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Allmendinger dominates for third Cup career victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

Amid the on-track action and the battles between a bevy of Playoff competitors vying for spots to the Round of 8, AJ Allmendinger spoiled the party by flexing his road course muscles and capping off a dominant run by winning the sixth annual running of the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, October 8.

The 41-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led twice for a race-high 46 of 109-scheduled laps in an event where he started sixth and endured various pit strategies and on-track battles against the field and Playoff contenders throughout the first two stage periods. After assuming the lead for the first time with 52 laps remaining over Playoff contender Kyle Busch, Allmendinger then surrendered the lead to pit along with most of the field under green with 39 laps remaining. But he was able to reassume the top spot with nearly 30 laps remaining amid a late caution period for an incident involving Playoff contender Denny Hamlin and when some competitors who had not yet pitted, did so.

Starting with 31 laps remaining, Allmendinger then endured four extra caution periods and restarts, where he fended off late challenges from Playoff contenders Busch and William Byron along with rookie Ty Gibbs, to navigate his way to his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season, the third of his career and his first in more than two years.

Allmendinger’s victory also occurred on a day when the second round of eliminations in the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs ensued. It left former Cup champions Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, along with last year’s championship runner-up Ross Chastain, and Playoff newcomer Bubba Wallace, below the top-eight cutline and officially out of title contention for this season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 7, Playoff contender Tyler Reddick scored his third Cup pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 102.839 mph in 81.214 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Christopher Bell, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 102.695 mph in 81.328 seconds.

Prior to the event, Playoff contender Kyle Larson, and Ty Dillon, started at the rear of the field in backup cars after both separately wrecked into the wall and were unable to post a qualifying lap.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Reddick, who opted to start on the outside lane, rocketed ahead from Bell and led the field through the first turn before the field navigated its way through the infield road course turns. With the field navigating its way through the road course turns and back onto the oval turns before entering the backstretch chicane, Reddick managed to retain the top spot from Bell as he made his way through the frontstretch chicane and led the first lap. By then, Reddick’s advantage over Bell was six-tenths of a second while Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez and AJ Allmendinger followed suit in the top five.

Through the second to fourth lap, Reddick slowly stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Bell. As Reddick proceeded to lead the fifth lap by more than a second over Bell, Wallace retained third ahead of Suarez and Allmendinger while Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, rookie Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain were running in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of William Byron, Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman while Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, who dodged a spin by Erik Jones through the frontstretch chicane, was mired in 28th behind Chase Briscoe while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was on pit road after making contact with the wall and damaging a rear toe link to his No. 47 Harris Teeter/Totino’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Bell while Wallace, Suarez and Allmendinger remained in the top five. As Kyle Busch, Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Logano and Chastain continued to run in the top 10, Playoff contenders Hamlin, Byron, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski, Buescher and Larson were running 11th, 12th, 14th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 27th, respectively, while McDowell, Bowman and Austin Dillon were running in the top 16. Meanwhile, Preece was back in 20th ahead of teammate Aric Almirola, Cindric was running 22nd ahead of Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley, Kevin Harvick was mired in 26th ahead of Larson and Mike Rockenfeller was in 31st in between Briscoe and Austin Hill.

Five laps later, Reddick’s lead extended back to more than a second over Bell while third-place Wallace trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Suarez and Allmendinger continued to run in the top five while Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Logano and Chastain remained in the top 10.

Another lap later, the first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Playoff contender Blaney pitted his No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang followed by the No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang piloted by teammate Austin Cindric. Another two laps later, brothers Austin and Ty Dillon pitted along with Briscoe and Austin Hill while Playoff contender Brad Keselowski was assessed a pass-through penalty after NASCAR deemed he missed the frontstretch chicane. By the time Keselowski served his penalty at the Lap 20 mark and with Reddick continuing to lead, more drivers, including Larson, Justin Haley and Preece pitted under green.

By Lap 21, more drivers, including Suarez, Allmendinger, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Byron, McDowell, Buescher, Harvick and Zane Smith pitted under green while Hamlin, Bowman, Almirola and Josh Bilicki followed suit during Lap 22 as Reddick continued to lead ahead of Bell and teammate Wallace. Bell would then pit his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry under green on Lap 23 and just as pit road closed with the first stage period nearing its conclusion.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, Reddick, who came into the Charlotte Roval two points below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Wallace settled in second ahead of Chastain, Truex and Bell, who executed his pit stop to only lose three spots while blending back on the track, while Suarez, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Hamlin, Byron, Blaney, Keselowski, Buescher and Larson were mired outside the top 10 on the track while all but one of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, Mike Rockenfeller was serving a stop-and-go penalty for missing the backstretch chicane.

Under the stage break, some led by Reddick, including those who remained on the track to gain stage points, pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Bell and Suarez occupied the front row. At the start, Bell, who made contact with Suarez, managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane and retain the lead through the first turn and the infield road course turns. As Elliott and Suarez bumped while battling for the runner-up spot ahead of the field through the road course turns and back on the oval turns, Bell muscled away with the lead as Kyle Busch and Allmendinger were in the top five. With more side-by-side battles ensuing through the backstretch chicane and back to the frontstretch, Bell retained the lead ahead of Elliott, Suarez, Kyle Busch and Allmendinger while Ty Gibbs, Hamlin, Logano, Byron and McDowell were in the top 10 at the Lap 30 mark.

At the Lap 35 mark, Bell was leading by two-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Suarez, Allmendinger and Kyle Busch while Ty Gibbs, Hamlin, Logano, Byron and McDowell were in the top 10. Behind, Bowman was in 11th ahead of Blaney, Buescher, Reddick and Larson while Cindric, Almirola, Austin Dillon, Chastain and Haley were mired in the top 20 ahead of Wallace, Josh Bilicki, Truex, Keselowski and Harrison Burton.

Another lap later, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 beneath and past Bell through Turn 8 as he assumed the lead. With Elliott stretching his advantage to more than half a second through the frontstretch, Suarez, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs started to close in on Bell for the runner-up spot while Hamlin trailed in seventh place. By then, Reddick carved his way up to the 12th while teammate Wallace was mired in 20th behind Chastain. In addition, Larson was in 15th behind Buescher and Blaney while Truex and Keselowski were back in 23rd and 24th. Meanwhile, Harvick was back in 36th after locking up his tires, missing the backstretch chicane and coming to a full stop to serve his penalty a few laps earlier.

Just past the Lap 40 mark, Elliott was leading by more than three seconds over Bell while Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Hamlin, Logano, Byron and McDowell were running in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Reddick, Buescher, Larson, Blaney, Chastain, Wallace, Truex and Keselowski were in 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 21st and 24th, respectively.

Another lap later, a second wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney pitted before Harrison Burton and Almirola pitted during the next lap. Playoff contender Kyle Busch would pit his No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 along with Logano, Byron, Austin Dillon and Keselowski on Lap 43 before Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Bowman, Cindric and Zane Smith peeled off the track to pit during the following lap. In the process, Elliott retained the lead through Lap 45 ahead of Bell, Hamlin, Reddick, Buescher and Larson.

Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period and just after more names that included Playoff contender Buescher pitted, the caution flew after Josh Bilicki and Corey LaJoie made contact that resulted in LaJoie sending Bilicki into the wall in between Turns 3 and 4. Bilicki’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 50 to conclude under caution as Elliott, who was about to pit under green but elected to remain on the track during the incident, captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Playoff contenders Bell, Hamlin, Reddick, Larson, Chastain, Wallace and Truex followed suit from second to eighth while McDowell and Playoff contender Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Byron, Blaney, Buescher and Keselowski were mired within the top 20 while all but two starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, Hamlin, who came into the Charlotte Roval 50 points above the top-eight cutline, was able to accumulate enough points to clinch a spot in the Round of 8.

During the stage break, some led by Elliott pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, McDowell’s pit crew went underneath the hood of the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang amid a power steering issue.

With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Busch muscled ahead with the lead through Turn 1 while Allmendinger battled and overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot. As the field navigated its way through the infield road course turns and back on the oval turns, Busch retained the lead while Byron, Logano and Buescher battled for fourth place in front of Blaney and Suarez. Amid more battles through the backstretch chicane, Busch retained the lead as he navigated back to the frontstretch chicane with runner-up Allmendinger trailing by three-tenths of a second.

At the halfway mark in between Laps 54 and 55, Kyle Busch continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Allmendinger followed by Byron, Ty Gibbs and Logano while Buescher, Suarez, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Reddick, Chastain, Larson, Wallace, Truex, Bell and Hamlin were mired in 19th, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 30th and 32nd, respectively, while Cindric, Harvick, Austin Dillon, Preece and LaJoie were running in the top 15.

Then with 52 laps remaining, Allmendinger made his move beneath Busch and moved his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through Turn 8. With Busch now back in the runner-up spot and placed in a “must-win” situation to move into the Round of 8, Byron, Ty Gibbs and Buescher were in the top five while Logano, Suarez, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Larson, Wallace, Chastain, Truex, Bell and Hamlin were mired outside the top 20 on the track.

With 45 laps remaining, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Kyle Busch followed by Byron, Ty Gibbs and Buescher while Logano, Suarez, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were in the top 10 on the track. By then, Playoff contender Reddick was up to 15th and Larson was in 20th while Chastain, Wallace, Truex, Bell and Hamlin were mired in 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 29th, respectively. The current running order of the Playoff contenders currently places Keselowski, Chastain, Wallace and Kyle Busch below the top-eight cutline while Buescher, Bell, Reddick, Truex and Larson were currently scored above the cutline, with Larson just nine points ahead of Keselowski.

Then two laps later, Elliott pitted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green along with Harrison Burton. Playoff contender Keselowski would then pit his No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang during the following lap as he dropped to 17th by the time he blended back on the track while Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Kyle Busch, Byron, Ty Gibbs and Buescher. Busch would then surrender the runner-up spot to pit under green with 40 laps remaining along with Briscoe and Erik Jones as Byron moved into the runner-up spot followed by Ty Gibbs. By then, Almirola was assessed a pass-through for missing the chicane while Hamlin spun after getting hit by Zane Smith through the frontstretch and just as McDowell fell off the pace after blowing a left front tire due to running over the curbs hard.

With 39 laps remaining, a bevy of names led by Allmendinger peeled off the track to pit under green in response to McDowell’s issues while Blaney remained on the track to inherit the lead. With McDowell able to limp his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang back to pit road, the race remained under green flag conditions as Blaney was scored the leader followed by Austin Dillon, Haley, Bell, Allmendinger and Kyle Busch. Bell, Austin Dillon and Chastain, who entered his pit stall in an awkward position with the right-rear tire sticking out after dodging Dillon on pit road, would pit under green with 37 laps remaining.

Then with 34 laps remaining, the caution flew after Hamlin, who was running just outside the top 20, got loose and spun his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry for a second time, this time through the frontstretch chicane as he was then hit by Mike Rockenfeller while Ty Dillon also went off the track as he was trying to avoid Hamlin. During the caution period, some led by Blaney and including Elliott pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

With the race restarting under green with 31 laps remaining, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead entering Turn 1 and through the infield road course turns before Gibbs muscled his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry into the lead entering Turn 3. Then as the field made its way just past Turn 4, trouble struck behind as Austin Dillon and LaJoie wrecked, but the event remained under green flag conditions. Back at the front and as the field returned to the oval turns, Allmendinger made his move beneath Gibbs and reassumed the lead in Turn 8 as Byron and Kyle Busch closed in from behind. Amid the tight competition through the backstretch chicane and back to the frontstretch chicane, Allmendinger retained the lead from Ty Gibbs.

Then a lap later, the caution flew after Erik Jones, who was caught in a three-wide battle with Stenhouse and Elliott entering Turn 2, was clipped by Stenhouse and sent for a spin before he hit the wall, came back down the track and was hit by McDowell while Playoff contender Truex barely dodged the incident. The incident was enough to terminate Jones’ day in the garage while McDowell managed to proceed. By then, Hamlin retired in 37th, last place, after failing to beat the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock in time to continue.

During the following restart with 27 laps remaining, Allmendinger managed to rocket away from Ty Gibbs and retain the lead entering Turn 1 as the field fanned out entering the infield road course turns. With the field navigating through the turns and the oval circuit before entering the backstretch chicane, Allmendinger retained the lead by half a second over Ty Gibbs followed by Kyle Busch, Byron and Logano while Wallace, Bell and Larson engaged in a heated battle within the top 15 and to race their way into the Round of 8. Shortly after, Playoff contender Reddick engaged in a fierce battle with Logano for fifth place while Playoff contender Chastain was mired in 19th ahead of Elliott.

Amid another caution period with 24 laps remaining after Andy Lally spun just past Turn 1 and tried to nurse his car the opposite way before entering pit road and coming to a stop, some led by Playoff contender Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

As the race restarted with 22 laps remaining, Allmendinger managed to muscle away from Ty Gibbs entering Turn 1 to retain the lead. Behind, Kyle Busch and Gibbs made contact while battling for the runner-up spot as the field made its way through the infield road course turns and back on the oval turns. Then through the backstretch chicane, trouble struck for Playoff contender Wallace after Suarez briefly slid sideways while on the brakes and turned Cindric, who then turned Wallace’s No. 23 Leidos Toyota TRD Camry in the process as the latter two spun, but the event remained under green as Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Byron and Reddick. Amid their incidents, Wallace, who stopped on the frontstretch chicane after missing the backstretch chicane, and Cindric both pitted under green.

Back on the track and with 20 laps remaining, Allmendinger was leading by more than a second over Ty Gibbs followed by Kyle Busch, Byron and Reddick while Logano, Buescher, Bowman, Preece and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Chastain, Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Wallace were currently scored below the cutline while Larson and Truex occupied the final two transfer spots by 26 and 24 points, respectively.

Then with 17 laps remaining, more trouble ensued after Playoff contender Keselowski spun through the frontstretch chicane while battling Playoff contender Chastain in the top 20, with Chastain missing the frontstretch chicane to avoid Keselowski, coming to a full stop for missing the chicane and eventually pitting his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for service. With the race remaining under green, the caution would return the following lap after Bell, who was battling Suarez for 11th place, sent Suarez’s No. 99 Aguas Frescas Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning backward and wrecking into the Turn 8 outside wall. During the caution period, some including Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger, including the front-runners, remained on the track.

Down to the final 13 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allmendinger muscled ahead from the outside lane to retain the lead before Kyle Busch made his way into the runner-up spot over Ty Gibbs entering Turn 1. As the field made its way through the infield road course turns, the caution quickly returned after fire billowed out of the No. 47 entry piloted by Stenhouse in Turn 2, with the driver able to escape uninjured.

With the race restarting with 10 laps remaining, Allmendinger rocketed ahead with the lead while Kyle Busch, who spun the tires on the restart, was locked in a battle against Byron for the runner-up spot, with Byron claiming the spot through the infield road course turns. As Allmendinger muscled away with the lead while the field navigated its way through the infield road course turns and on the oval turns, Busch was trailing the lead by more than a second with Allmendinger and Byron running first and second while Ty Gibbs and Logano were in the top five. By then, Playoff contenders Bell, Buescher, Reddick, Larson and Truex were scored above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings while Chastain, Wallace, Busch and Keselowski were scored on the outside.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Allmendinger continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Byron while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by more than a second. With Ty Gibbs and Logano occupying the top five, Playoff contenders Reddick and Buescher were in sixth and seventh while Bowman, Elliott and Preece were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Larson, Blaney, Chastain, Bell, Wallace, Truex and Keselowski were in 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 19th, 20th and 21st, respectively.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. With Byron unable to gain more ground through the infield road course turns, the remaining oval turns and the backstretch chicane, Allmendinger was able to place a reasonable gap between himself and Byron and navigate his way around the final set of turns before returning to the frontstretch and claiming the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second over Byron.

With the victory, Allmendinger notched his third NASCAR Cup Series career victory, all on road course venues, and his first since winning the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August 2021. He also recorded the second Cup career win for Kaulig Racing, the second for crew chief Matt Swiderski and the 16th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate. Having won the Charlotte Roval four consecutive times from 2019 to 2022, Allmendinger became the fifth competitor overall to win a Cup event at the Roval alongside Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

The victory for Allmendinger also comes as his status to race for Kaulig Racing either in the Cup or Xfinity Series in 2024 remains to be determined.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“You don’t know when you’re going to [win] again,” Allmendinger, who fought tears of joy on the frontstretch, said on NBC. “I love all the men and women at Kaulig Racing so much. [My family and friends] see how much anguish and how much I put it on my shoulders when we’re struggling. It just means the world. I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man, and you don’t know when it’s ever gonna happen again! Let’s go! Come on! This is why you do it. This is the only reason you do it. You fight all the blood, sweat, tears. Everybody at Kaulig Racing, it’s just been such a, I say, down year, but up-and-down year. It’s our second year in the Cup Series…Matt [Kaulig] and Chris [Rice], I freakin’ love you guys so much.”

Meanwhile and amid Allmendinger’s victory, Kyle Busch, who ended up in third place behind Byron, was eliminated from the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs along with 10th-place finisher Ross Chastain, 16th-place finisher Bubba Wallace and 18th-place finisher Brad Keselowski.

“That’s what we set out to do,” Busch said. “That’s what we felt like our road course program had in it, anyways, was for sure a top three, definitely a win. The guys gave me a great piece today. The Lenovo Camaro was pretty fast. Just lacked a little bit on the long run. Just didn’t quite have enough to have the feel of the tire that I was really looking for to be able to turn into the corners and to be able to drive out of the corners and keep pace with the front two at the end. Overall, this ride’s on me. The first two week’s of this round was, obviously, not very good and we didn’t score any points, so that’s where it’s at. It sucks to be out this early, but let us do Texas all over again and I feel like there and we’re ready.”

“This weekend was incredible, just from the effort from the team, for myself, just all clicking and it felt really good to be competitive and run up front, pass cars on road courses, to not be fast, so a lot to look at,” Wallace said. “What I analyze is what could have I done to not be in that situation. Could I have been faster, passed another car, how to be better? To not put yourself when you’re racing around with squirrels. It is what it is. Just didn’t have enough and it wasn’t in the cards. Guess that’s what 30 is. I’m not mad. I’m happy for the team. I’m pumped for our season. It’s not over with it yet. I’m really excited for next week and Homestead, Martinsville. We still got four races to go out and do it. Proud of the team, so I appreciate them.”

“We knew it coming in that it was gonna be tough,” Chastain said. “We put together a heck of a day for us on road courses this year. Lately, we’ve just been slower and slower. The curves are just, I can’t get over them. There’s a lot of reason I can’t break and we’ve reverted on some of that through Watkins Glen and to here, and it’s really paid off. So excited in the gains we’ve made because we came out of the box super strong last spring. It’s not over, right? We’ve signed ourselves for a long time together. I can’t wait to get to work in the morning for Vegas and every race after.”

“You always want to be better,” Keselowski said. “The way the Playoffs work, it’s really not one race. The cutoff’s kind of make or break. It’s two or three races there. It ended up 20-some points back and you could probably look through each one of those races and say I could have got five or six here or more so. All in all, it was big progress from where we’ve been. Not the day we wanted to have and it certainly stinks to not advance, but a lot of progress from where we were last year and I’m looking forward to making another step going into next year so we can keep pushing. A rasonable season when we still got the opportunity to run fifth in points and win races over the next four weeks. We’ll make the most of that.”

Amid the disappointments for Wallace, Busch, Chastain and Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. was the sole survivor for a second consecutive round as he finished 20th and transferred into the Round of 8 by 12 points with Kyle Larson, who ended up 13th, also transferring by 13 points. As a result, both along with William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney will square off against one another in the Round of 8 next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and battle for four championship finale spots.

“I feel like we’ve just been slipping through these Playoffs by the skin of our teeth,” Truex said. “Today’s just another not very good day. First half of the race felt OK, but man, I get back in traffic and my tires were gone in five laps, so I’m not sure what we had going on there the second half of the race. Thankful we’re through. We live to fight another day and good racetracks are finally coming up for us instead of Talladega and the Roval, so I don’t know. We’ll see what we can do. I know we’re capable of it. We just got to find it again. We’ve lost something. Hopefully, we can find it this week and go do what we did earlier in the year.”

“Feels good,” Larson said. “That was really stressful there at the end because we were really tight on the owner’s points and that’s what pays the money. I wanted to get in on that, but just huge thank you to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and all four teams who pitched in to help all night yesterday and into the early morning today. It means a lot to me. Happy to advance and look forward to the next round, for sure. There are some great tracks for us. Let’s go win Vegas and go win these next four races. That would be amazing.”

Rookie Ty Gibbs notched his fourth career top-five result in NASCAR’s premier series by finishing fourth on the track ahead of Logano while Reddick, Buescher, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Chastain completed the top 10.

There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 18 laps. In addition, 33 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. AJ Allmendinger, 46 laps led

2. William Byron

3. Kyle Busch, six laps led

4. Ty Gibbs

5. Joey Logano

6. Tyler Reddick, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

7. Chris Buescher

8. Alex Bowman

9. Chase Elliott, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner

10. Ross Chastain

11. Ryan Preece

12. Ryan Blaney, six laps led

13. Kyle Larson

14. Austin Dillon

15. Christopher Bell, nine laps led

16. Bubba Wallace

17. Corey LaJoie

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Kevin Harvick

20. Martin Truex Jr.

21. Aric Almirola

22. Justin Haley

23. Todd Gilliland

24. Harrison Burton

25. Austin Cindric

26. Josh Bilicki

27. Austin Hill

28. Chase Briscoe

29. Mike Rockenfeller

30. Zane Smith

31. Ty Dillon

32. Michael McDowell

33. Daniel Suarez

34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Electrical

35. Andy Lally – OUT, Accident

36. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

37. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Dvp

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. William Byron – Advanced

2. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

3. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

4. Christopher Bell – Advanced

5. Chris Buescher – Advanced

6. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

7. Kyle Larson – Advanced

8. Martin Truex Jr. – Advanced

9. Ross Chastain – Eliminated

10. Bubba Wallace – Eliminated

11. Brad Keselowski – Eliminated

12. Kyle Busch – Eliminated

The Round of 8 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to commence next Sunday, October 15, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 8, 2023
Byron clinches Round of 8 spot with late Cup victory at Texas, records 300th Cup victory for Hendrick Motorsports

The number 300 was the big number of the day for Hendrick Motorsports as William Byron capitalized on a six-lap shootout to deliver a milestone victory for HMS by winning the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 24.

The 25-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led the final six of 267-scheduled laps in an event where he started 18th and ground his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet through the sizzling temperatures and on-track action while being mired within and outside of the top 10 during the first two stage periods.

Then after methodically carving his way into the top 10 in the closing stretches, Byron benefitted on a late strategic pit call to remain on the track during a caution period with less than 25 laps remaining to move up into third place. Amid three late-race restarts and chaos that eliminated his teammate Kyle Larson from contention, Byron executed the final restart with six laps remaining in his favor as he overtook pole-sitter Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe before muscling away from Ross Chastain to grab his unprecedented sixth checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, secure his spot into the Playoff’s Round of 8 and deliver the record-setting 300th win in NASCAR’s premier series for Hendrick Motorsports.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, September 23, Playoff contender Bubba Wallace notched his first Cup pole position of the season and the second of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 188.337 mph in 28.672 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Chris Buescher, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 188.081 mph in 28.711 seconds.

Prior to the event, BJ McLeod started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher dueled for the lead through the frontstretch, the first two turns and through the backstretch as the field behind fanned out. Then in Turn 3, Wallace used the inside lane to his advantage as he rocketed ahead of Buescher and cleared him entering the frontstretch as he led the first lap. With Wallace leading Buescher and Brad Keselowski, Playoff contender Ross Chastain was in fourth while rookie Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger battled for fifth place in front of Kyle Busch.

Through the second to fifth lap and as the field continued to jostle early for positions, Wallace retained the lead within three-tenths of a second over Buescher as Keselowski, Chastain and Ty Gibbs followed suit in the top five. By then, Allmendinger settled in sixth ahead of Kyle Busch while Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson were running in the top 10.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Wallace maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Buescher followed by Keselowski, Chastain and Ty Gibbs while Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Bell and Larson were in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick while Michael McDowell, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Carson Hocevar occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was in 22nd behind teammate Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. followed suit in 23rd, Ryan Blaney was back in 25th, Chase Elliott was in 29th behind Briscoe and Austin Cindric was mired in 35th.

Ten laps later, Wallace extended his advantage to more than a second over Buescher while third-place Keselowski also trailed by more than a second as Chastain and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five. As Wallace continued to lead by the Lap 25 mark, he along with Buescher, Chastain, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Larson and Hamlin were the Playoff contenders currently scored in the top 10 on the track while Bell, Reddick, Truex and Byron were mired within the top 20. Meanwhile, Blaney was still mired in 25th place.

At the Lap 35 mark, Wallace stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Buescher followed by Chastain while Kyle Busch moved up to fourth. By then, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger were in the top six while Keselowski fell back to seventh in front of Suarez, Larson and Erik Jones.

Another lap later, the first cycle of green flag pit stops ignited as Playoff contender Bell pitted his No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry. A bevy of names that included Buescher, Chastain, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Larson, Reddick, Hocevar, BJ McLeod, Logano, Hocevar, Stenhouse and Ryan Preece would pit during the ensuing laps before Wallace surrendered the lead to pit by Lap 39. More names that included Ty Gibbs, Hamlin, Suarez, Erik Jones, Truex, McDowell, Byron and Harvick would pit along with Wallace. By Lap 40, more names that included Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Aric Almirola would pit.

Then on Lap 41, the first caution of the event flew when Austin Dillon, who had just pitted, snapped sideways in Turn 3 after the entire right-rear wheel came off of Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and wrecked against the outside wall before he slid down the track and came to a rest. During the caution period, the remaining competitors who had yet to pit, including Ty Dillon, Blaney, Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Corey LaJoie, Harrison Burton and Cindric, pitted while the rest of the field remained on the track, which handed the lead back to Wallace.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 48, where Wallace and Chastain occupied the front row, Wallace and Chastain dueled for the lead as the field stacked up to two tight lanes entering Turn 1. The caution, however, quickly returned when Bowman, who was running 14th, got sideways amid a three-wide battle between Hocevar and McDowell as he then made contact against Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang before both spun entering Turn 2 and proceeded without making any on-track contact.

During the proceeding restart on Lap 53, Kyle Busch attempted to make a three-wide move on Wallace and Chastain for the lead entering Turn 1, but he stepped out of the gas for the turn as Wallace managed to retain the lead from Chastain. In the process, Larson moved up to third followed by Buescher while Kyle Busch fell back to fifth ahead of Hamlin, Truex, Reddick and Keselowski. The caution, however, quickly returned again when Todd Gilliland spun and wrecked through the backstretch after losing a right-rear wheel.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 58, Wallace and Chastain again dueled for the lead, with Chastain briefly leading entering the backstretch until Wallace managed to fight back and reassume the top spot to lead the following lap. Then during the following lap and as the field continued to jostle for positions, Kyle Busch, who was running third, fell back to sixth after reporting a potential flat right-front tire to his No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Busch, though, remained on the track despite his issues during the proceeding laps as he was back in seventh while Wallace maintained the lead by half a second over Chastain with Buescher, Larson and Hamlin running in the top five.

By Lap 70, Wallace continued to lead by half a second over Chastain followed by Buescher, Larson and Hamlin while Reddick, Kyle Busch, Byron, Keselowski and Erik Jones were in the top 10, thus placing nine of 12 Playoff contenders in the top 10 on the track minus Jones. Meanwhile, Truex and Bell were back in 11th and 12th while Blaney was mired back in 24th behind LaJoie.

Then three laps later, the caution returned as Kyle Busch, who was in eighth, slipped sideways entering Turn 1 and spun backwards before he pounded the outside wall in Turn 2 and emerged with significant rear-end and left-side damage to his No. 8 entry. Following his incident, Busch reversed his damaged car from the apron in Turn 1 all the way back to his pit stall, where he would eventually retire from further competition as he overran the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock and took an early hit towards his quest of winning his third Cup title.

During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Wallace pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Ty Gibbs ran into the side of teammate Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry while trying to exit pit road, which forced Gibbs to make another pit stop for repairs and eventually retire while Hamlin remained on the track.

With the event restarting for a one-lap dash to the conclusion of the first stage period, Buescher and Reddick dueled for the lead until Reddick managed to muscle his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota TRD Camry ahead with the lead from the outside lane through the backstretch. Reddick then started to pull away from the field while the field behind jostled for positions. When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Reddick, who remained on the track, executed his early pit strategy to perfection as he captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Buescher settled in second followed by Bell, Byron and McDowell while Elliott, Blaney, Briscoe, Hamlin and Wallace were scored in the top 10. Immediately after the first stage’s conclusion, trouble ignited as Erik Jones ran into the rear of Keselowski, who then collided with Truex as Truex spun.

Under the stage break, Bell and Byron pitted while the rest of the field led by Reddick remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 86 as Reddick and Buescher, both of whom remained on the track amid their pit strategy, occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick received a push from McDowell to retain the lead from the outside lane. With Reddick leading, McDowell challenged Buescher for the runner-up spot while Elliott and Briscoe were in the top five. Shortly after, Blaney battled Briscoe for fifth place ahead of Hamlin while Wallace followed suit in front of Larson and Chastain. Amid the battles within the top 10, Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over McDowell by the Lap 90 mark.

Through the Lap 100 mark, Reddick continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over McDowell while Buescher, Elliott and Hamlin were in the top five. Behind, Larson was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Chastain, Briscoe and Wallace while Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and Allmendinger occupied the top 15 in front of Hocevar, Harvick, Bowman, Justin Haley and Ty Dillon. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Truex, Byron and Bell were in 22nd, 25th and 27th, respectively.

Ten laps later, Reddick was leading by more than three seconds over his owner Hamlin, who continued to run strong with a wounded No. 11 Toyota, followed by Larson while McDowell dropped to fourth in front of Buescher. Shortly after, the caution flew when LaJoie spun and wrecked in Turn 2 as he then ripped the right-rear quarter panel off of his damaged No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after blowing his right-rear tire while limping it back to pit road.

During the caution period, the entire lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Wallace returned to the lead after exiting pit road first and opting for a two-tire pit stop followed by Blaney, Keselowski and Suarez while Hamlin was the first competitor to exit pit road with four fresh tires in fifth place. Amid the pit stops, Zane Smith was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 118, Wallace and Blaney dueled for the lead until Wallace used the inside lane to clear Blaney and muscle ahead from the field that was fanning out to three lanes prior to entering the backstretch. With Wallace back in the lead, Blaney maintained the runner-up spot in front of Hamlin and Keselowski while Suarez, Hamlin and Larson battled for fourth place in front of Elliott and Hocevar. Soon after, Truex and Buescher muscled their way toward the front and within the top 10 while Hocevar slid out of the top 10. Amid the battles ensuing within the top-10 mark, Wallace stretched his advantage to more than a second over Blaney by Lap 125 as Erik Jones cracked the top 10 while running ninth ahead of Truex.

At the halfway mark in between Laps 133 and 134, Wallace extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Blaney followed by Keselowski, Larson and Suarez while Hamlin, Elliott, Buescher, Erik Jones, Buescher and Chastain occupied the top 10 ahead of Truex, Hocevar, Allmendinger, Bowman, Preece, McDowell, Harvick, Bell, Byron and Briscoe. By then, Reddick was back in 22nd while 31 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Then on Lap 142, Larson, racing on four fresh tires, overtook Wallace from the outside lane in Turn 2 and assumed the lead in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, Hamlin was in third while Blaney fell back to fourth ahead of Erik Jones. Blaney would be overtaken by Jones by Lap 143 as Keselowski, Elliott, Buescher, Suarez and Chastain were scored in the top 10.

By Lap 155, Larson stretched his advantage to more than five seconds over Hamlin and Jones, both of whom overtook Wallace for second and third six laps earlier, while Wallace fell back to fourth ahead of Blaney, Elliott, Buescher, Keselowski, Chastain and Suarez. By then, Truex was in 11th ahead of McDowell and Hocevar while Allmendinger, who was battling Truex for 11th place, slipped to 14th after getting loose.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Larson captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Erik Jones muscled to a strong runner-up result ahead of Hamlin, Blaney, Buescher, Elliott, Keselowski and Chastain while Wallace dropped to ninth ahead of Suarez. By then, Playoff contenders Truex, Byron, Bell and Reddick were in 12th, 15th, 20th and 21st, respectively.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Jones, Hamlin, Blaney, Buescher, Keselowski and Wallace.

With 96 laps remaining, the final stage started as Larson and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Larson and Jones dueled for the lead through the frontstretch, the first two turns and the backstretch until Larson managed to clear Jones’ No. 43 Legacy Motor Club entry through Turns 3 and 4 and retain the lead. With Larson, Jones settled in second followed by Hamlin while Blaney, Wallace and Keselowski occupied the top six in front of a side-by-side battle between Elliott and Buescher. With a series of late on-track battles ensuing, Larson stretched his advantage to more than a second over Jones with 90 laps remaining.

With 75 laps remaining, Larson continued to lead by more than three seconds over Erik Jones followed by Hamlin, Blaney and Keselowski while Wallace, Buescher, McDowell, Byron and Elliott were running in the top 10, thus placing seven of 12 Playoff contenders in the top 10 on the track minus Jones, McDowell and Elliott. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Reddick, Truex and Bell were in 17th, 18th and 21st while Chastain, who stalled his car due to a throttle position sensor issue and went up the track a few laps earlier, was mired back in 29th after running within the top 10 earlier.

Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his lead to more than five seconds over Erik Jones while Hamlin, Blaney and Keselowski remained in the top five. Behind, Buescher was in sixth ahead of Wallace and Byron while McDowell and Elliott were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Reddick, Truex and Bell were back in 16th, 19th and 20th while Chastain was mired in 27th.

A lap later, the caution flew when Suarez spun while trying to enter pit road for service under green as his No. 99 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 stalled towards the frontstretch grass before he proceeded. By then, Reddick made a pit stop under green but lost a lap in the process as he would use the wave around to cycle back on the lead lap and restart towards the tail end of the field. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Larson edged Jones off of pit road to retain the lead while Keselowski, Hamlin, Blaney, Wallace and Buescher followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Blaney was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

With the race restarting with 53 laps remaining, Larson and Jones dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Larson muscled ahead from the inside lane to clear Jones and lead from the first two turns through the backstretch. As Larson maintained the lead back to the frontstretch, Hamlin settled in third ahead of Keselowski while Wallace and Buescher battled for fifth in front of Byron and Briscoe. With Wallace stuck in between Keselowski and Buescher in fifth, Larson stretched his advantage to more than a second over Jones with 50 laps remaining.

With 35 laps remaining, Larson continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than four seconds over Erik Jones while Hamlin, Keselowski and Wallace were in the top five. Behind, Byron was in sixth ahead of Buescher while Briscoe, Harvick, Elliott, Chastain, Bowman, Preece, Bell and Reddick were running in the top 15. Meanwhile, Truex was in 17th and Blaney, following his late pit road speeding penalty, was mired in 23rd in between Allmendinger and McDowell.

Then with 25 laps remaining, the caution flew when JJ Yeley spun and wrecked entering the backstretch. During the caution period, some, led by Jones and including Hamlin, Buescher and Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Larson and including Wallace, Byron, Briscoe, Harvick, Elliott, Chastain, Bowman, Preece, Bell, Reddick, Harrison Burton, Stenhouse, McDowell and Cindric remained on the track.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson and Wallace dueled for the lead through the frontstretch, the first two turns and the backstretch as the field behind jostled for positions. Through Turns 3 and 4, Wallace and Larson remained dead even for the lead as Wallace barely led the following lap over Larson. Then entering Turn 1 and amid the tight side-by-side battle for the lead, Wallace took the air off of Larson’s car, which got Larson sideways as he spun backwards, pounded the outside wall and emerged with significant rear-end damage. With Larson limping his damaged No. 5 Chevrolet back to pit road, Wallace retained the lead ahead of Byron while Briscoe, Elliott and Preece were scored in the top five. Amid his pit crew’s attempt to repair the car, Larson overran the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock and was officially ruled out of the race.

“[Wallace] did a good job to stay with me on the restart through [Turns] 3 and 4,” Larson said in the infield care center. “I was trying to have my shape into [Turn] 1. With these cars, you don’t really get sucked around like that, so I wasn’t really expecting it. [I] Thought that I would be fine. We just went in there side-by-side and I lost it really quickly and crashed. Pretty bummed.”

Down to the final 13 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Wallace and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Wallace rocketed his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry ahead with the lead from the outside lane while the field behind scrambled, fanned out and jostled for positions. Through the backstretch, Briscoe made his way into the runner-up spot while Elliott and Byron battled for third place. Then just as Wallace was making his way back to the frontstretch with a steady lead, the caution returned amid a multi-car wreck that started when both Reddick and Jones slid up and hit the outside wall, with Jones getting hit by Blaney as Zane Smith, Cindric, Allmendinger, Hocevar and Truex wrecked across the frontstretch.

During the following restart with six laps remaining, Wallace and Briscoe dueled for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2 before Briscoe nearly got loose underneath Wallace entering the backstretch. With both Wallace and Briscoe remaining dead even for the lead through the backstretch, Byron darted his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 beneath both and overtook Briscoe before nearly making contact with Wallace as Wallace tried to block entering Turn 3. Byron, though, used the inside lane to his advantage as he muscled past Wallace entering the frontstretch and assumed the lead.

During the following lap and with Byron leading, Chastain navigated his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 past Wallace for the runner-up spot as Wallace went up the track and had to fend off Elliott for third place. In the process, Bell made his way up to fourth as he tried to challenge Wallace for third while Briscoe, Harvick, Hamlin and Elliott battled for fourth. Amid the battles, Byron stretched his advantage to more than a second over Chastain while Wallace and Bell tried to close back in for the spot. By then, Hamlin, racing on four fresh tires, was making his way into fifth place followed by Harvick, Keselowski and Briscoe.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron remained as the leader by more than a second over Chastain. With Chastain and Wallace unable to close the gap, Byron was able to rocket his way around the circuit for a final time and return to the frontstretch victorious by claiming the checkered flag for the sixth time in the 2023 Cup season.

With the victory, Byron notched his 10th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first at Texas Motor Speedway in the Cup circuit and his first since winning at Watkins Glen International in August. He also became the first Cup Playoff competitor to punch his ticket into the Round of 8 as he continues his quest to contend for his first Cup Series championship.

Above all, Byron bestowed Hendrick Motorsports, which is in its 40th season in competition and stands as the winningest team in NASCAR history, its 300th Cup Series victory. The 300th Cup victory for HMS occurred more than 11 years after Jimmie Johnson recorded the team’s 200th Cup victory at Darlington Raceway and more than five years after Chase Elliott crowned the team’s 250th victory at Watkins Glen International.

“Man, that’s badass,” Byron said on USA Network. “I finally got a good restart at the end. Number 300 for Hendrick Motorsports. Kyle [Larson] really deserved this one. Those guys were really fast all day. Hate it for them at the end, but man, it was awesome to get our car to the front. It loved clean air. We just fought through traffic all day. Our Liberty University Chevy was just tight back in traffic but had good pace. It was a grind-it-out day. Our team was there at the end. I’m really proud of this one as hot as it was and as tough as it was. We’ll take it and go on to the next round.”

“I don’t know if I could even put it into words [on delivering win No. 300 for Hendrick Motorsports],” Byron added. “I was such a Hendrick Motorsports fan growing up as a kid, watching Jimmie Johnson and became really fond of Jeff Gordon as I got to know him. Just thankful for all the people, men and women back at Hendrick Motorsports and Mr. Hendrick for his investment into me and telling me at 17 years old that he was gonna take me to Cup racing. This is awesome. We’re definitely gonna enjoy this one.”

While Byron celebrated the milestone victory on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane, Bubba Wallace, who ended up in third place behind Ross Chastain, was left disappointed on pit road after falling six laps short of winning and grabbing an early ticket into the Round of 8 amid his strong performance from start to finish. Nonetheless, the third-place result, which marks Wallace’s fifth top-five result of the season and his highest-recorded finish of this season thus far, currently places him and his No. 23 23XI Racing team in ninth place in the Playoff standings and two points below the top-eight cutline.

“Third time, I fooled myself, starting on top [lane],” Wallace said. “These guys gave me the right information. [Briscoe]’s tight and he sent it off in there, wasn’t gonna stick, but it’s what he’s got to do. We’re racing for a win. Just hate it. I should’ve just kept my line into [Turn] 3 and forced William [Byron] to get tight, but you’re so vulnerable in these cars. Just upset with myself. [I] Really needed a win there. It’s a good showing. I know what I did and I choked. We grinded, come out with a good solid points day, so appreciate everybody’s support and effort. We’ll go on to Talladega.”

Teammates Bell and Hamlin finished in the top five behind Byron, Chastain and Wallace, thus placing five Playoff contenders in the top-five finishing order on the track. Harvick, who was eliminated from the Playoffs last weekend, came home in sixth place while Keselowski, Suarez, Stenhouse and Briscoe completed the top 10 on the track.

Notably, Buescher ended up 14th, Truex settled in 17th, Reddick finished 25th while being the last competitor on the lead lap and Blaney retired in 28th place amid the late multi-car wreck.

There were 22 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 55 laps. In addition, 25 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. William Byron, six laps led

2. Ross Chastain, one lap led

3. Bubba Wallace, 111 laps led

4. Christopher Bell

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Brad Keselowski

8. Daniel Suarez

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

10. Chase Briscoe

11. Chase Elliott, one lap led

12. Alex Bowman, one lap led

13. Justin Haley

14. Chris Buescher, two laps led

15. Michael McDowell

16. Carson Hocevar

17. Martin Truex Jr.

18. Aric Almirola

19. Ty Dillon, three laps led

20. Harrison Burton

21. Joey Logano

22. BJ McLeod

23. Ryan Preece

24. Zane Smith

25. Tyler Reddick, 36 laps led, Stage 1 winner

26. Corey LaJoie, five laps down

27. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident, one lap led

28. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

29. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident, one lap led

30. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident, Accident, three laps led

31. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, 99 laps led, Stage 2 winner

32. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident, two laps led

33. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident

34. Kyle Busch – OUT, Dvp

35. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

36. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. William Byron – Advanced

2. Denny Hamlin +37

3. Chris Buescher +22

4. Christopher Bell +20

5. Martin Truex Jr. +19

6. Ross Chastain +12

7. Brad Keselowski +8

8. Kyle Larson +2

9. Bubba Wallace -2

10. Tyler Reddick -3

11. Ryan Blaney -11

12. Kyle Busch -17

The second Round of 12 event in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur next Sunday, October 1, at Talladega Superspeedway. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

September 24, 2023
Reddick advances to Playoff’s Round of 12 in thrilling overtime Cup victory at Kansas

A week after being left disappointed with a runner-up finish in the Playoff opener at Darlington Raceway, Tyler Reddick capitalized on a late caution period and an overtime shootout to emerge out in top and race his way into the second round of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by winning the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, September 10.

The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led the final two of 268 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started fifth, scored stage points during both stage break periods and ran a consistent event while keeping pace with the leaders. Initially set to finish in the runner-up spot behind team owner and Playoff contender Denny Hamlin, an opportunity presented itself for Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota team when the caution flew with seven laps remaining after Playoff contender Chris Buescher blew a right-rear tire.

Amid mixed strategy among the leaders, Reddick, who opted for a four-tire pit stop, exited pit road sixth and lineup alongside Hamlin on the third row for an overtime shootout. During overtime, Reddick managed to quickly carve his way up to third before he pulled a bold three-wide pass on both Erik Jones and Joey Logano through the frontstretch to assume the lead as he also started the final lap of the event. With the clean air and the fresh tires, Reddick was able to fend off Jones and a hard-charging Hamlin to claim his second checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season and become the second Playoff contender alongside Kyle Larson to transfer from the Round of 16 to 12 by winning.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, September 9, Playoff contender Christopher Bell claimed his fourth Cup pole position of the 2023 season and second in recent weeks after posting a pole-winning lap at 180.276 mph in 29.954 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s Playoff opener at Darlington Raceway who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 179.826 mph in 30.029 seconds.

Prior to the event, Kyle Busch dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as a result of damaging his car against the Turn 3 outside wall after blowing a tire during Saturday’s practice session. Rookie Ty Gibbs also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car during practice.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Bell took off with the top spot on the inside lane as he rocketed away from the field that was fanning out through the first two turns and through the backstretch. With the field continuing to jostle for early positions, Bell proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry. Behind, Kyle Larson fended off Martin Truex Jr. to retain the runner-up spot entering the second lap as Truex was being attacked by Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Michael McDowell for more.

Then on the third lap, Truex, who was continuing to backslide and had fallen out of the top 10 on the track, got loose while running 11th and pounded the outside wall in Turn 3 after losing a tire. The incident and the damage to his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry were enough to terminate Truex’s run three laps into the event.

“Just really unfortunate, very unlucky,” Truex said at the infield care center on USA Network. “[The car] took off really tight. [I] Knew something was up and blew a right rear [tire]. Not really sure what happened. Obviously, it blew in the worst place possible. I hate it for my guys. We had an awesome race car. We were gonna have a really good day. Just not real sure what we need to do to get some luck right now.”

During the first caution period, select names that included Ryan Preece, Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, Kyle Busch and JJ Yeley pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on the ninth lap, Bell and Larson dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Larson managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane and snatch the lead from Bell. With the field behind jostling for positions, Larson started to pull away from Bell with the lead while Chastain and Elliott battled for third in front of Byron, Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick.

By the 12th lap, Wallace muscled his No. 23 Columbia Sportswear Toyota TRD Camry up to fourth followed by Byron and Reddick while Elliott, who nearly scrubbed the outside wall entering the frontstretch a few laps earlier, was being pressured by Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski for seventh place. In the midst of the battles, Larson retained the lead in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the Lap 15 mark.

Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by more than a second over Bell followed by Wallace, Chastain and Byron while Reddick, Elliott, Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Behind, Erik Jones was in 11th ahead of Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano and Michael McDowell while AJ Allmendinger, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Kevin Harvick and Justin Haley occupied the top 20 in front of Austin Cindric, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar.

Five laps later, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Wallace, who overtook Bell for the runner-up spot two laps earlier, while Byron was up to fourth after he overtook Chastain’s No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the spot three laps earlier. Behind, Reddick occupied sixth place in front of Elliott, Hamlin and Blaney, thus placing eight Playoff competitors in the top 10 on the track, while Elliott and Erik Jones were the two highest-running non-Playoff competitors in seventh and 10th.

Another 10 laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Wallace while Bell, Byron and Chastain remained in the top five in front of Reddick, Hamlin, Elliott, Erik Jones and Blaney.

Then on Lap 36, the first wave of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Playoff contender Joey Logano pitted his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang followed by Corey LaJoie, Keselowski, McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Hamlin, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Harvick, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Hocevar, Bell, Byron, Chastain, Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Haley and Austin Cindric. By Lap 39, Larson surrendered the lead to pit along with Wallace, Kyle Busch and Sheldon Creed as Aric Almirola, who has yet to pit, cycled into the lead followed by teammate Ryan Preece and Harrison Burton.

By Lap 42, Larson cycled back into the lead after Almirola and Preece pitted. Wallace also returned to the runner-up spot by Lap 43 as Harrison Burton pitted. Then by Lap 45, Byron, Bell and Reddick cycled into the top five with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop under green.

At the Lap 50 mark, Larson was leading by more than a second over Wallace followed by Byron, Bell and Reddick while Chastain, Hamlin, Elliott, Erik Jones and Ty Dillon were scored in the top 10, thus placing eight of 12 Playoff contenders in the top 10 on the track. Behind, Austin Dillon was in 11th ahead of Playoff contenders Blaney, Buescher and Keselowski while JJ Yeley was in 15th ahead of Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Logano, Bowman and Harvick. By then, Stenhouse and McDowell were mired back in 21st and 23rd.

Ten laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Wallace while Byron, Reddick and Bell followed suit in the top five. By then, Erik Jones was up to seventh after he overtook Chastain while Blaney returned to the top 10 as he was running 10th behind Elliott. In addition, teammates Buescher and Keselowski were still mired in the top 15 and Kyle Busch cracked the top 15 while Logano, Harvick, Stenhouse and McDowell were mired within the top 20.

Then on Lap 62, the second caution flag flew when Byron, who was running fourth in front of Bell, got loose and spun his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the backstretch, though he managed to proceed without damaging his car. The incident occurred a lap after Austin Dillon, who was battling Buescher in 11th, got loose while and smacked the outside wall, damaging the right side of his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Wallace emerged as the new leader after he managed to beat Larson off of pit road first while Bell, Reddick, Hamlin, Chastin and Elliott followed suit. In the midst of the pit stops Haley was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Suarez was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Prior to the restart, Playoff contender Buescher would pit for a second time due to a left-front wheel being loose on his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang.

With 11 laps remaining in the first stage period, the race restarted under green. At the start, Wallace and Larson dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Larson managed to muscle ahead and reassume the lead from the inside lane. With Larson back in the lead, Bell battled Wallace for the runner-up spot in front of Chastain and Reddick as the field fanned out to three lanes. Wallace would manage to reassume the runner-up spot from Bell during the proceeding lap as he tried to track Larson for the lead.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Larson captured his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Wallace followed suit in the runner-up spot along with third-place Bell while Chastain, Blaney, Reddick, Hamlin, Keselowski, Elliott and Kevin Harvick, all of whom were in the Playoffs, were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Kyle Busch, Byron, McDowell, Logano, Buescher and Stenhouse were the remaining Playoff competitors on the track who did not accumulate the first wave of stage points.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Wallace, Chastain, Elliott, Reddick, Hamlin, Keselowski and Bell, who lost five spots on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 87 as Larson and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Larson received a strong push from teammate Chase Elliott on the inside lane to retain the lead and muscle away from the field as Elliott battled Wallace for the runner-up spot. With the field behind jostling for positions, Larson retained the lead in front of teammate Elliott and Wallace while Chastain tried to join the battle in fourth place. With Reddick running fifth, Hamlin and Keselowski battled for sixth place in front of Bell, Harvick, McDowell and Logano as Larson proceeded to lead the Lap 90 mark.

At the Lap 100 mark, Larson was leading by more than a second over Wallace followed by Elliott, Reddick and Chastain while Hamlin, Keselowski, Bell, Harvick and Logano were running in the top 10. Behind, Blaney was mired back in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch, Allmendinger, Buescher and Erik Jones while Alex Bowman, Byron, McDowell, Suarez and Cindric occupied the top 20 in front of Aric Almirola, Justin Haley, Hocevar, Ty Gibbs, Briscoe, Stenhouse, LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Harrison Burton and Cole Custer.

Seven laps later, the caution flew when Wallace, who was running second, lost a right-rear tire and scrubbed the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 as he limped his damaged No. 23 Toyota to pit road with a flat right-rear tire and a broken right-rear toe link. While Wallace’s pit crew managed to repair the car to keep Wallace in contention, he lost three laps in the process and would continue to lose more laps as he pitted for more repairs.

During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service while JJ Yeley and Ty Dillon remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited first followed by teammate Elliott, Keselowski, Reddick, Chastain, Hamlin, Harvick and Bell. Amid the pit stops, Ty Gibbs was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. Once Yeley and Ty Dillon pitted shortly after, Larson cycled back into the lead.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 113, teammates Elliott and Larson dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to three and four lanes through the frontstretch. As Larson and Elliott continued to duel for the lead for nearly a lap, Reddick pulled a bold three-wide move on both Hendrick Motorsports competitors through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1 to assume the lead. Then just as Elliott claimed the lead from Reddick through the backstretch, the caution quickly returned when Cindric, who had cracked the top 20, received a bump from Michael McDowell and spun his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang towards the apron through Turns 1 and 2.

During the proceeding restart on Lap 119, Elliott rocketed away from the field on the inside lane as he retained the lead ahead of teammate Larson and Reddick while the field again fanned out entering the backstretch. With Elliott leading the proceeding lap, Keselowski was up to fourth followed by Harvick, who would lose the top-five spot to Chastain by Lap 121 as Blaney battled Harvick for sixth. By then, Hamlin, Bell and Logano were mired back in the top 10 while Byron was in 16th and trying to fight his way back towards the front.

Just past the Lap 125 mark, Elliott was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Larson followed by Keselowski and Reddick, both of whom were trying to close in on the two Hendric leaders, while Harvick was in fifth. By then, Briscoe was off the pace after he lost power, starting in Turn 3, in his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang as he was nearly hit by an oncoming Corey LaJoie. With Briscoe continuing to fall off the pace through the backstretch and below the apron, the caution flew on Lap 127. During the caution period, some led by Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

With the race restarting under green on Lap 132, Larson and Elliott dueled for the lead through the frontstretch as the field fanned out amid the competitors who pitted versus those who did not. With Elliott rocketing away with the lead, Blaney carved his way up to second followed by Buescher while Larson, who got loose while battling Chastain entering the backstretch since the restart, was overtaken by Harvick, Bell and Keselowski for spots, thus dropping him to seventh in front of Kyle Busch. Larson would continue to lose spots and fall out of the top 10 on the track while on old tires as the event reached its halfway mark. By then, Elliott, who was running on old tires, retained the lead in front of Blaney as Harvick battled and overtook Buescher for third place.

Two laps later, Harvick, racing on fresh tires, moved his No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang into the runner-up spot as he overtook Blaney before setting his sights on Elliott for the lead. With Harvick, Keselowski and Blaney trailing Elliott from second to fourth within a second by Lap 140, Larson had fallen back to 16th while Chastain plummeted to 27th behind McDowell.

At the Lap 150 mark, Elliott retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second over Keselowski, who overtook Harvick for the runner-up spot while also on fresh tires, while Hamlin and Blaney trailed in the top five. By then, Reddick was back in sixth ahead of Erik Jones, Logano, Buescher and Bell while Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Almirola, Hocevar and Byron trailed in the top 16. In addition, Larson was back in 20th behind teammate Bowman while Chastain was mired in 25th behind McDowell. In addition, Stenhouse was in 30th while Wallace, who was six laps behind the leaders, was in 34th.

Ten laps later, Elliott continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Keselowski, who was continuing to gain ground in his No. 6 BuildSumbarines.com Ford Mustang through every turn and straightaway. Meanwhile, Hamlin cycled his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota TRD Camry into third place over Harvick and Reddick while Erik Jones was in sixth ahead of Team Penske’s Blaney and Logano.

Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, Keselowski muscled his way into the lead over Elliott as Hamlin started to gain ground and join the battle for the lead. Despite nearly getting held up by the lapped competitor of Austin Dillon during the following lap, Keselowski retained the lead over Elliott as Hamlin kept both close within his sights.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Keselowski, who came into the event 18 points above the cutline, claimed his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Hamlin, who overtook Elliott for the runner-up spot during the proceeding lap, settled in second followed by Elliott while Harvick, Reddick, Erik Jones, Blaney, Logano, Buescher and Bell were scored in the top 10. By then, 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. With eight of 16 Playoff competitors scoring stage points, the following names that included Kyle Busch, Byron, Larson, McDowell, Chastain, Stenhouse and Wallace were the remaining Playoff contenders running on the track who did not achieve the second round of stage points.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Keselowski retained the lead after exiting pit road first while Hamlin, Harvick, Erik Jones, Reddick, Blaney, Buescher and Elliott, who lost five spots during his pit stop, followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Chastain was penalized due to his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too soon.

With 96 laps remaining, the final stage started as Keselowski and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Keselowski and Hamlin dueled for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch while Harvick and Erik Jones trailed behind along with a hard-charging Reddick. With Hamlin leading the proceeding lap by a hair, Keselowski managed to reassume the lead from Hamlin and clear the field from the inside lane during the next lap while Reddick and Erik Jones battled for third in front of Harvick and Blaney.

The caution would return with 94 laps remaining when Hocevar slid up the track and made contact with Harrison Burton toward the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 before Burton hit the wall again in Turn 3. During the caution period, some of the drivers, including Larson, McDowell and Byron pitted while the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 88 laps remaining, Keselowski managed to muscle away from the inside lane to retain the lead ahead of Hamlin while Erik Jones followed suit in third. Jones and Hamlin then battled for the runner-up spot for nearly a lap in front of Harvick, Reddick, Elliott and Blaney while Keselowski rocketed away with the lead by three-tenths of a second.

Then with 81 laps remaining, the battle for the lead ignited as Hamlin made his move beneath Keselowski through the frontstretch. Hamlin then managed to clear Keselowski and slide up the track to inherit the lead. Behind, Reddick, Hamlin’s driver at 23XI Racing, overtook Keselowski for the runner-up spot as he ignited his charge on Hamlin for the lead.

With 70 laps remaining, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Keselowski, Erik Jones and Elliott were in the top five. Behind, Harvick, Blaney, Bell and Buescher followed suit from sixth to ninth while Larson, racing on fresh tires, cracked the top 10 as he was in 10th ahead of Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Suarez, Bowman and Byron.

Ten laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Reddick while Keselowski, Erik Jones and Elliott were in the top five. By then, Larson, who barely scrubbed the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2, was in ninth behind Bell while Kyle Busch and Buescher battled for 10th place. With Harvick, Blaney and Bell running sixth through eighth, Logano was in 13th behind Ty Gibbs, Byron was mired in 16th, Chastain was in 18th, Stenhouse was back in 22nd and McDowell was in 25th behind Briscoe.

Another six laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney and Erik Jones pitted their respective entries. Keselowski would pit during the proceeding lap along with Harvick, Kyle Busch, Chastain, Ryan Preece, LaJoie, Hocevar, Reddick, Elliott, Larson, Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Almirola, Briscoe, Stenhouse and Yeley. Hamlin would then surrender the lead to pit with 52 laps remaining along with Bowman and Justin Haley as Bell cycled into the lead. Bell would then pit under green with 45 laps remaining along with Byron as Daniel Suarez, who has yet to pit, cycled into the lead ahead of McDowell, Todd Gilliland and Hamlin.

Then with 36 laps remaining, Hamlin cycled back into the lead after Suarez pitted his No. 99 Freeway.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, Reddick trailed in the runner-up spot by more than a second while Keselowski, Erik Jones and Elliott were scored in the top five ahead of McDowell, Blaney, Larson, Harvick and Kyle Busch.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Reddick while Keselowski, Erik Jones and Elliott remained in the top five. Larson, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Harvick and Ty Gibbs followed suit in the top 10 as Hamlin retained the lead with 20 and 15 laps remaining.

With 10 laps remaining, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Reddick while third-place Elliott trailed by more than nine seconds in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Then with seven laps remaining, the caution flew when Buescher, who was running 12th, blew a right-rear tire through the frontstretch as he fell off the pace while the tire disintegrated on his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted for service while Suarez remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Erik Jones exited first after opting for two fresh tires for his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 along with Kyle Busch and Logano while Hamlin exited pit road fourth and the first on four fresh tires ahead of Larson, Reddick, Elliott and Keselowski. Amid the pit stops, teammates Larson and Elliott made contact while both were exiting pit road, which prompted Elliott to bump Larson to express his displeasure over the contact.

With the event restarting in overtime, where Suarez and Erik Jones occupied the front row in front of Kyle Busch and Logano, Logano wasted no time diving his car beneath Suarez and both along with Erik Jones fanned out to three lanes through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1. Logano and Jones then made their way to the front followed by Reddick, Larson, Elliott and Hamlin while Suarez was falling back. Through the backstretch and Turns 3 and 4, Logano and Jones continued to duel for the lead as Reddick closed in on fresh tires.

Then entering the frontstretch, Reddick dropped the hammer and crossed his No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry from the top to the bottom lane beneath Logano and Erik Jones. With the momentum and the fresh tires, Reddick overtook both through the frontstretch and gained the lead as the white flag waved and the final lap occurred. With Reddick leading, Hamlin then gained a run on both Logano and Jones as he tried to use the outside lane to close in on Reddick. Entering the backstretch, however, Hamlin was blocked by Jones, which allowed Reddick to continue to lead by a decent margin. Hamlin then tried to use the outside lane again to step on the gas and mount a final corner charge for the win. Despite overtaking Jones while scrubbing the wall, Hamin’s momentum was not enough as Reddick was able to cycle back to the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag by three-tenths of a second to win.

With the victory, Reddick scored his fifth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his second of the season, his first at Kansas and his first since winning at Circuit of the Americas in March. By becoming the second race winner in the Round of 16, Reddick advanced into the Playoff’s Round of 12 for the first time in his career as he continues his quest to win the first Cup Series title for himself, crew chief Billy Scott and the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota team.

Ironically, Reddick’s victory marked the third time 23XI Racing’s No. 45 entry won at Kansas after the No. 45 car swept both Cup Kansas events a year ago with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace. Overall, Reddick also recorded the fifth career victory for 23XI Racing.

“Just an outstanding job by this whole 23XI team,” Reddick said on USA Network. “We had really good pace, but just couldn’t get ahead of Denny [Hamlin] there. Chaos ensued, people stayed out, some took two tires and the bottom lane opened up. Pretty crazy. Four fresh tires, sent it in there and slide up. We’ve had really fast cars with this MoneyLion scheme and it’s really great to get it back to Victory Lane. We came here in the spring. I broke the streak and I didn’t get the No. 45 [car] back in Victory Lane, so I came back here motivated to get it where it belongs.”

Hamlin, who led 63 laps and was initially in the position of sweeping both Kansas Cup events, ended up in the runner-up spot. Amid his disappointment, Hamlin scaled back to the overtime restart, where he restarted alongside Reddick on the third row and opted to lay back to potentially have Larson draft him instead of keeping pace with the front-runners, a decision that may have cost him time to drive back to the front and win.

“[Larson] was just laying back so much, I was trying to back up to him,” Hamlin said. “I should’ve just focused forward. [I] Gave [Reddick] an opportunity to get up there in front of us. Just sleeping on the restart, looking in the rearview [mirror] instead of looking in the front. Hats off to the Yahoo! Camry TRD team. Another really, really fast car. Just didn’t need that caution at the end.”

Erik Jones, who was initially in the position of winning for Legacy Motor Club, ended up in third place while Larson and Logano finished in the top five. Elliott, Kyle Busch, Bell, Keselowski and Alex Bowman completed the top 10 on the track.

Notably, Harvick, Blaney, Chastain, Byron, Stenhouse, McDowell, Buescher and Wallace were the remaining Playoff contenders on the track to finish outside the top 10.

There were 19 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 45 laps. In addition, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Tyler Reddick, two laps led

2. Denny Hamlin, 63 laps led

3. Erik Jones

4. Kyle Larson, 99 laps led, Stage 1 winner

5. Joey Logano

6. Chase Elliott, 47 laps led

7. Kyle Busch

8. Christopher Bell, 15 laps led

9. Brad Keselowski, 23 laps led, Stage 2 winner

10. Alex Bowman

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Ross Chastain

14. Ty Gibbs

15. William Byron

16. Daniel Suarez, 12 laps led

17. Aric Almirola, three laps led

18. Ryan Preece

19. Chase Briscoe

20. Carson Hocevar

21. Justin Haley

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24. Cole Custer

25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

26. Michael McDowell, one lap down

27. Chris Buescher, one lap down

28. Ty Dillon, one lap down

29. Sheldon Creed, two laps down

30. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down

31. Austin Cindric, two laps down

32. Bubba Wallace, four laps down, three laps led

33. Austin Dillon, nine laps down

34. JJ Yeley – OUT, Dvp, one lap led

35. Harrison Burton – OUT, Dvp

36. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Kyle Larson – Advanced

2. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

3. Denny Hamlin +49

4. William Byron +41

5. Brad Keselowski +33

6. Ryan Blaney +25

7. Kyle Busch +24

8. Ross Chastain +18

9. Chris Buescher +13

10. Christopher Bell +13

11. Joey Logano +12

12. Kevin Harvick +7

13. Martin Truex Jr. -7

14. Bubba Wallace -19

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -22

16. Michael McDowell -40

The Round of 16 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to conclude next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, where the first of three eliminations will occur. The event is scheduled to commence on Saturday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 10, 2023
Truex dominates for third Cup victory of 2023 at New Hampshire

In his 30th start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. is no longer winless at the track dubbed the Magic Mile after capping off a dominant performance to win the rain-postponed Crayon 301 on Monday, July 17.

The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Mayetta, New Jersey, led five times for a race-high 254 of 301-scheduled laps, including the final 24, in an event where he swept both stages and dominated after assuming the lead from teammate and pole-sitter Christopher Bell on the second lap. Amid mixed strategy and a late call for two fresh tires during a late caution period, Truex reassumed the lead from Kevin Harvick with 24 laps remaining and had appeared to cruise to the victory before two late caution periods for two separate incident under the final 22 laps stalled his progress. Then during a nine-lap dash to the finish, Truex was not to be denied after he rocketed away from the field and held off a late charge from Joey Logano to capture his first elusive checkered flag at the Magic Mile and his third of the 2023 Cup season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 15, Christopher Bell notched his first Cup pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 124.781 mph in 30.524 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Martin Truex Jr., who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 124.752 mph in 30.531 seconds.

Prior to the event, Kyle Busch dropped to the rear of the field due to repairs after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s qualifying session.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced on Monday after Sunday’s scheduled start was postponed due to precipitation, Bell jumped ahead while starting on the outside lane and fended off teammate Truex and Joey Logano to retain the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. As the field behind battled within two lanes before fanning out through Turns 3 and 4, Bell managed to lead the first lap ahead of Truex.

On the second lap and as the field continued to fan out and jostle for early positions, Truex gained a run on Bell through the backstretch and made his move beneath his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate to assume the lead in his No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota TRD Camry entering Turns 3 and 4. Bell, however, fought back as both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Truex managed to rocket ahead on the outside lane and clear Bell through the first two turns. As Logano tried to close in on Bell for the runner-up spot, Truex continued to lead at the fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Truex was leading by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Bell followed by Logano, Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney while Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski were running in the top 10. Behind, AJ Allmendinger was in 11th ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Denny Hamlin while Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman was in 26th ahead of rookie Ty Gibbs, Ross Chastain was mired in 29th behind Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe was strapped in 30th, Kyle Busch was back in 32nd and Ryan Newman was in 35th.

Ten laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Bell while third-place Logano trailed by more than three seconds. With Almirola and Blaney continuing to run in the top five, Reddick, Byron, Wallace, Suarez and Keselowski continued to run in the top 10. By then, Hamlin moved up from 15th to 12th while Elliott lost a spot from 14th to 15th. In addition, Harvick moved up from 19th to 18th and Kyle Busch moved up from 32nd to 31st.

Then on Lap 27, the first caution of the event flew when Allmendinger, who was running just outside the top 10, spun in Turn 2 after getting loose on his own, though he managed to proceed without sustaining any damage to his No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Allmendinger’s spin served as the scheduled competition caution planned on Lap 30, with Truex still leading ahead of teammate Bell, Logano, Almirola and Blaney.

During the competition caution period, nearly the entire field led by Truex pitted for service while Stenhouse remained on the track to assume the lead. Following the pit stops, Byron exited first after only opting for two fresh tires followed by Hamlin while Truex, the first competitor who changed for four fresh tires, exited third ahead of McDowell, Almirola, Suarez and Reddick amid mixed strategies ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Austin Dillon and Corey LaJoie were both penalized for speeding on pit road.

When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 33, the field fanned out through the first two turns as Truex tried to overtake both Byron and Stenhouse for the lead. With Truex briefly getting loose, Byron managed to cycle his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead followed by Truex. As the field continued to fan out and jostle amid competitors on mixed strategies, Almirola and Reddick moved up to third and fourth while Stenhouse was being intimidated by Hamlin and Suarez for fifth. With Bell, who endured a slow service during the competition caution, also trying to move back up to the front as he was mired in the top 10, Byron, running on two fresh tires, was still leading by half a second over Truex and his four fresh tires.

Just past the Lap 40 mark, the battle for the lead started to intensify as Truex closed in and tried to gain a run to overtake Byron for the top spot. Then on Lap 43, Truex overtook and cleared Byron for the lead through Turns 3 and 4. With Truex back out in front, Reddick started to gain ground on the two leaders while Almirola and Hamlin were in the top five. Meanwhile, Stenhouse had drifted back to 25th in his No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while on four worn tires while Blaney, Bell, Suarez, McDowell and Logano were running in the top 10.

At the Lap 50 mark, Truex was leading by more than a second over Byron followed by Reddick, Almirola and Hamlin while Blaney, Bell, Suarez, Logano and McDowell were in the top 10. Behind, Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Larson, Bowman, Ty Gibbs and Buescher while Harvick, Wallace, Elliott, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer were mired in the top 20. Meanwhile, Chastain was in 21st ahead of Justin Haley, Briscoe was in 23rd ahead of Harrison Burton and Cindric, Allmendinger was mired back in 26th in front of Kyle Busch and Stenhouse had dropped back to 34th behind Austin Dillon and rookie Noah Gragson.

Ten laps later, Truex extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Byron while third-place Reddick trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Almirola, Blaney, Bell, Hamlin, Suarez, Logano and McDowell remained in the top 10 while Larson moved up to 11th ahead of Keselowski. In addition, Harvick cracked the top 15 in 14th, Elliott retained 18th and Kyle Busch only moved up to 26th behind Allmendinger.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Truex captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Byron fended off Reddick to settle in second while Almirola, Blaney, Bell, Hamlin, Suarez, Logano and McDowell were scored in the top 10. At the stage’s conclusion, Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 emerged with smoke after the two-time Cup Series champion made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1 and damaged the right side of his car, an incident that would end Busch’s long start in the garage. Behind Busch, Corey LaJoie also suffered the same fate as his car went dead straight towards the wall.

Under the stage break, the field led by Truex returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead after exiting first followed by Byron, Bell, Almirola, Blaney, Hamlin and Reddick. Amid the pit stops, Reddick and BJ McLeod were penalized for speeding while exiting pit road. Soon after, more pit issues struck for Bell, who pitted for a second time due to a loose wheel to his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry as he was mired back in the field.

The second stage started on Lap 77 as Truex and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to three lanes entering the first two turns as Truex rocketed away with the lead. Behind, Almirola challenged Byron for second while Hamlin and Blaney also dueled for fourth. During the following lap and amid more on-track battles within the middle of the pack, Logano was in sixth ahead of a battle between Larson and Keselowski while Suarez and Wallace were in the top 10 ahead of McDowell, Harvick, Buescher, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe with Bowman, Chastain, Allmendinger, Haley and Elliott mired in the top 20.

By Lap 90, Truex was leading by more than a second over Almirola while Hamlin cycled his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry into third place followed by Blaney while Byron had fallen back to fifth. Behind, Larson moved his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to sixth in front of Logano while Keselowski, McDowell and Suarez were in the top 10.

At the Lap 100 mark, Truex extended his advantage by more than four seconds over Almirola while Hamlin, Blaney and Larson were running in the top five. By then, Byron had dropped to ninth as Logano, Keselowski and McDowell overtook him while Suarez retained 10th in front of Wallace, Harvick, Bell, Gibbs and Buescher. Meanwhile, Chastain was in 19th behind Allmendinger, Reddick was mired back in 21st and Elliott had fallen back to 24th.

Twenty-five laps later, Truex continued to lead by more than three seconds over Almirola while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than five seconds. With Blaney and Larson still running in the top five, Bell returned to the top 10 as he was 10th while trying to close in on a two-car battle between McDowell and Harvick while Byron and Suarez had fallen to 11th and 12th.

Another three laps later, green flag pit stops ensued as Reddick pitted his No. 45 Draft Kings Network Toyota TRD Camry. Bell would follow suit to pit along with Byron and Haley, both of whom made contact as Byron was trying to exit his pit stall while Haley was trying to enter his. Soon after, a bevy of names that included Wallace, Todd Gilliland, Cindric, Larson, Keselowski, McDowell, Bowman, Buescher, Briscoe, Almendinger, Chastain, Logano, Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Harrison Burton, Larson, Cole Custer, Hamlin and Blaney pitted. Truex would then pit from the lead on Lap 132 followed by Almirola and Suarez. At the conclusion of his pit stops, Truex, who exited pit road ahead of Almirola, quickly cycled back to the lead after Elliott, who cycled into a brief lead, pitted under green.

At the halfway mark between Laps 150 and 151, Truex was leading by more than four seconds over Almirola followed by Hamlin, Blaney and Larson while Logano, Bell, Keselowski, Harvick and Austin Dillon were running in the top 10. By then, 19 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while names that included Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton, Elliott, Erik Jones, Cindric and Chastain were pinned a lap down.

Then on Lap 161, the caution flew when Erik Jones, who was a lap down, spun his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 4. At the moment of caution, Wallace, who was mired in 18th, had managed to remain ahead of the leader Truex, who was leading by more than four seconds over Almirola, while Briscoe, who was in 19th, had managed to emerge as the first competitor a lap down over Harrison Burton and receive the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategy, Almirola cycled into the lead after only opting for two fresh tires along with Larson, Logano and Harvick, all of whom also opted for two fresh tires, while Truex, Hamlin and Blaney followed suit on four fresh tires.

With 17 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, however, trouble struck for Almirola, who veered sideways through Turns 1 and 2 before smacking the outside wall after the right-rear wheel on Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang was loose and preparing to come off of the car. The issue stemmed from Almirola’s two-tire pit service during the previous caution period, where the rear tire changer was unable to properly tighten the right-rear tire prior to Almirola leaving the pit box. With the caution quickly returning, Larson cycled into the lead followed by Logano, Truex, Hamlin and Harvick.

During the ensuing restart with 11 laps remaining in the second stage, the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch as Larson tried to fend off Truex for the lead. Truex, however, led the following lap before Larson attempted to fight back through the frontstretch before conceding to Truex, who was running on four fresh tires. With Truex back out in front, Larson retained second ahead of Logano, Harvick and Hamlin while Blaney, Wallace and Bowman pursued. Behind, contact was made between Keselowski and Reddick, though both continued to run within the top 10.

With less than five laps remaining in the second stage, Blaney and Hamlin cracked the top five on the track while Harvick fell back to sixth. In addition, Keselowski battled 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace for eighth while Truex extended his advantage to more than a second over Larson.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 185, Truex captured his third stage victory of the 2023 Cup season and second of the day after retaining the lead by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Larson settled in second while Logano, Blaney, Hamlin, Harvick, Bowman, Keselowski, Reddick and Bell were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Larson pitted while the rest that included the leader Truex, Logano, Blaney, Hamlin, Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Briscoe, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Todd Gilliland remained on the track.

With 110 laps remaining, the final stage started as Truex and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Truex rocketed away with the lead as the field fanned out and jostled for spots through the backstretch. With the field still fanning out and battling for spots for a full lap, Blaney retained second over teammate Logano while Keselowski and Hamlin were in the top five.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Truex was leading by six-tenths of a second over Blaney followed by Logano, Keselowski and Larson while Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Briscoe, Burton and Wallace were in the top 10. A lap later, Bell moved up to ninth followed by Burton while Wallace fell back to 11th in front of Harvick, Elliott, Buescher and Ryan Preece while Chastain, McDowell, Bowman, Reddick and Ty Gibbs were mired in the top 20.

Fifteen laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to less than three-tenths of a second over Blaney, who also started to close in on Truex for the top spot, while third-place Logano trailed by more than two seconds. With Keselowski and Larson both trailed by more than three seconds within the top five, Bell was up to sixth while teammate Hamlin fell back to seventh. In addition, Wallace moved back up into eighth as he was running in between Briscoe and Harvick while Elliott was in 13th behind Austin Dillon and Burton.

With less than 75 laps later, Truex slightly stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Blaney followed by third-place Logano, who trailed by more than three seconds, as Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five.

Then with 66 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang from the runner-up spot. The following lap, Truex surrendered the lead to pit followed by Larson as McDowell, Bowman, Hamlin, Reddick, Elliott, Chastain, Gilliland, Stenhouse, also pitted. By the time Truex completed his pit service, he managed to blend back on the track and remain ahead of Blaney on the track. Meanwhile, more pit stops ensued as Keselowski, Wallace, Briscoe, Burton, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Bell, Haley and Logano, who briefly led, also pitted under green.

With nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, with Harvick and Byron being the last two, Austin Dillon, who assumed the lead on Lap 245 and is faced in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs, was leading by more than seven seconds over Truex with 50 laps remaining. Dillon, however, was placed in a position where he still has to make a pit stop to finish the race. Once Dillon pitted his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green with 44 laps remaining, Truex cycled back into the lead while Blaney and Larson followed suit in the top three.

With 35 laps remaining, Truex, who was mired within lapped traffic, was leading by more than two seconds over both Blaney and Larson, both of whom were trying to gain ground on Truex late in the event, while Logano and Bell both trailed by more than five seconds in the top five. By then, Hamlin was in sixth while Keselowski, Wallace, Briscoe and Reddick were in the top 10.

Three laps later, however, the caution flew when Noah Gragson blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 1 outside wall after the Las Vegas, Nevada, native reported a potential brake rotor issue to his No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. At the moment of caution, Larson had overtaken Blaney for the runner-up spot as both were trailing the leader Truex by more than three seconds.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Truex pitted while Harvick and Austin Dillon, both of whom pitted later than the majority of the lead lap field during the latest green flag pit stop cycle, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Truex exited first followed by Larson, Blaney, Logano, Hamlin and Briscoe, all of whom were among some who opted for two fresh tires while the rest opted for four fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Blaney was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for running over his air hose while exiting his pit stall.

When the race restarted with 24 laps remaining, Harvick jumped ahead with the lead followed by Truex as Austin Dillon struggled to launch. Truex then quickly reassumed the lead from Harvick entering the backstretch as Logano made his way up to the runner-up spot. With the field behind fanning out and jostling for late positions, Larson and Harvick battled for third during the following lap while Austin Dillon and Reddick battled for fifth.

Then amid the battles, the caution returned with 22 laps remaining when Ty Gibbs sent Alex Bowman sideways entering the backstretch before Bowman was able to straighten his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after getting hit by Erik Jones while the rest of the competitors running within the midfield scattered to avoid the carnage.

During the proceeding restart with 16 laps remaining, Truex pulled away from Logano to retain the lead as Harvick tried to battle and overtake Logano for the runner-up spot. As Chastain went wide through Turns 3 and 4 amid the field fanning out, Truex retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Logano while Larson overtook Harvick for third with 15 laps remaining. The caution, however, quickly returned with 14 laps remaining when Bell, who was looking to cap off his roller coaster afternoon within the top 10 as he was running in eighth, got loose entering Turns 3 and 4 and smacked the outside wall as he damaged the right rear of his pole-winning car.

With the race restarting with nine laps remaining, Truex retained the lead after another strong start on the inside lane while Logano, who opted to restart behind Truex on the inside lane instead of alongside Logano on the outside lane, battled and overtook Larson for the runner-up spot. With the field fanning out to multiple lanes, Harvick and Reddick battled for fourth as Keselowski tried to join the battle.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Truex was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Logano while Larson, Harvick and Keselowski were in the top five amid a series of late on-track battles ensuing behind.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex remained as the leader by six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Logano. With Logano gaining more ground in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang around the New Hampshire circuit for a final time, he ran out of time as Truex managed to cycle his Toyota back to the frontstretch and beat Logano by less than four-tenths of a second to capture his third checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.

With his third victory of the 2023 season and his first ever at New Hampshire, Truex notched his 34th career win in NASCAR’s premier series and his 15th while driving the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. The New Hampshire victory also marked his second of the season occurring on a Monday after he also won at Dover Motor Speedway in April on Monday due to precipitation postponing the event from its original start time on Sunday.

“What we’ve been able to do here over the years is pretty remarkable and to not win was really getting frustrating,” Truex said on USA Network. “[Crew chief] James [Small] and I talked about it many times. We thought about it all weekend, talked about it with [teammate] Christopher [Bell] before the race. He was like, ‘Man, you’ve led more laps here than I have been racing Cup’. Just really awesome by everybody. What a race car we had today. Just proud of the whole team. Pit stops were flawless, race car was unbelievable. We had some challenges at times throughout the race and it was a handful at times, but we kept our heads down, kept digging. Man, this is feeling really, really good to do what we did today and finally cap it off with a lobster.”

“I sat in Turn 1 with my mom [when I was eight years old],” Truex added. “This is the first big track I ever came to with my dad and watched, and first time I’d ever seen Cup cars in person and [Xfinity] cars in person. It’s been a special place for [my family] and being able to win K&N [Series], being able to win in the [Xfinity] Series, this one’s been eluding me for a long, long time. Just really, really happy. Really thankful. [I] Can’t say enough about my team. Man, they’re incredible. I’m the lucky guy to drive these things. This one’s sweet.”

While Truex celebrated in Victory Lane, Logano ended up in the runner-up spot for the third time this season while Larson came home in third place for his ninth top-five result of the season.

“Man, I thought I would have something [for Truex],” Logano said. “Right before that caution came out, two cautions to the end when we had tires on it, it seemed like [Truex] took a few laps to get going. I was running him down. I was like, ‘Man, I got a chance here’. That caution came out right when I was thinking I could make a move on the outside into [Turn] 3 and then, it seemed like the cycles helped him get his pressures up to where he can fire and be pretty quick the last couple of restarts. Dang it. [New Hampshire]’s a home track. There’s no place you want to win more than that. It stings a lot to not get the Shell/Pennzoil Ford into Victory Lane, but gosh, second just sucks sometimes. It stings the most when you’re that close, feeling like you had a shot at it, but still a good day for us.”

“We had a shot [when I] lined up on the front row at the end of one of these Cup races, so that’s a great day,” Larson said. “It was a fun, hot race. [I] Came away with a top three [finish] at a track that doesn’t really suit me or Hendrick Motorsports.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick executed his late gamble to remain on the track on worn tires to perfection as he finished fourth for his fifth top-five result of the season and in his 40th and final Cup career start at New Hampshire.

“We were fortunate that we had pitted late and were able to stay out and kind of salvage something there at the end,” Harvick said. “[The team] did a good job. We were just a little bit too loose to start the race and it took us a couple of laps to get going on the restarts. We definitely didn’t dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s, but we did a pretty good job all weekend. Just a couple of little things.”

Keselowski posted his fourth top-five result of the season by finishing fifth while Reddick, Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe finished in the top 10.

Notably, Elliott finished 12th in between Erik Jones and Michael McDowell, Bowman rallied to finish 14th, Suarez ended up 16th, Blaney settled in 22nd in front of Chastain after never recovering from his late pit road penalty, Byron ended up 24th, Ty Gibbs fell back to 27th after hitting the wall prior to the final lap and Bell settled in 29th. In addition, Ryan Newman finished 30th in his second Cup Series start of the season while driving for Rick Ware Racing.

There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 41 laps. In addition, 27 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

With six regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. leads the regular-season standings by 17 points over William Byron, 62 over Christopher Bell, 66 over Denny Hamlin, 74 over Kyle Busch and 78 over Ross Chastain.

William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell currently occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with McDowell occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by a single point over Daniel Suarez, 20 over AJ Allmendinger, 41 over rookie Ty Gibbs, 42 over Alex Bowman, 46 over Justin Haley, 51 over Austin Cindric and 60 over Chase Elliott.

Results.

1. Martin Truex Jr., 254 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Joey Logano, two laps led

3. Kyle Larson, six laps led

4. Kevin Harvick, 10 laps led

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Denny Hamlin

8. Bubba Wallace

9. Austin Dillon, 12 laps led

10. Chase Briscoe

11. Erik Jones

12. Chase Elliott

13. Michael McDowell

14. Alex Bowman

15. Chris Buescher

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Justin Haley

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps led

19. AJ Allmendinger

20. Harrison Burton

21. Todd Gilliland

22. Ryan Blaney

23. Ross Chastain

24. William Byron, nine laps led

25. Austin Cindric

26. Ty Dillon

27. Ty Gibbs

28. Ryan Preece, one lap down

29. Christopher Bell, two laps down, one lap led

30. Ryan Newman, two laps down

31. BJ McLeod, six laps down

32. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

33. Corey LaJoie, 125 laps down

34. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident, four laps led

35. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

36. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone event of this season to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

July 17, 2023
Elliott scores wild final lap victory at Talladega, advances to Playoff’s Round of 8

Chase Elliott snapped a four-race streak of non-Playoff competitors winning throughout the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by becoming the first Playoff competitor to win in the Playoffs after claiming a dramatic final lap victory in the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, October 2.

The 2020 Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, led four times for 10 of 188-scheduled laps as he survived a late duel against Playoff rival Ryan Blaney during a two-lap shootout to the finish, including a pass on Blaney for the lead and win entering the final frontstretch, to grab his fifth victory of the 2022 season and his second at Talladega. By becoming the first Playoff competitor to win in the 2022 Playoffs, Elliott, whose average-finishing result through the first four Playoff events was 20.3, earned a one-way ticket to the Round of 8, where he will continue his quest to achieve his second championship in NASCAR’s premier series.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff contender Christopher Bell secured his fourth pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 180.591 mph in 53.026 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Kyle Larson, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 180.516 mph in 53.048 seconds.

Prior to the event, Ty Gibbs dropped to the rear of the field due to an oil leak to his car along with teammate Bubba Wallace, who changed engines for the main event. Tyler Reddick, the winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Texas Motor Speedway, also started at the rear of the field due to having a splitter changed to his car along with BJ McLeod, who received unapproved adjustments to his car.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson dueled early for the lead until Larson received a push from Aric Almirola to clear the field entering the backstretch. Through the backstretch, however, Larson transitioned from the outside to the inside lane. This allowed Almirola to gain momentum as he moved into the lead. By the time the field returned to the frontstretch and the start/finish line, Almirola led the first lap by a hair over Ross Chastain as the field behind jumbled up in two tight-packed lanes.

Two laps later, a side-by-side action for the lead occurred between Chastain and Almirola, with Almirola moving to the bottom lane and being pushed by Larson while Chastain had Erik Jones pushing him on the outside lane.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Chastain and Almirola continued to duke for the lead while Erik Jones, Larson, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick were scored in the top 10. Chase Briscoe was in 11th while Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson, Cole Custer, William Byron, Ty Dillon, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie, Tyler Reddick and Justin Haley were in the top 20.

Three laps later, the first caution of the event flew due to debris being reported on the track when a side mirror fell out of Ty Dillon’s car. By then, Chastain was scored as the leader ahead of Almirola, Erik Jones, Larson and Suarez. In addition, six of 11 Playoff contenders in the field were scored in the top 10. The rest that included Briscoe, Byron, Logano, Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney, who dealt with radio issues and was delayed rolling his car off the grid with the field, were mired within the top 30. Meanwhile, Noah Gragson, who was substituting for Playoff contender Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 due to Bowman recovering from concussion-like symptoms, was in 13th.

During the caution period, some led by Larson pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Chastain quickly bolted his No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead as he had both drafting lanes to his control. Meanwhile, teammates Suarez challenged Erik Jones for the runner-up spot with drafting help from Bell as the field again jumbled into two tight-packed lanes.

Another three laps later, Erik Jones emerged as the third different leader of the day as he was leading from the bottom lane. Shortly after, he moved up to the outside lane in front of Chastain, which allowed Almirola to launch a challenge on the inside lane with drafting help from Chase Elliott.

On Lap 24 and with the field fanning out to three lanes, the caution flew when a bump from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got rookie Harrison Burton loose entering Turn 1 as Burton spun and ignited a multi-car wreck that included Gragson, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs and Justin Allgaier. Also involved were Playoff contenders Cindric and Logano, both of whom managed to continue after sustaining little damage to their respective Team Penske Ford Mustangs.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Chastain pitted while names like Corey LaJoie, McLeod, Martin Truex Jr. and Cody Ware remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch exited with the lead followed by Suarez, Blaney, Elliott, Briscoe and Almirola. LaJoie, McLeod, Truex and Ware would eventually pit prior to the restart, thus giving the lead to Kyle Busch.

When the race proceeded under green on Lap 29, Suarez challenged Kyle Busch for the lead on the outside lane for nearly a full lap until he succeeded through the frontstretch with drafting help from Elliott. During the following lap, however, Elliott moved in front of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M Toyota TRD Camry on the inside lane to overtake Suarez’s No. 99 Tootsie’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the lead. Busch and Blaney soon followed after while Suarez fell back to fourth, though he had drafting help from Almirola.

At the Lap 35 mark, Almirola and Suarez duked for the lead while Denny Hamlin, Elliott, Byron, Kyle Busch, Cole Custer, Blaney, Erik Jones and Briscoe were in the top 10. Behind, rookie Todd Gilliland was in 11th ahead of Chastain, Logano, Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Larson, Cindric, Harvick, Bell and Daniel Hemric were running in the top 20. By then, all 11 Playoff contenders were running in the top 20 while Gragson was back in 21st place.

Another five laps later, Almirola and Hamlin battled dead even for the lead and in front of the pack, with Almirola receiving drafting help from Suarez on the inside lane while Hamlin had Byron drafting him on the outside lane. By then, 34 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap, with 26 separated by nearly two seconds.

On Lap 45, the caution returned when LaJoie cut a right-front tire as he slapped the outside wall in between Turns 1 and 2 before drawing and parking his wrecked car below the apron and near the inside wall in the backstretch as his race came to an early end. During the caution period, some led by Erik Jones pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

During the following restart on Lap 49, Hamlin gained a strong start on the outside lane before moving his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry in front of rival Byron’s No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the inside lane as the field behind started to pick up speed in the draft. Through the backstretch and when the field returned to the frontstretch to start the 50th lap, Hamlin maintained the lead ahead of Byron and Almirola while Cole Custer launched a charge on the outside lane as he ignited his bid for the lead.

A few laps later, the field scrambled and fanned out to three lanes as Hamlin maintained the lead followed by Byron, Almirola, Custer, Elliott and Suarez. By Lap 55, however, Byron drew himself beneath Hamlin as they battled for the lead through the frontstretch. While Byron pulled ahead through the first two turns, Hamlin gained the momentum on the outside lane to reassume the lead with drafting help from Elliott and Kyle Busch.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Blaney surged his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang to the front on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Cindric as he edged Hamlin by 0.009 seconds to claim his seventh stage victory of 2022. Hamlin settled in second while Elliott, Cindric, Logano, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Larson, Gragson and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10. By then, six of 11 Playoff contenders earned stage points by finishing in the top 10 while Byron, Suarez, Chastain, Briscoe and Bell were mired back in 11th, 14th, 16th, 19th and 20th, respectively.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Blaney pitted while names like Truex, Austin Dillon and Justin Allgaier remained on the track. All who remained on the track initially would eventually pit, giving the lead to Larson, who was the first to exit pit road following the pit stops ahead of Erik Jones, Chastain, Blaney, Bell and Harvick. During the pit stops, Landon Cassill was penalized for speeding on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 65 and at the start, Larson and Erik Jones dueled for the lead as Larson had Chastain drafting him on the inside lane while Jones had Blaney pushing him on the outside lane. With the field jumbled up in two tight-packed lanes, Blaney soon moved into the lead with drafting help from Harvick while Erik Jones, who transitioned to the inside lane in front of Larson, fought back in a battle for the top spot.

On Lap 70 and with Blaney leading the field, Harvick, who was running in second place, got placed in a three-wide situation as he lost a bevy of spots while running in the middle of the pack as Brad Keselowski launched his bid for the lead with drafting help from teammate Chris Buescher. During the following lap, Blaney and Keselowski nearly made contact in Turn 1 as Blaney tried to move up and stall Keselowski’s momentum. This allowed Erik Jones to surge to the front on the inside lane. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Blaney pulled his car out of the lead pack and the draft as he dropped towards the rear of the field while Jones and Almirola duked for the lead.

By Lap 75 and with Almirola leading ahead of teammate Harvick and Erik Jones, the highest-running Playoff contender was Larson in 10th place while Hamlin was the lowest-running Playoff contender in 33rd place.

Ten laps later, Almirola was the leader of a long line of competitors running in a single-file line towards the inside lane followed by Harvick, Gilliland, Larson, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, Chastain, Custer and Elliott while the first side-by-side battle was for 11th place between Reddick and Custer. By then, Larson was the highest-running Playoff competitor in fourth while Hamlin remained as the lowest-running Playoff contender in 31st behind teammate Martin Truex Jr.

At the halfway mark on Lap 94, Almirola was the leader followed by teammate Harvick, Todd Gilliland, Larson and Erik Jones while Kyle Busch, Chastain, McDowell, Custer and Cindric were scored in the top 10. Elliott was in 11th while Gragson, Reddick, Hemric, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Byron, Buescher, Bell and Ty Dillon occupied the top 20. By then, the event featured 15 different competitors having led a lap. In addition, six of 11 Playoff competitors were running in the top 20 as Suarez was in 25th, Blaney was in 27th followed by teammate Logano, Hamlin was still mired back in 30th and Briscoe was back in 31st.

Four laps later, pit stops under green commenced as Ford competitors Logano, Keselowski, Briscoe, Buescher and Blaney peeled off the track and onto pit road for fuel. A lap later and as a bevy of Toyota competitors led by Kyle Busch pitted, Bell locked up the front tires while trying to meet pit road speed as he spun approaching the pit road entrance. Despite avoiding the inside wall, he brought his No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota TRD Camry to his pit stall for fresh tires. The situation for Bell soon went from bad to worse after he was penalized for speeding on pit road.

By the Lap 100 mark, a wave of Chevrolet competitors led by Larson pitted under green while Almirola continued to lead.

On Lap 102, Almirola led teammates Harvick and Custer along with a handful of competitors to pit road for service under green. By the time they returned to the track, Reddick emerged as the new leader and in front of a long line of Chevrolet competitors with Suarez, Larson, Elliott, Chastain and Justin Haley scored in the top six.

At the Lap 110 mark, Reddick, who lapped Bell four laps earlier and was trying to manage both lanes, continued to lead followed by Suarez, Chastain, Buescher, Larson and a wave of competitors bunched up in two tight-packed lanes. By then, a bevy of Chevrolet and Ford competitors were duking it out within the lead pack while the highest-running Toyota competitor was Bubba Wallace in 21st.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Elliott pulled a slingshot move on teammate Larson on the frontstretch to grab his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Haley, who drafted Elliott to the front, settled in second followed by Larson, Suarez, Erik Jones, Chastain, Landon Cassill, Buescher, Daniel Hemric and Briscoe. By then, five of 11 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 and awarded another round of stage points while Byron, Logano, Blaney, Hamlin, Cindric and Bell were scored in 13th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 28th and 30th, respectively. In addition, Byron and Bell were the only two Playoff competitors to not achieve stage points of the day. Meanwhile, Reddick, who was in position to claim the second stage victory, fell all the way back to 29th after running out of fuel on the final lap of the stage.

Under the stage break, names like Cassill, Kyle Busch and Truex remained on the track while the rest led by Elliott pitted. Once Cassill, Kyle Busch and Truex pitted, Elliott cycled to the lead followed by Erik Jones, Larson, Buescher, Suarez and Byron.

With 62 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Elliott had drafting help from teammate Larson on the inside lane while Erik Jones had drafting help from Buescher on the outside lane. Shortly after, Erik Jones emerged with the lead before Buescher broke away from the pack with the top spot as he was being drafted by Byron with 60 laps remaining. Chastain would then draw himself toward the front in his bid for the lead, which he succeeded during the following lap with drafting help from Blaney and Keselowski.

With 50 laps remaining, Chastain was leading a long line of competitors running on the outside lane while Blaney, Keselowski, Gilliland, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Bell, Almirola and Cindric were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin was the first competitor leading a handful of competitors on the inside lane in 12th place.

Ten laps later and with the field bunched up in two tight-packed lanes, Chastain continued to lead ahead of Blaney, Keselowski, Gilliland, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Buescher, Stenhouse and Erik Jones.

With less than 30 laps remaining, the field was divided into two different long waves pitted under green for service and enough fuel to the finish. Following the pit stops, Harvick and Keselowski were forced to serve drive-through penalties for speeding through pit road.

Back on the track with 25 laps remaining, Blaney cycled back to the lead followed by Chastain, Erik Jones and a bevy of competitors running in a tight pack.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Blaney continued to lead on the outside lane followed by Chastain while Erik Jones was the lead competitor on the inside lane with drafting help from McDowell and Elliott. By then, 27 competitors were separated by less than two seconds while five Playoff competitors were running in the top 10. The lowest-running Playoff competitor was Logano, who was back in 26th.

With 10 laps remaining, Blaney retained the lead ahead of Chastain and Gilliland while Erik Jones remained as the first competitor on the inside lane with drafting help from McDowell. By then, the top 27 competitors were separated by more than two-and-a-half seconds as the front-runners fanned out to two tight-packed lanes.

A lap later, Erik Jones muscled his No. 43 FocusFactor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead followed by McDowell and Elliott while Blaney, who was back in fourth, remained as the first competitor on the outside lane as he tried to mount his way back to the front. Jones would then move up the track to block Blaney as he went to work in keeping both lanes under his control with the lead. Blaney, however, briefly fought back with drafting help from Chastain before Jones moved ahead by a hair.

Then with six laps remaining, the caution flew when Daniel Hemric stalled his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on pit road with an engine issue. During the caution period, names like Stenhouse, Buescher, Truex and Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Erik Jones remained on the track.

At the start of a two-lap shootout to the finish, Blaney and Erik Jones duked for the lead entering the first turn until Blaney pulled ahead on the inside lane followed by McDowell. Elliott then launched his bid for the lead from the bottom to the outside lane as he was being pushed by Erik Jones through the backstretch. The inside lane, however, gained a brief advantage as Blaney cleared the field, but Elliott remained within close distance.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney was still leading by a fender over Elliott, who drew himself alongside Blaney’s No. 12 Ford entering the first turn. With a bevy of competitors running in two tight-packed lanes through the backstretch, Elliott and Blaney continued to run dead even until Blaney again emerged ahead through Turns 3 and 4. Then, Elliott received another push of Jones to move his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in front of the field entering the frontstretch. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes approaching the start/finish line, Elliott was able to have both all lanes to his control as he blocked and beat Blaney by 0.046 seconds to win in front of a roaring crowd that erupted with cheers.

In addition to becoming the first Playoff competitor to win and transfer to the Round of 8, Elliott achieved his 18th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first at Talladega since April 2019. He also recorded the 290th Cup career victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the 18th of the 2022 season for Chevrolet.

Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“First, how about these fans, man?” Elliott said on NBC. “That’s unreal. Moments like that, you have to really cherish. [The fans] are what makes this special to me, so thank you sincerely. I really appreciate it. It was a wild last couple of laps. I wasn’t super crazy about being on the bottom [lane] and fortunately, got just clear enough off of [Turn] 2 to slide up in front of Erik [Jones]. He gave me some great shoves, obviously, a Team Chevy partner there. Just had a good enough run to get out front and then, was able to stay far enough in front of Ryan [Blaney] here at the line to get it done. These things are so hard to win. You got to enjoy them. Just appreciate everybody’s effort today. [Owner Rick Hendrick] is here, so excited to celebrate with him. Get ready to go to the [Charlotte] Roval and try to grab another [win], but thank you guys so much for coming out. Great crowd, great show.”

“[The win] gets you through to the next [round],” Elliott added. “That’s all you can ask for is just to have more opportunities and that’s really what this is about. We got six more Playoff points to go with that win today, so that’s a big deal. We’re excited for these final handful of events and hopefully, we can make it out to Phoenix [Raceway in November] and give’em a run.”

Meanwhile, Blaney, who was a lap shy of recording his first elusive victory of the 2022 season, settled in second place for his 10th top-five result of the season. He, however, leaves Talladega with a 32-point advantage above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings with the next round of eliminations looming.

“Yeah, I thought about [throwing a block],” Blaney said. “I thought about it, but when you go to the middle [lane] and you don’t have a Ford or teammate behind you, your chances of getting split are just so high. As much as I trust Chase, I don’t trust him not to take me three wide and leave me in the middle. I chose to stay down in front of Michael [McDowell] and he was awesome at pushing me the last restart and just giving me great shots. Just a little bit too late. Maybe I could’ve faked the top, go to the bottom there on the frontstretch. I don’t know if I would’ve got there anyway, but overall, not a bad day. I’m probably gonna replay in my head like five different things I could’ve done different, but overall, not a bad day. Go on to next week.”

McDowell came home in third place for his second top-five result of the season while Playoff competitors Chastain and Hamlin finished in the top five.

“You always wish you get a redo,” McDowell said. “Unfortunately, in motorsports, you don’t get that. It’s good to be challenging for wins, but when you come up short, it’s disappointing, for sure. [I] Felt like [Blaney] and I were hooked up good and had a good run. When [Hamlin] drug back off of me, that was probably my opportunity I needed to drag back off [Blaney] a little bit sooner. Just lost a little bit of that momentum and the energy just took a little too long to rebuild. It’s good to be close. It’s been a great season. We’re really proud of the season we’re having, but man, you come up a car length short of Victory Lane. It’s tough, for sure.”

“We made a lot of moves and a lot of moves got made on us,” Chastain, who is 28 points above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, said. “Every point earned is just better. It’s never-ending. You just want more. Twenty-eight [points] to ninth [in the standings] is really good. Really good points earned today for Daniel [Suarez] and myself. For this Trackhouse [Racing] group to keep executing throughout these Playoffs. We’re figuring this out as we go. I’m experiencing this. I’m loving every moment of it as I get to do this.”

“We executed a pretty good day,” Hamlin, who is 21 points above the cutline, added. “Our goal going into today was five stage points. If we got more than five in the first stage, we were gonna punt in Stage 2 and then, go try to get a good finish, and that’s what we did. Overall, a good day. Would I like to have more [points]? Yes. Obviously, we executed the day we wanted to and better than what we started the day. We’ll take it.”

Erik Jones, Todd Gilliland, Suarez, Cindric and Briscoe completed the top 10 on the track. With seven Playoff competitors finishing in the top 10, the rest that included Byron, Bell, Larson and Logano finished 12th, 17th, 18th and 27th, respectively. In addition, Gragson finished 19th while substituting for Alex Bowman.

There were 57 lead changes for 17 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 25 laps. In total, 33 of 37 starters finished the event with 27 finishing on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Chase Elliott, 10 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Ryan Blaney, 31 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Michael McDowell

4. Ross Chastain, 36 laps led

5. Denny Hamlin, 20 laps led

6. Erik Jones, 23 laps led

7. Todd Gilliland, one lap led

8. Daniel Suarez, two laps led

9. Austin Cindric

10. Chase Briscoe

11. Landon Cassill, one lap led

12. William Byron, one lap led

13. Austin Dillon

14. Aric Almirola, 36 laps led

15. Justin Haley

16. Bubba Wallace

17. Christopher Bell

18. Kyle Larson, eight laps led

19. Noah Gragson

20. Kyle Busch, three laps led

21. Cole Custer, two laps led

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

23. Ty Dillon

24. Brad Keselowski

25. Chris Buescher, one lap led

26. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

27. Joey Logano

28. Tyler Reddick, one lap down, 11 laps led

29. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

30. Justin Allgaier, two laps down

31. JJ Yeley, four laps down

32. Cody Ware, four laps down

33. BJ McLeod, six laps down

34. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Electrical

35. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident, one lap led

36. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

37. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Chase Elliott – Advanced

2. Ryan Blaney +32

3. Ross Chastain +28

4. Denny Hamlin +21

5. Joey Logano +18

6. Kyle Larson +18

7. Daniel Suarez +12

8. Chase Briscoe +0

9. Austin Cindric -0

10. William Byron -11

11. Christopher Bell -33

12. Alex Bowman -54

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, which will determine the Playoff’s Round of 8 field. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, October 9, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 2, 2022
Reddick conquers chaotic Cup Playoff event for third victory of 2022 at Texas

A week after his championship hopes evaporated under the lights at Thunder Valley, Tyler Reddick responded with vengeance under the lights in the Lone Star state after winning a wild AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 25.

The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led three times for a race-high 70 of 334-scheduled laps in an event mired with multiple single-car incidents stemming from tire failures and a track record of 16 caution periods. A number of Playoff contenders ran into obstacles from start to finish and the race was interrupted by a rain delay that spanned nearly an hour.

When all was said and done, Reddick rallied from making an early unscheduled green flag pit stop and capitalized during a 24-lap dash to the finish to beat Playoff contender Joey Logano, capture his third checkered flag of the season and of his career. With the victory, he spoiled the hopes of the Playoff contenders as a win in the first Round of 12 event would have meant an early pass to the Round of 8.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Brad Keselowski achieved his first pole position of the 2022 season and the first as an owner/drive after posting a pole-winning lap at 188.990 mph in 28.573 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Joey Logano, the highest-starting Playoff contender who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 188.805 mph in 28.601 seconds.

Prior to the event, Justin Haley, Cody Ware and BJ McLeod dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

When the green flag waved and the race started, former teammates Keselowski and Logano dueled for the lead early followed by William Byron. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Logano led the first lap by a hair before Keselowski reassumed the top spot. Byron settled in a close third while Michael McDowell was in fourth ahead of Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott was in seventh while Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez battled for eighth in front of Kyle Larson.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the front-runners settling in a long single-file line, Keselowski was leading by more than a second over Logano followed by Byron, McDowell and Hamlin while Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Suarez and Larson were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was in 11th ahead of rookie Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney while Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick occupied the top 20. While 10 of 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 20, the remaining two that included Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe were in 22nd and 31st, respectively.

Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 25 mark, Keselowski stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Logano while Byron, McDowell and Hamlin remained in the top five. By then, all but one of the 12 Playoff competitors were in the top 20 as Bell was scored in 18th behind Bowman while Briscoe was still mired outside the top 20 in 30th behind teammate Aric Almirola. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace, who made a pit stop under green to address an issue nearing the Lap 15 mark, was in 36th place, dead last, as he had fallen off the lead lap category.

Another seven laps later, Keselowski’s No. 6 RoushParts.com Ford Mustang went up the racetrack in Turn 1. This allowed Logano to move his No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford Mustang into the lead. Shortly after, Byron moved his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Keselowski fell back to third.

Then on Lap 40, the first caution of the event flew when Martin Truex Jr., who was running in ninth, slipped sideways and spun off of Turn 4 as he made light contact with the rear of his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry. During the first caution period, the leaders, led by Logano, pitted and Byron emerged with the lead after exiting and followed by Logano, Elliott, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Larson. Following the first pit stops, Keselowski was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 44, Byron and Logano dueled for the lead and they remained side-by-side for a full lap with Logano ahead by a nose. During the following lap, however, Byron managed to pull ahead while Hamlin prevailed in a battle for third place over Elliott, who soon lost two spots to Kyle Busch and Larson.

On Lap 49, the caution returned when Kyle Busch, who was eliminated from Playoff contention last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway and was running in fourth place, slipped sideways and backed his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry hard into the outside wall off of Turn 4 as the field scattered to avoid hitting Busch. Despite getting his car re-ignited, Busch was quick to nurse his car to the garage and retire in 36th place, dead last. During the caution period, some of the drivers, including, Cindric, Landon Cassill, rookie Todd Gilliland and BJ McLeod pitted while the rest, led by Byron, remained on the track.

During the following restart on Lap 54, Byron engaged in another side-by-side battle with Logano as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Just as the field returned to the frontstretch, where Byron was back out in front, the caution flew when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Ty Dillon and was sent sideways from the middle of the track through the frontstretch grass while keeping his car intact. During the caution period, Noah Gragson, BJ McLeod and Stenhouse pitted while the rest, led by Byron, remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 60, Byron managed to pull away from Logano as Hamlin successfully made a bid for the runner-up spot in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry on Logano. Behind, Larson, who briefly challenged Logano for third, was quickly overtaken by Reddick before settling in front of Elliott and Bell. A few laps later, a heated side-by-side battle for third place occurred between Logano and Reddick before the latter prevailed.

At the Lap 75 mark, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Reddick, Larson and Logano while Elliott, Bell, Chastain, Buescher and Suarez were in the top 10. Bowman was in 11th ahead of Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Harvick and Truex while McDowell, the Dillon brothers, Haley and Cindric were in the top 20. By then, all but one of the 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 20 on the track with Briscoe in 21st followed by Keselowski.

Three laps later, the caution returned when Playoff competitor Bell fell off the pace in Turn 1 after cutting a right-rear tire. Just behind him, Cole Custer veered into the outside wall in Turn 1 after he too cut a right-rear tire. While Bell continued, Custer dropped out of the event. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Blaney, pitted while the rest, led by Byron, remained on the track.

During another restart on Lap 83, the field fanned out to three lanes entering the first turn as Byron fended off Hamlin to retain the lead while Larson and Reddick battled for third. Behind, Logano and Elliott fended off Chastain in fifth and sixth while Bowman started to close in on eighth place. Three laps later, Byron briefly lost momentum after getting loose entering Turn 2. This allowed Hamlin to assume the lead followed by Reddick as Larson would overtake teammate Byron for third place during the following lap. Then on Lap 88, the battle for the lead ignited as Larson gained a strong run through the first two turns before overtaking both Hamlin and Reddick to assume the lead for the first time.

With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, Larson was out in front by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Reddick, Byron and Logano while Elliott settled in sixth ahead of Chastain, Bowman, Buescher and Suarez.

Two laps later, the caution flew when Bowman, a Playoff contender who was running in the top 10, snapped sideways entering Turn 4 and slapped the outside wall and slowly nursed his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road with damage. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Reddick pitted while the rest, led by Larson, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Buescher was penalized for removing equipment from his pit box.

With three laps remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Larson and Hamlin dueled for the lead while Chastain made a bold move beneath Byron to move up to fourth place behind Logano while teammate Suarez joined the battle. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Larson was clear out in front while Hamlin went to work to fend off Logano, Suarez, Chastain and Byron for second place.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 105, Larson, who made contact with Hamlin to retain the lead, captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Hamlin charged his way into second followed by Logano, Suarez, Chastain, Byron, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Cindric and McDowell. By then, seven of the 12 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while Elliott, Blaney, Bell, Briscoe and Bowman were scored in 13th, 20th, 21st, 27th and 34th, respectively. In addition, Bowman was able to continue following repairs to his car but was eight laps behind the leaders.

Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Larson, pitted, while the rest, led by Stenhouse, who last pitted on Lap 57, remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 111 with Stenhouse and McDowell occupying the front row. At the start, Stenhouse retained the lead over McDowell while Reddick made a bold three-wide move to move into third place before being overtaken by rookie Harrison Burton in between Turns 3 and 4. During the following lap, Stenhouse was out in front of the field while Reddick challenged and overtook both Burton and McDowell for the runner-up spot. In addition, Elliott challenged Erik Jones for fifth place while Truex, Wallace and Bell were in the top 10.

Then on Lap 116, Reddick made an unscheduled pit stop under green and fell out of the lead lap category.

Back on the track on Lap 120, Stenhouse retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Burton as Elliott started to close in on the two leaders. Behind, Erik Jones was in fourth while Truex occupied fifth place. Three laps later, the No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang piloted by Harrison Burton moved into the lead. Elliott also quickly darted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Stenhouse was left to fend off Erik Jones and Truex for third.

Through the first 135 scheduled laps, Burton was leading by nearly half a second over Elliott followed by Erik Jones, Truex and Stenhouse while Wallace, Bell, Blaney, Gragson and Larson occupied the top 10. McDowell, Austin Dillon, Byron, Keselowski and Hamlin were scored in the top 15 followed by Ty Dillon, Harvick, Chastain, Buescher and Logano.

Two laps later, the caution returned when Bell, who lost a tire, slipped sideways entering Turn 4 and pounded the outside wall hard before spinning his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry below the apron and limping back to his pit stall with damage. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Burton pitted. Elliott exited with the top spot followed by Chastain, Erik Jones, Wallace, Truex and Hamlin. During the pit stops, Burton, who came in as the leader, endured a slow pit stop when a fire ignited in his pit box while his crew members were trying to change the left-side tires. In the process, Burton attempted to pull away, but he came to a stop when realizing that the left-rear tire on his car was not secured. By the time he returned to the track, he was scored in 32nd place and a lap down.

At the start of the following restart on Lap 141, Elliott and Chastain duked for the lead while Blaney made a bold three-wide move in a bid for a spot in the top five over Truex and Hamlin. As the field jostled for positions, Elliott retained the lead while Chastain was left to fend off Erik Jones for second place. Behind, Blaney overtook Wallace in fourth place as he launched his bid for second place.

By Lap 150, Elliott was leading by six-tenths of a second over Chastain followed by Blaney, Erik Jones and Truex while Wallace, Larson, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Byron were in the top 10. Behind, Suarez was in 11th ahead of Gragson, Harvick, Keselowski and McDowell while Buescher, Logano, Ty Dillon, Cindric and Stenhouse were running in the top 20. While Briscoe was outside of the top 20, Bell, who was involved in the latest incident, became the first Playoff competitor to retire from the race in 34th place.

At the halfway mark on Lap 167, Elliott continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Chastain followed by Blaney, Larson, Erik Jones, Truex, Wallace, Austin Dillon, Byron and Hamlin. By then, half of the 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 and 10 were running inside the top 20. With Bell out of the race, Briscoe was in 26th place behind Corey LaJoie.

Just then, the caution flew for a scary single-car wreck when Cody Ware, who got loose and pounded the outside wall hard in Turn 4, darted his damaged No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford Mustang through the frontstretch grass and toward pit road at full speed. He then smacked against the pit road wall near Alex Bowman’s pit stall and came to a full stop in BJ McLeod’s pit box with extensive front-nose damage.

With the field remaining on the track under a cautious pace, the safety workers went to work on assisting Ware out of his car, with the driver managing to climb out before being placed on a stretcher and into an ambulance for further medical evaluation. Rick Ware Racing would eventually release a statement, noting Ware showed no fractures upon X-rays and was released from the infield care center following treatment but was experiencing discomfort in one of his ankles.

Following an extensive cleanup period on pit road, where Ware’s car was towed away, some of the drivers, led by Chastain, pitted while the rest, led by Elliott, remained on the track. Prior to the restart, Larson, who initially pitted for two right-side tires, pitted again for fresh left-side tires.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 177, Elliott and Blaney dueled for the lead as the former retained the top spot. Behind, Erik Jones was in third ahead of Wallace while Suarez battled Austin Dillon for fifth place. In addition, Reddick battled and overtook Gragson for seventh as Chastain joined the battle.

Seven laps later, the caution returned when the leader, Elliott. got loose after losing a right-side tire and hit the outside wall in Turn 4 as Blaney barely escaped the wreckage to assume the lead. With the No. 9 Chevrolet bursting in flames and the field fanning out to avoid him, Elliott turned his car into the frontstretch grass before climbing out uninjured and retiring from the event. At the time of caution, Wallace, who had earlier lost momentum and went up the track, had dropped from seventh to 20th.

Down to the final 19 laps of the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Blaney and Suarez dueled for the lead for nearly a full lap until Blaney managed to pull ahead on the inside lane. Behind them, Chastain and Byron battled for third while Austin Dillon was in fifth ahead of Keselowski, teammate Reddick, and McDowell.

During the following lap, Chastain and Byron overtook Suarez for second and third as Blaney retained the lead. Byron would quickly overtake Chastain for second while Reddick, who was in seventh, got loose and went up the track as he plummeted to 18th.

With 13 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Chris Buescher, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Bristol Motor Speedway, got loose and spun entering Turn 4 as he slid through the frontstretch grass, though he managed to straighten his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang and continue without sustaining any significant damage. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Almirola, Harvick and Larson, pitted while the rest, led by Blaney, remained on the track.

During the following restart with nine laps remaining in the second stage, Blaney and Byron battled for the lead ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain and Suarez while Austin Dillon was in fifth ahead of Keselowski and McDowell. A few laps later, Blaney was out in front while Chastain overtook Byron for second place. Behind, Keselowski battled and passed Suarez for fourth as the field behind continued to jostle for positions.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 210, Blaney captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second while Byron, Keselowski, Suarez, Austin Dillon, Cindric, Logano, Truex and McDowell were scored in the top 10. By then, half of 12 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 with a total of nine still racing on the lead lap while the remaining three (Bowman, Elliott and Bell) were scored outside of the top 30.

Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Blaney, pitted, while the rest, led by McDowell and Erik Jones, remained on the track.

Then with 114 laps remaining, the field led by McDowell, who was missing fourth gear in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang, was led to pit road and the race was placed in a red flag period due to a weather delay and with reports of light rain around the circuit.

Following a rain delay that lasted 56 minutes, the field returned to the track under a cautious pace and the final stage started with 111 laps remaining as McDowell and Erik Jones occupied the front row. At the start, McDowell and Jones dueled for the lead for a full lap. Then during the following lap, Jones got into the outside wall in Turn 2 as McDowell cleared the field with the lead. Jones, however, retained second while trying to fend off Reddick with Harrison Burton and Buescher in the top five.

With 108 laps remaining, Reddick, who rallied from his early unscheduled pit stop under green while running toward the front, took the lead for the first time. Not long after, Jones overtook McDowell for second followed by Buescher while Harvick battled Burton for fifth place in front of Justin Haley.

Eight laps later and down to the final 100 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Erik Jones while third-place Buescher trailed by more than a second. McDowell was in fourth followed by Harvick while Byron was the highest-running Playoff contender in sixth place. Burton, Keselowski, Haley and Truex were scored in the top 10 while Briscoe was up in 11th in front of teammate Aric Almirola, Gragson, Chastain, Blaney, Logano, Larson, Ty Dillon, Suarez and Austin Dillon. Meanwhile, Hamlin was back in 22nd, Cindric was in 25th and Bowman was in 31st, eight laps down.

Then with 92 laps remaining, the caution returned when the third-place running competitor, Buescher, slapped the outside wall in Turn 4 and slowly crept around the circuit with damage and a flat right-rear tire. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Reddick, pitted, while the rest, led by Harvick, remained on the track.

At the start of the following restart with 87 laps remaining, Harvick fended off Truex to lead the field entering the backstretch while Burton and Byron battled for third in front of Chastain and the field.

Another five laps later, the record-tying 13th caution flag of the event flew when race leader Harvick slipped sideways and pounded the outside wall entering Turn 4 after his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang cut a right-rear tire. With Harvick’s car sliding toward the middle of the turn, he was dodged by the field before he limped his car back to pit road for repairs. During the caution period, some of the field pitted while the rest, led by Truex and Byron, remained on the track.

When the race restarted with 76 laps remaining, Truex muscled ahead with the lead ahead of Byron while Hamlin and Austin Dillon battled for third in front of Larson and Blaney.

With less than 70 laps remaining, Truex continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon, who muscled his way towards the front and started to close in on Truex for the lead, followed by Hamlin while Byron fell back to fourth in front of teammate Larson.

Then, with 66 laps remaining, the record-breaking 14th caution flew when race leader, Truex, lost a tire and went dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 3 as his car slid below the apron and came to rest with significant right-side damage. Amid Truex’s wreck, Byron, who was displeased with Hamlin running him out of room, bumped and spun Hamlin while battling for third place on the frontstretch, which prompted Hamlin to retaliate under caution as he tried to hit and turn Byron on the backstretch.

During the caution period, some, led by Austin Dillon, who initially took the lead, pitted, while the rest, led by Stenhouse, remained on the track.

With 58 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Stenhouse and Gilliland battled for the lead. Gilliland assumed the lead and led a lap but Stenhouse reassumed the top spot during the following lap as Reddick closed in and challenged the two leaders. Behind, Briscoe and Logano battled for fourth and to be the highest-running Playoff competitor on the track while Cindric and Haley battled for sixth in front of Chastain, Suarez and Byron.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick, who captured the top spot three laps earlier, was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Stenhouse while Logano overtook Gilliland for third. Briscoe was in fifth ahead of Cindric, Haley, McDowell, Chastain and Blaney. By then, only five of 12 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 with nine still scored on the lead lap.

Sixteen laps later, the caution flew when Stenhouse, running in third place in front of Gilliland, slipped sideways and backed his No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the outside wall in the backstretch. As Stenhouse’s car veered from the top to the bottom lane, Cindric, who was approaching Stenhouse at full speed, veered his car to the left to avoid Stenhouse, but ended up spinning his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang on the bottom lane, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage. During the caution period, Chastain, Erik Jones, the Dillon brothers, Harvick, Corey LaJoie, Landon Cassill and Garrett Smithley pitted while the rest, led by Reddick, remained on the track.

Just as the field restarted with 29 laps remaining under green, the caution, however, quickly returned when Almirola spun entering Turn 2 with Chastain sustaining minor damage to his car.

When the race proceeded under green with 24 laps remaining, Reddick and Logano battled for the lead as the field behind fanned out. Shortly after, Reddick assumed full command with the top spot while Haley, Briscoe and McDowell battled for third.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Reddick continued to lead by more than a second over runner-up Logano and third-place Haley as Blaney and Briscoe occupied the top five. Keselowski, Byron and Erik Jones were in sixth through eighth while Larson, who briefly lost momentum a few laps earlier, was back in ninth in front of Hamlin.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick remained the leader by more than a second over Logano. With Logano unable to narrow his deficit in a single lap, Reddick was able to navigate his way back to the frontstretch, preserve his tires when it mattered most and streak across the finish line to cap off a wild event with the victory.

Reddick’s victory meant that the first four events of the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs have been won by competitors not eligible for this year’s championship battle. The Californian was eliminated from transferring out of the Round of 16 by two points. The Texas victory also marked Reddick’s third career victory of his Cup career and of this season, making him the second competitor overall to achieve three-plus victories this season, along with Chase Elliott.

The victory comes more than a week after Reddick, who will be replaced by Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Chevrolet for the upcoming season, was revealed to be remaining at Richard Childress Racing for the 2023 Cup Series season before moving to 23XI Racing in 2024.

“I was extremely worried [about the tires],” Reddick said on USA Network. “I’m not gonna lie. Unfortunately, just about every time I’ve had fast cars, we’ve had some tire problems. That last run, the right sides were vibrating really, really hard there. I was just trying to maximize and just use the advantage of the gap that I built over Joey [Logano], just in case. Every time we’ve had a strong car, we’ve been bit by something. Just really proud to get this Lenovo Chevy to Victory Lane. [The sponsor] deserve to get to Victory Lane. We got them there.”

“We just had two tough races [in the Round of 16],” Reddick added. “We brought a really fast car at Darlington and we were leading at Kansas when we broke and fell out early. It’s tough, but this [win] will make the pain of not making it through [to the Round of 12] a little bit easier, even though, yes, it would’ve locked us into the Round of 8, but hey, we’re winning races. That’s what we’ll keep trying to do. Let’s go!”

Logano, who led 15 laps compared to Reddick’s 70, emerged as the highest-finishing Playoff contender on the track in second place. With his result, Logano sits atop the Playoff standings and is 40 points above the top-12 cutline to transfer to the Round of 8.

“It’s kind of a bittersweet moment,” Logano said. “One side, I’m kind of frustrated that [the finish] was like that and maybe, we would’ve had a shot to beat [Reddick]. On the other hand, I’m just happy to finish the race and get a bunch of points with the AAA Mustang and have something for [the field] going to the next few races. We did what we had to do. We had to score a bunch of points. We did that, put ourselves in the point lead. Still not comforting, but it’s better than being further back. We’ll figure out how we want to run Talladega now. Overall, you got to be happy with that.”

Justin Haley achieved his second top-five result of the season by finishing third while Blaney and Briscoe completed the top five on the track. Erik Jones, Byron, Keselowski, Larson and Hamlin completed the top 10 on the track.

Overall, half of the 12 Playoff competitors finished in the top 10 with nine finishing on the lead lap.

There were 36 lead changes for 19 different leaders. The race featured a track-record 16 cautions for 91 laps.

Results.

1. Tyler Reddick, 70 laps led

2. Joey Logano, 15 laps led

3. Justin Haley

4. Ryan Blaney, 29 laps led, Stage 2 winner

5. Chase Briscoe

6. Erik Jones, one lap led

7. William Byron, 42 laps led

8. Brad Keselowski, 31 laps led

9. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

10. Denny Hamlin, two laps led

11. Michael McDowell, 12 laps led

12. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

13. Ross Chastain, one lap led

14. Corey LaJoie

15. Austin Cindric, three laps led

16. Ty Dillon

17. Austin Dillon, three laps led

18. Harrison Burton, 15 laps led

19. Kevin Harvick, nine laps led

20. Ty Gibbs

21. Noah Gragson

22. Landon Cassill

23. Garrett Smithley

24. Aric Almirola

25. Bubba Wallace

26. BJ McLeod, one lap down, one lap led

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down, 23 laps led

28. Todd Gilliland, one lap down, one lap led

29. Alex Bowman, five laps down

30. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

31. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident, 15 laps led

32. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, 44 laps led

33. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident

34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Dvp

35. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

36. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Joey Logano +30

2. Ross Chastain +29

3. William Byron +17

4. Kyle Larson +16

5. Ryan Blaney +15

6. Denny Hamlin +8

7. Chase Elliott +4

8. Daniel Suarez +4

9. Chase Briscoe -4

10. Austin Cindric -11

11. Christopher Bell -29

12. Alex Bowman -30

The Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway for a 500-mile feature on Sunday, October 2. The event is scheduled to commence at 2. p.m. ET on NBC.

September 25, 2022
Erik Jones steals the show with a surprise win at Darlington

Erik Jones slid under the radar to win the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway as everyone else was focused on the drivers who were competing in the Playoffs.

And, he did it in style, capturing the 200th win for the 43 number that was made famous by NASCAR’s “King,” Richard Petty.

It was Jones’ third career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series and his second Southern 500 victory.

“We’ve been so close all year, and I didn’t think today was going to be the day,” he said. It was going to be a tough one to win, I knew, but no better fitting place. I love this track. I love this race. On that trophy twice, man. I was pumped to be on it once, but to have it on there twice — pretty cool.

Well, I mean, I never lost any belief in myself through any of it,” Jones continued. “I knew I could still do it, and I just knew we needed to grow the program to do it, and we have. We’ve brought on a lot of great people in the last year. Dave Elenz called a great race today. His first Cup win — that’s pretty cool for him.

“I’m excited, man. We’ve been talking about this day for a long time, and it is redemption in a lot of ways. Very fitting that it’s here at this race again. I felt like this was the race that saved my job the first time around, and coming back here with this win, I guess it puts you back on the map.”

The Track Too Tough To Tame lived up to its moniker in a tumultuous race that included 21 lead changes among 11 different drivers and nine cautions for 58 laps.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin finished second and his teammate, Christopher Bell, was scored in fifth place. Tyler Reddick was third in his No. 8 Richard Childress Chevrolet and Team Penske driver Joey Logano was fourth.

But not all of the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers were as fortunate as Hamlin and Bell. Kyle Busch saw a potential win slip away after leading a race-high 155 laps when his engine blew and he had to settle for a 30th place result.

“Real proud of the guys for their fight,” Busch said. “The guys on pit road tonight were awesome. So I had a lot of fun being up front, leading laps like that, being able to show what we’re made of. I just hate that we can’t finish with the points we need.”

Busch’s teammate, Martin Truex Jr., didn’t make the Playoffs, but ran strong throughout the race, leading 48 laps before he suffered a power steering failure.

One of the biggest surprises was Chase Elliott who entered the Playoffs on top but spun toward the end of Stage 1 and damaged the back of his No. 9 Chevrolet. The team was unable to make repairs within the time frame of the damaged vehicle policy and he was relegated to a last-place finish.

“I just hit the wall in (Turns) 1 and 2 and broke something in the right rear,” Elliott said. And, when asked how he would approach the next playoff race at Kansas Speedway? “A lot better than we did today.”

Elliott leaves Darlington Raceway in ninth place in the playoff standings.

Kevin Harvick was another driver who left Darlington frustrated and angry after a fire in his car put him on the sidelines with a disappointing 33rd-place finish.

When asked by NBC Sports’ Marty Snider what caused the fire, Harvick said, “I’m sure it’s just crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times. They haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the safety stuff. We just let it keep going and keep going.

“The car started burning and as it burned the flames started coming through the dash. I ran a couple of laps and then as the flame got bigger it started burning stuff up and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out the brakes and part of the brake line, but the fire was coming through the dash.

“What a disaster for no reason. We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burned-up car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of crappy-ass parts.”

Drivers Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe and Harvick are the four drivers who are now below the cut line with two races remaining in the Round of 16.

Next week the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 as the Playoffs continue.

September 5, 2022
Austin Dillon wins and clinches 2022 Cup Series Playoff berth at Daytona

Facing a “must-win” scenario to retain his championship hopes for the 2022 season, Austin Dillon survived a whirlwind of a day to execute his lone mission of the day: winning to advance to the Cup Series Playoffs, which he did in the rain-postponed Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, August 28.

The 32-year-old Dillon from Welcome, North Carolina, led twice for 10 of 160-scheduled laps overall. He threw himself in race-winning contention after dodging the Big One with 23 laps remaining while ironically rallying from being involved in an earlier multi-car wreck with 36 laps remaining, where he slid his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways and backwards through pit road. Shortly after taking the lead, the race was placed in a red flag period due to rain for three hours and 19 minutes. When the race restarted for a 16-lap dash to the finish, Dillon lost the lead to rookie Austin Cindric at the start. Thirteen laps later, however, contact between Cindric and Dillon enabled the latter to reassume the top spot, where he had teammate Tyler Reddick drafting him amid a small pack of competitors. With his teammate behind him and no late challenges emerging from behind over the final three laps, Dillon was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first elusive checkered flag of the 2022 Cup Series season and race his way into the Playoffs.

In the midst of the late turn of events with Dillon winning, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr., both of whom were involved in separate multi-car incidents of their own, were left to battle amongst one another for the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs. At the conclusion of the event, Blaney claimed the final spot to the Playoffs with a top-15 finish by a mere margin over Truex, who ended up in the top 10.

With on-track qualifying that would determine the starting lineup initially scheduled for Friday but cancelled due to rain, Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Watkins Glen International, was awarded the pole position based on a metric qualifying formula per NASCAR’s rulebook. Joining him on the front row was teammate Chase Elliott, the 2022 Cup regular-season champion.

When the green flag waved and the race started on Sunday morning after rain postponed the event from its original starting time from Saturday night, Larson briefly jumped ahead with an early advantage on the outside entering the first turn, but teammate Elliott received a strong push from Joey Logano and a bevy of competitors on the inside lane through the first two turns to launch ahead. With the inside lane gaining the advantage for a full lap, Elliott proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Logano, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Michael McDowell while Larson was mired back in seventh.

Two laps later, Elliott continued to lead ahead of Logano and Bell while Larson, the first competitor on the outside lane, moved up to fourth as the outside lane started to gain momentum towards the competitors on the inside lane.

Five laps into the event, Elliott’s No. 9 Adrenaline Shoc Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was leading a long line of competitors on the inside lane while Logano, Bell, Harvick and McDowell were in the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Cole Custer, Larson, Daniel Suarez and William Byron were scored in the top 10, with Larson remaining as the first competitor leading the outside lane.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the field fanning out to three tight-packed lanes, Elliott retained the lead ahead of Logano, Bell, Harvick and McDowell. Meanwhile, Larson, who was placed in a four-wide situation entering the backstretch and was shuffled all the way outside of the top 20 earlier, was trying to carve his way back to the front as he was scored in 20th while drafting teammate Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney on the outside lane.

Four laps later, trouble ensued for Larson as he fell off the pace entering the first turn and slowly limped his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to pit road and to the garage as he retired due to an engine issue. During Larson’s on-track issue, he stalled rookie Austin Cindric’s progress within the pack when he fell off the pace as Cindric lost the draft and was mired all the way back in 39th, eight seconds behind the leaders.

Back on the track and at the Lap 20 mark, Elliott retained the lead of the overall event on the inside lane while Erik Jones started to gain a strong run on the outside lane with drafting help from Denny Hamlin and a bevy of competitors. Not long after, a side-by-side battle for the lead commenced between Elliott and Jones as Jones continued to receive a draft from Hamlin in a bid for the lead while Elliott remained in front of Logano’s front nose to fight back and retain a narrow advantage.

Ten laps later, Erik Jones, who led the previous five of 10 laps following his side-by-side duel against Elliott, was out in front and with clean air on the inside lane followed by Hamlin, Elliott, Blaney, and Logano while Bell, Corey LaJoie, Harvick, rookie Harrison Burton and McDowell were in the top 10. By then, Cindric was lapped by the field.

Just then on Lap 30, the first caution of the event flew when Hamlin, who nearly got Jones sideways entering the backstretch, slipped sideways in his No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota TRD Camry and triggered a chain reaction wreck that involved teammate Bell, Keselowski, Harvick and Blaney while everyone else scattered to avoid the calamity. The incident moved Truex, who dodged the incident, up to 15th place in the regular-season standings while Blaney, who lost multiple lanes on pit lane for repairs after damaging the right front of his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang, fell back towards the edge of the cutline in 16th place in the standings and in jeopardy of not making the postseason in the case of a new winner. The incident also eliminated Keselowski from Playoff contention amid a disappointing campaign in his first season as a driver/co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field pitted while names like Elliott, Harrison Burton, Logano, Truex, BJ McLeod, Noah Gragson and Kyle Busch remained on the track.

With a single lap remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Elliott jumped ahead on the inside lane while Logano received drafting help from Truex on the outside lane to challenge for the lead. Logano then moved in front of Elliott to assume the lead. As Elliott tried to move to the outside lane of Logano to reassume the lead exiting the backstretch, Logano managed to maintain his advantage on the inside lane through the final two turns and beat Elliott back to the start/finish line to claim the first stage victory on Lap 35, thus claiming his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season. Elliott settled in second followed by Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, Truex, LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones and McDowell. By then, Blaney was mired back in 34th and three laps behind the leaders.

Under the stage break, some led by Logano pitted while the rest led by LaJoie, who pitted prior to the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear for running over equipment. Prior to the restart, names like Chase Briscoe, Gragson, Truex, Elliott and Kyle Busch returned to pit road to top off on fuel.

The second stage started on Lap 40 as LaJoie and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, LaJoie and Wallace dueled for the lead as Wallace had drafting help from Erik Jones while LaJoie was getting drafted by Stenhouse. Following a side-by-side battle for nearly a full lap, Wallace assumed command on the outside lane. Not long after, a third drafting line formed as Christopher Buescher launched his bid for the lead. As Wallace moved up the track to stall Buescher’s progress, Erik Jones moved into the lead with drafting help from LaJoie, who soon moved to the inside of Jones to challenge for the lead. By then, the field fanned out the three tight-packed lanes as LaJoie moved into the lead despite being challenged by Jones and Buescher.

Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Erik Jones, who reassumed the lead on Lap 46, was leading ahead of Wallace, Buescher and a number of competitors on the outside lane while LaJoie was leading the charge on the inside lane. Shortly after, Wallace was shuffled out of the lead pack and Jones lost the lead as Buescher moved to the lead with drafting help from LaJoie. By then, Ty Gibbs, who remained as an interim competitor in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota TRD Camry for Kurt Busch, was lapped by the field.

Ten laps later, Erik Jones, who led the previous seven of 10 laps, was out in front ahead of Byron and Buescher while Bowman issued his challenge for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Hamlin. By then, Blaney, who was a lap down at the start of the second stage, was lapped for a second time by the field with a flapped hood amid his early wreck.

Another five laps later, Hamlin, who rallied from his early incident, was leading for the first time ahead of Logano, Burton, Kyle Busch, Daniel Hemric and Ross Chastain while Jones, who fell back into the top 10, remained as the first competitor on the inside lane ahead of Byron. Meanwhile, Buescher was shuffled all the way back to 27th.

Nearing the Lap 70 mark, Erik Jones drifted his No. 43 Focus Factor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 towards the rear of the rear while bailing out of the lead pack as Hamlin continued to lead ahead of Logano, Burton, Kyle Busch and Justin Haley. By then, Gilliland was in sixth followed by Harvick, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Chastain while Bowman, Byron, Hemric, LaJoie, Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Truex, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer and Cindric were in the top 20.

Six laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops ensued as Toyota competitors Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Truex peeled off the track to pit for fuel. Another two laps later, the rest of the field led by Logano pitted for fuel as Logano was the first competitor to exit pit road. Amid the pit stops and with the event reaching its halfway mark on Lap 80, McLeod was leading ahead of Elliott, Reddick, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Burton and the rest of the field.

By Lap 81, however, Elliott was back out in front before he was overtaken by Reddick with drafting help from Kyle Busch during the following lap. By then, the Toyota competitors that included Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Truex and Wallace cycled their way towards the top five after pitting two laps earlier than the field.

At the Lap 90 mark, Kyle Busch and Reddick, both of whom led a combined six of the previous 10 laps, were locked dead even for the lead before Reddick assumed command with drafting help from Elliott as the field began to stack up in two tight-packed lanes. By then, Gibbs and Blaney were lapped by the field, with Gibbs five laps behind the leaders while Blaney was now six laps behind.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Kyle Busch fended off the field through multiple lanes in his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry to claim his second stage victory of the season. Teammate Truex edged teammate Hamlin and Logano in a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot while Wallace, Gilliland, Reddick, Harvick, Stenhouse and Austin Dillon were scored in the top 10. By then, Elliott was shuffled all the way back to 16th while Blaney was mired in 34th and six laps behind the leaders.

Under the stage break, names like Ty Dillon, Buescher and McLeod remained on the track while the rest led by Kyle Busch pitted. During the pit stops, Busch was penalized for speeding on pit road. Prior to the start of the final stage, names like Ty Dillon, McLeod, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Gragson, Suarez and Blaney returned to pit road for service.

With 60 laps remaining, the final stage started as McDowell, who assumed the lead after only opting for fuel, and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, McDowell emerged out in front with drafting help from Logano on the inside lane before Logano pulled out on the outside lane and took the lead with drafting help from teammate Cindric.

A lap later, the caution returned when McDowell got hooked off the front nose of Reddick in the backstretch as he slapped the outside wall and veered back across the superspeedway before clipping LaJoie and triggering another multi-car wreck that involved Chastain, Buescher and Byron. Among those involved included Truex, who slowly limped his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry back to pit road with right-front fender damage. In the midst of the wreck, McDowell’s Playoff hopes came to an end as he was unable to continue.

With 53 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchens Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 received drafting help from Stenhouse’s No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the outside lane while Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang retained the lead as he received drafting help from Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the inside lane. Reddick was able to lead the following lap before Logano reassume the top spot the lap after.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick and Logano dueled for the lead followed by Stenhouse, Bowman, Wallace, Cindric, Briscoe, Hamlin, Custer, Burton and a bevy of competitors with potential weather threats looming near the superspeedway.

A few laps later, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as Reddick retained the lead ahead of Wallace, Logano and Bowman while moving from the inside to the outside lane to preserve his narrow advantage. As Reddick tried to fend off Wallace and the field with the lead, Bowman made his move into the lead with 46 laps remaining as he received drafting help from Stenhouse and Logano.

With 40 laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead the race and a long line of competitors on the outside lane followed by Stenhouse, Logano, Briscoe and Custer. On the inside lane, Kyle Busch was in seventh with drafting help from Toyota teammates Wallace and Hamlin. By then, Truex, who remained on the lead lap, was in 26th while Blaney, who remained six laps behind the leaders, was mired back in 30th.

Four laps later and just as Logano reassumed the lead from Bowman with drafting help from Briscoe, the caution flew when Briscoe, who moved from the bottom to the outside lane entering the frontstretch, got loose off the front nose of Bowman as he spun and veered back into the outside wall in front of a bevy of competitors on the outside lane. In the midst of his incident and spin, Briscoe’s No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang briefly came off the ground before his car came to a rest in the frontstretch grass. Among those involved included Bowman, Custer, Stenhouse, Gilliland, Wallace and Austin Dillon, who spun his No. 3 BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through pit road, as Wallace, who slid through the frontstretch grass, emerged with left-front fender damage to his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. In the midst of the incident, some like Wallace and Dillon continued while the rest including Briscoe were eliminated from title contention.

During the caution period, names like Justin Haley, Erik Jones and McLeod remained on the track while the rest led by Logano pitted.

With 30 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Haley received a draft from Logano to retain the lead before Erik Jones started to gain momentum on the outside lane. Entering the backstretch, however, the caution returned when Erik Jones slipped off the front nose of Almirola and veered into the path of Logano as both spun below the backstretch and were dodged by the field. In the midst of the incident, Aric Almirola emerged in the runner-up spot behind Haley while Daniel Suarez, Buescher and Elliott were in the top five. In addition, Truex was in 14th while Blaney was mired in 29th and still six laps behind the leaders.

Four laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Haley fended off both lanes to retain the lead as Suarez issued his challenge for the lead on the inside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch while Almirola was on the outside lane with drafting help from Buescher.

Another lap later, Suarez moved to the outside of Haley through the frontstretch as he moved into the lead with drafting help from Almirola while Haley fell back to third in front of Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Shortly after, a stack-up through the backstretch allowed Hamlin to challenge Suarez for the top spot.

Just then and with 23 laps remaining, the caution returned when nearly the entire field led by Suarez and Hamlin slipped sideways and wrecked in Turn 1 as rain was being reported around the superspeedway venue. Amid the late turns of events and with nearly everyone running towards the lead pack wrecked, Austin Dillon, who was running in the middle of the pack but dodged his wrecked fellow competitors while running below the apron, emerged out in front with the lead followed by Kevin Harvick, Cindric, Cody Ware and Kyle Busch while Truex, Landon Cassill, David Ragan, McLeod and Noah Gragson were scored in the top 10.

Two laps later, the field led by Austin Dillon were led to pit road and the race was red-flagged due to inclement weather and with rain falling amid dark clouds and a shining sun.

Following a delay of three hours and 19 minutes as the track was dried out amid the extensive rain delay, the red flag was lifted and the field returned to the track under a cautious pace. Meanwhile, Harvick, who was in second during the red flag delay, retired and had his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang towed back to the garage after sustaining terminal damage from the Big One prior to the red flag period. Harrison Burton also retired after failing to maintain speed under the damage vehicle policy as the number of lead lap competitors dwindled to 10 led by Austin Dillon.

Down to the final 16 laps of the event, the green flag waved and the race restarted. At the start, Dillon and Cindric briefly dueled for the lead until Cindric received a draft from Truex to launch his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang into the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Cindric retained the lead followed by Austin Dillon and Landon Cassill wile Truex got shuffled back to fourth in front of teammate Kyle Busch and Reddick.

During the following lap, Cindric led a four-car breakaway from the small pack followed by Austin Dillon, Cassill and Truex while Kyle Busch led the small pack ahead of Cody Ware, Reddick, McLeod, Ragan and Gragson. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 11th and a lap behind the leaders while Logano was in 12th, two laps behind. Logano’s teammate Blaney continued to run six laps behind in 18th place.

With 10 laps remaining, Cindric continued to lead ahead of Austin Dillon, Cassill and Gragson, who received drafting help from Reddick to catch the four-car lead pack, while Truex fell back to fifth. Truex soon lost ground of the lead pack as he settled in sixth with Cassill in fifth while Gragson situated himself behind Cindric and Austin Dillon as Reddick settled stabilized himself behind Gragson’s No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Cindric retained the lead ahead of a four-year breakaway from the scattered pack followed by Austin Dillon, Gragson and Reddick while Cassill trailed by two seconds. Truex, meanwhile, stabilized himself in sixth while Ragan, Cody Ware, McLeod and Kyle Busch were in the top 10.

Then with three laps remaining, Austin Dillon got into the rear of Cindric as Cindric slipped sideways below the apron in Turn 1. This allowed Dillon to return to the top of the leaderboard, though he was far ahead of the pack that quickly caught back to him towards the backstretch. Through the backstretch, however, teammate Reddick settled in second behind Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet followed by a hard-charging Cassill, Gragson, Ragan and Cody Ware while Cindric fell back to seventh.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Austin Dillon remained as the leader ahead of teammate Reddick, Cassill, Ragan, Cody Ware, Cindric and Gragson. Entering the first two turns and through the frontstretch, Dillon and Reddick continued to run first and second followed by Ware. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Cindric made his move to the outside of Ware for third place. He, however, could not gain any further drafting help from behind. This allowed Dillon to return to the frontstretch with a clear racetrack and no challenges from behind as he stormed across the finish line in first place and victorious ahead of Reddick and Cindric.

By winning at Daytona in a “must-win” scenario, Austin Dillon notched his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his second at Daytona after winning the 2018 Daytona 500 and his first Cup victory since winning at Texas Motor Speedway in July 2020. Above all, he raced his way into the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs, which marked his fifth overall appearance in the Playoffs and first following a one-year absence.

“Crazy faith,” Dillon said on NBC. “We stayed ready. I got to thank my teammate Tyler Reddick, BREZTRI, Bass Pro Shops. Everybody that makes this thing happen. Man, we’re in the Playoffs. There was a lot going on there [at the end]. I knew that if we got to the white [flag], if I waited too long, I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us, so I wanted to go ahead and get the lead. We were able to get it. I had a big run to [Cindric] and then, I had my teammate back there. I knew we were in pretty good shape to the end. He did a good job checking up any kind of run. I felt like I had good teammates and Chevrolet behind me. If I could get the lead, [Cindric] would not be able to hold onto the draft. It’s crazy. You just never give up and have faith. We had some tough finishes this year like Charlotte [in May]. I beat myself over that. I made a good move and just didn’t finish it off. Today, we finished it off. I’m so proud of these guys and I’m glad to be going to Victory Lane.”

Teammate Reddick, who already solidified his spot in the 2022 Playoffs by virtue of winning twice throughout the regular-season stretch, came home in second place as he made it a 1-2 finish for Richard Childress Racing while RCR secured both competitors into the Playoffs. Cindric, who won the Daytona 500 in February and is a 2022 Cup Playoff newcomer, rallied for third place while Cassill and Gragson, both of whom were ineligible for the Playoffs but seeking their first victory in NASCAR’s premier series, finished in the top five.

“I got hit by another race car going 190-200 mph,” Cindric said. “Glad I saved it. Glad I had a shot to come back through the field. [Dillon] is racing for a playoff spot. Totally expect to get drove through. Just a matter of time. Pretty bummed. I mean, we had a shot to win today. We put ourselves in position. Not a scratch on [the car]. Dang it. I knew I was a sitting duck. I felt like I was Xfinity racing again. I was the only Ford out there. One lap longer, [I] might have had a shot. I don’t know. Just frustrating just to be that close. Kind of pissed about it, but can’t be too upset. In the Playoffs and have a lot to fight for. Great opportunity.”

Cody Ware, McLeod, Truex, Ragan and Kyle Busch finished in the top 10.

Meanwhile and amid the late turn of events on the track, Blaney finished 15th while still six laps behind the leaders while Truex, who lost the draft and could not gain any momentum towards the frontstretch, ended up ninth. In the end, Blaney was the beneficiary as he claimed the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by three points over Truex. The result extended Blaney’s consecutive seasons of making the Cup Playoffs to six seasons, thus ensuring all three Team Penske cars in the Playoffs, while Truex, the 2017 Cup Series champion, missed the Playoffs for the first time since 2014.

“We’re very fortunate, that’s for sure,” Blaney, who continues to pursue his first victory of the season, said. “It was not a good day get going. You get torn up early and that point, our fate was not really in our hands. All we could do was try to keep working on it and fix it to where we could make laps. Thankfully, we were able to get enough cars throughout the wrecks that we kind of just kept moving up and we were able to get in. That’s definitely a lot more stressful than I wanted coming into here, but I just got to give a lot of props to the No. 12 group for fixing [the car] and sticking with it all day. That’s why you do it. Your day could start off like that and you just stay with them. Stay in the game and it was definitely beneficial for us, so I appreciate them. We’ll go race for a championship…Definitely, a roller coaster of emotions and luckily, it ended on a high for our group.”

“Just not fast enough to keep up with those guys,” Truex said. “We got the restart we needed and got in a decent spot there. Just couldn’t keep up. I was wide open the whole last run there. It’s a shame. It stinks, but just too much damage to have enough speed to do what we needed to do. Hindsight’s always 20/20. We gave away plenty of points throughout the season, but it is what it is.”

Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, rookie Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon have made the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, rookie Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, rookie Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie, Cody Ware and Kurt Busch, who was absent as he continues to recover from concussion-like symptoms, are the remaining competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

There were 39 lead changes for 19 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 30 laps. A total of 17 of 37 starters finished the race, with 10 finishing on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Austin Dillon, 10 laps led

2. Tyler Reddick, 13 laps led

3. Austin Cindric, 13 laps led

4. Landon Cassill

5. Noah Gragson

6. Cody Ware

7. BJ McLeod, two laps led

8. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

9. David Ragan

10. Kyle Busch, seven laps led, Stage 2 winner

11. Bubba Wallace, one lap down, two laps led

12. Joey Logano, two laps down, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

13. Ty Gibbs, two laps down

14. Alex Bowman, four laps down, 11 laps led

15. Ryan Blaney, six laps down

16. Cole Custer, seven laps down

17. Erik Jones – OUT, Dvp, 22 laps led

18. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident, one lap led

19. Harrison Burton – OUT, Dvp

20. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident

21. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

23. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

24. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident, two laps led

25. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 13 laps led

26. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

27. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident, one lap led

28. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

29. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, 31 laps led

30. Corey LaJoie, 23 laps down, six laps led

31. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

32. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, two laps led

33. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

34. William Byron – OUT, Accident, one lap led

35. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

37. Kyle Larson – OUT, Engine

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to commence next weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Cook Out Southern 500. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, September 4, at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

August 28, 2022
Harvick shakes up the 2022 Cup Playoff field; snaps two-year winless drought at Michigan

With the start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs looming, the battle for the final transfer spots to the postseason witnessed a major shakeup as Kevin Harvick vaulted himself into the Playoff picture by returning to Victory Lane after winning the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, August 7.

The 2014 Cup Series champion led the final 35 of 200-scheduled laps as he managed to pull away during a 35-lap dash to the finish and beat pole-sitter Bubba Wallace by less than three seconds to snap a 65-race winless drought and capture his first elusive NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2022 season in the Irish Hills. The victory was one that placed Harvick’s name above top-16 cutline to make the Playoffs.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Bubba Wallace achieved the first Cup Series pole position for himself and for 23XI Racing after posting a pole-winning lap at 190.703 mph in 37.755 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Christopher Bell, who posted his best lap at 189.898 mph in 37.915 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started following a one-hour delay due to rain, Wallace received a push from Joey Logano to retain the lead through the first two turns while Logano, Bell and Kyle Busch engaged in a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot. Soon after Logano grabbed the runner-up spot, Tyler Reddick bolted his way in a three-wide move between Bell and Kyle Busch in a bid for third place while Wallace proceeded to lead the first lap.

During the second lap, Wallace maintained the top spot ahead of Logano while Kyle Busch engaged in a tight, side-by-side battle with Reddick for third place in front of Bell and Kyle Larson.

Through the first five laps, Wallace was leading by four-tenths over Logano followed by Reddick, Kyle Busch and Bell while Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Michael McDowell and rookie Austin Cindric were in the top 10. Behind, Kevin Harvick was in 11th ahead of Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain while Noah Gragson, Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe and Chris Buescher occupied the top 20.

At the Lap 10 mark, Wallace continued to lead by more than a second over Reddick. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, Larson and Bell were scored in the top five while Logano, who reported debris on the front grille of his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, had fallen back in sixth ahead of Erik Jones.

When the event reached Lap 20, the first caution flew due to NASCAR establishing a competition caution amid the rain-delayed start. At the time of caution, Wallace retained the lead by more than a second over Reddick while Kyle Busch, Bell and Larson were in the top five. By then, Logano had fallen back to ninth while being overtaken by Erik Jones, Truex and Hamlin. During the competition caution period, some led by Wallace pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 24, Bell and Erik Jones, both of whom did not pit during the competition caution, dueled for the lead until Bell managed to pull ahead on the outside lane. Shortly after, however, the caution flew when JJ Yeley, who appeared to fall off the pace through the first two turns as the field fanned out to avoid Yeley, got hit by Michael McDowell, which triggered a multi-car wreck that involved Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookies Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric, who pounded the outside wall head-on and demolished the front nose of his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang. All competitors involved, including Cindric, emerged uninjured, though big names that included Cindric, Kyle Busch, Almirola and Stenhouse were eliminated from further competition.

Following an extensive caution period, the race proceeded under green on Lap 32. At the start, Bell retained the lead on the outside lane while teammate Denny Hamlin made his way into the runner-up spot over Erik Jones as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Bell captured his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Hamlin trailed in the runner-up spot followed by Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Bell pitted and amid a flurry of different strategies, Chastain exited with the lead followed by Larson, Blaney, Wallace and Harvick. Back on the track, however, Ty Gibbs and Corey LaJoie remained on the track

The second stage started on Lap 51 as Gibbs and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain rocketed his No. 1 AdventHealth Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead on the inside lane. Behind, Gibbs retained the runner-up spot followed by LaJoie, Blaney and the field. Then through the frontstretch and as Blaney took over third place, Erik Jones made a bold four-wide move in a bid for fourth place over Harvick, Larson and LaJoie before he settled behind LaJoie and Larson through the first two turns as Wallace tried to work his way back to the front.

By Lap 60, Chastain was leading by three-tenths of a second over Larson followed by Gibbs, Bell and Blaney while Hamlin, Wallace, Gragson, Erik Jones and Harvick were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Truex was mired back in 11th ahead of Reddick, Byron, Buescher and Bowman while Logano, Elliott, LaJoie, Briscoe and Brad Keselowski were scored in the top 20.

At the Lap 75 mark, Chastain continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin, who overtook teammate Bell on the frontstretch while Noah Gragson, who was making his ninth Cup career start, was scored in fourth place ahead of Larson. Gibbs was back in sixth ahead of Harvick, Wallace, Erik Jones and Truex.

Four laps later, Hamlin used the outside lane to muscle his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry into the lead. In the process, teammate Bell navigated his No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota TRD Camry into the runner-up spot. By then, Wallace outlasted a four-car battle against Reddick, Erik Jones and Truex to move into eighth place.

A few laps later, Noah Gragson and Ty Gibbs, who was substituting for the injured Kurt Busch for a third consecutive event, pitted under green. Cole Custer also pitted not long with a flat left-front tire.

Nearing the Lap 90 mark, Blaney pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang under green along with Harvick and Wallace. Byron would also pit his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 along with Chastain as Hamlin continued to lead. During the pit stops, Chastain was assessed a drive-through penalty for an uncontrolled tire violation when two tires rolled out of his pit box.

Then just as Hamlin pitted along with Larson, Reddick, Truex, Logano, Bell, Elliott, the caution flew on Lap 97 when Cole Custer, who fell off the pace starting in the backstretch, had fire erupting out of the left front of his No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang. Despite the fire, Custer managed to nurse his car back to his pit stall, where he quickly emerged uninjured as his race came to an end.

During the caution period, some like Erik Jones, Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Josh Bilicki, Truex, Larson, Byron and Cody Ware pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

With 15 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restated under green. At the start, Harvick and Hamlin dueled for the lead while Brad Keselowski settled in third ahead of Bell and Larson. Shortly after, Bell overtook Keselowski for third as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. By then, Reddick pitted under green as his No. 8 pit crew popped the hood of his No. 8 Chevrolet open to address a mechanical issue, an issue that would eliminate him from further competition.

Three laps later, the caution returned when Noah Gragson spun after he broke a toe link and slapped the outside wall in Turn 2 as he nursed his No. 16 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road with extensive damage. Under caution, some led by Harvick and Bell pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

With the race restarting under green with seven laps remaining in the second stage, Hamlin managed to pull ahead with the lead as Suarez muscled his way into the runner-up spot over Keselowski and Larson as the field fanned out through the backstretch and back to the frontstretch. As the field continued to jostle for positions, Hamlin pulled away with the lead.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Hamlin captured his third stage victory of the 2022 season. Suarez settled in second followed by Larson, Bell, Keselowski, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Byron and Logano.

Under the stage break, some led by Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Suarez remained on the track. During the pit stops, Larson was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Austin Hill, a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for Richard Childress Racing who was making his Cup Series debut, was penalized for having a crew member jump over the wall too soon.

With 74 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Suarez and Bell occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the first two turns, Suarez managed to fend off Bell to retain the lead while Chastain rallied from his uncontrolled tire violation that pinned him a lap behind to work his way back into third place ahead of Logano and Austin Dillon. Behind, Harvick overtook teammate Chase Briscoe for sixth while Hamlin started to close in while running in eighth place.

Nearing the final 60 laps of the event, the battle for the lead intensified between Suarez and Bell as both dueled dead even for the lead with Chastain closing in. Despite Bell’s intimidation, Suarez maintained the lead by a tenth of a second while Chastain remained in third and trailing by six-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Logano was in fourth ahead of Harvick and Hamlin while Austin Dillon was in seventh ahead of Wallace, Briscoe and Gibbs.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, the battle for the lead continued to intensify as Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain battled for the lead with the former leading the latter. Behind, Hamlin overtook teammate Bell for third place as he continued to power his way to the front while Bubba Wallace, who overtook Logano for sixth place earlier, started to challenge Harvick for fifth, which he succeeded during the following lap. Not long after, Austin Dillon and Briscoe pitted under green.

Then with 45 laps remaining, the cycle of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Buescher pitted. During the following lap, teammates Suarez and Chastain pitted together, with Chastain managing to exit ahead of Suarez, as Hamlin assumed the lead. Harvick would then pit during the following lap.

With 41 laps remaining, trouble ensued in Turn 4 when Chastain, who had just pitted for fresh tires and fuel but a lap behind, made contact with Bell as he sent Bell’s No. 20 Toyota into the outside wall in Turn 4 with Bell’s car suffering significant right-front damage. The incident was enough for NASCAR to display the caution.

Under caution, the majority of the field that had not yet pitted led by Hamlin and Wallace pitted as Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Wallace, Larson, Bowman and Logano. Back on the track, however, Harvick and BJ McLeod remained on the track as Harvick, who pitted prior to the caution and remained on the lead lap, assumed the lead. Following the pit stops, Hamlin was penalized for having too many crew members over the wall when a crew member leaned over his pit box to catch a loose tire. In addition, Ty Gibbs was penalized for speeding on pit road.

Down to the final 35 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Harvick received a push from Larson to retain the lead through the first turn. Despite being pressured by Wallace entering the backstretch, Harvick managed to pull away with the lead while Wallace and Larson dueled for second. Then in Turn 1, Logano, who joined the battle ensuing between Larson and Wallace in Turn 4, washed up the track and forced Wallace wide, which also affected Larson as his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 slid outside of the top 10 and back in ninth while Logano and Wallace battled for the runner-up spot.

With 30 laps remaining, Harvick was leading by more than a second over Logano while Wallace was being pressured by Blaney for third place. Erik Jones was in fifth followed by Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Larson and Hamlin.

Ten laps later, Harvick extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Logano, who had Wallace pressuring him for the runner-up spot, while Blaney and Erik Jones remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Hamlin, who was trying to carve his way back to the front, challenged Larson for eighth place. In addition, Erik Jones was being pressured by Truex for fifth place while Bowman started to close in.

Another two laps later, Wallace dueled and overtook Logano for the runner-up spot as he began his pursuit on Harvick for the lead. Meanwhile, Blaney started to pressure teammate Logano for third place while Hamlin rocketed his way to sixth behind Erik Jones.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang continued to lead by more than four seconds over Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry while his team owner Hamlin battled Logano for third place in front of Blaney.

With five laps remaining, Harvick stabilized his advantage to nearly four seconds over Wallace. By then, Suarez limped his No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to pit road after he cut a left-front tire and limped around the speedway for a full lap. Despite the late incident, the race proceeded under green.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Harvick remained as the leader by less than four seconds over Wallace. With Wallace unable to narrow the deficit in a single lap, Harvick cruised his way around the two-mile speedway circuit for a final time and cycled his way back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag in two years.

In addition to snapping a 65-race winless drought, Harvick achieved his sixth victory at Michigan, the second victory of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing and his 59th career win in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, he became the 15th different competitor to win this season and be guaranteed a spot to the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs after coming into the event trailing the cutline by 96 points.

Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“Just good timing, for sure,” Harvick said on USA Network. “We’ve had several good runs the last few weeks. Loudon, Pocono, where the car ran good and just didn’t have everything work out. Just really proud of everybody on our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang. They’ve been digging along all year long, trying to make these Mustangs run faster and they haven’t been great this year. Our guys have done a good job in trying to take what we have, maximize it and do the things that we need to do. Really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

“Everybody who doubted us doesn’t know us,” Harvick added. “They obviously know that we thrive in these types of situations. A lot of things went our way today, which we haven’t had, all year long, have things go our way and things fall our way. There at the end, we pitted, didn’t go a lap down, the caution came out, got control of the race. That’s the thing I struggled with the most today was traffic, the restarts and just having to make up ground. Once I got clear of traffic, [the car] was hunting. It’s been a while. Coming to Michigan, this has been a great place for us. Just gotta thank all the fans. They’ve stuck with us through this little dry spell, so hopefully, we can back to Victory lane again soon.”

Wallace, who started on pole position and came into this weekend in a “must-win” scenario to draw himself into the Playoff picture, claimed the runner-up spot for the second time this season and for his fourth consecutive top-10 result in recent weeks after leading the first 22 laps. The result, however, kept Wallace in 20th place in the regular-season standings as he trails the top-16 cutline by 235 points.

“[I’m] Replaying everything I could have done,” Wallace, who fought tears of disappointment, said. “[I] Should have taken the top on the restart. Thought I could hang with [Harvick] and just got to racing [Larson] and [Logano]. [Logano] did a great job of getting another Ford contract by helping another Ford win. All in all, an incredible weekend. Appreciate my team. Wish we could have gotten Toyota in victory lane. Wish we could have got McDonalds in victory lane again. [The car] was fast all weekend. I will wear this one on my heart for a while. I failed everybody…Hate it. Hate it for our team. Sucks. It was a hell of a job for our team. There were a lot of positives from this weekend, but I’m a person that looks more at the negatives and I need to change that. I want to win so bad and this was the best opportunity.”

Hamlin rallied from his late pit road miscue to finish in third place while Logano and Blaney finished in the top five. The top-three result, however, did little to ease Hamlin’s frustration in having a potential victory slip out of his grasp following his late pit road penalty.

“It’s just frustrating,” Hamlin said. “We’ve had really fast cars throughout the year and Dover comes to mind and Pocono comes to mind and this race comes to mind and a bunch of others. Just cant get a [win] in the column. Hats off to Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me a car that fast and my team for setting it up really good. This is a piece of the puzzle you have to have to win races. Everyone has to do their job to the best of their ability and we just are lacking in one little section of our team that we just can’t hem up…I just hope that we make strides and keep getting better. It’s just frustrating when you have fast cars like our Toyotas did this weekend, there’s just absolutely no excuse for not winning. We’re the ones that have to look each other in the face on Monday and figure out how we just keep doing this. Hopefully we can make it constructive and continue to get better, but obviously it’s disappointing.”

Completing the top 10 on the track were Truex, Larson, Erik Jones, Bowman and Ty Gibbs.

There were 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 36 laps.

With three regular season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular season standings by 119 points over Ryan Blaney, 137 over Ross Chastain, 138 over Martin Truex Jr. and 142 over Kyle Larson.

Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, rookie Austin Cindric and Kevin Harvick are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Ryan Blaney occupies the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs based on points. Martin Truex Jr. trails the top-16 cutline by 19 points, Erik Jones trails by 190 points, Aric Almirola trails by 210 points, Bubba Wallace trails by 235, Austin Dillon trails by 245, Justin Haley trails by 283, Chris Buescher trails by 286 and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trails by 333 points.

Results.

1. Kevin Harvick, 38 laps led

2. Bubba Wallace, 22 laps led

3. Denny Hamlin, 38 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Joey Logano

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Kyle Larson

8. Erik Jones, five laps led

9. Alex Bowman

10. Ty Gibbs, two laps led

11. Chase Elliott

12. William Byron

13. Austin Dillon

14. Ty Dillon

15. Brad Keselowski

16. Chris Buescher, one lap led

17. Justin Haley

18. Austin Hill

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Chase Briscoe

21. Josh Bilicki

22. Cody Ware

23. BJ McLeod, one lap down, one lap led

24. Ross Chastain, two laps down, 29 laps led

25. Daniel Suarez, seven laps down, 33 laps led

26. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, 31 laps led, Stage 1 winner

27. Todd Gilliland, 12 laps down

28. Michael McDowell, 13 laps down

29. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Engine

30. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

31. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

32. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

34. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

35. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

36. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

37. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second and final visit of the season to Richmond Raceway. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, August 14, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

August 7, 2022
Elliott awarded Cup Series victory at Pocono; Hamlin, Kyle Busch DQ’d following post-race inspection

In a late turn of events, Chase Elliott was declared the winner of the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 24, after NASCAR disqualified the initial results of race winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up finisher Kyle Busch.

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, initially came home in third place behind Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Busch. Two hours after Hamlin claimed the checkered flag on the track, however, the news of the disqualification involving Hamlin and Busch following the post-race inspection process was announced. This prompted NASCAR to award Elliott, who currently leads the regular-season standings, his fourth victory of the 2022 Cup season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Denny Hamlin claimed his third pole position of the season after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry posted a pole-winning lap at 169.991 mph in 52.944 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Kyle Busch, whose No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry clocked in a fast qualifying lap at 169.498 mph in 53.098 seconds.

On Saturday, NASCAR assessed L1 penalties to Petty GMS Motorsports’ two entries piloted by Ty Dillon and Erik Jones after both were found to have violated NASCAR’s Rule Book pertaining to the Rocker Box Assemblies. As a result, both entires were docked 35 driver/owner points and their crew chiefs, Jerame Donley and Dave Elenz were suspended for Sunday’s event. With the team electing not to appeal the penalty, Joey Cohen served as Dillon’s interim crew chief while Danny Efland served as Jones’ interim crew chief.

Prior to the event, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Cody Ware dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. In addition, the No. 45 23XI Racing entry normally piloted by Kurt Busch dropped to the rear of the field due to a back-up car and for a driver change as Xfinity Series competitor Ty Gibbs took over the ride. Gibbs filled in for Busch, who was not medically cleared to compete following his wreck during qualifying on Saturday.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Hamlin rocketed toward the front with an early advantage exiting the frontstretch, but Kyle Busch gained a huge run through the first turn and grabbed the lead. Then, entering the Long Pond straightaway, Hamlin scrubbed the outside wall as he was overtaken by Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney. As the field fanned out through the Tricky Triangle’s three turns, Busch led the first lap as the field returned to the frontstretch. By then, Hamlin was back in fifth.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Kyle Busch was leading by two-and-a-half seconds over Chase Elliott followed by Larson, Hamlin and Blaney while Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman were in the top 10.

During the following lap, the first caution flew when rookie Austin Cindric slipped sideways and spun in Turn 3 as he barely tapped the inside wall toward the frontstretch and flat-spotted the tires on his No. 2 Keystone Ford Mustang. During the extensive caution period, Joey Logano, Justin Haley, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, rookie Todd Gilliland, Aric Almirola, rookie Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell, Cole Custer, Josh Bilicki and JJ Yeley pitted while the rest, led by Kyle Busch, remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 12, Kyle Busch launched ahead on the outside lane, but he then went wide entering the first turn and lost both the lead and his momentum. With Busch losing the top spot and a bevy of spots, a three-wide battle for the lead occurred between Larson, Elliott and Hamlin through the Long Pond straightaway before Larson assumed the top spot with a strong move on the outside lane through the Tunnel Curve.

By Lap 15, Larson was leading by more than six-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Hamlin, Blaney and Suarez while Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10. Ross Chastain was in 11th followed by Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones while Corey LaJoie, Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, William Byron and rookie Harrison Burton were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was mired in 23rd behind teammate Chase Briscoe, Aric Almirola was in 25th in front of Logano, Brad Keselowski was in 29th and newcomer Ty Gibbs was in 33rd.

At the Lap 20 mark, Larson continued to lead by nearly four-tenths over teammate Elliott while Hamlin, Blaney and Suarez were in the top five. Behind, Kyle Busch started to challenge Suarez for sixth place while Wallace, Bell, Buescher and Chastain were in the top 10. Shortly after, Austin Dillon pitted under green as part of a strategic move.

By Lap 27, Bubba Wallace, Bell, Buescher, Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Stenhouse pitted under green. Just as they all peeled off the track to pit, the caution flew when Aric Almirola got loose and spun his No. 10 Haas Automation Ford Mustang in Turn 3 as he flat-spotted his tires. Almirola’s spin was enough for NASCAR to conclude the first stage scheduled for Lap 30 to conclude under caution and Larson claimed his third stage victory of the 2022 Cup season. Teammate Elliott settled in second followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Blaney, Erik Jones, Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Harvick.

Under the stage break, Burton, Logano, BJ McLeod, Cody Ware, Bell, Chastain, Wallace, Buescher, Gilliland, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Reddick and Custer remained on the track while the rest, led by Larson, pitted.

The second stage started on Lap 34 as Burton and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes approaching the first turn as Bell, who restarted behind Burton, challenged Burton for the lead. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Bell assumed the lead while Wallace overtook Bell for the runner-up spot. By then, Logano was back in sixth as Kyle Busch and Chastain were in the top five.

During the following lap and as the field continued to scramble for positions, the caution returned when Josh Bilicki suffered a flat tire, spun and wrecked in Turn 1.

As the race proceeded under green on Lap 40, the field fanned out to multiple lanes again approaching the first turn as Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry retained the top spot ahead of Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang and Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. Not long after, however, the caution returned when Hamlin, who was running in 18th, got loose and spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry past the Tunnel Curve in Turn 2 as he was dodged by the field. During the caution period, some drivers, including Austin Dillon, pitted, while the rest, led by Bell, remained on the track.

As the race restarted under green on Lap 44 and with the field fanning out, Bell retained the top spot on the outside lane while Wallace and Kyle Busch battled for the runner-up spot. Just as the field made its way through the first turn and entering the Long Pond straightaway, the caution flew when Corey LaJoie got loose underneath Michael McDowell. This caused McDowell to slip and slap the outside wall while LaJoie pounded the wall and came to a rest sideways and with damage to his car. During the caution period, Erik Jones, Stenhouse, Haley, McDowell, Noah Gragson, Cody Ware and McLeod pitted while the rest, led by Bell, remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 48, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry received a push from Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead ahead of teammate Bell as the field spread out through the Long Pond straightaway and entering the Tunnel Curve.

By Lap 55, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over teammate Bell followed by Wallace, Larson and Byron while Truex, Chastain, Reddick, Bowman and Blaney were in the top 10. Burton was back in 11th ahead of Suarez, Buescher, Elliott and Harvick while Logano, Hamlin, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Almirola were in the top 20. By then, Logano pitted under green.

Two laps later, Wallace and Burton pitted under green while Kyle Busch extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Bell and more than three seconds over third-place Larson. Bowman would also pit his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green.

Just past the Lap 60 mark, Byron and Harvick also pitted under green along with Bell, Larson, Suarez and Elliott as Kyle Busch remained the leader by more than six seconds over teammate Truex and nearly seven over Chastain.

On Lap 65, Kyle Busch surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Buescher as Truex assumed the lead. By then, Chastain had also pitted. Another two laps later, Truex surrendered the lead to pit along with Almirola as Blaney cycled to the lead. By then, Reddick had completed his pit stop.

Through Lap 75, Erik Jones, who overtook Blaney for the lead two laps earlier, was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon while Stenhouse, Brad Keselowski, McDowell, Kyle Busch and LaJoie were in the top 10.

At the halfway mark on Lap 80, Erik Jones continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse while Kyle Busch, McDowell, LaJoie, Gilliland and Larson were in the top 10. Shortly after, Blaney, who led seven laps, pitted under green.

Two laps later, the caution flew when Ty Dillon, who had just made a pit stop under green, spun past the Tunnel Curve in Turn 2. During the caution period, Wallace and Blaney remained on the track while the rest of the field, led by Erik Jones, pitted.

With seven laps remaining in the second stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Wallace received a push from Kyle Busch on the outside lane to emerge with the lead followed by Busch while Blaney fell back to third in front of Erik Jones, Hamlin, Chastain, Larson, Suarez and Byron. Through the Tunnel Curve, Busch quickly cycled his way back to the lead as Blaney also overtook Wallace for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Chastain, Erik Jones and Hamlin all overtook Wallace for spots in the top five as Kyle Bush ran away from the field.

With three laps remaining in the second stage, Wallace, who was falling below the leaderboard on old tires, pitted under green as Kyle Busch was out in front by nearly a second over Chastain. Meanwhile, Blaney and Erik Jones battled for third in front of Hamlin.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Kyle Busch clinched his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second followed by Blaney, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Harvick, Byron, Suarez, Elliott and Larson.

Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Buescher, pitted while the rest, led by Kyle Busch, remained on the track.

With 60 laps remaining, the final stage started as Kyle Busch and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch retained the lead ahead of Chastain while Hamlin made a bold three-wide move on Blaney and Erik Jones through the Long Pond straightaway and entering the Tunnel Curve to move into third place. Shortly after, Byron rocketed his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into fourth place as Jones and Blaney fell back to fifth and sixth in front of Harvick and Bell.

Ten laps later, Kyle Busch retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Chastain while Hamlin, Byron, Bell, Harvick, Erik Jones, Suarez, Elliott and Larson were in the top 10. A few laps earlier, Blaney pitted under green after his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang sustained a flat left-rear tire.

Nearing the final 40 laps, names like Chris Buescher, Reddick, Stenhouse, Harvick and Austin Dillon pitted under green while Kyle Busch held a narrow advantage over Chastain. Soon after, Elliott pitted along with Suarez, Truex, Larson, Byron, Erik Jones and Aric Almirola. Following the pit stops, Byron was penalized for equipment interference.

With 37 laps remaining, Kyle Busch surrendered the lead to Chastain as he pitted under green along with teammate Bell and Bowman. During the following lap, Chastain pitted under green as Hamlin cycled to the lead.

Two laps later, Buescher spun in Turn 3, but the race continued under green as the leader, Hamlin, pitted under green. Once the rest of the field, including Logano and Wallace, pitted, Chastain cycled to the lead ahead of Kyle Busch and Hamlin.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Chastain was leading by nearly a second over rival Hamlin while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by one-and-a-half seconds.

Then seven laps later, the caution flew when Blaney got loose in Turn 3, spun and pounded the inside wall head-on. During the caution period, names like Gilliland, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Byron, Haley, Ty Dillon, Gragson and Stenhouse pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

With 19 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Chastain and Hamlin dueled for the lead entering the first turn. Then through the first turn, Hamlin, who was still irritated over his share of run-ins with Chastain throughout the season and vowed payback, moved up the track and edged Chastain into the outside wall, causing him to pound the wall. While Hamlin ran away with the lead, Chastain, who lost his momentum, was then hit by Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang and Bell scraped the outside wall as Chastain spun and clipped the inside wall. The wreck spoiled Chastain’s opportunity to win along with Harvick’s opportunity to grab a win and keep his Playoff hopes alive.

When the race proceeded under green with 13 laps remaining, Hamlin retained the lead with a strong start on the outside lane followed by teammate Kyle Busch while Elliott was in third followed by Bell and Reddick. Behind, Suarez was in sixth followed by McDowell, Truex, Larson and Erik Jones.

With 10 laps remaining, Hamlin continued to lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch followed by Elliott and Reddick while Suarez and Bell battled fiercely for fifth in front of McDowell, Truex and Larson. By then, Wallace rallied his way into 10th place.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Hamlin remained the leader by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch followed by Elliott, Reddick and Suarez.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin led by nearly nine-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch. Despite enduring a bumpy road to victory from start to finish, Hamlin was able to smoothly navigate his way around the Tricky Triangle’s turns and straightaways for a final time as he beat Busch by nearly a second to grab what would have been his third victory of the 2022 season and a record-achieving seventh victory at Pocono.

“It’s the team,” Hamlin, who shared a victorious moment with his daughter, Taylor, on the frontstretch, said on USA Network. “They just were able to come back with a great strategy there to get us back upfront from the mistake I made. I just wanted to be a local short-track racer in Virginia. That’s all I really cared about. I was able to get a great break from [the late] J.D. Gibbs. That’s why I’m driving the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing. It feels good to win here at Pocono.”

Following the event, however, NASCAR disqualified the first and second-place cars of race winner Hamlin and runner-up, Kyle Busch, due to their cars failing the post-race inspection process. NASCAR later stated that an issue with the front fascia was found on both cars, which prompted the sanctioning body to strip the results of both Joe Gibbs Racing competitors.

With Hamlin and Busch disqualified, Chase Elliott, who initially finished in third place, was awarded the victory. As a result, Elliott notched his fourth victory of the year, becoming the first four-time winner of this season. It was his first at Pocono and his 17th career win in NASCAR’s premier series. This also marks the first time this season that an initial Cup winner was disqualified due to an issue stemming from the post-race inspection process.

“Yeah, unfortunately, we were doing our post-race inspections, which we do,” Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director, said following the announcement. “There were some issues discovered that affect aero of the vehicle. The part was the front fascia. There really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere it shouldn’t have been, and that does basically come down to a DQ. It is a penalty, both for the 11 of Denny Hamlin and the 18 of Kyle Busch have been DQed. Their vehicles are being loaded in the NASCAR hauler and they’re going to go back to the R&D Center [in Concord, North Carolina].”

Joe Gibbs Racing has been given until 12 p.m. ET Monday to file an appeal.

Tyler Reddick was promoted to second place while Suarez, Bell and Larson finished in the top five. McDowell, Truex, Wallace, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon completed the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs finished 16th in his Cup debut.

There were 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 37 laps.

With five regular season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular season standings by 105 points over Ross Chastain.

Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, rookie Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Kurt Busch are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. are above the top-16 cutline based on points. Kevin Harvick trails the top-16 cutline by 83 points, Aric Almirola by 140, Erik Jones by 182, Austin Dillon by 206, Michael McDowell by 207, Bubba Wallace by 236, Justin Haley by 247, Chris Buescher by 266, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 287 and Cole Custer trails by 301.

Results.

1. Chase Elliott

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Daniel Suarez

4. Christopher Bell, 14 laps led

5. Kyle Larson, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

6. Michael McDowell

7. Martin Truex Jr., two laps led

8. Bubba Wallace, four laps led

9. Erik Jones, 11 laps led

10. Austin Dillon

11. Alex Bowman

12. William Byron

13. Aric Almirola

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Ty Gibbs

17. Cole Custer

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Joey Logano

21. Justin Haley

22. Ty Dillon

23. Harrison Burton, four laps down

24. Noah Gragson

25. Todd Gilliland

26. Cody Ware

27. Kevin Harvick

28. JJ Yeley, one lap down

29. Chris Buescher, two laps down

30. BJ McLeod, two laps down

31. Austin Cindric, six laps down

32. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner (*Awarded after Kyle Busch’s disqualification)

33. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, seven laps led

34. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

35. Denny Hamlin – Disqualified, 21 laps led

36. Kyle Busch – Disqualified, 63 laps led

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second annual event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, which will also mark the series’ fourth road course event of this season. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 31, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

July 24, 2022