Harvick Ends Pocono Drought for His Third Win of 2020

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LONG POND, PA – RIS  - Kevin Harvick won the Cup Series race on Saturday at Pocono Raceway. Harvick had lost all 38 races at the tri-oval track. Denny Hamlin was second and Aric Almirola third.

Harvick starts 20th on Sunday for the second Cup race of the weekend with the field set by inverting the lead-lap finishers from race No. 1.

Ryan Preece finished 20th and will start on the pole Sunday.

In the end, it came down to Harvick and Hamlin.  Hamlin had won five races at the “Tricky Triangle,” but Harvick was looking for his first.  Pit strategy has always been the key to winning at Pocono, and Harvick’s crew chief, Rodney Childers played the strategy like a fine expensive violin.

"We weren’t where we needed to be to start the race and lost a bunch of track position," Harvick said, "but we came back and made some great strategy calls to get in clean air and get out front and make some good laps. It is great to finally check Pocono off the list."

The race was scheduled as the second Saturday, but rain washed out the Truck Series race. That sets up a small slice of history Sunday: Truck, second-tier Xfinity and Cup will all run Sunday. It’s the first time three NASCAR National Series races will race on the same day at the same track.

There were no fans at the race.  Pocono sits in Monroe County which entered Pennsylvania’s green designation. The green phase limits public gatherings to 250 people. But Gov. Tom Wolf’s guidance to professional sports mandates no spectators, even in green.

“I wish you were here,” Harvick said to the fans watching at home. “This wasn’t nearly as exciting.”

Aric Almirola led 61 laps, the most of anyone.  The rest of the leaders, Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan Newman, and Joey Logano were, like Harvick, in the teens as numbers of laps led.

Logano won the first stage and Almirola won the second stage. It was a big day for the Ford Mustangs with six of the top ten finishers being Fords.

“Obviously we had a fast FedEx Camry.,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know if more time would have helped, but I had a bad vibration there the last 15 (laps) and that kind of hampered our efforts coming to the front there. Not sure what it was, but it was really, really bad and we just did all we could to run him (Kevin Harvick) down and that’s all we had.”

Unofficial Results, Pocono Organics 325, Pocono Raceway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 9, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Head for the Mountains Ford, 130, , 7, 1, 17, 5, 44, Running
2) 3, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 130, , 9, 2, 10, , 37, Running
3) 1, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 130, 2, 1, 3, 61, 1, 53, Running
4) 36, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Rheem Toyota, 130, , , , , , 33, Running
5) 4, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Mini's Toyota, 130, 4, 8, , , , 42, Running
6) 11, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Sirius XM Toyota, 130, , 3, 1, 14, , 39, Running
7) 18, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford, 130, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 26, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, 130, , , 1, 1, , 29, Running
9) 8, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Western Star/Alliance Parts Ford, 130, 8, , , , , 31, Running
10) 24, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 130, , , 1, 3, , 27, Running
11) 22, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 2, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford, 130, 3, 4, , , , 40, Running
13) 21, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 130, 7, 5, , , , 34, Running
14) 16, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 13, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Progressive Insurance Ford, 130, , , 1, 13, , 22, Running
16) 25, Cole Custer #, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 130, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 14, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 7, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 130, 6, , , , , 24, Running
19) 17, Austin Dillon, No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 30, Ryan Preece, No. 37 P&G Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 12, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 23, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 29, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Built Bar Ford, 129, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 20, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 Death Wish Coffee Ford, 129, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 5, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 129, 5, 10, , , , 19, Running
26) 34, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 10, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Chevygoods.com Chevrolet, 129, 9, 6, , , , 17, Running
28) 37, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 CommScope Toyota, 128, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 27, Brennan Poole #, No. 15 Spartan Mosquito Chevrolet, 127, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 15, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 126, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 33, JJ Yeley(i), No. 27 Red Rock Secured Ford, 125, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 40, * Josh Bilicki(i), No. 7 Insurance King Chevrolet, 125, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 31, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Rich Mar Florist Chevrolet, 125, , , , , , 0, Running
34) 35, James Davison, No. 77 OilFire Chevrolet, 125, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 38, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 CrashClaimsR.US Toyota, 125, , , , , , 0, Running
36) 6, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 124, 1, 2, 1, 11, 1, 20, Running
37) 28, Joey Gase(i), No. 51 Adkins Automotive LLC Ford, 121, , , , , , 0, Running
38) 19, Erik Jones, No. 20 Craftsman Toyota, 70, 10, , , , , 2, Accident
39) 39, * BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 Koolbox Ice Chevrolet, 36, , , , , , 0, Transmission
40) 32, Quin Houff #, No. 00 Mane 'n Tail Chevrolet, 19, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series. (#) Rookie

Race Length: 130 laps, 325 miles
Time of Race: 2 hrs, 25 mins, 1 sec
Average Speed: 134.467 MPH
Margin of Victory: .761 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 10, 12, 18, 9, 1, 21, 2, 88, 20
Stage 2 Top 10: 10, 22, 19, 12, 21, 88, 4, 18, 11, 9

Race Comments: Kevin Harvick won the Pocono Organics 325 in partnership with Rodale Institute at Pocono Raceway, his 52nd NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 15 (inspection infractions), No. 7 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 6 for 21 laps;
Laps: 14-16 (Competition Caution [7]);
18-20 (No. 00 Incident Turn 2 [53]);
27-30 (Stage 1 Conclusion [47]);
66-69 (Debris [17]);
73-75 (No. 8, No. 20 Incident Frontstretch [38]);
79-82 (Stage 2 Conclusion [47]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 8 drivers;
A. Almirola 1-19;
J. Logano 20-30;
A. Almirola 31-45;
M. Truex Jr. 46-59;
D. Hamlin 60-66;
A. Almirola 67-93;
D. Hamlin 94-96;
R. Newman 97-109;
M. McDowell 110;
C. Buescher 111-113;
K. Harvick 114-130.

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Christopher Bell, No. 95