Kevin Harvick won Sunday’s running of the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The start of the race was delayed by almost an hour due to lightening in the area and when it started it did so with Joey Logano in the pole after the random drawling.
One driver not racing was Jimmie Johnson who tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson was replaced by Justin Allgaier who drove the No. 48 car. Early Martin Truex Jr fell from his starting spot to the rear of the field while dealing with what was termed an ECU issue.
A competition caution was scheduled for lap 12 but did not fall until 14 during which Kevin Harvick was able to take tires prior to it being displayed.
An incident on pit road resulted in heavy damage to Allgaier, Truex, Ryan Preece, Brennan Poole, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Corey LaJoie and sent the rear tire changer of Ryan Blaney’s team to receive medical attention.
Truex would retire from the race prior to it returning green. LaJoie and Preece would retire from the race.
Harvick would be the leader on the restart though did not have the luxury of knowing he would have enough gas to finish the first stage.
A flat right front tire on Allgaier, after the pit road incident, would lead to him retiring his car from the race. Problems continued for Stenhouse and Poole who failed to meet minimum speed and were forced to the garage.
On lap 41 caution came out for Ryan Newman after he hit the wall with a flat right front tire. That caution would prove beneficial to Harvick who was able to pit with everyone else and be back on the same fuel strategy. Harvick and the rest of the cars who pitted would have to line up behind several cars which did not. William Byron, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon all finished the stage ahead of Harvick and company despite not pitting.
Chase Elliott would grab the lead early in the second stage while Matt DiBenedetto, Denny Hamlin, Harvick and a surprising Matt Kenseth giving chase. A flat right front would end the day of Erik Jones and bring out the caution midway through the stage.
Byron and Dillon would again play the track position game taking two tires on pit stops to move up to the front of the field. Byron would lose a left front tire on the restart but managed to stay off the wall.
Harvick would pass Dillon and Hamlin three wise in the restart for the lead as Blaney got loose and went around. Harvick would go on to win the second stage. As Harvick and Hamlin pitted, Kesey stayed out to take the lead and was rewarded when Alex Bowman lost a right front and hit the wall midway through the stage.
Hamlin and Harvick would cycle to the front as everyone else pitted. Harvick would make contact with one Kenseth on the restart resulting in his car wrap coming off his right front but it would not stop him from trying to reel in Hamlin.
With seven laps to go Hamlin crashed from the lead after a flat right front tire led him to hit the wall. In overtime Harvick would hold off Kenseth for the win.
Indianapolis Cup Results
- Kevin Harvick
- Matt Kenseth
- Aric Almirola
- Brad Keselowski
- Cole Custer
- Kyle Busch
- Michael McDowell
- Tyler Reddick
- Bubba Wallace
- Joey Logano
- Chase Elliott
- Christopher Bell
- Kurt Busch
- Ty Dillon
- Clint Bowyer
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ross Chastain
- Austin Dillon
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Daniel Suarez
- JJ Yeley
- BJ McLeod
- Quin Houff
- Garrett Smithley
- Josh Bilicki
- Joey Gase
- William Byron
- Denny Hamlin
- Timmy Hill
- Ryan Blaney
- Chris Buescher
- Ryan Blaney
- Erik Jones
- Ryan Newman
- Brennan Poole
- Ricky Stenhouse
- Justin Allgaier
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Corey LaJoie
- Ryan Preece
