1. Chase Briscoe: Briscoe used a quick late pit stop and nailed two restarts to win the Rouff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix, securing his spot in the NASCAR playoffs.
“I became the 200th winner in NASCAR’s history,” Briscoe said. “And I’m proud to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing. Tony Stewart was my childhood hero. As a kid, I would eat, breathe, and sleep racing. And just like Tony, the eating part was my favorite.”
2. Joey Logano: Logano finished eighth at Las Vegas.
“The restarts at Phoenix were wild,” Logano said. “Turn 1 is wide enough for cars to take several different lines. In essence, NASCAR is encouraging drivers to ‘cut corners,’ much like the lame punishment of starting in the back for unapproved adjustments encourages drivers to ‘cut corners.’”
3. Ryan Blaney: Blaney started on the pole at Phoenix and won Stage 2 on his way to a fourth-place finish in the Rouff Mortgage 500.
“I also was fastest in Saturday’s practice,” Blaney said, “and I led the most laps in Sunday’s race. Combine that with the pole and Stage 2 win, and you could say we checked all the boxes, except one.”
4. Kyle Larson: Larson broke a valve spring with about 74 laps remaining and limped home to a 34th-place finish.
“With a championship last year,” Larson said, “and a win already this year, we were operating under the motto ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ That obviously changed.”
5. Kyle Busch: Busch finished seventh at Phoenix.
“I realize I was wrong to criticize Alex Bowman for his lucky win at Las Vegas,” Busch said. “I should be more complimentary, so here goes: I think every driver at Phoenix performed well. In fact, I would give all of them a passing grade for the race. In other words, my stance on other drivers is this: ‘zero F’s given.’”
6. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished 12th, his first finish outside the top 10 this year.
“You could say I’m ‘flying under the radar,’” Almirola said. “Apparently, the ‘radar’ gauges drivers with an actual chance of winning a Cup championship.”
7. Tyler Reddick: Reddick finished third in the Rouff Mortgage 500
“I think it’s a brilliant strategy for NASCAR to have a race sponsored by a home loan financing company,” Reddick said. “It may be the only way to draw more ‘interest’ in the sport.”
8. Chase Elliott: After challenging for the win with about 25 laps remaining, Elliott faltered with a slow pit stop and a spin on the backstretch. He finished a disappointing 11th.
“This just goes to show,” Elliott said, “that I don’t need anyone else to cost me a win, because me and my team are perfectly capable of doing it ourselves.
“Alex Bowman was driving the ‘Best Friends’ No. 48 Chevrolet. That paint scheme describes the animal welfare non-profit organization, and in no way represents my relationship with Kyle Larson.
9. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Phoenix and tied a Cup record with his 18th straight top 10 at one track.
“My good friends at Hunt Brothers Pizza were my main sponsor for the race at Phoenix,” Harvick said. “As you know, Hunt Brothers Pizza is arguably the nation’s best gas station pizza. And in these uncertain times, isn’t it nice to know you can get a large Hunt Brothers Pizza for less than a gallon of gas?”
10. (tie): Martin Truex Jr.: Truex blew a tire on Lap 221 and slammed the wall hard, ending his day at Phoenix. He finished 35th.
“I was stunned,” Truex said. “Not because of the impact, but because Brad Keselowski had nothing to do with my accident.”
10. (tie): Alex Bowman: Bowman finished 14th in the Rouff Mortgage 500.
“It would have been nice to win two in a row,” Bowman said. “Then I could tell Kyle Busch he was exactly right, because I’d ‘back’ into another win because I’d be back in Victory Lane.
“But I must say, it’s entertaining to get under Kyle’s skin. As much as I hate to give him props, Kyle’s skin is unmatched by any other driver, because it’s the thinnest and the palest.”
In a three-lap shootout between three competitors vying for their first career win in the NASCAR Cup Series level, Chase Briscoe came out on top at Phoenix Raceway. After fending off Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick he won the Ruoff Mortgage 500 Sunday afternoon and claimed his first victory in his 40th career start in NASCAR’s premier series.
The 27-year-old Briscoe from Mitchell, Indiana, led three times for 101 of the 312-scheduled laps, including the final 24, and had enough horsepower within his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang to hold off the field, including Chastain, Reddick and teammate Kevin Harvick in a three-lap shootout. Briscoe is the second first-time winner of the 2022 season and the 200th different competitor to win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ 74th season of competition.
With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Ryan Blaney claimed his seventh Cup career pole after notching the top starting spot with a pole-winning lap at 132.709 mph. Joining him on the front row was Denny Hamlin, who posted a fast qualifying lap at 132.353 mph.
Prior to the event, Kyle Larson (unapproved adjustment), rookie Harrison Burton (unapproved adjustment) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (engine change) dropped to the rear of the field.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Kyle Busch used the dogleg to vault himself into the top 10 from his 11th-place starting spot while Blaney rocketed with an early advantage ahead of the field. Behind, William Byron challenged Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Following the first lap, Blaney was out in front of a side-by-side battle between Hamlin and Byron while Christopher Bell settled behind in fourth, followed by Chase Briscoe and Aric Almirola.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps of the event, Blaney was leading by more than a second over Hamlin, who was followed by Byron, Bell and Chase Briscoe while Kyle Busch, rookie Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick were in the top 10.
Ten laps later, Blaney continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Hamlin, who was engaged in a battle with Byron for the runner-up spot. Behind, Briscoe was in fourth followed by Kyle Busch, Logano, Reddick and Bowman while Bell slipped back to ninth ahead of Kevin Harvick.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Blaney was out front by more than two seconds over Hamlin and Byron. By then, Larson was scored in 20th after starting at the rear of the field.
Under the competition caution, the field pitted for early adjustments and Blaney retained the lead after exiting pit road with the lead followed by teammate Logano, Briscoe, Hamlin and Reddick. During the pit stops, Kyle Busch stalled his No. 18 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry on pit road after running in fifth place, Following the pit stops, Blaney was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road along with Michael McDowell, Hamlin and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The penalties moved Logano, who opted for a two-tire pit stop, to the lead followed by Briscoe, Reddick, Byron and Alex Bowman.
When the race restarted on Lap 31, the field fanned out through the dogleg as Logano retained a narrow advantage followed by Briscoe, Byron, Reddick and Chase Elliott.
Two laps later, Briscoe moved his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang into the lead ahead of Logano while Hendrick Motorsports’ Byron and Elliott battled for third place.
On Lap 45, the caution flew when Corey LaJoie smacked against the backstretch, outside wall. The hard impact knocked the tire carcass off of LaJoie’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Cody Ware hit and ran over the carcass.
Under caution, some including Blaney, Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, rookie Harrison Burton and Ross Chastain pitted while the rest led by Briscoe remained on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 52, Byron used the inside lane to his advantage as he stormed his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead while teammate Elliott challenged Briscoe for the runner-up spot. As Briscoe used the outside lane to retain the runner-up spot, Reddick started to challenge Elliott for third place while Bowman settled in fifth.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Byron notched his first stage victory of the season. Briscoe settled in second followed by Elliott, Reddick, Bowman, Bell, Larson, Harvick, Logano and Austin Dillon while Martin Truex Jr., the reigning Phoenix spring winner, was in 11th ahead of Kurt Busch, Blaney, Cindric, Chris Buescher and Kyle Busch.
Under the stage break, some led by Blaney, Kyle Busch, Cole Custer and Burton remained on the track while the rest led by Byron pitted. During the pit stops, Elliott was the first competitor to exit first followed by Briscoe, Reddick, Byron and Harvick.
The second stage started on Lap 69 as Blaney and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start and as the field fanned out through the dogleg, Blaney retained the lead while Kyle Busch was left to retain the runner-up spot ahead of Briscoe, Elliott, Byron and Reddick.
By Lap 75 and with the field jostling for positions, Blaney was leading by a second over Kyle Busch while Elliott, Briscoe and Byron were in the top five. Reddick was in sixth ahead of Harvick, Larson, Custer and Logano while Burton, Bowman, Cindric, Truex and Hamlin were in the top 15.
Fifteen laps later, Blaney stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Elliott while Byron was in third place ahead of Kevin Harvick, a nine-time Phoenix winner who was on a quest to end a 46-race winless drought. Reddick was in fifth followed by Kyle Busch, Larson, Briscoe, Logano and Bowman.
Through the first 100 scheduled laps of the event, Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott’s No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Byron, Harvick, Reddick, Kyle Busch, Larson, Briscoe, Logano and Bowman remained in the top 10. Behind, Ross Chastain was in 11th followed by Austin Dillon, Custer, Truex, Hamlin, Bell, Kurt Busch, Cindric, Almirola and Chris Buescher while Harrison Burton was mired in 21st ahead of Ty Dillon, Erik Jones, rookie Todd Gilliland and Justin Haley. Meanwhile, Daniel Suarez, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Stenhouse were in the top 30 while Michael McDowell was the final car on the lead lap in 31st.
On Lap 118, the caution flew when Bell got loose and spun his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry through the backstretch. By then, names like Keselowski, Wallace, Burton and Stenhouse were lapped.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Elliott emerged with the top spot for the first time after exiting with the lead followed by Blaney, Byron, Harvick, Larson and Briscoe.
When the race restarted on Lap 125 and as the field fanned out through the dogleg, Elliott persevered over a brief battle with Blaney to retain a narrow advantage while Byron fended off Harvick and Larson to retain third place.
Eight laps later and following a side-by-side battle with Elliott, Blaney re-emerged with the lead, though Elliott kept Blaney’s No. 12 Ford within his close sights.
By Lap 140, Blaney extended his advantage to more than a second over Elliott, who started to have Harvick close in on him for the runner-up spot. Byron was back in fourth ahead of teammate Larson while Reddick, Chastain, Briscoe, Austin Dillon and Logano were in the top 10.
At the halfway mark on Lap 156, Blaney stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Elliott and less than two seconds over Harvick while Byron and teammate Larson remained in the top five. Reddick, Chastain, Briscoe, Austin Dillon and Logano remained in the top 10 ahead of Truex, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Almirola, Suarez, Buescher, Hamlin, Custer, Kurt Busch and Gilliland while Erik Jones, Ty Dillon, Haley, Cindric, Allmendinger, Keselowski, Wallace, Stenhouse, Bell and McDowell rounded out the top 30.
By Lap 175, Blaney continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Elliott while third-place Harvick trailed by more than three seconds. Trailing by more than four seconds behind were teammates Byron and Larson.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 185, Blaney fended off Elliott to claim his first stage victory of the 2022 season. Harvick crossed the start/finish line in third followed by Byron, Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Briscoe, Austin Dillon and Logano.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Elliott returned to the top of the leaderboard followed by Harvick, Reddick, Blaney, Byron and Larson.
With 118 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start and with the fan fanning out through the dogleg, Reddick was quick to attack Elliott for the lead, but Elliott was just able to utilize the outside lane to his advantage as he retained the lead. Meanwhile, Blaney moved up to third while Larson challenged Harvick for fourth place.
Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by less than half a second over Reddick while Blaney, Harvick and Larson were in the top five. Briscoe was back in sixth followed by Chastain, Austin Dillon, Byron and Truex. Bowman was in 11th followed by Logano, Suarez, Buescher and Kyle Busch while Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Erik Jones and Custer were in the top 20.
Eight laps later, the caution flew when Truex went dead straight after cutting a right-front tire and pounded his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry into the backstretch outside wall hard. The incident was enough to terminate Truex’s event as he emerged uninjured and made the mandatory trip to the infield care center.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Elliott retained the lead followed by Harvick, Briscoe, Chastain, Austin Dillon and Byron while Blaney dropped to ninth place. Following the pit stops, Daniel Suarez was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 83 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Briscoe assumed the lead over Elliott and Harvick retained third place as the field jostled for positions.
Eight laps later, Briscoe was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Elliott while Harvick, Logano and Chastain were in the top five. Byron was in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Blaney, Larson and Bowman. Shortly after, Larson fell off the pace and had to limp his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for another full lap before pitting. Soon after pitting, it was determined that a broken valve spring was detected in Larson’s car, which forced the reigning Cup champion to nurse his car to the garage.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Briscoe continued to lead by more than three-tenths of a second over Elliott, who continued to stalk Briscoe for the lead, while Harvick, Chastain and Blaney were in the top five.
Not long after and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, the battle for the lead intensified as Elliott pressured Briscoe for the top spot. Despite Elliott’s efforts in closing the gap and trying to navigate his way around Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford for the lead, Briscoe was able to maintain the top spot.
With 30 laps remaining, Briscoe continued to lead by less than half a second over Elliott while third-place Harvick trailed by more than a second. Chastain, coming off his strong run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was in fourth followed by Team Penske’s Blaney and Logano. Reddick was in seventh ahead of teammate Austin Dillon while Bowman and Almirola were in the top 10.
Shortly after, the caution flew when Erik Jones spun off of Turn 2 and made contact with the inside wall.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Briscoe managed to retain the lead ahead of teammate Harvick, Chastain and the field.
With 20 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out, Chastain bolted below the dogleg to challenge Briscoe for the lead along with Harvick, but Briscoe managed to retain the lead by a narrow margin. Not long after, Chastain fought back on the inside lane and he drew himself alongside Briscoe as Tyler Reddick joined the party after he passed Harvick.
Shortly after, a three-wide battle ensued between three competitors seeking their first Cup victory before Briscoe managed to remain ahead of Reddick and Chastain.
With less than 15 laps remaining, Briscoe, who was representing Stewart-Haas Racing, was leading by half a second over Reddick, who was representing Richard Childress Racing, and more than a second over Chastain, who was representing Trackhouse Racing. Meanwhile, Harvick was mired back in fourth, trailing by more than a second, while Blaney was in fifth.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Briscoe continued to lead by more than half a second over Reddick while Chastain was being pressured by Harvick for third place.
Just then, the caution flew with eight laps remaining when Elliott got loose and spun through the backstretch while running in seventh place. The caution evaporated Briscoe’s steady margin over Reddick.
Under caution, the top-13 competitors led by Briscoe remained on the track while the rest led by Chris Buescher, who was in 14th place, pitted.
Down to the final three laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Briscoe, who restarted on the inside lane, darted his car to the dogleg and received a bump from Chastain to clear the field and retain the lead entering the backstretch. Behind, Chastain challenged Reddick for the runner-up spot as Kurt Busch challenged Blaney and Harvick for fourth place.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Briscoe was still leading by over Chastain and Reddick. With all types of battles ensuing behind, Briscoe was able to pull away and streak across the finish line in first place as he emerged victorious for the first time in his second full-time season in the Cup circuit.
With the victory, Briscoe recorded the first win for Stewart-Haas Racing this season and for SHR’s No. 14 team currently led by crew chief Johnny Klausmeier since former veteran, Clint Bowyer, won a rain-shortened event at Michigan International Speedway in June 2018. In addition, Briscoe, who claimed the Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title in 2021, became the 38th different competitor to achieve a victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Camping World Truck, Xfinity and Cup).
“That’s unbelievable,” Briscoe, who was emotional on the frontstretch, said on FOX. “I was crying the whole last lap. I mean, this is definitely a team win, but I gotta thank everybody that’s got me to this point. Seven years ago, I was sleeping on couches, volunteering at race shops and was literally driving home to give up. [Owners] Briggs Cunningham [III] and Kerry Scherer and Beth Cunningham gave me an opportunity and it’s led to this. Unbelievable. So blessed to be driving at the organization of the team and the car that was my hero [Tony Stewart] growing up. To get this No. 14 back in Victory Lane, to do it with Mahindra Tractors, their first year in the sport…it’s unbelievable.”
Behind, Chastain edged Reddick to finish in the runner-up spot, with both competitors claiming their best results through the first four events of the 2022 campaign.
“Like a day at the K1 track, that was so much fun,” Chastain said, “To get to race like that at this level. Trackhouse Racing believes in me. These people, they believed in me early in the season whenever stuff wasn’t going so great. If we can keep putting these together. That’s so cool to race with Tyler [Reddick] and Chase [Briscoe]. That’s everything I’ve ever wanted. My crew chief Phil Surgen, people don’t know how good he is. His adjustments this year have been so incredible and he gave me exactly what I needed. We just came up one spot short, but I’m so happy.”
“I thought we got a really good launch [on the restart] considering all things,” Reddick added. “Being right there with [Briscoe] going into [Turn] 1, but I knew about how deep I could drive it in Turn 1 all day. I thought I got pretty good heat in the tires. I still over-stepped it. I couldn’t have drove it any deeper than I did and I thought I was still gonna get up in the fence. Chase was just able to drive it off in there. Kind of like dirt racing, clear high and take the lead. It was a lot of fun. It was great to claw back from a hiccup we had early in the race. Everyone on this Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet did a really, really good job all day. We had one little miscue that took us from second to 12th, but my pit crew did an amazing job. They got us right back out of that hole and we had one good restart at the end to put ourselves in position. It was a fun day. It was a nice way to recover. It’s nice to recover from a mistake that late in the race and still be battling for the win there at the end. All in all, great day. We’ll see what else we can learn from this and get ready for what lies ahead.”
Blaney, who led a race-high 144 laps, finished fourth and Kurt Busch claimed his first top-five result of the season and with 23XI Racing after muscling his No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry in fifth place.
Harvick came home in sixth place while Kyle Busch, Logano, Suarez and Chris Buescher finished in the top 10.
Notably, Elliott settled in 11th following his late spin, Hamlin ended up in 13th place in between Almirola and Bowman, Byron fell back to 18th and Austin Dillon finished 21st after being involved in a last-lap skirmish with Daniel Suarez while battling for a top-10 spot. Todd Gilliland was the highest-finishing rookie in 16th place while Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski and Austin Cindric finished 22nd, 23rd and 24th.
There were 14 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 52 laps.
Despite finishing in eighth place, Joey Logano leads the regular-season standings by four points over Kyle Busch, five over Chase Elliott, 10 over Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson and 14 over Aric Almirola.
Results.
1. Chase Briscoe, 101 laps led
2. Ross Chastain
3. Tyler Reddick
4. Ryan Blaney, 143 laps led, Stage 2 winner
5. Kurt Busch
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Kyle Busch
8. Joey Logano, four laps led
9. Daniel Suarez
10. Chris Buescher
11. Chase Elliott, 50 laps led
12. Aric Almirola
13. Denny Hamlin
14. Alex Bowman
15. Ty Dillon
16. Cole Custer
17. Justin Haley
18. William Byron, 12 laps led, Stage 1 winner
19. Todd Gilliland
20. AJ Allmendinger
21. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident
22. Bubba Wallace, one lap down
23. Brad Keselowski, one lap down
24. Austin Cindric, one lap down
25. Erik Jones, one lap down
26. Christopher Bell, two laps down
27. Michael McDowell, two laps down
28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down
29. Harrison Burton, three laps down
30. Landon Cassill, four laps down
31. Cody Ware, five laps down
32. Garrett Smithley, seven laps down
33. BJ McLeod, eight laps down
34. Kyle Larson – OUT, Engine, two laps led
35. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident
36. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first of two stops at the venue for the series and the first race since the track was reconfigured for this season. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, March 20, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
1. Kyle Larson: Larson took two tires during the final pit stop and assumed the lead at Las Vegas. But Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman got the best of Larson and took the win as Larson settled for the runner-up spot.
“Hopefully, I think I’ve smoothed things over with Chase Elliott,” Larson said. “We may not see eye to eye, mostly because Chase insists things should be an eye for an eye.
“But one thing we can agree on is the use of the abbreviation ‘MF.’ Of course, our meanings of the abbreviation differ greatly. All I can tell you is to me, it means ‘my fault.’”
2. Kyle Busch: After a spin into the wall in Saturday practice, Busch was forced to resort to a backup car on Sunday. He steadily made his way to the front and led with three laps to go before a late caution ultimately cost him the win.
“Nothing is more upsetting than ruining your primary car in practice,” Busch said. “Trust me, I was in a panic after that. My car may have had ‘Ethel M Chocolates’ on it, but my driver’s suit had ‘Fudge Stripe’ in it.
“But Erik Jones really screwed us when he lost control and caused that final caution. Erik used to be a Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Apparently, whether driving for JGR or not, Erik is still a liability.”
3. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex surged late and was battling with Kyle Busch for the win when a caution flew with two laps to go. Truex and Busch took four tires but lost track position, and Truex eventually finished eighth.
“My battle with Kyle should have been for the win,” Truex said. “That’s what racing is all about. Two of NASCAR’s all-time bests going head to head. Some would call it ‘great versus great.’ Others would call it ‘good versus evil.’”
4. Alex Bowman: Bowman out-dragged Kyle Larson after a late restart and held on to win the Pennzoil 400.
“I think I speak for most, but not all, of Hendrick Motorsports drivers when I say nothing is safer than racing side by side with Kyle Larson with the outcome on the line, ” Bowman said.
5. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished sixth in the Pennzoil 400 and is the only driver with a top 10 finish in all three races this year.
“That’s called ‘consistency,’” Almirola said. “And as the NASCAR playoff format, and Mark Martin can tell you, consistency will get you nowhere.”
6. Joey Logano: Logano finished 14th at Las Vegas and is third in the points standings.
“The average age of this season’s three race-winners is approximately 27,” Logano said. “As a 31-year-old, that makes me feel somewhat ancient. But they all have something I want, which is a race victory, as well as a non-receding hairline and 20/20 vision.”
7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney was collected when Brad Keselowski got loose and spun on lap 104. Blaney finished 36th.
“Brad just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Blaney said. “Or I should say, given his history of accidents this year, Brad seems to be in the wrong place every time.”
8. Austin Dillon: Dillon finished 11th at Las Vegas and is ninth in the points standings.
“How about this ‘Next Generation’ car?” Dillon said. “And how about these ‘Next Generation’ sponsors? Like Tyler Reddick’s sponsor, 3Chi, which is a supplier of cannabinoids. Cannabinoids is just a fancy way of saying ‘marijuana,’ much like ‘dysentery’ is a fancy way of saying ‘Martinsville hot dog.’”
9. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished ninth at Las Vegas.
“Did Kyle Larson really not see me when he ran me into the wall at Fontana?” Elliott said. “Maybe. Did I spin on purpose after that incident in an attempt to ruin Larson’s shot at winning? I won’t dignify that with an answer, but I will say that I went to a casino with Clint Bowyer, where we played roulette, and we both did, in fact, ‘intentionally’ spin the roulette wheel.”
10. Austin Cindric: Daytona 500 champ Cindric finished 19th ay Las Vegas.
“Denny Hamlin broke a gear on Lap 219,” Cindric said. “And a lot of drivers sarcastically said to Denny, ‘You’ve got no gears.’ And Denny of course replied, ‘No shift, Sherlock.’”
Seizing an opportunity with a late two-tire pit strategy and rallying from an early pit road penalty, Alex Bowman prevailed in an overtime shootout against teammate Kyle Larson to win the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 6, and capture his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2022 season.
The 28-year-old native from Tucson, Arizona, led three times for 16 laps, including the final three, as he dueled and fended off teammate Larson entering the final turn on the final lap to grab the unlikeliest of victories following a late turn of events, where a late multi-car incident spoiled Kyle Busch’s opportunity in winning at his home track.
With on-track qualifying determining the starting lineup on Saturday, Christopher Bell captured his first NASCAR Cup Series career pole with a pole-winning lap at 182.673 mph in 29.561 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Larson, the reigning Cup Series champion and winner of last weekend’s event at Auto Club Speedway who posted a qualifying speed at 182.014 mph in 29.668 seconds.
Prior to the event, Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines along with Kyle Busch, who competed in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s practice session.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Bell took off with an early advantage while rookie Austin Cindric challenged Larson for the runner-up spot followed by Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Bell led the first lap as Larson managed to clear Cindric to retain second entering the first two turns.
With the field engaged in early, competitive racing around the circuit through the first five laps, Bell was leading by more than a second over Larson while Briscoe, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin were in the top five. Meanwhile, Cindric had fallen back to ninth place.
By Lap 10, Bell extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over Larson followed by Logano, Hamlin and Ryan Blaney. Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Cindric, William Byron and Ross Chastain were in the top 10 ahead of Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Michael McDowell.
Ten laps later, Bell continued to lead by more than two seconds over Hamlin, who made his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry into the runner-up spot followed by Logano and Blaney while Larson had fallen back to fifth place.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Bell remained as the leader by more than two seconds over teammate Hamlin and Blaney, both of whom were engaged in a tight battle for the runner-up spot. Teammates Bowman and Larson were in the top five followed by Truex, Logano, Byron, Briscoe and Chastain. By then, Elliott and Cindric were in 11th and 12th, Kevin Harvick was in 14th, Brad Keselowski was in 16th ahead of Reddick, Kyle Busch was up in 18th area of Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch and rookie Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon was in 26th, Aric Almirola was in 29th and Bubba Wallace was in 31st.
Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted for service and Blaney exited with the top spot ahead of Hamlin, Bell, Bowman, Chastain and the field. Following the pit stops, Larson pitted for a second time to address loose lug nuts along with Kyle Busch, who had a transmission issue.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 35, Blaney battled against Hamlin before maintaining the lead as Alex Bowman joined the party and overtook Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Soon after, a three-car battle ensued between Blaney, Bowman and Hamlin as Bowman started to challenge Blaney for the top spot.
Then on Lap 37, the caution flew when Cole Custer spun his No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang in Turn 2.
Five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Blaney and Bowman engaged in a side-by-side battle in front of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Truex. Shortly after and with the field stacking up, the caution returned when Austin Dillon made contact with Justin Haley through Turns 1 and 2, which sent both competitors sideways as Kyle Busch also got sideways after getting hit by Hemric. At the moment of caution, Bowman emerged ahead of Blaney to take the lead.
Under caution and while pit road was closed for the field, Hemric pitted for the third time of the day with the driver reporting brake issues to his No. 16 South Point Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. When pit road opened, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon pitted after both flat-spotted their tires.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 47, Bowman and Blaney battled dead even for the lead until Bowman managed to pull ahead entering Turn 3. Behind, teammates Truex and Hamlin battled for third and Byron battled for a spot in the top five as the field fanned out to multiple lanes.
Then on Lap 49, Bowman got his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 loose entering the backstretch, which allowed Hamlin to take the lead followed by Blaney, who got loose entering Turn 3, as Bowman fell back to third. Behind, Byron moved his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into fourth place followed by Truex and Chastain.
Through the first 60 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by more than a second over Blaney while Truex, Bowman and Byron were in the top five. Chastain, Christopher Bell, Elliott, Larson and Kurt Busch were in the top 10 followed by Harvick, Logano, Briscoe, Erik Jones and Cindric.
Three laps later, the caution flew when Reddick spun his No. 8 Bet MGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 off of Turn 4 and through the frontstretch grass as his car briefly came off the ground. Under caution, nearly the entire field returned to pit road for service while Kurt Busch, Corey LaJoie, Custer, Josh Bilicki and Cody Ware remained on the track. During the pit stops, Truex was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 68, Kurt Busch maintained the lead, but was quickly pursued and challenged by Byron for the lead. Then on Lap 70, Byron emerged with the lead on four fresh tires followed by teammate Bowman.
By Lap 75, Byron was leading by less than four-tenths of a second over teammate Bowman while teammate Elliott trailed by more than a second. Chastain and Hamlin were in the top five followed by Larson, Blaney, Briscoe, Harvick and Bell.
Two laps later, however, Bowman reassumed the lead after overtaking his teammate Byron for the top spot. Behind, Chastain started to challenge Elliott for third place.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Bowman claimed his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Byron settled in second place followed by Chastain, Hamlin, Elliott, Larson, Blaney, Briscoe, Kyle Busch and Bell. Following the first stage, Kyle Busch ran into Briscoe’s rear bumper to express his displeasure stemming from his battle with Briscoe prior to the stage’s conclusion.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field returned to pit road for service and Brad Keselowski emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Hamlin, Elliott, Bowman and Cindric, all of whom had four tires changed to their respective machines. Back on the track, Michael McDowell remained on the track followed by Josh Bilicki and BJ McLeod before the latter two pitted.
The second stage started on Lap 87 as McDowell and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Keselowski managed to fend off McDowell, Elliott and Hamlin to lead by a narrow margin before Chastain joined the party during the following lap. With Keselowski clearing the field, Hamlin moved to second followed by Chastain and Bowman while McDowell started to drift to the back.
Approaching Lap 91, Hamlin utilized the outside lane and four fresh tires to his advantage as he took the lead. Soon after, Bowman and Chastain overtook Keselowski for spots in the top three.
Then during the following lap, the caution flew when Briscoe got loose as McDowell slid up in front of him, which resulted in Briscoe clipping Daniel Suarez and sending Suarez’s No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 hard into the frontstretch wall and sliding sideways as his race came to an end.
Under caution, some like Almirola, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Briscoe and Corey LaJoie pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 97, Hamlin retained the lead following a push from Chastain on the inside lane as Chastain moved into second place. Behind, teammates, Byron and Bowman battled for third place while Keselowski maintained fifth ahead of Kyle Busch, Elliott and Larson.
At the Lap 100 mark, Hamlin was leading by less than four-tenths of a second over Chastain followed by Byron and Bowman while Kyle Busch emerged in the top five. Behind, Truex and Larson battled for sixth while Keselowski was back in eighth ahead of Blaney and Erik Jones.
Then on Lap 103, the caution flew when Keselowski, who was back in eighth place, got loose and spun entering Turn 4. He was then hit by ex-teammate Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang as Keselowski’s No. 6 Fastenal Ford Mustang continued to spin in a series of circles across the frontstretch, though he was dodged by the field. The incident terminated Blaney’s strong run while Keselowski continued.
Under caution, the majority of the field led by Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.
On Lap 109, the race restarted under green. At the start, Kyle Busch maintained the lead followed by Aric Almirola, Chastain and Hamlin while Austin Dillon was fading with no fresh tires. Meanwhile, Larson issued a challenge for a spot in the top five.
During the following two laps, Kyle Busch remained in the lead as Chastain and Larson started to challenge Busch for the top spot. Then on Lap 113, Chastain moved his No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the front as Larson followed suit.
A few laps later, Larson got loose in Turn 3 while battling Chastain for the lead as he slipped out of the top five.
By Lap 120, Chastain was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Bowman, Larson and Truex were in the top five. Kyle Busch was back in sixth ahead of Byron, Bell, Elliott and Harvick while Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Logano, Bubba Wallace and Briscoe were in the top 15.
Ten laps later, Chastain continued to lead by more than three-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Larson, Bowman and Bell were scored in the top five. By then, Kyle Busch was back in eighth place ahead of Elliott and Harvick.
Just past the halfway mark on Lap 135, the caution flew when Briscoe got loose and spun in Turn 3 as he was narrowly dodged by rookie Harrison Burton when his car rolled back to the apron. At the same time, Cindric spun at the exact turn after getting hit by Almirola. Both managed to pit their respective cars, but Briscoe eventually retired in the garage.
Under caution, the field pitted and Larson exited with the top spot followed by Chastain, Bell, Elliott and Kyle Busch. During the pit stops, Hamlin ran over his air hose, In addition, Bowman was penalized for an equipment interference when a tire rolled into Cody Ware’s pit box,
When the race restarted on Lap 139, Larson received a push from Chastain to retain the lead while Bell battled against Elliott and Kyle Busch for third place.
A few laps later, the caution flew when Bell got loose and spun his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry through the backstretch. Behind him, Harrison Burton also spun in his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang.
Under caution, Burton along with McLeod and Bilicki pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 147, teammates Larson and Elliott battled dead even for the lead followed by Chastain, Kyle Busch, Truex and Byron.
During the following lap, Larson managed to clear the field to retain the lead while Chastain challenged Elliott for the runner-up spot.
By Lap 155 and with the laps in the second stage dwindling, Larson was out in front by less than two-tenths of a second over Chastain while third-place Elliott trailed by less than a second. Behind, Kyle Busch and Byron battle for fourth place in front of Truex while Logano, Harvick, Bubba Wallace and Hamlin were in the top 10.
Then on Lap 160, Chastain emerged with the top spot following a fierce battle with Larson, though Larson kept Chastain within his sights. Soon after, Elliott started to close in on teammate Larson for the runner-up spot.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 165, the No. 1 ACM/Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 piloted by Chastain retained the No. 1 spot and claimed the stage victory. Elliott raced his way into second place followed by Larson, Byron, Kyle Busch, Truex, Logano, Harvick, Hamlin and Wallace. By then, 30 of the 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the leaders peeled to pit road for service and Chastain retained the top spot after exiting with the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Larson, Elliott and Truex.
Prior to the start of the final stage, Cole Custer stalled his car in Turn 4 and eventually retired due to an engine failure and with smoke brewing beneath his car.
With 93 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Chastain and Kyle Busch battled for three full laps until Chastain managed to fend off a ferocious battle against Busch to retain the lead.
Soon after, Chastain was out in front by nearly half a second over Kyle Busch while Elliott, Larson and Logano were in the top five.
Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Chastain stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch while Elliott and Truex battled for third place. Behind, Larson was in fifth ahead of teammates Bowman and Byron while Hamlin, Logano and Reddick were in the top 10.
Fifteen laps later, Chastain continued to lead by more than eight-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch while third-place Truex trailed by less than three seconds. Meanwhile, Bowman was in fourth while Larson, who was reporting a vibration to his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, was in fifth. Hamlin was in sixth followed by Byron, Reddick, Elliott and Logano.
Approaching the final 50 laps of the event, green flag pit stops commenced as Austin Dillon pitted along with Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Reddick, Harvick, Truex, Hamlin, Elliott, Larson, Logano, Elliott and the leader Chastain. During the pit stops, Larson was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Then with 47 laps remaining, the caution flew when Hamlin, who had completed his pit service under green, spun before coming to a stop below the apron in Turn 2 due to a mechanical issue. He ended up needing assistance from a wrecker to return to his pit stall, but his strong afternoon came to a late conclusion as Hamlin was strapped with two DNFs through the first three scheduled events. At the moment of caution, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who had yet to pit, was scored the leader followed by Ty Dillon, who also needed to pit, while Kyle Busch was out in front ahead of Chastain and Truex.
Under caution, Stenhouse and Dillon pitted as Kyle Busch assumed the lead followed by Chastain and Truex.
With 41 laps remaining, the race restarts under green. At the start, Kyle Busch battled against Chastain through the first two turns before he moved his No. 18 Ethel M Chocolates Toyota TRD Camry into the lead. With Chastain managing to retain second, Truex was engaged in a battle with Bowman for third place while Stenhouse was in fifth ahead of Byron.
With 30 laps remaining, Kyle Busch extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Truex, who earlier battled and prevailed over a battle with Chastain for the runner-up spot. Behind, Bowman settled in fourth in front of teammate Byron. By then, Reddick, who spun on Lap 63, was in sixth followed by Stenhouse and Almirola while 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace were in the top 10.
Ten laps later, Kyle Busch’s advantage was reduced to a tenth of a second over teammate Truex while third-place Chastain trailed by seven-tenths of a second. Bowman continued to run in fourth place while trailing by less than two seconds, teammate Byron trailed in fifth place by more than four seconds and sixth-place Reddick trailed by more than eight seconds.
Soon after, the battle for the lead between Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Truex ignited as Truex started to challenge Busch for the top spot.
At the start/finish line with 15 laps remaining, Kyle Busch was ahead by a hair over teammate Truex, but Busch could not drive away from Truex as he launched another attack on the inside lane. By then, the teammates were pulling away by more than a second over Chastain.
Then with 13 laps remaining, Truex gained a run through the backstretch to peek ahead and try to clear Busch entering Turns 3 and 4, but Busch utilized a crossover move on the inside lane to reassume the lead through Turn 4 and during the following lap.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Kyle Busch continued to lead by a narrow margin over teammate Truex while Chastain was trailing the leaders by more than two seconds.
With five laps remaining, Kyle Busch retained the lead by less than four-tenths of a second over teammate Truex, who kept teammate Busch within his sights but could not gain a strong run to attack nor clear Busch for the lead.
Just then, Erik Jones pounded the outside wall hard entering Turn 4 with three laps remaining. Though the race briefly remained under green flag conditions, the caution flew when Jones, who was trying to straighten his car below the apron, slipped sideways and spun back across the middle of the track as he was narrowly dodged by Bubba Wallace, who spun and hit the tire barriers near the pit road exit. At the moment of caution, Kyle Busch had managed to maintain a stable advantage over teammate Truex.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Larson emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop along with teammates Bowman and Byron while Kyle Busch, the first competitor with four fresh tires, exited in fourth place followed by Chastain and Truex.
With the event sent into overtime, teammates Larson and Bowman occupied the front row when the race restarted under green. At the start, teammates Larson and Bowman battled dead-even for the lead ahead of Byron, Kyle Busch, Truex and Chastain for a full lap.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, teammates Bowman and Larson continued to battle dead even for the lead and the win ahead of the field with no runs occurring for the two leaders. Entering Turns 3 and 4, Bowman started to peek ahead and he managed to clear teammate Larson to take over the lead. Larson then tried to pull a crossover move on Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet, but he could not gain momentum through the frontstretch as Bowman streaked across the finish line in first place for his first checked flag of the season.
By capturing his first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the second consecutive victory of the season for Hendrick Motorsports, Bowman became the third different winner through the first three scheduled events of 2022 as he captured his seventh NASCAR Cup Series career win in his 228th series start. The 2022 season marked Bowman’s fourth consecutive year of notching at least one Cup victory as he also recorded the first win for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports entry at Vegas since 2010 that was last made by seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.
“I just can’t thank Ally and Chevrolet, everybody from Hendrick Motorsports enough,” Bowman said on FOX. “This thing was so fast all day. Just never really had the track position we needed to show it, but man, what a call by [crew chief] Greg Ives and the guys to take two [tires] there. Obviously, it paid off. Racing Kyle’s [Larson] always fun. [I] Got to race him for a couple of wins. We’ve always raced each other super clean and super respectfully. Just can’t say enough about these guys. It’s been a pretty awful start to the year. To come out here and get a win on a last restart deal like that is pretty special.”
Teammate Larson rallied from an adversity-filled event to settle in second place while Chastain, who led a race-high 83 of 274 laps, came home in third place for his first top-five result of the season.
“A dream come true,” Chastain said. “This is what all the work is for. This is why we train and try to build our whole lives and careers once we can race at this level is to have race cars like that. I couldn’t be more proud of Trackhouse [Racing]. It took a lot of patience inside the car from our fast racing. It’s tough for me to not get too aggressive and a lot of neutral thinking. Josh Wise and a book by Trevor Moawad really helped me today and that’s progress.”
Despite falling short of the victory at his home track, Kyle Busch, who finished in fourth place after leading 49 laps, praised the Joe Gibbs Racing organization and the teams for their support in preparing Busch’s backup car for the main event after he wrecked his primary car during Saturday’s practice session.
“Yeah, true testament to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Busch said. “[I] Really appreciate the No. 18 guys, my guys, but also the Nos. 11, 19 and 20, all them, for coming over, pitching in. Everybody had a hand in being able to make us go today. [I] Really appreciate that. Great Ethel M Chocolates Toyota Camry TRD today. [The car] Was good there, fast at the end. Trying to just do what I could to hold the lead there with Truex and felt like I inched away finally. We were coming to the white [flag] or something. I don’t know what it was. Anyways, [it] wasn’t meant to be. Not our day. See you next week.”
Byron rallied from sustaining two consecutive DNFs through the first two scheduled events to complete the top five in fifth place. Almirola, Reddick, Truex, Elliott and Bell finished in the top 10. Harrison Burton was the highest-finishing rookie in 16th place while Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Joey Logano finished 12th, 13th and 14th. Cindric ended up in 19th while Keselowski settled in 24th ahead of Bubba Wallace, both of whom were scored a lap down.
There were 23 lead changes for 15 different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 60 laps.
With his runner-up result, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by six points over Martin Truex Jr., nine over Joey Logano, 10 over rookie Austin Cindric and 11 over Kyle Busch.
Results.
1. Alex Bowman, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Kyle Larson, 27 laps led
3. Ross Chastain, 83 laps led, Stage 2 winner
4. Kyle Busch, 49 laps led
5. William Byron, eight laps led
6. Aric Almirola
7. Tyler Reddick
8. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led
9. Chase Elliott
10. Christopher Bell, 32 laps led
11. Austin Dillon
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Kurt Busch, four laps led
14. Joey Logano
15. Corey LaJoie
16. Harrison Burton
17. Justin Haley
18. Chris Buescher
19. Austin Cindric
20. Ty Dillon, one lap led
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., four laps led
22. Daniel Hemric
23. Todd Gilliland
24. Brad Keselowski, one lap down, three laps led
25. Bubba Wallace, one lap down
26. Cody Ware, one lap down
27. Michael McDowell, one lap down, four laps led
28. BJ McLeod, two laps down
29. Josh Bilicki, three laps down
30. Garrett Smithley, seven laps down
31. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident
32. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Drivetrain, 31 laps led
33. Cole Custer – OUT
34. Greg Biffle – OUT, Fuel pump, one lap led
35. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident
36. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led
37. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series’ West Coast swing will cap off its three-race West Coast swing next weekend at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, March 13, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson outlasted the field through a four-lap shootout and through a series of carnages to win the WISE Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, February 27, in NASCAR’s return to Fontana, California.
Larson, a 29-year-old native from Elk Grove, California, led four times for 28 of 200 laps and received a stellar pit stop from his pit crew with less than 10 laps remaining before fending off Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Joey Logano through the final four laps to collect his second victory at Auto Club Speedway and his first NASCAR Cup victory of the 2022 season.
Qualifying determined the starting lineup on Saturday, February 26, as rookie Austin Cindric, winner of this year’s Daytona 500, notched his first Cup career pole with a pole-winning lap at 174.647 mph. Joining him on the front row was Erik Jones, who earned his first front row starting spot since Texas Motor Speedway in November 2019.
Prior to the event, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines. In addition, all competitors had a respective crew member ejected from the event. Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to an oil cooler change along with Ross Chastain, who competed in a back-up car after wrecking his primary car on Saturday.
Another driver that was penalized prior to the event was Kurt Busch, whose No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry failed pre-qualifying inspection three times on Friday, February 25, and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road at the start of the event. In addition, David Bryant, Busch’s car chief, was ejected from the event.
Following a five-wide salute from the field to the fans and when the green flag waved as the race commenced, Cindric and Jones battled dead even for the lead as Jones took an early command entering the backstretch.
When the field returned to the frontstretch, Erik Jones, piloting the No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 led the first lap while Cindric settled in second in front of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. By then, Kurt Busch served his pass-through penalty and was able to remain on the lead lap.
By the second lap, Jones maintained a healthy advantage over Cindric. Behind, Tyler Reddick challenged Hamlin for third place as Ryan Blaney moved up to fifth while Kyle Busch dropped to sixth.
Three laps later, Jones was leading by nearly a second over Cindric, who had Reddick close in for the spot. Blaney and Hamlin were in the top five followed by Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez and Martin Truex Jr. while Kyle Busch continued to fall back in 11th ahead of Daniel Hemric.
By Lap 10, Jones continued to lead by while Reddick and Blaney were up in second and third.
A lap later, however, Reddick muscled his No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead.
On Lap 15, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch, who was running in 11th place, spun his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry in the backstretch, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage.
With Busch’s incident serving as the competition caution planned for Lap 20, the field led by Reddick pitted as Reddick exited with the lead followed by Byron, Elliott, Hamlin and Jones.
When the race restarted under green nearing the Lap 20 mark, Reddick maintained the lead ahead of Byron and Elliott as Elliott overtook teammate Byron to move into second while the field fanned out through the first two turns and through the backstretch.
On Lap 23, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead.
Through the first 30 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Reddick while Byron, Erik Jones and Stenhouse were in the top five. Blaney, Truex, Logano, Hamlin and Kyle Larson were in the top 10 while Cindric was back in 11th ahead of Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher and Hemric. Kyle Busch was mired back in 16th ahead of Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski while Aric Almirola was in 21st ahead of Chase Briscoe, Kurt Busch, Corey LaJoie and rookie Harrison Burton. Kevin Harvick was mired in 26th ahead of Justin Haley, Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace.
Then by Lap 35, Reddick reassumed the lead followed by Byron and Jones while Elliott, who scraped the outside wall near Turn 3 once on Lap 33 and again on Lap 35, was losing ground of the lead pack.
Not long after, Elliott’s race went from bad to worse as he spun through the backstretch and drew the second caution of the event. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was on pit road as his No. 18 pit crew popped the hood up to diagnose overheating issues to Busch’s car.
Under caution, the field returned to pit road for serve as Reddick, who reported numbness to his left leg, retained the lead followed by Jones, Byron, Cindric, Stenhouse and Hamlin. By then, Christopher Bell remained on pit road as he was dealing with cooling issues to his car. Following the pit stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.
When the field restarted on Lap 42, Byron shoved Reddick as Reddick retained the lead briefly before Jones mounted a challenge on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, however, Jones lost the runner-up spot to Byron as Reddick maintained the lead.
With the field fanning out, a five-car battle for the lead ensued as Reddick was ahead of Byron, Stenhouse, Jones and Truex.
By Lap 50, Reddick was leading more nearly two seconds over Byron, who remained engaged in a battle with Stenhouse for the runner-up spot. Jones was in fourth followed by Joey Logano while Truex was back in seventh behind Blaney’s No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang. Briscoe, Cindric and Hamlin were in the top 10.
Then on Lap 52, Truex, who was, got loose entering the backstretch and scraped the outside wall as he was narrowly avoided by Cindric. The caution then returned when Josh Bilicki spun in Turn 2.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road as Reddick received another stellar pit stop from his No. 8 crew to retain the lead followed by Byron, Jones, Kurt Busch and Briscoe. During the pit stops, Blaney endured a slow pit stop for a second time as he exited in the top 20 after pitting from third place. Following the pit stops, however, Kurt Busch was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. In addition, Kevin Harvick pitted for a second time.
On Lap 57, the race restarted under green as Reddick and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick received another boost from Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to retain the lead ahead of Jones and the field fanning out through the backstretch.
At the Lap 60 mark, Reddick was leading by half a second over Jones while Byron, Briscoe and Kyle Larson were in the top five.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 65, Reddick claimed his first stage victory of the 2022 Cup Series season and the fifth of his career after fending off Jones. Byron settled in third followed by Briscoe and Larson while Alex Bowman, Logano, Blaney, Cindric and Stenhouse were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted as Reddick exited with the lead followed by Briscoe, Byron, Larson and Bowman. Following the pit stops, rookie Todd Gilliland lost a right-front wheel and returned to pit road.
The second stage started on Lap 73. At the start, Reddick and Briscoe battled dead even through the backstretch as Larson joined the battle. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Larson led a lap for himself before Briscoe moved his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang to the lead followed by Reddick.
By Lap 76, Reddick mounted a challenge to regain the lead against Briscoe, but was unable to complete his task as Briscoe maintained the top spot.
Through the first 80 laps of the event, Briscoe was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Byron, Logano and Larson were in the top five. Blaney, Hamlin, Bowman, Erik Jones and Cindric were in the top 10.
On Lap 86, Kyle Busch pitted under green after sustaining a flat left-rear tire. By the time he returned on the track, he was mired in 36th place and six laps behind the leaders.
Four laps later, the caution flew when Bell spun his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry in Turn 4. In the midst of Bell’s spin, teammate Denny Hamlin steered his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry to pit road as he reported overheating issues. At the moment of caution, Briscoe continued to lead by more than half a second over Reddick while third-place Byron trailed by more than three seconds. Blaney and Logano were in the top five ahead of Jones, Larson, Cindric, Bowman and Brad Keselowski.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road as Reddick entered and exited in first place followed by Briscoe, Byron, Blaney, Cindric and Logano.
On Lap 96, the race restarted under green. At the start, Reddick received another strong push from Byron to take the lead on the outside lane while Briscoe fell back to second ahead of Byron and the field.
While Reddick retained the lead ahead of Byron, a multi-car battle for third place ensued as Larson moved into the top-three followed by Logano, Briscoe, Blaney, Erik Jones and Cindric while Bowman and Austin Dillon were in the top 10.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Byron moved into the lead over Reddick as Larson retained third place ahead of Logano and Briscoe. While Blaney was in sixth, Jones and Cindric, both of whom rubbed fenders in Turn 1 a lap earlier, were in seventh and eighth while Bowman and Cole Custer were in the top 10.
Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Chris Buescher spun and backed his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang into the outside wall entering Turn 2.
Under caution, the field pitted and Reddick reassumed the lead followed by Larson, Jones, Custer, Keselowski and Cindric. Meanwhile, Briscoe, who pitted as the leader, exited in 17th place after enduring a slow pit stop.
When the field restarted on Lap 115, Reddick and Jones battled for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as Jones moved into the lead. Then just as the field returned to the start/finish line, Keselowski, who was battling for a spot in the top five, got sideways and spun in Turn 4 as the caution flew. In the midst of the spin, Keselowski was narrowly missed by ex-teammate Logano and Hamlin.
On Lap 121, the race restarted under green. At the start, Jones utilized the inside lane to his advantage for a second time to retain the lead. Shortly after, Reddick challenged and reassumed the lead from Jones as Logano moved up to third place followed by Larson, Custer, Blaney and Cindric. Meanwhile, Byron was back in the top 10 while Briscoe was mired in 16th.
With the laps in the second stage dwindling, Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Jones while Logano, Larson and Blaney were in the top five.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 130, Reddick captured his second stage victory of the season. Jones settled in second followed by Logano, Blaney, Larson, Custer, Cindric, Almirola, Byron and Hamlin.
Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit stop as Reddick retained the lead followed by Jones, Larson, Custer and Hamlin.
With 64 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Reddick retained the lead while Logano moved up to second in front of Jones. Entering Turn 4, Aric Almirola got sideways, but he straightened his car below the apron and the race remained under green.
At the front with 60 laps remaining, Reddick remained as the leader by more than a second over Logano, who had Erik Jones challenging him for the runner-up spot. Bowman, a former winner at Auto Club Speedway in 2020, was in fourth followed by Blaney while Custer and Byron battled for sixth place. Behind, Hamlin, who made light contact with the outside wall, was in eighth ahead of Cindric, Austin Dillon, Larson and Daniel Suarez.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick, who withstood repeated challenges from Jones, continued to lead by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Jones’ No. 43 Chevrolet while Logano settled in third place as he trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, Blaney overtook Bowman for fourth, Byron was in sixth ahead of Custer, Larson was in ninth and Cindric was in 11th. Briscoe, meanwhile, was mired in 22nd behind teammate Kevin Harvick.
A lap later, Reddick’s strong, prominent run towards a possible first Cup victory evaporated when he cut a left-rear tire and fell off the pace entering Turns 1 and 2. Then while Reddick was limping towards the outside wall, he was sideswiped by Byron, which sent both cars into the outside wall as Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet came to a rest below the apron while Reddick limped back to pit road. In the midst of the turn of events, Jones returned to the lead followed by Logano, Blaney, Bowman and Custer.
Under caution for the incident, the leaders returned to pit road as Jones edged Bowman to retain the lead followed by Logano, Larson, Bowman and Elliott.
With 44 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Logano emerged with the lead for the first time as Larson overtook Jones for the runner-up spot in front of the field fanning out.
During the following lap, the caution returned when Bubba Wallace made contact with Keselowski in Turn 2, which sent Keselowski sideways and sparked a multi-car wreck that involved Wallace, Harrison Burton and Cindric. Under caution, some led by Logano remained on the track while the rest pitted.
With 35 laps remaining, the field restarted under green. At the start, Logano blocked and maintained the lead over Larson. Shortly after, Larson made his way to the front over Logano as Jones, Elliot and Blaney battled for third place.
With 30 laps remaining, Larson was leading by less than a second over Blaney while Logano, Elliott and Bowman were in the top five. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was in sixth place in a back-up car while Jones, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Daniel Suarez were in the top 10.
A few laps later, the caution returned when Chastain, who was running in the top 10, spun in Turn 4. Under caution, nearly the entire field returned to pit road for service and Elliott exited first followed by Bowman, Larson, Logano, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez. Back on track, Briscoe remained on the track to inherit the lead.
With 22 laps remaining, the field restarted under green. At the start, teammates Larson and Elliott overtook Briscoe entering the first turn before Larson assumed the lead while Logano joined the party.
During the following lap, Bowman, who was running in the top five, pitted after making contact with the outside wall. At the front, Logano and Larson dueled for the lead as Elliott tried to overtake both. Then in Turn 4, Larson moved up and ran his teammate Elliott into the outside wall as Elliott began to fall off the pace. With Elliott out of contention, Austin Dillon appeared in third place followed by Daniel Suarez, Hamlin and Erik Jones.
With 15 laps remaining, Larson was leading by half a second over Logano while Austin Dillon, Suarez and Jones were in the top five. By then, names like Harvick, Stenhouse and Michael McDowell were in the top 10 while Cindric, Kurt Busch, Haley, Almirola and Daniel Hemric were in the top 15.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Logano while Austin Dillon Dillon, Jones, Blaney, Suarez, Hamlin, Stenhouse, Harvick and Cindric were in the top 10.
Then a lap later, the caution flew when Elliott spun in Turn 2. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Larson exited with the lead followed by Suarez, Logano, Austin Dillon and Jones.
With four laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, a three-car battle ensued between Larson, Suarez and Logano for the lead for a full lap. Then with three laps remaining, Larson led at the line before Suarez received a push from Erik Jones to boost to the lead entering the backstretch.
Suarez, however, lost the lead entering the frontstretch after Larson gained an advantage and reassumed the lead with two laps remaining, where he brought Austin Dillon with him.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon as Erik Jones challenged Suarez for third place. Behind, Justin Haley got turned and spun through the infield grass as he pounded the inside wall.
With the race remaining under green, Larson continued to lead ahead of a hard-charging Dillon. Through Turns 3 and 4, Dillon mounted a final lap charge through the inside lane, but it was too little, too late as Larson took the checkered flag by less than two-tenths of a second ahead of Austin Dillon.
In addition to claiming his second victory at Auto Club Speedway, Larson notched his 17th NASCAR Cup Series career victory and his 11th driving the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports as he begins his pursuit to defend his series championship.
“It’s always fun here to win at the home state,” Larson said on FOX. “Hard work all weekend there. [I] Didn’t feel great in practice yesterday. [Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and everybody made some good adjustments overnight and the car handled a lot better. There was definitely some guys that were quicker than us, but they had their misfortunes. Just kept our heads in it all day. Long race. [The] Restarts were crazy. The whole runs were crazy, so definitely wild, but cool to get a win here at California. Hopefully, we get on a little streak. ”
Austin Dillon settled in second place while Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez delivered strong results of third and fourth place. Logano settled in fifth place.
“We’re going to win a few races very soon here,” Suarez said. “I just can’t thank everyone enough on my team. We had a fast car, but we went through a lot of adversity. We had a few issues. We hit the wall once. We had an issue with a diffuser. My pit crew, those guys are legends, it’s unbelievable. It’s the best pit crew I’ve ever had, and it’s a lot of fun to race like that. The Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, everyone that helps Trackhouse [Racing] out, to be able to be here and perform this way… I can tell you that I’m going to work very, very hard to go to Victory Lane very, very soon here.”
Almirola, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Hemric and Stenhouse completed the top 10 on the track.
Cindric, the pole-sitter, finished 12th in front of Martin Truex Jr. while Kyle Busch rallied from falling six laps behind the leaders to finish 14th in front of teammate Denny Hamlin. Briscoe, Blaney and Wallace finished 16th, 18th and 19th, Reddick settled in 24th and Elliott ended up in 26th place in between teammate Bowman and Keselowski.
There were 32 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured a record-tying 12 cautions for 59 laps.
Following his 12th-place result, Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular season standings by eight points over teammate Joey Logano, 12 over Martin Truex Jr., 15 over Ryan Blaney, 16 over Chase Briscoe and 17 over Erik Jones.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, 28 laps led
2. Austin Dillon
3. Erik Jones, 18 laps led
4. Daniel Suarez
5. Joey Logano, 14 laps led
6. Aric Almirola
7. Kevin Harvick, one lap led
8. Kurt Busch
9. Daniel Hemric
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
11. Cole Custer
12. Austin Cindric
13. Martin Truex Jr.
14. Kyle Busch
15. Denny Hamlin
16. Chase Briscoe, 20 laps led
17. Ty Dillon
18. Ryan Blaney, one lap led
19. Bubba Wallace
20. Todd Gilliland
21. Garrett Smithley
22. BJ McLeod
23. Justin Haley
24. Tyler Reddick, one lap down, 90 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
25. Alex Bowman, one lap down
26. Chase Elliott, two laps down
27. Brad Keselowski, two laps down
28. Corey LaJoie, two laps down
29. Ross Chastain, two laps down
30. Josh Bilicki, two laps down
31. Michael McDowell – OUT, Electrical
32. Cody Ware, 13 laps down
33. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident
34. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
35. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident
36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the second of the series’ three-race West Coast swing. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, March 6, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Austin Cindric: Cindric held off Bubba Wallace and teammate Ryan Blaney to win the Daytona 500 in his first Daytona start.
“I’m only 23 years old,” Cindric said. “To achieve the greatest accomplishment of one’s life at that age is simply amazing. If that’s still the case 32 years from now, then I’ll officially change my name to ‘Derrick Cope.’”
“Historically, the Daytona 500 is known as the ‘Great American Race.’ Currently, it’s known as the ‘Greatest Collection of ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Merchandise In The World.’”
2. Bubba Wallace: Wallace finished second at Daytona, matching his career-best 500 finish.
“‘Second’ is a word that’s rarely used by Michael Jordan,” Wallace said, ‘unless it’s used in the following context: ‘Give me one second, while I place another bet.’
“My crew chief is Bootie Barber. So, any communication between him and I is technically a ‘Bootie call.’ No matter what happens this season, I’ll still never have more ‘bootie calls’ than Tim Richmond.
3. Ryan Blaney: Blaney came home fourth at Daytona as Penske Racing teammate Austin Cindric took the win.
“Congratulations to Austin,” Blaney said. “And congratulations to Roger Penske. Roger’s 85th birthday was Sunday. Roger’s a legend in auto racing across many series and is the greatest car owner in auto racing. No other car owner can hold a candle to Roger, much less 85.”
4. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished fifth at Daytona.
“NASCAR started the season with the Busch Clash in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum,” Almirola said. “That track was tiny. I’ve seen bigger circles in a pack of Lifesavers or under the eyes of anyone who’s awoken in the Daytona infield after a day and/or night of drinking with Clint Bowyer.”
5. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski led a race-high 67 laps and finished ninth at Daytona in his first points race as driver/owner for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
“I feel great being a part of re-igniting Roush Fenway,” Keselowski said. “It may sound difficult, but it’s really not, because re-igniting something that’s already on fire is easy, and Roush Fenway was a dumpster fire.”
6. Michael McDowell: McDowell started sixth and finished seventh at Daytona in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Mustang.
“Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch waved the green flag to start the race,” McDowell said. “As you would expect in a race green-flagged by him, there was a lot of ‘spin.’”
7. Chase Briscoe: Briscoe finished fourth in the Daytona 500 in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.
“I hope I made Tony Stewart proud,” Briscoe said. “Tony was in the booth with Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer calling the race for Fox. I think Tony’s a natural in front of the camera. They say ‘the camera adds ten pounds.’ Tony absolutely agrees with that. That way, he doesn’t have to blame it on his diet.”
8. Kyle Busch: Busch finished sixth at Daytona and remained winless in Daytona 500’s.
“I’m now 0-17 in Daytona 500 races,” Busch said. “Personally, I’m looking forward to the ‘Next Generation,’ because I’ve already gone through one without winning the 500.”
9. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished 10th at Daytona and was the only Chevrolet driver in the top 10.
“I’m just happy the No. 9 NAPA Chevy finished the race in one piece,” Elliott said. “Obviously, I was able to steer clear of Brad Keselowski. How many cars did he wreck? Now that Brad is an owner and a driver, it’s clear he’s the ‘total’ package.”
10. David Ragan: Ragan finished eighth at Daytona after avoiding several accidents until being caught up in a final-lap crash after crossing the finish line.
“I,” Ragan said, “like 38 other drivers, was just happy to survive…a race that Brad Keselowski was in.
“Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a new NASCAR owner. Kaz Grala drives the No. 50 car for The Money Team Racing. I don’t know much about Kaz Grala, but I can tell you this – Any car associated with Mayweather will never knock anyone out, and can only win on points. And should also have its financials reviewed by a competent accountant.”
A significant milestone achievement is in the making for Taylor Moyer, crew chief for rookie Sam Mayer and the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team for the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series season. By participating in this weekend’s season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Moyer will call his 100th Xfinity career event as a crew chief.
Moyer, a native of Shoreham, Vermont, who graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and worked as a race engineer for Kasey Kahne and William Byron at Hendrick Motorsports, assumed the role as crew chief for JR Motorsports’ No. 8 “all-star” Chevrolet Camaro entry prior to the 2019 Xfinity Series season. The ride was shared between Chase Elliott, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith, Ryan Truex, Jeb Burton, Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed, Regan Smith and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Commencing the 2019 Xfinity Series season with a 10th-place result at Daytona International Speedway in February with Elliott, Moyer led the No. 8 JRM Chevrolet team to seven top-five results, 23 top-10 results and a 10th-place result in the final Xfinity owner’s standings. The team’s best on-track result during the season was a runner-up result posted by Ryan Truex at Phoenix Raceway in March.
For the 2020 season, Moyer remained as the crew chief for JRM’s No. 8 “all-star” entry that was shared between Burton, Daniel Hemric and Earnhardt Jr. The team commenced the season with two consecutive results outside of the top 20 due to wrecks, but rallied during the following event at Auto Club Speedway as Hemric finished seventh. Three races later, Hemric posted a runner-up result at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. The team would achieve two additional runner-up results throughout the season (one by Jeb Burton at Richmond Raceway in September and another by Hemric at Kansas Speedway in October) along with a total of 11 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 68 laps led and a ninth-place result in the final Xfinity owner’s standings.
The following season (2021) marked Moyer’s third consecutive season as an Xfinity crew chief for the No. 8 JRM Chevrolet team that was split between Josh Berry, Miguel Paludo, Sam Mayer and Earnhardt Jr. After finishing no higher than seventh place twice during the opening six scheduled events, Moyer achieved his first NASCAR victory as a crew chief after the No. 8 Chevrolet piloted by Berry won at Martinsville Speedway in April. The victory was also the first for Berry and the No. 8 JRM team as the team was placed in contention to compete for the 2021 Xfinity owner’s championship. For the rest of the season, however, the No. 8 team only achieved four additional top-five results and a total of 13 top-10 results before settling in 12th place in the final owner’s standings.
The 2022 Xfinity Series season is set to mark Moyer’s fourth full-time season as a crew chief for JRM, but the first season where he will be paired with a full-time competitor as Sam Mayer, a two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion who drove the No. 8 JRM Chevrolet in 17 events and earned six top-10 results in 2021, prepares to embark in his first full-time Xfinity campaign in the No. 1 JRM Chevrolet Camaro.
Through 99 previous Xfinity starts, Moyer has achieved one victory, 23 top-five results and 55 top-10 results while working with 13 different competitors.
Moyer is scheduled to call his 100th Xfinity Series event as a crew chief for the 2022 season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 19, with coverage to start at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
Joey Logano etched his name as the winner of the 2022 Busch Light Clash in NASCAR’s inaugural exhibition event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 6, after leading the final 35 laps and fending off a late challenge from Kyle Busch. The victory marked Logano’s second career Clash victory after winning his first at Daytona International Speedway in February 2017 as he also emerged victorious in NASCAR’s first event with the Gen 7 stock cars.
The lineup for the exhibition feature was determined through the use of four 25-lap heat races, caution laps not included, and nine competitors from a total of 36 competing in each. The top-four finishers from each heat (16 total) earned a one-way ticket to the Clash. Afterwards, the 20 competitors who did not advance to the Clash via the heat races participated in two 50-lap Last Chance Qualifying races with the top-three finishers in each Last Chance Qualifying event advancing to the Clash.
In the first Heat event, Kyle Busch, the reigning Clash champion who posted the fastest qualifying lap at 65.478 mph on Saturday and started on the pole, transferred after leading all 25 laps and finishing first ahead of runner-up Daniel Suarez. They were joined by third-place finisher Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and fourth-place finisher Ryan Blaney in the main event while Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, rookie Todd Gilliland, Aric Almirola and BJ McLeod were sent to the Last Chance Qualifiers. The first Heat victory gave Kyle Busch the top starting spot for the main event
In the second Heat event, Tyler Reddick, who started on the pole, ran away from the field to lead all 25 laps, finish first and transfer followed by Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon and Cole Custer. Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., rookie Harrison Burton and Brad Keselowski were sent to the Last Chance Qualifiers. The second Heat victory gave Reddick a front row starting spot alongside Kyle Busch for the main event.
In the third Heat event, Justin Haley, who commenced his first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series competitor for Kaulig Racing on the pole, fended off the field to lead all 25 laps and transfer to the main event after finishing first. Joining him were William Byron, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott while AJ Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Cody Ware and Corey LaJoie were sent to the Last Chance Qualifiers. The third Heat victory placed Haley on the second row for the Clash.
In the fourth and final Heat event, Joey Logano, who started on pole, survived through two restarts to lead all 25 laps and transfer by finishing first ahead of Kyle Larson, the reigning Cup Series champion. Michael McDowell, the reigning Daytona 500 champion, finished third and also transferred along with Erik Jones, a former Clash winner. Austin Cindric, who spun on Lap 9 after getting hit by Landon Cassill and was trying to carve his way back to the front, settled in fifth and was sent to the Last Chance Qualifiers along with Ryan Preece, Kurt Busch, Cassill and Ty Dillon, who brought out an early caution after his car slowed due to a broken transmission. The fourth Heat victory placed Logano alongside Haley in the second row.
Prior to the event, Larson was the lone competitor who was guaranteed a spot to the 2022 Busch Light Clash based on point provisional and being the reigning Cup champion. With Larson earning a top-four result in his heat event, however, Martin Truex Jr. was awarded a spot for the Clash based on points provisional due to finishing in the runner-up result in the 2021 Cup standings behind Larson. He opted to not participate in the Last Chance Qualifiers and use the points provisional to start at the rear of the field for the main event.
In the first Last Chance Qualifying event, Denny Hamlin raced his way into the main event after leading all 50 laps and finishing first ahead of Kevin Harvick and AJ Allmendinger, both of whom also transferred. Cody Ware, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, rookie Todd Gilliland and BJ McLeod failed to qualify for the main event. Another competitor who headed home early was Aric Almirola, who commenced his final full-time season in NASCAR competition on a low note after getting bumped by Gilliland on Lap 4, which sent Almirola’s No. 10 Farmer John Ford Mustang sliding and making hard contact against the Turn 3 outside wall. The Floridian was very quick to express a warning finger towards the Front Row Motorsports rookie competitor following the incident.
In the second and final Last Chance Qualifying event, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton survived a series of on-track carnages and restarts to claim the final transfer spots into the main event. Ty Dillon, who was originally penalized for jumping the restart with less than 20 laps remaining but fought his way back to the front, was first across the finish line in the final Last Chance Qualifying event, but was penalized a second time for jumping the final restart with three laps remaining and disqualified from the main event. As a result, Preece was promoted to first place ahead of Wallace and Burton, who rallied from spinning while leading with three laps remaining. Dillon joined Brad Keselowski, rookie Austin Cindric, Landon Cassill, Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman, all of whom were involved in at least one on-track incident, as the next wave of competitors that were sent home and out of the main event.
When the main event commenced under green, Kyle Busch and Reddick dueled for the lead for a full lap as Reddick led the first lap by a nose. Busch was able to lead the following two laps before Reddick muscled his way into the lead by the fourth lap.
Through the first 10 laps of the event, Reddick’s No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was leading ahead of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry while Haley, Logano and Suarez were in the top five.
Ten laps later and with the leaders catching lapped traffic amid the close-quarter racing, Reddick continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch while Haley, Logano and Suarez remained in the top five. Larson was in sixth ahead of teammate Byron, Briscoe, Austin Dillon and Cole Custer while Erik Jones, McDowell, Christopher Bell, Blaney and Elliott were in the top 15. By then, Bubba Wallace, Stenhouse and Hamlin were lapped by the leaders.
By Lap 35, Reddick stabilized his advantage to less than four-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch as Haley and Logano remained in third and fourth. Meanwhile, Larson overtook Suarez to move into the top five.
Through the first 50 laps of the event, Reddick remained as the leader by more than a second over Kyle Busch while Logano was up in third place in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Haley was in fourth while Larson and Briscoe battled for fifth. Byron, Suarez, Austin Dillon and Erik Jones were in the top 10 ahead of Blaney, Elliott, Custer, Bell and Kevin Harvick. By then, names like McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., teammate Hamlin, Preece, Stenhouse and Wallace were mired at least a lap behind the leaders.
Three laps later, the first caution of the main event flew when Stenhouse spun in Turn 4. At the same time, Hamlin, who was off the pace prior to the caution, pulled his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry into the infield as his pit crew popped the hood opened to diagnose a power steering belt issue. The issue was enough to terminate Hamlin’s run in the Coliseum.
Prior to the restart, Reddick, who was leading, and Briscoe, who was in fourth, retired after both encountered mechanical issues related to the driveshaft. These late turn of events moved Kyle Busch and Logano to the front of the grid.
When the race restarted, Busch was able to clear Logano to retain the lead as Larson challenged Logano for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Logano retained second and Haley move his No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into third place while Larson slipped to fourth ahead of teammate Byron.
By Lap 60, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nearly half a second over Logano while Haley, Larson and Byron stabilized themselves in the top five ahead of Erik Jones, Elliott, Blaney, Bell and Austin Dillon. Meanwhile, Suarez was in 11th ahead of Allmendinger, Custer, Harvick, Harrison Burton and McDowell.
Five laps later, the caution returned when Elliott spun his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 2.
Shortly after and when the race restarted under green, Kyle Busch and Logano dueled for the lead for a second time before Busch managed to clear Logano and retain the top spot. Behind, Byron challenged Haley for third ahead of Larson and Blaney.
When the race reached the halfway mark and a break period on Lap 75, Kyle Busch fended off a last lap bump from Logano, which sent Busch’s car out of the racing groove, to retain the lead by a narrow margin. By then, Haley was in third ahead of Byron, Larson, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Bell and Allmendinger.
When the second half of the Clash started under green, Kyle Busch retained the lead as Byron settled in second ahead of Logano and the field. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece pulled his No. 15 Jacob Companies Ford Mustang to the infield due to a brake failure.
A few laps later, a brief three-wide battle for second ensued between Larson, Logano and Byron before Larson prevailed ahead of both. Behind, Haley settled in fifth ahead of Austin Dillon, Blaney, Jones, Bell and Allmendinger.
With 60 laps remaining, Kyle Busch stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Logano while Larson, Haley and Byron remained in the top five. By then, 17 of 23 competitors were scored on the lead lap with Truex settling in 17th.
Fifteen laps later, Kyle Busch remained as the leader by less than seven-tenths of a second over Logano. Behind, Larson remained in third ahead of teammate Byron and Haley while Austin Dillon, Blaney, Erik Jones, Bell and Chase Elliott were in the top 10.
Another 15 laps later, the caution flew when Blaney fell off the pace and retired after an earlier bump and contact with Erik Jones sent Blaney into the outside wall. The incident prompted Blaney to toss his HANS device to Jones’ No. 43 FOCUSFactor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the track to express his displeasure as his race came to an end. Prior to the caution, Kyle Busch was being pressured by Logano for the lead, where he got bumped by Logano’s Ford through the braking turns, as he was catching lapped traffic.
When the race restarted, Kyle Busch and Logano continued to duel for the lead. Just then, the caution returned when Larson, who was battling Haley for third, veered and body slammed into the side of Haley and sent the Winamac, Indiana, native head-on into the inside concrete barriers on the frontstretch. The incident spoiled Haley’s strong weekend and a potential opportunity to win as he retired in the infield.
Following another restart, Logano muscled his way into the lead and Larson moved his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into second ahead of Kyle Busch.
With less than 30 laps remaining, Logano was leading by a little over half a second over Larson and Kyle Busch while Austin Dillon and Byron battled for fourth.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Logano continued to lead by less than nine-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch, who earlier used his car to overtake Larson for second as he set his sights on Logano for the lead.
Five laps later and as Kyle Busch continued to close in on Logano for the lead, Austin Dillon moved up to third followed by Byron and Erik Jones while Larson slipped back to sixth ahead of Christopher Bell.
With 10 laps remaining, the battle for the lead intensified as Logano had Kyle Busch covering his rear view mirrors with Busch drawing himself closer to Logano’s rear bumper.
Down to the final five laps, the gap between Logano and Kyle Busch was down to less than half a second as Logano remained in the lead.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano stabilized himself with a respective advantage over Kyle Busch. With no challengers able to close in behind him, Logano was able to methodically navigate his way around the Coliseum smoothly for a final time and cross the finish line in first place to win by nearly nine-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch as Truex and McDowell wrecked in front of the leaders.
With Logano becoming the first NASCAR competitor to win at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Clash victory was also the fifth for Team Penske and the 10th for the Ford nameplate.
“I can’t believe it!” Logano, who revealed that his wife was expecting their third baby on FOX, exclaimed. “We’re here. The L.A. Coliseum. We got the victory with the old Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. This is an amazing event. Congratulations, NASCAR. Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this, put on an amazing race for everybody. I’m out of breath. I was so excited about this. This is a big win. [Crew chief] Paul [Wolfe], [race engineer] Shaggy [Pope] and the engineers do a great job. The guys working on the car did an amazing job of finding speed when we were slow. We were 28th or so on the board yesterday and made some good changes, worked with our teammate Ryan Blaney a lot. I owe a lot to him, too. To see some of the gains they made and ultimately get the win. This is special. To get the first Next Gen win, the first win out here on the Coliseum, it’s a special one. We’re gonna have some fun and celebrate it.”
Kyle Busch, the reigning Clash winner who led a race-high 64 laps compared to Logano’s 35, settled in second place followed by Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Larson.
“I was being perfect doing everything I needed to do—keep the tires underneath me,” Busch said. “When I got close, I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to try more and pounce at an opportunity,’ and just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps and that was it. Disappointing, obviously. To come out here, win the pole, lead laps, run up front, the finish goes green and it’s not chaotic, and we can’t win. That sucks.”
“From where we were last night, it took a lot of crazy faith, a little prayer last night, talked to myself,” Dillon added. “We got it together today, though. The True Velocity Chevrolet was really fast, in practice. I just struggled a little bit [through] qualifying. I knew we’d get in the race, we’re gonna be fine. The long run speed was there. I’m disappointed I couldn’t get to those next two cars that were really wanting to get there, but all in all, a great race from where we were last night. Everybody back home at [Richard Childress Racing did] a good job. It was a good showing from us.”
Byron, Custer, Bell, Allmendinger and Harvick completed the top 10 on the track.
There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for no laps.
Results.
1. Joey Logano, 35 laps led
2. Kyle Busch, 64 laps led
3. Austin Dillon
4. Erik Jones
5. Kyle Larson
6. William Byron
7. Cole Custer
8. Christopher Bell
9. AJ Allmendinger
10. Kevin Harvick
11. Chase Elliott
12. Harrison Burton
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14. Daniel Suarez
15. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down
16. Michael McDowell, one lap down
17. Ryan Blaney, three laps down
18. Bubba Wallace, four laps down
19. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident
20. Ryan Preece – OUT, Oil Pressure
21. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Drivetrain, 51 laps led
22. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Drivetrain
23. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Power
The NASCAR Cup Series competitors will be taking a one-week break before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the 64th running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for February 20 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Practices will occur on February 15 from 5:05-5:55 and 6:35-7:25 p.m. ET with a third practice session to occur on February 18 from 6 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. ET. The pole position qualifying session for the 500 is scheduled to occur on February 16 at 8:05 p.m. ET while the Bluegreen Vacations Duels, which will determine the remainder of the lineup for the 500, will occur on February 17 at 7 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET, both to air on FS1.
After spending the previous season on the sidelines, Kyle Larson made the most of his second opportunity with the powerhouse organization of Hendrick Motorsports and emerged as the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion after winning the season finale race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon.
The Elk Grove, California, native qualified on the pole position Saturday and led seven times during the race for a total of 107 laps, including the final 28. He beat Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott to win his first Cup title in his first full-time season at Hendrick Motorsports along with claiming his season-high 10th race victory in the desert state.
Qualifying occurred on Saturday, November 6, to determine the starting lineup and Kyle Larson, a nine-time race winner vying for his first Cup title, won the pole position with a pole-winning lap at 137.847 mph. Joining him on the front row was Chase Elliott, Larson’s teammate and the reigning series champion who qualified with an initial fast speed at 136.939 mph.
With Larson and Elliott starting on the front row, Denny Hamlin, vying for his first Cup title, lined up in sixth place to contend for his first Cup title while teammate Martin Truex Jr., going for his second title, rolled off the starting grid in 12th place.
Larson, Hamlin and Truex entered the finale without their regular car chiefs after their respective cars failed the pre-race technical inspection process twice, but they all retained their starting spots for the main event. On the other hand, Josh Bilicki and Timmy Hill started the finale at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their cars.
When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, Larson briefly broke ahead through the frontstretch, but Elliott fought back entering the backstretch. As both Hendrick Motorsports teammates dueled coming back to the start/finish line, Larson led the first lap. Elliott, however, had other plans as he rocketed to the lead entering Turns 1 and 2 during the following lap.
By the fifth lap, Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was ahead by half a second over teammate Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.
Two laps later, the first caution of the finale flew when Bubba Wallace got hit by Corey LaJoie, spun and backed into the Turn 3 outside wall with extensive rear-end damage. After exiting his damaged No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry, Wallace expressed his displease to LaJoie before making the mandatory trip to the infield care center.
Under caution, Larson elected to pit for four fresh tires and fuel while the rest of the field led by Elliott remained on the track.
When the finale restarted under green on Lap 11, Elliott retained the lead ahead of the field, which fanned out through the frontstretch. Behind, Ryan Blaney was in second followed by Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Kevin Harvick while Kurt Busch challenged Christopher Bell for sixth. Truex, meanwhile, was situated in the top 10.
Four laps later, the caution returned when LaJoie made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. entering Turn 3, which sent both competitors spinning towards the outside wall as LaJoie sustained heavy rear-end damage.
Under caution, a majority of the field led by Elliott pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.
The finale restarted under green on Lap 20 as Blaney and teammate Brad Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney retained the lead while Larson, who moved back into the top 10, made a bold move through the dogleg to move up to fourth ahead of Michael McDowell.
With the field continuing to fan out and jostle for positions, Larson settled in fourth behind Blaney, Ross Chastain and Keselowski while Elliott moved up to sixth. Truex was in eighth in between Chris Buescher and Kevin Harvick while Hamlin was in the top 15.
By Lap 25, Blaney was the race leader and Larson was the championship leader in second place just ahead of teammate Elliott, Chastain and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Truex was in sixth while Hamlin was mired back in 12th.
Through the first 30 laps of the finale, Blaney was leading by more than a second over Larson and Elliott, both of whom continued to challenge hard against one another for the championship lead early. Harvick was in fourth, trailing the lead by two seconds, while Truex remained in fifth. Keselowski, Byron, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Hamlin were in the top 10.
Five laps later, Harvick, who is pursuing his first victory of the season, moved up to second place on the track, thus dropping Larson and Elliott to third and fourth while Truex continued to run in fifth.
Another five laps later, Harvick, who cut Blaney’s advantage to a tenth of a second, started to challenge Blaney for the top spot around every turns and straightaway in his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang. Behind, Elliott moved up to third while Truex challenged and passed Larson for fourth.
Through the first 50 laps of the event, a three-wide battle for the lead ensued between Harvick, Blaney and Truex through the frontstretch, with the latter gaining ground and catching the top-two leaders. Behind, teammates Elliott and Larson were in fourth and fifth while Hamlin moved up to sixth, thus placing all four Cup championship contenders in the top six.
Following their intensive battle at the front, Truex emerged with the lead on Lap 51 over Harvick, who led Lap 49, and Blaney, who led Laps 17-48 and 50.
By Lap 60, Truex extended his advantage to more than a second over Harvick. Behind, Elliott retained third place ahead of teammate Larson while Hamlin moved up to fifth place ahead of Blaney.
Ten laps later, Truex continued to extend his advantage to more than three seconds over Harvick while Elliott, Hamlin and Larson were situated in third, fourth and fifth. Behind, Blaney was trying to fend off Cole Custer and William Byron for sixth while Kurt Busch and Matt DiBenedetto were in the top 10.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 75, Truex, who won at Phoenix in March, received the early upper hand in his quest for his second Cup title by motoring his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry to his sixth stage victory of the season. Harvick settled in second followed by Elliott, Hamlin, Larson, Byron, Custer, Blaney, Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Elliott emerged with the top spot following a stellar work from his pit crew. Truex exited in second followed by Harvick, Hamlin, Larson and Kurt Busch.
The second stage started on Lap 83. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg, Elliott retained the lead by a narrow margin over Truex. The following lap, Larson made a bold three-wide move in between Hamlin and Harvick to move up to third.
By Lap 85, the final four championship contenders were running first through fourth and separated by less than a second as Elliott was leading ahead of Truex, Larson and Hamlin.
Five laps later, the four title contenders were separated by more than a second as Elliott stabilized himself in the lead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Truex. Third-place Larson trailed by more than a second while fourth-place Hamlin trailed by one-and-a-half seconds as Harvick started to close in on Hamlin.
Through the first 100 laps of the finale, Elliott continued to lead by more than a second over Truex, two seconds over teammate Larson and more than three seconds over Harvick, who overtook Hamlin a few laps earlier. Byron, Blaney, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch and Aric Almiorla were in the top 10 while Kurt Busch, rookie Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell were in the top 15. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman were mired in the top 20 while Daniel Suarez and Ryan Newman were in 21st and 22nd.
Twenty laps later, Truex and Elliott battled for the top spot, with the former succeeding during the following lap. Harvick was in third, trailing by more than two seconds, while Larson and Hamlin remained in the top five.
On Lap 129, the caution flew when Quin Houff lost a right-front tire and smacked the outside wall hard right-side in Turn 3. The incident was enough to end Houff’s run in the garage and in the final NASCAR event for Starcom Racing.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Elliott exited with the lead followed by Harvick, Larson, Truex and Byron while Hamlin fell back to ninth.
When the finale restarted under green on Lap 135, Elliott retained the lead on the outside lane while teammate Larson challenged and overtook Harvick for second place through the first two turns. Behind, Byron closed in on Harvick for third as Truex joined the party.
Five laps later, the caution returned when Stenhouse hammered the outside wall in Turn 3 after blowing a left-front tire.
Another five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg and entering the first two turns, Elliott just managed to clear Harvick through the backstretch as Larson made another strong move to the outside of Harvick to take second. The following lap, Truex overtook Harvick for third as Harvick was being pressured by Blaney for more.
Through the first 150 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by a second over teammate Larson while Truex was in third and slowly catching Larson for more. Harvick, Blaney, DiBenedetto and Byron were running fourth through seventh while Hamlin was mired in eighth in front of Keselowski and Aric Almirola.
By Lap 155, the caution flew when rookie Chase Briscoe, who cut down a left-rear tire, got bumped by Kyle Busch, spun and wrecked into the Turn 3 outside wall.
Under caution, nearly all of the lead lap cars pitted as Larson exited his pit stall with the lead followed by Elliott, Truex, Harvick and Hamlin. Back on the track, however, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez remained on the track.
With 30 laps remaining in the second stage, Larson, who restarted in the second row, used the dogleg to thunder past Kurt Busch and Reddick to reassume the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. Behind, Elliott also muscled his way to second behind teammate Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet as Truex and Hamlin also charged their way to the front.
A few laps later, the final four title contenders were back running first through fourth as Larson continued to lead by a narrow margin over teammate Elliott.
By Lap 175, title rivals Larson, Elliott, Hamlin and Truex remained in first through fourth, separated by two seconds, as Larson continued to lead ahead of teammate Elliott while Hamlin started to make his charge to the front after struggling early. Blaney settled in fifth ahead of Harvick, Logano, Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Byron.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 190, Larson took his stance in his quest to achieve his first Cup title by capturing his season-high 18th stage victory of the season. Teammate Elliott settled in second followed by Hamlin and Truex while Blaney ended up in fifth, trailing by more than three seconds. Harvick, Keselowski, Logano, Kyle Busch and Byron were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson exited his pit stall with the lead ahead of teammate Elliott, Hamlin, Truex and Kyle Busch.
With 115 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Larson peeked ahead and cleared teammate Elliott through the frontstretch and the first two turns. While Hamlin tucked in third behind the two Hendrick competitors, Truex battled Harvick for fourth place as Blaney and Kyle Busch kept both Cup champions within their sights.
Down to the final 100 laps of the finale, Larson stabilized himself with the lead by four-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott. Hamlin was in third, trailing by more than two seconds, while Truex was mired back in fourth, three seconds behind. Harvick and Blaney were in fifth and sixth as both closed in on Truex for more while Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Logano and Almirola were in the top 10.
Under the final 80 laps, the battle for the championship between two Hendrick Motorsports teammates ignited as Elliott, who tracked and methodically caught Larson, overtook Larson with 76 laps remaining. Though Elliott emerged with the lead, he had teammate Larson within close sights of his rearview mirror.
Near the final 70 laps of the event, Keselowski surrendered his spot in the top 10 to short pit under green.
Back on the track, Elliott was leading by more than half a second over teammate Larson as Hamlin, who was in third, started to close in on the two leaders in the fight for the championship. Truex, meanwhile, was in fourth and trailing by more than two seconds.
With 66 laps remaining, Hamlin was up into second place after overtaking Larson, all while Elliott continued to lead by nearly a second.
Just then and while a few more competitors including Truex pitted under green, the caution flew when rookie Anthony Alfredo went dead straight and pounded the outside wall in Turn 2. The caution served as a huge moment for Truex, who completed his service and remained on the lead lap.
Under caution, the lead lap competitors led by Elliott pitted and Hamlin exited in first followed by Elliott, Logano, Larson and Almirola. Back on the track, however, Truex, who pitted prior to the caution, cycled to the lead followed by Blaney.
With 58 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Hamlin dueled through the frontstretch until Truex cleared Hamlin entering the backstretch. Behind Blaney was in third followed by Elliott, Logano and Larson as the field jostled for positions.
Five laps later, the final four title contenders were back running first through fourth as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Hamlin led Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott and Larson. In the midst of this, Elliott challenged Hamlin for the runner-up spot.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Truex was leading by nearly a second over Hamlin and Elliott, both of whom continued to battle for second place, while Larson trailed by more than a second. Blaney was in fifth followed by Logano, Harvick, Almirola, Ross Chastain and Christopher Bell.
Ten laps later, Truex stabilized himself with the lead by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin while third-place Elliott, who was losing ground to Hamlin, was nearly two seconds behind, and fourth-place Larson, who was gaining no ground on the leaders, was behind by more than three seconds.
Just then, the caution flew with 30 laps remaining due to debris reported in Turn 3 and coming off of David Starr’s car, with the driver reporting a broken rotor off of his car.
Under caution, the leaders pitted for four fresh tires and fuel. At the end of the services, Larson’s crew under the leadership of sophomore crew chief Cliff Daniels got the job done as he exited with the top spot followed by Hamlin, Truex and Elliott.
Down to the final 24 laps of the finale, the field restarted under green. At the start, Larson rocketed away with the lead as Truex also muscled his way into second place on the outside lane. Behind, Hamlin and Elliott battled for third.
With 20 laps remaining, Larson was leading by more than two-tenths of a second over Truex while Hamlin and Elliott persevered in his battle with Hamlin for third place.
Five laps later, Larson remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Truex as the battle for the win and the championship continued to ignite between both. Meanwhile, third-place Elliott trailed by more than a second while Hamlin was mired in fourth and more than a second behind.
Down to the final 10 laps of the finale, Larson slightly increased his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Truex while Elliott and Hamlin continued to battle for third ahead of Blaney.
With five laps remaining, Larson continued to lead by more than eight-tenths of a second over Truex. Behind, Hamlin moved his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry to third while Elliott was mired back in fourth and losing ground, trailing by less than three seconds, as Blaney started to challenge Elliott for more.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson was still leading by three-tenths of a second over Truex, who nearly got into the left-rear quarter panel of Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet entering the backstretch earlier, lost ground and was trying to narrow the deficit. While Truex got as close as he could, Larson kept himself at the front and was able to hold off the Joe Gibbs Racing driver through the final turn as he came back to the frontstretch and took the checkered flag to win both the race and the championship.
With the victory, Larson became the 35th different competitor to achieve a Cup Series championship and the fifth to do so while driving for Hendrick Motorsports as HMS, which won 17 of 36 races in this year’s schedule, achieved its 14th Cup title. Larson also joined Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch as the only Cup regular season champions to go on to win the overall season championship.
By claiming his season-high 10th victory of the 2021 Cup season and notching his 16th Cup career victory, Larson became the first championship-winning competitor to achieve double-digit victories in a championship-winning season, the last of which was made by Jimmie Johnson in 2007 when he beat teammate Jeff Gordon. Larson also racked up a career-high 20 top-five results, 26 top-10 results, nearly 2,600 laps led and a personal-best average-finishing result of 9.1.
This marked the eighth consecutive season where a competitor won the race in order to win the Cup championship in the current elimination-style Playoff format.
The championship also completed Larson’s redemptive road back to the top level in NASCAR after being released by Chip Ganassi Racing and indefinitely suspended from the sport for using a racial slur during a live iRacing event a year ago. Spending the majority of 2020 racing in sprint cars and the dirt, Larson was able to complete NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program and be reinstated prior to the 2021 season. By then, he was given an opportunity to reinstate his career when Hendrick Motorsports acquired him in October 2020, 13 months prior to Larson’s title.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I cannot believe it,” Larson, who celebrated on the frontstretch and praised his pit crew, said on NBC. “I didn’t even think I’d be racing a Cup car a year-and-a-half ago. To win a championship is crazy. I’ve got to say first off thank you so much to Rick Hendrick, Hendrickcars.com, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, every single one of my supporters in the stands watching at home, my family. I’ve got so many of my friends and family here. My parents, my sister, my wife and kids. [Son] Owen had been giving me crap a month-and-a-half ago about how I can’t win a Cup race when he’s there, so that added a lot of pressure. There were so many points in this race where I did not think we were going to win. Without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing right here. They are the true winners of this race. They are true champions. I’m just blessed to be a part of this group. Every single man or person, man and woman at Hendrick Motorsports, this win is for all of us and every one of you. This is unbelievable. I’m speechless.”
“This event was crazy,” Larson added. “This format is wild. I’m glad we were able to get it done. And yes, a big shout-out to my parents for getting me involved in racing, my dad for everything he did, building my go-karts when I was young to get me playing around, my mom for videotaping every lap I ever raced and giving me something I could look at and study and get better. Gosh, so cool. I cannot believe it.”
Larson’s championship was one that received high praises from Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon, both of whom played instrumental roles in signing Larson for the 2021 season.
“I’ll tell you, we’ve always known he’s a wheelman, and he works so hard off the track,” Hendrick said on the championship stage. “Man, I just — he deserves this, and what a year, man. I never thought I was taking a risk [by signing Larson]. I mean, I know how good he is. I’m just fortunate we were able to get him, and man, what a wheelman he is. Ten races won, 11 with the All-Star Race. It’s unbelievable.”
“Unbelievable,” Gordon added. “By the whole team and Kyle Larson is a great talent. You give him a great race car and great race teams, and he does amazing things. We’ve seen it before, we’ve seen it in other forms of racing. He and this pit crew and this team, they did it all year long. They got to this point. What a battle. I just want to say Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR and all these fans that came out here today, this is what a championship weekend is supposed to feel like, and that was a championship battle. Great competitors and a great champion here.”
In addition, crew chief Cliff Daniels, who debuted atop the pit box midway into the 2019 season with Jimmie Johnson, achieved his first championship as a crew chief while the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team achieved its first title since the 1996 season with Terry Labonte.
“It’s an amazing moment,” Daniels said. “It’s been such a blessing just to be a part of this team, to be a part of Hendrick Motorsports. The thing that I think about the most is so many guys on our team have been there for so many years with Chad [Knaus] and with Jimmie [Johnson], and we learned from the best. We learned from those guys. Obviously, the last two, three years, just as a company, we were down a little bit. It was easy to get down as a team. It was easy for me to get down. It was easy for the guys to get down. For them to dig so hard all year long, to dig so hard today, because we were not the best car at times today. And then, for our pit crew to have a money stop on the money stop, I couldn’t be more thankful. I could not be more proud of those guys…They were ready.”
Truex, who initially had the race and the championship within his grasp until the late caution, concluded the season in second place on the track and in the standings for the third time in the previous four seasons. The runner-up result was one that left Truex disappointed in a season where he achieved four victories, 13 top-five results, 20 top-10 results and an overall average-finishing result of 12.0.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“The clean air seemed to be a good bit of an advantage,” Truex said. “Whoever got out front was good for 20, 30, 40 laps, and then the long run cars would start coming around. I don’t know. Ultimately we needed to beat [Larson] off pit road. It’s unfortunate, but we win and lose as a team. And really proud of our efforts this year. That’s three times we’ve been second and that sucks. Second hurts I’m not going to lie, especially with the car we had and the job the guys did. That’s racing, as they say, and sometimes you’re just not on the right end of things. We were on the right end to things to get the lead there and weren’t able to hold on to it. If we could have had the lead, I think it would have been over, but that’s kind of how [Larson] did it, too. So, they had a hell of a season and congrats to them. Gosh, second sucks. I hate it.”
Teammate Hamlin, who was starting to catch Larson and Truex in the closing laps, settled in third place on the track and in the standings as his bid to win his first Cup title in his 16th full-time season highlighted with two postseason victories, 19 top-five results, 25 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 8.4 fell short.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Yeah, certainly, I really liked where we were at with about 25 [laps] to go,” Hamlin said. “We were just exceptional in the long run, which wasn’t too surprising, but started running [Truex] back down there and got within a couple car lengths and obviously that debris caution changed a lot. Special congrats to Larson and his team. Those guys, any time you can win 10 races in a year, you’re absolutely a deserving champion. They did a great job on the last pit stop and got him out there, and it was just set sail after that. Proud of my team. Really great effort adjusting on the car all day, getting it so much better, and thank our partners. Just a really good year. A really, really good year and things just didn’t pan out. We needed that thing to go green those last 25 laps, and it didn’t.”
Meanwhile, Elliott, who was overtaken by Blaney on the track, ended up in fifth place in the final leaderboard and in the final standings as he came up short in defending his series title. Despite the result, Elliott kept his head high in a season where he notched two victories, 15 top-five results, 21 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.4.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I felt like our NAPA Chevy was really good and I thought our team did a really good job preparing this week,” Elliott said. “I was really proud of our group. I thought we brought a really good car and did a lot of things that we were wanting it to do today. Just didn’t work out and the sequence of the way all that went certainly was unfortunate for us, but look, proud of our team, a lot to build on and also, congrats to Kyle and Cliff. What an amazing season. Very, very deserving champions and glad to see Kyle have success. When you’re a good driver and a good person and you surround yourself with good people, success is warranted. It’s good to see that. But we’ll be back stronger next year and try to give them a run.”
Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10 on the track.
Austin Dillon, who finished 15th in the finale, emerged as the highest non-Playoff contender in the final standings in 17th place.
Despite finishing in 35th place following his accident, Chase Briscoe captured the 2021 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title over Anthony Alfredo. With his accomplishment, Briscoe, who earned three top-10 results in his first full-time Cup season, became the third competitor to capture the rookie title across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Cup, Xfinity and Truck).
Brad Keselowski finished 10th in his 435th and final run in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang while Todd Gordon, crew chief for Ryan Blaney, called his 526th and final race as a crew chief between the Xfinity and Cup Series before retiring.
Ross Chastain and Kurt Busch finished 14th and 16th in Chip Ganassi Racing’s final race and season in NASCAR as the team’s assets will be transferred over to Trackhouse Racing, which will be expanding to two cars and welcome Chastain as a teammate alongside Daniel Suarez, for the 2022 season.
Ryan Newman finished 23rd in his 725th career start in the Cup circuit as he has yet to announce his plans for the 2022 season.
Matt DiBenedetto finished 12th in his 72nd and final run with the Wood Brothers Racing team, Ryan Preece finished 20th in his 108th and final run with JTG-Daugherty Racing and Justin Haley finished 26th in his 34th and final run with Spire Motorsports.
Meanwhile, 23XI Racing settled in 21st place in the final standings and as the highest of the new teams over Trackhouse Racing (25th) and Live Fast Motorsports (32nd). The team will be expanding to two cars next season with Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch set to drive for the team in 2022.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season was the ninth and final season for the current Generation 6 stock cars, thus paving the way for the new NextGen stock cars that will debut in NASCAR competition in February 2022. It was also the final season where the five lug nut pattern was implemented on the tires for the cars as the series will have a single, center-locked lug nut for the wheels next season.
There were 18 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 51 laps.
Results:
1. Kyle Larson, 107 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Martin Truex Jr.,72 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Ryan Blaney, 33 laps led
5. Chase Elliott, 94 laps led
6. Aric Almirola
7. Kyle Busch
8. Kevin Harvick, one lap led
9. Christopher Bell
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Joey Logano
12. Matt DiBenedetto
13. Cole Custer
14. Ross Chastain
15. Austin Dillon
16. Kurt Busch, one lap led
17. William Byron
18. Alex Bowman
19. Tyler Reddick, four laps led
20. Ryan Preece
21. Daniel Suarez
22. Erik Jones
23. Ryan Newman
24. Michael McDowell
25. Chris Buescher, one lap down
26. Justin Haley, two laps down
27. BJ McLeod, three laps down
28. Cody Ware, six laps down
29. Joey Gase, nine laps down
30. Josh Bilicki, nine laps down
31. Garrett Smithley, 11 laps down
32. Corey LaJoie, 31 laps down
33. David Starr – OUT, Brakes
34. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident
35. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident
36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident
37. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident
38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Handling
39. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident
Final standings.
1. Kyle Larson
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Chase Elliott
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Joey Logano
9. Kyle Busch
10. William Byron
11. Kurt Busch
12. Christopher Bell
13. Tyler Reddick
14. Alex Bowman
15. Aric Almirola
16. Michael McDowell
Bold indicates championship finale contenders.
With the 2021 season concluded, the NASCAR Cup Series competitors enter their off-season period before commencing the 2022 season with the inaugural Clash event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will occur on February 6 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.
The conclusion of the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, October 31, saw several competitors left with wrecked race cars and some expressing ill feelings towards others. Among those included several Playoff contenders fighting to remain in contention for the Championship 4 finale and the race winner, who had nothing to lose.
In the midst of the carnage and late chaos, Alex Bowman rallied from a late dust-up with Denny Hamlin to hold off Kyle Busch and claim his first triumph at Martinsville. The Tucson, Arizona, native served as the spoiler on a day where the Championship 4 field was set for next weekend’s finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kyle Larson, winner of the last three Cup scheduled events in the Playoffs, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Chase Elliott, Larson’s teammate and the reigning Cup Series champion.
Prior to the event, Denny Hamlin, one of the remaining eight Playoff contenders who was scheduled to start in third place, dropped to the rear of the field after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota failed pre-race inspection twice.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Larson, who started on the outside lane, jumped ahead with an early advantage and cleared teammate Elliott for the top spot through the first two turns. As he led the first lap, Truex also moved up to second, dropping Elliott to third in front of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.
Through the first 10 laps of the event, Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was out in front by eight-tenths of a second over Truex’s No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry while Elliott, Keselowski and Logano were in the top five. Kyle Busch was in sixth followed by Logano, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick. By then, Hamlin was in 29th behind Ryan Newman.
Ten laps later, Larson, who started to encounter lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than a second over Truex, who had Elliott pressuring him for the runner-up spot. Playoff contenders Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Logano and Blaney were all still in the top 10 while Hamlin was preparing to move into the top 25.
Another 10 laps later, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Truex and Elliott. With seven of the eight remaining Playoff contenders running first through seventh, Hamlin was mired in 25th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto.
By Lap 40, Larson was in heavy traffic despite leading by more than a second. Meanwhile, teammate Elliott overtook Truex for second place while Hamlin was still mired outside the top 20 in 23rd behind Cole Custer and within Larson’s sights of being lapped.
Through the first 50 laps of the event, Larson had his advantage decreased to less than half a second amid lapped traffic and with teammate Elliott catching him. While Truex, Keselowski and Kyle Busch were in the top five, Hamlin was in 21st behind Erik Jones. Logano was in sixth and teammate Blaney was in ninth.
Six laps later, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the lead after overtaking teammate Larson through Turns 3 and 4.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 60, Elliott retained the lead ahead of teammate Larson and Truex while Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Logano, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Blaney and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. By then, Hamlin, who remained on the lead lap, was in 20th behind Erik Jones. In addition, only 22 of 38 competitors were on the lead lap.
Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Larson reassumed the lead after exiting his pit stall in first place ahead of teammate Elliott, Truex, Keselowski, Logano and Kyle Busch. Following the pit stops, Hamlin was penalized for speeding on pit road and sent to the rear of the field once again.
Seven laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson received another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns and coming back to the start/finish line. Behind, Elliott battled Keselowski for second while Truex battled Byron for fourth. Soon after, Elliott cleared the field to retain second while Truex went to work on Keselowski for third. The following lap, Truex cleared Keselowski to retain third while Logano challenged Byron for fifth.
Just past the Lap 70 mark, the caution returned when Daniel Suarez made contact with Ryan Newman, sending Newman spinning in Turn 4 as he collected Michael McDowell while Hamlin carved his way through the incident.
On Lap 76, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson again rocketed ahead with a strong start on the outside lane before moving back to the inside lane. Behind, Elliott retained second while Truex challenged Keselowski for third.
A few laps later, Keselowski dropped to fifth as Truex and William Byron moved up the leaderboard. While Kyle Busch and Blaney were in eighth and ninth, Hamlin was in 21st behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
On Lap 85, Elliott returned to the lead after overtaking teammate Larson for the top spot.
By Lap 90, Elliott was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Larson while Truex, Byron and Keselowski remained in the top five. Kyle Busch, Logano and Blaney were in sixth, seventh and eighth while Hamlin was in 20th behind Erik Jones.
A few laps later, Blaney made contact with Austin Dillon entering the frontstretch and while battling in the top 10, which resulted with the left-rear fender of Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang sustaining cosmetic damage near the fuel cell.
Through the first 100 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by nearly six-tenths of a second over teammate Larson while Truex, Byron and Keselowski were in the top five. Kyle Busch and Logano were in sixth and seventh while Blaney, who was struggling with he left-rear damage, was back in 11th behind Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell. Meanwhile, Hamlin was in 16th behind Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace and Stenhouse.
Twenty laps later, Elliott, who was surrounded in lapped traffic, continued to lead by half a second over teammate Larson while Truex, Byron, Keselowski and Kyle Busch were in the top six. Logano was in eighth, Blaney was in 12th and Hamlin was in 14th behind Harvick.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 130, Elliott claimed his fifth stage victory of the season. Teammate Larson settled in second followed by Truex, Byron, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Bowman, Logano and Aric Almirola. Blaney was in 12th behind Bell and Hamlin remained in 14th behind Harvick.
Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and upon exiting the pits, Larson reassumed the lead followed by teammate Elliott, Truex, Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Byron. However, early disaster struck for Larson, who was busted for speeding on pit road and sent to the rear of the field.
The second stage started on Lap 140 as Elliott and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott retained the lead over Truex through the first two turns as Kyle Busch battled Keselowski for third.
A few laps later, Keselowski, who was mired on the outside lane, settled in sixth in between Bell and teammate Logano as Elliott led a long single-file line around the circuit.
By Lap 150, Elliott continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over Truex while Kyle Busch, Byron and Bell were in the top five. Keselowski settled in sixth ahead of Bowman, Logano, Harvick and Almirola. Behind, Hamlin was in 11th in front of Bubba Wallace, Blaney was in 18th in between Tyler Reddick and rookie Chase Briscoe, and Larson was in 21st behind Austin Dillon.
Ten laps later, Elliott stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Truex while Byron was up in third. By then, Hamlin cracked the top 10 in 10th while Logano was back in 12th. In addition, Larson was back up in the top 20 while Blaney was still mired in 18th.
Another 15 laps later, Elliott continued to lead by more than a second over Truex while Byron, Bowman and Kyle Busch were in the top five. Keselowski was in seventh, Hamlin was up in ninth, Logano was back in 13th, Larson was in 15th and Blaney was back in 19th.
Nearing the Lap 200 mark, the caution flew due to an incident involving Austin Dillon in Turn 2, where Dillon lost a right-front tire and smacked the outside wall. At the time of caution, Blaney, who was 19th, was just able to remain ahead of the race leader Elliott and on the lead lap.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex emerged with the lead after exiting the pits in first followed by Elliott, Byron, Bowman and Kyle Busch. Following the event, Tyler Reddick was penalized for speeding on pit road.
When the race restarted on Lap 202, Truex briefly retained the lead through the first two turns until Elliott fought back entering Turn 3 on the outside lane. After remaining dead even through the frontstretch, past the start/finish line and entering the first turn, Elliott muscled his No. 9 Chevrolet back to the lead through the backstretch on Lap 205.
With Elliott leading, Truex retained second ahead of Byron while Kyle Busch was in fourth ahead of Bowman, Bell and Keselowski. Hamlin and Larson were in eighth and ninth while Logano was falling back in 17th ahead of teammate Blaney.
By Lap 225, Elliott was leading by more than a second over teammate Byron while Truex, Bowman and Kyle Busch were in the top five. Bell, Hamlin, Keselowski, Almirola and Larson were in the top 10 while Team Penske’s Blaney and Logano were mired back in 17th and 18th.
Fifteen laps later, three Hendrick Motorsports competitors (Elliott, Bowman and Byron) were leading three Joe Gibbs Racing competitors (Truex, Bell and Hamlin). Keselowski and Larson were in ninth and 11th, Kyle Busch was in eighth behind Aric Almiorla, Blaney was in 14th behind Chris Buescher and Logano was still mired in 18th behind Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones.
At the halfway mark on Lap 250, Elliott continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Bowman while third-place Byron trailed by more less than two seconds. Truex retained fourth while Hamlin cracked the top five in fifth ahead of teammate Bell. Almirola, Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Kurt Busch were in the top 10 while Larson, Blaney and Logano were in 11th, 14th and 18th.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 260, Elliott, who was mired in lapped traffic, captured his sixth stage victory of the season. Teammates Bowman and Byron settled in second and third followed by Truex and Hamlin while Bell, Almirola, Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10. Larson ended up 11th, Blaney was in 13th and Logano was mired in 18th. By then, half of the 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
By virtue of capturing both stage victories of the event and accumulating maximum stage points, Elliott became the second competitor to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 round alongside teammate Larson as he will receive an opportunity to defend his series championship.
Following both stages, teammates Hamlin and Truex were scored inside the top-four cutline to transfer to the Championship 4 finale while Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Blaney and Logano were scored outside the cutline.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Elliott, Bowman, Hamlin, Almirola, Byron and Truex. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
With 231 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Elliott managed to clear teammate Bowman on the outside lane to retain the lead. Behind, Bowman retained second while Hamlin battled Almirola for third. Behind, Truex battled Larson for sixth as Hamlin took over third ahead of Almirola and Byron.
Ten laps later, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Hamlin, who overtook Bowman for the runner-up spot. Byron and Almirola were in the top five followed by Truex, Bell, Larson, Kurt Busch and Keselowski. Blaney was in 11th behind teammate Keselowski, Logano was in 17th and Kyle Busch was mired back in 20th behind Reddick. By then, Justin Haley pitted under green after experiencing a major left-rear tire rub.
Another 10 laps later, Elliott continued to lead while teammates Bowman and Byron moved up to second and third, dropping Hamlin to fourth.
Down to the final 200 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by nearly two seconds over teammate Bowman while third-place Byron trailed by more than three seconds. Hamlin remained in fourth ahead of Almirola followed by Truex and Larson while Bell, Blaney and Kurt Busch were in the top 10. Keselowski was in 11th, teammate Logano was in 15th and Kyle Busch was in 19th.
Ten laps later, the caution returned when Michael McDowell made contact with Corey LaJoie entering Turn 3, which resulted with LaJoie getting into Josh Bilicki and sending Bilicki sideways and into the outside wall.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Elliott, Hamlin, Bowman, Byron, Truex and Almirola. Following the pit stops, Wallace was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 181 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott rocketed away with the lead on the inside lane while Hamlin spun the tires on the topside lane as he was hit in the rear by Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.
While Elliott retained the lead, Bowman also remained in second while Hamlin battled Truex for third. Shortly after, the caution flew due to an incident in Turn 3 involving Bilicki and Quin Houff, who made contact into the outside wall after being bumped by Bilicki. Following the incident, Houff retaliated by turning Bilicki in the backstretch. As a result, Houff was held five seconds in his pit stall as a penalty.
With 171 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane over teammate Bowman while Hamlin stabilized himself in third ahead of teammate Truex and Byron. Behind, Almirola was in sixth while Larson battled with Bell for seventh.
Under the final 170 laps of the event, more issues came for Blaney, who was inside the top 15 but experiencing a left-rear tire rub near his damaged spot.
With 161 laps remaining, the caution returned when Newman, Cole Custer and Ross Chastain made contact entering Turn 2, which resulted with Newman getting sideways, clipping Chastain and making contact into the outside wall while Chastain went up the track in Turn 3 with a flat right-front tire and damage to the right side of his No. 42 Clover Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. As Chastain was trying to continue, Newman bumped into the side of Chastain’s car to express his displeasure for the contact.
Under caution, the leaders led by Elliott pitted while Joey Logano remained on the track.
With 155 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Logano, faced in a “must-win” situation to retain his title hopes, retained the lead through the backstretch ahead of Elliott. Behind, Bowman was in third while teammate Larson challenged Truex for fourth.
Six laps remaining, Elliott, racing on four fresh tires, reassumed the lead. Not long after, teammates Bowman and Larson methodically overtook Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang for second and third as Truex then issued a challenge on Logano.
With 142 laps remaining, the caution flew when Cole Custer spun in Turn 4. During the caution period, Truex radioed concerns about his car pushing water despite continuing in fourth.
Four laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott aced the launch with a strong start on the outside lane, where he was pursued by Bowman, Truex and Larson. Behind, Byron moved into fifth while Hamlin challenged Logano for sixth.
With 122 laps remaining, the caution returned when Daniel Suarez spun in Turn 2.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Elliott exited as the leader followed by Truex, Hamlin, Byron, Logano and Kyle Busch. Following the pit stops, Larson was nabbed with his second pit road speeding penalty of the day. In addition, Matt DiBenedetto was being held a lap for pitting outside his pit box.
Back on the track, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick remained on the track along with Custer while Elliott, the first competitor on four fresh tires, were in fourth.
With 116 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Austin Dillon briefly retained the lead for a full lap under green before Truex, who was ready to go on the restart and drew himself alongside Dillon, made his way into the lead the following lap. Behind, Hamlin made his way into the runner-up spot over Dillon while Elliott was mired in sixth behind Reddick and Logano.
With 111 laps remaining, Hamlin, following his eventful drive to the front all race long, emerged with the lead.
A few laps later, Elliott made contact with Logano in Turn 1, where he nearly turned Logano before he took over the fourth spot. Meanwhile, Hamlin continued to lead ahead of teammate Truex and Austin Dillon.
Down to the final 100 laps of the event and with the field scrambling around the track, Hamlin was leading by half a second over teammate Truex while Elliott, Austin Dillon and Bowman were in the top five. Logano was in sixth while Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Byron battled for positions. Blaney was in 16th while Larson was in 21st.
Ten laps later, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to half a second over teammate Truex while third-place Elliott continued to trail by more than a second. Logano, Keselowski and Kyle Busch remained in the top 10 while Blaney and Larson remained inside the top 20.
Another 15 laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Truex. Bowman was up in third ahead of teammate Elliott while Keselowski, currently situated on the outside of the top-four cutline, was in fifth. Austin Dillon continued to ride strong in sixth while Logano, Byron, Almirola and Bell were in the top 10. Kyle Busch, who continued to deal with handling issues to his No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota Camry, was in 11th ahead of brother Kurt while Blaney and Larson were in 15th and 16th.
With 64 laps remaining, the caution flew when Austin Dillon blew a right-front tire and made contact with the Turn 2 outside wall for a second time.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Hamlin exited with the lead followed by Bowman, Elliott, Truex and Keselowski.
With less than 60 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hamlin retained the lead ahead of Bowman. While Elliott was in third, Truex was in fourth ahead of Byron and Keselowski.
Shortly after, Bowman issued a challenge on Hamlin for the lead. Despite Bowman’s efforts in overtaking Hamlin for the lead, Hamlin retained the lead. Behind, Keselowski, now within striking distance of making the top-four cutline to the finale, was mired in fourth and aggressively racing against Elliott for more. Meanwhile, Truex slipped to sixth in front of teammate Kyle Busch as he started to experience a left-front tire rub to his car.
With 46 laps remaining, the caution flew when Keselowski ran into the side of Elliott as Elliott spun in Turn 3, though he continued and pitted to have the damage repaired on his car. The incident occurred as both Cup champions were repeatedly battling for third place, with Keselowski wasting no time making his way to the front.
Six laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hamlin retained the top spot ahead of Bowman and Keselowski. Not long after, the caution returned when Stenhouse spun in Turn 4 beneath Larson while Wallace sustained heavy damage to the front nose of his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry after running into the rear of Elliott’s car.
Down to the final 34 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hamlin rocketed away with another strong start while Keselowski battled Bowman for the runner-up spot.
Soon after, Truex, who was running behind Keselowski and Bowman with both making contact and resulting with Bowman getting a left-front tire rub, began to challenge both for second place. He attempted to make a three-wide move on both, but backed out and lost time and a handful of spots outside of the top five.
Then, Almirola made contact with Truex while battling him for sixth in Turn 1, which sent Truex wide. As Truex was trying to come back down to his rhythm, Kurt Busch made contact into him as Truex smacked the outside wall and lost more spots on the track. Soon after, the caution returned when Ryan Preece spun in Turn 2. By then, Truex was scored outside of the top-four cutline along with Keselowski while Kyle Busch found himself inside the cutline by a single point.
With 23 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hamlin received another strong start on the inside lane to retain the lead while Bowman overtook Keselowski for second. The following lap, Bowman made his way into the lead. Hamlin, however, fought back in Turn 1 and bumped into Bowman to reassume the lead.
Behind Hamlin, Kyle Busch challenged Bowman for second along with Keselowski and Byron. Truex, meanwhile, was in 10th.
With 15 laps remaining, Hamlin continued to lead by a narrow margin over Bowman while Kyle Busch was trying to fend off Keselowski and Byron for third. Truex was in eighth, Logano was in 10th and Blaney was in 12th.
A few laps later, Bowman issued another side-by-side challenge for the lead against Hamlin, but he was unable to seal the deal as Hamlin retained the lead.
Down to the final 10 laps, Hamlin continued to lead by a narrow margin over Bowman. Kyle Busch and Keselowski were in third and fourth while Truex was in eighth while challenging Kurt Busch for a position. Once Truex overtook Kurt Busch for seventh, he moved back into the cutline by a single point over Kyle Busch with Keselowski trailing by six.
Then, the caution returned three laps later when Bowman, following his late intense, repetitive battle with Hamlin, made contact into Hamlin, sending Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota spinning into the Turn 3 outside wall, though Hamlin continued with little left-rear damage. The incident now placed Hamlin, who pitted for repairs, within the bubble zone of remaining inside the top-four cutline.
With the race sent into overtime, Bowman and Kyle Busch occupied the front row ahead of Keselowski and Truex. At the start, Bowman was able to retain the lead ahead of Kyle Busch, Keselowski and the field.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bowman was still ahead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Kyle Busch, who had to win to keep his title hopes alive. While Busch tried to establish a final lap effort, he could not close in to the rear bumper of Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet as Bowman continued to lead through Turn 3. Finally, through Turn 4 and while Busch had to maintain second ahead of Keselowski, Bowman was able to come back around and claim the checkered flag following an eventful turn of events.
The victory at Martinsville was Bowman’s fourth of the season and the sixth of his Cup career despite having his title hopes evaporated following the Round of 12. Bowman’s win was enough for Chevrolet to achieve its 40th Cup manufacturer’s title and first since 2015.
While trying to celebrate on the frontstretch, however, Bowman could not escape controversy as Hamlin, who ended the race in 24th place, pulled his car alongside Bowman’s. While Bowman attempted to pull away and tried to celebrate by looping the car around, Hamlin immediately pulled his car in front of Bowman’s and smoked his tires while pushing against Bowman’s and giving him two obscene gestures before he drove away under orders from his crew. Once Hamlin was gone, Bowman saluted the fans, who greeted him with a chorus of cheers, and claimed the checkered flag.
“I just got loose in,” Bowman said on NBC. “I got in too deep, knocked [Hamlin] out of the way and literally, let him have the lead back. For anybody who wants to think that I was trying to crash him, that obviously wasn’t the case, considering I literally gave up the lead at Martinsville to give it back to him. He’s been on the other side of that. He’s crashed guys here for wins. I hate doing it. Obviously, I don’t want to crash somebody. I just got in, got loose underneath him and spun him out. Regardless, we get a freakin’ Grandfather Clock. It’s pretty special. I’ve struggled here for a long time. I was trying to get the flag, do a backwards victory lap. Obviously, like I said, [I] hate we wrecked [Hamlin], but man, how about that for Chevrolet and Ally and everybody on this No. 48 team. The No. 48 car’s won here a bunch. It’s cool to do it again…Part of short track racing.”
Despite the incident, Hamlin’s 24th-place result was enough for him to earn a spot in the Championship 4 finale, where he will contend for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. Hamlin, however, did not mince his words or ill feelings to Bowman following the incident and missing an opportunity of winning at his home track.
“[Bowman]’s just a hack,” Hamlin, who received a chorus of boos from the crowd, said. “He’s just an absolute hack. He gets his [expletive] kicked by his teammates every week. He’s [expletive] terrible, just terrible. He sees one opportunity and he takes it. Obviously, he’s got the fastest car every week and he runs 10th. He didn’t want to race us there. We had a good clean race. I moved up as high as I could on the racetrack to give him all the room I could and he still can’t drive. We got in [the Playoffs]. We did what we had to do, but I just wanted to race there at the end. He’s just terrible.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
Behind Bowman, Kyle Busch claimed second over Keselowski just before Keselowski, who made contact with Busch prior to the finish line, turned Busch in Turn 1 after the checkered flag. Truex held on for fourth place over Byron and was able to claim the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 finale by three points, where he will contend for his second Cup title. Busch and Keselowski, however, were eliminated from the Playoffs.
“The Auto-Owners Toyota Camry was good, first of all,” Truex said. “We had a solid day. We weren’t the winning car, but we were a third- or fourth-place car all day long and that’s where we ran. Everything’s going smooth and then, [Keselowski] and [Kyle Busch] came up there at the front kind of out of nowhere. I got some damage running side-by-side with [Keselowski], fell back and then, [Almirola] stuffed me three wide or whatever out of the groove down there in Turn 1 and 2 and then, the marbles and then, [Kurt Busch] come by and clip my left front, drove me into the fence off of [Turn] 2. I was like, ‘Oh damn, we’re in big trouble here.’ Then, [the crew] say we’re out. Just dig deep, fight back and do all we could do after that. [I] Got a little break after that last restart. A bunch of guys went to the bottom [lane] and I’d seen the hole up there and I was like, ‘I gotta go for it.’ That worked out for us. Just thanks to everybody that helps us all year long to get to this point, everybody at the shop…Hopefully, we can go to Phoenix next week and make [my partners] proud. We’re excited. That’s what we do this for. All these guys work so hard all week and all year long to have this opportunity. It’s a dream come true for me. I love racing with these guys. I love having this opportunity. We’ve had it before. We won one [championship] and lost a few really, really close. We’ll see what we can do. We had a great race at Phoenix in the spring and learned a lot about that racetrack. Hopefully, we can duplicate it.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
“We just missed last week [at Kansas Speedway],” Kyle Busch said. “That’s where we lost all the ground. Couldn’t come in here with 15 more points and we would’ve been fine on the cut, but it just wasn’t it and wasn’t meant to be. Obviously, it was Truex’s day. We had a Hail Mary opportunity there at the end and just didn’t materialize. All in all, just proud of the effort, for sure. We swung everything and anything at this thing today, and just couldn’t really make it come alive. Great effort. That was there, for sure. We just got to get better, with everybody included, the whole team, in order to be able to go race with the best and race for a championship, and we’re not gonna do that this year. Anytime you go into a season with Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing, this No. 18 M&M’s team, myself, you expect to be in contention and eligible [for the championship]. Anything other than that is a failure. I guess you get an F.”
“Well, at the start of the race, we were OK, and then, we got really tight in the middle of the race, finally got it freed up and the car started rolling,” Keselowski, who missed the cutline by eight points, said. “At the end, it was just super free. I was so loose. I got underneath [Elliott], got loose and spun him out, just all I could do to hold on to the car. We got it better and put ourselves in position. Just wasn’t quite strong enough there at the end. Disappointing. All in all, we gave it a great run here. Wished I could have last week at Kansas back, that’s for sure. I felt like I left the eight points that we were short there with some mistakes I made. All in all, proud of our team, proud of the effort that everybody put in. Disappointed for Team Penske to not get through to the final round, but we gave it our best. Frustrating day…Super proud of everything we’ve done together.”
Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. have made the Championship 4 round and will contend for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano have been eliminated from title contention.
“We’re moving on,” Elliott, who finished 16th, said. “That’s all that matters. I had a really fast NAPA Chevy early. I made a couple of mistakes and think led us down the wrong path for those last couple runs, unfortunately. The pace was certainly in the car. Great day for Hendrick Motorsports. Got two cars going into Phoenix and Alex getting the win. Wished we could’ve won it. I hate to be so fast all day and it not work out, but obviously, next week is what matters. That’s where our heads are at. Excited to get out there and have another shot at it…Really proud of this group to make it for a second consecutive year and being amongst those four cars is a big deal. Very excited to have a shot. I think we can run with the best of them and we’re looking forward to the opportunity.”
“Just a really bad job executing on my part,” Larson, who finished 14th, said. “Just way too aggressive on pit road, but me being locked in to the next round, I could be a little more aggressive. Just too aggressive too many times. My car was pretty decent the first half and I started getting tight in the middle. We adjusted on it. Then, I sped [on pit road] again and I was just stuck in traffic. [I] Knew I wasn’t gonna have a shot to win, so I was just trying not to piss anybody off. Came away with 14th. We’ll go on to Phoenix and try to get a championship.”
“From the get-go, we were struggling to get [the car] turning to two-thirds,” Logano, who finished 10th, said. “We raised the track bar and that made it loose everywhere except where I wanted it to turn. Put that back, tried something else and got at least closer, but all we’re doing is compromising at that point. We weren’t good enough. We didn’t get in, wasn’t close enough, didn’t fire off as fast enough. Now, we’ll got to Phoenix and try to finish as high as we can with the Shell/Pennzoil Mustang and this team. We fought hard this season. We just weren’t fast enough. We’ll fire away next week.”
“Overall, we just kind of missed it,” Blaney, who finished 11th, added. “We weren’t really great from the get-go. Worked hard on it all day. Had one run, I thought, we’d kind of got where we needed to be, drove up to eighth or seventh. I was like, ‘Alright, we got something now we can really work on.’ We made a change. The next run, we were back to where we were…Just wasn’t really the right combination today. Stinks, but appreciate everybody on the No. 12 group for working on it all night. It was wild out there, that’s for sure. Stinks we’re not gonna race for a championship at Phoenix, but I appreciate all the hard work this year…Still got one more race. Hopefully, we can go have a good run and maybe, get [crew chief] Todd [Gordon] one more win before he hangs it up.”
Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Chris Buescher and Logano completed the top 10 on the track at Martinsville.
There were 15 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 15 cautions for 91 laps.
With the Championship 4 field set, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to conclude next weekend at Phoenix Raceway. The finale is scheduled to occur on Sunday, November 7, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC, where a champion will be crowned.
