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KEVIN HARVICK – 2020 Daytona II Race Report

Event: Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Round 26 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 160 laps, broken into three stages (50 laps/50 laps/60 laps)
Start/Finish: 1st/20th (Running, completed 164 of 164 laps)
Point Standing: (1st with 2,057 points, 10 points ahead of Denny Hamlin – IN THE PLAYOFFS)
Note: Race extended four laps past its scheduled 160-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner:     William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-50):

Harvick started first and finished 35th.
● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, led early but then some debris got on his engine grill so he dropped back to 26th.
● On lap 23, Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel. Was in 16th place.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 51-100):

Harvick started 25th and finished 24th.
● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang pitted on lap 54 for four tires and fuel.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 101-160):

Harvick started 32nd and finished 20th.
● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang pitted on lap 103 for four tires and fuel and returned one lap later for fuel only.
● On lap 132, Harvick pitted for fuel only.
● Harvick pitted on lap 145 for four tires and fuel.
● On the second-to-final lap, Harvick was being pushed by the car of Chris Buescher and the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang made contact with the SAFER Barrier on the outside retaining wall of the backstretch. His car made it around to turn one before a tire was cut down and he made hard contact with the SAFER Barrier in turn one.

Notes:

●  William Byron won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to score his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory. His margin of victory over second-place Chase Elliott was .119 of a second.
●  There were six caution periods for a total of 21 laps.
●  Only 20 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
●  In the 26 races run this season, Harvick has only three finishes outside the top-15.
●  Harvick led four times for six laps to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 262.
●  Harvick has now led 10,725 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,151 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.
●  Harvick has led 1,117 laps in the 26 races held this season. He is the only driver to hit the 1,000 laps led mark this season. Next best is Denny Hamlin with 771 laps led.
SHR is the only four-car team to have its entire driver lineup in the NASCAR Playoffs.
Harvick qualified for the playoffs by scoring seven victories and the regular-season championship.
Harvick takes 57 bonus points into the playoffs thanks to those victories along with seven stage wins.
This is Harvick’s 11th consecutive playoff appearance and his 14th overall. He won the championship in 2014.

Playoff Standings:

1.      Kevin Harvick (2,057 points)
2.      Denny Hamlin (2,047 points, -10)
3.      Brad Keselowski (2,029 points, -28)
4.      Joey Logano (2,022 points, -35)
5.      Chase Elliott (2,020 points, -37)
6.      Martin Truex, Jr. (2,014 points, -43)
7.      Ryan Blaney (2,013 points, -44)
8.      Alex Bowman (2,009 points, -48)
9.      William Byron (2,007 points, -50)
10.   Austin Dillon (2,005 points, -52)
11.   Cole Custer (2,005 points, -52)
12.   Aric Almirola (2,005 points, -52)
13.   Clint Bowyer (2,004 points, -53)
14.   Kyle Busch (2,003 points, -54)
15.   Kurt Busch (2,001 points, -56)
16.   Matt DiBenedetto (2,000 points, -57)

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, Sept. 6 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The first race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 6 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.