Many talented Cup Series drivers, despite showcasing remarkable skills and achieving numerous victories, never captured a NASCAR championship. Though the championship title eluded them, these drivers made significant contributions to NASCAR and enjoyed outstanding careers.
Davey Allison
Allison, the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, followed in his father’s footsteps. He got his start on the local tracks in Alabama before his big break in NASCAR. In 1987, he replaced Cale Yarborough in the Ranier-Lundy Ford Thunderbird.
During his first season, he claimed two wins, five poles, and nine top-fives and earned the title of Rookie of the Year. During his tragically shortened career, he won 19 races and 14 poles, including the Daytona 500, before his death in a helicopter accident in 1993.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of NASCAR’s most popular and talented drivers. Throughout his career, he captured 26 wins in the Cup Series, including the 2004 and 2014 Daytona 500. He also won back-to-back Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) championships in 1998 and 1999.
However, he never won the NASCAR Cup Series championship. This could be a result of the highly competitive drivers and teams during his tenure as a driver, including champions like Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart.
He also experienced multiple setbacks due to injuries, including significant concussions that affected his performance and ultimately led to his retirement from full-time racing. He accomplished all of this while under the pressure of being the son of legendary driver Dale Earnhardt.
Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards came close to winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship multiple times. His most notable near-championship win occurred in 2011 when he finished tied on points with Tony Stewart after the season’s final race. However, Stewart won the championship due to having more wins throughout the season.
Edwards was a strong competitor in the late 2000s, with 28 career wins, 124 top-5s, 220 top-10s, and 24 poles in 445 starts. Edwards decided to retire from full-time racing after the 2016 season. He was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023, and in 2025, he will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Denny Hamlin
Hamlin has achieved 54 Cup Series wins, 234 top-fives, and 258 top-10s but has not yet won a Cup Series championship. His victories include three Daytona 500 wins (2016, 2019, 2020) and three Southern 500 wins (2010, 2017, 2021).
“A championship will not change how I view my career and what I’ve accomplished,” Hamlin said, “It will only change, and probably not, change what others view of me.”
“I’d love to have the accolades,” he continued, “I really would. But I certainly am not gonna get too down on it. This racing has afforded me a great life, a great retirement plan with 12XI. I love the sport and whatever the outcome is, it is. I’m certainly gonna give it my all and not regret any one thing that I’ve done.” He concluded by saying, “I know that I gave it my best effort, for sure.”
Fred Lorenzen
Lorenzen began his career as a mechanic for Holman Moody in 1960. But, by the end of the year, he became the lead Cup Series driver for the team. He captured 26 race wins and 32 poles throughout his career in NASCAR’s premier series, including the 1965 Daytona 500. And he accomplished this, despite never running a full season.
He was once asked how he wanted to be remembered. He simply said, “As a good driver. If you want to be the best and be good, you’ve got to put everything else aside and go for it. Anybody can go to the top if they want to bad enough. If you want it bad enough, you’ve gotta give everything else up and go for it.”
Mark Martin
Martin was a consistent front-runner and fan favorite. He had 40 Cup Series wins, 453 top-10s, and 56 poles in 882 races spanning over 31 years. However, he never won the championship. Martin was runner-up in the championship standings multiple times (1990, 1994, 1998, and 2009).
He was impressive in the Cup Series, but his Xfinity record is also outstanding. He won 49 of his 236 races with 152 top-10s and 30 poles over the 23 years. With limited races, he also captured seven wins in 25 races in the Craftsman Truck Series. Martin earned 96 wins across NASCAR’s three national series and was seventh on the all-time list. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017.
Although these drivers may not have claimed the ultimate prize of a Cup Series championship, their achievements and impact on NASCAR have left an enduring and memorable impact on motorsports.
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announced a new role and new team for crew chiefs Chris Gabehart and Chris Gayle, respectively, for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
For the upcoming season, Gabehart will be assuming the role as JGR’s Competition Director while Gayle will shift from JGR’s No. 54 Toyota Camry XSE team to the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE team, where he will be paired with veteran driver Denny Hamlin.
The news comes as both Gabehart and Gayle are coming off their respective roles as crew chiefs for the Nos. 11 and 54 JGR Toyota teams, the latter of which is piloted by driver Ty Gibbs, in the Cup Series.
“We have a lot of pride in the depth of talent we have throughout our organization,” Joe Gibbs, owner and founder of Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “Chris Gabehart will now be an asset across all four of our teams as competition director and we thought it was important to have him transition into his new role immediately. Chris Gayle will bring his own perspective to the 11 team while also maintaining the consistency and continuity they have developed with Denny [Hamlin] over the past several years. While we are still in the process of finalizing the new crew chief for the 54 team, we believe all these moves ultimately make our team stronger as we prepare for 2025.”
Gabehart, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, who graduated from Purdue University with a mechanical engineering degree, made his crew chief debut in the Xfinity Series in 2016, where he was paired with Erik Jones at JGR. The following season, he made his Cup Series crew chief debut on an interim role with Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Toyota team at Richmond Raceway, where Hamlin finished fifth.
After accumulating a total of nine Xfinity victories between 2016 to 2018, Gabehart was promoted to the Cup Series to serve as a full-time crew chief for Hamlin and the No. 11 team in 2019. Commencing his Cup crew chief career with his first career victory in the 61st running of the Daytona 500, Gabehart and Hamlin would accumulate a total of 22 victories through 209 events (2019-24). In addition to making the Playoffs throughout their six-year journey, they also made the Championship 4 round from 2019 to 2021, where they finished as high as third place in the final standings during the latter season.
Through 209 appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Gabehart has also recorded 11 poles, 90 top-five results and 120 top-10 results, all while working atop the No. 11 JGR Toyota pit box and paired with Hamlin as he prepares to etch a new chapter with his new role in 2025.
“I am very thankful for the opportunities that Joe Gibbs Racing has continued to provide me for my entire tenure here and cannot say enough about how much I have enjoyed and appreciated my time with Denny and the entire 11 team,” Gabehart said. “They have all taught me so much about not only how to race at the top of the NASCAR Cup Series, but also, how to lead a great group of talented professionals. In my next opportunity, I am as excited as I have ever been to work with all our talented drivers, crew chiefs, teams and partners to help focus all our efforts towards making 2025 one of the best seasons Joe Gibbs Racing has ever had.”
Meanwhile, Gayle, a native of Little Rock Arkansas, and a graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Mechanical Engineering degree, made his crew chief debut in 2013, where he was paired with Elliott Sadler at JGR in the Xfinity Series. During the season, he made his Cup crew chief debut with Sadler at Kansas Speedway, where Sadler finished 40th.
Four years later, Gayle became a full-time crew chief in the Cup Series for the first time, where he was paired with Erik Jones at Furniture Row Racing. After notching the 2017 Rookie-of-the-Year title, both Gayle and Jones moved back to Joe Gibbs Racing and notched their first Cup career victory at Daytona International Speedway in July. Gayle would continue to work with Jones over the next two seasons, where they won the 2019 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, before he transitioned back down to the Xfinity Series during his next two years.
After capturing the 2022 Xfinity Series championship with Ty Gibbs, Gayle moved back up to the Cup Series and continued to work with Gibbs as his crew chief in 2023, where Gibbs captured the Rookie-of-the-Year title while piloting the No. 54 JGR Toyota entry. This past season, they qualified for the 2024 Playoffs and finished in 15th place in the final standings on the strengths of two poles, eight top-five results and 12 top-10 results.
Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Through 214 appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Gayle has achieved a total of two victories, four poles, 43 top-five results and 81 top-10 results while working with three competitors as he now strives to pick up the torch and maintain the momentum carried forth by the No. 11 team and his new driver Denny Hamlin. Ironically, Gayle is set to become Hamlin’s fifth full-time crew chief overall as Hamlin enters his 20th consecutive season as a full-time Cup Series competitor, all with JGR, in 2025.
“Denny is obviously a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Gayle added. “I’m looking forward to working with him and the guys on the No. 11 team. He and Gabehart have established an incredible culture that is a very good barometer for our other drivers and teams to strive to match. I have all the confidence in the world we can hit the ground running and continue the success that this group is accustomed to in 2025.”
A crew chief replacement for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team remains to be determined.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season for Joe Gibbs Racing is set to commence with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2 that will commence at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway that will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
1. Joey Logano: Logano won Stage 1 and held off Ryan Blaney in the closing laps to win at Phoenix and claim his third Cup championship.
“I’m already excited for next season,” Logano said. “If I win the Cup championship next year, I’ll likely be known as the ‘four-time, four-eyed champion.’”
2. Ryan Blaney: Blaney won Stage 2 but came up just short in his quest for his second Cup championship, finishing second to Joey Logano.
“I was attempting to be the first back-to-back Cup champion since Jimmie Johnson in 2010,” Blaney said. “I don’t mind at all being mentioned in the same breath with Jimmie, as long as it’s the 2010 Jimmie and not the current Jimmie.”
3. William Byron: Byron finished third at Phoenix as Joey Logano won the race and the Cup championship.
“Congratulations to Joey,” Byron said. “That’s three Cup championships in the last seven years. I feel like me and all the other drivers should sue him for monopolizing championships.”
4. Tyler Reddick: Reddick finished sixth at Phoenix, coming up short in his attempt to win his first NASCAR championship.
“Winning the championship would have been a great way to stick it to NASCAR,” Reddick said. “Especially after they revoked our charter after we sued them. But now I guess we’ll see how courts rule. I doubt we’ll win, especially because we’ll be facing a handpicked judge known as the Honorable Richard Petty.”
5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 11th at Phoenix.
“It’s really been a trying year for me,” Hamlin said. “If I’ve learned one thing, it’s don’t sue NASCAR. That’s because NASCAR is omnipotent, which is probably because someone who runs NASCAR is impotent.”
6. Christopher Bell: Bell came home fifth at Phoenix.
“I think it was cool that everyone was able to say their goodbyes to Martin Truex, Jr.,” Bell said. “I apologize if I made that sound like Martin is dying; he’s not. Martin’s not going to be on death’s bed; he’s going to be on home’s couch.”
7. Alex Bowman: Bowman finished 14th at Phoenix.
“The pace car hit the barriers trying to enter pit road at the start of Stage 2,” Bowman said. “That caused a red flag. I don’t know who was driving that pace car, but I bet he handed Juan Pablo Montoya a beer and told him to hold it right before that accident.”
8. Kyle Larson: Larson finished fourth at Phoenix as three Hendrick Motorsports cars finished in the top 8.
“It’s been a long season,” Larson said. “And I plan on having a quiet off-season. Which means I plan to do a lot of SIM racing and hope I can be quiet.”
9. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished eight at Phoenix, posting his 19th top 10 of the year.
“Noah Gragson’s No. 10 car has ‘Nitro Circus’ sponsorship,’” Elliott said. “I’m not really sure what that ‘Nitro Circus’ is referring to, but back at the Dawsonville Pool Room, ‘Nitro Circus’ is what happens when someone gets hold of some dental anesthesia and shares it with everyone at the bar.”
10. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex started on the pole at Phoenix and finished 17th.
“It’s gonna be tough to walk away from this sport,” Truex said. “That’s why I’m not walking; I’m driving.”
Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship hopes ended despite both notching strong top-five runs amid an eventful run and conclusion to the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, November 3.
For Elliott, he came into this weekend’s Martinsville event strapped in eighth place in the Playoff standings and 43 points below the top-four cutline to the Championship 4 round. This resulted from finishing 33rd and fifth during the Round of 8’s first two events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, respectively.
Elliott then commenced the Martinsville weekend on a high note by being the highest-starting Playoff competitor on the grid. He grabbed the second-place starting spot with a qualifying lap at 96.190 mph in 19.686 seconds.
When the green flag waved on Sunday for the main event, Elliott spent the first 40 laps trailing the pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. before he overtook him for the lead on Lap 41. Through an early caution period that started just past the Lap 75 mark, Elliott maintained the lead and garnered ten critical stage points by winning the first stage period. Then, after spending a majority of the second stage period racing towards the front, Elliott’s event briefly went south during a caution period on Lap 183 when a slow pit service from his No. 9 NAPA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team dropped him towards the bottom of the lead lap category. He did not rack up any stage points despite climbing back to 12th place at the second stage’s conclusion.
After being mired within the top-10 mark during the first half of the final stage period, Elliott strategically pitted under green with 149 laps remaining. With his fellow teammates and Playoff contenders pitting during the proceeding laps, he would cycle to the lead with 120 laps remaining. He would retain the top spot before he pitted again during a caution period with 103 laps remaining for fresh tires. Through another late-race caution period and two restarts, including the final one with 87 laps remaining, Elliott trailed teammate Kyle Larson for the race victory and a Playoff berth while in a “must-win” situation. After being radioed by his team to take the lead, Elliott overtook Larson for the top spot with 24 laps remaining. Despite initially pulling away over the next ten laps, Elliott would be overtaken by the eventual race winner, Ryan Blaney, who was placed in a “must-win” situation like for Elliott and Larson. With Elliott unable to regain the advantage over the final 14 laps, he settled in second place for the second time in the 2024 Cup Series season.
Despite notching his 11th top-five result of the 2024 season, the result was not enough for Elliott to transfer into the Championship 4 round by 44 points, as the 2024 season marks Elliott’s fourth time being eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 8. Amid the disappointment, Elliott, who missed seven races and did not make the Playoffs a year ago, was left pleased with the rebound and the speed made by his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team that included an emotional return to Victory Lane amid a one-year winless drought at Texas Motor Speedway in April that enabled the driver and team to make the 2024 Playoffs. Coupled with 18 top-10 results, Elliott shifted his focus on extending the momentum into the 2025 season that would enable him to make the Championship 4 round next season and contend for a second Cup Series title.
“[I am] Just really proud of how things went these last few weeks,” Elliott said on NBC. “We’ve been working really hard and just continuing to find a good base and build to be competitive, and lead more laps and just get ourselves back in contention more often. I really felt like we did a really good job of executing that over the last few weeks. It was unfortunate what happened at Vegas [in October], but to bring the kind of cars that we brought to Homestead and then here. [Crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] called a great race, and I thought we were right there in the mix of if, and I’m proud of that. We’ll go to Phoenix and try to build a little bit more there and try again next year.”
Compared to Elliott, Denny Hamlin’s fall Martinsville weekend commenced on a rough note after he wrecked his primary car during the event’s practice session on Saturday. While his No. 11 FedEx/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE team was able to repair the car that prevented them from pulling out a backup car, Hamlin opted to not post a qualifying lap as he rolled off the starting grid in 37th place, dead last.
At the event’s start, Hamlin, who entered Martinsville 18 points below the cutline despite finishing no lower than eighth throughout the Round of 8, methodically moved his way up the leaderboard. By Lap 35, Hamlin cracked the top-30 mark on the track and he would march up into the top-25 mark by Lap 65. Following the event’s first caution period just past Lap 75 and an ensuing restart on Lap 85, Hamlin made his way up to 16th place and would end up in 15th place when the first stage period concluded on Lap 130.
Then, after spending the first stretch of the second stage period making his way into the top-10 mark, Hamlin executed a strategic call to remain on the track for track position, which moved him up to second place and restarting on the front row with Ryan Blaney for the next restart period on Lap 191. Despite not contesting with Blaney for the lead, Hamlin would retain third place as the second stage period concluded on Lap 260, which netted him eight crucial stage points in hopes of making the Championship 4 round.
Restarting in the top four at the start of the final stage period with 230 laps remaining, Hamlin could not march his way towards the lead despite racing within the top-five mark for the majority of the stage period and as the track temperatures transitioned from daytime to nighttime racing. When the checkered flag flew, Hamlin could make his way up to as high as fifth place, which was not enough to maintain his championship hopes for the 2024 season as he missed the cutline by 24 points.
Overall, the 2024 Cup Series season marks Hamlin’s 19th consecutive one as a full-time competitor and his third in a row where his Playoff hopes ended following the Round of 8. Amid his strong top-five result at Martinsville and in a season where he netted three victories and 18 top-10 results, the Virginia veteran indicated the lack of speed and handling of his car during Sunday’s main event as a decisive factor that left him out of the title hunt and setting his elusive first title hopes for another season in 2025.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[My race was] Similar to the spring,” Hamlin said. “We were just fourth, fifth best, and that’s kind of where we were. I had track position at times, but when I was at our best handling-wise, it was just good enough to keep up, and that was it. We just haven’t had it for a couple years now, and we’ll go to work on it and try to figure out what we can do to come here in the spring and win.”
Overall, Hamlin and Elliott join Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell as the four Playoff contenders who did not make the 2024 Championship 4 round for next weekend’s season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway, while Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Joey Logano, and Tyler Reddick will contend for the championship. With the points amongst the eliminated Playoff contenders being reshuffled for the third and final time, Elliott and Hamlin are currently ranked seventh and ninth, respectively, in the standings as they both strive to cap off the 2024 season on a strong note.
Chase Elliott’s and Denny Hamlin’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series seasons will conclude next Sunday, November 10, at Phoenix Raceway with the Cup Series Championship Race, which will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
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.
In his penultimate start as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Martin Truex Jr. notched his first Busch pole position of the 2024 season and for this weekend’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, November 2.
The 2017 Cup Series champion from Mayetta, New Jersey, commenced the weekend by being the fastest during the series’ lone practice session earlier on Saturday. He then was one of 10 from a total of 37-entered competitors to transfer to the final qualifying round following two qualifying group rounds. During the final qualifying round, he posted his best qualifying lap at 96.190 mph in 19.686 seconds, which was enough to claim the top-starting spot over Playoff contender Chase Elliott, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 95.840 mph in 19.758 seconds.
With this accomplishment, Truex is currently ranked in 10th place in the standings by notching his 24th career pole in NASCAR’s premier series. Additionally, it was his third at Martinsville and his first since he started on the pole in the fall Martinsville event in late October 2023. Overall, the 2024 season marks Truex’s 11th season where he has achieved a pole position in the Cup Series as he strives to record a victory while down to his final two races as a full-time Cup competitor with Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I felt great about our car on stickers [tires],” Truex said. “You never want to get too optimistic, but [the car] fired off really good in practice, especially that second run with the track rubbered in. I was like, ‘Alright, if we can just hit the balance here for qualifying, it should be really fast.’ Proud of [crew chief] James [Small] and all the guys. We haven’t had a whole lot of good going for us lately. This feels awesome. Anytime you’re first in anything in this series, it’s special and it’s exciting. We got some work to do for tomorrow, but hopefully, we can make a gain on it and have a good day.”
Highlights
Joining Truex on the front row will be Chase Elliott, who emerged as the highest-starting Playoff contender in the field. This weekend’s event at Martinsville is the third and final race in the Round of 8, Elliott is currently ranked in eighth place in the Playoff standings and is 43 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round and contend for his second Cup title.
William Byron, Elliott’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, will start in third place ahead of Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs. Rounding out the top-10 starting spots are Harrison Burton, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Playoff contender Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon. With three of eight Playoff contenders starting in the top 10 for Sunday’s main event, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin will start 12th, 14th, 16th, 31st and 37th, respectively.
Notably, Hamlin will start in 37th place, dead last, after opting not to post a qualifying lap due to wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s practice session. Despite Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team managing to repair the car, Hamlin, who is 18 points below the top-four cutline, will have to navigate his way through the field from the rear to maintain his title hopes.
Currently, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick are the only two Playoff contenders to be guaranteed berths to the Championship 4 field after winning the Round of 8 events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, respectively. Christopher Bell and William Byron occupy the remaining two vacant spots above the cutline while Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott trail.
All 37 competitors entered for Sunday’s event at Martinsville earned a starting spot.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
Martin Truex Jr., 96.190 mph, 19.686 seconds
Chase Elliott, 95.840 mph, 19.758 seconds
William Byron, 95.951 mph, 19.735 seconds
Chase Briscoe, 95.796 mph, 19.767 seconds
Ty Gibbs, 95.912 mph, 19.743 seconds
Harrison Burton, 95.603 mph, 19.807 seconds
Alex Bowman, 95.908 mph, 19.744 seconds
Ryan Preece, 95.487 mph, 19.831 seconds
Kyle Larson, 95.593 mph, 19.809 seconds
Austin Dillon, 95.367 mph, 19.856 seconds
Josh Berry, 95.752 mph, 19.776 seconds
Joey Logano, 95.661 mph, 19.795 seconds
Todd Gilliland, 95.738 mph, 19.779 seconds
Ryan Blaney, 95.656 mph, 19.796 seconds
Daniel Hemric, 95.670 mph, 19.793 seconds
Christopher Bell, 95.632 mph, 19.801 seconds
Michael McDowell, 95.593 mph, 19.809 seconds
Brad Keselowski, 95.622 mph, 19.803 seconds
Bubba Wallace, 95.492 mph, 19.830 seconds
Daniel Suarez, 95.612 mph, 19.805 seconds
Erik Jones, 95.487 mph, 19.831 seconds
Ross Chastain, 95.516 mph, 19.825 seconds
Kyle Busch, 95.434 mph, 19.842 seconds
Austin Cindric, 95.237 mph, 19.883 seconds
Noah Gragson, 95.362 mph, 19.857 seconds
Chris Buescher, 95.036 mph, 19.925 seconds
Carson Hocevar, 95.319 mph, 19.866 seconds
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 95.032 mph, 19.926 seconds
Shane van Gisbergen, 95.180 mph, 19.895 seconds
Justin Haley, 94.680 mph, 20 seconds
Tyler Reddick, 95.146 mph, 19.902 seconds
John Hunter Nemechek, 94.354 mph, 20.069 seconds
Kaz Grala, 94.237 mph, 20.094 seconds
Corey LaJoie, 94.162 mph, 20.110 seconds
Josh Bilicki, 93.299 mph, 20.296 seconds
Zane Smith, 93.947 mph, 20.156 seconds
Denny Hamlin, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2024 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway is set to occur on Sunday, November 3, and air at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
One week after rolling over in dramatic style at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Tyler Reddick responded in a monstrous way by notching a dramatic last-lap NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 27.
The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led eight times for a race-high 97 of 267-scheduled laps in an event where he started on pole position and led the first 31 of 32 laps. Despite losing the lead during the event’s first round of green flag pit stops that started on Lap 32, Reddick would cycle back into the lead on Lap 55 and proceed to claim the first stage victory. Amid another cycle of green flag pit stops during the second stage period, he would collect an additional seven stage points by settling in fourth place at the stage’s conclusion.
Then through various pit strategies that occurred within the final stage period that started with 95 laps remaining, Reddick, who restarted in the top five and spent a majority of the period racing towards the front and battling with his fellow Playoff contenders, attempted to pull a strategic move by stretching his fuel tank to the distance while leading, a move that started with 46 laps remaining. Ultimately, the Californian would then pit from the lead with 16 laps remaining as he plummeted below the leaderboard.
After Playoff contender Kyle Larson spun with 13 laps remaining in his bid for the lead, Reddick remained on the track while the rest of the field pitted. Reddick would then lose the lead to team owner Denny Hamlin on the ensuing restart with seven laps remaining and spend the next six laps tracking both Hamlin and Ryan Blaney to remain in contention for the lead. Then after overtaking Hamlin for the runner-up spot at the start of the final lap, Reddick used the first two turns and the backstretch to reel in Blaney before he executed a bold race-winning pass to Blaney’s outside through Turns 3 and 4. With the momentum to his advantage, Reddick claimed his third Cup victory of the 2024 season and clinched a Championship 4 berth for the first time in his career.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 26, Playoff contender Tyler Reddick notched his third Cup pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 167.452 mph in 32.248 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Kyle Larson, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 167.053 mph in 32.325 seconds.
Prior to the event, Playoff contender Joey Logano, who is guaranteed a spot in this year’s Championship 4 field by winning last weekend’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry. Chris Buescher also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Tyler Reddick launched his No. 45 The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry XSE ahead with an early advantage. He was followed by Playoff contender Christopher Bell while Kyle Larson struggled to launch from the outside lane. The field then fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch as Reddick retained the lead ahead of Bell and Larson.
Then entering Turn 3, the event’s first caution flew as Justin Haley, who was running in sixth place, turned across the right-front fender of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and spun his No. 7 Chili’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 towards the bottom of the track through the turn as the field scattered to avoid him. With Haley managing to continue without sustaining any damage to his entry, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap under caution.
When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, the field fanned out through the first two turns as both Reddick and Bell dueled for the lead. They continued to duel for the lead in front of Larson through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 before Bell led the following lap by a fender. Larson then tried to make a move beneath Reddick through the frontstretch, but Reddick fended him off as Reddick stormed into the lead. Behind, Martin Truex Jr. challenged Larson for third place as Bubba Wallace tried to join the battle.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by half a second over Bell as Larson, Wallace and Playoff contender Chase Elliott were racing in the top five. Behind, Truex was back in sixth place ahead of Playoff contender Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookie Josh Berry while Daniel Hemric, Playoff contender Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were in the top 15 ahead of Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez, rookie Carson Hocevar, Playoff contender William Byron and Michael McDowell. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Joey Logano was mired in 27th place.
Ten laps later, Reddick stretched his advantage to more than a second over Larson as Elliott was up to third place. Behind, Wallace and Hamlin, both of whom nearly had an incident as Wallace got loose in front of Hamlin in Turn 1, trailed in the top five while Bell, Truex, Berry, Bowman and Briscoe followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Blaney, Keselowski, Byron, Stenhouse and Suarez.
Another 12 laps later, the event’s first cycle of green flag pit stops occurred as Byron pitted his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. More names including McDowell, Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Corey LaJoie also pitted before the leader Reddick pitted during the next lap. Elliott, Hamlin, Blaney, Briscoe, Berry, Hocevar, rookie Zane Smith, Hemric and Erik Jones also pitted before Larson, who assumed a brief lead, pitted along with Wallace by the Lap 34 mark. Truex, Bell, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek would follow suit to pit road as Keselowski, who was among 11 competitors who had yet to pit, remained on the track and inherited the lead.
Just past the Lap 40 mark, Keselowski continued to lead as he was ahead of Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland, Logano and Austin Cindric on the track while Elliott, who managed to cycle ahead of Larson and Reddick following his green flag pit stop, trailed in eighth place. By then, Stenhouse, Kaz Grala and Chris Buescher had pitted earlier. Not long after, Busch, Logano and Cindric would pit their respective entries before Keselowski pitted from the lead on Lap 42. Once Gilliland pitted a lap later, Elliott would cycle past Haley, who has yet to pit, and assume the lead from teammate Larson and Reddick.
Nearing the Lap 50 mark, the caution flew when Larson, who was running in second place, scraped the outside wall entering the backstretch after he blew a right-rear tire, which the tire rolled out of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 4 as Larson limped to pit road. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Elliott returned to pit road for service while the rest including Busch, Logano, Austin Dillon and Haley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Elliott exited pit road first as he was ahead of Wallace, Reddick, Blaney, Bell, Byron, Hamlin, Truex, Bowman and Hocevar.
As the race restarted under green on Lap 53, Busch retained a brief advantage through the frontstretch before Wallace, who restarted in sixth place, threaded the needle between three competitors and proceeded to zip by both Logano and Busch to assume the lead through the first two turns. Elliott would follow suit in second place through the backstretch as the field fanned out. With a bevy of competitors jostling for spots, Wallace led the following lap as teammate Redick made his way into second place over Elliott while Blaney followed suit. Playoff contenders Bell, Byron and Hamlin would also make their way into the top seven while Logano was slowly fading back on his worn tires.
Then on Lap 55, Reddick made a move beneath teammate Wallace through Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead as he led the following lap. Reddick would proceed to lead to the Lap 60 mark while Wallace was fending off Elliott and Blaney for the runner-up spot. By then, six of eight Playoff contenders were racing in the top 10 on the track while Logano was drifting out of the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Larson, who remained on the lead lap despite drawing the previous caution period, was trying to carve his way back into the top-25 mark on the track.
At the Lap 70 mark, Reddick’s advantage grew to three seconds over teammate Wallace while third-place Elliott trailed by four seconds. Behind, Blaney and Bell followed suit in the top five while Hocevar was up to sixth place ahead of Byron, Bowman, Hamlin and Truex.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Reddick, who came into Homestead 30 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Wallace followed suit in second ahead of Elliott, Blaney and Hocevar while Bell, Hamlin, Byron, Bowman and Truex were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders including Larson and Logano were mired outside the top 20 on the track.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick peeled off the track to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road first as he was followed by Wallace, Hocevar, Elliott, Bell and Hamlin while Reddick exited seventh as he lost six spots due to a slow pit service. Amid the pit stops, Buescher spun in his pit stall after he was bumped by Stenhouse. In addition, Kyle Busch was penalized for a safety violation.
The second stage period started on Lap 87 as Blaney and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott steered his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 beneath Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse through the frontstretch as both along with Wallace went three wide for the lead in front of the field entering the first turn. Elliott and Wallace would then duel for the lead through the backstretch while Blaney was left pinned with Reddick and Hamlin in a three-wide battle for third place. As Bell joined the battle for third place, Elliott would muscle ahead of Wallace and lead the following lap. With Elliott leading by the Lap 90 mark, Hamlin and Blaney battled for third place in front of another battle involving Bell, Reddick and Bowman before Reddick gained a strong run through the frontstretch to challenge both Blaney and Hamlin for third place.
At the Lap 100 mark, Elliott stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Blaney as Hamlin, Reddick and Hocevar were scored in the top five. Behind, Wallace fell back to sixth place as he was ahead of Bell, Byron, Zane Smith and Bowman while Ryan Preece, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Logano and Berry followed suit in the top 15.
Twelve laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney, who brushed the outside wall, pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Teammate Cindric would also pit along with Byron, Preece, Bowman, Logano, Suarez, Gilliland, Logano, Chastain, Larson and Erik Jones before Elliott pitted from the lead on Lap 116. Bell would also pit with Elliott.
As more names including Stenhouse, Buescher, Gragson, Wallace and Hemric pitted during the proceeding laps, Hamlin then pitted his No. 11 Mavis Toyota Camry XSE from the lead on Lap 123 as teammate Truex, Berry and Hocevar followed suit. Reddick, who assumed a brief lead, then pitted during the following lap as Kyle Busch and Keselowski, both of whom have yet to pit, moved into first and second ahead of Blaney and Elliott. By Lap 126, Blaney cycled into the lead as both Busch and Keselowski pitted. Elliott, however, would overtake Blaney for the lead two laps later.
Just past the Lap 135 mark, Elliott was leading ahead of Bell, who made his way past Blaney for the runner-up spot, as Hamlin started to close in from fourth place. Behind, Reddick cycled to fifth place as Byron, Hocevar, Bowman, Preece and Zane Smith were in the top 10. Elliott would continue to lead by Lap 140 while Hamlin, who had fresher tires than Elliott, was up to second place.
By Lap 150, Hamlin started to close in on Elliott for the lead. Then after spending the next five laps both stalking and closing in more to Elliott’s rear bumper, Hamlin started to make a move beneath Elliott for the lead. Amid lapped traffic, both dueled for the lead during the next five laps through every corner and straightaway before Hamlin used the inside lane in Turn 1 to rocket ahead and clear Elliott with the lead.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Hamlin, who came into Homestead 27 points below the top-four cutline, captured his seventh Cup stage victory of the 2024 season as he had extended his advantage to more than a second. Elliott settled in second and Bell fended off Reddick to settle in third place while Blaney, Byron, Truex, Hocevar, Preece and Allmendinger were scored in the top 10. By then, six of eight Playoff contenders racked up the event’s second round of stage points while both Larson and Logano did not.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted for service. Following the pit services, Elliott reassumed the lead as he exited pit road first ahead of Bell, Hamlin, Blaney and Reddick while Byron, Hocevar, Truex, Preece and Bowman followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Kyle Busch was penalized for pitting outside his pit box.
With 95 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Elliott and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott and Bell dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn. Bell and Elliott remained dead even for the top spot through the backstretch and for the final two sets of turns before Bell led the following lap by a fender. Elliott would then use the inside lane to muscle back ahead of Bell and reassume the lead. With Elliott leading, Blaney would then muscle past Bell and retain second while Hamlin, Byron and Reddick followed suit.
With 85 laps remaining, Elliott retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney as Bell, Reddick and Hamlin were in the top five. Meanwhile, Larson was back up to sixth place in front of teammate Bryon as Blaney started to close in on Elliott for the lead.
Then with 81 laps remaining, the caution returned as Haley spun in Turn 3 for a second time, this time due to getting hit by Ty Gibbs. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Elliott returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney managed to beat Elliott off of pit road first as they were followed by Bell, Reddick, Larson, Hocevar, Hamlin, Bowman, Byron and Preece.
The start of the next restart period with 76 laps remaining featured Blaney rocketing ahead with the lead entering the first turn as Bell made his way into second place. Behind, Larson moved up to fourth place and battled Reddick and Byron to retain the spot while Elliott tried to battle Bell for second place. Amid a series of battles occurring within the field, Blaney led the following lap. As Blaney retained a steady lead over both Elliott and Bell with 70 laps remaining, Larson continued to fiercely battle with Byron and Reddick for fourth place while Hamlin overtook Hocevar for seventh place.
Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Blaney stretched his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while Larson, who carved his way up to third place, trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Bell and Reddick were in the top five as Hamlin, Byron, Bowman, Hocevar and Allmendinger were in the top 10.
Ten laps later, Blaney stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while Larson continued to trail in third place by more than two seconds. Shortly after, a late cycle of green flag pit stops ensued as Keselowski, Wallace, Busch, Austin Dillon and Gilliland all pitted their respective entries. More names including LaJoie, Berry, Preece, Gragson and Byron pitted over the next three laps before teammates Elliott and Larson pitted their respective Chevrolets with 47 laps remaining. The leader Blaney would then pit with 46 laps remaining along with Bell as Reddick and Hamlin remained on the track to assume first and second.
With 40 laps remaining, Reddick, who had yet to pit but opted to stretch his fuel tank to the furthest of its distance, continued to lead ahead of team owner Hamlin while Bowman, McDowell and Briscoe, all of whom had yet to pit, were in the top five. As Truex, Suarez, Logano, Nemechek and Cindric, all of whom have yet to pit, trailed in the top 10, Blaney, the first competitor who pitted, was up in 11th place and racing ahead of Elliott and Larson.
A lap later, Hamlin pitted under green from the runner-up spot. By then Reddick, remained in the lead as he was leading by more than 21 seconds over Blaney. Reddick would continue to lead and stretch his fuel tank before he surrendered the lead to pit under green with 16 laps remaining. As Reddick pitted, Blaney cycled into the lead as he was leading by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson.
Then with 13 laps remaining, the caution flew as Larson, who tried to thread the needle in between Blaney and the lapped competitor of Austin Dillon in a battle for the lead, was lightly bumped into both as he slid sideways and spun to the bottom of the track in Turn 4. Following the spin, Larson managed to proceed as he lost the runner-up spot to Hamlin as Blaney retained the lead.
During the caution period, Blaney led nearly the entire lead lap field back to pit road for service while Reddick remained on the track as he inherited the lead. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road first as he was followed by Hamlin, Elliott, Bowman, Byron, Bell, Allmendinger and Hocevar while Larson, whose No. 5 pit crew repaired the diffuser lap, exited ninth as he lost six spots in the process.
Down to the final seven laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Reddick launched ahead of Blaney from the outside lane to assume the lead through the frontstretch. Then as the field fanned out entering Turn 1, Hamlin seized an opportunity through the first two turns and used the outside lane to dart his No. 11 Mavis Toyota into the lead. Behind, Blaney and Elliott battled for second along with Reddick. Hamlin would lead the next lap before Blaney launched his challenge on the former for the top spot entering the first turn. Despite Blaney having the advantage through the turns from the inside lane, Hamlin used the outside wall to gain the final advantage and retain the lead entering the straightaways. As Reddick and Elliott battled for third place, Hamlin continued to lead with five laps remaining.
Over the next three laps, Hamlin fended off repeated challenges from Blaney through the corners to lead as Reddick tried to close in. Then entering the backstretch, Blaney gained a strong run beneath Hamlin and dueled with him before he muscled his No. 12 Menards Ford ahead in Turns 3 and 4.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney was leading by a tenth of a second over Hamlin as Reddick started to close in on Hamin for the runner-up spot. Reddick then used the inside lane to overtake Hamlin through the first two turns as Blaney remained in the lead. Then after stalking Blaney through the backstretch, Reddick floored his No. 45 The Beast Toyota to the outside lane as he drew even with Blaney through Turns 3 and 4. With the outside lane working to his advantage, Reddick rocketed past Blaney and used the momentum to muscle ahead through the frontstretch as he claimed the checkered flag to cap off a dramatic battle and finish to the event.
With the victory, Reddick notched his eighth Cup Series win in his 180th career start, his third of the 2024 season, his first at Homestead and his first since winning at Michigan International Speedway in August. The victory was also the ninth of the season for the Toyota nameplate and the eighth overall for 23XI Racing.
Above all, Reddick, who is in his fifth consecutive full-time season as a Cup Series competitor, became the second Playoff contender to clinch one of four berths to the 2024 Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway as this season marks Reddick’s first time reaching the final Playoff round in NASCAR’s premier series. As a result, he joins Joey Logano as a championship finalist and will contend for the first Cup Series championship for himself and 23XI Racing.
HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – OCTOBER 27: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 27, 2024 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images).
“We’re backed into a corner and we had no other choice,” Reddick, who celebrated with his family, No. 45 team, and owner Michael Jordan, said on the frontstretch on NBC. “I knew we were on a tire deficit and here at Homestead, that’s a death sentence, but I don’t care. We did what it took to win this race and we’re fighting for a championship. I couldn’t believe it. I just knew I needed to get even with [Blaney] on his right-side door. I didn’t care what he did, but he raced me clean. I appreciate it, but just really, really excited that we’re going to get to have a shot at this championship. It’d mean the world [to win the championship]. We thankfully can take off from Martinsville [Speedway] a little bit and get ready for Phoenix [Raceway], but we’re pumped.”
As Reddick celebrated both a victory and a locked-up Championship 4 berth, Blaney was left dejected on pit road after having his victory and Championship 4 berth slip out of his grasp on the final lap and final corner. Despite being 38 points below the top-four cutline, Blaney heads into next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway with a final opportunity to race his way back into the final round and defend his title.
“It’s obvious [I am with] disappointment,” Blaney, who led 47 laps, said. “I had a great shot to win. I didn’t have a very good last lap. Man, I thought I got into [Turn] 3 hard and [Reddick] just blitzed it off in there and it stuck for him, which was pretty impressive. I hate to give one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away. I mean, we got the lead back after losing it on the restart. Just last lap didn’t really play out for us. Definitely stings. I appreciate everybody on the No. 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. [I] Had a great shot to go to Phoenix and still got one more chance, so we still got to look forward to that. I’ll be picking through [the finish] all night what I should have done different probably and that’s just the way it goes, but overall, really proud of the effort and hopefully, we can bring it to [the competition] next week.”
Like Blaney, Hamlin, who led 21 laps and fell short of the victory after settling in third place, trails the cutline by 18 points as he strives to return to the Championship 4 round for the first time since 2021.
“I tried to cover all lanes, but just couldn’t quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run,” Hamlin said. “Short run wasn’t my specialty all day obviously, but either way, controlling the race [with] two [laps] to go, you got to try to find a way to finish it and just didn’t. [Martinsville]’s another opportunity and certainly, you’re not out of it until [NASCAR] throws the checkered flag at Martinsville.”
Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott, both of whom led a combined 84 laps, finished in the top five while William Byron, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, Carson Hocevar and Ryan Preece finished in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson ended up in 13th place while Logano settled in 28th place.
As a result of the final on-track finishes, Bell and Byron occupy the final two vacant spots to the Championship 4 round while Larson, Hamlin, Blaney and Elliott trail entering next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.
There were 33 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 30 laps. In addition, 33 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to conclude next weekend at Martinsville Speedway for the Xfinity 500, which will determine this year’s Championship 4 field. The event is scheduled to commence next Sunday, November 3, and air at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
A week after being drawn back into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, Joey Logano became the first Playoff competitor to clinch a Championship 4 berth after utilizing a late strategic pit call to win the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 20.
The two-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led the final six of 267-scheduled laps in an event where he started in 10th place and took advantage of multiple Playoff contenders encountering obstacles both on the track and on pit road to draw himself above the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round by recording nine stage points during the event’s two stage periods.
Then, after keeping his car intact and running a consistent event for the majority of the day, Logano, who last pitted during a late-caution period with 74 laps remaining along with the lead lap field, cycled from 11th to second as he remained on the track and on his current fuel load during a late cycle of green flag pit stops that ensued with approximately 40 laps remaining.
With teammate Ryan Blaney, who was multiple laps down, providing on-track assistance to Logano as the latter was both maintaining pace and stretching his fuel tank to the distance, Logano would track down and overtake Daniel Suarez for the lead with five laps remaining. He then managed to maintain a reasonable gap from Playoff contender Christopher Bell, who dominated the race, to snatch the Cup victory at Vegas in dramatic style and race his way into the Championship 4 round.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 19, Playoff contender Christopher Bell notched his third Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 185.344 mph in 29.135 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Tyler Reddick, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 185.261 mph in 29.148 seconds.
Prior to the event, Playoff contender Ryan Blaney dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car due to a cut left-rear tire during Saturday’s practice session.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Christopher Bell gained the early advantage as he muscled his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman from the inside lane. Bell would proceed to lead the field for a single cycle around the Vegas circuit and he would return to the frontstretch to lead the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Bell would stretch his advantage to as high as four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Bowman, Ross Chastain and Playoff contender Denny Hamlin followed suit in the top five. Behind, Playoff contender Kyle Larson occupied sixth place ahead of Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., and a trio of Playoff contenders that include Joey Logano, William Byron, and Chase Elliott, while Austin Cindric, rookie Carson Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, and rookie Zane Smith were in the top 15.
Through the first 10-schedueld laps, Bell extended his advantage to a second over Reddick while Bowman, Chastain, Hamlin, Larson, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Truex and Byron were racing in the top 10. With six of the remaining eight Playoff contenders scored in the top 10, Elliott retained 11th place while Ryan Blaney was up to 26th place after starting at the rear of the field.
Fifteen laps later, Bell added another advantage to his early lead as he was leading by more than two seconds over Reddick while third-place Bowman trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Playoff contenders Larson, Hamlin and Logano were racing from fourth to sixth, respectively, while Chastain, Elliott, Byron and Austin Cindric were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Blaney gained five spots as he was up in 21st place behind Michael McDowell.
Another eight laps later, the event’s first cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Larson led a multitude of contenders, including Playoff contenders Logano, Hamlin, Elliott and Byron, to pit road for service. By then, Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe and Michael McDowell had pitted. With more names pitting over the next two laps, the leader Bell pitted under green on Lap 35 along with Reddick as Blaney cycled into the lead. Blaney, who had carved his way up into the top-20 mark before the pit stops, would pit his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse from the lead on Lap 40, which allowed Bell to cycle back into the lead as he was ahead of Reddick, Bowman, Larson, Logano and Elliott. By the time Blaney returned to the track following his pit stop, he was battling Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for 22nd place.
At the Lap 50 mark, Bell retained the lead by more than two seconds over Reddick while third-place Bowman followed trailed in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by seven seconds. Playoff contenders Larson, Elliott and Logano followed suit from fourth to sixth, respectively, as Cindric, Keselowski, Chastain and Truex were in the top 10 ahead of Byron, Gibbs, Hamlin, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez. By then, Blaney was up to 21st place behind Bubba Wallace while Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson and McDowell were mired in the top 20.
Twelve laps later, the event’s first caution flew when Austin Dillon, who was racing outside the top 25, was sent head-on into the outside wall in Turn 3 after he received a bump from Daniel Hemric entering the turn. The incident left Dillon with a damaged No. 3 Boot Barn Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and heated with Hemric.
During the caution period, Bell led the lead lap field back to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Truex exited pit road first with two fresh tires while Byron, Keselowski, Buescher, Reddick, Hamlin, Bell, Larson, Bowman and Kyle Busch followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Erik Jones, who had received the free pass, had a right-front wheel come off of his No. 43 Massey Motor Freight Toyota Camry XSE on the track in Turn 1, though he was able to limp back to pit road for a new right-front tire.
The start of the ensuing restart period on Lap 71 featured the field fanning out entering the first two turns as Truex maintained the lead ahead of Keselowski and Byron. With the field still fanning out to multiple lanes through the backstretch and for the following turns, Truex led the following lap while Byron was up to second place ahead of Keselowski, Reddick and Bell. As Playoff contenders Elliott, Hamlin and Blaney were mired outside the top 10, Reddick, who pitted for four fresh tires during the previous caution period, would assume the lead from Truex on Lap 74.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Reddick, who muscled his way into the Playoff’s Round of 8 after overcoming a series of on-track issues during last weekend’s event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, notched his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Bell followed suit in second ahead of Truex, Byron and Keselowski while Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Logano, Cindric and Larson were scored in the top 10. With five of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of Playoff points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders including Hamlin, Elliott and Blaney settled in 11th, 12th and 17th, respectively.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Reddick returned to pit road for service while Hamlin remained on the track as he inherited the lead. Following the pit stops amid more mixed strategies, Ty Gibbs exited pit road first with two fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Shane van Gisbergen was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes. Soon after, Bubba Wallace made another trip to pit road to have a possible loose wheel addressed. Larson would also pit to have debris removed from the front grille of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which sent him to the rear of the field.
The second stage period started on Lap 87 as teammates Hamlin and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Gibbs used the outside lane and two fresh tires to assume the lead. With Hamlin pinned in a three-wide battle with Logano and Elliott for the runner-up spot through the frontstretch, Gibbs led the following lap as the field fanned out and jostled for spots.
The caution would then return on Lap 89 when Truex, who was in fourth place, went up the track and made slight contact with Elliott entering the frontstretch resulting in Elliott sliding up and making contact with Reddick, who tried to shoot through a gap, against the outside wall as both collected Keselowski when coming back across the track. As Elliott, Keselowski and Reddick all slid through the frontstretch’s grass, Reddick’s No. 45 Jordan Toyota Camry XSE bounced off the grass to the pavement as the car rolled over once before landing back hard on all four wheels. Despite flipping over once, Reddick was able to limp his damaged car back to his pit lane, but the damage to the car’s suspension was enough to knock Reddick out of contention.
“By the time I realized I was in trouble, it was just too late,” Reddick said after being released from the infield care center. “[Truex] started sliding, [Elliott] was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside. There’s just, at that point, nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them slide and just be a little more conservative. That would have avoided the incident. It’s unfortunate. It took us out of the race.”
During the caution period, Blaney, who hit the outside wall while trying to avoid Keselowski’s sliding car but managed to steer clear of the incident, spun while trying to enter pit road as his No. 12 pit crew proceeded to address a broken right-rear toe link as a result of the wall contact. With Blaney making multiple trips to pit road for repairs, he dropped out of the lead lap category. Blaney’s teammate Austin Cindric would eventually be eliminated from the race as he hit the wall and spun while trying to avoid Keselowski, who was eliminated from further contention.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 96, Gibbs and Logano dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes through the first two turns. With the field fanning out to three lanes through the backstretch, Gibbs managed to muscle ahead and lead the following lap while Bell overtook Logano and carved his way up to second place. Behind, Bowman would battle Truex and Chastain for fourth place in front of Byron and Buescher as Bell closed in on teammate Gibbs for the lead.
Just past the Lap 100 mark, Gibbs retained the lead over teammate Bell by four-tenths of a second while third-place Logano followed suit by within a second. Gibbs would manage to slightly stretch his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Bell by Lap 105 before the advantage shrunk to one-tenth of a second at the Lap 110 mark. By then, Elliott, who was able to maintain minimum speed to continue following his multi-car wreck, took his damaged No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage for additional repairs.
On Lap 111, Bell overtook teammate Gibbs to reassume the lead entering Turns 3 and 4. With Bell leading, Logano retained third place ahead of Truex and Chastain while Byron, Buescher, Larson, Kyle Busch and Bowman were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin had fallen to 26th place.
Five laps later, Hamlin, who was racing within the top-30 mark, would pit his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE for four fresh tires and an adjustment under green as he lost a lap in the process. Bowman would then pit under green on Lap 119 before Kyle Busch pitted during the following lap. Logano, Truex, Buescher and Stenhouse would all pit on Lap 121 before Gibbs, Chastain, Byron, Justin Haley, Hocevar, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, Jimmie Johnson and rookie Josh Berry pitted during the next lap. During the pit stops, both Chastain and Gibbs were penalized for speeding on pit road.
As more names including Bubba Wallace, Daniel Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek and rookie Zane Smith pitted by Lap 124, the leader Bell would also pit before Larson pitted during the following lap. During the pit stops, Larson endured a slow pit service due to the jackman dropping the right side of the car too early when the right-rear tire was not completely installed slowing the servicing process of the left-side tires. Larson would then pit for a second time to have a left-rear tire changed, which left him two laps behind the lead.
Back on the track, Suarez, who was among many who have yet to pit, was leading ahead of McDowell, Corey LaJoie, Chase Briscoe, van Gisbergen, Cody Ware and Todd Gilliland while Bell, the first competitor who pitted, was mired in eighth place. Suarez would proceed to lead the event’s halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134 while Bell trailed the lead by 15 seconds in seventh place. Meanwhile, the next two highest-running Playoff contenders on the track were Byron and Logano in 10th and 12th, respectively, while Hamlin, Larson and Blaney were strapped in 25th, 31st and 32nd, respectively. In addition, Elliott returned to the track following his repairs and despite being 27 laps off of the lead lap category.
By Lap 145, Suarez continued to lead in his No. 99 Tootsies Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by four seconds over Bell while Truex followed suit in third place by five seconds. Meanwhile, Byron, who struggled with the handling of his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 earlier in the event, was up to fourth place ahead of Cody Ware while Logano was scored in eighth place. Meanwhile, Hamlin, who un-lapped himself, was in 23rd place while Larson was still pinned two laps behind in 31st place.
Six laps later, Bell overtook Suarez through the frontstretch to reassume the lead. Teammate Truex, who overtook Bell on the track earlier before being overtaken, would follow suit in second place as Suarez, Byron and Buescher followed suit in the top five.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Bell, who managed to lap 23rd-place Berry but was unable to lap 22nd-place Chastain, notched his 11th Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Truex followed suit in second place by four-tenths of a second while Byron, Buescher, Logano, Bowman, Haley, Suarez, Wallace and Ryan Preece were scored in the top 10. With three of the remaining seven Playoff contenders on the track racking up the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Hamlin, Larson, Blaney and Elliott were mired in 19th, 30th, 32nd and 33rd, respectively. By then, Larson was the eighth competitor in line scored a lap down, Blaney was scored six laps down and Elliott was off the lead lap category by 26 points.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Bell retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of Truex, Byron, Buescher, Logano, Haley, Bowman, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Zane Smith. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin endured a slow pit service to tighten a left-rear tire on his No. 11 Toyota.
With 95 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Bell and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead in front of the field for nearly a lap before Bell muscled ahead and led the following lap. As the field continued to fan out to multiple laps over the proceeding laps, Larson was battling Ty Gibbs for 24th place and to be the first competitor scored a lap down. With Hamlin dealing with a potential vibration issue in 20th place, teammate Bell led by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Truex with 90 laps remaining.
With 80 laps remaining, Bell was leading by more than a second over teammate Truex while Buescher, Byron and Wallace were scored in the top five ahead of Bowman, Haley, Logano, Preece and Chastain. Meanwhile, Hamlin was in 17th place while Larson was overtaken by Ty Gibbs for 24th place and to be the first competitor scored a lap down. Larson would proceed to overtake Gibbs for the spot a lap later while Hamlin, who was on the lead lap, started to close in on both.
Five laps later, the caution flew due to Ty Gibbs slipping sideways and spinning his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE from the top to the bottom of the backstretch. The incident served as a big break for Larson, who received the free pass after being scored the first competitor a lap down in 24th place and was intensely battling Gibbs for the spot over the last several laps. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Bell retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of teammate Truex, Byron, Bowman and Buescher.
As the event restarted under green with 69 laps remaining, Bell received a small bump from Byron to muscle ahead from the inside lane and away from teammate Truex through the first two turns. As Byron battled Truex for the runner-up spot through the backstretch, Haley battled Bowman and Buescher for fourth place while Bell led the next lap. Byron would then slide up in front of Truex to claim the runner-up spot while Buescher and Haley battled fiercely for fifth place in front of Chastain and Kyle Busch. With Hamlin and Larson, both scored on the lead lap, trying to muscle their way up the leaderboard from within the top-20 mark, Bell led by three-tenths of a second over Byron with 65 laps remaining.
Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Bell stabilized his advantage to nearly three-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Truex trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, Logano was mired in 11th place behind Wallace and Larson was up to 16th place while Hamlin was mired in 18th place.
Ten laps later, Bell continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Byron as Bowman occupied third place and trailed the lead by two seconds. Behind, Hamlin moved up to 15th place in front of Larson while Logano remained in 11th place as Truex and Buescher rounded out the top five on the track.
Another nine laps later, pit stops under green slowly commenced as Buescher pitted from the top five. Shortly after, more names including Truex, Larson, Blaney and Bowman pitted over the next two laps before Bell pitted from the lead with 38 laps remaining. Byron pitted during the next lap but was unable to blend back on the track in front of Bell. As the pit stops ensued, Suarez, who has yet to pit, cycled into the lead. Suarez would proceed to lead by two seconds over Logano with 30 laps remaining while Hamlin was up to third place and trailing the lead by four seconds. Meanwhile, Bell was mired in ninth place and racing two spots ahead of Byron while Larson was in 15th place.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Suarez continued to lead by two seconds over runner-up Logano and by nearly six seconds over third-place Hamlin while Bell trailed the lead by 15 seconds in sixth place. Behind, Byron trailed by 16 seconds in eighth place while Larson trailed by 26 seconds in 15th place.
With 10 laps remaining, Suarez stabilized his lead to more than a second over Logano and to six seconds over Hamlin while Bell, who continued to gain more ground and overtook John Hunter Nemechek for position, was up to fourth place and trailing the lead by less than seven seconds. Bell would proceed to overtake teammate Hamlin for third place and he trailed the lead by six seconds during the following lap while Logano, who received a draft from teammate Blaney through the straightaways for momentum amid his low fuel tank, was only trailing the leader Suarez by eight-tenths of a second.
Five laps later, Logano overtook Suarez for the lead through the frontstretch. By then, Bell trailed in third place by three seconds and continued to chip away at Logano’s advantage despite the laps dwindling.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained in the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Suarez while Bell followed suit. Bell would overtake Suarez for the runner-up spot entering the first two turns and he would trim Logano’s lead to as close to half a second through the backstretch. With Bell’s late charge not enough to get close to Logano’s rear bumper, Logano, who continued to have teammate Blaney following right behind him, was able to cycle his way through the final set of turns and return to the frontstretch victorious as he streaked his No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse across the finish line for the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second over Bell.
With the victory, Logano notched his 35th career win in the Cup Series, which places him in sole possession in 25th place on the all-time series wins list. He also recorded his third Cup victory of the 2024 season, his first since winning this year’s Playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway in early September and his fourth at Las Vegas. The victory was also the 10th of the season for the Ford nameplate and the sixth for Team Penske, and Logano clinches the Championship 4 berth.
Above all, Logano became the first of the remaining eight Playoff contenders to clinch a spot into this year’s Championship 4 field, where he will contend for his third Cup Series championship in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway three weeks from now. Ironically, the 2024 season marks the fourth season where Logano has won the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener, with his previous three victories all occurring in even years (2018, 2020 & 2022). This season also marks the sixth time where Logano has made the Championship 4 round, all of which have also occurred in even years (including the 2014 & 2016 seasons).
“What [an] incredible turn of events here the last week,” Logano, who led the final six laps, said on NBC. “What a very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’re going to the Championship 4 again! I don’t know what the deal’s [winning here at Vegas] with the even-year thing, but maybe it’s real. Thanks to the fans out here. Thanks to Roush Yates Engines for making great fuel mileage. Great calls by [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe], Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure [the car]’s full, giving me the good info I need to save fuel and keep the lead that we needed to. Boy, we’re going racing again. What an incredible situation. I’m blessed.”
“Everybody does a good job at just feeding the info that I needed,” Logano added. “You got to go the right pace to make sure you get in front of [Suarez], but get to where [Bell] was going to catch me. Just an incredible day. It takes the whole team to do the fuel mileage stuff. It’s not just the engine or the engineers or the driver, spotter. It takes all of us together to do it. Total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were [a] solid top-five car and being able to maximize it at the end.”
As Logano celebrated both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane, Bell, who led a race-high 155 laps and won the second stage period, was left dejected on pit road as he came up one spot short of winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Vegas for a second consecutive season. Amid the disappointment, Bell is scored in second place in the Playoff standings and is 42 points above the top-four cutline with two Round of 8 events remaining on the schedule.
“I don’t think I’ve come to terms yet [on the result],” Bell said. “I don’t know. It’s just a bummer. I think everyone on this No. 20 team did everything perfect today. This [car] was obviously on rails. Pit crew did an amazing job. [Crew chief] Adam [Stevens] called a great race. [We] Did everything we needed to put this Rheem Camry in Victory Lane and unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today…I think the points look pretty good, which is a positive, but you’re never safe in this [Playoff] deal. We needed to win today and unfortunately, we didn’t. We’ll go on to the next [race].”
Daniel Suarez, who led 57 laps, had enough fuel to record a strong third-place effort while Playoff contender William Byron and Alex Bowman finished in the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, John Hunter Nemechek and Chris Buescher complete the top 10 in the final running order.
With half of eight Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders include Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick ended up 11th, 32nd, 33rd and 35th, respectively. As a result, Larson and Byron leave Vegas above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings along with Logano and Bell, while Hamlin, Reddick, Blaney, and Elliott trail below the cutline.
There were 13 lead changes for ten different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 21 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Joey Logano, six laps led
2. Christopher Bell, 155 laps led, Stage 2 winner
3. Daniel Suarez, 57 laps led
4. William Byron, one lap led
5. Alex Bowman
6. Martin Truex Jr., seven laps led
7. Ross Chastain
8. Denny Hamlin, four laps led
9. John Hunter Nemechek
10. Chris Buescher
11. Kyle Larson, one lap led
12. Bubba Wallace
13. Kyle Busch
14. Corey LaJoie
15. Harrison Burton
16. Zane Smith
17. Justin Haley
18. Noah Gragson
19. Daniel Hemric
20. Michael McDowell
21. Cody Ware
22. Ryan Preece, one lap down
23. Carson Hocevar, one lap down
24. Josh Berry, one lap down
25. Erik Jones, one lap down
26. Chase Briscoe, one lap down
27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down
28. Jimmie Johnson, two laps down
29. Shane van Gisbergen, two laps down
30. Ty Gibbs, three laps down, 23 laps led
31. Todd Gilliland, four laps down
32. Ryan Blaney, eight laps down, four laps led
33. Chase Elliott – OUT, Suspension
34. Austin Cindric – OUT, DVP
35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner
36. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident
37. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings
1. Joey Logano – Advanced
2. Christopher Bell +42
3. Kyle Larson +35
4. William Byron +27
5. Denny Hamlin -27
6. Tyler Reddick -30
7. Ryan Blaney -47
8. Chase Elliott -53
The second Round of 8 event in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, for the Straight Talk Wireless 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, October 27, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
1. Kyle Larson: Larson led a dominant 62 laps and handily won the Bank of America ROVAL 400.
“I clearly outdrove Shane van Gisbergen,” Larson said. “So I’ve downgraded him from being in my league to being in Max Verstappen’s league. I feel like I’m in a league of my own; they’re in a league of their own, which is not in my league.”
2. William Byron: Byron finished third at Charlotte.
“I had already advanced to the Round Of 8,” Byron said, “so I really didn’t have to stress about a solid finish. So, since I was ‘locked in,’ I didn’t have to be ‘locked in.’”
3. Christopher Bell: Bell challenged up front at Charlotte and finished second.
“Hall Of Famers Ricky Rudd and Carl Edwards gave the ‘Start your engines’ command,” Bell said. “It was pretty cool, and maybe the first time the ‘start your engines’ command made someone flinch. Of course, only Matt Kenseth felt that way.”
4. Alex Bowman: Bowman won Stage 2 and finished 18th but failed post-race inspection and was eliminated from the Playoffs.
“It’s sad for the four drivers that were eliminated,” Bowman said. “That includes me. That’s too bad, and this is ‘two’ good: goodbye and good riddance.”
5. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished fifth at Charlotte and advanced to the Round Of 8.
“It was close,” Elliott said, “but I made it to the next round. I’m sure the fine people down at the Dawsonville Pool Room are celebrating responsibly by not driving, but only because they no longer have driver’s licenses.”
6. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started 18th at Charlotte and finished 14th.
“I’m involved in an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR,” Hamlin said. “Any Denny Hamlin fan would define ‘antitrust’ as the opposite of what they should feel about my ability to win a championship.”
7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished a solid 10th and easily advanced to the Round Of 8.
“Charlotte’s ROVAL was reconfigured with some modifications to a few corners,” Blaney said. “I’m just thankful NASCAR told us about them beforehand.”
8. Tyler Reddick: Reddick rebounded from early trouble to force his way into the Round of 8 with an 11th-place finish.
“I owe it all to my 23XI Racing team,” Reddick said, “and to team co-owner Michael Jordan. Michael has always had faith in me and has sometimes had money on me, and in stature has about 13 inches on me.”
9. Joey Logano: Logano finished eighth at Charlotte and was initially eliminated from the Playoffs. But Alex Bowman’s disqualification meant Logano advanced.
“There was a camera on the floorboard of my No. 22 Ford,” Logano said. “That was so viewers could see my feet work the pedals. It’s kind of like watching a race at Kansas Speedway—it’s cool for about 30 seconds, then it gets incredibly boring.”
10. Kyle Busch: Busch finished 13th in the Bank Of America ROVAL 400.
“Even though I wasn’t a playoff driver,” Busch said, “you could feel the tension in the air. You could also smell the tension. Maybe it wasn’t tension you could smell, but it smelled like cheap beer, unhealthy snacks, beer-infused jerky, smelly truck stops, dog food, or pretty much anything advertised on the cars.”
With no points pressure mounted up his sleeves, Kyle Larson cruised to a dominant victory in the seventh annual running of the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, October 13.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led a race-high 62 of 109-scheduled laps in an event where he started in sixth place and ran a consistent event while executing his pit strategy to perfection that kept him racing towards the front and also keeping his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet intact through every turn, straightaway, chicane and curbs.
After clinching his way into the Playoff’s Round of 8 by accumulating seven stage points between the event’s first two stage periods, Larson, who led twice earlier in the event, assumed the lead for the third and final time with 33 laps remaining during a late cycle of green flag pit stops. Then after muscling away from the field during a late-race restart with 26 laps remaining, the Californian maintained a reasonable advantage over the field and fellow Playoff rivals for the remainder of the event as he raced his way to his sixth Cup victory of the 2024 season.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 12, Shane van Gisbergen notched his first Cup Series career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 99.246 mph in 82.704 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Tyler Reddick, who posted his best qualifying lap at 99.177 mph in 82.761 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Shane van Gisbergen muscled his No. 13 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead with the lead from the outside lane and he led the field through the infield turns, starting from Turn 1 to the newly configured Turns 5 and 6 zones that led to the new sharp left-hand turn to Turn 7 and back on Charlotte’s oval course. With the field navigating cleanly through the infield turns, van Gisbergen retained the lead through the oval turns and the chicane areas, from the backstretch to the frontstretch, as he led the first lap ahead of Playoff contenders Joey Logano and Kyle Larson while AJ Allmendinger and Playoff contender Tyler Reddick followed suit.
During the second lap, Logano was overtaken by Larson, Reddick and Allmendinger on the track, which dropped Logano to fifth place on the course. Behind Logano, Playoff teammate Austin Cindric followed suit in sixth place as he was ahead of Brad Keselowski, Playoff contender Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace while William Byron, who is already guaranteed a spot in the Round of 8, was in 10th place ahead of Playoff rivals Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney. As Playoff contenders Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe were trying to navigate their way up the leaderboard while being mired outside the top-20 mark on the track, van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to over one second on Larson by the fifth lap mark. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Alex Bowman, whose No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 briefly came off the ground after he ran over the frontstretch’s chicane curbs earlier, was mired in 19th place ahead of rookie Carson Hocevar.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, van Gisbergen stabilized his advantage to more than one second ahead of Larson while Reddick, Allmendinger and Logano followed suit in the top five. Behind, Cindric and Elliott battled fiercely for sixth place ahead of Keselowski, Wallace and Byron while Bell, Blaney, Suarez, Kyle Busch and Todd Gilliland trailed in the top 15 ahead of Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman and Carson Hocevar. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired in 24th place behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while Briscoe was back in 26th place in between Martin Truex Jr. and Chris Buescher.
Another lap later, Ryan Preece spun his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the backstretch chicane while running in the top-30 mark, which dropped him below the leaderboard. Then during the following lap, Wallace was penalized for cutting the course while navigating his No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE through the frontstretch chicane. This resulted in Wallace serving a “stop-and-go” penalty through the backstretch chicane, which dropped Wallace from eighth to 12th on the course. Martin Truex Jr., who was running within the top-25 mark, would also be penalized for cutting the frontstretch chicane by Lap 13, which dropped him towards the top-30 mark. With the race remaining under green flag conditions, van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to nearly two seconds over Larson while Reddick, Allmendinger and Logano continued to trail in the top five.
On Lap 18, the event’s first cycle of green flag pit stops slowly started to commence as Allmendinger pitted his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the top five. By then, Austin Dillon had pitted a lap earlier. Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher would all pit by the Lap 19 mark before Cindric, Keselowski, Byron, Bell, Wallace, Hamlin, Briscoe and Truex pitted during the following lap. Larson would then pit his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the runner-up spot on Lap 21 along with Todd Gilliland, Hocevar, Bowman, rookie Zane Smith, Stenhouse, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton before the leader van Gisbergen pitted during the next lap along with Daniel Suarez. With pit road closed on Lap 23 as the first stage period was coming to a conclusion, Reddick, who remained on the course, cycled his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE into the lead.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, Reddick, who came into the event 14 points above the top-eight cutline in his hopes to advance into the Playoff’s Round of 8, recorded his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Playoff contenders Logano, Elliott, Blaney and Larson followed suit in the top five while van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Keselowski and Playoff contender Cindric were scored in the top 10. With half of the 12 Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Bell, Byron, Suarez, Bowman, Briscoe and Hamlin were scored in 11th, 13th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd and 27, respectively.
Under the stage break, some led by Reddick and including Logano, Elliott and Blaney pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Larson and van Gisbergen occupied the front row. At the start, Larson muscled ahead of Kaulig Racing’s van Gisbergen and Allmendinger through the frontstretch and he retained the lead through the infield turns while van Gisbergen fended off Allmendinger for the runner-up spot. As the field navigated through the infield road course turns and the sharp left-hand turn from Turn 7 back on the oval turns, Larson retained the lead for the remaining turns and led the following lap while Playoff contenders Briscoe, Hamlin, Reddick, Logano, Elliott and Blaney were mired within a series of on-track bumps and contacts while stuck in the middle of the field.
Shortly after and during the Lap 30 mark, Reddick was collected in a jam-up and came to a full stop to avoid hitting Austin Dillon, who was sent for a spin in Turn 7 after he got bumped by Bowman. Despite sustaining little cosmetic damage to his car, Reddick, whose car briefly came off the ground after he hit both the Turn 7 curb and into team owner Denny Hamlin prior to avoiding Dillon, pitted under green to address a potential broken toe link to his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE. With Hamlin remaining on the track despite getting hit in the left-side area and having a bent toe link to the rear end of his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE, Larson retained the lead by nearly a second over van Gisbergen while Allmendinger, Bell and Keselowski were scored in the top five.
At the Lap 35 mark, Larson stretched his advantage to more than a second over van Gisbergen as both were followed by Allmendinger, Bell and Keselowski. With Cindric, Byron, Chastain, Suarez and Wallace following suit in the top 10, Bowman, Hocevar, Buescher, Stenhouse and Kyle Busch were mired in the top 15 ahead of Logano, Zane Smith, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs and Elliott while Hamlin, Blaney, Truex, Gilliland and Harrison Burton were scored in the top 25.
Then while still on the Lap 35 mark, the caution returned due to Playoff contender Briscoe losing a right-rear tire as the tire came off of Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang Dark Horse in Turn 14 just as Briscoe was pitting. During the caution period, Reddick and Gragson pitted, with the former having his bent right-rear toe link addressed. Soon after, more names led by Allmendinger and including Hamlin and Cindric pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 38 featured Larson and van Gisbergen dueling for the lead through the first four turns until Larson muscled ahead. With Bell overtaking van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot entering Turn 5, a traffic jam ensued as Keselowski was bumped and sent for a spin by Suarez in Turn 7 while the field fanned out. With the race remaining under green flag conditions, Larson retained the lead for the following lap ahead of Bell, van Gisbergen, Byron and Bowman as Austin Dillon, who was running in 28th place, was penalized for cutting the frontstretch chicane despite getting hit by Briscoe before driving off the course.
Just past the Lap 40 mark, eight of 12 Playoff contenders were racing inside the top 10 on the track as Larson retained the lead ahead of Bell while Byron, Bowman, Suarez, Logano and Elliott followed suit from fourth to eighth, respectively, as Blaney was in 10th place. Meanwhile, Cindric and Hamlin were back in 17th and 19th, respectively, while Briscoe and Reddick were mired in 36th and 37th, respectively, with the former pitting multiple times for repairs following an on-track contact. As Erik Jones bumped Kaz Grala off the course through the frontstretch chicane as payback from an earlier contact that occurred in the backstretch chicane, Chastain was sent for a spin in Turn 7 after he got hit by Truex. Through both incidents, the race remained under green flag conditions.
By Lap 45, Larson retained the lead by more than a second over Bell as van Gisbergen, Byron, Bowman, Suarez, Logano, Allmendinger, Elliott and Blaney followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Wallace, McDowell, Cindric, Kyle Busch and Hamlin. With Reddick mired in 36th place, Briscoe’s Playoff run in 2024 came to an end as he took his car to the garage and retired in 37th place. Briscoe’s DNF also ended the final Cup Series Playoff run for Stewart-Haas Racing.
“It’s tough,” Briscoe said after being released from the infield care center. “To have all that momentum that we had to come to an end and to have it come to an end like it did is definitely unfortunate. [I] Wish we could have kept going for [the title]. Just unfortunate. We still have a lot to race for. We still can go win four more races and that’s what we’re certainly trying to do.”
Two laps later, Byron pitted from inside the top five under green along with Ty Gibbs, Hemric, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Keselowski and Justin Haley. By then, Zane Smith, Truex, Stenhouse, Harrison Burton and John Hunter Nemechek had pitted. The leader Larson along with Bell and van Gisbergen would pit during the following lap as Bowman cycled into the lead.
Amid the pit stops, Suarez, who was engaged in a fierce battle that included bumps with Logano a few laps earlier, was forced off the course in the backstretch chicane after being bumped by Wallace, where Suarez came to a full stop before continuing. In addition, Zane Smith was spared from being penalized for cutting the frontstretch chicane earlier after he got bumped by Buescher.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 50, Bowman, who came into the Roval 26 points above the top-eight cutline, notched his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Allmendinger followed suit along with Logano, Elliott and Wallace while Blaney, Cindric, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch and Larson, who clinched his way into the Round of 8 by points, were scored in the top 10. With half of the remaining 11 Playoff contenders on the track racking up the second round of stage points, the remaining contenders including Hamlin, Bell, Suarez, Byron and Reddick were mired in 11th, 12th, 14th, 16th and 36th, respectively.
During the stage break, some led by Bowman and including teammate Elliott, Blaney and Suarez pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.
With 55 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Allmendinger and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger muscled ahead with the lead from the outside lane and led the field through the infield turns while Wallace overtook Logano for the runner-up spot. Cindric would track teammate Logano for third place as the field fanned out while navigating through Turn 7.
With the field navigating cleanly through the backstretch chicane, trouble occurred in the frontstretch chicane as Chastain, who was mired in the top 20, was hit by Keselowski as he spun his No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for a second time and collected Legacy Motor Club’s Nemechek and Erik Jones. Then as Ty Gibbs retired due to a transmission issue to his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE, the caution returned during the following lap due to debris that came off of Nemechek’s damaged No. 42 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE in Turn 2.
During the caution period, Suarez, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to keep his Playoff hopes alive, pitted and the hood of his No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was lifted as his crew went to work to diagnose a brake issue. By then, Bell was officially ruled to be clinched into the Round of 8 based on points.
As the event restarted under green with 50 laps remaining, Allmendinger rocketed away from Wallace and Logano to retain the lead entering the first turn and through the infield turns. As Larson used the fresh tires to battle Cindric for fourth place, the field fanned out and was able to navigate through Turn 7 cleanly as Allmendinger maintained a reasonable gap between himself and Wallace through the oval turns and the backstretch chicane.
Allmendinger would proceed to lead the following lap while Reddick and Elliott battled for 23rd place and a spot into the Round of 8. Meanwhile, Hamlin, who struggled earlier in the event, was up to seventh place behind Playoff contenders Larson, Logano, Bell and Cindric as Reddick, who was in 23rd place, was tracking Elliott by five points in the current Playoff standings. As both Buescher and van Gisbergen were sent spinning separately in Turn 7 during the next lap, Allmendinger stretched his advantage to more than a second over Wallace before Larson overtook the latter with 47 laps remaining.
With 45 laps remaining, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to a second over Larson as Bell trailed in third place by two seconds. With Wallace leading Playoff contenders Logano, Cindric, Byron and Hamlin on the track, McDowell and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10 ahead of Hocevar, Truex, Keselowski, Gilliland and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Bowman, Blaney, Elliott, Reddick and Suarez were mired in 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 32nd, respectively, as Larson proceeded to cut Allmendinger’s advantage to four-tenths of a second during the next lap.
Then with 43 laps remaining, Larson used a bold move beneath Allmendinger while nearly getting sideways to move into the lead in Turn 7. Larson would proceed to lead Allmendinger through the ensuing oval turns, the backstretch chicane and the frontstretch chicane while Bell started to close in on Allmendinger from third place. Meanwhile, Reddick, who had regained his racing rhythm and was trying to carve his way back up the leaderboard since having his car repaired in the pits following his second stage incident in Turn 7, continued to trail Elliott in the Playoff standings by five points as he was mired in 19th place in front of Bowman while Elliott was just ahead of Reddick in 18th place.
With 38 laps remaining, Allmendinger pitted from the runner-up spot under green as he was followed by Cindric, Logano, Kyle Busch and Buescher. By then, McDowell had pitted a lap earlier as Larson was leading by more than three seconds over Bell. Wallace and his 23XI Racing teammate Reddick would then pit during the following lap along with Gragson before Byron, Hocevar, Elliott and Bowman pitted with 36 laps remaining. Despite enduring a slow pit service, Elliott managed to blend back on the track in front of Reddick as Reddick was separated from Elliott by four competitors.
As the field reached its final 34-lap mark, the leader Larson pitted under green along with Bell and Blaney. By then, Hamlin had pitted earlier as Larson exited pit road ahead of Bell, who endured a slow service. With nearly every competitor in the field having made a pit stop, Keselowski, who has yet to pit, was leading. Keselowski, however, would pit shortly after, which handed the lead back to Larson.
With 30 laps remaining, Larson was leading by more than six seconds over Austin Dillon as Bell, van Gisbergen and Allmendinger trailed in the top five. Meanwhile, Reddick, who was scored in 20th place, trailed the top-eight cutline by five points while Logano, who was in eighth place, occupied the final transfer spot. Meanwhile, Elliott was 12 points above the cutline as he was in 13th place while Hamlin, who was in 17th place, was ahead by nine points.
The following lap, the caution flew due to the left front wheel rolling off of Austin Dillon’s No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 just past Turn 4 and right after Dillon had pitted under green, which resulted in Dillon being assessed a two-lap penalty. By then, Reddick trailed Logano in the standings by four points while Larson was leading by six seconds over Bell. During the caution period, some including Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Reddick, Haley and Buescher pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.
The start of the following restart period with 26 laps remaining featured Larson rocketing away from Bell, Byron and Cindric entering the first turn as Logano also tried to join the battle. As Larson led the field through the first four turns before navigating his way through the final three sets of infield turns, Larson slightly stretched his advantage over Bell through the oval’s backstretch and the backstretch chicane. As Playoff contenders Blaney and Hamlin were trying to navigate their way back into the top 10 on the track, Larson led the following lap while Reddick, who was mired in 24th place after he pitted, trailed the cutline by 12 points.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Bell as Playoff contenders Byron, Cindric, Elliott and Logano followed suit in the top six. With Logano losing fifth place on the track to Elliott not long ago, Reddick, who overtook Bowman for 19th place, trailed Logano in the standings by six points. Not long after, Reddick nearly got sideways as he bumped and sent Daniel Hemric for a spin in Turn 7. Amid the incident, Reddick continued in 18th place as he now trailed Logano by five points. Reddick would gain another point during the following lap as he overtook Stenhouse for 17th place and was trying to track McDowell for more.
With 15 laps remaining, Larson added an extra second to his advantage as he was leading by two seconds over Bell. Meanwhile, Reddick carved his way up to 15th place on the track, which placed him only two points behind Logano, who was still running in sixth place on the track, in the standings as he was trying to battle Kyle Busch for 14th place. Another lap later, however, Reddick’s deficit was cut to a single point as he overtook Busch’s No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for 14th place while Logano was being pressured by Allmendinger for sixth place.
Down to the final 11 laps of the event, Logano and Reddick were tied for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8 as Allmendinger overtook Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse for sixth place through the backstretch on the track. Meanwhile, Reddick was trying to track down team owner Hamlin, who is only seven points above the cutline, for 13th place on the track as Logano owned the tie-breaker over Reddick. Logano and Reddick would remain in seventh and 14th, respectively, on the track for the following lap as Larson stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Bell.
Then with nine laps remaining, Reddick overtook Logano in the Playoff standings as he was in the final transfer into the Round of 8 by two points after he overtook Toyota teammates Truex and Hamlin from Turns 5 to 7. Meanwhile, Logano was still mired in seventh place and racing ahead of van Gisbergen, Wallace and Blaney while Reddick was trying to track down Hocevar for 11th place. Despite dropping to 13th place, Hamlin remained seven points above the cutline.
With five laps remaining, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Bell as Byron, Cindric and Elliott followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Logano was scored outside the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings by four points as he was overtaken by van Gisbergen for seventh place on the track a few laps earlier while Reddick was up to 11th place. By then, Blaney and Elliott were also above the cutline by 18 and 14 points, respectively, while Bowman and Hamlin followed suit by eight and four points, respectively.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than a second over Bell. As Larson proceeded to lap Suarez through the infield turns while Bell tried to close in, Larson was able to smoothly navigate his way out of the infield turns and through the final set of road course turns on the oval circuit as he then navigated through the frontstretch chicane and streaked across the finish line to claim the checkered flag by one-and-a-half seconds over Bell.
With the victory, Larson, who continues his pursuit for his second Cup Series championship ahead of the Round of 8’s commencement, achieved his sixth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season. He also achieved the 29th Cup victory of his career, his second at the Charlotte Roval after winning his first in 2021 and his first victory since winning the Bristol Night Race three weeks ago.
The victory was also the 15th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the 11th of the season for Hendrick Motorsports, with the organization notching its 25th Cup victory overall at Charlotte, as Larson racked up his 23rd victory while driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for team owner Rick Hendrick.
“It’s the first time in my Playoff career [that] I’ve not been like close to the [Playoff] cutline,” Larson, who celebrated with his daughter Audrey on the frontstretch, said on NBC. “It was good to kind of have a little bit of a stress-free of a weekend. I think the first time I’ve been here without crashing, maybe besides the other time we won. Good weekend. Obviously, we’re here at [owner Rick] Hendrick’s home and got so many of the people here from there, so [it’s] gonna be fun to celebrate with them. It’s known that I don’t really use the [simulator] much and I was in the Sim this week. Huge thank you, you guys. It really helped me get into a rhythm, I think, early on and help us fine-tune our car, too. Hats off to everybody there.”
As Larson continued his race-winning celebration in Victory Lane, Tyler Reddick, the 2024 Cup Series Regular Season Champion, was left relieved and smiling on pit road with his team owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin as he survived his roller coaster event by claiming the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 by four points with an 11th-place result at Charlotte. The result enabled Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota team to maintain their championship hopes for another three weeks.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I thought I was going to flip [in Stage 2],” Reddick said. “This [car] was absolutely destroyed. Real hats off to everybody on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry [team]. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was and we just kept working on it, and we made it a lot better for Stage 3. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it’s really nice to pull this off. You just got to stay calm, got to stay focused. In those moments, man, it’s so easy to lose track of what you control. Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us. This thing was able to get up back up through the field and get us to the good side of the cutline.”
Meanwhile, Logano, who recorded a race-high 17 stage points and came into Charlotte with a 13-point deficit to the cutline, was left disappointed as he fell four points shy of remaining in contention for a third Cup Series championship in 2024. This season marks the first time where Logano was eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 12 and it comes a year after he was eliminated following the Round of 16.
“We fought hard, for sure,” Logano said. “I think [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe] and the [No. 22] guys did a good job of executing the strategy and what we needed to do today. Just didn’t quite get enough there at the end. I fell off a little bit too much [on] that last run. Honestly, the No. 45 [team], Tyler [Reddick] and those guys did a good job [of] driving up through the field and scored more points. It’s hard not to think about Richmond a little bit right now. Just wasn’t meant to be. You can start looking back at different points in the season to gather four points pretty easily, but Talladega, we just didn’t do a good enough job there scoring stage points. It’s probably where a lot of it lies.”
Overall, Logano joins teammate Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe as the next wave of four Playoff contenders to officially be eliminated from the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.
“We had the speed and that’s the encouraging thing, that’s the exciting thing,” Cindric said. “Today, we needed it all. We had a great car. We had a great finish. All the things that are hard to do in a Cup race, we did all those things and capable of doing all those things in the two races prior [to Charlotte]. That’s what this [Playoff] format is. It’s difficult and for us having a better regular season, having bit better of a buffer can definitely help, but proud of everyone. Looking forward to trying to spoil some races and support our teammates to the rest.”
“We worked very hard for the last two weeks to prepare for this race,” Suarez said. “Honestly, [it was] probably the hardest I ever worked for one specific race and unfortunately, we don’t have anything to show for. Just wasn’t our day, but I can tell you something. I’m very proud of this group because we put in the work. I guarantee you something, nobody works harder to prepare for this race. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything to show for, but we have four more races and we’re going to go out there and give our best.”
On the contrary, Larson and Reddick join Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman as the remaining eight Playoff contenders who will continue the Playoff battle in the Round of 8, beginning next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bell, Byron, Cindric and Elliott finished in the top five behind Larson at the Charlotte Roval while AJ Allmendinger, pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen, Logano, Bubba Wallace and Blaney completed the top 10 in the final running order. As Reddick finished 11th, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Hamlin, Bowman, Suarez and Briscoe ended up 14th, 18th, 31st and 37th, respectively.
There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 13 laps. In addition, 30 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, 62 laps led
2. Christopher Bell, one lap led
3. William Byron
4. Austin Cindric
5. Chase Elliott
6. AJ Allmendinger, 14 laps led
7. Shane van Gisbergen, 21 laps led
8. Joey Logano
9. Bubba Wallace
10. Ryan Blaney
11. Tyler Reddick, six laps led, Stage 1 winner
12. Carson Hocevar
13. Kyle Busch
14. Denny Hamlin
15. Michael McDowell
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17. Chris Buescher
18. Alex Bowman, five laps led, Stage 2 winner
19. Todd Gilliland
20. Zane Smith
21. Harrison Burton
22. Martin Truex Jr.
23. Josh Berry
24. Brad Keselowski
25. Daniel Hemric
26. Ryan Preece
27. Justin Haley
28. Kaz Grala
29. Ross Chastain
30. Josh Bilicki
31. Daniel Suarez, one lap down
32. Noah Gragson, one lap down
33. Austin Dillon, two laps down
34. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident
35. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident
36. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Engine
37. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident
38. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings
1. Kyle Larson – Advanced
2. William Byron – Advanced
3. Christopher Bell – Advanced
4. Ryan Blaney – Advanced
5. Chase Elliott – Advanced
6. Alex Bowman – Advanced
7. Denny Hamlin – Advanced
8. Tyler Reddick – Advanced
9. Joey Logano – Eliminated
10. Austin Cindric – Eliminated
11. Daniel Suarez – Eliminated
12. Chase Briscoe – Eliminated
The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur next Sunday, October 20, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the South Point 400. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
