NASCAR

Harvick wins in Darlington on Nascar season return

Kevin Harvick won on Sunday (17) the fifth stage of the 2020 season of Nascar, played at the Darlington circuit, in South Carolina. The Stewart-Haas driver was dominant in the race that marked the resumption of the championship after 71 days of stoppage by account of the coronavirus pandemic, and led 159 of the 293 laps, ensuring the first victory of the year.
Second place ended up in the hands of Alex Bowman, a Hendrick driver who proved to be Harvick's main rival throughout the race. Despite leading 41 laps, the owner of Chevrolet number 88 finished just over two seconds behind the winner, who raced a Ford. Kurt Busch, with a Chevrolet from Chip Ganassi, completed the race in third position.
Chase Elliott, Bowman's teammate at Hendrick, completed fourth after making a recovery run, and was followed by Denny Hamlin, fifth with a Joe Gibbs Toyota. Martin Truex Jr., who dropped to 30th, finished sixth with another Joe Gibbs car, followed by Tyler Reddick, seventh with a Richard Childress Chevrolet.
Erik Jones, who made it into the top five in the final segment of the race, lost performance in the final laps and finished only eighth with another Toyota from Joe Gibbs' team. Front Row Ford driver John Hunter Nemechek came in ninth, just ahead of Matt Kenseth, who completed the top ten list in his category rehearsal with a Chip Ganassi Ford.
The race was marked by many yellow flags, including one on the final lap of the first segment, when Jimmie Johnson, then leader, lost control of the car and hit the wall, abandoning the race. Without causing the Safety Car to enter, Kyle Busch was another one who had a difficult afternoon, needing an extra stop when there were just over 20 laps to go.
The next stage of the Nascar Cup Series will be played as early as next Wednesday (20), again at the Darlington circuit. This time, however, the race will be 500 kilometers, compared to 400 miles from this afternoon's race.

Leonardo Marson