Because Denny Hamlin won on Saturday, Kevin Harvick had to win yesterday. Those are the rules for NASCAR’s 2020 Cup Series.
Further back in the field, both Jimmie Johnson and William Byron—racing on a knife’s edge for the final playoff spot, barring an unexpected victor next weekend knocking them both out—finished third and fourth respectively, with Byron’s better finishes in the first two stages pushing him back in front of Johnson by four points. Five points ahead of Byron, and therefore nine points ahead of Johnson, is Matt DiBenedetto, who’s suddenly within a few car lengths of the cut line after finishing 17th.
It’s hard to know how exactly the race went down, because I don’t usually actually watch the races (I’m a busy guy, alright?) and the reporters I usually get the breakdowns from on Twitter were busy with the Indy 500 (as is just). Sounds like there might be some beef now between Ty Dillon and Corey LaJoie? Neither of them are in contention, but retaliation next week in the regular season’s final race could have collateral effects and really mess things up for one or two contenders. So hopefully that’s what NASCAR’s got lined up for us.
Until next week, when we come back to Daytona and do the full oval again,
NIT Stu
