Champion Chase: 2020 Season Recap!

After a wild 2020 NASCAR season, Chase Elliott was able to capture his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix. The season started with a huge build-up and it did not disappoint. The president attending the great American race, the new business model, teams trying to find new drivers for the next season.

NASCAR's Superbowl, the Daytona 500 starts the year. This race has the biggest build-up and most hype. Everything new in the season is first unveiled to the fans. The race went on as one of the best races with the superspeedway package ever. The race went this way until the last lap and a horrific crash when Ryan Newman was in the lead blocking and got flipped. The sport was in shock not knowing what the outcome was. The fans were updated and Newman walked out of the hospital holding his daughter's hands. This was one of the most reliving sights of the season.

Then the pandemic. As the world shut down so did NASCAR. For 8 weeks the sport did not run a single race until Darlington. Being the first race back NASCAR has the eyes of the sports world on it as other major sports attended to see how NASCAR handled the pandemic. They had a protocol in place and ran flawlessly. Kevin Harvick captured the first win back kickstarting one of the best runs in recent memory. Harvick ended the season with 9 wins but ultimately fell short of the title by missing out on the Championship 4.

As the awareness of racial injustice rose Bubba Wallace who is NASCAR only black full-time cup series driver took control and put the sport on his shoulders. He spread awareness and talked to others in the sports world. He pushed for the banning of the confederate flag which NASCAR did. Wallace also ran a special Black Lives Matter paint scheme that drew new sponsors to the sport like Door Dash, Cash App, and Beats by Dre to name a few. This ultimately got him the ride driving the #23 23XI Racing car with owners Micheal Jordon and Denny Hamlin.

With all of this NASCAR made it through the season completing every race that was scheduled and it was on to the playoffs. They saw the shocking first-round exit of Ryan Blaney who has been a top-running car all year. The playoffs moved on and it all came down to a wild Martinsville race as Chase Elliott won and advanced knocking Harvick who won 9 races out. The championship race came along and the 9 car of Elliott dominated capturing his first cup title. He takes the reigns of Hendrick Motorsports after the retirement of 7 Time Champion Jimmie Johnson. Elliott en route to the title captured 5 wins. Onto 2021!

Follow @lastlapnews and @racingsportsnews on Instagram for up to date news in 2021!