INDIANAPOLIS – Kevin Harvick increased pressure on Denny Hamlin at the end of the Brickyard 400.
And on a cooling track, Hamlin’s worn tires simply ran out.
When the sun went down on Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday with Hamlin seven laps from one of the few victories to elude him, he sped off the wall of the first lap with a flat tire in the front right, and Harvick beat Matt Kenseth on the final reboot. to win his second consecutive Brickyard.
“Today we had a lot of tire wear, so I was able to really push my car as hard as I could,” said Harvick after his third 400 title. “I was able to push him a little harder than the last race than before in the race. And when the sun went down, the track was getting cold and speeds were going up in the corners. “
The strategy worked perfectly, as did the Stewart-Haas Racing holiday weekend.
Harvick not only rushed to his 53rd win to reach Lee Petty’s tie for 11th place on the NASCAR race list, but his teammates Aric Almirola and Cole Custer, a rookie, finished third and fifth. Sunday. Stewart-Haas’ fellow rider Chase Briscoe won the Xfinity Series race on Saturday or the road course.
Harvick tied Hamlin with a fourth win of the season and leads the points. The California driver has four consecutive finishes in the top 10.
And for the third consecutive race, it looked like it would be another double for Harvick and Hamlin.
But until the last surprising turn, Hamlin looked like he would take his first Brickyard.
“It is just, it is difficult. I hate the FedEx team,” said the frustrated Hamlin. “It was just a kind of roulette if (the tire) stayed together or not, and mine didn’t.”
How dominant have Harrvick and Hamlin been recently?
After trading wins and runners-up at Pocono last week and Sunday’s result, they have combined for seven of the 12 wins since the season restarted at Darlington in mid-May, and it’s just the second time in seven Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing inning hasn’t finished in the top seven.
But when crew chief Rodney Childers planned the strategy and monitored tire wear, he felt Hamlin was on borrowed time.
“We tried to go a little bit safe and we had backed up a little to save our tires,” he said. “It depends on how that situation develops in the race and it happened that we were on tires for a long time, so going back was the way to go.”
Kenseth was unable to catch it.
“We were really fast,” said Chip Ganassi Racing driver. “I think if we were up front, it would have been difficult to beat.”
One person was noticeably absent: seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 car. Johnson, who tested positive for the coronavirus, watched the race from his Colorado home, while the longest active streak in the series in a row and the fifth longest in the series’ history ended at 663. Johnson hoped to become third. driver to win five races. at the 2.5 mile oval.
Instead, Justin Allgaier replaced him in the car and he didn’t stay long.
Allgaier was involved in a six-car crash near the pit road entrance that put up a red flag on lap 16 when one of Ryan Blaney’s crew members was caught between two cars. The track workers put Zachary Price on a stretcher, and he was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and then released.
Two laps later, Allgaier’s day was over.
“I didn’t know if I got the knight at number 12 or not,” Allgaier said. “Once the accident started happening in front of us and we all bottled up there, we bumped into car after car. It’s a shame. I hate these guys.”
Kurt Busch also had a bad day after starting his 700th career. After starting second, his hopes of winning one of the Cup crown jewels were dashed by an early mistake during a pit stop. An airplane flew onto the track during pre-race activities to celebrate the milestone, which broke a tie with Hall of Famer Buddy Baker for number 16 on the series’ race list.
NASCAR’s weather problems also continued, this time with the start delayed 55 minutes by lightning.
But once the race started, it was a clean navigation for Harvick. He led for most of the first stage before giving way to William Byron, who chose not to play with nine laps and then won the second stage before winning the grand prize.
“We weren’t going to go through him (Hamlin) unless he made a big mistake, and obviously his tire was wearing out,” Harvick said. “His car was a little bit better than me in the long run. We were better at restarts, so we would have needed caution, we couldn’t have beat him on a green.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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