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Tag: Brad Keselowski

  • Matt McCall departing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at 2024 season’s conclusion

    Matt McCall departing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at 2024 season’s conclusion

    Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing took to social media to announce that Matt McCall, who currently serves as a crew chief to driver/owner Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse team in the NASCAR Cup Series division, will not be returning to the organization for the 2025 season.

    McCall, a former racer turned engineer and crew chief from Denver, North Carolina, is a graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a degree in engineering. He first joined RFK Racing at the start of the 2022 season. By then, the organization had been rebranded from Roush Fenway Racing as Keselowski joined the organization as a part-time owner with owner Jack Roush and competitor of the organization’s iconic No. 6 Ford entry. In addition, McCall had departed Chip Ganassi Racing as the organization’s assets were acquired by Trackhouse Racing.

    After failing to qualify for the 2022 Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the duo of McCall and Keselowski achieved a non-points victory in the first of two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway that led to the 64th running of the Daytona 500, where they proceeded to finish in ninth place despite leading a race-high 67 laps.

    Over the next three seasons (103 current events total), McCall navigated Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing team to 17 top-five results, 36 top-10 results and two Cup Series Playoff appearances, including this season. The highlight of the driver-crew chief duo was when they won at Darlington Raceway this past May, which snapped a three-year winless drought for both McCall and Keselowski as they also navigated the organization’s No. 6 Ford entry to its first Cup victory since July 2011.

    Prior to RFK Racing, McCall, who made his Cup crew chief debut on an interim role for a single event with Richard Childress Racing and Jeff Burton in July 2013, spent the previous seven seasons (2015-21) as a crew chief for Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 1 Chevrolet team, where he worked with Jamie McMurray during the first four season before working with Kurt Busch during the latter two. During the six-year span, McCall notched his first Cup career victory as a crew chief at Kentucky Speedway with Busch in July 2019. He would achieve two additional victories with Busch between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

    Overall, McCall has accumulated four victories, two poles, 47 top-five results, 134 top-10 results and eight Playoff appearances while working with four different competitors in 356 events as a Cup Series crew chief. He and Keselowski are currently ranked in 13th place in the 2024 driver’s standings on the strengths of nine top-five results and 14 top-10 results as they strive to conclude the 2024 season on a strong note.

    In the social media announcement made by RFK Racing of McCall’s departure, the team stated: “We want to thank Matt for his dedicated efforts over the last three seasons, his role in the success that we have had and we wish him well in future endeavors.”

    Plans for both McCall and RFK Racing’s new crew chief for the 2025 Cup Series season remain to be determined.

    Matt McCall’s final event as a crew chief for Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse team is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, November 10, at Phoenix Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race that will cap off the 2024 season. The finale’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Ryan Blaney earns redemptive Cup victory at Martinsville; William Byron Awarded Final Championship 4 Berth

    Ryan Blaney earns redemptive Cup victory at Martinsville; William Byron Awarded Final Championship 4 Berth

    Amid a whirlwind of emotions among the remaining playoff contenders battling for the final two Championship 4 spots, Ryan Blaney emerged triumphant with a thrilling late-race victory in the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, November 3. This hard-fought win not only brought him a sense of elation and redemption but also secured his place in the championship fight for the final race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

    The reigning Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, led three times for 32 of the 500-scheduled laps after starting in 14th place and methodically marching up the leaderboard. He then racked up six crucial stage points by finishing fifth following the first stage period. Blaney would then lead his first 16 laps and accumulate an additional nine stage points during the second stage period where he finished second behind Brad Keselowski. He also survived the stage’s four caution periods and executing a pit strategy for track position towards the front in the closing stages of the second stage.

    Blaney restarted in the top 10 for the start of the final stage period with 230 laps remaining and spent the majority of the period racing toward the front. He endured back-to-back restarts amid back-to-back cautions within the final 100 laps and used the final restart period with 87 laps remaining to march his way to the front.

    After outdueling Playoff contender Chase Elliott for the lead with 14 laps remaining, Blaney stormed away and cruised to his third checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season. The victory all but punched Blaney’s ticket back to the Championship 4 round and awarded him an opportunity to defend his series title against teammate Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and William Byron. Byron was awarded the final Playoff berth after Christopher Bell’s Playoff berth was revoked due to “wall-riding” the final corner that initially enabled him to gain the final upper hand to the finale.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, November 2, Martin Truex Jr., the fastest competitor during the event’s practice session on Saturday, notched his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season in his penultimate start as a full-time competitor with a pole-winning lap at 96.190 mph in 19.686 seconds. Joining Truex on the front row was Playoff contender Chase Elliott, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 95.840 mph in 19.758 seconds.

    Before the event, the following names that included Austin Cindric, Corey LaJoie and Playoff contender Denny Hamlin dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. By then, Hamlin was already scheduled to start in 37th place, dead last, after he opted not to qualify due to repairs made to his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entry after he crashed due to a stuck throttle during Saturday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Martin Truex Jr. rocketed his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE ahead from the inside lane through the frontstretch as he led the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind jostled for early spots through two stacked lanes, Truex cycled back to the frontstretch and led the first lap while Chase Elliott maintained the runner-up spot ahead of Playoff teammate William Byron, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe.

    Over the next four laps, Truex maintained a steady advantage over Elliott despite getting bumped by the latter through every corner. Behind, Byron retained third place ahead of Gibbs and Briscoe while Ryan Preece, Harrison Burton, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Playoff contender Kyle Larson followed suit in the top 10.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Truex was leading by four-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron, Gibbs, Briscoe, Preece, Burton, Bowman, Austin Dillon and Larson continued to follow suit in the top 10. With three of eight Playoff contenders racing in the top 10 on the track in the event’s early stages, Playoff contender Ryan Blaney was mired in 11th place while his Playoff teammate Joey Logano was in 13th place ahead of Playoff contender Christopher Bell. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin was mired in 34th place as he was racing behind Playoff contender and his 23XI Racing competitor Tyler Reddick.

    Fifteen laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Elliott while third-place Byron trailed by more than a second. With Briscoe and Preece racing in the top five, Larson retained 10th place ahead of Blaney while Logano and Bell retained 13th and 14th, respectively. Towards the rear of the field, Hamlin was up to 31st place while Reddick was back in 34th place.

    Another 10 laps later, Truex, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over runner-up Elliott and by more than a second over third-place Byron. Behind, Blaney and Larson swapped spots as Blaney was in 10th place while Logano and Bell remained in 13th and 14th, respectively. Meanwhile, Hamlin cracked the top-30 mark as he was in 30th place while Reddick was strapped in 34th place.

    Then on Lap 41, Elliott and Truex dueled for the lead, starting from the first two turns, as Elliott made his move beneath Truex. After dueling with him through the backstretch, Elliott then muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 past Truex for the lead through Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead for the following lap. With Elliott leading, Truex retained second over Byron as Briscoe and Preece started to close in.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Elliott slightly grew his lead by four-tenths of a second over Truex while teammate Byron trailed in third place by more than a second. As Briscoe and Preece followed suit in the top five, Blaney made his way up to eighth place while Larson was in 11th place. With Logano and Bell remaining in the top 15, Hamlin was up to 28th place while Reddick, who was lapped, retained 34th place.

    Ten laps later, Byron, who overtook Truex for the runner-up spot three laps earlier, was racing in second place in his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as he trailed teammate Elliott by one-and-a-half seconds. As both Briscoe and Preece overtook Truex to move up to third and fourth, respectively, Hamlin, who was still racing in the top five, was up to 27th place and he would proceed to overtake Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for 26th place during the following lap.

    On Lap 65, Truex pitted his No. 19 Toyota under green from fifth place. By then, Reddick had also pitted despite losing two laps as Elliott stretched his lead to more than three seconds over teammate Byron. Not long after, Truex was assessed a drive-through penalty for driving too fast while entering pit road prior to his pit service. As Hamlin marched his way up to 23rd place behind Erik Jones on the track, Elliott stabilized his lead to two seconds over Byron at the Lap 75 mark as both Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher pitted under green.

    Shortly after, the event’s first caution period flew when Playoff contender Christopher Bell made contact with Corey LaJoie in between Turns 1 and 2 as both spun through the turns, though both managed to continue without sustaining any significant damage to their respective cars. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Eliott pitted for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Elliott exited pit road first ahead of teammate Byron as Briscoe, Preece, Todd Gilliland, Blaney, Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Larson and Joey Logano followed suit in the top 10.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 85, teammates Elliott and Byron dueled for the lead for a full lap as Byron led the next lap by a fender from the outside lane. Elliott would continue to duel with Byron during the next lap until he used the inside lane to motor ahead of Byron through the frontstretch and have both lanes under his control. With Elliott leading Byron, Briscoe followed suit ahead of Preece and Gilliland while Blaney and Larson were in sixth and eighth by the Lap 90 mark. Behind, Hamlin was up to 16th place, where he was four spots ahead of teammate Bell, while Logano was in 11th place.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Elliott was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Byron while Briscoe, Preece and Gilliland continued to race in the top five ahead of Blaney, Larson, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Logano. By then, Hamlin cracked the top 15 as he was in 15th place behind Daniel Hemric and teammate Bell was back in 21st place behind Bubba Wallace while Reddick, who was still a lap down, was strapped in 34th place.

    Ten laps later, Elliott stretched his advantage to more than a second over Byron as Briscoe and Preece continued to follow suit in third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Blaney cracked the top five as he was in fifth place while Larson was also up to sixth place. Over the next 10 laps, Bell was locked in a heated battle with Noah Gragson for 20th place as both raced in front of Michael McDowell and Hamlin retained 15th place while Logano was up to ninth place. By then, Elliott retained the lead by more than a second over Byron.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 130, Elliott, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic and came into Martinsville 43 points below the top-four cutline in his efforts to make the Championship 4 round, captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season after fending off a last-lap bump from teammate Byron. Byron followed suit in second ahead of Briscoe, Preece and Blaney while Larson, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Logano and Brad Keselowski were scored in the top 10. With five of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Hamlin, Bell and Reddick were mired in 15th, 21st and 35th, respectively, with Reddick falling two laps behind.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Elliott returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Elliott retained the lead as he exited pit road first ahead of Byron while Briscoe, Blaney, Preece, Bowman, Larson, Logano, Keselowski and Austin Dillon followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage period started on Lap 141 as teammates Elliott and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Byron used the outside lane to assume the lead from Elliott through the backstretch. With Byron proceeding to clear Elliott entering Turn 3 and lead the following lap, Blaney dueled with Briscoe for third place, but the latter retained the spot as Preece, Larson and Bowman followed suit. The caution would then return on Lap 144 when Daniel Suarez, who was racing towards the top-15 mark, got clipped by Hemric, who got bumped and boxed in between rookie Josh Berry and Austin Cindric, as Suarez spun his No. 99 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turn 2. The incident occurred just behind Hamlin, who was up to 12th place, while Bell barely squeezed his way through the incident.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 151, Byron retained the lead from teammate Byron and proceeded to lead the following lap while having both lanes under his control. Behind, Larson, who attempted to make a bold move beneath Preece for additional spots, was in sixth place ahead of Logano and Blaney retained fourth place behind Briscoe while Hamlin continued to race in 12th place. With Bell mired in 16th place, Byron stabilized his lead to six-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott by Lap 155.

    The caution would then return on Lap 156 when Harrison Burton, who was in the top 20, got bumped by rookie Carson Hocevar entering Turn 3 as Burton spun the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Turn 4 as he barely made contact with Austin Dillon in the process. During the caution period, some led by Hemric pitted while the rest led by Byron, including the Playoff contenders, remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green on Lap 164, teammates Elliott and Byron dueled for the lead for a third consecutive restart period and they remained dead even for the lead for a full lap while Larson got sideways and nearly turned by Preece exiting the frontstretch as Larson cracked the top five. Byron would proceed to muscle ahead of Elliott to lead under authority as Briscoe followed suit while Blaney, Larson, Preece, Logano, Bowman, Ross Chastain and Hamlin were in the top 10.

    By Lap 175, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Elliott while Briscoe, Blaney and Larson followed suit in the top five. Behind, Preece was back in sixth place ahead of Bowman, Chastain, Logano and Hamlin while Keselowski, Cindric, Berry, Bell and Gilliland were in the top 15 ahead of Gilliland, McDowell, Austin Dillon, Hocevar and Ty Gibbs. Meanwhile, Reddick was strapped two laps down in 35th place as Byron stabilized his lead to six-tenths of a second over Elliott by Lap 180. By then, Blaney dueled and overtook Briscoe for third place as he trailed the lead by two seconds while Larson also trailed the lead by two seconds in fifth place.

    On Lap 183, the caution flew when the pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr., who was racing towards the rear of the field, got bumped and spun in front of Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek in Turn 4 as he would lose a lap to Byron. The incident occurred as Larson had overtaken Briscoe for fourth place. During the caution period, mixed strategies ensued as some led by Byron and including Larson, Elliott and Logano pitted while the rest led by Blaney and including Hamlin and Bell remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Elliott endured a slow pit service as the rear tire changer was slow to tighten the right-rear tire.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 191 featured Blaney muscling his No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead with the lead from the inside lane while Hamlin dueled with Keselowski for the runner-up spot. Blaney would proceed to lead the next lap ahead of Keselowski, Hamin, Austin Dillon and Bell while Larson was making bold moves entering the corners to charge back to the front on his four fresh tires. With Byron also trying to march back to the front, Blaney retained the lead over Keselowski and Hamlin before the caution returned on Lap 195 as Hocevar, who was trying to race back into the top 15, bumped Hemric into Gilliland as the latter two spun towards the outside wall in Turn 2 while the field behind scattered to avoid the incident.

    During the next restart period on Lap 202, Blaney and Keselowski dueled for the lead in front of Hamlin and Ausitn Dillon until Keselowski led the next lap by a hair at the next lap period. Keselowski would continue to fight with Blaney for the lead amid a heated duel through every corner and straightaway before he cleared Blaney through the backstretch on Lap 204. Behind, Hamlin was in third place while Bell motored his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE into fourth place. Behind Ausitn Dillon and Gragson, Byron powered his way into seventh place as teammate Larson followed suit. As the field continued to jostle for on-track spots, Keselowski retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney by Lap 210.

    Then on Lap 220, the battle for the lead ignited as Blaney bumped and was trying to navigate his way past Keselowski for the top spot through every corner and straightaway. Keselowski, however, would retain the top spot in his No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang Dark Horse while Hamlin, Bell and Larson followed suit in the top five. Behind, Byron battled Austin Dillon for sixth place while Elliott motored his way back up to 13th place in front of Logano. Keselowski would stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Blaney, who was beginning to become aggravated, by Lap 230 while Blaney’s Playoff rivals Hamlin, Bell, Larson and Byron followed suit in the top six as Hamlin trailed Blaney by a second. By then, Elliott was battling Briscoe for 12th place while Logano continued to follow suit in 14th place.

    Towards the Lap 240 mark, Keselowski retained the lead by within two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Blaney while third-place Hamlin followed suit by more than a second. Behind, Bell, Larson and Byron retained fourth through sixth, respectively, on the track as both Elliott and Logano retained 12th and 14th, respectively, on the track. Meanwhile, Reddick was strapped two laps down in 35th place as Keselowski proceeded to lead the event’s halfway mark on Lap 250.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 260, Keselowski, who had not pitted in 126 laps, fended off Blaney to capture his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Blaney followed suit in second along with Hamlin while Larson, Byron, Bell, Austin Dillon, Bowman, Gragson and Preece were scored in the top 10. With five of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Elliott, Logano and Reddick were scored in 12th, 13th and 35th, respectively. By then, Bell and Byron occupied the two vacant spots to the Championship 4 round while Larson, Hamlin, Blaney and Elliott trailed below the cutline.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Keselowski exited pit road first as he was followed by Larson, Byron, Hamlin, Bowman, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Preece, Logano and Elliott. Amid the pit stops, Bell endured a slow pit service and he would pit a second time to have a loose lug nut addressed. In addition, Blaney nearly clipped one of Hocevar’s pit crew members while trying to exit his pit stall while both Larson and Hamlin nearly made contact with one another.

    With 230 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Keselowski and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Keselowski motored ahead from the inside lane as teammates Larson and Byron battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, Hamlin battled Bowman for fourth place in front of Blaney and Austin Dillon as Blaney would then use the outside lane to duel with Bowman for fifth place. As Hamlin challenged Larson for third place, Keselowski retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Byron with 225 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 220 laps of the event, Keselowski maintained the lead by within three-tenths of a second over Byron as Larson, Hamlin and Blaney all followed suit in the top five. With Elliott and Logano racing in 10th and 12th, respectively, Bell was mired in 28th place and trying to navigate through tight traffic following his slow pit service during the previous caution period.

    Ten laps later, Keselowski’s lead stabilized to three-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Larson followed suit by six-tenths of a second. Behind, Blaney and Hamlin battled fiercely for fourth place while Elliott and Logano continued to race in 10th and 12th, respectively. Meanwhile, Bell carved his way up to 25th place, which currently placed him in a tie with Larson for the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 round in the Playoff standings.

    Another 10 laps later, Bell moved back above the top-four cutline over Larson by a single point as the former assumed 24th place on the track. Bell would then pick up 23rd place during the following lap as Keselowski continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Byron while Larson, Blaney and Hamlin all trailed by within less than three seconds. Not long after, Elliott, who ran into the rear of Buescher through the backstretch as Buescher pitted under green, was scored in the top 10 as he continued without sustaining any significant front-nose damage.

    With 175 laps remaining, Keselowski slightly stretched his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Byron as Larson, Blaney and Hamlin continued to trail in the top five. Meanwhile, Bell, who was racing within the Playoff cutline, was up in 21st place while Elliott and Logano were mired in 10th and 13th, respectively. Keselowski’s lead would decrease to six-tenths of a second over Byron as Blaney started to close in on Byron with 160 laps remaining.

    Then with 155 laps remaining, Blaney bumped the lapped competitor of Shane van Gisbergen, who then slid up and made contact with Byron through the first two turns. This allowed Blaney to move into the runner-up spot over Byron while Keselowski retained the lead by above half a second. Meanwhile, Bell was in 20th place after he rubbed fenders with Austin Cindric while Larson and Hamlin remained in the top five.

    Six laps later, Elliott strategically pitted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the top 10, which resulted in him losing a lap as Blaney started to close in on Keselowski for the lead. Over the following 14 laps, Keselowski, who navigated his way through lapped traffic, fended off Blaney to retain the lead as Bell, who was in 19th place, was scored the final competitor on the lead lap. Blaney then tried to use the lapped competitor of Zane Smith to overtake Keselowski for the lead with 133 laps remaining, but the move did not work as Keselowski retained the top spot. Keselowski then lapped Bell with 130 laps remaining as Hamlin pitted from fourth place.  

    With 128 laps remaining and as more competitors started to peel off the track to pit under green, teammates Byron and Larson would pit their respective Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets as Blaney then pitted during the following lap. The leader Keselowski would pit one lap after Blaney. Following the pit stops, Byron managed to cycle ahead of Keselowski and Blaney on the track. With 120 laps remaining, Bell pitted under green as Elliott, who was in 10th place prior to the pit stops and had pitted nearly 30 laps ago, strategically cycled into the lead.

    Down to the final 110 laps of the event, Elliott, who continued to remain on the track and stretching his fuel tank to the furthest, was leading by more than a second over teammate Byron. Meanwhile, Keselowski trailed in third place by two seconds while Blaney, Larson and Hamlin followed suit in the top six. Meanwhile, Bell, who was scored a lap down, was in 23rd place while Logano was back in 13th place.

    Then with 103 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Hocevar, who was racing in 14th place, spinning in Turn 2 after he got hit by Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, some led by Elliott and including Keselowski, Blaney, Hamlin and Logano pitted while the rest led by Byron and including teammate Larson remained on the track. Bell would also pit despite being trapped a lap down.

    The start of the ensuing restart period with 94 laps remaining did not last long as a wheel rolled off of the right front of Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 just as the field entered Turns 3 and 4. At the moment of caution, Larson had managed to muscle ahead of teammate Byron and was ruled the leader.

    The start of the next restart period with 87 laps remaining was successful as Larson fended off teammate Byron to lead the field for a full cycle. As Larson led the following lap over Byron and Cindric, teammate Elliott dueled with Preece for fourth place while Hamlin was in sixth place in front of Briscoe, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Blaney. Shortly after, Bell moved into the free pass position in 19th place as Larson retained a steady lead over a four-car battle involving Byron, Cindric, Elliott and Hamlin with 80 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Larson was leading by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott, who overtook teammate Byron for the runner-up spot a few laps earlier. With Larson leapfrogging up above the cutline by leading the race, Byron currently occupied the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 round over Bell, who was still strapped in 19th place while scored a lap down. Elliott, however, would slowly begin to close in on teammate Larson with fresher tires as the latter retained the top spot by seven-tenths of a second with 70 laps remaining.

    With 60 laps remaining, Larson stabilized his late advantage to more than a second over Elliott as both were placed in a “must-win” situation to make the Championship 4 field. Behind, teammate Byron trailed by three seconds as he was ahead of Cindric, Blaney and Hamlin while Bell retained 19th place. Despite getting mired in lapped traffic over the next 10 laps, Larson stabilized his lead to eight-tenths of a second over Elliott.

    Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Larson, who lapped 18th-place Bubba Wallace, continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott. By then, Bell, who was still in 19th place, was not in the free pass position as he was currently scored three points behind Byron, who lost third place to Blaney two laps earlier. Not long after, Reddick, who is already guaranteed a spot to the Championship 4 despite running towards the rear of the field while multiple laps down, took his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    With 25 laps remaining, Larson maintained the top spot in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Elliott, who was told to commence his charge for the lead several laps earlier. In the process, Blaney, who was placed in a “must-win” situation, closed in as he trailed the lead by six-tenths of a second while Byron lost fourth place to Cindric. This decreased Byron’s points advantage to two to Bell as both Austin Dillon and Hamlin slowly closed in on him for positions.

    Then a lap later, Elliott bumped and overtook teammate Larson for the lead. Blaney would then bump and overtake Larson for the runner-up spot through the frontstretch during the following lap before Larson returned the favor with another bump. Amid their bumps, Blaney assumed the runner-up spot, which allowed Elliott to move above the cutline while Larson dropped below the cutline.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Blaney while third-place Larson trailed by more than two seconds. With Cindric in fourth place, Byron maintained fifth place over both Hamlin and Austin Dillon while Bell was still strapped in 19th place and a lap down. A lap later, however, Blaney dueled with Elliott for the lead through the frontstretch and he would muscle ahead of Elliott entering the backstretch. This moved Blaney above the cutline and dropped Elliott below the cutline while Byron’s points advantage decreased to one over Bell as Hamlin overtook Byron for fifth place in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE on the track.

    With 10 laps remaining, Blaney grew his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while Byron was trying to fend off Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, the latter two dueling dead even before Byron, for sixth place. As Blaney proceeded to add another second to his advantage with five laps remaining, Byron was left to fend off Dillon, Chastain and Keselowski for sixth place in his hopes to maintain his Playoff hopes for the finale over Bell.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained in the lead by more than two seconds over Elliott. With a clear racetrack in front of him and both Elliott and Larson unable to close back the deficit, Blaney was able to cycle back to the frontstretch victorious for his third checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.

    With the victory, Blaney, who came into Martinsville 38 points below the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings, notched his 13th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his second in a row in the fall Martinsville event and his first since winning at Pocono Raceway in July. The Martinsville victory was also the 11th of the 2024 season for the Ford nameplate and the seventh for Team Penske as Blaney redeemed himself following last weekend’s last-lap defeat from Tyler Reddick at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    Above all, Blaney, who is in his ninth consecutive season as a full-time competitor in NASCAR’s premier series, punched his ticket into the 2024 Championship 4 round for a second consecutive season as he will strive to defend his series title in next weekend’s finale at Phoenix Raceway.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I don’t know, man,” Blaney, who was emotional, said on the frontstretch on NBC. “I tried to save my rear tires early. I started struggling with my rears when I would get [into] traffic the run before. I think it kind of paid off for us. So proud of the effort by everybody on the No. 12 group for never giving up and to have another shot at a championship is really special. [I’ll] Try to go back-to-back next week. I’m worn out. I got nothing left [today]. Good battle. The car hung on longer than most and [I] could really make some ground. [The No. 12 team] just worked on the car all night, so I really appreciate them. Let’s go.”

    Meanwhile, drama unfolded on the final lap as Bell overtook Wallace, who had fallen off the pace over the last several laps as he radioed a potential flat tire to his No. 23 Xfinity Toyota Camry XSE, through the backstretch for 18th place. Bell then got loose entering Turn 3 as he made the pass and hit the outside wall, where he would proceed to drive and throttle up his car while scraping the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 to cycle back to the frontstretch and cross the finish line ahead of Wallace while Byron managed to fend off Dillon, Chastain, Keselowski and Logano for sixth place. In the change of events, Bell overtook Byron in the Playoff standings to claim the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 round in a tiebreaker over Byron due to achieving a higher result of second place throughout the Round of 8 compared to Byron.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Following an extensive review of the final-lap actions made between Byron and Bell while also evaluating the radio conversations between Wallace, Chastain and Austin Dillon as all three were racing with both Byron and Bell for positions in the closing laps, NASCAR levied Bell a safety violation for using the outside wall to accelerate and scrape his way into the Championship 4 round. Despite Bell’s move being similar to the move Ross Chastain made, where the latter throttled up against the Turns 3 and 4 outside wall to gain spots and make the Championship 4 round in 2022, NASCAR had banned the wall-ride maneuver from competitors prior to the start of the 2023 season.

    As a result, Bell was demoted from 18th to 22nd in the final running order, which left him four points out of the Championship 4 field and not reaching the final Playoff round for a third consecutive season. Bell’s demotion allowed Byron to claim the final Championship 4 berth for a second consecutive season as he will compete for his first Cup Series championship next weekend at Phoenix.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I’m not happy for anything, but the rule is what it is for the crossover gate over [in Turns 3 and 4] and riding the wall,” Byron said. “It is what it is. I will go race and just proud of my team. We had a really, hard-fought day, overall. Proud of that.”

    “I don’t know what to say,” Bell said. “I understand that the rule was made to prevent people from riding the wall, but my move was completely different than what Ross’s [Chastain] was. I got loose getting into the corner and slid right into the fence. I don’t know what else to say.”

    With Byron and race winner Blaney joining Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick as the four finalists who will contend for the 2024 Cup Series championship, Bell joins teammate Denny Hamlin and Byron’s Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott as the bottom four contenders whose championship hopes came to an end. The outcome also eliminated Joe Gibbs Racing’s hopes of claiming this year’s title with both Bell and Hamlin out of the Playoffs.

    There were 15 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 66 laps. In addition, 17 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Blaney, 32 laps led

    2. Chase Elliott, 129 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Kyle Larson, 71 laps led

    4. Austin Cindric

    5. Denny Hamlin

    6. William Byron, 51 laps led

    7. Austin Dillon

    8. Ross Chastain

    9. Brad Keselowski, 170 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Joey Logano

    11. Noah Gragson

    12. Shane van Gisbergen

    13. Alex Bowman

    14. Ryan Preece

    15. Chase Briscoe

    16. Josh Berry

    17. Daniel Hemric

    18. Bubba Wallace, one lap down, six laps led

    19. Erik Jones, one lap down

    20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    21. Zane Smith, one lap down

    22. Christopher Bell, one lap down

    23. Daniel Suarez, two laps down

    24. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down, 41 laps led

    25. Carson Hocevar, two laps down

    26. Todd Gilliland, two laps down

    27. Kaz Grala, three laps down

    28. Kyle Busch, three laps down

    29. Justin Haley, three laps down

    30. Chris Buescher, three laps down

    31. John Hunter Nemechek, four laps down

    32. Ty Gibbs, five laps down

    33. Michael McDowell, 10 laps down

    34. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Brakes

    35. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Oil Pressure

    36. Harrison Burton – OUT, Engine

    37. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Brakes

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    2. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

    3. Joey Logano – Advanced

    4. William Byron – Advanced

    5. Christopher Bell – Eliminated

    6. Kyle Larson – Eliminated

    7. Denny Hamlin – Eliminated

    8. Chase Elliott – Eliminated

    The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to conclude next Sunday, November 10, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, where a champion will be crowned. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Tyler Reddick clinches first Championship 4 berth with thrilling last-lap victory at Homestead

    Tyler Reddick clinches first Championship 4 berth with thrilling last-lap victory at Homestead

    One week after rolling over in dramatic style at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Tyler Reddick responded in a monstrous way by notching a dramatic last-lap NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 27.

    The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led eight times for a race-high 97 of 267-scheduled laps in an event where he started on pole position and led the first 31 of 32 laps. Despite losing the lead during the event’s first round of green flag pit stops that started on Lap 32, Reddick would cycle back into the lead on Lap 55 and proceed to claim the first stage victory. Amid another cycle of green flag pit stops during the second stage period, he would collect an additional seven stage points by settling in fourth place at the stage’s conclusion.

    Then through various pit strategies that occurred within the final stage period that started with 95 laps remaining, Reddick, who restarted in the top five and spent a majority of the period racing towards the front and battling with his fellow Playoff contenders, attempted to pull a strategic move by stretching his fuel tank to the distance while leading, a move that started with 46 laps remaining. Ultimately, the Californian would then pit from the lead with 16 laps remaining as he plummeted below the leaderboard.

    After Playoff contender Kyle Larson spun with 13 laps remaining in his bid for the lead, Reddick remained on the track while the rest of the field pitted. Reddick would then lose the lead to team owner Denny Hamlin on the ensuing restart with seven laps remaining and spend the next six laps tracking both Hamlin and Ryan Blaney to remain in contention for the lead. Then after overtaking Hamlin for the runner-up spot at the start of the final lap, Reddick used the first two turns and the backstretch to reel in Blaney before he executed a bold race-winning pass to Blaney’s outside through Turns 3 and 4. With the momentum to his advantage, Reddick claimed his third Cup victory of the 2024 season and clinched a Championship 4 berth for the first time in his career.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 26, Playoff contender Tyler Reddick notched his third Cup pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 167.452 mph in 32.248 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Kyle Larson, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 167.053 mph in 32.325 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contender Joey Logano, who is guaranteed a spot in this year’s Championship 4 field by winning last weekend’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry. Chris Buescher also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Tyler Reddick launched his No. 45 The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry XSE ahead with an early advantage. He was followed by Playoff contender Christopher Bell while Kyle Larson struggled to launch from the outside lane. The field then fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch as Reddick retained the lead ahead of Bell and Larson.

    Then entering Turn 3, the event’s first caution flew as Justin Haley, who was running in sixth place, turned across the right-front fender of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and spun his No. 7 Chili’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 towards the bottom of the track through the turn as the field scattered to avoid him. With Haley managing to continue without sustaining any damage to his entry, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap under caution.

    When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, the field fanned out through the first two turns as both Reddick and Bell dueled for the lead. They continued to duel for the lead in front of Larson through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 before Bell led the following lap by a fender. Larson then tried to make a move beneath Reddick through the frontstretch, but Reddick fended him off as Reddick stormed into the lead. Behind, Martin Truex Jr. challenged Larson for third place as Bubba Wallace tried to join the battle.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by half a second over Bell as Larson, Wallace and Playoff contender Chase Elliott were racing in the top five. Behind, Truex was back in sixth place ahead of Playoff contender Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookie Josh Berry while Daniel Hemric, Playoff contender Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were in the top 15 ahead of Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez, rookie Carson Hocevar, Playoff contender William Byron and Michael McDowell. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Joey Logano was mired in 27th place.

    Ten laps later, Reddick stretched his advantage to more than a second over Larson as Elliott was up to third place. Behind, Wallace and Hamlin, both of whom nearly had an incident as Wallace got loose in front of Hamlin in Turn 1, trailed in the top five while Bell, Truex, Berry, Bowman and Briscoe followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Blaney, Keselowski, Byron, Stenhouse and Suarez.

    Another 12 laps later, the event’s first cycle of green flag pit stops occurred as Byron pitted his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. More names including McDowell, Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Corey LaJoie also pitted before the leader Reddick pitted during the next lap. Elliott, Hamlin, Blaney, Briscoe, Berry, Hocevar, rookie Zane Smith, Hemric and Erik Jones also pitted before Larson, who assumed a brief lead, pitted along with Wallace by the Lap 34 mark. Truex, Bell, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek would follow suit to pit road as Keselowski, who was among 11 competitors who had yet to pit, remained on the track and inherited the lead.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, Keselowski continued to lead as he was ahead of Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland, Logano and Austin Cindric on the track while Elliott, who managed to cycle ahead of Larson and Reddick following his green flag pit stop, trailed in eighth place. By then, Stenhouse, Kaz Grala and Chris Buescher had pitted earlier. Not long after, Busch, Logano and Cindric would pit their respective entries before Keselowski pitted from the lead on Lap 42. Once Gilliland pitted a lap later, Elliott would cycle past Haley, who has yet to pit, and assume the lead from teammate Larson and Reddick.

    Nearing the Lap 50 mark, the caution flew when Larson, who was running in second place, scraped the outside wall entering the backstretch after he blew a right-rear tire, which the tire rolled out of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 4 as Larson limped to pit road. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Elliott returned to pit road for service while the rest including Busch, Logano, Austin Dillon and Haley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Elliott exited pit road first as he was ahead of Wallace, Reddick, Blaney, Bell, Byron, Hamlin, Truex, Bowman and Hocevar.

    As the race restarted under green on Lap 53, Busch retained a brief advantage through the frontstretch before Wallace, who restarted in sixth place, threaded the needle between three competitors and proceeded to zip by both Logano and Busch to assume the lead through the first two turns. Elliott would follow suit in second place through the backstretch as the field fanned out. With a bevy of competitors jostling for spots, Wallace led the following lap as teammate Redick made his way into second place over Elliott while Blaney followed suit. Playoff contenders Bell, Byron and Hamlin would also make their way into the top seven while Logano was slowly fading back on his worn tires.

    Then on Lap 55, Reddick made a move beneath teammate Wallace through Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead as he led the following lap. Reddick would proceed to lead to the Lap 60 mark while Wallace was fending off Elliott and Blaney for the runner-up spot. By then, six of eight Playoff contenders were racing in the top 10 on the track while Logano was drifting out of the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Larson, who remained on the lead lap despite drawing the previous caution period, was trying to carve his way back into the top-25 mark on the track.

    At the Lap 70 mark, Reddick’s advantage grew to three seconds over teammate Wallace while third-place Elliott trailed by four seconds. Behind, Blaney and Bell followed suit in the top five while Hocevar was up to sixth place ahead of Byron, Bowman, Hamlin and Truex.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Reddick, who came into Homestead 30 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Wallace followed suit in second ahead of Elliott, Blaney and Hocevar while Bell, Hamlin, Byron, Bowman and Truex were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders including Larson and Logano were mired outside the top 20 on the track.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick peeled off the track to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road first as he was followed by Wallace, Hocevar, Elliott, Bell and Hamlin while Reddick exited seventh as he lost six spots due to a slow pit service. Amid the pit stops, Buescher spun in his pit stall after he was bumped by Stenhouse. In addition, Kyle Busch was penalized for a safety violation.

    The second stage period started on Lap 87 as Blaney and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott steered his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 beneath Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse through the frontstretch as both along with Wallace went three wide for the lead in front of the field entering the first turn. Elliott and Wallace would then duel for the lead through the backstretch while Blaney was left pinned with Reddick and Hamlin in a three-wide battle for third place. As Bell joined the battle for third place, Elliott would muscle ahead of Wallace and lead the following lap. With Elliott leading by the Lap 90 mark, Hamlin and Blaney battled for third place in front of another battle involving Bell, Reddick and Bowman before Reddick gained a strong run through the frontstretch to challenge both Blaney and Hamlin for third place.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Elliott stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Blaney as Hamlin, Reddick and Hocevar were scored in the top five. Behind, Wallace fell back to sixth place as he was ahead of Bell, Byron, Zane Smith and Bowman while Ryan Preece, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Logano and Berry followed suit in the top 15.

    Twelve laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney, who brushed the outside wall, pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Teammate Cindric would also pit along with Byron, Preece, Bowman, Logano, Suarez, Gilliland, Logano, Chastain, Larson and Erik Jones before Elliott pitted from the lead on Lap 116. Bell would also pit with Elliott.

    As more names including Stenhouse, Buescher, Gragson, Wallace and Hemric pitted during the proceeding laps, Hamlin then pitted his No. 11 Mavis Toyota Camry XSE from the lead on Lap 123 as teammate Truex, Berry and Hocevar followed suit. Reddick, who assumed a brief lead, then pitted during the following lap as Kyle Busch and Keselowski, both of whom have yet to pit, moved into first and second ahead of Blaney and Elliott. By Lap 126, Blaney cycled into the lead as both Busch and Keselowski pitted. Elliott, however, would overtake Blaney for the lead two laps later.

    Just past the Lap 135 mark, Elliott was leading ahead of Bell, who made his way past Blaney for the runner-up spot, as Hamlin started to close in from fourth place. Behind, Reddick cycled to fifth place as Byron, Hocevar, Bowman, Preece and Zane Smith were in the top 10. Elliott would continue to lead by Lap 140 while Hamlin, who had fresher tires than Elliott, was up to second place.

    By Lap 150, Hamlin started to close in on Elliott for the lead. Then after spending the next five laps both stalking and closing in more to Elliott’s rear bumper, Hamlin started to make a move beneath Elliott for the lead. Amid lapped traffic, both dueled for the lead during the next five laps through every corner and straightaway before Hamlin used the inside lane in Turn 1 to rocket ahead and clear Elliott with the lead.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Hamlin, who came into Homestead 27 points below the top-four cutline, captured his seventh Cup stage victory of the 2024 season as he had extended his advantage to more than a second. Elliott settled in second and Bell fended off Reddick to settle in third place while Blaney, Byron, Truex, Hocevar, Preece and Allmendinger were scored in the top 10. By then, six of eight Playoff contenders racked up the event’s second round of stage points while both Larson and Logano did not.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted for service. Following the pit services, Elliott reassumed the lead as he exited pit road first ahead of Bell, Hamlin, Blaney and Reddick while Byron, Hocevar, Truex, Preece and Bowman followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Kyle Busch was penalized for pitting outside his pit box.

    With 95 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Elliott and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott and Bell dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn. Bell and Elliott remained dead even for the top spot through the backstretch and for the final two sets of turns before Bell led the following lap by a fender. Elliott would then use the inside lane to muscle back ahead of Bell and reassume the lead. With Elliott leading, Blaney would then muscle past Bell and retain second while Hamlin, Byron and Reddick followed suit.

    With 85 laps remaining, Elliott retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney as Bell, Reddick and Hamlin were in the top five. Meanwhile, Larson was back up to sixth place in front of teammate Bryon as Blaney started to close in on Elliott for the lead.

    Then with 81 laps remaining, the caution returned as Haley spun in Turn 3 for a second time, this time due to getting hit by Ty Gibbs. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Elliott returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney managed to beat Elliott off of pit road first as they were followed by Bell, Reddick, Larson, Hocevar, Hamlin, Bowman, Byron and Preece.

    The start of the next restart period with 76 laps remaining featured Blaney rocketing ahead with the lead entering the first turn as Bell made his way into second place. Behind, Larson moved up to fourth place and battled Reddick and Byron to retain the spot while Elliott tried to battle Bell for second place. Amid a series of battles occurring within the field, Blaney led the following lap. As Blaney retained a steady lead over both Elliott and Bell with 70 laps remaining, Larson continued to fiercely battle with Byron and Reddick for fourth place while Hamlin overtook Hocevar for seventh place.

    Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Blaney stretched his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while Larson, who carved his way up to third place, trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Bell and Reddick were in the top five as Hamlin, Byron, Bowman, Hocevar and Allmendinger were in the top 10.

    Ten laps later, Blaney stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while Larson continued to trail in third place by more than two seconds. Shortly after, a late cycle of green flag pit stops ensued as Keselowski, Wallace, Busch, Austin Dillon and Gilliland all pitted their respective entries. More names including LaJoie, Berry, Preece, Gragson and Byron pitted over the next three laps before teammates Elliott and Larson pitted their respective Chevrolets with 47 laps remaining. The leader Blaney would then pit with 46 laps remaining along with Bell as Reddick and Hamlin remained on the track to assume first and second.

    With 40 laps remaining, Reddick, who had yet to pit but opted to stretch his fuel tank to the furthest of its distance, continued to lead ahead of team owner Hamlin while Bowman, McDowell and Briscoe, all of whom had yet to pit, were in the top five. As Truex, Suarez, Logano, Nemechek and Cindric, all of whom have yet to pit, trailed in the top 10, Blaney, the first competitor who pitted, was up in 11th place and racing ahead of Elliott and Larson.

    A lap later, Hamlin pitted under green from the runner-up spot. By then Reddick, remained in the lead as he was leading by more than 21 seconds over Blaney. Reddick would continue to lead and stretch his fuel tank before he surrendered the lead to pit under green with 16 laps remaining. As Reddick pitted, Blaney cycled into the lead as he was leading by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson.

    Then with 13 laps remaining, the caution flew as Larson, who tried to thread the needle in between Blaney and the lapped competitor of Austin Dillon in a battle for the lead, was lightly bumped into both as he slid sideways and spun to the bottom of the track in Turn 4. Following the spin, Larson managed to proceed as he lost the runner-up spot to Hamlin as Blaney retained the lead.

    During the caution period, Blaney led nearly the entire lead lap field back to pit road for service while Reddick remained on the track as he inherited the lead. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road first as he was followed by Hamlin, Elliott, Bowman, Byron, Bell, Allmendinger and Hocevar while Larson, whose No. 5 pit crew repaired the diffuser lap, exited ninth as he lost six spots in the process.

    Down to the final seven laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Reddick launched ahead of Blaney from the outside lane to assume the lead through the frontstretch. Then as the field fanned out entering Turn 1, Hamlin seized an opportunity through the first two turns and used the outside lane to dart his No. 11 Mavis Toyota into the lead. Behind, Blaney and Elliott battled for second along with Reddick. Hamlin would lead the next lap before Blaney launched his challenge on the former for the top spot entering the first turn. Despite Blaney having the advantage through the turns from the inside lane, Hamlin used the outside wall to gain the final advantage and retain the lead entering the straightaways. As Reddick and Elliott battled for third place, Hamlin continued to lead with five laps remaining.

    Over the next three laps, Hamlin fended off repeated challenges from Blaney through the corners to lead as Reddick tried to close in. Then entering the backstretch, Blaney gained a strong run beneath Hamlin and dueled with him before he muscled his No. 12 Menards Ford ahead in Turns 3 and 4.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney was leading by a tenth of a second over Hamlin as Reddick started to close in on Hamin for the runner-up spot. Reddick then used the inside lane to overtake Hamlin through the first two turns as Blaney remained in the lead. Then after stalking Blaney through the backstretch, Reddick floored his No. 45 The Beast Toyota to the outside lane as he drew even with Blaney through Turns 3 and 4. With the outside lane working to his advantage, Reddick rocketed past Blaney and used the momentum to muscle ahead through the frontstretch as he claimed the checkered flag to cap off a dramatic battle and finish to the event.

    With the victory, Reddick notched his eighth Cup Series win in his 180th career start, his third of the 2024 season, his first at Homestead and his first since winning at Michigan International Speedway in August. The victory was also the ninth of the season for the Toyota nameplate and the eighth overall for 23XI Racing.

    Above all, Reddick, who is in his fifth consecutive full-time season as a Cup Series competitor, became the second Playoff contender to clinch one of four berths to the 2024 Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway as this season marks Reddick’s first time reaching the final Playoff round in NASCAR’s premier series. As a result, he joins Joey Logano as a championship finalist and will contend for the first Cup Series championship for himself and 23XI Racing.

    HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – OCTOBER 27: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 27, 2024 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images).

    “We’re backed into a corner and we had no other choice,” Reddick, who celebrated with his family, No. 45 team, and owner Michael Jordan, said on the frontstretch on NBC. “I knew we were on a tire deficit and here at Homestead, that’s a death sentence, but I don’t care. We did what it took to win this race and we’re fighting for a championship. I couldn’t believe it. I just knew I needed to get even with [Blaney] on his right-side door. I didn’t care what he did, but he raced me clean. I appreciate it, but just really, really excited that we’re going to get to have a shot at this championship. It’d mean the world [to win the championship]. We thankfully can take off from Martinsville [Speedway] a little bit and get ready for Phoenix [Raceway], but we’re pumped.”

    As Reddick celebrated both a victory and a locked-up Championship 4 berth, Blaney was left dejected on pit road after having his victory and Championship 4 berth slip out of his grasp on the final lap and final corner. Despite being 38 points below the top-four cutline, Blaney heads into next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway with a final opportunity to race his way back into the final round and defend his title.

    “It’s obvious [I am with] disappointment,” Blaney, who led 47 laps, said. “I had a great shot to win. I didn’t have a very good last lap. Man, I thought I got into [Turn] 3 hard and [Reddick] just blitzed it off in there and it stuck for him, which was pretty impressive. I hate to give one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away. I mean, we got the lead back after losing it on the restart. Just last lap didn’t really play out for us. Definitely stings. I appreciate everybody on the No. 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. [I] Had a great shot to go to Phoenix and still got one more chance, so we still got to look forward to that. I’ll be picking through [the finish] all night what I should have done different probably and that’s just the way it goes, but overall, really proud of the effort and hopefully, we can bring it to [the competition] next week.”

    Like Blaney, Hamlin, who led 21 laps and fell short of the victory after settling in third place, trails the cutline by 18 points as he strives to return to the Championship 4 round for the first time since 2021.

    “I tried to cover all lanes, but just couldn’t quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run,” Hamlin said. “Short run wasn’t my specialty all day obviously, but either way, controlling the race [with] two [laps] to go, you got to try to find a way to finish it and just didn’t. [Martinsville]’s another opportunity and certainly, you’re not out of it until [NASCAR] throws the checkered flag at Martinsville.”

    Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott, both of whom led a combined 84 laps, finished in the top five while William Byron, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, Carson Hocevar and Ryan Preece finished in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson ended up in 13th place while Logano settled in 28th place.

    As a result of the final on-track finishes, Bell and Byron occupy the final two vacant spots to the Championship 4 round while Larson, Hamlin, Blaney and Elliott trail entering next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.

    There were 33 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 30 laps. In addition, 33 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Tyler Reddick, 97 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Ryan Blaney, 47 laps led

    3. Denny Hamlin, 21 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Christopher Bell, three laps led

    5. Chase Elliott, 81 laps led

    6. William Byron

    7. Alex Bowman

    8. AJ Allmendinger

    9. Carson Hocevar

    10. Ryan Preece

    11. Josh Berry

    12. Chase Briscoe

    13. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    14. Michael McDowell

    15. Chris Buescher

    16. Daniel Suarez

    17. Brad Keselowski, eight laps led

    18. Bubba Wallace, two laps led

    19. Noah Gragson

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    20. Todd Gilliland, one lap led

    21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    22. Erik Jones

    23. Martin Truex Jr.

    24. Harrison Burton

    25. Austin Dillon

    26. John Hunter Nemechek

    27. Austin Cindric

    28. Joey Logano

    29. Daniel Hemric

    30. Zane Smith

    31. Kyle Busch, five laps led

    32. Kaz Grala

    33. Ross Chastain

    34. Justin Haley, one lap down, one lap led

    35. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    36. Ty Gibbs, six laps down

    37. Chad Finchum, nine laps down

    38. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

    2. Joey Logano – Advanced

    3. Christopher Bell +29

    4. William Byron +7

    5. Kyle Larson -7

    6. Denny Hamlin -18

    7. Ryan Blaney -38

    8. Chase Elliott -43

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to conclude next weekend at Martinsville Speedway for the Xfinity 500, which will determine this year’s Championship 4 field. The event is scheduled to commence next Sunday, November 3, and air at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Joey Logano clinches Championship 4 berth with strategic Cup victory at Las Vegas

    Joey Logano clinches Championship 4 berth with strategic Cup victory at Las Vegas

    A week after being drawn back into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, Joey Logano became the first Playoff competitor to clinch a Championship 4 berth after utilizing a late strategic pit call to win the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 20.

    The two-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led the final six of 267-scheduled laps in an event where he started in 10th place and took advantage of multiple Playoff contenders encountering obstacles both on the track and on pit road to draw himself above the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round by recording nine stage points during the event’s two stage periods.

    Then, after keeping his car intact and running a consistent event for the majority of the day, Logano, who last pitted during a late-caution period with 74 laps remaining along with the lead lap field, cycled from 11th to second as he remained on the track and on his current fuel load during a late cycle of green flag pit stops that ensued with approximately 40 laps remaining.

    With teammate Ryan Blaney, who was multiple laps down, providing on-track assistance to Logano as the latter was both maintaining pace and stretching his fuel tank to the distance, Logano would track down and overtake Daniel Suarez for the lead with five laps remaining. He then managed to maintain a reasonable gap from Playoff contender Christopher Bell, who dominated the race, to snatch the Cup victory at Vegas in dramatic style and race his way into the Championship 4 round.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 19, Playoff contender Christopher Bell notched his third Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 185.344 mph in 29.135 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Tyler Reddick, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 185.261 mph in 29.148 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contender Ryan Blaney dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car due to a cut left-rear tire during Saturday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Christopher Bell gained the early advantage as he muscled his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman from the inside lane. Bell would proceed to lead the field for a single cycle around the Vegas circuit and he would return to the frontstretch to lead the first lap.

    Over the next four laps, Bell would stretch his advantage to as high as four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Bowman, Ross Chastain and Playoff contender Denny Hamlin followed suit in the top five. Behind, Playoff contender Kyle Larson occupied sixth place ahead of Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., and a trio of Playoff contenders that include Joey Logano, William Byron, and Chase Elliott, while Austin Cindric, rookie Carson Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, and rookie Zane Smith were in the top 15.

    Through the first 10-schedueld laps, Bell extended his advantage to a second over Reddick while Bowman, Chastain, Hamlin, Larson, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Truex and Byron were racing in the top 10. With six of the remaining eight Playoff contenders scored in the top 10, Elliott retained 11th place while Ryan Blaney was up to 26th place after starting at the rear of the field.

    Fifteen laps later, Bell added another advantage to his early lead as he was leading by more than two seconds over Reddick while third-place Bowman trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Playoff contenders Larson, Hamlin and Logano were racing from fourth to sixth, respectively, while Chastain, Elliott, Byron and Austin Cindric were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Blaney gained five spots as he was up in 21st place behind Michael McDowell.

    Another eight laps later, the event’s first cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Larson led a multitude of contenders, including Playoff contenders Logano, Hamlin, Elliott and Byron, to pit road for service. By then, Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe and Michael McDowell had pitted. With more names pitting over the next two laps, the leader Bell pitted under green on Lap 35 along with Reddick as Blaney cycled into the lead. Blaney, who had carved his way up into the top-20 mark before the pit stops, would pit his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse from the lead on Lap 40, which allowed Bell to cycle back into the lead as he was ahead of Reddick, Bowman, Larson, Logano and Elliott. By the time Blaney returned to the track following his pit stop, he was battling Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for 22nd place.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Bell retained the lead by more than two seconds over Reddick while third-place Bowman followed trailed in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by seven seconds. Playoff contenders Larson, Elliott and Logano followed suit from fourth to sixth, respectively, as Cindric, Keselowski, Chastain and Truex were in the top 10 ahead of Byron, Gibbs, Hamlin, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez. By then, Blaney was up to 21st place behind Bubba Wallace while Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson and McDowell were mired in the top 20.

    Twelve laps later, the event’s first caution flew when Austin Dillon, who was racing outside the top 25, was sent head-on into the outside wall in Turn 3 after he received a bump from Daniel Hemric entering the turn. The incident left Dillon with a damaged No. 3 Boot Barn Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and heated with Hemric.

    During the caution period, Bell led the lead lap field back to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Truex exited pit road first with two fresh tires while Byron, Keselowski, Buescher, Reddick, Hamlin, Bell, Larson, Bowman and Kyle Busch followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Erik Jones, who had received the free pass, had a right-front wheel come off of his No. 43 Massey Motor Freight Toyota Camry XSE on the track in Turn 1, though he was able to limp back to pit road for a new right-front tire.

    The start of the ensuing restart period on Lap 71 featured the field fanning out entering the first two turns as Truex maintained the lead ahead of Keselowski and Byron. With the field still fanning out to multiple lanes through the backstretch and for the following turns, Truex led the following lap while Byron was up to second place ahead of Keselowski, Reddick and Bell. As Playoff contenders Elliott, Hamlin and Blaney were mired outside the top 10, Reddick, who pitted for four fresh tires during the previous caution period, would assume the lead from Truex on Lap 74.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Reddick, who muscled his way into the Playoff’s Round of 8 after overcoming a series of on-track issues during last weekend’s event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, notched his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Bell followed suit in second ahead of Truex, Byron and Keselowski while Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Logano, Cindric and Larson were scored in the top 10. With five of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of Playoff points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders including Hamlin, Elliott and Blaney settled in 11th, 12th and 17th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Reddick returned to pit road for service while Hamlin remained on the track as he inherited the lead. Following the pit stops amid more mixed strategies, Ty Gibbs exited pit road first with two fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Shane van Gisbergen was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes. Soon after, Bubba Wallace made another trip to pit road to have a possible loose wheel addressed. Larson would also pit to have debris removed from the front grille of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which sent him to the rear of the field.

    The second stage period started on Lap 87 as teammates Hamlin and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Gibbs used the outside lane and two fresh tires to assume the lead. With Hamlin pinned in a three-wide battle with Logano and Elliott for the runner-up spot through the frontstretch, Gibbs led the following lap as the field fanned out and jostled for spots.

    The caution would then return on Lap 89 when Truex, who was in fourth place, went up the track and made slight contact with Elliott entering the frontstretch resulting in Elliott sliding up and making contact with Reddick, who tried to shoot through a gap, against the outside wall as both collected Keselowski when coming back across the track. As Elliott, Keselowski and Reddick all slid through the frontstretch’s grass, Reddick’s No. 45 Jordan Toyota Camry XSE bounced off the grass to the pavement as the car rolled over once before landing back hard on all four wheels. Despite flipping over once, Reddick was able to limp his damaged car back to his pit lane, but the damage to the car’s suspension was enough to knock Reddick out of contention.

    “By the time I realized I was in trouble, it was just too late,” Reddick said after being released from the infield care center. “[Truex] started sliding, [Elliott] was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside. There’s just, at that point, nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them slide and just be a little more conservative. That would have avoided the incident. It’s unfortunate. It took us out of the race.”

    During the caution period, Blaney, who hit the outside wall while trying to avoid Keselowski’s sliding car but managed to steer clear of the incident, spun while trying to enter pit road as his No. 12 pit crew proceeded to address a broken right-rear toe link as a result of the wall contact. With Blaney making multiple trips to pit road for repairs, he dropped out of the lead lap category. Blaney’s teammate Austin Cindric would eventually be eliminated from the race as he hit the wall and spun while trying to avoid Keselowski, who was eliminated from further contention.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 96, Gibbs and Logano dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes through the first two turns. With the field fanning out to three lanes through the backstretch, Gibbs managed to muscle ahead and lead the following lap while Bell overtook Logano and carved his way up to second place. Behind, Bowman would battle Truex and Chastain for fourth place in front of Byron and Buescher as Bell closed in on teammate Gibbs for the lead.

    Just past the Lap 100 mark, Gibbs retained the lead over teammate Bell by four-tenths of a second while third-place Logano followed suit by within a second. Gibbs would manage to slightly stretch his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Bell by Lap 105 before the advantage shrunk to one-tenth of a second at the Lap 110 mark. By then, Elliott, who was able to maintain minimum speed to continue following his multi-car wreck, took his damaged No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage for additional repairs.

    On Lap 111, Bell overtook teammate Gibbs to reassume the lead entering Turns 3 and 4. With Bell leading, Logano retained third place ahead of Truex and Chastain while Byron, Buescher, Larson, Kyle Busch and Bowman were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin had fallen to 26th place.

    Five laps later, Hamlin, who was racing within the top-30 mark, would pit his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE for four fresh tires and an adjustment under green as he lost a lap in the process. Bowman would then pit under green on Lap 119 before Kyle Busch pitted during the following lap. Logano, Truex, Buescher and Stenhouse would all pit on Lap 121 before Gibbs, Chastain, Byron, Justin Haley, Hocevar, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, Jimmie Johnson and rookie Josh Berry pitted during the next lap. During the pit stops, both Chastain and Gibbs were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    As more names including Bubba Wallace, Daniel Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek and rookie Zane Smith pitted by Lap 124, the leader Bell would also pit before Larson pitted during the following lap. During the pit stops, Larson endured a slow pit service due to the jackman dropping the right side of the car too early when the right-rear tire was not completely installed slowing the servicing process of the left-side tires. Larson would then pit for a second time to have a left-rear tire changed, which left him two laps behind the lead.

    Back on the track, Suarez, who was among many who have yet to pit, was leading ahead of McDowell, Corey LaJoie, Chase Briscoe, van Gisbergen, Cody Ware and Todd Gilliland while Bell, the first competitor who pitted, was mired in eighth place. Suarez would proceed to lead the event’s halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134 while Bell trailed the lead by 15 seconds in seventh place. Meanwhile, the next two highest-running Playoff contenders on the track were Byron and Logano in 10th and 12th, respectively, while Hamlin, Larson and Blaney were strapped in 25th, 31st and 32nd, respectively. In addition, Elliott returned to the track following his repairs and despite being 27 laps off of the lead lap category.

    By Lap 145, Suarez continued to lead in his No. 99 Tootsies Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by four seconds over Bell while Truex followed suit in third place by five seconds. Meanwhile, Byron, who struggled with the handling of his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 earlier in the event, was up to fourth place ahead of Cody Ware while Logano was scored in eighth place. Meanwhile, Hamlin, who un-lapped himself, was in 23rd place while Larson was still pinned two laps behind in 31st place.

    Six laps later, Bell overtook Suarez through the frontstretch to reassume the lead. Teammate Truex, who overtook Bell on the track earlier before being overtaken, would follow suit in second place as Suarez, Byron and Buescher followed suit in the top five.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Bell, who managed to lap 23rd-place Berry but was unable to lap 22nd-place Chastain, notched his 11th Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Truex followed suit in second place by four-tenths of a second while Byron, Buescher, Logano, Bowman, Haley, Suarez, Wallace and Ryan Preece were scored in the top 10. With three of the remaining seven Playoff contenders on the track racking up the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Hamlin, Larson, Blaney and Elliott were mired in 19th, 30th, 32nd and 33rd, respectively. By then, Larson was the eighth competitor in line scored a lap down, Blaney was scored six laps down and Elliott was off the lead lap category by 26 points.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Bell retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of Truex, Byron, Buescher, Logano, Haley, Bowman, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Zane Smith. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin endured a slow pit service to tighten a left-rear tire on his No. 11 Toyota.

    With 95 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Bell and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead in front of the field for nearly a lap before Bell muscled ahead and led the following lap. As the field continued to fan out to multiple laps over the proceeding laps, Larson was battling Ty Gibbs for 24th place and to be the first competitor scored a lap down. With Hamlin dealing with a potential vibration issue in 20th place, teammate Bell led by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Truex with 90 laps remaining.

    With 80 laps remaining, Bell was leading by more than a second over teammate Truex while Buescher, Byron and Wallace were scored in the top five ahead of Bowman, Haley, Logano, Preece and Chastain. Meanwhile, Hamlin was in 17th place while Larson was overtaken by Ty Gibbs for 24th place and to be the first competitor scored a lap down. Larson would proceed to overtake Gibbs for the spot a lap later while Hamlin, who was on the lead lap, started to close in on both.

    Five laps later, the caution flew due to Ty Gibbs slipping sideways and spinning his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE from the top to the bottom of the backstretch. The incident served as a big break for Larson, who received the free pass after being scored the first competitor a lap down in 24th place and was intensely battling Gibbs for the spot over the last several laps. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Bell retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of teammate Truex, Byron, Bowman and Buescher.

    As the event restarted under green with 69 laps remaining, Bell received a small bump from Byron to muscle ahead from the inside lane and away from teammate Truex through the first two turns. As Byron battled Truex for the runner-up spot through the backstretch, Haley battled Bowman and Buescher for fourth place while Bell led the next lap. Byron would then slide up in front of Truex to claim the runner-up spot while Buescher and Haley battled fiercely for fifth place in front of Chastain and Kyle Busch. With Hamlin and Larson, both scored on the lead lap, trying to muscle their way up the leaderboard from within the top-20 mark, Bell led by three-tenths of a second over Byron with 65 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Bell stabilized his advantage to nearly three-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Truex trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, Logano was mired in 11th place behind Wallace and Larson was up to 16th place while Hamlin was mired in 18th place.

    Ten laps later, Bell continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Byron as Bowman occupied third place and trailed the lead by two seconds. Behind, Hamlin moved up to 15th place in front of Larson while Logano remained in 11th place as Truex and Buescher rounded out the top five on the track.

    Another nine laps later, pit stops under green slowly commenced as Buescher pitted from the top five. Shortly after, more names including Truex, Larson, Blaney and Bowman pitted over the next two laps before Bell pitted from the lead with 38 laps remaining. Byron pitted during the next lap but was unable to blend back on the track in front of Bell. As the pit stops ensued, Suarez, who has yet to pit, cycled into the lead. Suarez would proceed to lead by two seconds over Logano with 30 laps remaining while Hamlin was up to third place and trailing the lead by four seconds. Meanwhile, Bell was mired in ninth place and racing two spots ahead of Byron while Larson was in 15th place.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Suarez continued to lead by two seconds over runner-up Logano and by nearly six seconds over third-place Hamlin while Bell trailed the lead by 15 seconds in sixth place. Behind, Byron trailed by 16 seconds in eighth place while Larson trailed by 26 seconds in 15th place.

    With 10 laps remaining, Suarez stabilized his lead to more than a second over Logano and to six seconds over Hamlin while Bell, who continued to gain more ground and overtook John Hunter Nemechek for position, was up to fourth place and trailing the lead by less than seven seconds. Bell would proceed to overtake teammate Hamlin for third place and he trailed the lead by six seconds during the following lap while Logano, who received a draft from teammate Blaney through the straightaways for momentum amid his low fuel tank, was only trailing the leader Suarez by eight-tenths of a second.

    Five laps later, Logano overtook Suarez for the lead through the frontstretch. By then, Bell trailed in third place by three seconds and continued to chip away at Logano’s advantage despite the laps dwindling.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained in the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Suarez while Bell followed suit. Bell would overtake Suarez for the runner-up spot entering the first two turns and he would trim Logano’s lead to as close to half a second through the backstretch. With Bell’s late charge not enough to get close to Logano’s rear bumper, Logano, who continued to have teammate Blaney following right behind him, was able to cycle his way through the final set of turns and return to the frontstretch victorious as he streaked his No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse across the finish line for the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second over Bell.

    With the victory, Logano notched his 35th career win in the Cup Series, which places him in sole possession in 25th place on the all-time series wins list. He also recorded his third Cup victory of the 2024 season, his first since winning this year’s Playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway in early September and his fourth at Las Vegas. The victory was also the 10th of the season for the Ford nameplate and the sixth for Team Penske, and Logano clinches the Championship 4 berth.

    Above all, Logano became the first of the remaining eight Playoff contenders to clinch a spot into this year’s Championship 4 field, where he will contend for his third Cup Series championship in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway three weeks from now. Ironically, the 2024 season marks the fourth season where Logano has won the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener, with his previous three victories all occurring in even years (2018, 2020 & 2022). This season also marks the sixth time where Logano has made the Championship 4 round, all of which have also occurred in even years (including the 2014 & 2016 seasons).

    “What [an] incredible turn of events here the last week,” Logano, who led the final six laps, said on NBC. “What a very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’re going to the Championship 4 again! I don’t know what the deal’s [winning here at Vegas] with the even-year thing, but maybe it’s real. Thanks to the fans out here. Thanks to Roush Yates Engines for making great fuel mileage. Great calls by [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe], Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure [the car]’s full, giving me the good info I need to save fuel and keep the lead that we needed to. Boy, we’re going racing again. What an incredible situation. I’m blessed.”

    “Everybody does a good job at just feeding the info that I needed,” Logano added. “You got to go the right pace to make sure you get in front of [Suarez], but get to where [Bell] was going to catch me. Just an incredible day. It takes the whole team to do the fuel mileage stuff. It’s not just the engine or the engineers or the driver, spotter. It takes all of us together to do it. Total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were [a] solid top-five car and being able to maximize it at the end.”

    As Logano celebrated both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane, Bell, who led a race-high 155 laps and won the second stage period, was left dejected on pit road as he came up one spot short of winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Vegas for a second consecutive season. Amid the disappointment, Bell is scored in second place in the Playoff standings and is 42 points above the top-four cutline with two Round of 8 events remaining on the schedule.

    “I don’t think I’ve come to terms yet [on the result],” Bell said. “I don’t know. It’s just a bummer. I think everyone on this No. 20 team did everything perfect today. This [car] was obviously on rails. Pit crew did an amazing job. [Crew chief] Adam [Stevens] called a great race. [We] Did everything we needed to put this Rheem Camry in Victory Lane and unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today…I think the points look pretty good, which is a positive, but you’re never safe in this [Playoff] deal. We needed to win today and unfortunately, we didn’t. We’ll go on to the next [race].”

    Daniel Suarez, who led 57 laps, had enough fuel to record a strong third-place effort while Playoff contender William Byron and Alex Bowman finished in the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, John Hunter Nemechek and Chris Buescher complete the top 10 in the final running order.

    With half of eight Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders include Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick ended up 11th, 32nd, 33rd and 35th, respectively. As a result, Larson and Byron leave Vegas above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings along with Logano and Bell, while Hamlin, Reddick, Blaney, and Elliott trail below the cutline.

    There were 13 lead changes for ten different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 21 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Joey Logano, six laps led

    2. Christopher Bell, 155 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Daniel Suarez, 57 laps led

    4. William Byron, one lap led

    5. Alex Bowman

    6. Martin Truex Jr., seven laps led

    7. Ross Chastain

    8. Denny Hamlin, four laps led

    9. John Hunter Nemechek

    10. Chris Buescher

    11. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    12. Bubba Wallace

    13. Kyle Busch

    14. Corey LaJoie

    15. Harrison Burton

    16. Zane Smith

    17. Justin Haley

    18. Noah Gragson

    19. Daniel Hemric

    20. Michael McDowell

    21. Cody Ware

    22. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    23. Carson Hocevar, one lap down

    24. Josh Berry, one lap down

    25. Erik Jones, one lap down

    26. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

    27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    28. Jimmie Johnson, two laps down

    29. Shane van Gisbergen, two laps down

    30. Ty Gibbs, three laps down, 23 laps led

    31. Todd Gilliland, four laps down

    32. Ryan Blaney, eight laps down, four laps led

    33. Chase Elliott – OUT, Suspension

    34. Austin Cindric – OUT, DVP

    35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

    36. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

    37. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Christopher Bell +42

    3. Kyle Larson +35

    4. William Byron +27

    5. Denny Hamlin -27

    6. Tyler Reddick -30

    7. Ryan Blaney -47

    8. Chase Elliott -53

    The second Round of 8 event in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, for the Straight Talk Wireless 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, October 27, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Larson steers to dominant Cup victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Larson steers to dominant Cup victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    With no points pressure mounted up his sleeves, Kyle Larson cruised to a dominant victory in the seventh annual running of the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, October 13.

    The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led a race-high 62 of 109-scheduled laps in an event where he started in sixth place and ran a consistent event while executing his pit strategy to perfection that kept him racing towards the front and also keeping his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet intact through every turn, straightaway, chicane and curbs.

    After clinching his way into the Playoff’s Round of 8 by accumulating seven stage points between the event’s first two stage periods, Larson, who led twice earlier in the event, assumed the lead for the third and final time with 33 laps remaining during a late cycle of green flag pit stops. Then after muscling away from the field during a late-race restart with 26 laps remaining, the Californian maintained a reasonable advantage over the field and fellow Playoff rivals for the remainder of the event as he raced his way to his sixth Cup victory of the 2024 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 12, Shane van Gisbergen notched his first Cup Series career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 99.246 mph in 82.704 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Tyler Reddick, who posted his best qualifying lap at 99.177 mph in 82.761 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Shane van Gisbergen muscled his No. 13 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead with the lead from the outside lane and he led the field through the infield turns, starting from Turn 1 to the newly configured Turns 5 and 6 zones that led to the new sharp left-hand turn to Turn 7 and back on Charlotte’s oval course. With the field navigating cleanly through the infield turns, van Gisbergen retained the lead through the oval turns and the chicane areas, from the backstretch to the frontstretch, as he led the first lap ahead of Playoff contenders Joey Logano and Kyle Larson while AJ Allmendinger and Playoff contender Tyler Reddick followed suit.

    During the second lap, Logano was overtaken by Larson, Reddick and Allmendinger on the track, which dropped Logano to fifth place on the course. Behind Logano, Playoff teammate Austin Cindric followed suit in sixth place as he was ahead of Brad Keselowski, Playoff contender Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace while William Byron, who is already guaranteed a spot in the Round of 8, was in 10th place ahead of Playoff rivals Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney. As Playoff contenders Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe were trying to navigate their way up the leaderboard while being mired outside the top-20 mark on the track, van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to over one second on Larson by the fifth lap mark. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Alex Bowman, whose No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 briefly came off the ground after he ran over the frontstretch’s chicane curbs earlier, was mired in 19th place ahead of rookie Carson Hocevar.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, van Gisbergen stabilized his advantage to more than one second ahead of Larson while Reddick, Allmendinger and Logano followed suit in the top five. Behind, Cindric and Elliott battled fiercely for sixth place ahead of Keselowski, Wallace and Byron while Bell, Blaney, Suarez, Kyle Busch and Todd Gilliland trailed in the top 15 ahead of Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman and Carson Hocevar. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired in 24th place behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while Briscoe was back in 26th place in between Martin Truex Jr. and Chris Buescher.

    Another lap later, Ryan Preece spun his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the backstretch chicane while running in the top-30 mark, which dropped him below the leaderboard. Then during the following lap, Wallace was penalized for cutting the course while navigating his No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE through the frontstretch chicane. This resulted in Wallace serving a “stop-and-go” penalty through the backstretch chicane, which dropped Wallace from eighth to 12th on the course. Martin Truex Jr., who was running within the top-25 mark, would also be penalized for cutting the frontstretch chicane by Lap 13, which dropped him towards the top-30 mark. With the race remaining under green flag conditions, van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to nearly two seconds over Larson while Reddick, Allmendinger and Logano continued to trail in the top five.

    On Lap 18, the event’s first cycle of green flag pit stops slowly started to commence as Allmendinger pitted his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the top five. By then, Austin Dillon had pitted a lap earlier. Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher would all pit by the Lap 19 mark before Cindric, Keselowski, Byron, Bell, Wallace, Hamlin, Briscoe and Truex pitted during the following lap. Larson would then pit his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the runner-up spot on Lap 21 along with Todd Gilliland, Hocevar, Bowman, rookie Zane Smith, Stenhouse, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton before the leader van Gisbergen pitted during the next lap along with Daniel Suarez. With pit road closed on Lap 23 as the first stage period was coming to a conclusion, Reddick, who remained on the course, cycled his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE into the lead.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, Reddick, who came into the event 14 points above the top-eight cutline in his hopes to advance into the Playoff’s Round of 8, recorded his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Playoff contenders Logano, Elliott, Blaney and Larson followed suit in the top five while van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Keselowski and Playoff contender Cindric were scored in the top 10. With half of the 12 Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Bell, Byron, Suarez, Bowman, Briscoe and Hamlin were scored in 11th, 13th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd and 27, respectively.

    Under the stage break, some led by Reddick and including Logano, Elliott and Blaney pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Larson and van Gisbergen occupied the front row. At the start, Larson muscled ahead of Kaulig Racing’s van Gisbergen and Allmendinger through the frontstretch and he retained the lead through the infield turns while van Gisbergen fended off Allmendinger for the runner-up spot. As the field navigated through the infield road course turns and the sharp left-hand turn from Turn 7 back on the oval turns, Larson retained the lead for the remaining turns and led the following lap while Playoff contenders Briscoe, Hamlin, Reddick, Logano, Elliott and Blaney were mired within a series of on-track bumps and contacts while stuck in the middle of the field.

    Shortly after and during the Lap 30 mark, Reddick was collected in a jam-up and came to a full stop to avoid hitting Austin Dillon, who was sent for a spin in Turn 7 after he got bumped by Bowman. Despite sustaining little cosmetic damage to his car, Reddick, whose car briefly came off the ground after he hit both the Turn 7 curb and into team owner Denny Hamlin prior to avoiding Dillon, pitted under green to address a potential broken toe link to his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE. With Hamlin remaining on the track despite getting hit in the left-side area and having a bent toe link to the rear end of his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE, Larson retained the lead by nearly a second over van Gisbergen while Allmendinger, Bell and Keselowski were scored in the top five.

    At the Lap 35 mark, Larson stretched his advantage to more than a second over van Gisbergen as both were followed by Allmendinger, Bell and Keselowski. With Cindric, Byron, Chastain, Suarez and Wallace following suit in the top 10, Bowman, Hocevar, Buescher, Stenhouse and Kyle Busch were mired in the top 15 ahead of Logano, Zane Smith, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs and Elliott while Hamlin, Blaney, Truex, Gilliland and Harrison Burton were scored in the top 25.

    Then while still on the Lap 35 mark, the caution returned due to Playoff contender Briscoe losing a right-rear tire as the tire came off of Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang Dark Horse in Turn 14 just as Briscoe was pitting. During the caution period, Reddick and Gragson pitted, with the former having his bent right-rear toe link addressed. Soon after, more names led by Allmendinger and including Hamlin and Cindric pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 38 featured Larson and van Gisbergen dueling for the lead through the first four turns until Larson muscled ahead. With Bell overtaking van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot entering Turn 5, a traffic jam ensued as Keselowski was bumped and sent for a spin by Suarez in Turn 7 while the field fanned out. With the race remaining under green flag conditions, Larson retained the lead for the following lap ahead of Bell, van Gisbergen, Byron and Bowman as Austin Dillon, who was running in 28th place, was penalized for cutting the frontstretch chicane despite getting hit by Briscoe before driving off the course.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, eight of 12 Playoff contenders were racing inside the top 10 on the track as Larson retained the lead ahead of Bell while Byron, Bowman, Suarez, Logano and Elliott followed suit from fourth to eighth, respectively, as Blaney was in 10th place. Meanwhile, Cindric and Hamlin were back in 17th and 19th, respectively, while Briscoe and Reddick were mired in 36th and 37th, respectively, with the former pitting multiple times for repairs following an on-track contact. As Erik Jones bumped Kaz Grala off the course through the frontstretch chicane as payback from an earlier contact that occurred in the backstretch chicane, Chastain was sent for a spin in Turn 7 after he got hit by Truex. Through both incidents, the race remained under green flag conditions.

    By Lap 45, Larson retained the lead by more than a second over Bell as van Gisbergen, Byron, Bowman, Suarez, Logano, Allmendinger, Elliott and Blaney followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Wallace, McDowell, Cindric, Kyle Busch and Hamlin. With Reddick mired in 36th place, Briscoe’s Playoff run in 2024 came to an end as he took his car to the garage and retired in 37th place. Briscoe’s DNF also ended the final Cup Series Playoff run for Stewart-Haas Racing.

    “It’s tough,” Briscoe said after being released from the infield care center. “To have all that momentum that we had to come to an end and to have it come to an end like it did is definitely unfortunate. [I] Wish we could have kept going for [the title]. Just unfortunate. We still have a lot to race for. We still can go win four more races and that’s what we’re certainly trying to do.”

    Two laps later, Byron pitted from inside the top five under green along with Ty Gibbs, Hemric, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Keselowski and Justin Haley. By then, Zane Smith, Truex, Stenhouse, Harrison Burton and John Hunter Nemechek had pitted. The leader Larson along with Bell and van Gisbergen would pit during the following lap as Bowman cycled into the lead.

    Amid the pit stops, Suarez, who was engaged in a fierce battle that included bumps with Logano a few laps earlier, was forced off the course in the backstretch chicane after being bumped by Wallace, where Suarez came to a full stop before continuing. In addition, Zane Smith was spared from being penalized for cutting the frontstretch chicane earlier after he got bumped by Buescher.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 50, Bowman, who came into the Roval 26 points above the top-eight cutline, notched his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Allmendinger followed suit along with Logano, Elliott and Wallace while Blaney, Cindric, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch and Larson, who clinched his way into the Round of 8 by points, were scored in the top 10. With half of the remaining 11 Playoff contenders on the track racking up the second round of stage points, the remaining contenders including Hamlin, Bell, Suarez, Byron and Reddick were mired in 11th, 12th, 14th, 16th and 36th, respectively.

    During the stage break, some led by Bowman and including teammate Elliott, Blaney and Suarez pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    With 55 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Allmendinger and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger muscled ahead with the lead from the outside lane and led the field through the infield turns while Wallace overtook Logano for the runner-up spot. Cindric would track teammate Logano for third place as the field fanned out while navigating through Turn 7.

    With the field navigating cleanly through the backstretch chicane, trouble occurred in the frontstretch chicane as Chastain, who was mired in the top 20, was hit by Keselowski as he spun his No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for a second time and collected Legacy Motor Club’s Nemechek and Erik Jones. Then as Ty Gibbs retired due to a transmission issue to his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE, the caution returned during the following lap due to debris that came off of Nemechek’s damaged No. 42 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE in Turn 2.

    During the caution period, Suarez, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to keep his Playoff hopes alive, pitted and the hood of his No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was lifted as his crew went to work to diagnose a brake issue. By then, Bell was officially ruled to be clinched into the Round of 8 based on points.

    As the event restarted under green with 50 laps remaining, Allmendinger rocketed away from Wallace and Logano to retain the lead entering the first turn and through the infield turns. As Larson used the fresh tires to battle Cindric for fourth place, the field fanned out and was able to navigate through Turn 7 cleanly as Allmendinger maintained a reasonable gap between himself and Wallace through the oval turns and the backstretch chicane.

    Allmendinger would proceed to lead the following lap while Reddick and Elliott battled for 23rd place and a spot into the Round of 8. Meanwhile, Hamlin, who struggled earlier in the event, was up to seventh place behind Playoff contenders Larson, Logano, Bell and Cindric as Reddick, who was in 23rd place, was tracking Elliott by five points in the current Playoff standings. As both Buescher and van Gisbergen were sent spinning separately in Turn 7 during the next lap, Allmendinger stretched his advantage to more than a second over Wallace before Larson overtook the latter with 47 laps remaining.

    With 45 laps remaining, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to a second over Larson as Bell trailed in third place by two seconds. With Wallace leading Playoff contenders Logano, Cindric, Byron and Hamlin on the track, McDowell and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10 ahead of Hocevar, Truex, Keselowski, Gilliland and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Bowman, Blaney, Elliott, Reddick and Suarez were mired in 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 32nd, respectively, as Larson proceeded to cut Allmendinger’s advantage to four-tenths of a second during the next lap.

    Then with 43 laps remaining, Larson used a bold move beneath Allmendinger while nearly getting sideways to move into the lead in Turn 7. Larson would proceed to lead Allmendinger through the ensuing oval turns, the backstretch chicane and the frontstretch chicane while Bell started to close in on Allmendinger from third place. Meanwhile, Reddick, who had regained his racing rhythm and was trying to carve his way back up the leaderboard since having his car repaired in the pits following his second stage incident in Turn 7, continued to trail Elliott in the Playoff standings by five points as he was mired in 19th place in front of Bowman while Elliott was just ahead of Reddick in 18th place.

    With 38 laps remaining, Allmendinger pitted from the runner-up spot under green as he was followed by Cindric, Logano, Kyle Busch and Buescher. By then, McDowell had pitted a lap earlier as Larson was leading by more than three seconds over Bell. Wallace and his 23XI Racing teammate Reddick would then pit during the following lap along with Gragson before Byron, Hocevar, Elliott and Bowman pitted with 36 laps remaining. Despite enduring a slow pit service, Elliott managed to blend back on the track in front of Reddick as Reddick was separated from Elliott by four competitors.

    As the field reached its final 34-lap mark, the leader Larson pitted under green along with Bell and Blaney. By then, Hamlin had pitted earlier as Larson exited pit road ahead of Bell, who endured a slow service. With nearly every competitor in the field having made a pit stop, Keselowski, who has yet to pit, was leading. Keselowski, however, would pit shortly after, which handed the lead back to Larson.

    With 30 laps remaining, Larson was leading by more than six seconds over Austin Dillon as Bell, van Gisbergen and Allmendinger trailed in the top five. Meanwhile, Reddick, who was scored in 20th place, trailed the top-eight cutline by five points while Logano, who was in eighth place, occupied the final transfer spot. Meanwhile, Elliott was 12 points above the cutline as he was in 13th place while Hamlin, who was in 17th place, was ahead by nine points.

    The following lap, the caution flew due to the left front wheel rolling off of Austin Dillon’s No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 just past Turn 4 and right after Dillon had pitted under green, which resulted in Dillon being assessed a two-lap penalty. By then, Reddick trailed Logano in the standings by four points while Larson was leading by six seconds over Bell. During the caution period, some including Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Reddick, Haley and Buescher pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart period with 26 laps remaining featured Larson rocketing away from Bell, Byron and Cindric entering the first turn as Logano also tried to join the battle. As Larson led the field through the first four turns before navigating his way through the final three sets of infield turns, Larson slightly stretched his advantage over Bell through the oval’s backstretch and the backstretch chicane. As Playoff contenders Blaney and Hamlin were trying to navigate their way back into the top 10 on the track, Larson led the following lap while Reddick, who was mired in 24th place after he pitted, trailed the cutline by 12 points.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Bell as Playoff contenders Byron, Cindric, Elliott and Logano followed suit in the top six. With Logano losing fifth place on the track to Elliott not long ago, Reddick, who overtook Bowman for 19th place, trailed Logano in the standings by six points. Not long after, Reddick nearly got sideways as he bumped and sent Daniel Hemric for a spin in Turn 7. Amid the incident, Reddick continued in 18th place as he now trailed Logano by five points. Reddick would gain another point during the following lap as he overtook Stenhouse for 17th place and was trying to track McDowell for more.

    With 15 laps remaining, Larson added an extra second to his advantage as he was leading by two seconds over Bell. Meanwhile, Reddick carved his way up to 15th place on the track, which placed him only two points behind Logano, who was still running in sixth place on the track, in the standings as he was trying to battle Kyle Busch for 14th place. Another lap later, however, Reddick’s deficit was cut to a single point as he overtook Busch’s No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for 14th place while Logano was being pressured by Allmendinger for sixth place.

    Down to the final 11 laps of the event, Logano and Reddick were tied for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8 as Allmendinger overtook Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse for sixth place through the backstretch on the track. Meanwhile, Reddick was trying to track down team owner Hamlin, who is only seven points above the cutline, for 13th place on the track as Logano owned the tie-breaker over Reddick. Logano and Reddick would remain in seventh and 14th, respectively, on the track for the following lap as Larson stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Bell.

    Then with nine laps remaining, Reddick overtook Logano in the Playoff standings as he was in the final transfer into the Round of 8 by two points after he overtook Toyota teammates Truex and Hamlin from Turns 5 to 7. Meanwhile, Logano was still mired in seventh place and racing ahead of van Gisbergen, Wallace and Blaney while Reddick was trying to track down Hocevar for 11th place. Despite dropping to 13th place, Hamlin remained seven points above the cutline.

    With five laps remaining, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Bell as Byron, Cindric and Elliott followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Logano was scored outside the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings by four points as he was overtaken by van Gisbergen for seventh place on the track a few laps earlier while Reddick was up to 11th place. By then, Blaney and Elliott were also above the cutline by 18 and 14 points, respectively, while Bowman and Hamlin followed suit by eight and four points, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than a second over Bell. As Larson proceeded to lap Suarez through the infield turns while Bell tried to close in, Larson was able to smoothly navigate his way out of the infield turns and through the final set of road course turns on the oval circuit as he then navigated through the frontstretch chicane and streaked across the finish line to claim the checkered flag by one-and-a-half seconds over Bell.

    With the victory, Larson, who continues his pursuit for his second Cup Series championship ahead of the Round of 8’s commencement, achieved his sixth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season. He also achieved the 29th Cup victory of his career, his second at the Charlotte Roval after winning his first in 2021 and his first victory since winning the Bristol Night Race three weeks ago.

    The victory was also the 15th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the 11th of the season for Hendrick Motorsports, with the organization notching its 25th Cup victory overall at Charlotte, as Larson racked up his 23rd victory while driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for team owner Rick Hendrick.  

    “It’s the first time in my Playoff career [that] I’ve not been like close to the [Playoff] cutline,” Larson, who celebrated with his daughter Audrey on the frontstretch, said on NBC. “It was good to kind of have a little bit of a stress-free of a weekend. I think the first time I’ve been here without crashing, maybe besides the other time we won. Good weekend. Obviously, we’re here at [owner Rick] Hendrick’s home and got so many of the people here from there, so [it’s] gonna be fun to celebrate with them. It’s known that I don’t really use the [simulator] much and I was in the Sim this week. Huge thank you, you guys. It really helped me get into a rhythm, I think, early on and help us fine-tune our car, too. Hats off to everybody there.”

    As Larson continued his race-winning celebration in Victory Lane, Tyler Reddick, the 2024 Cup Series Regular Season Champion, was left relieved and smiling on pit road with his team owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin as he survived his roller coaster event by claiming the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 by four points with an 11th-place result at Charlotte. The result enabled Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota team to maintain their championship hopes for another three weeks.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I thought I was going to flip [in Stage 2],” Reddick said. “This [car] was absolutely destroyed. Real hats off to everybody on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry [team]. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was and we just kept working on it, and we made it a lot better for Stage 3. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it’s really nice to pull this off. You just got to stay calm, got to stay focused. In those moments, man, it’s so easy to lose track of what you control. Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us. This thing was able to get up back up through the field and get us to the good side of the cutline.”

    Meanwhile, Logano, who recorded a race-high 17 stage points and came into Charlotte with a 13-point deficit to the cutline, was left disappointed as he fell four points shy of remaining in contention for a third Cup Series championship in 2024. This season marks the first time where Logano was eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 12 and it comes a year after he was eliminated following the Round of 16.

    “We fought hard, for sure,” Logano said. “I think [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe] and the [No. 22] guys did a good job of executing the strategy and what we needed to do today. Just didn’t quite get enough there at the end. I fell off a little bit too much [on] that last run. Honestly, the No. 45 [team], Tyler [Reddick] and those guys did a good job [of] driving up through the field and scored more points. It’s hard not to think about Richmond a little bit right now. Just wasn’t meant to be. You can start looking back at different points in the season to gather four points pretty easily, but Talladega, we just didn’t do a good enough job there scoring stage points. It’s probably where a lot of it lies.”

    Overall, Logano joins teammate Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe as the next wave of four Playoff contenders to officially be eliminated from the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

    “We had the speed and that’s the encouraging thing, that’s the exciting thing,” Cindric said. “Today, we needed it all. We had a great car. We had a great finish. All the things that are hard to do in a Cup race, we did all those things and capable of doing all those things in the two races prior [to Charlotte]. That’s what this [Playoff] format is. It’s difficult and for us having a better regular season, having bit better of a buffer can definitely help, but proud of everyone. Looking forward to trying to spoil some races and support our teammates to the rest.”

    “We worked very hard for the last two weeks to prepare for this race,” Suarez said. “Honestly, [it was] probably the hardest I ever worked for one specific race and unfortunately, we don’t have anything to show for. Just wasn’t our day, but I can tell you something. I’m very proud of this group because we put in the work. I guarantee you something, nobody works harder to prepare for this race. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything to show for, but we have four more races and we’re going to go out there and give our best.”

    On the contrary, Larson and Reddick join Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman as the remaining eight Playoff contenders who will continue the Playoff battle in the Round of 8, beginning next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    Bell, Byron, Cindric and Elliott finished in the top five behind Larson at the Charlotte Roval while AJ Allmendinger, pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen, Logano, Bubba Wallace and Blaney completed the top 10 in the final running order. As Reddick finished 11th, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Hamlin, Bowman, Suarez and Briscoe ended up 14th, 18th, 31st and 37th, respectively.

    There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 13 laps. In addition, 30 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 62 laps led

    2. Christopher Bell, one lap led

    3. William Byron

    4. Austin Cindric

    5. Chase Elliott

    6. AJ Allmendinger, 14 laps led

    7. Shane van Gisbergen, 21 laps led

    8. Joey Logano

    9. Bubba Wallace

    10. Ryan Blaney

    11. Tyler Reddick, six laps led, Stage 1 winner

    12. Carson Hocevar

    13. Kyle Busch

    14. Denny Hamlin

    15. Michael McDowell

    16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    17. Chris Buescher

    18. Alex Bowman, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    19. Todd Gilliland

    20. Zane Smith

    21. Harrison Burton

    22. Martin Truex Jr.

    23. Josh Berry

    24. Brad Keselowski

    25. Daniel Hemric

    26. Ryan Preece

    27. Justin Haley

    28. Kaz Grala

    29. Ross Chastain

    30. Josh Bilicki

    31. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

    32. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    33. Austin Dillon, two laps down

    34. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

    35. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    36. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Engine

    37. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

    38. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Kyle Larson – Advanced

    2. William Byron – Advanced

    3. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    4. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    5. Chase Elliott – Advanced

    6. Alex Bowman – Advanced

    7. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    8. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

    9. Joey Logano – Eliminated

    10. Austin Cindric – Eliminated

    11. Daniel Suarez – Eliminated

    12. Chase Briscoe – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur next Sunday, October 20, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the South Point 400. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. survives overtime shootout for wild Cup victory at Talladega

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. survives overtime shootout for wild Cup victory at Talladega

    For the first time in 65 races, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. triumphantly drove his way to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series division after he edged Brad Keselowski in a photo finish during an overtime shootout to win the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, October 6.

    The 2023 Daytona 500 champion from Olive Branch, Mississippi, led five times for 19 of 195 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 32nd and used the draft to muscle his way to second place after the first stage period. After avoiding carnage after the second stage period that knocked out the reigning series champion Ryan Blaney, Stenhouse spent the majority of the final stage period mixing up the competition with his fellow competitors and Playoff contenders amid a series of three and four-wide action as the competitors raced in tight formation and aggressively at the front.

    After barely dodging a track-record 28-car wreck on the backstretch with five laps remaining, where he got hit in the driver’s side by a spinning Austin Cindric but escaped with the lead, Stenhouse then outdueled and edged Brad Keselowski by 0.006 seconds amid an overtime shootout to claim his first elusive Cup Series victory of this year and become the third non-Playoff competitor to win throughout the 2024 Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 5, Michael McDowell won his sixth Cup pole position this season and his career after he posted a pole-winning lap at 183.063 mph in 52.310 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Austin Cindric, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 182.424 mph in 52.493 seconds.

    Before the event, Playoff contender Daniel Suarez dropped to the rear of the field and was assessed a drive-through penalty after taking the green flag due to an unapproved adjustment made to the roof area of Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet entry during the event’s pre-race inspection process. While no additional penalties were warranted, Suarez’s car chief was ejected from Sunday’s event.

    Playoff contender Christopher Bell also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entry, but he was assessed no drive-through penalty.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric dueled for the lead in front of two stacks of competitors running in two drafted lanes. Through the first two turns, McDowell muscled ahead from the inside lane with drafting help from teammate Todd Gilliland, but Cindric fought back through the backstretch and on the outside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch. As Suarez served his drive-through penalty while the field fanned out entering the frontstretch, McDowell led the first lap over Cindric and Gilliland.

    Over the next four laps, the field fanned out to as wide as four lanes through every straightaway and corner before settling to three stacked lanes. At the front, McDowell, who transitioned from the inside to the outside lane, maintained the lead over Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher while Cindric and Ryan Preece followed suit ahead of Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson, Playoff contender Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr. By then, the top-39 competitors were separated by nearly two seconds while Suarez trailed the lead pack by 35 seconds. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Denny Hamlin, who started in the top 10 before he was shuffled out of the draft earlier, was mired in 37th place.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, the top-six spots were occupied by Ford competitors as McDowell retained the lead ahead of Keselowski, Gilliland, Playoff contender Ryan Blaney, Cindric and Buescher while Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Preece and Harrison Burton were racing in the top 10. Behind, Noah Gragson, Logano, Playoff contender Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Playoff contender Kyle Larson were scored in the top 15 as Shane van Gisbergen, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Playoff contender Tyler Reddick, Corey LaJoie and Playoff contender Chase Briscoe were mired in the top 20. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and William Byron were back in the top-25 mark while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell and Hamlin were scored in 33rd and 37th, respectively as Suarez, who was still mired in 40th place, trailed by 49 seconds.

    A lap later, the event’s first caution flew when Suarez, who was lapped by the leaders through the first two turns but opted to blend in with the lead and the draft, made contact with BJ McLeod while trying to move up in front of McLeod through the backstretch. The contact sent both into the outside wall before Suarez spun his No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track and came to a rest with flat-spotted tires towards the Turns 3 and 4 apron as Byron barely dodged Suarez.

    During the first caution period, where Suarez limped his damaged car to pit road, a majority of the lead lap field led by McDowell pitted while the rest led by McLeod and including Bell and Hamlin remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Keselowski exited pit road first ahead of McDowell and Cindric while Austin Dillon, Gragson, Buescher, Blaney, Truex, Stenhouse and Preece were scored in the top 10. The remaining competitors who did not pit during the first cycle led by McLeod pitted before the restart, which handed the lead back to Keselowski.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 16, Keselowski and McDowell dueled for the lead through the first two turns and in front of two stacked lanes. The field started to fan out through the backstretch as McDowell had Cindric drafting him on the outside lane while Keselowski had Austin Dillon drafting him on the inside lane. Through the frontstretch, McDowell reassumed the lead and he quickly transitioned his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse in front of Keselowski’s No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse to gain a draft from him while Cindric was trying to regain momentum with drafting help from Buescher. This forced McDowell to go on defense through two lanes while Kyle Busch was charging from a third drafting lane toward the outside lane.

    At the Lap 20 mark, the top 39 competitors were running within one second of one another and fanned out to three stacked lanes as McDowell held a slight advantage over Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Preece and Austin Dillon while Cindric, Gilliland, Gragson, Buescher and Justin Haley were racing in the top 10.

    Two laps later, McDowell nearly lost the lead to Preece through the frontstretch, but teammate Gilliland shoved McDowell back out front of the pack from the middle lane, where both Front Row Motorsports competitors went on defense to fend off Kyle Busch on the outside lane and Preece on the inside lane. As McDowell proceeded to lead the Lap 25 mark ahead of Gilliland and Kyle Busch, the trio of Cindric, Bowman and Blaney were the only Playoff contenders scored in the top 10 on the track.

    By Lap 30, the top 39 competitors were separated by one-and-a-half seconds as McDowell continued to lead while fending off teammate Gilliland, Cindric, Kyle Busch, Justin Haley and a bevy of competitors running in a stack of three drafted lanes. With Playoff contenders Cindric, Bowman and Blaney racing in the top 10, Hamlin, Logano, Larson and Reddick were mired inside the top-20 mark while Briscoe followed suit in 21st place. Meanwhile, Elliott and Bell were mired back in 25th and 28th, respectively, while Byron dropped to 33rd place.

    Nearing the Lap 40 mark, the field started to aggressively fan out to four tight lanes through every corner and straightaway as McDowell was being challenged by Haley for the lead. Haley assumed the top spot on Lap 38 while Cindric and Ross Chastain challenged him for the top spot amid a tight stack of three lanes. By then, McDowell had Haley racing in front of him amid the draft while Larson drafted Chastain to the lead at the Lap 40 mark towards the outside wall.

    Three laps later, a tight four-wide formation for the lead occurred as Chastain, Larson, Alex Bowman and Daniel Hemric all challenged one another for the lead in front of a bevy of competitors running in close-quarters racing amid the draft. Chastain would then muscle his No. 1 Busch Light Camo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead to lead at the Lap 45 mark while the rest of the field behind continued to duel against one another through four tight lanes. By then, 11 of 12 Playoff contenders were racing within the top-25 mark while five, including Larson, Bowman, Cindric, Bell and Hamlin were racing within the top-10 mark.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Chastain retained a narrow lead over a hard-charging Hemric, who had Hamlin drafting him, as a majority of the front-runners remained in a tight four-wide formation for the lead. Chastain along with Ty Gibbs and Larson would then break away from the pack by four-tenths of a second during the following lap before the field caught back up through the backstretch. Hemric would then get shuffled out of the draft through Turns 3 and 4 as Larson assumed the lead from teammate Bowman and Chastain during the next lap period.

    With the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, Chastain led the Lap 53 mark before Ty Gibbs aggressively made his move to the lead. With Chastain rocketing back ahead, Hamlin would then get briefly shuffled out of the lead draft as Larson, Bowman, Haley, Ty Gibbs, Cindric and others followed suit behind Chastain. By Lap 55, the aggressiveness of the front-runners intensified amid three lanes as Chastain remained on defense to fend off Larson, Cindric and Bowman at the front.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Chris Buescher muscled his No. 17 Nexletol Ford Mustang Dark Horse to the front and fended off Stenhouse to claim his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Stenhouse followed suit in second as Byron, Larson, Bell, Reddick, Chastain, Briscoe, Cindric and Blaney were scored in the top 10 while the top 25 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. With seven of 12 Playoff contenders accumulating a first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Bowman, Logano, Elliott, Hamlin and Suarez ended up 11th, 17th, 19th, 23rd and 40th, respectively, with the latter pinned two laps behind.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Buescher returned to pit road for service while select names including Shane van Gisbergen, Keselowski, rookie Zane Smith, Austin Dillon and Justin Haley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Byron exited pit road first, followed by Buescher, Bell, Reddick, Stenhouse, Briscoe, Blaney, Cindric, Chastain and Ty Gibbs. Amid the pit stops, Gilliland was hit by Bubba Wallace and sent sliding towards his pit box while nearly dodging Byron in the process while Larson endured a slow pit stop after he had to reverse to exit his entry out of his pit box.

    During the following lap, van Gisbergen, Keselowski, Zane Smith and Austin Dillon would pit their respective entries while Haley remained on the track to inherit the lead. A bevy of names led by Haley and Hemric would then pit to top off on fuel a lap prior to the second stage’s start.

    The second stage period started on Lap 66 as Buescher and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher and Reddick dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes running tightly as Chase Elliott was shoved out of the draft. With rookie Josh Berry trying to start a third drafting lane towards the outside wall, Reddick led the following lap by a hair over Buescher as both continued to duel for the top spot in front of Stenhouse, Bell, Briscoe and Blaney.

    Just past the Lap 70 mark and with the field returning to three-wide formation Buescher was leading both the race and a lane running towards the outside wall while McDowell led the middle lane. Meanwhile, Corey LaJoie led the inside lane as Buescher had drafting help from Bell to remain ahead of McDowell for the following lap.

    At the Lap 75 mark, LaJoie made his presence at the front known as he led ahead of John Hunter Nemechek, Buescher, Cody Ware and Bell while McDowell, Hamlin, Blaney, Ty Gibbs and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10 ahead of Cindric, Reddick, Logano, Stenhouse, Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Preece, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger and rookie Carson Hocevar. With all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors mired back within the top-30 mark, McDowell, who reassumed the lead a lap earlier, dueled with Buescher for the lead as Burton, LaJoie, Briscoe and Bell followed suit while the top 26 competitors were separated under a second of one another.

    Two laps later, seven Ford competitors, including all four Stewart-Haas Racing competitors and McDowell, pitted under green for fuel. Amid the pit stops, Blaney was leading ahead of van Gisbergen, Cindric, Logano and Chastain while Keselowski and Gilliland, both of whom missed their marks while trying to pit with the Ford competitors and were forced to cycle around the superspeedway venue an extra lap, pitted during the following lap. By Lap 86, however, nine Ford competitors led by Buescher, all of whom pitted, trailed the lead by nearly 36 seconds as Blaney retained the lead.

    Within the Lap 90 mark, van Gisbergen, who assumed the lead two laps earlier, was leading as he was trying to fend off Blaney and Chastain through two stacked lanes while the top 27 competitors were separated within a second of one another.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 94, the lead pack aggressively lapped Keselowski, Cody Ware and Gilliland through the backstretch as van Gisbergen assumed the lead from Blaney, who was getting stalled by his fellow Ford competitors and caused the field to scatter and fan out. Just then, Truex spun his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE as he locked up the brakes while he was trying to enter pit road along with his Toyota teammates from Joe Gibbs Racing, 23XI Racing and Legacy Motor Club. The race, however, remained under green flag conditions as the Toyota competitors pitted primarily for fuel. Soon after, Truex was lapped as van Gisbergen retained the lead ahead of Chastain, Blaney, Elliott, Byron and Cindric.

    By Lap 100, van Gisbergen led the top-13 competitors to pit road for service under green as Hemric nearly ran into the rear of Kyle Busch while trying to reduce the speed of his car while Austin Dillon nearly missed his pit stall while pitting A lap earlier, more names including Chevrolet competitors Chastain, Byron, Bowman, Larson, Stenhouse and Suarez had pitted under green as Cindric cycled into the lead ahead of Elliott, van Gisbergen and Blaney. With the rest of the field, all of whom had pitted, slowly closing back in on the leaders amid the draft, the competitors within the field also started to scatter and fan out as Cindric retained the lead.

    Within the Lap 105 mark, the top 30 competitors were separated by more than a second as the field started to fan out to two drafted lanes. In the process, Cindric retained the lead, where he blocked teammate Blaney exiting the backstretch as Blaney had Kyle Busch drafting him while Elliott led the inside lane ahead of van Gisbergen, Byron, Bubba Wallace and Hemric. The aggressiveness of the draft amongst the front-runners intensified shortly after as Cindric and Elliott dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes through every corner and straightaway.

    On Lap 110, Cindric and Elliott continued to duel tightly against one another for the lead in front of two stacked lanes as the top-29 competitors were separated by two seconds. By then, five of 12 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10, with 10 contenders racing within the top-20 mark.

    Seven laps later, McDowell, who was running towards the rear of the lead pack, pitted under green for fuel. By then, AJ Allmendinger was lapped while both Cindric and Elliott fiercely dueled for the lead in front of the pack.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 120, Playoff contender Austin Cindric fended off the pack to score his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season while teammate Blaney was bumped by Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch. The contact resulted in Blaney getting loose and veering his No. 12 Pennzoil/Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse back across the path of Chastain, where both collided against one another and towards the outside wall while teammate Logano, Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Reddick and LaJoie also sustained damage to their respective entries. Despite ending up eighth and 10th, respectively, Blaney and Chastain were knocked out of further contention, with the former concluding his event with a total of four stage points.

    Amid the carnage, Elliott settled in second place ahead of Kyle Busch, van Gisbergen and Byron while Bowman, Wallace and Larson occupied the remaining top 10 spots on the track. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders including Reddick, Hamlin, Briscoe, Logano, Bell and Suarez did not rack up any points during the second stage’s conclusion while Allmendinger claimed the free pass spot by being the first competitor scored a lap down ahead of Suarez and Anthony Alfredo.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the lead lap field led by Cindric returned to pit road, primarily for fuel, while others led by Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Kyle Busch exited pit road first ahead of Cindric, Wallace, Elliott and Byron while Larson, van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs, Bowman and Hemric followed suit in the top 10, with Bowman being penalized for removing equipment out of his pit box. Not long after, the remaining competitors who remained on the track led by Reddick pitted, which handed the lead to Busch.

    With 61 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Kyle Busch and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Busch received a strong shove from Cindric from the outside lane, where he maintained a steady lead through the first two turns and managed to break ahead through the backstretch. Wallace, however, fought back from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4, but Busch would lead the following lap by a hair over Wallace. By then, the field fanned out to three drafted lanes as Buescher tried to ignite a charge toward the outside lane. Meanwhile, Wallace had drafting help from Byron on the inside lane while Busch, who led the next lap, had Cindric drafting him on the outside lane.

    Over the next four laps, Wallace managed to lead ahead of Busch as the front-runners returned to a three-wide formation. With 55 laps remaining, however, Buescher and Briscoe briefly rocketed away from the field through Turns 3 and 4 before the field caught back up through the frontstretch. As the field settled in by the following lap, a three-wide formation for the lead ensued as Allmendinger led both the race and the drafting lane toward the outside lane. With Allmendinger going on defense, he had Buescher, Briscoe and Cody Ware all closing in on him with Wallace, Kyle Busch, Gilliland, Byron, Logano and Cindric following suit.

    With 50 laps remaining, Logano, who suffered front nose damage to the front of his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse after he got collected in the second stage’s wreck that involved teammate Blaney, emerged with the lead in front of a stack of three-wide competition from the field, with Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Kyle Busch and Briscoe scored in the top five. By then, six of the remaining 11 Playoff contenders on the track were racing within the top-10 mark while the remaining four that included Reddick, Byron, Bell and Hamlin were mired within the top-30 mark.

    Ten laps later, Allmendinger, who spent the previous 10 laps trailing Logano before he overtook him amid the draft two laps earlier, was leading ahead of Logano, Briscoe, Gilliland and Buescher while Cindric, Stenhouse, Wallace, Austin Dillon and Elliott were scored in the top 10 as the top-34 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. By then, the field was locked in a three-wide formation at the front while Allmendinger had drafting help from Briscoe from the inside lane that enabled him to remain ahead of Logano and Cindric. The field then fanned out to four drafting lanes four laps later as both Logano and Cindric muscled ahead of Allmendinger.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, a three-wide battle for the lead between Allmendinger, Logano and Cindric continued to ensue in front of three stacked lanes as the top-35 competitors were separated by more than a second. By then, Logano, Cindric and Briscoe were the only Playoff contenders racing in the top-10 mark while seven additional contenders were racing within the top-25 mark. Meanwhile, Suarez was still mired a lap down in 36th place.

    Nine laps later, select names including Allmendinger, Hemric, van Gisbergen and Anthony Alfredo peeled off the track to pit for fuel under green. Back on the track, Cindric led with 20 laps remaining over Austin Dillon before Buescher, Wallace and Erik Jones pitted under green, with the former getting sideways and locking up his front tires while trying to reduce his pace before entering pit road.

    With 17 laps remaining, nine competitors led by Stenhouse and including Byron, Elliott, Larson and Suarez all pitted under green before a bevy of competitors led by Gilliland pitted under green during the following lap. By then, Gilliland was penalized for speeding while entering pit road as he locked up the front tires of his No. 38 Georgia Peanuts Ford Mustang Dark Horse as more names led by McDowell pitted.

    Back on the track and with a majority of the field, including those who pitted, settling in back within the racing groove, Cindric was leading ahead of Keselowski and Logano as the top 21 competitors were separated by less than two seconds with 15 laps remaining. In the ensuing laps, Cindric had Keselowski shoving him from the inside lane while Stenhouse launched a side-by-side duel from the outside lane with drafting help from Elliott.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the top 29 competitors were separated by more than a second as both Cindric and Stenhouse continued to duel for the lead in front of two stacked lanes as Cindric and Stenhouse also continued to have drafting help from Keselowski and Stenhouse, respectively.

    Five laps later, Cindric continued to lead ahead of Stenhouse, Keselowski and a bevy of competitors racing in two-wide formation while Austin Dillon, who was mired in 29th place, tried to ignite a third drafting lane towards the outside wall.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Keselowski gave the leader Cindric a huge bump in the rear, which got Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse loose and ramming into the left driver’s side of Stenhouse’s No. 47 Kroger/Palmolive Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 before he spun in the middle of the pack and scrambled the field, with nearly every competitor racing in the lead pack spinning and crashing into one another and towards the walls through the backstretch. Among those who were involved included Playoff contenders Elliott, Briscoe, Logano, Bowman, Bell and Reddick as pole-sitter McDowell was also left with a wrecked race car.

    The incident that collected a track-record 28 competitors was enough for the event to be sent into overtime as Stenhouse, who was hit in the driver’s side, escaped with the lead followed by Keselowski, Byron, Larson and Kyle Busch. It also placed the event in a red flag period for more than eight minutes before the scattered field led by Stenhouse resumed under a cautious pace. By then, Briscoe and Elliott, both of whom had their respective cars towed back to their pit stalls and were given clearance by NASCAR to have their cars repaired, managed to continue despite dropping out of the lead lap category while teammates Logano and Cindric were ruled out of the race.

    When the race returned under green flag conditions, the start of the first overtime attempt featured Stenhouse and Keselowski dueling for the lead while Hendrick Motorsports’ Byron and Larson followed suit ahead of Bell, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones. Stenhouse and Keselowski continued to battle dead even in front of two stacked lanes exiting the backstretch before they returned to Turns 3 and 4.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Stenhouse and Keselowski remained deadlocked against one another for the lead and in front of the field. Through Turns 1 and 2, Kyle Busch was shoved out of the draft by Erik Jones, which resulted in Busch drifting towards the rear of the field as both Stenhouse and Keselowski continued to duel while being drafted by Byron and Larson, respectively.

    Then through Turns 3 and 4, Keselowski muscled ahead and had both lanes under his control. Stenhouse, however, came storming back to draw even with Keselowski with drafting help from Byron’s No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entering the frontstretch while Keselowski had no drafting help from Larson and Bell. As the field fanned out approaching the start/finish line, Stenhouse edged Keselowski by 0.006 seconds to claim the checkered flag and be awarded his first Cup Series victory of the 2024 season.

    With the victory, Stenhouse, whose margin of victory (0.006 seconds) marks the sixth-closest finish recorded in the history of the Cup Series, snapped a 65-race winless drought dating back to his previous victory in the 2023 Daytona 500 as he scored his fourth career win in the Cup Series, all occurring between Talladega Superspeedway or Daytona International Speedway. The victory was the 14th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the third ever for JTG-Daugherty Racing. Stenhouse also became the second competitor to win the Playoff event at Talladega as a non-Playoff contender since the inception of the current Playoff elimination-style format in 2014.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, this team has put a lot of hard work in,” Stenhouse, who dedicated his victory to those affected by Hurricane Helene, said on NBC. “Obviously, we haven’t won since the [Daytona] 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season. It was a lot of hard work this season, just trying to find a little bit of speed, but we knew this track is one of ours to come get. This means a lot winning here. Man, what a day. Just proud of this group. I’m looking forward to seeing [co-owner Brad Daugherty]. This win’s really, really special.”

    Brad Keselowski, who led two laps and just fell short of winning at Talladega in April earlier this season, settled in second place for the fourth time in 2024.

    “[Larson] gave me a good push down the frontstretch, but [Byron] was able to really stick with [Stenhouse],” Keselowski said. “[I] Needed a tiny bit there, but good finish for us. We’ve been knocking on the door on these plate tracks. [I] Hate that we didn’t bust through with the win, but happy to be right there in contention.”

    Meanwhile, Playoff competitors and teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson accomplished their goals of notching strong results at Talladega by finishing third and fourth, respectively. The third-place result was enough for Byron to clinch his spot into the Playoff’s Round of 8 based on points while Larson is scored 52 points above the top-eight cutline.

    “Just proud of my team,” Byron said. “[They] Brought a good car here. Thanks to my spotter Branden [Lines]. He did a great job all day. We missed a couple wrecks early on that were sketchy, just when we were saving fuel and things like that. Really happy to advance on points [in the Playoffs]. We’ll be on attack [mode] going in the Round of 8 and next week. Next week’s my home track, so I look forward to that place. Hopefully, get a win there.”

    “[This is my] Second top five of my career in general on speedways, so I’ll take that,” Larson added. “It’s really cool. Obviously, there’s a lot of luck that plays into just finishing these races. I feel like we do a great job and today just showed that. It’s cool to finally go into the [Charlotte] Roval with a 52-point gap. That race is stressful. It’s way more stressful to me than Talladega, so glad to not have to worry about it too much.”

    Erik Jones logged in the first top-five result of the season for both himself and Legacy Motor Club by finishing fifth while Playoff contender Christopher Bell, Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Playoff contender Denny Hamlin completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    With four of 12 Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney ended up 16th, 20th, 26th, 29th, 30th, 32nd, 33rd and 39th, respectively.

    With the results, the four Playoff contenders who enter next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings are Logano, Suarez, Cindric and Briscoe. Meanwhile, Reddick and Elliott occupy the final two transfer spots by 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Ryan Blaney escapes with a 25-point advantage from the cutline amid his Stage 2 accident that resulted in him finishing in the next-to-last position in the leaderboard.

    There were 66 lead changes for 24 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 24 laps. In addition, 22 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 19 laps led

    2. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

    3. William Byron, one lap led

    4. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    5. Erik Jones

    6. Christopher Bell

    7. Justin Haley, four laps led

    8. Austin Dillon, one lap led

    9. Bubba Wallace, three laps led

    10. Denny Hamlin

    11. Martin Truex Jr.

    12. Cody Ware, one lap led

    13. Ty Gibbs

    14. Carson Hocevar

    15. Shane van Gisbergen, nine laps led

    16. Alex Bowman, one lap led

    17. Chris Buescher, 12 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    18. Corey LaJoie, five laps led

    19. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

    20. Tyler Reddick, two laps led

    21. Zane Smith

    22. BJ McLeod, one lap led

    23. Todd Gilliland, one lap down, two laps led

    24. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

    25. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    26. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

    27. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    28. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down, nine laps led

    29. Chase Elliott, five laps down, one lap led

    30. Chase Briscoe, six laps down

    31. John Hunter Nemechek, seven laps down

    32. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident, 29 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    33. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led

    34. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

    35. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

    36. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

    37. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, 42 laps led

    38. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    39. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, six laps led

    40. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident, 17 laps led

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. William Byron – Advanced

    2. Christopher Bell +57

    3. Kyle Larson +52

    4. Denny Hamlin +30

    5. Alex Bowman +26

    6. Ryan Blaney +25

    7. Tyler Reddick +14

    8. Chase Elliott +13

    9. Joey Logano -13

    10. Daniel Suarez -20

    11. Austin Cindric -29

    12. Chase Briscoe -32

    The Round of 12 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to conclude next Sunday, October 13, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in Concord, North Carolina, for the Bank of America ROVAL 400 and where the second of three elimination processes will occur. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Ross Chastain snaps yearlong winless drought with victory at Kansas

    Ross Chastain snaps yearlong winless drought with victory at Kansas

    Ross Chastain served as the spoiler of the day at Kansas Speedway as he snapped a yearlong winless drought to win the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, September 29, in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff’s Round of 12 opener.

    The 31-year-old Chastain from Alva, Florida, led five times for 52 of 267 scheduled laps in an event where he started in 20th place and made steady gains throughout the event to race his way to the front before he led for the first time with 90 laps remaining.

    Then, after swapping the lead on several occasions with Kyle Busch before Busch spun from the lead with 32 laps remaining, Chastain, who dropped out of the lead when he pitted with a majority of the field during the ensuing caution period, used two late-race restarts to navigate his way back to the lead.

    Grabbing the lead for the final time with 20 laps remaining, he fended off a late charge from Playoff contender William Byron to win for the first time in the 2024 Cup Series season and spoil the hopes of 12 Playoff contenders aiming to earn an early automatic pass through to the Round of 8.

    On-track qualifying on Saturday, September 28 determined the starting lineup as Playoff contender Christopher Bell notched his second Cup pole position of the 2024 season and his third in a row at Kansas after he posted a pole-winning lap at 179.336 mph in 30.111 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Ty Gibbs, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 179.099 mph in 30.151 seconds.

    Before the event, Playoff contender Chase Elliott dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change in his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports/UniFirst Chevrolet entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Christopher Bell muscled ahead of teammate Ty Gibbs with a strong start from the inside lane. He then quickly transitioned his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE back up to the outside lane as the field started to fan out to multiple lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch.

    The event’s first caution flew when Harrison Burton and Ty Dillon made contact amid a tight four-wide battle in the midfield region. Their contact resulted in both spinning and wrecking as they clipped rookie Josh Berry while Jimmie Johnson piled into Dillon on the backstretch. Amid the accident, Chase Elliott, who made light contact with the outside wall while also being pinned in the four-wide battle, managed to dodge the incident and gained multiple spots.

    As the event restarted under green on the sixth lap, teammates Bell and Gibbs dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as the field fanned out for a second time through the backstretch. With the field navigating through the backstretch, a small stack-up ensued outside the top-10 mark as both Martin Truex Jr. and Michael McDowell scrubbed the outside wall while racing behind Playoff contenders Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson, but they all managed to keep their cars running straight. In addition, the event remained under green flag conditions as Bell led the following lap ahead of Gibbs and Playoff contender Tyler Reddick.

    Shortly after, Gibbs launched an early battle on teammate Bell for the lead, but the latter maintained the top spot through every turn and straightaway. Amid a series of early on-track battles, Bell proceeded to lead at the Lap 10 mark by three-tenths of a second over Gibbs while third-place Reddick trailed by seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Playoff contender William Byron, who overtook Playoff rival Joey Logano for fifth place, proceeded to battle and overtake Kyle Busch for fourth place while Playoff contenders Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and Kyle Larson followed suit in the top 11.

    On Lap 18, the event’s second caution flew when Larson, who was racing within the top-10 mark on the track, blew a right-rear tire and went dead straight to scrub his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 against the outside wall in Turn 2. Despite his incident, Larson was able to continue and remain on the lead lap after having the flat tire removed.

    During the second caution period of the event, the entire field led by Bell peeled off the track to pit for service. Following the pits and amid mixed strategies, Bell retained the lead after he exited pit road first and with only two fresh tires ahead of teammate Gibbs while Reddick, Logano, Byron, McDowell, Hamlin, Bowman, rookie Carson Hocevar and Todd Gilliand followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, McDowell was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The start of the following restart period on Lap 24 featured Joey Logano steering his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse beneath Bell and Gibbs amid a three-wide battle for the lead exiting the frontstretch, where Logano nearly muscled ahead through the first two turns before Bell got to Logano’s right-rear quarter panel and stalled his momentum. This allowed Bell to rocket back into the lead with drafting help from teammate Gibbs through the backstretch as Logano was being challenged by Byron for third place. With the field fanning out through the frontstretch, Reddick was up to fifth place as Bell retained the lead over Gibbs, Byron and Logano.

    Through the first 30 scheduled laps, Bell was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Byron, who overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot, as Playoff contenders Logano, Reddick, Hamlin, Bowman and Blaney followed suit in the top eight ahead of Hocevar and Playoff contender Austin Cindric. With eight of the remaining 12 Playoff contenders racing inside the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, Elliott and Larson were mired in 13th, 22nd, 23rd and 32nd, respectively.

    Ten laps later, Bell stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Byron’s No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Gibbs retained third place ahead of a bevy of Playoff contenders that included Logano, Hamlin, Reddick, Bowman, Blaney and Cindric. By then, Suarez and Elliott were racing inside the top-20 mark, Briscoe dropped three spots to 26th place and Larson was still mired in 31st place. In addition, Erik Jones made an unscheduled pit stop after he scrubbed the outside wall entering the backstretch.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Bell retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Byron while teammate Gibbs trailed by a second in third place. Playoff contenders Logano, Hamlin, Blaney, Reddick, Cindric and Bowman followed suit in the top-nine mark ahead of Hocevar and Truex while Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Haley trailed in the top 15. By then, Suarez, Elliott and Briscoe trailed in 19th, 20th and 26th, respectively, while Larson was scored the final competitor on the lead lap in 34th place.

    Seven laps later, Larson, who was still mired in 34th place, was lapped by the leader Bell while runner-up Byron continued to trail Bell by seven-tenths of a second. Bell retained the lead by six-tenths of a second at the Lap 60 mark and by four-tenths of a second at the Lap 65 mark while Byron retained second place during both segments. Meanwhile, Gibbs remained in third place ahead of Logano, Hamlin, Blaney, Cindric, Reddick and Bowman while Truex was in 10th place by nearly a second over Hocevar.

    By Lap 70, Bell stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Byron while Logano moved up to third place from Gibbs. Behind, Truex and Bowman swapped spots for ninth place as Blaney, Hamlin, Cindric and Reddick were running fifth through eighth, respectively. Meanwhile, Elliott was mired in 19th place behind Kyle Busch, Briscoe was mired in 25th place, Suarez had plummeted to 29th place and Larson was the fourth competitor scored a lap down in 34th place.

    Then two laps later, Bell scrubbed the outside lane through the first two turns. This allowed Byron, who had been methodically gaining ground on Bell, to rocket past him and assume the lead. Logano would also overtake Bell for the runner-up spot through the backstretch while Bell maintained third place as he regained his pace. Bell, however, would be overtaken by Blaney for third place during the following lap as Byron drove away with the lead. With Byron leading just past the Lap 75, he would proceed to lap 30th-place Suarez.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Byron fended off both Logano and Blaney to claim his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Team Penske’s Logano and Blaney followed suit in second and third, respectively, while Hamlin, Bell, Gibbs, Cindric, Truex, Bowman and Hocevar were scored in the top 10. With seven of 12 Playoff contenders racking up a first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Reddick, Elliott, Briscoe, Suarez and Larson were scored in 14th, 19th, 25th, 30th and 35th, respectively, with the latter two pinned a lap down.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Byron returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Logano exited pit road first ahead of Byron and Blaney while Bell, Gibbs, Truex, Hamlin, Hocevar, Brad Keselowski and Cindric followed suit in the top 10. By then, Larson had pitted to have his damaged defuser repaired. Soon after, Playoff contender Austin Cindric made another pit stop to address a loose right-rear wheel.

    The second stage period started on Lap 86 as Logano and Byron occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Byron fended off Logano through the first two turns and the backstretch to maintain the lead. Behind, Bell rocketed his way back up into second place and he issued his challenge on Byron for the lead during the following lap as Logano and Gibbs followed suit. Logano then reclaimed second place from Bell, who briefly stepped off the gas through Turns 3 and 4, prior to Lap 88, as Gibbs overtook Bell for third place. Amid a bevy of on-track battles, Byron retained the lead by the Lap 90 mark.

    On Lap 97, the caution returned when Erik Jones, who was multiple laps down, got loose and spun his No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE through the frontstretch, where he then got his car stuck in the frontstretch’s grass. By then, Byron was leading by two seconds over Logano as Gibbs, Hamlin and Bell were racing in the top five ahead of Blaney, Bowman, Hocevar, Truex and Kyle Busch.

    During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Byron returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Kyle Busch exited pit road first with two fresh tires as Bell, Logano, Byron, Gibbs, Bowman, Blaney, Hocevar, Truex and Keselowski followed suit in the top 10. By then, Larson made additional pit stops to have his car repaired.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 104, Kyle Busch received a strong push from Logano from the outside lane to muscle ahead of Bell and retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Busch leading the following lap, Bell battled and fended off Logano for the runner-up spot before Ty Gibbs and Byron challenged Logano for third place in front of Bowman and Blaney. Bell overtook Busch for the lead during the following lap and fended off Busch and Logano for the top spot through the first two turns. Gibbs joined the battle with Logano and Busch for the runner-up spot. Also, Byron was challenged by teammate Bowman for fifth place as Bell retained the lead.

    Just past the Lap 110 mark, Bell was leading Logano and Busch within eight-tenths of a second while Gibbs, Bowman, Byron and Blaney all trailed under two seconds from fifth through eighth, respectively, on the track. Meanwhile, Elliott was up to 15th place, Hamlin was mired in 17th after he had a slow pit service during his previous pit service, Cindric was down in 19th place, Reddick was mired in 21st place and Briscoe occupied 24th place in front of Suarez. In addition, Larson was still trapped a lap down in 33rd place.

    Two laps later, Busch, who scrapped the backstretch’s outside wall, had dropped to seventh place as Gibbs, Bowman, Byron and Blaney all overtook him for spots towards the front. By then, Bowman, who had hit Busch when Busch scrapped the outside wall, remained on the track in fifth place as Bell maintained the lead over Logano and Gibbs. Soon after, Logano, Gibbs and Gibbs all fiercely battled for the runner-up spot, with Logano managing to occupy the spot by Lap 120 ahead of Byron and Gibbs as Blaney joined the battle in fourth place.

    By Lap 125, Bell extended his advantage to more than a second over Logano as Byron, Blaney and Bowman were scored in the top five. Behind, Gibbs, who scrubbed the outside wall, had dropped to sixth place while Truex, Chastain, Kyle Busch and rookie Zane Smith were in the top 10.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, Bell stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Logano as Playoff contenders Blaney, Byron and Bowman followed suit in the top five ahead of Truex, Gibbs, Chastain, Zane Smith and Hamlin. Behind, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Chris Buescher and Cindric were racing in the top 15 as Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick were mired in the top 20, with Suarez and Briscoe racing in 23rd and 24th, respectively. By then, 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap as Larson was still trapped a lap down in 32nd place.

    Then on Lap 141, Blaney caught Bell and battled the latter dead even through the frontstretch before the former muscled his No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang Dark Horse out in front and he proceeded to lead the following lap. Another lap later, the caution flew when Daniel Hemric, who was announced to be replaced by Ty Dillon at Kaulig Racing for the 2025 season, got loose and hit the outside wall entering the backstretch, where he would proceed to spin his No. 31 South Point & Hotel Casino Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track through the first two turns as he cut a tire. Hemric’s incident served as a big break for Larson, who was the recipient of the free pass and cycled back on the lead lap.

    During the caution period, the lead lap field, led by Blaney, pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Zane Smith exited pit road first with two fresh tires followed by Bell, Logano, Gibbs, Truex, Blaney, Bowman, Byron, Hamlin and Elliott, the latter nine of which opted for four fresh tires. Not long after, Hamlin made another trip to pit road to have a wheel on his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE tightened as he dropped to the rear of the field.

    The start of the following restart period on Lap 148 did not last as both John Hunter Nemechek and Justin Haley spun in the backstretch, an incident that started when Haley veered left and made contact with Nemechek as Larson dodged the incident. By then, Bell had reclaimed the lead from Zane Smith while Gibbs, Logano and Blaney were scored in the top five.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 153, Bell raced away from the field to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. Smith then tried to gain a run underneath Bell entering Turns 3 and 4, but Bell retained the lead with four fresh tires and a stronger car while Bowman overtook Gibbs and Blaney to boost his way up to third place. As Byron was trying to fend off Chastain, Truex, Logano and Hocevar for sixth place, Elliott commenced his charge to reach the top-10 mark while Bell maintained a reasonable lead by Lap 155.

    On Lap 156, the caution returned when Playoff contender Austin Cindric, who was running in 13th place, bumped into the side of Kyle Busch, spun his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse down the backstretch’s infield, and made light contact with the inside wall. Despite losing a lap amid repairs, Cindric was able to continue. During the caution period, some led by Zane Smith and including Playoff contenders Logano, Reddick and Suarez pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track. Logano would then make another trip to pit road to address a loose wheel.

    With four laps remaining in the second stage period, the event restarted under green as Bell and Bowman dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bowman muscled his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead from the inside lane. Bell followed suit in second through the backstretch until he scrubbed the outside wall entering Turns 3 and 4, allowing Gibbs, Blaney, Byron and Chase Briscoe to overtake him. Bell proceeded to lose more spots through the frontstretch and eventually dropped out of the top-10 mark as Bowman retained the lead.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165 amid a series of on-track battles, Bowman fended off Gibbs to claim his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Gibbs followed suit in second ahead of Blaney, Byron and Keselowski while Hocevar, Kyle Busch, Truex, Elliott and Briscoe were scored in the top 10. With five of 12 Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10 on the track and racking up a second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Hamlin, Reddick, Bell, Suarez, Logano, Larson and Cindric were mired in 11th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 27th and 34th, respectively.

    During the stage break, some led by Bowman and including fellow Playoff contenders Byron, Elliott, Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell, Blaney and Larson pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bowman exited pit road first ahead of Blaney, Byron, Keselowski, Briscoe, Hamlin, Bell, Noah Gragson, Elliott and Haley.

    With 96 laps remaining, the final stage started as Gibbs and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar received a shove from Truex on the inside lane to storm ahead with the lead through the first two turns until Gibbs came rocketing back to battle alongside Hocevar for the lead through the backstretch. Hocevar then managed to clear Gibbs entering the frontstretch and lead the following lap while Kyle Busch, Truex and Chastain went three wide for third place. Behind, Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher battled for sixth place as the field fanned out through the frontstretch while jostling for late spots.

    With 90 laps remaining and as a flurry of on-track battles ensued, Chastain dueled and overtook Hocevar for the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns. Behind, Kyle Busch overtook Gibbs for third place as Truex followed suit in fifth. Meanwhile, Reddick and Byron were the two highest Playoff contenders in sixth and seventh while Bowman carved his way to ninth place after restarting within the top-20 mark. Behind, Playoff contenders Hamlin, Suarez and Logano were mired in the top 14 while Elliott, Bell, Briscoe, Blaney and Larson were mired in the top 26.

    Ten laps later, Chastain retained the lead while Kyle Busch, who overtook Hocevar for the runner-up spot five laps earlier, trailed Chastain by four-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Truex was up to third place ahead of Byron, the highest-running Playoff contender, and Hocevar while Gibbs, Reddick, Bowman, Buescher and Hamlin were scored in the top 10 ahead of Zane Smith, Wallace, Suarez, Logano, Elliott, Keselowski, Bell, Blaney, Gilliland and Austin Dillon. Meanwhile, Briscoe and Larson were mired in 23rd and 25th, respectively, while Cindric was trapped a lap down in 34th.

    Another four laps later, Blaney pitted his No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green and from the top 20 due to a loose wheel. With Blaney dropping out of the lead lap category, Busch started to challenge Chastain for the lead, though the latter used the outside wall to maintain the top spot with a reasonable gap ahead of Busch.

    Then with 67 laps remaining, Busch gained a run beneath Chastain and emerged with a slight lead exiting the backstretch. Chastain, however, came rocketing back alongside Busch while using the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 as both dueled for the top spot through the frontstretch. With Chastain managing to lead the following lap, he would proceed to retain the top spot through every corner and straightaway while Busch was trying to regain the ground he briefly lost.

    Busch would then execute his pass on Chastain while sliding in front of him entering Turns 3 and 4 with 63 laps remaining and he would lead the following lap while Chastain pulled a crossover move to return the favor through the frontstretch. Despite nearly getting locked into a side-by-side battle with Busch through the frontstretch, Busch prevailed in the battle and pulled away to have both lanes under control. As Busch led, where he would proceed to lead with 60 laps remaining, Logano pitted under green.

    With 59 laps remaining and a late cycle of green flag pit stops commencing, Ty Gibbs pitted his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE. Buscher would pit his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse during the following lap along with Truex, Byron, Bowman, Hamlin, Suarez and Zane Smith before the leaders Busch and Chastain pitted together during the next lap. As more pit stops occurred with less than 55 laps remaining, Reddick, who was among several competitors who had yet to pit, was leading ahead of Bell, Keselowski, Wallace and Gilliland while Busch and Chastain were both racing just outside the top 10 mark.

    With 50 laps remaining, 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace pitted under green, with the former sustaining a flat tire to his No. 45 DraftKings Toyota Camry XSE. The pit stops for both Reddick and Wallace handed the lead to Bell as Keselowski and Ty Dillon followed suit in second and third while Busch and Chastain cycled up into fourth and fifth. Once Bell and Keselowski pitted over the next three laps, Busch cycled back into the lead with 47 laps remaining while Chastain trailed in second place by seven-tenths of a second.

    Then with 42 laps remaining, Chastain overtook Busch for the lead through the frontstretch as Busch went up the track and barely scrubbed the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 during the previous lap. Chastain then mirrored Busch’s scrape of the wall through Turns 3 and 4, which allowed Busch to reassume the lead with 41 laps remaining and he would stretch his advantage to half a second during the next lap period.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Busch was leading by six-tenths of a second over Chastain while Truex trailed in third place by more than a second. Behind, Playoff contenders Byron, Bowman, Hamlin and Blaney were running fourth through seventh, respectively, while Gibbs, Buescher and Elliott were racing in the top 10 ahead of Redick and Suarez. With seven of 12 Playoff contenders racing in the top-12 mark on the track, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Logano, Bell, Larson, Briscoe and Cindric were mired in 16th, 18th, 19th, 26th and 34th, respectively.

    Then three laps later, Busch’s potential road to victory was foiled as he tried to lap Briscoe through Turns 1 and 2. With Briscoe fending off Busch’s momentum from the outside wall and moving his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse up the track to prevent Busch from receiving clean air, Busch then slapped the outside wall in the backstretch and got loose before he spun his No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track. With the caution flying, Chastain assumed the lead while Busch was able to continue without losing a bevy of spots.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Chastain returned to pit road for service while Keselowski remained on the track as he inherited the lead. Following the pit stops, Truex exited pit road first as Chastain, Bowman, Byron, Gibbs, Blaney, Busch, Buescher, Reddick and Suarez, all of whom opted for four fresh tires, exited in the top 10.

    The start of the following restart period with 26 laps remaining featured Truex gaining the momentum from the outside lane and with four fresh tires and he assumed the lead through the first two turns. Keselowski was then starting to fade on his two tires as Bowman, Chastain and Byron quickly rocketed past him to move up to second through fourth. As the field fanned out while Keselowski continued to plummet through the backstretch, Truex maintained the lead for the following lap while Bowman and Chastain battled dead even for second in front of Byron. The caution then returned during the following lap as Hocevar spun after he was hit by Gilliland in the backstretch. Hocevar also made contact with Briscoe before spinning his No. 77 Premier Security Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 within the midfield region.

    With the event restarting under green with 20 laps remaining, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Chastain dueled with Truex, where he would rocket away with the top spot entering the backstretch while Truex was left to battle Bowman and Byron for the runner-up spot. Byron would gain the runner-up spot from Truex through Turns 3 and 4 while Bowman was left to battle Gibbs and Blaney for fourth place. As Hamlin used the frontstretch’s apron to muscle his way back into the top-10 mark amid a flurry of on-track battles within the field, Chastain maintained a reasonable advantage over Byron and Truex for the following two laps.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Chastain continued to lead by less than half a second over a hard-charging Byron while Truex, Blaney and Gibbs were in the top five. With Truex trying to fend off Blaney for third place and Gibbs maintaining fifth place ahead of Playoff contenders Bowman, Bell and Hamlin, Chastain remained ahead with the top spot by half a second with 10 laps remaining.

    With five laps remaining, Chastain maintained an advantage of four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Byron while third-place Truex trailed by more than a second. Behind, Blaney and Gibbs remained in the top five ahead of Bowman, Bell, Hamlin, Elliott and Zane Smith while Reddick, who scraped the wall earlier, continued to run on the track in 25th place in front of Larson.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chastain remained in the lead by three-tenths of a second over Byron. After trailing Chastain through the first two turns and the backstretch, Byron then tried to use the inside lane to get close to Chastain, but the latter kept his car running towards the outside wall. With the momentum on his side, Chastain rocketed his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 away from Byron and returned to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag by three-tenths of a second over Byron.

    With the victory, Chastain, who missed the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, notched his fifth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first at Kansas and his first since winning the 2023 finale at Phoenix Raceway.

    The victory was the 13th of the year for the Chevrolet nameplate and the second for Trackhouse Racing, with this season marking the second time where Trackhouse’s Nos. 1 and 99 entries visited Victory Lane at least once in the same Cup season. Chastain also joined Chris Buescher as a non-Playoff competitor to win throughout the first four Playoff events of the 2024 season.

    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “For us on this No. 1 team, it’s what Cup racing’s all about,” Chastain, who smashed a watermelon on the frontstretch, said on USA Network. “It’s what [team owner] Justin Marks bought into NASCAR with Trackhouse to do stuff like this, to disrupt [the Playoffs]. There’s been times this year where we couldn’t have disrupted the Minnow Pond outside of Darlington [Raceway], let alone a Cup race. It’s hard, it’s really tough, so to come and do this, I’d say there’s times where I didn’t think after practice and qualifying, we had what it took. I thought we’ve been way stronger here in the past. It didn’t feel great all day, but our Kubota Chevy, it was better as the rubber went down and the adjustments were great. We haven’t left. We haven’t went away. Nobody’s slowed us down other than ourselves and today, we were the fastest car.”

    With Chastain winning the race, William Byron ended up as the highest-finishing Playoff contender of the event in second place for his first top-two result since Michigan International Speedway last August and after finishing no higher than ninth over his last five starts. Despite being left disappointed over falling one spot short of winning the Playoff’s Round of 12 opener for a second consecutive season, Byron also remained optimistic as he continues his push to return to the Championship 4 and contend for his first Cup Series championship.

    “I feel like [Chastain] got the restart he needed to and I was in the second row just trying to clear those guys,” Byron said. “Once I got clear of them, my balance is OK, just a little bit tight, but kind of inching up on [Chastain]. I needed probably for [the event] to be a longer run being in second but damn it. I wanted that one really bad. It just sucks, man. You’re so close and you know going to Talladega, you know what that is. Sucks, but proud of the effort. [The team] Brought an awesome car. Proud of all my guys. They’ve been working their tails off and we’ve gotten a lot of BS over the summer from the outside. I know how good this team is and I know what we’re capable of, so this is a great day to build on. Looking forward to Talladega. We’re usually good there and we’ll just see how that goes.”

    Martin Truex Jr., who led five laps, came home in third place in his final start at Kansas as a full-time competitor, Ryan Blaney made a late rally to finish fourth and Ty Gibbs capped off a strong race in fifth place.

    Playoff contenders Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott finished sixth through ninth, respectively, while rookie Zane Smith achieved a 10th-place result. Notably, Kyle Busch, who led 26 laps and was on the verge of notching his first elusive victory of the season, fell back to 19th place in the final running order.

    “I’m numb,” Busch, who was left dejected on pit road at the event’s conclusion, said. “I don’t know what to do.”

    With half of the remaining 12 Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric finished 13th, 14th, 24th, 25th, 26th and 34th, respectively.

    As a result, Reddick, Suarez, Briscoe and Cindric are below the top-12 cutline in the Playoff standings with two Round of 12 events remaining on the schedule while Elliott and Logano are both above the cutline by four points.

    There were 30 lead changes for 15 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 47 laps. In addition, 32 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ross Chastain, 52 laps led

    2. William Byron, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Martin Truex Jr., five laps led

    4. Ryan Blaney, three laps led

    5. Ty Gibbs, five laps led

    6. Alex Bowman, six laps led, Stage 2 winner

    7. Christopher Bell, 122 laps led

    8. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    9. Chase Elliott

    10. Zane Smith, three laps led

    11. Chris Buescher

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Daniel Suarez

    14. Joey Logano, three laps led

    15. Corey LaJoie

    16. Ryan Preece

    17. Bubba Wallace

    18. Noah Gragson

    19. Kyle Busch, 29 laps led

    20. Daniel Hemric

    21. Ty Dillon

    22. Brad Keselowski, four laps led

    23. Harrison Burton

    24. Chase Briscoe

    25. Tyler Reddick, seven laps led

    26. Kyle Larson

    27. Todd Gilliland

    28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    29. Michael McDowell

    30. John Hunter Nemechek

    31. Kaz Grala

    32. Carson Hocevar

    33. Justin Haley, one lap down

    34. Austin Cindric, four laps down

    35. Erik Jones, four laps down

    36. Jimmie Johnson, 10 laps down

    37. JJ Yeley – OUT, Electrical, one lap led

    38. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. William Byron +34

    2. Ryan Blaney +28

    3. Christopher Bell +28

    4. Kyle Larson +18

    5. Denny Hamlin +11

    6. Alex Bowman +8

    7. Chase Elliott +4

    8. Joey Logano +4

    9. Tyler Reddick -4

    10. Daniel Suarez -14

    11. Chase Briscoe -25

    12. Austin Cindric -29

    The second Round of 12 event in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur at Talladega Superspeedway for the YellaWood 500. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, October 6, and air at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Larson thunders to dominant Cup victory at Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    Larson thunders to dominant Cup victory at Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    Kyle Larson annihilated his competition and thundered his way into the Playoff’s Round of 12 with a dominant victory in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 21.

    The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led four times for a race-high 462 of 500-scheduled laps in an event where he started alongside teammate Alex Bowman on the front row. From the moment Larson first assumed the lead on Lap 33 from Bowman, the race was his to lose.

    He proceeded to sweep both stage periods, maintain the top spot following every pit service performed by his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team and rocket away from the field through every restart he was leading, including the final one with 163 laps remaining. He lapped all but nine of 37 starters to cruise to his fifth Cup Series victory of the 2024 season and convincingly transfer his way into the second round of the 2024 Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, September 20, Playoff contender Alex Bowman notched his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season and the fifth of his career with a pole-winning lap at 126.720 mph in 15.142 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender and teammate Kyle Larson, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 126.378 mph in 15.183 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced under the lights, Alex Bowman muscled ahead from teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron through the first two turns and the backstretch. He navigated his way through Turns 3 and 4, where he led the first lap, while Playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. was up to second place in front of Larson. As Larson proceeded to overtake Truex for the runner-up spot during the following lap, Byron battled Playoff Christopher Bell to retain fourth place.

    Four laps later, the event’s first caution period flew when John Hunter Nemechek got loose after he nearly made contact with the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2, and then proceeded to spin and make rear-end contact with the outside wall in Turn 4.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 10, Bowman muscled ahead from the field to retain the lead while Truex and Larson battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, Byron and Bell trailed in the top five ahead of Playoff contender Chase Briscoe and rookie Carson Hocevar as Bubba Wallace, Corey LaJoie and Playoff contenders Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Chase Elliott followed suit.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Bowman was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Larson as Truex, teammate Byron and Briscoe were scored in the top five ahead of Hocevar, Bell, Wallace, Hamlin and LaJoie. Behind, Ty Gibbs, Elliott, Playoff contender Joey Logano, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece were running in the top 15 ahead of Playoff contender Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger and Playoff contender Tyler Reddick. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski and Daniel Suarez were mired within the top-30 as Playoff rookie Harrison Burton was mired outside the top-30 mark.

    Ten laps later, Bowman maintained a steady advantage of two-tenths of a second over teammate Larson while Playoff contenders Truex, Byron and Briscoe followed suit in the top five. Another four laps later, Larson used the outside lane to navigate his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 past Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and assume the lead. Larson would proceed to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Bowman at the Lap 40 mark while Truex, Byron and Briscoe continued to trail in the top-five mark ahead of Bell.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Larson, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic and made contact with Nemechek while lapping him a few laps earlier, was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Bowman followed by Truex, Byron and Bell while Briscoe, Hocevar, Wallace, Hamlin and Gibbs occupied the top-10 spots. Behind, LaJoie, Elliott, Logano, Gragson and Preece were running in the top 15 as Blaney, McDowell, Chastain, Reddick and Allmendinger were racing in the top 20 ahead of Chris Buescher, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Watkins Glen International. With 12 of 16 Playoff contenders running inside the top-20 mark on the track, the remaining Playoff contenders including Cindric, Keselowski, Suarez and Harrison Burton were mired in 24th, 27th, 28th and 30th, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later, the top-eight spots on the track were occupied by Playoff contenders as Larson led Bowman, Truex, Byron, Bell, Briscoe, Hamlin and Gibbs, respectively. With Playoff Suarez lapped by Larson in 31st place, Keselowski and Burton were in jeopardy of being lapped while mired in 27th and 28th, respectively, while Cindric was still in 23rd place. As the remaining Playoff contenders including Elliott, Logano, Blaney and Reddick were mired in the top-20 mark on the track, Larson continued to lead at the Lap 75 mark.

    By Lap 85, Larson stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over teammate Bowman as Playoff contenders Truex, Byron, Bell, Briscoe, Hamlin and Gibbs all followed suit in the top eight while trailing the lead by within four seconds. Behind, both Wallace and Hocevar continued to run as the highest-running non-Playoff contenders on the track and in the top-10 mark while Playoff contender Harrison Burton was about to be lapped by Larson.

    At the Lap 100 mark, nine of the top-10 spots on the track were occupied by Playoff contenders as Larson extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over teammate Bowman as Truex, Bell, Byron, Briscoe, Hamin, Gibbs and Elliott were all in the mix. By then, Wallace was the highest non-Playoff contender on the track in ninth place. Meanwhile, teammates Blaney and Logano were racing 13th and 14th, respectively, while Reddick and Cindric continued to trail in 19th and 23rd, respectively. In addition, Keselowski was trying to fend off the leader Larson to remain on the lead lap in 27th place while Burton and Suarez, both of whom were scored a lap down, were mired in 30th and 31st, respectively.

    Ten laps later, Larson continued to lead by more than one-and-a-half seconds over teammate Bowman while Bell moved his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE up to third place ahead of teammate Truex and Byron. Behind, Blaney moved up to 11th place and Cindric gained two spots to 21st place while Keselowski was scored a lap down in 27th place. With nine Playoff contenders continuing to occupy nine top-10 spots on the track while jostling amongst one another for positions, Larson kept his lead to more than a second by the Lap 115 mark.  

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 125, Larson, who came into the event 26 points above the top-12 cutline in the Playoff standings, captured his 11th Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Bowman followed suit in second ahead of a bevy of Playoff contenders that included Bell, Truex, Byron, Hamlin, Briscoe, Gibbs and Elliott while Wallace retained 10th place. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Blaney, Logano, Reddick, Cindric, Keselowski, Burton and Suarez were mired in 11th, 14th, 19th, 21st, 27th, 29th and 30th, respectively, as the latter three were scored a lap down.

    With his third-place result in the first stage period that awarded him eight stage points, Christopher Bell clinched his spot into the Round of 12 in the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, thus joining Joey Logano as the former continues his pursuit for his first championship in NASCAR’s premier series.

    Under the stage break, the entire lead lap field led by Larson pitted for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Larson retained the lead after he exited pit road first while being followed by Bell, Bowman, Truex, Byron, Gibbs, Hamlin, Wallace, Briscoe and Elliott, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Playoff Ty Gibbs along with rookie Josh Berry and Kyle Busch were all sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. Rookie Zane Smith was also penalized for pitting outside of his pit box.

    The second stage period started on Lap 135 as Larson and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Larson fended off Bell to retain the lead as he proceeded to lead the following lap. With the field behind jostling for spots, Larson proceeded to lead through the Lap 140 mark while Bell, Truex and Bowman followed suit in the top four. Behind, Byron and Wallace battled for fifth place as Hamlin tried to fend off Briscoe, Logano, Elliott and Blaney for seventh place.

    Through the first 150 scheduled laps, Playoff contenders occupied the top 11 spots on the track as Larson was leading ahead of rivals Bell, Truex, Bowman and Hamlin while Wallace was the lone non-Playoff contender in the mix in sixth place. Behind, Briscoe, Byron, Logano, Blaney and Elliott followed suit in the top 11 while Cindric and Reddick trailed in 17th and 18th, respectively. As Gibbs was mired in 24th following his pit road speeding penalty, the remaining Playoff contenders including Keselowski, Burton and Suarez were mired in 27th, 29th and 34th, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Bell while Truex, Hamlin, Bowman and Briscoe trailed within four seconds in the top-six mark on the track. As Wallace slipped to seventh, he remained ahead of Blaney, Byron, Elliott and Logano.

    Another 10 laps later, Larson continued to lead by a second in Bell as Truex, Hamlin, Bowman and Briscoe continued to follow suit in the top six ahead of Wallace, Blaney, Byron, Elliott and Logano. Meanwhile, Cindric and Reddick were mired in 17th and 18th, respectively, and Gibbs was still mired in 23rd place as he was in jeopardy of being lapped by Larson.

    Towards the Lap 185 mark, Larson, who continued to weave his way through lapped traffic, had his advantage decrease to four-tenths of a second over Bell while Hamlin moved his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE up to third place ahead of Truex, Bowman and Briscoe. By then, Suarez, who was mired in 33rd place, was lapped for a second time by Larson as Larson, who proceeded to lead the Lap 190 mark, was slowly catching Gibbs, who was still racing in 23rd place, to pin him a lap down.

    At the Lap 200 mark, Larson retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Bell as the latter was having teammate Hamlin closing in for the runner-up spot. By then, Playoff contenders Briscoe, Bowman, Blaney, Elliott, Byron and Logano continued to run inside the top-11 mark on the track while Wallace remained as the highest non-Playoff contender in seventh place. By then, Reddick, Cindric and Gibbs continued to trail in 17th, 18th and 23rd, respectively, while Keselowski, Burton and Suarez were off the lead lap category in 28th, 30th and 32nd, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson slightly stretched his advantage to a second over Bell as third-place Hamlin trailed teammate Bell by only four-tenths of a second. Behind, Briscoe moved his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse up to fourth place ahead of Truex, Bowman and Blaney as Wallace, Elliott, Byron and Logano followed suit in the top 11.

    Another 10 laps later and with the frustrations mounting within several Playoff contenders, Larson, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Bell, with Hamlin, Briscoe, Truex, Bowman and Blaney following suit in the top seven. By then, Byron was mired in 10th place ahead of Logano and Gibbs was only up to 21st place while Keselowski, Suarez and Burton were still mired in 28th, 31st and 34th, respectively. With Keselowski scored a lap down, both Suarez and Burton were pinned two laps down.

    Then on Lap 237, Playoff rookie Harrison Burton’s hopes of transferring into the Round of 12 evaporated as he took his No. 21 Ford Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse behind the pit wall due to a power steering issue. With the race remaining under green flag conditions, Larson maintained his steady advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Hamlin as Bell dropped to third place in front of Briscoe and Truex by the Lap 240 mark.

    Then on Lap 243, the caution flew when Playoff contender Joey Logano, who was running in 11th place and had already guaranteed himself a spot into the Round of 12, slipped sideways while running in between the lapped competitor of Ryan Preece and Bubba Wallace exiting Turn 2 as he proceeded to spin and hit the frontstretch’s inside wall head-on, though he managed to proceed while dragging sparks beneath his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service while Playoff contender Tyler Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited pit road first ahead of Hamlin, Truex, Bell, Wallace, Briscoe, Bowman, Blaney, Elliott and Byron, respectively.   

    With the race restarting under green with two laps remaining in the second stage period, Larson wasted no time using the fresh tires to his advantage as he rocketed away from Reddick to reassume the lead through the backstretch. Behind, Truex made his way into second place as Reddick was trying to fend off Hamin and Bell for the following lap.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 250, which marked the halfway point of the overall event, Larson captured his 12th Cup stage victory of the 2024 season and second of the night. Truex followed suit in second ahead of Hamlin, Reddick and Bell while Wallace, Bowman, Briscoe, Blaney and Elliott were scored in the top 10. With nine of the remaining 15 Playoff contenders on the track finishing in the top 10 and racking up a second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Byron, Cindric, Gibbs, Keselowski, Suarez and Logano were mired in 11th, 16th, 18th, 26th, 30th and 32nd, respectively.

    With a combined 13 stage points by finishing second and seventh during the event’s first two stage periods, pole-sitter Alex Bowman joined Christopher Bell and Joey Logano as a third Playoff competitor to be guaranteed early automatic passes to the Playoff’s Round of 12.

    During the stage break, Reddick, who gained seven points at the second stage’s conclusion, pitted for fresh tires to his No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    With 240 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Larson and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Larson used the outside lane to fend off Truex through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Larson retaining the lead for the proceeding laps ahead of Truex, the latter’s teammates Hamlin and Bell followed suit along with Wallace in the top five while Briscoe challenged Bell for fifth place. With nine Playoff contenders running in the top 10 spots on the track, Larson retained the lead by six-tenths of a second with 230 laps remaining.

    With 215 laps remaining, Larson stretched his lead to a second over Truex while non-Playoff contender Wallace was up to third place ahead of a bevy of Playoff contenders that included Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell, Elliott, Blaney and Bowman. With non-Playoff contenders Ross Chastain and Corey LaJoie following suit ahead of Playoff contender Byron, Gibbs was mired in 18th place ahead of Cindric, Allmendinger and Reddick while Keselowski, Logano and Suarez all trailed by a lap down in 28th, 30th and 33rd, respectively.

    Down to the final 200 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Truex as Wallace, Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell, Elliott, Blaney, Bowman and Chastain remained in the top 10 on the track. Behind, Byron retained 12th place, Gibbs gained only a single spot to 17th place and Cindric was still mired in 19th place ahead of Reddick. As Keselowski, Logano and Suarez continued to trail outside the top-25 mark on the track while not scored on the lead lap category, Larson lapped Suarez’s No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and placed the latter two laps down.

    Twenty-five laps later, Larson stretched his advantage to three seconds over Truex as Playoff contenders Briscoe, Hamlin and Elliott followed suit in the top five on the track. Behind, Wallace settled in sixth ahead of Blaney, Bell, Chastain and Bowman as Playoff contenders Byron, Gibbs, Cindric and Reddick were running 13th, 16th, 18th and 21st, respectively. As Keselowski was behind the leaders by a lap in 28th, Logano and Suarez were running 31st and 32nd while scored two laps down.

    Three laps later, the caution flew when Corey LaJoie, who was running in 11th place, received contact from the lapped competitor of Josh Berry that got LaJoie loose and veering into the outside wall in Turn 2 as his No. 7 Mattress Warehouse Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came to a sliding halt with damage towards the inside lane.

    During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Larson exited pit road first ahead of Truex, Hamlin, Elliott, Blaney, Wallace, Bowman, Bell, Chastain and Byron while Briscoe lost a bevy of spots due to a slow pit service to have the right-front tire changed. Soon after, Truex, who spent the majority of the event running towards the front, was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    The start of the following restart period with 163 laps remaining featured Larson rocketing away to retain the lead as teammate Elliott launched his No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot. Wallace would then follow suit into third place as Hamlin was trying to fend off teammate Bell, Blaney and Byron for fourth place. Hamlin then capitalized on Wallace sliding up the track to retake fourth place as Larson proceeded to lead with 160 laps remaining.

    With 150 laps remaining, Larson extended his advantage to a second over teammate Elliott as Hamlin, Bell and Blaney were scored in the top five. Behind, Briscoe, who was trying to rally from his slow pit service, was up to sixth place after he overtook Wallace while Ty Gibbs was up into eighth place ahead of Byron and Bowman.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson continued to lead ahead of teammate Elliott while Hamlin was trying to fend off teammate Bell for third place as Briscoe was up into fifth place. Larson would proceed to lead by more than a second over teammate Elliott with 120 laps remaining as Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe remained in the top five ahead of Blaney, Wallace, Gibbs, Bowman and Byron.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Larson stretched his advantage to nearly three seconds over teammate Elliott as Hamlin, Bell, Briscoe, Blaney, Wallace, Gibbs, Bowman and McDowell were scored in the top 10 on the track. Behind, Byron dropped to 13th place as he was three spots ahead of Cindric and seven spots ahead of Reddick while Truex was mired in 24th place. Meanwhile, Keselowski was mired in 26th place and trapped a lap down and Logano was two laps down in 29th place while Suarez, who currently held sole possession of the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12 by a mere margin over Gibbs, was running three laps down in 31st place.

    Twenty-five laps later, Larson lapped 24th-place Truex while retaining the lead by two seconds over teammate Elliott and Bell. Behind, Hamlin trailed by four seconds in fourth place while Briscoe trailed by five seconds in fifth place.

    Another 15 laps later, Larson, who had guaranteed himself into the Playoff’s Round of 12, had his advantage slightly decreased to one-and-a-half seconds over teammate Elliott as Playoff contenders Bell, Hamlin, Briscoe and Blaney followed suit in the top six. Behind, Wallace remained as the highest-running Playoff contender in seventh place ahead of Playoff contenders Gibbs and Bowman while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Byron, Cindric, Reddick, Truex, Keselowski, Logano, Suarez and Burton were mired in 13th, 16th, 20th, 24th, 25th, 29th, 31st and 35th, respectively.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Larson stretched his advantage back up to two seconds over teammate Elliott, with eight Playoff contenders occupying the top 10 spots on the track. By then, Brad Keselowski pitted his No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green for fuel, which pinned him three laps from the lead and had his hopes of advancing into the Round of 12 being jeopardized, as Larson lapped Reddick, who was mired in 20th place.

    As Larson proceeded to lead by more than two seconds over teammate Elliott with 40 laps remaining, Suarez, who was mired in 30th place despite being three laps down, was currently occupying the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12 by six points over Gibbs, who was strapped in ninth place and unable to navigate past Suarez on the track. With Truex, Keselowski and Burton scored below the cutline, Hamlin and Briscoe were both above the cutline by eight and six points, respectively.

    With 30 laps remaining, Larson extended his advantage to three seconds over teammate Elliott and four seconds over Hamlin while Suarez, who remained in 30th place and was three laps down, maintained a nine-point advantage over Gibbs, whose No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota Camry XSE was losing the handling and had dropped to 11th place on the track, for the final transfer spot into the Round of 12.

    With Larson adding another second to his advantage as he was now leading by four seconds over teammate Elliott with 20 laps remaining, Suarez maintained his advantage for the final transfer spot into the Round of 12 by 10 points over Gibbs, who was down to 13th place on the track, as Byron, Hamlin and Briscoe were also in position to transfer by 21, 14 and 11 points, respectively.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson, who lapped Gibbs seven laps earlier, extended his advantage to five seconds over teammate Elliott as only 12 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap. By then, Gibbs dropped to 15th place and was losing ground to Suarez, who retained 30th place on the track while three laps down, as Suarez, Byron, Hamlin and Briscoe were all still above the cutline over Gibbs, Truex, Keselowski and Burton.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by six seconds over teammate Elliott. With no challengers closing in from behind, Larson was able to smoothly and quickly navigate his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 around the Bristol circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his fifth checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.

    With the victory, Larson, whose son Owen saluted the fans as the driver took him for a parade victory lap, notched his 28th NASCAR Cup Series career victory in his 359th series’ start, his second at Bristol under the lights and his first since winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this past July. The victory was the 12th of the 2024 season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the 10th for Hendrick Motorsports, with the organization notching its fifth victory at the Bristol Night Race feature.

    As a result of his Bristol Night Race victory, Larson, who is coming off finishes of 37th and 12th from the first two events of the Playoff’s Round of 16, clinched a berth into the Round of 12 as he continues his pursuit for his second Cup Series championship.

    “I’ve had a lot of good cars since I’ve come to Hendrick Motorsports,” Larson said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “That was just great execution all weekend by the team. Practice good. You got to qualify good [and] we did that. [I] Just had a great car. Thanks to the whole No. 5 team. They’re the best in the business. We dominated a lot of races, but we might not close them all out, so it was really good to close one out with this HendrickCars.com Chevy. Just a phenomenal car. [I] Could kind of manage my stuff and then really pass some cars there at the end.”

    As an added bonus, Larson set a record for the most laps led by a Hendrick Motorsports competitor in a race at 462. The total laps Larson led are the most recorded by a Bristol Cup race winner since the late Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough led 496 laps in April 1977.

    “That’s pretty awesome,” Larson said of his record feat. “There’s been some legendary Hall of Famers [who have] raced for Hendrick Motorsports. We’ve all grown up watching Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominate. Pretty cool to add my name up to another record at Hendrick Motorsports. Just very fortunate to be with that group. It’s so much fun and especially racing in front of you fans under the lights at Bristol. This is my favorite track and I hope you guys enjoyed that race there and enjoyed the methodical lap traffic run.”

    Teammate Chase Elliott, who came into Bristol with a 30-point cushion, also transferred into the Round of 12 by finishing second while Bubba Wallace, who inked a multiyear contract extension to remain at 23XI Racing, capped off a stellar night as a non-Playoff contender by finishing third. Playoff contenders Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell finished in the top five as both also transferred into the Round of 12.

    Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain completed the top 10 spots on the track as all were also the final five set of competitors to finish on the lead lap.

    Larson, Elliott, Hamlin and Bell join Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez as the 12 competitors who transfer into the Playoff’s Round of 12. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs was the first competitor to be eliminated from the Playoffs as he missed the cutline by 11 points and teammate Martin Truex Jr. was also unable to recover from his late pit road speeding penalty. By being eliminated from the Playoffs, Truex, the 2017 Cup Series champion, will not battle for a championship in his final full-time racing season. Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton were also eliminated from Playoff contention.

    There were eight lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 36 laps.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 462 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

    2. Chase Elliott

    3. Bubba Wallace, one lap led

    4. Denny Hamlin

    5. Christopher Bell

    6. Ryan Blaney

    7. Ryan Preece

    8. Chase Briscoe

    9. Alex Bowman, 34 laps led

    10. Ross Chastain

    11. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    12. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    13. Austin Cindric, one lap down

    14. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    15. Ty Gibbs, one lap down

    16. Zane Smith, one lap down

    17. William Byron, one lap down

    18. Carson Hocevar, one lap down

    19. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

    20. Tyler Reddick, one lap down, three laps led

    21. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    22. Justin Haley, one lap down

    23. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    24. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down

    25. Kyle Busch, two laps down

    26. Brad Keselowski, three laps down

    27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps down

    28. Joey Logano, four laps down

    29. Josh Berry, four laps down

    30. Erik Jones, four laps down

    31. Daniel Suarez, four laps down

    32. Todd Gilliland, four laps down

    33. John Hunter Nemechek, nine laps down

    34. Josh Bilicki, 33 laps down

    35. Harrison Burton, 78 laps down

    36. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    37. Kaz Grala – OUT, Steering

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Kyle Larson – Advanced

    3. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    4. Alex Bowman – Advanced

    5. Chase Elliott – Advanced

    6. Austin Cindric – Advanced

    7. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    8. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

    9. William Byron – Advanced

    10. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    11. Chase Briscoe – Advanced

    12. Daniel Suarez – Advanced

    13. Ty Gibbs – Eliminated

    14. Martin Truex Jr. – Eliminated

    15. Brad Keselowski – Eliminated

    16. Harrison Burton – Eliminated

    The Round of 12 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur next Sunday, September 29, at Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Chris Buescher outduels Shane van Gisbergen in overtime for wild Cup victory at Watkins Glen

    Chris Buescher outduels Shane van Gisbergen in overtime for wild Cup victory at Watkins Glen

    In a season mired with missed opportunities that resulted in him missing the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by a single points position, Chris Buescher took advantage of the chance to cap off this season on a strong note by winning the Go Bowling at The Glen (Watkins Glen International) on Sunday, September 15, amid a wild overtime shootout and a final lap bump and pass on Shane van Gisbergen.

    The 2015 Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for 19 of 92 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 24th and utilized pit strategy to methodically carve his way up the leaderboard. With a bevy of Playoff contenders encountering on-track issues from start to finish, Buescher, who pitted prior to the second stage’s conclusion, utilized fresher tires than the leaders to briefly lead for the first time with 33 laps remaining before he pitted two laps later. He then cycled back to the lead with 17 laps remaining during a late round of green flag pit stops.

    Then among three late-race caution and restart periods, including the third and latest restart that sent the event into overtime, Buescher, who had maintained the lead during all restart periods, was bumped out of the lead by van Gisbergen, who proceeded to lead the penultimate lap while Buescher remained within striking distance. Van Gisbergen then made the slightest contact with the guardrails through the Bus Stop that got him loose through the curbs and the turns, which enabled Buescher to reassume the lead amid another round of contact between both through the Inner Loop. With van Gisbergen unable to return the favor within the course’s final pair of turns, Buescher drove away to claim his first victory of the 2024 Cup Series season and become the first non-Playoff competitor to win a Playoff event this season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, September 14, Ross Chastain notched his first Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season and the second of his career after he posted a pole-winning speed at 122.279 mph in 72.130 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Martin Truex Jr., who posted the second-fastest qualifying speed at 122.052 mph in 72.264 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Todd Gilliland and rookie Carson Hocevar dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Ross Chastain launched ahead with an early advantage through the frontstretch and he maintained the top spot through the opening set of turns through the Esses and the backstretch while the field behind jostled for early spots amid multiple lanes.

    Then through the Bus Stop corner, early trouble struck as Corey LaJoie bumped and sent Kyle Busch, who was running towards the top-15 mark, for a spin towards the middle of the turn, where he clipped Playoff contender Christopher Bell as Bell spun while his teammate and Playoff contender Denny Hamlin clipped Busch and sustained damage to his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE entry after he got bumped by Ryan Preece. Among other competitors who were involved included Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace, both of whom hit the guardrails while going off the course, while Busch’s wrecked No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry was left stalled in the Inner Loop turn.

    During the chaos, Ryan Blaney, the reigning Cup Series champion and a 2024 Playoff contender, drove his No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry off the course and came to a stop due to a broken steering column as a result of hitting Brad Keselowski while avoiding the opening lap carnage. The issue was enough for NASCAR to rule Blaney out of contention to continue without having completed the first lap, though Blaney was left heated at NASCAR for not allowing his team to repair the car despite not sustaining any significant damage from the carnage. By then, Bell continued without sustaining any significant damage to his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE entry while Hamlin and Busch dropped out of the lead lap category with damage to their respective entries.

    When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Chastain, who led the opening four laps under caution, rocketed ahead with another strong start through the frontstretch and the Esses while the rest of the field behind fanned out. In the process, Allmendinger, who restarted in the top five, was dropping off the pace due to a mechanical issue with his No. 13 Go Bowling Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. With Allmendinger dropping out of contention, the rest of the field navigated smoothly through the backstretch, Bus Stop, Inner Loop and the final set of turns from Turns 5 to 7 as Chastain retained the lead and led the following lap.

    Over the next three laps, Chastain stabilized his early advantage to six-tenths of a second over Truex while van Gisbergen, Bowman and Playoff contender Chase Briscoe were running in the top five ahead of Playoff competitors Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott. With Michael McDowell occupying ninth place, he was ahead of five Playoff contenders that included Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs while Erik Jones occupied 15th place ahead of Chris Buescher, rookie Zane Smith, Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric and Corey LaJoie.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Chastain continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Truex while van Gisbergen, Bowman and Briscoe continued to run in the top five ahead of Cindric, Suarez, Elliott, McDowell and Reddick. By then, 11 of 15 remaining Playoff contenders on the track were running in the top 14 on the track while Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton and Bell were mired back from 25th to 27th, respectively. In addition, Denny Hamlin was mired a lap down in 34th place following repairs to his No. 11 Toyota.

    Five laps later, Chastain extended his advantage to three seconds over van Gisbergen, who overtook Truex for the runner-up spot a lap earlier, while Bowman and Briscoe battled for fourth place in front of Suarez. Behind, Cindric, Elliott, McDowell and Reddick were racing in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Logano, Zane Smith, Byron and Ty Gibbs while Keselowski, Bell, Burton and Hamlin all continued to be mired outside the top-20 mark.

    Another lap later, McDowell pitted his No. 34 Benebone Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry under green from ninth place. A host of names that included van Gisbergen, Logano, Zane Smith, Byron, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Corey LaJoie, rookie Carson Hocevar, Noah Gragson, rookie Josh Berry, Justin Haley, Keselowski, Juan Pablo Montoya, Harrison Burton, John Hunter Nemechek, Todd Gilliland and Austin Dillon pitted during the next lap period before the leader Chastain pitted his No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry on Lap 18. As a result, Truex cycled into the lead as he was followed by Bowman, Briscoe, Suarez and Cindric while Keselowski was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Truex, who came into the event 19 points below the top-12 cutline in the Playoff standings, notched his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Playoff rivals Bowman, Briscoe, Suarez, Cindric, Elliott, Reddick and Larson followed suit in the top eight, respectively, while non-Playoff competitors Erik Jones and Daniel Hemric were scored in the top 10. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders on the track that included Logano, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Keselowski, Bell, Burton and Hamlin were scored in 17th, 20th, 21st, 25th, 28th, 30th and 34th, respectively. Despite being mired a lap down, Hamlin was able to fend off Kyle Busch to be the first competitor scored a lap down at the first stage’s conclusion and receive the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, some led by Truex, including a host of competitors who remained on the track before the first stage’s conclusion, pitted while the rest led by Chastain, including those who pitted prior to the stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. Among the Playoff contenders who pitted with Truex included Bowman, Briscoe, Suarez, Cindric, Elliott, Reddick and Larson.

    The second stage period started on Lap 24 as Chastain and McDowell occupied the front row in front of van Gisbergen and Logano. At the start, Chastain fended off both McDowell and van Gisbergen through the frontstretch and the first set of turns including the Esses as the field fanned out while navigating up the Esses. With Suarez making contact and sending Reddick for a spin in the first turn amid a stack-up as the race remained under green flag conditions, Chastain would proceed to lead the first through the backstretch, the Bus Stop and the Inner Loop before he navigated his way through the final set of turns and led the following lap.

    Over the next five laps, starting on Lap 26, and with most of the field settling in a long single-file line, Chastain increased his advantage to as high as a second over van Gisbergen before the advantage shrunk to two-tenths of a second by Lap 29. Chastain would stabilize his lead to two-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen by the Lap 30 mark while McDowell, Logano, Zane Smith, LaJoie, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Hocevar and Buescher were scored in the top 10 ahead of Gragson, Bell, Berry, Montoya and Nemechek. By then, Playoff contenders Burton, Truex, Briscoe and Bowman were mired just inside the top-20 mark while Elliott, Cindric, Larson, Suarez and Keselowski were mired in the top-30 mark. In addition, Reddick was down in 33rd place in front of team owner Hamlin.

    At the Lap 35 mark, Chastain maintained the top spot by eight-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen while McDowell and Logano battled fiercely for third place. Behind, Zane Smith trailed in fifth place ahead of teammate LaJoie while Ty Gibbs, Byron, Hocevar and Buescher were running in the top 10. By then, Bell was in 13th as Burton, Briscoe, Truex and Bowman were mired inside the top-20 mark. With Elliott, Cindric, Larson and Keselowski trailing back in 22nd, 24th, 25th and 28th, respectively, Reddick was still mired in 32nd in front of Suarez and Hamlin.

    A lap later, a host of names including Buescher, Montoya, Erik Jones, Larson, Justin Haley, Keselowski and Kaz Grala pitted under green. More names including McDowell, Zane Smith, LaJoie, Noah Gragson, Bell, Berry, Nemechek, Truex, Gilliland, Elliott, Hemric, Cindric, Austin Dillon and Reddick pitted during the following lap before the caution flew due to Suarez spinning and getting his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry stuck in the gravel trap in Turn 6. During the pit stops, Keselowski was penalized for a second time, this time for an uncontrolled tire violation as a tire rolled out of his pit stall. Larson was also penalized for causing vehicle interference.

    With the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 40 officially concluding under caution, Chastain, who was unable to enter pit road to pit under green before the caution being flown for teammate Suarez spinning and instead remained on the track, proceeded to claim his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Van Gisbergen, who was also trying to pit with Chastain, followed suit in second along with Playoff contenders Logano, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Burton, Briscoe and Bowman while Ryan Preece and Hamlin were scored in the top 10. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders on the track that included Bell, Truex, Cindric, Elliott, Larson, Keselowski, Reddick and Suarez were mired in 20th, 21st, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 33rd and 35th, respectively.

    During the stage break, some led by Ty Gibbs and Byron pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

    With 48 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Chastain and van Gisbergen occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch, Chastain maintained the top spot ahead of van Gisbergen and a hard-charging Briscoe while the rest of the field scrambled while bumping and navigating through the Esses, the backstretch and the Bus Stop corner. With the field still jostling for spots through the Inner Loop and the final set of turns, Chastain led the following lap ahead of van Gisbergen, Briscoe, McDowell and LaJoie.

    At the halfway mark with 45 laps remaining, Chastain retained the lead by nearly six-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen, Briscoe, McDowell and LaJoie while Buescher, Hocevar, Montoya, Gragson and Logano were running in the top 10 ahead of Truex, Nemechek, Berry, Bell, Elliott, Cindric, Haley, Bowman, Kaz Grala and Hemric. By then, Playoff contenders Ty Gibbs, Byron, Hamlin, Burton, Keselowski, Larson, Reddick and Suarez were mired outside the top 20.

    A lap later, the caution returned when Hamlin, who was pinned in a tight three-wide battle with Keselowski and Larson just outside the top-20 mark towards the entry of the Esses, was sent sideways and into the guardrails by Keselowski as he sustained more damage to his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE entry. Despite continuing, the incident jeopardized Hamlin’s hopes of advancing to the Round of 12 in the Playoffs following his final lap accident at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    During the caution period, some including Logano, Keselowski and Larson pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track. Hamlin also pitted to continue to have more repairs made to his entry.

    The start of the next restart period with 41 laps remaining featured Chastain rocketing away from the field with the lead through the frontstretch and the first set of turns leading up to the Esses as the field scrambled for late spots. The field proceeded to navigate through the backstretch, the Bus Stop and the Esses smoothly as van Gisbergen and McDowell tried to keep the leader Chastain within close pursuit. As Chastain led the following lap, LaJoie and Buescher were scored in the top five while Briscoe was trying to fend off Hocevar and teammate Gragson for sixth place while Truex and Montoya were up into the top 10.

    With 35 laps remaining, Chastain retained a narrow lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging van Gisbergen as McDowell, Buescher, LaJoie, Hocevar, Gragson, Briscoe, Truex and Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, the following Playoff contenders that included Bell, Cindric, Bowman, Byron and Ty Gibbs were mired in the top-20 mark while Reddick, Logano, Larson, Keselowski, Suarez and Burton were mired in the top-30 mark. Meanwhile, Hamlin was down in 34th place.

    Two laps later, Buescher, who had fresher tires than the leader Chastain, rocketed past Chastain through the frontstretch as he assumed the lead. By then, van Gisbergen was down in third place and losing the spot to McDowell entering the first turn while LaJoie and Hocevar followed suit in the top six. Another lap later, Chastain and van Gisbergen pitted for fresh tires and fuel before Buescher pitted from the lead during the following lap.

    With 30 laps remaining, some including Montoya, Byron, Hocevar, Erik Jones and Haley pitted under green as Bell was bumped and sent for a spin by Austin Dillon in Turn 7 while trying to enter pit road. With the race remaining under green flag conditions, Bell pitted along with Nemechek and Ty Gibbs. As the pit stop cycle continued with a bevy of names including Gragson and Elliott pitting, McDowell retained the lead before he pitted with 25 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Logano was leading ahead of Zane Smith as third-place Larson pitted under green. By then, Cindric, LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Gilliland had pitted. Shortly after, Zane Smith pitted from the runner-up. With Buescher cycling his way up the leaderboard, he would then overtake Logano for the lead with 17 laps remaining while Keselowski, van Gisbergen, Hocevar and Chastain trailed in the top six. As Kaz Grala crashed in Turn 7 with help from Hemric, the race remained under green flag conditions.

    With 15 laps remaining, Buescher extended his advantage to four seconds over Logano as van Gisbergen, Keselowski and Hocevar were scored in the top five ahead of Chastain, McDowell, Preece, Briscoe and LaJoie. By then, Playoff contenders Truex, Byron and Elliott were scored in the top-14 mark on the track while Cindric, Bowman and Larson were trailing in the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Bell, Reddick and Burton were mired in the top-30 mark while Hamlin was back in 33rd place.

    Four laps later, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 6 as a result of Playoff contender Harrison Burton blowing a left-rear tire and leaving debris scattered in the turn. By then, Keselowski and Logano had pitted while Buescher was leading ahead of a hard-charging van Gisbergen. During the caution period, some including Playoff contenders and teammates Bowman, Byron and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Playoff contender Reddick.

    With the race restarting with seven laps remaining, Buescher and Hocevar, both of whom restarted on the front row in front of van Gisbergen and Chastain, dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and the first turn as the field fanned out entering the Esses. In the midst of the battles, Buescher maintained the lead in front of Hocevar and van Gisbregen through the backstretch. Just then, the caution returned when Logano made contact with Keselowski in the Esses resulting in Keselowski turning into Byron and Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry coming off the ground and on top of the left side of Keselowski’s No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry while being pinned towards the guardrails as both were left with heavily damaged race cars.

    The start of the next restart period with three laps remaining did not last long as Elliott and Berry, both of whom were running in the middle of the pack, were bumped into one another by Gilliland entering the Esses, which in turn ignited an accordion effect as both hit the guardrails along with Truex and Logano while Reddick was sent sideways and in front of Kyle Busch. Amid the incident, Buescher had maintained the lead ahead of Hocevar, Chastain, van Gisbergen, McDowell and Briscoe while the event was sent into overtime.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Buescher and Hocevar dueling for the lead through the frontstretch until van Gisbergen gave Buescher a little tap entering the first turn. The contact caused both Buescher and Hocevar to go wide as van Gisbergen made a three-wide pass on both to assume the lead through the Esses. With van Gisbergen leading, Buescher remained within striking distance of the former up the Esses and through the backstretch, Bus Stop and Inner Loop corners while the field behind jostled for late spots.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, van Gisbergen remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Buescher while Chastain was trying to fend off Hocevar and a bevy of competitors for third place. From the first turn to the backstretch, van Gisbergen maintained a reasonable lead over a hard-charging Buescher.

    Then through the Bus Stop, van Gisbergen made the slightest of contact with the right-side guardrails, which got him through the corner and the curbs as Buescher quickly closed the gap. Buescher then veered to the right and despite van Gisbergen’s effort to defend, made contact with the leader as he muscled his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry into the lead through the Inner Loop. Van Gisbergen then tried to close the gap back through a brief straightaway leading up to Turn 6, but he got loose in Turn 6 and had to step out of the gas to keep his No. 16 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry running straight in Turn 7. With van Gisbergen losing ground after going sideways, Buescher was able to smoothly navigate his way through Turn 7 and muscle back to the frontstretch victorious and to his first elusive checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season by nine-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen.

    With the victory, Buescher, who missed the 2024 Playoff field by a single points position amid a strong regular-season stretch, notched his sixth NASCAR Cup Series career win in his 321st series start, his first both at The Glen and on a road course venue, and his first since winning the 2023 regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. The victory was also the ninth of the season and the fourth in recent weeks for the Ford nameplate while Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing notched its second Cup victory of the 2024 season and first since teammate/co-owner Brad Keselowski won at Darlington Raceway in May. As an added bonus, this season marks the first time where Roush’s Nos. 17 and 6 entries won in the same Cup season since 2011.

    Buescher’s Cup victory at The Glen over van Gisbergen marked the first time a last-lap pass for the win was made since Joey Logano made the last accomplishment over Kevin Harvick in 2015. It also marked the first time a non-Playoff competitor won a Playoff event since AJ Allmendinger made the last accomplishment last October at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

    “I thought we lost it there on the last [restart],” Buescher said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “Man, to stay right there with [van Gisbergen]. [The Bus Stop] was the spot that he was better than us and he missed it, so I tried to cross over. He went to cut. Just hard racing there. Just such an awesome finish. To be that good for so much at the end of the race, all race. To get a win, it’s good. We came here to be [Playoff] spoiler. We’re going to do that. Man, we would’ve like to have won a couple of weeks ago, but this is huge. It’s such a big win for us. Everybody at [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing]’s worked so hard. To finally get a road course win, we’ve been so close so many times. To finally pull that off is fantastic.”

    Meanwhile, as Buescher celebrated in Victory Lane, van Gisbergen, who only led the penultimate lap, managed to smile despite being left “gutted” after capping off his strong run with his first top-two result of the season. His previous best result through his last seven Cup starts was 20th, which occurred at Circuit of the Americas in March. The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, is scheduled to compete at Talladega Superspeedway and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October, which will also mark his final pair of races of the season and with Kaulig Racing overall before he graduates to a full-time Cup campaign in 2025 with Trackhouse Racing.

    “I knew Chris [Buescher] was really going to send it and push me if [he] could get there,” van Gisbergen said. “As I turned [the car] and got a bit loose and clipped the inside wall, just driver error. I’m gutted. [The] WeatherTech Camaro was really good. The race was awesome with Ross [Chastain] and Chris and the others at the end. I’m gutted we couldn’t get [the win]. I had a lot of fun, but I’m pretty angry at myself. It was just a little bump to get [Buescher] wide [during the overtime shootout] and I knew I was going to get it back, so that’s why I was pushing so hard. It is what it is, but just gutted.”

    Rookie Carson Hocevar notched a career-best third-place result ahead of the pole-sitter Ross Chastain, who led a race-high 51 laps, while rookie Zane Smith achieved his second Cup career top-five result by finishing fifth.

    Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing Playoff contender in sixth place while Michael McDowell, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece and Playoff contender Austin Cindric finished in the top 10.

    The remaining Playoff contenders on the track that included Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Harrison Burton, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick and William Byron ended up finishing 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 26th, 27th and 34th, respectively.

    As a result, the four Playoff competitors who enter next weekend’s Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway below the top-12 cutline are Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Harrison Burton. Currently, Hamlin is six points behind Chase Briscoe and teammate Ty Gibbs for the 12th and final transfer spot into the Round of 12 while Keselowski, Truex and Burton trail the cutline by 12, 14 and 20 points, respectively.

    There were 11 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured seven cautions 21 for laps. In addition, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 19 laps led

    2. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap led

    3. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

    4. Ross Chastain, 51 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Zane Smith

    6. Chase Briscoe

    7. Michael McDowell, seven laps led

    8. Corey LaJoie, two laps led

    9. Ryan Preece

    10. Austin Cindric

    11. Noah Gragson

    12. Kyle Larson

    13. Daniel Suarez

    14. Christopher Bell

    15. Joey Logano, six laps led

    16. Todd Gilliland

    17. Bubba Wallace

    18. Alex Bowman, one lap led

    19. Chase Elliott

    20. Martin Truex Jr., four laps led, Stage 1 winner

    21. John Hunter Nemechek

    22. Ty Gibbs

    23. Denny Hamlin

    24. Harrison Burton

    25. Josh Berry

    26. Brad Keselowski

    27. Tyler Reddick

    28. Austin Dillon

    29. Justin Haley

    30. Kyle Busch

    31. Daniel Hemric

    32. Juan Pablo Montoya, one lap down

    33. Erik Jones, two laps down

    34. William Byron, two laps down

    35. Kaz Grala, five laps down

    36. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Transmission

    37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    38. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Christopher Bell +46

    3. Austin Cindric +43

    4. Alex Bowman +41

    5. Daniel Suarez +36

    6. Tyler Reddick +30

    7. Chase Elliott +30

    8. Ryan Blaney +29

    9. Kyle Larson +26

    10. William Byron +25

    11. Chase Briscoe +6

    12. Ty Gibbs +6

    13. Denny Hamlin -6

    14. Brad Keselowski -12

    15. Martin Truex Jr. -14

    16. Harrison Burton -20

    The Round of 16 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to conclude next Saturday, September 21, at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race and where the first of three elimination processes will occur. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Harrison Burton shakes up 2024 Cup Playoffs with first career victory at Daytona; delivers 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing

    Harrison Burton shakes up 2024 Cup Playoffs with first career victory at Daytona; delivers 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing

    After enduring a series of trials and challenges while struggling to be competitive in 97 previous starts in the NASCAR Cup Series level, Harrison Burton responded back in an emphatic style by scoring his first career victory and delivering a landmark win for Wood Brothers Racing amid an overtime shootout in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 24.

    The 23-year-old Burton from Huntersville, North Carolina, led only the final lap of 164 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in 20th place and maneuvered his way through both stage periods and a series of late-race carnages that included pole winner Michael McDowell getting airborne on one late incident before rookie Josh Berry rolled over during the following incident.

    Then while restarting alongside Kyle Busch on the front row at the start of an overtime shootout, Burton, who lost ground to Busch at the start of the final lap, received a huge draft from Parker Retzlaff to overtake Busch through the backstretch. With the lead in his grasp for two final turns, Burton then pulled two blocks on Busch entering the frontstretch’s tri-oval. He had enough steam underneath the hood of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to steer to his first elusive Cup Series victory that enabled him to automatically race his way into the 2024 Playoffs and deliver the milestone 100th win for the Wood Brothers.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Friday, August 23, Michael McDowell notched his fourth Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season after posting a fast pole-winning lap at 183.165 mph in 49.136 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Todd Gilliland, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 182.801 mph in 49.234 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland dueled for the lead in front of the field that was stacked amid two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the majority of the field continued to run in a pack of two, McDowell led the first lap by a hair from the inside lane over Gilliland as he had Joey Logano drafting him while Gilliland had drafting help from Ryan Preece.

    During the next four laps, the field slowly began to fan out to three stacked lanes as McDowell, who continued to run in the inside lane, retained the lead throughout the four-lap stretch over teammate Gilliland, Logano and Preece. By then, a third drafting lane towards the outside wall led by Austin Cindric started to charge towards the front as Cindric had Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon drafting him.

    This caused McDowell to go on defense as he tried to block and retain the lead through three lanes, but Logano capitalized on McDowell’s move to the outside lane, starting on the backstretch, to lead the sixth lap mark. Rookie Josh Berry then went three wide on both Logano and McDowell through the frontstretch to challenge for the lead from the inside lane, which caused Logano to lose ground and get shuffled out of the top five as Berry and McDowell dueled for the lead on the seventh lap.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the entire 40-car field separated by less than three seconds amid three stacked lanes within the draft, Keselowski scored the lead ahead of Logano, McDowell, Berry and Gilliland while Cindric, Austin Dillon, William Byron, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez were running in the top 10. With a series of on-track shuffling towards the front ensuing over the next five laps, Logano carved his way back to the front as he was pursued by McDowell, Keselowski, Berry, Gilliland, Byron, Cindric, Austin Dillon, Buescher and Kyle Larson by Lap 15.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Gilliland was drafted into the lead by teammate McDowell from the outside lane as Keselowski, Logano and Berry were scored in the top five ahead of Cindric, Blaney, Byron, Austin Dillon and Larson. Behind, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain followed suit in the top 15 while Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones were mixed in the top 20 ahead of Chase Elliott, Daniel Hemric, Martin Truex Jr., BJ McLeod, Ty Gibbs, Corey LaJoie, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Cody Ware and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen and John Hunter Nemechek trailing in the top 35.

    Five laps later, the top 39 of 40 starters were separated by four seconds while the top 25 were separated by less than a second, all of whom were racing amid three tight lanes within the draft, as Gilliland continued to lead ahead of teammate McDowell, Keselowski, Cindric and Berry.

    Just past the Lap 30 mark, Logano carved his way back to the lead as he was followed by teammate Blaney, Larson and Kyle Busch while Keselowski kept pursuit from the outside lane. Logano and Keselowski would proceed to duel for the lead for the following two laps as the front-runners began to fan out and draft aggressively in their march to the front.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 35, Berry, who received a strong push from Buescher towards the outside lane amid three stacked lanes, starting from the backstretch, fended off Logano and Buescher at the start/finish line to capture his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season and of his career. Logano and Buescher followed suit in second and third, respectively, while Cindric, Blaney, Gilliland, Keselowski, McDowell, Byron and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, 39 of 40 starters were scored on the lead lap while the event had featured 13 lead changes and six different competitors leading at least one lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Berry pitted for a first round of pit service, Other drivers led by Corey LaJoie and including BJ McLeod, Martin Truex Jr., rookie Zane Smith, Austin Dillon, Preece, Daniel Hemric, Shane van Gisbergen, rookie Carson Hocevar and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remained on the track.

    Following the pit stops, Logano exited pit road first ahead of Buescher, Cindric, Berry, Larson, Chastain, Wallace, Keselowski, Gilliland and McDowell. During the pit stops, Daniel Suarez had fire blazing out of his No. 99 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as he left his pit stall, which he then cycled for a full lap before he returned to his pit stall while still blazing in flames and escaped the cockpit uninjured. The cause of the fire was spilled fuel that was run over by Hamlin as the spark then carried forth into Suarez’s entry.

    During the caution laps, a multitude of names that included Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe, Cody Ware, Austin Hill, Noah Gragson, LaJoie, Austin Dillon, van Gisbergen, McLeod, Zane Smith, Justin Haley, Stenhouse, Truex and Hocevar pitted to top off with fuel as they were shuffled to the rear of the field.

    The second stage period started on Lap 41 as Logano and Buescher occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead through the first two turns before Logano received a draft from teammate Cindric and Berry from the outside lane to emerge ahead of Buescher, who continued to run on the inside lane and lead the following lap as he had Ross Chastain drafting him.

    With the field quickly fanning out to three packed lanes over the next four laps, Bubba Wallace, who did not record stage points during the first stage’s conclusion, maneuvered his way to the front as he challenged Buescher, Logano, Cindric and Keselowski for the lead as Chastain, Berry and Larson followed suit within the top eight.

    Through the first 50 scheduled laps and a series of on-track shuffling ensuing at the front, Chase Briscoe, who carved his way to the front a few laps earlier, was leading by a hair over Wallace as Hemric, Logano, Buescher, Austin Hill, Keselowski, Cindric, Berry and LaJoie were mired in the top 10 ahead of Chastain, Gilliland, Larson, Gragson, McDowell, Burton, Preece, Kyle Busch, Blaney and Haley. Meanwhile, Elliott, Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Hamlin and Byron were mired in the top 25 as the top 38 competitors were separated by a second amid three packed lanes.

    Five laps later, Wallace, who reassumed the lead three laps earlier, retained the lead ahead of Buescher while Keselowski and Logano dueled for third place in front of the stacked field. Wallace proceeded to transition from the outside to the inside lane as he fended off Buescher and Logano for the top spot while LaJoie was trying to formulate a run from a third drafting lane toward the outside lane. Amid a series of on-track shuffling over the next four laps, Wallace retained the lead ahead of a long line of competitors opting to run towards the outside lane and behind Wallace

    Then on Lap 59, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that erupted in the backstretch when Gragson, who was trying to carve his way towards the top-10 mark, was aggressively pushed into Chastain and Haley by LaJoie, where a stack-up caused LaJoie to get Gragson turned sideways and clip both Nemechek and Chastain as Truex, Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Hill, Hamlin, Erik Jones, Byron, Elliott, Larson, Hemric, Preece, Blaney, Austin Dillon and Reddick all wrecked. The multi-car wreck took a hit on Chastain’s hopes of remaining in Playoff contention as he lost one lap in the process of having his car still in contention to race while top names including Preece, Hamlin, Gragson and Elliott retired from further competition.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Wallace pitted, primarily for fuel, while a select few led by Hocevar remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Buescher exited first ahead of Keselowski, Logano, Wallace, Berry, Cindric, Gilliland, McDowell, Burton and Blaney. Hocevar would then pit after leading a lap under caution while Reddick, Hill and Erik Jones remained on the track in the top three spots. The latter three would then pit shortly after, which enabled Buescher to cycle back into the lead.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 66 featured teammates Buescher and Keselowski dueling for the lead against one another before Buescher muscled ahead with strong drafting help from Logano on the outside lane through the first two turns. With Buescher and Logano drafting their way to first and second on the track, Keselowski followed suit along with Wallace, Cindric and Burton while Berry was trying to mount a charge from the inside lane as he had drafting help from Gilliland. By Lap 68, however, the majority of the field migrated to a long single-file line towards the outside lane as Buescher led the way ahead of Logano, Keselowski, Wallace and Cindric.

    Just past the Lap 70 mark, Buescher continued to lead ahead of a long line of competitors running towards the outside lane as he was pursued by Logano, Keselowski, Wallace, Cindric, Burton, Kyle Busch, van Gisbergen, Haley and Gilliland. Behind, McDowell, Blaney, McLeod, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, Bell, Nemechek, Hill, Zane Smith and Berry occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Austin Dillon, Byron, Briscoe, Larson and Cody Ware. By Lap 73, however, the field quickly fanned out to two drafted lanes as Wallace received a draft from Kyle Busch while transitioning to the inside lane to reassume the lead. The field then fanned out to three lanes on Lap 75 as Logano overtook Gilliland to aggressively move into the lead as teammate Cindric, Haley, Blaney and Reddick quickly made their way to the front as Buescher, Wallace and Kyle Busch were getting shuffled out of the top-10 mark.

    On Lap 77, Cindric, who was running towards the front, nearly got sideways on the backstretch after he got hit on the side by Larson while being drafted by teammate Blaney, but he managed to keep his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse straight despite getting shuffled out of the lead group as the race remained under green flag conditions.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 80 and a series of on-track shuffling ensuing at the front, Larson was leading by a hair over Gilliland and Logano while Busch, Blaney, Keselowski, McDowell, Reddick, Buescher and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, the top-31 competitors were separated by four seconds as the top 18 were separated by under a second.

    Then on Lap 80, the caution returned when Erik Jones fell off the pace due to blowing a flat right-front tire to his No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE. Behind Jones, van Gisbergen, who was announced as a full-time Cup Series competitor for Trackhouse Racing in 2025, had his No. 16 Safety Culture Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 billowing in thick smoke through the backstretch as his car, which also ended up in flames, came to an end with an engine failure, where he then managed to park his car and escape uninjured.

    During the extensive caution period, some led by Gilliland and including Busch, McDowell and Cindric pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green flag conditions on Lap 88, Loganon and Larson dueled for the lead through the first two turns and ahead of an aggressive field dueling amid two stacked lanes. While Logano had teammate Blaney drafting him from the outside lane, Larson gained the upper hand from the inside lane as he led the next lap with drafting help from Keselowski and Buescher as Gilliland and Busch closed in to join the draft.

    By Lap 90, Larson continued to lead ahead of Keselowski, Logano, Buescher and Blaney as Wallace started to ignite a third drafting lane towards the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Reddick. With the top 21 competitors separated by a second, Keselowski and Larson dueled for the lead in front of the stacked pack for the following lap.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 95, Logano held off a three-wide challenge from teammate Blaney and Keselowski to capture his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson and Gilliland followed suit behind the three Ford leaders while Haley, Busch, Byron, Buescher and Wallace were scored in the top 10. By then, the top-31 competitors were scored on the lead lap while the event had featured 31 lead changes.

    During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Logano pitted while a select few led by Keselowski and Stenhouse remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chastain managed to cycle his way back onto the lead lap while Keselowski and Stenhouse would pit for fuel not long after.

    With 60 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as McDowell and Berry occupied the front row. McDowell launched ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he was drafted by Busch and Burton. Berry led the inside lane ahead of Haley and Cindric. McDowell would proceed to lead the following lap as he transitioned between the inside and outside lane to keep Berry behind him. In the process, Haley moved into second place during the next lap period while Berry settled in third ahead of Cindric and Busch as the top 32 competitors were separated by within two seconds.

    With less than 54 laps remaining and the majority of the field running in a long single-file line towards the outside lane, McDowell was leading ahead of Haley, Berry, Cindric, Busch, Burton, Nemechek, Zane Smith, Larson and Austin Dillon while Hemric, Austin Hill, Briscoe, Logano, Wallace, Blaney, Bell, Gibbs, Bowman and Erik Jones followed suit in close-quarters racing within the top 20. Meanwhile, Chastain was mired in 30th place along with Keselowski while Buescher was in 22nd in between Bell and Gilliland.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with the field both fanned and stacked out to two lanes, McDowell continued to lead ahead of Haley, Nemechek, Berry, Larson, Cindric, Busch, Logano, Burton and Hemric while the top 30 competitors were separated by less than two seconds.

    Ten laps later, Haley, who aggressively overtook McDowell for the top spot a lap earlier, was leading two stacks of competitors vying for spots amid the draft, with Cindric, McDowell, Logano, Berry, Nemechek, Keselowski, Larson, Buescher and Busch mingled in the top 10 ahead of Cody Ware, Burton, Bell, Zane Smith, Austin Dillon, Wallace, Hill, Briscoe, Gilliland and Blaney.

    Five laps later and with the majority of the field migrating towards the outside lane in a long single-file line, Haley continued to lead ahead of Berry, Nemechek, Larson, Busch, Cindric, McDowell, Logano, Burton and Cody Ware as the top-25 competitors were separated by less than two seconds and the top 32 separated by three seconds.

    Another five laps later, Haley retained the lead ahead of Berry, Nemechek, Larson and Busch with a majority of the lead lap field remaining in a long single-file line towards the outside lane while Cody Ware was trying to ignite a charge from the inside lane with drafting help from Bell and Wallace. By then, Truex was pinned multiple laps down after he pitted his car under green.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Haley, who threw a series of blocks while transitioning from the inside and outside lane, retained the lead ahead of Berry while Bell muscled his way up to third place as he was followed by Nemechek, Larson, Wallace, Busch, Hemric, Cindric and Keselowski, with the top-30 competitors separated by less than two seconds. Three laps later, however, the field began to fan out aggressively to three stacked lanes as Nemechek challenged Haley for the lead from the outside lane.

    Then with 21 laps remaining, the caution flew.= when Nemechek, who was vying for the lead amid a three-wide battle with Busch and Haley, received a hard bump from Larson in the middle lane that caused Nemechek to turn across the right-front fender of Haley and send Nemechek’s No. 42 Pye Barker Toyota Camry XSE spinning below the backstretch’s asphalt, though Nemechek managed to keep his car off the wall and continue as no one else wrecked. At the moment of caution, Busch emerged as the leader ahead of Cindric, Larson, McDowell, Berry and Keselowski.

    During the caution period and with the field assessing their fuel situation to the finish, the entire lead lap field led by Busch pitted, primarily for fuel. Following the pit stops, Cindric exited pit road first, followed by Keselowski, Larson, McDowell, Busch, Logano, Blaney, Berry, Briscoe and Wallace. Within the pit stops Bell made contact with McLeod while exiting his pit stall.

    The start of the following restart period with 16 laps remaining featured Keselowski and Cindric dueling for the lead through the first two turns amid a wave of shoves towards the front, with Cindric having drafting help from Larson while Keselowski had drafting help from McDowell. Cindric would then prevail from the outside lane as he led the next lap ahead of Larson before Keselowski fought back.

    Shortly after, however, Keselowski was penalized for a restart violation, where he pulled ahead of the leader Cindric from the inside lane when he was not in control of the restart to launch ahead. Keselowski, however, remained on the track and towards the front before he yielded and served a pass-through penalty through pit road with 12 laps remaining. With Keselowski serving his penalty, the field fanned out to three stacked lanes as Cindric battled McDowell for the lead.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the top 27 competitors were separated by less than a second amid three stacked lanes as Cindric, Larson and McDowell all dueled for the lead from the top, middle and bottom lanes, respectively. Amid the battles, Berry and Busch were scored in the top five as Logano, Wallace, Bowman, Reddick and Blaney were mingled in the top 10.

    A lap later, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that erupted in Turn 1 when McDowell, who led the previous lap and transitioned towards the outside lane to block Cindric, got sideways off the front nose of Cindric as he spun to the bottom of the track. McDowell received a huge hit on the driver’s side by Logano as McDowell’s No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse went airborne and nearly flipped. The car managed to land back on all four wheels while sliding back up the track and clipping the rear deck lid of Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the process.

    Amid the carnage, a multitude of names including Logano, Larson, Bowman, Bell, Wallace, Reddick, Haley, Byron, Blaney, Stenhouse, Buescher and Hill were all involved. Meanwhile, Cindric escaped with the lead while Berry, Busch, Bell, Austin Dillon and Zane Smith were scored in the top six.

    During the caution period, some including McLeod, Nemechek, Wallace, Joey Gase, Briscoe, Reddick, LaJoie and Chastain pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

    With three laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Cindric and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric and Berry dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes before Cindric muscled ahead from the inside lane entering the backstretch. Cindric and Berry continued to battle dead even for the lead for the following two turns as Cindric led the following lap by a hair, with Busch, Byron, Bell and Burton closely mixed in the top six.

    Then, with two laps remaining entering the backstretch, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime following another multi-car wreck that started when a stackup at the front resulted in Busch bumping Cindric as Cindric went up the track and made contact with both Berry and Byron. It sent Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up into the outside wall hard while Cindric and Berry were sent sliding toward the backstretch’s infield.

    Amid the spins, Berry’s No. 4 eero Ford Mustang Dark Horse then went airborne and rolled over on its roof as the car slid down the backstretch and smacked the inside wall hard head-on before the car spun several times on its top and came to rest while still upside-down. Among those involved included Zane Smith, Erik Jones, Gilliland, Austin Dillon, Nemechek and Austin Hill while the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage.

    Amid the wild ride, Berry, who had the on-track safety crews roll the car back on all four wheels, managed to climb out and emerge uninjured with the driver giving thumbs up. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch escaped with the lead ahead of Burton while Bell, Retzlaff, Nemechek and Keselowski were scored in the top six as the event was placed in a red flag period for nearly seven minutes.

    When the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, Kyle Busch and Burton opted to restart alongside one another for the first overtime attempt, with Busch having Bell, Cody Ware and Keselowski lining up behind him on the inside lane while Burton had Retzlaff, Nemechek and Gibbs lining up behind him on the outside lane.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Busch and Burton dueling for the lead until Busch rocketed his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead with drafting help from Bell’s No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE on the inside lane. Busch would retain the lead through the backstretch and he started to muscle ahead of both Burton and Bell entering Turns 3 and 4 with a reasonable advantage.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Busch remained as the leader ahead of Burton and Bell with the field behind continuing to stack up and draft aggressively amid two lanes. Then as Busch was trying to keep Bell drafting him from the inside lane, Harrison Burton rocketed his No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead with a strong push from Parker Retzlaff from the outside lane.

    Then as Burton maintained the lead through Turns 3 and 4, he went up the track to block Busch. He blocked Busch again while transitioning back to the inside lane, going below the double yellow lines in the process. With Burton keeping his car straight and fending off Busch’s last corner efforts, he managed to beat Busch to the finish line by 0.047 seconds to claim his first triumph in the Cup Series.

    With the victory, Burton became the 205th competitor overall to win in NASCAR’s premier series, the first competitor to record a first Cup victory in 2024 and the first competitor to record a first Cup victory while driving for the Wood Brothers Racing team since Ryan Blaney made the last accomplishment at Pocono Raceway in June 2017. Ironically, Burton, who won in his 98th Cup career start, became the first competitor to record a first Cup win in Daytona’s 400-lap feature since William Byron did so in 2020 where he also achieved the feat in his 98th series start.

    Speaking of Wood Brothers Racing, the historic organization accomplished its seven-year battle of notching its elusive 100th victory in the Cup Series as Burton, who became the 19th competitor overall to win while driving for the Wood Brothers, drove the team’s No. 21 Ford to its first Daytona win since Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500.

    As a result of his first Cup Series victory, Burton, who came into the event strapped in 34th place in the regular-season standings, earned a one-way ticket to the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, which will mark his first opportunity and the Wood Brother’s third overall to contend in the Cup’s postseason elimination-style battle for the championship. Burton also became the 13th competitor overall to be guaranteed a 2024 Playoff berth by winning throughout the regular-season stretch.

    “I don’t know. I cried the whole victory lap,” Burton, who fought tears of emotions, said while celebrating with his team, family and father Jeff on the frontstretch, on NBC. “Obviously, [I] got fired from the shove. I wanted to do everything for the Wood Brothers that I could. They’ve given me an amazing opportunity in life. To get them [win No.] 100 on my way out is amazing. We’re in the Playoffs now. Let’s go to Darlington and see what happens.”

    The victory was a personal one for Burton, who is set to be a free agent after this season. With Josh Berry set to replace Burton in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in 2025, Burton’s racing status for next season remains undetermined, though he strives to conclude the 2024 season strong.

    “It’s amazing,” Burton added. “It’s been the hardest three years of my life. Obviously, the hardest three years for some of these [No. 21] guys’ lives. To win the way that we just did, to beat the best in the business, Kyle Busch, across the line, it’s pretty fantastic. I made a bet with Jeremy [Bullins], my crew chief, that if we won, we’re staying here and driving home, so we’ll be at a bar somewhere! Come find us and we’re gonna celebrate this one!”

    Behind Burton, Kyle Busch, who led eight laps, recorded a strong runner-up result for his fourth top-five result of the 2024 season. Despite being left satisfied with his run, Busch trails the Playoff cutline by 106 points and is still left in a “must-win” situation entering next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway to keep his Playoff hopes alive.

    “I just finished second. It’s all good,” Busch said. “We were really, really, really lucky tonight to miss a few of them crashes. All good. Just real proud of everybody, [crew chief] Randall [Burnett], all the guys. Everybody at [Richard Childress Racing], ECR [Engines]. They did a great job and brought a fast car. [It] Wasn’t meant to be, so we’ll take this and got a good little stretch here going with these last three weeks and hope that we can do what we need to do in next week’s [race].”

    Christopher Bell came home in third place followed by Cody Ware, who recorded his first top-five result in the Cup Series, while Ty Gibbs battled back to finish in fifth place.

    Bubba Wallace also rallied to finish in sixth place followed by Parker Retzlaff and Brad Keselowski, who spun through the frontstretch’s tri-oval after crossing the finish line while Daniel Hemric and Chris Buescher completed the top-10 results in the final running order.

    With three spots into the 2024 Cup Series Playoff standings being vacant entering next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington, Martin Truex Jr. sits 58 points above the cutline and Ty Gibbs sits 39 points above the cutline. Meanwhile, Chris Buescher holds sole possession of the 16th and final transfer spot in the Playoffs by 21 points over Bubba Wallace and 27 over Ross Chastain.

    There were 40 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 34 laps. In addition, 20 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the 25th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Tyler Reddick continues to lead the regular-season standings by 17 points over Kyle Larson, 18 over Chase Elliott, 68 over Ryan Blaney, 80 over William Byron and 86 over Christopher Bell.

    Results.

    1. Harrison Burton, one lap led

    2. Kyle Busch, eight laps led

    3. Christopher Bell

    4. Cody Ware

    5. Ty Gibbs

    6. Bubba Wallace, 16 laps led

    7. Parker Retzlaff

    8. Brad Keselowski, eight laps led

    9. Daniel Hemric

    10. Chris Buescher, 10 laps led

    11. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

    12. Ross Chastain

    13. Zane Smith

    14. Chase Briscoe, two laps led

    15. John Hunter Nemechek

    16. Alex Bowman

    17. Erik Jones

    18. Austin Cindric, 15 laps led

    19. BJ McLeod

    20. Joey Gase

    21. Kyle Larson, one lap down, five laps led

    22. Austin Dillon, two laps down

    23. Todd Gilliland, two laps down, five laps led

    24. Martin Truex Jr., three laps down

    25. Austin Hill – OUT

    26. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

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

    28. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

    29. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

    30. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

    31. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    32. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident, 21 laps led

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    34. Corey LaJoie, 32 laps down

    35. Shane van Gisbergen – OUT, Engine

    36. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident

    37. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

    38. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident

    39. Ryan Preece – OUT, DVP

    40.  Daniel Suarez – OUT, Fire

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, which will serve as this year’s regular-season finale and officially determine the 16-car field for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, September 1, during Labor Day weekend and air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.