2020 Drydene 311 (Saturday)

2020 Drydene 311 (Saturday)

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Race 24 of 36 in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series
The 2020 Drydene 311 program cover, featuring Jimmie Johnson's win at the 2012 FedEx 400.
Date	August 22, 2020 (2020-08-22)
Location	Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware
Course	Permanent racing facility 1 mi (1.6 km)
Distance	311 laps, 311 mi (500.399 km)
Average speed	124.359 miles per hour (200.136 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports
Grid positions set by competition-based formula
Most laps led
Driver	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	115
Winner
No. 11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network	NBCSN
Announcers	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Nielsen Ratings	1.771 million[7]
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Announcers	Mike Bagley (Backstretch)

The 2020 Drydene 311 was a NASCAR Cup Series race that was originally scheduled to be held on May 3, 2020, but postponed to August 22, 2020, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Scheduled to be contested over 400 laps but shortened to 311 laps because of the 500-kilometer doubleheader format used on the 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 24th race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. It was the first 300-mile Cup Series race since 1970 at Dover.

There were three stages, each ending at 70, 115 & 126.

Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Chase Elliott was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

Stage One Laps: 70

Stage Two Laps: 115

Stage Three Laps: 126

• Lead changes: 15 among 10 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 4 for 21
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 30 minutes and 3 seconds
• Average speed: 124.359 miles per hour (200.136 km/h)

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, 2006 race winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2001 race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. covered the race from the booth at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman and Dillon Welch handled the pit road duties on site.

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kevin Harvick 981 2 Denny Hamlin 881 (–100) 3 Brad Keselowski 845 (–136) 4 Chase Elliott 808 (–173) 2 5 Martin Truex Jr. 803 (–178) 6 Joey Logano 791 (–190) 2 7 Ryan Blaney 778 (–203) 8 Aric Almirola 703 (–278) 1 9 Kyle Busch 693 (–288) 1 10 Kurt Busch 674 (–307) 11 Clint Bowyer 664 (–317) 12 Alex Bowman 626 (–355) 13 Matt DiBenedetto 613 (–368) 1 14 Jimmie Johnson 589 (–392) 1 15 William Byron 586 (–395) 16 Erik Jones 567 (–414) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Ford 893 2 Toyota 845 (–48) 3 Chevrolet 797 (–96) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings. . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.