Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin Start NASCAR Team; Bubba Wallace Featured as Driver
Sep 21, 2020
Former basketball superstar Michael Jordan speaks during a press conference ahead of NBA basketball game between Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks in Paris, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus))
Having conquered the hardwood, Michael Jordan is moving to the racetrack.
Denny Hamlin announced Monday he's partnering with Jordan for a NASCAR Cup Series team scheduled to debut in 2021. Bubba Wallace will be the lone driver representing the team on the track:
Tonight, I’m excited to announce MJ and I are starting a new, single car @NASCAR Cup Series team for 2021. Deciding on a driver was easy - it had to be @BubbaWallace. pic.twitter.com/nIJv0X6ZOX
The 26-year-old finished 23rd in the series standings, notching one top-five finish and five top-10s in 29 starts.
Wallace became vocal about social justice issues amid the ongoing protests against systemic racism and police brutality. In June, he called for NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag from its events, a step the organization took days later.
Later that month, NASCAR announced it was investigating what it believed might be a racist display made against Wallace after a rope tied into a noose was discovered in his garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway.
The FBI later determined the rope had been tied in that fashion well before Wallace and his team were assigned the garage.
"Some felt the phrasing of words used [in the initial statement] were not right," NASCAR President Steve Phelps told reporters once the results of the FBI investigation were announced. "I take full responsibility for that. Based on evidence we had, we felt one of our drivers had been threatened. It was our responsibility to react and investigate, and that's exactly what we did."
In a show of solidarity with Wallace, NASCAR drivers pushed Wallace's No. 43 car to the front of pit road prior to the Geico 500 at Talladega. Hamlin expressed the importance of showing public support for Wallace.
This partnership will be Jordan's first official foray into NASCAR. He's already the principal governor for the Charlotte Hornets following his retirement from the NBA.
Hamlin, meanwhile, confirmed this move won't impact his work with Joe Gibbs Racing.
NASCAR at Bristol 2020: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers
Sep 18, 2020
Denny Hamlin (11) drives into Turn 1 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Hamlin who won Stage 1 was called for speeding in the pits and was penalized. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The NASCAR Cup Series has become more than familiar with Bristol Motor Speedway in 2020, but there is something new about Saturday night's trip to the short track in Tennessee.
The Bass Pro Shops Night Race marks the first time the Cup Series will use the short track as a playoff venue.
Typically, the final race of the season at Bristol takes place in August, but with the augmented schedule, the venue is being used for the third time in 2020. The track hosted a 500-mile race in May and was the All-Star Race venue in July.
The final trip to Bristol in 2020 serves as the last race in the three-event first phase of the postseason. The list of championship contenders will be trimmed from 16 to 12 following Saturday's race.
Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski secured spots in the round of 12 with victories in the last two races, while Denny Hamlin is through on points.
If one of the other 13 drivers win the Bristol night race, he will automatically qualify as well. The rest of the round-of-12 competitors will be determined by points.
Bass Pro Shops Night Race Information
Date: Saturday, September 19
Start Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live Stream: NBCSports.com and NBC Sports app
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Starting Grid
All-Penske front row for Saturday night at Bristol with Keselowski on the pole and Logano starting second: #nascarpic.twitter.com/1Pp0KhTuXH
Hamlin does not have to win to advance to the next round, but he seems like the most likely champion.
The No. 11 car driver is the defending champion of the season's second race at Bristol and he starts in a favorable spot in seventh.
Passing is difficult on the short track with high banking, which makes starting position a crucial part of the winning formula.
Three of the last five Bristol winners started from the pole position, including Hamlin a year ago. Only five champions have come from beneath the top 10 to finish in Victory Lane since 2012.
Hamlin also holds an advantage through his team's performance at short tracks. Joe Gibbs Racing won four of the last six Bristol races through Hamlin and Kyle Busch.
Martin Truex Jr. owns four wins at Martinsville Speedway and Richmond Raceway in the last two years, while Busch has three triumphs at the other two short tracks since 2017.
Of the three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers in the playoffs, Busch is in the most danger of missing the round of 12.
The No. 18 car has yet to find Victory Lane in 2020, but Busch owns more top-five finishes than 11 of his playoff competitors.
Truex may be the best bet to win off odds value. He typically is not as high as +1800, and his recent short-track history could finally result in a Bristol victory.
Keselowski is the biggest threat to the Joe Gibbs cars, as he won the May race at Bristol, starts on the pole and is coming off a short-track win at Richmond.
The No. 2 car won from the pole position back in May, and if Keselowski gets off to a fast start, he could leave the playoff competitors fighting for points to advance.
Clint Bowyer enters Bristol on the 12th-place bubble with a three-point advantage over William Byron. Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto and Ryan Blaney are also on the outside looking in.
Since the gap between Aric Almirola in 10th and Blaney is 34 points, the projected standings could shuffle throughout the night.
Blaney may have the toughest path to the top 12 since he finished in last place because of a crash in May at Bristol and has finished outside the top 10 in six of the previous seven races.
Byron could be in the best spot to leap into the top 12 since he only has to make up a three-point difference on Bowyer and finished eighth in the season's first Bristol race.
NASCAR at Daytona 2020: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers
Aug 28, 2020
Denny Hamlin (11) during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Dover International Speedway, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020, in Dover, Del. (AP Photo/Jason Minto)
The NASCAR Cup Series regular season ends with one of the most difficult tasks on the circuit, when the 40-driver field will attempt to conquer Daytona International Speedway under the lights Saturday night.
Thirteen competitors head into the Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a playoff spot assured, while Clint Bowyer is essentially certain of a postseason position.
That leaves four drivers to fight for two positions on a track that is known to produce some unpredictable results.
Most of Saturday's spotlight will be focused on Matt DiBenedetto, William Byron, Jimmie Johnson and Erik Jones in the fight for the final two playoff positions.
DiBenedetto holds a five-point lead over Byron, who owns five more points than Johnson for the 16th and final postseason spot.
Jones has the most work to do of the quartet since he is 46 points back of Johnson in 18th place.
Racing at Daytona, where teammates typically work together to get to the front of the field, will throw a wrench into the playoff hunt.
The teams of Hendrick Motorsports teammates Byron and Johnson have said they are going to try to work together to get both drivers past DiBenedetto in the standings, per The Athletic'sJeff Gluck:
NASCAR media just had an interesting Zoom call with @DanielsCliff. He was honest about the No. 48 team's strategy for Daytona: They need to work with the No. 24 (and other Chevys) all race to give themselves the best shot, rather than trying to do their own strategy.
On Zoom calls with William Byron and Chad Knaus, both echo the sentiment they’re trying to get all the Hendrick cars into the playoffs and knock out the No. 21 team. So that’s why they feel they can work together. It’s not necessarily 48 vs. 24 to them.
Byron and Johnson did not fare well at the Daytona 500, where they finished in the bottom six positions due to accidents.
Byron did come out on top in the second of two qualifying duels, but that was with half the usual field on the track.
A year ago, the No. 24 and No. 48 cars took second and third behind Justin Haley in a weather-shortened Coke Zero Sugar 400, which took place during the first weekend of July.
If Byron and Johnson avoid early wrecks and meet up with teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, they could partner to land in the front of the field.
DiBenedetto and Jones could also benefit from long trains of teammates to go for the victory, or the highest position possible.
DiBenedetto is the lone Wood Brothers Racing driver, but he typically teams with the Team Penske cars at the superspeedways.
Jones can benefit from the push out of Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch in the Joe Gibbs Racing stable.
The No. 20 car driver may be best suited going for the victory, which clinches an automatic playoff spot if the champion is a first-time winner this season.
Hamlin won the Daytona 500 in February and is one of three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers to start in the top 12. Jones will have some work to do to reach them from 20th.
One of the four Joe Gibbs Toyotas could be in the best position to win since the team owns three of the last four victories on the Daytona oval.
Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and the top drivers in the series should be in the mix at the front, but they do not have as good of a recent history as the Joe Gibbs cars.
Harvick has not won on the Daytona oval since 2010, Keselowski has a four-year win drought at the track, and Blaney has a pair of top-five finishes in 10 races there.
NASCAR at Dover 2020: Drydene 311 Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream, Drivers
Aug 23, 2020
Denny Hamlin (11) leads during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Dover International Speedway, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020, in Dover, Del. (AP Photo/Jason Minto)
Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin have matched accomplishments for most of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.
However, there is one thing Harvick has done that Hamlin has not: sweep two races in the same weekend at one track. Hamlin will try to match Harvick in that category Sunday in the second of two Drydene 311 races at Dover International Speedway.
The No. 11 car driver finished on top Saturday, with two of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates directly behind him. Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch need to climb through the field Sunday to contend for the victory again since the top 20 starting positions were inverted based off Saturday's final grid.
The Joe Gibbs Racing trio may extend their control of the field into Sunday, even though it may take them a few laps to get to the front.
Hamlin, Truex and Busch led 206 of the 311 laps at the Monster Mile on Saturday, while the former pair battled for the victory in the final stage.
Hamlin's victory was his first at Dover in 28 attempts. He acknowledged that unwanted record after the race in conversation with Dan Gelston of the Associated Press: "People always ask what your least favorite track is, and I say Dover just because I'm not that good. I love the track. I just haven't been very good here."
The victory tied Hamlin with Harvick for the most victories this season with six. If Hamlin replicates Harvick's back-to-back wins from Michigan, he will take the advantage in that column with one regular-season race remaining.
The top contenders to win Sunday's race are either locked into the playoff field through a victory or have enough points to feel secure through the final two races, like Kyle Busch.
Jimmie Johnson and William Byron switched spots on the playoff bubble Saturday. Johnson now holds a three-point advantage over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
Since only the top 20 finishers from Saturday were inverted in the starting lineup, Byron, who placed 23rd, will begin nine spots behind Johnson on Sunday.
Byron not only has to claw back up the field to beat out Johnson but also has to fend off Erik Jones, who starts Sunday 19 points back of the No. 24 car driver and is positioned ninth on the starting grid.
Matt DiBenedetto resides directly above the fight for the final playoff spot. He was handed the pole position after finishing 20th Saturday. There is a small chance one of the drivers without a win starting beneath DiBenedetto could throw off the playoff plans of Johnson, Byron or Jones.
Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick all start in the top eight and sit under Jones in the standings.
If one of those drivers steals a win, it would put DiBenedetto on the bubble going into the final race of the regular season at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.
NASCAR at Dover 2020 Results: Denny Hamlin Earns 6th Win of 2020 Season
Aug 22, 2020
Denny Hamlin celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Dover International Speedway, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020, in Dover, Del. (AP Photo/Jason Minto)
The driver of the No. 11 car tied Harvick with six wins this season as he took the checkered flag at the Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway on Saturday.
It was a masterful performance with Hamlin winning all three stages during a relatively clean race.
Over 2:32:20 of racing, the Cup Series event saw 15 lead changes, 10 different leaders and only four caution flags. Harvick finished in fourth behind three Joe Gibbs Racing cars in Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch.
Drydene 311 Results
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Kyle Busch
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Chase Elliott
6. Clint Boyer
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Joey Logano
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Notables: Austin Dillon (15), Ryan Newman (19), Matt Kenseth (23), Bubba Wallace (27), Kurt Busch (40)
The 60 points earned by Hamlin on Saturday helped him maintain second place behind Harvick in the 2020 Cup Series standings.
It was the 29th time Hamlin had started at Dover and the first time he found himself in Victory Lane.
A late pass on the inside to blow by teammate Truex put Hamlin in the lead for good with only a handful of laps remaining following a long duel between the two. Really, it was Hamlin's race from the start. The 39-year-old led 115 laps on Saturday after starting in second.
.@dennyhamlin puts the squeeze on the leader and takes over the top spot in the #Drydene311!
Shortly after crossing the finish line, Hamlin had to be held back by his pit crew from doing donuts on the track with another Cup Series event scheduled for Sunday at Dover.
After failing to earn a victory in his first 28 attempts at the speedway, Hamlin will try to make it two victories in a row in 24 hours.
NASCAR at Dover 2020: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers
Aug 22, 2020
Kevin Harvick (4) competes with Brad Keselowski (2) during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
The NASCAR Cup Series is scheduled to run its fifth set of back-to-back races at the same track Saturday and Sunday at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.
The racing weekend kicks off Saturday with the first of two 311-mile races at the Monster Mile.
Chase Elliott, who won Sunday at the Daytona road course, starts on the pole and will be accompanied by Denny Hamlin on the front row.
Elliott, Hamlin and eight others are already locked into the NASCAR playoff field. The order of the final six positions will be determined by the two Dover races and the regular-season finale on the Daytona oval August 29.
Jimmie Johnson has the best starting position of the drivers—sixth—fighting to get into the playoff. The No. 48 car driver needs a victory in one of the final three races or has to make up a 25-point gap on William Byron to qualify for the playoffs in his final season as a full-time Cup driver.
Johnson's best remaining chance to automatically qualify for the playoffs with a victory comes at Dover.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has 11 victories at the mile-long course, with the last one coming in 2017.
In addition to his 11 Dover wins, Johnson owns the most top-10 finishes and laps led at the track and is tied with Matt Kenseth with the highest total of top-five placings.
Johnson comes to Delaware off a fourth-place finish at the Daytona road course, where he finished four positions ahead of Byron, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
If he does not win, the 44-year-old needs more than four spots of separation between himself and the No. 24 driver to gain significant ground in the hunt for the final playoff position.
Byron and Matt DiBenedetto are the only drivers who could face a serious risk of losing their respective positions, whether it be through a win from a competitor underneath them or a loss in points.
Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch are in comfortable positions as the three best drivers without a victory, while Clint Bowyer owns a 22-point advantage over DiBenedetto and has a 66-point gap on Johnson.
If there is not a new winner Saturday, those four drivers would feel much safer about their playoff prospects. Even if two new victors emerge Sunday at Dover and at Daytona next week, they would not be overtaken as long as they have more points than DiBenedetto.
The normal cast of potential winners should be in the mix to take the checkered flag Saturday, as Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. are the co-favorites.
Truex is the only driver in the field with a 2019 victory at Dover, and Harvick most recently won there in 2018.
If Harvick, Truex and Hamlin are not up front, they should be around the lead, as they have 48 top-10 finishes this season between them.
The other driver with the most top-10 finishes is Brad Keselowski, with 16, has longer odds to win at Dover than Harvick, Truex and Hamlin. Among that quartet, he has the fewest top-10s in the last 10 Dovers with four.
Keselowski has three wins this season, and his Penske team has not been shy to try different pit strategies to get around the competitors for the lead.
In terms of betting value, Keselowski and his teammate Ryan Blaney, who has eight top-five finishes, carry the best prices for how much success they have had this season.
NASCAR at Daytona Road Course 2020 Results: Chase Elliott Edges Hamlin for Win
Aug 16, 2020
Chase Elliott drives through turn 3 during the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Chase Elliott collected his second victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, winning the Go Bowling 235 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin was 0.202 seconds behind in second, while Martin Truex Jr. claimed third place.
As the race inched toward its conclusion, Elliott appeared to have an unassailable lead, with around 12 seconds separating him from the next car. That's a sizable gap under normal circumstances and is even bigger on a road course, where drivers don't have the same ability to build a head of steam on straightaways.
However, a caution came when Kyle Busch blew his right rear tire and hit the wall.
That gave Hamlin the lifeline he needed to salvage any hopes of a comeback. The race restarted with three laps to go, but Hamlin was unable to overtake Elliott.
The final three laps became a head-to-head battle between the two. Hamlin would make up ground as the cars headed into the tight horseshoe turns, but Hamlin accelerated quickly out of the turns to keep the No. 11 car at bay.
Early into the third stage, lightning in the area forced all of the drivers onto pit road. It looked like rain would become a factor as well, but the skies remained clear for the remainder of the race.
The new road configuration didn't prove too troublesome, either, with only four cautions over the 65 laps.
Busch won't remember the first road race at Daytona too fondly.
Before his crash, he had to head to the garage to address an issue with his braking system, which looked bad enough to end his day.
The No. 18 car returned, but only briefly to continue the general trend of the 2020 season. Busch is the reigning series champion yet still hasn't reached Victory Lane.
The likelihood of him missing the playoffs altogether is slim.
Kyle Busch still has to lose 33 points a race — with multiple drivers between him and the cut line — to 17th place to miss out on the playoffs.
Pretending he’s close right now is kinda farcical.
The fact that it's even on the table, though, illustrates how badly Busch's title defense has unfolded.
Jimmie Johnson needs far more help in order to close out his legendary career on a high note. He remains 25 points off William Byron for the final postseason berth. A fourth-place finish Sunday did little to improve his position since Byron was only four spots back in eighth.
Three races remain before the playoffs begin Sept. 6. Drivers will travel to Dover International Speedway for a pair of events next weekend, and the postseason field will be locked in following the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Aug. 29.
NASCAR at Daytona Road Course 2020: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers
Aug 15, 2020
Driver Jimmie Johnson (48) races during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020, at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series will face a brand-new challenge Sunday.
The 39-person field will compete on the Daytona International Speedway road course for the first time.
Daytona's road course, which is best known from the 24 Hours of Daytona event, was added to the Cup Series schedule after it was unable to race at Watkins Glen. The race could be a tense affair for all of the competitors, but it may be more stressful for the drivers looking to get into the playoff field.
William Byron is holding on to the final playoff position, but he is just 26 points ahead of Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson. One bad performance could cost any of the contenders in that competition.
Even the most experienced drivers are not sure what to expect Sunday.
NASCAR's policy of no practice and qualifying, which has been in place since May, was upheld for the Daytona road course despite the lack of track experience. Some drivers have competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona, but an alteration will provide unfamiliarity to those competitors.
Kyle Busch detailed the changes in approaching the track with a chicane before the entrance to the road course portion of the track, per Yahoo's Nick Bromberg:
"The speed you carried from bus stop to the Turn 1 entrance really lent itself to drafting and making moves with the draft and air. So now, with us having the chicane, that's certainly not going to be the case for anyone familiar with the Daytona road course and the Rolex 24. It's one section that has changed, but it will change the whole complexion of the track, in my opinion."
Points leader Kevin Harvick, who starts on the pole, said that he does not know what to expect when leading the field on the first lap, per NASCAR.com's Chase Wilhelm:
"I think me leading everybody into Turn 1 at Daytona could be interesting because I have no freaking clue where I'm going as we go down there. Most everybody in the field is the same way. We'll prepare the best that we can and hope that we can make it around the first lap with all the wheels still headed in the right direction."
The unpredictability may help the drivers looking for an automatic playoff berth through a victory.
Byron headlines the group of drivers in need of that the most since he sits on the bubble. Jones and Johnson are 26 points back of the No. 24 car driver, while Tyler Reddick is 36 points adrift.
Johnson owns the best starting position of the quartet in 11th place. Byron is 13th on the grid, Reddick is 18th and Jones is 20th. The seven-time champion holds an advantage over the other three drivers thanks to his seven trips around the road course during the 24 Hours of Daytona.
But the No. 48 car driver has not driven on the course with the added chicane, so that could be the equalizer if Byron, Jones and Reddick get a better handle of it.
Of the drivers already locked into the postseason field, Harvick and Denny Hamlin have to be considered as favorites to win the race because of their starting positions on the front row. Harvick or Hamlin could grab the lead early on and steer clear of any incidents while extending the lead.
Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. should also be in the mix based off their recent road course success on the Cup Series circuit. Elliott has won the past two road course races and three of the past five, while Truex owns three victories in the previous seven visits to road courses.
NASCAR at Michigan 2020: FireKeepers Casino 400 Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream
Aug 8, 2020
Driver Denny Hamlin (11) races during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020, at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Denny Hamlin has won five races this year, the most of any driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. His most recent victory came at Kansas on July 23, giving him one more win than leader Kevin Harvick.
The Cup Series is gearing up for a doubleheader at Michigan, where Hamlin hasn't won since 2011. He's a two-time winner at the two-mile track, but he's winless in his past 17 races there. But that could change Saturday, as he's starting second alongside Joey Logano on the front row.
Because both events are being held this weekend (one on Saturday and one on Sunday), they are both going to be 156-lap, 312-mile races, starting with Saturday's FireKeepers Casino 400.
Here's everything you need to know heading into Saturday's race.
If Hamlin is going to win his first race in Michigan in nearly a decade, then he's likely going to be competing with Harvick and Logano, who have both had recent success at the track.
Although Harvick has four wins this season, he hasn't been to Victory Lane since winning at Indianapolis on July 5. But he's won two of the past three races at Michigan, including the Consumers Energy 400 in August 2019. Harvick is a three-time winner at the track, and he's helped Ford maintain its recent dominance there, with the manufacturer winning the past four races in Brooklyn.
That stretch also includes a win by Logano, who went to Victory Lane at the FireKeepers Casino 400 in June last year for his third career victory at Michigan. Logano won two of the first four races this season, but he hasn't notched a victory since winning at Phoenix on March 8.
Logano is on the pole for Saturday's race, while Harvick will be starting third. Logano won from the pole when he went to Victory Lane at Michigan last year, and in Harvick's past two wins at the track, he started in second and third.
So good starting position has translated to success at Michigan in recent races. Although, this year, the starting order was determined by a random draw (in groups based on owner points) as NASCAR continues to operate without qualifying, one of the modifications made during the coronavirus pandemic.
While Logano, Hamlin and Harvick are among the favorites to win at Michigan, there are several top drivers looking to end some rough stretches.
Kyle Busch is still winless in 2020, and according to NASCAR.com, his 20-race winless streak to open the season matches his longest such streak since joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, as it also happened in 2017. Although Busch has six straight top-10 finishes at Michigan, he's only won there once in his career—and that was nine years ago.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers have also struggled in recent weeks, as none of them (Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson) have a top-five finish in the past five races (not including the non-points All-Star Race at Bristol, which Elliott won).
However, Hendrick hasn't had much recent Michigan success, either, as Jeff Gordon was the last driver to win for the team at the track in 2014, when it swept the pair of races, with Johnson winning the other.
NASCAR at New Hampshire 2020: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers
Aug 1, 2020
Denny Hamlin (11) drives followed by Kevin Harvick (4) during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Bristol Motor Speedway Sunday, May 31, 2020, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
The NASCAR Cup Series' longest break between races since May ends Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The drivers were handed a nine-day break between the July 23 competition at Kansas Speedway and the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. Seven races in August will finalize the playoff field, which already has 10 confirmed participants.
Pole-sitter Aric Almirola is one of the competitors still looking to lock into the postseason field. He has been one of the most consistent drivers lately with a run of top-10 finishes. However, it may be difficult for Almirola or others, like Kyle and Kurt Busch, to earn a victory in New Hampshire since Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin have performed well at the track.
Almirola comes into New Hampshire with the most points of any driver who has not won a race in 2020.
The No. 10 car driver has come close recently, owning eight consecutive top-10 finishes, with the first five of those being top-five placings. Finding a place in Victory Lane will be tough for Almirola on Sunday, though, since Hamlin starts alongside him in the front row.
Hamlin, who won his fifth race of 2020 at Kansas, was on the wrong end of a duel with Harvick a year ago at New Hampshire.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver revealed there is a mutual respect between the No. 4 and No. 11 cars amid their competition, per NASCAR.com:
"What you've seen from us in the last year with the 11 and the 4 is a lot of mutual respect. We race each other with a lot of mutual respect because we know it won't be the last time. We still have probably many years of battles ahead of us. We've been around the sport a long time. We butted heads early in my career. He's certainly a guy that I personally would like to model myself after."
Harvick, who starts seventh, has won three of the last five races at New Hampshire. Hamlin and Kyle Busch have won the other races in that span.
The Harvick-Hamlin battle should receive plenty of attention throughout the race, but there is another competition that will carry more meaning over the next month.
Fifty points separate the drivers from 14th to 19th place in the standings. At the moment, the six racers with no wins who have the most points will qualify for the 16-person playoff. William Byron is clinging to the final postseason place with a 10-point advantage over Tyler Reddick, who was drawn three positions ahead of the No. 24 car on the starting grid.
Byron also has to fend off Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, who fell three spots behind Reddick after a wreck took him out of the race at Kansas.
Johnson and Clint Bowyer are the only members of the group with wins at New Hampshire, but those occurred a decade ago.
