NASCAR at Dover live updates: Kevin Harvick sweeps the day for victory

Joe Gibbs Racing drivers dominated Saturday’s NASCAR Cup race at Dover International Speedway with a first place finish by Denny Hamlin. It was the No. 11 driver’s sixth win of the season.

Hamlin swept all three stages, finishing just ahead of teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch in the first day of the Drydene 311. He’s looking for a weekend sweep similar to that of points leader Kevin Harvick, who won both Cup races at Michigan. The two 2020 leading drivers are tied in wins this year.

Harvick and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five Saturday, followed by Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson. The No. 48 driver surpassed his Hendrick teammate William Byron on the points bubble in the 16th position, as the last driver to make the playoff, three points up on Byron.

Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished in the top-10 Saturday. Team Penske drivers, Logano and Keselowski, will attempt to lock in a win Sunday for their “Captain,” owner Roger Penske, who is in Indianapolis for the 104th running of the Indy 500 Sunday.

Follow along here for lap-by-lap updates from NASCAR’s Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway. Refresh this page for the latest updates. Full results will be published here shortly after the race.

FINAL: Harvick sweeps all three stages

Kevin Harvick gets the victory by a little more than three seconds over Martin Truex Jr. Jimmie Johnson, who gambled by only taking two tires on the last pit stop, finished third ahead of William Byron, setting up a showdown in the last regular-season race of the season next week.

7:09 p.m., Lap 296: Harvick ahead of Johnson on restart

There was a caution and Jimmie Johnson only took two tires to come back onto the track in the lead. On the restart, though, Harvick passed and is back on the lead. Johnson is currently second, followed by Truex Jr. , Byron and Bowman.

6:45 p.m., Lap 252: Harvick continues dominating day

With 60 laps to go Harvick continues to run out front, followed by Logano. Truex Jr., Bowman and Byron round out the top five.

6:10 p.m., Lap 185: Kevin Harvick wins first two stages

Kevin Harvick wins his second straight stage at Dover as the race gets a long green flag. Joey Logano finishes in second. Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex run three-wide in a battle for third place ensues with only a few laps left in the stage. Hamlin runs high and Truex runs low as Blaney slows in the middle lane, then William Byron runs up on the inside of Blaney and makes slight contact on Blaney’s tail but is unable to get in front of him for the finish. Hamlin finishes third, Truex fourth and Blaney fifth. Then it’s Byron, Alex Bowman, Cole Custer, Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski for stage points.

5:45 p.m., Lap 127: Harvick re-takes his spot, Johnson fighting back

Kevin Harvick picks up an early pass of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Those three lead the top-three as Johnson gets up to 17th. Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex and William Byron are running P4-6 and Johnson will have to get into the top-10 at the stage finish to re-gain earlier points lost to Byron. NBC confirms that with the last round of stage points awarded, Harvick officially becomes the regular season winner. He will receive an additional 15 points to start the post-season.

5:36 p.m., Lap 107: Caution, then speeding penalty for Johnson

The fourth caution flag comes out for Corey LaJoie, who makes contact with Ty Dillon, and turns but misses a full spin or contact with the wall. The caution allows teams to re-fuel, and the order off pit road is Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex in the top-five. William Byron, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch follow. Jimmie Johnson gets hit with a speeding penalty and is forced to restart at the rear.

5:20 p.m., Lap 79: Harvick keeps the lead

Race goes back to green on Lap 79 with Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano in the top three. J.J. Yeley has car trouble (looks like a tire issue) and runs slow on the apron. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola has dropped to 20th after getting a penalty on pit road. Denny Hamlin also drives into the picture after the flag into fifth.

5:07 p.m., Lap 75: Red flag to fix track

The race goes red as a track crew attempts to repair a hole in the restart zone. Johnson notes on the NBCSN broadcast that Byron’s car looks faster than yesterday but that he’s got to focus on himself, maximize what he has and “let the points fall where they may.” Drivers remain in their cars for the red flag as water bottles are delivered to their cars, but conditions seem cooler at Dover now than last weekend at Daytona. It is 83 degrees at the Dover, Del. track, according to AccuWeather.com, and teams are not running the full right-side window this week.

4:57 p.m., Lap 70: Kevin Harvick wins another stage out of nowhere

Kevin Harvick passes Ryan Blaney just before the green-and-white checkered flag down the frontstretch. Blaney finishes second and William Byron finishes third. Jimmie Johnson finishes the stage in eighth place, so Byron surpasses Johnson by two points on the playoff bubble. This battle will continue throughout the race. Harvick had raced from sixth after the last re-start to into and is so far the fastest car on the track. The rest of the finishing order in the top-10 is Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Matt DiBenedetto, then Johnson, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon.

4:49 p.m., Lap 55: Blaney, Byron, DiBenedetto in 1, 2, 3

Ryan Blaney holds his spot out front with William Byron a little over a second behind him. Bryon got a nice run off the restart and is looking to gain back stage points, at least enough to surpass teammate Jimmie Johnson, who sits three points ahead of him in 16th. Johnson has run up to the top-10.

4:33 p.m., Lap 33: New leader after another caution

Another caution comes, this time for debris on the track, and leaders, including Almirola, pit. Matt DiBenedetto, Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon are the first off pit road, but Ryan Blaney stays out instead of pitting to give him the top spot, as do William Byron and Kurt Busch in second and third.

4:23 p.m., Lap 9: Green flag but early end for Elliott

Pole-sitter by invert Matt DiBenedetto jumps out to an early lead and Aric Almirola falls into second as Ryan Blaney, Ryan Newman and Austin Dillon battle in the top-five. Another early caution comes out today. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is hit from behind on the back right by Joey Logano, who looks like he’s nudged by Erik Jones. Stenhouse Jr. spins to the inside wall and suffers big damage. He takes his 47 to the garage. Joey Gase is also involved in the incident. Chase Elliott nudges the back of Kyle Busch, who checks up for the Stenhouse spin, and Elliott is forced to the garage. His day is over.

4 p.m.: Who’s starting where

Kurt Busch is switching to a backup car today after smashing up his No. 1 ride Saturday in the first nine laps of the race, and incident which No. 20 driver Erik Jones later apologized for. Alex Bowman, whose No. 88 was also involved in the early wreck, will stitch to a backup car. Driver of the No. 7, Garrett Smithley, will also switch to a backup. All three drivers will drop to the rear at the start of today’s race. With the invert, No. 21 driver Matt DiBenedetto is on the pole.

STARTING LINEUP FOR SUNDAY NASCAR CUP RACE AT DOVER

This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 4:08 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription