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  • Reddick conquers chaotic Cup Playoff event for third victory of 2022 at Texas

    Reddick conquers chaotic Cup Playoff event for third victory of 2022 at Texas

    A week after his championship hopes evaporated under the lights at Thunder Valley, Tyler Reddick responded with vengeance under the lights in the Lone Star state after winning a wild AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 25.

    The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led three times for a race-high 70 of 334-scheduled laps in an event mired with multiple single-car incidents stemming from tire failures and a track record of 16 caution periods. A number of Playoff contenders ran into obstacles from start to finish and the race was interrupted by a rain delay that spanned nearly an hour.

    When all was said and done, Reddick rallied from making an early unscheduled green flag pit stop and capitalized during a 24-lap dash to the finish to beat Playoff contender Joey Logano, capture his third checkered flag of the season and of his career. With the victory, he spoiled the hopes of the Playoff contenders as a win in the first Round of 12 event would have meant an early pass to the Round of 8.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Brad Keselowski achieved his first pole position of the 2022 season and the first as an owner/drive after posting a pole-winning lap at 188.990 mph in 28.573 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Joey Logano, the highest-starting Playoff contender who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 188.805 mph in 28.601 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Justin Haley, Cody Ware and BJ McLeod dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, former teammates Keselowski and Logano dueled for the lead early followed by William Byron. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Logano led the first lap by a hair before Keselowski reassumed the top spot. Byron settled in a close third while Michael McDowell was in fourth ahead of Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott was in seventh while Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez battled for eighth in front of Kyle Larson.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the front-runners settling in a long single-file line, Keselowski was leading by more than a second over Logano followed by Byron, McDowell and Hamlin while Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Suarez and Larson were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was in 11th ahead of rookie Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney while Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick occupied the top 20. While 10 of 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 20, the remaining two that included Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe were in 22nd and 31st, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 25 mark, Keselowski stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Logano while Byron, McDowell and Hamlin remained in the top five. By then, all but one of the 12 Playoff competitors were in the top 20 as Bell was scored in 18th behind Bowman while Briscoe was still mired outside the top 20 in 30th behind teammate Aric Almirola. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace, who made a pit stop under green to address an issue nearing the Lap 15 mark, was in 36th place, dead last, as he had fallen off the lead lap category.

    Another seven laps later, Keselowski’s No. 6 RoushParts.com Ford Mustang went up the racetrack in Turn 1. This allowed Logano to move his No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford Mustang into the lead. Shortly after, Byron moved his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Keselowski fell back to third.

    Then on Lap 40, the first caution of the event flew when Martin Truex Jr., who was running in ninth, slipped sideways and spun off of Turn 4 as he made light contact with the rear of his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry. During the first caution period, the leaders, led by Logano, pitted and Byron emerged with the lead after exiting and followed by Logano, Elliott, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Larson. Following the first pit stops, Keselowski was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 44, Byron and Logano dueled for the lead and they remained side-by-side for a full lap with Logano ahead by a nose. During the following lap, however, Byron managed to pull ahead while Hamlin prevailed in a battle for third place over Elliott, who soon lost two spots to Kyle Busch and Larson.

    On Lap 49, the caution returned when Kyle Busch, who was eliminated from Playoff contention last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway and was running in fourth place, slipped sideways and backed his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry hard into the outside wall off of Turn 4 as the field scattered to avoid hitting Busch. Despite getting his car re-ignited, Busch was quick to nurse his car to the garage and retire in 36th place, dead last. During the caution period, some of the drivers, including, Cindric, Landon Cassill, rookie Todd Gilliland and BJ McLeod pitted while the rest, led by Byron, remained on the track.

    During the following restart on Lap 54, Byron engaged in another side-by-side battle with Logano as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Just as the field returned to the frontstretch, where Byron was back out in front, the caution flew when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Ty Dillon and was sent sideways from the middle of the track through the frontstretch grass while keeping his car intact. During the caution period, Noah Gragson, BJ McLeod and Stenhouse pitted while the rest, led by Byron, remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 60, Byron managed to pull away from Logano as Hamlin successfully made a bid for the runner-up spot in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry on Logano. Behind, Larson, who briefly challenged Logano for third, was quickly overtaken by Reddick before settling in front of Elliott and Bell. A few laps later, a heated side-by-side battle for third place occurred between Logano and Reddick before the latter prevailed. 

    At the Lap 75 mark, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Reddick, Larson and Logano while Elliott, Bell, Chastain, Buescher and Suarez were in the top 10. Bowman was in 11th ahead of Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Harvick and Truex while McDowell, the Dillon brothers, Haley and Cindric were in the top 20. By then, all but one of the 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 20 on the track with Briscoe in 21st followed by Keselowski.

    Three laps later, the caution returned when Playoff competitor Bell fell off the pace in Turn 1 after cutting a right-rear tire. Just behind him, Cole Custer veered into the outside wall in Turn 1 after he too cut a right-rear tire. While Bell continued, Custer dropped out of the event. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Blaney, pitted while the rest, led by Byron, remained on the track.

    During another restart on Lap 83, the field fanned out to three lanes entering the first turn as Byron fended off Hamlin to retain the lead while Larson and Reddick battled for third. Behind, Logano and Elliott fended off Chastain in fifth and sixth while Bowman started to close in on eighth place. Three laps later, Byron briefly lost momentum after getting loose entering Turn 2. This allowed Hamlin to assume the lead followed by Reddick as Larson would overtake teammate Byron for third place during the following lap. Then on Lap 88, the battle for the lead ignited as Larson gained a strong run through the first two turns before overtaking both Hamlin and Reddick to assume the lead for the first time.

    With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, Larson was out in front by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Reddick, Byron and Logano while Elliott settled in sixth ahead of Chastain, Bowman, Buescher and Suarez. 

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Bowman, a Playoff contender who was running in the top 10, snapped sideways entering Turn 4 and slapped the outside wall and slowly nursed his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road with damage. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Reddick pitted while the rest, led by Larson, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Buescher was penalized for removing equipment from his pit box.

    With three laps remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Larson and Hamlin dueled for the lead while Chastain made a bold move beneath Byron to move up to fourth place behind Logano while teammate Suarez joined the battle. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Larson was clear out in front while Hamlin went to work to fend off Logano, Suarez, Chastain and Byron for second place. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 105, Larson, who made contact with Hamlin to retain the lead, captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Hamlin charged his way into second followed by Logano, Suarez, Chastain, Byron, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Cindric and McDowell. By then, seven of the 12 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while Elliott, Blaney, Bell, Briscoe and Bowman were scored in 13th, 20th, 21st, 27th and 34th, respectively. In addition, Bowman was able to continue following repairs to his car but was eight laps behind the leaders.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Larson, pitted, while the rest, led by Stenhouse, who last pitted on Lap 57, remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 111 with Stenhouse and McDowell occupying the front row. At the start, Stenhouse retained the lead over McDowell while Reddick made a bold three-wide move to move into third place before being overtaken by rookie Harrison Burton in between Turns 3 and 4. During the following lap, Stenhouse was out in front of the field while Reddick challenged and overtook both Burton and McDowell for the runner-up spot. In addition, Elliott challenged Erik Jones for fifth place while Truex, Wallace and Bell were in the top 10.

    Then on Lap 116, Reddick made an unscheduled pit stop under green and fell out of the lead lap category. 

    Back on the track on Lap 120, Stenhouse retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Burton as Elliott started to close in on the two leaders. Behind, Erik Jones was in fourth while Truex occupied fifth place. Three laps later, the No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang piloted by Harrison Burton moved into the lead. Elliott also quickly darted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Stenhouse was left to fend off Erik Jones and Truex for third.

    Through the first 135 scheduled laps, Burton was leading by nearly half a second over Elliott followed by Erik Jones, Truex and Stenhouse while Wallace, Bell, Blaney, Gragson and Larson occupied the top 10. McDowell, Austin Dillon, Byron, Keselowski and Hamlin were scored in the top 15 followed by Ty Dillon, Harvick, Chastain, Buescher and Logano.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Bell, who lost a tire, slipped sideways entering Turn 4 and pounded the outside wall hard before spinning his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry below the apron and limping back to his pit stall with damage. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Burton pitted. Elliott exited with the top spot followed by Chastain, Erik Jones, Wallace, Truex and Hamlin. During the pit stops, Burton, who came in as the leader, endured a slow pit stop when a fire ignited in his pit box while his crew members were trying to change the left-side tires. In the process, Burton attempted to pull away, but he came to a stop when realizing that the left-rear tire on his car was not secured. By the time he returned to the track, he was scored in 32nd place and a lap down.

    At the start of the following restart on Lap 141, Elliott and Chastain duked for the lead while Blaney made a bold three-wide move in a bid for a spot in the top five over Truex and Hamlin. As the field jostled for positions, Elliott retained the lead while Chastain was left to fend off Erik Jones for second place. Behind, Blaney overtook Wallace in fourth place as he launched his bid for second place.

    By Lap 150, Elliott was leading by six-tenths of a second over Chastain followed by Blaney, Erik Jones and Truex while Wallace, Larson, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Byron were in the top 10. Behind, Suarez was in 11th ahead of Gragson, Harvick, Keselowski and McDowell while Buescher, Logano, Ty Dillon, Cindric and Stenhouse were running in the top 20. While Briscoe was outside of the top 20, Bell, who was involved in the latest incident, became the first Playoff competitor to retire from the race in 34th place.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 167, Elliott continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Chastain followed by Blaney, Larson, Erik Jones, Truex, Wallace, Austin Dillon, Byron and Hamlin. By then, half of the 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 and 10 were running inside the top 20. With Bell out of the race, Briscoe was in 26th place behind Corey LaJoie.

    Just then, the caution flew for a scary single-car wreck when Cody Ware, who got loose and pounded the outside wall hard in Turn 4, darted his damaged No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford Mustang through the frontstretch grass and toward pit road at full speed. He then smacked against the pit road wall near Alex Bowman’s pit stall and came to a full stop in BJ McLeod’s pit box with extensive front-nose damage.

    With the field remaining on the track under a cautious pace, the safety workers went to work on assisting Ware out of his car, with the driver managing to climb out before being placed on a stretcher and into an ambulance for further medical evaluation. Rick Ware Racing would eventually release a statement, noting Ware showed no fractures upon X-rays and was released from the infield care center following treatment but was experiencing discomfort in one of his ankles.

    Following an extensive cleanup period on pit road, where Ware’s car was towed away, some of the drivers, led by Chastain, pitted while the rest, led by Elliott, remained on the track. Prior to the restart, Larson, who initially pitted for two right-side tires, pitted again for fresh left-side tires.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 177, Elliott and Blaney dueled for the lead as the former retained the top spot. Behind, Erik Jones was in third ahead of Wallace while Suarez battled Austin Dillon for fifth place. In addition, Reddick battled and overtook Gragson for seventh as Chastain joined the battle.

    Seven laps later, the caution returned when the leader, Elliott. got loose after losing a right-side tire and hit the outside wall in Turn 4 as Blaney barely escaped the wreckage to assume the lead. With the No. 9 Chevrolet bursting in flames and the field fanning out to avoid him, Elliott turned his car into the frontstretch grass before climbing out uninjured and retiring from the event. At the time of caution, Wallace, who had earlier lost momentum and went up the track, had dropped from seventh to 20th.

    Down to the final 19 laps of the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Blaney and Suarez dueled for the lead for nearly a full lap until Blaney managed to pull ahead on the inside lane. Behind them, Chastain and Byron battled for third while Austin Dillon was in fifth ahead of Keselowski, teammate Reddick, and McDowell. 

    During the following lap, Chastain and Byron overtook Suarez for second and third as Blaney retained the lead. Byron would quickly overtake Chastain for second while Reddick, who was in seventh, got loose and went up the track as he plummeted to 18th.

    With 13 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Chris Buescher, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Bristol Motor Speedway, got loose and spun entering Turn 4 as he slid through the frontstretch grass, though he managed to straighten his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang and continue without sustaining any significant damage. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Almirola, Harvick and Larson, pitted while the rest, led by Blaney, remained on the track.

    During the following restart with nine laps remaining in the second stage, Blaney and Byron battled for the lead ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain and Suarez while Austin Dillon was in fifth ahead of Keselowski and McDowell. A few laps later, Blaney was out in front while Chastain overtook Byron for second place. Behind, Keselowski battled and passed Suarez for fourth as the field behind continued to jostle for positions.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 210, Blaney captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second while Byron, Keselowski, Suarez, Austin Dillon, Cindric, Logano, Truex and McDowell were scored in the top 10. By then, half of 12 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 with a total of nine still racing on the lead lap while the remaining three (Bowman, Elliott and Bell) were scored outside of the top 30.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Blaney, pitted, while the rest, led by McDowell and Erik Jones, remained on the track. 

    Then with 114 laps remaining, the field led by McDowell, who was missing fourth gear in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang, was led to pit road and the race was placed in a red flag period due to a weather delay and with reports of light rain around the circuit.

    Following a rain delay that lasted 56 minutes, the field returned to the track under a cautious pace and the final stage started with 111 laps remaining as McDowell and Erik Jones occupied the front row. At the start, McDowell and Jones dueled for the lead for a full lap. Then during the following lap, Jones got into the outside wall in Turn 2 as McDowell cleared the field with the lead. Jones, however, retained second while trying to fend off Reddick with Harrison Burton and Buescher in the top five.

    With 108 laps remaining, Reddick, who rallied from his early unscheduled pit stop under green while running toward the front, took the lead for the first time. Not long after, Jones overtook McDowell for second followed by Buescher while Harvick battled Burton for fifth place in front of Justin Haley.

    Eight laps later and down to the final 100 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Erik Jones while third-place Buescher trailed by more than a second. McDowell was in fourth followed by Harvick while Byron was the highest-running Playoff contender in sixth place. Burton, Keselowski, Haley and Truex were scored in the top 10 while Briscoe was up in 11th in front of teammate Aric Almirola, Gragson, Chastain, Blaney, Logano, Larson, Ty Dillon, Suarez and Austin Dillon. Meanwhile, Hamlin was back in 22nd, Cindric was in 25th and Bowman was in 31st, eight laps down.

    Then with 92 laps remaining, the caution returned when the third-place running competitor, Buescher, slapped the outside wall in Turn 4 and slowly crept around the circuit with damage and a flat right-rear tire. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Reddick, pitted, while the rest, led by Harvick, remained on the track.

    At the start of the following restart with 87 laps remaining, Harvick fended off Truex to lead the field entering the backstretch while Burton and Byron battled for third in front of Chastain and the field.

    Another five laps later, the record-tying 13th caution flag of the event flew when race leader Harvick slipped sideways and pounded the outside wall entering Turn 4 after his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang cut a right-rear tire. With Harvick’s car sliding toward the middle of the turn, he was dodged by the field before he limped his car back to pit road for repairs. During the caution period, some of the field pitted while the rest, led by Truex and Byron, remained on the track.

    When the race restarted with 76 laps remaining, Truex muscled ahead with the lead ahead of Byron while Hamlin and Austin Dillon battled for third in front of Larson and Blaney.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Truex continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon, who muscled his way towards the front and started to close in on Truex for the lead, followed by Hamlin while Byron fell back to fourth in front of teammate Larson.

    Then, with 66 laps remaining, the record-breaking 14th caution flew when race leader, Truex, lost a tire and went dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 3 as his car slid below the apron and came to rest with significant right-side damage. Amid Truex’s wreck, Byron, who was displeased with Hamlin running him out of room, bumped and spun Hamlin while battling for third place on the frontstretch, which prompted Hamlin to retaliate under caution as he tried to hit and turn Byron on the backstretch.

    During the caution period, some, led by Austin Dillon, who initially took the lead, pitted, while the rest, led by Stenhouse, remained on the track.

    With 58 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Stenhouse and Gilliland battled for the lead. Gilliland assumed the lead and led a lap but Stenhouse reassumed the top spot during the following lap as Reddick closed in and challenged the two leaders. Behind, Briscoe and Logano battled for fourth and to be the highest-running Playoff competitor on the track while Cindric and Haley battled for sixth in front of Chastain, Suarez and Byron.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick, who captured the top spot three laps earlier, was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Stenhouse while Logano overtook Gilliland for third. Briscoe was in fifth ahead of Cindric, Haley, McDowell, Chastain and Blaney. By then, only five of 12 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 with nine still scored on the lead lap.

    Sixteen laps later, the caution flew when Stenhouse, running in third place in front of Gilliland, slipped sideways and backed his No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the outside wall in the backstretch. As Stenhouse’s car veered from the top to the bottom lane, Cindric, who was approaching Stenhouse at full speed, veered his car to the left to avoid Stenhouse, but ended up spinning his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang on the bottom lane, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage. During the caution period, Chastain, Erik Jones, the Dillon brothers, Harvick, Corey LaJoie, Landon Cassill and Garrett Smithley pitted while the rest, led by Reddick, remained on the track.

    Just as the field restarted with 29 laps remaining under green, the caution, however, quickly returned when Almirola spun entering Turn 2 with Chastain sustaining minor damage to his car.

    When the race proceeded under green with 24 laps remaining, Reddick and Logano battled for the lead as the field behind fanned out. Shortly after, Reddick assumed full command with the top spot while Haley, Briscoe and McDowell battled for third. 

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Reddick continued to lead by more than a second over runner-up Logano and third-place Haley as Blaney and Briscoe occupied the top five. Keselowski, Byron and Erik Jones were in sixth through eighth while Larson, who briefly lost momentum a few laps earlier, was back in ninth in front of Hamlin.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick remained the leader by more than a second over Logano. With Logano unable to narrow his deficit in a single lap, Reddick was able to navigate his way back to the frontstretch, preserve his tires when it mattered most and streak across the finish line to cap off a wild event with the victory.

    Reddick’s victory meant that the first four events of the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs have been won by competitors not eligible for this year’s championship battle. The Californian was eliminated from transferring out of the Round of 16 by two points. The Texas victory also marked Reddick’s third career victory of his Cup career and of this season, making him the second competitor overall to achieve three-plus victories this season, along with Chase Elliott.

    The victory comes more than a week after Reddick, who will be replaced by Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Chevrolet for the upcoming season, was revealed to be remaining at Richard Childress Racing for the 2023 Cup Series season before moving to 23XI Racing in 2024. 

    “I was extremely worried [about the tires],” Reddick said on USA Network. “I’m not gonna lie. Unfortunately, just about every time I’ve had fast cars, we’ve had some tire problems. That last run, the right sides were vibrating really, really hard there. I was just trying to maximize and just use the advantage of the gap that I built over Joey [Logano], just in case. Every time we’ve had a strong car, we’ve been bit by something. Just really proud to get this Lenovo Chevy to Victory Lane. [The sponsor] deserve to get to Victory Lane. We got them there.”

    “We just had two tough races [in the Round of 16],” Reddick added. “We brought a really fast car at Darlington and we were leading at Kansas when we broke and fell out early. It’s tough, but this [win] will make the pain of not making it through [to the Round of 12] a little bit easier, even though, yes, it would’ve locked us into the Round of 8, but hey, we’re winning races. That’s what we’ll keep trying to do. Let’s go!”

    Logano, who led 15 laps compared to Reddick’s 70, emerged as the highest-finishing Playoff contender on the track in second place. With his result, Logano sits atop the Playoff standings and is 40 points above the top-12 cutline to transfer to the Round of 8.

    “It’s kind of a bittersweet moment,” Logano said. “One side, I’m kind of frustrated that [the finish] was like that and maybe, we would’ve had a shot to beat [Reddick]. On the other hand, I’m just happy to finish the race and get a bunch of points with the AAA Mustang and have something for [the field] going to the next few races. We did what we had to do. We had to score a bunch of points. We did that, put ourselves in the point lead. Still not comforting, but it’s better than being further back. We’ll figure out how we want to run Talladega now. Overall, you got to be happy with that.”

    Justin Haley achieved his second top-five result of the season by finishing third while Blaney and Briscoe completed the top five on the track. Erik Jones, Byron, Keselowski, Larson and Hamlin completed the top 10 on the track.

    Overall, half of the 12 Playoff competitors finished in the top 10 with nine finishing on the lead lap.

    There were 36 lead changes for 19 different leaders. The race featured a track-record 16 cautions for 91 laps.

    Results.

    1. Tyler Reddick, 70 laps led

    2. Joey Logano, 15 laps led

    3. Justin Haley

    4. Ryan Blaney, 29 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Chase Briscoe

    6. Erik Jones, one lap led

    7. William Byron, 42 laps led

    8. Brad Keselowski, 31 laps led

    9. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    10. Denny Hamlin, two laps led

    11. Michael McDowell, 12 laps led

    12. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

    13. Ross Chastain, one lap led

    14. Corey LaJoie

    15. Austin Cindric, three laps led

    16. Ty Dillon

    17. Austin Dillon, three laps led

    18. Harrison Burton, 15 laps led

    19. Kevin Harvick, nine laps led

    20. Ty Gibbs

    21. Noah Gragson

    22. Landon Cassill

    23. Garrett Smithley

    24. Aric Almirola

    25. Bubba Wallace

    26. BJ McLeod, one lap down, one lap led

    27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down, 23 laps led

    28. Todd Gilliland, one lap down, one lap led

    29. Alex Bowman, five laps down

    30. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

    31. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident, 15 laps led

    32. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, 44 laps led

    33. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident

    34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Dvp

    35. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

    36. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Joey Logano +30

    2. Ross Chastain +29

    3. William Byron +17

    4. Kyle Larson +16

    5. Ryan Blaney +15

    6. Denny Hamlin +8

    7. Chase Elliott +4

    8. Daniel Suarez +4

    9. Chase Briscoe -4

    10. Austin Cindric -11

    11. Christopher Bell -29

    12. Alex Bowman -30

    The Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway for a 500-mile feature on Sunday, October 2. The event is scheduled to commence at 2. p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Busch, Harvick, Dillon and Reddick react to playoff elimination

    Busch, Harvick, Dillon and Reddick react to playoff elimination

    After a tumultuous race at Bristol Motor Speedway, four contenders were eliminated from the Cup Series Playoffs.

    Kyle Busch was -2 points after last week’s race at Kansas Speedway but had gained 14 points after Stage 2 of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway and was above the cutline.

    But on Lap 269 his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota engine blew. It was the second engine failure he’s experienced during the Round of 16, the first coming at Darlington Raceway two weeks ago.  

    His frustration was obvious in his comments.

    “It just goes with our year,” a disappointed Busch said. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m flabbergasted. I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They work too hard. We are too good of a group to be this low, down on the bottom, fighting for our lives just to make it through. Two engine failures in three weeks; that will do it to you.”

    With Busch’s early exit from the race, he finished two points below the cutline making him ineligible to contend for the 2022 Cup Series championship title.

    Kevin Harvick needed to win at Bristol to advance to the next round of the Playoffs. But, after running in the top-five for much of the race in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, a lengthy pit stop late in the race led to a missed opportunity.

    “It was pretty tough,” a disappointed Harvick said. “We pitted in front of the 17 (Buescher), so just kind of the way the year has gone. Just went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade, just difficult to pass.”

    Richard Childress Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon saw their playoff hopes come to an early end after damage resulting from an accident on Lap 278.

    Reddick, who finished 25th, said he saw the accident happening but could not avoid it.

    “I saw the crash happen. I checked up, but I just got run over. We had two bad races with bad finishes. We had two really good race cars, but we just didn’t capitalize on it and that was enough to miss it.”

    Dillon finished 31st, and commented, “I was just told the No. 99 (Daniel Suarez) wrecked in front of the field there and got in the No. 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.). I hate it for the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/ TRACKER Off Road Chevy team. We got left-front suspension damage and if we don’t get that, we’re out there running and probably in a good points position to make it.

    “It’s unfortunate, but we put ourselves in a little bit of a bind, points-wise, in the first two races. We were doing our job today though. We had a great race car and got stage points. It’s just unfortunate we were caught up in it.”

    The Playoffs Round of 12 begins on Sept. 25 at Texas Motor Speedway at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the USA Network with radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Playoffs – Round of 12

    1) Chase Elliott – 3040
    2) Joey Logano – 3025
    3) Ross Chastain – 3020
    4) Kyle Larson – 3019
    5) William Byron – 3015
    6) Denny Hamlin – 3013
    7) Christopher Bell – 3013
    8) Ryan Blaney – 3013
    9) Chase Briscoe – 3009
    10) Alex Bowman – 3007
    11) Daniel Suarez – 3007
    12) Austin Cindric – 3006

  • Buescher conquers a wild Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    Buescher conquers a wild Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    On a night where multiple Playoff contenders encountered on-track issues from start to finish, another non-Playoff contender captured the spotlight as Chris Buescher made a triumphant return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 17.

    The 29-year-old Buescher from Prosper, Texas, led twice for a race-high 169 of 500-scheduled laps, including the final 61, as he prevailed through a two-tire pit strategy and in a 57-lap dash to the finish by holding off Playoff contender Chase Elliott to score his second career win in NASCAR’s premier series and snap a 222-race winless drought under the lights at Thunder Valley.

    Buescher’s victory served as one of two major storylines to Saturday night’s event at Bristol. The second was the Playoff battle as the Round of 16 concluded with four big names, including Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick, being eliminated from the Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Aric Almirola claimed his first pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 127.826 mph in 14.946 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Chase Briscoe, the highest-starting Playoff contender who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 127.503 mph in 14.968 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Almirola jumped ahead with the advantage on the outside lane followed by teammate Briscoe and Denny Hamlin as the field jostled early between two lanes for positions. When the field made their way back to the frontstretch, Almirola managed to lead the first lap ahead of Hamlin and Briscoe while Ryan Blaney was in fourth ahead of Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Almirola remained as the leader ahead of Hamlin followed by Blaney, Briscoe and Bell while Bowman, Larson, Keselowski, Ross Chastain and Kevin Harvick were in the top 10. Bubba Wallace, the winner of last weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway, was in 11th ahead of William Byron, rookie Austin Cindric, Cole Custer and AJ Allmendinger while Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Justin Haley occupied the top 20. By then, Playoff contenders Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez were mired in 21st, 24th, 26th, 30th and 32nd, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later on Lap 25, Almirola, who approached lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over a side-by-side battle between Hamlin and Blaney while Briscoe and Bell remained in the top five. By then, half of the 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10 while Kyle Busch, Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Suarez were among five Playoff contenders still mired outside of the top 20 on the track.

    Another 11 laps later, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Pennzoil/Menards Ford Mustang into the lead after he overtook Almirola as Hamlin started to challenge Almirola for the runner-up spot. 

    On Lap 42, the first caution of the event flew due to debris on the backstretch and following two right-front incidents affecting two competitors. The first was when JJ Yeley smacked the outside wall in Turn 2 and fell off the pace after losing a right-front tire. The incident occurred as Yeley, who was multiple laps down, was battling the top-five front-runners on the track. By then, rookie Harrison Burton got into the outside wall in Turn 3 after he lost a right-front tire to his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang.

    During the caution period, a majority of the field led by race leader Blaney pitted wile the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 49, Keselowski rocketed his No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang with the lead while teammate Chris Buescher and Wallace battled for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing over the latter. Behind, Tyler Reddick was in fourth followed by Corey LaJoie and Almirola, the first competitor on four fresh tires, while Hamlin was in seventh as he was trying to navigate his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry back to the front.

    By Lap 60, Keselowski was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher followed by Wallace, Reddick and Almirola while Hamlin, Bell, Blaney, LaJoie and Suarez occupied the top-10 spots on the track. Briscoe was in 11th followed by teammate Harvick, Larson, Byron and Kyle Busch while Bowman, Chastain, Logano, McDowell and Truex were in the top 20. By then, Cindric was in 22nd ahead of Austin Dillon and Elliott was mired back in 25th ahead of Ty Gibbs and Ty Dillon.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Keselowski continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Buescher while Wallace, Hamlin and Reddick were running in the top five. Blaney, meanwhile, was in sixth while Almirola, Bell, Briscoe and Harvick were in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Byron, Suarez and Chastain. While Logano and Austin Dillon were in 18th and 20th, Elliott was mired back in 22nd and Cindric was back in 24th.

    Nine laps later, early disaster struck for Cindric, who pitted under green after he lost a right-side tire to his No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang and scrubbed the outside wall entering Turn 2. By the time he returned to the track, his hopes of advancing to the Playoffs were jeopardized as he was mired back in 36th place on the track, dead last, and five laps down to the leaders.

    Then on Lap 91, the caution returned when Blaney smacked the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 after losing a right-front tire to his No. 12 Ford. In the process to avoid hitting Blaney, Almirola spun his No. 10 Ford BlueOval City Ford Mustang in Turn 4 as he brushed the outside wall. Then as Blaney pitted for four fresh tires, the situation for him from bad to worse. In an effort to remain on the lead lap, he left his pit stall, but was unaware that his pit crew had removed the center lug nut from the left-rear wheel. This caused the left-rear wheel to roll off of Blaney’s car as Blaney came to a stop before spinning his car back to his pit stall for fresh left-side tires. In the process, he lost a lap to the leaders.

    During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track. 

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 99, Keselowski retained the lead on the outside lane for a second time while Bell quickly challenged and overtook Reddick for the runner-up spot in his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota TRD Camry. Behind, Kyle Busch, who restarted seventh, used the outside lane to his advantage as he bolted his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry past a bevy of names, including Larson, Briscoe and Reddick, in one lap before settling in third place behind teammate Bell. 

    By Lap 115, Keselowski retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Bell and nine-tenths of a second over third-place Kyle Busch while Briscoe and Larson battled for fourth. Meanwhile, Blaney, who had a part dragging to the rear end of his car following his pit road incident, had returned to the track following a lengthy pit stop as he was mired back in 36th place, dead last, and five laps behind the leaders. He would eventually be posted by NASCAR for not meeting minimum speed and pitted again to address a flat right-rear tire.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 125, Keselowski, who came into the event with an average-finishing result of 19.2, captured his first stage victory of the 2022 season. Bell settled in second followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Briscoe, Larson, Bowman, Buescher, Reddick, Byron and Truex. By then, Elliott was in 12th, Harvick and Hamlin were mired in 14th and 15th, Austin Dillon was in 17th, Chastain was in 19th ahead of Logano, Suarez was in 23rd, Cindric was five laps down in 35th and Blaney was 15 laps down in 36th, dead last.

    Under the stage break, some led by Keselowski, who pitted for the first time, pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 133 as Buescher and Harvick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher retained the lead ahead of Harvick while Chastain and Hamlin duked for third in front of Wallace, Custer and Justin Haley. 

    Following another caution period on Lap 139 when Harrison Burton got hit by Cindric and spun on the frontstretch and during the following restart on Lap 145, Buescher retained the top spot in his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang over Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang and the rest of the field.

    At the Lap 150 mark, Buescher continued to lead by half a second over Harvick followed by Hamlin, Wallace and Custer while Chastain, Haley, Suarez, Briscoe and Logano were in the top 10.

    Twenty-five laps later on Lap 175, Buescher stabilized his advantage to a tenth of a second over Harvick while Hamlin, Wallace and Chastain were scored in the top five. Shortly after, however, Wallace, who had smoke coming out of his No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry, pitted under green. The situation, which was deemed a right-front brake line failure, cost Wallace multiple laps as he remained in his pit stall while his pit crew diagnosed the issue.

    Back on the track on Lap 190 and while Buescher continued to lead by a tenth of a second, seven of 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10, with Harvick in second ahead of Hamlin and Chastain while Briscoe was in sixth, two spots ahead of Bowman, Larson and Bell. Kyle Busch was in 11th while Elliott was up in 12th place. Suarez was in 14th, Byron was in 16th, Logano was in 18th, Reddick was back in 23rd, Cindric was four laps down while mired in 34th and Blaney was 78 laps down in 36th as he continued to lose more laps to the leaders while he remained in the garage to have his car repaired. By then, Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate Ty Gibbs took his No. 23 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry to the garage due to a power steering issue.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Erik Jones, who just went a lap down to the leader Buescher, spun his No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the backstretch after making contact with teammate Ty Dillon. The incident occurred as both Petty GMS Motorsports competitors were trying to avoid Harrison Burton, who encountered his third right-front tire issue of the night. During the caution period, names like Bell, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Suarez, Keselowski, Byron, Logano, McDowell, Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland Reddick and the Dillon brothers pitted while the rest led by Buescher and Harvick remained on the track. By then, Truex took his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry to the garage and retired due to a power steering issue.

    With 45 laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Buescher retained the lead over Harvick while Harvick was being challenged by Hamlin and teammate Custer. Behind, Chastain battled for fifth over Briscoe as both Haley and Larson joined the battle. 

    Twenty laps later and with 25 laps remaining in the second stage, Buescher stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Hamlin, Custer and Larson while Chastain was locked in a side-by-side battle with Bell for sixth. Behind, Briscoe was left battling Kyle Busch for eighth while Keselowski was back in 10th ahead of Elliott, Bowman, Byron, Almirola, Haley and Logano. By then, Austin Dillon and Suarez were back in 20th and 21st while Cindric was in 31st, five laps down. 

    With 16 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Hamlin, who was in third, fell off the pace after blowing a right-front tire to his No. 11 Toyota as he just managed to keep his car off the outside wall. During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

    When the second stage proceeded with 10 laps remaining, Bell took off with the lead followed by a side-by-side battle involving Chastain and Briscoe while Elliott and Kyle Busch battled for fourth in front of Bowman and Byron. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 250, which marked the halfway point of the event, Bell, who is already guaranteed a spot in the Round of 12, captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second followed by Briscoe, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Byron, Austin Dillon, Larson and Harvick. By then, Suarez was in 11th, Logano was in 18th, Reddick was back in 23rd ahead of Hamlin, Cindric was five laps down in 31st and Blaney was still in the garage and mired in 36th place, 138 laps down.

    Under the stage break, names like Chastain, Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Bowman, Harrison Burton and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

    With 241 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Bell and Elliott occupied the front row. At the start, Bell retained the lead while Byron made his way into the runner-up spot over teammates Larson and Elliott. Behind, Harvick battled McDowell for fifth while Keselowski was in seventh over Custer.

    Eleven laps later, the caution returned when Kyle Busch, who came into the event two points below the top-12 cutline, fell off the pace entering the frontstretch and steered his car, which was billowing smoke, below the apron and to the garage, where he retired from contention due to an engine failure.

    “I don’t even know what to say,” Busch said on USA Network. “I’m flabbergasted. I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They worked too hard, were too good of a group to be this low, down on the bottom and fighting for our lives just to make it through. Two engine failures in three weeks. That’ll do to you…This is not our normal.”

    When the race restarted with 224 laps remaining, Bell cleared Byron to retain the lead as Larson went to work on teammate Byron for the runner-up spot followed by teammate Elliott and Harvick. Just as the front-runners were approaching Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck that started when Suarez got loose entering the backstretch as he clipped Stenhouse and spun, thus igniting carnage that collected teammate Chastain, Austin Dillon, Gilliland, Cindric, Elliott, Cassill, Burton, Briscoe, Reddick and Bowman, who retired after busting the radiator from his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, while Blaney, who returned to the track and was more than 150 laps down, was able to dodge the carnage.

    When the race restarted with 214 laps remaining, Bell outdueled Byron to remain as the leader as Larson and Keselowski overtook Byron for second and third. Behind, Harvick, faced in a “must-win” situation to advance to the Playoffs, was in fifth and Elliott made his way up to sixth in front of Buescher, McDowell and Logano.

    With 200 laps remaining, Bell was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson followed by Keselowski, Byron and Harvick while Elliott, Buescher, Logano, McDowell and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin, Chastain and Briscoe were running 12th through 14th while Reddick was mired back in 28th place and still undergoing repairs to his No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon, who was involved in the latest multi-car wreck, took his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage as he retired and failed to advance past the Round of 12.

    Fifty-two laps later, the caution flew when Erik Jones fell off the pace through the backstretch after he cut a right-rear tire to his No. 43 Chevrolet. By then, Bell continued to lead by by half a second over Larson followed by Keselowski, Elliott and Buescher while Harvick, Logano, Byron, McDowell and Allmendinger were in the top 10. In addition, Reddick, who found himself five points outside of the top-12 cutline to advance to the Playoffs, made another pit stop as his No. 8 pit crew went under the hood. 

    Under caution, the leaders led by Bell pitted and Larson emerged with the lead after beating Bell off of pit road in first place.

    During the following restart with 140 laps remaining, Larson retained the lead over Bell while Keselowski launched a challenge on Bell for second place as the field scattered and jostled for positions. By then, Reddick, who was in 28th and 29 laps down, was scored four points behind Kyle Busch for the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs.

    With less than 120 laps remaining, Larson was leading ahead of Keselowski, Bell, Harvick and Buescher while Logano, Byron, Elliott, Allmendinger and Custer occupied the top 10. By then, Hamlin was in 11th, Chastain and Briscoe were in 14th and 15th, Suarez was back in 22nd, Cindric was in 25th and Reddick was in 28th. Blaney, meanwhile, was in 35th after he overtook a retired Truex.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Keselowski, who overtook Larson for the lead following a slide job 12 laps earlier, was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson while Bell, Harvick and Buescher remained in the top five. By then, six of 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10.

    Not long after, Logano, who is guaranteed a spot in the Round of 12, made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat right-front tire to his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. 

    Then wit 87 laps remaining, disaster struck for Keselowski, who lost a right-front tire entering Turn 3 after he popped a right-front tire to his No. 6 Ford Mustang. With Keselowski limping his car back to pit road, the race remained under green as Bell returned to the lead followed by Larson, Harvick, Buescher and Elliott.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Bell remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Larson and more than a second over third-place Harvick while Buescher and Elliott remained in the top five. By then, pole-sitter Almirola took his car to the garage due to a power steering issue.

    Down to the final 64 laps, however, the caution flew when Bell cut a right-rear tire as he lost the lead to Larson and fell off the pace through the backstretch, though he remained in second place in front of Harvick. During the caution period, the leaders led by Larson and including Bell pitted. Following the pit stops, Buescher emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Elliott, Byron, Larson and Allmendinger, all of whom elected for four fresh tires. During the pit stops, disaster struck for both Harvick and Hamlin after both encountered loose wheels that stalled their progress towards the front. For Harvick, he had fallen back to 10th after he backed his car back to his pit stall due to his left-front tire not being secured. For Hamlin, he was back in 11th after he had a loose left-rear wheel that needed to be tightened while trying to exit his pit stall. 

    With 57 laps remaining and with the field restarting under green, Buescher retained the lead while teammates Byron and Elliott battled for second in front of Larson, Bell and Allmendinger.

    Sixteen laps later and with 40 laps remaining, Buescher stabilized his advantage to nearly nine-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron, Larson and Bell battled for third. By then, Cindric, who took the wave around and was up in 21st while six laps behind, drew himself into a one-point advantage over Kyle Busch for the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12. In addition, Logano retired due to a suspension issue.

    Another 20 laps later, Buescher, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Elliott. Behind, Byron and Bell trailed by more than a second while fifth-place Larson trailed by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, Chastain was in sixth while Hamlin and Harvick were mired back in ninth and 10th.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Buescher was ahead by eight-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron continued to fend off Bell for third place.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Elliott’s No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Despite encountering more lapped traffic for a final circuit, Buescher was able to maintain a reasonable gap to Elliott as he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag in six years.

    The Bristol victory was Buescher’s second in the Cup Series and first since he claimed his first career win in the rain-shortened event at Pocono Raceway in August 2016. He also became the 19th different winner through 29 scheduled events of the 2022 Cup season and the 139th different competitor to achieve multiple victories in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, Buescher recorded the first NASCAR victory for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing since the organization last won at Daytona International Speedway in July 2017, their first since the team was rebranded to RFK Racing and the first Cup victory for crew chief Scott Graves.

    With Buescher’s victory, this marked the first time since the Playoff-elimination format debuted in 2014 where a Playoff round’s three events were swept by non-title contenders after Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace won the previous two Round of 16 events.

    Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, this is just so special,” Buescher said on the frontstretch. “This team did such a great job. First Cup win for [sponsor] Fastenal for a points-paying race. That’s awesome. Glad to have Fastenal onboard tonight. Just so special here at Bristol. I love this racetrack. I love the fans. I love every time we come here. It’s so special. [I] Lost one [at Bristol] that really broke our heart back in 2015 on the Xfinity side with [Scott] Graves atop the pit box. This makes up for that. That’s pretty awesome. Pretty special.”

    “It was up to me at that point [during the final restart],” Buescher added. “Just hold on and make it work. We really had a fast Fastenal Mustang. Just so proud of everybody. We knew we had a good race car after practice. [I] Didn’t quite get the job done in qualifying, but what a race car. It’s special. Get [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] in Victory Lane for the first time. We had great race cars. Brad [Keselowski] had really good speed, too. I don’t know what else to say. I’m out of breath. This place will wear you flat out and I love that about it, but such a special night. This [race] is number one on the list right here. This is it.”

    Meanwhile, Elliott rallied from qualifying 23rd to finish in second place for his 11th top-five result of the season while Byron, Bell and Larson completed the top five on the track. All four are among 12 competitors to advance to the Playoff’s Round of 12.

    “I wasn’t close enough to do anything with [Buescher],” Elliott said. “We had a long day yesterday. [I] Was able to battle back for a bad qualifying effort to get a top two [finish. Proud of that. Glad to be moving on [in the Playoffs]. Looking forward to some more opportunities in these coming weeks.”

    Playoff contender Chastain came home in sixth while Allmendinger, Custer, Hamlin and Harvick completed the top 10 on the track.

    When all was said and done on the track, drivers Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and rookie Austin Cindric transferred to the Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick were eliminated from title contention for the 2022 season.

    For Cindric, good fortune was on the rookie’s side in spite of the early unscheduled pit stop for a flat right-front tire. With a multitude of Playoff contenders also running into on-track issues throughout the night, Cindric’s 20th-place result was enough for him to claim the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12 by two points over both Kyle Busch and Reddick.

    “That was easy, right?” Cindric said. “[I] Came in plus two [points] and leave plus two. Just how we drew it up. What a night. We had right-front tires going down left and right from the beginning of the race. To get all of us into the Round of 12 after a very scary night for Team Penske, proud to do my job and hang in there. Got that one out.”

    For Harvick, the final pit stop prior to the final restart was the endgame of his hopes of transferring to the Round of 16 as he left Bristol mired in 16th place in the standings and without an opportunity to contend for a second championship despite rallying for a 10th-place result.

    “It was pretty tough,” Harvick said. “We pitted in front of [Buescher], so just kind of the way the year has gone. [I] Just went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade. Just difficult to pass.”

    The night was also adventurous for both Blaney and Reddick, both of whom encountered on-track issues of their own from start to finish. In the end, Blaney managed to work his way to 30th place in the final leaderboard and transfer to the Round of 12 while Reddick failed to transfer to the Round of 12 by two points for a second consecutive season.

    “Lucky to get in, I guess,” Blaney said. “We were really fast early and just had a right front [tire] go down like almost everybody else in the race. We just hit the wall a little bit harder than some other guys. Spent a long time fixing [the car], but was able to get back out. We built a good enough gap the first two [Playoff] races to give ourselves a bit of a cushion and then, some guys had their issues tonight. Pretty crazy turn of events, for sure. Good perseverance by this No. 12 group. Looking forward to getting into Texas.”

    “Frustrating, for sure,” Reddick said. “We unloaded in the race and just quite didn’t have the pace or the balance to make our car better. Unfortunately, with the balance issues we were fighting, we were pretty much limited. We couldn’t really adjust on it without hurting the downforce of the car, overall. We were kind of boxed in. Then, we just got collected in that accident back there. I checked up in time, but yeah, I got absolutely ran over from there. Caught the right front and broke the upper control arm for the second week in a row.”

    There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 80 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 169 laps led

    2. Chase Elliott

    3. William Byron

    4. Christopher Bell, 143 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Kyle Larson, 34 laps led

    6. Ross Chastain

    7. AJ Allmendinger

    8. Cole Custer

    9. Denny Hamlin 

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Michael McDowell

    12. Justin Haley

    13. Brad Keselowski, one lap down, 109 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    14. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    15. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    16. Harrison Burton, three laps down

    17. Cody Ware, three laps down

    18. Todd Gilliland, four laps down

    19. Daniel Suarez, six laps down

    20. Austin Cindric, seven laps down

    21. Erik Jones, eight laps down

    22. Landon Cassill, eight laps down

    23. JJ Yeley, nine laps down

    24. BJ McLeod, nine laps down

    25. Tyler Reddick, 31 laps down

    26. Ty Dillon – OUT, Steering

    27. Joey Logano – OUT, Suspension

    28. Aric Almirola – OUT, Steering, 36 laps led

    29. Bubba Wallace, 92 laps down

    30. Ryan Blaney, 162 laps down, nine laps led

    31. Austin Dillon – OUT, Dvp

    32. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    34. Kyle Busch – OUT, Engine

    35. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Steering

    36. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Steering

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Chase Elliott – Advanced

    2. Joey Logano – Advanced

    3. Ross Chastain – Advanced

    4. Kyle Larson – Advanced

    5. William Byron – Advanced

    6. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    7. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    8. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    9. Chase Briscoe – Advanced

    10. Alex Bowman – Advanced

    11. Daniel Suarez – Advanced 

    12. Austin Cindric – Advanced

    13. Kyle Busch – Eliminated

    14. Tyler Reddick – Eliminated

    15. Austin Dillon – Eliminated

    16. Kevin Harvick – Eliminated

    The Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for a 500-mile feature on Sunday, September 25. The event is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Bubba Wallace spoils the Playoffs with second Cup career victory at Kansas

    Bubba Wallace spoils the Playoffs with second Cup career victory at Kansas

    Bubba Wallace wheeled the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota TRD Camry to a late victory in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, September 11. It was the second time in recent weeks that a non-Playoff competitor spoiled the show in the early stages of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. On this occasion, it was a team that celebrated an automatic transfer to the second round in the owners’ standings.

    The 28-year-old Wallace from Mobile, Alabama, led two times for 58 of 267-scheduled laps, including the final 43, and rallied from an early loose wheel that forced him to pit for a second time prior to the start of the second stage as he held off team owner Denny Hamlin amid lapped traffic to score his second career win in NASCAR’s premier series. The victory enabled the No. 45 team to earn an automatic pass to the Round of 12 in the owners’ standings with Wallace not contending for the drivers’ title.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff contender Tyler Reddick secured his second pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 180.608 mph in 29.899 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Joey Logano, who posted the second-best lap sat 180.385 mph in 29.936 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Aric Almirola and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Reddick and Logano dueled early for the lead entering the first turn before Logano capitalized on the inside lane to assume the lead. With the field fanning out through the backstretch, Logano went on to lead the first lap while Alex Bowman muscled his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot over Reddick’s No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    Two laps later, however, Bowman battled and overtook Logano on the outside lane for the lead. Reddick would soon overtake Logano for the runner-up spot while Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain occupied the top five ahead of a side-by-side battle between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Bowman was leading by six-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Logano, Bell and Chastain while Wallace, Larson, Kevin Harvick, rookie Austin Cindric and Martin Truex Jr. were in the top 10 ahead of Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Bowman stabilized his advantage to nearly eight-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Logano and Bell while Wallace muscled his No. 45 Root Insurance Toyota TRD Camry into the top five. By then, half of the 16 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 while Chase Elliott was the lowest-running Playoff contender in 26th. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was in 22nd while Chase Briscoe was mired in 17th behind William Byron, Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin.

    On Lap 25, a competition caution was displayed as scheduled by NASCAR. At the moment of caution, Bowman had extended his advantage to more than a second over Reddick while Logano, Bell, Wallace, Chastain, Truex, Larson, Harvick and Cindric were scored in the top 10.

    During the competition caution, the leaders led by Bowman pitted and Reddick reassumed the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Bowman, Logano, Bell, Truex and Wallace. Following the pit stops, however, Brad Keselowski, Briscoe and Truex were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. In addition, Hamlin was penalized for an equipment interference.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 31, Reddick and Bowman dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the backstretch and entering Turn 3. As Bowman and Reddick continued to battle dead even for the lead, a three-wide action for third place ignited between Logano, Chastain and Wallace as Harvick closed in. 

    Two laps later, however, the caution returned when Chastain and Wallace slid up the track and in front of Harvick entering Turn 4. This caused Harvick to get loose before he veered back to the right and smacked the outside wall in Turn 4 as he sustained significant right-side damage to his No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang. The damage on the No. 4 Ford, which included the right-front suspension, was too extensive for Harvick to continue as he took his car to the garage and retired in 36th place, dead last.

    At the start of the following restart on Lap 38, Reddick retained the lead while fending off Blaney and Bowman before Logano challenged Bowman for third place through the first two turns. Behind, Chastain rocketed his No. 1 AdventHealth Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to fifth after he overtook Wallace and Bell as the field continued to dice for positions towards the front. 

    By Lap 50, Reddick was ahead by nearly a second over Blaney, Bowman, Chastain, Bell, Wallace, Logano, Buescher, Cindric and Byron. Behind, Stenhouse was in 11th ahead of Larson, Suarez, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Almirola, Truex and Hamlin while Briscoe was in 29th.

    Fifteen laps later, however, the caution flew when the race leader Reddick slipped sideways and slapped the outside wall after he cut a right-rear tire in Turn 2.  The situation went from bad to worse for Reddick, who then spun below the apron as he was entering pit road and ultimately retired from the race. Under caution, the leaders led by Bowman pitted and Austin Dillon assumed the lead following a two-tire pit stop.

    With nine laps remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Austin Dillon and Bell dueled until Bell prevailed on the inside lane. Shortly after, Blaney battled and overtook Dillon for third before Truex and Chastain took Dillon three-wide in a bid for fourth followed by Stenhouse and Wallace. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Bell, who was making his 100th Cup career start, captured his third stage victory of the 2022 season. Blaney settled in second while Truex, Stenhouse, Wallace, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Chastain, Logano and Austin Dillon, who fell back on two fresh tires, were scored in the top 10. By then, Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Byron and Larson while Cindric was in 15th followed by Suarez and Bowman. Briscoe was mired back in 25th while Reddick and Harvick were officially out of the event.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Bell returned to pit road for service while Almirola remained on the track to inherit the lead. Following the pit stops, Blaney and Wallace pitted to address loose wheels on their respective cars.

    The second stage started on Lap 86 with Almirola and McDowell, who opted for two fresh tires, on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, McDowell pulled ahead with the lead while Almirola, who slid up the track, made the slightest of contact with Bell and Elliott, though all continued to run straight. 

    During the following lap, Truex muscled his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry into the lead. Behind, Stenhouse moved in second over McDowell while Bell and Byron were in the top five. In addition, Almirola was in sixth in front of Elliott and Suarez while Kyle Busch and Logano were in the top 10.

    Another three laps later, the caution flew for Ty Gibbs, who got loose after making contact with Corey LaJoie and slapped the outside wall in Turn 2 as he flattened both right-side tires and sustained right-side damage to his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry. During the caution period, Almirola and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest of the field led by Truex remained on the track.

    During a Lap 95 restart, Truex and Stenhouse dueled for the lead before Truex managed to clear himself with the lead and with a clear racetrack in front of him two laps later. Meanwhile, Bell and Byron battled for third in front of Kyle Busch and McDowell.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Truex was leading by more than half a second over Stenhouse while Bell was the highest-running Playoff contender in third in front of Kyle Busch and Byron. By then, seven of 16 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 as Briscoe, Cindric, Suarez, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Blaney and Hamlin were mired outside of the top 10 on the track.

    Nine laps later, the caution returned when Stenhouse, who was running in second place, slapped the outside wall in the backstretch after he blew a right-rear tire on his No. 47 SunnyD Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, the leaders led by Truex pitted and Truex retained the lead after exiting with the top spot followed by Byron, Bowman, Logano, and Kyle Busch. Following the pit stops, however, Truex limped his way back to pit road to address a loose left-rear wheel. In addition, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Suarez were all penalized for equipment interference.

    On Lap 114, the race restarted under green as teammates Byron and Bowman occupied the front row. Entering the first turn and with the field bunched up, however, the caution returned when Erik Jones, winner of last weekend’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, made contact with rookie Harrison Burton and Corey LaJoie while trying to squeeze himself in between both competitors as both LaJoie and Burton went up the track and clipped Almirola, who went spinning before both collided with one another toward the outside wall.

    At the start of another restart on Lap 120, Bowman used the inside lane to his advantage as he assumed the lead over teammate Byron while Logano was left in a three-wide battle against Briscoe and Elliott for third as Bell pursued behind.

    At the halfway mark in between Laps 133 and 134, Bowman was leading by eight-tenths over Logano, Byron, Elliott, Briscoe, Cindric, Bell, Blaney, Larson and Wallace. Chastain, Kyle Busch and Hamlin were in 12th, 14th and 17th while Suarez was in 21st and Austin Dillon was in 22nd.

    Then on Lap 136, the caution flew when Kyle Busch, who was in 12th in front of Truex and Chastain, got loose and spun his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry into the frontstretch grass after he cut a right-rear tire. During the caution period, the leaders led by Bowman pitted and Bowman retained the lead ahead of teammate Byron.

    With 22 laps remaining in the second stage, Bowman received a push from Bell on the inside lane to maintain the lead before Byron used the outside lane to overtake Bell for the runner-up spot. In addition, Logano moved up to third while Bell maintained fourth in front of Blaney and Elliott.

    With less than 10 laps remaining in the second stage, Bowman remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Bell while Byron, Elliott and Wallace were in the top five. Wallace’s owner Hamlin was in sixth in front of Logano, Larson, Blaney and Chastain.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 165, Bowman captured his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Bell settled in a close second place followed by Byron, Wallace, Elliott, Hamlin, Larson, Logano, Blaney and Chastain.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Bowman pitted and Bowman retained the lead following another strong pit stop from his pit crew while Wallace and Hamlin moved up to second and third.

    With 96 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Bowman retained the lead while Wallace challenged Byron for the runner-up spot as the field fanned out through the backstretch. A few laps later, teammates Byron and Larson overtook Wallace for second and third as Logano and Bell closed in while Bowman started to pull away with the lead.

    With 87 laps remaining, Larson got loose entering Turns 3 and 4 while running on the outside lane. This allowed Byron and Wallace to go three wide on Larson as Wallace muscled his way into the runner-up spot. By then, Bowman was out in front by more than a second. 

    Eight laps later and with 75 laps remaining, Bowman stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Wallace followed by Byron, Bell and Larson, who continued to run in the top five despite brushing the wall earlier. Hamlin was in sixth while Blaney, Truex, Chastain and Logano were in the top 10 in front of Cindric, Elliott, Justin Haley, Suarez and Christopher Buescher.

    Another eight laps later, Wallace, who slowly tracked Bowman, overtook Bowman to assume the lead for the first time.

    Just past the final 55 laps of the event, green flag pit stops ensued as Truex pitted followed by teammate Hamlin and Byron. Shortly after, the leader Wallace pitted along with Bell, Blaney, Larson, Cindric, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Bowman and others.

    When the latest cycle of green flag pit stops concluded with 42 laps remaining, Wallace cycled his way back into the lead after Logano and Suarez, who endured a slow pit stop, pitted under green. By then, Bell moved into second followed by teammate Hamlin while Byron and Bowman were in the top five.

    With less than 30 laps remaining, Wallace was leading by two seconds over Bell, who was slowly gaining ground on Wallace for the lead as Wallace was navigating his way through lapped traffic. Hamlin was in third followed by Byron and Bowman while Chastain, Larson, Truex, Blaney and Elliott were in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Cindric, Austin Dillon, Briscoe, Suarez, Logano and Kyle Busch were in 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 18th and 24th.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Wallace stabilized his advantage to less than two seconds over Bell while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than two seconds. Another four laps later, Hamlin dueled and overtook teammate Bell on the frontstretch to assume the runner-up spot.

    With 10 laps remaining, Wallace continued to lead by two seconds over team owner Hamlin, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, while third-place Bell trailed by less than three seconds.

    Five laps later, Wallace’s advantage decreased to less than a second and a half over Hamlin, though the former retained the top spot.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap commenced, Wallace remained as the leader by more than a second over Hamlin. Despite having lapped traffic in front of his windshield, Wallace was able to navigate his way around Kansas for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch to claim his first elusive checkered flag of the 2022 season by a second over Hamlin. 

    With his second Cup career victory and by transferring the No. 45 23XI Racing entry into the Round of 12 in the owners’ standings, Wallace also became the 138th different competitor to achieve multiple wins in NASCAR’s premier series, he recorded the third career win for 23XI Racing and he became the 18th different winner through the first 28 scheduled events, which was a record in NASCAR history. The victory also meant that the No. 45 23XI Racing entry swept both Kansas Cup victories of the season after winning in May with Kurt Busch.

    This also marks the first time since the Playoffs debuted in 2004 where the first two Playoff events were won by non-title contenders after Erik Jones won at Darlington Raceway a week ago.

    Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, just so proud of this team,” Wallace said on USA Network. “So proud of the effort that they put in each and every week. Just thankful for the opportunity, right? Took this jump from an idea two years ago from a text from Denny [Hamlin] before [23XI Racing] all even happened. He was ready to get the deal done. Appreciate him, appreciate [Michael Jordan]…everybody at 23XI. They work their tails off. Just so proud. Pit crew was awesome today. We had one loose wheel. Just thankful. Thankful for the opportunity and thankful to shut the hell up for a lot of people.”

    “I knew Denny was gonna be strong,” Wallace added. “That’s the things I look at. He wasn’t that good at the beginning of the day, and he comes up and finishes P2. That’s what I wanna start doing. We don’t have the best days. Just capitalize on moments like that. It’s cool to beat the boss, but man, we were just lights out today once we got to the lead. It was a lot of fun. It was just cool, calm and collective, and here we are. True fans that are out there, thank you, guys. I love you. It’s been a tough road. You [fans] are the best. Let’s keep this train rolling.”

    The runner-up result provided mixed emotions for Hamlin, positives from an owner’s perspective but disappointment from a driver’s perspective.

    “It’s a good overall day,” Hamlin said. “Just still frustrated about the first half of the race, obviously. We just aren’t executing that well. Really happy for our No. 11 Toyota team. They fought hard. They really stepped up that last half. We made the car quite a bit better. Just really happy about the outcome and really happy for that No. 45 team, Bubba Wallace and [crew chief] Bootie [Barker]. Bubba’s just really worked hard on his craft. We’ve just given him fast race cars and now, he’s showing what he’s got. I nearly wrecked to try to catch him off of [Turn] 4. I got bad loose and hit the fence, but I was driving as hard as I could. Nothing will ever come for free when you’re driving for me. If you think that I’m gonna let you win, you better go get another job. Just what a great day overall for Toyota.”

    The third-place finish for Bell felt like a victory for the Oklahoma native as he garnered enough points (58) to become the first Playoff competitor to secure a spot for the Round of 12 in the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs.

    “[I] Just got off a little bit on our balance that last run, but overall a great points day and very proud of everyone on this DEWALT No. 20 team,” Bell said. “Great day for Toyota and happy for Bubba to get a win. He was really deserving, really fast all day. Great points day. We’ll move on and try and win one. I’m very happy that we’re finally getting the results that this team deserves. Our speed has been there all year, and I feel like we’ve given up a couple good finishes. Last couple of weeks we’ve been building on it, and hopefully, we can keep the ball rolling.”

    Bowman, who led the most laps at 107, came home in fourth place in front of Truex. Byron, Chastain, Larson, Blaney and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    There were 16 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps.

    Results.

    1. Bubba Wallace, 58 laps led

    2. Denny Hamlin

    3. Christopher Bell, 12 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Alex Bowman, 107 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Martin Truex Jr., 24 laps led

    6. William Byron, nine laps led

    7. Ross Chastain

    8. Kyle Larson

    9. Ryan Blaney, two laps led

    10. Daniel Suarez, eight laps led

    11. Chase Elliott

    12. Austin Cindric

    13. Chase Briscoe

    14. Austin Dillon, three laps led

    15. Chris Buescher

    16. Michael McDowell, one lap led

    17. Joey Logano, one lap down, two laps led

    18. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    19. Justin Haley, one lap down

    20. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    21. Aric Almirola, one lap down, three laps led

    22. Cole Custer, one lap down

    23. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

    24. Landon Cassill, one lap down

    25. Brad Keselowski, one lap down

    26. Kyle Busch, two laps down

    27. Cody Ware, two laps down

    28. JJ Yeley, three laps down

    29. Erik Jones, three laps down

    30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., five laps down

    31. BJ McLeod, five laps down

    32. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

    33. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    34. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident

    35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident, 38 laps led

    36. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    2. William Byron +48

    3. Denny Hamlin +47

    4. Joey Logano +40

    5. Ryan Blaney +36

    6. Alex Bowman +30

    7. Chase Elliott +28

    8. Kyle Larson +27

    9. Ross Chastain +26

    10. Daniel Suarez +6

    11. Tyler Reddick +2

    12. Austin Cindric +2

    13. Kyle Busch -2

    14. Austin Dillon -3

    15. Chase Briscoe -9

    16. Kevin Harvick -35

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race and where the first round of eliminations will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 17, at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • GMS Racing to achieve a combined 650 Truck Series starts at Kansas

    GMS Racing to achieve a combined 650 Truck Series starts at Kansas

    GMS Racing is set to achieve a milestone start in the team’s 10th season with one start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. When GMS competitors Grant Enfinger and rookie Jack Wood take the green flag in this weekend’s Playoff event at Kansas Speedway, GMS Racing will reach a combined 650 career starts in the Truck circuit.

    GMS Racing, which was established by Allegiant Travel Company CEO Maurice Gallagher and is currently based in Statesville, North Carolina, made its inaugural presence during the 2011 ARCA Menards Series season. Two years later, the team expanded its program into the Camping World Truck Series and attempted to compete in five events with the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado piloted by Spencer Gallagher, son of Maurice Gallagher. Throughout the season, Spencer Gallagher managed to qualify for three events as he finished 22nd at Kansas Speedway in April, 20th at Texas Motor Speedway and 32nd at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, respectively.

    In 2014, GMS Racing fielded the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado as a full-time entry for Joey Coulter. The team also fielded the Nos. 23 and 33 Chevrolet Silverados on a part-time basis, where Spencer Gallagher, Max Gresham and Brandon Jones piloted the entries. Throughout the season, Jones, who piloted the No. 33 truck in two events, finished 32nd and 12th at Martinsville Speedway in October and at Phoenix Raceway in November, respectively. Gallagher and Gresham each recorded a top-10 result in the No. 23 Chevrolet, with Gallagher earning a strong third-place result at Talladega Superspeedway in October. Coulter, meanwhile, earned three top-five results, 10 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 13.1 throughout the 22-race schedule before finishing in seventh place in the final drivers’ standings.

    Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    During the following season, Coulter, who did not compete due to a lack of funding, became team relationships coordinator for GMS while the No. 21 entry made a single appearance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October, where Brennan Poole piloted the truck to an 11th-place result. The Nos. 23 and 33 Chevrolet Silverado entries became full-time entries, with Spencer Gallagher driving the No. 23 truck while Brandon Jones, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon split the No. 33 ride. At New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, Austin Dillon recorded the first NASCAR career victory for GMS Racing after leading a race-high 80 of 175-scheduled laps en route to his seventh Truck career victory from pole position. To go along with the victory, the Dillon brothers recorded a combined two poles, four top-five results and five top-10 results in six starts in the No. 33 entry while Jones, who made two starts, earned his best result of the season in 12th place at Phoenix in November. In his first full-time campaign in NASCAR, Gallagher notched his career-best result of second place at World Wide Technology Raceway in June along with a total of six top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.6 before finishing in 10th place in the 2015 standings.

    The 2016 season featured a major addition to GMS Racing’s Truck driver lineup as veteran Johnny Sauter was named a full-time competitor of the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado entry, where he competed alongside the No. 23 entry retained by Spencer Gallagher and the No. 33 truck split between newcomers Grant Enfinger and Kaz Grala. GMS also debuted the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado entry that competed on a part-time basis while split between Kyle Larson, Clint Bowyer, Shane Lee, Grala and Enfinger. In May, Ben Kennedy joined the team’s lineup, where he split time between the Nos. 24 and 33 entries, after departing Red Horse Racing. The team’s highlights throughout the 16-race regular-season schedule included Sauter winning in his debut with GMS at Daytona International Speedway in February and Kennedy notching his first career win in the No. 33 Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. The victories made by Sauter and Kennedy were enough for both to qualify for the inaugural Truck Series Playoffs. Meanwhile, Spencer Gallagher drove the No. 23 Chevrolet to six top-10 results throughout the regular season, which were not enough for him to make the Playoffs, while the No. 24 GMS entry earned a victory at Eldora Speedway in July with Larson along with six top-10 results. Through six of the seven-race Playoff stretch, GMS earned three additional victories after Enfinger drove the No. 24 Chevrolet to his first career win at Talladega Superspeedway in October while Sauter achieved back-to-back wins at Martinsville Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway between October and November. The Playoff victories made by Sauter were enough to transfer the Wisconsin veteran and the No. 21 team all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. During the finale, Sauter achieved the first NASCAR championship for himself and for GMS Racing after finishing third on the track and ahead of title rivals Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters. Overall, the 2016 season was a breakout season for GMS Racing, which went to Victory Lane six times and achieved its first NASCAR national touring series championship, and for Sauter, who achieved his first multi-win season (three), racked up the most top-five (12) and top-10 results (19) in his career and earned his first NASCAR title. While Sauter earned the title, Kennedy finished in seventh place in the final standings after being eliminated from title contention following the Round of 6 while Gallagher, who achieved his first two career poles, ended up in 12th place.

    Photo by Ted Seminara for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Embarking the 2017 season as the reigning champion, Sauter retained his seat in the No. 21 Chevrolet while Kaz Grala graduated to a full-time driving role in the No. 33 Chevrolet. The No. 24 Chevrolet also became a full-time entry for Justin Haley, the reigning K&N Pro Series East champion. Haley, however, was not allowed to compete in the first two scheduled events at Daytona and at Atlanta due to age restrictions, with the events filled by Scott Lagasse Jr. and Alex Bowman, respectively. Lastly, the No. 23 Chevrolet appeared for only the first three events of the schedule, with Spencer Gallagher driving at Daytona while Chase Elliott competed at Atlanta and Martinsville. Throughout the season, Elliott recorded the lone victory for the No. 23 entry at Martinsville in March while the No. 24 entry achieved a total of 13 top-10 results made between Lagasse, Bowman and Haley. Despite commencing his first season in the Truck Series at Martinsville in March and recording 10 top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, Haley did not make the Playoffs. Nonetheless, he went on to finish in the top 10 twice during the seven-race Playoff stretch before capping off his first Truck season in 12th place in the drivers’ standings. Meanwhile, Grala commenced his first full-time Truck season by becoming the youngest competitor to win both a pole and race at Daytona at age 18 after he dodged a multi-truck wreck on the final lap to capture his first NASCAR career victory in February. He went on to record five additional top-10 results for the remaining 15 regular-season events before entering the 2017 Truck Playoffs as a title contender. His title hopes, however, came to an early end following respective finishes of 10th, fifth and 29th during the Round of 8. He went on to finish in the top 10 three times during the final four-scheduled events before settling in seventh place in the final standings. Like Grala, Sauter secured his spot for the 2017 Playoffs on the strength of winning at Dover in May and at Chicagoland in September. After recording consistent top-10 results to transfer to the Round of 8, Sauter notched back-to-back victories at Texas and Phoenix in November, respectively, to advance to the Championship Round at Homestead for a second consecutive season. During the finale, however, Sauter finished third on the track, one spot behind Christopher Bell as Bell claimed the championship while Sauter, who was unable to defend his series title, was left with a runner-up result in the final standings coupled with four victories, 13 top-five results, 19 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 6.3. Despite falling short of defending its title, GMS Racing tied its career-high number of victories as an organization in a season at six.

    Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Sauter and Haley remained as drivers of the Nos. 21 and 24 GMS entries for the 2018 season while the team welcomed Cody Coughlin and Dalton Sargeant as drivers of the newly-formed Nos. 2 and 25 Chevrolets, respectively. Midway into the season, however, Sargeant, who earned four top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, and Coughlin, who earned six top-10 results in 18 starts, were released from the team and both of their entries were piloted by multiple competitors that included Timothy Peters, Sheldon Creed, Spencer Gallagher and Tyler Dippel for the closing stretch of the season during the Playoffs. The No. 2 team concluded the season in 14th place in the owners’ standings, one spot behind the No. 25 GMS team that went to Victory Lane with Peters at Talladega in October. Meanwhile, Sauter and Haley achieved great on-track success, which started with both finishing first and second at Daytona in February that was won by Sauter. During the next nine scheduled events, Sauter racked up additional victories at Dover Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway between May and June while Haley earned his first Truck career victory at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. Sauter proceeded to win the regular-season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway in August and clinch the 2018 Truck regular-season title as he and Haley entered the Playoffs with momentum. Haley commenced the Playoffs on a high note by winning at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in August after overtaking a spinning Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson on the final lap and final corner. After Sauter won at Martinsville in October and Haley won at Texas following a dramatic final lap overtake on Gilliland, both solidified spots for the Championship 4 finale at Homestead. During the finale, however, Haley finished eighth on the track, four spots ahead of teammate Sauter, as he and Sauter concluded the season in third and fourth place in the final drivers’ standings. Ultimately, the 2018 season produced GMS Racing’s highest number of victories in a season at 10.    

    Photo by Don Dunn for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    In 2019, Brett Moffitt, the reigning Truck Series champion who was released by his championship-winning team Hattori Racing Enterprises, joined GMS Racing to drive the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado in a quest to defend his series title, where he replaced Justin Haley as Haley moved up to the Xfinity Series. GMS also hired Sheldon Creed, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion who drove the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado on a full-time basis, and newcomer Sam Mayer, who piloted the No. 21 Chevrolet in three events after Sauter parted ways from the organization. Mayer’s best on-track result was 19th at Phoenix in November while Creed, who did not make the Playoffs, notched two runner-up results, four top-five results, 11 top-10 results, a 10th-place result in the final standings and a runner-up result in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings during his first full-time Truck campaign. For Moffitt, he recorded five top-10 results during the first nine-scheduled events before being awarded his first victory of the season at Iowa in June. The victory occurred after NASCAR disqualified initial winner Ross Chastain due to his truck failing the post-race inspection process, thus prompting NASCAR to award the win for the runner-up finisher Moffitt. Two races later, he earned his first win of the season at Chicagoland before the 2019 Playoffs commenced. Moffitt’s pursuit to defend his title commenced on a strong note by winning the first two Playoff events at Bristol and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September, respectively, as he transferred from the Round of 8 to 6. Despite finishing 29th at Martinsville, Moffitt utilized consistency to transfer to the Championship Round at Homestead for a second consecutive season. He was unable to defend his title after finishing fifth on the track and third in the final standings. Overall, Moffitt achieved four wins, three poles, 13 top-five results, 17 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 8.8 in his first season with GMS.

    Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    The 2020 Truck Series season featured a major expansion for GMS Racing in the series, where the team fielded five entries: the No. 2 Chevrolet for Creed, the No. 21 Chevrolet for rookie Zane Smith, the No. 23 Chevrolet for Moffitt, the newly-formed No. 26 Chevrolet for Tyler Ankrum and the No. 24 Chevrolet for multiple competitors that included Chase Elliott, Chase Purdy, Justin Haley, David Gravel, Kris Wright, Sam Mayer and Greg Biffle. Commencing the season by placing four of its five trucks in the top 10 at Daytona, GMS achieved its first Truck victory of the season at Charlotte in May when Elliott claimed a $100,000 bounty by beating Kyle Busch. The Charlotte event was also a banner event for GMS as teammates Zane Smith, Moffitt and Creed finished in the top five. Throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, Creed piloted the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado to his first three career victories in the series at Kentucky Speedway in July followed by Daytona International Speedway Road Course and World Wide Technology Raceway in August. Smith also earned his first two career victories in the series after winning at Michigan International Speedway and at Dover International Speedway in August following two-lap shootouts. The victories enabled Creed and Smith to make the 2020 Truck Playoffs along with Moffitt and Ankrum, both of whom made it in on points. Mayer then spoiled the start of the 2020 Truck Playoffs by claiming his first career win at Bristol after beating teammate Moffitt by more than four seconds. While Creed, Moffitt, Smith and Ankrum transferred from the Round of 8 to 6, Moffitt and Creed earned respective wins at Kansas Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway in October to qualify for the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November. Smith also transferred to the finale by three points while Ankrum failed to transfer past the Round of 6. During the finale, Creed utilized fresh tires to go from ninth to first during a two-lap shootout to win the 2020 Truck Series championship, which marked his first NASCAR national touring series title in his second season in the series and second for GMS in the Truck circuit. To go along with the championship, the 2020 Truck season was a memorable one for GMS as Zane Smith settled in second place in the final standings and captured the 2020 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title while Moffitt, who initially had the championship lead within his grasp during the finale prior to the two-lap shootout, concluded the season in third place in the final standings, thus giving GMS a 1-2-3 in the final drivers’ standings. In total, GMS achieved a combined 10 victories, 33 top-five results and 59 top-10 results with its extensive drive lineup.

    Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
    Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

    Coming off their second championship, GMS Racing remained as a five-truck operation in 2021 while retaining Creed, Smith and Ankrum to the Nos. 2, 21 and 26 Chevrolets, respectively. The only changes made to the team included assigning Chase Purdy to a full-time role in the No. 23 Chevrolet and welcoming Raphaël Lessard to drive the No. 24 Chevrolet. Following the first seven scheduled events, however, Lessard, whose best finish of the season was third at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in March, was released due to funding issues as the No. 24 Chevrolet was split between Ryan Reed, Chase Elliott, Doug Coby and rookie Jack Wood for the remaining 15 events. The lone highlight for GMS throughout the 15-race regular-season stretch was when Creed won at Darlington Raceway in May following a two-lap shootout. While Creed and Smith qualified for the 2021 Playoffs, Ankrum and Purdy did not accumulate enough points to make the postseason battle for the title. Once the Playoffs commenced, Creed notched back-to-back victories at World Wide Technology Raceway and at Darlington between August and September to transfer from the Round of 10 to 8. Then at Martinsville in October, Smith, who also transferred to the Round of 8, prevailed in a two-lap shootout to win and punch his ticket to the Championship Round finale at Phoenix for a second consecutive season. Creed, however, failed to transfer to the finale nor have the opportunity to defend his title by four points. During the finale, Smith was in position to achieve his first Truck title until he was overtaken by Ben Rhodes with eight laps remaining and ended up in the runner-up spot in the final standings for a second consecutive season. Creed finished fifth in the final standings, Ankrum ended up 15th and Purdy, who was absent for one event at Watkins Glen International in August following a positive COVID-19 test and was replaced by AJ Allmendinger, fell back to 19th. The No. 24 “all-star” entry settled in 18th place in the final owners’ standings on the strength of four top-10 results.

    At the start of this season, GMS Racing scaled back to fielding two full-time entries in the Truck circuit: the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Jack Wood and the No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Grant Enfinger, who reunited with the organization since 2016. Despite recording seven top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, Enfinger secured a spot for the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on points. He then rose to the occasion during the first Playoff event at Lucas Oil Raceway in late July by charging from fourth to first during a two-lap shootout to record his first victory of the season and the seventh of his career. With his latest result being a fourth-place run at Richmond in August, Enfinger is currently guaranteed a spot for the Round of 8 in the Playoffs by virtue of winning at Lucas Oil Raceway. Meanwhile, Wood’s highest on-track result is 13th, which occurred at Atlanta in March. To go along with a total of five top-20 results and an average-finishing result of 25.2, he is ranked in fourth place in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings.

    Through a combined 648 starts, GMS Racing has achieved two championships, 42 victories, 14 poles, 158 top-five results, 308 top-10 results and 5,239 laps led with 36 different competitors.

    GMS Racing is set to achieve a combined 650 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Kansas Speedway on Friday, September 9. The start of the event is scheduled to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Austin Dillon wins and clinches 2022 Cup Series Playoff berth at Daytona

    Austin Dillon wins and clinches 2022 Cup Series Playoff berth at Daytona

    Facing a “must-win” scenario to retain his championship hopes for the 2022 season, Austin Dillon survived a whirlwind of a day to execute his lone mission of the day: winning to advance to the Cup Series Playoffs, which he did in the rain-postponed Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, August 28.

    The 32-year-old Dillon from Welcome, North Carolina, led twice for 10 of 160-scheduled laps overall. He threw himself in race-winning contention after dodging the Big One with 23 laps remaining while ironically rallying from being involved in an earlier multi-car wreck with 36 laps remaining, where he slid his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways and backwards through pit road. Shortly after taking the lead, the race was placed in a red flag period due to rain for three hours and 19 minutes. When the race restarted for a 16-lap dash to the finish, Dillon lost the lead to rookie Austin Cindric at the start. Thirteen laps later, however, contact between Cindric and Dillon enabled the latter to reassume the top spot, where he had teammate Tyler Reddick drafting him amid a small pack of competitors. With his teammate behind him and no late challenges emerging from behind over the final three laps, Dillon was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first elusive checkered flag of the 2022 Cup Series season and race his way into the Playoffs.

    In the midst of the late turn of events with Dillon winning, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr., both of whom were involved in separate multi-car incidents of their own, were left to battle amongst one another for the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs. At the conclusion of the event, Blaney claimed the final spot to the Playoffs with a top-15 finish by a mere margin over Truex, who ended up in the top 10.

    With on-track qualifying that would determine the starting lineup initially scheduled for Friday but cancelled due to rain, Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Watkins Glen International, was awarded the pole position based on a metric qualifying formula per NASCAR’s rulebook. Joining him on the front row was teammate Chase Elliott, the 2022 Cup regular-season champion.

    When the green flag waved and the race started on Sunday morning after rain postponed the event from its original starting time from Saturday night, Larson briefly jumped ahead with an early advantage on the outside entering the first turn, but teammate Elliott received a strong push from Joey Logano and a bevy of competitors on the inside lane through the first two turns to launch ahead. With the inside lane gaining the advantage for a full lap, Elliott proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Logano, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Michael McDowell while Larson was mired back in seventh.

    Two laps later, Elliott continued to lead ahead of Logano and Bell while Larson, the first competitor on the outside lane, moved up to fourth as the outside lane started to gain momentum towards the competitors on the inside lane.

    Five laps into the event, Elliott’s No. 9 Adrenaline Shoc Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was leading a long line of competitors on the inside lane while Logano, Bell, Harvick and McDowell were in the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Cole Custer, Larson, Daniel Suarez and William Byron were scored in the top 10, with Larson remaining as the first competitor leading the outside lane.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the field fanning out to three tight-packed lanes, Elliott retained the lead ahead of Logano, Bell, Harvick and McDowell. Meanwhile, Larson, who was placed in a four-wide situation entering the backstretch and was shuffled all the way outside of the top 20 earlier, was trying to carve his way back to the front as he was scored in 20th while drafting teammate Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney on the outside lane.

    Four laps later, trouble ensued for Larson as he fell off the pace entering the first turn and slowly limped his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to pit road and to the garage as he retired due to an engine issue. During Larson’s on-track issue, he stalled rookie Austin Cindric’s progress within the pack when he fell off the pace as Cindric lost the draft and was mired all the way back in 39th, eight seconds behind the leaders.

    Back on the track and at the Lap 20 mark, Elliott retained the lead of the overall event on the inside lane while Erik Jones started to gain a strong run on the outside lane with drafting help from Denny Hamlin and a bevy of competitors. Not long after, a side-by-side battle for the lead commenced between Elliott and Jones as Jones continued to receive a draft from Hamlin in a bid for the lead while Elliott remained in front of Logano’s front nose to fight back and retain a narrow advantage.

    Ten laps later, Erik Jones, who led the previous five of 10 laps following his side-by-side duel against Elliott, was out in front and with clean air on the inside lane followed by Hamlin, Elliott, Blaney, and Logano while Bell, Corey LaJoie, Harvick, rookie Harrison Burton and McDowell were in the top 10. By then, Cindric was lapped by the field.

    Just then on Lap 30, the first caution of the event flew when Hamlin, who nearly got Jones sideways entering the backstretch, slipped sideways in his No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota TRD Camry and triggered a chain reaction wreck that involved teammate Bell, Keselowski, Harvick and Blaney while everyone else scattered to avoid the calamity. The incident moved Truex, who dodged the incident, up to 15th place in the regular-season standings while Blaney, who lost multiple lanes on pit lane for repairs after damaging the right front of his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang, fell back towards the edge of the cutline in 16th place in the standings and in jeopardy of not making the postseason in the case of a new winner. The incident also eliminated Keselowski from Playoff contention amid a disappointing campaign in his first season as a driver/co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field pitted while names like Elliott, Harrison Burton, Logano, Truex, BJ McLeod, Noah Gragson and Kyle Busch remained on the track.

    With a single lap remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Elliott jumped ahead on the inside lane while Logano received drafting help from Truex on the outside lane to challenge for the lead. Logano then moved in front of Elliott to assume the lead. As Elliott tried to move to the outside lane of Logano to reassume the lead exiting the backstretch, Logano managed to maintain his advantage on the inside lane through the final two turns and beat Elliott back to the start/finish line to claim the first stage victory on Lap 35, thus claiming his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season. Elliott settled in second followed by Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, Truex, LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones and McDowell. By then, Blaney was mired back in 34th and three laps behind the leaders.

    Under the stage break, some led by Logano pitted while the rest led by LaJoie, who pitted prior to the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear for running over equipment. Prior to the restart, names like Chase Briscoe, Gragson, Truex, Elliott and Kyle Busch returned to pit road to top off on fuel.

    The second stage started on Lap 40 as LaJoie and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, LaJoie and Wallace dueled for the lead as Wallace had drafting help from Erik Jones while LaJoie was getting drafted by Stenhouse. Following a side-by-side battle for nearly a full lap, Wallace assumed command on the outside lane. Not long after, a third drafting line formed as Christopher Buescher launched his bid for the lead. As Wallace moved up the track to stall Buescher’s progress, Erik Jones moved into the lead with drafting help from LaJoie, who soon moved to the inside of Jones to challenge for the lead. By then, the field fanned out the three tight-packed lanes as LaJoie moved into the lead despite being challenged by Jones and Buescher.

    Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Erik Jones, who reassumed the lead on Lap 46, was leading ahead of Wallace, Buescher and a number of competitors on the outside lane while LaJoie was leading the charge on the inside lane. Shortly after, Wallace was shuffled out of the lead pack and Jones lost the lead as Buescher moved to the lead with drafting help from LaJoie. By then, Ty Gibbs, who remained as an interim competitor in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota TRD Camry for Kurt Busch, was lapped by the field.

    Ten laps later, Erik Jones, who led the previous seven of 10 laps, was out in front ahead of Byron and Buescher while Bowman issued his challenge for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Hamlin. By then, Blaney, who was a lap down at the start of the second stage, was lapped for a second time by the field with a flapped hood amid his early wreck.

    Another five laps later, Hamlin, who rallied from his early incident, was leading for the first time ahead of Logano, Burton, Kyle Busch, Daniel Hemric and Ross Chastain while Jones, who fell back into the top 10, remained as the first competitor on the inside lane ahead of Byron. Meanwhile, Buescher was shuffled all the way back to 27th. 

    Nearing the Lap 70 mark, Erik Jones drifted his No. 43 Focus Factor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 towards the rear of the rear while bailing out of the lead pack as Hamlin continued to lead ahead of Logano, Burton, Kyle Busch and Justin Haley. By then, Gilliland was in sixth followed by Harvick, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Chastain while Bowman, Byron, Hemric, LaJoie, Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Truex, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer and Cindric were in the top 20.

    Six laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops ensued as Toyota competitors Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Truex peeled off the track to pit for fuel. Another two laps later, the rest of the field led by Logano pitted for fuel as Logano was the first competitor to exit pit road. Amid the pit stops and with the event reaching its halfway mark on Lap 80, McLeod was leading ahead of Elliott, Reddick, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Burton and the rest of the field. 

    By Lap 81, however, Elliott was back out in front before he was overtaken by Reddick with drafting help from Kyle Busch during the following lap. By then, the Toyota competitors that included Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Truex and Wallace cycled their way towards the top five after pitting two laps earlier than the field.

    At the Lap 90 mark, Kyle Busch and Reddick, both of whom led a combined six of the previous 10 laps, were locked dead even for the lead before Reddick assumed command with drafting help from Elliott as the field began to stack up in two tight-packed lanes. By then, Gibbs and Blaney were lapped by the field, with Gibbs five laps behind the leaders while Blaney was now six laps behind.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Kyle Busch fended off the field through multiple lanes in his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry to claim his second stage victory of the season. Teammate Truex edged teammate Hamlin and Logano in a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot while Wallace, Gilliland, Reddick, Harvick, Stenhouse and Austin Dillon were scored in the top 10. By then, Elliott was shuffled all the way back to 16th while Blaney was mired in 34th and six laps behind the leaders.

    Under the stage break, names like Ty Dillon, Buescher and McLeod remained on the track while the rest led by Kyle Busch pitted. During the pit stops, Busch was penalized for speeding on pit road. Prior to the start of the final stage, names like Ty Dillon, McLeod, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Gragson, Suarez and Blaney returned to pit road for service.

    With 60 laps remaining, the final stage started as McDowell, who assumed the lead after only opting for fuel, and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, McDowell emerged out in front with drafting help from Logano on the inside lane before Logano pulled out on the outside lane and took the lead with drafting help from teammate Cindric. 

    A lap later, the caution returned when McDowell got hooked off the front nose of Reddick in the backstretch as he slapped the outside wall and veered back across the superspeedway before clipping LaJoie and triggering another multi-car wreck that involved Chastain, Buescher and Byron. Among those involved included Truex, who slowly limped his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry back to pit road with right-front fender damage. In the midst of the wreck, McDowell’s Playoff hopes came to an end as he was unable to continue.

    With 53 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchens Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 received drafting help from Stenhouse’s No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the outside lane while Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang retained the lead as he received drafting help from Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the inside lane. Reddick was able to lead the following lap before Logano reassume the top spot the lap after.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick and Logano dueled for the lead followed by Stenhouse, Bowman, Wallace, Cindric, Briscoe, Hamlin, Custer, Burton and a bevy of competitors with potential weather threats looming near the superspeedway.

    A few laps later, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as Reddick retained the lead ahead of Wallace, Logano and Bowman while moving from the inside to the outside lane to preserve his narrow advantage. As Reddick tried to fend off Wallace and the field with the lead, Bowman made his move into the lead with 46 laps remaining as he received drafting help from Stenhouse and Logano.

    With 40 laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead the race and a long line of competitors on the outside lane followed by Stenhouse, Logano, Briscoe and Custer. On the inside lane, Kyle Busch was in seventh with drafting help from Toyota teammates Wallace and Hamlin. By then, Truex, who remained on the lead lap, was in 26th while Blaney, who remained six laps behind the leaders, was mired back in 30th.

    Four laps later and just as Logano reassumed the lead from Bowman with drafting help from Briscoe, the caution flew when Briscoe, who moved from the bottom to the outside lane entering the frontstretch, got loose off the front nose of Bowman as he spun and veered back into the outside wall in front of a bevy of competitors on the outside lane. In the midst of his incident and spin, Briscoe’s No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang briefly came off the ground before his car came to a rest in the frontstretch grass. Among those involved included Bowman, Custer, Stenhouse, Gilliland, Wallace and Austin Dillon, who spun his No. 3 BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through pit road, as Wallace, who slid through the frontstretch grass, emerged with left-front fender damage to his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. In the midst of the incident, some like Wallace and Dillon continued while the rest including Briscoe were eliminated from title contention.

    During the caution period, names like Justin Haley, Erik Jones and McLeod remained on the track while the rest led by Logano pitted.

    With 30 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Haley received a draft from Logano to retain the lead before Erik Jones started to gain momentum on the outside lane. Entering the backstretch, however, the caution returned when Erik Jones slipped off the front nose of Almirola and veered into the path of Logano as both spun below the backstretch and were dodged by the field. In the midst of the incident, Aric Almirola emerged in the runner-up spot behind Haley while Daniel Suarez, Buescher and Elliott were in the top five. In addition, Truex was in 14th while Blaney was mired in 29th and still six laps behind the leaders.

    Four laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Haley fended off both lanes to retain the lead as Suarez issued his challenge for the lead on the inside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch while Almirola was on the outside lane with drafting help from Buescher.

    Another lap later, Suarez moved to the outside of Haley through the frontstretch as he moved into the lead with drafting help from Almirola while Haley fell back to third in front of Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Shortly after, a stack-up through the backstretch allowed Hamlin to challenge Suarez for the top spot.

    Just then and with 23 laps remaining, the caution returned when nearly the entire field led by Suarez and Hamlin slipped sideways and wrecked in Turn 1 as rain was being reported around the superspeedway venue. Amid the late turns of events and with nearly everyone running towards the lead pack wrecked, Austin Dillon, who was running in the middle of the pack but dodged his wrecked fellow competitors while running below the apron, emerged out in front with the lead followed by Kevin Harvick, Cindric, Cody Ware and Kyle Busch while Truex, Landon Cassill, David Ragan, McLeod and Noah Gragson were scored in the top 10.

    Two laps later, the field led by Austin Dillon were led to pit road and the race was red-flagged due to inclement weather and with rain falling amid dark clouds and a shining sun.

    Following a delay of three hours and 19 minutes as the track was dried out amid the extensive rain delay, the red flag was lifted and the field returned to the track under a cautious pace. Meanwhile, Harvick, who was in second during the red flag delay, retired and had his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang towed back to the garage after sustaining terminal damage from the Big One prior to the red flag period. Harrison Burton also retired after failing to maintain speed under the damage vehicle policy as the number of lead lap competitors dwindled to 10 led by Austin Dillon.

    Down to the final 16 laps of the event, the green flag waved and the race restarted. At the start, Dillon and Cindric briefly dueled for the lead until Cindric received a draft from Truex to launch his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang into the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Cindric retained the lead followed by Austin Dillon and Landon Cassill wile Truex got shuffled back to fourth in front of teammate Kyle Busch and Reddick.

    During the following lap, Cindric led a four-car breakaway from the small pack followed by Austin Dillon, Cassill and Truex while Kyle Busch led the small pack ahead of Cody Ware, Reddick, McLeod, Ragan and Gragson. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 11th and a lap behind the leaders while Logano was in 12th, two laps behind. Logano’s teammate Blaney continued to run six laps behind in 18th place.

    With 10 laps remaining, Cindric continued to lead ahead of Austin Dillon, Cassill and Gragson, who received drafting help from Reddick to catch the four-car lead pack, while Truex fell back to fifth. Truex soon lost ground of the lead pack as he settled in sixth with Cassill in fifth while Gragson situated himself behind Cindric and Austin Dillon as Reddick settled stabilized himself behind Gragson’s No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Cindric retained the lead ahead of a four-year breakaway from the scattered pack followed by Austin Dillon, Gragson and Reddick while Cassill trailed by two seconds. Truex, meanwhile, stabilized himself in sixth while Ragan, Cody Ware, McLeod and Kyle Busch were in the top 10.

    Then with three laps remaining, Austin Dillon got into the rear of Cindric as Cindric slipped sideways below the apron in Turn 1. This allowed Dillon to return to the top of the leaderboard, though he was far ahead of the pack that quickly caught back to him towards the backstretch. Through the backstretch, however, teammate Reddick settled in second behind Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet followed by a hard-charging Cassill, Gragson, Ragan and Cody Ware while Cindric fell back to seventh.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Austin Dillon remained as the leader ahead of teammate Reddick, Cassill, Ragan, Cody Ware, Cindric and Gragson. Entering the first two turns and through the frontstretch, Dillon and Reddick continued to run first and second followed by Ware. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Cindric made his move to the outside of Ware for third place. He, however, could not gain any further drafting help from behind. This allowed Dillon to return to the frontstretch with a clear racetrack and no challenges from behind as he stormed across the finish line in first place and victorious ahead of Reddick and Cindric.

    By winning at Daytona in a “must-win” scenario, Austin Dillon notched his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his second at Daytona after winning the 2018 Daytona 500 and his first Cup victory since winning at Texas Motor Speedway in July 2020. Above all, he raced his way into the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs, which marked his fifth overall appearance in the Playoffs and first following a one-year absence.

    “Crazy faith,” Dillon said on NBC. “We stayed ready. I got to thank my teammate Tyler Reddick, BREZTRI, Bass Pro Shops. Everybody that makes this thing happen. Man, we’re in the Playoffs. There was a lot going on there [at the end]. I knew that if we got to the white [flag], if I waited too long, I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us, so I wanted to go ahead and get the lead. We were able to get it. I had a big run to [Cindric] and then, I had my teammate back there. I knew we were in pretty good shape to the end. He did a good job checking up any kind of run. I felt like I had good teammates and Chevrolet behind me. If I could get the lead, [Cindric] would not be able to hold onto the draft. It’s crazy. You just never give up and have faith. We had some tough finishes this year like Charlotte [in May]. I beat myself over that. I made a good move and just didn’t finish it off. Today, we finished it off. I’m so proud of these guys and I’m glad to be going to Victory Lane.”

    Teammate Reddick, who already solidified his spot in the 2022 Playoffs by virtue of winning twice throughout the regular-season stretch, came home in second place as he made it a 1-2 finish for Richard Childress Racing while RCR secured both competitors into the Playoffs. Cindric, who won the Daytona 500 in February and is a 2022 Cup Playoff newcomer, rallied for third place while Cassill and Gragson, both of whom were ineligible for the Playoffs but seeking their first victory in NASCAR’s premier series, finished in the top five.

    “I got hit by another race car going 190-200 mph,” Cindric said. “Glad I saved it. Glad I had a shot to come back through the field. [Dillon] is racing for a playoff spot. Totally expect to get drove through. Just a matter of time. Pretty bummed. I mean, we had a shot to win today. We put ourselves in position. Not a scratch on [the car]. Dang it. I knew I was a sitting duck. I felt like I was Xfinity racing again. I was the only Ford out there. One lap longer, [I] might have had a shot. I don’t know. Just frustrating just to be that close. Kind of pissed about it, but can’t be too upset. In the Playoffs and have a lot to fight for. Great opportunity.”

    Cody Ware, McLeod, Truex, Ragan and Kyle Busch finished in the top 10.

    Meanwhile and amid the late turn of events on the track, Blaney finished 15th while still six laps behind the leaders while Truex, who lost the draft and could not gain any momentum towards the frontstretch, ended up ninth. In the end, Blaney was the beneficiary as he claimed the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by three points over Truex. The result extended Blaney’s consecutive seasons of making the Cup Playoffs to six seasons, thus ensuring all three Team Penske cars in the Playoffs, while Truex, the 2017 Cup Series champion, missed the Playoffs for the first time since 2014.

    “We’re very fortunate, that’s for sure,” Blaney, who continues to pursue his first victory of the season, said. “It was not a good day get going. You get torn up early and that point, our fate was not really in our hands. All we could do was try to keep working on it and fix it to where we could make laps. Thankfully, we were able to get enough cars throughout the wrecks that we kind of just kept moving up and we were able to get in. That’s definitely a lot more stressful than I wanted coming into here, but I just got to give a lot of props to the No. 12 group for fixing [the car] and sticking with it all day. That’s why you do it. Your day could start off like that and you just stay with them. Stay in the game and it was definitely beneficial for us, so I appreciate them. We’ll go race for a championship…Definitely, a roller coaster of emotions and luckily, it ended on a high for our group.”

    “Just not fast enough to keep up with those guys,” Truex said. “We got the restart we needed and got in a decent spot there. Just couldn’t keep up. I was wide open the whole last run there. It’s a shame. It stinks, but just too much damage to have enough speed to do what we needed to do. Hindsight’s always 20/20. We gave away plenty of points throughout the season, but it is what it is.”

    Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, rookie Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon have made the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

    Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, rookie Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, rookie Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie, Cody Ware and Kurt Busch, who was absent as he continues to recover from concussion-like symptoms, are the remaining competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

    There were 39 lead changes for 19 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 30 laps. A total of 17 of 37 starters finished the race, with 10 finishing on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Austin Dillon, 10 laps led

    2. Tyler Reddick, 13 laps led

    3. Austin Cindric, 13 laps led

    4. Landon Cassill

    5. Noah Gragson

    6. Cody Ware

    7. BJ McLeod, two laps led

    8. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

    9. David Ragan

    10. Kyle Busch, seven laps led, Stage 2 winner

    11. Bubba Wallace, one lap down, two laps led

    12. Joey Logano, two laps down, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    13. Ty Gibbs, two laps down

    14. Alex Bowman, four laps down, 11 laps led

    15. Ryan Blaney, six laps down

    16. Cole Custer, seven laps down

    17. Erik Jones – OUT, Dvp, 22 laps led

    18. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    19. Harrison Burton – OUT, Dvp

    20. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident

    21. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    23. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

    24. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    25. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 13 laps led

    26. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

    27. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    28. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

    29. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, 31 laps led

    30. Corey LaJoie, 23 laps down, six laps led

    31. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

    32. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    33. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

    34. William Byron – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    35. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

    36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

    37. Kyle Larson – OUT, Engine

    The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to commence next weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Cook Out Southern 500. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, September 4, at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Larson sweeps the weekend with second Cup victory of 2022 at Watkins Glen

    Larson sweeps the weekend with second Cup victory of 2022 at Watkins Glen

    A day after emerging late for an Xfinity Series victory at Watkins Glen International, Kyle Larson benefitted through another late-race restart and outlasted a challenge from AJ Allmendinger to win the rain-delayed Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, August 21.

    The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion led the final five of 90-scheduled laps and was running in second place behind teammate Chase Elliott with 12 laps remaining before a caution for an on-track incident involving Joey Hand stacked up the field. Two restarts later, Larson executed a strong launch on the inside lane to overtake Elliott for the lead on a restart with five laps remaining. From there, he kept Allmendinger at bay as he went on to claim his second victory of the 2022 Cup Series season and earn additional momentum with the Playoffs looming and in his quest to defend his series title.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Chase Elliott pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 124.857 mph in 70.477 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Kyle Larson, winner of last year’s Cup event at The Glen, who posted his best qualifying lap at 123.939 mph in 70.516 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell dropped to the rear of the field for engine changes made to their respective cars. In addition, names like William Byron, Daniil Kyat, Ty Gibbs, Cody Ware and Kyle Tilley dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race started amid a nearly two-hour delay due to lightning with the competitors starting on slick tires under a single-file restart formation amid wet conditions, the field quickly fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn as Elliott was out in front. Behind, Michael McDowell and Larson made contact, with the former assuming the runner-up spot. As the field made their way through the seven-turn circuit and back to the start/finish line, Elliott led the first lap followed by McDowell, Larson, Tyler Reddick and AJ Allmendinger. 

    Then in Turn 1, Allmendinger got bumped by rookie Austin Cindric as he spun off the circuit without sustaining any significant damage. Soon after, Harrison Burton also spun in the first turn, but the event proceeded under green as Elliott retained the lead ahead of McDowell. 

    During the second lap, Harrison Burton’s rough start went rougher as he spun for a second time in the first turn and plummeted below the leaderboard.

    Then during the third lap, McDowell gained a strong run on Elliott through the first three turns as he moved his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang into the lead. Not long after, Tyler Reddick moved his No. 8 KC Motorgroup Ltd. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Elliott fell back to third ahead of teammate Larson.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, McDowell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Elliott, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez. Larson was mired back in sixth after he missed the Inner Loop and had to come to a full stop before proceeding while Cindric, Chase Briscoe, rookie Todd Gilliland and Ross Chastain were in the top 10. Austin Dillon was back in 11th followed by Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Joey Hand, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Kimi Räikkönen and Erik Jones. Ryan Blaney was in 21st ahead of William Byron, Kyle Busch, Mike Rockenfeller and Martin Truex Jr. while Cole Custer, Loris Hezemans, Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie and Denny Hamlin, who was reporting engine issues, were in the top 30. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs was in 31st ahead of AJ Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick, Daniil Kyat and Cody Ware while Aric Almirola, Kyle Tilley, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley, who pitted to have his window net reattached, rounded out the 39-car field.

    Two laps later and with the track conditions drying, Buescher pitted his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang under green for slick tires while McDowell remained as the leader by seven-tenths of a second over Reddick. Another lap later, Briscoe pitted his No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang under green.

    By the Lap 10 mark, McDowell continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Reddick while Elliott, Gilliland and Suarez were scored in the top five. In addition, names like Bubba Wallace, Blaney, Cindric, Kyle Busch, Truex, Ty Dillon and Cody Ware pitted under green.

    Two laps later, McDowell surrendered the lead to pit for slick tires as Reddick assumed the lead. Another lap later, Reddick pitted for slick tires as Elliott, who has yet to pit for slicks, assumed the lead followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Larson. Meanwhile, Briscoe, the first competitor on slicks, was in fourth while McDowell was in fifth. Following his pit stop, however, Reddick was forced to serve a “stop-and-go” on-track penalty for missing the inner loop.

    Then on Lap 15, Briscoe overtook Elliott, who remained on wet tires, through Turn 5 to assume the lead with McDowell quickly pursuing behind. Meanwhile, Larson, who also remained on wet tires, had fallen back to 11th while being overtaken by competitors on slicks.

    With two laps remaining in the first stage, Elliott, who was struggling on the track on wet tires but opted for a two-pit strategy, pitted his No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green along with teammate Larson, Christopher Bell, Cindric, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Blaney, Truex, Buescher and McDowell while Briscoe continued to lead. Following the pit stops, Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Briscoe captured his fourth stage victory of the season. Reddick settled in second followed by Suarez, Gilliland, Chastain, Joey Logano, Ty Dillon, McDowell, Kyle Busch and Allmendinger. Despite settling in 23rd place in the first stage, Elliott clinched the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship.

    Under the stage break, some led by Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Gilliland and Logano remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 23 under green. By then, the field returned to double-file restart formation as Gilliland and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Gilliland briefly dueled with Logano before assuming full command of the field through the first four turns and approaching the Inner Loop. Behind, Logano was in second while Kyle Busch muscled his No. 18 Snickers Toyota TRD Camry into third place followed by McDowell and Ty Dillon.

    At the Lap 25 mark, Gilliland was leading by half a second over Logano followed by Kyle Busch, McDowell and Ty Dillon while Joey Hand, Corey LaJoie, Custer, Räikkönen and Elliott were in the top 10.

    Two laps later, Logano moved his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the lead followed by Kyle Busch, McDowell, Ty Dillon and Joey Hand while Gilliland, who initially lost the lead in the first turn before regaining it through the esses but losing it again through the carousel, pitted under green to address a broken axle.

    By Lap 30, Logano was leading by half a second over Kyle Busch while McDowell, Ty Dillon and Joey Hand remained in the top five. Elliott was up in sixth followed by Custer, Räikkönen, Buescher and LaJoie while Larson, Bell, Loris Hezemans, Stenhouse, Blaney, Allmendinger, Truex, Chastain, Bowman and Mike Rockenfeller occupied the top 20.

    A lap later, Reddick and Rockenfeller spun through the Inner Loop while battling for 20th place before both proceeded under green.

    Through the first 35 scheduled laps, Logano retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch followed by McDowell, Elliott and Ty Dillon. Meanwhile, Joey Hand retained sixth ahead of Custer, Buescher, Larson and Räikkönen.

    Soon after, names like Räikkönen, Truex, Loris Hezemans and LaJoie pitted under green while Logano remained as the leader by less than a second over Kyle Busch.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 40, Logano secured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season after fending off Kyle Busch by half a second. McDowell settled in third followed by Elliott, Ty Dillon, Joey Hand, Buescher, Larson, Custer and Christopher Bell.

    Under the stage break, names like Logano, Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon, Custer, Reddick, LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Briscoe, Mike Rockenfeller, Cody Ware and Hamlin pitted while the rest led by McDowell and Elliott remained on the track.

    With 46 laps remaining, the final stage started as McDowell and Elliott occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, McDowell, who nearly went off the course in the first turn, fended off Elliott and Joey Hand to retain the lead through the fourth turn and entering the esses. Then through the esses, a stack-up occurred towards the middle of the pack as Austin Dillon got turned and spun by Ross Chastain. At the same time, Hezemans made contact with Räikkönen, who got sent into the tire barriers as his strong debut in NASCAR’s premier series came to an end just shy of the halfway mark.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It was good fun,” Räikkönen said at the infield care center on USA Network. “I felt more confidence all the time. I had some good battles. It’s a shame. I think the car felt like it had a lot of speed in there, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

    With 43 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, McDowell retained the lead ahead of Elliott, who had Bell challenging him for third place as Larson was up in fourth ahead of Joey Hand. 

    Two laps later, Elliott overtook McDowell on the outside lane approaching Turn 6 to assume the lead as Larson started to close in on the two leaders. 

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by more than a second over McDowell, who had Larson challenging him for the runner-up spot. Bell was in fourth followed by Joey Hand, who remained uncertain about completing the remainder of the event on his current fuel tank, while Allmendinger was up in sixth following his opening lap spin. Buescher, Stenhouse, Erik Jones and Blaney were in the top 10 while Suarez, Byron, Harvick, Justin Haley, Bowman, Logano, Chastain, Burton, Wallace and Brad Keselowski were in the top 20.

    Then with 34 laps remaining, McDowell and Larson, both of whom were in second and third, pitted under green along with Erik Jones, Logano, Harvick and Truex as Elliott continued to lead. By then, Stenhouse, Reddick, Buescher and Joey Hand had made pit stops. Allmendinger, Chastain, Kyle Busch, Bell, Byron, Haley, Wallace, Ty Dillon, Hamlin and Blaney would soon pit.

    With 32 laps remaining, the leader Elliott pitted under green as Custer, who has yet to pit, assumed the lead. Following his service, Elliott was able to exit pit road and remain ahead of teammate Larson, who pitted earlier.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Custer remained as the leader by more than 10 seconds over LaJoie followed by Austin Dillon and Mike Rockenfeller, all of whom still needing to pit prior to the event’s conclusion. Elliott, the first competitor on fresh tires and fuel, was in fifth while teammate Larson, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Logano and Allmendinger were in the top 10. By then, Chastain and Briscoe were straightening their cars after both spun through the Inner Loop.

    A lap later, Custer surrendered the lead to pit under green while Austin Dillon was out in front by a mere margin over LaJoie while third-place Rockenfeller trailed by three seconds. Meanwhile, Elliott trailed in fourth place by four-and-a-half seconds while teammate Larson was in fifth. In addition, Cody Ware spun through the Inner Loop, but the race proceeded under green.

    With 20 laps remaining, Austin Dillon was leading by a second over Elliott, who overtook LaJoie earlier and was closing in on Dillon’s rear bumper. A lap later, however, Elliott gained a strong run and overtook Dillon for the lead in Turn 5. Behind, Larson overtook Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to move into the runner-up spot as he started his bid on teammate Elliott for the lead and win.

    Two laps later, Kyle Busch, who was running in ninth after rallying from restarting towards the rear of the field at the start of the final stage, got loose and spun in Turn 1 after running over the curb before hitting the Armco wall driver’s side before proceeding, cycling his way around the circuit and pitting under green. Back at the front, Elliott was leading by more than a second over teammate Larson while Austin Dillon retained third place ahead of McDowell and Allmendinger.

    Then with 12 laps remaining, the caution flew when Joey Hand, who was having a stellar run within the top 10, got loose and spun entering Turn 1 before backing his No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang into the Armco barrier, though he continued with rear-end damage. By then, Austin Dillon pitted under green and Elliott was out in front by more than two seconds over teammate Larson.

    During the caution period, names like while the rest led by teammates Elliott and Larson remained on the track.

    Down to the final nine laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott dueled and fended off teammate Larson to retain the lead and Allmendinger muscled his way into third place as the field scrambled for late positions. By then, McDowell, who was in third, got shuffled back to sixth.

    During the following lap, the caution returned when Loris Hezemans spun and got his car stuck on the gravel trap in Turn 6.

    With five laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, teammates Elliott and Larson dueled for the lead until Larson, who locked up the front tires and went briefly wide, managed to emerge with the lead ahead of teammate Elliott. In addition, Allmendinger moved into the runner-up spot as Logano and Reddick overtook Elliott through the Inner Loop. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Larson was ahead by half a second over Allmendinger and Elliott was mired back in fifth as the field scrambled for late positions.

    Three laps later, Larson continued to lead by less than half a second over Allmendinger, who found himself pursuing Larson for a win at The Glen for a second consecutive day, while Logano, Elliott and Suarez were in the top five. Behind, Reddick and McDowell fell back to sixth and seventh while Bell, Buescher and Erik Jones were in the top 10.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger. Through the first four turns, Larson stabilized his steady advantage. While Allmendinger gained a small advantage through the Inner Loop, he could not close the gap through the final three turns as Larson managed to smoothly navigate his way back to the finish line and claim the checkered flag by eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger.

    With his second victory of the 2022 season, Larson joined Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose and teammate Chase Elliott as the only competitors to achieve back-to-back Cup victories at The Glen. He also became the eighth competitor to achieve multiple victories throughout this year’s regular-season stretch as he recorded his 18th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and first since winning at Auto Club Speedway in February.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I knew that was my only opportunity [to beat Elliott in Turn 1],” Larson said on USA Network. “I’m not proud of it, but being in the inside lane or the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets too late in the race, it’s definitely risky. I felt like our cars were pretty equal today. [I] Had a lot of fun after the green-flag [pit] cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burnt my stuff up a little bit, but the restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. Proud of our guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen. Get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs. We haven’t had many of those this year. Hopefully, this [win] will build on some momentum and we can rack up some more points.”

    Allmendinger recovered from his opening lap spin to methodically work his way to a strong runner-up result a day after finishing in the runner-up spot behind Larson in the Xfinity event at The Glen. Logano came home in third followed by Elliott, who led a race-high 29 laps and remained humble over the defeat, though he clinched the 2022 Cup Series regular-season championship.

    “Huge congratulations to Kyle [Larson] and everybody on the No. 5 team,” Elliott said. “Congratulations to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for getting another win. [I] Appreciate Kelley Blue Book for being on our car this weekend. Proud of that and looking forward to next week.“ 

    Suarez rounded out the top five in fifth while McDowell, Reddick, Bell, Buescher and Erik Jones completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were 12 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 11 laps.

    With one regular-season race remaining to this season, Chase Elliott, who secured the 2022 Cup Series regular-season championship, leads the regular-season standings by 134 points over teammate Kyle Larson and 143 over Ryan Blaney. 

    Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, rookie Austin Cindric and Kurt Busch have clinched spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Ryan Blaney occupies the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs based on points by 25 points over Martin Truex Jr. The following competitors that include Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon and Todd Gilliland control their fate in making the Playoffs by winning next weekend at Daytona.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, five laps led

    2. AJ Allmendinger

    3. Joey Logano, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Chase Elliott, 29 laps led

    5. Daniel Suarez

    6. Michael McDowell, 14 laps led

    7. Tyler Reddick, two laps led

    8. Christopher Bell

    9. Chris Buescher

    10. Erik Jones

    11. Cole Custer, seven laps led

    12. Kevin Harvick

    13. Austin Cindric

    14. Alex Bowman

    15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    16. Ty Dillon

    17. Austin Dillon, six laps led

    18. Justin Haley

    19. Brad Keselowski

    20. Denny Hamlin

    21. Ross Chastain

    22. William Byron

    23. Martin Truex Jr.

    24. Ryan Blaney

    25. Chase Briscoe, seven laps led, Stage 1 winner

    26. Ty Gibbs

    27. Corey LaJoie

    28. Harrison Burton

    29. Aric Almirola

    30. Mike Rockenfeller

    31. Joey Hand

    32. Kyle Busch, one lap down

    33. Loris Hezemans, one lap down

    34. Cody Ware, two laps down

    35. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Suspension

    36. Daniil Kvyat, 32 laps down

    37. Kimi Räikkönen – OUT, Accident

    38. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Rear end

    39. Kyle Tilley – OUT, Steering

    The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season stretch is set to cap off next weekend at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 27, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Bell clinches 2022 Cup Playoff spot with a victory at New Hampshire

    Bell clinches 2022 Cup Playoff spot with a victory at New Hampshire

    Christopher Bell punched his ticket to the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after claiming a late victory in the Ambetter 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 17.

    After starting the day on the bubble for the Playoffs, the 27-year-old from Norman, Oklahoma, led the final 42 laps overtaking Chase Elliott for the lead. He pulled away and beat Elliott by more than five seconds to achieve his first victory of the season and became the 14th different competitor to win and secure a spot in the postseason championship in NASCAR’s premier series. 

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Martin Truex Jr. started in the pole position after posting a winning lap at 127.113 mph in 29.964 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Chase Elliott, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway after he clocked in a fast qualifying lap at 126.922 mph in 30.009 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started amid a 20-minute delay due to a brief shower, Truex rocketed forward with an advantage on the outside lane while Bubba Wallace launched an early attack on Elliott for the runner-up spot. As the field returned to the start/finish line, Truex led the first lap followed by Wallace, Elliott, Kurt Busch, William Byron and Kyle Larson as the field jostled early for positions.

    Five laps into the event, the first caution flew when Ty Dillon made contact with Justin Haley entering the backstretch, which caused Dillon to get loose. He veered his No. 42 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to the right and collided head-on into the outside wall along with Alex Bowman as Josh Bilicki and BJ McLeod also wrecked.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 12, Truex and Wallace dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Truex managed to clear Wallace and retain the lead through the backstretch. Behind, Elliott and Kurt Busch fought for third ahead of Larson, Aric Almirola and Byron as the field fanned out to double lanes.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Truex was leading by six-tenths of a second over Wallace followed by Elliott, Kurt Busch and Larson while Almirola, Byron, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell and Joey Logano were in the top 10. Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick while AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Corey LaJoie and Erik Jones were in the top 20. By then, Daniel Suarez was in 22nd behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe was mired in 24th, rookie Austin Cindric was in 26th ahead of Harrison Burton and Austin Dillon was back in 30th.

    By Lap 35, Truex extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Wallace while Elliott remained in third. Behind, Larson overtook Kurt Busch for fourth place while Byron was back in ninth behind Almirola, Harvick and Bell.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Truex stabilized his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Wallace while Larson, Elliott and Kurt Busch remained in the top five.

    Ten laps later, Truex continued to extend his advantage as he was more than three seconds over both Wallace and Larson, with both dueling for the runner-up spot. Elliott remained in fourth while Harvick emerged into the top five ahead of Kurt Busch. By then, Denny Hamlin was in the top 10 in 10th place while names like Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Stenhouse and Justin Haley were lapped by the field.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Truex captured his sixth stage victory of the season. Wallace fended off Larson to retain second ahead of Elliott, Harvick, Bell, Kurt Busch, Almirola, Byron and Hamlin. By then, Cole Custer, who was running in 23rd, remained on the lead lap while Harrison Burton was the recipient of the free pass after being scored as the first competitor a lap down in 24th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders, led by Truex pitted, and Truex retained the lead followed by Harvick, Larson, Wallace, Bell and Kurt Busch.

    The second stage started on Lap 77 as Truex and Harvick occupied the front row. At the start, Truex managed to retain the lead ahead of Harvick, Larson and the field entering the first two turns. Shortly after, however, the caution flew when Kyle Busch spun in the middle of the backstretch, but managed to proceed without sustaining any damage to his No. 18 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry.

    As the race proceeded under green on Lap 83, Truex kept the lead ahead of Larson while Wallace and Harvick raced for third. Behind, three-wide action occurred between Kurt Busch, Almirola and Bell while Elliott was mired in eighth ahead of Joey Logano, Byron and Keselowski.

    Six laps later, the caution returned due to a heavy multi-car wreck on the backstretch involving Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell and Corey LaJoie, whose No. 7 Built.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sustained heavy front-nose damage.

    During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Truex pitted while names like Logano, Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher and Harrison Burton remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Elliott pitted for a second time to address loose right-side wheels on his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 100, Logano retained the lead followed by Buescher while Cindric and Truex competed for third in front of Harvick, Kurt Busch, Almirola, Larson and Wallace.

    Ten laps later, Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Truex’s No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry while Harvick started to pressure Buescher for third place. Behind, Cindric was in fifth ahead of Wallace, Larson, Kurt Busch, Almirola and Bell while Elliott was up in 11th ahead of Hamlin, Byron, Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney.

    Another 10 laps later, Logano’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Truex while Buescher, Harvick and Larson remained in the top five. During the following lap, however, Truex reassumed the top spot.

    Just past the Lap 135 mark, Truex extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Logano while Larson, Harvick and Cindric were scored in the top five. Behind, Kurt Busch was in sixth while Buescher, Elliott, Wallace and Bell were in the top 10.

    Ten laps later, the caution flew when Ryan Blaney spun and backed his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang into the Turn 4 outside wall. Under caution, the leaders led by Truex pitted as Truex, who opted for four fresh tires, retained the lead amid a flurry of different strategies while Suarez, who opted for two fresh tires, came out in second.

    When the event restarted on Lap 151 at the halfway mark, Truex pulled away with the lead followed by Logano as the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the backstretch. With the field still fanned out through Turns 3 and 4, the caution returned when Chase Briscoe spun his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang in Turn 4.

    As the field restarted under green on Lap 156, Truex received another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead while Harvick, Logano and Kurt Busch challenged for the runner-up spot. Behind, Cindric retained fifth ahead of a hard-charging Elliott while Suarez was being pressured by Larson, Bell, Byron, Chastain and Wallace. By then, Almirola, who won last year’s event at New Hampshire, took his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    Then on Lap 162, the caution flew again when Kyle Busch, who was battling Suarez for 12th place, got loose and spun entering the frontstretch, which marked his second spin of the day. At the moment of caution, tempers flared between Austin Dillon and Keselowski after both collided and rubbed fenders against one another through the backstretch, with Keselowski claiming that Dillon attempted to wreck him on the backstretch. The contact resulted in Keselowski’s No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang cutting a left-front tire as he pitted along with Dillon and Kyle Busch.

    With the race proceeding under green on Lap 167, Truex gained another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead ahead of Harvick, Logano and Kurt Busch as the field fanned out through the first two turns. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Elliott launched his attack on Kurt Busch for fourth place while Bell and Larson vied for sixth. With Elliott clearing Busch for the position, he then managed to overtake Logano for third place while Truex continued to lead.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the second stage, Truex stabilized his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Elliott, Logano and Larson while Chastain started to close in on Kurt Busch for sixth place. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 185, Truex captured his seventh stage victory of the season and the second of the day after being Harvick by four-tenths of a second. Elliott settled in third followed by Logano, Larson, Kurt Busch, Chastain, Byron, Bell and Wallace.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Truex pitted as he retained the lead. During the pit stops, Cindric had to back his car to his pit stall after the left-front wheel from his No. 2 AutoTrader Ford Mustang came off while exiting his pit stall.

    With 109 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Harrison Burton and Briscoe occupied the front row in front of Truex and Kyle Busch. At the start, Briscoe pulled ahead with the top spot while Truex and Harrison Burton dueled for a lap for the runner-up spot in front of Kyle Busch, Elliott, Harvick, Logano and the field.

    Six laps later, Truex muscled his No. 19 Toyota to the outside of Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford to reassume the lead. Another six laps later, the caution returned for an incident involving rookie Todd Gilliland in Turn 4. During the caution period, a majority led by Truex pitted while the rest led by Kurt Busch remained on the track. During the caution period, Harvick, who was exiting his pit stall after completing his service, collided with Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Dillon ended up pitting backward. In addition, Harrison Burton was penalized for equipment interference.

    With 92 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green as Kurt Busch cleared the field with the lead followed by Logano, Cole Custer and Larson while Truex was mired in eighth behind Byron, Elliott and Harvick.

    With less than 75 laps remaining, Kurt Busch remained the leader by four-tenths of a second over Logano as Elliott started to challenge Logano for the runner-up spot. Custer and Bell were in the top five followed by Kyle Busch, Larson, Wallace, Harvick and Truex, who was unable to march his way back to the front.

    Fifteen laps later, Kurt Busch stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Logano before he was overtaken by Elliott shortly after. Bell would also overtake Logano for third place as Logano was trapped behind the lapped car of Cody Ware through the backstretch.

    Another six laps later, Elliott overtook Kurt Busch’s No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota TRD Camry for the lead as Bell also moved his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry into the runner-up spot.

    Then with 41 laps remaining, Bell used the lapped car of Todd Gilliland to his advantage as he trapped Elliott to the outside lane before overtaking him for the lead.

    Nearing the final 30 laps, Kurt Busch surrendered third place to pit under green. By then, Bell was leading by nearly a second over Elliott while Bubba Wallace cycled his No. 23 DraftKings Toyota TRD Camry into third place ahead of Harvick and Truex. Another four laps later, Austin Dillon pitted.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Bell was leading by nearly two seconds over Elliott while third-place Wallace trailed by nine-and-a-half seconds. Harvick and Truex remained in the top five while Hamlin, Logano, Custer, Byron and Brad Keselowski were scored in the top 10. By then, Kyle Bush was in 11th ahead of Chastain, Suarez, Larson and Briscoe while Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Buescher and Blaney were all on the lead lap. Kurt Busch was the first competitor a lap down in 20th.

    With 10 laps remaining, Bell stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Elliott while Wallace, Harvick and Truex remained in the top five.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Bell continued to extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Elliott as third-place Wallace trailed by 11 seconds. Meanwhile, Harvick, racing in his No. 4 Gearwrench Ford Mustang, settled in third while Truex was mired back in fifth. Shortly after, Logano, who was told that he was short on fuel for the finish, pitted under green while Truex caught and overtook Harvick for fourth.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell, who lapped Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, remained the leader by more than five seconds over Elliott. Despite being mired by lapped traffic in the closing laps, Bell was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch with a clear race track and claim both his first checkered flag of the 2022 Cup season and a spot in the 2022 Cup Playoffs.

    In addition, Bell, who became the third Joe Gibbs Racing competitor to win this season, recorded his second career win in the NASCAR Cup Series and his first since winning his first series victory at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February 2021. With Bell becoming the 14th different winner of this season, this marks the first time since 2011 that a Cup season has featured 14 winners through the first 20 scheduled events.

    “Man, that one was much needed right there,” Bell, who finished second at New Hampshire one year ago, said on USA Network. “I’ll tell you what. That was a hell of a race from my viewpoint. That was so much fun. Racing with [Kurt Busch], [Logano] and [Elliott]. We were all running different lines. That was a blast. Just so happy. So happy to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing. All of our partners on this No. 20 car. It’s good to get Rheem back in Victory Lane.”

    “Man, winning Cup races is hard,” Bell added. “You [fans] are awesome. Thank you for coming out, but it just seems like we’ve been so close and then we’ve fallen off a little bit last week. I was talking to my best friend. I told him I said earlier in the year, I felt like we were right on the verge of winning and in the last couple of weeks, I felt like we were pretty far away. But here we are today.”

    Elliott, who led 13 laps in comparison to Bell’s 42, came home in the runner-up spot for his fourth consecutive top-two result while Wallace earned a strong third-place result for his second top-three result of the season.

    “Just do a better job again,” Elliott said. “Same conversation as Road America, unfortunately. I felt like just a poor run of execution on my end throughout that last run. Man, I felt like it took me a while to get past Joey [Logano] and [Kurt Busch]. [I] Had to run a little harder than I wanted to and got in front of those guys. Just made a couple of mistakes and couldn’t get much breathing room. Christopher did a good job. Congrats to those guys. I know they stayed close to winning, so that’s cool, but obviously, for us, we were in a position where guys at this level should close out a race if you got a lead like that. Just poor effort on my part.”

    “Just proud of the team,” Wallace said. “Proud of myself. Proud of everybody at the shop. They brought a decent DraftKings Toyota Camry TRD. It didn’t handle that great, but it had speed. We knew that. Just the mental preparation and had to set yourself up for a long day, and then we did. I had no idea where we were running there at the end. I knew it was inside the top five, but just tire management there at the end and we were able to capitalize. Just proud of everybody. Happy. It’s been hell the last month and so, good to come out with a top five.”

    Truex, who led a race-high 172 laps and claimed the first two stages, could only carve his way to fourth place while Harvick completed the top five.

    “Just Loudon, for us,” Truex said. “It’s every year. We lead a ton of laps. We run really well here and then, we find a way to give it away. I’m frustrated for Intestate [Batteries], Toyota, all of our partners. Overall, it was a hell of a run. This place, man, it’s killing me. It’s not like we haven’t been trying to win. We’ve had cars to win. We’ve had some really strong cars and everybody at [Joe Gibbs Racing]’s working really hard. Our short track stuff’s been off and we came here and dominated, and [Bell] winning. Congratulations to him. They were smarter than us at the end. I’m happy for him. I’m just really disappointed for us.”

    Finishing in the top 10 on the track were Hamlin, Keselowski, Chastain, Suarez and Kurt Busch, who ended up leading 40 laps.

    There were eight lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 52 laps.

    With six regular season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular season standings by 67 points over Ross Chastain and 78 over Ryan Blaney. 

    Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, rookie Austin Cindric and Christopher Bell are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. are above the top-16 cutline based on points. Kevin Harvick trails the top-16 cutline by 68 points, Aric Almirola trails by 129, Erik Jones, trails by 154, Austin Dillon trails by 198, Michael McDowell trails by 204, Justin Haley trails by 228, Bubba Wallace trails by 230, Chris Buescher trails by 239 and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trails by 286.

    Results.

    1. Christopher Bell, 42 laps led

    2. Chase Elliott, 13 laps led

    3. Bubba Wallace

    4. Martin Truex Jr., 172 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    5. Kevin Harvick

    6. Denny Hamlin

    7. Brad Keselowski

    8. Ross Chastain

    9. Daniel Suarez 

    10. Kurt Busch, 40 laps led

    11. William Byron

    12. Kyle Busch 

    13. Austin Cindric

    14. Kyle Larson, one lap down

    15. Chase Briscoe, one lap down, six laps led

    16. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    17. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    18. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

    19. Erik Jones, one lap down

    20. Justin Haley, one lap down

    21. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    23. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    24. Joey Logano, one lap down, 25 laps led

    25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

    26. Harrison Burton, one lap down, three laps led

    27. Cole Custer, one lap down

    28. Michael McDowell, two laps down

    29. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    30. Cody Ware, four laps down

    31. Aric Almirola, 19 laps down

    32. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    33. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

    34. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    35. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone annual visit of the season to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 24, at 3 p.m. on USA Network.

  • Elliott captures first home Cup victory at Atlanta

    Elliott captures first home Cup victory at Atlanta

    The crowd inside Atlanta Motor Speedway was left cheering with pride and joy as Chase Elliott achieved his first victory on home turf following a wild and dominant run in the Quaker State 400 on Sunday, July 10. The 2020 Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, led nine times for a race-high 97 of 260-scheduled laps and swept all three stages of the race.

    During a three-lap dash to the finish, Elliott muscled his way from fourth to first before he fended off a valiant run by Corey LaJoie on the final lap to emerge out in front of the field with the caution flying for a multi-car wreck that involved LaJoie. From there, Elliott cruised back to the frontstretch to claim his long-awaited first win at his home track amid a chorus of cheers from the crowd.

    With on-track qualifying that was initially set for Saturday canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined by NASCAR’s rulebook’s qualifying metric. As a result, Chase Elliott was awarded the pole position at his home track. Joining him on the front row was Ross Chastain.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chastain received a strong push from Kyle Larson on the inside lane to jump to an early advantage as he led the first lap ahead of Elliott, Tyler Reddick and the field while Larson got loose entering Turn 4 and dropped out of the top 10. During the following lap, however, Elliott assumed the lead after overtaking Chastain’s No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 1 as he led the second lap before Chastain reassumed the top spot.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the front-runners packed tightly in superspeedway formation, Chastain was leading followed by Ryan Blaney, Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Elliott while Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher were in the top 10. William Byron was in 11th followed by Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Justin Haley, Larson, Cole Custer and Kurt Busch. By then, Martin Truex Jr. was in 21st, rookie Austin Cindric was in 24th ahead of Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski was in 27th and Erik Jones was in 31st.

    Ten laps later and with the 36-car field separated by 12 seconds, Chastain continued to lead ahead of a side-by-side duel between Hamlin and Blaney while Reddick and Elliott battled for fourth. By then, Kyle Busch challenged Bowman for sixth while Byron cracked the top 10.

    Two laps later, Hamlin muscled his No. 11 Coca-Cola Toyota TRD Camry into the lead as he overtook Chastain on the outside lane with drafting help from Blaney’s No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang. Another two laps later, Blaney used the outside lane to his advantage as he moved into the lead. With Elliott and Chastain battling for the runner-up spot, Hamlin settled back in fourth.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25 and with the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the frontstretch, Elliott, who managed to overtake Blaney during the previous lap, was scored the leader followed by Blaney, Reddick, Bowman and Hamlin while McDowell, Kyle Busch, Chastain, Bell and Byron were in the top 10. Prior to the competition caution, Hamlin made the slightest contact with Chastain through Turns 3 and 4 as Chastain briefly lost his momentum and dropped from the top five to the top 10.

    During the competition caution, some of the drivers, led by Elliott, remained on the track while the rest of the field pitted. During the pit stops, Larson’s pit crew popped the hood of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to diagnose steering issues in the car while Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez had to back up for missing their mark toward their pit lanes. Following the pit stops, Truex was penalized for speeding on pit road. 

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 30, Elliott assumed the lead and managed to retain the top spot when the field returned to the start/finish line despite being challenged by Blaney and teammate Alex Bowman.

    Through the first 40 scheduled laps, Elliott remained as the leader followed by Blaney, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Bowman while Byron, Chastain, Reddick, Hamlin and rookie Todd Gilliland were in the top 10.

    Eleven laps later and with the front-runners continuing to run in a tight, side-by-side pack, Blaney made his move through the backstretch to assume the lead as he led a lap for himself. Elliott, however, quickly returned to favor and reassumed the top spot entering the first two turns, leaving Blaney to settle in the runner-up spot in front of Bowman while Chastain and Hamlin battled for fourth place.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Elliott managed to fend off a steaming pack of cars to claim his fourth stage victory of the season. Teammate Bowman settled in second followed by Chastain, Blaney, Byron, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Larson and Bell. By then, the top 17 competitors were separated by under two seconds.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Elliott pitted and Reddick utilized a two-tire pit stop to his advantage as he exited with the lead followed by Chastain, Truex, Elliott and Bell.

    The second stage started on Lap 66 as Reddick and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start and with the field jostling for positions in a tight, side-by-side pack, Reddick rocketed with the lead as he defended the field from the top to bottom lane to lead through the frontstretch before Chastain launched his challenge through the backstretch. Truex, however, drafted Reddick’s No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to the front as he commenced his challenge for the lead. 

    Then on Lap 70, Truex launched his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry into the lead following a bold pass on the inside lane over Reddick through the first two turns as teammate Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry followed in pursuit. 

    By Lap 75, Truex was ahead by a hair over Blaney followed by Bell, Reddick and Elliott while Hamlin, Chastain, Kurt Busch, McDowell and Larson were in the top 10. By then, the top-eight competitors were locked in a tight side-by-side battle as Truex and Blaney continued to duel dead even for the lead.

    A few laps later, the caution flew for a three-car wreck that ensued on the backstretch and involved Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher and BJ McLeod. During the caution period, some led by Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 83, teammates Truex and Bell dueled for the lead through the backstretch as Truex retained the lead with drafting help from Blaney. Shortly after, Blaney attempted to launch his bid for the lead on the inside lane, but Truex remained as the leader with the outside lane gaining the advantage as Elliott and Reddick moved up into the top three. Elliott, however, made his bid for the lead executed perfectly on Lap 86 as he overtook Truex on the inside lane and gained control of both lanes through the frontstretch.

    Then on Lap 90, the caution flew when Truex slipped sideways off the front nose of Chastain as he spun and made contact against the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2. The incident between Truex and Chastain ignited a multi-car wreck that collected McDowell, Logano, Kyle Busch, Larson, Noah Gragson, Bell and Austin Dillon, whose No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 took a hard hit against the outside wall after being clipped by a spinning McDowell.

    During the extensive caution period, most of the front-runners led by Blaney pitted while some led by rookie Harrison Burton remained on the track.

    When the event resumed under green on Lap 98, Stenhouse, who spent the majority of the event having the hood of his car up during his pit stops, assumed the lead while Byron and Harrison Burton battled for the runner-up spot.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Stenhouse was leading ahead of Burton while Byron, who briefly got loose entering the first turn, was in third. During the following lap, Burton received a draft from Byron to assume the lead and Todd Gilliland and Blaney made their move to the front. Another five laps later, Byron returned to the front as Reddick charged his way into the top five behind Stenhouse, Reddick, Burton and Gilliland. Not long after Byron assumed the lead, the caution flew when Buescher made contact with the outside wall in Turn 4 after blowing a right-rear tire.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 112, Byron and Stenhouse dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Byron received a push from Burton to clear the field and gain control of both lanes entering the frontstretch. Not long after, the field lapped Kyle Busch as Byron continued to lead ahead of Stenhouse, Reddick, Burton and Gilliland. During this process, Kurt Busch bolted his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry into fourth place followed by Blaney while Burton and Gilliland fell back to sixth and seventh.

    On Lap 119, Stenhouse briefly lost his momentum in Turn 1 and was slowly drifting out of the top 10 as Kurt Busch, Bell and Blaney made their way into the top five. By then, Byron remained the leader ahead of Reddick. McDowell also made an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a flat tire.

    Eleven laps later and with most of the front-runners settling in a long single-file line, Byron continued to lead ahead of Reddick, Kurt Busch, Bell and Blaney while Burton, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Bowman and Elliott were in the top 10. By then, Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Chastain, Almirola, Corey LaJoie, Haley, Briscoe, Hamlin, Stenhouse, Daniel Suarez and Kevin Harvick. Wallace, Truex, Cindric and Larson were mired outside of the top 20.

    Another seven laps later, the caution returned when Briscoe spun his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang through the backstretch after cutting a right-rear tire. During the caution period, some, led by Erik Jones, pitted while the rest, led by Byron, remained on the track.

    During a restart on Lap 142, Byron and Reddick dueled for the lead as Byron managed to make the outside lane work to his advantage again. Five laps later on Lap 147, Reddick made a bold move to the outside of Byron between Turns 1 and 2 to return to the lead followed by Blaney while Byron remained in hot pursuit for the lead on the inside lane.

    Then with seven laps remaining in the second stage, Elliott navigated his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the bottom to the top and back to the bottom for a full lap as he returned to the lead followed by Reddick while Kurt Busch battled Blaney for third place. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski made his way into the top five as he battled Blaney and Bowman.

    Just prior to the start of the final lap of the second stage, the caution flew when Bowman, who was running towards the front, slipped sideways after cutting a right-rear tire and backed his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the outside wall entering the frontstretch, which his car came to a rest near the restart zone and needed assistance from a wrecker to return to his pit stall due to both rear tires on his car flat. The incident was enough for the second stage scheduled for Lap 160 to conclude under caution as Elliott claimed his fifth stage victory of the season. Reddick settled in second followed by Keselowski, Blaney, Kurt Busch, Bell, Burton, Byron, Chastain and Corey LaJoie.

    Under the stage break, some led by Elliott pitted while others led by Cindric and Almirola remained on the track. Stenhouse, who had the hood of his No. 47 Kroger/Ball Park Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 pop up again, retired due to engine issues that had persisted in his car throughout the event.

    With 95 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Cindric and Almirola occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric and Almirola dueled for the top spot before Cindric benefitted on the outside lane with drafting help from Erik Jones. Harvick would soon join the battle and draft Jones clear of the field in the runner-up spot while Justin Haley and Chastain made their way into the top five. 

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Larson sent Ty Dillon into Garrett Smithley, which sent Smithley spinning entering Turns 3 and 4 and in front of a pack of cars as a number of competitors including Byron, Reddick, Gilliland, Keselowski, Wallace and Landon Cassill wrecked. The wreck spoiled strong runs being produced by Keselowski, Gilliland, Byron and Reddick, with the latter two retiring in the garage.

    With 84 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Erik Jones received drafting help from Cindric on the outside lane to emerge out in front while Chastain fought back as the lead competitor on the inside lane. Four laps later, however, Chastain muscled his way into the lead on the inside lane while Elliott, LaJoie and Bell broke away from the pack and settled from second to fourth. Behind, Hamlin and Jones battled for fifth ahead of Cindric, Suarez, Harvick and Haley.

    Nearing the final 70 laps of the event, the ninth caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch spun entering Turn 2 while Cody Ware, who was loose in Turn 2, ended up veering into the outside wall in the backstretch. Under caution, names like LaJoie, Suarez, Blaney, Logano and Kurt Busch pitted only for fuel while others like Chastain, Elliott, Hamlin, Bell, Truex, Erik Jones, Cindric, Harvick, Larson, Burton and Haley pitted for two fresh tires. Everyone else pitted for four tires.

    With 66 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green as LaJoie made his way into the lead followed by Elliott and Chastain as the field duked and jostled for positions through multiple lanes.

    Then with less than 60 laps remaining, the battle for the lead ignited between LaJoie and Elliott as both led a group of competitors stacked up through double lanes. Despite LaJoie’s persistence on the outside lane, Elliott managed to carve his way back to the lead as he cleared LaJoie with 55 laps remaining. By then, Truex was back in the race for the win as he battled LaJoie for the runner-up spot.

    With 50 laps remaining, Elliott retained the lead ahead of Truex while LaJoie, Kurt Busch and Chastain were in the top five. By then, Blaney, Hamlin, Bell, Erik Jones and Suarez were in the top 10 as the top 18 competitors were separated by less than two seconds.

    Ten laps later and with the field settling in a long single-file line, Elliott continued to lead ahead of Truex, LaJoie, Chastain and Hamlin while Bell, Blaney, Erik Jones, Haley and Cindric were scored in the top 10.

    Another 15 laps later, the caution flew when Bell, who was running in sixth place, slipped sideways as he spun below the apron and through the frontstretch grass before he straightened his car through pit road. During the caution period, the situation went from bad to worse for Bell, whose left-rear tire came off as he was exiting his pit stall. Along with Bell, names like Wallace, Harvick, Gilliland, Kurt Busch, Almirola and Briscoe pitted under caution while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track.

    Down to the final 19 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott and Truex dueled for the lead until Truex received a strong push from Chastain on the inside lane to take the lead. With Truex clearing the field, Elliott and Chastain battled for the runner-up spot before Chastain attempted to make his move for the lead on the inside lane.

    Three laps later, Elliott made his move to the inside of Truex through Turns 1 and 2 in a bid for the lead before Truex fought back on the outside lane as LaJoie made his way into the runner-up spot while Elliott fell back to third.

    Then with 14 laps remaining, the caution flew when contact from Chastain sent Hamlin, who was running in fourth, spinning in Turn 4 as Keselowski also spun through the frontstretch grass to avoid hitting Hamlin.

    Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race proceeded under green as Truex and LaJoie occupied the front row. At the start, Truex received drafting help from Elliott on the outside lane while LaJoie bolted his way into the lead on the inside lane with drafting help from Chastain. Just as the field led by LaJoie was approaching Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned when Bell made contact with teammate Hamlin and Logano as all three collided and wrecked across the backstretch.

    With the event set for a three-lap dash to the finish, the field restarted under green. At the start, LaJoie and Truex briefly dueled until LaJoie managed to pull ahead through the backstretch. Behind, Elliott, who restarted fourth, made a bold between Chastain and Truex as he launched his final bid for the lead and win. Then through the frontstretch, Elliott rocketed to the outside of LaJoie and he assumed the lead while Erik Jones and LaJoie battled for the runner-up spot in front of Chastain and Blaney. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Elliott was still leading ahead of LaJoie and Erik Jones. Then in Turn 1, LaJoie tried to make a move to the outside of Elliott, but Elliott fended off LaJoie’s charge as LaJoie, who got into the rear of Elliott, got loose and scraped the wall. After trying to keep his car straight, LaJoie veered sideways and barely clipped Blaney before he turned back across the outside wall and wrecked along with Kurt Busch and Cole Custer. The wreck was enough to conclude the event under caution as Elliott emerged out in front of Chastain and made his way back to the frontstretch for his first checkered flag at his home track. 

    In addition to claiming his first victory at his home track, Elliott became the first three-time winner of this year’s NASCAR Cup Series season as he recorded his 15th career win in his 240th series start. The Atlanta victory was the 16th for Hendrick Motorsports as Elliott joined a long list of icons, including his father Bill, to win a Cup race at Atlanta, Georgia.

    “This one’s up there, for sure,” Elliott said on USA Network. “To win at your home track is a really big deal, I think, to any race car driver. I’ve watched a lot of guys do it over the years. Jimmie [Johnson] out in California. We haven’t really had a very good run here, so I felt like today was a great opportunity for us. Just so proud. This is home for me, home to a lot of great fans who made a lot of noise out today, home to NAPA. Couldn’t be more proud of the team. What a car. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a speedway car that good. If we had, I probably wrecked it at Daytona. What a few weeks it’s been. I felt like I gave one away last week [at Road America]. To come back and put on a performance like that, I’m really proud of that. Excited to get home. It’s gonna be a big one tonight. I’m looking forward to it.”

    While Elliott was left beaming and saluting the crowd on the frontstretch, LaJoie, who was in position to achieve his first Cup victory, was left heartbroken on pit road as he concluded the event in 21st place and with a wrecked race car.

    “[That was the] Closest I’ve ever been, for sure,” LaJoie said. “That was fun. I’m proud of my guys, Spire [Motorsports], RAZE Energy, Built Bar, Schluter, everybody that’s helped us out. It was nice to have [the car] out in the wind for once. I made my move, didn’t work out. [Elliott] made a good block and the siren’s ringing in Dawsonville. Unfortunately, I wished that granny in the front row over there wouldn’t have been clapping so much. I wished that No. 7 car was going to Victory Lane. We keep running like this, more consistently, that time will come…I was having some fun. I know that. Hopefully, we can have that No. 7 car up front more often.”

    Chastain settled in second place after finishing in second at Atlanta earlier in March while Cindric came home in third place. Erik Jones earned his second top-five result of the season by finishing fourth while Blaney finished fifth.

    “I hated I took the best car here and I tore it a couple of times,” Chastain said. “It’s incredible. Hats off to Chevrolet and Trackhouse [Racing] for bringing this fast of a Jockey Chevrolet. To be able to come back, our road crew and pit crew did an awesome job. To rebound through all the damage repairs. We had a shot and I got inside of [Elliott] coming off of [Turn] 2, coming to the checkered, and the caution came out…Almost gave it to us.”

    Suarez, Haley, Almirola, Custer and Harrison Burton completed the top 10 on the track. 

    There were 27 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured 13 cautions for 64 laps.

    With seven regular-season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott leads the regular-season standings by 47 points over Ryan Blaney and 50 over Ross Chastain. 

    Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Kurt Busch, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman and rookie Austin Cindric are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell are above the top-16 cutline based on points. Kevin Harvick trails the top-16 cutline by 19 points, Aric Almirola trails by 42, Erik Jones, trails by 76, Austin Dillon trails by 116, Michael McDowell trails by 117, Justin Haley trails by 149, Chris Buescher trails by 163, Bubba Wallace trails by 178, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trails by 190 and Cole Custer trails by 200.

    Results.

    1. Chase Elliott, 96 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Ross Chastain, 32 laps led

    3. Austin Cindric, seven laps led

    4. Erik Jones, 10 laps led

    5. Ryan Blaney, two laps led

    6. Daniel Suarez

    7. Justin Haley

    8. Aric Almirola

    9. Cole Custer

    10. Harrison Burton, nine laps led

    11. Martin Truex Jr., 27 laps led

    12. Kevin Harvick

    13. Kyle Larson

    14. Bubba Wallace

    15. Michael McDowell

    16. Chase Briscoe

    17. Todd Gilliland

    18. Brad Keselowski

    19. Christopher Bell

    20. Kyle Busch

    21. Corey LaJoie, 19 laps led

    22. Kurt Busch, one lap down

    23. Cody Ware, one lap down

    24. Landon Cassill, one lap down

    25. Denny Hamlin, one lap down, two laps led

    26. Joey Logano – OUT, Dvp

    27. Garrett Smithley, eight laps down

    28. Ty Dillon – OUT, Dvp

    29. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident, 13 laps led

    30. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 41 laps led

    31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Engine, two laps led

    32. Alex Bowman – OUT, Dvp

    33. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

    34. Noah Gragson – OUT, Suspension

    35. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone annual visit of the season to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 17, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Hamlin claims a wild, caution-filled Coca-Cola 600 victory at Charlotte

    Hamlin claims a wild, caution-filled Coca-Cola 600 victory at Charlotte

    In one of stock car’s longest events on Memorial Day weekend spanning more than five hours and mired with a bevy of cautions and on-track carnages, Denny Hamlin survived two overtime attempts to storm to the lead and fend off teammate Kyle Busch to win the Coca-Cola 600 victory of this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 29.

    The 41-year-old Hamlin from Chesterfield, Virginia, led four times for 15 of 413 over-scheduled laps and was able to assume the lead during the first of two overtime attempts just as a multi-car wreck ensued behind him on the frontstretch. Then during the second overtime attempt, he came out on top over a late battle with teammate Kyle Busch, including overtaking and clearing his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate on the final lap, before having enough horsepower to cross the finish line in first place and claim his first 600 triumph.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Denny Hamlin notched his first pole position of the season after clocking in a pole-winning lap at 183.680 mph in 29.399 seconds. Joining him on the front was Kurt Busch, who clocked in a qualifying lap at 183.661 mph in 29.402 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, Cole Custer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kaz Grala dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars. In addition, Corey LaJoie started at the rear of the field in a backup car.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin launched ahead with the lead on the outside lane through Turn 1 before Kurt Busch drew himself in a side-by-side battle against his owner. As the field returned to the start/finish line, Hamlin managed to lead the first lap by a hair before Kurt Busch issued another early challenge for the lead. 

    During the following lap, Kurt Busch managed to edge Hamlin to lead the following lap before Hamlin returned the favor during the following lap. Then by the fourth lap, Hamlin managed to pull his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry ahead of Busch’s No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry to clear the field for the lead while Kyle Busch was in third. Behind, Bubba Wallace muscled his way into third place ahead of William Byron, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Kyle Busch, who overtook teammate Hamlin for the lead during the previous lap, was leading followed by Bubba Wallace, Reddick and Byron while Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, Bell, Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman. Rookie Austin Cindric was back in 11th ahead of Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Erik Jones while Kyle Larson was up in 21st ahead of Justin Haley, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher and rookie Harrison Burton.

    Seven laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Ryan Preece spun entering Turn 4 on the outside lane. Just behind, Buescher and Noah Gragson spun separately to avoid Preece with Buescher making contact with Preece. By then, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over Bubbaa Wallace followed by Reddick and Byron while Hamlin and Kurt Busch slipped back to fifth and eighth, respectively. In addition, Kyle Larson was up to 18th.

    Under caution, the leaders led by Kyle Busch pitted for the first time Kyle Busch, Byron, Reddick, Hamlin, Suarez and Wallace. Following the pit stops, Martin Truex Jr. was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, rookie Todd Gilliland was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 22, Kyle Busch rocketed his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry away with the lead while Reddick and Byron battled for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Wallace made his way into third place over Reddick and Hamlin while Larson was trying to work his way into the top 15.

    By Lap 30, Kyle Busch was leading by half a second over Wallace followed by Byron, Reddick and Hamlin while Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Bell, Kurt Busch and Bowman were in the top 10.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Josh Bilicki spun in Turn 3. Under caution, some led by Byron pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson was penalized for removing equipment out of his pit box.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 38, Kyle Busch and Wallace battled for the lead as the field fanned out through the backstretch with fourth-place Briscoe briefly losing momentum in the top five.

    Two laps later, Wallace led a lap for himself before Kyle Busch cleared Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry to assume full control of the field.

    Another three laps later, Suarez, who overtook Wallace a few laps ago for the runner-up spot and was gaining ground on Kyle Busch, made a move beneath Busch as he issued his challenge for the lead from the fronstretch to Turn 1. Then as Suarez just emerged ahead while pinning Kyle Busch towards the Turn 1 outside wall, Busch slipped sideways and spun through Turn 2 without sustaining any damage as the caution flew.

    Under caution, some who did not pit under the previous caution like Wallace and Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Suarez remained on the track.

    As the race proceeded under green on Lap 50, Suarez launched ahead on the outside lane to retain the lead while Hamlin battled Bowman for the runner-up spot in front of Byron, Elliott and Reddick. 

    By Lap 60, Suarez was leading by more than two seconds over Bowman followed by Elliott, Byron and Hamlin while Cindric, Reddick, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney and Truex were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Larson was in 12th behind Joey Logano while Ross Chastain, Bell and Buescher were in the top 15.

    A lap later, the caution returned when Corey LaJoie got loose, spun and backed his car against the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2, a wreck that was reminiscent of Saturday’s practice session and was enough to eliminate him from the event. During the caution period, the leaders led by Suarez pitted and Elliott exited with the top spot followed by Byron, Bowman, Suarez and Reddick. Following the pit stops, Larson, who got into the wall during the previous restart, was penalized for a second time due to an equipment interference along with Justin Haley. In addition, Cindric made another pit stop to ensure that the wheels on his car were tightened.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 67, teammates Elliott and Byron dueled for the lead for half a lap until Elliott managed to pull his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead of Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Suarez was in third place in his No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Behind, Bowman was in fourth while Reddick overtook Hamlin for a spot in the top five.

    Through the first 75 scheduled laps, Elliott was leading by a tenth of a second over Byron followed by Reddick, Bowman and Suarez while Chastain, Bell, Hamlin, Blaney and Wallace were in the top 10. Kurt Busch was mired in 11th ahead of Logano, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Truex, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe and Gilliland while Larson, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were mired outside of the top 25.

    Fifteen laps later, Elliott continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Reddick while Byron, Bell and Chastain were in the top five as Bowman fell back to sixth. Behind, Wallace worked his way back to seventh followed by Blaney, Truex and Stenhouse.

    On Lap 93, Byron got loose entering the backstretch and fell off the pace due to a flat tire, but he continued to run on the track as the race remained under green.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 100, Elliott captured his third stage victory of the season over Reddick, who settled in second followed by Bell, Chastain, Wallace, Blaney, Stenhouse, Truex, Bowman and Hamlin. By then, Byron was in 11th and Kyle Busch was in 17th while Larson and Suarez were mired back in 28th and 29th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Elliott pitted and Elliott retained the lead after exiting with the lead followed by Bell, Wallace, Chastain, Truex and Blaney. Following the pit stops, Kevin Harvick pitted again to address a steering issue.

    The second stage started on Lap 107 as Elliott and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott received a draft from Chastain to retain the lead while Chastain and Bell duked for the runner-up spot. With Chastain making his way into the runner-up spot over Bell, Wallace and Blaney battled in the top five while Truex was in sixth.

    On Lap 110, Chastain muscled his No. 1 Advent Health Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead following a brief battle with Elliott while Bell, Wallace and Blaney remained in the top five. Behind, Hamlin was in seventh followed by Byron and Stenhouse, Kyle Busch was in 11th ahead of Reddick, Logano was in 17th behind teammate Cindric and Larson was back in 20th in between Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola and Briscoe.

    By Lap 125, Chastain was leading by half a second over Elliott followed by Bell, Wallace and Blaney while Truex, Byron, Hamlin, Reddick and Stenhouse were in the top 10. 

    Just then, the caution flew when Wallace spun through the Turn 4 infield and he was quick to nurse his car to his pit stall with the right-front tire flat. During the caution period, the leaders returned to pit road as Elliott retained the top spot after exiting in first.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 131, Elliott and Chastain dueled for the lead until Elliott retained the lead as the field behind scrambled for positions.

    On Lap 145, the caution returned when Cindric blew a left-rear tire and backed his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang hard into the Turn 3 outside wall. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Elliott returned to pit road and Elliott exited with the top spot followed by Chastain, Kurt Busch, Truex, Reddick and Erik Jones while Blaney and Larson remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bell was penalized due to a crew member jumping over the wall too soon while Stenhouse and Gilliland were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    On Lap 151, the race proceeded under green as Blaney and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney held a brief advantage through the first two turns until Elliott muscled his way back into the lead through Turns 3 and 4. With Elliott checking out, Chastain moved back into the runner-up spot followed by Blaney, Kurt Busch and Reddick while Larson fell back to sixth.

    By Lap 160, Elliott was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Chastain while Kurt Busch, Blaney, Reddick, Briscoe, Logano, Suarez, Hamlin and Larson were in the top 10. By then, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Byron, Erik Jones and Michael McDowell were in the top 15 while Bowman was in 16th. By then, Brad Keselowski was in the top 20 while Wallace was in 22nd behind Austin Dillon.

    Then on Lap 165, the caution flew when Larson got loose and spun his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the Turn 4 infield as he was dodged by Harvick. Under caution, some led by Blaney pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 170, Chastain used the inside lane to his advantage as he cleared Elliott to lead while Kurt Busch, Reddick, Briscoe and Suarez battled towards the front. Soon after, Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain and Suarez battled for the lead with the former retaining the top spot. 

    At the Lap 175 mark, Chastain was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Suarez while Elliott, Briscoe and Kurt Busch were in the top five. Reddick was in sixth ahead of Logano, Byron and Hamlin while Buescher and Truex challenged spots in the top 10.

    Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Elliott got loose and briefly touched the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2 before he spun through the Turn 4 infield. Under caution, some led by Kurt Busch while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

    With nine laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green and Chastain took off with the lead ahead of Suarez and Briscoe. Shortly after, however, the caution returned when Blaney hit the apron, got loose and spun as he ignited a multi-car wreck that collected Kurt Busch, Keselowski, McDowell, Byron, Harvick, Hamlin, Gragson, Truex, Harrison Burton, Gilliland and Wallace.

    Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted under green with four laps remaining in the second stage. At the front, teammates Chastain and Suarez battled for the lead until Suarez managed to pull ahead through Turns 3 and 4. Behind, Erik Jones was in third place followed by Briscoe and Stenhouse.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 200, Suarez managed to fend off teammate Chastain and Erik Jones to captured his second stage victory of the season. Chastain held off Erik Jones to settle in second followed by Briscoe, Stenhouse, Logano, Harvick, Reddick, Truex and Bell.

    During the stage break, the race was placed on a brief hiatus and the NASCAR community paused for a moment of silence to pay tribute in remembrance of the fallen servicemen and women on Memorial Day weekend. When the field returned to pit road for service, Suarez retained the lead after exiting with the top spot followed by Chastain, Briscoe, Erik Jones, Reddick and Harvick. Back on the track, however, names like Logano, Kyle Busch, Truex, Hamlin and Bell chose to restart at the front without pitting.

    The third stage started on Lap 208 as Logano and Truex, both of whom did not pit, occupied the front row. At the start, Logano rocketed his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang clear of the field with the lead while teammates Kyle Busch and Truex battled for the runner-up spot ahead of Hamlin and Chastain while Bell slipped to sixth.

    Six laps later, Suarez reassumed the lead over Logano as he brought teammate Chastain with him. Behind, Briscoe overtook Truex for fifth while Kyle Busch was in fourth.

    Then on Lap 220, the caution flew when Harvick, who was just overtaken by Stenhouse for 11th place, got loose and scraped the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2, an incident that prompted Harvick to express his displeasure to Stenhouse under caution. Soon after, some led by Suarez returned to pit road for service while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

    Another four laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Chastain retained the lead ahead of Logano while Briscoe, Kyle Busch and Bell occupied the top five.

    By Lap 235, Chastain extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over Logano while Briscoe, Suarez and Kyle Busch were in the top five. Bell was in sixth ahead of Stenhouse, Hamlin, Reddick and Noah Gragson while Larson was in 11th ahead of Harvick, Truex, Buescher, McDowell and Erik Jones.

    At the Lap 250 mark, Chastain continued to lead by more than half a second over teammate Suarez while Briscoe, Logano, Bell, Kyle Busch Stenhouse, Hamlin, Reddick and Harvick were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Larson and Truex remained in the top 15 while Erik Jones, Austin Dillon and Almirola were running in the top 20.

    Two laps later, Suarez overtook teammate Chastain to return to the lead. Not long after, however, the caution flew when Gragson spun his No. 16 Charlotte Knights Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the Turn 4 infield. Under caution, the leaders led by Suarez pitted and Chastain reassumed the lead upon exiting pit road ahead of Briscoe, Reddick, Buescher, Hamlin, Stenhouse and the field. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    When the race resumed under green on Lap 258, Chastain cleared the field entering the first turn to lead ahead of Briscoe and Reddick. Two laps later, however, Briscoe hustled his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang to the lead from Turns 3 and 4, but Chastain returned the favor and cleared Briscoe for the lead during the following lap. While Chastain, Briscoe and Reddick battled for the lead, Larson rallied his way up to fifth behind Buescher.

    By Lap 275, Chastain continued to lead by more than a second over Briscoe and Larson while Reddick and Hamlin were in the top five. Suarez was in sixth followed by Buescher, Logano, Cole Custer and Stenhouse. Prior to this, Bell made a pit stop under green after suffering a flat tire and falling off the pace.

    With 10 laps remaining in the third stage, Chastain remained as the leader by a healthy margin over Briscoe while Kyle Busch pitted under green due to an issue to the right rear of Busch’s car.

    When the third stage concluded on Lap 300, Chastain captured his fourth stage victory of the season. Briscoe settled in second, trailing by more than two seconds, while Larson, Reddick, Suarez, Logano, Custer, Buescher, Austin Dillon and Hamlin were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Reddick exited with the top spot followed by Chastain, Larson, Briscoe, Custer and Buescher.

    With 93 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Reddick took off with the lead on the inside lane in front of Chastain while Custer and Larson battled for third place. 

    With 77 laps remaining, the battle for the lead ignited as Chastain dueled and overtook Reddick for the lead through the fronstretch.

    Nearing the final 60 laps of the event, the caution flew due to debris in Turn 1 when Reddick cut a left-tire tire as he limped his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road. At the moment of caution, Chastain was leading by more than two seconds over Larson while Suarez, Briscoe and Custer were in the top five. 

    Under caution, the leaders led by Chastain pitted as Chastain retained the lead followed by Larson, Briscoe, Custer, Austin Dillon and Bell.

    Down to the final 55 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Chastain and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain managed to pull away from Larson and the field to retain the lead.

    Then as the field made its way to the frontstretch, the caution flew for a major wreck when Suarez, who made the slightest of contact in front of Briscoe, got loose and slipped sideways in front of the field. As the field scattered, he was hit by Todd Gilliland and Buescher, who looped around the frontstretch grass before his No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang went airborne and barrel rolled multiple times before coming to rest on his roof. Despite the incident, all competitors, including Buescher, emerged uninjured.

    Following a red flag period of 11 minutes, the race restarted under green with 48 laps remaining. At the start, Chastain took the lead before Larson muscled his way to the front two laps later. Another lap later, Briscoe made his way into the runner-up spot as he went to work to pursue Larson for the lead.

    With 40 laps remaining, Larson was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Briscoe while Chastain, Logano and Hamlin occupied the top five. 

    Ten laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Briscoe while Chastain, Hamlin and Custer were in the top five. Behind, Logano fell back to sixth ahead of Kyle Busch, Bell, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead while runner-up Briscoe only trailed by six-tenths of a second. Chastain, Hamlin and Custer remained in the top five ahead of Logano, Bell, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon while Truex, Harvick, Almirola, Stenhouse, McDowell, Ty Dillon and Harrison Burton were scored on the lead lap.

    Five laps later, Briscoe cut the deficit down to two-tenths of a second over Larson with the latter still leading while the former kept the leader within his sight.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Briscoe while third-place Chastain trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Hamlin and Custer remained in the top five.

    With five laps remaining, the battle for the lead ignited as Briscoe closed in and challenged Larson for the top spot. As both went dead even when the field returned to the frontstretch, Briscoe tried to squeeze himself ahead, but Larson retained the lead on the outside lane. 

    Then with two laps remaining, the caution flew when Briscoe, who made another move beneath Larson in another bid for the lead, got loose and spun from the outside wall to below the apron in Turn 1 as he punctured his tires. Briscoe’s incident was enough for the event to be sent into overtime as Chastain, Hamlin, Custer and Logano moved into the top five.

    Under caution, the leaders led by Larson pitted as Larson, Chastain, Logano and Stenhouse opted for a two-tire pit stop while the rest took four tires.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Larson and Chastain dueled dead even for the lead entering the first turn until Larson cleared the field entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out and scrambled for positions, Austin Dillon suddenly bolted his way towards the front and was able to draw himself even with Larson in a bid for the lead through Turn 3. 

    Then entering the frontstretch, Chastain and Hamlin drew Larson and Austin Dillon into a four-wide battle for the lead until Dillon made contact with Larson and spun in the middle of the field as he made contact with the wall. In the process, Larson, Logano and Chastain clipped one another and were sent spinning and sliding sideways along with Custer, Truex and Stenhouse while Hamlin escaped with the lead followed by Chastain, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Stenhouse and McDowell. With the wreck occurring just before the final lap could initiate, the field was sent into another overtime attempt.

    At the start of the second overtime attempt, Hamlin rocketed with the lead on the inside lane and was quickly pressured by teammate Kyle Busch for the lead while Chastain was losing ground and speed due to suffering front-nose damage from the previous incident.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin dueled for the lead dead even until Hamlin managed to pull ahead through Turns 1 and 2. Though Kyle Busch kept Hamlin close to his front bumper, he could not execute a final lap pass for the win as Hamlin claimed the checkered flag by 0.119 seconds to win for the first time at Charlotte and in the Coca-Cola 600 in his illustrious Cup career.

    In addition, Hamlin notched his second victory of the season since winning at Richmond Raceway in early April, thus becoming the third multi-winner of this year’s Cup season, and his 48th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series, which placed him in a tie with the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Herb Thomas for 16th place on the all-time wins list in the sport’s premier series. Since winning at Richmond in April, Hamlin had finished no higher than fourth during the following seven events prior to the 600. Mired during the seven-race span were four results outside of the top 20.

    Photo by Ted Seminara for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It’s so special,” Hamlin, who became the newest winner of the 600 since Kyle Larson won it a year ago, said on FOX. “It’s the last big one that’s not on my resume. It meant so much. Man, [I] Can’t thank this whole FedEx team enough. I’ve been a Coke Family driver for 18 years and never have won the Coke 600 before, so this means a lot. Man, we weren’t very good all day and just got ourselves in the right place at the right time. What a battle there.” 

    Teammate Kyle Busch rallied from his early spin and late pit road penalty to finish in the runner-up spot while Harvick, who endured steering issues and a handful of on-track incidents, came home in third place. 

    “We didn’t have a good enough day to even be in that position,” Busch said. “Just a strong fight all night long by this M&M’s team and give honor to those that we remember here on Memorial Day weekend. Appreciate the opportunity of being able to do that. We had [U.S. Army] St. [William R.] Theim on [the car] this weekend. [I] Tried to come out with Victory Lane and honor them, but unfortunately, one spot short.”

    “That was not pretty,” Harvick said. “I think we went to the back eight times tonight, so everybody on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang did a good job battling. We didn’t necessarily do a good job with everything else, but in the end, came home with a third-place finish. I knew this race was just gonna be a battle of attrition and forever. Almost six hours. ”

    Following his late spin, Briscoe made a late charge to finish fourth, five spots ahead of Larson as Larson rallied from his wreck during the first overtime attempt for a top-10 result while Bell rallied from a late unscheduled pit stop to finish fifth.

    “I was driving 110 percent,” Briscoe said. “I should’ve been only running 90 to 100. I just overstepped. It’s a crown jewel race and it was dangling right there in front of me. I tried too hard. Plain and simple. I was able to drive it in so much farther than Kyle [Larson] almost every time into [Turn] 1. I felt like I went to the same mark I had been. As soon as I went in there, I just got super loose…I saw a Coke 600 win right there in front of me, went for it and obviously, overstepped. To have speed like that’s really good. Wished we could’ve gotten the Mahindra Tractors Ford in Victory Lane, but we were fast and I guess that’s all that matters.”

    “Long race, thankfully,” Larson said. “The first half was a struggle for all of us, but I was especially frustrated with myself. To rebound from that and have a shot to win there late was something to be proud of. Our team fought really hard, so happy with that. Briscoe’s really good that long run there. [I] Wished we would’ve been just a little bit better so he never would’ve gotten to me to work really hard and ultimately, spin. You’re kind of gambling on tire stuff there. We took two [tires] to try and get ourselves the front row, which we did. I think the four tires were just a little bit better than me and [Austin Dillon] got to my inside there through [Turns] 3 and 4. It was just really tight racing off of [Turn] 4…Again, proud of my Hendrick team. The day would’ve been a lot easier if I just didn’t hit the wall yesterday [during practice].”

    “The only reason we got up there is ‘cause everyone crashed at the end of the race and gave us an opportunity,” Bell said. “This Yahoo Camry, just every bit is capable of the guys that beat us. Disappointing day, for sure, because I feel like we had something to contend for the win, but a top five’s nothing to hang our head about.”

    Reddick, Stenhouse, McDowell, Larson and Bowman finished in the top 10. Harrison Burton was the highest-finishing rookie candidate in 11th place, thus notching his second top-15 result in the Cup circuit, while Chastain, who restarted on the front row during the second overtime attempt, fell back to 15th with a damaged front nose from his car.

    There were 31 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured 18 cautions for 90 laps. This marked the longest-held event in NASCAR history at 413 laps (619.5 miles), which occurred in five hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds.

    With 12 races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season stretch, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular-season standings by 34 over Ross Chastain, 37 over Kyle Busch, 53 over Ryan Blaney and 59 over Martin Truex Jr.

    Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, rookie Austin Cindric and Kurt Busch are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch. Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick occupy the remaining spots in the Playoffs as winless competitors while Aric Almirola trails the top-16 cutline by eight points, Austin Dillon trails by 23, Erik Jones trails by 29, Daniel Suarez trails by 49, Chris Buescher trails by 75, Michael McDowell trails by 76, Bubba Wallace trails by 78, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trails by 83 and Justin Haley trails by 95.

    Results.

    1. Denny Hamlin, 15 laps led

    2. Kyle Busch, 36 laps led

    3. Kevin Harvick

    4. Chase Briscoe, two laps led

    5. Christopher Bell

    6. Tyler Reddick, 19 laps led

    7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    8. Michael McDowell

    9. Kyle Larson, 51 laps led

    10. Alex Bowman

    11. Harrison Burton

    12. Martin Truex Jr.

    13. Ty Dillon 

    14. Erik Jones

    15. Ross Chastain, 153 laps led, Stage 3 winner

    16. Todd Gilliland

    17. Aric Almirola, one lap down

    18. Cody Ware, one lap down

    19. BJ McLeod, six laps down

    20. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, nine laps led

    21. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

    22. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    23. Kaz Grala, 13 laps down

    24. Noah Gragson – OUT, Throttle

    25. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident, 36 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    26. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

    27. Justin Haley – OUT, Engine

    28. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Dvp, one lap led

    29. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    30. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

    31. Kurt Busch – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    32. William Byron – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    33. Chase Elliott – OUT, Dvp, 86 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    34. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

    35. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    36. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    37. Ryan Preece – OUT, Dvp

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Illinois. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, June 5, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.