Harvick starts the 2020 Chase with a victory

That's it, the Chase 2020 is launched! This Sunday, the 16 drivers still in the running, as well as the rest of the grid, competed in the Southern 500, the first meeting of these “play-offs” on the Darlington oval. And this first round kept all its promises.

Winner of the first two segments and second in the race, Martin Truex jr had all the cards in hand to win at Darlington and get an ideal start to this 2020 Chase. Finally, everything changed with 15 laps to go. A contact against the leader Chase Elliott followed by another against the wall ended his hopes of victory in South Carolina.

« There just wasn't enough room for the two of us. I thought I had enough room to pass and I knew it was tight, obviously. I didn't expect him to be close to my right-back. I was committed and once I realized he was there there was nothing I could do », Regretted the Joe Gibbs Racing driver after this first event of the 2020 Chase.

Third at the time of the incident, Kevin Harvick took advantage of the situation to take control of the Southern 500 when he was not able to catch up with the leading duo. Despite pressure from Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing), the holder of Stewart-Haas Racing held on at the wheel of his Ford Mustang to achieve the first success of this 2020 Chase.

With this victory at Darlington, Kevin Harvick moves to the top of the Chase standings with 62 points, 15 ahead of Denny Hamlin and 40 over Joey Logano.