Harvick Takes Advantage of Hamlin's Crash, Wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Since NASCAR returned from their two-plus month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic with their race at Darlington on May 17, there have been a couple things that have been remarkably consistent. There has been uncooperative weather at more than a fair share of the races this season with multiple races delayed. One (Talladega) was pushed back a day to Monday while another (the second Darlington race May 20) was ended early due to the weather with a red flag finish. The other thing that we’ve been able to see this season is plenty of terrific racing, with multiple lead changes in the closing laps before a winner was crowned.
On Sunday in the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Brickyard provided both of those common threads in spades.
The race was originally started to begin at 4:24 pm ET but was delayed due to rain and lightning for 55 minutes. By the time the race got started, it was 5:19 pm ET as the green flag was waved. As for the terrific racing part, that took place too. After Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin finished 1-2 in last Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 at Pocono Raceway, the drivers flipped positions last Sunday to cap the doubleheader weekend at the track for Hamlin’s sixth win at Pocono. In Sunday’s race at the Brickyard, that duo was at the front of the pack late before things got a little crazy.
Holding the lead with seven laps to go, Hamlin’s worn tires let go, sending him careening into the wall in turn one and knocking him out of the race. After the restart for the crash, Harvick held off Matt Kenseth to earn his third win at the Brickyard, his fourth victory of the season and his 53rd win of his career. He took the checkered flag with a .743 second margin of victory. Aric Almirola was third while Brad Keselowski finished fourth and Cole Custer rounded out the top five with a solid showing.
All told, there were 11 lead changes among nine drivers in the race. Harvick led a race-high 68 laps in the contest while Chase Elliott, who finished 11th, was next with 26 laps led. Hamlin (28th place) led 19 laps, William Byron (27th) held the top spot in 15 laps, Joey Logano (10th) was at the front in 14 laps and Kenseth set the pace in 12. Austin Dillon (18th) led five laps while Ross Chastain (17th), Garrett Smithley (24th) and Almirola each held the lead for a single lap during the race. There was a total of nine cautions spanning 43 laps, meaning more than one-quarter of the race was run under the yellow flag.
Elliott, Harvick, Hamlin, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer were the lone drivers to be in the top 10 at the end of each of the first two stages of the race. Of those, Harvick (winner) and Busch (sixth) were the lone drivers to finish in the top 10 in both of the first two stages and end up in the top 10 at the end of the race. Elliott finished 11th, Bowyer was 16th, DiBenedetto was 19th and Hamlin finished 28th due to his late crash. Justin Allgaier, who was filling in for Jimmie Johnson in the 48 car after Johnson announced he had tested positive for COVID-19, crashed on lap 17 and ended up finishing 37th in the race.
Had you followed our predictions for the race in part one and part two of our top prop bets, you had some opportunities to cash in at the window. We took Harvick to take the checkered flag at +400, which would have paid dividends. As a result, it also would have made a winner of the prop for the winning team being Stewart-Haas Racing, which went off at +300 on the board. There was also the hit on Ford as being the manufacturer of the winning car (+115) in the race. The two biggest hitters we had on the board were centered on Almirola, who we pegged to finish in the top three (+850) and as the top driver in Group C (+265), which would have been a nice payday for anyone. It helped offset the fact that Hamlin’s late wipeout cost him a top-three finish (+135) and driving the top Toyota in the race (+140) in what had to be a tough pill to swallow.
With his fourth win of the year, Harvick tied Hamlin for the most victories on the season by a NASCAR driver. He leads the point standings by 85 points over Elliott. Keselowski is third, 88 points back, while Ryan Blaney (103 points behind) and Hamlin (109 back) round out the top five in the standings. In the playoff standings, Austin Dillon owns the 16th and final playoff spot as he has 360 points, giving him the eighth-highest point total among non-winners. However, if someone other than the eight drivers pull out a win next week, he could be on the outside looking in.
NASCAR heads to the Bluegrass State for their next race as Kentucky Speedway is the host track. The Quaker State 400 is scheduled to take place Saturday at 2:30 pm ET from the track with television coverage brought to you by NBC. Kurt Busch is the defending champion, having edged his brother Kyle by .076 seconds en route to the checkered flag.