Days before NASCAR went on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, Kevin Harvick finished second to Joey Logano at Phoenix Raceway, the fourth race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. Ten weeks later, Harvick improved his position by one, winning The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 50th-career Cup Series win to surpass car owner Tony Stewart on the all-time wins list.
“I want to thank everybody from NASCAR and all the teams for letting us do what we do,” Harvick said. “I didn’t think it was gonna be that much different, and then, we won the race and it’s dead silent out here. We miss the fans; just gotta thank everybody from Busch Light, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Mobil 1, Jimmy John’s, everybody from Ford who helps on this car. It’s a pretty big honor to win 50 races in this deal, and I just have to thank all my team guys and everybody for what they’re doing. This Dr. Josh Hughes [the medical professional honored on Harvick’s car] is one of my really good friends. I spend a lot of time with him and have seen how this whole pandemic has affected our frontline workers in person on a weekly basis, so thank you, Josh. We’re thinking of you. I want to say hi to [wife] DeLana and my kids at home. I guess we’ll bring home the trophy.”
Harvick’s latest win also continued two separate top-10 streaks. He continues to have top-10 finishes in all races, so far, in 2020. Harvick is the only driver able to make that claim, five races into the season. It also continues a string of finishing in the top-10 in all Cup races at Darlington since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.
Alex Bowman finished second, Kurt Busch third, and Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott was fourth. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.
Harvick led over half of the 293-lap race, running up front for 159 laps, but he failed to win either of the first two stages of the race. William Byron won the opening 90-lap stage, and pole sitter Brad Keselowski was up front when the second 95-lap stage ended on lap 185.
After started on the pole, Keselowski led the first 44 laps before losing the top spot to Bowman. In the second half of the opening stage, the Hendrick trio of Bowman, Byron and Johnson held the top-three positions, each leading laps. Johnson looked to be on his way to the stage win but wrecked on the final lap of the stage.
“Gosh, what I would do to get that corner back to do it over again,” Johnson said. “Coming to the end of the stage, I was just trying to make sure I got a good run off of turn two. I felt like I was going to be able to exit the corner side-by-side with him [Byron]; things just went horribly wrong, there. What a great car. I feel terrible for my team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. I’m very thankful for Ally and all of their support. We have great race cars, and things are coming in the right direction, just unfortunate that things didn’t really turn out, there, off of turn two.”
After winning a stage, Byron wrecked because of a loose wheel on lap 110.
Harvick led a majority of the second stage after getting out of the pits first between the first two stages, but problems on pit road during a caution on lap 173 resulted in him getting off pit road in the eighth position. Meanwhile, Keselowski was first out of the pits to retake the lead — a lead he would maintain for the remainder of the stage.
Bowman got off pit road first to restart first for the final 103-lap stage of the race, but on the restart, Keselowski retook the lead. Harvick took his race-winning lead from Keselowski on pit road on lap 216.
Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth, and Erik Jones was eighth to join Hamlin in giving Joe Gibbs Racing three cars in the top-10 of the finishing order. Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Busch was the only JGR driver outside the top-10 and not on the lead lap at the checkered flag. Busch started the race in the back because of an issue getting his car through pre-race inspection. He got up to the top-five inside the final 40 laps, but an unscheduled pit stop inside the final 30 laps resulted in a 26th-place finish.
Rookies Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek also finished in the top-10 in seventh and ninth positions, respectively. Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-10 in his first race since 2018 and his first race behind the wheel of the #42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet as replacement for the fired Kyle Larson.
Ryan Newman finished 15th in his second race of the season, his first since suffering a brain injury in a last-lap crash in the season-opening Daytona 500 in Februay. A spin by Newman with 41 laps remaining resulted in the 10th and final caution of the race.
Other cautions included a lap-one yellow flag when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the inside retaining wall and a debris caution on lap 154 for a banner that came off the wall in pieces and stuck to the grilles of multiple race cars.
“Not really sure what to say there about our first lap, first corner,” Stenhouse said. “Pretty embarrassing for myself, our team. My crew guys, I feel awful for them. They put a lot of hard work into getting our cars ready and coming all the way down here to Darlington. I put myself in a bad spot there. The 32 [Corey LaJoie] looked like he had to check up, and I put myself on the inside of him. Just put ourselves in a bad spot and ended our race before it ever started. I’m looking forward to getting back here on Wednesday to try and put a better run together and put this behind us.”
