Live NASCAR updates from Michigan on Sunday: Kevin Harvick holds off Denny Hamlin

Less than 24 hours after NASCAR teams, officials and a limited number of media members left Michigan International Speedway, they were back at the track for a second day of Cup racing for the series’ second doubleheader race weekend of the season, the Consumers Energy 400.

Kevin Harvick won Saturday’s race at Michigan in overtime by holding the edge over second place finisher Brad Keselowski, who maneuvered to the front row following multiple late-lap cautions that highlighted NASCAR’s new choose rule, which will be implemented at all upcoming events, excluding superspeedway and road course races at Daytona and Talladega.

The team of No. 4 driver Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers have won three of the last four races at Michigan with Saturday’s victory, the 54th Cup win for Harvick to tie him with Lee Petty in all-time NASCAR race wins in 11th place.

Childers said after the race that he’s leaving the lane on the restarts up to Harvick. He’s handling the car, while he said he “didn’t know” what his team could do to make their car better going into Sunday’s race. Other drivers, including Keselowski and Kyle Busch, noted Harvick’s car was the fastest on the track Saturday.

“The 550 (horsepower) tracks where there’s just a lot of throttle time and long straightaways, big racetracks, that’s really where we excel,” Childers said Saturday. “Today was the same car that we had for the Brickyard 400, and I think we all were impressed with the speed that it had at the Brickyard and what we were able to do there, and it was the same way today.”

Sunday could be a different story as teams make adjustments and switch to backup cars, but the race format will be the same: 156 laps with stages ending on laps 40, 85 and 156. The

Refresh this page for the latest lap-by-lap updates from the Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan. Full results will be published here shortly after the race.

Final: Harvick holds off Hamlin

Harvick won for the second time in as many days, holding off Denny Hamlin in a tight race at the end.

6:42 p.m., Lap 138, Caution with 19 to go

Caution came out with 19 laps left in the race. Harvick, who won on Saturday, has still got a chance at the repeat, as he is in the lead. He is followed by Truex Jr., Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch.

6:07 p.m., Lap 100: Keselowski, Blaney wreck out of race

The first accident caution of the afternoon is out after the top two leaders, Keselowski and Blaney, had contact while racing for the lead and wrecked out. Hamlin is not out front, followed by Harvick, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Almirola.

5:53 p.m., Lap 85: Harvick dominates for another Stage 2 win

The order of stage 2 closes with Harvick leading the field, racking up more post-season points. As does Keselowski, Ky. Busch, Bell, Bowyer, Hamlin, Jones, Almirola, Logano, Blaney in the top-10. Jones reports his car is still tight before heading to pit road for four tires with the field.

5:45 p.m., Lap 78: Bell makes strong Rookie run in Stage 2

The running order remains Harvick, Keselowski and Busch in the top-three for the rest of the laps, with Harvick putting over 3 seconds on Keselowski. Bell, meanswhile, makes a run up to fourth place after close racing with Jones. Jones falls back to seventh after Hamlin finally gets to sixth place on Lap 74. Jones reports to his No. 20 team that he’s tight rounding Turn 3 especially.

5:31 p.m., Lap 55: Fast pit stop puts Harvick in P1

After the cars pit following the first stage, Kyle Busch’s team delivers a four-tire change pit stop in 11.8 seconds. Harvick also has a fast pit stop to put him in P2. Both choose the outside lane, and Harvick is able to pass Busch on the outside after the restart. A few laps later, Brad Keselwoski does the same, passing Busch, to get into P2.

5:15 p.m., Lap 40: Clint Bowyer wins Stage 1

Bower, starting in the front row, dominates all laps of the first stage. He leads second place stage finisher Bell by 2.4 seconds at the green-and-white checkered flag. Kyle Busch makes a late-stage race to third to close the stage. The rest of the running order is DiBenedetto, Jones, Byron, Blaney, Harvick, Ku. Busch and Logano in the top-10. Johnson just misses the points in 11th, as does Hamlin in 12th.

5:11 p.m., Lap 36: Race going green through the stage

Without the competition caution, teams are continuing to battle for stage points. Kyle Busch weaves through the field, jumping to P4, then P3 behind Bowyer and Bell. Harvick is in 8th and Hamlin, in 13th, has struggled to crack the top-three.

5:00 p.m., Lap 23: Bowyer dominating, Johnson falls back

With under 20 laps to go in the stage, Cup rookie Christopher Bell has raced into second place behind Bowyer, who’s led all laps so far. Johnson has dropped back to 11th place after describing his car as “loose” to his No. 48 team on his radio. DiBenedetto, Byron and Jones follow Bowyer and Bell, in that order, in the top-five. Kyle and Kurt Busch, Harvick and Logano are in the top-10.

On the NBCSN, Marty Snider reports that Bubba Wallace has an offer to drive the No. 42 car for Chip Ganassi Racing next year, and that Wallace has had an ownership stake in the company since 2019.

4:53 p.m., Lap 6: Green flag! Bowyer leads.

Bowyer, as the control car, leads the field to green and takes the top spot through the first few laps. Byron, in second, gets a shove from Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson directly behind him but is unable to make the pass. Meanwhile, Joey Logano drives low for a four-wide field and the order settles into Bowyer, Johnson, DiBenedetto and Byron.

4:38 p.m.: Pre-race ceremonies, engines fired

St. Francis DeSales School President Father Geoff Rose delivers the pre-race prayer from Toledo, Ohio and 2019 American Idol winner Laine Hardy performs the national anthem remotely. Drivers get in their cars and await the command to start engines, which comes from senior vice president of the Consumers Energy Company Brian Rich and his family, dog included!

4 p.m.: Teams switch to backup cars

NASCAR announces before the race that nine teams have switched to backup cars for Sunday’s race, including the No. 17 car of Chris Bueuscher, who was previously slated to start on the pole with the invert from yesterday’s race, as well as Tyler Reddick (previously third) and Aric Almirola (previously fifth). With the changes, the No. 14 of Clint Bowyer (second) will lead the field on the outside lane, while the No. 24 of William Byron will lead the field as the first car in the inside lane in the front row after teams in front of him drop back for the start.

Ryan Preece, Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek will also drop to the rear for switching to backup cars. Brennan Poole (engine) and Josh Bilicki (driver change) will join them at the back of the field, as will Reed Sorrenson and Daniel Suarez for failing pre-race technical inspection twice. Preece also twice failed inspection but was already starting at the rear for the backup.

This story was originally published August 9, 2020 at 4:20 PM.