NASCAR travels to Atlanta Motor Speedway as all three series compete this weekend in the second race of the season. Joey Logano is the defending race winner of the Cup Series Ambetter Health 400.
The Atlanta schedule will include a 10-minute pit road entry practice after each qualifying session. This is because Atlanta has two separate pit-road speed limits for green-flag pit stops, one for vehicles entering on the apron in Turn 3 and another when getting to pit road on Turn 4. Under caution-flag conditions, pit-road speed will be 45 mph.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, February 23 3:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1/SiriusXM Impound – Single Vehicle /1 Lap /2 Rounds
4:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS1/SiriusXM Impound – Single Vehicle /1 Lap /2 Rounds
Saturday, February 24 11:30 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM Impound – Single Vehicle /1 Lap/2 Rounds Post-Cup Qualifying – Watch Live on Press Pass
2 p.m.: Truck Series Fr8 208 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM Stages: 30/60/135 Laps = 207.9 Miles Purse: $705,481 Post Truck Series Race – Watch Live on Press Pass
5 p.m.: Xfinity Series RAPTOR King of Tough 250 – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM Stages 40/80/163 Laps = 251.02 Miles The Purse: $1,328,978 Post-Xfinity Series Race – Watch Live on Press Pass
Sunday, February 25 3 p.m.: Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 – FOX/PRN/SiriusXM Stages 60/160/260 Laps = 400.4 Miles Purse: $9,137,793 Post-Cup Series Race – Watch Live on Press Pass
With the laps winding down in the Daytona 500, the pushing, shoving and tight-quarter action that defines restrictor plate racing led to the inevitable big one.
“Speedway racing again,” Joey Logano said. “It’s a lot of fun until this happens.”
As the field zoomed down the backstretch at Daytona International Speedway, Brad Keselowski moved from the outside line to the bottom to overtake race leader Ross Chastain. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman and William Byron, who spent the previous laps on the bottom line, got shuffled up to the middle line and worked their way up to the front. The last bump wasn’t squared up and Byron’s car wiggled, hooked Keselowski and triggered a 23-car pileup at the entrance of Turn 3.
It capped off a miserable Speedweeks for the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion who wrecked his primary car, Thursday, in the Bluegreen Vacations Duels.
“You’re kind of always watching when you’re in there and especially if you’re on top you can kind of watch and see how well their pushes are and it just looked like the 48 kind of got the 24 out of shape and just happened to get the 6 in the right-rear and unfortunately we were in the top lane,” Blaney said.
After the initial hit, he grabbed his wrist.
“I had my initial wreck and then my wheel grabbed something,” he said. “I usually let go of the wheel, but I didn’t think I needed to and it just tweaked it a little bit. It’s all good.”
He and Logano led a combined 57 of 200 laps and were in position to deliver Team Penske its second Daytona 500 victory. On the back of a ninth-month stretch of marquee victories for Roger Penske.
“It’s part of it,” Logano said. “You’re pushing and shoving there at the end. We had the cars that could take it and were doing really well. I had Blaney behind me. I thought, ‘Man, if I could pick one, that’s the one I want. I’m in a great position here’ and just had to find the right opportunity to slip the 1 again because the 6 wasn’t working with us, so I felt if I could keep the 12 with me I’m gonna be in a decent spot, but it just didn’t work out.
For Keselowski, the winningest active plate racer in the Cup Series (seven), he remains winless in his 15th attempt to win NASCAR’s crown jewel.
“It’s just one of those deals,” he said. “We were mixed up in the middle of the soup most of the race. We executed really well in the final stage and put ourselves in position, but that’s just the way Daytona goes.”
“Yeah, I feel really bad about that because I feel like that was — things were getting really intense with the pushes, and I felt like it was getting to the point where I couldn’t handle all the pushes, and you just try to get through those moments,” he said.
In a star-studded and electrifying season-opening event where the Ford and Toyota competitors were deemed as the heavyweight favorites, Chevrolet competitor William Byron and Hendrick Motorsports delivered the final ultimatum that sent them to Victory Lane in the rain-postponed, 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Monday, February 19.
The 26-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led the final four of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started 18th and was consistent amongst a bevy of competitors running in tight two and three-stacked lanes from start to finish. After dodging a multi-car wreck with eight laps remaining that eliminated a bevy of former Cup Series champions and stars, Byron cycled to the front and made his presence at the front known for the first time during the final restart. With four laps remaining, he fended off late challenges from Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric.
Then as both Chastain and Cindric wrecked before the start of the final lap, Byron managed to start the final lap and emerge in front of teammate Alex Bowman at the moment of caution to emerge as the winner of the Great American Race for the first time in his career and in his seventh full-time campaign piloting the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports.
The starting lineup for the main event was determined through a single-car qualifying session comprising two rounds that occurred on Wednesday, February 14, followed by a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels on Thursday, February 15. At the conclusion of both sessions, Joey Logano started in the pole position after posting a lap at 171.947 mph in 49.465 seconds and was joined on the front row by Michael McDowell, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell occupied the second row after both won their respective Duel events.
Before the event, the following drivers including Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars after each wrecked their primary cars during the Duel events. Kaz Grala also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change made to his Front Row Motorsports entry.
When the green flag waved and the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Logano gained an early advantage to lead the field entering the first two turns from the outside lane followed by Christopher Bell until McDowell fought back on the inside lane as both fought for the top spot through the backstretch and in front of two packed lanes. With the field still stacked up amid two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch, Logano led the first lap by a hair over McDowell as both continued to battle side-by-side for the lead during the proceeding laps.
Then on the fifth lap and as the field started to fan out to three lanes as both Logano and McDowell continued to fight for the lead, the event’s first caution flew. Brad Keselowski, who was running within the top 10, got John Hunter Nemechek loose and sent him veering left into Harrison Burton. Burton, who collected rookie Carson Hocevar, was sent spinning across the frontstretch grass before his No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang Dark Horse came back across the track and was T-boned by Kaz Grala, who sent Ryan Preece spinning across the frontstretch. Preece, however, avoided making heavy contact with the inside wall, before Burton was hit by Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Jimmie Johnson collided with Hocevar.
During the first caution period, nearly the entire field led by Logano and McDowell pitted while the rest of the field, including Christopher Bell, David Ragan, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., remained on the track. During the pit stops, where a majority of the field opted for only fuel for their respective entries, William Byron received a vehicle interference penalty when he pulled up into the wrong box and nearly collided with teammate Alex Bowman. In addition, Nemechek would be penalized for an equipment violation.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Bell and Blaney dueled for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns as Bell had Logano drafting him on the outside lane while Blaney had Daniel Hemric drafting him on the inside lane. Both Bell and Blaney would continue to compete for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes during the proceeding laps. By then, AJ Allmendinger served a drive-through penalty through pit road for not lining up properly during the restart.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Bell and Blaney continued to battle for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes while Hemric, Logano, McDowell, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick were scored in the top 10 followed by Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Riley Herbst, rookie Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, rookie Zane Smith, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was back in 21st along with Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr. while Bubba Wallace, Nemechek, Corey LaJoie, William Byron and Noah Gragson were running within the top 30 ahead of Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Anthony Alfredo and Allmendinger, with Jimmie Johnson scored two laps down in 36th place.
Five laps later, Bell and Blaney remained dead even for the lead in front of the pack as Hemric and Logano followed suit in the second row while McDowell and Elliott were running in the third row ahead of Keselowski, Cindric, Hamlin and Reddick. The field led by both Bell and Blaney would continue to run stacked amid two tight-packed lanes by the Lap 30 mark.
Just past the Lap 35 mark and with a majority of the field migrating to the inside lane while trying to conserve fuel, Blaney had sole possession of the lead followed by Bell, Hemric, Logano and Elliott while Keselowski and Cindric fought for sixth place with Cindric leading a handful of competitors on the outside lane. A lap later, Logano mounted a charge on the outside lane through the frontstretch but was blocked by teammate Blaney entering the first turn. By then, Blaney had his Team Penske teammates Logano and Cindric along with a majority of the competitors following suit on the outside lane while Bell served as the lead competitor on the inside lane, followed by Hemric, Elliott and Keselowski.
On Lap 40, Logano mounted another charge on the outside lane followed by teammate Cindric and overtook him for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2 while teammate Blaney moved to the inside lane in front of Bell. Another lap later, however, the Team Penske competitors along with Bell, Hemric and Keselowski pitted under green, mainly for fuel, while McDowell assumed the lead. Chris Buescher would then pit his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse by Lap 42 as McDowell was trying to fend off Berry, Hamlin, Elliott and Kyle Busch for the lead. Though he initially prevailed, McDowell was left battling Elliott side-by-side for the lead.
After Berry led a lap on Lap 45, Elliott assumed the lead in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during the following lap. He would be followed by Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Martin Truex Jr. and Noah Gragson while Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bowman and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10 as the field dispersed, with the Team Penske competitors separated as Blaney was losing the draft from teammates Logano and Cindric due to taking extra time in his pit stall for fuel.
Just past the Lap 50 mark, top names that included Bell, Hemric, Blaney and McDowell, all of whom previously pitted, were lapped by the front-runners as Elliott retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Wallace, Truex and Gragson while Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bowman and Zane Smith remained in the top 10 amid a long single-file line towards the outside lane.
Four laps later, Zane Smith and Stenhouse pitted under green. Another lap later, a bevy of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, led by Elliott pitted as Wallace cycled into the lead, though Wallace would lead another wave of competitors, mainly Toyota competitors, into pit road for service during the following lap as Gragson cycled into the lead followed by a bevy of Ford competitors. The leader, Gragson, along with teammate Berry, Justin Haley and Todd Gilliland then pitted prior to the Lap 60 mark as Ragan assumed the lead followed by Preece while Kyle Busch, who was leading a bevy of competitors who pitted, was in third and trying to gain ground amid the draft.
With three laps remaining in the first stage period, Ragan and Preece, both of whom were trying to stretch their fuel tanks to the distance of the stage’s conclusion, were overtaken by a wave of competitors led by Kyle Busch, who assumed the lead followed by Byron, Elliott, Suarez and Larson while Bowman, Chastain, Wallace, Truex and Hamlin were mired in the front pack.
At the start of the first stage period’s final lap, Elliott moved to the outside lane as he assumed the lead from Busch followed by teammates Larson, Bowman and Chastain. Then entering the frontstretch, Larson tried to make his move to Elliott’s outside approaching the start/finish line, but Chastain gave Elliott a bump, which propelled Elliott forward as he claimed the first stage victory on Lap 65. Teammate Larson settled in second followed by Chastain while Byron, Bowman, Busch, Hamlin, Wallace, Truex and Suarez were scored in the top 10. By then, Blaney, Bell and Hemric had managed to cycle their way back onto the lead lap while Allmendinger fended off McDowell to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down, which enabled him to cycle back onto the lead lap during the caution period.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Elliott pitted while select names that included Keselowski, Riley Herbst and Hemric remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, both Nemechek and Reddick stalled their respective entries. In addition, Kyle Busch was penalized for a safety violation. Herbst and Hemric would pit during the proceeding lap while Keselowski remained on the track, though he pitted to top off of fuel prior to the lead as Larson and Berry cycled into the lead.
The second stage period started on Lap 70 as Larson and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, Larson and Berry dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Berry muscled his No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead before Larson fought back on the outside lane. With both remaining dead even for the lead, Larson led the next scheduled lap as Hamlin and Gilliland followed suit in the second lane.
With the field fanning out to three lanes through the backstretch by Lap 71, both Larson and Berry remained dead even for the lead until Logano mounted a charge from the third outside lane as he rocketed his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead followed by Chase Briscoe and Haley before Briscoe, who migrated to the inside lane, challenged Logano for the lead as Logano transitioned from the inside and outside lane. With Larson stuck in the middle lane, Logano had drafting help from Haley on the outside lane while Briscoe was trying to regain momentum from the inside lane. As teammates Briscoe and Berry lost momentum and were slowly drifting to the rear of the field, Logano retained the lead followed by Haley, Buescher, Kyle Busch, Preece and Blaney while Larson, who moved in front of Briscoe, was trying to mount forward on the inside lane by the Lap 75 mark.
By Lap 80, Logano was leading followed by Haley, Buscher, Busch and Preece while Blaney, Gilliland, Hemric, Wallace and Zane Smith were in the top 10 followed by Truex, Larson, Alfredo, Reddick, Bell, Elliott, Cindric, LaJoie, Keselowski and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Byron was mired back in 25th while teammates Berry and Briscoe fell back to 23rd and 27th, respectively, as Chastain was in 29th in between Gragson and Ty Gibbs. In addition, Hamlin was back in 34th place.
Ten laps later, Logano continued to lead followed by Haley, Wallace and Buescher while Todd Gilliland, who was challenging Logano for the lead a few laps earlier, was trying to mount back towards the front on the inside lane as Gilliland, who received drafting help from Wallace earlier, was being drafted by Truex while Reddick tried to join the fray.
A few laps later and as the field lapped McDowell, who was battling gear issues, through the frontstretch, Gilliland steered his No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse to the inside lane and battled dead even with Logano through the first two turns before managing to move in front of Logano’s Ford through the backstretch. This allowed Truex to mount a charge on the inside lane as Gilliland retained the lead both on the outside lane and in the overall event ahead of Logano while Truex, Reddick, Haley and Cindric were battling with close quarters for the top spot.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Gilliland continued to lead followed by Logano, Truex, Haley and Reddick while Wallace, Cindric, Buescher, Keselowski and Busch were scored in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes. By then, 34 of 40 competitors were scored on the lead lap and separated by two seconds. Gilliland would continue to lead the next eight laps until he was overtaken by Bubba Wallace through the frontstretch. Wallace, however, would be overtaken by Kyle Busch exiting the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 while Preece mounted a charge to the outside lane as he challenged Busch for the lead while Wallace followed suit.
Then on Lap 111, a second cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Preece led Logano, Gilliland, Wallace and a bevy of competitors to pit road. Amid the pit stops, Berry was turned by Nemechek as he was trying to enter his pit stall while Preece, who locked up his front tires while trying to enter pit road, was penalized for speeding on pit road. Meanwhile, Busch assumed the lead followed by Larson, Alfredo and the rest of the pack.
Busch would then lead another wave of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, to pit road for service on Lap 114 under green while Larson, who assumed a brief lead, led Blaney, Elliott, Corey LaJoie, Cindric, Byron, Bowman and Chastain to pit road. At the completion of the green flag pit stops, Larson managed to merge back onto the track as the leader followed by teammate Elliott, Blaney and LaJoie while Busch was trying to carve his way back to the front followed by a bevy of competitors. Larson would maintain the lead until Cindric made his way to the front and the lead, followed by teammate Blaney nearing the Lap 120 mark while Busch was in fourth ahead of Elliott, Byron and LaJoie.
Just past the Lap 120 mark, a tight battle for the lead ignited between Cindric and Busch, with Busch receiving drafting help from Byron on the outside lane while Cindric had teammate Blaney drafting him in front of two tight-packed lanes as the top-23 competitors were separated by more than a second.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 130, Blaney, who had been drafting teammate Cindric over the course of the previous 10 laps amid his battle with Busch, made a bold move beneath teammate Cindric to assume the lead through Turns 3 and 4, which enabled him to muscle his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of the pack and claim the stage victory. Teammate Cindric followed suit in second along with Suarez while Busch, Reddick, Byron, Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Buescher were scored into the top 10. Amid the battle towards the front, Ty Gibbs managed to fend off Preece and Berry to emerge as the first competitor a lap down as he cycled back onto the lead lap.
During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Blaney pitted while Keselowski remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Suarez was penalized for equipment interference while Busch had issues for a loose wheel to his entry, but he managed to cycle back to his pit stall to have the wheel issue addressed as he remained on the lead lap. In addition, Keselowkski, Nemechek and Ragan would pit, which cycled Cindric back to the lead.
With 64 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Cindric and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric and Wallace dueled for the lead as Cindric had teammate Blaney drafting him on the outside lane while Wallace had teammate Reddick drafting him on the inside lane. Both Cindric and Wallace would continue to battle dead even for the lead during the proceeding laps. Then as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, Allmendinger, who rallied from being mired a lap down earlier, muscled his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over Wallace followed by Buescher and Truex while Wallace and Cindric slipped out of the top five. A tight battle for the lead then ignited between Allmendinger and Reddick with 60 laps remaining while the field continued to battle amid three tight-packed lanes.
Five laps later, Allmendinger retained the lead from the inside lane followed by teammate Hemric while LaJoie was trying to mount a charge from the outside lane followed by Bell and Truex as Hamlin was leading the middle lane ahead of Kyle Busch. Not long after, Allmendinger would get shuffled out of the lead as LaJoie and Kyle Busch battled dead even for the lead while Hamlin, Bowman, Larson and Bell followed suit with 50 laps remaining. Two laps later, Hamlin muscled his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE into the lead over LaJoie as Busch tried to fight back on the inside lane.
With 40 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading ahead of LaJoie, Busch, Bell, Logano and the rest of the field. As the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes while the intensity of the event started to ignite, Logano, who assumed the lead not long after, was leading followed by Ragan, Hamlin, Busch, and Keselowski while Bell, Briscoe, Reddick, Gragson and Chastain were scored in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes with 30 laps remaining. Logano would continue to lead ahead of Ragan, Hamlin, Keselowski, Busch and the rest of the field with 25 laps remaining.
Then with 23 laps remaining, another wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Riley Herbst led Hemric, LaJoie and a handful of competitors to pit road. Another wave of competitors, mainly Toyota competitors, led by Bell pitted during the next lap while Hamlin and Busch pitted together with 20 laps remaining. A wave of Ford competitors led by the race leader Logano would pit with 19 laps remaining while a wave of Chevrolet competitors led by Chastain pitted during the following lap. After the pit stops, Ross Chastain would cycle into the lead followed by Stenhouse and teammate Suarez while Logano was trying to weave his way back to the front amid the drafting momentum from his Ford teammates.
Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Chastain was leading ahead of Logano, Stenhouse and a bevy of competitors running tight amid two tight-packed lanes. Shortly after, Suarez would muscle his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead while Stenhouse was getting shuffled out of the lead draft. Meanwhile, Chastain remained in contention up on the outside lane followed by Logano while Byron tried to mount a charge on the inside lane.
A few laps later, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as Chastain made his move to the outside lane followed by Logano, leaving Suarez pinned on the middle lane and Byron on the inside lane, as he reassumed the lead. Not long after, Byron mounted a charge on the inside lane along with Suarez as all three continued to battle dead even in front of the stacked field with 10 laps remaining.
Then with nine laps remaining, the caution flew after Bowman bumped and got teammate Byron loose, which resulted with Byron veering left and clipping Keselowski’s No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse into Logano and into the path of both Blaney and Truex exiting the backstretch, which triggered a multi-car wreck that collected Suarez, Stenhouse, Reddick, Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Gragson, Hemric, Alfredo, Larson, Briscoe, Buescher and Erik Jones. Amid the wreckage, Chastain barely escaped with the lead followed by Bowman, Byron, Cindric and Elliott as the event was placed in a red flag period for more than 15 minutes.
Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, some led by Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.
Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Chastain and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain and Byron dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Chastain had Bowman drafting him on the outside lane while Byron had Cindric drafting him on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, Chastain and Byron continued to battle dead even for the lead as the field returned to the frontstretch with three laps remaining.
With two laps remaining, Byron received a strong push from Cindric to muscle his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead of Chastain from the inside lane through the frontstretch. Byron would then maintain the lead over Cindric, Chastain and LaJoie through the backstretch and approaching the start/finish line to start the final lap of the event.
Then as the field approached the tri-oval to start the final lap of the event, Cindric, who blocked LaJoie while battling Byron for the lead, veered back to the right and clipped Chastain’s No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which sent both spinning through the frontstretch’s grass as Cindric came back across the track and was T-boned by Ragan as Zane Smith was also involved while Chastain slid across the infield and just missed the inside wall.
With the leaders having crossed the start/finish line to start the final lap of the event prior to the caution being displayed that ended the event, Byron emerged out in front of teammate Bowman and the field when the caution flew and was declared the winner of the event.
With the victory, Byron, whose previous best Daytona 500 result was 21st, became the 43rd competitor to win the Great American Race as this season marks the fourth consecutive time where the Daytona 500 featured a first-time winner of the event. In addition, Byron, who achieved his 11th NASCAR Cup Series career victory and second at Daytona International Speedway, delivered the ninth Daytona 500 victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the team’s first since 2014, which occurred with Dale Earnhardt Jr., while also piloting the No. 24 car to a 500 victory for the first time since Jeff Gordon made the last accomplishment in 2005. The 500 victory was also the first for crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle and the 26th overall for the Chevrolet nameplate.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[Daytona 500 champion title] sounds really damn good,” Byron said on FOX. “I’ve so many emotions. Obviously, I hate what happened at the backstretch. I just got pushed and got sideways, but just so proud of this whole AXALTA team, 40th anniversary to the day on Monday [when HMS first competed]. Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities. We just wanna keep [the early momentum] going. We have a lot to prove this year. This is a good start, obviously. Daytona 500! It’s freakin’ awesome! Let’s go!”
“[We had] Just really good strategy [that got us to the front],” Byron added. “We laid back and tried to save fuel for most of the race. We would get up there at the end of the stages and make some moves. Just thankful for great power under the hood, all of our partners, everybody that allows us to do this. I’m just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500. I can’t believe it. [Me and my dad] have been through so much. We sat up in the grandstands together and watched the races. It’s so freakin’ cool.”
In addition to Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 victory was meaningful for Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, and owner Rick Hendrick, whose team, Hendrick Motorsports, is celebrating its 40th anniversary of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I’m telling you, you couldn’t write the script any better,” Hendrick said in Victory Lane. “When we think about coming down here the first time, we didn’t think we should be here, felt so out of place. We win this on our 40th [anniversary] to the day. It’s just… and tied a record now, so that’s awesome.”
“It’s so cool,” Gordon added. “What this is gonna do for this team, for AXALTA and all of our partners, and William Byron. He was already a superstar. He just went to another level being a superstar. I wasn’t driving the car, but I felt like I was making every lap with him out there. It’s just crazy to watch these guys do what they do and do it so well. To watch it from this side of it, it makes me so happy, so proud. We’re gonna celebrate. This is an amazing win. Huge win. Daytona 500!”
Teammate Bowman settled in second place while Bell, Corey LaJoie and Bubba Wallace finished in the top five. For Bowman, the runner-up result was his best in his eighth attempt of winning the Great American Race.
“I was pretty sure Willliam [Byron] had it, but you’re gonna let him debate it, right?” Bowman said. “I think a couple hundred more feet and obviously, we had the run. Just so proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. To get a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 [finish], have the No. 24 car in Victory Lane. Obviously, I wish it was our Ally No. 48 [car], but it was a great day for us. Proud of everybody. We did everything we could right. [I] Wish it was one spot better, but still, proud of the whole team.”
Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Kyle Larson ended up 11th followed by Kyle Busch, rookie Zane Smith, Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. while Hamlin ended up 19th. Chastain, who was in the position of achieving his first Daytona 500 victory prior to the final lap accident, ended up 21st while Cindric ended up 22nd.
There were 41 lead changes for 20 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps. Overall, 20 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the first event of the 2024 Cup Series season, William Byron leads the regular-season standings by four points over teammate Alex Bowman, 10 over Christopher Bell, 12 over Chase Elliott, 15 over Bubba Wallace and 17 over John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch.
Results.
1. William Byron, four laps led
2. Alex Bowman
3. Christopher Bell, 22 laps led
4. Corey LaJoie, one lap led
5. Bubba Wallace, three laps led
6. AJ Allmendinger, nine laps led
7. John Hunter Nemechek
8. Erik Jones
9. Noah Gragson, five laps led
10. Chase Briscoe
11. Kyle Larson, seven laps led
12. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led
13. Zane Smith
14. Chase Elliott, 13 laps led, Stage 1 winner
15. Martin Truex Jr.
16. Daniel Hemric
17. Ty Gibbs
18. Chris Buescher
19. Denny Hamlin, 10 laps led
20. David Ragan, two laps led
21. Ross Chastain, one lap down, 14 laps led
22. Austin Cindric, one lap down, 13 laps led
23. Ryan Preece, one lap down
24. Riley Herbst, one lap down
25. Josh Berry, one lap down
26. Justin Haley, one lap down
27. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down
28. Jimmie Johnson, four laps down
29. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident
30. Ryan Blaney – OUT, 12 laps led, Stage 2 winner
31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident
32. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 45 laps led
33. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident, three laps led
34. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident, two laps led
35. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
36. Michael McDowell, 24 laps down, six laps led
37. Austin Dillon, 54 laps down
38. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident
39. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident
40. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident
With the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season officially underway, the next event on the schedule is the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, February 25, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
Having very little success on superspeedway venues throughout his racing career, Christopher Bell gained an early advantage in his pursuit of winning his first Daytona 500 title by scoring a victory in the second of two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 15, following a final lap overtake on teammate Denny Hamlin.
The 29-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led the final lap of 60 scheduled laps in an event where he started 16th and methodically carved his way to the front while also dodging a late multi-car wreck that collected a bevy of stars, including last year’s NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney. During an eight-lap dash to the finish, Bell, who drafted teammate Denny Hamlin into the lead, gained a huge drafting run from Harrison Burton on the final lap to feign a move on Hamlin and overtake him through the backstretch. He would then fend off a final lap charge from Austin Cindric to achieve his first Daytona Duel career victory.
Amid Bell’s Duel victory, Kaz Grala rallied from his mechanical issues during Wednesday’s single-car qualifying session and starting at the rear of the field to claim a transfer spot into this year’s Daytona 500 over BJ McLeod.
Prior to the event, Michael McDowell, who claimed a front-row starting spot for this year’s Daytona 500, started on the pole and was joined on the front row by Austin Cindric. In addition, Kaz Grala dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change after he had dealt with a mechanical issue during Wednesday’s single-car qualifying session.
When the green flag waved and the second Duel event commenced, McDowell muscled his No. 34 Love’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead with the lead from the inside lane while Austin Cindric, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Harrison Burton followed suit. With a majority of the field opting to run on the inside lane, McDowell proceeded to lead the first lap. He would maintain control of both lanes and the field throughout the early stages of the event while Riley Herbst was trying to generate a run from the outside lane.
Through the first five scheduled laps, McDowell was then being challenged for the lead as William Byron made his move to the outside lane and drew his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 even with McDowell through the backstretch. McDowell, however, would maintain his ground and position from the inside lane, though Byron kept in toe with McDowell from the outside lane as he had Kyle Busch drafting him.
Nearing the Lap 10 mark, Byron, who assumed the lead for the first time on the seventh lap, was leading from the inside lane and by a hair over a hard-charging Riley Herbst while Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson, McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Harrison Burton were running in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes. Meanwhile, BJ McLeod was running in a transfer spot in 13th place, three spots ahead of David Ragan, while Kaz Grala was mired in 21st place, dead last.
By Lap 20, Herbst, who led six laps in the process, and Noah Gragson were dueling for the lead as Herbst had drafting help from Wallace and Bell while Allmendinger, who led two laps earlier, was drafting Gragson along with Byron amid a stacked two-packed field. By then, McLeod was running in the top 10 while Ragan and Grala were mired at the rear of the field.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Wallace, who led for the first time on Lap 21, was leading in his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Bell and rookie Zane Smith while Herbst fell back to fourth place in his No. 15 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse in front of Gragson, McLeod, Justin Haley, Allmendinger, McDowell and Byron. By then, Kyle Busch was back in 12th while Ragan and Grala were still mired in 20th and 21st, respectively.
Then with 19 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as some led by Wallace pitted, mainly for fuel. Another wave of competitors led by McDowell would pit during the following lap while a select few, led by Harrison Burton, remained on the track. With the rest of the lead lap competitors led by Burton pitting with 17 laps remaining, McDowell would manage to blend back as the race leader with 15 laps remaining as he had Denny Hamlin following suit along with Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Byron and Kyle Busch.
Then with 13 laps remaining, the caution flew after Busch bumped and sent Byron sideways through the tri-oval, where he clipped Ryan Blaney and sent Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse head-on into the outside wall as Blaney’s car went up in flames. The carnage also collected Brad Keselowski, Gragson, Briscoe, Herbst, Burton, Wallace, Haley and McLeod. Amid the carnage, all competitors, including Blaney, emerged uninjured as the event was placed in an eight-minute red flag period to have the carnage cleared.
Once the red flag lifted and the remaining competitors proceeded under a cautious pace, the event resumed under green flag conditions with eight laps remaining. At the start, McDowell received a strong push from Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse on the outside lane through the frontstretch to maintain a brief advantage until Hamlin came roaring back on the inside lane with drafting help from Bell, with the latter muscling ahead. McDowell, however, fought back through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 as he maintained the lead followed by Cindric, Keselowski and Grala while Hamlin was trying to regain his momentum.
Two laps later and amid a stacked two-packed field at the front, Hamlin drew his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE into another side-by-side battle against McDowell’s Ford for the lead. While McLeod was trying to draft his way towards Ragan and Grala for a transfer spot into the Daytona 500, Hamlin and McDowell continued to battle dead even for the lead and in front of Bell and Cindric.
Then with four laps remaining and while Hamlin transitioned from the inside to outside lane to block McDowell, McDowell was bumped out of line by Cindric and drifted to the rear of the field. This resulted with Bell drawing even and challenging teammate Hamlin for the lead while Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek followed suit. As the field continued to run in two tight-packed lanes, however, Hamlin managed to clear Bell and assume the lead under his control. By then, Grala was racing within the top 10 and in a transfer spot for the Daytona 500 ahead of Ragan and McLeod.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained as the leader over teammate Bell, Nemechek, Zane Smith and Burton, who was gaining a draft from Cindric and Keselowski to march his way to the front. Amid Burton’s strong run from the outside lane through Turns 1 and 2, Bell moved his No. 20 DeWalt/Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE in front of Burton as he gained a run on Hamlin entering the backstretch. It was then when Bell feigned a move to Hamlin’s inside as Hamlin transitioned to the inside lane, which allowed Bell to storm into the lead on the outside lane while being drafted by Burton and Cindric. Cindric then moved Burton out of the draft to challenge Bell for the lead, but Bell executed two blocks on Cindric entering the frontstretch, which were enough for him to claim the checkered flag first and win the first Duel event of his career.
With the victory, Bell, whose previous best Duel results were a pair of runner-up results from 2021 and 2023, was awarded a handful of championship points and the fourth-place starting spot for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 as he also recorded the 11th Daytona Duel victory overall for Joe Gibbs Racing. With 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick winning the first Duel event, this season marks the first time since 2014 that Toyota competitors swept both Daytona Duel events.
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to mark Bell’s fifth as a full-time competitor and fifth attempt of winning his first Great American Race on Sunday, Feb. 18.
“Yeah, it feels good,” Bell said. “These [superspeedway] races, man. I don’t know what to think of ’em. Me and Adam Stevens, my crew chief, we have a running joke: I say these races are 100% luck. I know that’s not true, but it seems like we’ve been struggling to get to the end of it. I know I’ve been a common denominator in a lot of the wrecks. Feels good to do everything right today.”
Cindric, the 2022 Daytona 500 champion, settled in second place in a Duel event for a third consecutive season while Hamlin, Nemechek, Harrison Burton, Zane Smith, Keselowski, Byron, Briscoe and Justin Haley finished in the top 10 on the track.
Meanwhile, Kaz Grala, who needed to finish ahead of both David Ragan and BJ McLeod on the track to make the starting grid for this year’s Daytona 500, accomplished his feat after finishing in 12th place, two spots ahead of McLeod and three spots over Ragan, though the latter is also in this year’s Great American Race based on his qualifying speed from Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session while McLeod failed to qualify for the main event.
With his accomplishment, Grala, who is piloting a third Front Row Motorsports entry, will make his third career appearance in the Daytona 500. He will attempt to achieve both his first Cup Series and 500 victory on Sunday.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Just really proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports,” Grala said. “They worked so hard the last 24 hours to get the car ready to race today. Some trouble yesterday. Really cool to be able to get it in the show for them. Real big opportunity for me. Excited to be here on Sunday again.”
There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The event featured one caution for four laps.
Results.
1. Christopher Bell, one lap led
2. Austin Cindric
3. Denny Hamlin, five laps led
4. John Hunter Nemechek
5. Harrison Burton, one lap led
6. Zane Smith
7. Brad Keselowski
8. William Byron, five laps led
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Justin Haley
11. Bubba Wallace, 21 laps led
12. Kaz Grala
13. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led
14. BJ McLeod
15. David Ragan
16. Michael McDowell, 17 laps led
17. Josh Berry – OUT, Fuel pump
18. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, one lap led
19. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident
20. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident, seven laps led
21. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
With the starting lineup for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 officially set, the main event is set to commence on Sunday, Feb. 18, which will also mark the official start of NASCAR’s 76th season of premier series competition. The coverage for this year’s Great American Race is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
After posting the 36th-fastest qualifying lap during Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session for this year’s Daytona 500, Tyler Reddick responded with vengeance and in dramatic style after executing a final lap pass on Kyle Larson to storm to the victory in the first of two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, Feb. 15.
The two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led only the final lap of 60 scheduled laps in an event where he rallied from starting towards the rear of the field to methodically carve his way to the front. After nearly getting in a wreck following a bump by Martin Truex Jr. during the event’s lone cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 20 laps remaining, Reddick would draft his way from the top 10 toward the front during a six-lap shootout before overtaking Larson on the final lap to win his first Duel event at Daytona of his career.
In the midst of Reddick’s victory, Jimmie Johnson rallied from being involved in a late multi-car wreck to overtake JJ Yeley on the final lap and claim a transfer spot into this year’s Daytona 500.
Prior to the event, Joey Logano, the 2024 Daytona 500 pole winner, started on the pole position and was joined on the front row by Kyle Larson.
When the green flag waved and the first Duel event commenced, Logano and Larson dueled for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch until Larson started to muscle ahead from the outside lane with drafting help from Austin Dillon. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Larson managed to muscle ahead and clear the field as he managed to fend off Logano to lead the first lap in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Logano was locked into a side-by-side battle with Dillon amid a tight packed lane fanning out two lanes.
During the proceeding laps, Larson continued to lead as he also remained on the outside lane while receiving drafting help from Austin Dillon while Logano remained as the first competitor leading the inside lane with drafting help from Chase Elliott. The outside lane, however, would continue to gain the advantage through the straightaways as Larson, who then transitioned from the outside to the inside lane, maintained the lead while Todd Gilliland battled Dillon for the runner-up spot. In addition, Chris Buescher was in fourth while Logano was mired in fifth as he was battling Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Elliott, with the field battling amid two tight-packed lanes.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Erik Jones was the leader ahead of Daniel Suarez, who overtook Larson for the lead during the previous lap. With Jones and Suarez dueling for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes, Jones had Martin Truex Jr. drafting him on the outside lane while Suarez had Larson drafting him on the inside lane.
At the Lap 10 mark, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made his way into the lead by 0.069 seconds over Jones while Truex, Corey LaJoie, Suarez, Jimmie Johnson, Larson, Ty Gibbs, Gilliland and Alex Bowman were running in the top 10. By then, Logano had fallen back to 15th while JJ Yeley, who was battling Johnson for a transfer spot into this year’s Daytona 500, was mired back in 17th. In addition, Anthony Alfredo, who guaranteed himself a starting spot for the Daytona 500 based on his qualifying speed from Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session, dropped back to 21st place, dead last, to preserve his primary car for the main event.
Not long after, a side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Stenhouse and LaJoie as Stenhouse had Jones’ No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE drafting him for the lead on the inside lane while LaJoie had drafting help from Johnson’s No. 84 Carvana Toyota Camry XSE on the inside lane. Stenhouse, however, would receive another strong shove from Jones through the backstretch to muscle away from LaJoie and clear the field to gain sole possession of the lead ahead of the pack nearing the Lap 15 mark.
A few laps later, the top three competitors led by Stenhouse and including Jones and Truex cleared the field while the rest of the field led by a side-by-side battle between Suarez and Johnson were stacked in two tight-packed lanes.
By Lap 20, Stenhouse maintained the lead ahead of Jones, Truex and Suarez while Johnson tried to ignite another run to the front from the outside lane. Meanwhile and as the field slowly started to fan out to three lanes, LaJoie, who was battling towards the front, was drifting to the back of the field after he was placed in the middle of a three-wide battle and lost the draft.
Six laps later and with the field returning to running in two tight-packed lanes, Truex gained a huge run through the backstretch to draft his way into the lead from the outside lane followed by Larson and Johnson while Stenhouse, who transitioned from the outside to inside lane to keep Erik Jones drafting him, fell back to within the top five. Two laps later, however, Stenhouse fought his way back from the inside lane as he drew Truex into a side-by-side battle exiting the frontstretch and through the backstretch.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Truex was drafted into the lead from Larson ahead of Stenhouse while Johnson, Jones, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Bowman and Chastain were battling in the top 10. By then, Johnson was in a transfer spot ahead of JJ Yeley, who was mired back in 14th, while Logano was scored in 18th behind Austin Dillon and rookie Carson Hocevar.
With 25 laps remaining, Truex was leading from the outside lane in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE as he had Larson drafting him along with Johnson while Stenhouse remained on the inside as he had Jones drafting him while he continued to keep Truex within his sights. By then, Alfredo, who pitted under green, was penalized for speeding on pit road, which dropped him out of the lead lap category.
Then with 21 laps remaining, pit stops under the green flag commenced as the Toyota competitors Johnson, Reddick, Jones and Ty Gibbs pitted. Prior to the pit stops, Truex bumped and nearly sent Reddick sideways into Ty Gibbs as Reddick was trying to make the turn to pit road while Austin Dillon nearly got turned in the middle of the pack as he barely squeezed Gilliland up against the outside wall. The following lap and with the field dispersed, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse pitted under green while Larson was leading ahead of Chastain, Suarez, Bowman and Elliott.
Then with 17 laps remaining, a majority of the field, led by Larson, pitted under green as Todd Gilliland assumed the lead. During the pit stops, Chastain was penalized for speeding on pit road and was forced to make another trip to pit road to serve a pass-through penalty. Shortly after, the following names that include Gilliland, Logano, Ryan Preece and Buescher pitted under green.
Following the pit stops, Larson rocketed his way back into the lead followed by Chevrolet teammates Suarez, Elliott and Bowman while Logano, who tried to blend in front of the Chevrolet competitors, fell back to fifth. Amid the completion of pit stops, Johnson continued to run in a transfer spot within the top 10 with less than 15 laps remaining in the event.
Then with 10 laps remaining, the first Duel’s first caution flew after Daniel Hemric, who briefly stepped off the gas as the field briefly checked up in front of him while fanned out to nearly four lanes, was bumped by Stenhouse, which sent Hemric’s No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways and head-on into the outside wall in Turn 3. Amid Hemric’s wreck, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Johnson made contact that sent all three spinning below the apron. Amid the incident, Hemric retired while Stenhouse, Dillon and Johnson continued, with the latter now locked in a tight battle with Yeley to claim a transfer spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
With the race restarting with six laps remaining, Larson and Suarez dueled for the lead ahead of Elliott and Ty Gibbs while Johnson, who pitted during the caution period, was trying to regain speed to keep pace with Yeley towards the rear of the field. As the field continued to jostle and battle amid two stacked lanes from the backstretch and through the frontstretch, Larson and Suarez remained dead even for the lead followed by Ty Gibbs, Elliott, Hocevar and Logano as the event reached its final five-lap mark remaining.
As the laps continued to dwindle, Larson and Suarez remained dead even of one another for the race lead ahead of the pack while Johnson was trying to keep pace and remain ahead of Yeley towards the rear of the field, but with a starting spot for the Daytona 500 up for grabs.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson was scored the lead as he started to muscle ahead of teammate Elliott, Suarez and the field through the frontstretch. Entering Turns 1 and 2, Elliott transitioned from the outside to the inside lane as he was drafted into a brief lead by Hocevar before Larson fought back with drafting help from Reddick. Then through the backstretch, Reddick seized an opportunity by veering to the left and making his move beneath Larson for the lead, which he executed as Larson got loose off the front nose of teammate Bowman and lost the draft.
With Larson losing ground as the field fanned out entering the frontstretch, Reddick was able to muscle his No. 45 Nasty Beast Toyota Camry XSE away from the field and beat a hard-charging Elliott by 0.056 seconds to win the first Duel event.
With the victory, Reddick, whose previous best Duel result was eighth, was awarded a handful of championship points and the third-place starting spot for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 that is set to occur this upcoming Sunday, February 18. Reddick also became the first Toyota competitor to win a Daytona Duel event since his owner Denny Hamlin made the last accomplishment in 2017 as he also recorded the first Duel victory for 23XI Racing. The 2024 Cup Series season is set to mark Reddick’s fifth full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series and sixth consecutive attempt to win his first Great American Race.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“It’s a great way to start off the weekend,” Reddick said on FS1. “Man, this [car] is a beast. It’s a great way to kick off a brand-new product. Go out and get some Hard Tea, have a good time tonight. I know we are.”
Chase Elliott settled in second place followed by teammate Bowman, Hocevar and Erik Jones while Suarez, Logano, Ty Gibbs, Larson and Chris Buescher finished in the top 10 on the track.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson was also left smiling after rallying from his late incident to race his way into the Daytona 500 after overtaking JJ Yeley entering the frontstretch and crossing the finish line in 12th place while Yeley ended up in 16th place, which left him and NY Racing out of this year’s Daytona 500 field.
With his accomplishment, Johnson will make his 21st career start in the Great American Race at Daytona, his second in a row as a driver/co-owner of Legacy Motor Club and his first piloting a Toyota Camry XSE stock car. He will also pursue a third Daytona 500 victory.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I’ve never been in a position like this before and I have such a greater appreciation for everyone before me that’s tried to race their way in,” Johnson said. “It’s very stressful. I’m very thankful we got this Carvana Toyota into the race. I knew the first half of the race was going too easy. I knew there’d be a challenge thrown at us and we got it just in time. Hats off to JJ Yeley. He put up a heck of a fight in a very competitive car. We were just in the right spot at the right time when the checkered [flag] fell.”
There were 15 lead changes for nine different leaders. The event featured one caution for four laps.
Results.
1. Tyler Reddick, one lap led
2. Chase Elliott
3. Alex Bowman
4. Carson Hocevar
5. Erik Jones, five laps led
6. Daniel Suarez, two laps led
7. Joey Logano, one lap led
8. Ty Gibbs
9. Kyle Larson, 20 laps led
10. Chris Buescher
11. Ross Chastain
12. Jimmie Johnson
13. Ryan Preece
14. Martin Truex Jr., 14 laps led
15. Corey LaJoie
16. JJ Yeley
17. Todd Gilliland, one lap led
18. Austin Dillon
19. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, DVP, 15 laps led
21. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident
The second Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway is underway and will complete the starting lineup for the 66th running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 18, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Joey Logano saved his best qualifying lap for last and the result netted him the Busch Light Pole Award for this year’s 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway following the event’s single-car, two-round qualifying session on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
The qualifying format that determined the front row and pole winner of this year’s Daytona 500 event was based on two qualifying rounds comprised of a single-lap session for each competitor. Following the first round, the top-10 fastest qualifiers from a total of 42 transferred to the second and final single-lap round to contend for the pole and a front-row starting spot.
During the qualifying session, Logano, who was the fastest qualifier during the first qualifying round, repeated his strong, early performance by claiming the pole position for this year’s Great American Race. He posted a pole-winning lap at 181.947 mph in 49.465 seconds in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which was enough to outperform Michael McDowell, who qualified with the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds.
With his accomplishment, Logano, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the 2015 Daytona 500 champion, became the 45th competitor to claim the pole position for the Great American Race as he also notched his 29th Cup Series career pole and first on a superspeedway venue.
Logano also snapped Chevrolet’s 11-year pole-winning streak by achieving Ford’s first 500 pole since Carl Edwards in 2012 and he became the first non-Hendrick Motorsports competitor to win the pole position for the 500 since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made the last accomplishment in 2020. As a result, Logano also recorded the first Daytona 500 pole award for Team Penske as he strives to battle for his second Great American Race victory this upcoming Sunday, Feb. 18.
“This [pole] is all about the team,” Logano said on FS1. “I’d like to take credit, but I can’t today. The guys have done such an amazing job working on these cars. This superspeedway qualifying is a hundred percent the car. There’s only so much a driver can do, so I’m really proud of [the team]. It’s a big win for our team, for everyone at Team Penske, Ford with the new Dark Horse Mustang. Being able to come down here and put in on the pin. Finally, someone else wins the pole. That part feels good. I’ve never even been close to a superspeedway pole before, so it’s my first pole in a speedway. It couldn’t be at a cooler event [than], obviously, Daytona 500. Huge deal for Team Penske.”
Joining Logano on the front row for this year’s Daytona 500 and for the first time in his career is Michael McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion who qualified in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports. Ironically, this year’s Daytona 500 marks the first time Ford competitors have swept the front-row starting spots since Edwards and Greg Biffle in 2012. McDowell’s win at last year’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course enabled him to qualify for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs and strive to contend for a second Daytona 500 victory.
Kyle Larson, the 2022 Daytona 500 pole winner and the 2021 Cup Series champion, posted the third-fastest qualifying time of 181.550 mph in 49.550 seconds and will be one of the remaining 40 competitors to vie for their official starting spots for the 500 through a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duel that will take place on Thursday, Feb. 15. Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott completed the top five in qualifying time and speed while William Byron, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton, all of whom advanced to the second and final qualifying round, rounded out the top 10 on the qualifying chart.
Todd Gilliland, who was one of 32 competitors who did not transfer to the second qualifying session, posted the 11th-fastest qualifying time of 180.339 mph in 49.903 seconds followed by Riley Herbst, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez and Anthony Alfredo.
Alfredo and David Ragan were also victorious along with Logano and McDowell as both achieved guaranteed starting spots for this year’s Daytona 500 by being the two fastest non-chartered qualifiers of six on the leaderboard.
Alfredo ended up being the fastest non-chartered competitor on the leaderboard after posting his qualifying lap at 179.648 mph in 50.098 seconds, which was enough to claim 20th place on the leaderboard. With his accomplishment, Alfredo, a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for Our Motorsports and a part-time Cup competitor in Beard Motorsports’ No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry this season, will make his second career start in the Daytona 500 after making his first with Front Row Motorsports in 2021. In addition, Beard Motorsports, who did not make the 500 field last season, will appear in the 500 for a sixth time this upcoming Sunday.
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“This is insane,” Alfredo said. “We were just talking about every possible scenario we might find ourselves in today, tomorrow and obviously, Sunday, but to make it to Sunday’s a challenge. It was such a competitive field of open cars and drivers behind the wheel. I’m just really thankful for the Beard family [for] giving me this opportunity and Death Wish Coffee coming on board. We have, clearly, a fast Chevrolet Camaro. To know that we’re in [the Daytona 500] and cannot have to race in tomorrow [via the Duels] and just remove ourselves from some of the sketchy circumstances and focus on Sunday is just an amazing feeling.”
Ragan posted the 27th-fastest qualifying lap at 179.283 mph in 50.200 seconds, which was enough for him to outperform Jimmie Johnson, who posted the 35th-fastest lap at 178.845 mph in 50.323 seconds. With his accomplishment, Ragan, who is piloting Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse as part of the team’s #Stage60 program, will make his 17th appearance in the Great American Race this Sunday and his first since the 2022 season. This year’s Daytona 500 will mark his first Cup start as a Roush competitor since the 2011 season as Ragan will also be pursuing his first 500 victory.
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“It’s always big to be in the Daytona 500 and the whole week, I’ve just been trying to make sure we didn’t have any mistakes,” Ragan said. “I really feel like we were gonna have a shot at a top-10 or top-12 starting spot, but it just shows all the hard work this BuildSubmarines.com Ford team has done. I’m really proud for [crew chief] Derrick [Finley] and proud for the whole [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] guys. I appreciate [owners] Brad Keselowski and Jack Roush [for] giving me an opportunity to come down here to try to win a Daytona 500.”
The remaining open competitors including Jimmie Johnson, BJ McLeod, JJ Yeley and Kaz Grala will compete for the final two open spots for this weekend’s Daytona 500 through Thursday’s Duels.
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels that will determine the rest of the starting lineup for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for Feb. 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. First, on Thursday, Feb. 15, the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel is slated to commence at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 while the second Duel event will follow suit at approximately at 8:45 p.m. ET on FS1.
Amid an off-season surgery that nearly placed his availability status for NASCAR’s exhibition event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in question, Denny Hamlin responded with resurgence and early momentum after surviving a war of attrition evening to win the third annual Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, February 3.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led twice for 58 of 151 laps in an event where he claimed the pole position for The Clash based on setting the fastest lap during the event’s practice session that set the starting lineup. The event was bumped a day early from its original starting time on Sunday amid threat concerns of rain and flash flooding.
Despite losing the lead to Joey Logano early, Hamlin regained the lead on the third lap and led through Lap 49 until he was overtaken by teammate Ty Gibbs. Amid a series of bumps and on-track chaos ensuing throughout the event, Hamlin would then capitalize on a 10-lap restart to overtake Gibbs and Logano for the lead. He retained the lead to fend off Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney during a two-lap shootout to achieve his fourth career victory at The Clash.
The eligibility for the event included all NASCAR Cup Series chartered and non-chartered team competitors. The lineup for The Clash was initially set to be determined through each competitor’s fastest lap time from their final practice session that was originally scheduled to occur on Saturday. This would then be followed by four heat events and a Last Chance Qualifier Race between Saturday and Sunday that would feature 36 participants battling for 23 entrance spots.
With the exhibition event being rescheduled to occur on Saturday night instead of Sunday due to the threat of rain and flooding on Sunday within the Southern California region, the starting lineup was instead determined through the event’s practice sessions separated into three groups, including the final session being a qualifying session, where the first 22 starting spots were determined based on practice speeds while the 23rd and final provisional spot was left for the top finisher in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series standings who has not qualified for the event.
At the conclusion of the practice sessions that included qualifying, Denny Hamlin secured the pole position for the main event after posting a pole-winning speed at 68.498 mph in 13.139 seconds during his practice session. Joey Logano joined Hamlin on the front row after he posted the second-fastest speed at 67.925 mph in 13.25 seconds while Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace and Justin Haley started in the top 10. The following names that included Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland, Michael McDowell, Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., John Hunter Nemechek and Chase Briscoe started 11th through 22nd, respectively, while Ryan Blaney was awarded the provisional, 23rd and final, starting spot into the main event based on being last year’s Cup Series champion.
The following names that include Josh Williams, Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, Christopher Bell, Kaz Grala, Harrison Burton and Zane Smith did not qualify for the main event.
When the main event commenced under green, Hamlin and Logano dueled for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes entering Turn 1 until Logano used the outside lane to rocket his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of Hamlin through Turn 2. Despite Hamlin’s efforts in side-drafting and making contact with Logano to stall his momentum, Logano managed to withstand his ground as he proceeded to lead the first lap. With Logano leading Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Alex Bowman battled for third place before William Byron joined the battle along with Kyle Busch.
Two laps later, Hamlin prevailed in his early battle and on-track skirmish with Logano to lead for the first time in his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE, where he moved in front of Logano in Turn 3, as Ty Gibbs would assume the runner-up spot over Logano during the following lap. Gibbs would then find himself locked in a tight situation of fending off Logano, Byron and a bevy of competitors for the runner-up spot while teammate Hamlin retained the lead by the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 10 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Ty Gibbs followed by Logano, Byron and Kyle Busch while Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Kyle Larson, Justin Haley and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10. Behind, Bubba Wallace occupied 11th place in front of Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr. and Michael McDowell while Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Blaney rounded out the 23-car field.
Ten laps later, Hamlin extended his advantage to nearly a second over teammate Gibbs while Logano, Byron and Busch occupied the top five in front of Bowman, Preece, Larson, Haley and Chastain. Meanwhile, Blaney, mired in 22nd place, was trying to carve his way up the leaderboard to avoid being pinned a lap down.
Another 10 laps later, Hamlin lapped last-place Noah Gragson, all while having his advantage shrink to within four-tenths of a second over teammate Gibbs and nearly a second over third-place Logano. In the process, Byron and Busch remained in the top five ahead of Bowman, Larson, Preece, Haley and Wallace.
At the Lap 50 mark and with the leaders mired in tight lapped traffic, the battle for the lead re-ignited as Gibbs used the lapped competitors of Gragson to move into the lead. Behind, Logano challenged Hamlin for the runner-up spot while Busch and Byron remained within close distance.
Just past the Lap 60 mark, Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Logano while Busch, Larson and Byron moved into the top five. Meanwhile, Hamlin fell back to seventh behind Bowman while Haley, Wallace and Chase Elliott were mired in the top 10.
Then 10 laps later, the first caution of the event flew after Todd Gilliland spun sideways into the Turn 1 outside wall as he became the first retiree of the event.
With the event restarting on Lap 71, where Gibbs and Logano occupied the front row, Logano and Gibbs dueled for the lead through Turn 1 until Gibbs bounced off of Logano and nearly got loose, which allowed Busch to place Gibbs and Logano in a tight three-wide battle for the lead until the latter muscled ahead from the outside lane in Turn 2. Logano would retain the lead through Turns 3 and 4 over Busch while Gibbs fell back to third in front of Larson and Byron. During the following lap, Hamlin would overtake Bowman for sixth place while Wallace tried to follow suit.
Then on Lap 74 and just as Logano was within reach of reaching the halfway segment under green flag conditions, the caution returned after John Hunter Nemechek was sent for a spin in between Turns 3 and 4 after Corey LaJoie threw a divebomb move beneath Nemechek entering Turn 3 that sent the latter into a spin.
During a one-lap shootout to the halfway mark, Logano and Busch dueled for the lead through the first turn until Logano managed to pull ahead with the lead through Turn 2. Shortly after, Larson and Gibbs placed Busch in a tight three-wide battle for the runner-up spot through Turn 2, which resulted in Larson assuming the runner-up spot as Gibbs and Busch nearly got sideways amid light contact, which allowed Byron to join the battle while Logano retained the lead. As the field returned to the start/finish line to reach the halfway mark on Lap 75, the event was placed in a brief intermission period. By then, Logano was scored the leader followed by Larson, Gibbs, Byron and Busch while Hamlin, Wallace, Bowman, Reddick and Chastain were scored in the top 10.
At the conclusion of the intermission period, the event restarted under green on Lap 76. At the start, Logano retained the lead over Larson, Busch and Ty Gibbs until Larson made his move on the inside lane as he challenged Logano for the top spot during the following lap. The caution, however, would return on Lap 77 after Bowman bumped Reddick into Wallace entering Turn 3 as Wallace spun his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE in between Turns 3 and 4. Amid the incident, Elliott took his car to the Coliseum’s infield area due to a mechanical issue to his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
When the race restarted on Lap 78, Logano and Gibbs dueled for the lead again while Reddick, who restarted in the top 10, made a bold three-wide move on the inside lane to move his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE up within the top five just before entering Turn 1. Amid more bumps and side-by-side action within the field, the caution quickly returned after McDowell and Stenhouse bumped against one another and proceeded to send Chastain for a spin in Turn 1 while LaJoie slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting Chastain’s No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The incident resulted in McDowell and Stenhouse rubbing fenders under a cautious pace to express their displeasure towards one another. Meanwhile, Reddick, who made the three-wide move during the restart, was assessed a restart violation and sent to the rear of the field for pulling out of line before reaching the start/finish line.
During another Lap 78 restart, Gibbs muscled ahead of Logano and cleared the field through Turns 1 and 2. Entering Turn 3 and as Gibbs retained the lead, Larson bumped and sent Hamlin up the track and almost into the path of Byron, which enabled Larson to move into third place followed by Truex while Hamlin was left battling and bumping Busch for fifth place. Four laps later, Larson engaged in repetitive bumps into Logano’s rear bumper for the runner-up spot while Truex maintained his distance in fourth place. Amid the battles, Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than two seconds.
By Lap 90, Gibbs was leading in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE by more than two seconds over Logano, who was continuing to fend off Larson for the runner-up spot as Truex, Busch, Hamlin, Preece, Byron, Bowman and Blaney followed suit in a tight single-file line in the top 10.
At the Lap 100 mark, Ty Gibbs continued to lead by more than two seconds over Logano while Larson, Truex, Busch, Hamlin, Preece, Byron, Blaney and Bowman continued to run in the top 10. Behind, Wallace occupied 11th place in front of Chastain, Bowman, Haley and Keselowski while Stenhouse, Reddick, McDowell, Nemechek, LaJoie and Gragson occupied the remaining top-21 spots on the track.
With 35 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs retained the lead by within two seconds over Logano. By then, Busch was up in third place in his No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 followed by Hamlin and Truex while Blaney continued his late march to the front in sixth place. Meanwhile, Larson dropped to seventh ahead of teammate Byron, Briscoe and Wallace while Preece was down in 11th ahead of Chastain, Bowman, Haley and Keselowski.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event and as the leaders were navigating through lapped traffic, Gibbs continued to lead despite having his advantage decreased to a second over a hard-charging Logano. Behind, Hamlin trailed in third place by two seconds while Busch and Truex followed suit in the top five. Gibbs would continue to lead Logano by more than a second with 20 laps remaining, all while trying to bump and place Chastain a lap down.
With 14 laps remaining, Haley, who was having a steady run within the top 15, fell off the pace due to a mechanical issue to his No. 51 Walmart Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Amid the issue, he managed to coast his entry into the infield without drawing a caution. Amid Haley’s late issues, Gibbs retained the lead by a second over Logano.
Then with 10 laps remaining, the caution flew after McDowell, who was battling Chastain for 13th place, made contact with Chastain through Turn 2, which resulted in the latter sending the former sideways as he spun his No. 34 Margaritaville at Sea Ford Mustang Dark Horse backward towards the outside wall in Turn 3.
As the event restarted with 10 laps remaining, Gibbs and Logano briefly dueled for the lead through Turn 1 until Gibbs slipped and moved Logano up the track, which resulted with Logano getting sideways and losing his momentum as Hamlin issued his challenge for the lead beneath teammate Gibbs through Turn 2. Then in Turn 3, Hamlin moved into the lead over teammate Gibbs as Busch joined the battle and tried to shove Gibbs up the track in Turn 1 while Hamlin locked up his front tires. Hamlin, though, maintained his ground through Turn 2 over teammate Gibbs and Busch while Logano was mired back in sixth behind teammate Blaney and Larson.
With seven laps remaining, Hamlin went wide entering Turn 1, which allowed teammate Gibbs to draw even with Hamlin entering Turn 2 until Hamlin quickly rocketed back ahead with the lead. Hamlin would continue to retain the lead by a tight margin over teammate Gibbs, Busch and Blaney with five laps remaining despite getting constantly bumped by Gibbs through the turns.
With four laps remaining, however, Gibbs overshot Turn 1, which allowed Busch to draw even with Gibbs entering Turn 2. As Busch and Gibbs made contact entering Turn 3, Blaney tried to shove his way in between both, but Busch assumed the runner-up spot during the following lap. Blaney would follow suit into third place followed by Logano as Gibbs fell back to fifth. Then just as Hamlin was about to start the final lap of the event, the caution flew after Gibbs was bumped and sent for a spin off the front nose of Larson in Turn 3 as he plummeted below the leaderboard.
With the field restarting under green for a two-lap shootout to conclude the event, where Hamlin and Blaney occupied the front row, Hamlin launched ahead from the inside lane as he fended off both Blaney and Busch through Turns 1 and 2. Despite locking up his tires entering Turn 3, which allowed Busch to try and get to Hamlin’s rear bumper, Hamlin maintained the top spot as he started the final lap of the event.
During the final lap, Hamlin again locked up his front tires entering Turn 1, which nearly provided another opportunity for Busch to use the bumper. Hamlin, though, managed to pull away from the field through Turn 2. With Hamlin placing a reasonable gap between himself and Busch with the lead through Turn 3, he was able to smoothly navigate his way to the fourth turn and streak across the finish line to claim the first checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.
With the victory, Hamlin notched his fourth career victory in The Clash, which makes him the second-winningest competitor in The Clash behind Dale Earnhardt, who has six Clash victories, and his first in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He also recorded the first NASCAR victory for the new Toyota Camry XSE Cup Series’ stock car as the nameplate racked up its eighth victory in The Clash. The 2024 Clash victory was also the fourth in five years and the 12th overall for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“A lot of it was just what happened in front of me, with [Gibbs] and [Logano], and you just never know what was going to happen there, but I got a really good run off of Turn 2 and just got position and was able to hang on from there,” Hamlin said on FS1. “It’s so chaotic, the restarts, with everyone just bumping and banging, but it feels great to win here at [Los Angeles]. [The win]’s just a great momentum boost. It doesn’t do much more than that, but I’ve cleaned off all the trophies every January 1st into the entryway of the house and now, we get to add one pretty quick. Really happy about that.”
Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, a two-time winner of The Clash, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time in three years while Ryan Blaney, the reigning Cup Series champion, navigated his way from the rear of the field to settle in third place. Amid the disappointment of ending up in second place in The Clash, Busch remained optimistic ahead of the 2024 season.
“[The runner-up finish] definitely does sting,” Busch said. “I felt like the first half [of the race], we were better. [I] Had a better car than [Hamlin], but some of the adjustments we made weren’t as good, some of the adjustments they made were better. All in all, just glad to have a good night. Glad to come out of here in one piece, even with all the bumping and banging and everything else that happens. We’ll try to figure out rest of the year.”
Logano, who led eight laps, came home in fourth place followed by Larson while Bowman, Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Truex and Byron finished in the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs, who led a race-high 84 laps, ended up in 18th place, the final competitor on the lead lap.
There were seven lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured a total of seven cautions.
Results.
1. Denny Hamlin, 58 laps led
2. Kyle Busch
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Joey Logano, eight laps led
5. Kyle Larson
6. Alex Bowman
7. Chase Briscoe
8. Brad Keselowski, one lap led
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. William Byron
11. Ryan Preece
12. Bubba Wallace
13. John Hunter Nemechek
14. Tyler Reddick
15. Ross Chastain
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17. Corey LaJoie
18. Ty Gibs, 84 laps led
19. Michael McDowell, one lap down
20. Noah Gragson, three laps down
21. Justin Haley – OUT, Engine
22. Chase Elliott – OUT, Steering
23. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Brakes
The NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors will be taking a one-week break before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the 66th running of the Daytona 500. Qualifying that will determine the front row for the main event will occur on February 14 and air at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1 while the rest of the lineup will be determined through the Bluegreen Vacation Duels on February 15, beginning at 7 p.m. ET on FS1. The Daytona 500, which will officially launch NASCAR’s 76th season of competition, is scheduled to commence on February 18 with the event’s coverage to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Amidst the sea of crew members and race fans lay three scenes of interest. At one end of pit road, Kevin Harvick hugs his family and crew members. At another end, Ross Chastain smashes a watermelon to celebrate his race victory. Finally, at the center of attention is the runner-up finisher. Surrounded by photographers, fellow drivers and eventually race fans, Ryan Blaney exits his car to a storm of confetti as the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
The 75th season of NASCAR concludes with the changing of eras.
The curtain call on the Winston Cup era
After a seventh-place finish at his playground of Phoenix Raceway, Harvick hangs up his helmet and transitions to calling NASCAR races for FOX Sports. His retirement severs the last connection to the Winston Cup Series era.
Sure, there are several drivers from the mid to late 2000s still active, but Harvick was the last full-time driver from the season-long points era.
In other words, the drivers of my childhood are gone.
My childhood hero, Jeff Gordon, retired just before I joined the media corp. Tony Stewart, NASCAR’s ultimate smartass, retired in my first season on the NASCAR beat. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth*, rookies when I started following NASCAR, retired in 2017.
*Yes, I know Kenseth raced in 2018 and 2020, but that was in substitution roles.
Finally, Harvick, an A-type personality who took over the ride of the late Dale Earnhardt, rides off into the sunset with a career that’s frankly on par with “The Intimidator.” Not necessarily numbers-wise, but like the man in black, he established himself as a member of his generation’s elite drivers.
Harvick finishes 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list (60), the champion of the 2014 season and five Championship 4 appearances. He’s a first-ballot entry into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Somewhere in the racing afterlife, I imagine Earnhardt sporting his signature Chesire grin at his replacement.
The young guns
When I started covering NASCAR in 2016 and even into 2017, the scuttlebutt of who’s gonna fill the shoes of the stars permeated the airwaves of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Cut to Sunday, and the roar of fans drowns out Blaney’s SportsCenter hit.
The young guns who replaced the older stars fit their shoes. Chase Elliott, Gordon’s (initial) replacement is NASCAR’s most popular driver, until one of Earnhardt Jr.’s daughters joins the Cup Series. William Byron, Gordon’s next replacement, made the Championship 4. Christopher Bell, Kenseth’s replacement, did the same two years in a row. Larson is the only driver to win both the Knoxville Nationals and Cup Series championships in the same year.
Now Blaney, one year removed from a winless season, hoists the Bill France Cup.
Of this group, only Larson is over the age of 30.
And there’s more youth coming up the NASCAR pipeline.
As the late George Jones sang, “Who’s gonna fill their shoes?”
Yeah, I think we can put those fears to rest now.
The future
Is the present perfect?
No. Not by a long shot.
But as I wrote, on Saturday, there’s reason for optimism about NASCAR’s future. Sunday at Phoenix Raceway encapsulated that the waning star power we feared in the late 2010s is a solved problem.
For now, we take a much-needed vacation and do this all again in February.
As Ross Chastain concluded the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season on a strong note by winning the season-finale NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, November 5, Ryan Blaney captured the main spotlight by winning his first NASCAR Cup Series championship with a runner-up finish and by outdueling title rivals Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell on the track.
The 29-year-old, third-generation Blaney, who was born in Hartford, Ohio, but grew up in High Point, North Carolina, led two of 312-scheduled laps in a finale where he started the deepest of the four championship finalists in 15th place, but used the long runs to his advantage as he methodically carved his way through the field and found himself mixed within the battle for the title against Byron, Larson and Bell. With Bell falling out of contention amid an early incident and Blaney left to battle against two Hendrick Motorsports competitors for the title for the remainder of the finale, Blaney continued to persevere against the competition, even against a multitude of non-title contenders vying for the finale victory.
Despite being overtaken by both Larson and Byron during the final pit stop during a caution period with less than 40 laps remaining, Blaney, who restarted inside the top 10 during the final restart with 31 laps remaining, drove his way back to the front and overtook Larson for both the runner-up spot and the lead in the championship battle with 20 laps remaining. From there, Blaney managed to pull away and remain ahead of Larson by more than a second for the remaining scheduled laps as he crossed the finish line in the runner-up spot behind race winner Chastain and captured his first championship in his eighth full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, November 4, title contender William Byron notched his fourth Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the 12th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 132.597 mph in 27.150 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Martin Truex Jr., who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 132.509 mph in 27.168 seconds. Byron’s title rivals, which included teammate Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney qualified fourth, 13th and 15th, respectively.
Before the event, Brad Keselowski dropped to the rear of the field after being absent during Saturday’s qualifying session due to his wife going into labor, which resulted in this year’s Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer qualifying Keselowski’s No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing entry.
When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, William Byron rocketed ahead with the lead over Martin Truex Jr. as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. With the field still fanning out through the backstretch, Byron proceeded to lead the first lap while Kevin Harvick challenged Truex for the runner-up spot followed by a hard-charging Kyle Larson.
Then as Larson used the dogleg in an attempt to overtake both Harvick and Truex for the runner-up spot during the following lap, Harvick and Larson continued to battle for the runner-up spot through the first two turns while Bubba Wallace battled and overtook Truex for fourth place. As Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney tried to muscle their way into the top 10, Byron retained the lead by a steady margin over Harvick and teammate Larson through the fifth lap.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, title contender Byron was leading by more than a second over Harvick followed by teammate/title contender Larson, Wallace and Denny Hamlin as Truex, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick and rookie Ty Gibbs were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher were running in 11th and 12th followed by title contenders Bell and Blaney while Kyle Busch occupied 15th place in front of Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Austin Dillon. Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was in 21st ahead of Alex Bowman, Aric Almirola, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland while Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger were mired in the top 30 ahead of Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Ty Dillon, JJ Yeley, BJ McLeod and Ryan Newman.
Ten laps later, Byron stabilized his advantage to a second over Harvick while third-place Larson trailed by more than three seconds. As Wallace and Truex continued to run in the top five on the track, title contenders Bell and Blaney were still mired back in 13th and 14th, respectively. Byron would continue to lead by more than a second over runner-up Harvick and by more than three seconds over teammate Larson by Lap 30 while Bell and Blaney were mired back in 11th and 14th, respectively.
At the Lap 40 mark, Byron retained the lead by more than a second over Harvick. Behind, Wallace overtook Larson for third place followed by Chastain, Truex, Buescher, Erik Jones and Hamlin. Meanwhile, Bell cracked the top 10 as he was up to 10th place while Blaney battled Tyler Reddick for 11th place.
By Lap 50, Byron’s advantage decreased to six-tenths of a second over runner-up Harvick, who started to gain ground on the former’s lead and used the inside lane through the turn to gain even more ground amid lapped traffic, while third-place Wallace trailed by a second. Behind, Larson was back in fifth after being overtaken by Chastain, Bell was running ninth behind Erik Jones and Blaney was battling Hamlin for 10th.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, title contender Byron fended off a late charge from Harvick to claim his ninth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season and to strike first in his bid for his first Cup title. Harvick settled in second place after following Byron by four-tenths of a second followed by Chastain, Wallace and Larson while Buescher, Truex, Erik Jones, Bell and Blaney were scored in the top 10 on the track. By then, all four championship finalists that included Byron, Larson, Bell and Blaney were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Byron pitted for the first service of the afternoon. Following the pit stops, Byron retained the lead after exiting pit road first from the first pit stall ahead of Harvick and Chastain while Larson, Buescher, Wallace, Truex, Blaney, Bell and Hamlin followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Kyle Busch and BJ McLeod were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
The second stage period started on Lap 68 as Byron and Harvick occupied the front row. At the start, Byron retained the lead from Harvick and Chastain as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg before navigating their way through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Byron maintaining the lead through the frontstretch, Harvick and Chastain battled for the runner-up spot ahead of Larson and Wallace while Blaney moved up to sixth as Bell battled Buescher for seventh. Blaney would proceed to overtake Wallace for fifth place as Bell followed suit in sixth, leaving both to gain ground on Larson for fourth place. Meanwhile, Byron retained the lead in both the race and the championship battle by seven-tenths of a second over Harvick at the Lap 75 mark.
Just past the Lap 80 mark, Byron extended his advantage to more than a second over Harvick followed by third-place Chastain, who trailed by two seconds. Behind, title contenders Larson, Blaney and Bell occupied fourth through sixth on the track while Wallace, Buescher, Truex and Hamlin were running in the top 10 ahead of Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, Reddick, and Ryan Preece. Byron would retain the lead by six-tenths of a second over Harvick and by a second-and-a-half over third-place Chastain by Lap 90 while Larson, Bell and Blaney retained fourth through sixth, respectively.
Then on Lap 93, Harvick used the outside lane through the first two turns and entering the backstretch to rocket past Byron and move his No. 4 Busch Light Harvick Ford Mustang into the lead. Harvick would proceed to stretch his advantage by more than half a second over Byron while third-place Chastain tried to close in on Byron for the runner-up spot.
At the Lap 100 mark, Harvick was leading by more than a second over Chastain followed by Byron, who now trailed the lead by one-and-a-half seconds but continued to lead the championship battle. Behind, however, Blaney moved up to fourth place and started to close in on Byron for the championship lead while Bell and Larson occupied fifth and seventh, respectively, on the track. With Buescher running sixth, Truex, Wallace and Erik Jones were in the top 10 while Hamlin, Suarez, Briscoe, Reddick and Keselowski followed suit in the top 15.
Five laps later, Blaney drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Byron for third place on the track, but for the lead in the championship battle. After spending the next two laps battling Byron for the spot, Blaney managed to muscle his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang past Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turns 3 and 4 assuming both third place on the track and the lead in the championship battle. By then, title contenders Bell and Larson trailed in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Harvick continued to lead the race over Chastain.
Shortly after, the caution flew after Bell, who was running in sixth place and had radioed braking concerns a few laps earlier, went dead straight toward the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 after his brake rotor exploded as he scraped and heavily damaged the right side of his No. 20 DeWalt/Rheem Toyota TRD Camry. The incident all but evaporated Bell’s hopes of winning this year’s Cup Series championship as he retired from the race in 36th place, dead last.
Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“That was my first time I’ve ever exploded a rotor in my career,” Bell, who ended in fourth place in the final championship standings, said in the infield care center on NBC. “I was surprised. Just obviously a disappointing way to end, but super, super proud of this No. 20 team, all of our partners DeWalt, Rheem. To be in the Final Four, it’s something that we’re really proud of. It stinks to not have the shot at the end of it. Obviously, we were all four [title contenders] really close and we all four showed strengths at different times, so I think it’s gonna be a great championship race. Whoever’s [the championship] is his is gonna be well-deserving.”
During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Harvick pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Harvick retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Chastain, Byron, Buescher, Larson, Truex and Blaney.
With the race restarting under green on Lap 116, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as Harvick maintained the lead over Chastain and Byron. Through the first two turns and the backstretch, Buescher would move into third place and Chastain would move into the lead over Harvick while Byron was in fourth ahead of Truex, Larson, Erik Jones and Blaney. As the field navigated through the frontstretch, contact was made between teammates Briscoe and Preece as Preece slipped up the track. With the field still fanned out to four lanes through the dogleg, Chastain maintained the race lead over Harvick and Buescher while Byron, who was in fourth, retained the lead in the title battle over teammate Larson and Blaney.
Just past the Lap 125 mark, Chastain was leading by half a second over Harvick followed by third-place Buescher, who trailed by more than a second, while Byron retained the lead in the championship battle in fourth place. Behind, Truex occupied fifth place ahead of title contenders Larson and Blaney while Wallace, Erik Jones and Hamlin were scored in the top 10 ahead of Suarez, Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, Kyle Busch, Logano and Reddick.
Fifteen laps later, Chastain continued to lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Buescher and Truex while Byron, who continued to lead the championship battle, fell back to fifth place in front of title rivals Larson and Blaney. Meanwhile, Austin Cindric, who got into the wall earlier, was on pit road and mired multiple laps down in 35th place.
At the halfway mark on Lap 156, Chastain was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Buescher followed by Harvick and Truex while Byron maintained the lead in the championship battle while running fifth place on the track ahead of Blaney and Larson. Meanwhile, Wallace, Erik Jones and Keselowski occupied the remaining spots in the top 10 on the track while Suarez, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Hocevar, Logano, McDowell, Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon were running in the top 20 ahead of Reddick, Chase Elliott, Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Briscoe.
Fourteen laps later, Chastain’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Buescher, who started to gain ground on the former for the top spot, while third-place Harvick trailed by three seconds. As Truex retained fourth place, Byron continued to lead the title battle and retain fifth place in front of Blaney and Larson. A lap later, Buescher muscled his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang past Chastain’s No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch to assume the lead for the first time. Buescher would stretch his advantage to half a second over Chastain by Lap 175 while Harvick, Truex, Byron, Blaney and Larson followed suit in the top seven.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Buescher, who was eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 8 finale last weekend, captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Chastain and Harvick settled in second and third followed by title contender Byron while Truex, Blaney, Larson, Wallace, Keselowski and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Buescher pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Chastain reassumed the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Byron, Truex, Larson, Blaney, Harvick, Keselowski and Buescher.
With 119 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Chastain and Byron occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch’s dogleg, Chastain maintained the lead while Byron and Truex battled for the runner-up spot. As the field navigated back to the frontstretch, Byron fended off Truex to retain the runner-up spot on the track and the lead in the championship standings over Blaney and Larson, both of whom were running fourth and fifth, while Chastin continued to lead the race. Meanwhile, Harvick slipped to sixth as he was running in front of Wallace, Keselowski, Buescher and Hamlin.
With 100 laps remaining, Chastain was leading the race by more than a second over Blaney, who overtook Byron two laps earlier to assume the lead in the championship battle. With Byron following pursuit of Blaney in third place, Truex slipped to fourth place on the track while Larson occupied fifth place ahead of Harvick, Wallace, Buescher, Keselowski and Hamlin.
Twenty laps later, Chastain retained the lead by less than three-tenths of a second over Blaney, who started to close in on Chastain for the race lead and continued to lead the championship battle, while Truex was up to third place. Meanwhile, title contender Byron trailed in fourth place on the track and by more than four seconds followed by teammate/title contender Larson while Buescher, Harvick, Wallace, Keselowski and Hamlin occupied the top 10. Chastain would stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Blaney with 75 laps remaining while Byron and Larson continued to run fourth and fifth, respectively, behind Truex.
Then with 73 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as title contenders Byron and Larson pitted from the top five. The leader Chastain and Blaney would pit during the following lap along with Buescher, Harvick, Wallace, Keselowski, Bowman, Kyle Busch, Logano, Suarez, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Truex, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Hocevar, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley, Preece and others. Amid the green flag pit stops, Hamlin, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Briscoe and Stenhouse while Chastain and Blaney, the first two competitors who pitted, followed suit in fourth and fifth.
Hamlin would then surrender the lead to pit his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry under green with 61 laps remaining as Briscoe assumed the lead. Two laps later, however, Chastain rocketed past Briscoe to reassume the lead followed by a hard-charging Blaney, who retained the lead in the championship battle. By then, title contenders Larson and Byron were mired back in fifth and sixth on the track while Truex moved up to third place on the track before Briscoe pitted his No. 14 Mahindra Tractor Ford Mustang under green.
With 55 laps remaining, the battle for the race lead intensified as Blaney attempted to make a move beneath Chastain entering the backstretch. With Chastain still running on the outside lane, Blaney drag-raced Chastain entering the frontstretch and led the following lap by a hair before Chastain fought back on the outside lane. Chastain then used the lapped competitor of Ryan Newman to muscle ahead through the backstretch, but Blaney fought back on the inside lane.
Then with 53 laps remaining, Blaney gave Chastain a bump in the rear bumper, which allowed Truex to join the battle entering the backstretch. Amid the battles, Blaney and Chastain continued to duel for the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns until Blaney muscled ahead with the lead on the inside lane. Chastain, however, pulled a crossover move on Blaney through the backstretch as both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and in front of Truex. Chastain would then reassume the lead and pull away from Blaney through the backstretch entering the backstretch as Truex made his move beneath Blaney, who got loose, to assume the runner-up spot in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry. Despite losing ground of the race lead, Blaney, who fell back to third, retained the lead in the championship fight as he was ahead of title rival Larson by more than two seconds and with Byron running in fifth place with 50 laps remaining.
With 44 laps remaining, the battle for the lead between Chastain and Truex ignited as Truex made his move beneath Chastain for the lead through the frontstretch as Chastain was getting mired in lapped traffic. With both competitors dueling for the lead through the backstretch, Chastain used the outside lane to retain the lead as Blaney closed back in on the two leaders. Blaney then made his move beneath Truex entering Turns 3 and 4 to overtake the runner-up spot over Truex with 43 laps remaining before proceeding to regain ground on Chastain for the race lead.
Then with 37 laps remaining and just as Blaney attempted to take the lead from Chastain, the caution flew after Kyle Busch spun his No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 4. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Chastain and Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin and Erik Jones exited pit road first and second, respectively, after both opted for two-tire pit stops while title contender Larson exited in third place and as the first competitor with four fresh tires followed by Chastain, Byron, Blaney and Truex.
Down to the final 31 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch’s dogleg, Hamlin muscled ahead with the lead before Larson and Chastain attempted to pin Hamlin in a three-wide move for the lead through the first two turns. With all three leaders remaining in three-wide formation through the backstretch, Chastain used the outside lane to muscle ahead with the lead before Larson and Hamlin fought back in three-wide formation through the frontstretch.
Then as Larson tried to muscle ahead from the inside lane with 30 laps remaining, he got loose entering Turns 1 and 2, which allowed title rivals Blaney and Byron to join the battle. As Chastain and Larson dueled for the lead through the backstretch, Chastain muscled ahead to control the race lead. Larson settled in the runner-up spot as Byron, Blaney and Hamlin battled for third place. As Chastain retained the race lead by a second with 25 laps remaining, the battle for the championship ignited as Larson, who was running second, had Blaney close in on his rear bumper while Byron trailed both by a second in fourth place.
Then with 22 laps remaining, the battle for this year’s championship ignited as Blaney closed in on Larson’s rear bumper. Then as Larson got loose and nearly wrecked in the frontstretch during the following lap, Blaney moved to the outside lane and made his bid to overtake Larson through the first two turns. With both Larson and Blaney dueling against one another through the backstretch, Blaney then gassed his No. 12 Ford ahead of Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the outside lane and to claim both the runner-up spot on the track and the lead in the championship battle with 20 laps remaining. Blaney would then move in front of Larson through the frontstretch and muscle ahead with a slight advantage through the backstretch. With Larson trying to use the outside lane to regain ground, Blaney, however, maintained his ground and remained in front of Larson during the following lap.
With less than 15 laps remaining, Chastain continued to lead the race by two seconds over Blaney, who remained a half a second ahead of Larson in his bid to win the title, while Byron, who was in fourth, trailed his two title rivals by two seconds followed by Buescher, Truex, Harvick and Hamlin. Blaney would retain the runner-up spot on the track and the lead in the championship battle by eight-tenths of a second over Larson with 10 laps remaining while Chastain retained the race lead by nearly two seconds.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Chastain stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Blaney, who continued to lead the title battle by more than a second over third-place Larson as fourth-place Byron trailed Blaney by nearly four seconds.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chastain remained as the race leader by more than a second over Blaney, who remained as the championship leader by nearly two seconds over Larson and by four seconds over Byron. Following one final circuit around the Phoenix circuit, Chastain was able to cross the finish line in first place to claim the victory in the finale while Blaney was able to follow suit in the runner-up spot and win the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
With the championship, Blaney became the 36th different competitor to win a NASCAR Cup Series championship and the third to do so while driving for Team Penske, which achieved its fourth Cup career title. Blaney, who became the eighth different competitor to win a Cup title since the inception of the current Playoff-elimination format in 2014, also recorded the second consecutive Cup driver’s title in recent years for Ford as the Ford nameplate achieved a sweep in driver’s titles across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Ben Rhodes won the Craftsman Truck Series title and Cole Custer won the Xfinity Series title). The championship was also the first for crew chief Jonathan Hassler and Penske’s No. 12 entry.
Overall, Blaney, who achieved his first Cup title in his eighth full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series, capped off the 2023 season with three victories (Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway in October), which tallied his wins total to 10. He also earned six stage victories, eight top-five results, 18 top-10 results, 562 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“It was just time to go to work [on the final restart],” Blaney said on NBC. “We did a good job of getting where we needed to be and [Larson and Byron] had two good pit stops, so just needed to go to work. [I was] Hoping our car was good enough, which it was. Just so proud of this team. What an unbelievable year. What an unbelievable Playoffs for us. To win back-to-back Cup titles for Mr. [Roger] Penske, that’s so special, and to have my family here on my first Cup title. I got emotional in the car. I’m not a very emotional guy, but so cool. Thank you, [fans], for coming. I hope it was an awesome show. Can’t wait to celebrate with my guys.”
“[I was praying] No yellow,” Blaney added. “[I] Didn’t want a caution and knew once I got to the white [flag], I felt pretty good about us just getting there and finishing it off. I just didn’t want a yellow and luckily, everyone kept it straight. We were going good. I wanna shout out also to Kyle [Larson] and William [Byron]. That was fun racing those guys all day, and [Christopher] Bell. Racing those two guys at the end there, racing clean. That’s what racing’s all about. That was a lot of fun. I think in the summer, we were struggling a little bit, but we never gave up. We just went to work and I’ve said that all week. This group goes to work and they figure out problems. That’s why they’re such an amazing group to be with the Team Penske folks because they just put their heads down and do the work and accept the challenge. It was a lot of hard work by a lot of amazing men and women over at our race shop and I can’t thank them enough for that. They deserve this [championship] just as much as the guys who travel here as much as me. They’re just a big part of it.”
Upon receiving the championship trophy on the championship stage, Blaney echoed his praise towards his crew chief, team owner Roger and his team for the hard work and perseverance towards achieving this year’s Cup title while paying homage to his family’s deep background of racing that includes his grandfather, Lou, and father, Dave.
“I think we did an amazing job on [never giving up],” Blaney said. “It was somewhat of an up and down year, but you’re gonna have those moments and through the summer we just worked really hard to get back to where we needed to be and set a deadline for the playoffs and we met that deadline. I’m just super proud of the effort by everybody at Team Penske who put in tons and tons of hours of hard work and nobody really got down. They just put their heads down and decided to really put in a lot of work and it showed up, especially these playoffs and especially the last five weeks. It’s so cool to have all of their hard work pay off, so they should be proud. Obviously, I come from a family of racers – my grandfather and dad and uncle. Dad is obviously who I grew up watching and admiring and wanted to be like, so to be able to do what he did because as a kid I just wanted to do what dad did, so to be able to race and let alone compete for wins and championships and still have my parents around and people that you look up to that are still around it makes it even more special.”
“It’s, obviously, a great place to be here today,” Roger Penske, team owner of Penske Racing, added. “The job that Blaney did racing clean with [Larson, Byron and Bell] was a pleasure to be in this race. To race my best friend, [owner] Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs, what a team. You can’t beat this. That’s why we do this every day. At the end of the day, [Blaney]’s a champion. That’s what counts.”
“It’s incredible,” Jonathan Hassler, Blaney’s crew chief, added. “It’s just a huge testament to the whole organization and this No. 12 team, working hard day in and day out and never being afraid to be a little bit better.”
“Yes, I believe it,” Dave Blaney, Ryan Blaney’s father and former NASCAR competitor, added. “A huge day. I don’t even know how to describe it. I thought [Ryan Blaney] was gonna win it five times and lost it five times. He just kept getting after it and did it. Proud of him and everybody on the team. He’s so talented. It’s just building confidence and if this doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will. I’ve seen it for a long time. Great kid. I’ve seen a lot of races, but this was the coolest one.”
As Blaney celebrated his first Cup Series title, Larson and Byron, both of whom finished third and fourth, respectively, on the track, were left disappointed on pit road after both fell short of winning their second and first title, respectively, while representing Hendrick Motorsports in the finale. For Larson, the 2021 champion who ended up in the runner-up spot in the final standings for the first time in his career, he concluded this season with four victories, eight stage victories, two poles, 15 top-five results, 18 top-10 results, 1,127 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.6.
Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[Blaney]’s car was really fast, really the last few months, and especially today,” Larson, who applauded the competitive and clean racing with Blaney and who commended the fast pit services from his pit crew, said. “Our pit crew and pit road just really kept us in the game. We weren’t the greatest on the track, but I was just hoping for pit stops because I knew the way our team executed our lights and the way our pit crew can execute a fast pit stop, I knew it was gonna be our only shot to win. They did everything in their power to give us the winning job there, so huge thank you to them. I needed to come out [as] the leader on that restart. I’m not sure if it would’ve made a difference. I was just not as good as a few guys, especially Blaney and Ross [Chastain], probably. It would’ve been difficult, but my team did a really good job all season, so I’m extremely proud of them. We had an up-and-down year and we finally put together two solid weeks in a row. We’ll come back next year and try to be stronger. A lot of fun there. Congrats to Ryan. He’s a deserving champion. Him and his team have done an amazing job. It’s been fun to kind of come up through the ranks with him and now, you see him be a champion. Congrats to Team Penske and their whole team. We’ll try and beat them next year.”
For Byron, who led 95 laps, won the first stage, and achieved a career-best third place in the final standings, he concluded the 2023 season with a career-high six victories, a season-high nine stage victories, four poles, 15 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 1,016 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.0.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Once the track rubbered out, we got really tight,” Byron said. “Especially when we lost the lead on track, we just had a big balance shift and got tight back in second through fifth and just couldn’t gain a lot of speed through [Turns] 1 and 2 and just kind of having to really over-slow the car and get it to the bottom [lane]. That’s all we had there. Just really proud of our AXALTA team. Just a great season. It stinks to come up short, but I’d like to think we’re gonna be back in this position and we’re gonna have more shots at it. Just gotta keep working, gotta keep working on the short track program for us. It was definitely the tough part of our season, but I felt like we brought a good car this weekend and really until the track kind of changed, I thought we were in the game. All we had there. We’ve had a great season. Lots to be proud of and we’re gonna keep digging hard, so this was a great season for us.”
Amid Blaney’s championship celebration, Ross Chastain celebrated in Victory Lane for the first time at Phoenix and for the second time in the 2023 Cup Serie season after leading a race-high 157 of 312 laps. Chastain’s fourth career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and the sixth overall for Trackhouse Racing was enough for the 30-year-old native from Alva, Florida, to conclude this season in ninth place in the final standings as he became the first competitor not vying for the title to win the finale since Denny Hamlin won the 2013 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“We did something else that’s never been done before, for everybody on this Worldwide Express team,” Chastain said in Victory Lane. “This vision for Trackhouse [Racing] and what this was was goals like this and they were lofty. I couldn’t think of anything I would want to do more as to try to be like Kevin Harvick and race with him early in the race was bucket list, little kid in me, racing that 2005 GameCube game. I am beside myself that we were able to do that. That last caution, we were really tight and it saved us. [Crew chief] Phil Surgen and this group at Trackhouse, all our GM support staff, SIM staff and everybody at Trackhouse, somehow, came up with a way to make this thing turn and we drove off into the sunset.”
On the track, Chris Buescher finished in fifth place while Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10.
Notably, Harvick finished seventh in his 826th and final career start in the Cup Series while teammate Aric Almirola finished 13th in his 460th and final full-time event as a Cup competitor. In addition, Ty Gibbs, the 2023 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, finished 21st in front of Reddick, Carson Hocevar finished 19th in his final event with Legacy Motor Club, Ty Dillon finished 28th in his final event with Spire Motorsports and Justin Haley finished 29th in his final event with Kaulig Racing. Denny Hamlin, who finished eighth, claimed fifth place in the final standings while Chase Elliott, who finished 16th, settled in 17th place in the standings over Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez and teammate Alex Bowman.
There were 18 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Ross Chastain, 157 laps led
2. Ryan Blaney, two laps led
3. Kyle Larson
4. William Byron, 95 laps led, Stage 1 winner
5. Chris Buescher, 18 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led
7. Kevin Harvick, 23 laps led
8. Denny Hamlin, 14 laps led
9. Michael McDowell
10. Bubba Wallace
11. Daniel Suarez
12. Austin Dillon
13. Aric Almirola
14. Ryan Preece
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Chase Elliott
17. Alex Bowman
18. Joey Logano
19. Carson Hocevar
20. Erik Jones
21. Ty Gibbs
22. Tyler Reddick
23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24. Chase Briscoe, two laps led
25. Kyle Busch, one lap down
26. Harrison Burton, one lap down
27. JJ Yeley, one lap down
28. Ty Dillon, two laps down
29. Justin Haley, two laps down
30. Todd Gilliland, three laps down
31. Corey LaJoie, four laps down
32. AJ Allmendinger, four laps down
33. BJ McLeod, six laps down
34. Ryan Newman, seven laps down
35. Austin Cindric, 11 laps down
36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates championship finalists
Final standings
1. Ryan Blaney
2. Kyle Larson
3. William Byron
4. Christopher Bell
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Chris Buescher
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Ross Chastain
10. Bubba Wallace
11. Martin Truex Jr.
12. Joey Logano
13. Kevin Harvick
14. Kyle Busch
15. Michael McDowell
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Busch Light Clash on February 4, 2024, that will air at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, which will occur on February 18, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX and officially commence Cup Series’ 76th season of competition.
For the first time in his career, Ryan Blaney earned a spot into the Championship 4 round after capping off a dominant performance by winning the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, October 29.
The third-generation racer from High Point, North Carolina, led four times for 145 of 500 scheduled laps in an event where he started 11th and methodically worked his way to the front in the early stages. After finishing in the runner-up spot behind Playoff rival Denny Hamlin during the first stage’s conclusion, Blaney made his presence at the front known as he led for the first time on Lap 194. After swapping and bumping with Hamlin for the lead on several occasions, Blaney took care of business by winning the second stage period and claiming more valuable stage points.
Then after pitting during a late caution period with less than 178 laps remaining, Blaney, who restarted outside the top 10 with 168 laps remaining, spent the remainder of the event carving his way back to the front. After reassuming the lead from Aric Almirola with 22 laps remaining, Blaney was able to navigate his way through lapped traffic and beat Almirola by nearly nine-tenths of a second to grab his third checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season and clinch a Championship 4 berth, where he will be one of four competitors who will contend for this year’s championship in next weekend’s season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 28, Playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. notched his third Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the 23rd of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 94.153 mph in 20.112 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and rookie Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 94.115 mph in 20.120 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Truex launched his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry ahead from the outside lane as he jumped to an early lead through Turns 1 and 2 while teammate and Playoff rival Denny Hamlin battled Ty Gibbs for the runner-up spot. Amid the early battles ensuing behind, Truex proceeded to lead the first lap as Hamlin and Gibbs continued to battle for the runner-up spot in front of Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace.
By the third lap, Hamlin managed to move his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry in front of Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry and assume the runner-up spot to his sole possession. Behind, Playoff contender Kyle Larson cracked the top five as he moved into fifth place followed by Kevin Harvick while Truex stretched his advantage to more than a second by the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Truex was leading by a second over teammate Hamlin followed by teammate Ty Gibbs, Briscoe and Larson while Harvick, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece were running in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contender William Byron was in 13th while Playoff contenders Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher were mired in 18th and 19th, respectively.
Fifteen laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over teammate Hamlin while teammate Ty Gibbs retained third in front of Briscoe and Harvick. Behind, Playoff contenders Bell, Larson and Blaney trailed in sixth through eighth while Preece and Wallace occupied the remaining top-10 spots. Behind, Chase Elliott was in 11th ahead of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Byron and Aric Almirola while Ross Chastain, Todd Gilliland, Reddick, Buescher and Austin Cindric were scored in the top 20 in front of Michael McDowell, Harrison Burton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon.
Another 15 laps later, Truex, mired within lapped traffic, was leading by half a second over teammate Hamlin while third-place and teammate Ty Gibbs trailed by more than a second. With Briscoe and Harvick continuing to run in the top five, Playoff contenders Bell, Larson and Blaney remained in sixth through eighth while Byron was mired back in 14th. In addition, Reddick and Buescher continued to run 18th and 19th, respectively.
At the Lap 50 mark, Hamlin, who overtook Truex for the race lead two laps earlier, was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Truex. Behind, Ty Gibbs retained third place ahead of Briscoe and Harvick while Bell, Blaney, Larson, Preece and Wallace continued to run in the top 10. By then, Byron, Reddick and Buescher retained 14th, 18th and 19th, respectively, while Elliott, Keselowski and Logano were running 11th through 13th. In addition, the following names that included Almirola, Chastain, Gilliland and Cindric continued to run within the top 20.
Twenty-five laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by half a second over teammate Truex and by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Ty Gibbs while Briscoe and Harvick remained in the top five. With Playoff contenders Bell, Blaney and Larson continued to run sixth through eighth, Playoff contenders Byron, Reddick and Buescher retained 14th, 18th and 19th, respectively while Preece and Wallace continued to run in the top 10 on the track.
At the Lap 100 mark, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Truex as teammate Ty Gibbs, Briscoe and Harvick remained in the top five. Behind, Playoff contenders Blaney, Bell and Larson along with Preece and Wallace continued to run in the top 10 as Byron was in 15th behind Elliott, Keselowski, Logano and Almirola. In addition, Reddick was in 17th and Buescher was in 19th in front of Cindric.
Three laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Harrison Burton, who was bumped and overtaken by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for 22nd place in Turn 3, was getting bumped by Alex Bowman in Turn 1, which ignited a brief stack-up as Burton then turned back into Bowman and got Bowman loose before he got bumped by Austin Dillon as Dillon turned Burton into Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, with the latter two spinning and Bowman getting hit by Corey LaJoie as the field scattered to avoid the carnage in the backstretch. The incident occurred just in front of Hamlin, who was in the process of lapping the competitors.
During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin peeled off the track and onto pit road for service for the first time. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of teammate, Truex, Briscoe, Blaney, Bell, Keselowski and Harvick.
When the race restarted on Lap 111, Hamlin retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane while Blaney challenged and overtook Truex for the runner-up spot. As the field jostled for spots amid two stacked lanes, Hamlin continued to lead over Blaney and Truex while Briscoe, Keselowski, Bell and Ty Gibbs battled for fourth place in front of Preece, Logano, Larson, Harvick, Elliott and Byron, with the event surpassing the Lap 115 mark.
By the Lap 120 mark, the battle for the lead slowly brewed between Hamlin and Blaney, with the latter keeping the former close within his front windshield and by nearly half a second as third-place Truex trailed by more than a second. Behind, Briscoe and Keselowski continued to run in the top five in front of Bell, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Logano and Harvick.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 130, Hamlin, who came into the event 17 points below the top-four cutline to make this year’s Championship 4 field, captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Blaney settled in second followed by Truex, Briscoe and Keselowski while Bell, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Logano and Harvick were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Larson, Byron, Buescher and Reddick were mired in 11th, 12th, 17th and 19th, respectively, and without the first wave of stage points.
Under the stage break, some led by Keselowski and including Playoff contenders Larson, Byron, Buescher and Reddick pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 140 as Hamlin and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin gained another strong start, this time on the inside lane, as he retained the lead while Blaney fended off Truex to retain the runner-up spot. Behind, Briscoe and Ty Gibbs battled for fourth place in front of Bell, Logano and Preece while Elliott and Harvick trailed in the top 10. Further back in the pack, Larson was in 15th, Byron was mired in 18th behind Buescher and Reddick was down in 21st.
Just past the Lap 150 mark, Hamlin was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Blaney while third-place Truex trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Bell was in sixth while Buescher, Larson and Reddick were mired within the top 20. Meanwhile, Byron had dropped to 21st. Byron would remain in 21st place behind McDowell and Reddick, who nearly spun a few laps earlier while dealing with water pressure issues to his No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota TRD Camry, would drop to 24th place by the Lap 160 mark as Hamlin retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Blaney and nearly two seconds over Truex. By then, Bell retained sixth place, Buescher was in 15th place amid a battle with Wallace and Larson was down in 18th place behind Daniel Suarez.
By Lap 175, Hamlin retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney while Truex was trailing by more than a second in third place. Behind, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe were in the top five ahead of Bell, Preece, Logano, Harvick and Keselowski while Buescher and Larson were scored in 15th and 18th, respectively. Meanwhile, Byron remained in 21st place while Reddick, who was rubbing fenders and bumpers with Erik Jones earlier, was down in 25th place.
At the Lap 200 mark, Blaney, who overtook Hamlin for the lead six laps earlier, was leading in his No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang by a second over Hamlin followed by Truex, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe while Bell, Preece, Logano, Harvick and Keselowski were scored in the top 10. Behind, Elliott, Almirola, Gilliand, Cindric and Buescher were running in the top 15 while Suarez, Wallace, Larson, Chastain and McDowell were running in the top 20 ahead of Austin Dillon, Byron, Erik Jones, LaJoie and Reddick.
Fourteen laps later, the caution flew after Ryan Newman spun after he was hit by Playoff contender Bell in Turn 4. The caution flew moments after Blaney rubbed and lapped Playoff contender Reddick, with Reddick receiving the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin cycled back into the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of teammate Truex, Blaney, Briscoe, Todd Gilliland, Logano, Ty Gibbs and Harvick. Amid the pit stops, however, Truex was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. Austin Dillon was also sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 225, Hamlin fended off Blaney to retain the lead by a narrow margin and both would make slight contact during the following lap as Blaney tried to take the lead from the inside lane. Blaney would lead the Lap 227 mark before Hamlin pulled a crossover move and fought back on the inside lane, with both refusing to give an inch. As Hamlin and Blaney continued to rub fenders and fight for the lead, Briscoe trailed in third while Logano and Keselowski were mired in the top five ahead of Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Harvick and Bell. Then just past the Lap 230 mark, Blaney would muscle ahead of Hamlin to regain the lead and have both lanes to his control.
Just past the Lap 240 mark, Blaney was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Briscoe, Logano and Keselowski remained in the top five. Behind, Bell was in 10th, Buescher was in 14th and Larson was scored in 17th. Meanwhile, Truex was mired in 22nd behind Playoff rivals Byron and Reddick as Blaney retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin at the halfway mark on Lap 250.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 260, Blaney, who came into the event 10 points above the top-four cutline, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Hamlin settled in second followed by Briscoe, Logano and Keselowski while Ty Gibbs, Preece, Gilliland, Harvick and Bell were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Buescher, Larson, Byron, Reddick and Truex were mired in 14th, 17th, 20th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.
During the stage break, some led by Briscoe and including Playoff contenders Truex, Byron, Bell, Buescher and Reddick pitted while the rest led by Blaney and Hamlin remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Truex’s car fell off the jack, which cost him time.
With 230 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Blaney and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney retained the lead over Hamlin through the first two turns and the backstretch before he almost got turned by Hamlin exiting the backstretch. Amid the contact, Blaney and Hamlin continued to bump and jostle for the lead in front of Logano and Ty Gibbs, with Blaney managing to retain the lead. Then two laps later, the caution returned after Logano bumped and sent third-place Gibbs spinning in Turn 3 before Gibbs was hit hard by Suarez and Keselowski, with a stack-up that collected McDowell, Gilliland, Chastain, Cindric, LaJoie, Truex and Erik Jones.
As the race restarted under green with 216 laps remaining, Blaney and Hamlin dueled for the lead for a full lap and they continued to battle dead even for another lap until Blaney cleared Hamlin for the lead with 214 laps remaining. As Blaney retained the lead over Hamlin, Wallace moved into third place followed by Logano and Cindric while Reddick was in sixth ahead of Larson, Preece, Almirola and Bell as Harvick tried to overtake Bell for 10th place. By then, Buescher was in 12th while Byron and Truex battled for 16th.
With 200 laps remaining, Playoff contender Blaney was leading by more than a second over Hamlin while Wallace, Logano and Cindric were running in the top five. Behind, Playoff contender Reddick was in sixth ahead of Playoff rivals Bell and Larson along with non-Playoff contenders Almirola and Preece while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Buescher, Byron and Truex were mired in 12th, 16th and 17th.
Two laps later, the caution flew after Ty Gibbs spun for a second time, this time in Turn 2 after getting hit by Carson Hocevar. During the caution period, some led by Larson pitted while the rest led by Blaney and Hamlin remained on the track.
With the race restarting with 190 laps remaining, Blaney fended off Hamlin and Wallace to retain the lead. Wallace and Hamlin would battle for the runner-up spot as Blaney retained the lead ahead of the field. The caution, however, returned with 178 laps remaining after McDowell spun amid contact with Erik Jones in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Blaney and Hamlin pitted amid mixed strategies while the rest led by Chase Elliott remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, the Dillon brothers along with Bowman and Newman were penalized for speeding on pit road.
During the proceeding restart with 168 laps remaining and following a brief delay due to the primary pace car being towed due to a mechanical issue, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott and Corey LaJoie dueled for the lead for a full lap and they continued to battle dead even for the lead while Erik Jones and Almirola made contact while battling for third place in front of Larson and Buescher. As the field slowly fanned out and bumped while jostling for late spots, Hamlin was trying to carve his way back into the top 10 along with Blaney and Bell while Elliott was leading by half a second over LaJoie.
With 150 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by two seconds over LaJoie as Almirola, Erik Jones, Larson and Buescher were running in the top six in front of Briscoe, Hamlin, Blaney and Gilliland. Behind, Bell was in 11th while Playoff rivals Byron, Reddick and Truex were running 20th through 22nd, respectively.
Twenty-five laps later, Elliott continued to lead by more than a second over LaJoie while Almirola, Erik Jones and Larson continued to run in the top five. With Larson currently being scored as the highest-running Playoff contender, Playoff rivals Buescher, Hamlin, Blaney and Bell followed suit in sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th while Byron, Reddick and Truex were back in 19th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.
Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Elliott retained the lead by more than a second over Almirola while third-place LaJoie trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, Erik Jones and Larson were in the top five followed by Buescher, Hamlin, Blaney, Briscoe and Bell while Gilliland, Logano, Stenhouse, Cindric, Preece, Chastain, McDowell, Wallace, Byron, Harrison Burton, Reddick and Truex trailed in the top 22.
Ten laps later, the battle for the lead ignited between Elliott and Almirola as the latter challenged the former for the top spot. Another lap later, Almirola, who pitted during the previous caution period and announced his departure from Stewart-Haas Racing at this season’s conclusion a day ago, moved his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang into the lead after clearing Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch. With LaJoie retaining third in front of Erik Jones, Larson and Buescher, Blaney battled Hamlin for seventh place while Bell trailed in 10th. In addition, Byron was still mired back in 18th in front of Truex while Reddick was down in 22nd.
With less than 70 laps remaining, Almirola retained the lead by more than a second over Elliott followed by LaJoie and Erik Jones while Blaney moved up to fifth place in front of Larson, Hamlin, Buescher, Briscoe and Bell. Behind, Byron and Truex were mired in 18th and 19th while Reddick was in 22nd as Almirola proceeded to extend his advantage by more than three seconds over Elliott with 60 laps remaining. By then, Blaney moved up to third place while Hamlin was mired in seventh behind Larson.
With 50 laps remaining, Almirola continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than four seconds over Elliott while third-place Blaney trailed by more than six seconds. Behind, LaJoie and Hamlin were in the top five while Briscoe, Logano, Erik Jones, Larson and Bell trailed in the top 10 followed by Buescher. Behind, Truex and Byron swapped spots in 18th and 19th while Reddick was still mired in 22nd.
Fifteen laps later, Almirola stabilized his advantage to two-and-a-half seconds over Blaney while third-place Elliott trailed by more than five seconds. Another 10 laps later, however, Blaney, who was carving his way back to the front, was only trailing the leader Almirola by three-tenths of a second. Blaney would proceed to reassume the lead from Almirola another three laps later as Hamlin was up to third place and trailing the lead by more than five seconds.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Blaney was leading by more than a second over Almirola while Hamlin, Logano and Briscoe were scored in the top five as Elliott pitted under green. By then, 13th-place Byron was lapped by Blaney while Truex was scored the final competitor a lap down in 12th place.
With five laps remaining, Blaney stabilized his advantage by nearly a second over Almirola while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than four seconds followed by Logano and Briscoe. By then, Byron, who was still back in 13th in his No. 24 PODS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, still occupied the fourth and final vacant spot over Hamlin while Truex was still mired in 12th as Larson, Bell and Buescher were running sixth through eighth. Meanwhile, Reddick, who pitted under green, was down in 26th as his Playoff hopes were slowly coming to an end.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained as the leader by a second over Almirola and more than four seconds over Hamlin. Despite being mired within lapped traffic and amid late concerns of not having enough fuel to finish, Blaney was able to coast his No. 12 Ford around the Martinsville circuit smoothly for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag and punched his ticket into the Championship 4 round.
With the victory, Blaney scored his 10th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, his third of the season, his first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in early October and his first at Martinsville. Above all, Blaney, who raced his way into the Championship 4 round for the first time in his career and will represent Team Penske in this year’s title fight, will officially race for his first Cup Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“It’s awesome,” Blaney said on NBC. “I grew up in High Point [North Carolina], so not too far from here. [It is] Closer to High Point, honestly, to Martinsville than Charlotte. It’s really cool. I’ve been wanting to win here for a long time. [I have] Just been super close for many years and awesome to close one out. We probably put together a really solid, strong Playoffs, especially in the Round of 8. We had a good run the whole Round of 8. Just overall, really proud of the whole effort. This is awesome. Can’t wait to get to Phoenix next week.”
Amid Blaney’s celebration and automatic transfer into the Championship 4 round, William Byron, who came home in 13th place, was left relieved on pit road as he claimed the fourth and final transfer spot into the Championship 4 by eight points over Hamlin, who ended up in third place and led a race-high 156 laps but missed the Championship 4 cutline for a second consecutive season. As a result, Byron and Blaney will both be newcomers in the Championship 4 as they will square off against one another along with Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson for the 2023 Cup Series championship.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Obviously, we were not very good,” Byron said. “It’s our worst race of the year, but these guys deserve it so much. They worked so hard. With 50 [laps] to go, I felt really, really bad and I just had to drive the hell out of it. The guys stuck with me. They just kept motivating me through little bits and pieces and just kind of keeping my mind straight. I’m just really thankful for them. It was a slugfest. Just appreciate everyone racing me good there at the end. Man, we just had to hang on. I just had to dig a little bit deeper. The result just means more than anything. These guys work so hard and we’ve worked so hard all season. I’m just really proud of them.”
“Ultimately, the mechanical failure last week, with the power steering, that’s our fate,” Hamlin said. “Really proud of this whole FedEx Toyota team for showing up today when we really needed to and having probably a mid-50-point day. [The team] did great. They did absolutely great. [Blaney] was the best car today, so congrats to them and all the final four [competitors] that made it. They’re all deserving. It’s gonna be a great show next week, but hate we’re not in [the Championship 4], for sure, with our FedEx Camry, but I was happy with the performance we had today and really, all around. Just in the Round of 8, you just can’t have one bad week and unfortunately, mechanical failure takes us from running really well to in the 30s and that’s it.”
In addition to Hamlin, teammate Martin Truex Jr., Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher were eliminated from the Playoffs as their hopes of advancing into the Championship 4 for this season evaporated.
“If we couldn’t find a way to flip track position pit stop-wise, we were never gonna get there,” Truex said. “Our car was good, but the field’s so tight and so close. Your car just drives so much worse in traffic. I felt like we did really good to get back where we did. You just burn the tires off so much worse back there, that hot dirty track and dirty air. You’re in more rubber. It’s just a dogfight, so we gave it a hell of an effort. I feel like we had a really strong car. I don’t think we could’ve beat [Blaney]. He was really, really strong, but we were definitely close. Something to work on for next time, but just really disappointed. I thought I was well under speed leaving that box. Clearly, we were speeding. Obviously, we got something to look at there and it’s devastating, but that’s racing.”
“I’m really proud of everybody at [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing],” Buescher said. “It’s been a heck of a season. We knew what we had to do today and we knew it was gonna be hard. We moved up, we got close there. Had some good strategy calls, some good stops from pit road. Had some good fire-off speed and really put ourselves in position where we were close. Just couldn’t quite pass like we needed to. Regardless, that was a good fight from everybody. Proud of that effort. Proud of everybody for the entire season we’ve had.”
“We just didn’t have the handling we were expecting to have today,” Reddick said. “The car was really solid in practice, so we thought some of that would translate into the race. Obviously, our qualifying effort wasn’t ideal, but all day long, the Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry TRD, just really struggled with a number of things. We tried a number of different things to try and help one of the issues and go to the other. I felt like the more we tried, the worse it kind of got, which was really frustrating. It’s a tough day for us, but as a whole, everyone at 23XI’s [Racing] really come to the table. I love this team and what it’s about. It’s been a good first year. To be here a year early and just missing the Championship 4, I think that’s a really, really good start to my tenure at 23XI.”
On the track, Almirola notched a strong runner-up result in his penultimate event as a Cup Series competitor for Stewart-Haas Racing while Briscoe and Logano finished fourth and fifth behind Hamlin.
“I just needed my rear tires to hang on a little bit longer,” Almirola, who led 66 laps, said. “So frustrated. I had my family here, the people that helped me get my start in racing. I wanted so bad to celebrate with them in Victory Lane. Just proud of my race team. I wanted to celebrate with them too. They deserve it. I wanted to go out with a bang and just came up one spot short. Sad and frustrated, but still proud of the effort. This has been quite the journey and I’m just very thankful.”
Larson, Bell, Buescher, Cindric and Todd Gilliland finished in the top 10 ahead of Wallace, Truex and Byron while Reddick ended up 26th, two laps down.
*Notably, Chevrolet secured its third consecutive Cup Series’ manufacturers title and the 42nd overall, which completed a clean sweep for the manufacturer after previously securing its 11th Craftsman Truck Series manufacturers title and its 25th Bill France Performance Cup in the Xfinity Series.
There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 61 laps. In addition, 12 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Ryan Blaney, 145 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Aric Almirola, 66 laps led
3. Denny Hamlin, 156 laps led, Stage 1 winner
4. Chase Briscoe
5. Joey Logano
6. Kyle Larson
7. Christopher Bell
8. Chris Buescher
9. Austin Cindric
10. Todd Gilliland
11. Bubba Wallace
12. Martin Truex Jr., 47 laps led
13. William Byron, one lap down
14. Ross Chastain, one lap down
15. Harrison Burton, one lap down
16. Kevin Harvick, one lap down
17. Chase Elliott, one lap down, 83 laps led
18. Ty Gibbs, one lap down
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down
20. Ryan Preece, one lap down
21. Erik Jones, one lap down
22. Corey LaJoie, one lap down, three laps down
23. Austin Dillon, one lap down
24. Ty Dillon, one lap down
25. Michael McDowell, one lap down
26. Tyler Reddick, two laps down
27. Kyle Busch, two laps down
28. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down
29. Ryan Newman, three laps down
30. Justin Haley, three laps down
31. Carson Hocevar, four laps down
32. Alex Bowman, four laps down
33. Brad Keselowski, 194 laps down
34. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Dvp
35. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident
36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Overheating
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings
1. Ryan Blaney – Advanced
2. Christopher Bell – Advanced
3. Kyle Larson – Advanced
4. William Byron – Advanced
5. Denny Hamlin – Eliminated
6. Martin Truex Jr. – Eliminated
7. Tyler Reddick – Eliminated
8. Chris Buescher – Eliminated
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to conclude next Sunday, November 5, at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
