Harvick Wins at Darlington as NASCAR Returns from Shutdown

Kevin Harvick won the Real Heroes 400 from Darlington Raceway on Sunday afternoon in NASCAR’s return to racing.

NASCAR returned to the track for the first time after a 71-day shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The race was run without fans in attendance, and there were no practice or qualifying sessions leading up to the race.

Harvick had a dominant car throughout the race, and led 159 laps.

Harvick said his team’s ability to unload with a fast car helped them succeed under Sunday’s unusual circumstances.

“I think as you look at Darlington and as you look at the things that happened this weekend, we really thought it was going to play into our hand,” Harvick said.  “Our guys are so good at hitting the car off the truck.”

The victory was Harvick’s 50th in the Cup Series, which tied him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett.

Harvick said it was odd to pick up such a big victory without fans in attendance.

“It’s a pretty big honor to win 50 races in this deal,” Harvick said.  “It is weird, just because there’s nobody up there.  I didn’t think it was going to be that much different, and then we won the race and it’s dead-silent out here.  We miss the fans.”

Alex Bowman finished second, and was one of four strong Hendrick Motorsports drivers that challenged up front all race long.

Bowman said second was a good way to restart the season.

“Sucks to finish second, but it’s really good to restart the season this way with a strong car off the truck,” Bowman said.  “It was a lot of fun to get to race a guy like Kevin at a place like Darlington.  Thought if I could get him there on the restart we’d have had a shot at it, but just came up a little bit short.”

NASCAR will return to Darlington on Wednesday night for the Toyota 500.  As with Sunday’s event, there will not be qualifying or practice for the race.  Instead, the field will line up based on the results of Sunday’s race, with the Top 20 finishers inverted.

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Alex Bowman
3. Kurt Busch
4. Chase Elliott
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Tyler Reddick
8. Erik Jones
9. John Hunter Nemechek
10. Matt Kenseth
11. Austin Dillon
12. Aric Almirola
13. Brad Keselowski
14. Matt DiBenedetto
15. Ryan Newman
16. Ryan Blaney
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Joey Logano
19. Ty Dillon
20. Ryan Preece
21. Bubba Wallace
22. Cole Custer
23. Michael McDowell
24. Christopher Bell
25. Daniel Suarez
26. Kyle Busch
27. Brennan Poole
28. JJ Yeley
29. Reed Sorenson
30. Joey Gase
31. Corey LaJoie
32. Chris Buescher
33. Timmy Hill
34. Josh Bilicki
35. William Byron
36. Quin Houff
37. Garrett Smithley
38. Jimmie Johnson
39. BJ McLeod
40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.