1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started on the pole at Watkins Glen and finished second.
“William Byron just had too much car,” Hamlin said. “I mean, way too much car. It almost seems unfair, which is what NASCAR inspectors must be saying.”
2. William Byron: Byron took charge early and dominated in winning the Go Bowling At The Glen, his fifth win of the year.
“My No. 24 Chevy was fast,” Byron said. “Once I got to the lead, I just ran away from the field. Now, I just need to run away from inspectors.”
3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished sixth at Watkins Glen.
“It just took us too long to find the right balance,” Truex said. “My No. 19 Toyota was sponsored by Siemens. If you scramble the letters in ‘Siemens,’ it tells you a lot about the handling, because it was my ‘nemesis.’”
4. Chris Buescher: Buescher finished seventh in the Go Bowling At The Glen, and is now eighth in the points standings.
“William Byron was the class of the field,” Buescher said. “I know my car was no match for him. So, the ‘Fastenal’ wasn’t fast at all.”
5. Christopher Bell: Bell finished third at Watkins Glen, posting his sixth top-five of the season.
“Sponsors naming races is totally out of control,” Bell said. “Come on, the ‘Go Bowling At The Glen?’ I mean, spare me.”
6. Kyle Larson: Larson came home 26th at Watkins Glen after an early pit lane speeding penalty derailed his chances.
“That was all my fault,” Larson said, “and I take full responsibility. And I really have to stop having to say those words.”
7. Joey Logano: Logano came home 10th in the Go Bowling At The Glen.
“The upcoming regular-season finale at Daytona is going to be wild,” Logano said. “If NASCAR’s most popular driver Chase Elliott doesn’t win there, he’s gonna come up ’empty’ once more.”
8. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished ninth at Watkins Glen and is now ninth in the points standings.
“I’m rounding into playoff shape,” Blaney said. “You know what they used to say about Tony Stewart? His playoff shape was round.”
9. Michael McDowell: McDowell won Stage 1 at Watkins Glen, but a subsequent pit lane penalty all but ruined his hopes for a win. Then, his engine failed, knocking him out of the race on Lap 74. He finished 36th.
“I drove through too many pit boxes on pit entry,” McDowell said. “The penalty for that is a drive-through penalty, which means you have to return to the scene of the crime. That’s something that Kyle Busch hopes he never has to do.”
10. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 18th at Watkins Glen.
“My car was sponsored by ‘Be A Moose,’” Chastain said. “‘Be A Moose’ in a charitable organization. Some drivers often say I’m a moose, as in a moose in a china shop.”
After finishing no higher than 14th during his previous five scheduled starts, William Byron responded with an emphatic and potential championship-performance statement after scoring a dominant victory in the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, August 20.
The 25-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 66 of 90-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Denny Hamlin and spent the first stage period running in the top five. Then during the first wave of green flag pit stops that ensued entering the second stage period, a strategic call by crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team to have Byron pit a lap after the front-runners enabled Byron to cycle ahead of them.
He proceeded to lead starting on Lap 24 and claimed the second stage victory. Then following another well-executed call to pit with 35 laps remaining just as teammate Chase Elliott drew a caution for running out of fuel on the course, Byron cycled back to the lead with 33 laps remaining and retained the top spot during a 30-lap shootout to the finish, setting sail to his unprecedented fifth checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 19, Denny Hamlin notched his fourth Cup pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 125.298 mph in 70.392 seconds. Joining him on the front row was William Byron, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 124.961 mph in 70.582 seconds.
Prior to the event, Aric Almirola, Cole Custer, Justin Haley, Brad Keselowski and Corey LaJoie dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin rocketed ahead with an early advantage while the field fanned out entering the first turn. As the field continued to duke for early positions through the Esses and the first four turns, Hamlin retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging McDowell. Through the Inner Loop Bus Stop Corner before entering the Carousel, the Outer Loop and the final set of turns, Hamlin managed to fend off McDowell and a pack of competitors jostling for spots to lead the first lap.
Through the second lap, McDowell attempted to make a move beneath Hamlin for the lead entering Turn 1. In spite of Hamlin briefly going off the track through Turn 1, Hamlin managed to retain the lead through the Esses ahead of McDowell while William Byron trailed behind in third in front of rookie Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger. Hamlin would also manage to navigate his way smoothly through the Carousel and the Esses with the top spot, but McDowell continued to close as he awaited his opportunity to take the lead.
Two laps later, McDowell, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, made his move beneath Hamlin’s No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry and drew himself into a brief duel with Hamlin before he muscled his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang ahead with the top spot entering Turn 2. Byron then followed suit and assumed the runner-up spot through Turns 2 to 4 in his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Hamlin settled in third in front of teammate Ty Gibbs. With Hamlin settling in between Byron and Gibbs, McDowell proceeded to lead, starting on the fourth lap.
During the fourth lap, early trouble struck for Daniel Suarez, who was running 10th before he got loose while hitting the curbs exiting the Bus Stop Corner and spun as he barely hit the inside wall, but he was able to proceed without drawing a caution. Meanwhile, McDowell retained the lead through the fifth lap mark over a hard-charging Byron.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, McDowell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger while Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. Behind, Joey Logano was in 11th ahead of Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher while Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney was mired in 21st ahead of Mike Rockenfeller, Ryan Preece, Corey LaJoie and Daniel Suarez while Todd Gilliland, Ty Dillon, Andy Lally, Erik Jones and Kevin Harvick were back in the top 30. Amid the running order, Brad Keselowski was in 33rd in between Justin Haley and Aric Almirola while Harrison Burton was mired in 36th, a lap down in last place, after an earlier chain reaction resulted with Lally bumping and spinning Burton’s No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang in the Carousel Corner without drawing a caution.
Five laps later, McDowell continued to lead by half a second over Byron while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than a second. In the process, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger remained in the top five ahead of Larson while Bell, Wallace and Kyle Busch overtook Reddick to move up to seventh through ninth, respectively. In addition, Elliott retained 13th ahead of Buescher and teammate Bowman, Truex was mired back in 23rd and Harvick was in 28th in front of Keselowski.
Another two laps later, green flag pit stops ensued as Truex pitted his No. 19 Siemens Toyota TRD Camry along with Blaney and Elliott. Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, Cindric and Bowman would also pit during the ensuing laps as McDowell continued to lead.
At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 20, McDowell, who first assumed the lead on the fourth lap, captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Byron settled in second followed by Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger while Larson, Bell, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Reddick were scored in the top 10. By then, more names that included Austin Dillon, Reddick, Preece and Corey LaJoie pitted under green.
With the event proceeding under green just past the Lap 20 mark to start the second stage, McDowell led Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Larson, Bell, Wallace, Kyle Busch and a host of competitors during the following lap to pit road for service under green while Byron assumed the lead followed by Allmendinger. Amid the pit stops, McDowell, who managed to exit pit road ahead of Hamlin, was assessed a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes prior to entering his pit box for service. Byron would then pit under green on Lap 22 as Allmendinger assumed the lead. Once Allmendinger pitted by Lap 23 after leading two laps, Byron, who earlier managed to blend back on the track from pit road ahead of Hamlin, assumed the lead followed by Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Larson and Keselowski, who has yet to pit. As Byron proceeded to lead just past the Lap 25 mark, McDowell was mired back in 17th behind Truex. In addition, Bell, Elliott, Wallace and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10.
At the Lap 30 mark, Byron maintained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger and Larson while Bell, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Reddick were running in the top 10. By then, Keselowski pitted his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang under green while Austin Dillon, Logano, Briscoe, McDowell and Truex were scored in the top 15. With Keselowski losing spots as he blended back onto the racetrack amid his pit stop, Harvick was in 28th behind teammate Almirola, Suarez was in 26th and Bowman was mired in 17th in between Blaney and Buescher.
By Lap 35, Byron extended his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Ty Gibbs, Larson and Allmendinger remained in the top five. In addition, Bell, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Reddick retained their respective spots in the top 10 while McDowell was mired in 12th in between Austin Dillon and Logano.
At the conclusion of the second stage on Lap 40, Byron captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Hamlin settled in second while Ty Gibbs, Larson, Allmendinger, Bell, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Austin Dillon were scored in the top 10.
With the event commencing under a continuous green flag period with 50 laps remaining, Byron was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin. Byron would proceed to extend his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin as the event reached its halfway mark with 45 laps remaining. Behind, Ty Gibbs, Larson and Allmendinger remained in the top five while Bell, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Wallace and Ausitn Dillon continued to run in the top 10 with McDowell moving up to 11th ahead of Reddick, Logano, Truex and Blaney.
With 40 laps remaining, Byron continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than three seconds over Hamlin while Larson overtook Ty Gibbs to move into third place. With Allmendinger retaining fifth ahead of Bell and Kyle Busch, McDowell returned to the top 10 as he moved up to ninth in between Elliott and Wallace while Truex was scored in 12th in between Austin Dillon and Blaney.
Three laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Ty Gibbs pitted his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry while running in the top five. McDowell would also pit along with Blaney, Suarez, Larson, Logano, Reddick, Preece, Stenhouse, Almirola, Cindric and Buescher as Byron continued to lead by more than five seconds over Hamlin.
Then two laps later, the caution flew when Elliott ran out of fuel through the Esses as his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 coasted entering the Inner Loop before coming to a full stop off the course near the Bus Stop Corner. By then, Byron, Hamlin, Allmendinger and Bell had pitted prior to the caution being displayed. In addition, Larson, who had just pitted prior to the caution, was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road and was sent to the rear of the field for the ensuing restart.
During the caution period, some led by Kyle Busch, including those who had not yet made a pit stop, pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track. By then, Elliott, who was assisted by a wrecker to return to pit road, lost a lap to the leaders as he was mired in 34th.
When the race restarted under green with 30 laps remaining, where Byron and Hamlin occupied the front row, Byron and Hamlin dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1 as the field fanned out. Entering the Esses, Byron managed to clear Hamlin to retain the lead ahead of Bell and Allmendinger while Truex was up to fifth in front of teammate Ty Gibbs. In addition, Blaney was up to seventh ahead of Buescher while McDowell was in ninth ahead of Logano. As the field navigated its way through the Bus Stop Corner, the Carousel and the final sets of turns while jostling for late positions, Byron managed to place a reasonable gap between himself and Hamlin as he retained the lead for the following lap.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Bell while Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs, both of whom are needing a victory to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, were running fourth and fifth. Behind, Truex, the regular-season leader, was sixth while Buescher, McDowell, Reddick and Blaney were running in the top 10 ahead of Logano, Todd Gilliland, Stenhouse, Wallace and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was back in 17th, Harvick was back in 23rd in front of Larson and Bowman was mired in 26th behind Suarez.
Five laps later, Byron extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Hamlin while Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five on the track. Behind, Truex, Buescher, McDowell, Reddick and Blaney also remained in the top 10. By then, Wallace retained 14th ahead of Keselowski and Cindric, Kyle Busch was still mired in 17th, Larson was back in 21st behind Austin Dillon, Harvick was down in 24th ahead of Suarez and Bowman was in 26th. In addition, Elliott was mired in 33rd and not scored on the lead lap along with Harrison Burton, Chase Briscoe and Ty Dillon.
With 15 laps remaining, Byron stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin while Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five. By then, the event remained under green flag conditions despite Almirola spinning entering the frontstretch. Not long after, McDowell, who was running eighth, pitted under green after the power in his No. 34 Ford shut off, which resulted with him coasting through the circuit before limping his car to his pit stall as his pit crew went underneath the hood of McDowell’s car to diagnose the issue. The issue would eventually be terminal for McDowell as he capped off his roller coaster event in 36th place, dead last.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Byron extended his advantage to two seconds over Hamlin while Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibs continued to run in the top 10. With McDowell out of contention, Truex was in sixth followed by Buescher, Reddick, Blaney and Logano while Gilliland, Stenhouse, Wallace, Keselowski and Kyle Busch were in the top 15.
With five laps remaining, Byron stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over Hamlin as Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Hamlin. With Hamlin unable to gain ground, Byron was able to cycle his No. 24 Chevrolet smoothly around Watkins Glen’s series of turns for a final time before re-emerging through the frontstretch in clean air and to capture his fifth checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.
With the victory and the regained momentum, Byron notched his ninth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his career-high fifth of the season and his first on a road course venue. The victory at Watkins Glen was the 102nd overall for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 entry, with HMS notching its 298th Cup career win overall, as Byron claimed his first victory since winning the rain-shortened event at Atlanta Motor Speedway in early July.
“[The win] feels really good,” Byron said on USA Network. “Just a huge credit to the race team behind me. I wanna thank [road ringer] Max Papis. This first road course win. We’ve worked years and years for this. Thanks to all the guys on the team. It’s a great win. I don’t know what it means in all that. I don’t read into that, but I think it shows that when we’re at our best, we can perform like this. We seem to go through that summer slump in July and August. For some reason, we just can’t quite put the races together. I think it’s the racetracks itself. [I] Just came this weekend with a good mindset. [I] Focused it on trying to get ready for the postseason. We’ve had fast cars. We just haven’t executed races, but today, it was flawless. Road courses have been tough, so it’s fun to get a win. Really good strategy by [the crew].”
Hamlin, the pole-sitter who led the first three laps, settled in the runner-up spot for the third time this season after trailing Byron to the finish line by more than two seconds while teammate Bell finished third.
“I’m happy with my day,” Hamlin said. “It takes me a while to get going and with [Michael] McDowell there at the beginning, he’s ready and he’s on kill, and I’m kind of working my way into it. I just hate that I lost the lead because I just looked at [Byron]’s back bumper the rest of the day. It was a fun race.”
Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as both enter next weekend’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway 72 and 32 points, respectively, below the top-16 cutline in their final hopes of making the Playoffs. Truex, the regular-season leader in the standings, came home in sixth place and leaves Watkins Glen with a 39-point lead in the standings while Buescher, Reddick, Blaney and Logano finished in the top 10.
Notably, Wallace finished 12th and he leaves Watkins Glen grasping onto the 16th and final vacant spot to the Playoffs by 32 points. Kyle Busch finished 14th followed by Keselowski, Cindric ended up 16th, Mike Rockenfeller ended up 19th in his second Cup start behind Ross Chastain, Harvick settled in 21st in front of Suarez and Bowman and Elliott capped off his run in 32nd, a lap down. In addition, Larson and Austin Dillon ended up 26th and 31st, respectively, after Larson collided into Dillon entering the final turn and sent both spinning.
There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured a single caution period for four laps. In addition, 31 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
With one regular-season event remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 39 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 76 over William Byron.
William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. With Byron winning at The Glen, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski have clinched spots for the Playoffs based on points while Bubba Wallace occupies the 16th and final vacant spot to the Playoffs by 32 points over rookie Ty Gibbs. Daniel Suarez trails the top-16 cutline by 43 points, AJ Allmendinger trails by 72, Alex Bowman trails by 96, Chase Elliott trails by 101, Austin Cindric trails by 114, Justin Haley trails by 162, Ryan Preece trails by 167 and Aric Almirola trails by 177.
Results.
1. William Byron, 66 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Denny Hamlin, three laps led
3. Christopher Bell
4. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led
5. Ty Gibbs
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Chris Buescher
8. Tyler Reddick
9. Ryan Blaney
10. Joey Logano
11. Todd Gilliland
12. Bubba Wallace
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14. Kyle Busch, two laps led
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Austin Cindric
17. Ryan Preece
18. Ross Chastain
19. Mike Rockenfeller
20. Corey LaJoie
21. Kevin Harvick
22. Daniel Suarez
23. Alex Bowman
24. Justin Haley
25. Andy Lally
26. Kyle Larson
27. Josh Bilicki
28. Cole Custer
29. Erik Jones
30. Aric Almirola
31. Austin Dillon
32. Chase Elliott, one lap down
33. Harrison Burton, one lap down
34. Ty Dillon, one lap down
35. Chase Briscoe, seven laps down
36. Michael McDowell – OUT, Electrical, 17 laps led, Stage 1 winner
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which will determine the 16-driver field of this year’s Cup Series Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 26, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.
The one-day wait amid an extensive rain delay period was worth the wait for Chris Buescher and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing as both navigated their way to win the rain-postponed FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway that started on Sunday, August 6, and concluded on Monday, August 7.
The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for a race-high 52 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in fourth place and was coming off a breakthrough victory at Richmond Raceway. Amid a one-day postponement of the event due to precipitation and various pit strategies that ensued throughout the event, Buescher, who managed to cycle his way past dominant Martin Truex Jr. amid the final cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 40 laps remaining, assumed the race lead with 18 laps remaining and, despite nearly losing the lead with 12 laps remaining, fended off a late surge from Truex to notch his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory in recent weeks and gain needed momentum with the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs looming.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 5, Christopher Bell notched his second Cup pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after posting a fast pole-winning lap at 193.382 mph in 37.232 seconds, which marks the fastest qualifying lap posted since the 2020 Daytona 500. Joining him on the front row was Ross Chastain, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 193.242 mph in 37.259 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Corey LaJoie, JJ Yeley and Austin Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Another competitor who also dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments was Josh Berry, who was piloting the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club entry in place of the suspended Noah Gragson.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay of more than an hour and a half due to precipitation, Bell and Chastain dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Chastain, who restarted on the inside lane, received a huge shove from rookie Ty Gibbs to muscle his No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through Turns 1 and 2, where he then moved in front of Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions exiting the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Chastain proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Bell while Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs followed suit.
Through the second lap, Chastain maintained the lead ahead of Bell while Truex battled Buescher for third place ahead of Ty Gibbs. Behind, Logano retained sixth ahead of Chase Elliott while William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney were in the top 10.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Chastain was leading by four-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Bell, Buescher and Ty Gibbs while Logano, Elliott, Wallace, Byron and Blaney were in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick while Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was mired in 21st ahead of Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie rounded out the top 30.
At the Lap 10 mark, Chastain stabilized his early advantage to four-tenths of a second over Truex while third-place Bell trailed by more than a second. With Buescher and Ty Gibbs remaining in the top five, Wallace was up to sixth ahead of Elliott and Byron while Logano fell back to ninth in front of teammate Blaney.
Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch, who was battling Blaney for 10th place, moved up the track and made contact with Blaney, where he then got loose, spun and made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 on the driver’s side. The incident, which was enough to terminate Busch’s event early as he sustained his fifth DNF of the season, occurred as Chastain was being challenged by Truex for the lead. It also served as the competition caution period initially planned for Lap 20.
During the competition caution period, a majority of the field led by Chastain pitted for service while 11 competitors led by the race leader Truex remained on the track amid mixed strategy.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 19, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead until Truex muscled his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry into the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the field fanning out, Truex maintained the lead by half a second over teammate Gibbs while Buescher followed suit along with Wallace and Blaney. Behind, Elliott was in sixth followed by Suarez and Reddick, but Reddick would overtake both by Lap 21 while Chastain, the first competitor who pitted during the competition caution, was in 10th.
Just past the Lap 25 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Truex was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Ty Gibbs while Buescher, Wallace and Blaney were scored in the top five. Truex would extend his advantage to more than a second over Gibbs by Lap 30. By then, Reddick, who started 15th, rocketed his No. 45 Rocket League Toyota TRD Camry into fifth place while Chastain was mired in ninth in between teammate Suarez and Keselowski. In addition, Bell was in 12th behind Byron, Larson, who nearly got loose entering Turn 4, fell back to 15th ahead of Hamlin and Logano was mired in 24th ahead of Aric Almirola and Harvick. In addition, Josh Berry was in 28th in between Kaulig Racing’s Haley and Allmendinger.
On Lap 34, the second caution of the event flew when Elliott, who was running in ninth after being overtaken by Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain a lap earlier, slipped sideways after blowing a right-rear tire and wrecked against the Turn 2 outside wall. The incident not only terminated Elliott’s race amid extensive damage to his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, but it hampered his hopes of gaining valuable points towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoff cutline. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.
With six laps remaining in the first stage period, the race proceeded under green as Truex and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Truex muscled ahead from Wallace while starting on the outside lane as the field fanned out to four lanes entering the first two turns and the backstretch. With Truex remaining ahead of Wallace on the track and amid a series of on-track battles between competitors on mixed strategies, Ty Gibbs was in third followed by Keselowski and Suarez while Larson was in sixth ahead of Corey LaJoie and teammate Alex Bowman.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Truex, who announced his return for the 2024 Cup season with Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday, claimed his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Wallace trailed in second while Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Larson, Suarez, Bowman, Hamlin, Erik Jones and LaJoie were scored in the top 10. By then, Byron, who was running ninth, got loose, slipped up and slapped towards the outside wall entering Turn 4 as he limped his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 across the start/finish line in 13th.
Under the stage break, some led by Truex, who remained on the track during the two previous caution periods, pitted while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Stenhouse was penalized for speeding on pit road and for an uncontrolled tire violation. Not long after, Truex made another pit stop as he was sent to the rear of the field.
The second stage started on Lap 50 as Bowman and Erik Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Jones dueled for the lead entering the first two turns as the field fanned out. Bowman and Jones would continue to duel for the lead through the backstretch while Hamlin, Reddick, Bell and Blaney followed pursuit. Then as the field made their way through Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned when Berry, who was running 16th and battling with Harrison Burton, got loose in front of LaJoie and spun backwards towards the outside wall as he slapped the wall while barely missing Todd Gilliland before the damaged No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came to a rest below the turn’s grass as his event came to an end. By then, Byron, who was on the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock period spanning seven minutes as his pit crew attempted to repair the No. 24 car, ran out of their scheduled repairment time as his event also came to an end.
During the following restart on Lap 55, Bowman rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then moved in front of Erik Jones to retain the top spot through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the battles ensuing through the backstretch, Bell rocketed his way around Erik Jones for the runner-up spot as he pursued Bowman for the lead while Chastain aggressively carved his way up to 11th.
Through the Lap 60 mark, Bowman was leading by a tenth of a second over Bell followed by Erik Jones, Hamlin and Reddick while Blaney, Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon and Allmendinger were in the top 10. By then, Chastain, Wallace, Briscoe, Larson and Truex were in the top 15 while Logano, LaJoie, Almirola, Haley and Buescher occupied the top 20. Behind, Keselowski was mired in 21st ahead of Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs and Suarez while Harvick was back in 26th.
Four laps later, Bell, who had just overtaken Bowman amid a battle for the lead through the frontstretch, slipped sideways entering Turns 1 and 2 amid close-quarters racing with Bowman with Hamlin joining the battle. This resulted with Bell spinning backwards towards the outside wall as he pounded the wall and sustained significant rear end damage to his pole-winning car. During the caution period, the entire field led by Bowman, expect for Josh Bilicki, pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Bowman exited first followed by Truex, Reddick, Blaney, Larson, Austin Dillon and Cindric. Bilicki would pit prior to the restart as Bowman reassumed the lead.
When the race proceeded under green on Lap 69, where Bowman and Reddick occupied the front row, Bowman and Reddick dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Reddick managed to muscle ahead from the inside lane and assume the lead through the backstretch. As the field fanned out amid a series of on-track battles, including a pair of run-ins involving Blaney and LaJoie, Reddick maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Bowman while Larson was up in third followed by Truex, Cindric and Erik Jones.
Four laps later, the caution returned due to reports of precipitation occurring around the speedway. Soon after, the field led by Reddick was directed to pit road and the event was placed in a red flag period due to the ongoing precipitation on Lap 74. With the precipitation increasing and the delay spanning more than an hour, NASCAR ended up postponing the remainder of the event’s coverage to Monday, August 7, at noon ET on USA Network.
The following day on Monday, the field endured a brief 33-minute delay due to light mist before returning to the track under a cautious pace. During the caution period, Bell pitted even when pit road was closed for additional repairs to his pole-winning car amid his wreck from Sunday as he was still scored on the lead lap. Once pit road opened for the entire field to pit, some led by Reddick and including Bowman, Larson, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, LaJoie, Stenhouse, Michael McDowell, Haley, Cole Custer and Bilicki pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.
When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 82 amid an extensive caution period due to reports of light precipitation, where Truex and Cindric occupied the front row, Truex and Cindric dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bubba Wallace made a bold three-wide move on both through the backstretch to assume the lead in his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. With Wallace leading the proceeding lap, Truex settled in second while Keselowski battled Cindric for third in front of Erik Jones, Buescher and Hamlin. Jones then overtook Keselowski and Cindric in a three-wide move through the backstretch to move his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third as Wallace retained the lead. As the field continued to jostle for positions through the Lap 85 mark, Wallace stabilized his advantage to within a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Truex.
By Lap 90, the top-three competitors were separated by nearly half a second as Wallace was still leading by two-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Erik Jones while Cindric and Suarez trailed in the top five by more than a second. Behind, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of teammate Buescher, Hamlin, Harrison Burton and Allmendinger while Blaney, Chastain, Logano, Reddick, Bowman, Larson, Briscoe, Harvick, Ryan Preece, Almirola and Ty Gibbs were battling within the top 20.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Truex cycled his way around Wallace, who continued to remain on the track and stretch his fuel tank to finish the second stage, to reassume the lead through the frontstretch while third-place Erik Jones trailed by six-tenths of a second. Behind, Suarez trailed in fourth place by more than a second while Hamlin was in fifth and trailing by more than two seconds.
Two laps later, the caution flew when Preece, who was running 22nd, blew a right-rear tire entering Turn 1, but he managed to avoid hitting the outside wall as he fell off the pace with light smoke coming out of his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang. During the caution period, some including the race leader Truex pitted while the rest led by Wallace and including Suarez, Keselowski, Chastain, Allmendinger, Logano, Bowman, Larson, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, LaJoie and Custer remained on the track amid mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin, who was running in the top five prior to the caution period, stalled his car while trying to exit his pit stall as he plummeted towards the rear of the lead lap field.
As the race restarted with 13 laps remaining in the second stage period, Wallace and Suarez dueled for the lead amid two tight-stacked lanes. Behind, Austin Dillon fell off the pace after nearly hitting the outside wall in Turn 1 and pitted under green due to a flat right-side tire, a move that pinned him a lap behind the leaders. Back at the front, Wallace and Suarez continued to duel for the lead until Suarez, who restarted beneath Wallace on the front row, managed to rocket his No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead entering Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead from Wallace while Keselowski was in third.
Just past the Lap 110 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Suarez retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Keselowski while Wallace fell back to third in front of Bowman and Logano. Behind, Larson was in sixth ahead of Allmendinger while Truex charged his way up to eighth place while on four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel. Meanwhile, Hamlin carved his way up to 17th while battling Harvick for position.
At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 120, Truex, who overtook Wallace for third place on Lap 118 as he continued to rocket his way back to the front on fresh tires, surged past Keselowski entering the backstretch and managed to side-draft Suarez amid Suarez trying to block Truex to claim the stage victory, his fifth of the season, in a photo finish. Suarez, who came into the event 34 points below the top-16 cutline towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, settled in second followed by Keselowski while Wallace, Bowman, Larson, Logano, Allmendinger, Cindric and Buescher were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Truex while the rest led by Buescher and including Reddick, Blaney, Harvick, Almirola, Gilliland and McDowell remained on the track with more mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Bell was penalized for his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too soon.
With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started as Buescher and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher and Reddick dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. The caution then quickly returned when Cindric rubbed McDowell up into teammate Gilliland as Gilliland got squeezed towards the outside wall. In the ensuing contact, Bowman, who came into the event 42 points below the top-16 cutline, received light contact from Briscoe that got Bowman loose and spinning as he hit Gilliland before spinning with front nose damage on his No. 48 Ally Detroit Pistons Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, some including Wallace, Briscoe, the Dillon brothers, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Larson and Haley pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track.
With the race restarting with 67 laps remaining, Buescher surged ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then fended off Reddick through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. Reddick maintained second in front of Blaney, Harvick and Cindric while Almirola was in sixth. Behind, Truex carved his way to seventh as he then battled Almirola for more while Hamlin was in eighth followed by Chastain and Burton.
Seven laps later, Buescher stabilized his lead to two-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Blaney while Truex moved up to fourth in front of Harvick. Behind, Cindric was in sixth ahead of Hamlin, Almirola, Chastain and Burton while McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Logano, Suarez, Preece, Allmendinger, Wallace, Larson and Austin Hill occupied the top 20.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Buescher continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Truex trailed by less than six seconds as Hamlin moved up to fourth ahead of Blaney, Cindric and Harvick.
Seven laps later, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Buescher surrendered the lead to pit followed by Reddick and Harvick as Reddick exited ahead of Buescher off of pit road. During the following lap, however, Reddick returned to pit road due to a flat right-rear tire on his No. 45 entry, an issue that left Reddick steaming towards his pit crew. By then, Hamlin and Almirola pitted under green before Truex surrendered the lead to pit with 41 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Buescher managed to cycle his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang past Truex on the track as Keselowski assumed the lead with less than 40 laps remaining.
With 30 laps remaining, Keselowski retained the lead by over Suarez followed by Larson, Erik Jones and Logano, Bell, Wallace, LaJoie, Stenhouse and Preece were scored in the top 10. By then, Ty Gibbs, who was running in fifth place, pitted under green. Logano and LaJoie would pit a few laps later as Keselowski extended his lead to six seconds over Suarez and seven seconds over Larson. By then, Buescher worked his way up to 11th while Truex trailed behind in 12th.
With 25 laps remaining, Suarez surrendered the runner-up spot to pit under green along with Preece. Keselowski would then surrender the lead the following lap to pit his No. 6 Nexlizet Ford Mustang as Larson assumed the lead. With 23 laps remaining, however, Larson pitted his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the lead along with Erik Jones, Bell and Wallace as Ty Dillon cycled into the lead followed by brother Austin Dillon. Behind, Buescher and Truex moved up to third and fourth as the latter, who had a strong race car, continued to try to navigate his way around the former with both having enough fuel to finish the event.
Once the Dillon brothers pitted with nearly 20 laps remaining, Buescher cycled his way into the race lead with 18 laps remaining as Truex continued to intimidate and trail by two-tenths of a second. Buescher would continue to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by four seconds as Keselowski and Harvick were in the top five.
Then with 13 laps remaining, Truex, who gained ground to Buescher’s rear bumper through the frontstretch, made his move beneath Buescher for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 as both dueled for the top spot through the backstretch. Truex then side-drafted Buescher back through the frontstretch as he led the following lap by a hair before Buescher returned the favor by side-drafting Truex in a fight to reassume the lead. Despite leading with 12 laps remaining, Truex got loose entering Turn 1, which allowed Buescher to pull ahead with the lead by nearly a second.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than three seconds. Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five while Harvick, Chastain, Blaney, Suarez and Cindric were in the top 10. Behind, Ty Gibbs was in 11th ahead of Erik Jones and Almirola while Bell carved his damaged car to 14th place ahead of Wallace.
With five laps remaining, Truex regained his ground on Buescher as he was only trailing by two-tenths of a second for the lead in his fast No. 19 Toyota. With Buescher retaining the lead, Truex kept Buescher’s No. 17 Ford close within his sights amid the draft as he tried to gain a run around Buescher with the laps dwindling.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by less than three-tenths of a second over Truex. Through Turns 1 and 2, Truex could not gain a run to draw even with Buescher as both entered the backstretch. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Truex made a final lap charge to get alongside Buescher, but the run was not enough as Buescher managed to retain the lead and beat Truex to the finish line by a tenth of a second to notch his second consecutive checkered flag in recent weeks.
With the victory, Buescher, who ended up leading a race-high 52 laps, recorded his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series as this marks his first season notching multiple Cup victories, thus making him the sixth multi-race winner of the 2023 Cup Series season, and first time claiming back-to-back Cup race victories. The victory was also the 14th overall in the Cup circuit for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at the Irish Hills, making RFK Racing the winningest organization at the speedway, and their first since Greg Biffle won in 2012 while Ford claimed its 21st Cup victory, ninth in a row, at Michigan.
Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“That was our plan [to win],” Buescher said on USA Network. “That’s what we come to do every weekend. It’s awesome. Glad we got to get this whole [race] in. I know it’s been a long weekend, but this Castrol Edge Mustang was so good in practice, qualifying. This team gave me a great car again. [I] Had to work for that [win], too. Hard racing there at the end. Martin [Truex Jr.] was very clean with me. I appreciate that. [I] Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row, so that’s pretty awesome. We’ve got work to do, but that’s massive progress right there for us to do [and win at] two vastly different racetracks. We got road [course] races coming up. I’m excited for those two and Daytona. I look at the schedule we have ahead of us, and this is a heck of a time to get turned on and get rolling.”
Truex, who led six times for 47 laps, settled in second place for the second time this season amid a strong performance on the track. This also marks Truex’s fourth runner-up result at the Irish Hills as he continues his pursuit for his first Michigan win.
“I think we just needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more,” Truex, who extended his lead in the regular-season standings to 57 points, said. “I felt like we were a little better, but it’s just really hard to pass the leader on equal tires. We had an unbelievable Auto-Owners Camry today and hats off to everybody that puts in the work on these things. It was a rocket. It’s just the leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. Just didn’t quite have enough, but all in all, a good day.”
Hamlin came home in third place while Keselowski, Buescher’s teammate and co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, ended up in fourth place in his home track. The fourth-place result marked Keselowski’s fifth top-five result of the season as he is now 168 points above the top-16 cutline towards the Playoff standings, but he was also left satisfied from an owner’s perspective with Buescher winning the race and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing gaining momentum with the start of the Playoffs lingering.
“[I’m] Really happy for all the folks at Castrol and for [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing],” Keselowski said. “There’s a lot of work going on here and we’re digging deep and getting the results. I’m just so thankful and proud for everyone at RFK. We’re letting our results speak for themselves and Chris [Buescher] has done a heck of a job driving the car. When you can win, it feels really good, but we got to keep some humbleness and keep our head down. There’s some great competition out here.”
Larson completed the top five in fifth place while Suarez, teammate Chastain, Harvick, Blaney and Erik Jones finished in the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs settled in 11th while Bell rallied from his early wreck on Sunday to finish 13th ahead of Logano and LaJoie. In addition, Wallace fell back to 18th ahead of Austin Dillon, McDowell ended up a lap down in 24th, Allmendinger settled in 26th, Reddick fell back to 30th and Bowman ended up 33rd after he was unable to finish due to a steering issue to his car stemming from his late wreck.
There were 26 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps. In addition, 21 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
With three regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 57 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 96 over William Byron.
William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and rookie Ty Gibbs occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points, with Gibbs occupying the 16th and final vacant spots by three points over Michael McDowell, five over Daniel Suarez, 24 over AJ Allmendinger, 44 over Alex Bowman, 53 over Austin Cindric, 55 over Chase Elliott, 72 over Justin Haley, 81 over Aric Almirola and 89 over Ryan Preece.
Results.
1. Chris Buescher, 52 laps led
2. Martin Truex Jr., 47 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
3. Denny Hamlin, one lap led
4. Brad Keselowski, 15 laps led
5. Kyle Larson, two laps led
6. Daniel Suarez, 12 laps led
7. Ross Chastain, 16 laps led
8. Kevin Harvick
9. Ryan Blaney, one lap led
10. Erik Jones
11. Ty Gibbs, one lap led
12. Austin Cindric
13. Christopher Bell, one lap led
14. Joey Logano
15. Corey LaJoie
16. Aric Almirola
17. Harrison Burton
18. Bubba Wallace, 21 laps led
19. Austin Dillon, two laps led
20. Ty Dillon, two laps led
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. Ryan Preece, one lap down
23. Justin Haley, one lap down
24. Michael McDowell, one lap down
25. Cole Custer, one lap down
26. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down
27. JJ Yeley, one lap down
28. Austin Hill, two laps down
29. Todd Gilliland, three laps down
30. Tyler Reddick, three laps down, seven laps led
31. Chase Briscoe, three laps down
32. Josh Bilicki, four laps down, one lap led
33. Alex Bowman – OUT, Steering, 19 laps led
34. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident
35. William Byron – OUT, Dvp
36. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident
37. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 13, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Christopher Bell captured the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Pole Award at Michigan International Speedway during the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon, earning the top spot for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400.
His lap time of 37.232 seconds at 193.382 mph in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earned Bell his second pole of the season and his sixth career pole. Bell is looking forward to the upcoming race and is hoping to capitalize on his front-row start.
“I feel excellent about what I have for sure,” he said after qualifying. “It has been a pretty smooth Saturday. In practice, it was very good off the truck and fast and balanced. That is what it is all about at Michigan – having the car comfortable and balanced so you can drive as hard as you need to; to create speed as you need to here in Michigan.”
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain will join Bell on the front row after a qualifying lap of 193.242 mph in his No. 1 Chevrolet. Ty Gibbs (193.024 mph) will start third followed by Chris Buescher (192.921 mph) in fourth.
Martin Truex Jr., who recently announced a one-year extension through 2024 with Joe Gibbs Racing, qualified with a 192.658 mph lap to round out the top five.
Joey Logano, William Byron, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott completed the top 10 fastest drivers in qualifying.
Josh Berry, filling in for the suspended Noah Gragson, qualified 35th in the Legacy Motor Club No. 42 Chevrolet entry.
The NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 is set for Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished second in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond.
“I’m becoming NASCAR’s biggest villain,” Hamlin said. “I’m the driver people love to hate. I’m also the driver drivers love to hate. I’m not here to win NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award. I’m here to win championships. Unfortunately, I’ve won neither.”
2. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished seventh in the Cook Out 400.
“Sunday’s race was relatively incident free,” Truex said. “That’s fine by me because all this feuding gets on my nerves. Throw some punches for Christ’s sake. I think Richard Petty would echo my sentiment. If anyone knows drama queens, it’s the ‘King.’”
3. Kyle Busch: Busch started second and finished third at Richmond in the No. 8 X World Wallet Chevrolet.
“I’ve won more races than any active driver in history at Richmond,” Busch said. “I have six Richmond wins. You don’t always need six to top the list of active drivers. With only one, I top the list of active drivers who’ve been sentenced to jail time in a Mexican prison.”
4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 10th at Richmond, posting his ninth top 10 of the year.
“All the talk lately is about aggression and ethics in racing,” Harvick said. “All I know is in the good old days, if you got your feathers ruffled, you did something about it. Nowadays, if you get your feathers ruffled, it just means you’re a chicken.”
5. William Byron: Byron struggled at Richmond and finished 21st, one lap down.
“It was incredibly hot at the track,” Blaney said. “In some cars, the temperature reached 130 degrees. NASCAR has a pretty strict drug policy, so this is about the closest we can come to ‘getting baked.’”
6. Chris Buescher: Buescher took the lead from Brad Keselowski during a late pit stop cycle and held off Denny Hamlin to win the Cook Out 400 at Richmond.
“I was worried when Hamlin lined up next to me on the last restart,” Buescher said. “Luckily, I was on the ‘right side’ of Denny Hamlin.”
7. Kyle Larson: Larson finished 19th at Richmond, the last car on the lead lap.
“I’ve talked to Hamlin since our incident at Pocono,” Larson said. “Not personally, but over text. I suggested we ‘keep our distance,’ and since Denny finished second and I finished 19th, I guess we did.”
8. Joey Logano: Logano finished fourth in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond.
“I started 23rd,” Logano said. “So we really had to work hard to get to the front. I have to hand it to my pit crew–they did all the heavy lifting. And I’m glad they handled that, because have you seen my biceps?”
9. Christopher Bell: Bell finished 20th at Richmond.
“There are four races left until the playoffs,” Bell said. “And 12 drivers have clinched playoff spots. So, for the driver battling for those last four spots, it’s going to be tight. And by ‘it’s,’ I mean their sphincters.”
10. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 24th at Richmond.
“Many people are saying Cook Out would be a great sponsor for me,” Chastain said. “That’s probably because of the way I ‘drive through’ the competition.”
With the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs less than a month away from commencing, Chris Buescher punched his ticket into the Playoffs following a dramatic victory in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, July 30.
The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for 88 of 400 scheduled laps, including the final six, in an event where he rallied from starting 26th to challenge for the lead and eventual victory. After assuming the lead for the first time with 195 laps remaining, Buescher would then navigate his way through a series of green flag pit stops and pit strategies to remain upfront.
He was then headed towards a victory when a late caution period with 10 laps remaining briefly stalled his progress. With a fast pit service by his pit crew during the caution period, Buescher was able to retain the lead and fend off Denny Hamlin during a three-lap shootout to grab his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season and become the 12th different competitor to be guaranteed a Playoff spot by winning.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 29, Tyler Reddick notched his first Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the fifth of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 113.689 mph in 23.749 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Busch, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 113.636 mph in 23.760 seconds.
Prior to the event, AJ Allmendinger dropped to the rear of the field due to a driver change after Derek Kraus practiced and qualified his Kaulig Racing entry while Allmendinger opted to pull double duty by competing in Saturday’s Xfinity event at Road America before returning in time to compete for Sunday’s Cup event at Richmond.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Reddick pulled ahead while starting on the inside lane and assumed an early lead while Denny Hamlin challenged Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot through Turns 1 and 2. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 45 Xfinity 10G Network Toyota TRD Camry while Hamlin and Busch continued to battle for second in from of Chase Elliott, William Byron and Bubba Wallace.
Through the second lap, the field continued to fan out and jostle for early positions while Reddick stretched his early advantage to three-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Kyle Busch settled in third in front of Elliott, Byron and Wallace.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Busch, Elliott and Byron while Wallace, rookie Ty Gibbs, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10. Behind, Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Kyle Larson, rookie Noah Gragson, Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland while Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Truex, who made contact with Stenhouse a few laps earlier, had fallen back to 21st ahead of Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton and Ryan Blaney while Christopher Bell was mired in 27th.
At the Lap 10 mark, Reddick continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over owner Hamlin while Busch trailed by more than a second. Behind, Elliott retained fourth ahead of Wallace, Byron and Gibbs while Harvick was in eighth ahead of teammate Preece and Stenhouse.
Fifteen laps later, Reddick stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Hamlin while third-place Busch trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Wallace moved up to fourth in front of Elliott, Byron and Ty Gibbs while Harvick, Preece and Stenhouse stabilized themselves in the top 10. In addition, Keselowski and Larson were in 11th and 13th, Bowman cracked the top 15 in 15th, Logano was mired in 17th ahead of Almirola, Austin Dillon was back in 21st ahead of Chastain, Blaney, Truex and Bell and Daniel Suarez was in 28th.
Another 10 laps later, Reddick retained the lead by half a second over Hamlin while Busch, Wallace and Elliott continued to run in the top five. By then, Harvick overtook Ty Gibbs to move into seventh place while Keselowski cracked the top 10 as he was in 10th. In addition, McDowell was in 12th and Larson retained 13th in front of teammate Bowman and Gragson while Logano was mired in 18th.
At the Lap 50 mark, Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin. By then, Wallace moved his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry up into third place, trailing his teammate and owner by more than two seconds, while Busch and Elliott trailed behind in the top five. In addition, Harvick moved his No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang into sixth place over Byron while Preece and Keselowski overtook Ty Gibbs to move up to eighth and ninth place, respectively.
Ten laps later, Reddick, who started to approach lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Hamlin while teammate Wallace trailed in third place by more than two seconds. While Elliott and Harvick continued to run in the top five, Kyle Busch, who started on the front row, had dropped to ninth. In addition, a bevy of names that included Chase Briscoe, Larson, Buescher, Bell, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Blaney, Truex, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley were mired outside the top 15 and within the top 30 on the track while Ryan Newman, who was making his third Cup start of the season, was in 30th.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Reddick captured his fourth stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Wallace followed suit in second along with owner Hamlin while Elliott, Harvick, Preece, Byron, Aric Almirola, Keselowski and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap, with Suarez, who was in 29th, able to fend off race leader Reddick to remain on the lead lap at the stage’s conclusion.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for their first round of service. Following the pit stops, Reddick retained the lead after exiting first followed by teammate Wallace, Hamlin, Elliott, Harvick, Keselowski and Ty Gibbs. Amid the pit stops, Preece endured a slow pit service after stopping his car over the pit line and had to reverse to avoid a penalty, which dropped him out of the top 15.
The second stage started on Lap 78 as 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Reddick retained the lead by a narrow margin over teammate Wallace, but Wallace fought back on the outside lane as both dueled dead even for the top spot during the following lap. With the momentum on the outside lane, Wallace assumed the lead on Lap 80. By then, Elliott moved up to third after overtaking Hamlin, who was being pressured by Keselowski for fourth while Harvick followed suit in sixth along with McDowell, who used the outside lane during the restart to move into the top 10.
Five laps later, Keselowski overtook Elliott to claim third place while Hamlin situated himself in fifth place. By then, teammates Wallace and Reddick continued to run first and second, with Wallace leading by half a second. Another two laps later, Hamlin dueled against Elliott while running on the outside lane for fourth place as Harvick followed in pursuit.
At the Lap 100 mark, Wallace was leading by more than a second over teammate Reddick followed by Keselowski, Hamlin and Elliott while Harvick, Almirola, Ty Gibbs, Logano and McDowell were running in the top 10. Behind, Buescher was in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch, Preece, Stenhouse and Bowman while Byron, Chastain, Bell, Austin Dillon and Briscoe occupied the top 20. By then, Larson was in 21st, Blaney was mired in 24th behind Erik Jones, Allmendinger was running in 25th ahead of Suarez, Truex was back in 27th and Austin Cindric was mired in 28th.
Ten laps later, Wallace stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Reddick while third-place Keselowski trailed by more than two seconds, all while Hamlin and Elliott remained in the top five in front of Harvick.
Another 10 laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as Preece pitted along with Todd Gilliland. During Lap 122, more competitors that included Redick, Keselowski, Elliott, Buescher, Larson, Cindric, Gragson, Almirola, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, Haley and the leader Wallace pitted. Amid the pit stops, Almirola was penalized for a commitment line violation.
On Lap 128, more competitors that included Hamlin, Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Logano and Bell, who would be eventually penalized for speeding on pit road, pitted under green. With the majority of green flag pit stops completed by Lap 135, McDowell, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Wallace while Reddick, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five. McDowell would relinquish the lead to Wallace by Lap 137, though he remained on the track.
At the Lap 150 mark, Wallace was leading by more than a second over teammate Reddick followed by Keselowski, Hamlin and Buescher while Elliott, Preece, Kyle Busch, Logano and Ty Gibbs were in the top 10. By then, McDowell and Truex pitted while on an alternate pit strategy.
By Lap 172, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon pitted. A few laps later, more competitors that included Keselowski, Buescher, Preece, Byron and Newman pitted. The leader Wallace would pit by Lap 174 along with Erik Jones, Chastain, Almirola, Briscoe, Harvick, Elliott, Reddick, Allmendinger, Larson, Stenhouse and others.
On Lap 180, Hamlin, who cycled into the lead, pitted his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry under green along with Logano, Blaney and Bell. With the majority of the green flag pit stops being completed by then, Keselowski, who overtook Truex on his alternate strategy, was the new leader.
At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Keselowski was leading followed by Reddick, Buescher, Wallace and Hamlin while Truex, Busch, Preece, Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Behind, McDowell was in 11th followed by Harvick, Logano, Bowman and Elliott while Stenhouse, Byron, Almirola, Briscoe and Larson occupied the top 20.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 230, Keselowski claimed his third stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammate Buescher followed suit in second while Reddick, Wallace, Hamlin, Busch, Preece, Truex, Ty Gibbs and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, 17 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Bowman, who was in 18th, was able to fend off teammate Larson to emerge as the first competitor a lap down and receive the free pass during the stage break.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted. Following the pit stops, Keselowski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Buescher, Reddick, Wallace, Busch and Hamlin.
With 161 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Keselowski and Buescher occupied the front row. At the start, Keselowski rocketed ahead with the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. With Hamlin using the outside lane to launch forward into the top five and while battling Wallace, Keselowski maintained the lead ahead of Buescher while Reddick retained third. Behind, Wallace and Hamlin continued to battle while Kyle Busch was in sixth ahead of Preece, Ty Gibbs and Logano.
With 150 laps remaining, Keselowski retained the lead in his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang by less than four-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher while Reddick, Hamlin and Wallace were scored in the top five ahead of Busch and Preece.
Fifteen laps later, Keselowski continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher while third-place Reddick trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Hamlin and Wallace remained in the top five while Busch, Preece, Logano, Truex and Elliott were scored in the top 10.
With less than 120 laps remaining, green flag pit stops returned as Buescher pitted along with Wallace, Busch, Logano and others. Keselowski would then pit with 115 laps remaining followed by Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Almirola, Harvick and others. Amid the pit stops, Buescher was able to cycle ahead of teammate Keselowski, who nearly pitted outside his pit box. With 108 laps remaining, Hamlin, who cycled into a brief lead, pitted along with Blaney while Truex, who was running on an alternate strategy was leading, followed by Buescher.
With 105 laps remaining, however, Buescher cycled into the race lead over Truex. Buescher would then extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Reddick with 90 laps remaining while Truex, Wallace and Preece were scored in the top five. Meanwhile, Keselowski was mired back in sixth ahead of Kyle Busch and Hamlin.
With 65 laps remaining and as Buescher continued to lead, another cycle of green flag pit stops occurred as teammate Keselowski pitted. Logano would follow suit to pit along with Preece, Wallace, Harvick, Almirola, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Busch and Reddick. Buescher would then surrender the lead to pit with 62 laps remaining along with Ty Gibbs and Stenhouse while Blaney, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Truex. Amid the pit stops, Reddick was penalized for a commitment line violation as he smoked the tires to try to enter pit road.
With 54 laps remaining, Buescher, who was able to gain ground on Truex amid the pit strategies, overtook him to reassume the lead. Buescher would proceed to extend his advantage to nearly four seconds with less than 50 laps remaining while Hamlin, Preece and Keselowski were in the top five. Behind, Kyle Busch was in sixth while Logano, Wallace, Harvick and Almirola were scored in the top 10.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Buescher was leading by more than six seconds over Hamlin while Preece, Busch and Truex were scored in the top five. By then, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of Logano and Harvick while Wallace fell back to ninth in front of Almirola. In addition, 13 competitors were scored on the lead lap, with Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Elliott occupying the final three lead lap positions.
Ten laps later, Buescher continued to lead by more than five seconds over Hamlin while third-place Preece trailed by more than six seconds as Busch, Truex and Keselowski were in the top six.
Then with 10 laps remaining, the caution flew when Gragson sent Suarez for a spin in Turn 4 as Suarez smoked the rear tires of his No. 99 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 before coming to a rest near the apron in Turn 4. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Buescher pitted. Following the pit stops, Buescher retained the lead after exiting first followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Preece, Truex and Keselowski.
Down to the final three laps, the event restarted under green as Buescher and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher launched ahead to retain the lead while Preece challenged Hamlin for second as the field behind fanned out entering Turns 1 and 2. Hamlin then tried to launch forward towards the lead while on the outside lane entering the backstretch, but he was blocked by Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang, who retained the lead with two laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained in the lead by half a second over Hamlin while Logano and Busch battled for third. With Hamlin unable to gain ground for a final lap charge, Buescher was able to navigate his way around the circuit smoothly for a final time and zip back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.
With the victory, Buescher, who came into the event 111 points above the top-16 cutline towards the Playoffs, notched his third career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since winning at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2022. He also recorded the second victory for the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
“Yeah, it was smooth sailing there, trying to take care of Fastenal Mustang,” Buescher said on USA Network. “These guys over at [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing], this No. 17 team gave me a great hot rod. This thing was so good. [I] Was just trying to take care of it there. I knew even on our green flag stuff, we were so strong during the race. I had a good feeling about it there. Pretty awesome to pull it off. Proud of everybody. That was a long way from the back [of the field] this morning, so heck of a race for us. We’ve had this [race] circled since last fall. I was really hopeful this could be the one that would turn the page for us. Sure enough, right off the truck I thought it was. I hate that qualifying went the way it did. I was sitting there beating myself up trying to figure out what we were going to do there. Made it to Victory Lane here in Richmond. I’d have told you to flood this place three years ago. My opinions are changing quite a bit here. What a day, though. That’s awesome…We’ve been talking about this a lot and you don’t get to ask me about points anymore.”
Despite ending up in sixth place in spite of leading a race-high 102 laps, Keselowski was left pleased in being victorious as a team owner for the second time in his second season as both a driver and owner in the Cup Series for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
“I’m happy for Chris,” Keselowski, who celebrated with Buescher in Victory Lane, said. “We are incrementally building. Solid day for both teams here at RFK. I’m happy for everybody that works on these teams, everybody that supports us with Fastenal and Ford and Build Subs. We led a lot of laps with both cars. Neither cars, we really started up front. Drove through. Great job with the pit crews. A lot to be proud of today. Of course, I want to win as a driver, but just happy that we’re as competitive as we are. We want to keep building and keep being more competitive every week.”
Meanwhile, Hamlin, who led 20 laps and was coming off a milestone victory at Pocono Raceway, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season.
“I drove in way too deep [in Turns 1 and 2],” Hamlin said. “I was trying to get to the outside there. [I] Really had a great run off of Turn 2 on the restart and off of [Turn] 4 again. But, yeah, I was just so close to him there that I wanted to try to squirt a little extra gas to try to get to the outside. Just too much brake. Man, I’m happy for Chris, [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing], those guys. I know they worked really hard to get to this point. I can appreciate the struggle that it is to get to this point. Congratulations to them. Definitely a great job by this Mavis team. Kept me in it all day long. We just lacked a little, little bit to be the best there. So we just need to improve on it. Still a good day.”
Kyle Busch came home in third place followed by Logano while Preece achieved a strong fifth-place result. Keselowski finished sixth while Truex, Almirola, Austin Dillon and Harvick, who made his final start at Richmond, completed the top 10. Notably, Wallace ended up 12th in front of Elliott and Blaney, rookie Ty Gibbs finished 15th, pole-sitter Reddick ended up 16th, Larson ended up 19th, the final competitor on the lead lap. Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger ended up 26th and 27th, respectively, after both wrecked while finishing the event.
There were 18 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 21 laps. While all 36 starters finished the event, 19 finished on the lead lap.
With four regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. leads the regular-season standings by 39 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 43 over William Byron.
William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell currently occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with McDowell occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by 18 points Ty Gibbs, 22 over AJ Allmendinger, 34 over Daniel Suarez, 40 over Chase Elliott, 42 over Alex Bowman, 64 over Austin Cindric, 70 over Justin Haley, 86 over Aric Almirola and 88 over Ryan Preece.
Results.
1. Chris Buescher, 88 laps led
2. Denny Hamlin, 20 laps led
3. Kyle Busch
4. Joey Logano
5. Ryan Preece
6. Brad Keselowski, 102 laps led, Stage 2 winner
7. Martin Truex Jr., 18 laps led
8. Aric Almirola
9. Austin Dillon
10. Kevin Harvick
11. Chase Briscoe
12. Bubba Wallace, 80 laps led
13. Chase Elliott
14. Ryan Blaney, two laps led
15. Ty Gibbs
16. Tyler Reddick, 81 laps led, Stage 1 winner
17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
18. Alex Bowman
19. Kyle Larson
20. Christopher Bell, one lap down
21. William Byron, one lap down
22. Michael McDowell, one lap down
23. Erik Jones, one lap down
24. Ross Chastain, one lap down
25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down
26. Austin Cindric, one lap down
27. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down
28. Noah Gragson, two laps down
29. Ryan Newman, two laps down
30. Justin Haley, two laps down
31. Harrison Burton, three laps down
32. Corey LaJoie, three laps down
33. Daniel Suarez, four laps down
34. Ty Dillon, four laps down
35. JJ Yeley, four laps down
36. BJ McLeod, five laps down
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of this season to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 6, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin muscled past Kyle Larson on a late restart and held on to win the HighPoint.com 400, earning his 50th Cup series victory.
“For the record,” Hamlin said, “I did not cause Alex Bowman to wreck. And for once, I’m going to give Bowman credit, because he did that all by himself.
“Now, I did wreck Kyle Larson. And I understand the crowd’s displeasure with me. And I won’t deny the fans their boos, nor will I deny them their booze.”
2. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished third at Pocono as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin took the win.
“I think we all know that if Denny wants something bad enough,” Truex said, “he just takes it. I guess he doesn’t want a Cup championship that bad, then.”
3. Christopher Bell: Bell started fifth and finished sixth at Pocono.
“This race started with Austin Dillon throwing a helmet at Tyler Reddick,” Bell said. “And ended with Kyle Larson throwing shade at Denny Hamlin. I know the fans would rather see drivers throwing punches, but I guess they’ll have to be satisfied with anything being thrown.”
4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick took fourth at Pocono, posting his fifth top 5 of the year.
“My car had the slogan ‘Break 4 Busch” all over it,” Harvick said. “That lets you know it’s for Busch beer. Now, with ‘Hunt Brothers Pizza’ on the car, that slogan would be ‘Break for the bathroom.’”
5. William Byron: Byron started on the pole and led 60 laps, finishing 14th in the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono.
“You would think I would be an expert at a place called the ‘Tricky Triangle,’” Byron said. “After all, I’m sponsored by Liberty University, where the ‘Tricky Triangle’ is Jerry Falwell, Jr., his wife, and the pool boy.”
6. Kyle Larson: Larson was leading late, but hit the wall battling Denny Hamlin for the lead. The damage slowed Larson’s No. 5 Chevy considerably, and he finished 21st.
“I don’t know what Hamlin was thinking,” Larson said. “I thought we were friends. If he apologizes, I guess we’ll still be friends. If he doesn’t, we won’t. If he wrecks me again, well, that’s another story. So, it’s a case of friend or foe, or mo fo.’”
7. Kyle Busch: Busch finished 21st at Pocono.
“Pocono is a far cry from Mexico,” Busch said. “Speaking of ‘far cry,’ that’s what I did as I wept thousands of miles from home in a Mexican prison.”
8. Ryan Blaney: Blaney suffered a power issue past the midway point of the race, and lost track position and any chance of winning. Blaney was able to stay on the lead lap and finished 30th.
“My car lost about 100 horsepower,” Blaney said. “That can also be accomplished by letting BJ McLeod drive your car.”
9. Ross Chastain: Chastain came home 13th in the HighPoint.com 400.
“Did Austin Dillon really throw his helmet at Tyler Reddick’s car?” Chastain said. “Is that really a useful way to voice your displeasure? If it was, I’d have the world’s largest helmet collection.”
10. Joey Logano: Logano won Stage 1 at Pocono, but crashed on a Lap 36 restart, flattening all four tires. He was able to return for a few laps but retired on Lap 48, and finished 35th.
“All was going well up until that point,” Logano said. “My outlook matched the ‘check’ on my car indicating ‘Verizon.’ But that wreck ‘X’d’ me out.”
A year after having a record-breaking victory at Pocono Raceway stripped due to disqualification to his race-winning car, Denny Hamlin responded back with vengeance and reclaimed the title of holding the most victories at the Tricky Triangle by winning the HighPoint.com 400 on Sunday, July 23.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led twice for nine of 160-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in eighth place, ran towards the front and accumulated an abundance of stage points by finishing in the top five during both stage periods. Amid various pit strategies and a bevy of caution periods amid on-track carnages, Hamlin, who methodically gained ground towards the lead and avoided a spin involving Alex Bowman with 12 laps remaining amid close-quarters racing, seized an opportunity for the lead during a restart with seven laps remaining as he drew himself alongside Kyle Larson.
In the process, Hamlin went up the racetrack and forced Larson out of the racing groove which resulted in Larson scrubbing the outside wall past Turn 1 while Hamlin rocketed away with the lead. Amid another ensuing caution period, where Larson bumped Hamlin to express his displeasure over the contact, Hamlin then managed to pull away from teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick in a three-lap dash to the finish and just before an incident involving Ryan Preece concluded the event under caution to claim his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season and his all-time leading seventh triumph at the Tricky Triangle.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 22, William Byron notched his third pole of 2023 and the 11th of his Cup Series career after posting a pole-winning lap at 170.629 mph in 52.746 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Martin Truex Jr., winner of last weekend’s Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 170.235 mph in 52.868 seconds.
Prior to the event, Chase Elliott and Todd Gilliland dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries after both spun during their respective qualifying laps on Saturday.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron and Truex dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering the first turn until Byron managed to use the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed into the lead entering Long Pond Straight. With Byron leading, Truex retained second as Joey Logano muscled his way into third place over Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. With the field navigating its way through Turns 2 and 3 before returning to the frontstretch, Byron proceeded to lead the first lap while Truex, Logano, Harvick and Larson followed in pursuit.
Through the second lap and as the field continued to jostle for early spots, rookie Ty Gibbs scrubbed the outside wall entering Long Pond Straight and while running 17th. With Gibbs resuming under full speed and the race proceeding under green, Byron retained the lead with a reasonable advantage over Truex while Logano, Harvick and Larson remained in the top five. Behind, Bubba Wallace, who scrubbed the wall during his qualifying lap but rolled off the grid in 10th place, was in sixth ahead of Christopher Bell as Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick and Hamlin pursued in the top 10.
On the fourth lap, the first caution of the event flew when JJ Yeley, who was running towards the rear of the field, spun and slapped the inside wall on the driver’s left side at the Short Chute and just past Turn 2. During the caution period, some like Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer and Todd Gilliland pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.
When the race resumed under green flag conditions on the 10th lap, Byron and Logano, who moved up to restart alongside Byron on the front row after Truex elected to start behind Byron on the outside lane, dueled for the lead entering the first turn as the field fanned out. Then in Turn 1, Logano rocketed his No. 22 Verizon Frontline Ford Mustang into the lead as Byron went up the track and fell back to second. Then exiting Long Pond Straight and as the field continued to fan out, Byron was placed in a three-wide battle with teammate Larson and Harvick to retain second, with Larson gaining the spot as Truex fell back to fifth.
Three laps later and amid the early battles within the field, Corey LaJoie, who was running 12th, pitted under green after scrubbing the wall entering Long Pond Straight a lap earlier and reporting a flat tire to his No. 7 TD Bank Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, though he remained on the lead lap following his pit service. With the event remaining under green flag conditions, Logano continued to lead over a hard-charging Larson, who started to gain ground on Logano for the lead, while Byron settled in third and trailed the lead by more than a second.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Logano retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Larson while Byron, Harvick and Truex were running in the top five. Behind, Christopher Bell occupied sixth ahead of teammate Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Reddick and AJ Allmendinger while Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs and Alex Bowman were in the top 15. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski was in 16th ahead of Justin Haley, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher and Erik Jones while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, rookie Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece, Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon and Aric Almirola were mired in the top 30.
Five laps later, Logano stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over Larson while third-place Byron trailed by more than a second. By then, the top-10 field that included Harvick, Truex, Bell, Hamlin, Blaney, Reddick and Allmendinger were trailing the lead by under six seconds. Another lap later, Kyle Busch, who was running 18th, pitted his No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green. A bevy of names that included Larson, Byron, Harvick, Bell, Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Bowman, Austin Cindric, Keselowski, Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would pit during the proceeding lap under green and just as pit road closed with the first stage’s conclusion within sight.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Logano captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Truex, the regular-season championship leader, followed suit in second while Hamlin, Reddick, Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Chris Buescher and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a bevy of names led by Logano, including those who remained on the track during the first stage’s conclusion period, pitted while the rest led by Cole Custer and Byron, including those who pitted prior to the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited first followed by teammate Truex, Reddick, Logano, McDowell and Allmendinger. Custer would then pit a lap after remaining on the track, which enabled Byron to cycle back into the lead.
The second stage started on Lap 35 as teammates Byron and Larson occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out entering the first turn, the caution quickly returned when Logano, who was running in the middle of the pack, received a bump from McDowell that caused Logano to get loose and bounce off of Reddick before he spun backward and hit the outside wall, with the driver unable to drive away due to flat-spotting his tires and needing a wrecker to tow his car back to pit road. At the same time, McDowell, who was turning left to avoid Logano, made contact with Wallace, which proceeded into Wallace clipping Suarez as Suarez also spun sideways and slapped the outside wall head-on. The incident not only left a huge dent to Suarez’s front nose of his No. 99 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, but it also implicated his ensuing battle to make the top-16 cutline for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs as he came into Pocono trailing the cutline by a single point. The damage, however, was enough to terminate Suarez’s event in the garage.
During the proceeding restart on Lap 41, teammates Byron and Larson dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering the first turn before the field navigated its way to Long Pond Straight. The caution, however, quickly returned when Austin Dillon, who was running 26th, got clipped by BJ McLeod as Dillon was sent spinning backward toward the outside wall in Turn 1.
The following restart on Lap 45 restart generated another caution period as Larson, who dueled teammate Byron for the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1, received a bump from Bell that got Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways and spinning up the track backward toward the outside wall in Turn 1 while the rest of the field scattered to avoid him. During the caution period, select names that included Harvick, Chase Briscoe, Erik Jones, Cole Custer, Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.
On the ensuing restart on Lap 50, where Byron and Bell occupied the front row, Byron surged ahead with a huge push on the outside lane to retain the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1. With the field navigating its way through Turn 1 and Long Pond Straight, Ty Gibbs was up in third behind Blaney, who surged his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang into second, followed by Keselowski and Bell, who lost a handful of spots during the restart, while teammates Elliott and Alex Bowman battled for sixth. Truex would join the battle involving Bowman and Elliott during the following lap along with Hamlin while Reddick was in 10th ahead of a battle between Wallace, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Buescher.
By Lap 55 and amid a series of on-track battles ensuing within the field, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Blaney while third-place Ty Gibbs trailed by more than a second. Byron would continue to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Blaney at the Lap 60 mark while Ty Gibbs, Keselowski and Bell remained in the top five. With Elliott, Truex, Hamlin, Reddick and Bowman running in the top 10, Wallace was in 11th ahead of Buescher, Allmendinger, Haley and McDowell while Kyle Busch, who went up the track and nearly scrubbed the wall a few laps earlier, had fallen back to 16th in front of Ryan Preece, Cindric, Aric Almirola and Stenhouse. By then, Larson was mired in 24th in front of Harvick, Ross Chastain was in 27th and Chase Briscoe was in 30th.
On Lap 63, Bowman and Kyle Busch, who were running 10th and 16th, respectively, pitted under green. Stenhouse would pit during the proceeding lap before Allmendinger pitted by Lap 65. By then, Kyle Busch was lapped by Byron amid a 17-second pit stop. Wallace would then pit under green on Lap 68 as Byron continued to lead through the Lap 70 mark.
By Lap 72, Hamlin, who was running on fumes amid a shortage of fuel due to leaving his pit stall early while fueling his car during his previous pit stop under caution, pitted his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry under green while running 11th. His driver Reddick would pit during the following lap as Byron retained the lead by more than a second over runner-up Blaney and more than two seconds over Ty Gibbs through the Lap 75 mark. Byron would extend his advantage to more than two seconds over Blaney and more than three seconds over Ty Gibbs by Lap 78. By then, Buescher and Chastain pitted under green as Keselowski would follow suit.
Then on Lap 79, Byron surrendered the lead to pit his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 followed by Blaney, Bell, Cindric, and Almirola as Ty Gibbs cycled into the lead. Elliott and McDowell would follow suit on Lap 80 as Ty Gibbs pitted his No. 54 He Get Us Toyota TRD Camry on Lap 81 along with teammate Truex and Ryan Preece. By then, Larson cycled into the lead as Austin Dillon pitted his No. 3 BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green on Lap 83.
Just past the Lap 85 mark, Larson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Harvick while Erik Jones, Ty Dillon and LaJoie were in the top five. Behind, Byron cycled his way up to sixth while Harrison Burton, Bowman, Hamlin and Reddick were scored in the top 10 ahead of Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Wallace, Bell and Truex.
With the event reaching its Lap 90 mark, select names like LaJoie and Erik Jones pitted under green. Harvick would then surrender the runner-up spot to pit his No. 4 Busch Light Peach Ford Mustang on Lap 91 along with Harrison Burton as Larson continued to lead. Then on Lap 91, the caution flew when Bell got loose and spun his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota TRD Camry exiting Turn 1. The caution for Bell’s incident was enough for NASCAR to conclude the second stage scheduled to conclude on Lap 95 under caution as Larson, who was about to pit prior to Bell’s incident and was running low on fuel, coasted to his third Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Ty Dillon emerged in the runner-up spot while Byron, Hamlin, Bowman, Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Blaney, Wallace and Truex were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by Larson, including a mix of competitors who had yet to pit prior to the stage’s conclusion and who pitted early from the stage’s conclusion like Hamlin, pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.
With 61 laps remaining, the final stage started as Byron and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Byron rocketed away with the lead on the outside lane through the frontstretch before the inside lane led by Blaney regained momentum as Blaney assumed the lead through Turn 1. Truex followed suit behind Blaney while Byron fell back to third.
During the following lap with 60 laps remaining, Truex attempted to draw even with Blaney entering Turn 1 in his bid for the lead, but he stepped off the throttle as Blaney retained the lead while Byron tried to regain ground on the two leaders. Truex would then succeed in gaining the lead through the frontstretch during the following lap as Byron followed suit. Soon after, Blaney lost spots to Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Wallace and Bowman as he was dropkicked to seventh. He would continue to lose more spots during the ensuing lap as he reported a power issue to his car.
With 55 laps remaining, the caution returned when Austin Dillon, who was vying for a spot in the top 10 and battling with Keselowski and Reddick, turned across the front nose of Reddick entering Turn 1 as Dillon spun up the track and pounded the outside wall hard. Compared to his previous incident in Turn 1, Dillon’s latest incident terminated his run with a wrecked race car and prompted the North Carolinian to toss his helmet at Reddick’s No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota TRD Camry to express his displeasure. At the moment of caution, Truex was leading ahead of Byron while Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Wallace, Bowman, Hamlin, Harvick, Elliott and Keselowski were in the top 10.
During the caution period, select names that included Blaney, Keselowski, Almirola, Cindric, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, LaJoie, Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.
As the race restarted with 50 laps remaining, Truex retained the lead amid a strong restart on the outside lane while Byron retained second in front of Ty Gibbs. Behind, Wallace carved his way up to fourth followed by Buescher while Bowman was in sixth ahead of Harvick and Elliott as the field cycled its way through Long Pond Straight, the Tunnel Curve and Turns 2 and 3.
Ten laps later, Byron surrendered the runner-up spot to pit under green along with Buescher, McDowell, Keselowski, Cindric and Larson, who only opted for two fresh tires to cycle ahead of his fellow competitors. By then, Bowman had pitted a lap earlier while Truex retained the lead. With 39 laps remaining, however, the cycle of green flag pit stops continue to ensue as Truex pitted his No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry from the lead along with Wallace, Elliott, Chastain, Allmendinger and Haley while Ty Gibbs cycled into the lead. Gibbs would then pit with 38 laps remaining along with teammate Bell as Hamlin cycled into the lead followed by Harvick and Reddick.
As Hamlin and Harvick both pitted for two fresh tires and fuel with 37 laps remaining, Reddick cycled into the lead while Larson, the first competitor running on two fresh tires and a full tank of gas, managed to cycle ahead of both Hamlin and Harvick on the track. With Reddick still leading with 30 laps remaining and despite having another pit stop within his horizon to have enough fuel to finish the event, Erik Jones trailed in the runner-up spot by more than three seconds followed by Stenhouse, LaJoie, Harrison Burton, Almirola, Gilliland, Yeley and Blaney, all of whom needing a pit stop to finish the event. Meanwhile, Larson, the first competitor running in prime position with his two fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, was in 10th followed by a hard-charging Hamlin while Truex, Bowman, Harvick, Byron, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Buescher and Wallace followed pursuit.
With 25 laps remaining, Erik Jones surrendered the runner-up spot to pit his No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green as Reddick continued to lead by more than eight seconds over Stenhouse, who would pit his No. 47 Blue Buffalo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during the proceeding lap. Reddick would then surrender the lead to pit under green with 22 laps remaining as LaJoie cycled into the lead.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, LaJoie was leading by more than five seconds over Almirola followed by Gilliland, all three of whom still needed to pit, while Larson cycled his way up to fourth despite trailing the top-three competitors by more than 11 seconds. Behind, a battle ensued between Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Truex while Bowman, Harvick, Byron and Ty Gibbs were in the top 10. By then, Harrison Burton pitted under green.
Then three laps later, the caution flew when contact from Ty Dillon sent Briscoe spinning and hitting the outside wall in Turn 3 as Briscoe limped his damaged No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang to his pit stall. During the caution period, some led by LaJoie and including Almirola, Gilliland, Byron, Elliott, Buescher, Yeley, Wallace, Allmendinger, Chastain, Keselowski, Blaney, Gilliland, Cindric, Preece, McDowell, Haley, LaJoie and Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road while LaJoie was held a lap in his pit box for overtaking the pace car while pulling up to his pit stall prior to his service.
When the race restarted under green with 13 laps remaining, where Larson and Hamlin occupied the front row, Larson received a strong push from Truex on the outside lane to rocket ahead with the lead over Hamlin entering Turn 1. Through Long Pond Straight and as the field fanned out through the Tunnel Curve, Larson retained the lead over Truex as Bowman moved up to third while Hamlin fell back to fourth in front of Harvick.
During the following lap, Truex started to launch his charge on Larson for the lead as he closed in to within a tenth of a second to Larson’s rear bumper through Long Pond Straight and the Tunnel Curve. Shortly after, the caution flew when Bowman, who was running third, spun sideways in front of Hamlin amid close-quarters racing, but with no contact made between both competitors, as Bowman backed his No. 48 Ally Best Friends Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 against the outside wall in Turn 3.
Down to the final seven laps of the event, where Larson and Truex occupied the front row, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson received another strong push on the outside lane, this time from Hamlin, to retain the lead entering Turn 1. Through Turn 1, however, Hamlin made his move beneath Larson in a bid for the lead as he even forced Larson up the track and caused Larson to scrub the outside wall. With Truex and Harvick joining the battle, Hamlin gained control of the field with the lead followed by Truex and Harvick while Larson dropped to fourth. Not long after, the caution returned when Haley wrecked in Turn 2. During the caution period, Larson bumped into Hamlin to express his displeasure over the contact.
With the event restarting under green with three laps remaining, where teammates Hamlin and Truex occupying the front row, Hamlin launched ahead with another strong start on the outside lane and he would retain the top spot over Truex as he navigated his way into Long Pond Straight. Through the straightaway, Larson started to lose momentum and a bevy of spots towards the front amid his damage while Hamlin continued to lead Truex.
Down to the final two laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by three-tenths of a second over Truex while Harvick was being challenged by Reddick for third. In the process, Ty Gibbs was in fifth ahead of Bell, Stenhouse, Erik Jones, Harrison Burton and Elliott while Larson plummeted to 14th.
Then as Hamlin started to navigate his way towards the frontstretch to start the final lap of the event, Preece spun past the Tunnel Curve. NASCAR, though, opted keep the race under green flag conditions and display the white flag to start the final lap, where Hamlin remained as the leader by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Truex and Reddick. With Preece unable to drive away from his incident and as the field was approaching him through Long Pond Straight, NASCAR threw the caution to conclude the event. As a result, the leader Hamlin was awarded the victory as he notched the second Cup consecutive victory in recent weeks for Joe Gibbs Racing.
With the victory, Hamlin notched his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season, his first since winning at Kansas Speedway in May amid a final lap dust-up involving Larson and he surpassed Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in becoming the winningest Cup competitor at the Tricky Triangle with seven victories. In addition, he became the fifth competitor to achieve multiple Cup victories this season and the 15th different competitor to achieve 50 wins in NASCAR’s premier series as he moved into a tie with Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for 13th place on the all-time wins list. As an added bonus, Hamlin recorded the 600th overall victory for the Toyota nameplate across NASCAR with the manufacturer notching its seventh victory of the 2023 Cup season.
Photo by Jeff Clemons for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Both [Larson and Bowman] wrecked themselves,” Hamlin, who stood his ground over his late incidents involving Larson and Bowman, said on USA Network. “There was a lane. [Larson] missed the corner first and evidently, he didn’t have his right-side tires clean. When he gassed up, he just kept going again. You have an option in those positions that it’s either hold it wide open and hit the fence or lift and race it out. Those were choices they made. I didn’t hit either one of them. I didn’t touch them.”
“I love it,” Hamlin, who reigned in the chorus of boos from the crowd, added. “They can boo my [winning] rock here in a few years. Honestly, we had the best car. The strategy worked out well. [Crew chief] Chris [Gabehart] just kept getting me more towards the front. This Mavis Tires & Brakes car was just really fast right from the get-go in practice. Just really happy that we’re finally winning these races that we should win.”
Upon completion of the post-race inspection process, there were no issues assessed to Hamlin’s race-winning car this season compared to the previous season, which made Hamlin’s 2023 victory at Pocono official.
Meanwhile, Larson, who ended up 20th and had initially placed himself in contention for the victory amid his early spin, maintained his composure but did not mince his words nor his displeasure to Hamlin over the on-track contact.
“I’ve been cost a lot of good finishes by [Hamlin] throughout my career and I know he says I race a certain way, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to apologize to him about anything,” Larson said. “Not that I’m sure he’s gonna say sorry after this, but it is what it is. Whatever, just move on. Yes, this makes things [expletive] and awkward, but whatever. He’s always right. All the buddies know Denny’s always right, so I’m sure he was in the right there as well. I’m not gonna let it tarnish our friendship on track, but I am pissed. I feel like I should be pissed. I think at this point, I’m gonna have to [race him differently], right? Eventually, like he says, you got to start racing people a certain way to get the respect back. I don’t think I deserve to be run into before I ever got to the wall.”
Behind Hamlin, Reddick rallied to come home in the runner-up spot followed by Truex, who fell short in winning back-to-back races in recent weeks. Harvick and Ty Gibbs finished in the top five.
Bell, Stenhouse, Harrison Burton, Erik Jones and Chase Elliott finished in the top 10. Notably, Wallace ended up 11th, Byron settled in 14th behind Ross Chastain, Keselowski finished 16th, Kyle Busch ended up 21st behind Larson and Bowman fell back to 24th. In addition, Blaney ended up 30th, the final competitor on the lead lap.
There were 14 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 44 laps. In addition, 30 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
With five regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 30 points over William Byron, 55 over Denny Hamlin, 75 over Christopher Bell and 98 over Ross Chastain.
William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell currently occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with McDowell occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by 17 points over AJ Allmendinger, 23 over Daniel Suarez, 28 over rookie Ty Gibbs, 45 over Alex Bowman, 56 over Chase Elliott, 60 over Austin Cindric and 62 over Justin Haley.
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second and final visit of this season to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 30 at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
After spending the majority of the late stages being schooled by a former Kyle Busch Motorsports competitor Corey Heim, the bossman Kyle Busch had an extra trick saved up his sleeves to execute a final lap pass on Heim and record a monumental NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 22.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led twice for seven of 60 scheduled laps in an event marred with late chaos and battles amongst series regulars battling for the final handful of spots to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs. All that was on the mindset for Kyle Busch, though, was recording the 100th Truck Series victory for his organization, Kyle Busch Motorsports.
To accomplish the feat, Busch had to navigate his way around Heim for the lead. Heim, however, did not relinquish the lead to Busch without a fight as he retained the spot since Lap 33 and through a series of on-track battles. Then amid a five-lap dash to the finish and after appearing to settle in second behind Heim, Busch seized upon an opportunity on the final lap to gain a run on Heim and execute a final lap pass on him with two corners remaining to rocket away and record the elusive 100th victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 21, rookie Nick Sanchez notched his fourth Truck Series pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning speed at 168.966 mph in 53.265 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Jake Garcia, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 168.306 mph in 53.474 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Ben Rhodes, Josh Reaume, Dean Thompson, Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a stacked start that caused some competitors running towards the rear of the field to fan out and sustain damage to their trucks, Sanchez received a push from Carson Hocevar on the outside lane to rocket ahead with the lead entering Turn 1. As Hocevar tried to make a move beneath Sanchez, the latter rocketed ahead through the first turn and entering Long Pond Straight while Hocevar moved in front of Garcia to retain second as Grant Enfinger joined the battle. As the field battled amid two lanes through the Tunnel Curve and entering Turn 3, Sanchez managed to retain the lead when he returned to the frontstretch and lead the first lap while Garcia and Hocevar battled for second.
Through the second lap, Zane Smith made a three-wide move on Garcia and Hocevar through the frontstretch to move his No. 38 Birch Gold Group Ford F-150 into the runner-up spot. Soon after, Matt DiBenedetto and Enfinger rocketed past Hocevar along with Austin Hill through Long Pond Straight as Chase Purdy and Corey Heim trailed closely behind in eighth and ninth. By then, however, Sanchez stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Zane Smith.
On the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Tanner Gray, who was running 15th, snapped sideways underneath teammate Kaz Grala and was barely clipped by Tyler Ankrum in the front end before he spun below the track and collided head-on into the inside wall in Turn 1. With the damage to his No. 15 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro deemed terminal and leaking fluid, the wreck also took a significant hit towards Gray’s efforts to make the 2023 Truck Playoffs as he initially came into the event 24 points below the top-10 cutline.
During the caution period, select names that included Tyler Ankrum, Deegan, Lawless Alan, Cory Roper, Stephen Mallozzi, Josh Reaume and Kaden Honeycutt pitted while the rest led by Sanchez remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Crafton, who pitted for repairs to his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 following the contact at the start of the race.
As the race restarted under green on the eighth lap, Zane Smith rocketed into the lead while running on the inside lane after receiving a push from DiBenedetto, who overtook Sanchez for the runner-up spot in the process. Through Turn 1 and across Long Pond Straight, Smith started to place a gap between himself and DiBenedetto as he retained the lead while the field behind jostled for positions.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Zane Smith was leading by nine-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto followed by Sanchez, Austin Hill and Garcia while Enfinger, Kyle Busch, Taylor Gray, Stewart Friesen and Hocevar were in the top 10. Behind, Corey Heim was in 11th ahead of a battle between Purdy, Christopher Bell, rookie Rajah Caruth and Christian Eckes while Dean Thompson, Parker Kligerman, Ross Chastain, Kaz Grala and Ben Rhodes were scored in the top 20.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 15, Zane Smith claimed his third stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Sanchez settled in second after navigating his way around DiBenedetto the lap prior, with DiBenedetto settled in third as Kyle Busch, Austin Hill, Garcia, Heim, Enfinger, Friesen and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, select names that included Rhodes, Chastain, Grala, Kaden Honeycutt, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Colby Howard, Grala, Stefan Parsons, Ankrum, Hocevar, Kligerman and Austin Hill pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 20 as Zane Smith and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Busch received a strong push from Heim on the inside lane to rocket ahead of Smith with the lead exiting the frontstretch. Heim then ducked his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro beneath Busch’s No. 51 Zariz Transport Chevrolet Silverado RST in a bid to take the lead entering Turn 1. Though Heim succeeded through Turn 1 and entering Long Pond Straight, Busch responded back through the Long Pond Straight by rocketing past Heim to assume the lead as Friesen tried to overtake Heim for second, with the latter retaining the spot. As the field behind continued to fan out and jostle for spots, Busch started to stretch his advantage as he was leading by more than six-tenths of a second when he returned to the frontstretch.
By Lap 22, Busch was leading by more than eight-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Friesen, Zane Smith and Garcia while Eckes, Sanchez, Bell, Purdy and Hocevar were in the top 10.
Three laps later, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Heim while Friesen, Zane Smith and Eckes remained in the top five. As Garcia, Sanchez, Bell, Purdy and Hocevar remained in the top 10, Ty Majeski was in 11th followed by Taylor Gray, Dean Thompson, DiBenedetto and Kligerman while Enfinger, Rhodes, Ankrum, Chastain and Austin Hill occupied the top 20 with Crafton running in 21st ahead of Caruth, Grala, Colby Howard and Stefan Parsons trailing behind.
Then on Lap 27, a bevy of names that included race leader Kyle Busch, Heim, Eckes, Garcia, Hocevar, Purdy, Taylor Gray, Majeski, Thompson, Kligerman, Grala, Chastain, Bell and Austin Hill pitted under green. Amid the pit stops, Zane Smith reassumed the lead while Friesen, who missed the opportunity to pit with the front-runners, and Sanchez were in second and third.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Zane Smith collected his second stage victory of the season and the fourth of this year’s Truck season. Friesen settled in second while Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Rhodes, Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Colby Howard and Crafton were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a majority of lead lap competitors led by Zane Smith and including Rhodes, Friesen, Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Ankrum, rookie Daniel Dye, Stefan Parsons, Tyler Hill, Lawless Alan, Caruth, Cory Roper, Spencer Boyd, Crafton, Kaden Honeycutt, Bret Holmes and Hailie Deegan pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
With 25 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Heim and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Busch dueled for the lead exiting the frontstretch until Heim managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane and with a push from teammate Taylor Gray to lead Busch and the field through the first turn. As the field fanned out through the Long Pond Straight, Heim was out in front of the pack with Busch trailing by two-tenths of a second.
The following lap, the battle for the lead intensified as Busch tried to gain a run beneath Heim entering Turn 1. Heim, however, was quick to rocket ahead and move back in front of Busch entering Long Pond Straight to retain the lead. As Taylor Gray tried to close in on the two leaders amid the draft in his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Busch tried to gain another run beneath Heim entering the first turn during the following lap, but history repeated itself as Heim rocketed ahead from the outside lane and with the lead within his grasp. Behind, Chastain briefly lost his momentum after making contact with Eckes that caused him to slip out of the top 10 through Turn 1.
With less than 20 laps remaining, Heim was leading by more than two-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch, who closed in and started to intimidate Heim for the top spot once again, while third-place Taylor Gray trailed by more than a second. As both continued to battle fiercely for the lead amid the draft, Heim continued to retain the top spot by a narrow margin over Busch, who could not execute his runs to overtake his former Kyle Busch Motorsports driver.
Then with 15 laps remaining, the caution flew for a two-truck incident involving the front row starters after Sanchez, the pole-sitter, slid underneath Garcia in Turn 1 and sent Garcia into the outside wall and with significant damage to the No. 35 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST, thus terminating Garcia’s race, while Sanchez spun sideways below the track and amid a cloud of smoke as he emerged with right-side damage to his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST. At the time of the caution period, Heim was still leading by three-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch.
During the caution period, some that included Crafton, Deegan, Colby Howard, Ankrum, Lawless Alan, Tyler Hill, Roper, Reaume, Spencer Boyd, Chastain and Honeycutt pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
Down to the final nine laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Heim received another shove from teammate Taylor Gray on the outside lane to rocket ahead and retain the lead entering the first turn with Kyle Busch following pursuit through the first turn as Bell and Majeski were in the top five. As the field fanned out through the first turn and entering Long Pond Straight, the caution quickly returned when Hocevar slid up the track and made contact with Grala while battling for seventh. The contact caused Grala to slide sideways as he clipped and sent Kligerman’s No. 75 Tide Chevrolet Silverado RST scraping into the outside wall through Long Pond Straight while Friesen collided into Grala before he was T-boned by Austin Hill’s No. 7 ARCO Chevrolet Silverado RST as more competitors that included Stefan Parsons, Chastain, Lawless Alan and Zane Smith, whose truck erupted in flames, were all collected.
The incident proved costly for Friesen, who was unable to continue with a damaged No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and was scored above the Playoff cutline prior to the incident, while Crafton, who pitted during the previous caution period and was below the cutline, was able to methodically navigate his way through the incident without any damage. The incident was also enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period.
When the red flag lifted amid a 13-minute delay period, the race restarted under green with five laps remaining as Heim and Kyle Busch retained the front row. At the start, Heim, who received another push from teammate Taylor Gray on the outside lane, retained the lead over Kyle Busch, who was receiving a shove from Christopher Bell, entering Turn 1. As the field returned to the frontstretch with four laps remaining, Heim was leading by three-tenths of a second over Busch while Taylor Gray, Bell and Enfinger followed pursuit in the top five.
With three laps remaining, Heim continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch, who nearly executed a move and pass on Heim for the lead before relenting and settling in second. By then, however, Taylor Gray started to close in on the two leaders as he was trailing by only six-tenths of a second. Heim would retain the lead by four-tenths of a second over runner-up Busch and seven-tenths of a second over third-place Taylor Gray with two laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch and seven-tenths of a second over Taylor Gray. Then after trailing Heim through the first turn, Busch executed a final lap charge and got to Heim’s rear bumper through the Long Pond Straight. He then made his move beneath Heim through the Tunnel Turn and rocketed away with the lead without making contact with Heim. With Busch pulling away and Heim unable to return the favor, Busch was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and record both his second Truck victory of the 2023 season and the 100th victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
With the victory, Busch, who was making his fifth and final Truck Series start of the 2023 season and whose latest series victory occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, notched his series-leading 64th Craftsman Truck Series career victory as a driver, his second of the season piloting a Chevrolet Silverado RST and with veteran crew chief Brian Pattie and his third in the series at Pocono.
Overall, Kyle Busch Motorsports, which first won at Nashville Superspeedway in 2010 with Busch and is the winningest team in the Craftsman Truck Series, has now accumulated 100 Truck victories between 18 different competitors, with Busch achieving 48 for his organization. The Pocono victory also marked KBM’s eighth overall victory in nine seasons at the Tricky Triangle.
Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Yeah, I mean [the win]’s pretty cool,” Busch said on FS1. “We’ve been around for a long time. Not as long as others [teams], obviously. They’ve withstood a little bit longer, but it’s been fun. A great ride. This Silverado today was really, really fast. [I was] Just mired in traffic. Couldn’t find a way to make a clean move, so had to make little bit of a dicey one there at the end getting into [Turn] 2. Heim ran a great race. We needed this 100th win to get it over with.”
“It’s a monumental day,” Busch added. “It’s a century mark of being able to win 100 Truck races. We’re, granted, a small team and just one that performs in the Truck Series. We ventured away once upon a time and didn’t quite work, but we found a home in the Trucks. It’s cool to always score a victory and another nice one here at Pocono.”
Heim, coming off a victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks ago, was left disappointed on pit road after falling one lap shy of notching his third victory of the season at the Tricky Triangle. Despite the disappointment, Heim, who extended his lead in the regular-season standings to 42 points over Zane Smith, commended the battle and final overtake from Busch, whom Heim competed for, won two Truck races and claimed the Rookie-of-the-Year title a year ago.
“Just unreal,” Heim said. “I felt like I did everything right. It seemed like we had about five laps in the truck before it started tightening up really bad on me. [I] Didn’t really get the run I wanted out of [Turn] 1 and I knew [Busch]’s straightaway speed was really good. I was a little upset initially, but realistically, I would’ve done the exact same thing. A heat of the moment deal there, but looking back on it, I’ve just got a lot of respect for Kyle. I’ve raced for him for two years. He was really good to me, and he raced me with respect today. Hard racer. He didn’t wreck us to win, and I would’ve probably done the same thing. Just really sucks. I really thought we had it there, especially with seeming that he couldn’t really form up a run good enough to pass me and he sends it in on the last lap. All the blame goes on me for not doing what I should’ve done.”
Rookie Taylor Gray notched a career-best third-place result after crossing the finish line nine-tenths of a behind Kyle Busch while Christopher Bell and Enfinger finished in the top five.
Ty Majeski, Eckes, Dean Thompson, Ben Rhodes and DiBenedetto completed the top 10. Notably, Hocevar ended up 11th in front of Ankrum, Crafton came home 14th behind Hailie Deegan, Caruth ended up 16th in front of teammate Daniel Dye and Sanchez ended up 19th behind Chase Purdy.
There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 29 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
With one regular-season event remaining on the schedule, Corey Heim continues to lead the regular-season standings by 42 points over Zane Smith and 59 over Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski.
Currently, Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes and Carson Hocevar are guaranteed spots for the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. In addition, Ty Majeski, who finished sixth at Pocono, has clinched a Playoff spot despite being winless through 15 regular-season events. That leaves Matt DiBenedetto, rookie Nick Sanchez and Matt Crafton holding sole possessions of the final three transfer spots to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs entering next weekend’s regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway that will set the 10-truck Playoff field. Crafton holds the 10th and final transfer spot by nine points over Stewart Friesen, 47 over Tanner Gray, 54 over Chase Purdy, 71 over Tyler Ankrum and 94 over rookie Jake Garcia.
Results.
1. Kyle Busch, seven laps led
2. Corey Heim, 27 laps led
3. Taylor Gray
4. Christopher Bell
5. Grant Enfinger
6. Ty Majeski
7. Christian Eckes
8. Dean Thompson
9. Ben Rhodes
10. Matt DiBenedetto
11. Carson Hocevar
12. Tyler Ankrum
13. Hailie Deegan
14. Matt Crafton
15. Colby Howard
16. Rajah Caruth
17. Daniel Dye
18. Chase Purdy
19. Nick Sanchez, seven laps led
20. Kaden Honeycutt
21. Tyler Hill
22. Parker Kligerman
23. Cory Roper
24. Stephen Mallozzi
25. Spencer Boyd
26. Josh Reaume
27. Lawless Alan
28. Stefan Parsons
29. Bret Holmes
30. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident
31. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident
32. Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident
33. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident
34. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
35. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident
36. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident
The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular-season stretch is set to conclude next Saturday, July 29, at Richmond Raceway, where the 2023 Truck Series Playoff field will be determined. The event’s coverage is set to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
1. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex swept the stages and was the dominant car all day at New Hampshire on his way to the win in the Crayon 301.
“I was thrilled to hoist the huge lobster given to the winner,” Truex said. “Especially since this is my first win at New Hampshire. And it’s a memory I’ll treasure forever. And one day, I’ll tell my kids all about it. It will be my personal lobster tale.”
2. Joey Logano: Logano came up short at his home track, settling for the runner-up spot at New Hampshire behind Martin Truex Jr.
“If some filed a motion that Truex was unstoppable on Monday,” Logano said, “I’m best qualified to ‘second’ it.”
3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished seventh in the Crayon 301.
“Congratulations to my teammate Martin Truex Jr.,” Hamlin said. “He drove like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately for NASCAR ratings, there was a tomorrow.”
4. William Byron: Byron finished 24th in the Crayon 301.
“Chase Elliott is in danger of missing the NASCAR playoffs,” Byron said. “But I think, with the support of Hooters and the Dawsonville Pool Hall, he’ll be able to ‘rack’ up a win to get him in the playoffs.”
5. Kyle Larson: Larson led six laps and finished third in the Crayon 301, posting his ninth top-five of the year.
“Martin Truex Jr. was just unstoppable,” Larson said. “I have nothing but kind words to say about him. Those words are so much more meaningful when they’re not a requirement of sensitivity training.”
6. Kyle Busch: Busch got loose and nailed the wall at the end of Stage 1, damaging the right side of his No. 8 Chevrolet. Busch finished last, completing only 71 laps.
“In addition,” Busch said, “I crashed in qualifying and had to start at the back of the field. So, I was pretty much handcuffed from the start. So, now I’ve been handcuffed in two countries.”
7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished 22nd at New Hampshire.
“This race was called the ‘Crayon 301,’” Blaney said. “Surprisingly, it’s ‘Crayon Software Experts,’ and not the crayons children color with, or many NASCAR fans write with.”
8. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 23rd at New Hampshire.
“Ryan Newman was driving the No. 15 car for Rick Ware Racing,” Logano said. “That means only one thing: Rusty Wallace was nowhere near the race track.”
9. Christopher Bell: Bell started on the pole at New Hampshire and finished 30th, a lap down.
“I had to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 74 for a loose wheel,” Bell said. “That pretty much ruined my day. I don’t know who it was, but one of my pit crewmen screwed me. Actually, he didn’t screw me enough.”
10. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 10 laps and finished fourth in the Crayon 301.
“There are six more races until the playoffs start,” Harvick said. “That means it’s ‘crunch time.’ Now, if you’re racing anywhere near Ross Chastain, it’s always crunch time.”
