I have said before that you never know what will happen when NASCAR goes short trackin’. That was the end result when a long shot made the Championship Four and the driver who was the favorite in most people’s eyes was eliminated from contention at Martinsville Speedway.
When the Xfinity 500 began Chase Elliott was one of four drivers who knew that realistically they needed to win to get in the final race with a chance to win the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
When the Xfinity 500 began Kevin Harvick knew he was the regular season champion and the driver with the most wins in the 2020 season having been to Victory Lane NINE times. He also knew he had a 42 point lead over the cutline. While that did not clinch his spot, it made his path to the Championship Four much easier than the other drivers that had not locked themselves in with a chance to win the championship. In my pre-race blog I even stated, “He simply can’t have a calamity of a day while the other drivers have great days and he should advance.”
Well, there is a reason that games are played and races are run instead of declaring the winner based on stats on paper.
Six of the seven NASCAR Playoff drivers needing to advance appeared to have the chance to do what they needed to do. Kevin Harvick looked like he would struggle from the start. He just needed to avoid calamity. He did not. He suffered a cut tire and fell two laps down after being forced to pit under green as a result. He would spend most of the rest of the race just trying to get in position to gain enough points move above the cutline by the end.
Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. each had a day the exact opposite of Kevin’s. They showed from the start that if you were going to win the Xfinity 500, you would have to beat them.
Chase Elliott led a race high 236 laps and Martin Truex Jr. had 129 laps as the leader. The next highest on the laps led list was Denny Hamlin at 42 laps out front.
Chase had an issue on pit road during a stop that put him back a little in the field. However, quick thinking by his crew member kept it from being worse than it was. Chase was able to race back up to the front of the field to have a chance at the win in the end.
Following the 12th (and final) caution period of the race Martin Truex Jr. took the lead. However, Chase was able to run him down after eight lap, take the lead and hold that lead for the final 44 laps. That gave Chase his first ever Martinsville win in the NASCAR Cup Series. It is his second win of the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs and his fourth win of the 2020 Cup Series season.
Ryan Blaney claimed second place with Joey Logano in third. Brad Keselowski took home a fourth place finish with Kurt Busch rounding out the top five. See the complete Xfinity 500 race results here.
Chase joined Joey Logano to “win to get in” in the Championship Four. Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin take the final two spots by just one point over Kevin Harvick. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
I guess we just found out again that we just can’t know what will happen in 2020.
It all comes down to which of the Championship Four crosses the finish line first Sunday, November 8th in the Season Finale 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
By: Buck Stevens
