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Kevin Harvick held off Kyle Busch to win his series-leading ninth race of the season at Bristol. Harvick led 226 laps en route to his second win of the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs.
Nearly 30,000 fans were in attendance to watch the Saturday night race at Bristol, making it the highest attended sporting event in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Bristol can hold up to 162,000 fans.
"I haven't been to too many races where I've been that jacked up getting into a race car. The fans were so enthusiastic," Harvick said. "These people were so wound up. I think we're all tired of sitting at home and not really knowing what to do but tonight they all let loose and that gave me a lot of excitement as well."
Bristol was the cutoff race for the Round of 16. Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney and William Byron were all eliminated from playoff contention by failing to place in the top 12 in points. Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer all advanced.
Kyle Busch, still winless on the season, led the second most laps with 159 and won Stage 2. Busch actually took the lead from Harvick in the Final Stage with 41 laps to go, but lost it while racing against Joey Logano, who was off the lead lap.
"He's nobody's friend for a reason," Busch said of Logano, who held him up in lapped traffic. Busch also went on to say that he will be eliminated in the Round of 12 and expressed frustration with some of the lesser funded lapped drivers, particularly Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley.
Another driver frustrated with Gase on Saturday night was Byron, who was the first of the playoff drivers to see his Round of 12 hopes come to an end in Stage 2. While it was not shown on the broadcast, Byron alleged that Gase slowed up on the race track and caused him to run into the back of Christopher Bell which caused irreparable damage that sent Byron to the garage.
"I don't really know, just things like that, I don't know. You just gotta me more aware than that to check up like that," Byron said after wrecking out. He was also heard calling Gase an idiot on the team radio.
Byron's teammate Elliott won Stage 1 and finished the race seventh as the first car off the lead lap. Only six cars finished on the lead lap. While Harvick won and Busch finished second, non-playoff drivers Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick finished third and fourth.
Third place ties Jones' highest finish of the season, as he prepares to be cut from Joe Gibbs Racing after the year is over. Jones, a winner of both the Daytona summer race and Southern 500, still does not have a ride for 2021.
"There's stuff moving along. We've been in a lot of talks with multiple different teams in trying to find an opportunity," Jones said. The 24-year-old also said he hopes to have an announcement within the next few weeks to a month.
Harvick now has 58 career NASCAR Cup Series wins, which is good for ninth all-time. Next up, Dale Earnhardt with 76.
