Denny Hamlin delivered his fifth race victory of the 2020 NASCAR CUP season after passing Kevin Harvick with 13 laps remaining and holding off Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. to win the Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City on Thursday night.
KANSAS CITY – July 23, 2020 – ANTHONY HOLBROOK
The NASCAR Cup Series 19th race of the season kicked off the second half of the 2020 NASCAR Cup season hosted by Kansas Speedway. Thursday night’s race was the 15th in 67 days since NASCAR resumed racing on May 17 at Darlington. The race was also the final Cup Series race before a 10-day break ahead of an Aug. 2 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. After Thursday, seven races remain before the Field of 16 is set.
After about 20,000 spectators whom participated viewing the previous race in Texas, a large amount attending tested positive COVID-19 tests and forced speedway officials to run this weekend — including upcoming races in the Xfinity, Truck and ARCA series — without any fans.
NASCAR Cup Champion Kevin Harvick snagged the pole and set to lead the field to green at Kansas.
Super Start Batteries 400 Stage 1 recap:
Kyle Busch wins Stage 1 (80 laps) by .5 second over teammate Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. This win marks the 2019 NASCAR Cup Champion first Stage win of the 2020 Season.
Super Start Batteries 400 Results – Stage 1
1. Kyle Busch
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Aric Almirola
9. Alex Bowman
10. Erik Jones
Super Start Batteries 400 – Stage 2 recap:
Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott restart 1-2 after respective two-tire Stage pit stops.
Martin Truex Jr. passes teammate Denny Hamlin for the lead just before a Bubba Wallace spin, bringing out the caution as the field pits for service.
Brad Keselowski charges out of the pits with the lead after taking just two tires. Tires would be a deciding factor upon Brad’s finish.
After a long green-flag run after the Wallace caution, Martin Truex Jr. leads the field, 2 seconds differential over Denny Hamlin.
Chris Buescher single-car spin sets the field for a 20 lap shootout, deciding Stage 2 winner.
Penske Teamate Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney hook up and drive to the front finishing 1-2 in Stage 2.
Super Start Batteries 400 Results – Stage 2
1. Ryan Blaney
2. Joey Logano
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Kurt Busch
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Martin Truex Jr
7. Chase Elliott
8. Aric Almirola
9. Erik Jones
10. Kyle Busch
Super Start Batteries 400 Final recap:
Alex Bowman and William Byron both received two tires on the final Stage pit stop and positioned the teammates on the front row for the final restart showdowns.
Kevin Harvick utilized a 4 tires pit service to resumes the lead from Hendrick Motorsports’ Driver Alex Bowman.
Denny Hamlin passed Kevin Harvick for the lead with 13 laps remaining to captured Thursday night’s Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.
Brad Keselowski and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who finished in third place in his #19 Toyota, all passed Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick in the race’s final 22 laps. Harvick ended up in fourth in his #4 Ford.
Alex Bowman and William Byron settled for eighth and 10th place in their #88 Chevrolet and #24 Chevrolet, respectively.
Super Start Batteries 400 Final Results:
1st – Denny Hamlin
2nd – Brad Keselowski
3rd – Martin Truex Jr.
4th – Kevin Harvick
5th – Erik Jones
6th – Aric Almirola
7th – Cole Custer
8th – Alex Bowman
9th – Kurt Busch
10th – William Byron
11th – Kyle Busch
12th – Chase Elliott
13th – Tyler Reddick
14th – Clint Bowyer
15th – Ty Dillon
16th – Michael McDowell
17th – Matt Kenseth
18th – Daniel Suarez
19th – John Hunter Nemechek
20th – Ryan Blaney
21st – Corey LaJoie
22nd – J.J Yeley
23rd – Christopher Bell
24th – Quin Houff
25th – Josh Bilicki
26th – Garrett Smithley
27th – Austin Dillon
28th – Ryan Newman
29th – Joey Gase
30th – Brennan Poole
31st – Reed Sorenson
32nd – Jimmie Johnson
33rd – Chris Buescher
34th – Ryan Preece
35th – Joey Logano
36th – Matt DiBenedetto
37th – Bubba Wallace
38th – Timmy Hill
39th – B.J. McLeod
40th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship standings
1. Kevin Harvick, 763 points
2. Brad Keselowski, 666
3. Ryan Blaney, 663
4. Denny Hamlin, 634
5. Chase Elliott, 630
6. Joey Logano, 609
7. Martin Truex Jr., 602
8. Aric Almirola, 576
9. Kyle Busch, 562
10. Kurt Busch, 561
11. Alex Bowman, 539
12. Clint Bowyer, 484
13. Matt DiBenedetto, 477
14. William Byron, 452
15. Tyler Reddick, 442
16. Erik Jones, 440
17. Austin Dillon, 438
18. Jimmie Johnson, 434
19. Cole Custer, 352
20. Bubba Wallace, 352
Lead Changes
22 lead changes / 9 Drivers
Caution Periods
11 caution flag periods including (6 caution flags thrown in the final Stage segment)
NASCAR CUP Series will take a weekend off and resume 3:00 p.m. ET, Sunday, August 2 for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 hosted by New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NBC Sports Network / Sirus Radio 90