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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 19 laps led

2. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

3. William Byron, one lap led

4. Kyle Larson, one lap led

5. Erik Jones

6. Christopher Bell

7. Justin Haley, four laps led

8. Austin Dillon, one lap led

9. Bubba Wallace, three laps led

10. Denny Hamlin

11. Martin Truex Jr.

12. Cody Ware, one lap led

13. Ty Gibbs

14. Carson Hocevar

15. Shane van Gisbergen, nine laps led

16. Alex Bowman, one lap led

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

18. Corey LaJoie, five laps led

19. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

20. Tyler Reddick, two laps led

21. Zane Smith

22. BJ McLeod, one lap led

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

24. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

25. Noah Gragson, one lap down

26. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

27. JJ Yeley, two laps down

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

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

30. Chase Briscoe, six laps down

31. John Hunter Nemechek, seven laps down

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

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

34. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

35. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

36. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

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

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

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

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

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. William Byron – Advanced

2. Christopher Bell +57

3. Kyle Larson +52

4. Denny Hamlin +30

5. Alex Bowman +26

6. Ryan Blaney +25

7. Tyler Reddick +14

8. Chase Elliott +13

9. Joey Logano -13

10. Daniel Suarez -20

11. Austin Cindric -29

12. Chase Briscoe -32

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

October 6, 2024
Chris Buescher outduels Shane van Gisbergen in overtime for wild Cup victory at Watkins Glen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

1. Chris Buescher, 19 laps led

2. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap led

3. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

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

5. Zane Smith

6. Chase Briscoe

7. Michael McDowell, seven laps led

8. Corey LaJoie, two laps led

9. Ryan Preece

10. Austin Cindric

11. Noah Gragson

12. Kyle Larson

13. Daniel Suarez

14. Christopher Bell

15. Joey Logano, six laps led

16. Todd Gilliland

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Alex Bowman, one lap led

19. Chase Elliott

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

21. John Hunter Nemechek

22. Ty Gibbs

23. Denny Hamlin

24. Harrison Burton

25. Josh Berry

26. Brad Keselowski

27. Tyler Reddick

28. Austin Dillon

29. Justin Haley

30. Kyle Busch

31. Daniel Hemric

32. Juan Pablo Montoya, one lap down

33. Erik Jones, two laps down

34. William Byron, two laps down

35. Kaz Grala, five laps down

36. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Transmission

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

38. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Joey Logano – Advanced

2. Christopher Bell +46

3. Austin Cindric +43

4. Alex Bowman +41

5. Daniel Suarez +36

6. Tyler Reddick +30

7. Chase Elliott +30

8. Ryan Blaney +29

9. Kyle Larson +26

10. William Byron +25

11. Chase Briscoe +6

12. Ty Gibbs +6

13. Denny Hamlin -6

14. Brad Keselowski -12

15. Martin Truex Jr. -14

16. Harrison Burton -20

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

September 15, 2024
Logano prevails in overtime to win 2024 Cup Playoff opener at Atlanta

Joey Logano commenced the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs on a high note by fending off the field in overtime to win the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 8.

The two-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led twice for nine of 266 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in seventh place and survived a war of attrition amongst his fellow Playoff contenders and non-Playoff contenders through a series of stacked racing through multiple lanes and keep up to pace with the draft from start to finish.

After being drafted into the lead by teammate and Playoff contender Ryan Blaney with three laps remaining, where he would then battle Playoff contender Daniel Suarez for the lead, a caution for Noah Gragson wrecking during the following lap sent the event into overtime. In overtime, Logano received another strong push from Blaney to muscle ahead of Suarez. With the clean air, Logano would maintain the top spot and fend off a host of Playoff contenders for two final laps amid a multi-car wreck erupting on the final lap to claim his second checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season under caution and race his way into the Playoff’s Round of 12.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, September 7, Michael McDowell notched his fifth pole position of his Cup Series career and of the 2042 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 179.267 mph in 30.926 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ryan Blaney, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 178.844 mph in 30.999 seconds.

Prior to the event, Playoff contenders and teammates Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. started at the rear of the field due to a plug wire change to their respective Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entries.

When the green flag waved and the 2024 Cup Series Playoff commenced, Michael McDowell gained an early advantage from the inside lane as he had teammate Todd Gilliland drafting him through the first two turns and the backstretch while Ryan Blaney was trying to maintain ground from the outside lane. As the field returned to the frontstretch stacked in two lanes, McDowell led the first lap in his pole-winning No. 34 B’laster Work It Like A Pro Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

For the following four laps and with the front-runners trying to remain within reasonable reach of the lead with the preferred drafting lane towards the outside lane and behind the leader McDowell, Blaney retained second ahead of rookie Josh Berry, Playoff contender Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon while Playoff contender Chase Briscoe, Todd Gilliland and a trio of Playoff contenders that included Joey Logano, Austin Cindric and William Byron were in the top 10.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the front-runners running in a long single-file line, McDowell retained the lead ahead of Blaney, Larson, Berry and Briscoe as Austin Dillon, Logano, Cindric, Gilliland and Byron were scored in the top 10 ahead of Playoff contenders Harrison Burton and Alex Bowman, with Daniel Hemric, Ross Chastain and Playoff contender Chase Elliott rounding out the top 15 and all trailing the lead by less than two seconds. Meanwhile, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin were trailing in 18th, 20th, 22nd, 24th, 26th, 27th and 36th, respectively.

Just past the Lap 20 mark, the field fanned out to two scattered, drafting lanes as McDowell continued to hold the top spot ahead of Blaney, Berry, Larson and Logano while Bowman, Cindric, Byron, Harrison Burton and Chastain were battling within the top 10 mark. By then, the top 16 competitors were separated by less than two seconds while the top 20 were separated by less than three seconds.

At the Lap 30 mark and with the top-nine competitors separated by less than a second, Blaney made a move beneath McDowell through the first two turns to assume the lead in his No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse as Larson followed suit in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Larson would then challenge Blaney for the top spot from the outside lane during the following lap before Cindric shoved teammate Blaney back out in front through the backstretch. Behind, McDowell dropped to fourth while Logano, Bowman and Byron closed in for the spot. Amid the jostling of spots within, the top 31 competitors were separated by less than five seconds as Blaney led at the Lap 35 mark ahead of Playoff rivals Larson, Cindric, Byron, Bowman and Logano.

By Lap 40, the top 31 competitors were separated by less than five seconds as Blaney retained the lead ahead of Playoff contenders Larson, Cindric, Byron, Bowman and Logano while Chastain, McDowell, Elliott and Daniel Hemric followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Burton, Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Berry, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Truex, Austin Dillon, Gilliland, Justin Haley and Bubba Wallace. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired back in 34th place and trailing the lead by more than eight seconds while Suarez, Reddick, Bell and Keselowski were mired back in 21st, 23rd, 24th and 25th, respectively, all while trailing the lead under three seconds.

Ten laps later, Blaney continued to lead by a tenth of a second in front of Larson, Cindric, Bowman and Chastain as the top nine competitors were separated by less than a second. Behind, the top 20 competitors were separated by less than two seconds while the top 25 were separated by less than three.

Another five laps later, the event’s first caution flew when Larson, who was running in third place, briefly got loose, shot up the track and took a vicious head-on hit into the SAFER barrier in Turn 2. Then as the field scattered to avoid Larson’s wrecked car entering the backstretch, Larson shot into the rear of Briscoe, winner of last weekend’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway who was left with a crumbled front nose to his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse while Larson was left with heavy damage to his right front and rear end of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Amid the hard accident, Larson, who came into the Playoff opener with the top seed in the Playoff standings and having a steady cushion above the top-12 cutline, was left puzzled over the hard incident that ended his strong run early.

“I’m OK,” Larson said after exiting the infield care center. “Thankfully, everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it. I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. And then I was pretty far around the corner and it just stepped out. I don’t know. It all just happened really fast.”

The multi-car wreck that knocked both Larson and Briscoe out of the Playoff opener was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 60 to officially conclude under caution as Blaney captured his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Cindric settled in second ahead of Bowman, Logano and Stenhouse while Chastain, Elliott, Byron, Truex and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders on the track that included Suarez, Reddick, Bell, Keselowski and Hamlin were mired back in 15th, 17th, 19th, 23rd and 32nd, respectively.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for a first round of service while BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bowman exited pit road first as Cindric, Stenhouse, Blaney, Logano, Byron, Chastain, Ty Gibbs, Elliott and Truex followed suit in the top 10. McLeod and Yeley would then pit during the proceeding caution laps as Bowman cycled into the lead. By then, Truex and Shane van Gisbergen were both penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Bell, who was among six competitors who returned to pit road to top off on fuel, made another trip to pit road to have his car fully loaded with fuel after he had fire coming out of his pit stall and his No. 20 pit crew was unable to fill the car up with fuel during the first service.

The second stage period started on Lap 67 as Bowman and Cindric occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric had drafting help from teammate Blaney to muscle ahead from the inside lane and he would manage to move ahead of Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to lead the following lap. The field then started to fan out to three stacked lanes amid the draft as Cindric and Bowman dueled for the lead in front of Blaney, Stenhouse and the rest of the field by Lap 70.

Through the Lap 80 mark and with the field scattered amid the draft, the top 19 competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Cindric maintained the lead ahead of teammate Blaney, Bowman, Byron and Chastain while Suarez occupied sixth ahead of Stenhouse, Elliott, Logano and Kyle Busch. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Ty Gibbs, Truex, Reddick and Burton were mired within the top 16 on the track while Bell, Keselowski and Hamlin trailed in 21st, 26th and 34th, respectively.

Ten laps later, Cindric continued to lead the race ahead of two stacked lanes, with teammate Blaney following suit on the inside lane while Bowman led a long parade of competitors from the outside lane. By then, the top 14 competitors were separated by less than a second while the top 26 were separated by under two seconds.

By the Lap 100 mark, Cindric maintained a steady advantage over Bowman, teammate Blaney, Byron, Chastain and the rest of the field that was jostling for spots amid two and three stacked lanes within the draft. With the top-24 competitors separated by less than two seconds, Haley was scored in 10th place behind Stenhouse, Suarez, Truex and Elliott while Erik Jones, who was trying to mount a charge from a third drafting lane towards the outside wall, was racing within the top-15 mark.

Thirteen laps later and with Cindric maintaining the lead in front of two stacked lanes, the caution flew due to debris spotted in the frontstretch. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Cindric returned to pit road for service, primarily for fuel, while the rest including Ryan Preece, Hamlin, McLeod and Yeley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Cindric exited pit road first as he was followed by Bowman, Blaney, Suarez, Byron, Elliott, Logano, Bubba Wallace, Keselowski and Haley. Amid the pit stops, Reddick made contact with rookie Carson Hocevar while trying to exit his pit stall. In addition, Wallace was penalized for speeding on pit road while Bell was also penalized for pitting outside his pit box. Shortly after, Preece, Hamlin, Yeley and McLeod pitted and handed the lead back to Cindric.

The start of the following restart period on Lap 119 featured Cindric and Bowman dueling for the lead in front of two stacked lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch before Cindric received another strong push from teammate Blaney to muscle his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of the pack. With Cindric leading the field back to the frontstretch and having both lanes under his control, teammate Blaney, Bowman and Byron followed suit in the top four while Suarez muscled his way into the top five.

At the halfway mark on Lap 130, Cindric was leading ahead of Playoff rivals Bowman, Blaney, Byron, Suarez, Logano and Elliott, all of whom were among 12 competitors separated by less than a second while the top 23 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. With the field fanning out to three lanes amid the draft, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Keselowski, Burton, Truex, Ty Gibbs, Reddick, Bell and Hamlin were running 10th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 25th and 32nd, respectively, while Stenhouse and Gilliland were the top-two non-Playoff contenders on the track in eighth and ninth, respectively. Within the battles, non-Playoff contenders Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Chastain were mired in the top 15.

Fifteen laps later, Cindric continued to lead ahead of the field that was stacked through two and three lanes, with teammate Blaney, Bowman, Byron and Suarez battling within the top five ahead of Erik Jones, Chastain, Elliott, Gilliland and Logano. By then, the top 23 competitors were separated by under two seconds. In addition, Suarez dodged a pass-through penalty from NASCAR despite having advanced his position under the backstretch’s double white line a few laps earlier but was ruled to have been forced down as a reactive move to avoid Logano.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 160, Cindric fended off two stacked lanes to notch his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Blaney, Bowman, Suarez and Byron were scored in the top five while Stenhouse, Chastain, Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Bell were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Logano, who made contact with Gilliland through the backstretch, dropped to 12th behind Reddick while Keselowski, Truex, Burton and Hamlin were mired back in 14th, 17th, 22nd and 29th, respectively. By then, Haley was penalized for blocking and forcing Reddick below the double white line.

During the stage break, a majority of the lead lap field led by Cindric pitted for service while select names including Ty Dillon, Haley, Josh Berry, Wallace, Preece, McLeod and Yeley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Chastain exited pit road first ahead of McDowell, Stenhouse, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Blaney, Bell, Bowman, Corey LaJoie and Suarez. Amid the pit stops, van Gisbergen was penalized a second time for speeding on pit road. During the continuous caution laps, the select competitors who remained on the track led by Ty Dillon pitted as Chastain cycled into the lead.

With 94 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Chastain and McDowell occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain and McDowell dueled for the lead in front of a stacked field running two lanes. Chastain proceeded to lead the following lap while Stenhouse battled McDowell for second in front of Ty Gibbs and Byron. McDowell, who led the following lap, and Stenhouse would make slight contact exiting the backstretch with nearly 90 laps remaining, but both kept their cars running straight as the field continued to run in two stacked lanes and while Chastain reassumed the lead.

The caution would then return with 86 laps remaining when John Hunter Nemechek, who was running in 23rd place, got aero loose as Burton slid in front of him entering the backstretch, which resulted in Nemechek spinning his No. 42 Olipop Toyota Camry XSE below the track and making head-on contact in the inside wall.

During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Chastain returned to pit road for service while the rest led by Ty Gibbs and Wallace remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Suarez and Logano made contact on pit road as they both collected Reddick while LaJoie made door contact with Elliott, who had made contact with Cindric earlier, and Stenhouse while exiting pit road.

As the event restarted under green with 79 laps remaining, Wallace received a shove from Blaney on the inside lane to assume the lead by a hair over Ty Gibbs through the first two turns before Gibbs fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Chastain. Both Gibbs and Wallace would continue to duel for the lead in front of two stacked lanes with 75 laps remaining.

With 65 laps remaining the majority of the field migrated toward the outside lane as select drivers tried to expand the pack to three-wide action. Ty Gibbs was leading ahead of Wallace, Chastain, Kyle Busch and McDowell while Bowman, Byron, Blaney, Bell and Elliott trailed in the top 10 ahead of Chris Buescher, Logano, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Truex, Keselowski, Cidnric, LaJoie, Reddick and Daniel Hemric. Playoff contenders Suarez, Reddick, Burton and Hamlin were mired outside the top 20 on the track.

Nine laps later, the caution flew when Chris Buescher, who was running in the top 10, slipped up the track entering the backstretch and clipped Blaney, which sent both sideways and touching the outside wall. Blaney was then hit by Truex while Truex was trying to dodge the chaos. By then, Wallace, who assumed the lead eight laps earlier, was leading ahead of Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Byron and Chastain. During the caution period, select names led by Wallace and including Playoff contenders Gibbs, Bell, Blaney, Keselowski, Burton, Hamlin and Truex pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch and Byron remained on the track. By then, Blaney managed to continue and remain on the lead lap while Truex dropped out of the lead lap category to have his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE repaired.

The start of the next restart period with 49 laps remaining featured Kyle Busch being drafted into the lead from Byron as he transitioned from the inside to the outside lane through the backstretch. With Busch leading the next lap ahead of Byron, Chastain was trying to close in from the inside lane as the field behind fanned out to four lanes. With the field stacked up between three and four tight lanes around every corner and straightaway, Busch maintained a steady lead ahead of Byron, Chastain, Elliott, Bowman and Suarez with less than 45 laps remaining.

With 35 laps remaining, the top 18 competitors were separated by less than a second and the top 28 were separated by less than two seconds. Kyle Busch retained the lead in front of Byron, Chastain, Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Bowman, Gilliland, and McDowell, as Logano and Suarez were mired within the top 10, ahead of Reddick, Logano, Cindric, Austin Dillon, Burton, Noah Gragson and Keselowski while Blaney and Bell were racing within the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired in 31st place and was not gaining any ground towards the lead pack.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, the intensity at the front of the pack increased as Gibbs, who drafted Byron past Kyle Busch for the lead three laps earlier before he assumed it a lap later, returned atop the leaderboard. As the field continued to fan out aggressively to three drafted lanes, Suarez was in second behind Gibbs while Busch settled in third ahead of Logano, Byron, Chastain, Gilliland, Bowman, Elliott and Cindric.

Ten laps later and with fuel becoming a slight concern amongst the field, the top 14 competitors were separated by less than a second while the top 27 were separated by less than two seconds as Ty Gibbs continued to lead in front of Suarez, Kyle Busch, Logano and Byron. With the field fanning out to three lanes two laps later, Suarez muscled his No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead.

Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution flew due to a Walmart sign falling onto the frontstretch. By then, Suarez was scored the leader in front of Ty Gibbs, Busch, Logano, Byron and Chastain while Blaney, Bell, Elliott and Reddick were in the top 10. During the caution period, some including Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Suarez and including a host of Playoff contenders remained on the track.

With the race restarting under green with five laps remaining, Suarez briefly launched ahead from the outside lane exiting the frontstretch before Ty Gibbs rocketed back on the inside lane through the first two turns. Then as Gibbs attempted to move in front of Suarez through the backstretch, Suarez veered left and made his move beneath Gibbs in a battle for the lead while Logano bumped into the rear of Gibbs exiting the backstretch. A three-wide action for the lead then ensued entering the frontstretch as Busch made his move beneath both Suarez and Gibbs, who led the following lap.

Then as Gibbs and Suarez continued to battle against one another for the lead in front of a stacked field, Logano, who launched a third drafting lane towards the outside wall, received a draft from teammate Blaney’s damaged No. 12 Ford to muscle his No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead through the backstretch with three laps remaining. Logano, however, would end up being deadlocked with Suarez through the frontstretch and with two laps remaining.

Then, with two laps remaining, and as a stack-up ensued at the front of the field, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime due to Noah Gragson, who was running in 16th place, getting hit by Burton and sent for a spin before he hit the backstretch’s inside wall. At the moment of caution, Logano was ruled the leader ahead of Suarez, Blaney, Chastain, Elliott and Bell while Gibbs had dropped to ninth.

The start of the first overtime attempt featured Logano and Suarez dueling for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch, with both having their respective teammates drafting them. Despite Chastain losing ground of teammate Suarez entering Turn 3, the latter managed to remain dead even with Logano approaching the frontstretch.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano was leading by a hair over Suarez and Blaney tucked in behind teammate Logano while the field behind began to fan out to three lanes. With a push from Blaney, Logano muscled ahead and cleared Suarez entering the first two turns as Suarez was left to battle Blaney for the runner-up spot through the backstretch.

Then through Turns 3 and 4, a multi-car wreck erupted that started when Chastain got bumped into the outside wall by Elliott entering Turn 3. With a stack-up ensuing, Stenhouse turned Wallace as multiple competitors including Playoff contenders Hamlin and Burton were collected. The wreck was enough for the event to conclude under caution as Logano, who was inches away from reaching the finish line prior to the caution, crossed the finish line to claim the victory.

With the victory, Logano, who won a Cup Series Playoff opener for the first time in his career, notched his 34th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series level, his second at Atlanta, his second of the 2024 season and his first since winning at Nashville Superspeedway in late June. The victory was also the eighth of the season for the Ford nameplate, the manufacturer’s third in a row in recent weeks and the fifth of the season for Team Penske. Notably, Logano joins William Byron as two Cup competitors to win on Atlanta’s reconfigured layout since it debuted at the start of the 2022 season.

Logano’s Playoff opener victory at Atlanta served as an automatic pass to the Round of 12 for the Connecticut champion and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse team, with the driver commencing his pursuit for a third Cup Series championship.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[It was an] Incredible execution from the team,” Logano said on USA Network. “When it’s Playoff time, it’s out time. That’s what I said. We got to always level up when it comes to Playoff time and [the team] gave me a great AutoTrader Mustang. [The car] was fast all day. We got stuck in the back a little bit. It was hard to get track position back. We had a good restart and got towards the front. [I] Had my teammate [Ryan] Blaney behind me. It really helped out in that last lap to be able to make sure [a] Penske car won and ultimately, move on to the next round. Good day for all the Penske cars. Pretty good day today. There’s a lot of memories right here on this start/finish line for me racing Legends cars as a kid, so this is a really cool feeling to be out here in a Cup car again.”

With Logano winning, Daniel Suarez, who won at Atlanta by 0.003 seconds earlier in February, commenced his second appearance in the Playoffs by notching a strong second-place result after he too led nine laps. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney commenced his pursuit to defend his Cup title by finishing third in an event where he led 33 laps, won the first stage period and nursed his damaged car to a strong result.

“I would have to rewatch everything again,” Suarez, who is 22 points above the top-12 cutline in the Playoff standings, said. “I was pretty confident that the top [lane] was going to be better with [Logano] and he was going to be able to push me like [Chastain] did that last restart being on the outside. We got a great lounge, but we just got disconnected too early and that obviously hurt us and [Kyle Busch] and [Ty Gibbs], they were able to get connected for longer and beat us. It’s a little painful. I feel like we were in position and sometimes it’s very difficult to predict who is going to get the best push and for how long you’re going to get it, but it’s part of the game, right? We were in contention. The team did an amazing job. We’re happy with [the result], but not satisfied.”

“I can’t believe we got back up where we did,” Blaney, who is 45 points above the cutline, said. “[The] No. 12 boys did a really good job fixing [the car]. I’m surprised it didn’t have more damage than what it did because for my seat, I got drilled in the left rear or the door where [Buescher] hit me and then the right rear got off the fence. I didn’t know how damaged we were, but I was able to carve up through traffic and could get through the middle [lane] pretty good. Really good day. Move on to Watkins Glen.”

Playoff contenders Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman finished in the top five while Tyler Reddick, the 2024 Cup Series Regular Season Champion, made a late charge to finish sixth. Kyle Busch along with Playoff contenders Chase Elliott, William Byron and Austin Cindric completed the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Brad Keselowski fell back to 19th place while Martin Truex Jr., who retired late due to a suspension failure, ended up in 35th place. Following their involvement in the final lap accident, Denny Hamlin, whose strategy to run towards the rear of the field the entire event with no stage points and which did not pay off, limped across the finish line in 24th place while Playoff rookie Harrison Burton ended up in 31st place after he was unable to nurse his damaged No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang Dark Horse across the finish line to complete the final lap.

There were 24 lead changes for 14 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 44 laps. In addition, 30 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Joey Logano, nine laps led

2. Daniel Suarez, nine laps led

3. Ryan Blaney, 33 laps led, Stage 1 winner

4. Christopher Bell

5. Alex Bowman, five laps led

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Kyle Busch, 24 laps led

8. Chase Elliott

9. William Byron, two laps led

10. Austin Cindric, 92 laps led, Stage 2 winner

11. Daniel Hemric

12. Justin Haley

13. Ross Chastain, 13 laps led

14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

15. Corey LaJoie

16. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

17. Ty Gibbs, 37 laps led

18. Ryan Preece, two laps led

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Austin Dillon

21. Zane Smith

22. Michael McDowell, 30 laps led

23. JJ Yeley

24. Denny Hamlin

25. BJ McLeod, one lap led

26. Erik Jones

27. Todd Gilliland

28. Josh Berry

29. Bubba Wallace, eight laps led

30. Cody Ware

31. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

32. Shane van Gisbergen, two laps down

33. John Hunter Nemechek, four laps down

34. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

35. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Suspension

36. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

37. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident

38. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Joey Logano – Advanced

2. Ryan Blaney +45

3. Christopher Bell +40

4. Tyler Reddick +33

5. William Byron +33

6. Alex Bowman +27

7. Austin Cindric +27

8. Chase Elliott +24

9. Daniel Suarez +22

10. Kyle Larson +15

11. Denny Hamlin +2

12. Ty Gibbs +1

13. Brad Keselowski -1

14. Harrison Burton -16

15. Martin Truex Jr. -19

16. Chase Briscoe -21

With the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs underway, the second event in the Round of 16 is set to occur at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York, for the Go Bowling at The Glen. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, September 15, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 8, 2024
Buescher, Wallace lament missing 2024 Cup Series Playoffs

In a span of 367 grueling laps of the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace went from competing against one another for the 16th and final berth to this year’s Playoffs to both being knocked out of contention amid a new race winner capitalizing on the Playoff’s “Win and You’re In” format.

The diminished Playoff hopes for Buescher and Wallace occurred after both dominated the headlines throughout the Darlington weekend and withstood a series of on-track trials of their own to remain in Playoff contention until the drop of the checkered flag and the conclusion of this year’s 26-race regular-season stretch.

The battle between Buescher and Wallace commenced with the latter striking first as he led the first 34 laps from the pole position. Wallace would proceed to finish in second place at the conclusion of the first stage period and accumulate nine stage points while Buescher ended up in 10th place, which allowed Wallace to overtake Buescher for the 16th and final Playoff berth.

Throughout the second stage period, Buescher would regain the upper hand by a slight margin as Wallace slipped out of the top-five mark. Despite ending up in 13th place at the second stage’s conclusion while Wallace finished ninth, which enabled him to claim an additional two stage points, Buescher leaped back atop Wallace for the final Playoff berth.

Then throughout the final stage period, late drama struck for both Buescher and Wallace that began with 46 laps remaining when the former got squeezed into the backstretch’s outside wall by Todd Gilliland before he proceeded to spin the latter. Despite sustaining slight cosmetic damage to his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, Buescher remained both on the lead lap and above the cutline. Then with 24 laps remaining, Wallace’s Playoff hopes took a hit after he was collected in a multi-car wreck in Turn 2, when he ran into the rear of a wrecking William Byron before he was rammed in the rear by Noah Gragson sending Wallace spinning below the track. Despite plummeting below the leaderboard, Wallace was able to keep his damaged No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE under power and in race pace.

With Wallace initially appearing to lose ground to Buescher on points for the final Playoff berth, Buescher was then placed at a disadvantage as Chase Briscoe, who came into Darlington in a “must-win” situation, rocketed away with the lead during a late-race restart with 17 laps remaining. For the final 17 laps, Briscoe would fend off Kyle Busch, another Playoff “must-win” contender, to win the race and leapfrog both Buescher and Wallace in the Playoff standings to secure his spot into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

For Buescher, the outcome resulted in the Prosper, Texas, native being the first competitor who was scored outside the top-16 cutline and missing his third opportunity to make the Playoffs a year after he transferred all the way to the Round of 8 and won three races.

From losing to a record-setting finish of 0.001 seconds to Kyle Larson at Kansas Speedway to sustaining a cut tire amid a late-race battle for the win with Tyler Reddick at Darlington, both occurring earlier in May, Buescher reflected on various instances where he missed opportunities to secure a regular-season victory that would have locked him into the Playoffs. With a total of five top-five results and 12 top-10 results in 26 races, the Texan also attempted to reflect on the positives made earlier in the season that would enable him to conclude the 2024 season on a strong note.

“We got back in contention there at the end and got a decent finish out of it,” Buescher said on USA Network. “We just didn’t quite get it done again and we’re on the outside looking in. It’s just the system we’re all playing in. We had such a great year. Everyone at [Roush Fenway Keselowski] has worked so hard. We’ve been so fast. We’ve outrun so many of these cars that are gonna get to run for a championship, but that’s the system and we didn’t work it right.”

Like Buescher, Wallace, who made his first Cup Series Playoffs and finished a career-best 10th a year ago in the final standings, was also left disappointed on pit road despite a late summer surge to fight his way back into the Playoffs. But his hopes evaporated with the recent surge of surprise winners that include Chase Briscoe and Harrison Burton. Nonetheless, the Mobile, Alabama, native praised the fight and determination exhibited by his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota team in keeping both the driver and team in contention until the regular-season finale’s conclusion.

Currently, Wallace has racked up career-high stats of five top-five results and 10 top-10 results, both of which equal his total accumulated results from the previous two seasons. With his current average-finishing result of 15.8, which marks his personal best, Wallace has 10 races remaining on the 2024 schedule to add to his stats and notch his first Cup victory in two seasons.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“We were back and forth on our U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry,” Wallace said. “We were a little too loose, a little too tight. And the caution a couple laps on tires where we stayed out, I don’t know if that was the deciding factor or not. I was so tight there and got back there in traffic in a spot we hadn’t been all day and got caught up someone else’s mess. It’s unfortunate. I hate it for our guys. Man, hats off to [Briscoe]. I thought I did something yesterday. They one-upped us and showed up when it was game time, so that’s pretty badass so congrats to them. Man, just wasn’t good enough for 16th this year. I hate that. It stinks saying that, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort from all of us on this No. 23 car. Best of luck to [Reddick] and hopefully, a Toyota wins.”

Overall, both Buescher and Wallace join Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland, rookie Carson Hocevar, Michael McDowell, rookie Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Daniel Hemric, Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, John Hunter Nemechek and rookie Zane Smith as full-time Cup Series competitors who did not qualify for the 2024 Playoffs. Nonetheless, all have the final 10-race Playoff stretch to contend for as high as 17th place in the final standings.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the upcoming Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which will commence the Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 2, 2024
Buescher, Gibbs pleased; Wallace dejected amid top-10 runs and Playoff shakeup at Daytona

Harrison Burton’s first NASCAR Cup Series career victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 24, was a victory that dramatically shook up the 2024 Cup Series Playoff field as he went from being mired outside the top-30 mark in this year’s regular-season standings to locking himself into the Playoffs and contend for a championship.

Burton’s victory also meant that 13 spots are solidified by guaranteed Playoff competitors who have recorded at least one victory through 25 of 26 regular-season events on the 2024 schedule. In return, three open spots to the Playoffs remain vacant ahead of next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway for the crown-jewel Southern 500 and have left a multitude of big names, including runner-up finisher Kyle Busch, in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs.

Among those who remain within striking distance of one another for the vacant Playoff spots based on points ahead of next weekend’s regular-season finale include Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace, all of whom survived a “war of attrition” night mired with on-track chaos to claim top-10 results.

Ty Gibbs, who sported Dennis Quaid’s Reagan movie on his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry, backed up his top-three result from the previously scheduled event at Michigan International Speedway by finishing in fifth place in Saturday’s event at Daytona amid an overtime shootout.

The fifth-place run marked Gibbs’ seventh top-five result of the 2024 Cup Series season and his 11th top-10 result through 25 scheduled events. As a result, Gibbs, who came into the event 38 points above the top-16 cutline towards making the Playoffs, increased his advantage by one point as he strives to make his first Cup Series Playoffs after next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington.

Ironically, Darlington is where Gibbs notched his career-best result of second place earlier in May, and the Charlotte, North Carolina native is aiming for one spot better to also land him his first Cup Series career victory.

“[Tonight’s finish] was really important,” Gibbs said on NBC. “I was just happy to have a good clean day, good points day. I think we have the speed to go win [at Darlington], so I think it’d be cool to go win and get my first win at the Southern 500. It would be awesome.”

Like Michigan, Buescher, the reigning Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner, endured a rallying type of night where he was collected in on-track carnage and had to fight his way back to finish inside the top 10. Compared to Michigan, however, the Prosper, Texas’ incident at Daytona occurred late in the event with 10 laps remaining as he got squeezed into the Turn 1 outside wall against Ricky Stenhouse Jr. amid a multi-car wreck that nearly flipped the pole-sitter, Michael McDowell.

With the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank/Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry managing to continue with minimal damage, Buescher avoided contact from another multi-car wreck with two laps remaining and managed to squeeze his way to a 10th-place finish in an overtime shootout.

As a result, Buescher, who led 10 laps en route to his 10th-place run at Daytona, is 21 points ahead of the cutline in his quest to make his third career Cup Series Playoffs and second in a row while driving for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. He also holds sole possession of the final transfer spot ahead of the race at Darlington, a venue where Buescher nearly won in May before he was involved in a late skirmish with Tyler Reddick that knocked both out of contention while battling for the lead and win.

“Our Fifth Third Bank Mustang was so good,” Buescher said. “We were able to push unbelievably well and make a ton of speed. It was a lot of fun for a long while there. [I got] Caught up in another accident. We were just trying to get it to the end and ultimately, it was not the day we needed, but yeah, we go to Darlington points being what they are. There’s a little bit of a cushion there, but we know we were really good there last time [in May]. [We’ll] Try and seal the deal this go around and make it easy going into the Playoffs.”

Perhaps, no competitor was left more bitter with the outcome than Bubba Wallace, who dropped back out of the top-16 cutline despite rallying to post a strong sixth-place result at Daytona.

The Mobile, Alabama, native methodically carved his way from starting 18th to lead for the first time on Lap 46. Leading 16 overall laps, Wallace’s event briefly went south when he was involved in a multi-car wreck with 10 laps remaining that dropped him from the lead group. After having his No. 23 Columbia/23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE repaired and steering clear of another multi-car wreck with two laps remaining, Wallace navigated his way to sixth place when the checkered flag flew after an overtime shootout.

The good news for Wallace was finishing in the top 10 for the 10th time in 2024, tying his career-best finish, and accumulating 10 top-10 results like his previous two Cup seasons.

However, Harrison Burton’s Daytona victory dropped Wallace below the top-16 cutline two weeks after he boosted his way back above the cutline. Currently, Wallace is six points ahead of Chastain in the Playoff picture standings at 17th, but 21 points below the cutline.

Ahead of this year’s regular-season finale at Darlington, Wallace is coming off four consecutive top-nine runs at the historic venue, including back-to-back seventh-place finishes during his last two Cup runs at Darlington. Wallace, however, is setting his primary focus on winning at Darlington to make the Playoffs. If he can accomplish this, it would mark his second consecutive appearance as a Playoff contender as he strives to be both competitive and win like teammate Tyler Reddick has done twice, including recently at Michigan.

“You got one car [Reddick] fighting for a regular-season championship and another car [Wallace] right around the bubble. It’s unacceptable,” Wallace said. “I’ll take all that weight on my shoulders. [I] Should’ve won multiple times this year and I haven’t. We don’t even deserve to be here and we are. I got to go win next week. That’s it.”

The pursuit to make the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace continues next Sunday, September 1, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Cook Out Southern 500, which will air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

August 25, 2024
Reddick prevails amid double overtime shootouts for wild Cup victory at Michigan; assumes regular-season points lead

Amid the loss of his racing hero Scott Bloomquist earlier in the week, Tyler Reddick rose to the occasion on two overtime attempts to win the rain-postponed FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Monday, August 19.

The two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led 15 of 206 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row based on a metric formula per the NASCAR Rule Book after the event’s qualifying session was canceled due to persistent precipitation. Despite running towards the front during the event’s early stages on Sunday, he along with most of the front-runners pitted early as part of strategic call and sacrificed the first round of stage points. He then cycled his way back to fifth place before the event was delayed and eventually postponed to Monday morning due to the on-track precipitation continuing for the remainder of Sunday.

At the event’s resumption on Monday, Reddick got shuffled back towards the top-20 mark. Despite the rough start, he kept his No. 45 McDonald’s/23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE intact as a host of his fellow competitors, including teammate Bubba Wallace, would encounter on-track incidents that spoiled their early strong starts. With pit strategies also ensuing, Reddick, who methodically carved his way back to the front, assumed the lead with 12 laps remaining following the event’s latest round of green flag pit stops.

Despite having his advantage stalled twice amid two late on-track incidents that sent the event into overtime twice, the Californian refused to surrender as he fended off William Byron during the latest overtime shootout to grab his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season and assume the lead in the regular-season standings.

With on-track qualifying that was set to occur on Saturday, August 17, being canceled due to weather, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a metric formula from the NASCAR Rule Book. As a result, Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with 23XI Racing competitor Tyler Reddick.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced amid a delay period that spanned more than two hours due to on-track precipitation, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick dueled for the lead through the first two turns as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes. Then as Hamlin and Reddick continued to duel for the lead in front of the packed field through the backstretch, Kyle Larson, who started in fourth place, gained a draft and made a three-wide pass beneath both Reddick and Hamlin to move into the lead entering Turns 3 and 4. The early advantage would allow Larson to rocket his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead as he led the first lap while Reddick and Hamlin were being challenged by Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell for top-three spots.

Over the next four laps and with a majority of the field running in a single-file line, Larson stabilized his early advantage as he was out in front of the field by as high as four-tenths of a second. Behind, Hamlin was scored in second place ahead of Reddick and Elliott while Bell settled in fifth ahead of Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain.

Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Larson retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin, the latter of which started to close in on Larson in his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE. Reddick, Elliott and Bell followed suit in the top five while Wallace, Byron, Blaney, Austin Dillon and Chastain were scored in the top 10. Behind, Chris Buescher occupied 11th place ahead of Hocevar, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano while Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman and Austin Cindric trailed in the top 20 ahead of Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson, Erik Jones and AJ Allmendinger. Meanwhile, rookie Josh Berry, who started 16th, had plummeted to 36th place, dead last.

Ten laps later, Larson continued to lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin while third-place Reddick trailed the lead by six-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace, Reddick’s teammate, trailed in fourth place by a second as he was followed by Elliott while Bell, Byron, Blaney, Buescher and Chastain were mired in the top 10 ahead of Austin Dillon, Suarez, Keselowski, Logano and Truex.

Another five laps later, a two-competitor battle for the lead between Larson and Hamlin became a four-competitor battle for the lead as 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace cut their deficit to four-tenths and seven-tenths of a second while Larson retained the lead by within a tenth of a second over Hamlin. With fifth-place Elliott continuing to trail by more than a second, teammate Larson continued to fend off Hamlin’s repeated attacks through the turns and straightaways to lead by a narrow margin while Berry, who was still mired in 36th place, dead last, was lapped.

At the Lap 30 mark, Larson stabilized his lead to two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Wallace moved his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE past teammate Reddick’s No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE for third place. Behind, Bell overtook Elliott for fifth place as Blaney, Byron, Buescher and Chastain continued to trail in the top 10 ahead of Suarez, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Truex and Logano.

Then on Lap 34, Wallace gained a strong run and executed a three-wide pass beneath both Hamlin and Larson through the frontstretch to assume the lead entering Turn 1. As Wallace started to pull away, Hamlin, who managed to overtake Larson for the runner-up spot, proceeded to try to keep track of Wallace while Reddick started to challenge Larson for third place.

On Lap 37, the event’s first caution period flew when Hamlin, who closed in on Wallace in his bid for the lead through Turns 3 and 4, slowly slid up the track, got loose and spun his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE from the top to the bottom of the track and through the infield grass before he managed to brake his car and keep it from going back across the track and continued without sustaining any significant damage.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Wallace pitted for service while the rest led by Blaney, who assumed the race lead, and including Byron, Buescher, Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs and Harrison Burton remained on the track.

With the event restarting with three laps remaining in the first stage period, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Blaney muscled ahead from the outside lane as he was followed by Buescher and Byron. As the field behind continued to fan out and jostle for spots through the backstretch, Blaney retained the lead for the following lap ahead of Buescher and Byron while Elliott started to close in in his bid for the runner-up spot.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Blaney fended off the competition amid a bevy of jostling for spots to capture his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in second place ahead of teammate Byron, Wallace and Buescher while Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10. By then, all 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, some led by the leader Blaney and including Byron, Buescher, Keselowski, Suarez, Ty Gibbs and Harrison Burton, all of whom remained on the track during the previous caution period, pitted for their first service of the day while the rest led by the new leader Elliott remained on the track.

Then after having the start of the second stage period waved off multiple times due to on-track precipitation steadily returning to the Michigan circuit, the field led by Elliott was directed back to pit road and placed in a red flag period on Lap 51.

With the rain delay period occurring beyond 6 p.m. ET and no sight of relief being detected before the day’s darkness scheduled at 8:20 p.m. ET, NASCAR postponed the remainder of the event to Monday, August 19. By then, Elliott was still scored the leader while Truex, Wallace, Bowman, Reddick, Kyle Busch, Larson, Chastain, Chase Briscoe and Logano were scored in the top 10, respectively.

Nearing 11 a.m. ET on Monday and with the weather clear from Sunday’s precipitation, the red flag lifted and the field led by Elliott returned under a cautious pace. During the pace laps, Hamlin spent time in his pit stall to have his car inspected due to Sunday’s spin as he dropped to the rear of the field.

The second stage period started on Lap 55 as Elliott and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott received a shove from Wallace on the outside lane to emerge ahead by a slight margin before Busch fought back from the inside lane. As the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch while Reddick slipped out of the top-10 mark, Elliott retained the lead from Busch, Wallace and Truex while Chase Briscoe followed suit in fifth.

Then on Lap 57 and with a variety of on-track battles ensuing around the field, Busch executed a move beneath Elliott and proceeded to slide in front of Elliott to lead for the first time in his No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. With Busch leading, Elliott retained second while Briscoe overtook Wallace and Truex for third place as Bell and Chastain joined the battle. With Wallace, Briscoe, Truex, Bell, Larson and Chastain all battling for third place amid the draft, Busch retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Elliott, who settled behind Busch’s rear bumper, by Lap 60.

Six laps later, Truex, who navigated his way past Wallace and Elliott to move up to second earlier, drew his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE into a side-by-side battle with Busch for the lead through the frontstretch before he muscled ahead of Busch with the top spot entering Turn 1. Behind, Elliott overtook Busch for the runner-up spot and proceeded to track Truex for the lead while both Wallace and Larson started to close in on the top-three leaders. With Wallace overtaking Busch for third place shortly after, Truex led the Lap 70 mark by two-tenths of a second over Elliott.

By Lap 80, Truex stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Elliott while Wallace, Larson and Busch all trailed in the top five within two seconds. In the process, Bell, Byron, Chastain, Logano and Bowman followed suit in the top 10. With Austin Cindric scrubbing the outside wall entering the frontstretch, but continuing while battling Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for a top-20 spot, the race remained under green flag conditions.

Four laps later, Wallace pitted his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE for four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel under green. Teammate Reddick, who was mired within the top 15 amid his rough start to the second stage period, would also pit before Larson pitted during the following lap. Elliott would then pit his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green along with Noah Gragson by Lap 87 before Chastain, Bowman, Corey LaJoie, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece followed suit during the next three laps. Amid the pit stops, Truex retained the lead by the Lap 90 mark.

Just past the Lap 90 mark, Busch and Byron pitted their respective Chevrolets after running towards the front before the leader Truex and teammate Bell pitted on Lap 92. AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Josh Berry and Todd Gilliland would also pit their respective entries while Blaney cycled into the lead ahead of teammate Logano, Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski and Daniel Hemric. Logano and Hemric would then pit on Lap 95 as Blaney retained the lead. Meanwhile and with more competitors pitting under green, Larson, the first competitor with fresh tires, cycled his way up to ninth place while Wallace, Truex, Elliott, Chastain, Byron and Busch followed suit.

At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Blaney, who pitted during the first stage break period on Sunday and continued to stretch his fuel tank as far as possible, pitted under green along with rookie Carson Hocevar as Ty Gibbs cycled into the lead. With Gibbs leading, Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Larson and Truex were in the top five while Wallace, Elliott, Hamlin, Chastain and Byron were running in the top 10. Austin Dillon would then pit during the following lap along with the leader Gibbs as Keselowski cycled into the lead. Keselowski would then pit from the lead by Lap 103 along with Hamlin, which allowed Larson to cycle back into the lead on four fresh tires and fuel.

On Lap 106, a brief side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Larson and Truex, with the latter attempting to surge ahead from the inside lane, but the former was able to muscle back ahead from the outside lane.

Then on Lap 109, during which Larson maintained a steady advantage over Truex amid a brief side-by-side challenge, the caution flew due to a right-rear tire carcass coming off of Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse as Logano was limping his car below the apron to pit road from Turn 4. In the process, AJ Allmendinger spun his No. 16 LeafFilter Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch with a flat left-rear tire before he came to rest below the apron entering Turn 1 and would need a wrecker to have his car towed back to pit road due to the driver flat-spotting all tires. The tire issues for both Allmendinger and Logano occurred after Gilliland limped his Ford to pit road as he too had a flat right-rear tire.

During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Larson returned to pit road for service while the rest led by Ross Chastain remained on the track.

With the race restarting with five laps remaining in the second stage period, where Chastain and Busch occupied the front row, the two leaders dueled for the lead through the first two turns before Busch rocketed ahead of Chastain and maintained the lead while the field behind fanned out. Shortly after, the caution returned when Larson, who was running in ninth place and trying to carve his way back to the front, slid up the track, got sideways and spun in between Turns 3 and 4, where his car slid up towards the outside wall and was hit by Wallace while more names including Buescher, Bell, Briscoe, Logano and Gilliland all wrecked in Turn 4, with Larson sustaining the most damage to the front end of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and taking him out of contention. Bell, Gilliland and Logano would also be eliminated from further competition while Wallace and Buescher, two Playoff bubble drivers, continued.

The multi-car incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 120 to conclude under caution as Kyle Busch captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Chastain settled in second ahead of Gibbs, Byron and Austin Dillon while Keselowski, Truex, Erik Jones, Blaney and Cody Ware were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, select names led by Chastain pitted while the rest led by the leader Busch remained on the track.

With 75 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Busch and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Busch and Byron dueled for the lead for a full lap as Keselowski, Gibbs, Blaney and Austin Dillon followed suit. With Busch leading the following lap, Byron then would muscle his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead by the first two turns and he would lead the next lap period as the field behind fanned out and jostled for late spots around the corners and straightaways.

With less than 70 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs, who carved his way into second place earlier, started to ignite his challenge for the lead on Byron, though the latter retained the top spot by a tenth of a second through the turns and straightaways. Byron would proceed to stabilize his advantage to less than three-tenths of a second over Gibbs with 65 laps remaining while Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Blaney followed suit in the top five.

Just then, the caution returned when Corey LaJoie, who gained a strong draft on Noah Gragson while battling for a top-20 spot, made light contact with Gragson that sent LaJoie spinning sideways before his No. 7 Garner Trucking Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 went airborne and landed upside-down, where the car slid on its roof through the backstretch’s infield and even hit the infield wall before flipping once and coming to rest on all four wheels towards the infield grass. Amid the wild wreck, LaJoie, who slid on his side before flipping over once at the conclusion of Talladega Superspeedway event in April, emerged uninjured. During the caution period, some led by Busch pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

The start of the next restart period with 59 laps remaining featured Byron and Keselowski, who moved up to restart on the front row amid the choose rule, dueling for the lead in close-quarters racing through the first two turns before Elliott made a bold move beneath both to move into the lead entering the backstretch. With the field fanning out to multiple lanes through the backstretch, Elliott maintained the lead ahead of teammate Byron while Keselowski, Gibbs and Reddick were up in the top five.

With 50 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by six-tenths of a second over Keselowski followed by Gibbs, Reddick and Byron as Blaney, Truex, Busch, Buescher and Suarez trailed in the top 10. Behind, Chastain was scored in 11th place ahead of Bowman, Hocevar, Gragson and Austin Dillon while Erik Jones, Hamlin, Stenhouse, rookie Zane Smith and Preece occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Burton, Berry, Cody Ware, Hemric, McDowell and Wallace, all of whom were scored on the lead lap.

Four laps later, Byron peeled off the track from a top-five spot to pit his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for enough fuel to reach the event’s scheduled distance. Another two laps later, Truex pitted under green before Bowman would pit his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 not long after. In the process, Gibbs started to close in on Elliott for the lead while third-place Reddick tried to close in.

With 40 laps remaining, Reddick, who overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot, proceeded to overtake Elliott for the lead. With Reddick leading, Gibbs and Keselowski pitted their respective entries under green before the leader Reddick, Elliott and Blaney pitted under green with 38 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Busch cycled his way into the lead and he would proceed to lead with 35 laps remaining while Chastain, Buscher, Suarez, Hocevar and Austin Dillon were scored in the top six. A lap later, however, Busch pitted from the lead under green, where he only opted for two fresh tires, as Suarez cycled into the lead, where the latter would continue to lead with 30 laps remaining.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Hocevar was leading ahead of Stenhouse, Burton, Preece and Erik Jones while Berry, Gragson, Hemric, Cody Ware and McDowell were scored in the top 10. With the top-10 competitors on the track needing to pit, Busch, the first competitor who recently pitted, was trying to fend off Reddick for 11th place and the eventual lead while Byron, Elliott, Gibbs, Truex and Keselowski followed suit.

Not long after, the leader Hocevar along with Gragson and Preece pitted under green as both Reddick and Byron overtook Busch on the track. By then, Suarez had pitted a few laps earlier as Stenhouse assumed the lead. Stenhouse would then pit from the lead as Burton cycled into the lead, where he would lead with 20 laps remaining.

Then with 16 laps remaining, Burton surrendered the lead to pit his No. 21 Motocraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green. By then, Hemric and Ware had pitted as Berry, the lone competitor who has yet to pit, cycled into the lead. Once Berry pitted his No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green with 13 laps remaining, Reddick cycled his No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE into the lead, where he was leading by less than two seconds over Byron.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Reddick was out in front by two seconds over Byron while Gibbs, Truex and Busch trailed in the top five ahead of Keselowski, Elliott, Blaney, Hamlin and McDowell. Meanwhile, Chastain, Hocevar, Buescher, Zane Smith and Austin Dillon trailed in the top 15 ahead of Suarez, Stenhouse, Burton, Erik Jones and Berry.

Four laps later, the caution flew when Truex, who was running in fourth place, had an incident in Turn 4, as Reddick’s steady advantage over Byron evaporated. During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while the rest, including Reddick and the front-runners, remained on the track. Amid the caution period, the event was sent into overtime.

The start of the first overtime period did not last long as Chastain, who was racing close towards the top-10 mark, got loose amid stacked conditions and spun in front of Zane Smith before he continued to spin through the infield backstretch and came to rest within the infield grass. Chastain’s spin occurred after Bowman had smacked the backstretch’s outside wall. Despite Chastain continuing and the rest of the field avoiding him, the event was sent into a second overtime attempt as Byron, who despite was told was low on fuel, emerged with the lead over Reddick from the inside lane.

The start of the second overtime attempt featured Byron and Reddick dueling for the lead until Reddick, who this time restarted on the inside lane and beneath Byron, muscled ahead entering the backstretch after he received a draft from Ty Gibbs. With Reddick leading, Byron then tried to use the draft to gain a run and overtake Reddick entering Turn 3, but Reddick retained the top spot as Gibbs closed in from third place.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick remained as the leader by a narrow margin over Byron and Gibbs. Reddick then created a small gap between himself and Byron through the first two turns before entering the backstretch. With Byron closing back in through Turns 3 and 4, he was not able to get to Reddick’s rear bumper entering the frontstretch as Reddick proceeded to claim the checkered flag by a tenth of a second over Byron.

With the victory, Tyler Reddick notched his seventh career win in the NASCAR Cup Series level, his first at Michigan and his second of the 2024 season, with his previous victory occurring at Talladega Superspeedway in April. As a result, he became the sixth competitor to notch multiple victories of the 2024 season while also delivering the second victory for 23XI Racing and the eighth for Toyota nameplate. With Reddick delivering Toyota’s first Cup victory at Michigan since 2015, he snapped Ford’s nine-race winning streak at the manufacturer’s backyard in the Irish Hills that starts in 2018.

Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

During his victory celebrations, Reddick, who is the new leader in the regular-season standings, dedicated his win to Scott Bloomquist, a dirt track and late models legend who was a mentor to Reddick and died in a plane accident three days ago.

“Just great teammate and fantastic push by Ty Gibbs [on the last restart],” Reddick said on USA Network. “That’s what it’s all about. The Toyota Racing family tries to take care of each other. It’s been really cool, but I can’t help it but sit here in Victory Lane and think of Scott Bloomquist. [He was a] Huge mentor to me and incredible role model and legend of dirt racing and motorsports. The last couple of days have been tough and this [win] really helps it and so, this win, I think, should go for him and his family, his friends and all that meant a lot to him…We did a really, really good job today and rebounded from [a bad restart earlier]. I think we were one of the last cars on the lead lap [during the] start of Stage 3, so great effort for us.”

William Byron had enough fuel to finish in second place and rally from finishing outside the top 10 during his last two races while Ty Gibbs rallied from a three-race slump to finish in third place for his sixth top-five result of the season and to remain above the top-16 cutline in the Playoff standings by 39 points in his efforts to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

I’ll relive that restart and what lane to choose overnight, for sure,” Byron, who ended up losing the lead and the race overall from restarting on the outside lane during the final overtime attempt, said. “It seems like always as the leader, you want to take the top [lane], but I’ve gotten beat twice here by the bottom [lane] and I have the lead on the bottom barely over [Reddick]. He had a better can than us. He was a little bit faster. Second sucks, but really proud of the effort, though. I feel like I’ve been trying to put weeks together like this and this is really good step. Everyone did a great job on the team. Strategy was awesome, car was awesome all day and really proud of the team.”

“I feel like we definitely were in contention [for the win], for sure,” Gibbs added. “I needed to get up sooner off of [Turn] 2 to clear [Byron]. Just missed it by a little bit. Then after that, it takes a lap to get wound back up after you lose momentum. I appreciate my guys bring me a great car. Definitely a little frustrating, but we’ll take it. It’s a good day and thanks to everybody that helps my program out.”

Kyle Busch, who led 24 laps and won the second stage period, finished in fourth place for his first top-five finish since finishing fourth at Dover Motor Speedway in April, though he remains 93 points below the top-16 cutline, while Michigan native Brad Keselowski finished in the top five on the track.

Chris Buescher, rookie Zane Smith, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin and rookie Carson Hocevar completed the top 10 in the final running order. The sixth-place run was enough for Buescher to remain above the top-16 cutline by 16 points.

Notably, Chase Elliott finished 15th after leading 29 laps, Austin Dillon ended up 17th ahead of Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. fell back to 24th, though he remains above the top-16 cutline by 77 points. In addition, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace finished 25th and 26th, respectively. As a result, Chastain holds sole possession of the 16th and final transfer spot into the Playoffs by a single point over Wallace with two regular-season events remaining on the schedule.

There were 26 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 41 laps. In addition, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 24th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Tyler Reddick leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over Chase Elliott, 28 over Denny Hamlin and 32 over Kyle Larson in his pursuit for his first Cup Series Regular Season Championship.

Results.

1. Tyler Reddick, 15 laps led

2. William Byron, 20 laps led

3. Ty Gibbs, two laps led

4. Kyle Busch, 24 laps led, Stage 2 winner

5. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

6. Chris Buescher

7. Zane Smith

8. Daniel Suarez, seven laps led

9. Denny Hamlin

10. Carson Hocevar

11. Ryan Preece

12. Noah Gragson

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps led

14. Harrison Burton, five laps led

15. Chase Elliott, 29 laps led

16. Erik Jones

17. Austin Dillon

18. Ryan Blaney, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

19. Michael McDowell

20. Justin Haley

21. Cody Ware

22. Josh Berry, four laps led

23. Daniel Hemric

24. Martin Truex Jr., 28 laps led

25. Ross Chastain, one lap down, four laps led

26. Bubba Wallace, one lap down, five laps led

27. Alex Bowman, one lap down

28. Austin Cindric, two laps down

29. John Hunter Nemechek, four laps down

30. AJ Allmendinger, six laps down

31. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Suspension

32. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

33. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

34. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, 41 laps led

35. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

36. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 24, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

August 19, 2024
Larson withstands two overtime attempts amid fuel-mileage battle for first Brickyard 400 victory

Two months after having a Memorial Day Double Duty attempt spoiled due to Mother Nature despite campaigning in his first Indianapolis 500 attempt, Kyle Larson earned his redemption at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning his first Brickyard 400 title on Sunday, July 21, amid two overtime attempts.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led twice for eight of 167 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fifth place and endured a race-long afternoon featuring various pit strategies from start to finish as he was shuffled from the front to the middle of the pack and vice versa.

Running in third place as he tracked Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney for the win in the closing laps while also trying to conserve his fuel tank to the finish, an opportunity presented itself for Larson, who rallied from an early slow pit service, to strike after a late on-track incident involving Kyle Busch sent the event into overtime. Then after Keselowski ran out of fuel before the first overtime attempt, Larson, who moved up and started alongside Blaney on the front row, managed to snatch the lead from Blaney before a multi-car wreck sent the event into a second overtime attempt. Then during the latest overtime attempt, Larson fended Blaney and held off a late charge from pole-sitter Tyler Reddick for one lap just before Ryan Preece wrecked on the backstretch, generating a race-ending caution on the final lap. From there, Larson had enough fuel in his low tank to claim the checkered flag and add the Brickyard 400 to his extensive racing list of accomplished victories in the event’s historic return.

With on-track qualifying on Saturday, July 20, to determine the starting lineup, Tyler Reddick notched his second Cup pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 181.932 mph in 49.469 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Denny Hamlin, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.492 mph in 49.589 seconds.

Before the event, Austin Cindric dropped to the rear of the field due to repairs made to his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse after scraping the outside wall during his qualifying run. Martin Truex Jr. was also sent to the rear of the field before the event’s start due to an inspection violation from an unapproved adjustment that occurred on Saturday. To go along with starting at the rear of the field, Truex was assessed a drive-through penalty through pit road at the event’s start.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin dueled for the lead through the first two turns and ahead of a tight two-by-two formation from within the field before Reddick muscled his No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry XSE ahead entering the backstretch. With the field behind jostling for early spots for two remaining turns, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Hamlin while Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell and William Byron followed suit in the top six.

As Martin Truex Jr. served his pass-through penalty through pit road prior to the second lap, Reddick retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Elliott, Larson, McDowell and Byron followed suit in the top six. With nearly the entire field running in a single-line formation through every turn and straightaway, Reddick remained in front by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Hamlin, Larson and McDowell while Byron, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek were racing in the top 10. Behind, Austin Dillon trailed in 11th place ahead of Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton while Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Noah Gragson were mired in the top 20 ahead of Chase Briscoe, rookie Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland and rookie Carson Hocevar. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson occupied 26th place ahead of rookie Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon and Erik Jones while Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric were mired in the top 35. In the process, Truex trailed in 39th place, dead last, by 41 seconds.

Ten laps later, Reddick continued to lead by half a second over Elliott as he also led an eight-car breakaway that included Hamlin, Larson, McDowell, Blaney, Byron and Gibbs, with the latter trailing the lead by more than five seconds. Meanwhile, ninth-place Stenhouse led a second wave of competitors comprising of nine competitors, including Nemechek, Austin Dillon, Logano, Bowman, Wallace, Burton, Bell and LaJoie, all of whom were separated by four seconds of one another, with Stenhouse trailing the lead by 14 points, while 18th-place runner Buescher led a third wave of competitors comprising of nearly the rest of the field as Buescher trailed by lead by 21 seconds. In the process, AJ Allmendinger dropped to 38th place and was pinned a lap down due to pitting a few laps earlier under green to address his ill-handling No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. In addition, Truex was mired in 37th place and trailing the lead by more than 40 seconds.

Anther three laps later, pit strategies commenced as Hamlin surrendered third place to pit his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE under green. The following lap, teammates Elliott, Larson, Byron and Bowman pitted their respective Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets. In the process, Hamlin managed to cycle his way past all four Hendrick drivers as they were exiting pit road while Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Blaney by the Lap 25 mark.

Blaney would then pit his No. 12 Menards Toyota Camry XSE from the runner-up spot as Stenhouse, Burton, Buescher and Truex all pitted their respective entries. Soon after, Elliott was penalized for a blend line violation, where Elliott attempted to cross the blend line and enter the track early in Turn 2, which was a violation and forced Elliott to pilot his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through pit road at pit road speed. Amid Elliott’s penalty, Reddick continued to lead by more than a second over McDowell while Gibbs, Nemechek and Austin Dillon were scored in the top five.

By Lap 35, Reddick stabilized his advantage to over McDowell as Gibbs, Nemechek, Logano, Wallace, Bell, Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe followed suit in the top 10. By then, more names including Zane Smith, Ryan Preece, Berry, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Jimmie Johnson, Hocevar, Daniel Hemric and Ross Chastain all pitted under green. More names including Gragson, Ty Gibbs and Cindric pitted during the proceeding laps before Reddick surrendered the lead to pit under green on Lap 37. McDowell, who inherited the lead in the process, pitted his No. 34 Horizon Ford Mustang Dark Horse the following lap as more names including Nemechek, Wallace, Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Logano and Suarez all pitted. Amid the pit stops, Austin Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road.

Nearing the Lap 40 mark, Christopher Bell, who inherited the lead, pitted under green along with LaJoie as Brad Keselowski assumed the lead. Then once Keselowski pitted under green by Lap 41, Hamlin, who managed to overtake Reddick as a result of pitting earlier and gaining the lost ground on the track when Reddick pitted latter, cycled into the lead as Larson, Blaney, Byron and Reddick were scored in the top five.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Hamlin fended off a late charge from Larson to capture his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson settled in second place ahead of Blaney, Byron and Reddick while McDowell, Bowman, Gibbs, Stenhouse and Gragson were scored in the top 10. By then, 33 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap while select notables including Ty Dillon and Cindric were scored a lap down. Meanwhile, both Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing competitors including Keselowski and Buescher were also off the lead lap category due to late issues. Keselowski was mired in 36th place after he was assessed a late blend line violation penalty. Meanwhile, Buescher was in 38th place after pitting under green with smoke coming from his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops, where mixed strategies ensued, Gibbs and Wallace exited pit road first and second following two tire services. Hamlin followed suit on four fresh tires along with Larson, Burton, Byron, Bowman, Bell, Stenhouse and Blaney. Soon after, Ross Chastain and Erik Jones pitted to top off their respective entries on fuel.

The second stage period started on Lap 55 as Reddick and McDowell occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick briefly muscled ahead of McDowell through the first turn until Nemechek, who restarted behind Reddick, made his move beneath Reddick and assumed the lead entering Turn 2 and the backstretch. With Nemechek leading the race, the rest of the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes and dueled in close-quarters racing for a full lap. A majority of competitors racing in the mid-pack region continued to fan out and duel against one another for positions before all settled in a long single-file line by Lap 57.

Amid the early battles, Nemechek retained the lead and he would proceed to lead at the Lap 60 mark by a second-and-a-half while Reddick, Kyle Busch, LaJoie, McDowell and Wallace occupied the top-six spots on the track. With Logano, Hamlin, Byron and Larson rounding out the top 10, Blaney was mired in 11th ahead of Gibbs, Gilliland, Hocevar and Bell while Elliott was back in 18th place behind Jimmie Johnson. In addition, Truex was up to 22nd place as he was racing behind Bowman and Gragson.

By Lap 65, Nemechek continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Reddick while Kyle Busch, LaJoie and McDowell continued to run in the top five ahead of Wallace, Logano, Hamlin, Byron and Larson.

Two laps later, the caution flew due to a tire carcass that came off of the left rear of Cody Ware’s No. 15 Peoria TT Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the backstretch. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Nemechek pitted while the rest led by Busch and Wallace remained on the track. Not long after, Larson pitted for a second time to ensure the right-rear tire of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was tightened. McDowell and Haley had also pitted with Larson.

With the race restarting on Lap 73, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Busch, who was running tight on fuel, rocketed ahead of Wallace and Gilliland with the lead through the first two turns. Entering the backstretch, however, the caution quickly returned when Preece, who was in 18th place, made contact with both Burton and Byron, where Preece got squeezed in between both, as Byron, who had made earlier contact with Chase Briscoe entering the backstretch, veered right into the outside wall before he came back across the middle of the track and got T-boned by Allmendinger as Byron spun his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and hit the inside wall head-on while Allmendinger also made contact with the wall. The incident was enough to knock Burton, Allmendinger and Byron out of contention while Preece continued.

During the caution period, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Wallace and Gilliland remained on the track.

The start of the next restart period on Lap 78 featured a side-by-side duel between Wallace and Elliott through the first two turns as both continued to drag-race against one another through the backstretch. Wallace would then manage to muscle his No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Elliott through Turn 3 while Hamlin went three-wide on Logano and Gilliland to boost his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE into third place. With LaJoie missing his lane and going wide while losing a handful of spots in the process, Wallace would proceed to lead the halfway mark on Lap 80 as Elliott, Hamlin, Gilliland, Nemechek, Logano, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Bell were scored in the top 10 while LaJoie fell back to 11th place in front of Briscoe and Truex.

At the Lap 85 mark, Wallace stretched his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while third-place Elliott only trailed Elliott by six-tenths of a second. A lap later, Gilliland surrendered fourth place to pit his No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green, but he lost a lap in the process due to a slow pit service as Wallace continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott at the Lap 90 mark. With Hamlin occupying third place, Team Penske’s Logano and Blaney were scored in the top five as Nemechek, Reddick, Stenhouse, Truex and Bell were running in the top 10.

With three laps remaining in the second stage period, Logano surrendered a top-five spot to pit his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green, where he would then manage to regain speed and remain on the lead lap ahead of the leader Wallace, who continued to lead Elliott on the track.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 100, Wallace captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Elliott followed suit in second ahead of Hamlin, Blaney and Nemechek while Reddick, Stenhouse, Truex, Bell and Briscoe were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 39 starters, including Logano, were scored on the lead lap.

During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Wallace pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track. Not long after, Reddick pitted for a second time to address a loose left front wheel.

With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed ahead with the lead while Stenhouse quickly overtook Nemechek to take the runner-up spot. As the field behind jostled for spots through the backstretch, the caution then flew when Truex, who was mixed in a tight three-wide battle with Larson and Chastain for sixth place exiting the backstretch, made contact with Larson, which got Truex loose as he slid his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE sideways and slapped the outside wall in Turn 3. In the process, Josh Berry got hit by Ty Gibbs and he ended up sliding and hitting the outside wall, which damaged the front nose of the No. 4 Panini/Caitlin Clark Ford Mustang Dark Horse and took Berry out of contention while Truex continued.

During the caution period, some including LaJoie, Reddick, Erik Jones, Wallace, Gilliland, Preece and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

The start of the next restart period with 51 laps remaining did not last a single corner as Hocevar, who was running in the middle of the pack, made contact with Blaney, which generated a domino effect as Blaney then got turned into Austin Dillon and made contact with Jimmie Johnson, who made contact with Logano in the process as both Johnson and Logano wrecked hard against the Turn 1 outside wall while Blaney, Dillon and Hocevar continued. At the moment of caution, Hamlin had retained the lead while Nemechek, Briscoe, Stenhouse and Chastain were scored in the top five.

During the caution period, some led by Hamlin, who was on the edge of a fuel window, pitted while the rest led by Nemechek and Chastain remained on the track. By the time his pit service was complete, where he spent a little extra time in his pit stall to top off on fuel, Hamlin was the sixth competitor to exit pit road and dropped to 19th place in the running order.

As the race restarted under green with 46 laps remaining, Chastain gained a strong launch from the outside lane to boost his No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over Nemechek through Turn 1. With Chastain leading through Turn 2 and the backstretch, Nemechek followed suit in second ahead of Alex Bowman, who boosted his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into third place ahead of teammates Larson and Elliott while Gragson, Hocevar, Reddick, Keselowski and Justin Haley were mixed into the top 10. By the following lap, Hamlin moved up to 15th place as Suarez executed a bold three-wide move over both Briscoe and Stenhouse for 22nd place during the next lap.

With 40 laps remaining and a majority of the field monitoring their fuel tank and strategy for the finish, Chastain was leading by two-tenths of a second over Nemechek followed by Bowman, Larson and Elliott while Gragson, Hocevar, Reddick, Keselowski and Haley occupied the top 10 on the track ahead of Blaney, Daniel Hemric, Gibbs, Zane Smith and Hamlin. Meanwhile, Bell, Gilliland, McDowell, Wallace and Preece were in the top 20 ahead of Kyle Busch, Suarez, Cindric, Briscoe and Stenhouse while Austin Dillon, LaJoie, Ty Dillon, Cody Ware and Erik Jones were mired in the top 30.

Two laps later, Nemechek and Bowman pitted their respective entries from second and third, respectively. Both of their pit stops occurred a lap after McDowell had pitted as the leader Chastain along with Haley pitted during the next lap. As a result, Larson assumed the lead ahead of teammate Elliott and Gragson before he pitted under green with 37 laps remaining, which handed the lead to Elliott.

Then just as Elliott and Reddick pitted their respective entries under green, the caution returned with 36 laps remaining due to Truex spinning from the bottom to the top of the track entering Turn 3, where he hit the wall and flat-spotted his left-rear tire. By then, Gragson was leading ahead of Hocevar, Keselowski, Blaney and Hemric. During the caution period, Gibbs pitted his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE while pit road was closed due to an engine concern, and the hood was lifted as his pit crew diagnosed the issue before Gibbs, who was still dealing with the issue, proceeded. During the caution period, Gragson and Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Keselowski and Blaney remained on the track.

With the event restarting with 31 laps remaining, Keselowski and Hemric led the field to the green flag as both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Keselowski drifted up and cleared Hemric to lead in his No. 6 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse through the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Blaney moved up to second and Hemric battled Zane Smith for third place while the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions through two and three lanes deep. As a series of battles continued to occur around every turn and straightaway, Keselowski retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Blaney with approximately 30 laps remaining as Smith, Hemric and Hamlin trailed in the top five.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Keselowski continued to lead by half a second over Blaney while Smith, Hemric and Hamlin continued to follow suit in the top five. Behind, Bell, Gilliland, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Wallace occupied the top 10 as Preece, Larson, Suarez, Reddick and Stenhouse trailed in the top 15 ahead of Briscoe, LaJoie, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Chastain.

Five laps later and with the entire field running in a single-file line, Keselowski stabilized his lead to four-tenths of a second over Blaney as Smith, Hemric, Hamlin, Bell, Gilliland, Busch, Cindric and Larson followed suit in the top 10, with Reddick, Wallace, Preece, Suarez and Briscoe scored in the top 15.

Another two laps later, a heated battle between Larson and Busch ignited as both swapped spots before Busch overtook Larson to assume seventh place. With Gilliland being dispatched by both, Busch was trying to close in on Bell for sixth place and Reddick trailed Larson in ninth place while Keselowski continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Blaney, Smith, Hemric and Hamlin. Larson would then overtake Busch again on the track for seventh place with 16 laps remaining before he overtook Bell for sixth place with 15 laps remaining as he proceeded to set his sights on Hamlin.

Then with 13 laps remaining, Larson gained a huge advantage to overtake Hamlin for fifth place through the first two turns. Hamlin would then fend off Busch for sixth place while Larson continued his march to the front as he had Keselowski, Blaney, Smith and Hemric in front of him. Larson overtook Smith for fourth place while Hamlin was being blocked by Smith, as Blaney was trying to gain a run to overtake Keselowski for the lead with 10 laps remaining. By then, the top-four competitors including Keselowski, Blaney, Hemric and Larson were separated by eight-tenths of a second as Larson was trying to gain a run on Hemric for third place while Blaney could not gain a run on Keselowski for the lead.

With nine laps remaining, Larson overtook Hemric for third place just past the backstretch. With Hemric then pitting under green, Larson started to gain a run on Blaney for the runner-up spot while Keselowski continued to lead during the next lap.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Keselowski continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney as Larson followed suit by less than half a second, with the latter two continuing to intimidate one another and the leader Keselowski questioning whether he had enough fuel to finish. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired in fifth place behind Smith while Reddick was in seventh place behind Kyle Busch.

Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew and the race was sent into overtime when Kyle Busch, who was trying to gain a run on Hamlin for fifth place exiting the backstretch, went up the track and made contact with Hamlin as Busch spun his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up towards the outside wall and made contact with the wall. During the caution period, some led by Zane Smith and including Hamlin, Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Haley, Cody Ware and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Keselowski and including Blaney and Larson remained on the track.

The start of the first overtime attempt featured Larson and Blaney occupying the front row as Keselowski peeled off the racetrack as he ran out of fuel. At the start, Larson and Blaney dueled for the lead in front of the stacked field into Turn 1 just before the caution returned for a vicious multi-car wreck just past the frontstretch when Hemric bumped and sent Nemechek into the inside wall, where both came back across the track and collected Bowman, Briscoe and Hamlin while the rest of the competitors running in the mid-pack region scattered to avoid the carnage. Amid the carnage, Larson had assumed the lead from Blaney, who was left fuming on the radio and the advantage Larson gained to start on the preferred inside lane after Keselowski ran out of fuel, just as the race was placed into a red flag period for 17 minutes.

Once the track was cleared and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, none of the front-runners led by Larson and Blaney pitted while a select few, including Haley and Briscoe, pitted.

The start of the second overtime attempt featured Larson and Blaney occupying the front row, where Larson dueled and muscled ahead of Blaney to retain the lead through the first two turns as Reddick bolted his way past Blaney for the runner-up spot. As Larson led the field through the backstretch, trouble ignited as Preece got bumped by Chase Elliott and spun towards the inside wall just entering the backstretch. Amid Preece’s incident, the race remained under green flag conditions as Larson proceeded to lead through the next two turns.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney trailed by nine-tenths of a second. Then two corners later, the caution flew and the race ended as Preece was unable to limp his No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang Dark Horse away from his wreckage. With the caution ending the race, Larson was able to coast his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 around the Indianapolis circuit for a final time with enough fuel in his tank before he made his way back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag for his first victory at the Brickyard and fourth of the 2024 Cup Series season.

With the victory, Larson achieved his 27th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first since winning at Sonoma Raceway in June and his third crown-jewel victory overall, including the Coca-Cola 60 and the Southern 500, as he became the first four-time race winner of the 2024 season. The victory was the 10th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the ninth of the season for Hendrick Motorsports (HMS, with HMS notching its 11th career win at Indianapolis as Larson became the 16th competitor overall to win the Brickyard 400, while crew chief Cliff Daniels achieved his 20th career victory as a Cup Series crew chief.

“[The Brickyard 400 win]’s for sure up there [on my list of accomplishments],” Larson said on the frontstretch on NBC. “This is just such a prestigious place and such hallowed ground. Pretty neat just to get an opportunity to race here on the oval again. What a job by our [No. 5] team. [They] Never gave up at all. We had the pit stop issue there early on and just fought and dug and had things work out. I love you, Indiana fans. I know you guys love me, too. How about we come back next May and try to kiss these bricks on the IndyCar? I’d love to do [the double again]. We’ll work on it, so I hope we can announce something soon and see you all next May.”

The 2024 Brickyard 400 victory also served both as a redemptive and proud moment for Larson, who was unable to complete a Memorial Day Double Duty attempt between the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May due to on-track precipitation that caused him to miss the latter event while he ended up finishing in 18th place during the Indy 500 while driving for Arrow McLaren’s NTT IndyCar Series team. Ironically, Larson’s race-winning No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sported the exact blue, white and papaya orange scheme he attempted to compete with at the Coca-Cola 600, but Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier ended up competing in when Larson opted to race the Indy 500 before traveling to Charlotte for the 600-mile event.

Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[The Brickyard 400 victory] does [make up the month of May], I guess a little bit,” Larson added. “I wished we could’ve gotten to do both [races] and run the [Coca-Cola] 600 because we had a phenomenal papaya orange car for that race, too, but I think everything just comes full circle and everything’s meant to be. Today definitely felt meant to be for us, with the way strategy was working out, Brad [Keselowski] running out of fuel, me inheriting the front row, all that. A lot had to fall into place and thankfully, it did. I just can’t believe it. It’s just surreal to win here and can’t wait to kiss these bricks with my team, [owner] Rick Hendrick, whose here finally, my family, my friends, everybody. My parents are here, so we’ll be celebrating these next couple weeks.”

As Larson celebrated on the frontstretch and kissed the yard of bricks with his team, Ryan Blaney, who ended up in third place behind Tyler Reddick, was left displeased over having a first Brickyard 400 victory slip from his grasp through two overtime attempts.

“[Losing]’s no fun,” Blaney said. “We had a really good shot to win today. Gosh, our car was fast. I thought we put ourselves in a great spot. I knew [Keselowski] was probably gonna run out if [the race] went green. We came down to the [first overtime] restart and I couldn’t believe [Keselowski] stayed out. I knew there was no way they were gonna make it, so I obviously chose the top [lane] because [Keselowski] might run out in the restart zone and he runs out coming to the green, so he gets to go to pit road and [Larson] gets promoted [to the inside lane front row]. Luck of the day right there, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t even know what to be mad about. I’m mad at losing this race because I thought we were in a perfect position. It stinks to lose’em that way, but appreciate the effort. I hate we don’t get to celebrate with Mr. [Roger] Penske and everyone at [Team] Penske here. That stings a lot…[I’m] Not going to sleep very good tonight, I can tell you that. Just wasn’t meant to be.”

Meanwhile, Reddick was pleased with his runner-up result that marks his third top-three result in a span of four races in 2024 and keeps him in the hunt for the regular-season championship, though he was also left a little disappointed over falling short of having a perfect weekend at the Brickyard after winning the pole and being the fastest during Friday’s practice session.

“It was a great recovery for us,” Reddick said. “Obviously, a lot of cars and a lot of things had to happen for us to get second. Honestly, it was a good day, but obviously the return to the Brickyard, it’s tough coming up short one spot, but once we got off Turn 2 there, I knew I was pretty much it and [Larson] was gonna have to make a mistake. Glad we got a good recovery. Another solid points day. In a big picture, it was a great day for our team.”

Christopher Bell came home in fourth place while Bubba Wallace, who won the second stage, recorded a strong fifth-place result as he is currently only seven points below the top-16 cutline in his efforts to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

Todd Gilliland, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson and Chase Elliott completed the top 10 in the final running order.

There were 18 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 24 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 22nd event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 15 over Tyler Reddick, 43 over Denny Hamlin and 73 over Ryan Blaney.

Results.

1. Kyle Larson, eight laps led

2. Tyler Reddick, 40 laps led

3. Ryan Blaney

4. Christopher Bell, two laps led

5. Bubba Wallace, 26 laps led, Stage 2 winner

6. Todd Gilliland, one lap led

7. Austin Cindric

8. Daniel Suarez

9. Noah Gragson, three laps led

10. Chase Elliott, one lap led

11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

12. Carson Hocevar

13. Austin Dillon

14. Corey LaJoie

15. Ross Chastain, eight laps led

16. Michael McDowell, one lap led

17. Zane Smith

18. Cody Ware

19. Ty Dillon

20. Justin Haley

21. Brad Keselowski, 35 laps led

22. Chris Buescher

23. Ty Gibbs

24. Chase Briscoe

25. Kyle Busch, one lap down, five laps led

26. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

27. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down

28. Erik Jones, two laps down

29. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led

30. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

31. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

32. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

33. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Accident

34. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

35. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

36. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

37. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

38. William Byron – OUT, Accident

39. BJ McLeod – OUT, Engine

The NASCAR Cup Series’ teams and competitors will be taking the next two weekends off due to the Paris Summer Olympics before returning to action at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, for the Cook Out 400. The event is scheduled to occur on August 11 and air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

July 21, 2024
Ryan Blaney storms to second Cup victory of 2024 at Pocono

The number 12 was the lucky number of the day for Ryan Blaney as he muscled his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse to his 12th NASCAR Cup Series career victory in The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 14.

The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, led the final 44 of 160 scheduled laps in an event where he started in eighth place and spent the majority of the event racing toward the front.

After surrendering points to pit before the first two stage’s conclusion as part of a pit strategy plan that was also enforced by every participant from start to finish, Blaney cycled into the lead following a late pit stop, where he pitted with the field, during a caution period with less than 45 laps remaining. The initial leader, Kyle Larson, was among four competitors who were penalized for speeding on pit road.

Despite having his momentum and steady launches from restarts with the lead stalled due to three late-race caution periods, Blaney capitalized on the final restart period with 23 laps remaining to rocket ahead of Alex Bowman amid a strong shove from Denny Hamlin. From there, Blaney kept both Hamlin and Bowman trailing by as far as a second before he claimed his second Cup Series victory of the 2024 season and gained added momentum with the 2024 Playoffs looming as he strives to defend his series championship.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 13, Ty Gibbs scored his second Cup pole position of the 2024 season and his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 170.039 mph in 52.929 seconds. Joining him on the front row was William Byron, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 169.661 mph in 53.047 seconds.

Before the event, Kyle Busch dropped to the rear of the field with a new oil line attached to his No. 8 zone/GetGo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Corey LaJoie also dropped to the rear of the field due to repairs made to his suspension of the No. 7 Parity in Paris Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 following his qualifying run.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, the Charlotte duos of Ty Gibbs and William Byron dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and in front of a tight two-by-two formation between the field until Gibbs tried to muscle ahead from the outside lane in Turn 1. Byron, however, fought back through Long Pond Straightaway and through the Tunnel Curve as both he and Gibbs remained dead even in front of Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. With the field navigating back to the frontstretch, Gibbs, who steered his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE towards the bottom of the track, managed to lead the first lap ahead of Byron.

As Gibbs cleared Byron during the second lap and entering Turn 1, Byron fended off Truex and Hamlin for the runner-up spot as Tyler Reddick tried to close in from fifth place. With Byron leading a parade of competitors that included Truex, Hamlin, Reddick, teammate Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney from the runner-up spot, Gibbs stretched his early advantage to more than a second by the fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Gibbs continued to extend his advantage as he was now leading by three seconds over Byron as Truex, Hamlin and Reddick trailed in the top five. Behind, Blaney occupied sixth place ahead of Bowman, Kyle Larson, rookie Josh Berry and Christopher Bell while Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, rookie Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher were scored in the top 15 ahead of rookie Carson Hocevar, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton was mired in 21st place ahead of Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Noah Gragon and Chase Briscoe while AJ Allmendinger, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric and Corey LaJoie were mired in the top 30, with Todd Gilliland, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Haley, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, Cody Ware and JJ Yeley rounding out the 37-car field.

Four laps later, the event’s first caution flew when Noah Gragson, who was running in 24th place, spun and backed his No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the outside wall in Turn 1, where he emerged with rear-end damage and retired from further competition. During the event’s first competition period, some of the drivers, including the front-runners led by Gibbs, remained on the track while the rest led by Bell pitted.

When the race restarted on Lap 17, the field jumbled up into two tight lanes through the frontstretch as Gibbs led the field through the first turn. Then as Josh Berry went up the track through Turn 1 and plummeted below the leaderboard, Gibbs, who also went wide in Turn 1, muscled his No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE into the lead. Teammate Hamlin would follow suit and overtake Byron for the runner-up spot just past the Tunnel Curve as Gibbs, who slipped to fifth place, went three wide with Blaney and Chase Elliott as they battled for the spot. Bowman trailed the trio of Blaney, Gibbs and Elliott through the frontstretch and Reddick navigated his way into third place as he passed Byron and then set his sights on owner Hamlin for more. By then, Berry pitted his No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green as Truex proceeded to lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin by Lap 20.

At the Lap 25 mark, Truex stretched his advantage to more than a second over teammate Hamlin as Reddick, Blaney and Byron trailed in the top five ahead of Gibbs, Elliott, Bowman, Zane Smith and Larson. Behind, Logano and Keselowski battled for 11th place as Bell, Erik Jones and Cindric were racing in the top 15. By then, Bubba Wallace pitted his No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE under green as he was also able to blend back onto the track ahead of the leader Truex without losing a lap. Soon after, third-place Blaney along with Gibbs, Zane Smith, Larson, Cindric and Ross Chastain pitted their respective entries under green as part of a strategic move by Lap 27 while Truex retained the lead by a second over teammate Hamlin and by three seconds over third-place Reddick.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Truex claimed his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Hamlin followed suit in second place and by a second on the track while Reddick, Byron, Elliott, Bowman, Logano, Keselowski, Bell and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10. By then, 36 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the front-runners led by Truex and including Hamlin, Reddick, Byron and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Logano, Keselowski and Bell remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 35 as Logano and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Logano and Keselowski dueled for the lead through the frontstretch as Keselowski muscled his No. 6 Nexlizet Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead with the lead. As Logano went wide in Turn 1 while losing a bevy of spots in the process, Keselowski retained the lead in front of the field through Long Pond Straightaway and through the Tunnel Curve before he navigated his way back to Turn 3 and the frontstretch, where he led the next lap as Erik Jones, Bell, Buescher and Hocevar followed suit in the top five.

Keselowski would proceed to lead the Lap 40 mark by a second over Jones as Bell, Buescher and Hocevar continued to pursue the lead in the top five. Behind, Chase Briscoe was up to sixth place ahead of Michael McDowell, Logano, Stenhouse and Elliott while Suarez, Kyle Busch, LaJoie, Hamlin and Justin Haley were in the top 15.

By Lap 45, Keselowski stretched his advantage to three seconds over runner-up Erik Jones while Bell, Buescher and Hocevar continued to trail in the top five and within six seconds. Behind, Elliott, the highest-running competitor on the track who pitted during the first stage break, muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into sixth place after he overtook Briscoe while McDowell, Logano and Hamlin followed suit in the top 10. Meanwhile, Stenhouse was in 11th place ahead of Suarez, Busch, Gibbs and Blaney while Byron, LaJoie, Truex, Haley and Zane Smith were in the top 20 ahead of Larson, Chastain, Wallace, Reddick, Harrison Burton and Bowman.

On Lap 52, the caution flew when Ross Chastain, who slipped sideways and hit the outside wall in Turn 3, limped his No. 1 Busch Light Peach Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch before he went dead straight and smacked the outside wall in Turn 1, where he proceeded to limp his damaged car to his pit stall. Despite his pit crew’s efforts to repair the car, Chastain’s event came to an end as his 2024 Cup Playoffs hopes were jeopardized.

During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted for service while the rest led by Gibbs, Cindric and Berry remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of teammate Truex, Byron, Blaney, Zane Smith, Elliott, Larson, Keselowski, Bowman and Bell. Amid the pit stops, Hocevar was penalized for an equipment interference, Gilliland was busted for speeding on pit road and Harrison Burton was penalized for a safety violation. In addition, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon would spend extra time in their respective pit stalls to have their brake serviced.

The start of the next restart period on Lap 58 featured a heated battle between Gibbs and Berry through the frontstretch. As the field began to fan out, Berry managed to muscle ahead with the lead as Hamlin battled teammate Gibbs for the runner-up spot. With the field still fanning out from Long Pond Straightaway to the Tunnel Curve, Berry retained the lead for the following lap ahead of Gibbs, Hamlin, Byron and Cindric while Truex was in sixth ahead of Bowman, Blaney, Zane Smith and Keselowski.

Just past the Lap 65 mark, Berry retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin while Gibbs settled in third place as he trailed the lead by nearly two seconds. Behind, Hendrick Motorsports’ Byron and Elliott trailed in the top five as Blaney, Truex, Keselowski, Cindric and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10. Shortly after, however, Hamlin gained a strong run on Berry from Turn 3 to overtake him entering the frontstretch and move his No. 11 Mavis Tire Toyota Camry XSE into the lead on Lap 67. Hamlin would then proceed to lead at the Lap 70 mark by a second over Berry while Elliott overtook Gibbs for third place.

On Lap 72, Cindric pitted his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse from the top 11 and he spent extra time in his pit stall while his pit crew filled up the car with enough fuel for the second stage’s conclusion. Back on the track, Gibbs fended off Blaney for fourth place while Hamlin continued to lead by two seconds over Berry as third-place Elliott started to close in on Berry for more. Gibbs would then pit under green from fourth place on Lap 75 before Berry, who was overtaken by Elliott earlier, pitted two laps later.

At the halfway mark on Lap 80, Hamlin, who was among many trying to conserve fuel, was leading by four seconds over Elliott as Blaney, Truex and Keselowski were racing in the top five ahead of Buescher, Byron, Erik Jones, Larson and Bowman. Meanwhile, Bell was in 11th place ahead of Logano, Reddick, LaJoie and Briscoe while Zane Smith, Ryan Preece, Allmendinger, Stenhouse and Suarez trailed in the top 20 ahead of John Hunter Nemechek, Burton, McDowell, Wallace and Gilliland. By then, Busch was mired in 30th place while Gibbs, Berry and Cindric were mired back from 33rd to 35th, respectively, despite remaining on the lead lap category.

With five laps remaining in the second stage period, Buescher surrendered his spot from the top 10 to pit his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green, all while Hamlin stabilized his advantage to nearly four seconds over Elliott. Blaney and Truex would then surrender third and fourth place on the track, respectively, to pit with three laps remaining in the second stage period.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 95, Hamlin captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Elliott trailed in second place by five seconds while Keselowski, Byron, Erik Jones, Larson, Bowman, Bell, Logano and Redick were scored in the top 10. By then, all who recently pitted, including Cindric, Truex, Gibbs, Blaney, Berr and Buescher remained on the lead lap as a total of 32 in the field of 37 were scored on the same lap as the leader Hamlin.

During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Hamlin pitted for service while select names led by Buescher and including Berry, Blaney, Gibbs and Truex remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Reddick exited pit road first ahead of Keselowski, Gilliland, Larson and Erik Jones while Hamlin exited in 10th place behind Logano, Elliott, Bowman and Byron. Amid the pit stops, LaJoie was penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 60 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Buescher and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to three lanes through the frontstretch as Buescher rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane through Turn 1. Behind, a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Blaney, Truex and Berry through Long Pond Straightaway, with Blaney continuing to battle Truex for the spot just past the Tunnel Curve while Berry was trying to fend off Larson for fourth place. Amid a series of jostles for late spots, Buescher stretched his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds as he led the next lap period.

With 55 laps remaining, Buescher stabilized his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Blaney while third-place Truex trailed by two seconds. Keselowski and Larson followed suit in the top five as Gibbs, Reddick, Elliott, Logano and Hamlin were mired in the top 10. Buescher would continue to lead by more than a second over Blaney with 50 laps remaining as Berry pitted from the top 15 under green. Ultimately, Berry would lose a lap to the leaders following an extensive service due to the Tennessean sliding through his pit box.

With 46 laps remaining, the caution returned when Todd Gilliland, who fell off the pace through the frontstretch while running in the top 25, scraped his No. 38 C.H. REED Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the outside wall in Turn 1. During the caution period, the entire lead lap field led by Buescher, all of whom were within their fuel window to reach the scheduled distance, pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid more mixed strategies, Larson gained four spots to exit pit road in first place as he was followed by Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin, Bowman, Logano, Byron, Truex, Bell and Keselowski. Shortly after, however, Larson along with teammate Elliott, Suarez and Gibbs were sent to the rear of the field due to speeding in Section 7 on pit road. As a result, Blaney cycled into the lead.

The start of the next restart period with 40 laps remaining did not last long when Kyle Busch, who restarted 16th, was turned by LaJoie, whom he was trying to block amid the three-wide battle, as he spun from the bottom apron entering Turn 1, shot back across the track and collided into both Preece and Stenhouse as Stenhouse spun backward and smacked the outside wall hard while Preece clipped Burton as both spun through the turn. Allmendinger, Hocevar and Cindric would also get involved in the carnage. The accident not only capped off Busch’s long event that commenced with starting at the rear of the field with a new oil line to his No. 8 Chevrolet, but it negatively affected his hopes of making the 2024 Cup Playoffs yet again as the Pocono wreck marked his fifth DNF in seven races and his sixth time finishing outside the top 20 over the last nine races.

As the event restarted under green with 34 laps remaining, Blaney, who received a strong shove from Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Best Friends Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the outside lane during the previous restart period, received the same help from Bowman through the frontstretch for the current restart period as he muscled his No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead through Turn 1 while Bowman retained second ahead of Hamlin, Logano, Byron and Bell. The caution, however, would quickly return when Zane Smith, who was trying to charge his way into the top 15, got pinned in between Nemechek and McDowell resulting in McDowell hitting the outside wall in Long Pond Straightaway while both Smith and Nemechek were sent spinning and colliding into the inside wall.

The start of the next restart period with 29 laps remaining featured Blaney trying to fend off Bowman through the frontstretch as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes. A lap later, the caution returned due to fluid on the course as the pole-sitter Gibbs, who fell off the pace during the restart, was trying to limp his car back to his pit stall after his engine blew up with both smoke and fluid coming out of the exhaust pipe.

With the race restarting with 23 laps remaining, Blaney received a shove from Hamlin on the outside lane to edge ahead of Bowman entering the first turn and he would retain the lead through Long Pond Straightaway while Hamlin and Bowman battled dead even for second place in front of Byron and Logano. Bell and Truex would battle for seventh place in front of Wallace and Keselowski as both Bowman and Hamlin battled dead even for second place in front of Byron and Logano while Blaney, who led the next lap, stretched his advantage to more than half a second.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Blaney continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bowman as Bowman started to close back in on Blaney for the top spot. Behind, Hamlin retained third place ahead of Byron and Logano while Reddick, Truex, Keselowski, Wallace and Elliott were scored in the top 10 ahead of Bell, Buescher, Larson, Briscoe and Suarez.

Five laps later, Blaney stretched his advantage to more than a second over Bowman as Hamlin, Byron and Logano trailed within three seconds in the top five. Blaney would stabilize his advantage to a second over Bowman with 10 laps remaining as Hamlin, Byron and Logano continued to trail in the top five. By then, Reddick retained sixth place ahead of Keselowski while Truex was back in eighth place as he was running ahead of Elliott and Wallace.

With five laps remaining, Blaney retained the lead by more than two seconds in his No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang Dark Horse over Hamlin, who overtook Bowman with a bold pass from the outside lane in Turn 3 three laps earlier. Meanwhile, Byron would retain fourth place just ahead of Logano, Reddick and Keselowski while eighth-place Truex trailed the lead by seven seconds. By then, Larson was mired in 12th place, Suarez was scored in 16th place and Elliott remained ahead of Wallace in ninth place.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained as the leader by more than a second over Hamlin. With Hamlin unable to narrow the deficit for a final time, Blaney was able to navigate his way around Pocono’s three tricky corners smoothly for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and cruised to his second checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.

With the victory, Blaney, who recorded his first Cup Series career victory while driving for Wood Brothers Racing in June 2017, notched his 12th career win in his 327th start in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since winning at Iowa Speedway four races ago. The victory also made Blaney the fifth competitor overall to achieve multiple victories through the first 21 scheduled events of the 2024 Cup Series season.

Blaney’s Pocono victory was also the fifth of the season for the Ford nameplate, the fifth overall for Ford’s Dark Horse stock car and the fourth of the 2024 season for Team Penske, with the Penske organization returning to Victory Lane at Pocono for the first time since the 2011 season.

Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I think just things are really kind of falling into place for us,” Blaney said on USA Network. “I feel like we’ve gotten to a great place on speed, the last two months especially. I feel like we honestly had a couple races slip away from us, which I thought we had a good shot at winning. So, it’s nice to just stick to the plan today. Kind of our plan was trying to have track position at the end because I knew our car was fast enough. Super proud of [crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler], the whole No. 12 boys. So cool to win here again. I won here seven years ago for my first Cup win, so awesome to be back. It’s just as special to win here today. You love tracks that have a special meaning to you. Places you get your first win and things like that, so this place means so much to me. So proud of the effort. Looking forward to, hopefully, continuing this momentum into next week at the boss’ [Roger Penske] track up at Indy.”

Denny Hamlin, who led 31 laps compared to Blaney’s 44 and was striving for his record-setting eighth Pocono victory, settled in second place as he rallied from finishing no higher than 12th over his last five races on the schedule while Alex Bowman, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at the Chicago Street Course, finished in a strong third place.

“Never lose a race, just would always run out of time, right? That’s just part of it,” Hamlin said. “Track position’s such a big thing. When [Blaney] jumped on that stage that we won, that put them in front of us and [it] certainly was gonna be hard to pass, and just not enough laps, really, of green [flag] there towards the end. Hats off to them. Great run. He kept great pace up there towards the front. It was really hard for me to even try to get close to reeling him in. Great job to this whole Mavis Tires & Brakes team. Shame we couldn’t get to Victory Lane, but another day.”

“[It’s] Hard to be satisfied when you restart on the front row, last restart and can’t get the job done,” Bowman said. “Proud of everybody on our Ally No. 48 [team]. We struggled with our car in traffic quite a bit and probably made most of our adjustments based on traffic and then, just got too free there at the end when we had some clear air. A good solid day for us. At least we’re pointed in the right direction. It’s been a good two weeks for us and going to a really historic racetrack that means a lot to me personally next week, so hopefully, we can get the job done there.”

Teammate William Byron muscled the red No. 24 Raptor High Heat Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a fourth-place result while Joey Logano ended up in fifth place.

Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10 in the final running order.

There were eight lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 34 laps. In addition, 23 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 21st event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Chase Elliott leads the regular-season standings by three points over teammate Kyle Larson, 15 over Tyler Reddick, 20 over Denny Hamlin, 57 over William Byron, 63 over Martin Truex Jr. and 76 over Ryan Blaney.

Results.

1. Ryan Blaney, 44 laps led

2. Denny Hamlin, 31 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Alex Bowman

4. William Byron

5. Joey Logano, three laps led

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Brad Keselowski, 20 laps led

8. Martin Truex Jr., 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

9. Chase Elliott

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Chris Buescher, 19 laps led

12. Christopher Bell

13. Kyle Larson

14. Erik Jones

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Austin Cindric

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Josh Berry, eight laps led

21. AJ Allmendinger

22. Justin Haley

23. Austin Dillon

24. Michael McDowell, two laps down

25. Daniel Hemric- OUT, Suspension

26. Cody Ware – OUT, Overheating

27. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Engine, 21 laps led

28. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

29. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident

30. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

31. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

32. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

34. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

35. JJ Yeley – OUT, Fuel pump

36. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

37. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 21, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

July 14, 2024
Logano withstands five overtime attempts for fuel-mileage Cup victory at Nashville

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

1. Joey Logano, nine laps led

2. Zane Smith

3. Tyler Reddick, 16 laps led

4. Ryan Preece

5. Chris Buescher

6. Ryan Blaney, 26 laps led

7. Bubba Wallace

8. Kyle Larson

9. Daniel Hemric

10. Noah Gragson

11. AJ Allmendinger, one lap led

12. Denny Hamlin, 70 laps led

13. Justin Haley

14. Alex Bowman

15. Austin Cindric

16. Carson Hocevar

17. Todd Gilliland

18. Chase Elliott

19. William Byron

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Chase Briscoe

22. Daniel Suarez

23. Ty Gibbs, two laps led

24. Martin Truex Jr.

25. Brad Keselowski, one lap down

26. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

27. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

28. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

29. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident

30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

31. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

32. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

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

34. Erik Jones – OUT, Suspension

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

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

37. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

38. Chad Finchum – OUT, Electrical

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

July 1, 2024
Bell perseveres through dry and slick conditions for dramatic Cup victory at New Hampshire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

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

2. Chase Briscoe

3. Josh Berry

4. Kyle Laron

5. Chris Buescher

6. Tyler Reddick, 53 laps led

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Ross Chastain

11. Ryan Preece

12. Todd Gilliland, 19 laps led

13. Erik Jones

14. Harrison Burton

15. Michael McDowell

16. Ty Gibbs

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Chase Elliott, 41 laps led

19. Austin Cindric

20. Ty Dillon

21. Daniel Suarez

22. Kaz Grala

23. Corey LaJoie

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

25. Ryan Blaney

26. William Byron

27. Noah Gragson

28. Brad Keselowski

29. Justin Haley

30. Zane Smith, one lap down

31. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

32. Joey Logano, three laps down

33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

34. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

35. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

36. Alex Bowman – OUT, Engine

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

June 23, 2024