NASCAR at Darlington live updates: Kevin Harvick wins first 2020 playoff race

NASCAR’s luck might finally be turning in 2020. The first playoff race of the Cup Series season is set to go green under the sun, without any threat of rain, Sunday at 6 p.m. on NBCSN.

Sixteen drivers in a lineup of 39 will race the track “Too Tough to Tame” to remain in contention for the 2020 championship. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin enter the postseason with the most points, 2,057 points and 2,047 points, respectively. Chase Elliott is starting on the pole for Sunday’s Cup race, the Cook Out Southern 500.

The starting order will continue to be determined by a performance-based formula through the remainder of the season, which means how drivers finish each race becomes increasingly important for playoff drivers since it determines where they start the next race.

Follow along here for lap-by-lap updates from NASCAR’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Refresh this page for the latest updates and follow reporters at the track, Alex Andrejev and Lou Bezjak, on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex and @LouatTheState.

Checkered flag: Kevin Harvick wins playoff opener

Kevin Harvick won the Cook Out Southern 500 when he took the lead with 11 laps left. It was Harvick’s third Darlington win. Austin Dillon was second and Joey Logano third.

NASCAR at Darlington race results

9:38, Lap 320: Debris caution shakes things up

A debris caution comes out with 47 laps left. Chase Elliott takes lead from Kevin Harvick before the caution flag comes out. Elliott won the race off of pit road ahead of Harvick, Erik Jones and Martin Truex.

9:14 p.m., Lap 283: Wallace done for the night

Richard Petty Motorsports driver Bubba Wallace’s night ended after a transmission problem. Wallace will finish in 38th place.

8:52 p.m., Lap 244: Nemechek brings out caution

John Hunter Nemechek brings out caution on Lap 244 when he crashed into the wall on the frontstretch and ended his night. Nemechek was running 20th. Joey Logano also had some damage to the back of his car and is now 24th. Matt DiBenedetto gets the free pass.

Martin Truex retakes the lead off of pit road, Denny Hamlin was second and Kyle Busch moved up to third.

8:40 p.m., Lap 230: Truex sweeps stages at Darlington

Martin Truex Jr. wins his second stage in a row, getting by Harvick off pit road then holding onto the lead through the stage. Hamlin also passed Harvick after the caution while Johnson and Bowman race in the top-five throughout the relatively quiet stage. Kyle Busch, Jones, Austin Dillon, Bowyer and Kurt Busch get stage points in the top-10. Playoff drivers Almirola, Byron and Elliott follow in 11th through 13th. Logano, Keselowski, Blaney, Custer are all far from the front at this point. And DiBenedetto still sits one lap down.

8:06 p.m., Lap 188: Green flag pit stops, Harvick leads, then caution!

As the field makes their stops under green, Harvick becomes the new leader with his earlier short-stop. A few laps into his lead, the caution comes out for Bubba Wallace on Lap 172, who spins in Turn 4. John Hunter Nemechek gets the free pass. But the caution helps Keselowski, who was out when the flag came out and gets the lead lap. Blaney, however, was on pit road and is stuck a lap down still. It’s been a tough night for Blaney. Truex gets the lead over Harvick off pit road and holds onto it when the race goes green around Lap 188.

7:56 p.m., Lap 157: Elliott scrapes wall and recovers

Hamlin and Kurt Busch continue to battle for second place while Truex maintains a nearly four-second lead over the field. Elliott brushes the wall rounding a turn earlier, but is able to recover with minimal damage. Still, the No. 9 drops back to fourth with Logano on his tail. A few laps later, Harvick makes a pit stop with over 70 laps left as the only driver to do so.

7:41 p.m., Lap 120: Struggles continue for Blaney

As the race goes back green, Blaney says on pit road with apparent tire trouble. The long pit stop puts him a lap down and he falls to P31, while Penske teammate Keselowski is in P30. Another Penske driver, Logano, gets up to fifth place. After pit stops at the green-and-white checkered flag, Truex retakes the lead, followed by Elliott, both of whom have stayed in steady control all race.

7:28 p.m., Lap 115: Martin Truex Jr. wins first stage at Darlington

But Jimmie Johnson found his way to second place for the finish. In the top-10, Elliott, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Logano, Byron, Kyle Busch and Harvick all found stage points. Keselowski finished in 31st, while other playoff drivers - Bowyer, Blaney, Dillon, Custer and Almirola - also finished out of the top-10 and get no points.

7:18 p.m., Lap 92: Caution for debris, Keselowski with damage

The caution flag comes out for debris in Turn 4, and Kurt Busch stays out, while Truex wins the race off pit road to get ahead of Elliott. He passes Busch a few laps into the green flag, as Elliott, Johnson and Hamlin creep up on his tail after the restart. Brad Keselowski’s team earlier made repairs to the No. 2 car, which Keselowski reports is driving OK once back on the track, but he’s all the way down to 32nd.

7:02 p.m., Lap 72: Green flag pit stops

The leaders pit, including Elliott, Truex, Harvick. Then Hamlin follows a few laps later as the rest of the field also takes new tires. Elliott re-emerges as the leader with a fleet of Hendrick Chevys behind him. Byron and Johnson make up the fourth and fifth place spots with Bowman running in the top-10. But the caution comes out again. Austin Dillon had to pit a few laps before the field due to a flat right rear tire, but he was fast with the tire change and cycles out in ninth place.

6:47 p.m., Lap 53: Jimmie Johnson on the move

Jimmie Johnson is driving like has something to prove. The seven-time champion raced up to seventh place by Lap 42, making him the highest-sitting driver not in the playoffs. Elliott, Truex and Hamlin led the field on the outside lane off the restart following the competition caution. They held the top-three spots after Bowman, leading the outside lane, followed by Harvick dropped back. The order halfway through the first stage is Elliott, Truex, Harvick, Hamlin, Johnson, Byron, Bowman.

6:30 p.m., Lap 25: Competition caution, Elliott laps back of the field

Elliott has led all laps so far, running past drivers at the rear, and staying ahead of Truex in P2. The competition caution comes out with Blaney and Austin Dillon, both playoff drivers race back from their back-of-the-pack starts, making moves. Blaney gets up to 21st place, while Dillon is in 29th at the first yellow flag. The entire field pits for new tires at the track “Too Tough to Tame,” or better, “Too Tough on Tires.”

6:21 p.m., Lap 15: Chase Elliott holds early lead

Pole-sitter Elliott drives the outside lane and gets out to an early lead, followed by Alex Bowman in second place. Martin Truex Jr. also gets up to third and holds his spot, but Denny Hamlin, who started second, falls back. Hamlin looks like he got into the wall rounding Turn 2, and it becomes clear very early how important tires are at this track as the field settles into the race.

6:17 p.m.: Pre-race ceremonies, engines fired, green flag

Fireworks meet the field near the first turn as the field gets ready to go green following the the invocation and national anthem. The grandstands, filled with scattered fans, stand for the anthem and let out loud cheers as the field meets the green flag.

6:00 p.m.: More drivers to the back at the flag

NASCAR issues its final list of teams starting at the rear for tonight’s race. In addition to Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain’s No. 77 team is slated to start at the back for an earlier driver change. Austin Dillon and Joey Gase will also be starting at the rear for unapproved adjustments. Dillon is in the playoffs (Gase is not) and was slated to start 12th.

5:20 p.m.: Darlington Raceway honors Jimmie Johnson

Although Johnson is out of the playoffs, he’s still in the lineup for his final year of full-time racing, and making one last stop at Darlington before his retirement. The raceway announced Sunday afternoon that it named its backstretch suites to honor the career accomplishments of the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion. Three suites that sit atop Darlington’s Colvin Grandstand will be called the Jimmie Johnson Champions Club. Johnson is a three-time Cup race winner at Darlington. He will honor other drivers with seven Cup championships Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty with his No. 48 Chevrolet paint scheme.

2:40 p.m.: Ryan Blaney hit with points penalty

NASCAR docked the No. 12 team of Ryan Blaney 10 points and issued a one-race suspension for his crew chief, Todd Gordon. NASCAR said Blaney’s car had an improperly mounted ballast and failed pre-race technical inspection.

Blaney was slated to start seventh in the race and will now restart at the rear at the green flag. Travis Geisler will serve as the team’s replacement crew chief and Blaney will suffer a costly points loss, dropping from seventh in the playoff standings with 2,013 points to tied with Kyle Busch for 13th place with 2,003 points.

Team Penske said in a statement that “a five-pound bag of lead that is typically used during setup at the shop to simulate fluid weights prior to the race engine being installed was accidentally left in the car.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 5:20 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