Kevin Harvick wins his 50th career race as NASCAR returns at Darlington

It was nothing close to the corporate sponsorship, pomp and patriotic traveling circus that symbolizes NASCAR.But when the engines fired at Darlington Raceway following a 10-week layoff during the coronavirus pandemic, it turned into a regular old race.Kevin Harvick beat Alex Bowman to win NASCAR's first race back, a spectacle closely watched to see if the largest motorsports series in the United States could successfully return to the track."I just want to thank everybody from NASCAR and all the teams for letting us do what we do," Harvick said. "I'm just really honored and really thankful for all of our front line workers, not only our doctors, but grocery stores, truck drivers, fire fighters, police departments -- you name it."All of you front line workers are the reason that we're here today and our country is actually still running."The health care workers then virtually gave the command to start the engines."Our drivers, race teams and officials have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get back to the race track and we want to assure you that we have taken the return to racing very seriously," NASCAR President Steve Phelps wrote in a letter to fans released Sunday morning.The industry had to be extremely careful because to even get to the Coca-Cola 600 next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR had to get it right at Darlington.Steve O'Donnell, executive vice president of NASCAR, was pleased with the collective effort from the industry."We didn't have to tell anyone or remind anyone to wear a mask," O'Donnell said.