August 23, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Kevin Harvick clinches regular season title en route to Dover win

Kevin Harvick wasn’t going to let Denny Hamlin have all the glory at Dover International Speedway this weekend.

And Harvick upstaged Hamlin mightily on Sunday. Not only did he win all three stages in the Drydene 311, but Harvick clinched the regular-season championship and moved to a tie for ninth in all-time wins with Kyle Busch.

The cherry on top was scoring the 700th Cup win for Ford Performance.

“With Denny winning yesterday we needed to win today and we need all the points we can get,” Harvick said. “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.

“Congratulations to Ford on their 700th Cup win. I want to thank everyone on this team. Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing for overcoming what happened yesterday with the track bar and nailing the balance today. What a year. What a seven years. I am just really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing for being able to drive this car. Week after week they just put so much effort into making this thing go fast and it has been a great year.”

Harvick held off Martin Truex Jr. by 3.525-seconds for his seventh win of the season and his third at Dover.

A gutsy two-tire call by Cliff Daniels vaulted Jimmie Johnson from fifth to first for the final restart. The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet held on for third in his final start at the Monster Mile and is still in the hunt for a Playoff spot in his last full-season on tour.

“I’m going to do my best to forget about it,” Johnson said of next week's regular-season finale at Daytona. “There really isn’t any worrying I can do this week that will help me on a plate track.

“Studying, worrying—any of that—is not going to make a difference, so go down there, say a few prayers, say a prayer per lap and see how it plays out, I guess. We’ll race hard, and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.”

William Byron, who Johnson is battling for one of the two final transfer spots in the Playoffs, finished fourth and holds a four-point lead over his teammate. Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Cole Custer rounded out the top 10.

Once again, the Monster Mile delivered early. Joey Logano tapped the tail of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and set-off a six-car incident that ended the day of Chase Elliott, Joey Gase and Stenhouse. Kyle Busch, who was running 12th, also received damage. He finished 11th, exceeded his longest streak without a win in his Cup career.

Fords dominated the first stage with Matt DiBenedetto leading the first 11 laps. Aric Almirola snatched the lead after the first caution but elected to pit during the second yellow flag, which flew for debris. Ryan Blaney stayed out on the track along with William Byron and Kurt Busch, who started from the rear of the field after wrecking on Lap 8 of Saturday’s race.

Blaney led 35 laps and appeared to be en route to the stage win—until Harvick barreled around the No. 12 Ford with one lap remaining in the segment. With four fresh tires, Harvick easily held the lead for the stage win—and accumulated enough points to secure the regular-season title.

NASCAR red-flagged the race for 12-minutes and 19-seconds to make repairs to the concrete in Turn 4 before the start of Stage 2. Harvick remained in command during the second segment until Ty Dillon tagged Corey LaJoie in Turn 2 to trigger the fourth caution on Lap 101. Blaney and Logano traded the lead with the No. 22 controlling the restart on Lap 107. Johnson was seventh when the yellow flew but was busted for speeding and dropped to 30th.

Harvick regained control seven laps later and remained at the point to win Stage 2. Over the 80-green flag laps in the second segment, Johnson recovered to ninth—three positions behind Byron.

Hamlin didn’t factor into the race until lining up next to Harvick for the start of the final stage on Lap 193. Logano jumped to second on the restart and Hamlin ran third until Quinn Houff spun in Turn 2 to ignite the sixth caution on Lap 217. After the choose zone, Harvick held the lead, Logano pulled up behind him and Hamlin alongside the No. 4 Ford. Six laps into the run, Hamlin reported a loose left rear tire and was forced to pit. He finished 19th.

With Harvick dominating the contest, the race within the race evolved between the Hendrick cars of Byron and Johnson, who were running fifth and 11th, respectively, with 75 laps remaining. Daniels and spotter Earl Barban continued to encourage Johnson as Chad Knaus and spotter Tab Boyd coached Byron on defense.

Johnson was looming large in Byron’s rearview mirror when the Corey LaJoie spun in Turn 3 on Lap 290 for the seventh and final caution. A two-tire stop gave Johnson the lead with 20 circuits to go.

“Go like hell, my friend,” Daniels told Johnson. But Harvick quickly regained the lead. Three laps later, Truex passed the No. 48 Chevy as well but Johnson maintained his advantage over Byron to the checkers—but he was nearly six-seconds behind Harvick, who had simply checked out.

“I love the grit of our race team,” Harvick said. “I think that is what Gene Haas and Tony Stewart have built at Stewart-Haas Racing. A team with a lot of grit. Sometimes we don't have the fastest car but we have guys willing to suck it up and when we have a weak link that day someone else will carry the team.

“I am really proud of that and that is what it is all about. You are only as good as the people around you and we have great people.”

In addition to the 10 winners this season that will transfer to the post-season, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola have all advanced.