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

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

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

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

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

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 Byron was awarded the final Playoff berth after Christopher Bell’s Playoff berth was revoked due to “wall-riding” the final corner that initially enabled him to gain the final upper hand to the finale.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Ryan Blaney, 32 laps led

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

    3. Kyle Larson, 71 laps led

    4. Austin Cindric

    5. Denny Hamlin

    6. William Byron, 51 laps led

    7. Austin Dillon

    8. Ross Chastain

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

    10. Joey Logano

    11. Noah Gragson

    12. Shane van Gisbergen

    13. Alex Bowman

    14. Ryan Preece

    15. Chase Briscoe

    16. Josh Berry

    17. Daniel Hemric

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

    19. Erik Jones, one lap down

    20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    21. Zane Smith, one lap down

    22. Christopher Bell, one lap down

    23. Daniel Suarez, two laps down

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

    25. Carson Hocevar, two laps down

    26. Todd Gilliland, two laps down

    27. Kaz Grala, three laps down

    28. Kyle Busch, three laps down

    29. Justin Haley, three laps down

    30. Chris Buescher, three laps down

    31. John Hunter Nemechek, four laps down

    32. Ty Gibbs, five laps down

    33. Michael McDowell, 10 laps down

    34. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Brakes

    35. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Oil Pressure

    36. Harrison Burton – OUT, Engine

    37. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Brakes

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    2. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

    3. Joey Logano – Advanced

    4. William Byron – Advanced

    5. Christopher Bell – Eliminated

    6. Kyle Larson – Eliminated

    7. Denny Hamlin – Eliminated

    8. Chase Elliott – Eliminated

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

  • Ross Chastain snaps yearlong winless drought with victory at Kansas

    Ross Chastain snaps yearlong winless drought with victory at Kansas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Ross Chastain, 52 laps led

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

    3. Martin Truex Jr., five laps led

    4. Ryan Blaney, three laps led

    5. Ty Gibbs, five laps led

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

    7. Christopher Bell, 122 laps led

    8. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    9. Chase Elliott

    10. Zane Smith, three laps led

    11. Chris Buescher

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Daniel Suarez

    14. Joey Logano, three laps led

    15. Corey LaJoie

    16. Ryan Preece

    17. Bubba Wallace

    18. Noah Gragson

    19. Kyle Busch, 29 laps led

    20. Daniel Hemric

    21. Ty Dillon

    22. Brad Keselowski, four laps led

    23. Harrison Burton

    24. Chase Briscoe

    25. Tyler Reddick, seven laps led

    26. Kyle Larson

    27. Todd Gilliland

    28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    29. Michael McDowell

    30. John Hunter Nemechek

    31. Kaz Grala

    32. Carson Hocevar

    33. Justin Haley, one lap down

    34. Austin Cindric, four laps down

    35. Erik Jones, four laps down

    36. Jimmie Johnson, 10 laps down

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

    38. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. William Byron +34

    2. Ryan Blaney +28

    3. Christopher Bell +28

    4. Kyle Larson +18

    5. Denny Hamlin +11

    6. Alex Bowman +8

    7. Chase Elliott +4

    8. Joey Logano +4

    9. Tyler Reddick -4

    10. Daniel Suarez -14

    11. Chase Briscoe -25

    12. Austin Cindric -29

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

  • Briscoe, Hamlin and Suarez claim final Round of 12 berths in 2024 Cup Playoffs

    Briscoe, Hamlin and Suarez claim final Round of 12 berths in 2024 Cup Playoffs

    Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez maintained their 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship hopes for another three weeks as the trio capped off the Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race with on-track results that enabled them all to transfer into the Playoff’s Round of 12 on Saturday, September 21.

    For Briscoe, who raced his way into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs overall after winning the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway, the Playoffs commenced on a rough note for the Mitchell, Indiana, native after he was involved in a harrowing accident by T-boning into Playoff contender Kyle Larson on Lap 55 of 260 during the Playoff’s opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Strapped with a 21-point deficit with a 38th-place result from Atlanta, Briscoe redeemed himself during the following Playoff event at Watkins Glen International as he dodged a series of on-track carnages that affected a bevy of Playoff contenders to finish in sixth place. The top-10 run enabled him to boost his way up above the top-12 cutline and with a six-point advantage entering the Round of 16 finale at Bristol.

    Once Briscoe took the green flag from fifth place at Bristol, he proceeded to rack up a total of seven stage points with a pair of top-10 runs recorded during both stage periods. Briscoe’s strong night of racing within the top-10 mark then hit a minor roadblock during the final caution period that started with 172 laps remaining when he dropped to within the top-15 mark amid a slow pit service from his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team.

    From the start of the final restart period with 163 laps remaining, Briscoe made up the lost ground by racing his way back into the top 10. Keeping his car intact for the remainder of the event, Briscoe steered his No. 14 Ford without a rearview camera to an eighth-place result, which was enough for him to claim the 12th and final transfer spot into the Playoff’s Round of 12 by 11 points.

    With his accomplishment, Briscoe, who also transferred past the Round of 12 and as high as up to the Round of 8 during his first Playoff bid in 2022, continues to set his sights on making the Championship 4 round and contending for a Cup Series championship for Stewart-Haas Racing, with the organization set to be rebranded to Haas Factory Team and downsized to a single entry for the 2025 season while Briscoe prepares to transition to Joe Gibbs Racing.

    “Honestly, [the race] wasn’t really stressful,” Briscoe said after the race on USA Network. “Even when we had that bad pit stop, we came out 13th or 14th and I felt like I could drive [the car] back up there. Overall, a great night for us. Hopefully, people will start taking us [seriously]. I truthfully feel like we can battle for the championship, so hopefully, tonight proved that. [I] Hate that we had to dig ourselves out of a hole after Atlanta, but hopefully, we can go on to Kansas and start this next round strong. I feel like we can beat anybody on any given day when we put it together from start to finish.”

    After initially being placed under a microscope with back-to-back finishes outside the top 20 that nearly had his championship hopes of the 2024 season diminished, Denny Hamlin responded by finishing fourth at Bristol and racing his way into the Round of 12 by 15 points.

    Taking the green flag from eighth place and with a six-point deficit to start the Bristol event, Hamlin took care of business for the first half of the event by racking up a total of 13 stage points with finishes of eighth and third, respectively, during the first two rounds.

    Restarting inside the top-five mark at the start of the final stage period with 240 laps remaining, Hamlin kept his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota racing towards the front like he had been throughout the first half of the event. Despite being overtaken by his 23XI Racing competitor Bubba Wallace for third place in the closing laps, Hamlin would retain a fourth place on the track as he leaped his way back inside the top-12 cutline and maintained his title hopes with an automatic pass to the Round of 12.

    With his accomplishment, Hamlin, who is in his 19th consecutive season in the Cup Series level, transferred into the Round of 12 for the 10th time in his career. In a season where he notched three regular-season victories, he now sets his sights forward and in pursuit of a first elusive Cup Series championship.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “My aspiration was to win [the race],” Hamlin said. “It looked like [Larson] was better than all of us. Solid car. I thought we were really good towards the middle stages and then there at the end, [I] just got too loose and couldn’t hang on to what we had there. Overall, top-five day. Good stage points. Kind of in the mix. Just not really as good as what we’ve been here in the last couple of times, but overall, thank this whole FedEx Toyota team for giving me something I can move on with. It’s all offense from this point forward.”

    Lastly, Daniel Suarez was left feeling like a sole survivor after utilizing a 36-point advantage he had before Bristol to transfer his way into the Round of 12 by a mere 11 points amid a struggling event that was capped off with a 30th-place run.

    Suarez, who finished second and 13th, respectively, throughout the Round of 16’s first two events, rolled off the starting grid in 35th place and proceeded to spend the first half of the event both inside and outside of the top-30 mark on the track. By then, he was lapped twice by the leader Larson and was unable to recover to score any stage points during the event’s two stage periods, but he remained within contention of claiming a final berth into the Round of 12.  

    Despite cycling his way back to gain one of his lost laps earlier, Suarez would fall four laps behind Larson. During the closing laps, however, he battled Ty Gibbs, who was trying to overthrow Suarez in the Playoff standings and prevented him from overtaking him as Gibbs needed more spots from the top-10 mark to gain more points on Suarez. With Gibbs fading in the closing laps and eventually dropping to 15th place when the checkered flag flew, Suarez, who dropped to 31st place and was flirting between being scored outside and inside the Playoff cutline, was able to remain inside the cutline.

    With the battle for his title hopes continuing into the Round of 12, Suarez, who also transferred as high as into the Round of 12 during his first Playoff run in 2022, expressed his relief on capping off his long weekend and event with a griding duel to fend off Ty Gibbs for a Playoff transfer spot. He also emphasized and recognized the strong Playoff start generated by him and his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team that enabled them to not lose any additional points.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[Tonight] was a struggle,” Suarez said. “Since yesterday when we unloaded the car for first practice, we just didn’t have the speed. With the short amount of practice, qualifying and going through the race, if you don’t have the speed out of the trailer, it’s very, very difficult to bring [the car] back to speed. We made it better, but it wasn’t good enough. We were running 30th, 28th, 32nd all night long and that was all we had. Luckily, we had a great [run at] Atlanta, decent [finish] at Watkins Glen after a broken wheel. We were able to build a [points] cushion and we definitely used every single point out of that cushion. I can only control so much. I can only control what the No. 99 can do and everything else is out of my hands. I wasn’t fast enough to run away from [Gibbs], so I had to play games to be able to affect him as much as possible in a clean way. Luckily, it worked out good. We have to relax a little bit and focus on the next round.”

    With the Round of 16 in the rearview mirror, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez join Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Joey Logano as 12 competitors to square off against one another throughout the Playoff’s Round of 12 as all continue their pursuit for the 2024 Cup Series championship.

    The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff’s Round of 12 is scheduled to commence next Sunday, September 29, at Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 which will air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Suarez “excited” with recent on-track surge entering the 2024 Cup Playoff opener at Atlanta

    Suarez “excited” with recent on-track surge entering the 2024 Cup Playoff opener at Atlanta

    After a one-year absence, Daniel Suarez returns to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in 2024 with early excitement and anticipation as he strives to keep pace with the competition and allow both himself and his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team the opportunity to contend for a Cup Series championship.

    Suarez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, commenced the 2024 season by finishing 34th in the 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway despite contending for the victory in the closing laps. He then rebounded during the following weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway by edging Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide photo finish, including 0.003 seconds over runner-up Blaney, to emerge victorious overall for the second time in his career and to notch his first oval/superspeedway victory in the Cup circuit. The victory was also his first with new crew chief Matt Swiderski and the driver’s first since winning at Sonoma Raceway in 2022.

    Since the Atlanta victory, which was an automatic, guaranteed ticket into the Playoffs, Suarez would proceed to finish in the top 10 five additional times, but would end up with 15 finishes of 18th or worse throughout this year’s 26-race regular-season stretch.

    Amid the on-track struggles, Suarez, who will line up in 11th place in the Playoff standings with 2,006 points, remains pleased with a recent surge in on-track progress made by his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team, during which the Mexican finishing in the top 10 three times throughout the final five regular-season events. He also generated a strong run at Richmond Raceway last August, where he led 93 laps before finishing 10th.

    In addition to expressing his excitement about returning to Atlanta, the track where he recorded his recent Cup Series victory, to commence the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, Suarez, who is set to remain at Trackhouse Racing in 2025, strives to extend his recent momentum that would enable him to surpass each Playoff round and have a chance to make the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway in November.

    During Suarez’s first Playoff campaign in 2022, he transferred from the Round of 16 to 12 and was in contention of advancing into the Round of 8 before a power steering issue during the round’s finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course drained his championship hopes as he settled in a career-best 10th place in the final standings.

    “Starting the Playoffs in Atlanta is always pretty sweet, but in reality, the No. 99 team has got some good things going our way the last couple of months,” Suarez said after this past Sunday’s regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway. “We have built some good energy, some good momentum. We have had a good streak of top 10s, good speed in some race tracks. We just continue to get better. I’m very excited to see what we can do over the first [Playoff] round. The first couple rounds are a little crazy, so I think if we execute, we clean (up) a couple things, we’re going to have a pretty good shot at [the title].”

    Daniel Suarez’s pursuit for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2024 commences at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400 and the start of the 2024 Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Scott Graves to call 300th Cup event as crew chief at Michigan

    Scott Graves to call 300th Cup event as crew chief at Michigan

    A significant milestone mark is in the making for Scott Graves, crew chief for Chris Buescher and the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang team in the NASCAR Cup Series. By participating in this weekend’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Graves will call his 300th event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Clifton Spring, New York, Graves graduated from Texas Tech University with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1994. Twelve years later, he teamed up with Roush Fenway Racing and worked as an engineer on Roush’s No. 99 Ford entry in the NASCAR Truck Series that was piloted by Erik Darnell. Another five years later, Graves worked as a team engineer for RFR’s No. 60 Ford Mustang team in the Xfinity Series, a team that achieved eight victories and went on to clinch the Xfinity Series’ owner’s championship with the help of drivers Carl Edwards and Billy Johnson.

    The 2012 season was Graves’ first as a crew chief, where he was atop the pit box of Roush’s No. 60 Ford Mustang team in four Xfinity Series races. Making his debut as a crew chief at Watkins Glen International in August, Graves went to Victory Lane for the first time with Carl Edwards capitalizing on a one-race return in the series. He returned to crew chief for Billy Johnson at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Trevor Bayne at Bristol Motor Speedway in August and Travis Pastrana at Richmond Raceway in September, respectively. Graves also made his crew chief debut in three NASCAR Cup Series races late in 2012, beginning at Dover International Speedway in September, where he worked with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Following a strong 12th-place result at Dover, Graves returned as Stenhouse’s Cup crew chief at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, respectively.

    In 2013 Graves was named crew chief for Stenhouse and the No. 17 RFR Ford Fusion team in the Cup Series, which marked Stenhouse’s first full-time season as a competitor in NASCAR’s premier series after winning back-to-back Xfinity titles. Throughout the 36-race schedule, Graves and Stenhouse achieved a pole, one top-five result and three top-10 results throughout the 36-race schedule, with the latter finishing in 19th place in the final standings and claiming the Rookie-of-the-Year title.

    For the following two seasons, Graves returned to the Xfinity Series and worked as crew chief for Chris Buescher and RFR’s No. 60 Ford Mustang team. During the two-year stint, Graves achieved three victories and the 2015 Xfinity Series championship with Buescher. After Buescher moved up to the Cup circuit with Front Row Motorsports, Graves joined Joe Gibbs Racing and worked as a crew chief for Daniel Suarez and the No. 19 Toyota Camry team. In their first season together, Graves and Suarez won three races and claimed the 2016 Xfinity Series championship, which marked Graves’ second consecutive title in the Xfinity circuit.

    Graves initially commenced the 2017 NASCAR season as crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota Camry team in the first four of five Xfinity Series races of the schedule. After going to Victory Lane with Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, Graves then moved up to the Cup Series and replaced Dave Rogers, who took an indefinite leave of absence, as the crew chief for Suarez and the No. 19 Toyota Camry team for the remaining 31 Cup events of the season. The move reunited Graves and Suarez after both won the 2016 Xfinity title. Together, the duo achieved one top-five result and 10 top-10 results as Suarez finished in 20th place in the final standings.

    Graves remained as Suarez’s crew chief for the majority of the 2018 Cup season. Following the first 30 events of the schedule, where Graves and Suarez achieved a pole, three top-five results and eight top-10 results, Graves was replaced by Dave Rogers for the final six events. Despite Suarez proceeding to finish in 21st place in the final standings with Rogers atop the No. 19 pit box, Graves still managed to reach 100 career events as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series before being replaced by Rogers.

    In September 2018, Graves was named crew chief for the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang team and veteran Ryan Newman for the 2019 Cup season, a move that reunited Graves with RFR. Throughout the 36-race schedule, Graves and Newman made the Playoffs based on points and went on to finish in 15th place in the final standings after being eliminated from title contention following the Round of 16. In addition to making the Playoffs, the duo achieved three top-five results, 14 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.6.

    The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season was a roller coaster season for Graves, Newman and the No. 6 RFR Ford Mustang team that commenced on a harrowing note after Newman was bumped and turned by Ryan Blaney on the final lap of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway while leading the event. The contact resulted with Newman flipping over and being hit by an oncoming Corey LaJoie at full speed before flying in the air, sliding and coming to a rest upside down near the pit lane exit, all while he managed to claim ninth place in the final running order. While Newman was ruled out indefinitely due to his injuries following the accident, Graves spent the next three races working with interim competitor Ross Chastain, who finished no higher than 17th during the three-race stint. Despite Newman returning to competition at Darlington Raceway in May amid a two-month delay of competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he and Graves were unable to mount a comeback to make the Playoffs as they went on to conclude the season in 25th place in the final standings and with a single additional top-10 result throughout the final 32 events on the schedule.

    For the majority of the 2021 Cup season, Graves retained his role as the crew chief for Newman and the No. 6 RFR Ford Mustang team, where the duo achieved two top-fives and five top-10 results through 31 events, all despite missing the Playoffs. Then with five races remaining on the schedule, team owner Jack Roush swapped the two-car team’s pit crews and crew chiefs resulting in Graves transitioning to the No. 17 team piloted by Chris Buescher, whom Graves reunited with for the first time since 2015. Following the swap, Graves led Buescher and the No. 17 team to a season-best third-place result at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October and a ninth-place run at Martinsville Speedway in October before Buescher settled in 19th place in the final standings, nine spots ahead of Newman. By then, Graves surpassed 200 Cup events as a crew chief.

    Through the first 16 events of the 2022 Cup season, Graves navigated the No. 17 Ford Mustang team that was rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing to four top-10 results, all of which were made by Buescher as he had recorded a strong runner-up result at Sonoma Raceway in June and achieved his first Cup career pole at Dover Motor Speedway in late April. Amid the results, Graves was paired with Truck Series competitor Zane Smith at World Wide Technology Raceway in early June, where Smith replaced Buescher for a single event after the latter tested positive for COVID-19. Then coming off a 30th-place result at Nashville Superspeedway in late June, Graves was assessed a four-race suspension following a loose wheel infraction that occurred during the event. Despite RFK Racing’s attempt to appeal the penalty, which enabled Graves to participate in the following event at Road America, the team eventually withdrew its appeal as Graves was absent for four events throughout July.

    Returning by early August, Graves and Buescher recorded two top-10 results through the final four regular-season events but fell short of making the 2022 Cup Playoffs. Three races later, Graves achieved his first Cup career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in September after Buscher led a race-high 169 laps, including the final 61, to achieve his second career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first since 2016 and the first since Roush Fenway Racing rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Following the breakthrough victory at Bristol, Graves would navigate Buescher and the No. 17 team to only a single top-10 result through the final seven-scheduled events before settling in 21st place in the final standings.

    The 2023 Cup Series season was Graves’ breakout season to date that commenced with him, Buescher and the No. 17 team to seven top-10 results throughout the first 21 events on the schedule. Then starting in late July through the end of August, Graves and Buescher ignited a hot streak that commenced with the duo winning at Richmond Raceway and securing a spot in the 2023 Cup Playoffs. They would then notch back-to-back victories in recent weeks after winning at Michigan International Speedway before capitalizing on an overtime shootout to win the regular-season finale at Daytona another three races later.

    Once in the Playoffs, the duo would record three top-10 results through the first six Playoff events, which were enough for them to transfer from the Round of 16 to 8. Amid respective finishes of 11th, 21st and eighth throughout the Round of 8. However, Graves and Buescher fell short of making the Championship 4 cutline. Nonetheless, they proceeded to lead 18 laps during the finale at Phoenix Raceway in November before Buescher ended up in fifth place on the track and in a career-best seventh place in the final driver’s standings.

    This season, Graves and Buescher have recorded five top-five results and nine top-10 results through 23 scheduled events, with the duo falling short of their first victory of the season to Kyle Larson at Kansas Speedway in May by 0.001 seconds. Despite being ranked in a tie for 13th place in the regular-season standings, they trail the cutline to make the Playoffs by three points with three regular-season events remaining on the schedule.

    Through 299 previous Cup events, Graves has achieved four victories, three poles, 28 top-five results and 79 top-10 results while working with six different competitors.

    Scott Graves is scheduled to call his 300th Cup Series event as a crew chief at Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, August 18. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Austin Dillon shakes up 2024 Cup Series Playoff field with controversial, final-lap victory at Richmond

    Austin Dillon shakes up 2024 Cup Series Playoff field with controversial, final-lap victory at Richmond

    The final result of the 2024 Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, August 11, will go down in the record books as Austin Dillon snapped a two-year winless drought and raced his way into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by winning the race.

    An in-depth analysis of Dillon’s victory, however, will paint a distinct perspective of how he achieved it as he ground axes with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, both of whom were wrecked by Dillon on the final lap and final corner during an overtime attempt, that left both fuming and flabbergasted over Dillon’s path to victory.

    With two laps remaining, Dillon, who had a strong run throughout the event and had overtaken Hamlin for the lead with 29 laps remaining, had a smooth path and a steady advantage to victory evaporate when a two-car incident involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece jumbled up the field for an overtime shootout.

    Despite retaining the lead during the caution period’s pit sequence, Dillon lost the lead to Joey Logano at the start of the overtime shootout. Then on the final lap and approaching Turns 3 and 4 before the finish line, Dillon gassed his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entry into the rear of Logano and sent the latter’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry spinning through the turns and towards the outside wall.

    Dillon then steered dead left into the right rear of Denny Hamlin sending him hard against the frontstretch’s outside wall, as he zipped by both of them to claim the checkered flag in a dramatic finish for the ages.

    Despite receiving harsh criticisms from his fellow competitors over the incident, the last-lap victory did not derail Austin Dillon’s relief as he leapfrogged his way into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs from outside the top-30 mark in the regular-season standings. It was his first win at Richmond and his fifth career win in NASCAR’s premier series.  

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 10, Denny Hamlin notched his third Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 118.162 mph in 22.850 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Martin Truex Jr., who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 117.822 mph in 22.916 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Hamlin and Truex dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Hamlin managed to muscle his No. 11 FedEx Rewards Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Truex entering the frontstretch to lead the first lap. Hamlin retained the lead for the following lap ahead of Truex while rookie Josh Berry, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott trailed in the top five followed by the rest of the field, all of whom commenced the event on prime tires.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps and amid a series of early on-track battles, Hamlin was leading by half a second over teammate Truex followed by Berry, teammate Bell and Bubba Wallace while Joey Logano, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher and William Byron were running in the top 10. Behind, Tyler Reddick was situated in 11th place ahead of Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain while Ty Gibbs, rookie Carson Hocevar, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman and Noah Gragson trailed in the top 20 ahead of rookie Zane Smith, Daniel Suarez, Todd Gilliland, Erik Jones and Ryan Preece. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski was mired in 28th place behind Corey LaJoie and Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell was mired in 30th place and John Hunter Nemechek was in 32nd place behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Ten laps later, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over teammate Truex while teammate Bell trailed in third place by two seconds. As Berry settled in fourth place, Logano cracked the top five ahead of Wallace, Elliott, Buescher, Austin Dillon and Byron while Reddick, Blaney, Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Larson continued to trail in the top 15.

    Another 15 laps later, Hamlin continued to lead ahead of teammates Bell and Truex, with the latter trailing by more than a second after the former overtook Truex for the spot through the backstretch. As Logano occupied fourth place, Wallace was up to fifth place after outlasting an earlier duel and on-track contact with Berry while Elliott, Buescher, Austin Dillon and Byron were running in the top 10. Reddick would then overtake Byron for 10th place a few laps later and Kyle Busch would be overtaken by Daniel Suarez for 18th place, which dropped Busch six places from his starting spot of 12th place, as Hamlin proceeded to stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second over teammate Bell by Lap 40.

    On Lap 45 and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Bell used the outside lane, starting in Turns 1 and 2, to muscle his No. 20 DeWalt Carpentry Solutions Toyota Camry XSE past Hamlin, where he cleared Hamlin by the frontstretch, as he assumed the lead for the first time. Soon after, teammate Truex joined the battle as he started to duel with Hamlin for the runner-up spot while Bell proceeded to stretch his advantage to eight-tenths of a second by the Lap 50 mark.

    Nearing the Lap 60 mark, Bell, who was mired in lapped traffic, continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin and more than a second over teammate Truex while Logano and Wallace continued to trail in the top five, with Wallace trailing by more than four seconds. Behind, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Buescher followed suit from sixth to eighth, respectively, while Berry had dropped to ninth place ahead of Reddick, Byron, Blaney, Chastain, Larson, Suarez, Hocevar, Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Gilliland.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Bell captured his 10th Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammates Hamlin and Truex followed suit in second and third, respectively, along with Logano and Wallace while Elliott, Austin Dillon, Buescher, Reddick and Berry were scored in the top 10. By then, 28 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap, including 28th-place Noah Gragson, while 29th-place Michael McDowell was awarded the free pass for being the first competitor scored a lap down. By then, however, top names including Corey LaJoie, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon, Harrison Burton, John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric, Riley Herbst and newcomer Parker Retzlaff were pinned a lap down.  

    Under the stage break, the entire lead lap field led by Bell pitted for a first round of service. Following the pit stops, Bell, who bumped and sent Erik Jones sideways as Jones was trying to enter his pit stall while Bell was exiting his, retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of teammates Hamlin and 19 while Logano, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Buescher, Chastain, Reddick and Byron followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Wallace lost six spots as he exited pit road in 11th place while Ty Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell were the only two competitors to pit for option tires instead of prime tires.

    The second stage period started on Lap 80 as teammates Bell and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Bell and Hamlin dueled for the lead for a full lap and they continued to duel for the following lap while Logano and Truex battled in close-quarters racing for third place. Despite Hamlin’s efforts to emerge ahead from the outside lane, Bell, who continued to run strong with slight damage to his front nose following his pit road contact with Erik Jones, fought back from the inside lane and refused to lift off the throttle as Truex and Logano continued to duel for third place in front of Austin Dillon and Elliott. Meanwhile, Suarez, racing on option tires, was up to eighth place after he restarted 16th as Hamlin just managed to clear Bell and have both lanes to his control with the lead by Lap 85.

    Just past the Lap 90 mark, Suarez continued his fast march to the front as he overtook Bell for the runner-up spot on his option tires. He then started to close in on Hamlin for the lead before he used the outside lane to overtake Hamlin and move his No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead on Lap 93. Suarez would proceed to lead by more than two seconds over Hamlin at the Lap 100 mark while Bell, Logano, Truex, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Larson and Buescher were scored in the top 10 ahead of Reddick, McDowell, Wallace, Blaney and Byron. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was mired in 16th place as he was ahead of Gibbs, Berry, Hocevar and Cindric on the track.

    By Lap 115, Suarez, who started to reduce his fast race pace to preserve his option tires, retained the lead by one-and-a-half seconds over Bell while Hamlin, Logano and Truex trailed in the top five ahead of Elliott, McDowell, Austin Dillon, Chastain and Larson.

    Five laps later, select names including Chase Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Bell, Cindric, Daniel Hemric and rookie Zane Smith pitted under green before Suarez surrendered the lead to pit for prime tires by Lap 123. Truex and McDowell also pitted with Suarez as Hamlin cycled into the lead. Then as more names including Logano, Chastain, Wallace, Berry, Erik Jones, Hamlin and Buescher pitted under green during the proceeding laps, Buescher reversed his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse back into his pit stall to have a left-front tire tightened as Elliott led by the Lap 125 mark.

    Once Elliott pitted his No. 9 Coca-Cola Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green by Lap 128, teammate Larson cycled his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead as he was one of eight competitors who had not yet pitted under green while Bell, the first competitor who pitted, was in ninth place. More names including Byron, Kyle Busch and Blaney would pitted just past the Lap 130 mark while Larson continued to lead.

    On Lap 144, Bell cycled into the lead as runner-up Larson, who has yet to pit, continued to run on the track ahead of Suarez and Reddick, the latter of whom has also yet to pit. Behind, Truex, Hamlin and Logano were running fifth to seventh, respectively, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who had yet to pit, was in eighth place ahead of Chastain, McDowell, Wallace, Berry, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Elliott.

    By Lap 149, Reddick pitted his No. 45 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE from the top three before Larson, who was aiming for a one-stop pit strategy for the second stage period and was coming off a Knoxville National victory, pitted a lap later. During the pit stops, where Nemechek and Stenhouse also pitted, Bell stretched his advantage to two seconds over Suarez while Truex, Hamlin and Logano were scored in the top five.

    By Lap 160, Bell stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Suarez as they were followed by Truex, Hamlin and Logano while Chastain, McDowell, Austin Dillon, Wallace and Elliott were racing in the top 10 ahead of Hocevar, Gilliland, Berry, Preece and Blaney. Meanwhile, Larson was mired in 23rd place, two spots behind Reddick, while Buescher was mired in 26th place ahead of Stenhouse and Keselowski. In addition, Kyle Busch was mired in 22nd place, Byron was in 16th place and Keselowski was scored a lap down in 28th place after he pitted for option tires.

     A few laps later, select names including Briscoe, Ryan Preece, Cindric and Harrison Burton pitted under green before Berry, who was running in 13th place, pitted his No. 4 P&G Supports Our Military Ford Mustang Dark Horse by Lap 166. Zane Smith, Gilliland and Gragson pitted not long after as Bell retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second by Lap 170.

    A lap after the Lap 170 mark, a series of front-runners, including Truex, Suarez, McDowell, Austin Dillon, Wallace, Buescher and Hocevar, pitted before Hamlin, Chastain, Logano, Blaney, Gibbs and the leader Bell pitted within the Lap 175 mark. Amid the pit stops, Truex, who pitted for prime tires, endured a slow pit service due to his pit crew having issues tightening the left-rear tire of Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE as the jack dropped.

    Teammates Byron, Bowman and Elliott pit under green nearing the Lap 180 mark as Reddick cycled into the lead ahead of Larson, Suarez, Kyle Busch and Bell. With Kyle Busch pitting for option tires from the top five a few laps later, Reddick retained the lead by Lap 185 before he was overtaken by Suarez for the top spot.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Suarez was leading by one-and-a-half seconds over Bell while Reddick, Hamlin, Larson, Logano, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse, McDowell and Wallace were racing in the top 10 ahead of Truex, Chastain, Hocevar, Keselowski, Berry, Byron, Elliott, Blaney, Ryan Preece, Gibbs and Kyle Busch, all of whom were scored on the lead lap. With 21st-place Busch attempting to gain spots while on the option tires after he un-lapped himself and trying to rally from his slow pit stop earlier, notables, including Buescher, Alex Bowman and Cindric were scored a lap down.

    Fifteen laps later, Suarez continued to lead by more than a second over Bell as Hamlin, Reddick and Logano followed suit in the top five. With Austin Dillon, McDowell, Wallace, Larson and Truex hovering in the top 10 on the track ahead of Hocevar, Chastain, Stenhouse, Byron and Elliott, Suarez retained the lead by a second on Lap 220.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 230, Suarez, coming off a one-year contract extension with Trackhouse Racing, captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Bell settled in second ahead of Hamlin, Logano and Austin Dillon as McDowell, Reddick, Wallace, Hocevar and Elliott were scored in the top 10, with Elliott making contact with Truex to claim the final stage spot and point. By then, 16 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap while 16th-place Berry managed to fend off Kyle Busch to emerge as the first competitor who was scored a lap down and received the free pass.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Suarez returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and with a majority of the teams opting to pit for the option tires, Bell managed to edge Suarez off of pit road first while Hamlin, Logano, Austin Dillon, Reddick, McDowell, Wallace, Truex and Elliott followed suit in the top 10.

    With 160 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Bell and Suarez occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Bell, who was racing on option tires, rocketed ahead with the lead from the inside lane while teammate Hamlin followed suit along with Logano, Reddick, Suarez and Dillon.

    Suarez started to lose pace from the majority of the field with his standard tires, where he was placed in a tight four-wide action in the backstretch and dropped out of the top-10 category, Reddick and Dillon moved up into the top five ahead of Wallace, Chastain, Hocevar, McDowell and Truex as Bell retained the lead over teammate Hamlin with 155 laps remaining. Logano would then move his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the runner-up spot over Hamlin as Bell led with 150 laps remaining.

    Then with 150 laps remaining, Truex’s strong event started to go south as he reported a loss of power to his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE. He would then pit under green during the following lap and drop out of the lead lap category as his pit crew lifted the hood of the car and with smoke coming out. With Truex’s car then being pushed behind the wall a few laps later due to his engine issues, Bell continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second with 140 laps remaining.

    As the event reached its final 125-lap mark, Bell stretched his advantage to a second over Logano as Hamlin, Reddick and Austin Dillon were scored in the top five. Behind, Wallace was in sixth place ahead of McDowell, Blaney, Chastain and Hocevar while Byron, Elliott, Berry, Stenhouse and Larson occupied the top 15 ahead of Suarez, Cindric, Buescher, Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman.

    Three laps later, teammates Larson and Byron pitted under green before Hamlin pitted his No. 11 FedEx Rewards Toyota Camry XSE a few laps later. Logano would then pit along with Berry, Reddick, Wallace, McDowell, Dillon, Blaney, Chastain, Buescher and the leader Bell, all of whom opted to switch from option to primary tires. During the pit stops, Bell was assessed a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road along with Alex Bowman.

    As Bell served his drive-through penalty with 115 laps remaining, Elliott, who had a brief advantage, pitted as Suarez cycled into the lead. Bell, who was pinned back in 15th place following his speeding penalty, would un-lap himself with 112 laps remaining as Suarez had a three-second advantage over Hamlin during the proceeding laps. Suarez would then pit from the lead under green with 107 laps remaining as Hamlin cycled into the lead. By then, Preece and Gibbs pitted their respective entries while Logano, Reddick, Austin Dillon and Wallace moved up into the top five.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by half a second over Logano followed by Austin Dillon, Reddick and Wallace while Chastain, Byron, McDowell, Larson and Berry were scored in the top 10 ahead of Hocevar, Stenhouse, Bell, Blaney, Elliott and Kyle Busch, all of whom were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Suarez was the first competitor scored a lap down in 17th place following his green flag pit service.

    Fifteen laps later, Hamlin slightly stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over a side-by-side battle between Logano and Austin Dillon for the runner-up spot, with the former managing to retain the spot from the outside lane. Behind, 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace trailed in the top five as Chastain, Byron, McDowell, Larson and Berry continued to run in the top 10. With Suarez back on the lead lap in 16th place, Busch was mired back in 26th place and off the lead lap category after pitting under green earlier.

    Another 10 laps later, Hamlin’s lead extended to a second as Logano continued to fend off Austin Dillon for the runner-up spot. A few laps later, however, Dillon overtook Logano for the runner-up spot and he would proceed to shave off Hamlin’s advantage with a fast No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with 70 laps remaining, where he trailed by two-tenths of a second and even got close to Hamlin’s rear bumper. By then, however, Logano pitted under green along with McDowell, Larson, Briscoe and Preece.

    As Chastain and Byron pitted under green with 67 laps remaining, the leader Hamlin pitted along with Reddick, Wallace, Berry, Buescher, Keselowski, Harrison Burton and Elliott before Austin Dillon, who inherited a brief lead, pitted during the following lap. Amid the pit stops, Bell was leading with less than 60 laps remaining.

    With 54 laps remaining and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, Hamlin and Austin Dillon rocketed past Suarez, who has yet to pit, on the track, with Bell having pitted under green earlier. Dillon would proceed to keep Hamlin close within his sights as he trailed the lead by less than half a second with less than 50 laps remaining while Logano, Suarez, Reddick and Wallace followed suit in the top six. By then, 14 competitors were scored on the lead lap while Bell was mired a lap down in 15th place. Soon after, Blaney, who was running near the top five, pitted for option tires with 45 laps remaining while Suarez pitted five laps later.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Hamlin maintained the lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Austin Dillon while Logano, Reddick and Wallace continued to trail in the top five. Behind, Chastain, Larson, McDowell, Berry and Byron were in the top 10 as Hocevar, Bell, Elliott and Stenhouse rounded out the 14-car field of those scored on the lead lap while Suarez and Blaney were the first two competitors pinned a lap down.

    Over the next five laps, Austin Dillon pressured Hamlin for the lead through every corner, where he made contact with the latter for the top spot. Hamlin, however, managed to retain the top spot by a narrow margin with 30 laps remaining. Then a lap after Suarez zipped by Hamlin to un-lap himself on his tires, Dillon dueled with Hamlin for a full circuit with 29 laps remaining before he cleared Hamlin through the frontstretch and had control with the top spot during the following lap.

    With 20 laps remaining, Austin Dillon extended his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Hamlin as Logano, Reddick and Wallace remained in the top five ahead of Chastain, Suarez, Larson, Hocevar and McDowell, with Suarez clocking in fast lap times on his option tires while the majority of the front-runners were running on primary tires. Suarez would navigate his way up to sixth place and trail the lead by 11 seconds while Dillon, who was mired in lapped traffic, continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Hamlin with 15 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Austin Dillon continued to lead by two-and-a-half seconds over Hamlin as they were followed by Logano, Reddick and Wallace while sixth-place Suarez still trailed the lead by eight seconds.

    Then with two laps remaining, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime when Stenhouse and Preece made contact entering the first turn sending Preece spinning while Stenhouse hit the outside wall towards the first two turns. The incident, which occurred in front of Austin Dillon, erased Dillon’s steady advantage of three seconds over Hamlin.

    During the caution period, the leaders led by Austin Dillon pitted for their final set of option tires. Following the pit stops, Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops pit crew executed a stellar pit service that allowed Dillon to exit pit road first as Logano, Hamlin, Reddick, Wallace, Suarez, Chastain, Blaney, Larson and Bell followed suit in the top 10.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Logano gaining the advantage from the outside lane while Austin Dillon appeared to struggle to launch from the inside lane. As the field fanned out through the first two turns, Logano managed to muscle ahead and clear Dillon to have both the lead and both lanes under his control through the backstretch

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained as the leader ahead of Austin Dillon as Hamlin, Reddick and Wallace followed suit. Through the first two turns and the backstretch, Dillon could not gain any ground on Logano. T

    hen through Turns 3 and 4, Dillon stood on the gas and ran into the rear of Logano, which sent Logano spinning towards the outside wall as Dillon also went up the track. With Hamlin then trying to overtake both approaching the frontstretch, Dillon veered dead left into Hamlin’s right-rear corner and sent Hamlin hard against the outside wall, which left Hamlin with a crumbled right-rear tire as his wheel hub broke. This allowed Dillon to move back into the lead as he claimed the checkered flag with the victory just as the caution flew.

    With the victory, Dillon, who recorded the 102nd career win for the number 3, tied Chris Buescher, Ward Burton, Dan Gurney, Alan Kulwicki, Tiny Lund, Dave Marcis, Jeremy Mayfield and Ralph Moody for 78th place on the all-time Cup Series wins list with five victories apiece. Dillon also snapped a 68-race winless drought that dates back to August 2022 at Daytona International Speedway as he also claimed his first short-track career victory and placed a Richard Childress Racing entry into Victory Lane in NASCAR’s premier series since teammate Kyle Busch made the last accomplishment at World Wide Technology Raceway in June 2023.

    The Richmond victory made Dillon the 13th competitor overall to clinch a spot into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning throughout this year’s regular-season stretch as Dillon will make his sixth career appearance in NASCAR’s postseason battle for the championship.

    “It’s been two years and this is the first car I’ve had with a shot to win,” Dillon, who was emotional but defended his move, said on USA Network. “I felt like with two [laps] to go, we were the fastest car, obviously had to have a straightaway and Ricky [Stenhouse Jr.] wrecked [Preece]. I hate to do that [on Logano], but sometimes, you just got to [make it] happen. It’s been tough over the last two years, man. It means a lot. I hate it, but I had to do it. [I was willing to do] Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. We just never give up. I can’t thank all the people that helped this team. You just got to get it done sometimes.”

    While Dillon celebrated with his pit crew and family on the frontstretch, Logano, who ended up in 19th place in the final running order, was left fuming over Dillon’s move that resulted in both him and Denny Hamlin with wrecked race cars. Amid his frustration over NASCAR’s decision to not penalize Dillon while also not mincing his words during his post-race comments, he hinted a little clue of a potential payback in the coming weeks to Dillon as the 2024 Playoffs looms.

    “It was chicken [expletive]. There’s no doubt about it,” Logano said. “[Dillon]’s four car lengths back. Not even close. Then he wrecks [Hamlin] and go along with it. Then, he’s gonna go up there and thank God and praise everything with his baby. It’s a bunch of BS. It’s not even freakin’ close. I get it, bump and run. I didn’t back up the corner at all. He came in there and drove through me. It’s ridiculous that that’s the way we race. Unbelievable. I get bump and runs. I do that. I would expect it, but from four car lengths back, he was never gonna make the corner and then, he wrecks the other car, [Hamlin] to go with it. What a piece of crap.”

    Meanwhile, Hamlin, who was credited with the runner-up result at the moment of caution despite wrecking on the frontstretch, was left the most flabbergasted over the incident and even appeared to criticize NASCAR’s lack of action to penalize competitors for wrecking one another for victories while also both criticizing and recognizing the situation Dillon was in to make the move and get into the Playoffs from a driver’s perspective.

    “It’s obviously foul, but it’s fair in NASCAR,” Hamlin said. “It’s just a different league where there is no penalties for rough driving or anything like that. It opens up the opportunity for Austin [Dillon] to be able to just do whatever he wants. The problem I had was that I got hooked in the right rear again. I’m just minding my own business and he turned left and hooked me in the right rear and blew my damn shoulder out. I don’t know. The record book won’t care about what happened. He’s gonna be credited with the win, but obviously, he’s just not gonna go far. You got to pay your dues back on stuff like that, but it’s worth it because they jump 20 positions in points. So I understand all that. There’s no ill will there. I get it. I just hate that I was part of it. It would’ve been fun if I was not one of the two guys that got taken out on the last corner, but I understand it. Doesn’t mean I have to agree about it and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

    Following the event, Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition, noted that the sanctioning body would review the final lap incident along with every audio and resource that played key roles in the incident, with any potential penalties to be announced this upcoming Tuesday.

    Hamlin’s 23XI Racing competitors, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, came home in third and fourth while Ross Chastain navigated his way through to fifth place.

    Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, rookie Carson Hocevar, Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    There were 26 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 23 laps. In addition, 19 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the 23rd event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by five points over Tyler Reddick, six over teammate Chase Elliott and 21 over Denny Hamlin.

    Results.

    1. Austin Dillon, 35 laps led

    2. Denny Hamlin, 124 laps led

    3. Tyler Reddick, eight laps led

    4. Bubba Wallace

    5. Ross Chastain

    6. Christopher Bell, 122 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Kyle Larson, 17 laps led

    8. Carson Hocevar, two laps led

    9. Chase Elliott, five laps led

    10. Daniel Suarez, 93 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    11. Ryan Blaney

    12. Kyle Busch

    13. William Byron

    14. Josh Berry

    15. Michael McDowell

    16. Brad Keselowski

    17. Todd Gilliland

    18. Chris Buescher

    19. Joey Logano, two laps led

    20. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    21. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

    22. Ty Gibbs, one lap down

    23. Zane Smith, one lap down

    24. Austin Cindric, one lap down

    25. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    26. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    27. Justin Haley, two laps down

    28. Alex Bowman, two laps down

    29. Erik Jones, two laps down

    30. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

    31. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps down

    32. Harrison Burton, three laps down

    33. Riley Herbst, three laps down

    34. Corey LaJoie, four laps down

    35. Parker Retzlaff, six laps down

    36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    37. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Engine

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 18, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Suarez retained by Trackhouse Racing for 2025 Cup Series season

    Suarez retained by Trackhouse Racing for 2025 Cup Series season

    In a season where he returned to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series and got married during a two-week summer break period, Daniel Suarez has another reason to celebrate afer inking a contract extension to continue to drive the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Trackhouse Racing in 2025.

    The news comes as the 2016 Xfinity Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, is currently campaigning in his eighth full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series and fourth with Trackhouse, a team that debuted in the Cup Series level in 2021 with Suarez.

    Through 22-scheduled events of the 2024 season, Suarez notched a victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, where he edged Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide photo finish while beating Blaney by 0.003 seconds, to notch his second Cup career victory and snapped a 57-race winless drought. To go along with two top-five results and four top-10 results, he is ranked in 17th place in the 2024 regular-season standings, but is guaranteed a spot into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs based on his Atlanta victory.

    In addition to Suarez, Freeway Insurance, which first sponsored the Mexican at Texas Motor Speedway in October 2021, will return to sponsor the No. 99 Chevrolet for one-third of the 2025 Cup events, including the 67th running of the Daytona 500 and the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

    “Trackhouse is home to me and I have enjoyed every minute I have been here,” Suarez said. “We plan to keep working, growing and winning more races. We can only do that with the support of my Amigos and Amigas at Freeway Insurance. They have backed me for the last several years and we have grown close with their customers and employees.”

    Suarez made his inaugural presence as a NASCAR Cup Series competitor at the start of the 2017 season, where he was elevated to pilot the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entry following the departure of veteran Carl Edwards. By then, Suarez was also coming off the 2016 Xfinity Series championship. He would spend two full-time seasons (2017-18) at Joe Gibbs Racing before he drove for Stewart-Haas Racing and Gaunt Brothers Racing for the following two seasons (2019-20).

    In 2021, Suarez joined Trackhouse, where he ended up in 25th place in the final standings on the strenght of a single top-five result and four top-10 results. The following season, he had a breakout season, where he notched his first Cup career victory at Sonoma Raceway. The victory, which occurred in his 95th career start, made Suarez the first Mexican competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series and it also guaranteed him and his No. 99 team into the Playoffs for the first time ever. Despite being eliminated from title contention following the Round of 12, Suarez settled in 10th place in the final standings. By then, he had notched career-high stats in top fives (six), top 10s (13) and laps led (280). He would then end up in 19th place in the 2023 standings after missing the Playoffs despite recording a total of 10 top-10 results.

    Through 273 previous starts in the Cup Series, Suarez has recorded two victories, three poles, 20 top-five results, 63 top-10 results, 706 laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.9 as he continues his pursuit to win his first Cup championship.

    “Everyone at Trackhouse Racing is pleased to continue the relationship with Daniel and Freeway Insurance,” Justin Marks, team owner of Trackhouse Racing, said. “Daniel has been vital to this team and its culture since the first day. Freeway joined that same year and we have all continued to grow together and will continue into 2025.”

    “We value our partnership with Trackhouse and Daniel Suárez who has become a powerful ambassador of our Freeway brand and an influential voice in our own diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Daniel’s story inspires us and deeply connects to the daily lives and goals of our Hispanic customers,” Cesar Soriano, Chief Executive Officer of Freeway Insurance, added. “Thousands of race fans have met Daniel at Freeway Insurance stores across the country, and we want him to meet and share his story with even more in 2025. He has been part of our national advertising initiatives and has introduced new customers to Freeway. We want to continue with that effort and scale our presence in NASCAR so when you see the No. 99 racing by you immediately think of Freeway Insurance.”

    With his plans for next season set, Daniel Suarez’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season resumes this upcoming Sunday, August 11, at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400, where the event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Matt Swiderski to call 100th Cup event as crew chief at Indianapolis

    Matt Swiderski to call 100th Cup event as crew chief at Indianapolis

    In his fourth season as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series and first paired with Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing, Matt Swiderski is primed to reach a milestone feat. By participating in this weekend’s return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Swiderski will call his 100th career event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.

    Swiderski, a Chicago native who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, spent the early portions of his career as a data acquisition and race engineer for Richard Childress Racing across the Xfinity and Cup Series divisions before becoming a loads engineer for SpaceX in 2012. Returning to NASCAR eight months later and reuniting with Richard Childress Racing, where he became a chief race engineer before working his way up to being the head of vehicle performance.

    In 2017, Swiderski made his inaugural presence as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series, where he worked atop the pit box of RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet team piloted between Ty Dillon, Scott Lagasse Jr. and Brian Scott throughout the season, with the entry recording 18 top-10 results and finishing in 11th place in the owner’s standings. He then spent the following three seasons as a part-time Xfinity crew chief for Team Penske, where he worked with Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Paul Menard, before working as Ty Dillon’s crew chief for two events in 2021.

    During the 2021 season, Swiderski made his inaugural presence as a crew chief in the Cup Series as he joined forces with Kaulig Racing to lead the team’s No. 16 Chevrolet entry on a part-time basis that was split between AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala.

    After leading the No. 16 team to three top-seven results during the entry’s first five starts between February and June, Swiderski achieved his first NASCAR career victory as a crew chief during the Cup Series’ inaugural event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August after Allmendinger capitalized on an overtime shootout to achieve his second Cup career win and the first for Kaulig Racing in NASCAR’s premier series. The No. 16 Kaulig entry would end up finishing no higher than 20th in its final three starts between mid-August to October.

    The following season, Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 entry led by Swiderski became a full-time Cup Series entry as Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric took turns splitting the entry. During the season, Swiderski was suspended for four events throughout May, including the non-points All-Star Race, due to a loose wheel that came unattached at Dover Motor Speedway in early May. In the remaining 33 points-paying events, Swiderski led the No. 16 entry to a total of three top-five results and nine top-10 results, including a season-best runner-up result at Watkins Glen International in August, before the team settled in 26th place in the final owner’s standings.

    In 2023, Swiderski was paired with Allmendinger on a full-time basis as Allmendinger became a full-time competitor of Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup Series. Despite commencing the season with a sixth-place result during the 65th running of the Daytona 500, the duo would proceed to finish in the top five twice and rack up two additional top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, but they fell short of making the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.

    Then after finishing no higher than 13th during the first five Playoff events, Swiderski and Allmendinger made triumphant returns to Victory Lane at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course after Allmendinger led a race-high 46 of 109 laps en route to his third Cup career win and the second for Kaulig Racing. Managing a single top-five finish during the final four events on the schedule, Allmendinger settled in 21st place in the final driver’s standings.

    In early January 2024, Kaulig Racing and Trackhouse Racing engaged in a crew chief swap that resulted in Swiderski replacing Travis Mack to serve as the crew chief for Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team while Mack took over Swiderski’s role as crew chief for Kaulig’s No. 16 Cup team. After ending up in 34th place due to crashing out of the 66th running of the Daytona 500, the new duo of Swiderski and Suarez emerged victorious during the following event at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Suarez edged the reigning champion Ryan Blaney and two-time champion Kyle Busch in a three-wide finish to snap a 57-race winless drought and record both a second Cup victory for himself and the third for Swiderski.

    Despite recording only three top-10 runs through 21 scheduled events of the 2024 season, Swiderski and Suarez, both of whom are in 17th place in the regular-season standings, are currently guaranteed a spot into the Playoffs based on the Atlanta victory.

    Through 99 previous Cup events, Swiderski has achieved three victories, 11 top-five results and 23 top-10 results while working with six different competitors.

    Matt Swiderski is scheduled to call his 100th Cup Series event as a crew chief at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 21, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Ryan Blaney caps off dominant run with inaugural Cup Series victory at Iowa

    Ryan Blaney caps off dominant run with inaugural Cup Series victory at Iowa

    The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney made Iowa Speedway his “Field of Dreams” for the day after he muscled through to a dominant win in the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 on Sunday, June 16.

    The 30-year-old Blaney from High Point, North Carolina, led four times for a career-high 201 of 350-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Kyle Larson and led for the first time on the second lap following an early lap skirmish with Larson.

    With mixed strategies and tire wear ensuing throughout the event, Blaney, who spent the majority of the event running towards the front and won the first stage period, cycled back into the lead following a two-tire pit stop call during a late caution period with 92 laps remaining. Once he muscled away from the field during the event’s final restart period with 84 laps remaining, he proceeded to weave his way through lapped traffic and fend off a late charge from William Byron and his four fresh tires to triumph for the first time in the 2024 Cup Series season and place both himself and his No. 12 Team Penske Ford team into Playoff contention.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 15, Kyle Larson notched his fourth Cup pole position of the 2024 season and the 20th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 136.458 mph in 23.084 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ryan Blaney, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 136.311 mph in 23.109 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars after both wrecked their primary cars during Friday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the event commenced, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As they continued to duel for the lead through Turns 3 and 4, Larson managed to edge Blaney to lead the first lap. Blaney, however, would assume the lead from Larson during the following lap amid contact with Larson through Turns 3 and 4 and proceeded to lead during the next two laps while the field behind continued to fan out and jostle for early spots.

    On the third lap, the event’s first caution period flew after rookie Carson Hocevar got into the rear of teammate/rookie Zane Smith, which got Smith loose and resulted in him getting into teammate Corey LaJoie as LaJoie and his No. 7 Gainbridge/Iowa Hawkeyes Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry spun into the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. During the event’s first caution period, some drivers, including LaJoie, Erik Jones, Michael McDowell and Kaz Grala pitted while the rest, led by Blaney, remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on the ninth lap, Larson managed to muscle ahead of Blaney and reassume the lead. With Larson ahead of the field with the lead by the Lap 10 mark, Chase Briscoe overtook Blaney for the runner-up spot as teammate Josh Berry and Tyler Reddick battled in the top five ahead of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, William Byron and Daniel Suarez.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Larson extended his advantage, leading by more than a second over Blaney, while Briscoe, Reddick and Kyle Busch trailed in the top five. Behind, Josh Berry occupied sixth place ahead of Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, William Byron and Justin Haley while Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton were racing in the top 15 ahead of AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Preece, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman. Meanwhile, Noah Gragson was mired in 21st ahead of Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Corey LaJoie while Todd Gilliland, Martin Truex Jr., Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith and Christopher Bell were in the top 30 on the track.

    Ten laps later, Larson stretched his advantage, leading by more than three seconds over Blaney while third-place Briscoe trailed by nine seconds. As Reddick and Berry occupied the top-five spots on the track, Suarez, Byron, Busch, Haley and Logano trailed in the top 10 while Truex, Wallace and Hamlin drifted back to 25th, 27th and 33rd, respectively. In addition, Keselowski, who started in the top five, was mired in 14th behind Ty Gibbs while Cindric and Bell, were up to 23rd and 24th, respectively, after starting at the rear of the field in backup cars,

    Another 10 laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to three seconds over Blaney while Briscoe, Berry and Byron trailed in the top five by 10 seconds. By then, Hamlin, who was mired in 34th place, was lapped by the leaders while Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Truex, Michael McDowell, Cindric, Allmendinger, Wallace and Austin Dillon were mired outside the top 20 on the track.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Larson was mired in lapped traffic and had his advantage shrink to one-and-a-half seconds over runner-up Blaney while third-place Berry and fourth-place Byron trailed by nine seconds. With Briscoe trailing by 10 seconds in fifth place, LaJoie, who was involved in an early spin, was up to 19th place on four fresh tires while Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek and Stenhouse, all of whom were running within the top 30, were lapped by Larson.

    A lap later, the event’s second caution period flew when AJ Allmendinger, who was racing in the mid-pack region, ran his No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry straight into the outside wall in between Turns 1 and 2 after he blew a right-front tire. It marked his second wreck of the weekend at Iowa Speedway after he wrecked out of Saturday’s Xfinity Series event due to a blown right-front tire.

    During the event’s second caution period, nearly all of the lead lap field led by Larson pitted for fresh tires and fuel while Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited pit road first and was followed by Blaney, Byron, Berry, LaJoie, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Chastain, Wallace and Logano, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Justin Haley was penalized for equipment interference.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 58 featured Larson navigating his way past both Suarez and Keselowski for nearly a lap as he led the proceeding lap. With Larson continuing to lead by the Lap 60 mark, Blaney assumed the runner-up spot while Suarez was trying to fend off Berry, Byron, LaJoie, Keselowski, Logano, Busch and a bevy of competitors for third place. Blaney would then assume the lead from Larson on Lap 61 while Suarez retained third place ahead of Berry, Byron and LaJoie. Despite Ty Gibbs scraping the outside wall entering the backstretch, the event remained under green flag conditions.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Blaney, who was battling a potential cool suit issue amid the warm temperatures, fended off a late challenge from Larson to capture his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Suarez settled in third place while Byron, Berry, Logano, LaJoie, Keselowski, Elliott and Busch were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Suarez and including Keselowski and LaJoie, pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Daniel Hemric was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage period started on Lap 77 as Blaney and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out as Larson rocketed ahead of Blaney to reassume the lead. With Larson leading, teammates Byron and Elliott battled for third place along with Logano while Busch was in sixth place ahead of Bowman, Chastain, Briscoe and McDowell. Meanwhile, Bell was up to 11th place while Berry was back in 12th.

    Then on Lap 80, the caution returned after John Hunter Nemechek and Noah Gragson, both of whom were fighting outside the top 20 on the track, made contact entering Turn 4. Nemechek sent Gragson spinning sideways but Gragson managed to quickly straighten his No. 10 Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry without hitting the wall and continue. During the caution period, Larson, who radioed tire concerns, surrendered the lead to pit for fresh tires for his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry as Blaney returned atop the leaderboard.

    With the event restarting under green on Lap 86, Blaney and Byron dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Blaney managed to clear Byron and muscle ahead through the backstretch. As Elliott got sideways entering the backstretch, Logano charged to the runner-up spot and began to intimidate teammate Blaney for the lead while Byron, Busch, Chastain and Bowman trailed in the top six. With a multitude of competitors jostling for spots within the mid-pack region, Blaney retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Logano just past the Lap 90 mark while Byron and Busch tried to close in.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Blaney was leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Logano followed by Byron, Berry and Elliott as Busch, Chastain, McDowell, Bowman and Suarez occupied the top 10. Behind, Briscoe was in 11th ahead of a hard-charging Larson while Wallace, Reddick and Ty Gibbs were battling in the top 15 ahead of Bell, LaJoie, Keselowski, Cindric and Hocevar. Meanwhile, Gragson was trapped in 23rd place behind Preece and Austin Dillon while Truex, Stenhouse, Haley, Gilliland, Nemechek, Hamlin and Buescher were mired in the top 30.

    Fifteen laps later, Blaney stretched his advantage to lead by a second over teammate Logano while Byron, Elliott and Berry trailed by within two seconds in the top five. By then, Larson, who was aggressively weaving and carving his way through the field, had returned to the top-10 mark as he was running in eighth place ahead of teammate Bowman and Suarez while Busch and Chastain occupied sixth and seventh, respectively. Meanwhile, Bell, Wallace, Briscoe, Gibbs and Keselowski trailed in the top 15 while McDowell, who was running in the top 10, was pinned two laps down in 35th place after he pitted his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse to replace a flat right-front tire.

    Another 10 laps later, Blaney stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Logano just before Byron overtook Logano for the runner-up spot, with Elliott and Chastain trailing by within three seconds in the top five on the track. Blaney led by one-and-a-half seconds over Byron just past the Lap 130 mark and by a second at the Lap 140 mark. By then, Busch, who was running in the top 10, had pitted his No. 8 zone/Kwik Trip Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry under green on Lap 135.

    By Lap 150, Blaney continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott as Byron, Logano and Larson followed suit in the top five. By then, Hamlin was mired a lap down for a second time in 27th place while Bell was up to sixth place as he had Berry, Chastain, Bowman and Wallace following suit.

    Ten laps later, LaJoie and Austin Dillon made contact while battling within the top-20 mark that sent Dillon up the track towards Turns 3 and 4 but he kept his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry running straight as he then ran into the rear of LaJoie to express his displeasure over the contact. Amid the contact, Blaney retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron, Larson and Bell trailed in the top five by nearly five seconds.

    Then as Byron pitted his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry under green from third place on Lap 165, trouble struck for Chastain as he went up the track through Turns 1 and 2 with a flat right-front tire to his No. 1 Busch Light For the Farmers Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. Chastain, though, managed to limp his car to his pit stall without drawing a caution as LaJoie, Briscoe, Truex and Berry also pitted during the proceeding laps. Not long after, Truex was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 172 and with more green flag pit stops ensuing amid tire wear concerns within the field, Blaney surrendered the lead to pit his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry under green. Elliott, who led the proceeding lap, pitted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry during the following lap along with teammate Bowman, Gibbs, Grala and Austin Dillon before Larson pitted as Erik Jones limped his No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE entry to pit road with a flat tire.

    As the event surpassed its halfway mark on Lap 175, more names including Logano, Gragson, Nemechek and Reddick would pit while Bell, who last pitted on Lap 54, cycled into the lead. Bell would then pit his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE entry on Lap 180 before Suarez and Haley pitted during the next scheduled lap. This moved Keselowski into the lead.

    Then on Lap 181, the caution flew after Hemric made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names led by Keselowski and including Wallace, Hocevar, Gilliland, Buescher, Hamlin, Suarez, Haley and Hemric pitted while the rest led by Stenhouse, who pinned many competitors a lap down by remaining on the track during the previous green flag run, remained on the track.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 188, Stenhouse and Byron battled for the lead for nearly a lap until they nearly wrecked entering Turn 4, which allowed Larson to zip by both and return to the lead. With Larson leading, Berry moved his No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry up to second place followed by Wallace and Elliott while Stenhouse was trying to fend off fifth place from a multitude of competitors. Larson would proceed to lead just past the Lap 190 mark while he was being intimidated by Berry.

    By Lap 200, Larson extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Berry, who had Elliott pressuring him for the runner-up spot, while Blaney and Wallace occupied the top five. Meanwhile, Hamlin, who was lapped twice, was up to sixth place followed by Buescher, Gilliland, Keselowski and Stenhouse while Byron was back in 12th place behind Haley. In addition, Busch was in 14th while battling Hocevar, Bell was in 17th behind Suarez and Bell, Logano was in 18th while trying to overtake Bell and Chastain, the first competitor a lap down, was mired in 19th. In addition, Reddick was in 24th and Briscoe was mired in 29th in front of Truex.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 210, Larson captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Berry fended off Elliott to retain second place ahead of Blaney and Wallace while Hamlin, Buescher, Gilliland, Keselowski and Haley were scored in the top 10. By then, 18 of 36 starters were scored a lap down while 19th-place Chastain was the recipient of the free pass for being the first competitor scored a lap down during the caution period.

    During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Larson pitted while Buescher and Gilliland remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Keselowski exited pit road first after he only opted for a two-tire pit stop while Larson, Berry, Elliott, Suarez, Wallace, Hamlin, Blaney, Byron and Haley followed suit.

    With 132 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Buescher and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Buescher maintained the lead ahead of Gilliland and Berry while Keselowski slipped to fourth. Then entering the frontstretch, the caution quickly returned after Larson, who was pinned in the middle of a three-wide battle with Keselowski and Suarez, got sideways after Suarez hit Larson, which resulted in Larson getting loose and coming across the path of Hamlin’s No. 11 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE.

    Both wrecked against the outside wall, with Larson spinning across the frontstretch while the rest of the field scattered to avoid hitting Larson. The incident would cost Larson multiple laps as his pit crew went to work to repair the damage in his pit stall. With Larson then being assessed an additional two-lap penalty for having too many crew members over the pit wall, he would take his No. 5 Chevrolet to the garage for repairs but was granted permission to return to the track following his repairs due to meeting the minimum speed under the Damaged Vehicle Policy.

    With the next restart period occurring with 123 laps remaining, Buescher and Berry dueled for the lead for a full lap as Berry, who was racing up the outside lane, led the proceeding lap before Buescher, who had Berry slide in front of him during the previous lap, slid in front of Berry in retaliation to reassume the lead during the next lap. Berry, however, kept intimidating Buescher for the lead while Busch, Gilliland, Keselowski and Byron trailed closely in the top six with 120 laps remaining. Berry would then muscle away from Buescher during the proceeding five laps while Byron carved his way up to third place as he was being trailed by Keselowski, Elliott, Blaney, Gilliland, Busch, Suarez and others.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Berry was leading by two seconds over a side-by-side battle between Blaney and Byron while Elliott and Buescher trailed in the top five ahead of Keselowski, Suarez, Logano, Haley and Busch. Meanwhile, Bowman occupied 11th place ahead of Chastain, Gilliland, Stenhouse and Bell while Wallace, Hocevar and McDowell occupied the remaining 18 competitors scored on the lead lap as Hamlin, who was in 19th, was lapped for a third time.

    Nine laps later, the caution returned after Buescher, who was running in fifth, scrubbed his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse against the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 after he lost a tire. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Berry returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road first after he opted for a two-tire pit stop along with teammate Logano and Stenhouse while Berry, the first competitor who opted for four fresh tires, followed suit in fourth ahead of Elliott, Byron, Suarez, Busch, Haley and Bowman.

    The start of the next restart period with 84 laps remaining featured Blaney battling and having enough momentum to clear teammate Logano to lead the next lap while Stenhouse, Byron and Berry followed suit in the top five. As the field behind jostled for late positions, Busch, who was racing in the top 10, scrubbed the backstretch’s outside wall and he would pit under green with 80 laps remaining, which dropped him out of the lead lap category. Shortly after, Busch’s chances of making the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs took another hit after he took his car to the garage and retired due to another mechanical issue to his No. 8 Chevrolet. Amid Busch’s issues, Blaney retained the lead while Stenhouse and Byron overtook Logano to move into second and third, respectively.

    With 60 laps remaining, Blaney continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Byron while Elliott, Stenhouse and Logano trailed in the top five. Blaney would stabilize his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Byron with 50 laps remaining while Elliott, Stenhouse and Logano continued to race in the top five.

    With 35 laps remaining, Blaney retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Elliott trailed by a second-and-a-half. As Stenhouse and Logano continued to race in the top five, Bell trailed in sixth place by seven seconds while Berry, Suarez, Chastain and Bowman were in the top 10, with Haley situated in 11th place ahead of Keselowski, McDowell, Gilliland and Truex.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Blaney, who nearly had his steady advantage extinguished while mired in lapped traffic, most notably Ty Gibbs, extended his advantage back to nine-tenths of a second over Byron while Elliott, Byron’s teammate, trailed by a second as he started to close in on Byron for the runner-up spot. Behind, Bell moved up to fourth place ahead of Stenhouse and Logano while McDowell, who was racing in the top 15, pitted under green a few laps earlier to address a flat tire for the second time within the event. Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek would also pit under green as Blaney maintained the lead by a second over Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet with 15 laps remaining.

    Under the final 10 laps of the event, Blaney, who was mired in more lapped traffic despite proceeding to lap Wallace and Gragson, maintained his lead by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Byron as Elliott continued to trail by a second in third place. Blaney, who would close in and lap Truex, would then have his advantage shrink to six-tenths of a second as Byron continued to close in on Blaney with five laps remaining.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained as the leader by seven-tenths of a second over Byron. With Byron unable to close the deficit even narrower, Blaney was able to cycle his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford smoothly around the Iowa circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first elusive checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.

    With the victory, Blaney, who nearly won at World Wide Technology Raceway until he ran out of fuel while leading on the final lap two races ago, notched his 11th Cup Series career win and his first since winning at Martinsville Speedway in late October 2023. By becoming the 10th competitor overall to record a victory through the first 17 events of the 2024 Cup season, Blaney has guaranteed himself a spot into the 2024 Playoffs as he will commence his pursuit to defend his series’ title.

    As an added bonus, Blaney, who racked up the second victory of the season for Team Penske and the third ever for the Ford Mustang Dark Horse stock car, is the first competitor to achieve a victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series. He claimed his first Craftsman Truck Series career win at Iowa in September 2012 and would win an Xfinity event at the 7/8-mile short track in August 2015.

    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, what a cool way to win here,” Blaney, who had 80 family members rooting for him in the grandstands, said on USA Network. “This place, it means a lot to me. It means a lot to my mom. We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on. They wheeled us to that [win]. Overall, [I] really appreciate the whole No. 12 boys. Our car was really fast all night. We got a little bit better through the night with two [fresh] tires. It was a good call there. I didn’t know how well [the car] was going to hold on. I started to struggle a little bit at the end, but had to definitely hang on. So proud of the effort. It makes up a little bit from a couple weeks ago. I’m looking forward to seeing [the family members]. It’s always good to have family. I’ve been super lucky to have family that supported me through my career. It’s great that they’re still supporting me just as much as they did day one. It’s a cool weekend. Really cool to win the first Cup race here. I can’t wait we come back with many more years.”

    Byron, who recorded his first Xfinity Series victory at Iowa in June 2017, settled in second place for his sixth top-five result of the season while teammate Elliott, who notched his first ARCA Menards Series East victory at Iowa in 2012, ended up in third place for his seventh top-five result of 2024.

    “[Me and Blaney] were pretty even,” Byron said. “He was on two tires, so I think I had just a little bit fresher tires and was able to work the bottom [lane] through lapped traffic okay. [I] Felt like I was making marginal gains through [Turns] 1 and 2, but my tires were getting hot down there and I would just start sliding the rears around a little bit on entry. Really good effort by our team. We definitely need to put together some consistent runs and this is a good start. We’d love to be winning tonight, but Ryan [Blaney] and those guys were good, so congrats to them.”  

    “[The event] was a lot of surprises that [I] wasn’t really sure what to expect with the tire,” Elliott said. “The racetrack changed a lot, I thought, throughout the day. The lanes changed a lot. We were able to move around. I thought it was actually a much better race than I was anticipating being with the repave. I thought all of that was really good. Ultimately, really proud of our NAPA team and just continuing to put together solid days. Just need a little bit more to set the pace and be up there leading laps like I feel like we can. It’s nice to be in the fight and have a shot there in the closing laps.”

    Christopher Bell rallied from starting at the rear of the field in a backup car to finish fourth followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as Joey Logano, rookie Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski finished in the top 10.

    There were 17 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 49 laps. In addition, 14 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the 17th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Chase Elliott leads the regular-season standings by eight points over teammate Kyle Larson, 38 over Denny Hamlin, 54 over William Byron, 61 over Martin Truex Jr., 64 over Tyler Reddick and 90 over Ryan Blaney.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Blaney, 201 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. William Byron

    3. Chase Elliott, one lap led

    4. Christopher Bell, seven laps led

    5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., four laps led

    6. Joey Logano

    7. Josh Berry, 32 laps led

    8. Alex Bowman

    9. Daniel Suarez, four laps led

    10. Brad Keselowski, five laps led

    11. Ross Chastain

    12. Todd Gilliland

    13. Justin Haley

    14. Carson Hocevar

    15. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down

    16. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    17. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    18. Chris Buescher, one lap down, 16 laps led

    19. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    20. Harrison Burton, one lap down

    21. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    22. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    23. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    24. Denny Hamlin, two laps down

    25. Ty Gibbs, two laps down

    26. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down

    27. Ryan Preece, two laps down

    28. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    29. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

    30. Austin Cindric, three laps down

    31. Zane Smith, three laps down

    32. Erik Jones, three laps down

    33. Kaz Grala, five laps down

    34. Kyle Larson, 36 laps down, 80 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    35. Kyle Busch – OUT, Water Pump

    36. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ annual visit to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, for the USA Today 301. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 23, and at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Hamlin fends off teammate Truex to score dramatic overtime Cup victory at Richmond

    Hamlin fends off teammate Truex to score dramatic overtime Cup victory at Richmond

    Denny Hamlin spoiled teammate Martin Truex Jr.’s dominant run under the lights at Richmond Raceway and in front of his home crowd by capturing a wild overtime victory in the Toyota Owners 400 on Easter Sunday, March 31. 

    The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led twice for 17 of 407 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 11th and managed through early wet-weather conditions, late pit stop strategies under green flag conditions and a methodical drive to the front.

    Initially set for a third-place finish in the event’s scheduled distance, an opportunity struck for Hamlin after Kyle Larson spun off of Bubba Wallace’s front nose with two laps remaining. Following a swift service from his pit crew that enabled him to beat teammate Truex and Joey Logano off of pit road first, Hamlin then took care of business during an overtime shootout, where he fended off Truex and muscled away from him, Logano and Larson for two laps to score his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, March 30, Kyle Larson secured his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 120.332 mph in 22.438 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Chase Elliott, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 120.321 mph in 22.440 seconds. 

    Prior to the event, the competitors rolled off pit road and onto the track at a cautious pace with wet-weathered tires attached due to extensive rain that lingered throughout the day and with the event deemed wet from the rain for the start of the race. This made the pit stops at the start of the event deemed non-competitive, which meant that all competitors would exit pit road in the same order following the pit stops until pit road is deemed dried. 

    When the green flag waved and the event commenced following an extensive pace lap session, Larson motored his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead with the lead through the first two turns until Elliott made his move on the outside lane exiting the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4, which allowed him to lead the first lap over Larson while Todd Gilliland and Alex Bowman battled for third place.  

    As the field continued to navigate around Richmond with enough grip to their respective cars amid the wet-weather tires, Elliott retained the lead and stabilized it for nearly half a second by the fifth lap mark while Larson retained second ahead of Gilliland, Bowman and Bubba Wallace, with Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs giving chase within the top 10. A lap later, however, Larson managed to cycle past teammate Elliott to assume the lead for the first time. 

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Larson led by seven-tenths of a second over teammates Elliott and Bowman while Gilliland and Wallace followed suit in the top five. Behind, Truex, Chastain, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Gibbs were racing in the top 10 while Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, John Hunter Nemechek, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, rookie Josh Berry, Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were running in the top 20. 

    Fifteen laps later and with the track slowing drying, Larson retained the lead by a second over Wallace while Bowman, Truex and Elliott trailed in the top five. Behind, Gilliland dropped to sixth ahead of Chastain, Logano, Buescher and Preece while Hamlin and Byron were mired in 12th and 13th behind Suarez. 

    Another five laps later, the event’s competition caution flew as Larson was still leading by a second over Wallace. By then, NASCAR deemed the track dry and allowed the teams to pit for slick tires. Once pit road became accessible for the field following a brief jet-drying period, the field led by Larson pitted through a non-competitive pace for the slick tires, which allowed the competitors running in their respective positions to retain their spots as Larson retained and exited pit road first ahead of Wallace, Elliott, Bowman and Chastain. 

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 48 following an extensive caution period, Larson and Wallace battled dead even for the lead for a full lap as Wallace, who was running his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE on the outside lane and trying to pin Larson on the bottom on the track while remaining in the driest line as far as possible, led the proceeding lap by a hair. With Wallace and Larson battling in tight quarters for the lead through and past the Lap 50 mark, Bowman followed suit in third while Truex and Gilliland trailed in the top five. Following their intense early battle, Larson managed to rocket ahead of Wallace and have the lead under his authority by Lap 53.    

    Just past the Lap 60 mark, Larson, who was clocking in fast lap times on the dry tires, was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Wallace followed by Bowman, Truex and Gilliland while Elliott trailed in sixth ahead of Logano, Chastain, Suarez and Buescher.  

    Three laps later, the event’s second caution period flew after Josh Berry, who caught Suarez for ninth place, bumped and sent Suarez for a smoky slide entering Turn 1 before Suarez spun his No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track as he was dodged by oncoming traffic. Suarez’s incident was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 70 to end under caution as the leader Larson captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Wallace followed suit in second followed by Bowman, Truex and Logano while Gilliland, Elliott, Chastain, Berry and Preece were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the field led by Larson returned to pit road for service, with pit road deemed dry enough for competitive pit stops. Following the pit services, Larson retained the lead after he exited first while Wallace, Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Logano, Chastain, Berry, Preece and Gilliland followed suit. 

    The second stage period started on Lap 79 as Larson and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Larson muscled ahead with a slight advantage over Wallace through the first two turns and the backstretch until Larson cleared him and had both lanes under his control during the following lap. With Larson leading Wallace and the field behind jostling for positions, Truex overtook Bowman for third while Logano was trying to fend off Berry and Elliott for fifth place ahead of Chastain, Gilliland and Preece.  

    By Lap 90, Larson stretched his advantage to a second over Wallace followed by Truex, who trailed the lead by one-and-a-half seconds, while Berry was up to fourth place ahead of Bowman. Larson would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Wallace at the Lap 100 mark while Truex, Berry and Logano were scored in the top five. By then, Christopher Bell was scored in 10th place as he was running in front of Noah Gragson, Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Preece and Ty Gibbs as Hamlin was mired in 17th in between Brad Keselowski and William Byron, who lost a bevy of spots on pit road during the first stage break period after getting blocked by Preece in his pit stall. In addition, Kyle Busch was in 20th behind teammate Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney was mired in 27th behind rookie Carson Hocevar and Chase Briscoe was in 30th ahead of Harrison Burton and Suarez. 

    On Lap 122 and with Larson leading by six-tenths of a second over Truex, green flag pit stops commenced as Hamlin, Keselowski, Briscoe and Michael McDowell pitted along with Berry, Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Preece and Kaz Grala. Truex would pit by Lap 124 and a bevy of names including Buescher, Chastain, Reddick, Byron, Erik Jones, Daniel Hemric, Bell, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Logano, Austin Cindric and others pitted during the proceeding laps as Larson continued to lead just past the Lap 130 mark. 

    Nearing the Lap 140 mark, Larson, who had yet to pit and who was being overtaken by a handful of competitors who pitted and were trying to un-lap themselves, continued to run on the track as the leader as he was ahead of runner-up Wallace by more than five seconds. Behind, Bowman was running third ahead of Gilliland while Truex, the first competitor on four fresh tires, charged his way up to fifth place. 

    On Lap 150, Larson peeled off the racetrack to pit under green as Wallace cycled into the lead before Wallace pitted on Lap 152. This cycled Truex into the lead while Bowman, Berry, Logano and Bell also cycled into the top five. 

    Fifteen laps later, Truex was leading by more than six seconds over both Berry and Logano while fourth-place Bell trailed by more than 10 seconds and fifth-place Buescher trailed by more than 13 seconds. Meanwhile, Keselowski, Elliott, Larson, Hamlin and Gibbs were scored in the top 10 while 16 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap, among which included Byron, Gragson, Chastain, Reddick, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones. Meanwhile, Wallace was scored as the first competitor a lap down as he was running ahead of Preece, Blaney and Briscoe while Bowman was mired back in 23rd.  

    Another four laps later, the caution flew after Kyle Busch, who was running as the final competitor in 15th place, went up the racetrack and made contact with the outside wall n between Turns 1 and 2. The caution occurred just as Wallace had overtaken Truex to cycle back on the lead lap while Erik Jones was the beneficiary of the caution period and received the free pass and cycled back on the lead lap. 

    During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Truex, who nearly made contact with Wallace as Wallace was trying to enter his pit stall, retained the lead as he exited pit road first while Logano, Berry, Bell, Buescher and Larson followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Gibbs and Preece were both penalized for speeding on pit road while Justin Haley was penalized for his crew jumping over the wall too soon. 

    With the event restarting under green on Lap 177, Truex fended off Logano and Berry to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns while Blaney, who was mired in the middle of the pack, got out of the racing groove and got loose after he checked up behind Wallace and nearly got turned by teammate Cindric. With the field scattering and jostling for positions just past the Lap 185 mark, Truex retained the lead by half a second over Berry and by more than a second over third-place Logano while Larson and Hamlin followed suit in the top five. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Truex continued to lead by one-and-a-half seconds over Berry followed by Logano, Larson and Hamlin while Bell, Buescher, Byron, Wallace and Reddick pursued in the top 10. Behind, Keselowski was up to 11th ahead of Gragson, Elliott, Busch and Erik Jones while Chastain, Briscoe, Gibbs, Bowman and Suarez trailed in the top 20. Gilliland, Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trailed as the final set of competitors scored on the lead lap while Harrison Burton was scored the first competitor a lap down in 24th ahead of Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek. 

    Fifteen laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Berry while Logano, Larson and Hamlin continued to run in the top five ahead of Bell, Buescher, Byron, Wallace and Reddick. 

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 230, Truex, who edged Bowman at the start/finish line to pin him a lap down, claimed his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Berry followed suit in second along with Logano, Larson and Hamlin while Bell, Buescher, Wallace, Byron and Reddick were scored in the top 10. 

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead after exiting first followed by Larson, Hamlin, Logano, Bell, Berry, Wallace, Byron, Keselowski and Buescher. 

    With 160 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Truex and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Truex rocketed ahead of Larson through the first two turns to retain the lead and have both lanes to his control through the backstretch while the field behind fanned out. As Truex led the field, Larson was trying to fend off Logano and Hamlin in second place while Bell trailed in fifth ahead of Wallace, Berry and Byron. 

    Twenty laps later, Truex was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Larson as Logano, Hamlin and Bell were scored in the top five while Wallace, Berry, Byron, Keselowski and Reddick trailed in the top 10, with 19 of 36 starters scored on the lead lap. 

    Another 20 laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Larson as Logano, Bell and Hamlin were mired in the top five. Behind, Wallace retained sixth ahead of Berry, Byron, Keselowski and Reddick while Buescher, Elliott, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs and Erik Jones trailed in the top 15. 

    Within 115 laps remaining, green flag pit stops ensued as Keselowski pitted from ninth place. Byron, Reddick, Buescher, Elliott and Gragson would pit before the leader Truex pitted two laps later followed by Larson, Byron, Logano, Hamlin, Berry, Busch, Gibbs, Erik Jones, Gragson, Bowman, Wallace and others. Once the leader Bell pitted his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE with 106 laps remaining, teammate Truex cycled back into the lead, though he had Larson closing within his rearview mirror. 

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Truex, who was mired in lapped traffic, was leading by three-tenths of a second over Larson while third-place Hamlin trailed by six-tenths of a second as he started to close in on the two leaders. Logano and Wallace trailed by less than four seconds in the top five while Byron, Bell, Keselowski, Buescher, and Elliott were running in the top 10. Shortly after, however, Bell was assessed a drive-through penalty for speeding during his latest pit service. 

    Twenty-five laps later, Truex retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Larson and by more than a second over third-place Hamlin. Behind, Logano and Wallace continued to run fourth and fifth, respectively, while Byron, Keselowski, Buescher, Elliott and Berry were racing in the top 10. 

    With less than 70 laps remaining, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Reddick pitted along with Byron, Buescher, Elliott, Keselowski and Berry, who made another cycle around the track after he missed the pit entry. Truex would pit from the lead with 65 laps remaining along with Larson, Logano, Wallace and others as Larson managed to exit pit road ahead of Truex. Four laps later, however, Truex made his move beneath Larson through the frontstretch to overtake him for position entering Turn 1. He would then overtake teammate Hamlin to un-lap himself along with Larson before Hamlin pitted from the lead with 55 laps remaining. Teammate Bell would then pit from the lead during the following lap, which completed the green flag pit cycle and allowed Truex to cycle back into the lead with 53 laps remaining. 

    With 40 laps remaining, Truex extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Larson while Logano, Wallace and Hamlin were racing in the top five. Truex would stretch his advantage to more than three seconds over Logano with 30 laps remaining while Larson slipped to third as he trailed by more than four seconds while running ahead of Hamlin and Wallace. 

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Truex, who was slowly having his lap times decrease as he continued to be mired in lapped traffic, among which included Austin Cindric and Chastain, continued to lead by more than a second over Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse while third-place Hamlin trailed within two seconds as he started to intimidate Logano for the runner-up spot. Behind, Larson retained fourth over Wallace while Byron, Keselowski, Elliott, Berry and Buescher trailed in the top 10, with Bell mired in 11th. 

    With 10 laps remaining, Truex’s advantage decreased to six-tenths of a second over Logano with teammate Hamlin trailing within a second. Despite the latter two gaining ground on Truex, Truex, who lapped Chastain, managed to keep his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE out in front. Logano, however, would narrow the deficit to four-tenths of a second behind Truex while Hamlin was starting to lose ground as he trailed by a second with five laps remaining.  

    Then with two laps remaining, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime after Wallace bumped and sent Larson, who was running fourth and got loose, for a spin through the frontstretch. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin managed to beat teammate Truex, who had a slow pit service, and Logano off of pit road first while Larson, Byron and Elliott followed suit in the top six. Amid the pit stops, Wallace also endured a slow pit service on the left side as he dropped out of the top 10. 

    At the start of the overtime period, where teammates Hamlin and Truex occupied the front row, Truex tried to side-draft Hamlin’s No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota Camry XSE through the first two turns, but Hamlin, who slightly went up the track through the turns, managed to muscle ahead of Truex through Turns 3 and 4. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin was leading ahead of teammate Truex, who was being pressured by Logano and Larson for the runner-up spot. With Logano acquiring the runner-up spot and trying to narrow the gap to himself and Hamlin through the backstretch, Hamlin managed to muscle ahead through Turns 3 and 4 and beat Logano by two-tenths of a second to claim his second checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season. 

    With the victory, Hamlin notched his 53rd career win in the NASCAR Cup Series in his 657th series start, his fifth at Richmond and his first since winning at his home track in April 2022. He also joined William Byron as drivers to achieve multiple Cup victories seven events into the 2024 season while also recording the third victory of the season for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.

    “This is a team win, for sure,” Hamlin, who praised his pit crew, said on FOX. “This trophy needs to go to each one of these pit crew members. They just did an amazing job. They’ve been killing it all year. Man, we’ve got some good runs with [sponsor Mavis Tires & Brakes]. Such a great feeling when you know you can come in and have a pit crew like that.” 

    Logano, who had finished no higher than ninth during the first six events on the schedule, notched a strong runner-up result followed by Larson and Truex, where the former rubbed and edged Truex at the finish line to claim third place moments after Truex had veered left and ran into the side of Larson through the backstretch. 

    Seconds after the checkered flag, however, Truex proceeded to ram into the side of Larson and both rubbed fenders through the frontstretch before Truex then proceeded to run into the rear of teammate Hamlin as a gesture of displeasure for Hamlin running him up the racetrack in the first two turns during the overtime shootout. 

    “It’s unfortunate,” Truex said. “Unfortunately, [losing] has happened here a few times over the years. We were in a great spot, had a great Auto-Owners Camry all night long and the guys did a really good job. Just got beat of the pits and then, [Hamlin] jumped the start and then just used me up in Turn 1. Definitely sucks, but good solid day. Another car capable of winning, so we’ll just have to come back next week, try to get them again.” 

    “I will take a third [place finish] after what could’ve been a lot worse there on the frontstretch [when I spun],” Larson said. “I think [Truex] was just mad. He was mad that [Hamlin] used him up on the restart. That’s probably where it really started from and then, [Logano] got to his inside in [Turns] 1 and 2. I got in behind [Logano] and he just turned left across my nose, had me off the apron off of [Turn] 2 and I don’t know if he thought I piled it in there, but then he door-slammed me down the middle of the backstretch, so I figured in [Turns] 3 and 4, I was gonna use him up a little bit. I think he’s just more mad at Denny, but I was the closest one to take his anger out on. I’m guessing the replay looks the way I kind of saw it in Turns 1 and 2 and then, he’ll realize that and probably be alright.” 

    Elliott came home in fifth place while Bell, Byron, Keselowski, Buescher and Reddick finished in the top 10. 

    Notably, rookie Josh Berry notched his second top-12 result of the season by finishing 11th, Wallace ended up 13th, Chastain settled in 15th ahead of Ty Gibbs and Bowman, Blaney rallied to finish 19th ahead of Kyle Busch and Suarez ended up 22nd.

    There were 16 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 54 laps. In addition, all 36 starters finished the event while 22 of 36 finished on the lead lap. 

    Following the seventh event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 14 points over Kyle Larson, 18 over Denny Hamlin, 34 over Ty Gibbs and 51 over Ryan Blaney. 

    Results. 

    1. Denny Hamlin, 17 laps led

    2. Joey Logano 

    3. Kyle Larson, 144 laps led, Stage 1 winner 

    4. Martin Truex Jr., 228 laps led, Stage 2 winner 

    5. Chase Elliott, five laps led 

    6. Christopher Bell, nine laps led 

    7. William Byron 

    8. Brad Keselowski 

    9. Chris Buescher 

    10. Tyler Reddick  

    11. Josh Berry, two laps led 

    12. Noah Gragson 

    13. Bubba Wallace, two laps led 

    14. Erik Jones 

    15. Ross Chastain 

    16. Ty Gibbs 

    17. Alex Bowman 

    18. Chase Briscoe 

    19. Ryan Blaney 

    20. Kyle Busch 

    21. Todd Gilliland 

    22. Daniel Suarez 

    23. Austin Cindric, one lap down 

    24. Austin Dillon, one lap down  

    25. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down 

    26. Michael McDowell, one lap down 

    27. Carson Hocevar, one lap down 

    28. Ryan Preece, one lap down 

    29. Ty Dillon, one lap down 

    30. Daniel Hemric, two laps down 

    31. Kaz Grala, two laps down 

    32. Justin Haley, two laps down 

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down 

    34. Harrison Burton, two laps down 

    35. Zane Smith, three laps down 

    36. Corey LaJoie, three laps down 

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, for the Cook Out 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 7, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.