Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick is the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Champion, claiming the distinction just past the midway point of Stage 2 in Sunday’s Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway — a race he went on to win.

Clinching the regular-season title hands Harvick a 15-point bonus heading into the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs, which begins Sept. 6 with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The top-10 finishers in the regular-season standings receive bonus points on a sliding scale, starting with 15 for first and ending with one extra point for 10th.

RELATED: Regular Season champ gear

“With Denny (Hamlin) winning yesterday, we needed to win today and we need all the points we can get,” Harvick said after recording his seventh victory of 2020. “I think as you look at these playoffs you never know what to expect, but I know that as we go week to week we will give it all we have and I am just really proud.”

RELATED: Harvick’s career highlights | Harvick’s career victories

Harvick has been consistently excellent throughout 2020. His lowest position in the points standings was third, which he held through the first three races before he jumped to the top spot. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has been first ever since.

With seven victories, paired with seven stages wins, Harvick already has 42 playoff points in the bank through Dover.

Kyle Busch earned the past two regular-season championships. Martin Truex Jr. scored the 2017 honor, the first year of inception. In two of the past three seasons, the regular-season champ has gone on to win the playoff title — Truex in 2017 and Busch in 2019.

Posted on by Staff Report

Chase Elliott’s second half of the Dover NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader didn’t go as planned for the Hendrick Motorsports driver as damage to the front of his No. 9 Chevrolet ended his day just six laps in.

When Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tangled off Turn 4, Elliott made contact with the rear bumper of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch as the pack stacked up. That contact left a sizable amount of damage to Elliott’s vehicle.

RELATED: In-car look at contact between 9 and 18

Elliott had started the race from the 16th position due to the invert of the top-20 finishers from Saturday’s race. Busch had to make several trips down pit road for repairs after starting 18th in the race. Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley also wrecked behind the initial melee.

Elliott, a two-time winner in 2020, finished fifth in Saturday’s Dover race after starting from the pole position. He will finish Sunday’s race in 39th.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

A day after spinning his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the inside wall at Dover International Speedway, Chase Briscoe dominated the Drydene 200, winning the second leg of a Saturday/Sunday NASCAR Xfinity Series doubleheader.

Starting from the rear of the field in a backup car, Briscoe took control of the race with 20 laps left in the second stage and never looked back. All told, he led 107 of 200 laps at the Monster Mile, only surrendering the top spot during a cycle of pit stops during the closing 103-lap green-flag run.

Perhaps more important, Briscoe reclaimed the momentum he enjoyed while winning five of the first 13 races of the season. More recently, Austin Cindric had pulled even with his close friend and fellow Ford driver by winning five of six events.   

RELATED: Official results

Despite the wreck in Saturday’s event, Briscoe was confident enough to tell wife Marissa that he was going to win on Sunday. Marissa told the world about the conversation in a tweet that said, “Chase called me before the race and said, ‘I’m going to win the race today.’ Bring it home, babe!!”

“I told her today I was so mad after yesterday, I had to go win,” Briscoe acknowledged after the race. “It’s just a testament to these Stewart-Haas guys to pull a backup out—honestly, it was better than our primary, I thought. 

“It’s pretty cool to win from the back here in a backup. This is (crew chief Richard) Boswell’s home race track, (sponsor) HighPoint.com’s second closest race track.”

RELATED: Briscoe calls his shot at Dover

Even though he called his shot, the victory brought a welcome sense of relief.

“We hadn’t won in a month and a half, but it feels like five years,” said Briscoe, who collected his first win at Dover and the eighth of his career. “We’re coming back where I felt like we were at the beginning of the year. 

“Truthfully, I felt like today was the most dominant car we’ve had all year long. Hopefully, we can continue that trend. It feels good to be back in Victory Lane—that’s for sure.”

Briscoe finished 2.463 seconds ahead of runner-up Ross Chastain, who improved one spot from Saturday’s finish. Though Briscoe muscled his way past Chastain’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet after the final cycle of pit stops, Chastain minimized the contact and instead expressed his delight at being competitive with the cars that have dominated the series this year.

“To come here and run with that car (Briscoe), the 22 (Cindric) and those guys that have been kicking our butts all year is a big statement,” Chastain said. “We did it both days. We were consistently up there. 

“I’m just happy that we had the speed. When we win, we’ll win a lot. Today is what it is, and no hard feelings.”

Cindric ran third—his worst finish in the last eight races—followed by Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson, and Saturday winner Justin Allgaier, as only seven drivers finished on the lead lap. Chastain won the first stage before Briscoe completed his run from the rear of the field and took control.

Up next, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Daytona International Speedway on Friday for the Wawa 250 Powered By Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). After this weekend, there are now five races left in the regular-season slate.

Note: There were no major issues in post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage. One car was found with one unsecured lug nut — the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of ninth-place finisher Riley Herbst.

Posted on by Staff Report

Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch are among the drivers who will drop to the rear of the field for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race after their teams deployed backup cars at Dover International Speedway.

The teams opted to use their reserve cars after their primary entries were damaged in an early crash in Saturday’s 311-miler. Both drivers will have to gain ground from the back of the 40-car field in Sunday’s Drydene 311 (4 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the second Cup Series race in as many days on the 1-mile Delaware oval.

RELATED: Sunday’s Cup Series starting lineup | Weekend schedule

Busch’s No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was severely crumpled after heavy contact with the inside retaining wall. He was the race’s only crash-related retiree, exiting after completing just six of the 311 laps.

Busch’s misfortune came after contact with the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Erik Jones, who collected Bowman’s No. 88 Chevrolet in the stack-up at the exit of Turn 2. Bowman continued with significant right-front damage to a 21st-place result, two laps off the pace.

Jones trudged on to a 12th-place effort with damage to the rear of his No. 20 entry. The 24-year-old driver indicated on social media his JGR crew was going to attempt to repair the car, which would keep Jones in the ninth starting spot. Sunday’s starting lineup was determined by an inversion of the top 20 finishers, then performance metrics to establish positions 21-40.

The No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet of Garrett Smithley will also drop to the rear because of an engine change.

Posted on by Staff Report

There are two NASCAR Cup Series regular-season races remaining before the start of the NASCAR Playoffs. Entering Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), here’s who is locked into the field and who can clinch on points.

Already clinched

The following 10 drivers have clinched a spot in the 16-driver postseason field by virtue of at least one victory: Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Cole Custer.

Can clinch via points

If there is a new winner, the following drivers could clinch by being 56 points above the fifth winless driver in the standings.

• Aric Almirola: Would clinch with 21 points
• Kyle Busch: Would clinch with 30 points
• Kurt Busch: Would clinch with 50 points
• Clint Bowyer: Could only clinch with help

If there is a repeat winner (or a win by Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer or Matt DiBenedetto), the following drivers could clinch by being 56 points above the sixth winless driver in the standings.

• Aric Almirola: Would clinch regardless of finish
• Kyle Busch: Would clinch with 6 points
• Kurt Busch: Would clinch with 26 points
• Clint Bowyer: Would clinch with 36 points
• Matt DiBenedetto: Could only clinch with help

Additionally, Kevin Harvick could clinch the Regular Season Championship on his own with 21 points.

Posted on by Staff Report

Jimmie Johnson maneuvered into the final spot in the provisional NASCAR Playoffs standings Saturday, leapfrogging Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron at Dover International Speedway.

RELATED: Official race results | Weekend schedule

Johnson entered Saturday’s Drydene 311 facing a 25-point deficit to Byron but claimed a seventh-place finish in the No. 48 Chevrolet that helped erase that gap. Johnson also added seven points to his total with top-10 results at each stage break. The swing gave Johnson a three-point edge with two races left in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Byron struggled with an ill-handling No. 24 Chevy, eventually wrapping his day in a lackluster 28th place, three laps off the pace.

Johnson’s comeback in the series standings comes at a familiar haunt, the 1-mile Dover track that has produced 11 of his 83 career victories. He also gets another crack at gaining ground Sunday in the back end of the Cup Series weekend doubleheader (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The regular season ends Aug. 29 at Daytona International Speedway.

“Solid day for this Ally Chevy team. We have some work to do but we will go to work tonight and get it right,” Johnson said. “Everyone did a great job, we have something to build on tonight and we will come back tomorrow and have something left for them. Bittersweet day tomorrow for me – my final Dover race.”

Byron and No. 24 crew chief Chad Knaus will aim to regroup. Knaus was atop the pit box for all 11 of Johnson’s “Monster Mile” victories, including his most recent Cup Series win — June 4, 2017, a span of 118 starts ago.

Erik Jones, the Hendrick pair’s closest challenger in the standings, sits 22 points off the cutline after a 12th-place finish Saturday in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Posted on by Staff Report

The starting lineup is set for Sunday’s Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The top-20 finishers from Saturday’s race at Dover were inverted for Sunday, with the rest of Sunday’s lineup based off NASCAR’s new metric formula.

Matt DiBenedetto in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang will start from the pole position with Ryan Newman in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang also on the front row.

RELATED: Dover schedule

NASCAR’s new metric formula weighs finishing position from the previous race (weighted 50%), ranking in team owner points (35%) and the fastest lap from the previous race (15%).

See the full lineup for Sunday’s race below.

Starting spot Driver Car # Team
1 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
2 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
3 Ty Dillon 13 Germain Racing
4 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
5 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
6 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
7 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
8 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
9 Erik Jones 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
10 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
11 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
12 Brad Keselowski 2 Team Penske
13 Joey Logano 22 Team Penske
14 Jimmie Johnson 48 Hendrick Motorsports
15 Clint Bowyer 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
16 Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports
17 Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
18 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
19 Martin Truex Jr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
20 Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
21 Alex Bowman 88 Hendrick Motorsports
22 Matt Kenseth 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
23 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
24 Christopher Bell 95 Leavine Family Racing
25 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
26 Bubba Wallace 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
27 John Hunter Nemechek 38 Front Row Motorsports
28 Kurt Busch 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
29 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
30 Corey LaJoie 32 Go Fas Racing
31 Daniel Suarez 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing
32 JJ Yeley 27 Rick Ware Racing
33 Josh Bilicki 53 Rick Ware Racing
34 Brennan Poole 15 Premium Motorsports
35 Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing
36 Timmy Hill 66 Motorsports Business Management
37 Reed Sorenson 77 Spire Motorsports
38 Joey Gase 51 Petty Ware Racing
39 Garrett Smithley 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing
40 BJ McLeod 78 BJ McLeod Motorsports

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Working traffic adroitly over the final run on Saturday, Denny Hamlin cruised to victory in the Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway after passing Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. for the lead with eight laps left.

At a track he considers one of his worst, based on past performance, Hamlin made up for a poor restart on Lap 193 of 311, gradually running down Truex, who was stuck behind the lapped car of Aric Almirola during the closing run.

RELATED: Official race results | Weekend schedule
STORE: Browse Denny Hamlin gear

“I’ve been running down the leaders the past few weeks, but I haven’t been able to get there,” said Hamlin, who won for the sixth time this season, tying Kevin Harvick for the NASCAR Cup Series lead. “We didn’t control that restart there, and we just had to battle back.

“We had to go back and get it, and I was able to work the top line there a little bit to get some momentum. Our car was just a little bit better at moving around, different lines.”

The victory in the first leg of a Saturday/Sunday Cup doubleheader was Hamlin’s first in 29 starts at the Monster Mile and the 43rd of his career, 19th most all-time and one win behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott.

“This Camry was really fast today,” Hamlin acknowledged. “It was unbelievable how good it was. The pit crew did an amazing job. … We just have unbelievable cars right now. It just seems like we’re coming to the race track prepared.

“I’m putting the work in, and we’re getting results because of it. … I can’t complain about anything right now. It just seems like we’ve got things going. You know, I’ve got faith. When it comes down to it on that last run, when (crew chief Chris Gabehart) says, ‘Go get it,’ I just go get it.”

Hamlin won the first and second stages, but Truex took the lead off pit road on Lap 188 under caution for the second stage break. After a cycle of green-flag pit stops that started on Lap 252, Truex regained the top spot on Lap 280 and held it until Hamlin passed him on Lap 303.

The driver of the No. 19 Toyota caught Almirola during the closing 119-lap green-flag run but couldn’t pass him. Truex grew frustrated as he chased Almirola’s No. 10 Ford.

“I think if the 10 car just wasn’t pinning it on the bottom in front of me, I’d have been fine,” said Truex, who finished 1.179 seconds behind Hamlin and notched the runner-up result after running third in the previous five Cup races. “Every time I tried to move up and get some air on my car, he’d just slide up in front of me like an idiot. He’s the reason we lost the lead, but in the end, we weren’t good enough.

“I thought the 11 (Hamlin) was better than us all day long. We got the lead there in the pits and were able to use clean air to our advantage. I was never happy with the car all day long. The balance was all over the place. It was firing off tight and getting really loose on long runs. At the end, there was nothing I could do. I was just out of control sideways.”

Kyle Busch ran third, as Joe Gibbs Racing swept the podium positions. Kevin Harvick was fourth and pole-sitter Chase Elliott fifth. Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top 10.

With a problem-free race at arguably his best track, Johnson, an 11-time Dover winner, vaulted past Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron into the final Playoff-eligible position. With the series returning to Dover for a 4 p.m. start on Sunday, Johnson has a three-point edge over Byron for the final provisional berth in the postseason.

MORE: Johnson slips by Byron in playoff picture

Byron fought an ill-handling car, fell of the lead lap midway through the second stage and finished 28th, dropping a net 28 points to his seven-time champion teammate.

The Cup Series’ next race, also called the Drydene 311, is scheduled Sunday (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) right back at Dover.

Notes: Post-race inspection yielded no major issues in the Cup Series garage. Two cars were found with one unsecured lug nut each — the No. 11 Toyota of race winner Hamlin and the No. 3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon. … Dillon finished one lap down in 15th place in his return after a one-race absence because of a positive COVID-19 test. … Stenhouse’s top-10 finish was his first since a runner-up effort June 22 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Reid Spencer

After winning Saturday’s Drydene 200 at Dover International Speedway, Justin Allgaier offered an unexpected thank-you to AJ Allmendinger.

A week earlier at the Daytona Road Course, Allmendinger wheel-hopped into Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and knocked him out of a top-five finish. Allgaier expressed his displeasure after the race and ignited a firestorm on social media from those who thought Allmendinger’s miscue was purely accidental.

RELATED: Official race results

The criticism lit a bonfire of determination in Allgaier, who turned a star-crossed season around with his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the year, his second at Dover and the 12th of his career.

“This is the power of social media,” Allgaier declared after climbing from his car on the frontstretch. “I got blasted all week last week. So I guess I can thank AJ for giving me the drive and determination and all the haters on social media, ’cause that’s definitely what’s given me some fire, and we’re firing at the right time.”

Allgaier led 120 of the 200 laps at the high-banked concrete Monster Mile and finished 1.977 seconds ahead of runner-up Austin Cindric, who had won five of the previous six Xfinity Series races and finished second in the other.

Allgaier’s pit crew (Alex Bowman’s No. 88 NASCAR Cup Series crew) got the No. 7 Chevrolet off pit road ahead of Cindric on the final two pit stops under caution, and given the importance of track position at Dover, that proved decisive. Given Allgaier’s ill fortune throughout the season — the incident with Allmendinger was just the most recent in a litany of misfortune — Saturday’s triumph was a welcome relief.

The Drydene 200 was the first leg of a weekend Xfinity Series doubleheader. The NASCAR Cup Series also will race Saturday and Sunday at Dover.

“These last 18 to 24 months have been crazy,” Allgaier said. “I’m just proud of these guys and the no-give-up attitude they’ve got. This team is incredible. What a day. What a race car. We were off a little bit in the beginning, and (crew chief) Jason (Burdett) did a great job of getting us where we needed to be at.

“The slicker this place got and the more rubbered-in it got, the better we were. So the Cup race today, I’m going to be watching that intently and see what happens. Then, obviously, tomorrow we come back, and we’ve got to see what adjustments we can make. I still think we can be better.”

From the seat of his No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Cindric could see how hungry for a victory Allgaier was.

“I had a great battle with Justin,” Cindric said. “Obviously, he wanted it really bad, and it wasn’t going to be an easy pass. Hopefully, we can take it to him tomorrow.

“He drove the wheels off that thing. I don’t know if you guys were watching my on-board camera much, but he was sideways from the beginning of the run to the end of the run. It was pretty amazing, so props to him and those guys, and we’ll try to do better tomorrow.”

Ross Chastain came home third, followed by Noah Gragson and Sunoco rookie Harrison Burton. Riley Herbst, Jeb Burton, Justin Haley, Michael Annett and Chase Briscoe followed, as all four JR Motorsports cars finished in the top 10.

While running fourth and trying to pass Cindric from the bottom lane, Briscoe spun into the inside wall on Lap 77, damaging the front suspension of his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Though Briscoe recovered to run 10th and hold second place in the series standings, he dropped 72 points behind Cindric in the race for the regular-season championship and the accompanying bonus of 15 Playoff points.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to Dover in less than 24 hours for the second portion of its doubleheader — the Drydene 200 (1 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: There were no major issues in post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage. Two cars were found with one unsecured lug nut each — the No. 22 Ford of Cindric and the No. 44 Chevrolet of 21st-place finisher Tommy Joe Martins.

Contributing: Staff reports