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Chase Elliott’s Title Win, Kevin Harvick’s Feat: Top Records Broken in the 2020 NASCAR Season

Published 12/28/2020, 12:55 PM EST

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Although it took some time for the 2020 edition of the NASCAR campaign to get underway, it resumed again in May to much aplomb. Along the way, a few feats got created, and some records were also broken.

Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, and Harrison Burton, it has got it all. So without further ado, let us take a look at the top records from the 2020 campaign –

1) Harvick first driver in 50 years to win consecutive NASCAR Cup races on consecutive days

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With the compressed schedule owing to the pandemic, two races took place over the weekend in Michigan. Such was the performance from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick, that he won both the races.

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The last time that happened was nearly 50 years back when Richard Petty achieved the feat back in 1971. Harvick also achieved his personal best wins tally in a season with 9 victories, following a previous best of 8.

2) Elliott becomes second-youngest NASCAR Cup champion in modern era

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With his championship title win in Phoenix this season, the Hendrick Motorsports No.9 became the second-youngest Cup Series victor. Jeff Gordon won it aged 24 years and 3 months while Elliott won it aged 24 years and 11 months.

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Elliott also became the first driver to win the title and the ‘Most Popular Driver’ award in the same season, since his father, Bill Elliott. Safe to say, the father-son duo possesses some serious racing talent.

3) Kyle Busch’s elimination from Round of 12 created an unwanted record

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has many brilliant records to his name. But sadly, the elimination from the Round of 12 at Charlotte is not something he will not want to look back on.

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The exit from title contention meant he became the first defending champion in the elimination era to not go through to the Round of 8. Busch also had a poor 2020 campaign with just the solitary win in Texas.

4) Hamlin’s NASCAR Cup wins record without a single title in Playoffs era

Win the battles, but not the war, has become a common occurrence in Denny Hamlin’s Cup Series career. With 44 Cup wins, he is now the driver with most race victories but no championship title in the modern era to show for it.

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The JGR No.11 showed phenomenal class, winning 7 races in the regular season. But at the final hurdle in the Championship 4 race, he could not secure the trophy despite his best efforts.

5) Harrison Burton breaks Edwards’ most consecutive Top-10 finishes feat

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With his tenth consecutive top 10 finish in the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Burton broke the previously held record in the Xfinity Series. Former driver Carl Edwards had held the record with nine consecutive top-10 finishes.

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Written by:

Bhargav Gopal

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Hailing from Bengaluru, Bhargav is an F1 and NASCAR author for EssentiallySports. He is a huge fan of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing. Bhargav also has an MBA in Sports Management from the Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences, Pune.
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