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Bowman clinches Playoff berth with wild, rain-shortened Cup victory at Chicago

Alex Bowman capitalized on a gutsy late-race strategic pit call made by crew chief Blake Harris to race his way into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by winning the rain-shortened, second annual running of the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday, July 7.

The 31-year-old Bowman from Tucson, Arizona, led the final eight of 58-shortened laps in an event where he started in eighth place and navigated through the streets of Chicago’s wet conditions to record a total of 14 stage points between two stage periods, including the second and latest stage where he remained on the track on wet tires to settle in second place behind Joey Hand. At the conclusion of the second stage period, the event became a race against the clock to conclude at 8:20 p.m. CT instead of its scheduled distance of 75 laps due to an earlier rain delay period that spanned more than an hour and a half.

For the start of the final stage period with 27 laps remaining, Bowman, who was among several front-runners who elected to continue to race on wet tires instead of dry slicks for the remainder of the event following a strategic call made by crew chief Harris, assumed the lead from Hand with 26 laps remaining. Then amid another late-race caution that gave him more time to lead as the event’s timed clock to conclusion kept expiring, he muscled away from the field during the next restart period with 22 laps remaining and led the next two laps before the event was then shortened to two laps remaining (75 to 58 laps overall) as the clock expired. Despite having Tyler Reddick challenging him over the final two laps, Bowman left little room to error around the Chicago Street Course’s 12 turns and he managed to fend off the competition to snap an 80-race winless drought and lock both himself and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team into this year’s Playoff field.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, July 6, Kyle Larson notched his fifth Cup pole position of the 2024 season after posting a 90.168 mph lap in 87.836 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 90.158 mph in 87.846 seconds.

Before the event, several drivers including Brad Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton, Ryan Preece and Erik Jones dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective entries. William Byron also started at the rear of the field due to a power steering failure. Notably, Josh Bilicki, who started at the rear of the field, was not permitted to qualify and was assessed a drive-through penalty at the start of the event due to his entry failing pre-race inspection three times.

With rain occurring around the course as the field made the pace laps, the teams were given the option to switch from slick to wet weather tires. Select names including Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and rookie Zane Smith pitted for wet tires while the rest led by Larson and Gibbs remained on the track on dry weather tires.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, the field fanned out through the frontstretch amid a series of tire spins as Ty Gibbs launched his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE ahead with the early advantage through Turn 1. Gibbs proceeded to lead from Turns 2 to 5 while Tyler Reddick tried to close in from the runner-up spot. With the field then navigating through a long straightaway in South Columbus Drive, Gibbs retained the lead through the next series of turns starting in Turn 6 to East Balbo Drive to South Michigan Drive and the East Congress Plaza Drive through Turns 7 to 11. Through one final right-hand turn to Turn 12, Gibbs led the first lap over Reddick.

Through the second lap, Gibbs slightly stretched his early advantage to more than half a second over Reddick as Kyle Larson, who lost the lead at the start, tried to challenge Reddick for the runner-up spot. Behind, Alex Bowman was trying to fend off Shane van Gisbergen and Bubba Wallace for fourth place before van Gisbergen overtook both Bowman and Larson to move his No. 16 Wendy’s Saucy Nuggets Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third place.

Meanwhile, Truex had carved his way up to 10th place after pitting for wet tires as he tried to close in on Chase Briscoe for more while Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell were in seventh and eighth. With a series of on-course battles ensuing between those who pitted for wet tires versus those who did not, Gibbs retained the lead by a second over Reddick by the fifth lap mark. By then, McDowell, Ryan Preece and Harrison Burton pitted their respective entries for wet tires as rain was being reported within the north end of the circuit.

At the Lap 10 mark, Gibbs, who remained on the course on dry tires, continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging van Gisbergen as Bell, Larson and Briscoe followed suit in the top five. Behind, Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek and Todd Gilliland trailed in the top 10 while Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., AJ Allmendinger, rookie Carson Hocevar, Joey Hand, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala rounded out the top 20 ahead of Chris Buescher, Austin Hill, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Daniel Hemric. By then, select names including LaJoie, Austin Dillon and Truex had pitted.

A lap later, Gibbs, who was stuck behind Preece and Joey Logano as the latter two were struggling on wet tires and trying to remain on the lead lap, was overtaken by van Gisbergen for the lead through the South Michigan Avenue and entering Turn 11. With van Gisbergen leading through the frontstretch and at the Lap 12 mark, Bell would also try to follow suit in his No. 20 Craftsman Toyota Camry XSE, but Gibbs would fend him off as Bell bumped and nearly sent Logano sideways in Turn 1. With Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spinning in Turn 1 while the event remained under green flag conditions, select names including Burton, Logano, Preece, Erik Jones, Cindric and McDowell were lapped as van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to a second over Bell by Lap 14. Bell, however, would assume the lead from van Gisbergen on Lap 15.

A lap later, the event’s first caution period flew due to LaJoie, who was scored in 29th place, spinning and crashing his No. 7 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the wall in Turn 5 as he was dodged by oncoming traffic, including the leader, while faced backward. By then, van Gisbergen had reassumed the lead from Bell as Gibbs, Briscoe and Larson were running in the top five.

With the precipitation slowly increasing around the circuit, the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 20 concluded under caution as van Gisbergen claimed the first Cup stage victory of his career and of the 2024 season. Bell, who swept both stage periods a year ago at the streets of Chicago, settled in second ahead of Gibbs, Briscoe and Larson while Bowman, Wallace, Gilliland, Reddick and Suarez were scored in the top 10. By then, 30 of 40 competitors were scored on the lead lap as William Byron, LaJoie, Ryan Blaney and rookie Josh Berry were pinned a lap down.

During the closing laps of the first stage period, NASCAR announced that the event’s conclusion would occur at 8:20 p.m. CT, even if the event did not reach its scheduled distance of Lap 75, which made the event a race against the clock for the scheduled time. Once the event’s leader crosses the start/finish line at the time when the clock expires, the next lap will be the final lap and the checkered flag will follow suit with no overtime rules occurring.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by van Gisbergen, including those on dry tires, pitted for wet tires while Zane Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, where the field stacked up upon exiting pit road to avoid an on-track safety vehicle, Bell exited first while Gibbs, Larson, van Gisbergen, Bowman, Wallace, Briscoe and Reddick, who ran into the rear of teammate Wallace, followed suit.

The second stage period started on Lap 23 as Smith and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs managed to overtake both to reassume the lead in Turn 1. Shortly after, Wallace, who was battling in the top 10, spun at the exit of Turn 2 after Bowman made contact with Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE, which resulted in Wallace making rear-end contact with the tire barriers and sliding back into the path of both Bowman and Suarez.

As the field continued to navigate through the course, the caution would then return just shy of Lap 25 due to Briscoe sliding sideways amid the slick conditions and slamming into the tire barriers on the driver’s side of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Turn 6 while also clipping van Gisbergen as both were racing in the top six. In the process, van Gisbergen slid and slammed into the outside wall on the right side in Turn 6 and came to a full stop towards the wall. The incident was enough for van Gisbergen to retire from competition as his hopes of winning on the streets of Chicago for a second consecutive season evaporated.

“I just sort of turned in [to Turn 6], it looked pretty good and then just got smashed by [Briscoe],” van Gisbergen said upon being released from the infield care center on NBC. “Gutting. That sucks, but it’s an unfortunate mistake by him. I’m sure he didn’t mean it, but yeah, when he just clipped me, ain’t nothing I could do. It’s a shame to be out so early and shame we couldn’t have a proper crack at [the win] at the end.”

During the caution period, the field led by Gibbs was directed to pit road and the race was placed in a red flag period for one hour and 43 minutes due to the rain as the on-track crews went to work to blow the standing water off of the course.

Once the field led by Gibbs returned to the course under a cautious pace, some including Byron, Erik Jones, Suarez, Logano, LaJoie, Preece and Burton pitted for a fresh set of wet tires. By then, the race had approximately an hour before it would reach its scheduled time of concluding at 8:20 p.m. CT.

When the race restarted on Lap 30, where all competitors restarted in single-line formation, Gibbs retained the lead from teammate Bell through the first turn before navigating his way from Turns 2 to 5. Then through the South Columbus Drive, Bell drew even with teammate Gibbs before he gained the advantage and moved into the lead in Turn 6. With Denny Hamlin locking his tires and running into the rear of Stenhouse as both spun and hit the tire barriers in Turn 6, the race remained under green flag conditions as Bell retained the lead over teammate Gibbs over the next four laps. In the process, Larson began to ignite his challenge on Gibbs for the runner-up spot while Reddick and Gilliland carved their way into the top five over Nemechek, Elliott, Chastain, Allmendinger and Smith.

Then on Lap 33 and with Bell stretching his advantage to more than a second, the caution flew after Larson, who was battling Gibbs for the runner-up spot, locked up his front tires and went dead straight into the tire barriers in Turn 6 as he got his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 stuck underneath the barriers. With the assistance of a wrecker, Larson limped his car that had heavy front nose damage as far as he could around the course, starting from Turn 6, before he parked his car in Turn 8 and retired from further competition.

The start of the next restart period on Lap 36 featured Bell retaining the lead over teammate Gibbs, Reddick and Gilliland through the first two turns. With seventh-place Chastain barely hitting the wall in Turn 4, trouble struck as Josh Berry hit the tire barriers head-on in Turn 4. In the ensuing process, teammate Briscoe spun off the course in the exact same turn, but both continued without drawing a caution. Amid the chaos, Bell slowly stretched his advantage to more than half a second over teammate Gibbs during the ensuing four laps.

Just past the Lap 40 mark, Bell retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Gibbs while third-place Gilliland trailed by four seconds. Behind, Nemechek and Reddick were in the top five as Allmendinger, Joey Hand, Chastain, Bowman and Justin Haley were in the top 10 ahead of Buescher, Grala, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Elliott.

With three laps remaining in the second stage period and with nearly half an hour of racing left on the clock, select names including Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Austin Hill, McDowell, Blaney, Byron, Zane Smith, Cindric, Suarez and Wallace pitted their respective entries for slick tires. Teammates Bell and Gibbs along with Gilliland, Nemechek, Reddick, Allmendinger, Chastain, Haley, Buescher and Grala all pitted for dry tires during the next lap as Joey Hand cycled into the lead. In the process, Austin Dillon and Berry had on-track incidents of their own within separate turns, but the event remained under green flag conditions.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 45, Joey Hand, an accomplished sports car competitor from Sacramento, California, who was making his first NASCAR start of the 2024 season in Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, captured the stage victory, which was also his first in the Cup Series level. Bowman followed suit in second along with Keselowski, Hocevar and Truex while Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Stenhouse, Burton and Hamlin were scored in the top 10. By then and with the top-10 competitors all remaining on the track on wet tires, Bell was mired in 13th place, but running two spots ahead of teammate Gibbs on his slick tires while Gilliland, Reddick, Nemechek, Allmendinger and Haley were mired within the top 20 on the course.

With 27 laps remaining but less than 20 minutes left until the event reached its concluding time of 8:20 p.m. CT, the final stage commenced as Hand, who along with the rest of the field remained on the track during the second stage’s break period, led Bowman, Keselowski, Hocevar, Truex and the rest of the field through the frontstretch. At the start, Hand retained a slim lead in his No. 60 BuildSumbarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse over Bowman through the first two turns while Truex was trying to overtake Hocevar for fourth place. Hand would was lead through Turns 2 to 5 and through South Columbus Drive before he made his way into Turn 6 with the top spot. Behind, Keselowski retained third place ahead of Truex, Hocevar and Stenhouse just past Turn 6 while Hand maintained the lead by within half a second as he led the proceeding lap.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Hand continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bowman, who kept intimidating Hand through every turn, as Keselowski, Truex and Hocevar followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Bell, racing on slick tires, was mired in 11th place behind Stenhouse, Gragson, Hemric, Burton and Preece while Gibbs, Reddick, Briscoe and Nemechek were in the top 15 ahead of Berry, McDowell, Gilliland, Blaney and Hamlin. In the process, Allmendinger was recovering from spinning in Turn 12 without drawing a caution.

Then just as Bowman assumed the lead from Hand in Turn 5 and was entering South Columbus Drive during the following lap, the caution returned due to Berry wrecking and getting his No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse stuck underneath the tire barriers.

With 22 laps but four-and-a-half minutes on the clock remaining, the race restarted as Bowman retained the lead ahead of Hand and the field through the first turn. Amid a strong start, Bowman retained a steady advantage through the next set of turns while Briscoe and Nemechek each wrecked separately. As the race continued to run under green flag conditions, Bell muscled his way up to eighth place behind Hocevar and Gragson while Bowman retained the lead entering Turn 6 before he navigated his way through Turns 7 to 11.

The following lap, Truex got sideways in Turn 2 and he got teammate Bell, who was about to crack the top five, spinning sideways in front of Hocevar as both Bell and Hocevar collided into one another towards the wall. Despite all competitors continuing without drawing a caution, Bell’s progress to drive back to the front was derailed as he pitted and eventually retired from the race. In the process, Bowman kept his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 out in front of the field while running strong on his wet tires.

Then as the time clock expired and the event’s duration decreased from 20 to two laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead by more than a second over Hand as Reddick, Gibbs and Stenhouse trailed in the top five. Reddick, who was on slick tires, would proceed to overtake Hand for the runner-up spot, but he trailed Bowman by more than three seconds.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bowman remained as the leader by two seconds over Reddick, who was mounting a late charge on slick tires and logging in faster lap times than Bowman. With Reddick hitting the inside wall in Turn 5 and losing ground amid his late-race charge, Bowman was able to navigate the final seven sets of turns within the streets of Chicago smoothly and to perfection as he returned to the frontstretch victorious for his first checkered flag in over two years.

With the victory, Bowman achieved his eighth career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his first on a road course and street course venue and his first since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March 2022. The victory was also the first for crew chief Blake Harris, who assumed the role as crew chief of the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team at the start of the 2023 season. In addition, Bowman’s victory for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 team, which was the eighth of the season for the Hendrick organization and the ninth for the Chevrolet nameplate through 20-scheduled events, means that team owner Rick Hendrick has all four of his entries making the Playoffs and for the first time since the 2022 season.

Bowman’s victory was also a redemptive moment for the Arizona native, whose championship hopes in 2022 evaporated when he wrecked at Texas Motor Speedway during the Round of 12 opener. The incident resulted in Bowman sustaining a concussion and missing five of the final six events of the schedule and also eliminated him from the Playoffs following the Round of 12. He then suffered a back injury following a sprint car accident in late April that forced him to miss three regular-season races in 2023 and resulted in him missing the 2023 Playoffs. The 2024 season will mark Bowman’s sixth time overall being a participant in the Playoffs in NASCAR’s premier series.

“Anytime you go to the racetrack with Hendrick Motorsports, you got a shot [at winning],” Bowman said on NBC. “We have a trophy to take home. [I] Know it means a lot to this team. They put me in position to win the race. Man, I broke my back, had a brain injury and we kind of sucked ever since. You start to second-guess if you’re ever gonna get a chance to win a race again. Last one we won, we really didn’t get to celebrate. We’re gonna drink so much damn bourbon tonight. It’s gonna be a bad deal. I’m probably gonna wake up naked on the bathroom floor again, but that’s the part of this deal sometimes. Excited to get home. It’s gonna be a good night.”

Tyler Reddick charged his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE to a runner-up result for his eighth top-five result of the 2024 season while Ty Gibbs charged his way up to third place on slick tires and for his fifth top-five result of the season. Joey Hand notched a career-best fourth place while Michael McDowell came home in fifth place.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Bubba Wallace, who ran into the side of Bowman after the race to express his displeasure over being spun by Bowman earlier in the race, rallied to finish 13th behind Daniel Suarez and Daniel Hemric. In addition, Brad Keselowski slipped to 18th, Chase Elliott ended up 21st behind Chris Buescher but ahead of Ross Chastain and Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin ended up 30th after he wrecked with Austin Hill into the tire barriers with two laps remaining and Martin Truex Jr. ended up 33rd following his late-race wreck. In addition, Christopher Bell, who was unable to finish, ended up 37th.

There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 34 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 20th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson continues to lead the regular-season standings by 11 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 23 over Tyler Reddick, 42 over Denny Hamlin, 70 over Martin Truex Jr. and 72 over William Byron.

Results.

1. Alex Bowman, eight laps led

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Ty Gibbs, 17 laps led

4. Joey Hand, seven laps led, Stage 2 winner

5. Michael McDowell

6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

7. Todd Gilliland

8. William Byron

9. Kyle Busch

10. Ryan Blaney

11. Daniel Suarez

12. Daniel Hemric

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Noah Gragson

15. Austin Cindric

16. Justin Haley

17. Zane Smith, three laps led

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Austin Dillon

20. Chris Buescher

21. Chase Elliott

22. Ross Chastain

23. Joey Logano

24. Carson Hocevar

25. Harrison Burton

26. Kaz Grala

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Josh Bilicki

29. Erik Jones

30. Denny Hamlin

31. Austin Hill

32. Chase Briscoe

33. Martin Truex Jr.

34. Ryan Preece

35. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

36. Josh Berry, one lap down

37. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, 14 laps led

38. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

39. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident

40. Shane van Gisbergen – OUT, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for The Great American Getaway 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 14, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

July 7, 2024
Logano withstands five overtime attempts for fuel-mileage Cup victory at Nashville

In a first-half season stretch mired with an average-finishing result of 17.9 and eight results outside the top 20 through 18-scheduled events, Joey Logano turned his luck into good fortunes after surviving through a record-setting five overtime attempts while going 110 laps on his low tank of fuel to grab a thrilling NASCAR Cup Series victory in the fourth annual running of the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 30.

The two-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led the final nine of 331 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 26th and was mired within the middle of the pack for the majority of the event before he steadily gained ground to race within the top 10 in the closing stages. Then running in 14th place with two laps remaining of the event’s scheduled distance, a series of opportunities presented themselves, allowing Logano to gamble by employing fuel strategy. By doing so, he was able to inch closer to the front when teammate Austin Cindric spun in the backstretch and sent the field into a first overtime period.

The event surpassed its third overtime attempt amid a series of multi-car incidents but was then sent into a fourth, knocking both Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch out of contention allowing Logano to cycle to the lead after the leader Denny Hamlin pitted for fuel. Following the fourth overtime attempt that was halted due to rookie Josh Berry wrecking in Turn 4, Logano then withstood late charges from Tyler Reddick and rookie Zane Smith for two laps during a fifth overtime attempt but had enough fuel to cross the finish line in first place by a mere margin. It was his first Cup victory of the 2024 season and guarantees him a spot in the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 29, Denny Hamlin notched his second Cup pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 160.354 mph in 29.859 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Josh Berry, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 159.749 mph in 29.972 seconds.

Prior to the event, Justin Haley dropped to the rear of the field due to his Rick Ware Racing entry failing pre-race inspection multiple times. The penalty also resulted in Haley’s car chief JR Norris being ejected for the remainder of the weekend while Haley was assessed a drive-through penalty through pit road after taking the green flag.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Denny Hamlin rocketed his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Josh Berry and teammate Christopher Bell entering the first two turns to retain the lead entering the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out through the backstretch, Hamlin proceeded to lead the first lap and teammate Bell followed suit in second while Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski navigated past Berry to move up to third and fourth, respectively.

Over the next four laps, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to as high as half a second over teammate Bell while Larson, Keselowski and Berry continued to run in the top five ahead of William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs. As a tight three-wide action for 18th place occurred between Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson, Hamlin remained in the lead.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Hamlin was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Bell followed by Larson, Keselowski and Reddick while Byron, Gibbs, Berry, Chris Buescher and Austin Cindric were running in the top 10. Behind, Chase Elliott occupied 11th place ahead of Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and rookie Carson Hocevar while Ryan Blaney, Chastain, Gragson, Truex and Michael McDowell were racing in the top 20 ahead of Harrison Burton, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Corey Heim and Todd Gilliland.

Nearly seven laps later, Hamlin was stalled by Justin Haley, who was trying to remain on the lead lap following his opening lap penalty through pit road. This allowed Bell to zip his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE past both Hamlin and Haley through the backstretch as Bell moved into the lead, where he would proceed to lead at the Lap 20 mark.

By Lap 25, Bell was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin as Keselowski, Larson and Reddick followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Gibbs trailed in sixth place by five seconds and Byron, Berry, Buescher and Elliott trailed in the top 10 while Cindric, Wallace, Bowman, Dillon and Blaney were mired in the top 15.

Then on Lap 37, a first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Bowman pitted his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 along with Busch, Austin Dillon and Cindric, with Busch barely sliding his No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through his pit box. Chastain, Riley Herbst, Keselowski, Heim and Allmendinger would follow suit during the following lap before teammates Bell and Hamlin pitted prior to the Lap 40 mark. More names including Larson, Berry, Buescher, Elliott, Wallace and Blaney would pit as Gibbs cycled into the lead. Gibbs would then pit his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE from the lead on Lap 41 as Briscoe, Gragson, Daniel Suarez, Preece, Truex, Reddick and Byron all pitted their respective entries during the proceeding laps.

By Lap 50 and with most of the lead lap field having made a pit stop under green, McDowell was leading by one-and-a-half seconds over Logano followed by Stenhouse, Hemric and Gilliland. With all five still needing to make a pit stop, McDowell and Logano, the top two competitors on the track, radioed their plans to stretch their fuel tank to as high as Lap 75. Behind, Bell, the first competitor who pitted, trailed in sixth place along with teammate Hamlin, Keselowski, Larson and Gibbs.

Ten laps later, McDowell continued to lead by a second over Logano as Bell trailed in third place by seven seconds. With Hemric and Hamlin trailing in the top five, Stenhouse occupied sixth place in front of Larson, Keselowski, Gibbs and Reddick while Gilliland, Byron, Buescher, Wallace and Berry were scored in the top 15 ahead of Elliott, Bowman, Truex, Haley and Chastain.

Another four laps later, Logano pitted his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green from the runner-up spot. In the process, Bell moved into second place and trailed McDowell by five seconds while Hamlin was up third place ahead of Hemric and Larson. As Hemric and Stenhouse pitted their respective entries just past the Lap 70 mark, McDowell surrendered the lead to pit his No. 34 Love’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse on Lap 77. With his teammate Gilliland also pitting, Bell cycled back into the lead as Hamlin, Larson, Reddick and Keselowski all cycled up into the top five.

Just past the Lap 80 mark, Bell, who was trying to lap 25th-place running Preece, was being stalked by teammate Hamlin, who was trying to narrow the deficit amid Bell’s issues to navigate through lapped traffic. With Hamlin also trying to overtake the lapped competitors of Haley, Bell retained the lead as high as four-tenths of a second by Lap 85 just as he managed to lap Preece’s No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Meanwhile, third-place Larson trailed by three seconds while Reddick and Keselowski continued to run in the top five.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 90, Bell, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Hamlin trailed in second by six-tenths of a second while Reddick, Larson, Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Chris Buescher, Truex and Bubba Wallace were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Bell returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin cycled into the lead after he edged teammate Bell to exit pit road in first place while Larson, Reddick, Keselowski, Gibbs, Byron, Logano, Buescher and Truex followed suit in the top 10.

The second stage period started on Lap 97 as teammates Hamlin and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin muscled ahead from the inside lane to retain the lead while Bell fended off Larson to retain second. With the field fanning out and jostling through the backstretch, Reddick and Larson battled for third place ahead of Gibbs and Truex and Keselowski followed suit in seventh ahead of Byron and Wallace while Hamlin retained the lead by Lap 100.

At the Lap 110 mark, Hamlin was leading by four-tenths of a second over teammate Bell as Reddick, Gibbs and Larson were racing in the top five ahead of Keselowski, Truex, Byron, Elliott and Wallace. Behind, Buescher, Blaney, Chastain, Logano and Austin Dillon trailed in the top 15 as Berry, LaJoie, Gragson, Cindric and Heim were up in the top 20. Meanwhile, Bowman occupied 21st place ahead of Preece, Hocevar, Suarez and Burton while Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones and Kyle Busch were mired outside the top 30.

Nearly six laps later, the caution returned due to John Hunter Nemechek snapping sideways and spinning his No. 42 Massey Motor Freight Toyota Camry XSE across the grass in Turn 4. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Bell exited first ahead of Keselowski, Buescher, Logano and Chastain, all of whom only opted for two fresh tires, while Hamlin exited sixth with four fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Ross Chastain was penalized for equipment interference.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 122, Bell retained the lead over Keselowski and Buescher as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. With several three-wide actions ensuing within the top-10 marks, Reddick battled Gragson for fourth place as Elliott, Larson, Hocevar, Bowman, Gibbs and Truex followed suit. Meanwhile, Logano and Hamlin lost several spots on the track amid the start. As the battles ensued, the caution returned on Lap 125 due to Gibbs making contact with Bowman and spinning through the Turn 4 grass.

With the event restarting on Lap 130, the field fanned out multiple lanes entering the first two turns as Bell retained the lead. Amid the fanning out of the field, Reddick boosted his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE into second place while Larson also overtook Keselowski for third place. With Keselowski trying to fend off a parade of competitors led by Elliott for fourth place, Bell stabilized his advantage to less than half a second over Reddick nearing the Lap 135 mark.

Then on Lap 135, the caution flew and the field led by Bell was directed to pit road before being placed in a red flag period due to a lightning strike reported near the circuit. One hour and 21 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the field returned to the track under a cautious pace. During the caution period, select names including Bowman, Logano, Dillon, Chastain, Haley, LaJoie, Burton, Stenhouse, Hemric, Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track. Meanwhile, Austin Cindric was sent to the rear of the field due to his pit crew working on his car during the red flag period, where the crew pointed a fan to cool the car from pit lane to provide a cooling advantage from NASCAR’s perspective.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 140, Bell rocketed away from Reddick and Larson to retain the lead through the first two turns. Bell would proceed to lead the ensuing laps while Keselowski battled Elliott and Buescher for fourth place ahead of Byron, Hamlin and Truex. As Elliott then battled Buescher for fifth place while teammate Byron battled Hamlin and Truex for seventh place, Keselowski retained fourth place while Bell remained in the lead. As Byron got loose entering Turn 4 and lost a bevy of spots on the track, Bell stabilized his lead to four-tenths of a second over Reddick by Lap 145.

At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Bell was leading by six-tenths of a second over Reddick as Larson, Keselowski and Elliott trailed in the top five by two seconds. Behind, Hamlin occupied sixth place in front of teammate Truex, Buescher, Blaney and Gragson while Heim, Gibbs, Hocevar, Byron and McDowell trailed in the top 15. Briscoe, Chastain, Gilliland, Erik Jones and Suarez followed suit in the top 20 as Preece, Logano, Wallace, Allmendinger and Bowman were mired in the top 25 ahead of Burton, Cindric, Berry, Herbst and LaJoie.

Fifteen laps later, Bell extended his advantage to a second over Reddick as Larson, Keselowski and Hamlin were scored in the top five and trailing by less than four seconds. Bell would stabilize his lead to a second over Reddick by Lap 175 while third-place Larson trailed by three seconds. By then, Hamlin gained a spot to fourth place and Keselowski dropped to fifth while Elliott was mired in sixth ahead of Truex.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Bell captured his ninth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season by sweeping both stage periods at Nashville. Reddick settled in second place ahead of Larson, who fended off Hamlin to claim an extra stage point before Hamlin would then run into the rear of Larson to express his displeasure over being forced up the track by Larson in Turn 1 prior to the stage’s conclusion. Keselowski ended up in fifth while Elliott, Truex, Blaney, Buescher and Gragson were scored in the top 10. By then, 36 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

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 as teammate Hamlin, Reddick, Keselowski, Elliott, Blaney, Truex, Gragson, Gibbs and Chastain followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Larson lost nine spots due to his No. 5 jackman dropping the jack on the right side of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 too early, which resulted in the jackman lifting the car back up to have the right-side tires tightened, as he exited pit road in 12th place behind Hocevar.

With 108 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Bell and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Bell muscled ahead of Hamlin to retain the lead and have both lanes to his control while Reddick challenged his owner Hamlin for the runner-up spot. With Blaney occupying in fourth place ahead of Keselowski, Elliott and Truex, the battle for the runner-up spot between Hamlin and Reddick continued to intensify into a tight side-by-side battle while Truex started to battle dead even with Elliott for sixth place. As McDowell fell off the pace due to a gearing issue, Blaney started to close in on Hamlin for third place while Reddick retained second and Bell continued to lead with 100 laps remaining.

With 98 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Riley Herbst receiving a light tap from LaJoie, who got loose, that sent Herbt’s No. 15 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse sliding and scrubbing the outside wall in between Turns 1 and 2. The damage to his car was enough for Herbst to retire in the garage. During the caution period, select names led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

The start of the next restart period with 92 laps remaining did not last long as Erik Jones, who was mired in 25th place and pitted during the previous caution period, made contact into the outside wall in Turn 2 as he lost a right-front tire. By then, Bell, who made minor contact with teammate Hamlin during the short restart, lost the lead to Reddick. During the caution period, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.

As the event restarted with 87 laps remaining, the field fanned out as Bell and Reddick battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns. As Truex made a bold three-wide move on both teammate Hamlin and Blaney to move up to third place, Reddick and Bell continued to duel for the lead for the following lap as Hamlin and Truex tried to join the battle. Then amid the side-by-side action between Reddick and Bell that proceeded for the next three laps, the caution returned due to Elliott, who was running in sixth place, snapping sideways and spinning his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch’s grass, though he continued without making any significant contact. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Reddick and Bell pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.

With the event restarting with 75 laps remaining, where Blaney and Allmendinger occupied the front row, Blaney rocketed ahead from Allmendinger to retain the lead through the first two turns as LaJoie and Allmendinger battled for second place in front of a side-by-side battle between Wallace and Chastain. Logano then made his way in between both Wallace and Chastain in his attempt to move up to fourth place while Reddick and Hamlin were mired in 10th and 11th, respectively. Then amid the battles around the venue, the caution flew with 73 laps remaining as Bell’s strong run came to a sour end when he got loose underneath Larson while running 15th and made contact with the Turn 2 outside wall backward and on the driver’s left side as he was trying to fight his way back to the front. Amid the damage, Bell, who had multiple issues re-firing his damaged car to limp it back to pit road, retired in 36th place.

The start of the next restart period with 66 laps remaining featured the field fanning out and jumbling for late positions through the first two turns and the backstretch as Blaney retained the lead while Allmendinger fended off Chastain for the runner-up spot. With the battles around the circuit ensuing towards the front and the rear of the field, Blaney retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over a tight battle between Allmendinger and Chastain for the runner-up spot as Busch, Hamlin and LaJoie engaged in a tight three-wide battle for eighth place. Meanwhile, Wallace occupied fourth place ahead of Logano, Berry and Buescher.

Two laps later, the caution returned as Keselowski, who was running just outside the top 15, received a tap from Austin Dillon entering Turn 1 as Keselowski spun and made hard rear-end contact to his No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse against the outside wall in Turn 2. Then in front of Keselowski’s incident, Hocevar intentionally turned Harrison Burton in the backstretch and made contact with Gilliland in the process. During the caution period, select names led by LaJoie pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.

As the event restarted with 52 laps remaining, Blaney and Chastain dueled for the lead as Hamlin dived his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE below the apron in an attempt to gain more spots. Moving as high as seventh place during the proceeding lap while Logano, who restarted in the top 10, got loose in Turn 2 and lost a bevy of spots, Hamlin would then overtake both Busch and Berry to move up to fifth place with 50 laps remaining while Chastain, who had cleared Blaney earlier, was leading by half a second over Blaney and Wallace was left battling Allmendinger dead even for third place. Shortly after, however, Busch would battle fiercely with Hamlin to retain fifth place.

With 40 laps remaining, Chastain stretched his advantage to a second over Blaney while Wallace also trailed by more than a second in third place. As Busch muscled his No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead in fourth place, Hamlin navigated his way into fifth place while Allmendinger was trying to fend off Gibbs and Larson for sixth place. Meanwhile, Reddick was mired in 10th place behind Berry.

Nine laps later, Blaney, who was running short of fuel amid his earlier strategic call to remain on the track, surrendered the runner-up spot to pit his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse for fresh tires and fuel. Blaney’s pit stop, which pinned the reigning series champion a lap down, allowed Hamlin, who overtook Wallace earlier, to move up into second place while Chastain was leading by two seconds. With Wallace falling back to third, Busch and Larson were scored in the top five while Gibbs, Reddick, Truex, Allmendinger and Buescher trailed in the top 10 with 30 laps remaining.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Chastain stabilized his advantage to less than one-and-a-half seconds over a hard-charging Hamlin, who was steadily decreasing Chastain’s advantage, while Kyle Busch trailed in third place by three-and-a-half seconds. Behind, Larson overtook Wallace, who was trying to conserve on fuel and nurse his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE, for fourth place, while Gibbs, Truex, Reddick, Buescher and Berry occupied the top 10 ahead of Haley, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, Elliott and Suarez.

Five laps later, Hamlin decreased Chastain’s advantage to four-tenths of a second as he continued to close in on Chastain for the lead with a fast race car while Busch trailed by more than three seconds. Another lap later, Hamlin nearly got to Chastain’s rear bumper in Turn 1, but Chastain retained the lead by a narrow margin. Chastain would proceed to keep Hamlin mired in the dirty air and run in front of him while blocking him through every turn and straightaway with 10 laps remaining.

Then with seven laps remaining, Hamlin, who closed in on Chastain entering the frontstretch, capitalized on Chastain getting loose in Turn 1 while trying to block Hamlin’s Toyota to overtake him and claim the lead. With Hamlin stretching his advantage to half a second for the following lap, Larson, who overtook Busch for third place, trailed by less than three seconds. With Gibbs and Wallace running in fifth and sixth, respectively, Hamlin started to pull away with the lead with five laps remaining.

Then with two laps remaining, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime as Austin Cindric, who was running outside the top 20, spun his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse amid contact with Noah Gragson in the backstretch. During the caution period and with a majority of front runners running low on fuel, some led by Wallace and including teammate Reddick, Buescher, Haley, Austin Dillon, Suarez, Berry, Heim and Preece pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

The start of the first overtime attempt lasted a single turn as Chastain, who was engaged in a side-by-side battle with Hamlin for the lead entering the first turn, received a tap from Larson entering Turn 1 that sent Chastain spinning backward into the outside wall as Gibbs collided into Chastain’s wrecked No. 1 Busch Country Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Busch slid up the outside wall as he was slamming the brakes to avoid hitting Chastain, whose strong run and hopes to defend his Nashville victory came to a bitter end.

Select names including Nemechek, Dillon and Hemric also wrecked amongst themselves amid a chain reaction as Hamlin escaped with the lead, where he was followed by Larson, Truex, Logano, Briscoe and Elliott. Despite making light contact with the wall, Busch, who kept his car running straight and running on the track, was given fourth place back due to maintaining a reasonable pace with the field while dodging the latest multi-car wreck.

Amid an extensive cleanup period, the start of the second overtime attempt lasted only two turns as a multi-car wreck erupted in the backstretch that involved Heim, Burton, Haley, Berry, Gilliland, Preece, Stenhouse, Hemric and Blaney. At the moment of caution, Hamlin, who was among several competitors running very low on fuel, retained the lead ahead of Larson, who made contact with Truex at the start of the overtime attempt, as Truex, Busch and Logano were scored in the top five. During the caution period and with the event sent into a third overtime attempt, the top seven competitors led by Hamlin and including Larson, Truex, Busch, Logano, Briscoe and Elliott, all of whom were running very low on fuel, remained on the track while LaJoie and Wallace, both of whom have enough fuel to finish, were lined up in eighth and ninth, respectively, as teammates Zane Smith and Hocevar were lined up in the top 12 behind Gragson, who was running low on fuel.

The start of the third overtime attempt only lasted past the start/finish line as Larson, who was stumbling on pace and ran out of fuel while restarting alongside Hamlin on the front row, caused a stack-up that resulted in Busch, who was bumping into Larson, getting bumped by Elliott and turned sideways into the frontstretch’s outside wall as the rest of the field scattered to avoid the chaos. The incident ended Busch’s run with a wrecked race car and his ninth result of finishing outside the top 20 while Larson coasted his car back to pit road for fuel.

During the caution period that sent the field into a fourth overtime attempt, the leader Hamlin and teammate Truex yielded their spots towards the front to pit for fresh tires and fuel while the rest led by Logano, who was also running very low on fuel, remained on the track to inherit the lead as he was followed by Briscoe, LaJoie, Zane Smith, Elliott and Bowman.

The start of the fourth overtime attempt nearly lasted a full lap before the caution was again drawn before the white flag due to Berry wrecking his No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse against the Turn 2 outside wall. Prior to the incident, Elliott, who restarted in fifth place, ran out of fuel and caused the field to fan out to avoid hitting Elliott as Elliott, who remained in the middle of the track, coasted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to pit road.

During the caution period that sent the event into a fifth overtime period, LaJoie pitted to address a mechanical issue with his No. 7 Garner Trucking Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Prior to pit road being accessible to the field, Bowman pitted for fuel. Amid the process, Logano, who fended off Briscoe during the latest green-flag run, retained the lead ahead of Briscoe, Zane Smith, Preece, Reddick and Wallace.

The start of the fifth overtime attempt featured Logano rocketing his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of Briscoe and Zane Smith through the first two turns and the backstretch while Reddick launched a late charge to overtake both through the following two turns.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained in the lead by a tenth of a second over Reddick. Entering Turn 1, Reddick attempted to make a move on Logano on the outside lane, but Logano also went wide to fend off Reddick’s challenge. With more carnages erupting while the race remained under green flag conditions, Logano maintained the lead ahead of Reddick and Smith through the backstretch as he fended another attack from Reddick through Turns 3 and 4.

Despite having both Reddick and Smith set up a three-wide move on Logano through the frontstretch, Logano, whose fuel light started to blink as he was about to run out of fuel, stood on the gas and used the remaining fuel within his low tank to coast across the finish line and claim his first elusive checkered flag of the 2024 season by 0.068 seconds over Smith and 0.071 seconds over Reddick.

With the victory, Logano, who still had enough fuel for a few victorious burnouts before he ran out on the frontstretch, notched his 33rd career win in the NASCAR Cup Series, which tied him with Fireball Roberts in 27th place on the all-time wins list. In addition to claiming his first victory at Nashville in the Cup circuit, Logano achieved his first win since he won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 2023 and he extended his winning streak as a Team Penske competitor to 12 consecutive seasons. Logano had won the 2024 All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway six weeks ago despite the event not counting for Playoff points.

Logano’s Nashville victory also guarantees all three of Team Penske’s competitors in the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, with Logano notching the fourth victory for the Ford nameplate and the third of the season for the Penske organization through the first 19 scheduled events. Prior to becoming the 11th winner of the 2024 season at Music City, Logano had held a 13-point advantage over Bubba Wallace for the final transfer spot into the Playoffs.

“It’s been a stressful few weeks trying to get into the Playoffs,” Logano said on NBC. “Being able to win here is huge for our season. It felt great to get that [win]. Boy, that feels good. I’m out of breath. We had it won off of [Turn] 4 and the caution came out. I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ but you can’t pit, like you kind of got to go for it. Boy, it was close, but we got to give a lot of credit to Roush Yates not only building horsepower, but build a fuel mileage that won today. When I went into [Turn] 3 and saw that [fuel] light [blinking], I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m gonna run out off of [Turn] 4.’ It just stumbled and spit and sputtered across the [finish] line. Trying to make the Playoff’s not easy these days with these Next Gen cars and everyone’s so equally matched. I made a lot of mistakes, even some tonight. It’s nice to be able to overcome. It’s a much-needed win, for sure.”

Behind Logano, rookie Zane Smith, who has finished no higher than 13th place through the first 18 events of the 2024 season, notched a career-best second place as he edged Tyler Reddick by 0.003 seconds, but fell 0.068 seconds shy of overtaking Logano at the finish line. The runner-up result left Smith with mixed emotions on pit road.

“My winning side of me is pissed with the second place, especially after hearing [Logano]’s gonna run out [of fuel] for the past 10 laps,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t have done anything different. I felt like I chose the right lane and it’s crazy just how much these cars drive with cleaner air. Just proud of our strategy there. [This season]’s been rough, no doubt, so just appreciate everyone at Spire Motorsports. You never know how many more opportunities you’re gonna have at a Cup win, so we’ll be thinking about that one. Just short, but obviously, proud of my second place. Top three [finish] in the Cup Series is awesome. Just proud of our day.”

Third-place finisher Reddick, however, was left visibly disappointed on pit road after falling short of the victory despite having fresher tires and enough fuel for the finish compared to Logano.

“It’s very disappointing,” Reddick said. “I’m trying my best, but it’s tough. I’m trying to keep it cool at the moment. I’m really upset about how [the race] ended. All the good cars ran out of fuel and we were in position to pass. [Logano] hadn’t been good all day long and didn’t get the job done.”

Behind the top three finishers, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher finished in the top five while Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson rounded out the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Denny Hamlin, who led 70 laps, ended up in 12th place after pitting for fuel before the fourth overtime attempt. In addition, Chase Elliott, who spun through the frontstretch’s grass while approaching the finish line, slid to an 18th-place result while Martin Truex Jr., who wrecked on the final lap with help from Daniel Suarez entering the backstretch, fell back to 24th place.

“[My team and I] were fine with just running out of gas and we did under caution [following the third overtime attempt],” Hamlin said. “[Pitting] was the right call. I was going down pit lane out of gas. I was surprised [the race] lasted that many green-white-checkereds. It certainly stinks having about 15 seconds from a win at the end and then 10 seconds from the win at the end and then, we finished 12th. It’s just a part of it. That’s NASCAR Cup Series racing.”

There were 20 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured 15 cautions for 79 laps. In addition, 24 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 19th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 20 points over Chase Elliott, 43 over Denny Hamlin, 53 over Tyler Reddick, and 73 over Martin Truex Jr.

Results.

1. Joey Logano, nine laps led

2. Zane Smith

3. Tyler Reddick, 16 laps led

4. Ryan Preece

5. Chris Buescher

6. Ryan Blaney, 26 laps led

7. Bubba Wallace

8. Kyle Larson

9. Daniel Hemric

10. Noah Gragson

11. AJ Allmendinger, one lap led

12. Denny Hamlin, 70 laps led

13. Justin Haley

14. Alex Bowman

15. Austin Cindric

16. Carson Hocevar

17. Todd Gilliland

18. Chase Elliott

19. William Byron

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Chase Briscoe

22. Daniel Suarez

23. Ty Gibbs, two laps led

24. Martin Truex Jr.

25. Brad Keselowski, one lap down

26. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

27. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

28. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

29. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident

30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

31. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

32. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

33. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident, 45 laps led

34. Erik Jones – OUT, Suspension

35. Michael McDowell – OUT, Transmission, 31 laps led

36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, 131 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

37. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

38. Chad Finchum – OUT, Electrical

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the second annual running of the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 7, and air at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

July 1, 2024
Chase Briscoe joins Joe Gibbs Racing on multi-year Cup Series basis, beginning in 2025

Chase Briscoe will etch a new beginning to his racing career for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season by joining forces with Joe Gibbs Racing on a multi-year basis to pilot the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE entry.

Briscoe, a native of Mitchell, Indiana, who is currently campaigning in his fourth full-time season in the Cup Series with Stewart-Haas Racing, will be replacing 2017 Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. who announced his retirement from full-time NASCAR competition at this season’s conclusion 11 days ago during a press conference at Iowa Speedway.

Bass Pro Shops will continue to sponsor the No. 19 Toyota entry that is set to be piloted by Briscoe, beginning with the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2025. James Small, an eight-time Cup Series race-winning crew chief, will retain his role atop the No. 19 pit box.

“I’m excited for this opportunity with Joe Gibbs Racing and Bass Pro Shops,” Briscoe said. “From a competition standpoint, [Joe Gibbs Racing] is the place to be if you want to go win races week in and week out and to race for the championship every year.

“I am blessed that [Bass Pro Shops founder] Johnny Morris and Bass Pro are on board to help us carry on the legacy of the 19 car. For me personally, being an avid outdoorsman, there’s a lot of pride in now being a part of the Bass Pro brand and I’m extremely grateful for this partnership. Getting to meet Johnny, I feel like I share a lot of the same values as him and Coach [Gibbs], and I’m ready to get to work and prove that they have made a great choice putting me in this car.”

The news of Briscoe joining Joe Gibbs Racing comes in light of his future teammate Christopher Bell accidentally spilling the news of Briscoe’s addition when asked about the shift of driver leadership within the organization during this past Friday’s press conference at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Once Bell realized he mentioned the name Chase taking over the vacant car, he instantly became silent and lowered the microphone while trying to fight off a guilty smile. Despite attempting to resume his statement, he stumbled through his words and shared more laughter with the media.

Ironically, Bell swept this past weekend’s Xfinity and Cup Series events at New Hampshire while Briscoe, who joked but brushed off the early leaked news, finished in the runner-up spot to Bell in the Cup event. In addition, Bell formally introduced Briscoe as the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing entry during Tuesday’s press conference that included team owner Joe Gibbs and Small.

Briscoe’s addition to Joe Gibbs Racing also comes as his current organization, Stewart-Haas Racing, announced its plans to cease operations after the 2024 season. The announcement was made in late May and left Briscoe and his current teammates (Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece) free to pursue other opportunities for the 2025 season.

Briscoe, who grew up competing in sprint cars and racing on dirt, made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series division at the start of the 2021 season, where he replaced the retiring Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Ford entry for Stewart-Haas Racing after spending the previous two seasons winning 10 races in the Xfinity Series.

After claiming the 2021 Rookie-of-the-Year title, Briscoe captured his first Cup career victory at Phoenix Raceway four races into the 2022 season. In doing so, he became the 200th competitor overall to win in NASCAR’s premier series. The Phoenix victory also automatically guaranteed Briscoe a spot into the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs, where he would transfer as far as the Round of 8 before settling in ninth place in the final standings.

Through 126 current starts in the Cup Series, Briscoe has accumulated one victory, two poles, 12 top-five results, 27 top-10 results with 494 laps led, and an average-finishing result of 18.7. He has also notched 11 career victories in the Xfinity Series and two in the Craftsman Truck Series. He achieved the Rookie-of-the-Year title in both divisions and contended for the 2020 Xfinity title as a Championship 4 finalist, where he ended up in fourth place in the final standings. He is also the 2016 ARCA Menards Series champion.

Currently, Briscoe trails the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs by 25 points as he has recorded two top-five results and six top-10 results through the first 18 scheduled events. His current average-finishing result is 16.3.

For the 2025 season, Briscoe is set to become the fourth competitor overall to pilot the No. 19 Toyota entry for Joe Gibbs Racing, an entry that has been piloted to Victory Lane 20 times in the Cup Series: five from Carl Edwards and 15 by Martin Truex Jr.

Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“We are extremely excited about the future of our 19 team with Chase [Briscoe] behind the wheel and the partnership with Johnny [Morris], J.P. [Morris] and everyone at Bass Pro Shops,” Joe Gibbs added. “I talk about it often, but one of the great things about our sport is the relationships you have the opportunity to build around your teams and certainly we are just so thankful to have that with everyone at Bass Pro Shops. We obviously do a lot of research before selecting our drivers and through the process everything kept pointing us back to Chase. With James’ [Small] leadership, Chase behind the wheel, and the support from Bass Pro, and of course Toyota, we couldn’t be more excited about the future of our 19 team.”

With his future plans set, Chase Briscoe’s 2024 Cup Series season, which will mark his fourth and last driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, continues with the upcoming Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. The event is scheduled for this upcoming Sunday, June 30, and will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 25, 2024
Bell perseveres through dry and slick conditions for dramatic Cup victory at New Hampshire

Christopher Bell survived a war of attrition both from Mother Nature that resulted with him racing on wet tires in the closing stages and through a series of late on-track chaos, including an overtime shootout, to win the rain-delayed USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 23.

The 2024 Coca-Cola 600 champion from Norman, Oklahoma, led three times for a race-high 149 of 305 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place based on a performance metric formula due to the event’s qualifying session being canceled due to on-track precipitation. After assuming the lead from Chase Elliott on Lap 42, Bell would win the first stage period on Lap 70. Despite losing the lead on Lap 126 during an exchange of green flag pit stops, he remained in contention towards the front and was scored in ninth place when the event was placed in a red flag period due to a heavy round of precipitation with 82 laps remaining.

Amid a weather delay period that spanned more than two hours, Bell, who along with the rest of the field switched from dry to wet-weathered tires when the race resumed with 73 laps remaining, reassumed the lead from Tyler Reddick, who was leading during the red flag period, with 60 laps remaining. Despite having his momentum halted five times due to a series of on-track carnages that ensued, including the fifth and latest one that sent the field into overtime, Bell had enough horsepower and grip from the wet tires to speed away from Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry for two laps before cruising to his third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season.

With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Saturday, June 22, being canceled due to on-track precipitation, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a performance metric formula. As a result, Chase Elliott was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with Ryan Blaney, winner of last weekend’s Cup Series event at Iowa Speedway.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced half an hour early due to potential weather concerns, Chase Elliott rocketed his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 away from the field from the outside lane as he assumed an early advantage through the first two turns and through the backstretch. As Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney battled for the runner-up spot, Elliott led the first lap while the field behind continued to fan out and jostle for early spots.

During the next four laps, Elliott retained a comfortable advantage over Bell while Ross Chastain and Joey Logano battled Blaney for third place. Behind, rookie Josh Berry occupied sixth place while Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and William Byron battled for seventh place in front of Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick. With Chastain and Logano overtaking Blaney to move up to third and fourth while Bowman fended off teammate Byron for seventh place, Elliott’s advantage was scored at two seconds by the fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Elliott continued to lead by two seconds over Bell followed by Logano, Chastain and Berry while Blaney, Bowman, Byron, Truex and Reddick were scored in the top 10. Behind, Todd Gilliland was in 11th place ahead of Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs while rookie Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell and Austin Dillon. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones trailed in the top 30 while Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch, rookie Zane Smith, Daniel Hemric, Ty Dillon and Kaz Grala rounded out the 36-car field.

Ten laps later, Elliott stretched his early advantage to three seconds over Bell while Logano, Berry and Blaney followed suit in the top five. With Chastain retaining sixth place ahead of Truex, Bowman, Reddick and Byron, Hamlin and Gilliland swapped spots as Hamlin moved into 11th place while Gibbs, Larson and Keselowski followed suit.

Another 10 laps later, Elliott stabilized his advantage to two-and-a-half seconds over Bell while third-place Logano trailed by nearly five seconds. Meanwhile, Berry, who was the fastest competitor on the track earlier, retained fourth place as he trailed Elliott by five seconds while Blaney trailed the lead by six seconds in fifth place. In addition, Truex was in sixth place after he overtook Chastain for the spot a few laps earlier, Hamlin cracked the top 10 as he was up to ninth place while Byron dropped to 12th place.

Nearing the Lap 40 mark, Bell decreased Elliott’s advantage to two-tenths of a second as Elliott was lapping the competitors running at the rear of the field. With select names including Ty Dillon, Grala, Hemric and Kyle Busch lapped, Bell then drew his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE into a side-by-side battle with Elliott for the following lap before he prevailed for the top spot by Lap 42. Amid the battle for the lead, Logano, Berry and Blaney continued to run in the top five while Truex was trying to gain more ground from sixth place.

At the Lap 50 mark, Bell extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Elliott while Logano, Blaney, Berry and Truex all trailed within four seconds in the top six. By then, Daniel Suarez and rookie Zane Smith joined Busch, Hemric, Grala and Ty Dillon as competitors to be lapped while Chastain, Hamlin, Bowman and Reddick occupied the top 10 spots on the track.

By Lap 60, Bell stretched his advantage to another second to two seconds over Elliott as third-place Logano trailed Elliott by half a second. In addition, teammate Blaney only trailed Logano by four-tenths of a second while Berry followed suit in fifth. With Truex retaining sixth ahead of teammate Hamlin and Chastain, Bowman and Reddick continued to round out the top 10 while Gibbs, Byron, Larson, Bubba Wallace and Gilliland occupied the top 15.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Bell, who situated himself behind 27th-place Chase Briscoe, cruised to his seventh Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Behind, Logano managed to overtake Elliott on the final lap and final corner to capture second place followed by Blaney and Berry as Truex, Hamlin, Chastain, Reddick and Bowman were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Bell pitted for the first time. Following the pit stops, Bell retained the lead after he exited pit road first followed by Logano, Truex, Berry, Elliott, Blaney, Hamlin, Chastain, Gilliland and McDowell. Amid the pit stops, McDowell, who opted for a two-tire pit stop along with teammate Gilliland, was penalized for removing equipment from his pit box.

The second stage period started on Lap 77 as Bell and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Bell fended off Logano through the first two turns to retain the lead while Elliott and Truex battled for third place. With Berry and Hamlin trailing closely in fifth and sixth, respectively, Bell continued to lead. Soon after, a tight three-wide battle between Elliott, Truex and Berry ensued for third place, with Berry prevailing from the outside lane through the first two turns. Berry and Truex then pressured Logano for the runner-up spot and they were able to overtake Logano just past the Lap 81 mark while Elliott pursued in fifth place. By then, Bell’s advantage grew to nearly a second.

By Lap 85, Bell was leading by a second over Berry while Truex, Logano and Hamlin followed suit in the top five. Behind, Elliott, who was struggling with the handling of his No. 9 Chevrolet, was overtaken by Blaney for sixth place while Bowman, Gibbs and Wallace were racing in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Chastain, Reddick, Byron and Gilliland.

At the Lap 100 mark, Bell continued to lead by two seconds over teammate Truex, who overtook Berry for the runner-up spot five laps earlier, while Logano and Hamlin were running in the top five. Behind, Blaney, Elliott, Gibbs, Bowman and Wallace continued to run in the top 10 while Larson, Chastain, Reddick, Byron, Gilliland, Chris Buescher, LaJoie, Hocevar, Justin Haley and Keselowski trailed in the top 20. By then, Gragson, Cindric and Briscoe were running 24th to 26th, respectively, while Kyle Busch and Suarez were mired a lap down in 32nd and 34th, respectively.

Fifteen laps later, Bell stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Truex, who got the deficit as low as eight-tenths of a second earlier, while third-place Berry trailed by more than three seconds. Meanwhile, Logano and Hamlin trailed by five seconds in the top five as Blaney, Elliott, Gibbs, Bowman and Wallace were running in the top 10. Amid the battles towards the front, Kyle Busch was mired in 31st place behind teammate Austin Dillon and in jeopardy of going a second lap down.

Another four laps later, a cycle of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Austin Cindric, who received the free pass during the first stage break period, pitted his No. 2 AutoTrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Harrison Burton, who was pinned a lap behind the leaders, would also pit shortly after before a bevy of names including Truex pitted by the Lap 125 mark. The leader Bell would also pit on Lap 124.

By Lap 135, Gilliland, who has yet to pit, was leading by 10 seconds over a tight battle between Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell and Truex, both of whom were set to battle for the lead, while teammate Hamlin and Logano trailed by 13 seconds in the top five. Truex then executed a strong overtake on teammate Bell from the outside lane for the runner-up spot by Lap 136 while Gilliland continued to lead. Gilliland would proceed to lead by the Lap 140 mark despite his advantage to Truex decreasing to six seconds.

Then on Lap 141, the caution flew after Daniel Hemric, who was racing outside the top 30, spun his No. 31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entering Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Gilliland and including Truex and Bell pitted while the rest led by Hamlin and including Logano and LaJoie remained on the track. Prior to the field pitting, Alex Bowman pitted when pit road was closed due to smoke coming out of his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The issue would result in Bowman’s car being taken to the garage and eventually retiring in 36th place, dead last.

The start of the next restart period on Lap 148 featured Hamlin and Logano battling dead even for the lead for a full lap as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes. With Hamlin prevailing and fending off Logano through the frontstretch, LaJoie and Bell battled for third place through the backstretch before Truex made it a tight three-wide battle through the frontstretch as Elliott tried to join the battle. LaJoie would then be overtaken by Truex, Bell and Elliott despite maintaining his momentum from the outside lane while Hamlin maintained the lead at the halfway mark on Lap 152, which made the event official.

Then on Lap 153, the caution returned after both Kyle Busch and Noah Gragson wrecked in Turn 2, with the former sliding into the latter and making left-rear contact with the outside wall. During the caution period, some including William Byron pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 159, Hamlin and Logano dueled for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch while Truex was trying to split in between both. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes, Hamlin would fend off teammate Truex and Logano to retain the lead by the following lap while Bell and Blaney tried to pressure Logano for third place. In addition, Hamlin was trying to fend off teammate Truex for the lead.

At the Lap 170 mark, Hamlin’s No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE was ahead by eight-tenth of a second over teammate Truex’s No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry XSE while third-place Logano’s No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse trailed by more than a second. Bell and Blaney followed suit in the top five while Gilliland, Larson, Elliott, Berry and Chastain were racing in the top 10 ahead of Buescher, Haley, Gibbs, Reddick, LaJoie, Wallace, Gragson, Byron, Cindric and Preece.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Hamlin fended off teammate Truex to capture his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Logano settled in third ahead of Bell and Blaney while Gilliland, Larson, Berry, Elliott and Chastain were scored in the top 10. By then, 28 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted for service while Tyler Reddick and McDowell remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited pit road first ahead of Gilliland, Gragson, Cindric and Burton, all of whom elected for a two-tire pit service, while Hamlin exited in sixth place and as the first competitor on four fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Truex endured a slow pit service due to issues having the right-rear tire tightened as he emerged in 26th place.

With 108 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Reddick and McDowell occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick launched ahead from McDowell and Larson to lead through the first two turns. The caution, however, quickly returned after Logano sent Elliott for a spin in Turn 2 due to locking up his left-front tire while both were battling just outside the top 10, with Elliott limping back to pit road with a flat left-front tire and Logano with a broken toe link, an issue that would result with him dropping out of the lead lap category.

The start of the next restart period with 102 laps remaining featured Reddick fending off McDowell to retain the lead while Larson was trying to overtake McDowell for the runner-up spot. With the field fanning out, Larson quickly went to work in battling Reddick for the lead until the caution returned with 101 laps remaining as LaJoie spun amid contact with Ryan Preece in the backstretch.

As the event restarted under green with 96 laps remaining, Reddick and McDowell battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as Reddick then received a bump from Larson to muscle ahead for the following lap. Larson, who quickly overtook McDowell for the runner-up spot, then battled Reddick dead even for the lead while Hamlin charged his way up to third place on four fresh tires. Hamlin and Larson would then battle fiercely for the runner-up spot as Blaney, McDowell and Gilliland battled for fourth place while Reddick retained the lead. The caution would then fly with 92 laps remaining after Truex got bumped by Keselowski and sent for a spin toward the frontstretch’s outside wall.

With the event restarting with 87 laps remaining, Reddick muscled his No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota Camry XSE ahead from Hamlin and Blaney entering the first two turns as Haley threw a three-wide move while trying to move up into the top five. Another two laps later and with Reddick still maintaining a steady advantage over Blaney and Hamlin, the caution returned due to Kyle Busch getting sideways after he was hit by Preece and before he received another bump from Stenhouse that sent him spinning towards the frontstretch’s inside wall.

Then with 82 laps remaining, the field led by Reddick was directed to pit road as the event was placed in a red flag period due to rain, which had been slowly approaching since the start of the final stage period, falling around the circuit.

Following a delay that spanned more than two hours, where the rain heavily increased before dissipating and where a lightning strike was reported eight miles away, the field led by Reddick returned to the track under a cautious pace. By then, all competitors had the tires on their respective entries changed to wet tires due to the wet conditions that were still present around the circuit. During the caution laps, Kyle Busch’s long event came to an abrupt end after he hit the outside wall in Turn 3 and damaged the right side of his No. 8 FICO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Not long after, LaJoie spun his No. 7 Schluter Systems Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entering the backstretch while running at the rear of the field under a cautious pace.

When the event restarted under green with 73 laps remaining, Reddick rocketed away from the field as Blaney and Gilliland battled for second in the front of the field that fanned out through the first two turns and through the backstretch. With the field still fanned out through the frontstretch, Larson used the inside lane to charge his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 way up to third and Bell made his way into the runner-up spot while Reddick maintained the lead. Reddick would continue to lead by a second over a side-by-side battle between Larson and Bell with 70 laps remaining.

With 67 laps remaining, the caution flew after Chastain, who was in sixth place, received a bump from Haley and spun his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 4, though he kept his car off the wall and was dodged by oncoming traffic, including Truex. During the caution period, some including Keselowski, Grala, LaJoie and Nemechek pitted, though all teams were not granted permission to change from wet to slick tires, while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chastain, who had also pitted, had his wet tires changed but was ordered by NASCAR to have the wet tires reinstalled on his car.

The start of the next restart period with 60 laps remaining featured Reddick retaining the lead through the first two turns until Bell used the inside lane to rocket ahead with the lead through the backstretch. With Bell leading Reddick, Larson boosted his way up to third place followed by Blaney, Gilliland and McDowell as the field fanned out through every turn and straightaway.

With 50 laps remaining, Bell was leading by nearly three seconds over Blaney followed by Larson while Buescher was up to fourth place. Reddick slipped to fifth as he was racing ahead of Gilliland, Berry, Briscoe, McDowell and Elliott while Haley, Gibbs, Preece, Hamlin, Truex, Burton, Erik Jones, Gragson, Hocevar and Austin Cindric trailed in the top 20 followed by Stenhouse, Wallace, Austin Dillon, Byron and Keselowski.

Following another caution period with 46 laps remaining as LaJoie spun from 30th place in Turn 1 and another restart period with 39 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead from Blaney and Larson as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. Behind the leaders, Briscoe, who was mired outside the top 20 during the red flag period, marched his No. 14 Zep Ford Mustang Dark Horse up to sixth place while battling McDowell for the spot as Reddick and Berry were in the top five.

The caution, however, would fly with 37 laps remaining when Gragson, who slid sideways below the apron in Turn 1, spun and clipped Wallace as Wallace veered head-on into the outside wall in Turn 1 and into the path of Austin Dillon with Gragson also colliding sideways into both as Cindric and Erik Jones also wrecked while trying to avoid the chaos. Following the incident, Wallace pulled his damaged No. 23 DraftKings Toyota Camry XSE in front of Gragson, who was receiving service in his pit stall, to express his displeasure over the incident before he limped his car to his respective pit stall and retired. During the caution period, the field led by Bell pitted under a non-competitive pit stop format, where the competitors were allowed to retain their respective positions and pit for a fresh set of wet weather tires.

With the event restarting with 27 laps remaining, Bell rocketed ahead from the outside lane as Blaney tried to follow suit. Larson then battled Blaney for the runner-up spot as Reddick was being pressured by McDowell for fourth place. As a tight battle between McDowell, Reddick, Briscoe and Haley ensued for fourth place, Bell proceeded to lead by less than half a second with fewer than 25 laps remaining while Berry was trying to catch Reddick and teammate Briscoe for sixth place.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Bell extended his advantage to a second over Blaney while Larson, McDowell and Berry trailed within two seconds. Behind, Haley was in sixth ahead of Briscoe, Reddick, Gilliland and Buescher while Burton, Elliott, Ty Dillon, Truex and Stenhouse followed suit in the top 15.

Following another late-race caution with 18 laps remaining due to Hocevar spinning his No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 3, the field led by Bell returned for another cycle of non-competitive pit stops and for another new set of wet tires. The start of the next restart period with nine laps remaining, however, did not last long as McDowell, who restarted alongside Bell on the front row, got loose underneath Blaney in Turn 1 as both performed a synchronous spin in Turn 2 without getting hit by oncoming traffic. With the event returning to caution conditions, Bell had escaped with the lead while Berry, Larson, Briscoe, Buescher and Haley followed suit in the top six.

During the proceeding restart with four laps remaining, Briscoe, who restarted alongside Bell on the front row, briefly battled with Bell through the frontstretch until Bell rocketed back ahead from the outside lane. In the ensuing process, Berry overtook teammate Briscoe for the runner-up spot through the backstretch and he commenced his charge on Bell for the lead while Buescher, Larson and Reddick followed suit in the top six. Just as Berry started to close in on Bell for the lead through the frontstretch with two laps remaining, the caution returned due to Keselowski spinning and stalling his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Turn 1. Keselowski’s incident was enough to send the event into overtime despite darkness looming around the circuit.

At the start of the first overtime attempt, Bell received another strong restart from the outside lane while teammates Berry and Briscoe battled for the runner-up spot in front of Larson, Buescher and Reddick. With Briscoe and Berry battling dead even, Bell continued to muscle away with the top spot.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second ahead of a side-by-side battle between Berry and Briscoe. With the gap too far for both Berry and Briscoe to close back in, Bell was able to cruise his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE smoothly around the New Hampshire circuit for a final time on his wet tires before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claim his third checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.

With the victory, Bell, winner of NASCAR’s first oval event to conclude on wet tires and the fourth three-time race winner of the 2024 season, scored his ninth Cup Series career win, his first since winning the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and his second at New Hampshire, with his first occurring in 2022. He also became the first competitor to sweep an Xfinity-Cup race weekend at New Hampshire since Brad Keselowski made the last accomplishment in 2014 as Bell won Saturday’s Xfinity event at the Magic Mile.

Bell’s victory was also the seventh of the season for the Toyota nameplate and the sixth of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing while his crew chief Adam Stevens notched his 37th career win in NASCAR’s premier series.

“You never know how this [race]’s gonna shake out whenever you change [the tires], so many things like that,” Bell said on USA Network. “Personally, I love adverse conditions because you’re always trying to think outside the box. Whenever we went back out, I was feeling around and felt like the normal Loudon groove was really slippery. I tried to just run down or run up, and [crew chief] Adam [Stevens] put the tune on this thing and it was turning really good. This is really cool because Rheem has won a lot here and we always have Watts on the car too. That is just really, really special. Hey [race fans], this [race] didn’t get shortened!”

Meanwhile, Briscoe edged teammate Berry in a photo finish to claim the runner-up spot for his best result of the season thus far as Berry settled in third place for the second time in 2024.

The runner-up finish prevailed in Briscoe’s efforts to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs as he gained 19 points and is 25 points below the top-16 cutline to be eligible for the Playoffs with eight regular-season events remaining on the schedule. The result also left Briscoe, who is still seeking a ride for the 2025 season amid Stewart-Haas Racing’s closure at the conclusion of the 2024 season, smiling on pit road after he was mired a lap down and running in the mid-pack region prior to the change of weather and track conditions.

“The rain saved us, for sure,” Briscoe said. “We were terrible in the dry [conditions]. We knew typically on the road courses, even ovals that we ran in the rain, we’ve been pretty good. Truthfully, I didn’t expect to drive up to second, but really good recovery for our Zep Ford. To come away with a chance at a win. It was fun, racing up there at the end and slipping and sliding around. If you would’ve told me two hours ago that we would run second, I don’t think I would’ve believed you, but overall, a great day for us and definitely needed one to turn the ship around. It’s been a real struggle. Good overall day, for sure.”

Like Briscoe, Berry was also left satisfied with the third-place run in an event where he started 10th and executed a strong performance on the track both on dry and wet conditions. Currently, Berry, who is also searching for a ride in 2025, is 73 points below the top-16 cutline to make his first Playoff appearance.

“The rain was a new opportunity for us and we capitalized,” Berry said. “The car was really good that second half. We cut up right through there, so just started out the day really strong and ended it strong too. Really solid day. A lot to be proud of. We’re gonna keep digging.”

Larson came home in fourth place while Chris Buescher rounded out the top five. Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., John Hunter Nemechek, Martin Truex Jr. and Ross Chastain finished in the top 10.

There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 14 cautions for 85 laps. In addition, 29 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 18th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are tied for the regular-season points lead as both are ahead in the standings by 40 points over Denny Hamlin, 48 over Martin Truex Jr., 60 over Tyler Reddick and 65 over Christopher Bell.

Results.

1. Christopher Bell, 149 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Chase Briscoe

3. Josh Berry

4. Kyle Laron

5. Chris Buescher

6. Tyler Reddick, 53 laps led

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Ross Chastain

11. Ryan Preece

12. Todd Gilliland, 19 laps led

13. Erik Jones

14. Harrison Burton

15. Michael McDowell

16. Ty Gibbs

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Chase Elliott, 41 laps led

19. Austin Cindric

20. Ty Dillon

21. Daniel Suarez

22. Kaz Grala

23. Corey LaJoie

24. Denny Hamlin, 43 laps led, Stage 2 winner

25. Ryan Blaney

26. William Byron

27. Noah Gragson

28. Brad Keselowski

29. Justin Haley

30. Zane Smith, one lap down

31. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

32. Joey Logano, three laps down

33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

34. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

35. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

36. Alex Bowman – OUT, Engine

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the fourth annual running of the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 30, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 23, 2024
Larson executes late pit strategy for a wild Cup victory at Sonoma

After enduring an up-and-down process in his attempted double duty attempt in May, Kyle Larson rose to the occasion with a strategic NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 9.

The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led twice for 19 of 110 scheduled laps in an event where he dodged a series of on-track carnages within the first two stage periods. With pit strategies ensuing amongst every team and competitor throughout the event, Larson’s key path to victory occurred with 30 laps remaining as he pitted under green after leading the previous 10 laps. Returning to the track with fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, Larson then spent the next 21 laps carving his way back towards the front, where he would gain ground on the leaders Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr., both of whom pitted 13 laps earlier than Larson.

Then with nine laps remaining, Larson took advantage of both Buescher and Truex dueling each other for the lead through Turn 12 and Truex missing the Chute’s entrance turn moments after he assumed a brief lead to overtake both and reassume the top spot. Having the clean air to his advantage while stretching it, Larson was able to pace his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry smoothly around Sonoma’s 12-turn circuit for the final eight laps before he crossed the finish line in first place for his third Cup Series victory of the 2024 season and his second at his home track.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 8, Joey Logano notched his third Cup pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 97.771 mph in 73.273 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 97.661 mph in 73.356 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Joey Logano launched his No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead of the field through the uphill first turn before he led the way through the second turn, a pair of Turns from 3 to 3A and the Chute between Turns 4 and 7 as Tyler Reddick battled and fended off Ryan Blaney to retain second place. As the field proceeded to navigate through the Esses before making the sharp, right-hand turn in Turn 11 and back to the start/finish line in Turn 12, Logano proceeded to lead the first lap as Reddick, Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and William Byron followed suit in the top six.

Just past the second lap, the event’s first caution flew for fluid on the course after Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE went up in a billow of smoke just past the frontstretch, where he would manage to nurse his car through the uphill first turn before he parked his car in Turn 2 and became the first retiree of the event.

During the event’s first caution period, select names including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track. John Hunter Nemechek would also pit for repairs to his No. 42 Save Mart Toyota Camry XSE entry after he scrubbed the wall in Turn 1 due to slipping into Hamlin’s oil spill.

Following an extensive cleanup on the track due to Hamlin’s oil spill and a blown engine, the event restarted under green on the sixth lap. At the start, Logano fended off teammate Blaney to retain the lead through the first three turns while Reddick was able to overtake and reassume the runner-up spot from Blaney. As the field fanned out through the Chute before entering the Esses, including a series of right- and left-hand turns, Logano maintained a steady advantage over teammate Blaney and Reddick as Elliott, Larson and Daniel Suarez followed suit. Behind, Byron dropped to seventh as Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10.

The following lap, Martin Truex Jr., who was in 18th, spun in Turn 2 after he got turned by Will Brown. Not long after, Ross Chastain got loose and drove his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways off the dirt course in Turn 8A while he was in eighth place. Amid both incidents, the event remained under green flag conditions as Logano was leading by nearly half a second over Reddick and more than a second over teammate Blaney.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Logano continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Reddick followed by Blaney, Elliott and Larson while Suarez, Byron, Bowman, AJ Allmendinger and Michael McDowell were running in the top 10. Behind, Ty Gibbs occupied 11th place ahead of Christopher Bell, rookie Carson Hocevar, Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie as Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Will Brown, Noah Gragson and Austin Dillon occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Chase Briscoe, Austin Cidnric, rookie Zane Smith, Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece. Meanwhile, Chris Buescher was 27th ahead of Cam Waters, Erik Jones was mired in 30th in between rookie Josh Berry and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski was back in 33rd place ahead of Daniel Hemric and Truex was down in 37th behind John Hunter Nemechek.

Five laps later and with a series of battles ensuing around the circuit, the event’s second caution flew after Ty Gibbs, who was running in the top 10, hit the newly installed concrete walls in Turn 11, which broke his right front hub before he proceeded to drive through Turn 12 and slap the outside wall entering Turn 1, which left Gibbs with more right-side damage to his No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota Camry XSE entry. At the time of the caution, Logano maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney, Elliott and Larson continued to race in the top five. In addition, Byron, who went off the course in Turn 1, had pitted under green to address concerns of a loose wheel to his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry.

During the caution period and with pit strategy amongst the field ensuing, some led by Logano and including Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Preece, Zane Smith, Cam Waters, Berry, Erik Jones, Hemric, Justin Haley and Grala pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 18, Reddick launched his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Blaney and the field with the lead through the uphill first turn before navigating through the following three turns and the Chute. With the field fanning out and jostling for spots approaching the Esses, the caution quickly returned after Chase Briscoe, who was running in the top 15, got turned in Turn 8A, where he was clipped by Logano, who bumped Stenhouse and sent him for a spin, as Logano, who shredded the rear of Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, spun off and back onto the course through Turn 8 before he was hit in the rear by Harrison Burton, leaving all four competitors with damage to their respective entries.

Amid the caution period, select names including Bell, Will Brown, Buescher, Byron, Keselowski, Preece and Haley pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.

The event re-started under green with three laps remaining in the first stage period. At the start, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead through the first three turns before Reddick managed to muscle ahead entering Turn 3A and the Chute. As Reddick led Blaney, Larson, Elliott and Bowman through the Esses before Turn 11, McDowell was in sixth while Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain battled for seventh place. In addition, LaJoie and Gilliland battled for ninth place ahead of Hocevar, Wallace and Gragson while Cindric and Allmendinger trailed in the top 15.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, Reddick captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Blaney followed suit in second along with Larson, Elliott, Bowman and McDowell, respectively, while Chastain edged teammate Suarez to grab seventh place. LaJoie and Gilliland would round out the top 10 at the first stage’s conclusion.

Under the stage break, some including Kyle Busch, Truex, Preece, Hemric, Allmendinger, Logano, Haley, Stenhouse, Grala and Harrison Burton pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Reddick and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead through the uphill first turn and through Turn 2 before Reddick launched ahead entering Turn 3A. With Reddick leading through the Chute, Elliott tried to make a move to Blaney’s outside entering Turn 7, but he got loose amid light contact with Blaney. This allowed Larson to assume third place from teammate Elliott while Chastain trailed in fifth place through the Esses.

During the Lap 30 mark, Austin Cindric nearly flipped as he spun his No. 2 America’s Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse sideways off the course and through the uphill turn in the dirt entering Turn 2, but he managed to proceed without drawing a caution. Two laps later, however, the caution returned after Will Brown, who was battling electrical issues to his No. 33 Mobile X/Shaw and Partners Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, parked his car off the course in Turn 11 due to a potential engine issue that resulted in him falling off the pace entering Turn 11. At the time of caution, Reddick was leading ahead of Blaney, Larson, Elliott and Chastain.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 34 amid a stacked restart, Reddick and Blaney dueled amid close-quarters racing through the first four turns before Reddick managed to maintain the top spot and clear Blaney prior to entering the Chute. Meanwhile, Larson bumped and overtook Blaney for the runner-up spot entering the Esses while Chastain, Elliott, Gilliland and Bowman followed suit.

Shortly after, more on-track issues ensued as Bubba Wallace, who was running in the top 10, slipped his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE off the course and kicked up dirt in Turn 11. While Wallace recovered despite losing a handful of spots as the field stacked up, trouble ignited in front of him as Josh Berry got bumped and turned into the concrete walls by Erik Jones in Turn 11, which resulted in Berry locking up the tires and going dead straight into Bell, Truex, Byron and Dillon, as all but Truex spun. Cam Waters was also collected in the carnage while the rest of the field in the mid-pack region scattered and jammed on the brakes to avoid the carnage. The carnage drew the event back into a caution period as Reddick retained the race lead.

With the event restarting under green on Lap 39, Reddick retained the lead from Larson, Blaney and Chastain through the first four turns and the Chute, with Chastain bumping and battling Blaney for third place. Then through the Esses, the caution quickly returned after Austin Cindric got Noah Gragson sideways in Turn 8A, where Gragson then clipped Cindric and sent both into the tire barriers as McDowell was also sent into the tire barriers after getting caught in a mid-pack stack-up.

The start of the next restart period on Lap 42 featured Reddick muscling away from Larson to retain the lead as Chastain moved into third place from Blaney. While Bowman and Suarez rubbed fenders while battling for fifth place in front of Elliott before entering the Esses, Reddick kept his No. 45 entry racing in front of Larson to retain the lead during the ensuing lap while the rest of the field behind jostled for spots. By then, Austin Dillon took his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to the garage.

Through the Lap 45 mark, Reddick was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson while third-place Chastain trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Blaney and Bowman trailed in the top five while Suarez, Elliott, Buescher, Preece and Busch followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Truex, Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Zane Smith and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Logano, Burton, Gilliland, Stenhouse and Hemric were racing in the top 20 ahead of Hocevar, Cam Waters, Haley, Bell and Briscoe as Wallace, LaJoie, Grala, McDowell, Gragson and Byron were mired in the top 31.

At the Lap 50 mark, Reddick extended his advantage to two seconds over Larson while Blaney, who overtook Chastain for third place a few laps earlier, trailed by three seconds. With Chastain settling in fourth, Bowman retained fifth while Elliott overtook Suarez for sixth place.

A lap later, Blaney pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry under green along with Elliott and Suarez. Larson would pit his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry during the following lap along with teammate Bowman, Chastain, and rookie Zane Smith before Reddick, the only competitor who has yet to pit, surrendered the lead to pit by Lap 53. Reddick’s pit stop moved Chris Buescher into the lead as he was followed by Preece, Truex, Busch and Allmendinger.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 55, which marked the event’s halfway point, Buescher captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Preece followed suit in second along with Truex, Busch and Allmendinger while Keselowski, Erik Jones, Gilliland, Logano and Burton were scored in the top 10. By then, a bevy of front-runners that included Larson, Chastain, Byron, Reddick, Blaney, Elliott, Suarez and Bowman were mired outside the top 25, with Reddick locking up his front tires and going off the course before entering the Chute after he made contact with Larson just after completing his green flag pit service.

With 51 laps remaining, where the entire lead lap field remained on the track, the final stage commenced as Buescher and Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher launched ahead from the outside lane and retained the lead through the course’s first four turns before navigating his way through the Chute. Behind, Truex overtook Preece for the runner-up spot while Allmendinger and Busch battled for fourth place in front of Nemechek and Keselowski. With the field navigating through the various turns through the Esses, Buescher was leading by nearly a second over Truex with 50 laps remaining.

Shortly after, Preece, who was trying to battle Truex for the runner-up spot, slipped sideways and spun his No. 41 Caymus Vineyards Ford Mustang Dark Horse off the course in Turn 7, but the event remained under green as Preece dropped out of the top-10 running order. Meanwhile, Larson, who carved his way into the top 20, was trying to weave his way back to the front amid a series of jostles and on-track contact in the middle of the pack. Other front-runners mired in the mid-pack region with Larson included teammate Elliott, Chastain, Suarez, Reddick and Bowman while Buescher stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over Truex.

With 43 laps remaining, the leader Buescher along with Truex, Busch, McDowell, Logano, Preece, Bowman, Wallace and Burton pitted their respective entries under green. More names including Gilliland, Erik Jones, Haley, Bell, Reddick and Berry pitted over the next two laps before Hocevar, Hemric and Suarez pitted with 40 laps remaining. By then, Allmendinger, who assumed the lead when Buescher pitted, was leading ahead of Larson, Stenhouse, Chastain and Elliott. Once Allmendinger pitted his No. 16 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry along with Chastain with 39 laps remaining, Larson cycled into the lead.

Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Larson was leading by four seconds over teammate Elliott as LaJoie, Blaney and Grala trailed as far as 18 seconds in the top five. Behind, Buescher, the first competitor with four fresh tires and fuel, trailed by 18 seconds in sixth place while Truex, Busch, Allmendinger and McDowell were racing in the top 10 ahead of Keselowski, Gilliland, Chastain, Reddick, Erik Jones, Bell, Cindric, Suarez, Bowman and Haley.

Five laps later, the top-four competitors led by Larson and including teammate Elliott, LaJoie and Blaney continued to run on the track, though all have yet to make another pit stop, while Buescher trailed the four leaders by 20 seconds in fifth place. Meanwhile, Truex continued to trail the lead by 22 seconds in sixth place as Busch, Allmendinger, McDowell and Keselowski were in the top 10. Behind, Reddick, who was still trying to carve his way back to the front, was mired in 13th in between Chastain and Bell, Suarez was in 15th and Bowman was in 18th.

Not long after, Larson surrendered the lead to pit under green as teammate Elliott moved into the lead. Third-place Blaney pitted under green with 27 laps remaining before Elliott and LaJoie pitted during the following lap. Amid the pit stops, Buescher cycled his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry into the lead as Truex, Busch, Allmendinger and McDowell all cycled into the top five while Larson cycled his way back to sixth place.

With 20 laps remaining, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Truex while third-place Busch trailed by four seconds. Meanwhile, Larson, who was locked in a heated three-way battle with McDowell and Allmendinger three laps earlier, trailed in fourth place by less than six seconds while McDowell and Allmendinger followed suit in fifth and sixth, respectively. In addition, Chastain was in seventh ahead of Gilliland, Elliott and Keselowski while Reddick, Bell, Suarez, Blaney, LaJoie and Bowman trailed in the top 16.

Over the next handful of laps, Truex started to close in on Buescher for the lead as he cut the deficit as close to half a second. At the same time, Larson, who overtook Busch for third place, ignited his pursuit on the two leaders, with Larson having fresher tires than both Buescher and Truex, as he trailed both by four seconds. Despite having two series champions intimidating him through distinct approaches, Buescher continued to lead by half a second with 15 laps remaining.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the top three competitors were separated by eight-tenths of a second as Buescher retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Truex while Larson, who now has the top two leaders close in front of his windshield, was trying to navigate his way around Truex for the runner-up spot. Behind, McDowell trailed in fourth place by four seconds while Busch trailed in fifth place by six seconds.

Then approaching the final nine laps of the event, Truex attempted to stick his front nose beneath Buescher entering Turn 11 as Buescher missed his marks. Despite squeezing his way underneath Buescher through the turn, Buescher refused to surrender as he rubbed dead even with Truex through Turn 12. This allowed Larson to close in even more as Truex was able to overtake Buescher to move his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry into the lead in Turn 2. Larson, however, also overtook Buescher for the runner-up spot through Turn 2 as he pursued Truex for the lead. Then entering the Chute, Truex went wide after he missed his marked turn, which allowed Larson to make his move beneath Truex in Turn 7 as he assumed the lead. Larson would proceed to lead by two-tenths of a second over Truex while Buescher trailed in third place by a second.

With five laps remaining, Larson started to stretch his advantage as he was leading by eight-tenths of a second while third-place Buescher trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, McDowell started to close in on Buescher in his late attempt for third place while Busch trailed in fifth place by six seconds. Another lap later, McDowell, who radioed a potential flat tire to his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, overtook Buescher for third place as Chastain, Elliott, Allmendinger, Blaney and Reddick trailed in the top 10.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader while extending it to two seconds over Truex. As Chastain and Busch tangled for fifth place entering the Chute, Larson was able to cruise his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry smoothly around the 12-turn Sonoma circuit for a final time before he navigated his way back to Turn 12 and across the finish line to claim the checkered flag for his third Cup victory of the 2024 season and by four seconds.

With the victory, Larson, a product of Elk Grove, California, notched his 26th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his second at Sonoma and his first since 2021. He also joined teammate William Byron and Denny Hamlin as competitors to notch three victories during the first 16 events of the 2024 schedule as the 2024 Sonoma victory marked the eighth of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the sixth for Hendrick Motorsports. The Sonoma victory marks Larson’s 20th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports.

Larson’s Sonoma victory also occurred five days after he was granted a waiver to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs. The waiver occurred due to Larson missing the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after on-track precipitations between both the Coke 600 and the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway spoiled his attempt to complete the Memorial Day “Double”, where he opted to start the Indy 500 and was unable to register a lap for the Coke 600 with the event being shortened and as Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier filled in for Larson’s Cup Series efforts.

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 09: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 Valvoline Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 09, 2024 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images).

“I didn’t know what we were like doing as far as strategy,” Larson said on FOX. “I was just out there banging laps away. We studied all the strategies, but it’s like doing homework. I don’t really know what I’m looking at. I was like, ‘Well, [Buescher and Truex] have to pit another time, maybe.’ Then [the team] said we had to go race and pass those guys. I got a bit nervous. I knew I’d be quick from the get-go, but I thought once the tires would come up to [track temperature], it would even off too much. Thankful that we had enough grip. Thankful too that those guys got racing and Martin [Truex Jr.] never got clear really where I would get stuck in third. That really saved the race…just an awesome, awesome race car. Cool to win at home. [I’ll] Drink some wine here in a little bit and go celebrate.”

As Larson celebrated his Sonoma victory both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane towards the circuit’s dragstrip, Truex, who was losing steady ground of Larson during the final lap, had his hopes of posting a strong runner-up finish spoiled after he ran out of fuel approaching the final stretch to the finish line. Truex’s misfortune allowed Michael McDowell to claim the runner-up spot while Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain finished in the top five.

As AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Todd Gilliland finished in the top 10, Kyle Busch nursed his No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to a 12th-place result following his last-lap spin from Chastain, where he also ran out of fuel approaching the finish line. Truex ended up in 27th place as he struggled to coast his entry across the finish line to finish the race, drawing a caution as the event concluded.

There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 16th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson reassumes the lead in the regular-season standings following his Sonoma victory and he leads by 14 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 26 over Denny Hamlin, 49 over Tyler Reddick and 53 over Martin Truex Jr.

Results.

1. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led

2. Michael McDowell

3. Chris Buescher, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Chase Elliott, three laps led

5. Ross Chastain

6. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led

7. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

8. Tyler Reddick, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner

9. Christopher Bell

10. Todd Gilliland

11. Corey LaJoie

12. Kyle Busch, one lap led

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Alex Bowman

16. Zane Smith

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Ryan Preece

19. Erik Jones

20. Bubba Wallace

21. Joey Logano, 16 laps led

22. Austin Cindric

23. Kaz Grala

24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

25. Harrison Burton

26. Noah Gragson

27. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

28. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

29. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

30. William Byron, two laps down

31. Will Brown, three laps down

32. Josh Berry – OUT, Suspension

33. Justin Haley – OUT, Steering

34. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Transmission

35. Cam Waters – OUT, Accident

36. Austin Dillon – OUT, DVP

37. Ty Gibbs – OUT, DVP

38. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Engine

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 16, and air at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.

June 9, 2024
Reddick dodges final lap carnage for wild Cup victory at Talladega

With drafting help from two Toyota teammates as team owner Michael Jordan watched atop the pit box, Tyler Reddick rose to the occasion and raced his way to a wild overwhelming NASCAR Cup Series victory in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 21, amid a final lap accident that knocked pole-sitter Michael McDowell out of race-winning contention.

The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led five times for 13 of 188 scheduled laps. Reddick started 18th and kept his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE intact while working closely with his Toyota teammates amid the draft and the three-wide packed action towards the front.

Despite losing four of his Toyota teammates, including team owner Denny Hamlin and 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, to a multi-car wreck with 33 laps remaining amid a late cycle of green flag pit stops Reddick cycled into the lead during the caution period. Drafting support from Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs kept him in contention for a 27-lap dash to the finish as he squared off against Ford competitors Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski.

Then, on the final lap, Reddick, who led the penultimate lap by a hair over McDowell initially lost ground to McDowell and Keselowski amid the draft. But with two corners remaining, he capitalized on a swerved move by McDowell entering the frontstretch resulting in McDowell spinning in the middle of the track and igniting a multi-car wreck. Reddick was able to zip by both Keselowski and Noah Gragson to cross the finish line by two-tenths of a second ahead of Keselowski and capture his first Cup Series victory of the 2024 season along with his first at Talladega and of the season for 23XI Racing.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, April 20, Michael McDowell captured his second Cup Series pole position of the season and his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.022 mph in 52.609 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Austin Cindric, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.739 mph in 52.691 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric battled for the lead in front of two packed lanes through the first two turns before they navigated through the backstretch. With the field behind still running in two tight-packed lanes through the final two turns and back to the tri-oval, McDowell managed to lead the first lap by a hair over Cindric.

During the next four laps, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as McDowell and Cindric battled and swapped the lead. Amid the battles, Martin Truex Jr. mounted a charge from the outside lane with drafting help from Bubba Wallace and Daniel Hemric while McDowell started to muscle ahead on the inside lane.

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, who was not allowed to post a qualifying lap on Saturday due to unapproved adjustments involving his roof rails to his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and was assessed a drive-through penalty on pit road during the opening lap, was mired at the rear of the field and trailing by a distance with no drafting help.

Over the next five laps, Truex, Hemric and BJ McLeod each led at least a lap while the pack of 37 competitors fanned out to three lanes as they navigated around the superspeedway venue to take advantage of the draft.

Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Chase Briscoe assumed the lead from Hemric on the outside lane amid the tight-packed racing before Justin Haley carved his No. 51 Parts Plus Ford Mustang Dark Horse to the front as he challenged Briscoe for the top spot during the proceeding laps. Despite Briscoe blocking Haley and briefly stalling his momentum through the backstretch by Lap 16, Haley switched to the inside lane and continued to battle Briscoe before he assumed the top spot by Lap 18. Truex, however, would join the battle and lead by the Lap 20 mark. By then, Larson was lapped by the field.

By Lap 25 and with the field still fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, Truex was ahead with the lead by a hair on the outside lane as Haley was leading the draft on the inside lane and Briscoe was mired as the lead competitor in the middle lane. As Haley, Truex and Briscoe battled against one another for the lead within the draft, Truex continued to muscle ahead and lead the proceeding laps by the Lap 30 mark.

At the Lap 35 mark, Truex, who led eight of the previous 10 laps, was ahead by a hair over McLeod and Briscoe while he had teammates Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin drafting him through the middle lane. McLeod, however, would have Daniel Suarez pushing him on the outside lane as he remained in contention for the lead before Suarez bailed on him by Lap 37, allowing Truex to muscle ahead while Briscoe tried to mount another challenge on the inside lane. McLeod would then receive drafting help from Chase Elliott by Lap 40 to muscle back ahead on the outside lane, with Truex and Briscoe remaining in the middle and inside lanes, respectively.

Then on Lap 40, McLeod went up against the outside wall entering Turn 3, and fell off the pace as the entire field zipped by him. McLeod then pitted as the race remained under green flag conditions. By then, Briscoe had muscled his way back to the lead on the inside lane while Truex fought back on the middle lane. Meanwhile, Elliott was trying to mount a charge from the outside lane and received a push from Ryan Preece through the backstretch to challenge the front-runners for the lead.

Not long after on Lap 41, Indiana natives Briscoe and Haley peeled off the track to pit under green. Another wave of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors led by Suarez and rookie Zane Smith, pitted by Lap 42 before another led by Alfredo and Gragson pitted. During the latest wave, Hamlin, who was trying to slam on the brakes to enter pit road under pit road pace, got loose and ran into the side of John Hunter Nemechek before he spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE on pit road. The race, however, remained under green as Hamlin proceeded to his pit stall while another wave of competitors led by Elliott and Larson, who was a lap down, pitted. By then, Zane Smith and Suarez were penalized for speeding on pit road.

On Lap 45, the final wave of competitors led by Shane van Gisbergen pitted under green. Once the pit stops cycled through, Elliott emerged as the new leader ahead of teammate William Byron, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Harrison Burton. During the pit stops, Joey Logano was penalized for speeding on pit road as Briscoe would have to pit for a second time to address a flat tire on his entry.

By Lap 50, Cindric, who assumed the lead from Elliott two laps earlier, was still leading ahead of Elliott, Burton, Byron and Ryan Blaney as the top 30 competitors were separated by a second. As Cindric and Elliott battled for the lead in front of two packed lanes during the proceeding laps, Larson was running in front of teammate Elliott as he was trying to remain on the lead lap following his opening lap penalty.

Just past the Lap 55 mark, Cindric and Elliott battled for the lead in front of two packed lanes, with Cindric having Harrison Burton drafting him on the outside lane. Elliott was still running behind teammate, Larson, and had teammate Byron drafting him on the inside lane.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Cindric edged Elliott by a hair to claim his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Elliott ended up second followed by teammate Byron, Blaney and Kyle Busch while Burton, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Larson, who was lapped by Cindric at the start/finish line, was the recipient of the free pass as he returned to the lead lap category.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Cindric pitted while Brad Keselowski and Anthony Alfredo remained on the track. Not long after, the following names that included Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher, Keselowski, John Hunter Nemechek, Logano, Corey LaJoie, Truex and Larson would pit again for extra fuel to their respective entries.

The second stage period started on Lap 66 as Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Busch briefly muscled ahead exiting the frontstretch until Blaney fought back on the inside lane through the first two turns. As the field started to fan out to three lanes, Blaney received a draft from teammate Cindric and Burton to clear Busch and muscle ahead of the pack through the tri-oval and back to the start/finish line for the following lap.

Then on Lap 68 and as the field continued to battle through three packed lanes, Shane van Gisbergen mounted a drafting charge to the front followed by Austin Dillon from the outside lane. After clearing both Busch and Blaney, Dillon then bailed on van Gisbergen as he moved his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in front of teammate Busch’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. But van Gisbergen fought back on the outside lane as he picked up Alfredo as his new drafting partner. Alfredo then bailed on van Gisbergen on Lap 70 as he led while van Gisbergen was shoved out of the draft as he and his No. 16 Wendy’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 slowly drifted to the rear of the field. Meanwhile, Noah Gragson carved his way into the lead during the following lap as he was pursued by John Hunter Nemechek and while Larson was battling Alfredo for third place.

Just past the Lap 75 mark, Nemechek assumed the lead in his No. 42 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE on Lap 72, was leading ahead of Alfredo and a bevy of competitors charging strong amid a scattered, three-wide pack. Despite being pressured by Gragson, Alfredo and Corey LaJoie during the proceeding laps, Nemechek would retain the top spot by Lap 80 as 36 of 38 starters were running within two seconds of one another amid the draft.

Through Lap 85, Nemechek continued to lead ahead of Gragson and LaJoie while Chris Buescher was trying to mount a charge on the outside lane with drafting help from Gilliland. As Alfredo occupied the inside lane amid a three-wide battle within the pack, the top-36 competitors were separated within three seconds while Nemechek remained in front of Gragson with the top spot.

At the halfway mark on Lap 94 and with the field running tight in three packed lanes, Hamlin overtook Nemechek for the lead while Cody Ware, Buescher, Gragson, Gilliland, Truex, LaJoie, Preece and Larson were scored in the top 10 ahead of Busch, Austin Dillon, van Gisbergen, Wallace, Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Alfredo, Logano, Byron, Bell, Elliott and Hemric. Meanwhile, Briscoe, who pitted by himself under green earlier, trailed the lead pack by 41 seconds.

Six laps later, Buescher drafted his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead followed by Ford teammates Gilliland, Preece, Logano and Gragson while van Gisbergen, who led on Lap 98 and battled Buescher during the following lap, was shuffled out of the draft for a second time. Meanwhile, Larson occupied sixth place ahead of LaJoie, Wallace, Austin Dillon and Busch as Briscoe was lapped by the field during the following lap.

Then on Lap 102, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as the first wave, mainly Ford competitors led by Buescher, pitted primarily for fuel. Another wave, mainly Chevrolet competitors led by Austin Dillon and Busch, pitted during the following lap. During the second pit sequence, trouble struck for LaJoie, who spun his No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after running into standing water on the asphalt while exiting pit road. Despite LaJoie’s spin, the race remained under green flag conditions as Logano led a wave of 12 competitors who had yet to pit. Logano and Hamlin would then battle for the top spot by Lap 106.

On Lap 110, Hamlin was leading ahead of teammate Bell, Logano, Cindric and teammate Truex as the top-12 competitors, all of whom had not yet pitted, continued to run on the track while the next wave of competitors comprising those who pitted led by Byron trailed by 33 seconds. Another lap later, Hamlin led a wave of Toyota competitors to pit road under green while the rest, including, Logano, Cindric, Blaney and Josh Berry remained on the track. During the pit stops, Bell was penalized for speeding on pit road as Logano, Berry, Blaney and Cindric pitted by Lap 112. Upon the completion of the pit stops, Blaney was penalized for speeding on pit road as Logano and Cindric managed to blend back onto the track and regain the pace with the field that enabled them to contend towards the front.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Logano fended off a late challenge from Larson to capture his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Cindric edged Larson at the start/finish line to claim second followed by Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain while Reddick, Buescher, Elliott, Ryan Preece and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Logano returned to pit road for service while the rest including Keselowski, LaJoie, Briscoe, van Gisbergen, Truex, Gibbs and Alfredo pitted. Following the pit stops, Logano exited pit road first ahead of Larson, Cindric, Chastain, Dillon, Elliott, Reddick, Busch, Buescher and Bowman. Shortly after, Keselowski would lead the rest of the competitors who pitted during the caution period as Logano cycled back into the lead.

With 62 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Logano and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Logano and Chastain battled dead even for the lead as Logano had Team Penske teammate Cindric drafting him while Chastain had Chevrolet teammate Kyle Busch drafting him. Chastain then muscled away from Busch before moving in front of Logano and Cindric in the draft by the following lap just before the rest of the field caught back up to the top-four leaders. Shortly after, Chastain and Logano returned to battling dead even for the lead in front of two packed lanes with 60 laps remaining.

With 56 laps remaining, the caution returned after Elliott ran into the rear of Haley that sent Haley into Bell’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE as Bell went back up the track and hit the outside wall head-on in Turn 3 while barely dodging Elliott as Briscoe, Blaney and Zane Smith were also involved. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Logano pitted while the rest led by Alfredo remained on the track. Once Alfredo and others pitted with 50 laps remaining, Berry cycled into the lead.

During the following restart with 49 laps remaining, where teammates Berry and Gragson occupied the front row, Berry and Gragson battled dead even against their Overstock.com-sponsored Ford Mustang Dark Horses for a full lap. The following lap, Hemric ignited a charge from the outside lane as he assumed the lead in his No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with drafting help from Chastain before McDowell received a push from Austin Dillon to muscle ahead, clear Hemric and return to the lead.

With 40 laps remaining and with a majority of the field migrating to the outside lane, McDowell was leading ahead of teammate Gilliland, Keselowski, Busch and Cody Ware while Gragson, Chastain, van Gisbergen, Suarez and Larson were running in the top 10 ahead of Bowman, Elliott, Stenhouse, Buescher, Berry, Alfredo, Logano, Hemric, Burton and LaJoie.

Three laps later, a bevy of Toyota competitors pitted under green, mainly for fuel. As the Toyota competitors managed to blend back onto the track and remain on the lead lap, McDowell retained the lead over Gilliland, Keselowski, Berry, Hemric, Gragson and a bevy of competitors running two by two in a tight pack with 35 laps remaining.

Then with 33 laps remaining, the caution flew after Bubba Wallace, who was running in a seven-car Toyota line towards the rear of the field upon pitting under green and trying to regain ground of the lead pack, got Erik Jones’ No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE loose in Turn 3 that resulted with Jones getting turned and sent head-on into the outside wall as Wallace and John Hunter Nemechek also piled into him before Nemechek came back the track and clipped Hamlin as Hamlin also wrecked against the wall while Reddick, Truex and Gibbs escaped the carnage.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by McDowell returned to pit road for fuel while the rest including Carson Hocevar, Reddick, Truex and Gibbs remained on the track as McDowell exited off of pit road first from the first pit stall. Hocevar would then pit not long after as Reddick cycled into the lead.

As the event restarted under green with 27 laps remaining, Reddick received a push from Toyota teammate Truex to rocket ahead of McDowell with the lead through the first two turns until McDowell came charging back from the inside lane with drafting help from Keselowski’s No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Reddick and McDowell battled side by side for the lead during the following lap until McDowell muscled ahead and was placed on defense as he fended off both Keselowski and Reddick for the lead in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse with 25 laps remaining.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, McDowell retained the lead ahead of Keselowski, Reddick, Gragson and Berry while Truex, Gibbs, Chastain, Busch, Suarez and 20 additional competitors running within two seconds of one another trailed in a tight two by two pack.

During the proceeding laps, the battle for the lead was drawn to a side-by-side battle between McDowell and Reddick as Reddick had Toyota teammates Truex and Gibbs drafting him on the outside lane while McDowell had Ford teammates Keselowski, Gragson and Berry drafting him on the inside lane while also trying to gain control of both lanes with 15 laps remaining.

With 10 laps remaining, Reddick and McDowell continued to swap against one another for the lead and in front of two stacked lanes, with neither stepping out of the throttle nor giving an inch as they kept their respective manufacturer drafting partners lined up behind them.

During the proceeding laps and with a majority of the field continuing to run in two tight-packed lanes, McDowell started to muscle ahead from the inside lane as he was placed on defense to keep Keselowski drafting him and to stall Reddick’s momentum from the outside lane. Amid his strong defensive drive, Reddick fought back on the outside lane as he continued to challenge McDowell for the lead while a third drafting line led by van Gisbergen, who was running within the top 15, was trying to mount a charge toward the front. Gibbs and Busch would also move up to the third outside lane as McDowell held a narrow lead over both Keselowski and Reddick with two laps remaining.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick was leading by a hair over McDowell amid the tight two-pack formation. As the field navigated past the lapped competitor of John Hunter Nemechek through the first two turns, McDowell and Reddick continued to battle dead even through the backstretch until Keselowski drafted McDowell clear ahead of Reddick and the field with Noah Gragson trying to follow suit through Turns 3 and 4.

Then entering the frontstretch, Keselowski made a move to the outside of McDowell, but McDowell blocked Keselowski. As Keselowski crossed over back to the inside lane, McDowell did the same to make a second blocking attempt, but he got sideways after barely driving off the front nose of Keselowski. This resulted in McDowell spinning back across the middle of the track and igniting a vicious multi-car wreck that nearly collected the entire field and resulted in Corey LaJoie sliding across the outside wall on his side while also nearly turning over Josh Berry in the process and just past the finish line before his car tumbled once and came to a rest right-side up.

Amid the carnage, Reddick, who dropped to fourth entering the frontstretch, surged his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE past both Gragson and Keselowski while barely avoiding McDowell’s spinning car through the frontstretch to claim the lead and cross the finish line in first place to score the victory just before the caution flew.

With the victory, Reddick racked up his sixth career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his first at Talladega and his first since winning at Kansas Speedway last September. In addition, Reddick became the sixth winner through the first 10 events on the 2024 Cup Series schedule as he also recorded the fourth victory of the season for the Toyota nameplate and the first of the season for 23XI Racing.

“Man, it’s incredible!” Reddick said on FOX. “Everyone on this No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry worked really hard today. [Things] Didn‘t really work out in that third stage for us, but we were able to fight and defend our track position. Was [that finish] crazy [fans]?! That was chaos! That’s Talladega for you. I got to give a lot of credit to Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex [Jr.]. It was just us Toyotas left and they pushed me with everything they had. Huge credit to Martin and Ty. Without those pushes, we don‘t win this race.”

The victory celebration for 23XI Racing, which marks the sixth Cup career win for the organization, was also big as team owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan was also present to celebrate in Victory Lane with Reddick, co-owner Denny Hamlin, former 23XI Racing competitor Kurt Busch and the 23XI team.

“Denny [Hamlin] keeps saying I was bad luck when I come to the track,” Michael Jordan said in Victory Lane. “Today, we proved him wrong. I think Tyler did a good job. The whole team did a good job. I’m very happy to be here to see it. Everybody tells me when we win, we can have a good celebration, but this is the first time I’ve been here. We’ve been working hard, trying to get ourselves up to where we can compete against the top guys in this sport. We’ve done a heck of a job just to be where we are and for us to win a big race like this, it means so much to me and for the effort the team has done. I’m all in. I love it. It replaces a lot of the competitiveness that I had in basketball.”

With Reddick winning the race, Keselowski ended up in second place for a second consecutive week while Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman avoided the final lap carnage to finish in the top five.

“I was getting some great pushes from Noah Gragson,” Keselowski said. “I thought the Fords were really working well together. We cleared the Toyotas there on the bottom lane and it was pretty clear that it was gonna come down to the three of us [me, McDowell and Gragson]. I backed up, Noah gave me a great push and I went to make a move on Michael [McDowell]. He covered it, went back the other way. I got another push from Noah and just nowhere to go when Michael came back down. I hate that for [McDowell]. He’s a good guy, hope he’s alright. Just kind of the way this stuff goes, right? All in all, really solid day for us, for Ford, for Castrol. Another second. It’s a solid day, but not the win we wanted. Good finishes are important, but we want wins. I could really taste it today, but it just didn’t happen.”

Anthony Alfredo piloted the No. 62 Beard Motorsports entry to a sixth-place result while William Byron, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton ended up in the top 10.

Notably, Truex ended up 11th ahead of Briscoe, Chastain, Preece and Elliott. In addition, LaJoie slid across the finish line on his side in 18th place, Larson ended up 21st in between Blaney and Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch ended up 27th in between Suarez and Shane van Gisbergen.

Meanwhile, McDowell, who led a race-high 36 laps from pole position, ended up in 31st place as he was unable to limp his wrecked race car across the finish line to complete the final lap.

“Yeah, it’s just super unfortunate,” McDowell said in the infield care center. “I just hate it for everybody on this Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang and I hate it for Brad [Keselowski] too because we did a good job of keeping those Mustang Dark Horses upfront. He did everything right. He pushed me out, I drugged back to him and I was able to get in front of him that very first time, but when I came back down, [I] just barely, barely wasn’t clear. I hate it that we didn’t make it to the finish line. We had such a fast Mustang today. It’s unfortunate. It’s been a rough few weeks, but it’s last-lap Talladega. Going for it, trying to get a win and just came up short. [I] Hate that I took a lot of guys with me, so [I] apologize to Brad and everybody that got collected in that. [I’ll] Go back and watch [the replay] and see what we could’ve done better.”

There were 73 lead changes for 23 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 21 laps. In addition, 30 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 10th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 15 points over Martin Truex Jr., 22 over Chase Elliott, 24 over William Byron and 43 over Tyler Reddick.

Results.

1. Tyler Reddick, 13 laps led

2. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

3. Noah Gragson, five laps led

4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

5. Alex Bowman

6. Anthony Alfredo, four laps led

7. William Byron

8. Todd Gilliland

9. Daniel Hemric, eight laps led

10. Harrison Burton

11. Martin Truex Jr., 16 laps led

12. Chase Briscoe, three laps led

13. Ross Chastain, six laps led

14. Ryan Preece

15. Chase Elliott, five laps led

16. Josh Berry, three laps led

17. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

18. Corey LaJoie

19. Joey Logano, 22 laps led, Stage 2 winner

20. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

21. Kyle Larson

22. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

23. Austin Cindric, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner

24. Cody Ware

25. Chris Buescher, six laps led

26. Daniel Suarez

27. Kyle Busch, five laps lef

28. Shane van Gisbergen, three laps led

29. Zane Smith

30. Austin Dillon

31. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, 36 laps led

32. BJ McLeod, one lap down, five laps led

33. John Hunter Nemechek, four laps down, 20 laps led

34. Justin Haley, four laps down, four laps led

35. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

36. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

37. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, four laps led

38. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 28, and air at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 21, 2024
Chase Elliott snaps one-year winless drought by claiming a wild Cup victory at Texas

After striving to rebound on the track following a difficult 2023 season, Chase Elliott made a triumphant return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series division for the first time in over a year after motoring his way to win the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 14, amid two overtime shootouts.

The 2020 Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, led three times for 39 of 276 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 24th but implemented an early strategic move by remaining on the track during an early cycle of green flag pit stops and leading for the first time on Lap 41. An ensuing caution on Lap 50 for an on-track incident played into the favors for Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team, where they then pitted and proceeded to claim a top-10 result and a handful of stage points during the first stage period.

Then amid a bevy of on-track chaos, caution periods and dramatic restarts, Elliott, who maneuvered his way through the chaos, was left to fend off Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain through three late-race restarts, the latter two being overtime shootouts. After Hamlin wrecked during the first restart with two laps remaining, Elliott managed to muscle ahead of Chastain during the second overtime shootout and take the white flag to start the final lap before Chastain got wrecked by William Byron, which concluded the event under caution and delivered Elliott an emotional return to the Cup Series Victory Lane for the first time both at Texas and in 42 races.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, April 13, Kyle Larson notched his third consecutive Cup pole position in recent weeks and the 250th series pole for Hendrick Motorsports after he posted a pole-winning lap at 190.369 mph in 28.366 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 190.134 mph in 28.401 seconds.

Prior to the event, Kyle Busch dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car during Saturday’s practice session. Kaz Grala and Jimmie Johnson, who also wrecked during the practice session, also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Larson muscled ahead in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with the lead through the first two turns. With the field behind fanning out and jostling for early positions, Larson proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Ty Gibbs while Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe trailed in the top five. Larson would proceed to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Gibbs by the fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by a second over Gibbs followed by Bell, Reddick and Briscoe while Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Martin Truex Jr. occupied 11th place ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and rookie Carson Hocevar while Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon, Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez and rookie Zane Smith were running in the top 20.

Ten laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to a second over Gibbs while Bell, Reddick and Briscoe continued to run in the top five ahead of Blaney, Byron, Cindric, Wallace and McDowell.

Just past the Lap 30 mark, Larson continued to lead by nearly a second over Gibbs as Bell, Reddick and Blaney trailed in the top five. Behind, Byron occupied sixth place ahead of Briscoe, who was running ahead of Cindric while Wallace and Hamlin were in the top 10 ahead of Bowman, McDowell, Chastain, Truex and Hocevar.

By Lap 35 and with the leader Larson starting to approach lapped traffic, a cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Hamlin, who was running 10th, pitted his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE. More names including Cindric, Wallace, McDowell, Truex, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson pitted during the proceeding lap before the leader Larson led a bevy of front runners to pit road for service by Lap 37.

On Lap 40 and with the cycle of green flag pit stops still occurring, Gibbs, who led the previous five laps, pitted as Chase Elliott cycled into the lead. Behind, Todd Gilliland, Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric, all of whom have yet to pit, were running second to fourth, respectively, while Larson was running fourth as he was trying to cycle his way back to the front.

Then on Lap 50, the event’s first caution period flew after Jimmie Johnson, who was running 36th, got sideways and spun his No. 84 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE in Turn 4. The caution occurred as Elliott, Todd Gilliland, Hill and Hemric had yet to pit. During the caution period, select names that included Elliott, Gilliland, Hill, Wallace, Blaney, Hemric, Truex, Chastain and McDowell pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track. Truex would then pit for a second time to address a loose wheel along with teammate Gibbs.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 55, Larson muscled ahead from Bell to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Reddick, Hamlin and Briscoe trailing in the top five as Byron dropped to sixth, Larson would continue to lead just past the Lap 60 mark.

Nearing the Lap 75 mark, Larson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Bell while Hamlin, Reddick and Briscoe continued to run in the top five ahead of Elliott, a hard-charging Blaney, McDowell, Byron and Wallace. By then, Truex was in 13th and Gibbs was mired in 21st ahead of Nemechek.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Larson captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Bell settled in second ahead of teammate Hamlin, Reddick and Briscoe while Blaney, Elliott, McDowell, Byron and Wallace were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, select names led by Blaney remained on the track while the rest led by Larson pitted for service, where Truex would then manage to beat Larson off of pit road following his pit service. Amid the pit stops, Gilliland was penalized for equipment interference while Zane Smith was also penalized for removing equipment from his pit stall.

The second stage period started on Lap 88 as Blaney and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney and Hill battled for the lead through the first two turns. Blaney would then muscle his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead with the lead from Hill as Gibbs and Buescher followed suit in third and fourth, respectively, while Larson was scored in fifth place on four fresh tires. As Blaney led through the Lap 90 mark, Elliott occupied sixth place ahead of teammate Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin, Truex and Bell while Larson overtook Buescher and Gibbs to boost up to third place.

At the Lap 100 mark, the caution returned when Bell, who was running 10th, snapped sideways and backed his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE into the outside wall in Turn 4. Amid Bell’s incident, a chain reaction within the middle of the field ensued as Alex Bowman got turned before he received a hard hit by John Hunter Nemechek, thus leaving all three competitors with significant damage to their respective cars. By then, Blaney was leading by a narrow margin over a hard-charging Larson while Hamlin, Gibbs and Elliott were running in the top five. In addition, Hill, who was running towards the front, had pitted his No. 33 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry due to a steering issue, an issue that would send Hill to the garage.

During the caution period, nearly the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service while Gilliland remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited with the lead followed by Hamlin, Truex, Elliott, McDowell, Reddick and Chastain, respectively, as Blaney exited out of pit road in eighth place ahead of Byron and Wallace. Amid the pit stops, Buescher was penalized for equipment interference.

As the event restarted on Lap 106, the field fanned out through the first two turns, where Wallace lost a bevy of spots as he went wide through the turns following contact with Gibbs. Back at the front, Larson would overtake Gilliland to reassume the lead through the frontstretch and during the following lap. Truex and Hamlin would follow suit in second and third, respectively, while Reddick and Chastain battled for fifth. Meanwhile, Larson retained the lead by nearly a second over Truex by the Lap 110 mark.

Then following another caution period that started on Lap 113 after Hocevar, who was mired in 23rd, spun in Turn 1, trouble struck for the leader Larson, who lost a right-rear wheel on the track entering Turn 1. The issue cost Larson two laps for a penalty as Hamlin cycled into the lead followed by teammate Truex, Gilliland, Reddick and Chastain.

During the following restart period on Lap 118, the field fanned out again through the first two turns as teammates Hamlin and Truex battled for the lead. Hamlin would fend off Truex to retain the lead by the Lap 120 mark, where Larson then returned following his two-lap penalty. By Lap 121, however, the caution returned after rookie Josh Berry spun his No. 4 Miner Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Turn 2 after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came across Berry’s nose, which got the latter loose, from 12th place.

With the event restarting on Lap 125, teammates Hamlin and Truex battled for the lead for a second time, with Hamlin prevailing after nearly a full lap of battle while the rest of the field behind also fanned out and jostled for positions. Behind, Ross Chastain nearly made contact with Reddick as he claimed third place followed by Gilliland while Reddick was overtaken by Gilliland, McDowell, Blaney and Elliott amid his near-contact with Chastain. Amid the battles, Hamlin retained the lead by nearly a second over teammate Truex while third-place Chastain trailed by a second in third place by Lap 130.

At the halfway mark in between Laps 133 and 134, Hamlin was leading by more than a second over Chastain, who overtook Truex for the spot, while Front Row Motorsports’ Gilliland and McDowell trailed in fourth and fifth ahead of Blaney, Elliott, Byron, Joey Logano and Reddick. Behind, Stenhouse occupied 11th place ahead of Ryan Preece, Briscoe, Erik Jones and Noah Gragson while Austin Cindric, Zane Smith, Gibbs, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski followed suit in the top 20.

A few laps later, the caution returned after Berry spun and wrecked against the outside wall in Turn 2 for a second time. Compared to his first incident, Berry’s latest incident was enough for the Tennessee native to steer his car to the garage and retire with a DNF. During the caution period, some led by Chastain remained on the track while the rest led by Hamlin and Truex pitted.

With the event restarting under green on Lap 142, Chastain and McDowell battled for the lead in front of a stacked field for nearly a full lap until the caution quickly returned after McDowell snapped sideways while running on the outside lane and backed his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang Dark Horse hard into the outside wall as the field scattered to avoid McDowell’s wrecked car. The caution enabled Larson to acquire one of his two lost laps in the process.

With 18 laps remaining in the second stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, Chastain muscled his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through the first two turns while Stenhouse and Jones battled for second in front of Wallace, Keselowski, Hocevar and Hamlin. Jones would overtake Stenhouse during the following lap as Chastain extended his advantage to more than a second, all while Wallace retained fourth in front of Hocevar, Keselowski and Hamlin.

By Lap 155, Chastain continued to lead by nearly a second over Jones while Wallace, Keselowski and Stenhouse trailed in the top five. Behind, Chase Briscoe, the first competitor running on four fresh tires, was mired in ninth behind Hocevar, Harrison Burton and Blaney while Hamlin was in 10th and trying to fend off teammate Ty Gibbs for the spot.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Chastain captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Wallace, who overtook Jones for the runner-up spot earlier, settled in second followed by Blaney, Erik Jones and Briscoe while Keselowski, Burton, Stenhouse, Gibbs and Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Reddick, Hamlin and Byron mired from 11th to 13th, respectively. In addition, Truex was mired back in 21st in between Logano and Daniel Suarez.

During the stage break, some led by Chastain pitted while the rest led by Wallace remained on the track. By then, Larson, who was the first competitor scored a lap down during the second stage’s conclusion, cycled back onto the lead lap.

With 95 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Wallace and Briscoe occupied the front row. At the start, Wallace and Briscoe battled for the lead through the first two turns until Harrison Burton stretched the battle to three lanes as he made his bid for the top spot. Then through Turns 3 and 4, the caution returned after Wallace got loose and slipped his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE up the track, where he slid sideways as Briscoe also got sideways in his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse and was sent for a spin as both he and Wallace dropped within the leaderboard while Burton assumed the lead ahead of Reddick, Hamlin, Elliott and Zane Smith.

During the following restart with 90 laps remaining, Burton rocketed ahead and retained the lead from both Hamlin and Reddick through the first two turns. Behind, Elliott fended off Zane Smith and Byron to retain fourth in front of a stacked field while Burton was trying to fend off Reddick for the lead, but Reddick prevailed with 88 laps remaining. The caution, however, returned a lap later after Blaney, who was running 15th, spun and wrecked hard against the Turn 2 outside wall amid contact with Preece.

As the event restarted with 83 laps remaining, Reddick and Burton battled for the lead until Reddick retained the lead in front of the field. Behind, Hamlin would then move into the runner-up spot followed by Elliott, teammate Byron and Zane Smith while Burton dropped to sixth in front of Gibbs. With numerous contenders trying to aggressively carve their way back to the front amid a stacked field, Reddick retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over owner Hamlin with 80 laps remaining.

With 70 laps remaining, Reddick was leading by a second-and-a-half in his NO. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry XSE over Hamlin followed by Elliott, Byron and Smith while Gibbs, Gragson, Truex, Buescher and Stenhouse were running in the top 10 ahead of Erik Jones, Burton, Chastain, Keselowski, Preece, Logano, Austin Cindric, John Hunter Nemechek, Gilliland and Corey LaJoie. Meanwhile, Larson was mired in 23rd in front of Kyle Busch, Wallace and Briscoe, Jimmie Johnson was in 28th behind Hocevar and Austin Dillon was mired in 30th in between Daniel Suarez and Daniel Hemric.

Ten laps later, Reddick extended his advantage to five seconds over Hamlin while Elliott, Byron and Smith continued to run in the top five, but trail by within 11 seconds. Behind, teammates Gibbs and Truex battled for sixth place in front of Stenhouse, Noah Gragson, Chastain and Jones while Logano, Keselowski, Preece and Nemechek occupied the top 15 spots.

Then with approximately 55 laps remaining, a cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Byron pitted followed by teammate Elliott and Gragson. By then, Cindric, Justin Haley and Buescher pitted before the leader Reddick pitted with 54 laps remaining along with Hamlin, Stenhouse, Smith, Gibbs and Jones. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin overtook Reddick and exited ahead of him on pit road after the latter endured a slow pit stop towards the right-rear end. With more names including Truex and Stenhouse pitting, Chastain, whose previous pit stop occurred with 99 laps remaining, was leading. Chastain would then pit with 50 laps remaining along with Larson as Joey Logano cycled into the lead.

With 40 laps remaining, Logano, who last pitted with 92 laps remaining and has yet to make another pit stop to finish, continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Keselowski followed by Preece, LaJoie and Busch while Briscoe, Suarez, Hocevar, Austin Dillon and Hemric were racing in the top 10. Behind, Reddick was running 13th ahead of Hamlin, both of whom were racing on four fresh tires, while Truex was mired towards the rear of the field after making a second pit stop under green to address a loose wheel.

A lap later, the caution flew after Nemechek snapped sideways while battling Cindric and backed his No. 42 Romco Toyota Camry XSE into the outside wall in Turn 4, which sent him into the garage area and out of the event. During the caution period, some led by Logano pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track as Reddick cycled back into the lead.

Down to the final 33 laps of the event, the field restarted under green. At the start, Reddick received a push from Elliott to briefly muscle ahead of Hamlin until Elliott made his move and overtook both to assume the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Elliott leading, Hamlin settled in second ahead of Chastain while Reddick slipped to fourth in front of a multi-car battle between Byron, Keselowski, Briscoe, Preece, Suarez and Busch.

With 25 laps remaining, Elliott retained the lead by nearly a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin. Two laps later, however, Hamlin battled and overtook Elliott amid a fierce battle for the lead. Another lap later and just as Hamlin muscled ahead of Elliott entering the backstretch, Reddick, who was trying to muscle his way back to the lead, slid into the outside wall towards the backstretch and dropped from third to eighth, though the event remained under green flag conditions.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by six-tenths of a second over Elliott while Brad Keselowski, who was slowly clocking in lap times that were faster than Hamlin and Elliott, trailed in third place by seven-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, fourth-place Chastain trailed by three seconds along with teammate Suarez while Byron, Reddick, Briscoe, Preece and Logano followed suit in the top 10.

Then two laps later, the caution flew after Stenhouse, who was locked into a fierce battle with Ty Gibbs, went wide through Turns 1 and 2 before he slid his No. 47 Boost by Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the outside wall and spun before coming to a stop in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names including Wallace, Jones, Bell, Gragson, Burton, Truex and Jimmie Johnson pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

Just as the event restarted under green with eight laps remaining, the caution quickly returned after Zane Smith and Larson made contact that sent Larson loose and sliding up toward the outside wall in Turn 1. At the moment of caution, Elliott managed to reassume the lead from Hamlin while Chastain, Keselowski and Byron were scored in the top five.

Then during the following restart with two laps remaining, the event was sent into overtime after Hamlin, who battled dead event with Elliott for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch, slipped sideways in between Turns 3 and 4 and spun as he backed his car into the outside wall. Amid the carnage, Elliott escaped with the lead while Chastain, Keselowski, Byron and Suarez were scored in the top five.

The start of the first overtime period did not last long as Burton and Kaz Grala wrecked in Turn 1, where Elliott fended off Chastain to retain the lead followed by Keselowski, Byron and Suarez. The start of the second overtime period generated a different outcome as Elliott and Chastain battled dead even through the first two turns and the backstretch before Elliott cleared Chastain to assume the lead and have both lanes to his control entering the frontstretch.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started amid a bevy of on-track battles, Elliott remained as the leader by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Chastain. Then in the backstretch, Byron, who charged his way up to third, turned Chastain sideways into the outside wall in the backstretch as Chastain was left spinning across the middle of the track. The incident was enough for NASCAR officials to display the caution and conclude the event under caution as Elliott, who muscled his No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 away from the carnage, was able to coast his car back to the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag for a triumphant return to the Cup Series Victory Lane.

With the victory, Elliott, who became the sixth winner through the first nine events on the 2024 schedule, recorded his 19th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series level, his first at Texas Motor Speedway and his first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2022 as he snapped a 42-year winless drought in the process. The victory, which also snapped a one-year winless drought for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 team led by championship-winning crew chief Alan Gustafson, marks the sixth of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the fifth for Hendrick Motorsports as Elliott placed himself in a guaranteed spot of making the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

During his victory celebration on the frontstretch, Elliott, who piloted his sponsor Hooters to the race win, took a moment to recognize the late Alan Kulwicki, who piloted his own-operated Hooters-sponsored entry to the 1992 Cup Series championship by beating Chase Elliott’s father, Bill, during the season-finale event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, by doing a Polish Victory Lap, Kulwicki’s on-track trademark victory celebration, across the frontstretch.

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“Man, [the win] couldn’t feel any better,” Elliott, who received a chorus of cheers from the grandstands, said on FS1. “[Sponsor] Hooters has been a partner of ours for a number of years now and it’s been a dream of mine to pay respect to the late Alan Kulwicki. Driving this car to victory and being able to do a Polish Victory Lap. Just really crazy how things came full circle there in that moment. It was pretty emotional for me. [Kulwicki] beat dad [Bill Elliott] back in the day and here we are sharing his sponsor and having an opportunity to win today. Just couldn’t be more grateful for this journey and the path that hasn’t always been fun, but certainly have enjoyed working with our guys. We’ve been working really hard and really well together. We’ve enjoyed the fight together.”

Following an extensive review of the finishing order amid the final lap caution, Brad Keselowski, who is still seeking his first Cup victory since 2021 and his first as a co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, ended up in second place followed by William Byron while Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez ended up in the top five.

Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace rallied from their on-track incident to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, while Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and rookie Carson Hocevar ended up in the top 10.

Notably, Joey Logano ended up 11th, Ty Gibbs settled in 13th ahead of teammate Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell finished 17th, Kyle Larson came home in 21st and Jimmie Johnson finished 29th in his second Cup start of the 2024 season. In addition, Denny Hamlin settled in 30th while Ross Chastain, who was unable to limp his damaged car to the finish line, ended up 32nd with a DNF.

There were 23 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured 16 cautions for 72 laps. In total, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the ninth event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 18 points over Martin Truex Jr., 29 over Denny Hamlin, 33 over Chase Elliott and 39 over William Byron.

Results.

1. Chase Elliott, 39 laps led

2. Brad Keselowski

3. William Byron

4. Tyler Reddick, 37 laps led

5. Daniel Suarez

6. Chase Briscoe

7. Bubba Wallace, five laps led

8. Austin Dillon

9. Kyle Busch

10. Carson Hocevar

11. Joey Logano, 14 laps led

12. Ryan Preece

13. Ty Gibbs, five laps led

14. Martin Truex Jr.

15. Chris Buescher

16. Ty Dillon

17. Christopher Bell, one lap led

18. Noah Gragson

19. Erik Jones

20. Daniel Hemric

21. Kyle Larson, 77 laps led, Stage 1 winner

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24. Justin Haley

25. Austin Cindric

26. Zane Smith

27. Kaz Grala

28. Harrison Burton, seven laps led

29. Jimmie Johnson

30. Denny Hamlin, 37 laps led

31. Todd Gilliland, three laps led

32. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident, 33 laps led, Stage 2 winner

33. Ryan Blaney, eight laps led, 17 laps led

34. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

35. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident

36. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

37. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

38. Austin Hill – OUT, Steering, one lap led

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 21, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

April 14, 2024
Byron scores emotional Cup victory in Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary weekend at Martinsville

In Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary weekend at a historic venue where the team achieved its first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series division, Hendrick’s three of four competitors notched a historic 1-2-3 finish as William Byron prevailed in an overtime shootout amid a late battle against teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott to win the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, April 7.

Byron commented about the significance of the victory after the race.

“It’s awesome and it’s way bigger than me,” Byron said after the race. “There are so many men and women that this is a tribute to with all the hard work in the shop. It’s just a really good environment to work in. They have built something so special over the years, and I am thankful to be a part of it and drive the No. 24. It’s pretty special.”

The 2024 Daytona 500 champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 88 of 415 over-scheduled laps in an event where he along with teammates Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson each sported commemorative ruby red paint schemes to their respective entries to celebrate the anniversary weekend. Despite qualifying in 18th place, Byron methodically worked his way up the leaderboard in his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and through the field, where he would eventually race his way into the top 10 and claim a pair of eighth-place runs during the event’s first two stage periods.

While battling in the top five with 103 laps remaining, Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle utilized a strategic pit call as they were the first duo to pit under green before the front-runners pitted a lap later. This allowed Byron to gain momentum and competitive speed upon returning to the track as he would spend the proceeding laps overtaking teammates Elliott and Larson along with Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace on the track before he assumed the race lead from Daniel Suarez for the first time with 74 laps remaining.

After initially leading the race with a two-second advantage over teammate Elliott, Byron’s steady drive to victory was briefly halted with three laps remaining when John Hunter Nemechek wrecked and sent the event into overtime. Amid an extensive caution period and the start of the overtime shootout, Byron, who remained on the track along with a majority of the field on their current tires, was not to be denied. He fended off a late bump and challenge from Elliott along with teammate Larson in overtime to claim his third NASCAR Cup Series triumph of the 2024 season and lead a historic 1-2-3 finish to cap off Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary weekend of its first win.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, April 6, Kyle Larson secured his second consecutive Cup pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 96.034 mph in 19.718 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Bubba Wallace, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 96.029 mph in 19.719 seconds, thus missing the pole position by 0.001 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Larson fended off Bubba Wallace on the inside lane through the first two turns to retain the lead, where he proceeded to lead the first lap in his ruby red No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while the field behind fanned out to two lanes while jostling for early spots. Larson would proceed to lead the second to fifth lap marks while Wallace retained second ahead of Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano amid the early on-track battles.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by half a second over Wallace followed by Elliott, Briscoe and Truex while Logano, rookie Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Alex Bowman was in 11th ahead of Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland while William Byron, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Carson Hocevar and rookie Zane Smith trailed in the top 25.

Ten laps later, as Larson was approaching the rear of the field, he stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Wallace while Elliott, Briscoe and Truex continued to run in the top five. Meanwhile, Logano, Berry, Blaney, Hamlin and Busch also continued to run in the top 10 while Byron gained three spots as he was running 13th, two spots behind teammate Bowman.

Another 15 laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Wallace despite being mired in lapped traffic. By then, Elliott, Briscoe and Truex remained in the top five ahead of Logano, Berry, Blaney, Hamlin and Busch while names that included Daniel Hemric, Austin Dillon, Josh Williams, Michael McDowell and Harrison Burton were lapped by Larson.

At the Lap 50 mark, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Wallace as Elliott, Briscoe and Truex continued to trail in the top five. Meanwhile, Byron, who had carved his way up to the top 10 earlier, was running ninth behind Logano, Berry and Hamlin, Bowman was running 11th behind Kyle Busch and Blaney had fallen to 12th.

Fifteen laps later, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Wallace followed by Elliott, Briscoe and Truex while Byron moved up to eighth place as he was racing behind Logano and Hamlin. Behind, Bowman retained 11th ahead of Blaney, Chastain, Keselowski and Austin Cindric while Gilliland, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece and Erik Jones occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell was mired in 23rd in between Stenhouse and Hocevar, Noah Gragson was in 26th and running ahead of Chris Buescher and John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Dillon, who was racing while reunited with crew chief Justin Alexander, was down in 32nd.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Larson captured his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season after leading all the scheduled laps thus far from pole position. Wallace, who challenged Larson for the first stage victory on the final lap, trailed in second place ahead of Elliott, Briscoe and Truex while Logano, Hamlin, Byron, Berry and Busch were scored in the top 10. By then, 25 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap as Buescher, Gragson, Corey LaJoie and John Hunter Nemechek were lapped.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Joey Logano exited pit road first with the lead after only opting for a two-tire pit stop as Larson, Wallace, Elliott, Hamlin, Gilliland, Truex, Byron, Briscoe and Bowman followed suit in the top 10, with the majority of the field pitting for four fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Gilliland was penalized for taking a wedge wrench out of his pit box and onto the track while Stenhouse, who was penalized for speeding on pit road, was turned by Elliott while trying to enter his pit box. Soon after, Blaney, who nearly ran over one of his pit crew members, pitted for a second time to have a lug nut on his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse tightened and for a wedge adjustment.

The second stage period started on Lap 93 as Logano and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Logano rocketed ahead with the lead while Wallace and Larson, who struggled to launch in the restart zone, battled for the runner-up spot, with Wallace managing to move in front of Larson during the following lap. Soon after, Hamlin pressured Larson for third place, which he was able to do by Lap 97 as Larson was forced to settle in fourth in front of teammates Elliott and Byron. Amid the battles, Logano retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Wallace by the Lap 100 mark.

By Lap 110, Logano stabilized his advantage to half a second over Wallace while racing on two fresh tires while Hamlin, Larson and Elliott trailed in the top five ahead of Byron, Briscoe, Bowman, Truex and Busch. Meanwhile, Bell, who was running in the middle of the pack, limped his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE to pit road after a wedged right-front tire due to a fallen lug nut caused Bell to run his car up the track twice a lap earlier, though he managed to keep his car off of the wall. Not long after, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 119, Logano muscled his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead from Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE through the first two turns to retain the lead as Hamlin challenged Wallace for the runner-up spot through Turns 3 and 4. Wallace, however, would fend off Hamlin entering the frontstretch to retain the runner-up spot while all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors, led by Larson, were running fourth through seventh on the track, with Elliott, Bowman and Byron following suit, respectively. As Briscoe and Chastain were racing in eighth and ninth, respectively, while Berry and Truex battled for 10th, Logano retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Wallace by the Lap 125 mark.

Just past the Lap 140 mark, Logano retained the lead by half a second over Wallace while Hamlin, Larson, Elliott, Bowman and Byron followed suit from third to seventh, respectively. Logano would stabilize his advantage to half a second over Wallace at the Lap 150 mark while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than a second. In addition, Hendrick Motorsports’ four-car organization led by Larson and followed by Elliott, Bowman and Byron continued to run fourth to seventh, respectively, while Briscoe, Chastain and Berry were racing in the top 10.

By Lap 160, Logano was mired in lapped traffic but continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Wallace, who was being pressured by Hamlin for the spot while Larson tried to join the battle in fourth place. Larson’s teammates Elliott, Bowman and Byron remained in fifth through seventh, respectively, along with Briscoe, who trailed the lead by two seconds as Hamlin moved his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE into the runner-up spot three laps later.

Then on Lap 170, Hamlin muscled his way around Logano for the lead while Wallace and Larson followed in close pursuit in third and fourth, respectively. Hamlin would quickly stretch his advantage to a second four laps later as Wallace battled and overtook Logano, who was beginning to struggle on his two fresh tires, for the runner-up spot another lap later, with Larson and Elliott following suit.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 180, Hamlin, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Richmond Raceway, captured his second stage victory of the 2024 season. Wallace followed suit in second along with Larson and Elliott while Logano fended off Bowman to claim fifth place as Briscoe, Byron, Chastain and Berry were scored in the top 10. By then, 26 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Logano returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first. He was followed by Elliott, Wallace, Larson and Bowman while Briscoe, Logano, Blaney, Byron and Chastain exited in the top 10 amid a congested pit road, where Logano nearly got sandwiched in between Bowman and Byron while exiting pit road while Ty Gibbs rammed into the side of Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while exiting his pit stall. Amid the pit stops, Daniel Suarez was penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 207 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Chase Elliott occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin and Elliott battled dead even for the lead in front of Wallace and Larson through the first two turns and through the backstretch, where Elliott managed to use the outside lane to his advantage through Turns 3 and 4 and muscle his No. 9 ruby red UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead. With Elliott leading the event over Hamlin, Wallace started to challenge Hamlin for the runner-up spot as Larson, Logano, Bowman, Byron and Briscoe followed suit in the top eight.

At the halfway mark with 200 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Wallace, Larson and Bowman while Logano, Briscoe, Byron, Blaney and Reddick were running in a long single-file line in the top 10. Behind, Chastain was in 11th ahead of Truex, Gilliland, Ty Gibbs and Hocevar while Erik Jones, Busch, Preece, Cindric and Berry occupied the top 20.

Two laps later and with the field slowly fanning out to three lanes, the caution returned after Bell, who was running multiple laps down, spun in Turn 4 after getting loose underneath Kaz Grala. During the caution period, some including Truex, Gibbs, Busch, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Hemric, Grala and Josh Williams pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track.

As the event restarted under green with 191 laps remaining, Elliott retained the lead following a strong start on the inside lane while Hamlin also fended off Wallace, Larson and Bowman to retain the runner-up spot. As Elliott, Hamlin, Wallace, Larson and Bowman formed a single-file line towards the inside lane in the proceeding laps, Logano and Byron battled dead even for sixth place in front of Briscoe, who was being pressured by Gilliland and Blaney for more while Reddick, Chastain, Preece, Hocevar and Jones swapped battles within the top 15.

With less than 175 laps remaining, Elliott extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Hamlin while third-place Wallace also trailed by more than two seconds ahead of Elliott’s teammates Larson, Bowman and Byron. Elliott, however, would have his advantage decreased to a second over Hamlin as he started to approach lapped traffic with 160 laps remaining.

With 150 laps remaining, Elliott slightly stretched his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while third-place Wallace trailed by seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Elliott’s teammates Larson, Byron and Bowman trailed by within two seconds in fourth through sixth, respectively, while Logano, Gilliland, Briscoe and Blaney were racing in the top 10.

Two laps later, Hamlin ignited his challenge on Elliott for the lead. After Elliott got pinned behind the lapped competitor of Josh Williams, Hamlin managed to lead Elliott by a mere margin with 147 laps remaining. With Elliott and Hamlin still battling dead even for the lead through every corner and straightaway during the proceeding laps, Wallace and Larson battled for third in front of Byron and Bowman. After a long tussle, Hamlin managed to run Elliott up the track in between Turns 3 and 4 to muscle ahead of him with 142 laps remaining.

As the event was down to its final 125 laps, Hamlin, who weaved his way through lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while third-place Wallace trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Larson was trying to fend off teammate Byron for fourth place while teammate Bowman trailed by more than three seconds in sixth place. In the process, Logano, Gilliland, Briscoe and Blaney continued to run in the top 10.

Then with 103 laps remaining, green flag pit stops ignited as Byron pitted from fifth place. Not long after, Elliott, Wallace and Larson pitted together before the leader Hamlin pitted along with Bowman and more with 102 laps remaining. By the time Hamlin exited his pit stall and pit road, Elliott just managed to overtake Hamlin on the track while Larson, Wallace and Byron battled behind with 100 laps remaining.

Then with 96 laps remaining and with the front-runners mired in lapped traffic, Elliott shoved Stenhouse and Nemechek out of his path while trying to fend off Hamlin. Amid the battles, teammates Byron and Larson made their move beneath Hamlin and overtook him on the track during the next few laps, thus placing three Hendrick Motorsports competitors within close distance of one another while Hamlin was being blocked by the lapped competitor of Stenhouse. In the process and with green flag pit stops still ensuing, Briscoe, who was one of several competitors who had yet to pit, was leading ahead of Cindric before he pitted with 93 laps remaining as Cindric moved into the lead. Meanwhile, Byron started to pressure teammate Elliott for the position, where he succeeded in overtaking him in his No. 24 ruby red AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the track with 90 laps remaining.

With 74 laps remaining and with most of the field having made a pit stop under green, Byron overtook Suarez, who had yet to pit, for the race lead. Teammate Elliott would follow suit in second place while Larson moved into third place two laps later, thus placing three Hendrick Motorsports competitors in the top three on the track. Meanwhile, Hamlin trailed the race lead by more than two seconds in fifth place while Wallace trailed by more than four seconds in sixth place. In addition, Bowman, the fourth Hendrick Motorsports competitor in his No. 48 ruby red Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, trailed by more than five seconds in seventh place.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Byron was leading by more than a second over teammate Elliott and by two seconds over teammate Larson while Hamlin, Blaney and Wallace followed suit in the top six. Behind, Bowman trailed by six seconds in seventh place while Logano, Briscoe and Gilliland occupied the top-10 spots ahead of Reddick, Erik Jones, Preece, Chastain and Chris Buescher, all of whom were scored on the lead lap.

Fifteen laps later, Byron extended his advantage to more than three seconds over teammates Elliott and Larson while fourth-place Hamlin trailed by nearly five seconds. Behind, Blaney also trailed by more than five seconds in fifth place while Wallace, Bowman, Logano, Briscoe and Gilliland were racing in the top 10.

Another 10 laps later, Byron, who was trying to lap Buescher, stabilized his lead to two and three seconds over both teammates Elliott and Larson while Hamlin, Blaney and Wallace continued to trail in the top six by seven seconds. Byron would continue to lead by more than a second over teammate Elliott and by more than two seconds over teammate Larson with 15 laps remaining.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Byron, who was trying to lap Ross Chastain, retained the lead by over teammates Elliott and Larson within one and two seconds, with Byron slowly having his large advantage decrease amid the lapped traffic. Meanwhile, Hamlin trailed in fourth place by more than four seconds while Blaney, Wallace and Bowman trailed in the top seven by as large as eight seconds as Byron stabilized his lead to two seconds with five laps remaining.

Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew after John Hunter Nemechek, who was lapped by Byron a lap earlier, scrubbed the outside wall after losing the right front of his No. 42 Skip Barber Racing School Toyota Camry XSE, which ended up on fire, through Turns 3 and 4 as Byron’s steady advantage over teammates Elliott and Larson evaporated.

During the extensive caution period, some led by Hamlin and including Reddick, Erik Jones and Preece pitted for fresh tires and fuel while the rest led by Byron, Elliott and Larson remained on the track.

At the start of the first overtime period, teammates Byron and Elliott battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Byron managed to muscle ahead through the backstretch as he then withstood a bump from Elliott to maintain the lead through Turns 3 and 4.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron remained as the leader over teammate Elliott while Blaney challenged Larson for third place. With Elliott nearly running wide through Turns 1 and 2, Larson made his move beneath Elliott for the runner-up spot as Blaney and Wallace followed suit. In the process, Byron pulled away entering Turns 3 and 4 and was able to cycle back to the frontstretch victorious, where he claimed his third checkered flag of the 2024 Cup season much to the delight of a bevy of Hendrick Motorsports’ fans and employees gathering and watching the event in tents above the backstretch.

With the victory, Byron, who delivered Hendrick Motorsports’ 300th Cup Series victory last September at Texas Motor Speedway, became the first three-time race winner of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season as he recorded his 13th career win in his 224th start in NASCAR’s premier series and his second at Martinsville. The Martinsville victory was the 29th overall for Hendrick Motorsports, which keeps the organization as the winningest one of all time at Martinsville, as the organization also racked up its 305th win in the Cup circuit and the fourth of the 2024 campaign.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I just want to thank Chase [Elliott] for racing me clean [in overtime],” Byron said on FS1. “He gave me a shot, which was expected, but we all finished it off. Just so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. [I] Grew up a big Hendrick fan and to be here for the 40th anniversary and all that goes into just this organization, all the people, it’s all about the people, and just want to thank Mr. [Rick] Hendrick and [wife] Linda [Hendrick] and everyone involved. It’s pretty awesome, pretty badass to win at Martinsville. We’ve been struggling at the short tracks and just kept inching up on it and I got a great team. They just kept my head in it. It stunk to do a restart there at the end like that, but it’s the way it goes.”

“You just can’t script it any better,” Jeff Gordon, vice chairman and co-owner of Hendrick Motorsports, added. “The race the way it played out, to get that green flag stop was it. Our cars were just so good on the short runs. We just needed to get that track position. Then that last restart, oh my god, I did not want to see that. Then I was just so hoping we could get the 1-2-3 [finish]. These three guys as well as [Alex] Bowman, they just drove their butts off. Great race, but how about that William Byron and that No. 24 car? Every time we have a milestone day or opportunity or moment, he steps up. This is gonna be a huge one for him and the organization.”

Like Byron and Gordon, teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, both of whom ended up second and third, respectively, were left pleased with their top-three results and capping off the 1-2-3 finish for Hendrick Motorsports’ historic victory. As an added bonus, Hendrick Motorsports also became the first organization to place three entries in the first three finishing results at Martinsville Speedway. In total, Byron, Larson and Elliott led a combined 238 of 415 laps en route to the 1-2-3 finish of today’s Martinsville event.

“[It’s] Really special to get a 1-2-3 [finish] there with William [Byron], Chase [Elliott] and I,” Larson said. “Just a great day for Hendrick Motorsports. It’s been a great 40 seasons for them. Really cool to have 1,500 people here from Hendrick Motorsports to celebrate. Congrats to William. He did a really good job. [He] Kind of schooled us all there after that green flag stop. He did a really good job passing all of us. Then, he was able to set a good pace and still get through traffic good. Solid day. Just an awesome day.”

“Obviously, number one, congrats to William and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports,…all the people that put this together for us,” Elliott added. “[Hendrick Motorsports] have an unbelievable program and I think we’re all proud to call it home. It was awesome hosting over a thousand folks from Hendrick today, employees and their families. Glad one of us could get it done. Obviously, I wished we could’ve gotten it done selfishly like anybody would, but nice to have a couple solid weeks and to be in contention there for a win. I haven’t been in contention to win one for a while, so it was fun to kind of get to that last restart and it actually mattered. [I] Enjoyed that aspect and certainly hungry for more.”

Bubba Wallace was the highest non-Hendrick competitor on the track in fourth place while Ryan Blaney rallied from struggling at the start to finish fifth. Logano and Reddick came home in sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Alex Bowman, the fourth Hendrick Motorsports competitor. Preece and Briscoe completed the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Denny Hamlin ended up 11th. In addition, Kyle Busch finished 16th, Martin Truex Jr. ended up 18th behind rookie Carson Hocevar, Suarez ended up 22nd and Josh Berry ended up 25th behind Brad Keselowski after being penalized late for an uncontrolled tire violation.

There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 51 laps. In addition, 14 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the eighth event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 14 points over Martin Truex Jr., 17 over Denny Hamlin, 48 over both William Byron and Ryan Blaney and 51 over Chase Elliott.

Results.

1. William Byron, 88 laps led

2. Kyle Larson, 86 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Chase Elliott, 64 laps led

4. Bubba Wallace

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Joey Logano, 84 laps led

7. Tyler Reddick

8. Alex Bowman

9. Ryan Preece

10. Chase Briscoe, eight laps led

11. Denny Hamlin, 66 laps led, Stage 2 winner

12. Erik Jones

13. Todd Gilliland

14. Ross Chastain

15. Chris Buescher, one lap down

16. Kyle Busch, one lap down

17. Carson Hocevar, one lap down

18. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down

19. Ty Gibbs, one lap down

20. Noah Gragson, one lap down

21. Michael McDowell, one lap down

22. Daniel Suarez, one lap down, 13 laps led

23. Austin Cindric, one lap down, six laps led

24. Brad Keselowski, one lap down

25. Josh Berry, two laps down

26. Kaz Grala, two laps down

27. Josh Williams, two laps down

28. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down

30. Justin Haley, two laps down

31. Zane Smith, three laps down

32. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

33. Harrison Burton, three laps down

34. Austin Dillon, three laps down

35. Christopher Bell, four laps down

36. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

37. David Starr – OUT, Steering

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 14, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 7, 2024
Suárez edges Blaney and Busch in three-wide finish for second Cup career victory at Atlanta

In a three-wide photo finish for the ages, Daniel Suárez bested NASCAR Cup Series champions Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch to score a wild victory in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, February 25.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Suárez said after the race. “This team did an amazing job all race long. We wrecked on Lap two. The guys fixed the car and we were able to make it good again, make it fast again. It took some tweaking, but unbelievable. Freeway Insurance, Trackhouse, Chevrolet, and all the people that believed in us from day one – it’s unbelievable to do this in this fashion.”

The 2016 Xfinity Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, led twice for nine of 260 scheduled laps in an event where he was involved in a 16-car pileup on the second lap. Amid the early incident, Suárez persevered through nine additional caution periods to methodically carve his way back to the front, where he would lead for the first time with 12 laps remaining. During a five-lap shootout to the finish, Suárez, who lost the lead to Ryan Blaney, was left to battle Kyle Busch dead even for the runner-up spot during the next four laps.

Then on the final lap, both Suárez and Busch took Blaney in a tight three-wide battle in front of the stacked field through the final two turns. All three competitors remained dead even against one another through the frontstretch until Suárez just managed to emerge ahead of both Blaney and Busch by a nose to claim his second NASCAR Cup Series career victory and snap a one-year winless drought.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, February 24, Michael McDowell achieved his first Cup Series pole position of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 178.844 mph in 30.999 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Joey Logano, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying speed at 178.424 mph in 31.072 seconds.

Prior to the event, however, Logano dropped to the rear of the field and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road at the start of the event due to wearing illegal gloves and violating NASCAR’s SFI specification. Chase Elliott also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, McDowell and Kyle Busch, who moved up to the front row, dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Busch, who was drafted by Kyle Larson on the inside lane, quickly moved in front of McDowell entering the backstretch. McDowell, however, fought back as he transitioned from the outside to inside lane, but Busch was able to muscle ahead from the outside lane and lead the first lap.

Following the completion of the first lap, however, the first caution flew after a checkup towards the front of the pack caused by Gilliland on the outside lane resulted with Austin Dillon, who was running in the top 10 and ran into the rear of Austin Cindric, getting hit by Martin Truex Jr. as he spun his No. 3 BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 exiting the frontstretch, which then triggered a multi-car wreck entering Turn 1 that collected Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, rookie Carson Hocevar, Daniel Suárez, Elliott, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Preece, BJ McLeod and Harrison Burton.

During the event’s first caution period, a bevy of names that included Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Zane Smith, Logano and the wrecked competitors pitted while the rest led by Busch remained on the track. By then, Josh Williams took his Kaulig Racing entry to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 10, Busch quickly transitioned from the outside to inside lane to retain the lead in front of a side-by-side duel in front of McDowell and Larson through the first two turns and the backstretch. Larson then challenged Busch with a move to the inside lane and he managed to slide in front of Busch’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead. Busch, however, responded back by overtaking Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during the following lap as he would retain the lead while Chris Buescher challenged Larson for the runner-up spot.

Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Busch was leading ahead of Chase Briscoe and Larson while McDowell and Buescher followed suit in front of two tight-packed lanes. With the field slowing fanning out to three lanes while spread out around the Atlanta circuit, Busch, who was swapping against Larson for the lead a few laps earlier, continued to lead by the Lap 20 mark ahead of Larson while McDowell, Blaney and Buescher battled in the top five. Behind, Briscoe was in sixth while William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, Truex, Zane Smith, Gilliland, Ty Gibbs and LaJoie occupied the top 15 on the track.

Nearing the Lap 25 mark, the event’s second caution flew after Buescher, who was running in the top 10, got loose and spun his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse in front of William Byron entering Turn 4, though he was dodged by oncoming traffic and was able to limp his entry to pit road for four fresh tires. During the caution period, some led by Byron pitted while the rest led by new race leader Ryan Blaney remained on the track.

At the start of the proceeding restart on Lap 31, Blaney muscled ahead on the outside lane and fended off Larson through the first two turns and the backstretch until Larson fought back on the inside lane, with both dueling for the lead in front of Busch, Briscoe, McDowell and Denny Hamlin. Amid the two-pack formation towards the front, Blaney retained the top spot until Busch rocketed his way back to the lead just past the Lap 33 mark. With Busch leading, McDowell battled dead even with Blaney for the runner-up spot while Chastain, Larson, Briscoe and Truex followed suit by the Lap 35 mark.

Through the first 40 scheduled laps, Busch continued to lead in front of McDowell, Blaney, Chastain, Larson, Briscoe, Truex, Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace while Byron, rookie Josh Berry, LaJoie, Logano, Gilliland, Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Zane Smith and Justin Haley were running in the top 20 amid two tight-packed lanes.

Ten laps later and with the field dispersed, McDowell, who reassumed the top spot on Lap 41, was still leading in front of Blaney, Busch, truex and Larson while Hamlin, Chastain, Briscoe, Stenhouse and Wallace were running in the top 10 in front of Byron, Logano, LaJoie, Cindric and Keselowski.

Another two laps later, the caution flew after Hamlin, who was battling for a top-five spot on the track, made contact with Kyle Busch as he spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE through the frontstretch’s grass before coming to a stop just towards the exit of pit road. During the caution period, a majority of the field pitted while the rest led by McDowell remained on the track.

With the event restarting with a single lap remaining to the first stage’s period, McDowell and Blaney dueled for the lead exiting the frontstretch and through the first two turns until McDowell started to muscle ahead from the inside lane with drafting help from Chastain. As the field behind fanned out to three lanes through Turns 3 and 4, McDowell was able to muscle ahead and capture his first stage victory of the season on Lap 60. Blaney settled in second followed by Chastain, Larson and Busch while Truex, Stenhouse, Wallace, Byron and Gilliland, all of whom earned the first wave of stage points, were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by McDowell pitted while the rest led by teammate Gilliland remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Blaney nearly collided with Ryan Preece while trying to exit his pit stall amid a congested pit road stretch with those who pitted.

The second stage period started on Lap 67 as Gilliland and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Gilliland and Logano dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Gilliland, who received a strong push from LaJoie on the inside lane, muscled ahead and managed to slide in front of Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse through the backstretch. With Buescher, LaJoie and Zane Smith following suit, Gilliland retained the lead in front of Logano as Josh Berry, Harrison Burton and Cindric joined the battle towards the front.

On Lap 72, Zane Smith, who was rim-riding towards the outside wall while running in the top five, made contact with the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 after he got loose just as Logano slid up in front of him, which stalled his momentum as his No. 71 City of Refuge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 slowly began to backslide through the field. With the field remaining under green flag conditions as Smith pitted, Gilliland retained the lead followed by Logano, Buescher, Berry and Harrison Burton while Elliott, Hamlin, Cindric, LaJoie and Ty Gibbs were running in the top 10 by the Lap 75 mark.

Through the first 80 scheduled laps and with the majority of the field running in tight-pack formation amid two lanes, Gilliland continued to lead in front of Ford teammates Logano, Buescher, Burton and McDowell, who carved his way from starting in the top 20, while Hamlin, who recovered from his early spin, was trying to mount a charge on the inside lane followed by Cindric. The top 28 competitors would be separated by more than two seconds by the Lap 85 mark as Gilliland retained the lead while McDowell moved up to third place and challenged Logano for more.

At the Lap 100 mark, Logano, who assumed the lead for the first time of the day a lap earlier, was leading in front of Gilliland, Buescher, Keselowski and McDowell while Burton, Byron, Hamlin, Blaney and Chastain were running in the top 10 in front of Larson, Cindric, Truex, Busch, Elliott, LaJoie, Wallace, Stenhouse, Daniel Suárez and Briscoe. By then, the top 28 competitors were separated by more than three seconds.

Fifteen laps later, Logano, who spent the previous 15 laps swapping the lead with Buescher and Gilliland, was leading ahead of Chastain and teammate Blaney while Buescher, Keselowski, Hamlin, Cindric, Burton, Larson and Byron followed suit in the top 10. By then, the majority of the field were running in two tight-packed lanes while some occurrences of three-wide racing occurred.

At the halfway mark on Lap 130, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as teammates Logano and Blaney pitted while Larson was leading in front of Cindric, Chastain, Keselowski, Byron and Hamlin. Cindric would then pit during the following lap as Keselowski challenged Larson for the lead. Keselowski would then lead Chastain and teammate Buescher to pit road through the venue’s pit road entrance towards the backstretch’s exit by Lap 133 before Hamlin led Truex, Elliott and Burton to pit road during the proceeding lap.

Then as Larson surrendered the lead to pit with the next wave of competitors on Lap 135, where he got bumped by Kyle Busch, Byron and McDowell spun and wrecked against one another while trying to enter the pit road’s commitment line towards the backstretch, though the event remained under green flag conditions as both proceeded. Amid the pit stops, Berry and Chastain were penalized for speeding on pit road.

With the first wave of green flag pit stops being completed by Lap 139, Cindric cycled his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead followed by teammates Logano and Blaney while Gilliland followed suit in fourth place. In addition, Larson was in fifth while Buescher, Briscoe, Wallace, Suárez and Keselowski were scored in the top 10. Soon after, Wallace, Busch and Stenhouse were penalized for speeding on pit road while Erik Jones was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

By Lap 150, Cindric retained the lead ahead of teammate Logano, Larson, teammate Blaney and Buescher while Gilliland, Briscoe, Truex, Suárez and Hamlin cycled their way into the top 10 ahead of Keselowski, Burton, Elliott, LaJoie, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, Kaz Grala, Carson Hocevar, Austin Dillon and John Hunter Nemechek.

Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew after Logano, who was trying to slide up in front of Buescher amid the draft, ran out of room as both collided against the outside wall through the backstretch, with Hamlin also getting collected in the wreckage while Keselowski barely dodged the incident. With the second stage period concluding under caution on Lap 160, Cindric, who nearly lost the lead to teammate Logano a few laps earlier, captured his first stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson settled in second followed by Blaney, Suárez and Truex while Gilliland, Keselowski, Burton, Briscoe and Elliott were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, the entire lead lap field led by Cindic returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Gilliland exited first followed by Keselowski, Elliott, Hamlin, Suárez and Burton while Cindric exited in 10th place.

With 90 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Gilliland and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Gilliland and Keselowski dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Gilliland muscled ahead on the inside lane followed by Hamlin and Blaney. With Hamlin and Blaney swapping lanes exiting the backstretch, Gilliland maintained the lead on the frontstretch while Keselowski, Truex and Elliott followed suit in close-quarters racing and amid two tight-packed lanes. Amid the tight racing towards the front, Gilliland maintained the lead and control of both lanes during the proceeding laps while both Hamlin and Blaney were trying to gain runs amid their respective drafting lanes.

Not long after, the caution returned with 86 laps remaining after Kaz Grala, who was running in the top 10, made light contact with Kyle Busch amid a three-wide battle in Turn 1 as he slid sideways through the turn, but managed to keep his car off the track from oncoming traffic. During the caution period, some led by Blaney, Elliott and Cindric pitted while the rest led by Gilliland remained on the track.

During the proceeding restart with 80 laps remaining, Gilliland received a push from Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE to muscle ahead from Hamlin on the inside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch while the rest of the field behind fanned out and battled in two tight-packed lanes. With Briscoe, Keselowski, Larson, Elliott and Suárez making their moves to the front, Truex would then grab the lead two laps later over Gilliland through a strong move entering the backstretch while Hamlin remained in third place amid a tight battle with Briscoe. Another three laps later, however, Gilliland cycled his No. 38 Georgia Peanuts Ford Mustang Dark Horse back into the lead from Truex. Meanwhile, Keselowski was battling Briscoe and Larson for third place while Hamlin slipped to sixth.

With 65 laps remaining, Larson, who returned to the lead two laps earlier, was leading, but mixed in a tight battle to maintain the top spot in front of Gilliland, Truex, Hamlin and Keselowski while Suárez, Briscoe, Elliott, Cindric and Burton followed suit in the top 10. Behind, LaJoie was in 11th ahead of Blaney, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and Haley while Hocevar, Daniel Hemric, Grala, Preece and McDowell occupied the top 20.

Three laps later and with the field fanning out to three lanes amid the late jostling of spots, the caution returned after Elliott, who was marching his way through the top-10 ranks, got bumped by Chastain and sent sideways entering Turn 3 as he managed to keep his No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning below the apron and away from oncoming traffic, though Ty Gibbs also veered sideways to avoid hitting Elliott. Amid the chaos, Wallace, who was battling Chastain for the free pass spot by being the first competitor scored a lap down, managed to receive the free pass.

During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted, mainly for fuel, while McDowell and Preece remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Truex exited pit road first followed by teammate Hamlin, Briscoe, Cindric, Keselowski and Larson while Gilliland exited eighth behind Busch.

With the event restarting under green with 55 laps remaining, McDowell and Truex dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. They continued to duel for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch and back to the frontstretch while Austin Dillon, who was running in the middle of the pack, fell off the pace after he pounded the backstretch’s outside wall hard, though the event remained under green flag conditions.

Then with 50 laps remaining and with the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, a four-wide action for the lead ensued between Truex, Briscoe, McDowell and Cindric through the frontstretch as Cindric, who instigated the four-wide move, moved into the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. Busch would follow suit in second through the backstretch along with Briscoe, Gilliland, Hamlin and McDowell amid the four-wide battle while Truex, who was getting bumped and jostled amid the fanned-out battles, was slowly backsliding. The field would then settle to three-wide racing for the following lap as Cindric retained the lead followed by Busch, Hamlin, Briscoe and Gilliland while Keselowski and Larson followed suit.

With 44 laps remaining, Hamlin overtook Cindric from the outside lane for the lead. During the following lap, Briscoe tried to move in front of Hamlin for the lead, but the move did not prevail as Busch overtook Briscoe for the runner-up spot while Hamlin maintained the lead. The caution, however, would return with 42 laps remaining after Keselowski, who was running third, got loose and slid towards the outside wall entering Turn 3 as he collected Larson and LaJoie in the process. During the caution period, some including McDowell and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

As the event restarted with 35 laps remaining, Hamlin muscled ahead from the inside lane followed by Busch while Cindric was left to fend off Briscoe and the rest of the pack in third place. Hamlin would retain the lead during the proceeding laps and with 30 laps remaining over Busch while Blaney and Briscoe battled for third place in front of two tight-packed lanes. Shortly after, however, Busch and Blaney went three wide on Hamlin as they both overtook Hamlin and moved into a battle into the lead for themselves followed by Gilliland and Cindric while Hamlin slid back to sixth in front of Wallace.

With less than 25 laps remaining and with the intensity towards the front igniting amid three tight-packed lanes, Blaney was leading the race ahead of teammate Cindric and Busch while Wallace and Briscoe battled for fourth in front of the field.

With 21 laps remaining, however, the caution returned after Hamlin, who was pinned in a tight four-wide battle for fourth place with Briscoe, Suárez and Busch, made contact with Briscoe that sent Briscoe’s No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse sideways and into Hamlin before Briscoe slapped the outside wall hard between Turns 3 and 4 as Burton, Berry and Haley were also collected. The incident was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for more than 11 minutes.

Once the red flag lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace, some including Gilliland, Hemric, Preece and Byron pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.

When the event restarted with 15 laps remaining, where Blaney and Suárez occupied the front row, Blaney muscled ahead on the inside lane followed by teammate Cindric and Truex while Suárez, who had Kyle Busch and Wallace drafting him, was trying to fight back on the outside lane through the backstretch. With Blaney leading the next two laps and having both lanes to his control, Suárez then made his move on the outside lane with 12 laps remaining through the backstretch as he led the next laps by a hair while Busch and Cindric followed suit in the second lane. Then during the following lap and as Cindric briefly lost his momentum through the first two turns, the caution flew after Berry, who was drafting Wallace in the top 10, ran into the outside wall entering the backstretch and spun back across the track, where he collided into rookie Carson Hocevar, before he spun back across the track and into oncoming traffic as Elliott also spun towards the infield. Amid the chaos, Suárez managed to retain the lead over Blaney.

Down to the final five laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Suárez and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Suárez muscled his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead on the inside lane followed by Busch through the first two turns. Suárez then moved in front of Blaney to stall his momentum through the backstretch, but Blaney managed to stick his nose and draw even with Suárez exiting the backstretch as he assumed the lead followed by Truex. Blaney then retained the lead in front of two stacked lanes during the proceeding laps as he went on defense to fend off Suárez and Busch while Truex was backsliding.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained as the leader ahead of a side-by-side battle involving Suárez and Busch. Blaney would continue to lead through the first two turns and through the majority of the backstretch until Busch and Suárez took Blaney three wide entering Turns 3 and 4. Suárez, Busch and Blaney remained dead even amid three lanes for the lead entering the frontstretch, with neither lifting. With the leaders navigating through the frontstretch, Suárez, Busch and Blaney crossed the finish line dead even as the checkered flag flew. Following an extensive review of the footage, Suárez was declared the winner as he had beaten Blaney by 0.003 seconds and 0.007 seconds over Busch.

With the victory, Suárez, who was in contention of winning this year’s Daytona 500 before he was eliminated amid a late multi-car wreck, earned his second Cup Series career victory, his first since winning his first series’ event at Sonoma Raceway in June 2022 and his first on a superspeedway venue. He also recorded the seventh career victory for Trackhouse Racing and his first with his new crew chief Matt Swiderski.

“It was so damn close,” Suárez, who celebrated with a piñata, said on FOX. “It was good racing. Ryan Blaney there, Kyle Busch. Austin Cindric also was doing a great job giving me pushes. In the back straightaway, he didn’t push me because he knew I was gonna fight his teammate. Man, what a job. We wrecked [on] Lap 2. The [No. 99] guys did an amazing job fixing this car. Man, I can’t thank everyone enough. Let’s go!”

Blaney, who led 31 laps, settled in the runner-up spot while Kyle Busch, who led 28 laps, ended up in third place following their dramatic three-wide finish with Suárez to the finish line.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I thought I laid back enough in [Turns] 1 and 2 to not let both lanes get that big of a run,” Blaney said. “Both lanes just got that shove super hard and I just chose the bottom [lane], safest place to be. What a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around. That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that. Race clean, three-wide finish to the end. Happy for Daniel [Suárez]. That was cool to see. Fun racing with Kyle [Busch]. I’ve won [races] by very, very little [margin], too, so I can’t complain too much about losing by that much. Close.”

“Overall, just real proud of everybody at [Richard Childress Racing], ECR [Engines],” Busch added. “Our Cheddar’s Camaro was fast. It’s good to see Daniel [Suárez] get a win. We were helping each other, being Chevy team partners and working together there. It shows that when you do have friends and you can make alliances that they do seem to work and that was the good part of today. Dammit. We’ll have to do it again and find another one.”

Austin Cindric came home in fourth place while Bubba Wallace rallied from a roller coaster event to finish fifth for a second consecutive race. Stenhouse, Chastain, McDowell, Buescher and Ty Gibbs finished in the top 10 on the track.

There were 48 lead changes for 14 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 65 laps. In addition, 22 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the second event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Busch leads the regular-season standings by a single point over both William Byron and Austin Cindric, three over Bubba Wallace, eight over Ryan Blaney, 12 over Chase Elliott and 13 over Daniel Suárez.

Results.

1. Daniel Suárez, nine laps led

2. Ryan Blaney, 31 laps led

3. Kyle Busch, 28 laps led

4. Austin Cindric, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner

5. Bubba Wallace, three laps led

6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led

7. Ross Chastain

8. Michael McDowell, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

9. Chris Buescher, one lap led

10. Ty Gibbs

11. Harrison Burton

12. Martin Truex Jr., nine laps led

13. Corey LaJoie

14. Kaz Grala

15. Chase Elliott

16. Ryan Preece

17. William Byron

18. Daniel Hemric

19. Carson Hocevar

20. Justin Haley

21. John Hunter Nemechek

22. Austin Dillon

23. Denny Hamlin, one lap down, 15 laps led

24. BJ McLeod, three laps down

25. Erik Jones , four laps down

26. Todd Gilliland, four laps led, 58 laps led

27. Alex Bowman, five laps down

28. Joey Logano, eight laps down, 27 laps led

29. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

30. Tyler Reddick, 17 laps down

31. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

32. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, 17 laps led

33. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident, two laps led

34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

35. Zane Smith – OUT, DVP

36. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

37. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 3, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

February 25, 2024
Briscoe to make 100th Cup career start at Kansas

Competing in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Chase Briscoe is within reach of achieving a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Playoff event at Kansas Speedway, the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang will achieve 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

A native of Mitchell, Indiana, Briscoe made his inaugural presence in the Cup circuit at the start of the 2021 season, where he took over the No. 14 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing previously piloted by Clint Bowyer and Briscoe’s idol Tony Stewart. By then, he was coming off a dominant campaign in the Xfinity Series, where he won nine races and made the Championship 4 round before finishing fourth in the final standings. Starting 30th, Briscoe finished 19th in his Cup Series debut despite ending up three laps behind the leaders. After finishing no higher than 11th twice during the first 13 scheduled events, he achieved his first top-10 result in NASCAR’s premier series with a sixth-place run at Circuit of the Americas in May. Briscoe went on to achieve another sixth-place run at Road America in July and a ninth-place result at Watkins Glen International in August.

During the inaugural Cup event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August, Briscoe was in contention of achieving his first victory until the start of the final two-lap shootout, where he went off the course in the first turn and rejoined the racing surface behind leader Denny Hamlin, thus prompting NASCAR to penalize Briscoe for cutting the track. Despite the penalty, Briscoe withstood his ground while battling Hamlin for the lead and eventually bumped and spun Hamlin in the infield road course turns. Yielding the lead shortly after, Briscoe ended up 26th after being parked by NASCAR, which also resulted with the Indiana native engaged in a post-race discussion with Hamlin following the incident. With an average-finishing result of 19.9 during the 26-race regular-season stretch, Briscoe did not make the 2021 Cup Playoffs. Nonetheless, he capped off the season with four top-15 results, a 23rd-place result in the final standings and the 2021 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title over Anthony Alfredo. By then, Briscoe became the third competitor to sweep the rookie title across NASCAR’s top three national touring series.

After finishing 22nd during the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, Briscoe commenced the 2022 Cup season on a strong note by finishing in third place during the 64th running of the Daytona 500 in February after rallying from an early spin. Three races later, he held off Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick during a three-lap shootout to score his first career victory in the Cup Series and become the 200th competitor overall to win in NASCAR’s premier series. The Phoenix victory along with a ninth-place run at Martinsville Speedway in April and a fourth-place result during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May were enough for Briscoe and the No. 14 team to qualify for the 2022 Cup Playoffs. Despite attaining respective finishes of 27th, 13th and 14th during the Round of 16, the Indiana native transferred into the Round of 12. For the Round of 12, he finished in the top 10 during the round’s three events, which included a late ninth-place run at the Charlotte Roval in October to claim the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 by a mere margin over reigning series champion Kyle Larson. During the Round of 8, however, Briscoe earned respective finishes of fourth, 36th and ninth, which were not enough for him to transfer to the Championship 4 round. Nonetheless, Briscoe went on to finish fourth in the finale at Phoenix in November and cap off his sophomore Cup season in ninth place in the final standings.

At the start of this season, where he inked a multiyear contract extension to remain at Stewart-Haas Racing, Briscoe ended up 35th during the 65th running of the Daytona 500 after being involved in a late accident. Three races later, he would achieve his first top-10 result of the season at Phoenix by finishing seventh. Briscoe then notched three consecutive top-five finishes in April, but would finish no higher than 17th during the next nine events. During the latter span, Briscoe’s team would be issued a L3-level penalty from NASCAR due to counterfeiting a part of their Next Gen car during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. As a result, Briscoe was docked 120 driver/owner points and 25 Playoff points, with crew chief Johnny Klausmeier being issued a six-race suspension and a $250,000 fine. The points penalty demoted Briscoe from vying for an early Playoff spot to near the top-30 cutline in the regular-season standings. Despite finishing 10th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, sixth at Indianapolis and securing pole position for the regular-season finale at Daytona in August, Briscoe did not accumulate enough points or any victories during the regular-season stretch to make up for his infraction as he missed the 2023 Cup Playoffs. Coming off a 15th-place finish at Darlington Raceway, he is currently situated in 30th place in the standings.

Through 99 previous Cup starts, Briscoe has achieved one victory, two poles, nine top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 480 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.1.

Briscoe is primed to make his 100th Cup Series career start at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, September 10, with the event’s coverage to occur at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 6, 2023