in the rear due to them not participating in Sunday's race. The race saw Preece, the pole sitter, blow a motor during the first stage and fail to finish. Clint Bowyer led the most laps and won the first and second stages, but got into the wall and spun late in the race. Denny Hamlin was leading when the final caution came out with 28 laps to go when Chase Elliott made contact with Kyle Busch. Busch was attempting to fall in line behind Elliott on the front straightaway of the track, but accidentally spun Elliott into the inside wall. Elliott expressed his displeasure under the caution period, when he climbed from his car and extended his middle finger towards Busch in retaliation. During this caution period, rain began to fall, which caused NASCAR to red flag the race. With 20 laps remaining, NASCAR declared Hamlin the winner. This was Hamlin's second victory of the season. [214]
Round 7: Coca-Cola 600
This race occurred on its originally scheduled date of May 24 but was the first race since the COVID-19 pandemic to feature qualifying as part of a one-day show. This would turn out to be the final race in 2020 that would have an actual qualifying session as NASCAR would announce in late July that there would be no further practice or qualifying sessions for any of NASCAR's 3 national touring series for the remainder of 2020. Kurt Busch started on pole for the race. At the beginning of the race, Denny Hamlin lost ballast from his car and was forced to pit, resulting in him starting the race multiple laps down. The race was red-flagged due to rain during the first stage. Alex Bowman won the first stage of the race under caution after Clint Bowyer got into the wall. Bowman also won the second stage of the race. Joey Logano won the third stage of the race. Chase Elliott was leading late in the race when William Byron spun with two laps to go, setting up an overtime finish. Elliott and several cars came to pit road while other drivers stayed out. Brad Keselowski took the lead and won the race in overtime. Jimmie Johnson crossed the finish line 2nd but failed post-race inspection, resulting in him being disqualified and finishing the race in last place meaning he will start in last place in the next race. [215]
Round 8: Alsco Uniforms 500
The race was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday due to rain. The top 20 from the Coca-Cola 600 was inverted, which meant that William Byron started on pole. Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley got into the wall on the first lap and collected Tyler Reddick and Ty Dillon. Byron had to pit after making contact with Corey LaJoie on pit road. Kyle Busch cut a tire after making contact with Aric Almirola. Brad Keselowski cut a tire and got into the wall along with Matt Kenseth. The race was red flagged due to rain. When the race resumed, Joey Logano won the first stage. Alex Bowman won the second stage and led the start of the final stage until he got into the wall and had to pit. Kevin Harvick took the lead, but Chase Elliott passed Harvick for the lead and held off Denny Hamlin for his seventh career win. [216]
Round 9: Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500
A random draw determined the starting lineup with Brad Keselowski starting on pole. After two competition cautions, Chase Elliott won the first stage. Ryan Blaney spun while second and collected Ty Dillon. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun and collected several cars including Alex Bowman, Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, and Matt DiBenedetto, which brought out the red flag. Elliott won the second stage as Kevin Harvick made contact with Erik Jones and got into the wall. Bubba Wallace made little contact with Aric Almirola and collected Martin Truex Jr. Denny Hamlin spun after battling Joey Logano for the lead. Elliott got loose and put himself and Logano into the wall, which allowed Keselowski to take the lead and hold off Clint Bowyer for his second win of the season. [217]
Round 10: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Chase Elliott won pole from random draw. Kurt Busch had to serve a drive-thru penalty in the first laps due to failing pre-race inspection multiple times. Martin Truex Jr. won both stages as Michael McDowell and John Hunter Nemechek both had spin outs that brought the only incidents of the day. Kevin Harvick will go on to lead the most laps and grab his second win of the season. [218]
Round 11: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500
The first night race to take place at Martinsville since the implementation of the lights in 2017, and the first race to ban all confederate flags from sports events in response to the murder of George Floyd. Ryan Blaney won pole from random draw as a quick caution on lap 5 came out for debris from Austin Dilion's car. He would eventually retire from the race on the final stage due to overheating inside the car. Many noticeable drivers, including Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Blaney, and Matt Kenseth would struggle in the first stage and would already be a lap or two down until the competition caution came out at lap 60. Another caution would come out with 10 to go in stage 1 from Timmy Hill stalling on pit road. Most drivers who were a lap down opted to take the wave around, but Corey Lajoie opted not to pit while on the lead lap, thus trapping all the wave arounds stuck a lap down. Joey Logano will go on to win stage 1 while Jimmie Johnson would win stage 2. Martin Truex Jr. was busted from going over the commitment box while pitting and had to restart at the tail-end. Two more cautions would come out for incidents involving David Starr and Quin Houff. Truex would assume the lead in the latter portion of the race and would win for the second consecutive time at Martinsville, beating second place Ryan Blaney by 4.232 seconds. [219]
Round 12: Dixie Vodka 400
Denny Hamlin won pole as the start of the race was delayed due to lightning in the area, and again on lap 5. Ryan Newman would spin out in the first stage as Hamlin would go on to win both stages. Chase Elliott led late in the race, but was blocked by lapped car Joey Logano due to their incident that happened at Bristol several weeks prior, allowing Hamlin to regain the lead and score his third win of the season. [220]
Round 13: GEICO 500
The race was pushed from Sunday to Monday afternoon due to rain and lightning that washed out the track. Martin Truex Jr. started on pole from random draw. Denny Hamlin would hit the wall late in stage 1 and would have to repair under green. 5 laps before the end of stage 1, a shower damped the track forcing the red flag for almost an hour. Tyler Reddick would win stage 1 under yellow following race resumption. John Hunter Nemechek would spin out in turn four to bring the only incident in stage 2 as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would win stage 2. Stage 3 would see two minor crashes involving Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon with 50 to go, and Brennan Poole and Joey Gase would crash with 46 to go. This caution would ultimately turn into a fuel mileage race as many would either barely make it while others would be a few laps short. The race would run green until 3 laps to go when Jimmie Johnson got turned by Kevin Harvick at the start/finish line forcing the race into overtime. Drivers up front like Ryan Blaney, Stenhouse, and Harvick would opt not to pit in order to keep track position and save fuel. On the overtime restart, Harvick would get a push from Chris Buescher to the lead. On the final lap, several drivers would crash in turn 3 involving Clint Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto, and Truex, allowing Blaney to pass Harvick and score his 4th career win in the Cup Series, beating out Stenhouse by 0.007 seconds as Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, and Nemechek crash coming to the finish. [221]
Round 14: Pocono Organics 325
Aric Almirola started the race on the pole. Joey Logano won the first stage of the race while Almirola won the second stage of the race. Almirola led the most laps in the race. During a round of green-flag pit stops, Almirola took four tires while Kevin Harvick took two tires, resulting in Harvick taking the lead. Late in the race, Logano had to make an unscheduled pit stop due to a flat tire. Harvick held off Denny Hamlin to win the race, his third win of the season and first win at Pocono. [222]
Round 15: Pocono 350
Ryan Preece started the race on the pole following an inversion of the top 20 results from the first Pocono race. Kurt Busch won the first stage of the race. Christopher Bell spun and hit the wall. Toward the end of the second stage, Ryan Blaney made contact with Kyle Busch, sending Busch spinning and into the wall. Brad Keselowski won the second stage of the race. Kevin Harvick was leading in the final stage of the race and came to pit road for a green-flag pit stop, giving the lead to Denny Hamlin. Hamlin pitted 15 laps later and retained the lead once green-flag pit stops cycled through. Hamlin would hold off Harvick to win the race. The win was the fourth of the season for Hamlin and his sixth win at Pocono, tying Jeff Gordon for the most wins at Pocono. [223]
Round 16: Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 powered by Big Machine Records
Joey Logano started the race on the pole. On lap 15, a multicar accident occurred on pit road, with a crew member of Ryan Blaney's pit crew suffering injuries. The race was red flagged due to this incident. William Byron won the first stage of the race. Kevin Harvick won the second stage of the race. Several drivers were involved in wrecks due to tire issues, including Byron, Erik Jones, and Alex Bowman. Late in the race, Harvick and Denny Hamlin were battling for the lead. Hamlin cut a tire and hit the wall while leading with 7 laps to go. This caution set up an overtime finish, where Harvick held off Matt Kenseth to win the race, his fourth win of the season. [224]
Round 17: Quaker State 400 presented by Wal-Mart
Kyle Busch started on the pole. Aric Almirola dominated and won the first stage. Matt Kenseth spun after a flat tire while Brad Keselowski won the second stage. On a later restart, Jimmie Johnson was spun after contact with Keselowski. Kenseth spun a second time, setting up a two lap restart. Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. got side by side for the lead and Ryan Blaney made it three wide. Blaney and Harvick made contact and it allowed Cole Custer to take the lead in a four-wide pass on the last lap and hold off Truex for his first career win. [225] Custer's victory marked the first Cup win by a Cup rookie since Chris Buescher won at Pocono Raceway in August 2016 when fog shortened the event. Cole became the thirty-third driver to win a race in all three of NASCAR's top divisions.
Exhibition: NASCAR All-Star Race
In the Open, Michael McDowell spun after contact with William Byron and collected Bubba Wallace. Aric Almirola and Byron won the first two stages to advance. Matt DiBenedetto held off Clint Bowyer to win the Open and transfer to the All-Star Race along with Bowyer, who won the fan vote.
Martin Truex Jr. started on the pole, but had to start in the back for failing inspection. Kurt Busch spun early as Ryan Blaney won the first stage. Chase Elliott won both the second and third stages. In the final 15 lap stage, Elliott pulled away and held off Kyle Busch to win $1 million. [226] Chase completed the second Father-Son combination to win the All-Star Race. His dad Bill won it in 1986 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The other combo were the Earnhardts with Dale Sr. winning it three times (1987, 1990, 1993) and Dale Jr. winning it in 2000, becoming the first rookie to win the exhibition event.
Round 18: O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
A random draw gave Aric Almirola the pole. Ryan Blaney dominated and won both stages. On the restart at the start of the final stage, Almirola made contact with Kurt Busch and got into Kyle Busch, who turned Martin Truex Jr. and collected Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, and Cole Custer. Ty Dillon made contact with William Byron and got into the wall. Alex Bowman got into the wall after contact with Denny Hamlin. Hamlin would then spin on the restart, setting up overtime. Austin Dillon used pit strategy to keep the lead and hold off teammate Tyler Reddick for his first win since the 2018 Daytona 500. [227]
Round 19: Super Start Batteries 400 presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts
A random draw gave the pole to Kevin Harvick. Kyle Busch won the first stage while the second was won by Brad Keselowski. Joey Logano cut a tire and slammed the wall, collecting Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson, and Matt DiBenedetto. On the restart, Christopher Bell spun and collected Ryan Newman, Chris Buescher, and Ryan Preece. Denny Hamlin led the most laps and passed Harvick for the lead and held off Keselowski for his fifth win of the season. [228]
Round 20: Foxwoods Resort Casino 301
A random draw gave the pole to Aric Almirola. Kyle Busch slammed the wall early after a flat tire ending his race early. Jimmie Johnson made contact with Clint Bowyer and spun. Denny Hamlin won the first stage and Brad Keselowski won the second stage after passing Hamlin. Matt Kenseth had multiple tire issues and spun three different times. Keselowski led the most laps and held off Hamlin for his third win of the season. [229] This would lead to a contract extension between Keselowski and Team Penske the next day. [230]
Round 21: FireKeepers Casino 400
A random draw gave the pole to Joey Logano. Kevin Harvick dominated and won both stages. John Hunter Nemechek suffered tire problems three times and collected Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece. Cole Custer got into the wall, sending the race to overtime. On the restart, Austin Dillon made contact with Christopher Bell and got into the wall along with Ryan Newman. On the restart, Harvick held off Brad Keselowski for his fifth win of the season. [231]
Round 22: Consumers Energy 400
The top 20 from the previous race gave the pole to Chris Buescher, but had to start at the rear of the field. Clint Bowyer won the first stage while Kevin Harvick won the second stage. Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski got together while battling for the lead and got into the wall. Harvick led the most laps and held off Denny Hamlin to sweep the weekend for his sixth win of the season and tying Rusty Wallace for 55 wins on NASCAR's all-time wins list. [232]
Round 23: Go Bowling 235
Kevin Harvick was awarded the pole due to the owner's standings for the first Cup race on the Daytona road course. Chase Elliott won the first stage while Denny Hamlin won the second stage. Alex Bowman lost a tire while Harvick spun twice and Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney suffered speeding penalties. Kaz Grala, filling in for Austin Dillon who tested positive for COVID-19, was leading late until he had to pit, but finished 7th in his Cup debut. Kyle Busch, who was several laps down due to brake issues, spun with both rear tires flat. The dominant Elliott was able to hold off Hamlin for his second win of the season and his fourth career road course win. [233]
Round 24: Drydene 311 (Saturday)
Chase Elliott was awarded the pole in the first race of the Dover doubleheader. Kurt Busch got into the wall early after contact with Erik Jones and collected Alex Bowman. Kevin Harvick had to pit twice early due to a loose wheel. Denny Hamlin swept the stage wins and led the most laps. Hamlin retook the lead from teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the final laps for his sixth win of the season. [234]
Round 25: Drydene 311 (Sunday)
The top 20 inverted from the previous race gave the pole to Matt DiBenedetto. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun after contact with Joey Logano as Chase Elliott rammed into the back of Kyle Busch, ending the day for the 9 team. Kevin Harvick dominated and won both stages. Jimmie Johnson came from a speeding penalty to get the lead off pit road for the final restart. Harvick took the lead from Johnson and held off Martin Truex Jr. for his seventh win of the season, clinching the regular season championship while Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, and Aric Almirola clinched their spots in the playoffs. [235]
Round 26: Coke Zero Sugar 400
Kevin Harvick was awarded the pole. Joey Logano won both stages and led the most laps. In the closing laps, Tyler Reddick took the lead and made contact with Kyle Busch, causing a multi-car wreck involving Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. On the restart, Denny Hamlin made contact with Logano, sending Logano spinning and collecting Reddick, Matt Kenseth, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer, and Jimmie Johnson, ending Johnson's chance of making the playoffs in his final season. In overtime Clint Bowyer, Corey LaJoie, and Ty Dillon wrecked as William Byron would hold off teammate Chase Elliott for his first career win and clinching a spot in the playoffs as Bowyer and Matt DiBenedetto clinched the final two spots. [236]
NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs
Round 27: Cook Out Southern 500
Chase Elliott was awarded the pole. Brad Keselowski had a tire go down and got into the wall. Bubba Wallace spun and was taken out by transmission issues. Martin Truex Jr. dominated, leading the most laps and winning both stages. In the closing laps, Elliott was passed for the lead by Truex, but Truex wasn't cleared and the two made contact and got into the wall with both cars cutting down tires. Kevin Harvick took the lead and held off a fast charging Austin Dillon for his eighth win of the season, his third at Darlington, and punching his ticket to the next round of the Playoffs. [237]
Round 28: Federated Auto Parts 400
Kevin Harvick was awarded the pole. Jimmie Johnson got into the wall early while Ryan Blaney had tire problems. Denny Hamlin won the first stage while Brad Keselowski won the second stage. Keselowski led the most laps and took the lead from Austin Dillon and held off Martin Truex Jr. for his fourth win of the season and punched his ticket to the next round of the playoffs while Hamlin clinched on points. [238]
Round 29: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race
Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into the wall after contact with Jimmie Johnson. Chase Elliott won the first stage. William Byron got into Christopher Bell and had heavy damage, taking him out of the race. Kyle Busch won the second stage and was heading to the win until he had a hard time getting around lapped traffic and Kevin Harvick took the lead and held off Busch for his ninth win of the season. Cole Custer, Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Matt DiBenedetto were eliminated from the Playoffs. [239]
Round 30: South Point 400
Kevin Harvick was awarded the pole. Denny Hamlin won the first stage while Chase Elliott won the second stage. Jimmie Johnson had a tire go down after making contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Christopher Bell had a tire go down and collected William Byron, which sent the race to overtime. Kurt Busch would hold off Matt DiBenedetto for his first hometown win and advancing to the next round of the playoffs. [240]
Round 31: YellaWood 500
Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole. Christopher Bell spun into the wall on the first lap. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into the wall after spinning. Aric Almirola got turned into the wall while leading and collected Alex Bowman. Chris Buescher won the first stage as it ended under caution. Ryan Blaney got into the wall after a flat tire. Jimmie Johnson made contact with Clint Bowyer and got turned into the wall and collected Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, and Kurt Busch, who went airborne. Martin Truex Jr. won the second stage. The race went to overtime in the end and on the first attempt, Kyle Busch got turned by Tyler Reddick and collected Truex, Kevin Harvick, and Joey Logano. In the second attempt, Bubba Wallace got turned and collected Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth. In the third overtime attempt, Hamlin beat Matt DiBenedetto to the finish line for his seventh win of the season and to advance to the next round of the playoffs. DiBenedetto was penalized for pushing William Byron below the double yellow line and Erik Jones was scored second. [241] The race saw a record number of cautions at the track with 13, breaking the previous record of 11 from the fall 2017 race.
Round 32: Bank of America Roval 400
Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole. The early laps took place in the rain with the cars using rain tires. The teams put on slicks after most of the track dried. Ty Dillon put slicks on before the rest and he was able to get to the lead and win the first stage. Ryan Blaney won the second stage, but spun from the lead on the restart. Kyle Busch had to pit with a flat tire and Austin Dillon spun after contact with Busch. On the restart, a stack up caused damage to Clint Bowyer, who needed a win to advance. Matt Kenseth spun and slammed into the tire barrier. Chase Elliott took the lead from Erik Jones and held off Joey Logano for his third win of the season and his fourth straight road course to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Dillon, Aric Almirola, Bowyer, and Kyle Busch were eliminated from the playoffs. [242]
Round 33: Hollywood Casino 400
Chase Elliott was awarded the pole and would win the first stage. Matt Kenseth slammed the wall after contact with Erik Jones. Denny Hamlin would win the second stage, but would get into the wall in the final stage and had to pit. Tyler Reddick had a tire go down and got into the wall. Joey Logano took the lead off pit road and held off the dominant Kevin Harvick for his third win of the season and advancing to the Championship 4 in Phoenix. [243]
Round 34: Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500
Kevin Harvick was awarded the pole. Prior to the race, Martin Truex Jr. was docked 20 points and having his crew chief suspended for the race for having an illegal spoiler. Harvick led early until he got into the wall, sending him to pit road to fix damage. The race was red flagged due to rain and was postponed until Wednesday as it continued to rain for the next several days. When the race resumed, Matt Kenseth spun after contact with Denny Hamlin and collected Bubba Wallace and Aric Almirola. The two dominate cars, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch, won the two stages respectively. Several drivers used different pit strategies. With 20 laps to go, Bowyer pitted while Kyle Busch stayed out trying to win the race on fuel mileage. Busch was able to save enough fuel and held off teammate Truex to finally win in 2020 to break his winless drought. [244]
Round 35: Xfinity 500
Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole. Denny Hamlin won the first stage of the race while Chase Elliott, who led the most laps in the race, won the second stage of the race. Kevin Harvick cut a tire early in the race and had to make an unscheduled green-flag pit stop, causing him to fall two laps down at one point in the race. Chase Elliott passed Martin Truex Jr. for the lead with 43 laps to go and would go on to win the race to advance to the Championship 4. Coming to the finish, Harvick needed one more point in order to advance to the Championship 4. On the last lap, Harvick attempted to pass Kyle Busch to gain that point but both cars wrecked coming to the finish line, and Harvick failed to advance to the Championship 4. Elliott, Joey Logano, Hamlin, and Brad Keselowski advanced to the Championship 4. [245] Harvick, Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, and Kurt Busch were eliminated from the Playoffs.
Round 36: Season Finale 500
Chase Elliott was awarded the pole but had to drop to the rear at the beginning of the race after failing pre-race inspection multiple times. Joey Logano won the first stage of the race, while Elliott raced his way up to 3rd by the end of the first stage. Brad Keselowski won the second stage of the race. Elliott led the most laps of the race and would win the race and his first championship. Elliott was followed by fellow Championship 4 competitors Keselowski, Logano, and Denny Hamlin, with Jimmie Johnson rounding off the top 5 in his final race as a full-time Cup Series competitor. [246]
