Kevin Harvick’s victory in Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway gave the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team a weekend race sweep.
It also gives the team a whole lot of momentum as the NASCAR Cup Series closes out its regular season schedule at the end of this month.
Harvick’s win is a series-best sixth of the season and 55th of his career – placing the 44-year old Californian 10th on the NASCAR Cup Series all-time wins list tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace. And Sunday marked the first time a driver has won back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series races on back-to-back days since Richard Petty did it in 1971.
It was the fourth win in the last five Michigan races for Harvick and his weekend double earned the prestigious Heritage Trophy for Ford Motor Company – honoring the weekend’s top make in America’s auto manufacturer’s backyard.
Harvick was able to pull away from the field on a restart with 30 laps remaining but had to hold off a charging Denny Hamlin in a duel between the series two winningest drivers in the final handful of laps. Ultimately Harvick took a .093-second win over Hamlin.
“That was a big challenge,” Harvick acknowledged of the final lap contest with Hamlin.
“When you look at my team, we’ve been together going on seven years now and you look at the confidence everyone has in each other, the details of the race cars, everything that goes into everything that we do, that’s untouchable,” Harvick said of his team. “That’s what it takes, details to make these race cars go fast.”
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Busch finished third and fourth followed by Team Penske’s Joey Logano. Harvick’s teammate Aric Almirola was sixth. Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10.
Hamlin, a five-race winner in 2020, climbed out of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota disappointed in the outcome, but well aware that the head-to-head battle between his team and Harvick’s team was foreshadowing an exciting season championship contest.
“Once we finally got to second, I knew we had something for them,” Hamlin said. “I just got stalled there, he was tight and I was tight and we were better, that’s for sure. But he just had the track position and could control the lanes there.”
Of the tight championship race, Hamlin said, “Proud of this FedEx team, just hate giving up wins to the No. 4.”
When asked if they bring out the best in each other, “No question,” Hamlin said of contending with Harvick, adding, “I’ve got tremendous amount of respect for everyone on that team and Kevin. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve gotten wiser and learned to really appreciate what each other does on the race track and obviously, they’ve having a great season as well.”
Harvick paced the field for 90 of the 156 laps Sunday. And his Stage 2 win was his third stage victory of the weekend after he swept both stages on Saturday. Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer won the opening Stage on Sunday.
The start to the race was calm – the first two of the five total cautions coming out only for the scheduled two stage conclusions. However, just past the second stage, on lap 96, Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski collided while contesting the lead.
Keselowski was running low on the track hoping to get around race leader Blaney but his No. 2 Ford shot up the track making contact with Blaney’s No. 12 Ford – both cars ended up in the wall and ultimately into the garage. Blaney was scored 38th and Keselowski 39th in the 39-car field.
“Just slipped, lost the back a little bit and tried to collect it and he was there and I wiped him out and myself,” a dejected Keselowski said after being checked out in the Infield Care Center. “I feel terrible for everyone at Team Penske and especially for Ryan Blaney. Gosh, he didn’t deserve that.”
“It’s just unfortunate for the whole Penske organization,” Blaney said. “We had two fast cars battling for the lead and it just stinks that happened. He had a run, like he said, and he didn’t think he had as big of a run as he had and just got loose and, unfortunately, got us both. It’s a shame to end our day like that with the Knauf/Menards Ford Mustang. We were so fast. We had to battle back from having to pit again and got to 10th for the second stage and then got the lead. I was like, ‘All right, we can finally go back at it,’ and just got together there.
“That’s unfortunate, but it’s not gonna carry over. Things happen. Mistakes happen. It’s just a shame both of us got taken out.”
NASCAR Cup Series
Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, MI
Consumers Energy 400 – August 9, 2020
1. (20) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 156.
2. (15) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 156.
3. (18) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 156.
4. (16) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 156.
5. (13) Joey Logano, Ford, 156.
6. (5) Aric Almirola, Ford, 156.
7. (6) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 156.
8. (31) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 156.
9. (14) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 156.
10. (11) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 156.
11. (9) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 156.
12. (7) William Byron, Chevrolet, 156.
13. (28) Ryan Newman, Ford, 156.
14. (2) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 156.
15. (4) Matt Kenseth, Chevrolet, 156.
16. (25) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 156.
17. (8) Christopher Bell #, Toyota, 156.
18. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 156.
19. (32) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 156.
20. (1) Chris Buescher, Ford, 156.
21. (12) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 156.
22. (22) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 156.
23. (36) John Hunter Nemechek #, Ford, 156.
24. (3) Tyler Reddick #, Chevrolet, 156.
25. (34) Cole Custer #, Ford, 156.
26. (24) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 156.
27. (10) Erik Jones, Toyota, 156.
28. (29) Michael McDowell, Ford, 156.
29. (26) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 154.
30. (37) Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 153.
31. (30) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 153.
32. (27) Quin Houff #, Chevrolet, 153.
33. (39) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 152.
34. (35) Garrett Smithley(i), Ford, 152.
35. (33) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 150.
36. (21) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Tire, 149.
37. (38) James Davison, Ford, 147.
38. (17) Ryan Blaney, Ford, Accident, 95.
39. (19) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 95.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 144.463 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 9 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: .093 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 24 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Buescher 0;C. Bowyer 1-43;K. Busch 44-47;K. Harvick 48-91;R. Blaney 92-95;D. Hamlin 96-101;K. Harvick 102-105;A. Almirola 106-109;K. Harvick 110;A. Almirola 111-115;K. Harvick 116-156.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Kevin Harvick 4 times for 90 laps; Clint Bowyer 1 time for 43 laps; Aric Almirola 2 times for 9 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 6 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 4 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 14,95,18,21,20,24,12,4,1,22
Stage #2 Top Ten: 4,2,18,95,14,11,20,10,22,12
Top 10 in Points: 1. Kevin Harvick – 916 (6 Wins); 2. Brad Keselowski – 779 (3 Wins); 3. Denny Hamlin – 776 (5 Wins); 4. Ryan Blaney – 741 (1 Win); 5. Chase Elliott – 721 (1 Win); 6. Joey Logano – 717 (2 Wins); 7. Martin Truex, Jr. – 716 (1 Win); 8. Aric Almirola – 669; 9. Kyle Busch – 651; 10. Kurt Busch – 648.
