Kevin Harvick won his 50th career NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Darlington Raceway in NASCAR’s return to the track after 70 days away.
The drivers of NASCAR reacted on Twitter following the race — here are some of the best tweets.
A special 🏆 is going home with @KevinHarvick. pic.twitter.com/6LEMp63fye
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 18, 2020
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s return didn’t go quite as planned, considering he crashed on the first lap. At least there’s always Wednesday night’s race!
Not a whole lot to say. Put myself in a bad spot to start the race. Embarrassing for myself and my team. We will be ready for Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/k1C0nBlO1I
— Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (@StenhouseJr) May 17, 2020
Seven-time series champ Jimmie Johnson looked stout early until a crash on the final lap of Stage 1 — while leading the race — snarled his hopes at returning to Victory Lane.
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) May 17, 2020
Fontana winner Alex Bowman finished runner-up, continuing a run of solid finishes.
What a way to get back on track. We came up a bit short there at the end but I’m so proud of my guys. They definitely put in the work today. It feels good to be back! 🤘🏼 pic.twitter.com/sIxJiasLJg
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) May 18, 2020
Here’s how the afternoon went for the other drivers.
So disappointing we had such a FAST car @Hendrick24Team. Vibration kept getting worse and finally came loose. Good thing is we can rally and do it again Wednesday. We’ll be ready.
— William Byron (@WilliamByron) May 17, 2020
P7 after coming from 29th- TWICE!! #NASCARIsBack @CaterpillarInc pic.twitter.com/GdGhg5hIx4
— Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) May 17, 2020
Good day back at the track 👍🏻@BassProShops #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/FIdsPmCFoy
— Martin Truex Jr. (@MartinTruex_Jr) May 18, 2020
Man, what a bummer. Was pretty damn good all day till the money was on the line. Then things fell apart very quickly. No mistakes at this level, you will pay!!! Did feel good to get back on the racetrack. Congrats @KevinHarvick and we’ll clean things up for Wednesday.
— Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer) May 17, 2020
Most importantly…thank you to everyone from the fans and #TheRealHeroes, to my @Team_Penske crew and the folks at @NASCAR for taking all of the necessary and safe steps to make today possible. Today may have looked different, but being in a race car felt right at home.
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) May 17, 2020
Heading in the right direction, let’s keep digging 🤙🏼🏁
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Buen resultado hoy, pero todavía tenemos mucho trabajo por hacer 💪🏻🏆#TeamToyota #TheRealHeroes #SuarezNation @ToyotaRacing pic.twitter.com/oQpDMI6qxJ— Daniel Suárez (@Daniel_SuarezG) May 18, 2020
#NASCARisBack! I needed my competition fix and you needed your sports fix. We’re 7th in the season standings now.
Ready for Darlington on Wednesday 💪 #GoodFoodChallenge @SmithfieldBrand pic.twitter.com/H62UuNYj2o
— Aric Almirola (@Aric_Almirola) May 18, 2020
Not the finish we wanted today… I put us too far behind early being careful because I didn’t want the Darlington Stripe to ruin are day. Learned a lot and feel we’ll come back a lot stronger Wednesday 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/f1fD3H7ZE5
— Cole Custer (@ColeCuster) May 17, 2020
Great to be back on track today. Our @CarPartscom Ford Mustang Started strong, unfortunately we suffered a loose wheel early on and that hurt us.
Ready to come back on Wednesday and do it all over again with @CarPartscom! pic.twitter.com/5EzCW6zLqZ
— Michael McDowell (@Mc_Driver) May 18, 2020
Top 5 today. Pretty happy with the result. Looking forward to getting back to Darlington on Wednesday with a Camry that’s just as good if not better. pic.twitter.com/1jGIKLNCr9
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 18, 2020
Man it’s good to be back. pic.twitter.com/MVBb3mTSLr
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) May 18, 2020
In regards to my day. Started 19th, someone tried to make it 4 wide in the first corner (didn’t work out well,) had a 19-22nd place car then had fuel pickup issues, overheated, had more pickup issues and limped home 31st. See you Wednesday.
— Corey LaJoie (@CoreyLaJoie) May 18, 2020
Thanks to everyone that made it possible to get back behind the wheel today @TooToughToTame. Hope it was a good show.
Had good speed early on in our @rheemracing Camry running in top 15 then just made a mistake and spun. Have something to build on for Wednesday. #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/0oj3yaBWgq
— Christopher Bell (@CBellRacing) May 18, 2020
Sure felt good to put the suit on today. Looking forward to doing it again on Wednesday.#DEWALTTough #TeamTOYOTA pic.twitter.com/RoDfRONuLa
— Erik Jones (@Erik_Jones) May 18, 2020
And, perhaps one of the best sights of all from Sunday was watching Ryan Newman make his first start since his last-lap crash in the Daytona 500.
Great day in America. Thankful to get back at it for all of us. @oscarmayer @CocaColaRacing #nascar #partners pic.twitter.com/FvUQ1tmYKC
— Ryan Newman (@RyanJNewman) May 18, 2020
