Background

The 56th edition of this race, last held in 2004, was the first of the NASCAR Cup Series season following a hiatus brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, beginning with the postponement of the Atlanta Motor Speedway race weekend on March 13, 2020, and subsequent postponement of all races through at least early-May.^[9][10][11] On April 30, 2020, NASCAR announced the resumption of races with twin races at Darlington, including a 400-mile race on May 17, 2020 and a 310-mile (500 kilometer) race the following Wednesday, May 20, 2020. All races will be held behind closed doors with only essential staff present, guidelines for social distancing and use of protective equipment by team staff, and logging to help with contact tracing efforts.^[12]

On May 14, 2020, NASCAR announced that the May 17 race would be branded as The Real Heroes 400, the naming was in support of The Real Heroes Project—a collaboration of major U.S. sports leagues to honor health care professionals working during the pandemic. As part of the initiative, the names of drivers printed above the cars' driver-side windows were replaced with the names of health care professionals (determined in collaboration with local Fox affiliates). The selected workers collectively served as Grand Marshals of the race via a video "mosaic".^[13][14]

Ryan Newman returned to racing, having recovered from injuries sustained after the final lap crash of the 2020 Daytona 500. Matt Kenseth made his return to the series, having been named the new driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet, after the suspension and firing of Kyle Larson.

Starting Lineup

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 90

Stage Two Laps: 95

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 108

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 10 among 6 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 10 for 57
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 27 minutes and 21 seconds
• Average speed: 115.815 miles per hour (186.386 km/h)

Television

The Real Heroes 400 was carried by Fox in the United States. Mike Joy and seven-time Darlington winner Jeff Gordon called the race from the Fox Sports Studio in Charlotte. Regan Smith handled pit road duties. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

The Motor Racing Network (MRN) called the race for radio, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Dave Moody called the action for MRN when the field raced down the front stretch. Dillon Welch called the race from a Billboard outside of turn 1 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2, and Steve Post called the race atop of the Darlington Raceway Club outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Kim Coon and Hannah Newhouse called the action on pit road for MRN.