{"id":30738,"date":"2020-08-09T19:10:59","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T00:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=30738"},"modified":"2020-08-11T19:19:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T00:19:13","slug":"kevin-harvick-sweeps-michigan-and-gets-55th-career-cup-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/09\/kevin-harvick-sweeps-michigan-and-gets-55th-career-cup-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Harvick sweeps Michigan and gets 55th career Cup win"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Apple Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 09, 2020 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Kevin Harvick\u2019s victory in Sunday\u2019s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway gave the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team a weekend race sweep and a whole lot of momentum as the NASCAR Cup Series closes out its regular season schedule at the end of this month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Apple Ford, crosses the finish line over Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota, to win the NASCAR Cup Series Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 09, 2020 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Harvick\u2019s win is a series-best sixth of the season and 55th of his career \u2013 placing the 44-year old Californian 10th on the NASCAR Cup Series all-time wins list tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace. And Sunday marked the first time since 1971 (Richard Petty) a driver has won back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series races on back-to-back days.<\/p>\n

It was the fourth win in the last five Michigan races for Harvick and his weekend double earned the prestigious Heritage Trophy for Ford Motor Company \u2013 honoring the weekend\u2019s top make in America\u2019s auto manufacturer\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n

Harvick was able to pull away from the field on a restart with 30 laps remaining but had to hold off a charging Denny Hamlin in a duel between the series two winningest drivers in the final handful of laps. Ultimately Harvick took a .093-second win over Hamlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big challenge,” Harvick acknowledged of the final lap contest with Hamlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at my team, we\u2019ve been together going on seven years now and you look at the confidence everyone has in each other, the details of the race cars, everything that goes into everything that we do, that\u2019s untouchable,” Harvick said of his team. \u201cThat\u2019s what it takes, details to make these race cars go fast.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Apple Ford, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 09, 2020 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hamlin\u2019s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch finished third and fourth followed by Team Penske\u2019s Joey Logano. Harvick\u2019s teammate Aric Almirola was sixth. Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10.<\/p>\n

Hamlin, a five-race winner in 2020, climbed out of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota disappointed in the outcome, but well aware that the head-to-head battle between his team and Harvick\u2019s team was foreshadowing an exciting season championship contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we finally got to second, I knew we had something for them,” Hamlin said. \u201cI just got stalled there, he was tight and I was tight and we were better, that\u2019s for sure. But he just had the track position and could control the lanes there.”<\/p>\n

Of the tight championship race, Hamlin said, \u201cProud of this FedEx team, just hate giving up wins to the No. 4.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Apple Ford, leads Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota, to the finish line to win the NASCAR Cup Series Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 09, 2020 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

When asked if they bring out the best in each other, \u201cNo question,” Hamlin said of contending with Harvick, adding, \u201cI\u2019ve got tremendous amount of respect for everyone on that team and Kevin. As we\u2019ve gotten older, we\u2019ve gotten wiser and learned to really appreciate what each other does on the race track and obviously, they\u2019ve having a great season as well.”<\/p>\n

Not only did Harvick become the first driver in series history win back-to-back races in consecutive days at the same track but he did it by leading the most laps each day as well. He paced the field for 90 of the 156 laps Sunday. And his Stage 2 win was his third stage victory of the weekend after he swept both stages on Saturday. Harvick\u2019s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer won the opening Stage on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The start to the race was calm \u2013 the first two of the five total cautions coming out only for the scheduled two stage conclusions. However, just past the second stage, on Lap 96 Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski collided while contesting the lead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Fudge Brownie Toyota, races Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Auto-Owner’s Insurance Toyota, during the NASCAR Cup Series Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 09, 2020 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Keselowski was running low on the track hoping to get around race leader Blaney but his No. 2 Ford shot up the track making contact with Blaney\u2019s No. 12 Ford \u2013 both cars ended up in the wall and ultimately into the garage. They were scored 38th (Blaney) and 39th (Keselowski) in the 39-car field.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust slipped, lost the back a little bit and tried to collect it and he was there and I wiped him out and myself,” a dejected Keselowski said after being checked out in the Infield Care Center. \u201cI feel terrible for everyone at Team Penske and especially for Ryan Blaney. Gosh, he didn\u2019t deserve that.”<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Cup Series makes its Daytona International Speedway Road Course debut next Sunday with the Go Bowling 235 (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Kevin Harvick – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NCS_MIS_Harvick_080920.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rodney Childers – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NCS_MIS_Childers_080920.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NCS_MIS_Hamlin_080920.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NCS_MIS_Truex_080920.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Series Race – 51st Annual Consumers Energy 400<\/b><\/p>\n

Michigan International Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Brooklyn, Michigan<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday, August 9, 2020<\/b><\/p>\n

               1. (20)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               2. (15)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               3. (18)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               4. (16)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               5. (13)  Joey Logano, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               6. (5)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               7. (6)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               8. (31)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               9. (14)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               10. (11)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               11. (9)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               12. (7)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               13. (28)  Ryan Newman, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               14. (2)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               15. (4)  Matt Kenseth, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               16. (25)  Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               17. (8)  Christopher Bell #, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               18. (23)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               19. (32)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               20. (1)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               21. (12)  Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               22. (22)  Corey LaJoie, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               23. (36)  John Hunter Nemechek #, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               24. (3)  Tyler Reddick #, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               25. (34)  Cole Custer #, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               26. (24)  Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               27. (10)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               28. (29)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               29. (26)  JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 154.<\/p>\n

               30. (37)  Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 153.<\/p>\n

               31. (30)  Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 153.<\/p>\n

               32. (27)  Quin Houff #, Chevrolet, 153.<\/p>\n

               33. (39)  Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 152.<\/p>\n

               34. (35)  Garrett Smithley(i), Ford, 152.<\/p>\n

               35. (33)  Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 150.<\/p>\n

               36. (21)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Tire, 149.<\/p>\n

               37. (38)  James Davison, Ford, 147.<\/p>\n

               38. (17)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, Accident, 95.<\/p>\n

               39. (19)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 95.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  144.463 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 9 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .093 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  5 for 24 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  10 among 6 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   C. Buescher 0;C. Bowyer 1-43;K. Busch 44-47;K. Harvick 48-91;R. Blaney 92-95;D. Hamlin 96-101;K. Harvick 102-105;A. Almirola 106-109;K. Harvick 110;A. Almirola 111-115;K. Harvick 116-156.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Kevin Harvick 4 times for 90 laps; Clint Bowyer 1 time for 43 laps; Aric Almirola 2 times for 9 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 6 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 4 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 4 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 14,95,18,21,20,24,12,4,1,22<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 4,2,18,95,14,11,20,10,22,12<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kevin Harvick\u2019s victory in Sunday\u2019s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway gave the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team a weekend race sweep and a whole lot of momentum as the NASCAR Cup Series closes out its regular season schedule at the end of this month. Harvick\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":30744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[95,219,16],"class_list":["post-30738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-kevin-harvick","tag-michigan-international-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NCS_MIS_VictoryLane_080920-scaled-e1597191297947.jpg?fit=640%2C426","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-7ZM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30738"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30749,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions\/30749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}