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  • Larson wins an eventful inaugural Cup event at Nashville

    Larson wins an eventful inaugural Cup event at Nashville

    Having enough fuel in the tank when it mattered most, Kyle Larson’s comeback season continued following a dominating victory in the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 20. The Elk Grove, California, native led a race-high 264 of 300 laps and had enough fuel to beat a hard-charging Ross Chastain by more than four seconds in the final laps to achieve his fourth consecutive victory in the NASCAR Cup Series in recent weeks.

    Qualifying occurred on Sunday, June 20, and Aric Almirola started on pole position after recording a pole-winning lap at 161.992 mph. Kyle Busch, who earned his 100th Xfinity Series career victory at Nashville on Saturday, joined Almirola on the front row.

    Prior to the event, William Byron, Erik Jones and Quin Houff started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars. In addition, Ryan Blaney made the left-hand turn to pit road and into his pit stall to have damage to his left-rear quarter panel repaired. The move dropped Blaney to the rear of the field. 

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chase Elliott darted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the outside of Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang in a bid for the lead. His plan, however, halted in Turn 1 when he nearly got sideways after getting out of the racing groove. Behind Elliott, teammate Alex Bowman also slipped from the groove and on the outside lane.

    Just then, the caution flew when Quin Houff made contact with the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 after losing a tire, an incident that eliminated him from contention following the first two turns. At the time of caution, Kyle Busch was the leader followed by Almirola, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Cole Custer, with Elliott back in sixth.

    When the race restarted on the fifth lap, Kyle Busch and Almirola duked for the lead through the first two turns until Kyle Larson, winner of the last three Cup events, including the All-Star Race, made a three-wide move in-between Busch and Almirola to snatch the lead. With Larson’s No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE out in front, the field behind battled for early positioning.

    By Lap 10, Larson was leading by nearly a second over Kyle Busch while Aric Almirola and Joey Logano, both of whom made contact that nearly sent Logano in the infield a lap earlier in Turn 4, were in third and fourth. Cole Custer was in the top five followed by Matt DiBenedetto, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

    Ten laps later, Larson stretched his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Kyle Busch while Almirola, Logano and Custer continued to run in the top five. DiBenedetto and Bowman remained in sixth and seventh while Elliott, Harvick and Stenhouse battled for eighth place. Rookie Chase Briscoe was in 12th, Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski were in 14th and 15th, Denny Hamlin was battling Daniel Suarez for 16th, Bubba Wallace was in 19th, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman were in 21st and 22nd, William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. were in 24th and 25th and Ryan Blaney was in 28th behind Erik Jones. 

    Through the first 30 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Kyle Busch, who continued to track Larson. Almirola remained in third place followed by Logano and Custer. DiBenedetto also remained in sixth place followed by Stenhouse, Elliott, Bowman and Harvick.

    By Lap 40, the battle for the lead between the two Kyles ignited as Kyle Busch closed in on Larson for the lead, with both encountering lapped traffic. By then, Blaney made a pit stop under green. Soon after, Martin Truex Jr. made the turn to pit road for his service. 

    Not long after, pit stops under green commenced as Bubba Wallace pitted along with William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, DiBenedetto, Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski and others. During this sequence, the leaders, Larson and Kyle Busch, pitted along with Elliott.

    With the green flag pit stops continuing, the caution flew when Reddick, who just completed his pit service, spun entering Turn 2 through the grass while trying to return to the main track. 

    Under caution, a handful of competitors that had not yet pitted under green, led by Kurt Busch, pitted. Names like Almirola, Michael McDowell and Stenhouse also pitted.

    Prior to the restart, a number of competitors took the wave around to return to the lead lap and when the field cycled back, Kyle Busch was the leader over Larson.

    The race restarted on Lap 52, with the two Kyles out in front. At the start, Kyle Busch jumped ahead and moved in front of Larson to retain the lead. A lap later, though, Larson made his move beneath Busch’s No. 18 Pedigree Toyota Camry to reassume the lead. 

    Another two laps later, a rough start to the day for Blaney went worse when his No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang shot up the track and made hard contact against the Turn 1 outside wall following a brake issue, an incident that ended his day with a wrecked race car.

    When the race restarted on Lap 61, the two Kyles battled dead even for the lead through Turn 1 until Larson gained the advantage on the outside lane entering Turn 2, thus keeping Larson in the lead. 

    A few laps later, Elliott moved into the runner-up spot while Stenhouse started to challenge Kyle Busch for the lead. Kurt Busch, meanwhile, was in fifth followed by Logano, Almirola, Erik Jones, DiBenedetto and Bowman. 

    By Lap 70, Larson was leading by more than a second over teammate Elliott, with Stenhouse in third ahead of the Busch brothers. Almirola and Logano were in sixth and seventh followed by Erik Jones, DiBenedetto and Bowman. 

    Eight laps later, the caution flew when Justin Haley and Chris Buescher made hard contact into the outside wall separately in Turns 1 and 2. Haley’s incident was due to a brake rotor while Buescher’s incident was due to hitting a piece of debris on the track. The incident ended Buescher’s run, with broken rotors and loss of fluid.

    Under caution, some led by Larson pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bowman was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road. 

    With five laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted as Elliott and Kurt Busch started on the front row. At the start, Elliott and Kurt Busch battled for the lead while Daniel Suarez was in third ahead of Erik Jones and the field. Behind, Larson, racing on fresh tires, charged his way into fourth place while Kyle Busch was also trying to march his way forward.

    With the field behind jostling for positioning, Elliott was able to retain the lead and claim the first stage on Lap 90, thus recording his second stage victory of the season. Kurt Busch settled in second followed by Larson, Suarez and Kyle Busch. Austin Dillon, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Logano and DiBenedetto were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, names like Elliott, Kurt Busch, Suarez, Austin Dillon and Truex pitted. During the pit stops, Truex was penalized due to a pit entry violation, where he did not enter pit road in a single-file line with his fellow competitors. In addition, Kurt Busch made another pit stop due to a loose wheel. 

    Back on the track, Larson, who pitted earlier, remained on the track to assume the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Logano and DiBenedetto.

    The second stage started on Lap 97, and Larson retained the lead over Kyle Busch through the first two turns. Behind, Stenhouse overtook Logano for third followed by Denny Hamlin while Ross Chastain and DiBenedetto battled for sixth. Harvick, meanwhile, was back in the top 10 in eighth followed by Christopher Bell and Custer.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Larson was leading by more than a second over Kyle Busch and Stenhouse, who started to challenge Busch for the runner-up spot. Hamlin moved into fourth followed by Logano, DiBenedetto, Chastain, Harvick, Bell and Custer.

    Ten laps later, Larson extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Stenhouse. Hamlin, Logano and Chastain were in the top five while Kyle Busch, who was battling handling issues, fell back to sixth.

    By Lap 125, Larson continued to lead by more than two seconds over Stenhouse, with third-place Hamlin trailing by less than seven seconds. Chastain was in fourth followed by Logano, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Almirola, Bell and Custer. Meanwhile, DiBenedetto was losing spots on the track due to an engine issue.

    Seven laps later, the caution returned when Bubba Wallace spun in Turn 2 after losing a left-rear tire. Under caution, the leaders pitted. Following the pit stops, Truex was penalized again, this time for speeding on pit road. In addition, teammate Bell was penalized due to an uncontrolled tire violation.

    On Lap 138, the race restarted under green, with Larson and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch challenged Larson for the lead. Despite his challenge, Larson retained the lead when the field returned to the start/finish line. 

    Not long after, Stenhouse overtook Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot while Logano prevailed in a battle with Hamlin for fourth.

    By Lap 150, Larson was leading by over two seconds over Stenhouse, with Kyle Busch, teammate Hamlin and Kevin Harvick in the top five. Almirola was in sixth ahead of Logano, Byron, Chastain and Elliott.

    On Lap 173, the caution returned due to debris on the track that came from Cole Custer, who lost a right-rear tire after he also lost his brakes.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Briscoe exited in first following a two-tire stop. Reddick exited in second followed by Larson, the first competitor on four fresh tires. Austin Dillon was in fourth and Kyle Busch was in fifth.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted. At the start, Briscoe took off with the lead followed by Larson while Reddick struggled on the start as the field was also bunched up and fanned out to three lanes entering Turn 2.

    The following lap, Larson overtook Briscoe in Turn 2 to reassume the lead. Behind, Kyle Busch charged his way to fourth ahead of teammate Hamlin while Elliott was in seventh behind teammate Byron. Reddick, meanwhile, had fallen out of the top 10 while trying to keep his car straightened on old tires. 

    As the field continued to scramble for late positioning, Larson was able to cruise to the second stage victory on Lap 185 and record his 12th stage victory of the season. Austin Dillon edged Briscoe for the runner-up spot while Byron edged Kyle Busch for fourth place. Hamlin, Elliott, Stenhouse, Almirola and Harvick were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, some like Briscoe, Truex, Bell, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Erik Jones, Ryan Newman, Wallace and McDowell pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    With 110 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Larson and Byron led the field on the front row. At the start, Larson utilized the outside lane to retain the lead over teammate Byron while Kyle Busch was challenged by teammate Hamlin and Stenhouse for third. Soon, Elliott challenged Stenhouse for fifth with Kurt Busch lurking behind. 

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Ryan Preece spun in Turn 2. Under caution, some like Chastain, Bowman, Reddick, McDowell, Corey LaJoie, Suarez and DiBenedetto pitted.

    With 98 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Byron got loose and nearly clipped Larson sideways in Turn 1, but Larson was able to retain the lead through Turn 2. As Larson led teammate Byron, teammate Elliott was in third ahead of Hamlin and Kurt Busch. Stenhouse and Harvick battled for sixth followed by Briscoe, Almirola and Logano. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, was in 17th as he continued to battle handling issues to his car.

    With 90 laps remaining, Larson was leading by more than a second over teammate Byron, with teammate Elliott trailing by more than two seconds. Hamlin was in fourth followed by Kurt Busch, Harvick, Stenhouse, Briscoe, Almirola and Logano.

    Seven laps later, the event’s 10th caution flew when Wallace spun for a second time in Turn 2. Under caution, nearly all of the leaders pitted as Larson exited in first. Harvick, meanwhile, boosted his way to second place followed by Byron, Kurt Busch and Hamlin. Back on track, Chastain was the leader after he remained on the track without pitting.

    With 78 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Larson powered away from Chastain to reassume the lead while Byron, who battled with Chastain and Harvick through Turn 2, moved back up to second. 

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Larson was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Byron while Chastain, Harvick and Elliott were in the top five. Kurt Busch was in sixth followed by Briscoe, Hamlin, Almirola and Logano. Truex was in 12th behind teammate Bell, Keselowski was in 14th and Kyle Busch was in 18th ahead of Austin Dillon and Bowman.

    Soon after, the caution returned due to Briscoe making contact with the outside wall in Turn 3 after he lost his brakes.

    Under caution, names like Chastain, Suarez, Keselowski, Stenhouse, Reddick, Jones, Bowman, Corey LaJoie, Wallace, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and others pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    The race restarted with 68 laps remaining, and Elliott made slight contact with teammate Byron in a three-wide bid for the lead. With Elliott backing out, Larson was able to receive another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead over Byron. Behind, Harvick overtook Elliott in third while Kurt Busch continued to hold strong in fifth ahead of Almirola and the field.

    With 50 laps remaining, Larson was leading by two seconds over teammate Byron while Harvick, Elliott and Kurt Busch were in the top five. By then, Larson used the lapped car of J.J. Yeley to clear some debris off of his car. Almirola was in sixth and challenging Busch for the top-five spot, with Hamlin, Chastain, Bell and Stenhouse in the top 10. 

    Fifteen laps later, Larson continued to lead by more than three seconds over teammate Byron. Harvick was in third followed by teammate Almirola and Elliott. Kurt Busch fell back to sixth in front of teammate Chastain while Hamlin, Stenhouse and Bell were in the top 10.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Larson was out in front by more than four seconds over teammate Byron, with Harvick, Almirola and Chastain in the top five. Kurt Busch was in sixth ahead of Stenhouse, Elliott, Bell and Hamlin. 

    With 10 laps remaining and fuel questions beginning to arise from a multitude of teams, Larson was leading by more than five seconds over teammate Byron. Harvick remained in third followed by Chastain and Almirola. Kurt Busch was in sixth followed by Stenhouse, Bell, Suarez and Hamlin.

    A few laps later, Truex pitted. Meanwhile, Chastain, who had enough fuel to the finish, overtook Harvick for third place and went to work on Byron for second place, which he succeeded.

    With five laps remaining, Larson, who remained in question about having enough fuel to the finish, was leading by more than five seconds over a hard-charging Chastain.

    Down to the final two laps, Hamlin and Kurt Busch ran out of fuel, with Hamlin pitting while Kurt Busch continued to run on the track.

    Back at the front, Larson continued to lead by more than five seconds over Chastain as he started the final lap of the race. Having enough fuel in his tank, Larson was able to coast his car around the circuit for a final time and take the checkered flag to win in Music City nation.

    With the inaugural victory in Nashville and a Gibson Guitar trophy, Larson achieved his 10th NASCAR Cup Series career victory and fourth of the season since returning as a full-time competitor. In addition, Hendrick Motorsports has won the six Cup events, including the All-Star Race.

    “Yeah, it was a great day,” Larson said on NBCSN. “We never really had to run behind people. When my teammates got out in front again, it would’ve probably been hard to pass them. The Valvoline Chevrolet was really good. It could cut the middle of the corner really well and our pit crew did an awesome job again. That number one pit stall helps a bunch, too. This crowd’s awesome…We had enough rubber and enough fuel leftover to do a good burnout there at the end. I can’t say enough about everybody at Hendrick Motorsports…I just hope we can keep it going.”

    Settling in a career-best runner-up result was Ross Chastain, who also achieved his second top-five result of this season and of his career.

    “We had the speed to run top five all day, but I sped on pit road and I boxed us in our pit box,” Chastain said. “For most of the day, I was so loose entry of Turn 1, just almost like wheel-hopping, bouncing the right rear. So, I really struggled, and finally, the last three runs of the race, [crew chief] Phil Surgen and this Clover Chevy team, they got it where I could hustle it and that’s what I needed. At the end, I didn’t want a caution. I knew Kyle [Larson] was out there. Just get to second and we’ll be happy with it.”

    Byron finished third followed by Almirola, who achieved his first top-five result of the season, and Harvick, who ran out of fuel coming to the finish line. 

    Stenhouse came home in sixth place followed by Suarez, Kurt Busch, Bell and Logano.

    Kyle Busch settled in 11th following a long battle with handling issues, Elliott fell to 13th after reporting concerns of a flat right-rear tire to his car, teammates Hamlin and Truex finished 22nd and 23rd, Keselowski came home in 24th following brake issues and DiBenedetto settled in 25th. Bowman finished 15th, Reddick settled in 19th ahead of Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace and rookie Chase Briscoe ended his run in 32nd.

    Following the race, Elliott was disqualified due to his car having five lug nuts not secured. As a result, he was credited with a 39th-place result and he was not awarded his playoff point from the Nashville event.

    There were 14 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 60 laps.

    With nine regular-season races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by nine points over Larson. Eleven competitors, (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell), are guaranteed positions for the Playoffs along with Denny Hamlin, who leads the regular-season standings. Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher occupy the remaining postseason spots as winless competitors, with Kurt Busch trailing the top-16 cutline by 24 points, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trailing by 43, Matt DiBenedetto trailing by 46, Ross Chastain trailing by 50, Daniel Suarez trailing by 61, Bubba Wallace trailing by 77 and Ryan Newman trailing by 81.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 264 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ross Chastain, four laps led

    3. William Byron

    4. Aric Almirola, one lap led

    5. Kevin Harvick

    6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    7. Daniel Suarez

    8. Kurt Busch, three laps led, Stage 1 winner

    9. Christopher Bell

    10. Joey Logano

    11. Kyle Busch, 10 laps led

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Ryan Newman 

    14. Alex Bowman

    15. Corey LaJoie 

    16. Michael McDowell

    17. Anthony Alfredo

    18. Tyler Reddick

    19. Erik Jones

    20. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    21. Denny Hamlin, one lap down

    22. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down

    23. Brad Keselowski, one lap down

    24. Matt DiBenedetto, two laps down

    25. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

    26. Josh Bilicki, two laps down

    27. J.J. Yeley, two laps down

    28. B.J. McLeod, five laps down

    29. Joey Gase, five laps down

    30. Cole Custer, 48 laps down

    31. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident five laps led

    32. Ryan Preece – OUT, Brakes

    33. Chad Finchum – OUT, Rear end

    34. David Starr – OUT, Brakes

    35. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident

    36. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

    37. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

    38. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

    39. Chase Elliott – Disqualified, 13 laps led

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second annual Pocono Raceway doubleheader feature on June 26-27. The first Cup event of the weekend on Saturday, June 26, will occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and the second on Sunday, June 27, will occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Larson achieves second All-Star Race win at Texas

    Larson achieves second All-Star Race win at Texas

    The 2021 comeback season for Kyle Larson continued under the lights in the Lone Star state after the Elk Grove, California, native prevailed over a late battle against Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott to win the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 13, and claim his second All-Star career victory.

    The starting lineup was determined via random draw, with Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Sonoma Raceway, starting on pole position and Kyle Busch joining him on the front row. 

    Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and Aric Almirola transferred to the All-Star Race following their respective segment victories in the All-Star Open along with Matt DiBenedetto, winner of this year’s All-Star Fan Vote.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced for Round 1, the field battled dead even through the first two turns and entering the backstretch led by the two Kyles. At the start/finish line, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry led the first lap over Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    Then in Turn 1, the caution waved when Christopher Bell got sideways in Turn 1, though he was able to straighten the car on the apron and not sustain any damage to his No. 20 CRAFTSMAN Toyota Camry. Bell was the only competitor who pitted under caution, with caution laps not counting in the race.

    When the race restarted on a 14-lap dash through the first round, the two Kyles battled dead even for the lead again for one full lap before Busch prevailed the following lap. With Kyle Busch leading, Cole Custer challenged Larson for the runner-up spot ahead of Chase Elliott and William Byron with the field battling intensely for spots.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading by three-tenths of a second over Larson, with Byron, Custer and Elliott in the top five. Joey Logano and Austin Dillon were in sixth and seventh followed by Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick. 

    Two laps later, Larson overtook Kyle Busch to assume the lead for the first time. At the same time, Byron challenged Busch for the runner-up spot, though the former retained the spot.

    Not long after, Kyle Busch attempted to challenge Larson back for the lead on the inside lane, but Larson retained the top spot on the outside lane entering the backstretch. Soon after, Byron also took over the runner-up spot while Elliott and Custer battled for fourth.

    By Lap 12, the battle for the runner-up spot heated up as Elliott joined teammate Byron and Kyle Busch in an attempt to overtake both. With Larson still leading, Byron was able to clear himself to remain in second while Kyle Busch continued to battle Elliott for third place. 

    Back at the front, Larson was able to fend off teammate Byron and Kyle Busch to claim Round 1 on Lap 15. Byron, Kyle Busch, Elliott and Custer settled in the top five followed by Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Ross Chastain and Logano.

    Under the first break, the leaders pitted for early adjustments. Prior to the second round, the top-12 competitors were inverted in positions, a decision made via random draw. The move made Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick start on the front row.

    When Round 2 started on Lap 16, Blaney received a push from Chastain to retain the lead entering the first turn. Soon after, Chastain attempted to make a move on the outside lane for the lead, but his plan backfired as Keselowski took over the runner-up spot while Chastain was left in a battle with Chase Elliott. Behind, Harvick drifted back to eighth.

    The following lap, Chastain got Blaney sideways entering Turn 1, but Blaney maintained the lead and straightened his No. 12 Menards/Wrangler Ford Mustang, though he was left in a battle with teammate Keselowski for the lead.

    At the front, teammates Blaney and Keselowski battled dead even for the lead, with Keselowski fighting on the inside lane and Blaney on the outside. Chastain, meanwhile, was in third followed by Elliott and the Busch brothers.

    By Lap 20, Blaney was leading by a narrow margin over teammate Keselowski while Chastain, Kurt Busch, Elliott, Byron, Kyle Busch, Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Custer were in the top 10. 

    Five laps later, Penske’s Blaney and Keselowski were running first and second followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chastain and Kurt Busch, with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch in fifth and Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott running in sixth. 

    When Round 2 concluded on Lap 30, Blaney survived an intense, competitive battle for the lead as he was the leader followed by teammate Keselowski, Chastain, Kurt Busch, Byron, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Custer, Denny Hamlin and Logano.

    Under the second break, the leaders returned to pit road for more adjustments. 

    Prior to the third event, the entire field was inverted, giving DiBenedetto and Almirola the front row. 

    When Round 3 started on Lap 31, DiBenedetto cleared Almirola to lead the field as Michael McDowell challenged Almirola for the runner-up spot. Behind, Ryan Newman challenged Harvick for fourth as Alex Bowman joined the party. 

    A few laps later, McDowell made a bid for the lead through the backstretch, but DiBenedetto received a push from Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang through Turn 4 to remain in the lead entering the backstretch.

    By Lap 35, DiBenedetto was leading by a narrow margin over McDowell followed by Bowman, Almirola and Larson. Newman was in sixth followed by Christopher Bell, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Harvick.

    Two laps later, Bowman moved his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead.

    By Lap 40, Bowman was leading by half a second over DiBenedetto, with Almirola, McDowell and Newman in the top five,

    With the field behind battling for position, Bowman was able to retain the top spot and claim Round 3 on Lap 45. DiBenedetto was in second place followed by Almirola, McDowell, Newman, Larson, Hamlin, Bell, Byron and Harvick.

    Under the round break, the leaders returned to pit road for adjustments as the race transitioned to evening conditions.

    Prior to the fourth round, the top-nine competitors via random draw were inverted, placing Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead.

    When Round 4 started on Lap 46, Byron and Bell battled side-by-side for the lead for one full lap before the former prevailed. Soon after, Larson made his way into the runner-up spot over Bell while DiBenedetto, Bowman and Hamlin battled for fourth. Elliott was mired back in ninth while Kyle Busch was in 17th.

    By Lap 50 and at the halfway mark, Byron was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Larson, with Bell trailing by six-tenths of a second. DiBenedetto and Hamlin battled for fourth while Bowman, Elliott, Blaney, Newman and McDowell were in the top 10.

    With the laps in the fourth round dwindling, Larson started to catch teammate Byron for the lead as he decreased the deficit to a tenth of a second.

    Despite being challenged by his teammate for the lead, Byron was able to hold on to the lead and win Round 4 on Lap 60 by a tenth of a second over Larson. Hamlin, Bell, Elliott, Blaney, Bowman, DiBenedetto, Almirola and Newman were scored in the top 10.

    Under the round break, the leaders pitted for another round of adjustments.

    The lineup for the fifth round was determined via the cumulative results from the first four rounds, giving Byron the lead and teammate Larson the runner-up spot.

    When Round 5 started on Lap 61, the entire field battled dead even led by teammates Byron and Larson.

    The following lap, names like Hamlin, Bell, DiBenedetto, Reddick, Truex, Harvick and McDowell made a mandatory pit stop under green. Soon after, Kyle Busch pitted along with Newman and Austin Dillon. Then, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon were assessed a penalty for speeding on pit road.

    Back on track, Byron was leading followed by teammates Larson, Elliott and Bowman, with Kurt Busch and Keselowski in fifth and sixth. Soon after, Blaney pitted along with Custer.

    By Lap 70, all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors were running first through fourth, with Byron still out in front. By then, Custer and Kurt Busch made their mandatory pit stop under green.

    Through Lap 75, Byron continued to lead, though he was one of eight competitors that had yet to pit.

    Not long after, Byron pitted along with Larson, Elliott, Bowman and Chastain. Through the next three laps, Keselowski, Logano and Almirola were the final round of competitors to make a mandatory pit stop.

    Just then, the caution flew when Chastain, who had just pitted, spun in Turn 1 following contact from Newman. At the time of caution, Keselowski, who was the last competitor to pit, was able to cycle ahead with the lead over Elliott, Byron and Larson. 

    Under caution, few names like Chastain, Kyle Busch and DiBenedetto pitted. By then, Kyle Busch received the free pass and returned to the lead lap while Austin Dillon was still trapped a lap behind.

    When the race restarted on Lap 80, Keselowski and Elliott battled dead even for the lead, with Elliott leading the next lap by a nose. With the battle for the lead heating up in the closing laps, Elliott was able to take the rocket ahead with the lead on the outside lane through the following lap followed by teammates Byron and Larson as Keselowski slipped back to fourth.

    By Lap 85, Elliott was still leading by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Byron. Keselowski moved back into third place followed by Larson and Blaney while Logano was in sixth.

    When Round 5 concluded on Lap 90, Elliott was able to fend off teammate Byron to remain in the lead. Larson and Blaney settled in third and fourth followed by Keselowski, Logano, Hamlin, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Almirola.

    Under the final round break, Austin Dillon received the free pass and returned on the lead lap, making all 21 competitors scored on the lead lap entering the final round. Few names like Harvick, McDowell, Newman, Reddick, DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon pitted while under caution.

    Following the mandatory green flag pit stops from all competitors during the fifth round, it was announced that Chase Elliott’s pit crew led by crew chief Alan Gustafson earned $100,000 for being the fastest pit crew of the evening.

    The lineup for the final round was determined via the results from the fifth round, keeping Elliott and Byron on the front row.

    When the Final Round started on Lap 90 and for a 10-lap shootout to the finish, Elliott peaked ahead in Turn 1 before Blaney made a bold three-wide move while going for the lead over Larson and Byron, with Byron falling back. Through the backstretch, Blaney and Elliott engaged in a heated battle, with Elliott receiving a push from Larson to squeak ahead.

    The following lap, teammates Elliott and Larson battled dead even for the lead across the line and for nearly a full circuit before Keselowski bolted his way to the lead beneath Elliott and Larson through Turns 3 and 4. Though Keselowski led the following lap, Larson fought back on the outside lane and reassumed the top spot with seven laps remaining.

    With five laps remaining, Larson was leading by nearly a tenth of a second over Keselowski, with Elliott trailing by two-tenths of a second and Logano and Blaney running in the top five. Despite being pressured by Keselowski and Elliott, Larson continued to hold strong with the lead.

    Down to the final three laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Keselowski, with Elliott trailing by three-tenths of a second and slowly falling back. 

    When the final lap started, Larson was ahead by nearly three-tenths of a second over Keselowski, who continued to trail Larson closely, but not have enough to complete his run to the lead. Through the backstretch and Turn 3, Larson stabilized his narrow margin over Keselowski to come back around the finish line and take the checkered flag on Lap 100, thus winning the All-Star Race and a million dollars.

    With the victory, Larson became the eighth competitor to claim multiple All-Star victories as he won his first All-Star event since 2019. In addition, he recorded the 10th All-Star victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the first for crew chief Cliff Daniels.

    FORT WORTH, TEXAS – JUNE 13: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and crew chief Cliff Daniels celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway on June 13, 2021 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images).

    “Honestly, I can’t believe it,” Larson said on FS1. “That second run there, we were really bad and I was like, ‘Man, we’re in trouble.’ I went backwards that round, so I was like we got an uphill battle and did not imagine myself winning this race today. Cliff and everybody works so hard on this thing, made some good adjustments during those first, second and third rounds, and got us in position. That last restart worked exactly how I needed it to do…I can’t believe it.”

    Keselowski finished in second place in his 13th appearance in the All-Star event, which marked his third runner-up event in the event.

    “It feels like to run second to the Hendrick cars right now is kind of an accomplishment,” Keselowski said. “They’re just stupid fast. I had [Larson] off of Turn 4, but they just have so much speed. He just motored right on back by me like damn. It feels like a first in class day for the Discount Tire Ford. [Crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the team did a great job of executing and getting us in position. We just didn’t have enough speed to make the most of it, but good execution day and I’m proud of that.”

    Elliott, winner of last year’s All-Star event at Bristol Motor Speedway, settled in third place. Logano and teammate Blaney finished in the top five. Bowman, teammate Byron, Almirola, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions. All 21 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 17 laps led

    2. Brad Keselowski, five laps led

    3. Chase Elliott, 12 laps led

    4. Joey Logano

    5. Ryan Blaney, 15 laps led

    6. Alex Bowman, nine laps led

    7. William Byron, 30 laps led

    8. Aric Almirola

    9. Kyle Busch, six laps led

    10. Kurt Busch

    11. Christopher Bell

    12. Michael McDowell

    13. Martin Truex Jr.

    14. Cole Custer

    15. Kevin Harvick

    16. Tyler Reddick

    17. Matt DiBenedetto, six laps led

    18. Ross Chastain

    19. Austin Dillon

    20. Ryan Newman

    21. Denny Hamlin 

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 20, with the event to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN as FOX’s coverage of this year’s NASCAR season concludes.

  • Chastain, Reddick, Almirola and DiBenedetto transfer to All-Star Race following eventful All-Star Open

    Chastain, Reddick, Almirola and DiBenedetto transfer to All-Star Race following eventful All-Star Open

    Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and Aric Almirola claimed starting spots for the 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race after each won a segment during the NASCAR All-Star Open at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 13. For the final transfer spot, Matt DiBenedetto earned a one-way ticket into the main event after being named the Fan Vote winner.

    The starting lineup was determined via driver points, making Tyler Reddick starting on pole position while Chris Buescher joined him on the front row.

    Prior to the race, Ross Chastain dropped to the rear of the field due to a violation discovered on his car pinpointing to his aero ducts. As a result, crew chief Phil Surgen was suspended from the weekend and Chip Ganassi Racing was fined $25,000. Austin Cindric (two pre-race inspection failures) and David Starr (unapproved adjustments) also started at the rear of the field. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started for the first segment, Buescher jumped ahead and battled Reddick for the lead entering the first turn before Reddick received a push from Matt DiBenedetto on the inside lane to take the lead.

    With the field jostling for position behind, Reddick led the first lap. Meanwhile, Buescher and rookie Chase Briscoe made their way into second and third over DiBenedetto as Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones joined the battle.

    Then, NASCAR declared that Buescher has been assessed a penalty for jumping ahead of the leader, Reddick, prior to the start of the event. In addition, Cindric was penalized for changing lanes at the start of the race.

    On the fourth lap, the caution flew when Wallace, who was running in fourth place ahead of Erik Jones and Matt DiBenedetto, got loose and spun in Turn 1 before coming to a rest below the apron. Despite the spin, Wallace continued with no damage to his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry. 

    Under caution, Wallace pitted along with Daniel Suarez, Quin Houff, Garrett Smithley, Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Following the pit stops, Stenhouse was assessed an over-the-wall too soon penalty. 

    When the race restarted on the eighth lap, Reddick retained the lead over Briscoe, Jones and the field through the first two turns. Not long after, the caution returned when Buescher spun in Turn 3 following a bump from Stenhouse. 

    Under caution, Buescher pitted along with Stenhouse and Josh Bilicki.

    When the race restarted on Lap 13, Reddick retained the lead followed by Jones, Briscoe and the field. 

    Two corners later, trouble ensued again when Jones, who battled hard against Briscoe, slipped up and spun sideways, where he was hit by Daniel Suarez before spinning back up to the wall with heavy damage as Suarez also made contact with the outside wall. The wreck was enough to knock Suarez and Jones out of contention to make the All-Star Race.

    Under caution, Briscoe pitted, but was busted for speeding on pit road.

    On Lap 18, the race restarted as Reddick and Ross Chastain started on the front row. At the start, Reddick and Chastain battled for the lead entering the backstretch while DiBenedetto and Corey LaJoie made a three-wide move on Almirola to move up towards the front.

    Coming to the final lap of the first segment, Chastain made his move on the outside lane of Reddick through Turns 3 and 4 and he was able to grab the lead past the start/finish line. Through Turn 1, Chastain was able to clear Reddick and pull away. 

    Following his surge on the final lap, Chastain, who rallied from starting at the rear of the field following pre-race inspection issues, rocketed away to win the first segment on Lap 20 and race his way into the All-Star Race for the first time in his career, joining teammate Kurt Busch in the main event.

    “It’s really cool,” Chastain said on FS1. “It’s been a good weekend on-track, but off-track, it’s obviously been really tough. Just fired me up more. This McDonald’s Chevy was obviously really good, coming from the back like that and race with guys like Reddick and those guys. I thought I was getting turned on the backstretch there when he drove into the left rear, but it’s a dream come true. Man, I’m living my dream as a farmer. Now, I get to go NASCAR racing in the All-Star Race with my heroes. It’s amazing.”

    Under the segment break, LaJoie pitted along with Justin Haley, Cody Ware, Houff, James Davison, Timmy Hill and David Starr.

    At the start of the second segment, Reddick received a push from Cindric on the outside lane to retain the lead ahead of DiBenedetto and Cindric. Meanwhile, Buescher and Almirola battled for fourth place followed by Wallace and Stenhouse. 

    By Lap 25, Reddick was the leader followed by Cindric, DiBenedetto, Almirola and Buescher. Wallace was in sixth followed by Briscoe, Stenhouse, rookie Anthony Alfredo and LaJoie. 

    A few laps later, DiBenedetto and Almirola overtook Cindric for second and third. Meanwhile, Reddick continued to lead by nearly a second. 

    By Lap 30, Reddick was leading by four-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto, with Almirola trailing by nearly a second. Behind, Cindric and Buescher battled for fourth place while Wallace retained sixth place.

    With five laps remaining in the second segment, Reddick was still leading despite encountering lapped traffic, but he had Almirola closing in for the lead.

    Down to the final two laps of the segment, Almirola drew his car behind Reddick’s rear bumper, but he could not navigate his way around Reddick to take the lead,

    On the final lap of the second segment, Reddick was leading by under two-tenths of a second over Almirola, who continued to keep Reddick in pressure. Despite Almirola’s late surge, Reddick was able to beat Almirola by nearly three-tenths of a second to win the second segment on Lap 40 as Reddick transferred to his first All-Star Race, joining teammate Austin Dillon.

    “Thankfully, we executed in the second segment,” Reddick said. “We got this thing in the race. That was the hottest 40-lap race I’ve ever done. That was hot.”

    Under the segment break, Stenhouse pitted along with Briscoe, Haley, B.J. McLeod and Garrett Smithley. 

    With 10 laps remaining, the final segment commenced under green. At the start, the field battled through two lanes as Almirola and DiBenedetto battled dead even for the lead. Following a close side-by-side battle with DiBenedetto for a full lap, Almirola pulled ahead with the lead.

    With five laps remaining, Almirola was leading by nearly half a second over DiBenedetto and Buescher. Cindric and Briscoe were in the top five followed by Wallace, Haley, Alfredo, Stenhouse and LaJoie.

    As Almirola continued to lead, DiBenedetto and Buescher battled for the runner-up spot as both were behind by seven-tenths of a second. 

    Having a clear lead to his advantage, Almirola, who has endured a difficult 2021 season, was able to navigate his way around the circuit for a final time and come back around to take the checkered flag and win the NASCAR All-Star Open as he punched his ticket into the All-Star Race for the fourth time in his career, joining teammates Kevin Harvick and Cole Custer. 

    “It just helps make you happy about something,” Almirola said. “It’s been a really tough year and the guys just continued to work their guts out and bring the best cars we can. And here at Texas today, we got a really fast car. We took the long way in, but I’m still glad we’re racing for a million bucks tonight. Just proud to give [my sponsors] something to smile about, really.”

    Despite finishing in the runner-up spot, Matt DiBenedetto claimed the 21st and final starting spot to the All-Star Race after being named the Fan Vote winner, a move that allowed him to transfer into the All-Star event for a second consecutive season.

    “That’s a relief,” DiBenedetto said. “We struggled a little bit with the car there, but man, thank you so much. That’s really cool. It means a lot to get all the votes from the fans. I can’t tell them how much I appreciate that and an opportunity to be an All-Star.”

    Buescher finished in third place followed by Briscoe and Cindric. Wallace rallied to finish sixth followed by Haley, Alfredo, Stenhouse and LaJoie. All eight competitors were among the remaining 18 competitors competing in the Open whom failed to make the All-Star Race.

    There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 13 laps.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola – Won third segment, 10 laps led

    2. Matt DiBenedetto – Fan Vote winner

    3. Chris Buescher

    4. Chase Briscoe

    5. Austin Cindric

    6. Bubba Wallace

    7. Justin Haley

    8. Anthony Alfredo

    9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    10. Corey LaJoie

    11. Cody Ware

    12. B.J. McLeod

    13. Josh Bilicki

    14. Garrett Smithley

    15. Quin Houff, one lap down

    16. James Davison, one lap down

    17. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    18. David Starr, one lap down

    19. Tyler Reddick – Won second segment, 38 laps led

    20. Ross Chastain – Won first segment, two laps led

    21. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

    22. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

    The 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway will follow suit on Sunday, June 13, at 8 p.m. on FS1.

  • Bowman leads a 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick Motorsports at Dover

    Bowman leads a 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick Motorsports at Dover

    It was an historic day for Hendrick Motorsports as Alex Bowman assumed the lead under the final 100 laps following a stellar pit stop from his crew and went on to beat teammate Kyle Larson and win the Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, May 16, as he also led a 1-2-3-4 finish for the HMS organization.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Martin Truex Jr., winner of last weekend’s event at Darlington Raceway, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin, teammate and the regular-season points leader.

    Prior to the race, Chase Elliott dropped to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice. Ryan Newman also dropped to the rear due to unapproved adjustments. Josh Berry, who was making his NASCAR Cup debut in the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, also dropped to the rear of the field due to a driver change as he replaced Justin Haley, who was absent from the Cup event and Saturday’s Xfinity Series event due to COVID-19 protocols.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Truex launched ahead with the lead followed by Kyle Larson, Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Truex, though, was able to lead the first lap with the field behind jostling for position.

    Through the first 10 laps of the event, Truex continued to lead by half a second over Larson and nearly seven-tenths of a second over William Byron. Hamlin was in fourth followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell.

    Five laps later, Byron, who had taken over the runner-up spot over teammate Larson, started to close in on Truex for the lead. Another lap later, Byron powered his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the lead. 

    By Lap 20, Byron was leading teammate Larson and Harvick while Truex slipped back to fourth place ahead of teammate Hamlin.

    By Lap 30 and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Byron continued to lead by a narrow margin over teammate Larson. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who was running in the top 10, had fallen back to 12th place after reporting a mechanical issue to his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry.

    When the field reached the competition caution on Lap 35, Byron maintained the lead over teammate Larson, Harvick, Truex and Hamlin. By then, Chase Elliott, who started at the rear of the field, was in 17th while Kyle Busch, who continued to have mechanical issues with his car, had fallen back to 23rd. In addition, names like Ryan Preece, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Cole Custer and Aric Almirola were spared from being lapped by Byron.

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Larson was able to exit pit road ahead of teammate Byron. Following the pit stops, Tyler Reddick, Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted on Lap 40, Larson took off with the lead followed by Harvick.

    By Lap 50, Larson was out in front by half a second over Harvick while Byron, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin were in the top five. Chris Buescher was in sixth followed by Brad Keselowski, Logano, Alex Bowman and Elliott. Truex was back in 11th followed by Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and rookie Chase Briscoe. Kyle Busch was in 29th, the final car on the lead lap.

    Three laps later, Kyle Busch, who continued to battle engine issues, was lapped by Larson. Meanwhile, Byron, who continued to run in third place, radioed brake issues to his car.

    Through the first 70 laps of the event, Larson remained in the lead by nearly two seconds over Harvick followed by Byron. Behind, Corey LaJoie pitted due to a flat tire.

    Five laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Harvick followed by Byron, Blaney and Hamlin. Buescher, Logano, Keselowski, Elliott and Bowman all remained in the top 10 ahead of Austin Dillon and Truex, who was struggling with pace.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Larson continued to lead by more than four seconds over Harvick followed by Byron, Blaney and Hamlin. Elliott moved up to sixth followed by Buescher, Logano, Bowman and Keselowski.

    In the closing laps of the first stage, Larson increased his advantage to more than seven seconds. Behind, Hamlin moved up to second place followed by Blaney, Harvick and Elliott while Byron fell back to sixth.

    On the final lap of the first stage, Chase Briscoe, who was trying to remain on the lead lap ahead of leader Larson, scrubbed the outside wall in Turn 1, though he was able to prevent the car from spinning. The debris from Briscoe’s damaged car was enough for the first stage to conclude under caution as Larson was able to claim his fifth stage victory of the season. Hamlin maintained the runner-up spot followed by Blaney, Elliott and Harvick while Byron, Logano, Bowman, Buescher and Keselowski were in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson maintained the lead following his pit service. Hamlin exited in second place followed by Elliott, Blaney and Logano. Soon after, Truex made another pit stop to have damage to the front of his car repaired.

    The second stage started on Lap 129 with Larson and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Larson maintained the lead while Elliott drew his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE alongside Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry for the runner-up spot.

    By Lap 135, Larson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Blaney, Hamlin and Logano. Harvick, Buescher, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch and Byron were in the top 10. 

    Through the first 150 laps of the event, Larson remained as the leader followed by teammate Elliott, Blaney, Hamlin and Logano. Harvick was in sixth followed by Byron, Buescher, Austin Dillon and Alex Bowman. Kurt Busch and Keselowski were in 11th and 12th, Truex was in 14th ahead of Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace was in 17th behind Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch was in 36th, eight laps behind. By then, names like Cole Custer, Erik Jones, Ryan Newman, Ryan Preece, Christopher Bell, Matt DiBenedetto, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were a lap behind.

    More than 20 laps later, the caution returned when Josh Berry scrubbed the wall in Turn 2. Prior to the pit road opening for the leaders, Blaney pitted to have a hole on the front of his car fixed and due to a flat tire. When the pits opened, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting ahead of Elliott, Hamlin, Harvick and Byron.

    When the race restarted on Lap 176, Larson launched ahead with a strong start followed by Elliott and Hamlin while Harvick and Byron battled for fourth place. In addition, Bowman, the fourth Hendrick Motorsports competitor, joined the party in sixth place.

    By Lap 190, Larson extended his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott while Hamlin, Byron and Harvick continued to run in the top five. A few laps later, Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski nearly made contact with one another in Turn 1 while battling for eighth place. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Larson was leading by nearly a second over teammate Elliott while teammate Byron trailed by nearly five seconds. Hamlin was in fourth while Bowman was in fifth, marking all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors in the top five. Harvick was in sixth followed by Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Aric Almirola.

    By Lap 220, all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors were running first through fourth, with Larson leading Elliott, Bowman moving up in third and Byron back in fourth. Hamlin was in fifth followed by Harvick, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Almirola. Logano, meanwhile, was in 13th behind Reddick and Truex.

    Despite having teammate Elliott closing in for the lead, Larson was able to pull away late as he approached lapped traffic and win the second stage on Lap 240 for his sixth stage victory of the season. Elliott followed behind in second place followed by teammates Bowman and Byron while Hamlin was in fifth. Harvick, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Reddick were scored in the top 10. By then, names like Wallace and Logano remained on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead following another stellar stop from his pit crew followed by Bowman, Elliott, Byron and Kurt Busch.

    With 152 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Larson rocketed away with another strong start while teammates Bowman and Elliott battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, a three-wide battle ensued between Harvick, Keselowski and Hamlin with Harvick moving into sixth place behind Kurt Busch while ahead of Keselowski and Hamlin. 

    Down to the final 135 laps of the event, Larson was out in front by more than two seconds over teammate Bowman with teammate Byron trailing by nearly three seconds and teammate Elliott trailing by three seconds. Kurt Busch, meanwhile, remained in fifth followed by Harvick, Keselowski, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Blaney, Ross Chastain, Almirola, Logano, Suarez and Truex.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over teammate Bowman with his other two teammates, Byron and Elliott, trailing by more than four seconds. Harvick was in fifth place, trailing by more than seven seconds, after overtaking former teammate Kurt Busch.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the race, Larson remained in the lead followed by teammates Bowman, Byron and Elliott with Harvick in fifth. A lap later, though, the caution returned when Aric Almirola made hard contact into the Turn 3 outside wall after he blew a right-front tire, with fire eventually flaming out of Almirola’s car. The on-track incident marked Almirola’s fifth DNF and his sixth result of 30th or worse this season. 

    Under the caution period, the leaders pitted and Bowman, whose pit crew clocked off a fast pit service, emerged with the lead ahead of teammates Larson, Elliott and Byron with Harvick coming out in fifth.

    With 92 laps remaining, the race restarted and Bowman maintained the lead over Larson and Elliott. Behind, Harvick overtook Byron for fourth with Hamlin lurking behind.

    Six laps later, the caution returned when a bump from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sent rookie Anthony Alfredo sideways and spinning to the inside wall in Turn 2, where he made contact with the wall. In the midst of the incident, Stenhouse and Keselowski received minor damage to their respective machines.

    Under caution, a majority of competitors led by Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track. Overall, all four Hendrick competitors along with Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace remained on the track.

    With 81 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Bowman pulled ahead followed by Larson while Elliott struggled to launch on the inside lane. Despite Larson challenging teammate Bowman for the lead through Turns 1 and 2, Harvick pulled his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang alongside Larson’s No. 5 Nations Guard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in Turn 3, which allowed Bowman to maintain the lead.

    While Bowman continued to lead under the final 75 laps, Larson remained within sight of the lead by nearly seven-tenths of a second followed by Elliott, Harvick and Byron. Suarez and Reddick maintained sixth and seventh while Wallace battled owner Hamlin for eighth place.

    Just then, debris drew the caution, which jumbled the field and erased Bowman’s lead over teammate Larson. Under caution, a majority of the leaders remained on the track while others like Logano, Custer pitted.

    The race restarted with 70 laps remaining and with teammates Bowman and Larson on the front row. At the start, Bowman maintained the lead followed by Larson and Elliott while Byron retook fourth place over Harvick.

    Under the final 60 laps of the event, on-track battling occurring and with weather threats looming near the track, Bowman remained as the leader under half a second over a hard-charging Larson followed by Elliott, Byron and Harvick. Reddick, Suarez, Hamlin, Wallace and Logano were in the top 10 followed by Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kurt Busch, Custer and Truex.

    With 50 laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead by half a second over teammate Larson with teammates Elliott and Byron remaining in third and fourth. Harvick remained in fifth followed by Reddick, Suarez, Logano, Hamlin and Wallace, who had Blaney challenging him for more.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Bowman was leading by more than a second over teammate Larson while Elliott, Byron and Harvick stabilized themselves in the top five. Reddick, Logano, Suarez, Hamlin and Wallace also stabilized themselves in the top 10.

    With 20 laps remaining, the gap between leader Bowman and runner-up Larson remained to more than a second, with teammate Elliott behind by more than two seconds and teammate Byron trailing by more than seven seconds. Harvick remained in fifth place while Logano overtook Reddick for sixth place. A few laps later, Custer overtook Wallace for 10th place.

    Under the final 10 laps, the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Bowman continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Larson, who continued to lose ground on his teammate for the top spot. Bowman maintained his healthy advantage under the final five laps of the event. 

    With no challengers closing in to his rear bumper, Bowman was able to come back around and claim the checkered flag ahead of his three HMS teammates.

    The Dover victory marked Bowman’s first at the Monster Mile, fourth of his Cup Series career and second of this season as he joined Martin Truex Jr. as the only multi-winners of this year’s Cup season. He also returned the iconic No. 48 car to Victory Lane at Dover for the first time since 2017 made by Jimmie Johnson, who won at Dover 11 times. The 1-2-3-4 finish was a first for HMS and the fourth time done by a NASCAR team.

    “We won Richmond and then had a really rough couple weeks there,” Bowman said on FS1. “[We] Went to some really good race tracks for us and struggled. [I] Told the guys last week, ‘We’re still the same team that did it at Richmond.’ It’s another really good place for us. I’m just so pumped for Ally. It feels right to put the No. 48 back in Victory Lane here after how many races this car has won here. Mr. [Hendrick] is here, I don’t think I’ve won with him here befrore, so that’s really cool. Just so proud of this pit crew. It was a rough off-season for us and a big void to fill…The whole pit crew’s doing a really good job. Thanks to my spotter, Kevin Hamlin, for coaching me there at the end. It was fun racing Kyle [Larson] and glad to get Hendrick Motorsports another win.”

    With the Dover victory and career win No. 267, Hendrick Motorsports is one win away from tying Petty Enterprises for the most victories all-time in the Cup Series. In addition, Chevrolet is one win away from achieving 800 victories in NASCAR’s premier series.

    “I can guarantee you, this is the most nervous I’ve ever been in a race,” Rick Hendrick said. “Great day for the organization. Alex, congratulations to him. This is a sign of the guys working together and bringing good stuff to the track. I don’t think it’ll hit me till tomorrow that we were able to finish 1-2-3-4. That’s pretty hard to do, things can happen, pit stops, tires, anything. That’s a first. We’ll take it. It’s a great day for us.”

    Larson, who led a race-high 263 laps, crossed the finish line in second place, two seconds behind, and for his third runner-up result of the season. 

    “I felt like all of us, HMS guys, were pretty equal, so it was like whoever got out to the lead was gonna be hard to beat,” Larson said. “[Bowman’s] team just really did a good job on that pit stop, gain control of the race and never really had a shot after that. That one restart, I got to his bumper and got him loose, but [Harvick] was coming, so we had to let each other go, but hard to be disappointed with that second. I felt like I did everything I could. We led a lot of laps, won both stages. Good points, but I would’ve liked to have been one spot better…What a day for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. Thanks to everybody at the shop, the engine shop. This is pretty amazing…That’s a pretty special day, for sure.”

    Elliott finished in third place, three-and-a-half seconds behind, as he has yet to win this season. Byron capped off the 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick Motorsports by finishing fourth as he also captured his 11th consecutive top-10 result.

    Logano emerged as the highest-finishing non-Hendrick Motorsports competitor by finishing fifth while Harvick, Hamlin, Reddick, Suarez and Custer finished in the top 10. 

    Wallace claimed his first top-15 finish of this season and for 23XI Racing by finishing 11th ahead of Blaney, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and Chastain. Keselowski finished 16th, Truex came home in 19th and Kyle Busch capped off his long afternoon in 27th. Josh Berry finished 30th in his Cup debut.

    There were 10 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 41 laps. 

    Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 101 points over William Byron and 102 over Martin Truex Jr.

    With the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season stretch halfway complete, 10 competitors (Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, William Byron, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are currently guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs based on winning at least once. Denny Hamlin would also be guaranteed a spot based on leading the regular-season standings. Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick are inside the top-16 cutline to the Playoffs as winless competitors, with Reddick ahead by 17 points over Matt DiBenedetto, 30 over Kurt Busch, 32 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 38 over Ryan Newman, 49 over Bubba Wallace, 56 over Daniel Suarez and 58 over Ross Chastain.

    Results.

    1. Alex Bowman, 98 laps led

    2. Kyle Larson, 263 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    3. Chase Elliott

    4. William Byron, 21 laps led

    5. Joey Logano

    6. Kevin Harvick

    7. Denny Hamlin, two laps led

    8. Tyler Reddick

    9. Daniel Suarez

    10. Cole Custer

    11. Bubba Wallace

    12. Ryan Blaney

    13. Kurt Busch

    14. Austin Dillon

    15. Ross Chastain

    16. Brad Keselowski

    17. Chris Buescher

    18. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    19. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down, 16 laps led

    20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    21. Christopher Bell, four laps down

    22. Erik Jones, four laps down

    23. Ryan Newman, four laps down

    24. Matt DiBenedetto, five laps down

    25. Michael McDowell, five laps down

    26. Corey LaJoie, seven laps down

    27. Kyle Busch, seven laps down

    28. Anthony Alfredo, eight laps down

    29. Quin Houff, 12 laps down

    30. Josh Berry, 12 laps down

    31. Cody Ware, 13 laps down

    32. Garrett Smithley, 17 laps down

    33. James Davison, 18 laps down

    34. Josh Bilicki, 19 laps down

    35. Chase Briscoe, 65 laps down

    36. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Engine

    37. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a trip to Austin, Texas, for the series’ inaugural event at the Circuit of the Americas for the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, May 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Keselowski prevails in overtime for sixth victory at Talladega

    Keselowski prevails in overtime for sixth victory at Talladega

    Brad Keselowski rallied from being involved in an accident following the first stage involving his teammate Joey Logano to add his name as a NASCAR Cup Series winner in 2021 after overtaking Matt DiBenedetto on the final lap before holding off Michael McDowell and William Byron to win the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 25.

    Keselowski’s first victory of the season, which occurred in his 423rd career start, came with a bonus as he became the third competitor in the Cup Series history to win at Talladega six times.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, was scheduled to start on pole position, but he dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. With that, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Richmond Raceway, started on the front row.

    Along with Hamlin, teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell along with Bubba Wallace, B.J. McLeod and Harrison Burton, making his Cup Series debut with Gaunt Brothers Racing, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Cody Ware also started at the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Logano moved from the bottom lane to the outside lane and in front of William Byron to retain the lead. Byron, however, drew himself alongside Logano as he led the first lap by a narrow margin as the field fanned out to two lanes in a pack.

    While Logano and Byron battled for the lead in front of a bevy of cars in a pack, Kyle Larson pitted after reporting temperature and engine issues to his No. 5 Chevrolet. Despite trying to continue while multiple laps down, the engine issues on Larson’s car was enough to terminate his run early.

    By the fifth lap and with the lead group running in a single-file line, Logano was leading followed by teammate Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick and rookie Chase Briscoe. Cole Custer and Chris Buescher were in sixth and seventh followed by Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain.

    By the 10th lap, Logano remained out in front of a three-wide pack battling for positions at the front.

    Two laps later, Wallace moved his No. 23 Door Dash Toyota Camry to the lead followed by Kevin Harvick. Another three laps later, though, Harvick moved to the outside lane and received a push from Brad Keselowski to lead a lap for himself. 

    Entering Turn 1, Harvick moved in front of Wallace for the lead followed by Keselowski while Wallace remained as the first car leading the inside lane. By then, names like Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick and teammate Austin Dillon were in the top 10 along with Kyle Busch, Logano, Kurt Busch and Christopher Bell.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Kyle Busch, who took over the top spot on Lap 22, was the leader followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Logano, Chase Elliott and others.

    Under the competition caution, most of the leaders pitted and Hamlin exited in first followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Bell, Byron and Kurt Busch. During the pit stops, Harrison Burton was assessed a pit road penalty for removing the gas can out of his pit stall. Truex was also penalized for speeding on pit road along with Ryan Preece due to a crew member jumping over the wall too soon.

    Back on the track, a handful of competitors that include rookie Chase Briscoe, Corey LaJoie, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Justin Haley, B.J. McLeod, Timmy Hill and J.J. Yeley remained on the track. They all, though, pitted prior to the restart.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Hamlin retained the lead over teammate Kyle Busch while the field quickly fanned out to three lanes.

    By Lap 35 and with the field still fanned out to three lanes, Hamlin remained in the lead on the outside lane followed by Keselowski while Kyle Busch mounted a challenge in the inside lane with drafting help from Byron. Wallace, meanwhile, was in the middle lane in front of Elliott, but shuffled out of the lead draft after challenging for the top spot earlier.

    The caution returned on Lap 39 due to Joey Gase spinning in Turn 4. Under caution, some like Harvick, Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Matt DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

    When the field restarted on Lap 43, the No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry piloted by Hamlin retained the lead followed by Blaney and the pack.

    By Lap 50, Blaney was leading followed by teammate Logano, Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto and Harvick while Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Byron, Preece and Bubba Wallace were in the top 10. A lap later, though, DiBenedetto stormed to the lead. Another two laps later, Preece moved his No. 37 Chevrolet to the lead. 

    With the laps in the first stage dwindling, a majority of competitors within the lead pack started to establish their run for the top spot held by DiBenedetto. Entering the backstretch and on the final lap of the first stage, however, contact from Stenhouse turned Hamlin into third-place Logano, which sent Logano’s No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang sideways and airborne after being hit by Stenhouse as Logano flipped over and spun in a circle on his roof before flipping back on all four wheels and coming to rest below the apron near Turn 3. Logano emerged uninjured following his accident, though his race concluded after leading 10 laps. In the midst of Logano’s wild ride, teammate Keselowski, Wallace and Stenhouse sustained damage.

    The caution for the wreck concluded the first stage of the race, with DiBenedetto scored as the leader and calming his maiden stage victory in the Cup Series followed by Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin and Byron. Buescher, Bowman, McDowell, Harvick and Bell were running in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the leaders pitted while some like Ryan Newman, Suarez, Kaz Grala, Quin Houff, Yeley, Justin Haley, McLeod and Timmy Hill remained on the track. They all, though, pitted prior to the restart.

    The second stage started on Lap 66 with Chase Elliott and Hamlin on the front row. When the field returned to the tri-oval and the start/finish line, Hamlin was back in the lead.

    By Lap 75 and with the field fanning out to three lanes in a tight pack for the lead, Hamlin was scored as the leader followed by DiBenedetto, Byron, Preece and Chastain while Harvick, Truex, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Bell were in the top 10.

    Nearly 10 laps later, a majority of Chevrolet competitors pitted under green. During the process, Suarez and Chastain were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 90, Hamlin was still out in front followed by DiBenedetto, Truex, Bell and Custer while Blaney, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Buescher were in the top 10. With the field spread out around the superspeedway, names like Elliott, Chastain and Suarez were pinned a lap behind the leaders.

    A few laps later, a majority of the Ford competitors pitted under green. Not long after, the Toyota competitors pitted. Following the stops, Harvick and Buescher were nabbed with pit road speeding penalties. Hamlin, who overshot his pit stall during his stop, was also penalized for speeding on pit road. While serving his penalty, things went from bad to worse for Hamlin, who was busted with another pit road speeding penalty.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 94, Preece emerged as the leader followed by Chevrolet competitors Byron, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Austin Dillon and Erik Jones.

    By Lap 100, Preece continued to lead followed by Byron, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Keselowski while Custer, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Bell were in the top 10. Hamlin, following his pair of pit road speeding penalties, was mired back in 36th place and scored a lap behind the leaders. 

    Four laps later, the caution returned due to fluid on the track that came from Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE with smoke steaming out from Busch’s car. While nursing his car back to pit road, a fire broke out underneath Busch’s car and the 2004 Cup champion took his car to the garage to address an oil cooler issue.

    Under caution, some like Bowman, Truex, Blaney, Reddick, Harvick, Buescher and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track. During the pit stops, Harvick was penalized due to a crew member jumping over the wall too soon.

    When the race restarted on Lap 109, Byron and DiBenedetto battled dead even for the lead, though Byron retained the top spot.

    Prior to Lap 112, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch made contact while battling for the lead exiting Turn 3, where DiBenedetto was trying to block Kyle Busch. Though both competitors dipped below the apron and lost the lead, both prevented their cars from spinning. At the front, Bubba Wallace returned to the lead.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, Wallace continued to lead followed by Keselowski, McDowell, Byron and Blaney as the field continued to battle in two lanes.

    With two laps remaining in the stage, however, a multi-car wreck erupted entering the tri-oval when a bump from teammate Truex sent Hamlin, who was a lap down, bouncing off the outside wall and a chain reaction ensued behind with Truex, Bowman, Elliott and Byron wrecking on the frontstretch. 

    The wreck was enough to end the second stage under caution as Bubba Wallace claimed his first stage victory in the Cup circuit. Keselowski charged his way to second place followed by McDowell, Kyle Busch, Preece, Blaney, Buescher, Stenhouse Bell and Harrison Burton.

    Under the stage break, the majority of the leaders returned to pit road except for Newman, Grala, Yeley, McLeod and Custer. The first competitor to exit pit road in first was Blaney followed by Almirola, Wallace, McDowell, Kyle Busch and Keselowski. Shortly after, Newman, Grala, Yeley, McLeod and Custer pitted.

    Prior to the restart, a majority of competitors returned to pit road to top off on fuel for the final stage.

    With 62 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Blaney received a push from his friend Wallace to retain the top spot over Almirola and McDowell. With Wallace remaining on the inside lane, he was shuffled out of the battle for the lead due to a lack of competitors running on his lane. Meanwhile, Blaney retained the top spot on the outside line and with a bevy of cars behind him.

    Shortly after, Blaney reported debris on his front grille despite leading the race. With Almirola moving his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang to the lead on Lap 131, Blaney was able to tuck behind Almirola’s car and remove the debris from his car.

    With 50 laps remaining, Almirola continued to lead followed by Blaney, McDowell, Keselowski, Chris Buescher, DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Preece, Briscoe and Erik Jones, all of whom were among several competitors running in a single-file lane on the outside lane led by Blaney. Bubba Wallace was in 12th behind Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch was in 14th in front of teammate Bell, Harvick was in 21st followed by Newman and Truex, Elliott was in 25th and Byron was in 27th in front of Harrison Burton. Hamlin was in 34th, two laps behind, while Kurt Busch was in 36th, six laps behind.

    Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Ross Chastain muscled his No. 42 Caregility Chevrolet into the lead with drafting help from teammate Kurt Busch, who was multiple laps behind. Kyle Busch moved into second place followed by teammate Bell while Almirola was shuffled back in fourth place despite leading the outside lane ahead of Blaney and McDowell.

    With 35 laps remaining, the top-30 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. At the front, Chastain continued to lead followed by Kyle Busch and teammate Bell while Harvick mounted a challenge for the top spot on the outside lane.

    Not long after, a wave of competitors led by Chastain reduced their speed on the bottom lane to pit under green. During the process, Stenhouse spun following a bump from Quin Houff and made light contact with the inside wall near the pit road entrance. Despite the incident, the race remained under green. Following the pit stops, Newman was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    Back on the track and with 30 laps remaining, the top-10 positions were filled by Ford competitors led by Harvick. A lap later, another wave of competitors led by Harvick pitted under green. During this process, Newman was penalized a second time for speeding on pit road again.

    With the field cycling through following the pit stops, Christopher Bell emerged as the leader followed by Chastain, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones. Harvick was shuffled back to sixth place followed by teammate Almirola, McDowell, Keselowski and Briscoe. With 26 laps remaining, though, Chastain reassumed the lead while Bell was shuffled back into fifth place.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the top-18 competitors were separated by a second, with Chastain still leading followed by Kyle Busch and Erik Jones, who moved up to the outside lane in front of McDowell as he challenged for second place and more. 

    With 18 laps remaining, Erik Jones muscled his No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead followed by DiBenedetto, Bubba Wallace, Chastain and Keselowski while Kyle Busch was in sixth.

    A lap later, the caution flew due to a single-car incident in Turn 2 involving Quin Houff, an incident that occurred in front of the leaders as the leaders took evasive action to avoid the incident.

    Under caution, some like Jones, DiBenedetto, Custer, Truex, Wallace, Kyle Busch, Reddick, Blaney and Kaz Grala remained on the track while others pitted for fuel to make it to the finish. By then, 27 of the 40-car field were scored on the lead lap.

    With 12 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Jones retained the lead on the inside lane followed by Chastain and Wallace, but DiBenedetto fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Truex. When the field returned to the start/finish line, DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang for the iconic Wood Brothers Racing team emerged with the lead.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, DiBenedetto was leading followed by Truex, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Keselowski, Harvick and Jones. Shortly after, Penske drivers Blaney and Keselowski lined up behind DiBenedetto.

    Behind, Truex, who was running towards the front in the final laps, fell out of the lead pack and pitted due to a flat tire.

    With five laps remaining, DiBenedetto continued to lead followed by Blaney, Keselowski, Harvick and McDowell. Meanwhile, Byron started to mount a challenge on the inside lane with drafting help from Jones, Kyle Busch and Chastain.

    Two laps later and with the field starting to fan out with competitors establishing their run to the front, the caution returned due to a tire carcass spotted on the frontstretch, which came off of Truex’s car after he lost another tire.

    Under caution, some like Kyle Busch and Wallace pitted while the rest led by DiBenedetto remained on the track.

    With the race sent into overtime, the race restarted with DiBenedetto and Blaney on the front row. At the start, DiBenedetto retained the lead through Turns 1 and 2. Through the backstretch, however, Harvick drafted Blaney to the front, but DiBenedetto retained the lead through Turn 3 and the tri-oval as he started the final lap of the race.

    With the field bunched up and fanned out to two lanes entering Turns 1 and 2, Keselowski drew his No. 2 MoneyLion Ford Mustang alongside DiBenedetto and received a push from McDowell and Harvick to take the lead while DiBenedetto had no drafting help on the outside lane.

    Through Turn 3, Keselowski continued to lead followed by McDowell and Harvick while DiBenedetto was split in a three-wide battle with Erik Jones and Byron as the field fanned out to three lanes.

    Entering the tri-oval, Jones spun following contact with Kaz Grala and made contact with the outside wall as the field scattered to avoid him. With Chastain also spinning coming to the start/finish line, McDowell made a move to the outside of Keselowski, but it was not enough as Keselowski managed to fend off McDowell and a hard-charging Byron to cross the finish line with the lead and the victory, having led only the final lap of the race.

    With his first victory of the 2021 season and the 35th of his Cup career, Keselowski tied Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon for the second-most victories at Talladega (six). In addition, he became the third Team Penske competitor and the ninth different competitor to record a win through the first 10 Cup races of this season.

    “Man, what an awesome day today to bring the MoneyLion Ford Mustang into Victory Lane,” Keselowski said. “The whole race I had a couple opportunities to take the lead, but I just kept thinking, ‘Man, keep your car in one piece.’ We’ve been so close here and it just didn’t seem to want to come together here the last few years and I’ve been on kind of a four-year drought here, but it’s nice to get number six. I would have never dreamed I’d tie Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. here. That’s something. Those guys are really legends. I’m just really proud of my team. We had an accident there early and they recovered and got it fixed up to where I could keep running…That’s pretty cool.”

    Behind Keselowski, William Byron edged Michael McDowell by 0.001 seconds to claim the runner-up spot. The third-place finish marked McDowell’s second consecutive top-five result on a superspeedway venue, which also comes after he won this year’s Daytona 500.

    “I felt like it was pretty close,” McDowell said. “I am just so thankful to everybody at this Front Row Motorsports team. We have fast superspeedway cars. This Ford Mustang was fast. It has been a great season for us. I really felt like I was in a good spot again working with Brad and drug back off of him coming off of Turn 4. I thought I would have the run, but just didn’t suck him down enough. It was a great run and I am glad there is another Ford Mustang in Victory Lane. I am thankful to all our partners. It has been a great year. To get a top-five and to be running in the top-10 and have a win says a lot for this team and [team owner] Bob Jenkins for giving me the opportunity.”

    Harvick finished fourth followed by Matt DiBenedetto, who led 28 laps and was in position to claim his first Cup career victory. While he did not leave Talladega as a winner, DiBenedetto was still smiling as he recorded his first top-five result of the season.

    “It’s tough, but it’s just all so circumstantial,” DiBenedetto said. “We talked about it a lot before the race and it’s tough. Our day will come. I’m just lucky to drive this thing and have the support from everybody. The fans, they are so awesome. Driving for the Wood Brothers is really a dream come true. Gosh, it’s hard to come so close to so many of these things. The Fords are so fast. They believe in me, the whole Ford camp. They do an excellent job. The Mustangs are great…Our day will come. We’ll get there. I just appreciate the support from everybody.

    Kaz Grala recorded an impressive sixth-place result in his third Cup career start while Reddick, teammate Austin Dillon, Blaney and Custer finished in the top 10.

    Rookies Chase Briscoe and Anthony Alfredo finished 11th and 12th, Chastain finished 16th after pounding the inside wall head-on while sliding across the finish line, Wallace finished 19th behind JGR’s Bell and Kyle Busch and Harrison Burton finished 20th in his Cup debut. Erik Jones settled in 27th following his wreck on the final lap.

    There were 35 lead changes for 17 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 34 laps. 

    Despite his issues at Talladega, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 87 points over teammate Truex, 93 over Logano, 95 over Byron and 100 over Blaney.

    Results.

    1. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

    2. William Byron, 12 laps led

    3. Michael McDowell

    4. Kevin Harvick, 12 laps led

    5. Matt DiBenedetto, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    6. Kaz Grala

    7. Tyler Reddick

    8. Austin Dillon

    9. Ryan Blaney, 11 laps led

    10. Cole Custer

    11. Chase Briscoe, one lap led

    12. Anthony Alfredo

    13. Ryan Newman, two laps led

    14. Ryan Preece, nine laps led

    15. Aric Almirola, 16 laps led

    16. Ross Chastain, 12 laps led

    17. Christopher Bell, two laps led

    18. Kyle Busch, six laps led

    19. Bubba Wallace, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    20. Harrison Burton

    21. Chris Buescher

    22. Corey LaJoie

    23. Daniel Suarez

    24. Chase Elliott, three laps led

    25. B.J. McLeod

    26. J.J. Yeley

    27. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident, seven laps led

    28. Cody Ware, one lap down

    29. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    30. Justin Haley, one lap down

    31. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down 

    32. Denny Hamlin, three laps down, 43 laps led

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., five laps down

    34. Joey Gase, five laps down

    35. Kurt Busch, six laps down

    36. Josh Bilicki, 11 laps down

    37. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

    38. Alex Bowman – OUT, Dvp

    39. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led

    40. Kyle Larson – OUT, Engine

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a trip to the midwest at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, May 2, with the event to occur at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Logano conquers inaugural Bristol Dirt Course

    Logano conquers inaugural Bristol Dirt Course

    In the first NASCAR Cup Series-sanctioned race on the dirt in half a century, Joey Logano made a late charge to the front and prevailed on an overtime restart to win the inaugural Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Monday, March 29.

    Qualifying was initially set to occur on Saturday, March 27, featuring four 15-lap qualifying heat events and the starting lineup was based on a formula weighing the results and position gained during each heat. The qualifying heats, however, were cancelled due to rain, and the starting lineup was determined by qualifying metrics, based on race/points results and the fastest lap from the previous Cup race. 

    Kyle Larson was awarded the pole position based on the metric formula, but he started at the rear of the field due to an engine change. The move propelled Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, to the front row along with Ryan Blaney, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Along with Larson, Matt DiBenedetto and Michael McDowell dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    Delayed by weather and steady rain, the race was delayed from starting on Sunday, March 28, as the main event commenced on Monday, March 29. When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin launched his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry ahead with an early advantage on the outside lane as he led the first lap ahead of teammate Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney.

    The following lap, Kyle Busch powered his No. 18 M&M’s Messages Toyota Camry to the lead. Shortly after, teammate Martin Truex Jr., winner of the Truck Series event at the Bristol Dirt Course, moved into second place as Hamlin dropped to third place. Behind, Blaney was in fourth followed by Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman and William Byron.

    On the ninth lap, Truex emerged as the new leader of the event while Kyle Busch, who fell off the pace, pitted due to an overheating issue.

    By Lap 15 and with the dirt kicking up on the cars through every turn, Truex was leading by more than a second over Blaney, who was locked in a battle with the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Byron. Hamlin and Bowman were in the top five followed by Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, one of NASCAR’s dirt specialists who started at the rear of the field due to an engine change, was up into 18th place.

    Through the first 30 laps of the event, Truex continued to lead as he was ahead by two seconds over Blaney. Teammates Bowman and Byron battled for third and fourth while Christopher Bell, one of the favorites as a dirt racing specialist, moved his No. 20 IRWIN Toyota Camry into fifth place. By then, Larson was in 12th. Kyle Busch, on the other hand, was in 38th place and trapped two laps behind the leaders.

    Not long after, Bowman slipped his way into the runner-up spot. In addition, Byron slipped his way on the inside lane in the dirt to take over third place, thus dropping Blaney to fourth. 

    On Lap 41, the first caution of the NASCAR Cup Series’ dirt event at Bristol flew due to a vicious multi-car wreck in the backstretch that involved Corey LaJoie, Stewart Friesen, Shane Golobic, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Aric Almirola, whose No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang sustained heavy damage after being hit three different times. The wreck, which occurred in front of the leaders, was enough for NASCAR to display the red flag, with the event being stopped for six and a half minutes.

    When the red flag was lifted and the race returned to racing under green on Lap 45, Truex retained the lead following a strong restart. Teammate Bell moved up into second place followed by teammate Hamlin while Bowman fell back to fourth ahead of Ryan Newman and Byron. Larson, meanwhile, moved up to seventh.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when contact from Byron sent Newman around in the backstretch. Fortunately, the field dodged Newman as he continued without any serious damage. In the midst of Newman’s incident, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and rookie Chase Briscoe made contact with one another, where Harvick pinned Briscoe’s car against the outside wall and resulted with both competitors sustaining damage. Cody Ware was also involved in a separate incident with his car coming to a rest towards the backstretch’s inside wall.

    The incident was enough to send the field to the first scheduled competition caution on Lap 50. Under the competition caution, the field pitted and the teams were placed on a three-minute clock to work on the adjustments of the cars.

    When the field returned to the track and the race returned to green on Lap 51, Truex retained the lead followed by teammate Bell and Bowman. Larson charged up to fourth place followed by Hamlin and Daniel Suarez.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Bell ran up the track in Turn 1 and entering the backstretch, got loose and spun in the dirt, collecting Larson and Ross Chastain, who ran into Larson’s No. 5 Freightliner Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE after having his path blocked. Teammates Harvick and Briscoe also sustained damage along with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Under caution, Larson drove his damaged car into the rear bumper of Bell’s car to express his displeasure as both competitors pitted for heavy damage on both of their cars. Bell and Chastain were knocked out of the race following the incident while Larson continued, though he dropped off the lead lap.

    When the race restarted on Lap 59, Truex retained the lead following a strong start while Suarez moved up into second place. Byron and Blaney were in third and fourth followed by Stenhouse and Hamlin. Chase Elliott and Logano were in seventh and eighth followed by Chris Buescher. Tyler Reddick, Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Newman

    By Lap 70, the No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry driven by Truex remained as the leader by nearly a second over Suarez while Byron, Blaney and Hamlin continued to run in the top five. Logano was in sixth while Elliott and Bubba Wallace battled for seventh. Stenhouse and Newman were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who returned to the lead lap under the first competition caution, was in 17th behind brother Kurt Busch.

    Ten laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to less than two seconds over the No. 99 Camping World Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Suarez while third-place Byron was trailing by less than three seconds. Hamlin was in fourth ahead of Team Penske’s Blaney and Logano while Wallace was in seventh ahead of Elliott. Newman and Stenhouse continued to run in the top 10 and just ahead of Buescher, Reddick, Ryan Preece, Erik Jones and Bowman. The Busch brothers were in 17th and 18th, Harvick was in 20th, Brad Keselowski was in 23rd in between Michael McDowell and Stewart Friesen and Briscoe was in 25th in front of Austin Dillon.

    Through the first 90 laps of the event, Truex’s advantage increased to more than two seconds over Suarez, with Byron closing in on Suarez’s rear bumper for the runner-up spot. 

    With early action igniting in the inaugural Cup Bristol dirt event, Truex was able to cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 100 and become the ninth different competitor to record a stage victory through the first seven Cup events of the 2021 season. Byron crossed the start/finish line in second place followed by Hamlin, Suarez and Blaney. Logano, Wallace, Newman, Stenhouse and Buescher were scored in the top 10. By then, 24 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with names like Briscoe and Austin Dillon pinned a lap behind. Larson, meanwhile, was in 30th, two laps behind the leaders.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road as the teams were given three minutes to service the cars.

    The second stage started on Lap 101 with Truex and Byron on the front row. At the start, Truex retained the lead and Suarez reassumed second place on the outside of Byron while Logano made a charge for fourth place against Hamlin. Newman, following his early spin, charged his way back into sixth place ahead of Wallace and Blaney as the dirt was kicking up around the track in the midst of the competitive racing.

    By Lap 110, Truex was ahead by nearly a second over Suarez while Byron, Logano and Hamlin were in the top five. Newman, Wallace, Blaney, Buescher and Chase Elliott were in the top 10 followed by Reddick, Erik Jones, Bowman, Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch.

    With the field reaching the halfway point on Lap 125, Truex remained in command of the field by less than a second over Suarez while third-place Byron was trailing by less than two seconds. Logano continued to run in fourth place followed by Hamlin and Newman.

    Not long after, Suarez started to close in on Truex’s rear bumper for the lead as he was behind by three-tenths of a second. Byron also started to close in with his deficit being a second behind.

    On Lap 134, Suarez, who came into the main event with little dirt racing experience and in his seventh race with the newly formed Trackhouse Racing Team, put the bumper on Truex to move Truex out of the racing groove in Turn 3 and assume the lead in Turn 4. Not long after, Byron moved into second place while Truex dropped back to third place ahead of Logano and Newman.

    By Lap 140, Suarez was ahead by a narrow margin over Byron while Truex continued to retain third place over Logano and Newman.

    When the second competition caution flew on Lap 150, Suarez remained as the leader over Byron, Truex, Logano and Newman. 

    Under the second competition caution, the leaders returned to pit road for tires and service.

    When the race restarted on Lap 152, Suarez and Byron battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns before Suarez prevailed on the outside lane. Not long after, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch that started when in the midst of the dust, Kyle Busch ran into Blaney’s No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang, turning him and stacking up the oncoming competitors behind. The incident also involved Austin Dillon, Bowman, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece, Cody Ware, J.J. Yeley and Larson.

    The race restarted on Lap 158, and Suarez retained the lead following a strong start. Behind, Logano was able to take over second place while Byron and Truex battled for third place. Two laps later, however, the caution returned due to a single-car incident on the frontstretch involving Briscoe, who was turned by Keselowski.

    Following the recent wrecks and the rising dust amid the restarts, NASCAR announced that the competitors will restart in a single-file line, not double lanes, for the remainder of the race.

    When the race restarted on Lap 169, Logano challenged Suarez for the lead, but Suarez was able to retain the top spot. Behind, Truex was in third followed by teammate Hamlin, Byron, Newman, Elliott, Wallace, Reddick and Stenhouse.

    By Lap 180, Suarez remained as the leader by half a second over Logano with Truex, teammate Hamlin and Byron remaining in the top five. 

    Six laps later, the caution flew due to an incident involving Cody Ware and J.J. Yeley in Turn 3.

    On Lap 190, the race restarted and Suarez continued to lead, though Logano mounted another challenge for the lead. The following lap, Logano, following a brief battle with Suarez, emerged with a narrow advantage, though Suarez refused to give in.

    By Lap 195, Logano was leading by nearly half a second over Suarez while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Truex battled for third place. 

    Following his late surge to the front, Logano was able to come back around and win the second stage on Lap 200. Suarez settled in second place followed by Hamlin, teammate Truex and Newman while Stenhouse, Wallace, Erik Jones, Reddick and Elliott were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road for adjustments. In addition, the teams were given approximately 10 minutes to work on the cars to allow track officials to work on the track in preparation for the final stage.

    With 48 laps remaining, the final stage started with Logano remaining as the leader. At the start, Hamlin jumped to the outside lane to take the runner-up spot over Suarez. He then went to work on Logano for the lead while Truex started to close in on Suarez for third place. 

    Five laps later, Hamlin drew himself alongside Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, with both competitors locked in a heated battle for the lead in the dirt. Following a lengthy side-by-side battle, Logano retained the lead by a narrow margin over Hamlin.

    While Logano and Hamlin battled for the lead, Suarez remained in third place ahead of Truex, Newman and Tyler Reddick. Not long after, Reddick moved into the top five after overtaking Newman’s No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang.

    Under the final 35 laps of the event, Wallace’s hopes for a top-10 result evaporated when contact from Stenhouse sent Wallace around and cut the left-rear tire on Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry. He was able to limp back to pit road and have the tire changed.

    With 30 laps remaining and the dirt continuing to kick up, Logano extended his advantage to under half a second over Hamlin with third-place Suarez trailing by three seconds. Truex and Reddick were in the top five followed by Newman, Stenhouse, Byron, teammate Elliott and Jones. By then, the leaders were mired in heavy, lapped traffic.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Logano remained as the leader, but by less than half a second over Hamlin. Behind, Truex moved into third place over Suarez.

    Five laps later, Logano continued to lead by nearly half a second over Hamlin, with Logano starting to catch Bowman, Briscoe and Austin Dillon to lap them.

    With 10 laps remaining, Logano was still leading by a reasonable margin over Hamlin. Meanwhile, Truex was trailing the two leaders by less than three seconds.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Logano extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Hamlin, who was still navigating his way through lapped traffic.

    Just then, the caution flew due to Mike Marlar spinning on the frontstretch due to a flat tire. The caution all but evaporated Logano’s advantage of more than three seconds over Hamlin, who was briefly overtaken by teammate Truex after Hamlin made contact with the outside wall while trying to close back in on Logano. By then, Stenhouse was in fourth followed by Suarez, Reddick, Newman, Byron, Jones and Blaney.

    The race restarted in overtime. At the start, Logano took off with the lead while Stenhouse mounted a challenge on Hamlin to take over the runner-up spot. Truex, meanwhile, fell off the pace after losing a tire.

    When the final lap initiated, Logano was still leading while Stenhouse was able to overtake Hamlin for the runner-up spot.

    With no challengers mounting close behind, Logano, who came into the event with little dirt experience, was able to come back around and claim the checkered flag ahead of Stenhouse.

    By winning the first stock car event on the Bristol Dirt Course, Logano became the first competitor to win a Cup event on dirt since Richard Petty made the last accomplishment at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in September 1970. Logano also became the seventh different winner through the first seven Cup events of the 2021 season as he also collected his 27th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series.

    “Man, it’s incredible!” Logano exclaimed on FOX. “How about Bristol on dirt, guys?! This is incredible! Unbelievable racetrack! Great job by everybody that prepped the track. Obviously, a lot of work over here the last few days. We did a lot of work in the dirt department here the last few weeks…I was getting nervous. There were so many first-time winners and different winners than there has typically been. I said, ‘We’ve got to get a win to make sure we get in the Playoffs,’ so it’s amazing to get this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang into victory lane at Bristol. There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting dirt on it and being the first to do it is really special.”

    “Everyone at Team Penske really put together some really good cars to come here and wing it,” Logano added. “That’s what this is about. Nobody really knew what to put in the car and we were able to adjust the right way throughout practice and get into victory lane. It’s great.”

    Stenhouse crossed the finish line in an impressive second-place result and for his first top-five result in nearly a year followed by Hamlin, who secured his sixth top-five result of this season. Behind, Suarez notched a strong fourth-place result for his first top-five result since November 2019 and for a career-best result for the newly formed Trackhouse Racing Team. Newman finished in fifth place for his first top-five result since October 2019. 

    “Yeah, our Kroger Camaro was really good on the long run; we needed a little bit more NOS Energy Drink for the restarts,” Stenhouse said. “I just couldn’t get going, couldn’t get the turn in the race car that we needed. But, we made a ton of adjustments and we kind of went back and forth overnight of what we were going to do…Man, we had a blast. At the start of the race, I was terrible with the green race track and a little bit of moisture in it. But as it blew off, we got back to where we were in practice and felt really good with it. A good way to go into the off week. I’m going to go run my sprint car with my dad this weekend. Hope everyone has a good Easter.”

    “I thought I could, on that last restart, run the top-end hard, but they didn’t prep it in-between cautions like they did before, so it was just marbles up there,” Hamlin said. “I’m proud of this whole FedEx Camry team. Man, I thought I had a shot there. I cut t[Logano] too many breaks there when he was cutting us off, but at the end of the day it looked like he had a little bit better car in the long run. I’m proud of this whole team. We are third-best again.”

    “To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing,” Suarez said. “But, we’re having fun. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing did an amazing job. This is the second week in a row that we’ve had very fast race cars capable of running in the fop-five, top-10. I couldn’t be more proud of all these guys [like] Justin Marks, Ty Norris, and everyone that helps in this program…Everyone has been a huge support of myself. It just feels so good to be back. It’s been a little bit difficult the last year, and it feels so good to be able to race with these guys and to have some fun up front. Hopefully, our time will come soon.”

    Byron, Reddick, Blaney, Jones and Elliott finished in the top 10.

    Harvick finished 15th, Kyle Busch finished 17th behind brother Kurt, Truex dropped all the way back to 19th after leading a race-high 126 laps, Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie in 20th, Stewart Friesen finished 23rd in his Cup debut, Wallace settled in 27th and Larson ended his long run in 29th.

    Following an eventful, successful first-year run of the NASCAR Bristol Dirt Course event, NASCAR announced that the event will return in Spring 2022.

    There were five lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 39 laps. 

    Following the first seven NASCAR Cup Series races of the 2021 season, Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 58 points over Logano, 80 over Truex, 85 over Larson and 95 over Keselowski.

    Results.

    1. Joey Logano, 61 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    3. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    4. Daniel Suarez, 58 laps led

    5. Ryan Newman

    6. William Byron

    7. Tyler Reddick

    8. Ryan Blaney 

    9. Erik Jones

    10. Chase Elliott

    11. Brad Keselowski

    12. Michael McDowell

    13. Matt DiBenedetto

    14. Chris Buescher

    15. Kevin Harvick

    16. Kurt Busch

    17. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

    18. Ryan Preece

    19. Martin Truex Jr., 126 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    20. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

    21. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    22. Alex Bowman, one lap down

    23. Stewart Friesen, one lap down

    24. Cole Custer, one lap down

    25. Quin Houff, one lap down

    26. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    27. Bubba Wallace, two laps down

    28. J.J. Yeley, four laps down

    29. Kyle Larson, five laps down

    30. Josh Bilicki, six laps down

    31. Mike Marlar – OUT, Accident

    32. Cody Ware, 11 laps down

    33. Chris Windom – OUT, Engine

    34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

    35. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

    36. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    37. Shane Golobic – OUT, Accident

    38. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    39. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will enter a one-week Easter break before returning at Martinsville Speedway in Henry County, Ridgeway, Virginia, for the series’ first Saturday night race of the season on April 10. The event is slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Blaney perseveres late for a Cup victory at Atlanta

    Blaney perseveres late for a Cup victory at Atlanta

    In a late turn of events, Ryan Blaney overtook a dominating Kyle Larson and surged ahead under the final 10 laps to win the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 21, and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2021 season.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Martin Truex Jr., Hamlin’s teammate and winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Phoenix Raceway.

    Prior to the race, Chase Elliott and Timmy Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to multiple pre-race inspection failures. For Hill, he was also assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road and his car chief was ejected due to his car failing pre-race inspection three times. Quin Houff also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. 

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin pulled away with a strong start followed by Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick while Truex fell back to fourth. Behind, the field fanned out through two lanes.

    Following the first lap, Hamlin was out in front while Harvick and Logano battled for the runner-up spot. Through Turn 2, Truex gained a run on both Harvick and Logano, but Harvick blocked and stalled Truex’s momentum. 

    Through the first five laps of the event, Hamlin continued to lead by a narrow margin over Harvick with Logano trailing by less than half a second. Kyle Larson, making his 350th NASCAR national touring series start and who started sixth, moved up to fourth followed by teammate William Byron. Truex, meanwhile, fell back to sixth while Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were in the top 10.

    Over the next two laps, Larson advanced to third place over Logano, who was also pressured by Byron, who started ninth, for position. Behind, Truex was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon, all of whom were locked in a heated battle for position.

    By Lap 10, Hamlin was ahead by half a second over Larson, who continued to muscle his way to the front with Harvick behind by a second. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick made an unscheduled pit stop after making early contact with the outside wall. 

    While Hamlin and Larson pulled away from the field and by nearly two seconds over third-place Harvick, teammates Logano and Ryan Blaney battled for fifth place, Kyle Busch, winner of the Truck Series event at Atlanta and who started 19th, moved up into seventh place while Truex continued to lose positions. By Lap 16, he was in 10th after being overtaken by the Busch brothers and Austin Dillon.

    By Lap 20, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Larson with Harvick trailing by more than three seconds. Byron and Blaney, who started 10th, were in the top five followed by Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Logano, Austin Dillon and Truex. Brad Keselowski, meanwhile, was back in 12th behind Alex Bowman, who was making his 250th NASCAR national touring series start. Chase Elliott, on the other hand, was up in 16th after starting at the rear of the field.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Hamlin remained in the lead by more than half a second over Larson with Harvick, Blaney and Kyle Busch in the top five, thus dropping Byron to sixth place. By then, 31 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap. 

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Larson emerged with the lead over Hamlin followed by Harvick, Blaney and Kyle Busch. Following the pit stops, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Corey LaJoie were sent to the rear of the field after both were busted for speeding on pit road.

    Prior to the restart, Harvick returned to pit road after his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang suffered a flat left-rear tire.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Larson and Hamlin were locked in a heated battle for the lead through the first two turns. Hamlin received a push from Blaney to squeak ahead on the outside lane entering Turn 3, but Larson fought back on the inside lane to retain the lead when the field returned to the start/finish line.

    Shortly after, Blaney overtook Hamlin for second, who was also pressured by Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While Kurt Busch and Hamlin battled for third place, Kyle Busch battled Logano for fifth place. 

    By Lap 35, Larson continued to lead by nearly half a second over Blaney. Behind, Kurt Bush and Hamlin continued to battle for third place.

    Five laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Blaney with Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch in the top five. Bowman, teammate Byron, Logano, Truex and Keselowski were in the top 10. By then, Elliott was up in 11th ahead of Matt DiBenedetto, Cole Custer, teammate Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman. Christopher Bell was in 16th, Austin Dillon was back in 18th, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez were in 21st and 22nd ahead of Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric, making his second Cup career start, was in 24th ahead of Erik Jones. Rookies Chase Briscoe and Anthony Alfredo were in 28th and 29th while Harvick was back in 32nd place, the final car on the lead lap. Tyler Reddick was in 33rd, two laps behind the leaders.

    By Lap 50, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Larson was out in front of the field and by more than two seconds over Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry. Blaney, racing in the BODYARMOR Ford Mustang, continued to run in third place ahead of a charging No. 18 M&M’s Messages Toyota Camry driven by Kyle Busch. Brother Kurt was in fifth ahead of Bowman, Truex, Byron, Keselowski and Elliott.

    Ten laps later, Larson continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by over three seconds over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch trailing in third place by less than four seconds. While Blaney and Kurt Busch continued to run in the top five, Elliott moved up to eighth place ahead of teammate Byron and Keselowski.

    Another four laps later, pit stops under green commenced as Hamlin pitted followed by race leader Larson, DiBenedetto, Almirola, Blaney, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Logano, Harvick, Keselowski, Truex, Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Byron, Bubba Wallace and others. 

    By Lap 67 and with most of the leaders pitting under green, Larson was back out in front by more than a second over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch retaining third place. Meanwhile, Harvick, who was in 27th, was able to remain ahead of leader Larson and on the lead lap. 

    Through the first 75 laps of the event and with the leaders mired around lapped traffic, Larson was the leader by more than three seconds over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch behind by four seconds. Blaney was in fourth while Bowman, racing in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, moved up to fifth place. By then, Harvick, who tried to remain in front of leader Larson, was lapped, thus making Austin Cindric the final competitor on the lead lap.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson remained as the leader by six seconds over Kyle Busch, who earlier overtook teammate Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Blaney also moved up to third place while Hamlin and Kurt Busch were in the top five. Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Keselowski and Byron rounded out the top 10.

    By Lap 100 and in the final laps of the first stage, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than seven seconds over Kyle Busch with Blaney trailing by more than nine seconds, Kurt Busch by nearly 11 seconds, Hamlin by more than 12 seconds and Bowman by more than 13 seconds.

    With a fast car in the early stages of the event, Larson was able to cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 105 and with a seven-second advantage over Kyle Busch. Blaney settled in third followed by Kurt Busch and Hamlin while Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Chris Buescher and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with names like Aric Almirola, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, McDowell, Harvick, Cindric, Erik Jones and Briscoe pinned a lap behind.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road with the top spot followed by Kyle Busch, Blaney, Elliott, teammate Bowman and Kurt Busch. Following the pit stops, Chastain was penalized for an uncontrolled tire.

    The second stage started on Lap 112 with the two Kyles on the front row. At the start, Larson pulled away on the inside lane while Kyle Busch struggled to go on the outside lane and caused a stack up with Elliott running into the rear bumper of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota. Behind, Kurt Busch, who was behind Elliott, was bumped and turned by Hamlin as Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet made hard contact against the outside wall entering Turn 1. Though Busch limped his car back to pit road, the damage was enough to end his strong run early.

    Under caution, some like Hamlin, Logano, Suarez and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    The race restarted on Lap 118 with teammates Larson and Byron on the front row. At the start, Blaney muscled his way into the lead over the Hendrick teammates. While Blaney led himself a lap, Larson, with a strong, fast car, was able to reassume the advantage by Lap 120. Behind, Keselowski sustained damage to his fender and hood as a result of running into the back of Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry.

    By Lap 130, Larson was leading by nearly three seconds over Blaney, who had Bowman closing in for position. DiBenedetto and Byron were in the top five followed by Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Buescher, Elliott and Stenhouse.

    Twenty laps later, Larson increased his advantage to six seconds over Blaney. By then, Suarez was scored in the top 10 as he was in 10th place behind Buescher.

    Nearing the Lap 160 mark, a second round of pit stops under green occurred as the leaders pitted. When the field cycled through following the pit stops and the race reaching the halfway mark, Larson was back out in front by more than five seconds over teammate Bowman with Blaney, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch in the top five.

    By Lap 175, Larson continued to lead by more than seven seconds over teammate Bowman with Blaney trailing by more than eight seconds. DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch continued to run in the top five followed by Byron, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Buescher and Truex. Suarez, Elliott and Logano were 11th, 14th and 15th while Wallace was in 17th. Harvick, meanwhile, was mired back in 20th, two laps behind the leaders, while Keselowski was in 29th, three laps behind.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than nine seconds over teammate Bowman as he continued to set sail with a fast car.

    By Lap 200 and in the final laps of the second stage, Larson was leading by nearly 11 seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than 12 seconds.

    With no challengers lurking close behind, Larson was able to cruise to the second stage victory on Lap 210. Blaney crossed the line in second place, trailing by less than eight seconds, followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron while DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Hamlin and Suarez settled in the top 10 and with stage points. By then, 14 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap. While Ryan Newman and Elliott remained on the lead lap at the time of caution, names like Logano, Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, Almirola, McDowell, Harvick, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Cindric, Briscoe, Jones, Reddick and Keselowski were pinned at least a lap behind. Logano, though, received the free pass to return on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road with the lead by a narrow nose over Blaney followed by Bowman, teammate Byron, Kyle Busch and DiBenedetto.

    With 108 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with teammates Larson and Byron on the front row. At the start, Larson retained the lead followed by Blaney, Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron while Hamlin made a run alongside DiBenedetto and Suarez behind.

    Two laps later, the caution returned due to fluid on the track when smoke started billowing out of Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entering Turn 4. Though Elliott was able to limp his car back to his pit stall, his crew ended up taking the car to the garage as Elliott’s race came to an end at his home track due to a mechanical failure.

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and this time, Blaney exited the pits with the lead over Larson followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron. Following the pit stops, however, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road.

    Prior to the restart, 21 competitor opted for the wave around, with five returning on the lead lap, including Harvick. With than, 20 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap.

    With 101 laps remaining, the race restarted with Blaney and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Blaney retained the lead while Larson and Hamlin battled for the runner-up spot along with DiBenedetto.

    Six laps later, Blaney was the leader by less than two-tenths of a second over Larson, who worked his way back into the runner-up spot, while Hamlin, Bowman and DiBenedetto were in the top five.

    With 90 laps remaining, Blaney stabilized his advantage by four-tenths of a second over Larson with Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon in the top five. By then, names like DiBenedetto, Suarez, Buescher, Newman and Truex were in the top 10 while Byron, Kyle Busch, Logano and Harvick were in 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th.

    Two laps later, Larson reassumed the lead over Blaney, who had debris on the front grille of his car.

    With 75 laps remaining, Larson was out in front by more than two seconds over Blaney while Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five. By then, Suarez, in his sixth race with the newly formed Trackhouse Racing Team, moved up to sixth place ahead of Buescher and DiBenedetto. Behind, Truex and Byron were in the top 10 followed by Kyle Busch.

    While Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing Team were in sixth, Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing were inside the top 15. B.J. McLeod, driving for the newly formed Live Fast Motorsports, was in 34th.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to a second over Blaney, with the latter starting to decrease the deficit to himself and the leader. Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon remained in the top five while Suarez, Buescher, DiBenedetto, Truex and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. Byron fell back to 11th followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Wallace, Harvick, Newman and Logano.

    A lap later, another round of pit stops under green occurred, starting with Truex pitting followed by others, with the teams filling the cars with enough fuel to get to the finish. During the pit stops, rookie Anthony Alfredo spun on pit road and nearly collided against Almirola and his pit crew during Almirola’s service. Despite the incident, the race continued under green.

    With 50 laps remaining and the pit stops completed, Larson was back out in front by more than two seconds over Blaney. Bowman was in third followed by Hamlin and Austin Dillon. Teammates Truex and Kyle Busch were in sixth and seventh followed by Byron, Buescher and DiBenedetto. Suarez, who was running in the top 10, was back in 19th, a lap down, after speeding while exiting pit road.

    Ten laps later, Larson continued to dominate with an advantage of three seconds over Blaney. Bowman trailed by less than seven seconds in third place while Hamlin and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, moved up to sixth place over teammate Truex while Byron, Buescher and DiBenedetto continued to run in the top 10.

    With 25 laps remaining and the field reaching the Lap 300 mark, Larson was still leading by more than two seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than eight seconds and fourth-place Hamlin trailing by less than 10 seconds. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, was in fifth place, trailing the lead by less than 15 seconds, following an earlier pass on Austin Dillon.

    Five laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than nine seconds. By then, 15 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with Logano running in 15th place while Wallace was lapped in 16th place.

    With the laps winding down and the race transitioning to night conditions, Blaney started to narrow the deficit between himself and Larson, with the former behind by less than a second.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by four-tenths of a second over Blaney, who continued to close on Larson with a fast car. By then, Larson was mired behind Logano, who was trying to remain on the lead lap, and was having his large advantage slipping away.

    Two laps later, Blaney emerged with the lead in Turn 4 following a battle with Larson and following his late surge for the lead. Shortly after, he pulled away with a four-tenths of a second advantage over Larson, with both overtaking Logano and putting him a lap behind.

    Shortly after, Corey LaJoie made contact with the wall, but the race remained under green as LaJoie limped back to pit road.

    With five laps remaining, Blaney pulled away by more than a second over Larson with Bowman trailing by less than nine seconds.

    Not long after and when the final race started, Blaney continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Larson. With no challengers mounting behind, Blaney was able to come back around following his late surge and grab the checkered flag by two seconds over Larson.

    With his victory, Blaney became the sixth different winner through the first six races of the 2021 season as he also claimed his fifth Cup career victory and first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in June 2020. He also recorded the first Cup victory of the season for Team Penske.

    “Gosh, we had a great long run car all day,” Blaney said on FOX. “It took us a little bit to get going. I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it and it looked like Kyle was getting loose and I’m happy it worked in our favor that there was a couple long runs at the end that kind of let us get there. He got slowed up behind some lap traffic, but I’m really proud of this whole BodyArmor, Menards No. 12 group. We’ve been good this year and had some bad breaks and it’s nice to close out a race like that. That was awesome.”

    Larson, who led a race-high 269 of 325 laps, finished in second place for the second time at Atlanta and for his third top-five result in four races this season.

    “Yeah, I don’t know,” Larson said. “I think [Blaney] just got a lot better there that last stage and it kind of changed up my flow of the race a little bit. I could get out to such a big lead and then I could take care of my stuff; and run the bottom, where it was maybe slower, but I could take care of my tires. He was fast there and I just wanted to maintain that gap that I had, so I had to run in the faster part of the racetrack and just use my stuff up. And then, he was just a lot better than me there late in the run. Hate to lead a lot of laps and lose, but we had a really good car that we brought to the track. Our HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast there for a long time. I don’t really know; I don’t know if we got that much worse or he just got way better and, like I said, it just kind of changed up the flow of my race.”

    Bowman finished in third place for his first top-five result of the season while teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished in the top five.

    Austin Dillon, Buescher, Byron, Truex and Harvick finished in the top 10 on the track. 

    DiBenedetto finished 11th, Logano settled in 15th ahead of Wallace and Suarez, Cindric finished 22nd in his second Cup career start, Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie in 23rd and Keselowski ended his run in 28th.

    There were 11 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 25 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 43 points over Larson, 63 over Logano, 65 over Truex, 71 over Keselowski and 74 over Harvick.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Blaney, 25 laps led

    2. Kyle Larson, 269 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner

    3. Alex Bowman

    4. Denny Hamlin, 27 laps led

    5. Kyle Busch

    6. Austin Dillon

    7. Chris Buescher

    8. William Byron, two laps led

    9. Martin Truex Jr. 

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Matt DiBenedetto

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    13. Ryan Newman

    14. Ross Chastain

    15. Joey Logano, one lap down

    16. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    17. Daniel Suarez, one lap down, one lap led

    18. Cole Custer, one lap down

    19. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    20. Aric Almirola, one lap down

    21. Christopher Bell, two laps down

    22. Austin Cindric, two laps down

    23. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    24. Erik Jones, two laps down

    25. Ryan Preece, two laps down

    26. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    27. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

    28. Brad Keselowski, four laps down

    29. Corey LaJoie, six laps down

    30. Justin Haley, six laps down

    31. Cody Ware, nine laps down

    32. James Davison, nine laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

    34. B.J. McLeod, 12 laps down

    35. Joey Gase, 17 laps down

    36. Timmy Hill, 20 laps down

    37. Josh Bilicki, 40 laps down

    38. Chase Elliott – OUT, Engine

    39. Kurt Busch – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the highly anticipated Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Sunday, March 28, which will mark the series’ first event on dirt since 1970. The event is slated to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Truex snaps winless drought, records first Cup victory of 2021 at Phoenix

    Truex snaps winless drought, records first Cup victory of 2021 at Phoenix

    The 29-race winless drought for Martin Truex Jr. and Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota team came to an end under the afternoon sun in the desert state of Phoenix, Arizona, after the 40-year-old veteran from Mayetta, New Jersey, rallied from an early scrape in the wall to prevail on a restart with 25 laps remaining and over Joey Logano to win the Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 14. 

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Brad Keselowski started on pole position. Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was due to start on the front row with Keselowski, but ended up dropping to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice. As a result, Christopher Bell moved up to the front row.

    Along with Larson, teammate William Byron and Cody Ware dropped to the rear of the field due to their respective machines also failing pre-race inspection twice. Chase Elliott and Quin Houff also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments along with Garrett Smithley, his case due to a driver change.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Keselowski was able to jump ahead with a strong lead, even as he went low through the dogleg and entering Turn 1, followed by Denny Hamlin, who overtook teammate Christopher Bell for the runner-up spot. 

    Following the first lap, Keselowski was the leader followed by four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota competitors led by Hamlin. The following lap, however, Hamlin was able to move his No. 11 Offerpad Toyota Camry into the lead.

    By the fifth lap, Hamlin was ahead by more than half a second over Keselowski, who was soon overtaken by Bell for the runner-up spot. Truex remained in fourth place ahead of teammate Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney. 

    Five laps later and through the first 10 laps of the event, Hamlin stabilized his lead by half a second over teammate Bell while Keselowski, Truex and Blaney were in the top five. Kyle Busch fell back to sixth followed by brother Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto.

    The following lap, Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry made contact with the outside wall exiting Turn 1 and entering the backstretch, which allowed Blaney to overtake him for fourth place. 

    By Lap 20, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry while Team Penske’s Keselowski, Blaney and Logano were in the top five. Truex remained in sixth place while the Busch brothers battled for seventh place. Stenhouse was in ninth followed by DiBenedetto while Kevin Harvick was in 11th. 

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Hamlin remained in the lead followed by Keselowski, teammate Blaney, Bell and Logano. Kurt Busch and Stenhouse were in sixth and seventh while Truex fell back to eighth. Harvick was in ninth while Kyle Busch dropped back to 10th in front of DiBenedetto. By then, Kyle Larson was in 14th behind Austin Dillon and teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott were in 20th  and 21st behind teammate Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace, who was making his 250th NASCAR national touring series career start.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Keselowski exited pit road with the lead over Bell, Blaney, Harvick, Hamlin and Truex. Following the pit stops, Larson was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. 

    The race restarted on Lap 36 with Keselowski and Bell on the front row. At the start, Keselowski retained the lead followed by teammate Blaney. Bell dropped back to third followed by teammate Hamlin and Logano.

    On Lap 44, Blaney emerged with the lead after overtaking teammate Keselowski through the backstretch and coming back to the start/finish line. By then, Bell was still in third followed by Logano, Hamlin and Harvick.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Bowman, who checked up behind Ross Chastain and made contact with him, was hit by Austin Dillon and spun as his No. 48 Ally/Best Friends Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE made light contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. The accordion effect nearly collected Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Corey LaJoie and rookie Chase Briscoe. 

    Under caution, some like Kyle Busch, Byron, DiBenedetto, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell, Elliott, Larson, Bowman, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley and rookie Anthony Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. During the pit stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The race restarted on Lap 50 with teammates Blaney and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Blaney utilized the dogleg to remain in the lead. Teammate Keselowski, racing in his No. 2 Wurth Ford Mustang, remained in second while teammate Logano battled Bell for third in front of Hamlin. 

    By Lap 60, the three Penske competitors were out in front led by Blaney. Behind, Hamlin was in fourth while Chase Elliott, racing on fresh tires in his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, moved up to fifth ahead of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Stanley Toyota Camry. Bell fell back to seventh in front of Harvick while Byron, another competitor on fresh tires, was in ninth ahead of DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Truex, Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick. 

    Ten laps later and through the first 70 laps of the event, Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang continued to lead by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Keselowski, meanwhile, was pressured by Hamlin for third place as Elliott joined the battle. Kyle Busch, Harvick, Byron, teammate Larson and DiBenedetto were in the top 10 while Bell fell back to 11th.

    With the laps in the first stage closing, the battle for the lead heated up as Blaney came under fire from teammates Logano and Keselowski with Hamlin and Elliott scrambling in the battle. Despite nearly losing the lead to teammate Logano, Blaney was able to hold on ahead of a five-car battle and claim the first stage victory on Lap 75. In claiming his first stage victory of this season, Blaney also became the seventh different competitor to record a stage victory through the first five Cup events of the 2021 season. Logano settled in second followed by teammate Keselowski, Hamlin and Elliott. Kyle Busch settled in sixth followed by Harvick, Byron, teammate Larson and DiBenedetto. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Logano emerged with the lead after exiting pit road with the top spot followed by teammate Blaney Hamlin, Elliott, Keselowski and Larson.

    The second stage started on Lap 83 with teammates Logano and Blaney on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg, Logano retained the lead followed by Blaney while Elliott muscled his way into third place entering the backstretch. Keselowski and Hamlin battled for fourth followed by Larson and Harvick. Behind, Byron and DiBenedetto battled for eighth as Kyle Busch joined the battle. 

    Six laps later, the caution returned for an on-track accident involving Cody Ware and rookie Anthony Alfredo, who wrecked into the Turn 2 outside wall following contact from Ware and sustained heavy damage to his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang.

    Under caution, some like Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Cole Custer, McDowell, Preece, Haley and James Davison pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

    Following an extensive caution as a result of Alfredo’s incident, the race resumed under green on Lap 98 with teammates Logano and Blaney remaining on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg again, Logano retained the lead followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski while Hamlin was in fourth ahead of Elliott, Kyle Busch and Byron.

    Two laps later and through the Lap 100 mark, Logano was scored the leader followed by teammate Blaney and Keselowski. Elliott overtook Hamlin for fourth and went to work on Keselowski for more. Teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch were in fifth and sixth while Larson moved up to seventh ahead of teammate Byron. Bell and Harvick were in the top 10. 

    By Lap 110, Logano continued to lead by more than half a second over teammate Blaney while Elliott settled in third. Keselowski was in fourth while Larson, racing in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, prevailed over a battle with Hamlin to move into the top five.

    By Lap 120, Logano extended his advantage to less than two seconds over teammate Blaney. Elliott retained third place while teammate Larson moved into fourth place. Keselowski was back in fifth ahead of Hamlin, Harvick, Kyle Busch, teammate Truex and Byron. 

    Not long after, Larson continued to flex his muscles after overtaking teammate Elliott for third place. By then, he was less than four seconds behind race leader Logano. In addition, Keselowski started to close in on Elliott for position along with Hamlin.

    By Lap 130, Logano was leading by more than three seconds over Larson, who earlier overtook Blaney for the runner-up spot. Keselowski moved up to fourth followed by Hamlin while Elliott fell back to sixth. Truex started to close in on Elliott for the sixth spot while Harvick, Byron and Aric Almirola were in the top 10. Bell and teammate Kyle Busch were in 11th and 12th followed by DiBenedetto, Briscoe, Bowman and Wallace. Kurt Busch was mired in 17th followed by Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones and Stenhouse.

    Nearing the Lap 140 mark, pit stops under green started to occur as Keselowski pitted followed by Harvick, Elliott, Logano, teammate Blaney, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Stenhouse, Truex, Byron, Almirola, Erik Jones, Buescher, Cole Custer, Hamlin, teammate Bell, teammate Kyle Busch, Larson and Briscoe. Following the pit stops, Larson was busted with a second pit road speeding penalty. Kyle Busch was also penalized due to an uncontrolled tire violation.

    By Lap 150 and with most of the leaders completing pit stops under green, Corey LaJoie, who has yet to pit, was scored the leader. Logano was in second followed by teammate Blaney, Truex, Keselowski and Hamlin. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 156, Logano reassumed the lead from LaJoie. Blaney, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five followed by Hamlin, Harvick, Byron, teammate Elliott and Bell. By then, Larson was back in 22nd, still on the lead lap and in front of Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace, while Kyle Busch was in 30th, the sixth car scored a lap behind the leaders.   

    Through the first 175 laps of the event, Logano stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Truex. Teammates Blaney and Keselowski were in third and fourth followed by Hamlin. Harvick was in sixth while Byron, teammate Elliott, Almirola and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Larson was back in 17th and still on the lead lap while Kyle Busch was in 28th, the sixth car scored a lap down. Meanwhile, LaJoie, still on the track on old tires but with enough fuel to complete the second stage, was scored in the top 15.

    With the laps in the second stage closing, Logano continued to lead by approximately two seconds over Truex while Hamlin and Blaney battled for third place. Keselowski stabilized himself in fifth place followed by Harvick, Byron, teammate Elliott, Almirola and Bell. 

    While Truex was able to decrease his deficit to Logano to, Logano was able to retain the lead and navigate his way through lapped traffic to claim the Stage 2 victory on Lap 190. In claiming his first stage victory of the season, Logano also became the eighth different competitor to record a stage victory through the first five events of the 2021 Cup season. Hamlin was scored in third place behind teammate Truex while Keselowski managed to overtake teammate Blaney for fourth place. Harvick, Byron, Almirola, Elliott and Bell were scored in the top 10. By then, Larson moved back up to 13th ahead of Kurt Busch while Kyle Busch was in 27th, two laps behind.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead after exiting pit road in first followed by Hamlin, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski and Harvick. Following the pit stops under caution, Almirola, Elliott and Ross Chastain were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 113 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with Logano and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Logano nearly got turned after being bumped by Truex, but he retained the lead through the dogleg and entering Turn 1. Behind, Hamlin and Keselowski battled for the runner-up spot through the backstretch while Blaney retained fourth ahead of Harvick, Byron and Truex. Behind, Larson moved up to eighth followed by Erik Jones and Stenhouse. 

    With 110 laps remaining, Logano was ahead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski with Truex moving back into fifth over Byron. By then, Larson moved up to seventh over Bell, Harvick and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 11th ahead of Jones and Kurt Busch.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Logano was leading by approximately a second over Hamlin. Blaney, Truex and Keselowski stabilized themselves in the top five followed by Byron, racing in his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Larson was in seventh followed by Harvick, Bell and Stenhouse. Behind, Wallace, Jones, Briscoe, Kurt Busch and Bowman were running in the top 15. Almirola and Elliott, following their late pit road penalties, were in 18th and 20th while Kyle Busch was mired back in 24th, a lap behind.

    With 88 laps remaining, Truex gained a huge run entering the backstretch to emerge as the new leader over Logano. As Hamlin remained in third followed by Keselowski, Larson fought his way back into the top five after passing Blaney. 

    Eight laps later and with 80 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than a second over Logano. Hamlin, Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five followed by Blaney, Harvick, Bell, Byron and Bubba Wallace, who overtook Stenhouse for position.

    Down to the final 70 laps of the event, Truex extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Logano, who also had Hamlin starting to close in on him for the runner-up spot. Keselowski was still in fourth, trailing by less than five seconds, while Larson remained in fifth, trailing by more than five seconds. Blaney and Bell battled for sixth followed by Harvick, Wallace and Byron.

    Under the final 65 laps of the event, Byron made a pit stop under green. By then, Truex stretched his advantage to more than five seconds over teammate Hamlin, thus dropping Logano to third. Keselowski, Larson and Bell were in fourth, fifth and sixth while Wallace continued to his impressive run to the front as he was scored in seventh. 

    Shortly after, Logano and Larson pitted under green. Blaney soon pitted along with Keselowski, Elliott, Bell, Almirola, Wallace, Reddick, Ryan Newman, leader Truex and others.

    With 55 laps remaining and the leaders completing service under green, Truex was back out in front by nearly two seconds over Larson. Hamlin was in third followed by teammates Logano and Keselowski. Bell and Harvick were in sixth and seventh followed by Blaney, Byron and Wallace. 

    Behind, Kyle Busch, racing on old tires, made contact with the outside wall while scored in 14th. Despite the incident, the race remained under green as Busch pitted for fresh tires and dropped out of the lead lap category. 

    With 50 laps remaining, the caution flew when Reddick made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 after cutting a right-front tire.

    Under caution, nearly all of the leaders returned to pit road and Logano muscled his way back into the lead following a stellar service from his No. 22 pit crew. Truex exited in second place followed by Truex, Keselowski, Larson and Hamlin. On track, though, Wallace did not pit for fresh tires and emerged as the leader. Following the pit stops, Briscoe was busted with a pit road speeding penalty.

    With 44 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Wallace and Logano on the front row. At the start, Wallace and Logano made contact as the field fanned out to three lanes through the dogleg. Through Turn 1, Keselowski managed to prevail in a three-wide battle to take the lead followed by teammate Logano. Wallace remained in third followed by Truex while Larson, Hamlin and Byron battled for fifth. 

    With 40 laps remaining, teammates Keselowski and Logano battled for the lead while Truex trailed by more than a second. Truex, Larson and Hamlin were in the top five while Wallace was trying to hang on in sixth while battling Hamlin and Harvick.

    Two laps later, Logano used the infield dogleg on the frontstretch to reassume the lead over teammate Keselowski. 

    With 31 laps remaining, Logano extended his advantage to over a second over teammate Keselowski and Truex. Just as Truex was able to take over the runner-up spot, the caution returned the following lap when teammate Kyle Busch, the first competitor scored a lap down, spun across the start/finish line after receiving a tap from Ross Chastain. At the time of caution, Wallace had fallen back to 16th on old tires. 

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Logano retained the lead following another stellar pit stop followed by Truex, teammate Hamlin, Keselowski, Larson and Harvick.

    With 25 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Logano and Truex on the front row. At the start, Logano went super low through the dogleg, Truex remained on the outside lane and the field fanned out to multiple lanes.

    Back to the start/finish line, Truex reassumed the lead over Logano followed by Hamlin, who was locked in a battle with Keselowski and Larson. Teammate Elliott was back up in sixth followed by Almirola, Byron, Harvick and Bell. 

    With 20 laps remaining, Truex was leading by nearly half a second over Logano while Hamlin and Keselowski were in third and fourth. Teammates Larson and Elliott battled for fifth in front of their other teammate William Byron. Harvick was in eighth followed by teammate Almirola and Bell. Blaney was in 11th in front of Bowman, Kurt Busch was in 14th and Wallace was in 17th in between Cole Custer and Austin Dillon.

    Five laps later, Truex extended his advantage to a second over Logano with Hamlin trailing behind. Keselowski was locked in a battle with Larson for fourth while Elliott settled in sixth. Harvick, meanwhile, overtook Byron for seventh while Bell and Blaney were in the top 10. Earlier, Custer made a pit stop under green after making contact with the wall with help from Wallace.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Truex remained in the lead by more than a second over Logano. Hamlin settled in third, nearly two seconds behind, followed by Keselowski. Elliott, meanwhile, managed to move into the top five while Larson was locked in a battle with Harvick for sixth place. 

    With five laps remaining, Truex continued to lead by more than a second over Logano with Hamlin trailing by two seconds. By then, Harvick prevailed over Larson for sixth place while Keselowski and Elliott remained in the top five. 

    Utilizing the final laps to his favor in cruise control and with a respectable lead of over a second over Logano, Truex was able to take the white flag, navigate his No. 19 Toyota Camry through the circuit smoothly for a final time and come back around to claim his first checkered flag of the season and become the fifth different winner through the first five Cup races of the 2021 season. 

    The victory was Truex’s 28th of his Cup career, moving him to a tie with Carl Edwards and Rex White for 28th place on the all-time Cup wins list, and first at Phoenix as he also claimed his first Cup victory since June 2020 at Martinsville Speedway. In addition, crew chief James Small claimed his second career victory while Joe Gibbs Racing claimed Cup career win No. 187.

    “Just an awesome job by everybody, James [Small], [car chief] Blake [Harris] and all the pit crew guys fixing it,” Truex said on FOX. “Really solid. I thought at the beginning of the race, we were gonna run 15th or so. Man, I can’t really believe it, I’m speechless. This feels pretty amazing. Phoenix has been a tough one for us and to come here and win this, I wish it was November, but hopefully we can come back here in November and have a shot at being in the Final Four. Man, just so thankful and so proud of everybody at JGR and everybody who makes this possible.”

    Logano settled in second place for the second time this early in the season while Hamlin finished third and claimed his fourth top-five result through the first five events of this season.

    “All of the above, just a little bit everywhere is where it seemed [Truex] beat us,” Logano said on MRN. “Once they got [Truex] tuned in, he was the fastest car on the racetrack. We did a good job maximizing our day with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. We were a second-place car and finished second, won a stage and second in the other stage, so a lot of points. I hate finishing second, though. It really stinks, but, overall, this has been a good racetrack for us. The last few times we’ve been here is first, third and second, so we’re all over it, just needed that last run not to have a caution. I think we were in a pretty good spot to maybe run that thing out, but, overall, that was where we had it.”

    “Yeah, I think we are happy with [the finish],” Hamlin said. “Obviously, we want to win with our Offerpad Toyota but certainly the short tracks is something we want to put a lot of emphasis on this year. We just didn’t have the results on the short tracks that we wanted last year, but getting the first short track win here for JGR – 1, 3 is a good sign that we worked on the right things and we are headed in the right direction.”

    Keselowski finished fourth for his third top-five result in four races while Elliott rounded out the top five at Phoenix, which marked his best result since finishing in second place in this year’s Daytona 500. Harvick, Larson, teammate Byron, Bell and Blaney completed the top 10 on the track.

    Almirola rallied from his slow start to the season by finishing 11th followed by Stenhouse, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch. Wallace posted a 16th-place result in front of Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez finished 20th and 21st, rookie Chase Briscoe finished 22nd in front of Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch ended his long afternoon in 25th.

    There were 22 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 45 laps. 

    Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings 39 points over Brad Keselowski, 44 over Logano, 56 over Truex, 57 over Larson and Elliott and 60 over Harvick. 

    Results.

    1. Martin Truex Jr., 64 laps led

    2. Joey Logano, 143 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Denny Hamlin, 33 laps led

    4. Brad Keselowski, 19 laps led

    5. Chase Elliott

    6. Kevin Harvick

    7. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    8. William Byron

    9. Christopher Bell

    10. Ryan Blaney, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    11. Aric Almirola

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led

    13. Alex Bowman

    14. Matt DiBenedetto

    15. Kurt Busch

    16. Bubba Wallace, four laps led

    17. Austin Dillon

    18. Chris Buescher

    19. Ross Chastain

    20. Erik Jones

    21. Daniel Suarez

    22. Chase Briscoe

    23. Michael McDowell

    24. Justin Haley

    25. Kyle Busch, one lap down

    26. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    27. Corey LaJoie, one lap down, 12 laps led

    28. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    29. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    30. B.J. McLeod, three laps down

    31. Cole Custer, four laps down

    32. Quin Houff, seven laps down

    33. James Davison, nine laps down

    34. Garrett Smithley, 12 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Power steering

    36. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident

    37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Engine

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return to the south to compete at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first of two visits to the track for the series this season, on Sunday, March 21. The event is slated to occur at 3 p.m. on FOX.

  • Sweet redemption for Larson at Las Vegas

    Sweet redemption for Larson at Las Vegas

    From sitting out of the competition due to suspension last season to racing his way to an early trip to Victory Lane this season, Kyle Larson muscled his way to a dominating victory in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 7. The 28-year-old native from Elk Grove, California, led six times for a race-high 103 of 267 laps as he pulled away from Brad Keselowski in the late stages to record his first victory in his return to full-time NASCAR competition behind the wheel of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kevin Harvick started on pole position and was joined on the front row with William Byron, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Harvick received a push from Kyle Larson to jump ahead with the lead. Through Turn 1, Larson was also able to move into second place as Michael McDowell went to work on Byron for third place. 

    With the field fanning out early to three lanes through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4, Byron was able to fight back and lead the first lap over teammate Larson and Harvick. With the field towards the front still fanning out to three lanes. Harvick was overtaken by a few more positions as Larson and Truex battled behind Byron for the runner-up spot.

    Following the first five laps of the event, Byron continued to lead by nearly two-tenths of a second over teammate and a hard-charging Chase Elliott. Larson was in third followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Harvick, meanwhile, fell back to eighth.

    Five laps later and through the first 10 laps of the event, Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE retained a narrow advantage over teammate Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE while Truex and Larson battled dead even for third. Behind, Brad Keselowski challenged Hamlin for fifth while Christopher Bell, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman and McDowell were in the top 10. Harvick, meanwhile, was back in 11th and in front of Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch.

    Another three laps later, Larson managed to overtake teammate Elliott for the runner-up spot. Behind, Keselowski overtook Truex for fourth place. Meanwhile, Byron remained in the lead. 

    After trailing and intimidating his teammate in the early laps for the lead, Elliott managed to muscle his way into the lead on Lap 20 over Byron. A few laps later, teammate Larson moved into the runner-up spot.

    Elliott was able to extend his advantage to nearly a second over teammate Larson when the competition caution flew on Lap 25. Byron, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five followed by Hamlin, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney and Harvick. By then, Christopher Bell was in 11th, Logano was in 13th, Kyle Busch was in 16th in between Austin Dillon and Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick was in 19th, Bubba Wallace was in 21st, Aric Almirola was in 23rd in front of teammates Cole Custer and rookie Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez was in 26th and Ryan Newman was in 29th.

    Under caution, the leaders made the turn to pit road for early adjustments. Following the pit stops, Larson exited with the lead followed by Hamlin, Truex, Keselowski, Bowman Byron and Elliott. Behind, Wallace was assessed a pit road speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field.

    The race restarted on Lap 30 with Larson and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Hamlin received a push from Keselowski on the inside lane to move into the lead. Keselowski also moved into the runner-up spot while Larson fell back to third in front of teammate Elliott and Truex. 

    By Lap 33, Hamlin was out in front by two-tenths of a second over a side-by-side battle featuring Keselowski’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang and Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Elliott was right behind in fourth place followed by teammate Bowman, Truex, Blaney, Byron, Kurt Busch and Matt DiBenedetto. 

    Two laps later, Truex, Blaney and Bowman battled through three lanes for the fifth spot with Byron lurking behind. 

    Back at the front, Larson and Keselowski continued to battle for the runner-up spot with Elliott remaining in pursuit. At the front, Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry remained in the lead. 

    By Lap 40, Hamlin was still leading by approximately a tenth of a second over Larson. Teammate Elliott was in third followed by Keselowski, who slipped and nearly clipped Elliott the previous lap in Turn 1. Behind, Blaney cracked the top five over Truex, Byron, Bowman, Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto. 

    Shortly after, Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Larson and Elliott battled for the runner-up spot behind Hamlin while Blaney started to close in on Penske teammate Keselowski for fourth place. 

    In the midst of the battle towards the front, Bubba Wallace returned to pit road with the hood of his No. 23 Columbia Sportswear Toyota Camry up after he reported a power steering line issue.

    On Lap 44, Larson reassumed the lead over Hamlin. Behind, Keselowski caught back up to Elliott as he went to work on him for third place. Keselowski was eventually able to overtake Elliott for position and went to work on Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Blaney, meanwhile, remained in pursuit of the top-four leaders. 

    Not long after, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 2. The caution served as a huge break for Kevin Harvick, who had a left-front tire going down as a result of making contact with Erik Jones. Under caution, the majority of the leaders returned to pit road and Hamlin was able to exit off pit road first followed by Elliott, Keselowski, Bowman and Blaney.

    Back on the track, Larson remained in the race lead after electing to remain on the track on old tires. Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick and teammate Austin Dillon also remained on the track.

    The race restarted on Lap 51 with Larson and Logano on the front row. At the start, Larson retained the lead while Elliott made a bold four-wide move behind to move back to the front. Through the backstretch, the field fanned out to three and four lanes.

    The following lap, Larson and Logano battled dead even for the lead as the field, featuring competitors on fresh tires compared to worn tires, continued to fan out to three and four lanes for position towards the front.

    By Lap 54, two forms of three-wide battles ensued at the front with Keselowski challenging teammate Logano and Larson for the lead. A lap later, Logano was able to clear the field with the lead. Behind, Elliott muscled his way back into third before taking back second place from Keselowski. Blaney and Larson battled for fourth while Bell and Byron battled behind for sixth. Truex and Hamlin, meanwhile, were back in 10th and 12th.  

    By Lap 60, Logano, racing in his No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang on worn tires, continued to hold strong with the lead by a narrow margin over Elliott while Keselowski remained ahead of Larson for third place. Blaney was in fifth followed by Byron, Bell, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Hamlin. Truex was in 12th behind DiBenedetto.

    Two laps later, Elliott, racing on fresh tires, returned to the lead following a lengthly battle with Logano. In the ensuing laps, Penske teammates Keselowski and Blaney overtook their other teammate Logano for third and fourth. Behind, Larson fell back to ninth while Bell, Byron Bowman and Hamlin moved up. 

    Through the first 70 laps of the event, Elliott maintained a narrow advantage over Keselowski. Teammate Blaney was in third while Bell overtook Logano for fourth place. Bowman and Hamlin closed in on Logano for fifth while Byron, DiBenedetto and Larson were in the top 10. Truex was in 12th behind Kurt Busch.

    Two laps later, Keselowski made his way to the top of the field following a pass on Elliott for position. While Bell, teammate Hamlin and Bowman battled for fourth, Logano slipped back to eighth on worn tires, two spots ahead of Larson. 

    Back at the front, Keselowski and Elliott continued to battle intensely for the lead, with the latter prevailing not long after by two-tenths of a second. Blaney trailed by more than a second in third place while Hamlin and Bowman overtook Bell for fourth and fifth. 

    While Keselowski and Elliott continued to battle against one another on the track for the lead, Logano and Larson were back in ninth and 12th while Truex and Kurt Busch were in ninth and 11th. Kyle Busch was in 14th while Harvick, who started on pole, was mired in 18th.

    Following a lengthly battle with Elliott, Keselowski was able to reassume the lead on Lap 79 and hold on to claim the first stage victory on Lap 80, which also marked his first stage victory of the season. Elliott settled in second followed by Blaney, Hamlin and Bowman while Bell, Byron, DiBenedetto, Logano and Truex were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin returned to the lead following a strong pit stop from his crew. Keselowski exited in second place followed by Bowman, DiBenedetto, Blaney and Logano. During the pit stops, Elliott spent extra time on pit road to have damage on the right side of his No. 9 Chevrolet from an earlier pit stop caused by the jack repaired. In addition, Reddick was assessed a pit road speeding penalty.

    The second stage started on Lap 87 with Hamlin and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Hamlin and Keselowski battled dead even through Turn 1 and the backstretch while Byron made a bold move on the outside lane to crack the top five. 

    The following lap, Keselowski was able to reassume the lead followed by teammate Blaney. Bowman, racing in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, went to work on Hamlin for third while DiBenedetto and Byron battled for fifth. 

    By Lap 90, Keselowski was leading by approximately a tenth of a second over teammate Blaney. Hamlin retained third place by a narrow margin over Bowman and DiBenedetto while Larson closed in on teammate Byron for position. 

    Through the first 100 laps of the race, Keselowski continued to lead by approximately two-tenths of a second over teammate Blaney. Teammates Larson and Byron battled for third while Hamlin was in fifth. Bowman, DiBenedetto, Truex, Bell and Logano were in the top 10 followed by the Busch brothers. Elliott, meanwhile, worked his way up to 14th after restarting in 30th place at the start of the second stage.

    Five laps later, Larson muscled his way back into the runner-up spot and teammate Byron also moved up, thus dropping Blaney to fourth place. Meanwhile, Keselowski continued to lead the field. Another two laps later, however, Larson retook the lead by a narrow margin over Keselowski. 

    By Lap 115, Larson was the leader by nearly half a second over teammate Byron with Keselowski trailing by more than a second in third place. Blaney and Hamlin were in the top five followed by Bowman, DiBenedetto, Bell, teammate Truex and Logano. The Busch brothers were in 12th and 13th, Elliott was still mired in 14th and Harvick haas in 17th in front of Chris Buescher.

    By Lap 120, Larson continued to lead by approximately half a second over teammate Byron. Blaney was in third, but was now trailing by three seconds. Hamlin and Keselowski remained in the top five followed by Bowman, DiBenedetto, Truex, teammate Bell and Logano. Elliott, meanwhile, was back in 15th behind the Busch brothers and Ryan Preece.

    Shortly after, pit stops under green occurred as Bowman was the first of the leaders to pit followed by a multitude of competitors, including leader Larson.

    By Lap 130, Tyler Reddick, who had yet to pit, was leading followed by Michael McDowell, rookie/teammate Anthony Alfredo, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and Cole Custer while Larson was in seventh.

    At the halfway mark on Laps 133 and 134, Reddick continued to lead followed by Front Row Motorsports’ teammates McDowell and Alfredo. LaJoie and Suarez were in the top five while Larson was in sixth. Hamlin, Keselowski, teammate Blaney and Byron were in the top 10.

    By Lap 140 and with 20 laps remaining in the second stage, teammates McDowell and Alfredo were leading the field followed by LaJoie, Larson and Suarez. By then, Reddick pitted for service.

    On Lap 146, McDowell surrendered the lead to pit. A lap later, Larson reassumed the lead. Shortly after, rookie Alfredo pitted along with Corey LaJoie. By then, Larson’s advantage stretched to nearly six seconds over Keselowski. Hamlin was in third followed by Blaney and Byron. Bell along with teammates Truex and Kyle Busch followed by Elliott were in the top 10. DiBenedetto, meanwhile, was in 12th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while Kurt Busch, Logano and Harvick were in the top 15.

    With the laps in the second stage dwindling, Larson continued to lead by a steady and healthy margin over Keselowski. Having no challengers close in on him for the top spot, Larson was able to hold steady and claim the second stage victory by more than three seconds over Keselowski on Lap 160. In claiming his first stage victory of this season, Larson became the sixth competitor to record a stage victory through the first four Cup races of the 2021 season. Hamlin settled in third followed by Byron and Blaney while Bowman, Bell, Truex, Kyle Busch and Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, 21 of the 38-car field were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead following service from his pit crew. Hamlin exited in second place followed by Bowman, Truex, Bell and Kyle Busch. Byron, meanwhile, fell back to 10th behind Keselowski, Blaney and Elliott.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Larson moved his No. 5 Chevrolet in front of Hamlin on the inside lane. He then blocked Hamlin entering Turn 1 on the outside lane as Truex issued a challenge on the inside lane. 

    Through the backstretch and coming back to Turn 4, Larson retained the lead over Hamlin and Truex as the field fanned out while battling for spots. Behind, Kyle Busch started to make his way into the top five.

    The following lap, the caution returned when Elliott got loose entering the backstretch, made contact with Kurt Busch and spun in a full 360 degrees before continuing. While the rest of the field managed to dodge him, Elliott sustained left-front fender damage as he pitted to have the damage assessed. Kurt Busch also pitted to have damage on his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE addressed along with a flat right-rear tire. Meanwhile, Hamlin had taken the lead over Larson at the time of caution

    With 93 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with leader Hamlin and Larson on the front row. At the start, Larson squeaked ahead, but Hamlin received a push from teammate Truex on the backstretch to take back the lead. 

    Six laps later, the caution returned when Aric Almirola made hard contact against with the outside wall in Turn 1. The damage to the right side of Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Power Bites Ford Mustang was enough to end his race in the garage. At the time of caution, Hamlin was leading by nearly a tenth of a second over teammate Truex while Larson, Blaney and Keselowski were in the top five. Byron, teammate Bowman, Logano, Bell and Kyle Busch were in the top 10.  

    Under caution, some led by Hamlin, Truex and Blaney remained on the track while others led by Keselowski and Larson pitted.

    The race restarted with 83 laps remaining as teammates Hamlin and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, the two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates battled dead even for a full circuit before Truex peaked ahead in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry as the field behind fanned out to three and four lanes. 

    With 80 laps remaining, Truex was out in front by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Hamlin followed by Blaney, Byron and Bell. Keselowski, the first competitor on fresh tires, was in sixth while Larson, who restarted 17th on fresh tires, was up in eighth behind DiBenedetto. 

    A lap later, Hamlin came under pressure from Keselowski for the runner-up spot as teammates Byron and Larson overtook Blaney for positions in the top five. 

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Hamlin fought back and reassumed the lead by a narrow advantage over teammate Truex while Larson and Keselowski quickly went to work on Truex for the runner-up spot. Soon after, an intense six-car battle for the lead ensued between Hamlin, teammate Truex, Larson, Keselowski, Byron and Blaney as Hamlin continued to duke against Truex for the lead. 

    With 70 laps remaining, Hamlin was still leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over Larson. Truex and Keselowski battled intensely for third place followed by Byron and Blaney. Bell was in seventh followed by DiBenedetto and Erik Jones. Kyle Busch was mired back in 10th. Meanwhile, Logano was in 13th while Elliott was in 16th behind Austin Dillon.

    Ten laps later and under 60 laps remaining, Larson reassumed the lead over Hamlin. He then stretched his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin with Keselowski remaining in third. Truex was in fourth followed by Blaney while Byron, Bell, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto and Jones were in the top 10. 

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Larson was leading by more than a second over Keselowski with Hamlin trailing by more than two seconds. Blaney was in fourth, trailing by more than three seconds while Truex was in fifth.

    Nearly four laps later, pit stops under green started as a handful of leaders pitted followed by others.

    With 37 laps remaining and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, Daniel Suarez, who has yet to pit, was scored as the leader. Larson, the first competitor on fresh tires and fuel, was behind by less than nine seconds with Keselowski remaining in pursuit. 

    Eight laps later, Larson returned to the lead. By then, he was leading by a second and a half over Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford.

    With 20 laps remaining and the leaders making their way through lapped traffic, Larson extended his lead to two and a half seconds over Keselowski. Hamlin was tucked in third place followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Truex. Blaney was back in sixth followed by Bell, Byron, teammate Bowman and Logano. Meanwhile, DiBenedetto was in 11th ahead of Jones, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Elliott. Kurt Busch was in 20th behind McDowell while Harvick was in 22nd, the final car on the lead lap, behind Ryan Newman.

    A few laps later, Bowman, who was running in the top 10, made the turn to pit road due to a flat tire. During the process of trying to enter pit road, he nearly collided with rookie Alfredo. Shortly after, it went from bad to worse for Bowman, who was assessed a pass-through penalty down pit road due to a commitment line violation while trying to enter pit road to pit.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by more than two and a half seconds over Keselowski. Behind, Kyle Busch zipped his No. 18 Ethel M Chocolates Toyota Camry into third place while teammate Hamlin were in fourth. Blaney was in fifth followed by Truex, teammate Bell, Byron, Logano and Jones. 

    A few laps later, Larson extended his lead to more than three seconds over Keselowski with Kyle Busch trailing by more than six seconds, Hamlin by more than eight seconds, Blaney by more than nine seconds and Truex by more than 11 seconds.

    With five laps remaining, Larson remained in the lead by three seconds over Keselowski. By then, 15 competitors were recorded on the lead lap as the leaders continued to encounter heavy traffic.

    Spending the final laps methodically working his way through lapped traffic, Larson was able to maintain his healthy advantage of more than three seconds and complete the final laps on a successful note as he claimed the checkered flag to win at Vegas.

    The victory marked Larson’s seventh of his Cup career and first since October 2019 at Dover International Speedway as he became the fourth different competitor to win within the first four events of the 2021 season. Above all, the Vegas win also validated Larson’s return to the top level in NASCAR after being suspended nearly a year ago due to using a racial slur during a live iRacing event, a move that cost him his full-time ride with Chip Ganassi Racing. Late into the 2020 season, an opportunity for Larson to return to NASCAR arrived when Hendrick Motorsports signed Larson for the 2021 season.

    Larson’s victory also marked the first Cup victory for crew chief Cliff Daniels and the first for HMS’ No. 5 car since July 2017 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition, Larson became the 20th different competitor to win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports as HMS claimed Cup career win No. 265.

    “It was such an awesome race car,” Larson said on FOX. “[Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and everybody did a great job preparing this piece. It was so much fun to drive. I could go wherever I wanted to. I knew I had a really good car once we’d get single-filed out. Just drafting early in the run was tough. Thank you so much, Mr. [Hendrick], Jeff Gordon, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for the amazing opportunity I’ve been gifted…This is definitely special.”

    “I know that this is Rick’s most special paint scheme for obvious reasons,” Larson added. “It’s just an honor for me to be able to drive it, our first time out with this [blue, white and red] color scheme. Like I said, just blessed…That was some fun racing on the restarts, so I hoped everybody enjoyed it. I know I did.”

    Keselowski settled in second place for his second top-five result of this season. Kyle Busch came home in third place as he claimed his first top-five finish of this season while teammate Hamlin and Blaney finished in the top five.

    “Yeah, good for [Larson],” Keselowski said on PRN. “He ran a great race. He was really fast. The kid’s got so much talent. I still wanted to beat him, though, but we had a great Discount Tire Ford Mustang. If he wasn’t here, we would have just stunk the show up, but he was and he ran good.”

    “We fought hard obviously,” Busch said. “We were a little behind the eight ball at the start of the green flag and just were super, super tight all day long. [Crew chief] Ben [Beshore] and the guys made awesome adjustments to and I was trying to give the best feedback I can to give them good information that they can base that off of and make the good adjustments. We improved each time. I don’t know where we missed it so far from the simulator, but that’s two weeks in a row where we’re not apples to apples. Just can’t say enough about Ethel M Chocolates, thank you guys…Ready to keep working on it and keep improving. We were just a little off on pace, overall pace, overall lap time from the fast guys.”

    “We’re close,” Hamlin added. “We just have to fine tune it. We’re gathering up information right now to figure out how we can make our FedEx Camry better in the fall. This is a good start. We got it in the short rounds but not enough long run speed…Overall, good start. We will see, gather all the data and I will figure out this week what we have to do.”

    “I thought it was a pretty solid day all day,” Blaney added. “We had to start pretty far in the back from our bad finish last week and was able to make it up to ninth before the [competition] caution and got third in the first stage and then like fifth in the second and ended up fifth. I thought we could have run second or third. [Larson] was really the fastest one all day long. It didn’t matter where he was he just drove through the field but overall, a really good effort by our group. We really needed that after having three pretty bad races to start off the year. It’s nice to kind of finally get a good run and just a no problem day, just having a solid car and working on it throughout the day. I’m really proud of [crew chief] Todd [Gordon] and the whole No. 12 bunch and nice to get a good finish. Now we can get rolling here.”

    Truex, teammate Bell, Byron, Logano and Erik Jones came home in the top 10 on the track. 

    Elliott settled in 13th behind Austin Dillon, DiBenedetto ended up in 16th, Kurt Busch finished 19th, Harvick came home in 20th and Bowman settled in 27th following his late pit road miscue. Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie in 21st. Suarez finished 26th while Bubba Wallace finished 28th.

    There were 27 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 30 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 38 points over Keselowski, 40 over Larson, 48 over Elliott, 49 over Bell and Logano and 51 over Harvick.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 103 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Brad Keselowski, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Kyle Busch

    4. Denny Hamlin, 47 laps led

    5. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

    6. Martin Truex Jr., six laps led

    7. Christopher Bell

    8. William Byron, 25 laps led

    9. Joey Logano, seven laps led

    10. Erik Jones

    11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Chase Elliott, 22 laps led

    14. Chris Buescher

    15. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    16. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    17. Michael McDowell, one lap down, eight laps led

    18. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    19. Kurt Busch, one lap down

    20. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

    21. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

    22. Tyler Reddick, one lap down, seven laps led

    23. Ross Chastain, one lap down

    24. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down, one lap led

    25. Cole Custer, one lap down

    26. Daniel Suarez, two laps down, 12 laps led

    27. Alex Bowman, two laps down

    28. Bubba Wallace, five laps down

    29. Justin Haley, five laps down

    30. B.J. McLeod, seven laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, eight laps down

    32. Cody Ware, eight laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

    34. Joey Gase, 12 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki, 15 laps down

    36. Timmy Hill, 21 laps down

    37. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Rear end

    38. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will remain in the West Coast for the next event on the schedule at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, next weekend. The race will occur on Sunday, March 14, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • McDowell upsets the competition, scores first Cup triumph in the Daytona 500

    McDowell upsets the competition, scores first Cup triumph in the Daytona 500

    The ultimate upset was made under the lights at Daytona International Speedway after Michael McDowell avoided a multi-car pileup on the final lap to win the 63rd annual running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 14, and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph. McDowell’s first Cup career victory came in his 358th start in NASCAR’s premier series, which marked the second-most starts in the series prior to a first Cup win.

    The front row for this year’s Daytona 500 was determined on Wednesday, February 10, following a qualifying session, with the rest of the lineup determined on Thursday, February 11, following two Bluegreen Vacations Duel events at Daytona. With that, Alex Bowman started on pole position. William Byron, the outside pole-sitter, was due to start on the front row with teammate Bowman, but he dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car. The move allowed Austin Dillon, winner of the second Daytona Duel event, to move up to the front row to start alongside Bowman.

    Along with Byron, the following competitors that include Brad Keselowski, rookie Chase Briscoe, Kaz Grala, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer and Ross Chastain also dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars. Martin Truex Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to an oil cooler change along with Erik Jones, who did so following an engine change. Bubba Wallace also dropped to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice, thus resulting with his car chief being ejected for the event. 

    When the green flag waved and the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Bowman, who started on the outside lane, crossed over the bottom lane to jump to an early lead in front of Austin Dillon. Shortly after, he moved back to the outside lane in front of Kevin Harvick, who gave him a clear bump ahead of the field through the backstretch and entering Turn 3. 

    Bowman was able to lead the first lap before Harvick made a move to the bottom lane. Bowman, however, was able to retain the lead with his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE receiving drafting help from Kyle Busch through the backstretch until Harvick made a charge on the inside lane entering the tri-oval. Harvick was able to lead the following lap by a nose over Bowman.

    During the third lap, the crew members and the fans saluted the three fingers to pay tribute to Dale Earnhardt, seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, Hall of Famer and the 1998 Daytona 500 champion who died 20 years ago following an accident on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. 

    Shortly after, the first caution of the race flew when Derrike Cope, the 1990 Daytona 500 champion, blew a right-front tire and made contact against the outside wall in Turn 3. By then, Harvick was the leader followed by teammate Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Ryan Newman and Bowman.

    Under caution, names like Michael McDowell, Matt DiBenedetto, Byron, Truex, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Alfredo, Cody Ware, Briscoe, Grala, B.J. McLeod, Denny Hamlin, Josh Bilicki, Quin Houff and Wallace pitted while the rest led by Harvick remained on the track.

    The race restarted on the seventh lap with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick and Almirola at the top of the field. At the start, Harvick quickly transitioned to the bottom lane to move in front of teammate Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. The top lane, however, prevailed through Turns 1, 2 and the backstretch as Ryan Newman rocketed to the lead followed by Joey Logano. Nonetheless, Harvick was able to retain the lead by a nose over Newman when the field returned to the start/finish line.

    By Lap 10 and with the field starting to fan out from double lanes to triple lanes, Harvick was still out in front followed by teammate Almirola, Bell, Bowman and Kyle Busch. A few laps later, Bowman became the first car to lead the outside lane as he challenged for the lead followed by Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson. Meanwhile, Harvick continued to lead followed by teammate Almirola.

    Three laps later, trouble ensued at the front when a bump from Bell, who was being pushed by teammate Kyle Busch, got Almirola loose, where he made contact with Bowman as both wrecked against the outside wall and in the middle of the straightaway with a multitude of competitors approaching them. What then followed was a multi-car wreck that involved Newman, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher, Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, Tyler Reddick, Truex and Byron, who nearly flipped on his side before spinning and coming to rest on the muddy grass in Turn 3.

    In the midst of the on-track work for the safety workers to remove the wrecked cars, the race was red-flagged due to reports of lightning within eight miles of the superspeedway, which was followed by rain and on-track precipitation. At the time of the rain, Harvick was still the leader followed by Bell, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott. Larson, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10.

    Five hours and 40 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the majority of competitors returned to the track under caution, beginning on Lap 15, and under the lights as the skies darkened. By then, names like Alfredo, Almirola, Blaney, Bowman, Buescher, DiBenedetto, Jones, Newman, Ragan and Suarez were ruled out of the remainder of the race.

    Under caution, everyone pitted, except for Kaz Grala and B.J. McLeod. After leading 10 laps under caution, Grala pitted along with McLeod. Bell, Kyle Busch and a few others also pitted to top off on fuel for the end of the first stage.

    When the green flag waved and the race resumed on Lap 29, Elliott was the leader while Austin Dillon started along him. Through the backstretch, Dillon received a push from Ryan Preece to take the lead. The following lap, Cole Custer battled on the outside lane to lead a lap for himself. 

    Shortly after, Hamlin shoved Custer out of the draft in Turn 1 and became the lead car on the outside lane. He went on to assume command of the field. 

    By Lap 35, Hamlin was leading Keselowski, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Logano with the field settling in a single-file line. Meanwhile, Byron, who was three laps behind the leaders and still competing in a damaged No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, was black-flagged for a loose rear bumper cover.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Quin Houff cut a tire after running over the bumper cover from Byron’s car and made contact with the outside wall in the frontstretch. His incident also involved Chase Briscoe as both sustained damage and slid down to the apron near Turn 1. Briscoe continued despite the incident while Houff was knocked out of the race.

    The race resumed under green on Lap 43. At the start, Hamlin received a push from teammate Kyle Busch on the outside lane while Keselowski received a push from Bubba Wallace on the inside lane. 

    Through the backstretch and after briefly shoving Keselowski to the lead, Wallace made a three-wide move on Keselowski and Hamlin, which sent Keselowski back into the top 10. At the front, Hamlin retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Preece, Austin Cindric, Wallace, Austin Dillon and Logano. 

    By Lap 50 and with the field settling in a single-file lane on the outside lane, Hamlin continued to lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Preece, Cindric and Austin Dillon while Larson, Wallace, Harvick, Keselowski and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott were in 13th and 14th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Custer. In addition, 22 of the 40-car field were competing on the lead lap, with 12 out of the race.

    Ten laps later and with five laps remaining in the first stage, Hamlin was still out in front followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Preece, Cindric and Austin Dillon. Larson, Wallace, Harvick, Keselowski and Bell were in the top 10 while Custer, Logano, Stenhouse, Elliott and LaJoie were in the top 15.

    At the start of the final lap of the first stage, Austin Dillon made his move to the inside lane along with Larson. In addition, Preece also moved in front of Dillon, but teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch blocked the move on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, Kyle Busch got shuffled out of the lead draft when Preece and a multitude of cars moved to the outside lane and right behind Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry.

    Though Hamlin had a steaming pack of cars behind him, he was able to retain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 65. Preece settled in second place followed by Austin Dillon, Larson and Cindric. Bell, Wallace, Logano, Ross Chastain and Custer settled in the top 10, all of whom earned stage points. Kyle Busch fell back to 12th in front of Keselowski and Elliott. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin retained the lead. Meanwhile, Jamie McMurray received the free pass and returned to the lead lap.

    The second stage commenced on Lap 71 with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Bell on the front row followed by Cindric, Austin Dillon, Logano and Larson. At the start, Hamlin received a push from Cindric to retain the lead. Shortly after, Hamlin moved in front of teammate Bell on the inside lane, but Cindric, winner of the Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona a day ago, mounted a charge on the outside lane in his No. 33 Verizon 5G Ford Mustang as he had Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski pushing him to the lead.

    After leading two laps, Hamlin stormed back to the lead while Cindric fell back to seventh. A lap later, Bell made his way to the front followed by teammate Kyle Busch while Hamlin fell back to third. Austin Dillon, Cindric and Harvick moved up the leaderboard while Harvick was in seventh place and the lone car on the bottom lane.

    Another two laps later, the field settled in a long single-file line as Bell was out in front followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon was in fourth followed by Cindric, Logano, Larson, Elliott, Wallace and Chastain. Harvick, meanwhile, was shuffled back to 11th in front of Preece, Keselowski, Stenhouse and McMurray.

    Not long after, the leader Bell reported debris on the grille of his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry. Nonetheless, he continued to lead teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin while Austin Dillon, Cindric and Logano remained in pursuit.

    By Lap 90, Bell continued to lead followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon and Cindric continued to run in the top five followed by Logano, Larson, Elliott, Wallace and Chastain, all of whom were locked in a single-file lane. Harvick was in 11th followed by Stenhouse, teammate Preece, Keselowski and McMurray while Michael McDowell, Custer, LaJoie, Kaz Grala and Joey Gase were in the top 20.

    When the field reached the halfway mark on Lap 100, three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas led by Bell and followed by Kyle Busch and Hamlin were all still at the front. Austin Dillon and Cindric remained in the top five followed by Logano, Larson, Elliott, Chastain and Preece. Behind, Wallace, who attempted to make a move to the front on the inside lane, was shuffled back to 13th in between Keselowski and Harvick.

    Four laps later, pit stops under green commenced as a number of Ford drivers pitted, including Cindric, Logano, Keselowski, Harvick, Briscoe and Custer. McDowell, racing in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang, also pitted. Another three laps later, the Toyota drivers pitted, including Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Wallace. Not long after, a bevy of Chevrolet drivers led by Austin Dillon, Larson and Elliott pitted. Prior to the Chevrolets pitting, Preece pitted alone.

    When the field cycled back with 20 laps remaining in the second stage, Hamlin was back in front followed by Wallace. Shortly after, Wallace got shuffled out of the draft from Kyle Busch. Not long after, Bell got loose in Turn 1 after sustaining a left-rear tire and made contact with Stenhouse, who went on to make contact with Larson, before spinning entering the backstretch. Grala, LaJoie and McMurray, who spun, were also sustained damage while the rest of the field managed to avoid the incident and a spinning Bell. 

    Under caution, a handful of competitors led by Hamlin remained on the track while the rest pitted. In addition, Grala came to his pit stall with the right rear of his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE on fire. Though he tried to continue, Grala’s Daytona 500 debut came to an end as fire continued to burst out of his car.

    When the race resumed under green on Lap 117, Hamlin and Harvick led the field on the front row. At the front, Hamlin retained the lead and he moved in front of Harvick on the outside lane entering the backstretch. Shortly after, Logano received a draft from Kyle Busch on the bottom lane to lead the following lap. Entering the tri-oval, Harvick and Logano pulled a three-wide move on Hamlin with Harvick returning to the lead entering the backstretch. 

    The following lap, Wallace drafted his owner Hamlin to the front while Keselowski mounted a challenge beneath Hamlin. The outside lane, however, prevailed with a bevy of competitors opting to move up on the outside lane and Hamlin retaining the lead. Wallace was in second followed by Harvick, Elliott and Austin Dillon. McDowell was in sixth followed by Keselowski, Preece, Logano and Kyle Busch. By then, the field settled in a long single-file lane on the outside lane.

    At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Wallace made his move beneath Hamlin to take the lead followed by a bevy of competitors, including McDowell and Keselowski. Through the backstretch, Logano, receiving drafting help from Kyle Busch, formed a third lane as the pack started to battle intently and tight against one another. 

    With the field entering Turn 3 and the tri-oval, Hamlin received a push from Harvick on the outside lane to reassume the lead over Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry and claim the second stage on Lap 130. Harvick settled in second followed by Wallace, Elliott and Austin Dillon. Logano, McDowell, Larson, Kyle Busch and Keselowski were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Austin Dillon exited in first place. Hamlin exited in second place followed by McDowell, Harvick, Wallace and Logano. Following the pit stops, Larson was penalized for a safety violation.

    With 64 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Austin Dillon moved his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in front of Hamlin to retain the lead. His lead, however, did not last long was Hamlin retuned to the top point with drafting help from Harvick, though he got squirrelly while being drafted by Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang. Dillon settled in third place, the first car on the bottom lane, as he battled Logano and Kyle Busch. 

    With 60 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric while Custer, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray were in the top 10. Larson was in 12th while Wallace was back in 14th in front of Keselowski, McDowell and Bell. By then, 18 cars were scored on the lead lap. 

    Ten laps later and with 50 laps remaining, Hamlin was still out in front followed by Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric. Custer, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray were still in the top 10. Larson was in 12th, Keselowski was in 14th and Wallace was in 16th. By then, the field returned to a long single-file lane on the outside lane. 

    Another 10 laps later and with the next round of pit stops under green lurking, the field remained in a long single-file lane on the outside lane as Hamlin was still leading Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric. Custer was in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the race, Hamlin continued to lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Preece. 

    Shortly after, pit stops under green commenced when Ford names like Logano, Harvick, Cindric, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell pitted. Not long after, a bevy of Chevrolet competitors pitted. Shortly after, the Toyota drivers led by Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Wallace pitted.

    When the field cycled back on the track, Logano was able to assume command of the race followed by Harvick as Kyle Busch and Hamlin, both of whom exited pit road ahead of the field, were unable to blend in front of the lead pack with enough speed and retain the top spots.

    With 24 laps remaining, Logano, racing in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, was leading Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell. Ross Chastain was in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Preece. Wallace was in 11th while Hamlin fell back to 13th behind Larson.

    Four laps later and with the laps winding down, Logano was still at the top of the field followed by Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell as Fords comprised the top-five spots on the track. Chastain was the leading Chevrolet competitor in sixth while Kyle Busch was the leading Toyota competitor in ninth. By then, Wallace, who made another pit stop to address a vibration concern, was in 17th and a lap behind. In addition, the top-12 competitors, all within more than a second of one another, were locked in a single-file lane as Hamlin was back in 12th.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the race and with 15 competitors on the lead lap, the field remained in a single-file lane as Logano continued to lead followed by Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell. By then, Bell was pinned a lap behind along with Wallace. In addition, Hamlin remained in 12th place, three spots behind teammate Kyle Busch. 

    With 10 laps remaining, Logano remained at the front as the first of four Ford competitors leading the way followed by Harvick, Keselowski and McDowell. Behind, Austin Dillon was the leading Chevrolet competitor in fifth as he worked his way to the front followed by Elliott. Kyle Busch was in seventh followed by Larson, Hamlin and Chastain.

    Down to the final five laps of the race, the field remained in a long single-file lane with Logano still leading Harvick, Keselowski, McDowell and Austin Dillon.

    Logano continued to lead with three laps remaining while the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon, currently scored in fifth, was preparing his move as Elliott was in sixth. 

    With two laps remaining, however, Keselowski, racing in his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, gained a run and was able to move behind teammate Logano as McDowell also moved up while Harvick was shuffled out. When the final lap of the race started, Logano was still out in front followed by teammate Keselowski. 

    Through the backstretch, Keselowski received a push from McDowell and closed in on Logano as he prepared to execute his move for the win. Entering Turn 3, however, the two Penske teammates made contact and a multi-car wreck ensued. In the midst of the carnage, Keselowski made head-on contact against the outside wall before being slammed hard by Kyle Busch as Keselowski’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang went up against the outside wall and shredded against the catchfence amid a shower of flames and sparks. In addition, Logano slid up and clipped Chastain, who also made contact with Preece, before being hit by Wallace. Cindric and Custer were also involved in the midst of the fiery accident.

    The wreck ended the race under caution and at the moment of caution, McDowell was ahead of the field and declared the winner as he recorded his first career victory in NASCAR’s biggest event of the season.

    With his victory, McDowell became the 40th driver to win the Daytona 500, the eighth competitor to record a first Cup career victory in the 500 and the 196th competitor overall to win a NASCAR Cup Series race. The victory was the first for Front Row Motorsports since August 2016 (third overall), the second for crew chief Drew Blickensderfer and the 16th Daytona 500 victory for the Ford nameplate. In addition, McDowell became the third competitor to win the 500 after leading only the final lap.

    “I just can’t believe it,” McDowell said on FOX. “I’ve just got to thank God. So many years just grinding it out, hoping for an opportunity like this. I’ve got to thank Love’s Travel Stops, Speedco, [team owner] Bob Jenkins for giving me this opportunity. I’m so thankful. Such a great way to get a first victory. Daytona 500, are you kidding me?! We’re the Daytona 500 champions! We had our Ford partners at the end and they all crashed, but luckily I was able to make it through. I’m just so thankful. God is good.”

    Elliott, the reigning series champion, came home in second place as he achieved his best result in the 500 in his sixth attempt to win it.

    “I felt like we had a fast car,” Elliott said. “We weren’t as good as I thought we were on Thursday. I felt like we did a really good job executing today. Staying out of trouble, that’s not something I’ve done a very good job of here in this race, so I’m glad we could at least finish this one and have something to build on for when we come back and try to do better.”

    Austin Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 champion, finished in third place followed by Harvick and Hamlin, who came up short in his bid to win three consecutive Daytona 500 titles.

    “Yeah, you know you’ve just got to be thankful to be around at those moments at the end,” Dillon said. “I pulled out to see if the bottom would work and just didn’t get enough of a run. It was close. I’ve got to thank all my sponsors like Bass Pro Shops and everybody that helps this program. We were here all weekend scoring points and that’s all I can ask for…What can I say? Chevy was really close. I had fun working with my guys tonight in the Chevy camp.”

    Preece came home in sixth place with a wrecked car followed by Chastain and McMurray. LaJoie and Larson rounded out the top 10.

    Logano, Keselowski and Kyle Busch ended their nights in 12th, 13th and 14th following their vicious wreck. The wreck evaporated Keselowski’s hopes of winning his first 500 title in his 12th attempt along with Kyle Busch, who made his 17th attempt to win it.

    “[I] Had a big run down the backstretch, went to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended up really bad,” Keselowski said following his release from the infield care center. “[I] Don’t feel like I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everyone else’s car. Frustrating, the Discount Tire Ford was not the fastest, but [crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the whole team did a great job of keeping us in position and right then, we were in position. That’s exactly where I want to be running second on the last lap at Daytona with this package. Had the run, made the move. Then it didn’t work out.”

    “Pandemonium, I guess,” Logano said. “Chaos struck. [Keselowski] kept trying to back up, trying to get a run. I was trying to back up to him and try to keep the runs from being too big. I guess he got to the back of [McDowell] and it ended up being a really big run coming at me, and it seemed we all just collided in one spot. Real bummer. None of the Penske cars won, but at least a Ford won…I hate that we didn’t win with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. I feel like we had a great shot, being where we were and leading on the last lap, but if we couldn’t win, I’m really happy to see McDowell win this thing.”

    “It’s to be expected,” Kyle Busch said. “Just a matter of time before it all breaks loose and whatever happens happens. I saw a window to the outside and all of a sudden, I had [Keselowski] on my hood…Got clobbered a few good times and just fortunate that I’m all good. Our M&M’s Camry, that one won’t live to see another day. Hopefully, we’ll be back here next week and have a better go around on the [Daytona] road course and get back after it.”

    Cindric was scored in 15th place in his Cup debut while Briscoe was the highest-finishing Rookie-of-the-Year contender in 19th place. Wallace finished in 17th place in his first run with 23XI Racing.

    There were 22 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 40 laps.

    Following the first race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Austin Dillon leads the regular-season standings by six points over Hamlin, eight over Harvick, 10 over Elliott and 12 over McDowell and Preece.

    Results.

    1. Michael McDowell, one lap led

    2. Chase Elliott, three laps led

    3. Austin Dillon, seven laps led

    4. Kevin Harvick, 17 laps led

    5. Denny Hamlin, 98 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner

    6. Ryan Preece

    7. Ross Chastain

    8. Jamie McMurray

    9. Corey LaJoie

    10. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    11. Cole Custer, one lap led

    12. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

    13. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

    14. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    15. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    16. Christopher Bell, one lap down, 32 laps led

    17. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down

    19. Chase Briscoe, three laps down

    20. Joey Gase, four laps down

    21. Cody Ware, four laps down

    22. Kurt Busch, five laps down

    23. B.J. McLeod, five laps down

    24. Josh Bilicki, six laps down

    25. Martin Truex Jr., seven laps down

    26. William Byron, nine laps down

    27. Tyler Reddick, 12 laps down

    28. Kaz Grala – OUT, dvp, 10 laps led

    29. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

    30. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

    31. Chris Buescher – OUT, dvp

    32. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, dvp

    33. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, dvp

    34. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    35. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    36. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

    37. David Ragan – OUT, Accident

    38. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident

    39. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

    40. Derrike Cope – OUT, Accident

    With the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is the series’ return to Daytona International Speedway for the series’ second points-paying event on the road course layout. The event will occur on Sunday, February 21, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.