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Larson withstands two overtime attempts amid fuel-mileage battle for first Brickyard 400 victory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

1. Kyle Larson, eight laps led

2. Tyler Reddick, 40 laps led

3. Ryan Blaney

4. Christopher Bell, two laps led

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

6. Todd Gilliland, one lap led

7. Austin Cindric

8. Daniel Suarez

9. Noah Gragson, three laps led

10. Chase Elliott, one lap led

11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

12. Carson Hocevar

13. Austin Dillon

14. Corey LaJoie

15. Ross Chastain, eight laps led

16. Michael McDowell, one lap led

17. Zane Smith

18. Cody Ware

19. Ty Dillon

20. Justin Haley

21. Brad Keselowski, 35 laps led

22. Chris Buescher

23. Ty Gibbs

24. Chase Briscoe

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

26. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

27. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down

28. Erik Jones, two laps down

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

30. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

31. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

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

33. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Accident

34. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

35. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

36. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

37. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

38. William Byron – OUT, Accident

39. BJ McLeod – OUT, Engine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

1. Ryan Blaney, 44 laps led

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

3. Alex Bowman

4. William Byron

5. Joey Logano, three laps led

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Brad Keselowski, 20 laps led

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

9. Chase Elliott

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Chris Buescher, 19 laps led

12. Christopher Bell

13. Kyle Larson

14. Erik Jones

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Austin Cindric

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Josh Berry, eight laps led

21. AJ Allmendinger

22. Justin Haley

23. Austin Dillon

24. Michael McDowell, two laps down

25. Daniel Hemric- OUT, Suspension

26. Cody Ware – OUT, Overheating

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

28. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

29. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident

30. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

31. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

32. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

34. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

35. JJ Yeley – OUT, Fuel pump

36. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

37. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

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

July 14, 2024
What went down in the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville
Joey Logano captured his first win of the season on Sunday in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. This was Logano’s 33rd NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) career win, Ford’s first NCS at Nashville, Team Penske’s 96th series win with Ford, and the 732nd series win overall for the manufacturer.

“There wasn’t a drop of fuel to spare, my fuel light came on in turn three, and that was it, we had just enough fuel to spit and sputter across the line,” said Logano, who started the race in the 26th position.

On the fourth overtime restart, Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe restarted on the front row. Logano’s held them off on the restart, but another crash brought out the caution flag and the final fifth overtime restart of the race. Logano took the inside lane with Briscoe on his outside, and Logano kept the lead by 0.068 seconds ahead of second-place Zane Smith.

“Tyler (Reddick) had the fastest car at the end, but we were able to stay in front of him. I’ve never been involved in a fuel-mileage race before. This is a big one,” Logano said in victory lane.

This win also qualifies Logano for the NASCAR Playoffs, which get underway in September.

“It’s been a hard season,” Logano continued, “and being on that cut line, I tell you it sucks. It’s just not fun. It’s hard, and you just want a little bit of relief of the pressure, and with seven weeks to go until the playoffs, it gives us a chance to breathe for a second and start just kind of working on our car a little bit differently and just sleep better, to be honest with you. I’m proud of this team and proud to be here in Victory Lane, for sure.”

Race Notes
- The average speed of the race winner was 108.298 mph.
- The race lasted 04:03:54, and the margin of victory was 0.068 seconds.
- There were 15 caution flags for 79 laps.
- There were 20 lead changes among nine drivers.
- This was Ford’s 732nd all-time NCS victory, its fourth of the season, and the first NCS victory at Nashville.
- 24 of the 38 drivers finished on the lead lap.
- Kyle Larson remains the series championship leader with a 20-point advantage over second-place teammate Chase Elliott.
What went down behind Logano

Zane Smith finished second, driving the No. 71 Jockey Outdoors by Luke Byran Camaro ZL1.

“It’s been a rough, rough year,” Smith said, “but this is a great momentum booster, a great confidence booster, all of the above. So, hopefully, we can carry this on. It was awesome to kind of sniff your first Cup win. You don’t ever know if you’re going to have a shot at another Cup win, so you just try to execute the best you can. It just goes to show that everyone is just so dang good in the Cup series.”

23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick had to pit for fuel and restarted fifth on the final green-white-checkered restart. Reddick had the fastest car at the end and got to Logano’s bumper, but he knew that he let one (a win) get away in the end. Reddick finished third and captured his seventh top-five and the 12th top-10 finish of the season.

“We just had a bad restart,” Reddick explained. “I fell back, and I could tell there in the closing laps we were wounded bad. The tires were corded. When the caution came out, we were in a really bad spot. We were going to lose all our track position, but we had to put tires on as I don’t think we were going to be able to hold on during a restart, but it became the very thing that gave us an opportunity to win the race. It was a great call, a gutsy call by the crew chief, Billy Scott.”

Ryan Preece finished fourth and captured his first top-five and second top-10 of the season.

“I’m just really happy with how these guys fought all day. It didn’t look like it was going to be pretty, but another chaotic 10 or 15 laps at the end, and we salvaged a good day. At the end of the day, I will take that result and hopefully, this will help build some morale. We’ve been trending in that direction. Between last week and this week, it’s positive coming into the summer months,” Preece said.

Chris Buescher finsihed fifth.

“I don’t know what in the world happened there at the end; I’ll have to go back and look… We were able to get a top-5 out of it; we just needed laps to pass cars and really just never quite got it there in the last 40 laps of the race. What a day, up and down for us, but everyone regrouped and did a good job at the end.” Buescher said.

The Series points leader, Larson, ran out of fuel but somehow managed to finish eighth.

“I thought my opportunity to give myself a win was to get clean air on the nose,” Larson said. “I just ran in, got tight and drove into Ross. I hate that, for sure. The next restart I just got really out of shape through the gears and, thankfully, didn’t cause a crash on the frontstretch. And then the next one we ran out of fuel and caused that wreck. Hate that for Kyle (Busch). I had no warning.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin had a strong car but had to pit late for fuel and finished 12th.

“We ran out under caution,” Hamlin said. He (Chris Gabehart, crew chief) was monitoring fuel pressure. I let him know what the fuel pressure was. We were fine, just running out of gas and we did under caution. It was the right call. I was going down pitlane there out of gas.”

What’s Next

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the streets of Chicago, Illinois, for the Grant Park 165 at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
July 1, 2024
Logano withstands five overtime attempts for fuel-mileage Cup victory at Nashville

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

1. Joey Logano, nine laps led

2. Zane Smith

3. Tyler Reddick, 16 laps led

4. Ryan Preece

5. Chris Buescher

6. Ryan Blaney, 26 laps led

7. Bubba Wallace

8. Kyle Larson

9. Daniel Hemric

10. Noah Gragson

11. AJ Allmendinger, one lap led

12. Denny Hamlin, 70 laps led

13. Justin Haley

14. Alex Bowman

15. Austin Cindric

16. Carson Hocevar

17. Todd Gilliland

18. Chase Elliott

19. William Byron

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Chase Briscoe

22. Daniel Suarez

23. Ty Gibbs, two laps led

24. Martin Truex Jr.

25. Brad Keselowski, one lap down

26. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

27. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

28. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

29. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident

30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

31. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

32. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

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

34. Erik Jones – OUT, Suspension

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

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

37. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

38. Chad Finchum – OUT, Electrical

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

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

2. Chase Briscoe

3. Josh Berry

4. Kyle Laron

5. Chris Buescher

6. Tyler Reddick, 53 laps led

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Ross Chastain

11. Ryan Preece

12. Todd Gilliland, 19 laps led

13. Erik Jones

14. Harrison Burton

15. Michael McDowell

16. Ty Gibbs

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Chase Elliott, 41 laps led

19. Austin Cindric

20. Ty Dillon

21. Daniel Suarez

22. Kaz Grala

23. Corey LaJoie

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

25. Ryan Blaney

26. William Byron

27. Noah Gragson

28. Brad Keselowski

29. Justin Haley

30. Zane Smith, one lap down

31. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

32. Joey Logano, three laps down

33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

34. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

35. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

36. Alex Bowman – OUT, Engine

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

June 23, 2024
Larson executes late pit strategy for a wild Cup victory at Sonoma

After enduring an up-and-down process in his attempted double duty attempt in May, Kyle Larson rose to the occasion with a strategic NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 9.

The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led twice for 19 of 110 scheduled laps in an event where he dodged a series of on-track carnages within the first two stage periods. With pit strategies ensuing amongst every team and competitor throughout the event, Larson’s key path to victory occurred with 30 laps remaining as he pitted under green after leading the previous 10 laps. Returning to the track with fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, Larson then spent the next 21 laps carving his way back towards the front, where he would gain ground on the leaders Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr., both of whom pitted 13 laps earlier than Larson.

Then with nine laps remaining, Larson took advantage of both Buescher and Truex dueling each other for the lead through Turn 12 and Truex missing the Chute’s entrance turn moments after he assumed a brief lead to overtake both and reassume the top spot. Having the clean air to his advantage while stretching it, Larson was able to pace his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry smoothly around Sonoma’s 12-turn circuit for the final eight laps before he crossed the finish line in first place for his third Cup Series victory of the 2024 season and his second at his home track.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 8, Joey Logano notched his third Cup pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 97.771 mph in 73.273 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 97.661 mph in 73.356 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Joey Logano launched his No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead of the field through the uphill first turn before he led the way through the second turn, a pair of Turns from 3 to 3A and the Chute between Turns 4 and 7 as Tyler Reddick battled and fended off Ryan Blaney to retain second place. As the field proceeded to navigate through the Esses before making the sharp, right-hand turn in Turn 11 and back to the start/finish line in Turn 12, Logano proceeded to lead the first lap as Reddick, Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and William Byron followed suit in the top six.

Just past the second lap, the event’s first caution flew for fluid on the course after Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE went up in a billow of smoke just past the frontstretch, where he would manage to nurse his car through the uphill first turn before he parked his car in Turn 2 and became the first retiree of the event.

During the event’s first caution period, select names including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track. John Hunter Nemechek would also pit for repairs to his No. 42 Save Mart Toyota Camry XSE entry after he scrubbed the wall in Turn 1 due to slipping into Hamlin’s oil spill.

Following an extensive cleanup on the track due to Hamlin’s oil spill and a blown engine, the event restarted under green on the sixth lap. At the start, Logano fended off teammate Blaney to retain the lead through the first three turns while Reddick was able to overtake and reassume the runner-up spot from Blaney. As the field fanned out through the Chute before entering the Esses, including a series of right- and left-hand turns, Logano maintained a steady advantage over teammate Blaney and Reddick as Elliott, Larson and Daniel Suarez followed suit. Behind, Byron dropped to seventh as Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10.

The following lap, Martin Truex Jr., who was in 18th, spun in Turn 2 after he got turned by Will Brown. Not long after, Ross Chastain got loose and drove his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways off the dirt course in Turn 8A while he was in eighth place. Amid both incidents, the event remained under green flag conditions as Logano was leading by nearly half a second over Reddick and more than a second over teammate Blaney.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Logano continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Reddick followed by Blaney, Elliott and Larson while Suarez, Byron, Bowman, AJ Allmendinger and Michael McDowell were running in the top 10. Behind, Ty Gibbs occupied 11th place ahead of Christopher Bell, rookie Carson Hocevar, Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie as Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Will Brown, Noah Gragson and Austin Dillon occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Chase Briscoe, Austin Cidnric, rookie Zane Smith, Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece. Meanwhile, Chris Buescher was 27th ahead of Cam Waters, Erik Jones was mired in 30th in between rookie Josh Berry and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski was back in 33rd place ahead of Daniel Hemric and Truex was down in 37th behind John Hunter Nemechek.

Five laps later and with a series of battles ensuing around the circuit, the event’s second caution flew after Ty Gibbs, who was running in the top 10, hit the newly installed concrete walls in Turn 11, which broke his right front hub before he proceeded to drive through Turn 12 and slap the outside wall entering Turn 1, which left Gibbs with more right-side damage to his No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota Camry XSE entry. At the time of the caution, Logano maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney, Elliott and Larson continued to race in the top five. In addition, Byron, who went off the course in Turn 1, had pitted under green to address concerns of a loose wheel to his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry.

During the caution period and with pit strategy amongst the field ensuing, some led by Logano and including Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Preece, Zane Smith, Cam Waters, Berry, Erik Jones, Hemric, Justin Haley and Grala pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 18, Reddick launched his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Blaney and the field with the lead through the uphill first turn before navigating through the following three turns and the Chute. With the field fanning out and jostling for spots approaching the Esses, the caution quickly returned after Chase Briscoe, who was running in the top 15, got turned in Turn 8A, where he was clipped by Logano, who bumped Stenhouse and sent him for a spin, as Logano, who shredded the rear of Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, spun off and back onto the course through Turn 8 before he was hit in the rear by Harrison Burton, leaving all four competitors with damage to their respective entries.

Amid the caution period, select names including Bell, Will Brown, Buescher, Byron, Keselowski, Preece and Haley pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.

The event re-started under green with three laps remaining in the first stage period. At the start, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead through the first three turns before Reddick managed to muscle ahead entering Turn 3A and the Chute. As Reddick led Blaney, Larson, Elliott and Bowman through the Esses before Turn 11, McDowell was in sixth while Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain battled for seventh place. In addition, LaJoie and Gilliland battled for ninth place ahead of Hocevar, Wallace and Gragson while Cindric and Allmendinger trailed in the top 15.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, Reddick captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Blaney followed suit in second along with Larson, Elliott, Bowman and McDowell, respectively, while Chastain edged teammate Suarez to grab seventh place. LaJoie and Gilliland would round out the top 10 at the first stage’s conclusion.

Under the stage break, some including Kyle Busch, Truex, Preece, Hemric, Allmendinger, Logano, Haley, Stenhouse, Grala and Harrison Burton pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Reddick and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead through the uphill first turn and through Turn 2 before Reddick launched ahead entering Turn 3A. With Reddick leading through the Chute, Elliott tried to make a move to Blaney’s outside entering Turn 7, but he got loose amid light contact with Blaney. This allowed Larson to assume third place from teammate Elliott while Chastain trailed in fifth place through the Esses.

During the Lap 30 mark, Austin Cindric nearly flipped as he spun his No. 2 America’s Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse sideways off the course and through the uphill turn in the dirt entering Turn 2, but he managed to proceed without drawing a caution. Two laps later, however, the caution returned after Will Brown, who was battling electrical issues to his No. 33 Mobile X/Shaw and Partners Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, parked his car off the course in Turn 11 due to a potential engine issue that resulted in him falling off the pace entering Turn 11. At the time of caution, Reddick was leading ahead of Blaney, Larson, Elliott and Chastain.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 34 amid a stacked restart, Reddick and Blaney dueled amid close-quarters racing through the first four turns before Reddick managed to maintain the top spot and clear Blaney prior to entering the Chute. Meanwhile, Larson bumped and overtook Blaney for the runner-up spot entering the Esses while Chastain, Elliott, Gilliland and Bowman followed suit.

Shortly after, more on-track issues ensued as Bubba Wallace, who was running in the top 10, slipped his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE off the course and kicked up dirt in Turn 11. While Wallace recovered despite losing a handful of spots as the field stacked up, trouble ignited in front of him as Josh Berry got bumped and turned into the concrete walls by Erik Jones in Turn 11, which resulted in Berry locking up the tires and going dead straight into Bell, Truex, Byron and Dillon, as all but Truex spun. Cam Waters was also collected in the carnage while the rest of the field in the mid-pack region scattered and jammed on the brakes to avoid the carnage. The carnage drew the event back into a caution period as Reddick retained the race lead.

With the event restarting under green on Lap 39, Reddick retained the lead from Larson, Blaney and Chastain through the first four turns and the Chute, with Chastain bumping and battling Blaney for third place. Then through the Esses, the caution quickly returned after Austin Cindric got Noah Gragson sideways in Turn 8A, where Gragson then clipped Cindric and sent both into the tire barriers as McDowell was also sent into the tire barriers after getting caught in a mid-pack stack-up.

The start of the next restart period on Lap 42 featured Reddick muscling away from Larson to retain the lead as Chastain moved into third place from Blaney. While Bowman and Suarez rubbed fenders while battling for fifth place in front of Elliott before entering the Esses, Reddick kept his No. 45 entry racing in front of Larson to retain the lead during the ensuing lap while the rest of the field behind jostled for spots. By then, Austin Dillon took his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to the garage.

Through the Lap 45 mark, Reddick was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson while third-place Chastain trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Blaney and Bowman trailed in the top five while Suarez, Elliott, Buescher, Preece and Busch followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Truex, Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Zane Smith and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Logano, Burton, Gilliland, Stenhouse and Hemric were racing in the top 20 ahead of Hocevar, Cam Waters, Haley, Bell and Briscoe as Wallace, LaJoie, Grala, McDowell, Gragson and Byron were mired in the top 31.

At the Lap 50 mark, Reddick extended his advantage to two seconds over Larson while Blaney, who overtook Chastain for third place a few laps earlier, trailed by three seconds. With Chastain settling in fourth, Bowman retained fifth while Elliott overtook Suarez for sixth place.

A lap later, Blaney pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry under green along with Elliott and Suarez. Larson would pit his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry during the following lap along with teammate Bowman, Chastain, and rookie Zane Smith before Reddick, the only competitor who has yet to pit, surrendered the lead to pit by Lap 53. Reddick’s pit stop moved Chris Buescher into the lead as he was followed by Preece, Truex, Busch and Allmendinger.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 55, which marked the event’s halfway point, Buescher captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Preece followed suit in second along with Truex, Busch and Allmendinger while Keselowski, Erik Jones, Gilliland, Logano and Burton were scored in the top 10. By then, a bevy of front-runners that included Larson, Chastain, Byron, Reddick, Blaney, Elliott, Suarez and Bowman were mired outside the top 25, with Reddick locking up his front tires and going off the course before entering the Chute after he made contact with Larson just after completing his green flag pit service.

With 51 laps remaining, where the entire lead lap field remained on the track, the final stage commenced as Buescher and Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher launched ahead from the outside lane and retained the lead through the course’s first four turns before navigating his way through the Chute. Behind, Truex overtook Preece for the runner-up spot while Allmendinger and Busch battled for fourth place in front of Nemechek and Keselowski. With the field navigating through the various turns through the Esses, Buescher was leading by nearly a second over Truex with 50 laps remaining.

Shortly after, Preece, who was trying to battle Truex for the runner-up spot, slipped sideways and spun his No. 41 Caymus Vineyards Ford Mustang Dark Horse off the course in Turn 7, but the event remained under green as Preece dropped out of the top-10 running order. Meanwhile, Larson, who carved his way into the top 20, was trying to weave his way back to the front amid a series of jostles and on-track contact in the middle of the pack. Other front-runners mired in the mid-pack region with Larson included teammate Elliott, Chastain, Suarez, Reddick and Bowman while Buescher stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over Truex.

With 43 laps remaining, the leader Buescher along with Truex, Busch, McDowell, Logano, Preece, Bowman, Wallace and Burton pitted their respective entries under green. More names including Gilliland, Erik Jones, Haley, Bell, Reddick and Berry pitted over the next two laps before Hocevar, Hemric and Suarez pitted with 40 laps remaining. By then, Allmendinger, who assumed the lead when Buescher pitted, was leading ahead of Larson, Stenhouse, Chastain and Elliott. Once Allmendinger pitted his No. 16 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry along with Chastain with 39 laps remaining, Larson cycled into the lead.

Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Larson was leading by four seconds over teammate Elliott as LaJoie, Blaney and Grala trailed as far as 18 seconds in the top five. Behind, Buescher, the first competitor with four fresh tires and fuel, trailed by 18 seconds in sixth place while Truex, Busch, Allmendinger and McDowell were racing in the top 10 ahead of Keselowski, Gilliland, Chastain, Reddick, Erik Jones, Bell, Cindric, Suarez, Bowman and Haley.

Five laps later, the top-four competitors led by Larson and including teammate Elliott, LaJoie and Blaney continued to run on the track, though all have yet to make another pit stop, while Buescher trailed the four leaders by 20 seconds in fifth place. Meanwhile, Truex continued to trail the lead by 22 seconds in sixth place as Busch, Allmendinger, McDowell and Keselowski were in the top 10. Behind, Reddick, who was still trying to carve his way back to the front, was mired in 13th in between Chastain and Bell, Suarez was in 15th and Bowman was in 18th.

Not long after, Larson surrendered the lead to pit under green as teammate Elliott moved into the lead. Third-place Blaney pitted under green with 27 laps remaining before Elliott and LaJoie pitted during the following lap. Amid the pit stops, Buescher cycled his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry into the lead as Truex, Busch, Allmendinger and McDowell all cycled into the top five while Larson cycled his way back to sixth place.

With 20 laps remaining, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Truex while third-place Busch trailed by four seconds. Meanwhile, Larson, who was locked in a heated three-way battle with McDowell and Allmendinger three laps earlier, trailed in fourth place by less than six seconds while McDowell and Allmendinger followed suit in fifth and sixth, respectively. In addition, Chastain was in seventh ahead of Gilliland, Elliott and Keselowski while Reddick, Bell, Suarez, Blaney, LaJoie and Bowman trailed in the top 16.

Over the next handful of laps, Truex started to close in on Buescher for the lead as he cut the deficit as close to half a second. At the same time, Larson, who overtook Busch for third place, ignited his pursuit on the two leaders, with Larson having fresher tires than both Buescher and Truex, as he trailed both by four seconds. Despite having two series champions intimidating him through distinct approaches, Buescher continued to lead by half a second with 15 laps remaining.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the top three competitors were separated by eight-tenths of a second as Buescher retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Truex while Larson, who now has the top two leaders close in front of his windshield, was trying to navigate his way around Truex for the runner-up spot. Behind, McDowell trailed in fourth place by four seconds while Busch trailed in fifth place by six seconds.

Then approaching the final nine laps of the event, Truex attempted to stick his front nose beneath Buescher entering Turn 11 as Buescher missed his marks. Despite squeezing his way underneath Buescher through the turn, Buescher refused to surrender as he rubbed dead even with Truex through Turn 12. This allowed Larson to close in even more as Truex was able to overtake Buescher to move his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry into the lead in Turn 2. Larson, however, also overtook Buescher for the runner-up spot through Turn 2 as he pursued Truex for the lead. Then entering the Chute, Truex went wide after he missed his marked turn, which allowed Larson to make his move beneath Truex in Turn 7 as he assumed the lead. Larson would proceed to lead by two-tenths of a second over Truex while Buescher trailed in third place by a second.

With five laps remaining, Larson started to stretch his advantage as he was leading by eight-tenths of a second while third-place Buescher trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, McDowell started to close in on Buescher in his late attempt for third place while Busch trailed in fifth place by six seconds. Another lap later, McDowell, who radioed a potential flat tire to his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, overtook Buescher for third place as Chastain, Elliott, Allmendinger, Blaney and Reddick trailed in the top 10.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader while extending it to two seconds over Truex. As Chastain and Busch tangled for fifth place entering the Chute, Larson was able to cruise his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry smoothly around the 12-turn Sonoma circuit for a final time before he navigated his way back to Turn 12 and across the finish line to claim the checkered flag for his third Cup victory of the 2024 season and by four seconds.

With the victory, Larson, a product of Elk Grove, California, notched his 26th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his second at Sonoma and his first since 2021. He also joined teammate William Byron and Denny Hamlin as competitors to notch three victories during the first 16 events of the 2024 schedule as the 2024 Sonoma victory marked the eighth of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the sixth for Hendrick Motorsports. The Sonoma victory marks Larson’s 20th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports.

Larson’s Sonoma victory also occurred five days after he was granted a waiver to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs. The waiver occurred due to Larson missing the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after on-track precipitations between both the Coke 600 and the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway spoiled his attempt to complete the Memorial Day “Double”, where he opted to start the Indy 500 and was unable to register a lap for the Coke 600 with the event being shortened and as Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier filled in for Larson’s Cup Series efforts.

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 09: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 Valvoline Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 09, 2024 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images).

“I didn’t know what we were like doing as far as strategy,” Larson said on FOX. “I was just out there banging laps away. We studied all the strategies, but it’s like doing homework. I don’t really know what I’m looking at. I was like, ‘Well, [Buescher and Truex] have to pit another time, maybe.’ Then [the team] said we had to go race and pass those guys. I got a bit nervous. I knew I’d be quick from the get-go, but I thought once the tires would come up to [track temperature], it would even off too much. Thankful that we had enough grip. Thankful too that those guys got racing and Martin [Truex Jr.] never got clear really where I would get stuck in third. That really saved the race…just an awesome, awesome race car. Cool to win at home. [I’ll] Drink some wine here in a little bit and go celebrate.”

As Larson celebrated his Sonoma victory both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane towards the circuit’s dragstrip, Truex, who was losing steady ground of Larson during the final lap, had his hopes of posting a strong runner-up finish spoiled after he ran out of fuel approaching the final stretch to the finish line. Truex’s misfortune allowed Michael McDowell to claim the runner-up spot while Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain finished in the top five.

As AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Todd Gilliland finished in the top 10, Kyle Busch nursed his No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to a 12th-place result following his last-lap spin from Chastain, where he also ran out of fuel approaching the finish line. Truex ended up in 27th place as he struggled to coast his entry across the finish line to finish the race, drawing a caution as the event concluded.

There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 16th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson reassumes the lead in the regular-season standings following his Sonoma victory and he leads by 14 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 26 over Denny Hamlin, 49 over Tyler Reddick and 53 over Martin Truex Jr.

Results.

1. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led

2. Michael McDowell

3. Chris Buescher, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Chase Elliott, three laps led

5. Ross Chastain

6. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led

7. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

8. Tyler Reddick, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner

9. Christopher Bell

10. Todd Gilliland

11. Corey LaJoie

12. Kyle Busch, one lap led

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Alex Bowman

16. Zane Smith

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Ryan Preece

19. Erik Jones

20. Bubba Wallace

21. Joey Logano, 16 laps led

22. Austin Cindric

23. Kaz Grala

24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

25. Harrison Burton

26. Noah Gragson

27. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

28. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

29. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

30. William Byron, two laps down

31. Will Brown, three laps down

32. Josh Berry – OUT, Suspension

33. Justin Haley – OUT, Steering

34. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Transmission

35. Cam Waters – OUT, Accident

36. Austin Dillon – OUT, DVP

37. Ty Gibbs – OUT, DVP

38. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Engine

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 16, and air at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.

June 9, 2024
Logano notches third Cup pole position of 2024 at Sonoma
For the first time in 13 years, Joey Logano will lead a NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag from the pole position in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

The two-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, commenced the weekend in Sonoma, California, by being the 25th fastest during the series’ lone practice session on Friday, June 7. He then rallied by being the second fastest in his group qualifying session behind Tyler Reddick, where both were among 10 fast competitors to transfer into the final round of qualifying during the event’s qualifying sessions on Saturday, June 8.

During the final round of qualifying, Logano managed to both claim and retain the top-starting spot with a record-setting lap at 97.771 mph in 73.273 seconds, which was enough to remain atop the scoreboard ahead of Tyler Reddick and teammate Ryan Blaney.

With his accomplishment, Logano claimed his third Cup Series’ Busch Light Pole Award of the 2024 season and his first since doing so at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in early March. Logano had also started on pole position in this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and in the non-points All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in mid-May, where he won the latter’s event.

Logano’s pole at Sonoma was one that left the driver of the No. 22 AutoTrader/Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry smiling amid a season where he has recorded two top-five results and three top-10 results, including a fifth-place run at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway a week ago, during the previous 15 events on the 2024 Cup Series schedule. With 11 events remaining in this year’s regular-season schedule, Logano is 14 points below the cutline to make the 2024 Playoffs and is also pursuing his first points-paying victory of the season.

“It’s nice to see some Penske cars running good again and the Fords as well,” Logano said on FS2. “Proud of the race team. We made a lot of changes overnight. We worked on [the car]. It’s nice you have practice where you can actually go back and think about it overnight and look at a lot of data and try to figure out smart decisions. [Crew chief] Paul [Wolfe] and the engineers, everyone did a good job at executing that. Got ourselves a pole on a road course with the AutoTrader Mustang. It’s an intense lap out there. You’re just on the ragged edge there the whole time, but excited and have a good starting spot. Got to capitalize on it now.”

Reddick, the driver of the No. 45 Monster Energy/23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry, posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 97.661 mph in 73.356 seconds and will share the front row with Logano. Blaney, the reigning Cup Series champion and Logano’s teammate at Team Penske will occupy third place and start alongside Chase Elliott. Kyle Larson, the 2021 Sonoma winner who scrubbed the tire barrier in the Chute and sustained left-side damage to his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, posted the fifth-fastest qualifying lap. He will share the third row with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.

Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs will start in the top 10 while road-ringers AJ Allmendinger and Michael McDowell will occupy 11th and 12th place on the starting grid.

Notably, Carson Hocevar was the highest-starting rookie in the field in 13th place while Christopher Bell will line up in 15th place. In addition, Bubba Wallace will start in 18th place, reigning Sonoma winner Martin Truex Jr. will line up in 21st place, Denny Hamlin will occupy 25th place on the starting grid and Gateway winner Austin Cindric will start in 28th place ahead of Kyle Busch.

Supercar stars Will Brown and Cam Waters will start 24th and 31st, respectively, for their first career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. Brown is piloting the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Richard Childress Racing while Waters is driving the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

With 38 competitors registering for the event, all 38 made the starting lineup.

Qualifying position, best speed, best time
1. Joey Logano, 97.771 mph, 73.273 seconds
2. Tyler Reddick, 97.661 mph, 73.356 seconds
3. Ryan Blaney, 97.566 mph, 73.427 seconds
4. Chase Elliott, 97.562 mph, 73.430 seconds
5. Kyle Larson, 97.542 mph, 73.445 seconds
6. William Byron, 97.518 mph, 73.463 seconds
7. Daniel Suarez, 97.513 mph, 73.467 seconds
8. Alex Bowman, 97.420 mph, 73.537 seconds
9. Ross Chastain, 97.390 mph, 73.560 seconds
10. Ty Gibbs, 97.113 mph, 73.770 seconds
11. AJ Allmendinger, 97.076 mph, 73.798 seconds
12. Michael McDowell, 97.011 mph, 73.847 seconds
13. Carson Hocevar, 97.076 mph, 73.798 seconds
14. Todd Gilliland, 96.944 mph, 73.898 seconds
15. Christopher Bell, 96.981 mph, 73.870 seconds
16. Austin Dillon, 96.829 mph, 73.986 seconds
17. Corey LaJoie, 96.923 mph, 73.914 seconds
18. Bubba Wallace, 96.819 mph, 73.994 seconds
19. Noah Gragson, 96.808 mph, 74.002 seconds
20. Zane Smith, 96.804 mph, 74.005 seconds
21. Martin Truex Jr., 96.804 mph, 74.005 seconds
22. Harrison Burton, 96.752 mph, 74.045 seconds
23. Chase Briscoe, 96.744 mph, 74.051 seconds
24. Will Brown, 96.752 mph, 74.045 seconds
25. Denny Hamlin, 96.614 mph, 74.151 seconds
26. Chris Buescher, 96.691 mph, 74.092 seconds
27. Justin Haley, 96.555 mph, 74.196 seconds
28. Austin Cindric, 96.516 mph, 74.226 seconds
29. Kyle Busch, 96.456 mph, 74.265 seconds
30. Ryan Preece, 96.193 mph, 74.475 seconds
31. Cam Waters, 96.334 mph, 74.366 seconds
32. Josh Berry, 96.180 mph, 74.485 seconds
33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 96.280 mph, 74.408 seconds
34. Daniel Hemric, 96.098 mph, 74.549 seconds
35. Brad Keselowski, 96.166 mph, 74.496 seconds
36. Kaz Grala, 95.669 mph, 74.883 seconds
37. John Hunter Nemechek, 95.695 mph, 74.863 seconds
38. Erik Jones, 95.260 mph, 75.205 seconds
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway is set to occur on Sunday, June 9, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
June 8, 2024
Cindric benefits from Blaney’s last-lap misfortune for a wild Cup victory at Gateway

In a season mired with only a single top-five result and nine results outside the top 20 through 14 races, Austin Cindric achieved good fortunes under the Gateway Arch, racing his way into Playoff contention after taking advantage of teammate Ryan Blaney running out of fuel on the final lap to win the third annual running of the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2.

The 2022 Daytona 500 champion from Mooresville, North Carolina, led three times for 53 of 240 scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Michael McDowell and raced competitively towards the front. As the event quickly became a race of execution in pit strategy within the field, Cindric, who accumulated a bevy of stage points during the event’s two stage periods and led for the first time on Lap 97, made his final pit service with 63 laps remaining under green flag conditions, one lap after teammate Ryan Blaney pitted. Cindric then spent the remainder of the event navigating his way around the Gateway course and methodically climbing the leaderboard as more front-runners pitted. Amid his drive back to the front, he was also trying to keep pace with Blaney, who would prevail in a late battle of his own against Christopher Bell.

Then after being initially poised for a runner-up result behind Blaney with two laps remaining, Cindric struck gold after Blaney ran out of fuel and quickly fell off the pace through the frontstretch. Having the lead to his advantage for a final lap, Cindric was able to have enough fuel and horsepower within his No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry to cycle back to the frontstretch and claim his second NASCAR Cup Series career victory in his 94th series start along with his first win in two years.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 1, Michael McDowell achieved his third Cup pole position of this season and of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 138.598 mph in 32.468 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Austin Cindric, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 138.134 mph in 32.577 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, McDowell jumped his No. 34 Siteman Cancer Center Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead from the outside lane and he led the field through the first two turns and through the backstretch. With Christopher Bell navigating his way into the runner-up spot and the field behind fanning out to multiple lanes, McDowell proceeded to lead the first lap from Bell. Behind, Ryan Blaney was up to third place while teammate Austin Cindric dropped to fourth place as he was racing in front of Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Brad Keselowski.

The following lap, Wallace, who was battling Keselowski for seventh place, bumped into the side of Keselowski as Keselowski got loose and briefly went up the track through Turns 1 and 2, but he managed to keep his car running straight despite dropping out of the top 10 on the track. Then prior to the third lap, the event’s first caution period flew after John Hunter Nemechek and Cody Ware both spun in Turn 2.

During the next restart period on the seventh lap, McDowell and Bell dueled for the lead through the first two turns until McDowell just managed to clear Bell’s No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE through the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes for a second time, McDowell retained the lead by a narrow margin over Bell as Team Penske’s Blaney and Cindric battled for third place in front of Toyota drivers Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Wallace. William Byron and Keselowski would trail in the top 10 along with Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson while McDowell led the Lap 10 mark by three-tenths of a second over Bell.

Through the first 15 scheduled laps, McDowell was leading by half a second over Bell followed by Blaney, Cindric and Hamlin while Reddick, Gibbs, Byron, Wallace and Logano were scored in the top 10. Behind, Larson occupied 11th place ahead of Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch while rookie Josh Berry, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., rookie Carson Hocevar and Austin Dillon trailed in the top 20.

Shortly after, the event’s second caution period flew after Cody Ware was involved in a second two-car spin in Turn 2, with his latest one including Kaulig Racing’s Derek Kraus. During the caution period, select names led by Keselowski and including Busch, Truex, Austin Dillon and Josh Berry pitted while the rest led by McDowell remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who pitted, was penalized for speeding while Keselowski pitted for a second time to address a loose wheel to his No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 22, McDowell and Bell battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until McDowell managed to muscle ahead from Bell from the outside lane. McDowell proceeded to lead the proceeding lap from Bell as he had both lanes in his control while Blaney was trying to fend off Cindric, Hamlin and a hard-charging Byron for third place. Behind, Wallace and Logano battled fiercely for ninth place in front of Alex Bowman, where Wallace blocked Logano through the frontstretch before Logano prevailed and overtook Wallace from the inside lane through the first two turns. Amid the early battles, McDowell retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Bell by the Lap 25 mark.

Through the first 30 scheduled laps, McDowell continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Bell followed by Blaney, Cindric and Hamlin as Byron, Gibbs, Reddick, Logano and Chase Elliott trailed in the top 10. Wallace, Larson, Bowman, Erik Jones and Ross Chastain trailed in the top 15 while Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, Carson Hocevar, Justin Haley and John Hunter Nemechek followed suit in the top 20. Meanwhile, a bevy of top names including Kyle Busch, Truex, Berry, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Keselowski and Daniel Suarez trailed the lead outside the top 20 on the track.

Just past the Lap 35 mark, the top three competitors on the track were separated by less than half a second as runner-up Bell and third-place Blaney slowly began to close in on McDowell for the lead. At the same time, however, Blaney would start to challenge Bell for the runner-up spot while fourth-place Cindric trailed by two seconds. Bell would then make two different attempts to overtake the leader McDowell from the inside lane through the Lap 40 mark, which he prevailed after running McDowell up the track through Turns 1 and 2. As McDowell tried to fight back from the outside lane, Bell maintained both his racing line on the inside lane and the lead during the proceeding lap.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Bell, winner of last weekend’s rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. McDowell held off Blaney to retain second followed by Cindric and Hamlin while Byron, Gibbs, Reddick, Logano and Elliott were scored in the top 10 on the track. By then, all but one of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Bell pitted while the rest led by Todd Gilliland, including those who pitted during the second caution period, among which included Kyle Busch, Berry, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse, remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Ryan Preece exited pit road first with two fresh tires ahead of Truex while Bell, the first competitor with four fresh tires, followed suit along with McDowell, Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Blaney, Hamlin, Gibbs and Keselowski.

The second stage period started on Lap 54 as Gilliland and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Gilliland and Busch briefly dueled for the lead until Busch rocketed his No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through the first two turns. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes and jostled for spots through the backstretch, Busch led Gilliland and teammate Austin Dillon back to the frontstretch. Behind, Berry occupied fourth place while Stenhouse was in fifth ahead of Bell, Preece, Truex, Cindric and Elliott.

Just past the Lap 56 mark, Gilliland dropped from second to seventh on the track. This enabled Dillon to move his No. 3 DOW/Rivers are Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot behind teammate Busch while Berry, Stenhouse, Bell and Truex followed suit. Preece would then move into eighth place while Briscoe and Cindric battled fiercely for 10th place. With a multitude of battles ensuing around the circuit and between those with fresh tires versus those with none, Busch maintained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Dillon by Lap 60.

At the Lap 70 mark, Bell, who was charging his way to the front on four fresh tires, overtook Busch to move back into the lead. Behind, Dillon trailed in third place by a second and a half while Truex and Berry followed suit in the top five as they trailed the lead by three seconds.

Ten laps later, Bell was leading by more than a second over Busch followed by Dillon, Truex and Berry while Elliott, Stenhouse, Cindric, Blaney and Preece were racing in the top 10 ahead of Hamlin, Larson, Wallace, Briscoe and Gibbs. Meanwhile, McDowell, who restarted 10th at the start of the second stage period, was down in 16th ahead of Logano, Keselowski, Gilliland and Bowman as Byron, Chastain, Reddick, Haley and Buescher trailed outside the top 20.

Another 10 laps later, Bell extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Busch as Dillon, Truex and Berry continued to run in the top five. Elliott, Stenhouse, Cindric and Blaney also continued to race from sixth to ninth, respectively, while Hamlin occupied 10th place in front of Larson, Wallace, Preece, Gibbs and Briscoe.

Then during the next lap, select names including Richard Childress Racing’s Busch and Dillon pitted under green along with Gilliland. Berry, who was running fourth, pitted his No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green during the proceeding lap along with Stenhouse, Haley and Derek Kraus while Bell continued to lead. Soon after, a cycle of green flag pit stops slowly commenced on Lap 94 as Larson pitted his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the top 10 and only for two fresh tires. The leader Bell, along with Hamlin, Chastain, Reddick, Elliott, Erik Jones and Nemechek would pit during the proceeding laps as Berry was penalized for speeding on pit road.

By Lap 100, Austin Cindric was one of many who had yet to pit and was leading by nearly a second over teammate Blaney as Wallace, Preece and Gibbs followed suit in the top five. Gibbs would then pit under green along with Wallace, Byron, McDowell, Preece, Daniel Suarez, Buescher and Bowman over the next five laps while Cindric continued to lead.

Then on Lap 109, Truex, who pitted earlier under green, pitted his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE for a second time after he lost his left-rear tire. Amid Truex’s issues, the event remained under green flag conditions as Truex lost two laps in the process. The caution, however, flew on Lap 111 after Berry lost a left front tire and slid dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 4 as his event came to an end. By then, 17 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while a multitude of names led by the leader Cindric, many of whom were anticipating a caution, have yet to pit as part of their strategic move. During the caution period, a majority of the lead lap field by Cindric, including those who have to pit, pitted while the rest, led by Bell and including Elliott and Larson, remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 119, Bell and Elliott dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bell rocketed ahead from the outside lane through the backstretch. Bell would maintain the top spot and lead the halfway mark on Lap 120 while Busch was trying to close in on Elliott for the runner-up spot. In addition, Cindric battled Larson for fourth place in front of Blaney as the rest of the field behind jostled for spots.

By Lap 130, Bell stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Cindric, who was battling Elliott for the spot. Behind, Blaney occupied fourth place in front of a side-by-side battle between Busch and Logano while Keselowski, Larson, Briscoe and Hocevar were in the top 10 ahead of Dillon, Harrison Burton, Hamlin, Daniel Hemric, Gibbs, Zane Smith, Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Byron and Reddick.

Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew after Larson, who was battling fiercely with Busch amid close-quarters racing and contact through the frontstretch for seventh place, got loose and slid up the track into Busch, with Busch sliding and hitting the outside wall hard while Larson continued to slide sideways towards the outside wall. The incident between Busch and Larson, which ended Busch’s strong run in the garage and spoiled his bid to win for two consecutive years at Gateway, concluded the second stage period on Lap 140 as Bell captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season as he also swept both stages of the day. Cindric settled in second ahead of Blaney, Elliott and Keselowski while Logano, Briscoe, Hocevar, Dillon and Hamlin were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, mixed strategies ensued within the field as some led by Bell pitted while the rest led by Cindric, including his Team Penske teammates Blaney and Logano, remained on the track.

With 92 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Cindric and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, the field quickly fanned out through the frontstretch as Briscoe attempted to make a three-wide move on both Cindric and Blaney for the lead through the first two turns. Cindric, however, muscled his No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead from the outside lane through the backstretch while Blaney and Logano muscled back ahead of Briscoe into the top three. Hocevar then battled Logano for third place while more jostling of spots ensued within the middle of the pack during the following lap. Amid the battles and as Bell was trying to navigate his way back towards the front, Cindric retained the lead with 90 laps remaining.

Down to the final 80 laps of the event, Cindric was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Blaney while teammate Logano trailed in third place by two seconds. Behind, Hocevar retained fourth place ahead of Hamlin and a hard-charging Bell as Briscoe, Dillon, Chastain and Keselowski trailed in the top 10 ahead of Reddick, Hemric, Haley, Zane Smith and Elliott. Meanwhile, Stenhouse occupied 16th place ahead of Byron, Buescher, Burton and Gragson while Gilliland, Preece, Larson, Wallace and Gibbs occupied the top 25 in front of Erik Jones, Bowman, Suarez, McDowell and Nemechek.

Fifteen laps later, Cindric maintained the lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Blaney while teammate Logano continued to trail in third place by five seconds. As Hocevar surrendered fourth place to pit under green, Bell cycled his way up to fourth place, where he trailed the lead by six seconds, while teammate Hamlin moved up to fifth place.

Another lap later, however, pit strategies amongst the front-runners started to occur as Blaney pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse from the runner-up spot before the leader Cindric, Hamlin and Zane Smith pitted another lap later. Logano would then pit his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse along with Dillon, Briscoe and Byron with 63 laps remaining as Bell returned atop the leaderboard. With Stewart-Haas Racing’s Preece and Gragson pitting not long after, Bell was leading Keselowski by more than four seconds as Reddick, Haley and Chastain followed suit in the top five with 60 laps remaining.

With less than 50 laps remaining, Bell, who has yet to pit, continued to lead by more than five seconds over Keselowski as Reddick, Haley and Chastain continued to race in the top five. Meanwhile, Blaney and Cindric, both of whom managed to pit and remain on the lead lap ahead of Bell, were mired back in 18th and 20th, respectively. Bell would then pit from the lead with 47 laps remaining along with Reddick and Chastain as Keselowski cycled into the lead. With Haley, LaJoie and Stenhouse pitting not long after, Keselowski, who has yet to pit, continued to lead by more than nine seconds over Elliott as Larson, Gibbs, Gilliland, Wallace, McDowell, Bowman, Erik Jones and Nemechek trailed in the top 10 with 40 laps remaining. By then, Blaney, Cindric and Bell, all of whom had enough fuel to complete the event’s scheduled distance, had cycled their way just outside the top-10 mark.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Keselowski retained the lead by 11 seconds over Larson before he pitted a lap later. By then, Elliott had pitted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Larson cycled into the lead. Then as Gibbs also pitted a few laps later, Blaney cycled his way up into the runner-up spot while Bell, Wallace and Cindric followed suit. As Blaney and Bell battled for the runner-up spot and potentially for the victory, Larson, who has yet to pit, retained the lead by 13 seconds with 25 laps remaining.

Then with 24 laps remaining, Larson surrendered the lead to pit, which moved Blaney into the lead by a mere margin over Bell as Bell continued to pressure Blaney for the position. Behind the two leaders, Cindric was up to third place while Wallace and McDowell were in the top five. Amid Bell’s continuous challenges through the turns and from the inside lane, Blaney managed to prevail through the straightaways from the outside lane as he led with 20 laps remaining.

Bell then led the following lap after he moved in front of Blaney through the straightaway, but Blaney responded with a crossover move on Bell through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1. Bell then pulled a crossover move of his own underneath Blaney, who barely slipped up the track, through the backstretch, but Blaney moved in front of Bell to block him and remain ahead of him as he returned to the lead with 18 laps remaining. Bell then slowly began to fall off the pace through the backstretch as he reported an engine issue to his car, which allowed Cindric to catch up and overtake him for the runner-up spot with 16 laps remaining while Blaney pulled away with the lead.

With 10 laps remaining, Blaney retained the lead by two seconds over teammate Cindric. Behind, Hamlin navigated his way up to third place while Bell, who was trying to nurse his car to the finish, settled in fourth while Keselowski trailed in fifth place by eight seconds. Keselowski and Reddick would catch and overtake Bell for positions while Blaney stabilized his advantage of less than two seconds over teammate Cindric, who was trying to navigate his way through lapped traffic, with five laps remaining.

Then as Blaney was about to cycle his way back to the frontstretch to start the final lap of the event, he quickly fell off the pace after he ran out of fuel, which allowed Cindric to zip by him with the lead through the frontstretch. As Blaney was trying to coast his No. 12 Ford around the circuit for a final time, Cindric was able to cruise his No. 2 Ford around the Gateway circuit smoothly for a final time as he returned to the frontstretch with enough fuel underneath his tank and victorious for the second time in his career.

With the victory, Cindric, who notched the second victory in three races for the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse stock car, became the 142nd competitor overall to achieve multiple victories in the Cup Series and he snapped an 85-race winless drought since he notched his first Cup career victory in the 2022 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

In addition to becoming the ninth competitor to win through the 2024 season’s first 15-scheduled events and guaranteeing himself a Playoff berth for this season, Cindric also delivered the first Cup victory of the season for Team Penske and the first ever for crew chief Brian Wilson, who celebrated an Xfinity Series championship with Cindric in 2020 and was moved to the No. 2 team from the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team midway into the 2023 season.

Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“Honestly, I’m heartbroken for the No. 12 team,” Cindric said. “I don’t know what happened to them at the end of the race, but they deserve to win this race. Ryan’s [Blaney] been a hell of a leader on this team. This weekend was a great weekend for everybody involved, but to have two cars in the fight, an eventual one, two [finish] there. Like I said, I’m heartbroken for those guys, but this is huge for me. This is huge for this team. I’m so glad I was able to get a win with [crew chief] Brian [Wilson] as my crew chief in the Cup Series. You never know when it’s going to happen again. Just drove my butt off and hope for the best.”

“[The win]’s everything, it’s absolutely everything,” Cindric added. “The funniest thing about it is that this Freightliner Ford Mustang’s probably one of the best-looking cars on the racetrack. I have had terrible races every single time with this car and it’s great to win with a great paint scheme. Great to win front of an amazing crowd. This racetrack does an amazing job of putting on events. Just proud to be able to do it. Proud to bring it home for these [No. 2] guys. They deserve it.”

As Cindric celebrated on the frontstretch, teammate Blaney was left dejected on pit road after ending up in 24th place in the final running order as he continues to seek his first Cup victory of the 2024 season.

“No, I didn’t think so [of running out of fuel],” Blaney said. “[I] Never thought in my mind we were short, but one of those things. Proud of the No. 12 boys. [I] Had my work cut out for me holding off Christopher [Bell]. That was a fun battle. Yeah, one lap short. That stinks, but congrats to the No. 2 team. They did a good job all day, so it’s a props for them, Austin [Cindric]. Proud for Team Penske and Ford. Really happy with our showing today. I don’t know what I got to do to get some luck on our side. Gosh, [I] wrecked the last two points races and thought we had a great shot to win today. Ended up bad. Appreciate the effort, just got to keep sticking with it.”

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin piloted his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE into the runner-up spot while Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano came home in the top five.

Austin Dillon settled in sixth place followed by Bell, who had enough power to finish despite leading a race-high 80 laps, while rookie Carson Hocevar, Justin Haley and Kyle Larson finished in the top 10.

There were 16 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 15th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 21 points over Kyle Larson, 27 over Chase Elliott, 44 over Martin Truex Jr. and 36 over William Byron.

Results.

1. Austin Cindric, 53 laps led

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Brad Keselowski, 17 laps led

4. Tyler Reddick

5. Joey Logano, one lap led

6. Austin Dillon

7. Christopher Bell, 80 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

8. Carson Hocevar

9. Justin Haley

10. Kyle Larson, seven laps led

11. Ty Gibbs

12. Ross Chastain

13. Chase Elliott

14. Chris Buescher

15. William Byron

16. Todd Gilliland, six laps led

17. Chase Briscoe

18. Daniel Hemric

19. Zane Smith

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Noah Gragson

23. Daniel Suarez

24. Ryan Blaney, 20 laps led

25. Michael McDowell, one lap down, 40 laps led

26. Erik Jones, one lap down

27. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

28. Alex Bowman, one lap down

29. Ryan Preece, one lap down

30. Derek Kraus, one lap down

31. Harrison Burton, one lap down

32. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

33. Cody Ware, two laps down

34. Martin Truex Jr., three laps down, one lap led

35. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident, 15 laps led

36. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 9, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

June 2, 2024
Logano dominates for second All-Star triumph at North Wilkesboro

Joey Logano erased his difficult start to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season by capping off a dominant run with a big victory in the 40th annual running of the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, May 19.

The two-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led all but one of 200 scheduled laps in an event where he took care of business a day earlier by qualifying on the pole position for the main event. From the drop of the green flag to the checkered flag, Logano managed through the event’s tire options and repaved surface, including the use of optional tires for grip, to keep his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry out in front amid four restarts and several challenges between his fellow competitors. Amid a 42-lap dash to the finish, Logano managed both his optional tires, the track’s racing surface and the clean air to fend off Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson to claim his second checkered flag in the All-Star event and cash in a million dollars.

The starting lineup for the main event was determined through a combined session of on-track qualifying and the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge that occurred on Saturday, May 18, where each competitor eligible for the All-Star Race took the green flag, ran one full lap around the circuit, pitted within a designated pit stall for four-tire pit stop with a mock fuel delivery included during the second lap and raced back to the checkered flag once returning to the track.

The overall qualifying time was evaluated by the total time from the green flag to the checkered flag, where the competitor who posted the fastest lap time between the three times would achieve the pole position. The event’s two 60-lap Heat events that would determine the rest of the starting lineup for the All-Star Race aside from the pole sitter was scheduled to occur on Saturday but was canceled due to on-track precipitation.

At the conclusion of the qualifying and Pit Crew Challenge sessions, Joey Logano claimed his first All-Star pole position after posting the fastest three-lap qualifying run in one minute, 29.75 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Brad Keselowski, who clocked in the second-fastest three-lap qualifying run in one minute, 30.14 seconds.

Christopher Bell, whose No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota pit crew achieved this year’s Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge after delivering the fastest four-tire pit service during Bell’s qualifying run in 13.223 seconds, qualified in third place with a three-lap qualifying run in one minute, 30.17 seconds and he started alongside Daniel Suarez, who posted the fourth-fastest three-lap qualifying run in one minute, 30.20 seconds.

Prior to the event, Kyle Larson, who qualified an impressive fifth place for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 while driving for Arrow McLaren, started at the rear of the field due to a driver change after Kevin Harvick practiced and qualified Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry while Larson was preparing for the Indy 500.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Logano muscled his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead from the outside lane as he led the field through the first two turns and through the backstretch while Kyle Busch, who started towards the middle of the pack, hit the outside wall after making contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. amid a three-wide battle.

Then as Logano proceeded to lead the first lap, Busch retaliated by bumping and sending Stenhouse hard into the outside wall in Turn 2 as his event came to an early end. Following the incident, however, Stenhouse nursed and parked his damaged No. 47 Icy Hot Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into Busch’s pit stall before he climbed out and exchanged words with Busch’s crew chief Randall Burnett before being directed to the infield care center.

During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Daniel Suarez pitted to have the soft “red” tires on their respective entries removed for prime “yellow” tires while the rest led by Logano and including Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Ryan Blaney remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on the 10th lap, Logano retained the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as Keselowski and Reddick battled for second in front of Blaney and Buescher. Behind, Christopher Bell, the first competitor racing on the fresh prime tires, was in sixth ahead of Suarez, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch as Logano proceeded to lead the Lap 15 mark.

Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Logano was leading by four-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Buescher, Blaney and Keselowski while Bell, Suarez, Chastain, William Byron and Denny Hamlin were racing in the top 10. Behind, Chase Elliott occupied 11th place ahead of Truex, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson and Busch while Bubba Wallace, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and Noah Gragson trailed behind, with last-place Gragson trailing the lead by more than seven seconds.

Ten laps later, Logano extended his advantage to more than a second over Buescher followed by Blaney, Reddick and Keselowski, with all the top-five front-runners separated by more than three seconds and still racing on the option “red” tires. Behind, Bell, the first competitor racing on the primary “yellow” tires in his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE, trailed in sixth place by more than three seconds while Suarez, Chastain, Byron and Hamlin continued to run in the top 10.

Another 10 laps later, Logano stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Buescher while third-place Blaney trailed by more than two seconds. As Keselowski and Reddick trailed in the top five, Bell, Suarez, Chastain, Hamlin and Byron trailed in the top 10, respectively, while Elliott, Gibbs, Truex, Larson and Busch followed suit in the top 15 ahead of Wallace, McDowell, Gragson and Allmendinger.

At the Lap 50 mark, Logano continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Buescher, with Blaney and Keselowski trailing in third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Bell cracked the top five on his primary tires while Reddick fell back to sixth place on his optional tires. Suarez, Chastain and Hamlin followed suit from seventh to ninth, respectively, while Elliott occupied 10th place ahead of teammate Byron and Gibbs.

Fifteen laps later, Logano retained the lead by a second over Buescher as Blaney, Keselowski and Bell trailed in the top five. Behind, Reddick occupied sixth place ahead of a battle between Hamlin and Suarez while Chastain and Elliott continued to run in the top 10.

A few laps later, trouble struck for Byron, who nursed his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to pit road under green due to a flat tire and for a bent toe link after hitting a bump and the outside wall. Amid Byron’s issues, which pinned the Charlotte native multiple laps down while his pit crew made repairs on pit road, Logano, who was beginning to approach lapped traffic, was leading by less than half a second over Buescher, who was starting to close in on Logano for the top spot, by the Lap 75 mark.

Just past the Lap 80 mark, Logano, who was still trying to navigate his way through lapped traffic, retained the lead by half a second over Buescher while third-place Blaney trailed by a second. Keselowski, Bell and Reddick continued to run in the top six ahead of Hamlin, Chastain, Suarez and Elliott while Logano, who was trying to lap Wallace, was still leading by the Lap 90 mark.

On Lap 100, which marked the halfway point of the event, a designated All-Star caution was flown. At the moment of caution, Logano, who was unable to lap Wallace but survived through the event’s first half on the optional tires, retained the lead ahead of Buescher, Keselowski, Blaney and Bell while Reddick, Hamlin, Chastain, Suarez and Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, McDowell, who was running in 16th place behind Wallace, emerged as the first competitor swho was scored a lap down and he was the recipient of the free pass.

During the caution period, the field led by Logano made a mandatory four-tire pit stop. Following the pit stops, Logano retained the lead after beating both Buescher and Bell off of pit road first while Keselowski, Blaney, Hamlin, Chastain, Elliott, Suarez and Reddick followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, nearly the entire field led by Logano opted to change for a fresh set of optional tires while Gibbs and Reddick only opted to change for primary tires.

When the race restarted under green with 92 laps remaining, where Logano and Bell occupied the front row, Logano maintained a slight advantage over Bell through the first two turns and the backstretch, with both still battling dead even back to the frontstretch and for the following lap. Logano and Bell would continue to battle dead even for the lead with 90 laps remaining, with the former trying to pin and stall the latter’s momentum through the turns and straightaways.

Then with 88 laps remaining, Bell got loose underneath Logano, which sent both competitors up the track through Turns 3 and 4 amid contact. This allowed Hamlin to ignite a three-wide battle for the lead through the frontstretch. With Hamlin trying to emerge ahead through the first two turns from the inside lane, Logano fought back from the outside lane as he retained the lead by a narrow margin over Hamlin while Bell was trying to fend off Blaney for third place. In addition, Buescher was in fifth while Larson was up to sixth place.

With 83 laps remaining, the caution flew after Gibbs, winner of the 2024 All-Star Open, was bumped twice by Busch’s No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entering Turn 1 while racing for 12th place, which sent Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE spinning towards the outside wall in Turn 1. Gibbs would drop out of the lead lap category as he had issues trying to re-fire his car amid the incident while Suarez and Reddick pitted for tire options during the caution period.

As the event restarted under green with 77 laps remaining, Logano muscled away from Hamlin and the field from the outside lane through the first two turns and through the backstretch. As the field behind battled for late spots, Logano maintained a steady advantage of two-tenths of a second over Hamlin’s No. 11 Mavis Toyota Camry XSE with 75 laps remaining while Blaney, Bell, Buescher and Larson followed suit in the top six.

With 65 laps remaining, Logano stabilized his narrow advantage to three-tenths of a second over a side-by-side battle between Hamlin and Blaney for the runner-up spot. Behind, fourth-place Bell and fifth-place Buescher both trailed by a second as sixth-place Larson trailed by two seconds, with Keselowski, Wallace, Elliott and Reddick racing in the top 10.

With 50 laps remaining, a second designated All-Star caution was flown. At the moment of caution, Logano was the leader ahead of teammate Blaney, Hamlin, Bell and Buescher while Larson, Keselowski, Wallace, Elliott and Reddick were scored in the top 10 followed by McDowell, Gragson, Chastain, Busch, Truex, Suarez, Gibbs and Allmendinger.

During the caution period, some led by Larson and including Wallace, Elliott, Chastain, Truex, McDowell, Gragson, Busch and Suarez pitted for fresh optional “red” tires while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

Down to the final 42 laps of the event, the event restarted under green as teammates Logano and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Logano retained the lead while Blaney, who got loose entering the first turn, was quickly overtaken by Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Blaney would then be challenged by Buescher for third place along with Larson as Hamlin started to challenge Logano for the lead with 40 laps remaining.

Over the next two laps, Larson, racing on fresh optional tires, overtook both Blaney and Buescher to move his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into third place. By then, Logano retained the lead ahead of Hamlin as Larson started to close in on the two leaders. Larson would then have issues trying to overtake Hamlin for the runner-up spot through the corners while Logano retained the lead with less than 35 laps remaining.

With 25 laps remaining, Logano was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin while third-place Larson trailed the lead by a second. Behind, Buescher retained fourth ahead of Blaney while Wallace was up to sixth place followed by Chastain, Elliott, Truex and Busch.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Logano extended his advantage to a second over Hamlin while third-place Larson, who was starting to fade on his fresh tires, trailed by more than two seconds as he was also trying to fend off Buescher to retain third place. Blaney, Wallace, Chastain, Elliott, McDowell and Truex followed suit in the top 10 as Logano was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin with 10 laps remaining.

With five laps remaining, Logano retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin as third-place Larson trailed by four seconds followed by Buescher and Blaney.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained as the leader by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin. Despite Hamlin’s late effort in keeping Logano as close as he could in front of him, he could not narrow the gap as Logano, who was out front in clean air, was able to cycle around the North Wilkesboro circuit smoothly for a final time and back to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second.

With the victory, Logano joins Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte and Davey Allison as competitors to win the All-Star Race twice as this marks his first time winning the All-Star event since 2016. He also recorded the fifth All-Star victory for Team Penske and the 14th overall for the Ford nameplate, with the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse stock car winning for a second consecutive weekend.

Logano’s All-Star victory capped off a strong day of motorsports competition for team owner Roger Penske, whose three-car operation in the NTT IndyCar Series swept the front row for next Sunday’s 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 as Scott McLaughlin captured his first Indy 500 pole over teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden. For Logano, the victory served as a momentous boost for the former Cup Series champion, who came into the event with a single top-two result registered to his racing stats along with being winless through the first 13 events on the 2024 schedule.

Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“How about that, Wilkesboro?! That was awesome!” Logano exclaimed on the frontstretch on FS1. “What an incredible Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. It was so fast. Man, we came here and tested [in March]. We ran over 800 laps at the tire test. [Crew chief] Paul [Wolfe] really put me to work, really figured out what it was going to take to win the race. The [No. 22] boys executed a fantastic stop. Fantastic weekend, great execution. It’s been a while since we’ve won a race. I wish this one counted for points, but a million bucks will work as well…Man, it feels good. Feels great.”

As Logano celebrated on the frontstretch, tempers ignited in the garage area and towards the transport haulers as Stenhouse, who waited for Busch, who ended up 10th and was still displeased over the opening lap incident, confronted the latter as harsh words were exchanged. As the conversation continued, Stenhouse then swung a fist towards Busch as a fight ignited between both competitors and their respective crew members before they were separated.

Denny Hamlin, the 2015 All-Star Race winner, settled in second place for the second time in his career followed by Chris Buescher, who achieved his first top-five result in the All-Star event. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson capped off an eventful run between his Indianapolis 500 qualifying trials to campaigning for another All-Star victory by finishing fourth while Blaney rounded out the top five.

Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch completed the top 10 in the final running order.

There were two lead changes for two different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 17 of 20 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Joey Logano, 199 laps led

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Chris Buescher

4. Kyle Larson

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Bubba Wallace

7. Ross Chastain

8. Chase Elliott

9. Michael McDowell

10. Kyle Busch

11. Noah Gragson

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Ty Gibbs

14. Tyler Reddick

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

17. Chistopher Bell

18. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down

19. William Byron, 14 laps down

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the 65th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 26, during Memorial Day weekend and air at 6 p.m. ET on FOX.

May 19, 2024
NASCAR postpones remainder of Truck event at North Wilkesboro to Sunday; All-Star Heats canceled due to precipitation

The remainder of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Wright Brand 250 event at North Wilkesboro Speedway has been postponed to Sunday, May 19, at 11:30 a.m. ET due to an ongoing increase of precipitation that has prevented the event from being completed on Saturday, May 18.

The event’s postponement is one of several on-track weekend sessions at North Wilkesboro that have been impacted due to the ongoing precipitation, which includes the NASCAR All-Star Open qualifying session being canceled due to rain and the lineup being set based on the owner’s standings while the NASCAR All-Star Race qualifying session was postponed to early Saturday afternoon due to rain canceling the scheduled session for Friday, May 17.

At the time of the Truck Series event’s delay and eventual postponement, 81 of 250 scheduled laps had been completed. Ty Majeski, who claimed the Stage 1 victory on Lap 70, was scored the leader ahead of Rajah Caruth, Corey Heim, Christian Eckes and Tanner Gray while Tyler Ankrum, Ross Chastain, Connor Jones, Nick Sanchez and Jake Garcia were scored in the top 10.

In addition to the Truck event, the NASCAR All-Star Race’s two scheduled Heat qualifying events, each spanning 60 laps, have been canceled from occurring on Saturday evening. As a result, the initial starting lineup for the event that was determined through a combined session between on-track qualifying and the Pit Crew Challenge will become the official starting lineup for the All-Star Race instead of the two heat events determining the majority of the lineup.

Joey Logano, a two-time Cup Series champion and the 2016 All-Star Race winner from Middletown, Connecticut, had already secured the pole position for Sunday’s All-Star event after posting the best three-lap qualifying time in one minute, 29.75 seconds. With the cancellation of the two All-Star Heat events, Brad Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion from Rochester Hills, Michigan, who posted the second-fastest three-lap qualifying session in one minute, 30.14 seconds, will officially start on the front row alongside Logano.

Christopher Bell, whose pit crew won this year’s Pit Crew Challenge with a lightning-fast four-tire pit service in 13.223 seconds, will start in third place followed by Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher while Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger will start in the top 10.

With 17 of 20 starting spots already determined and occupied by competitors eligible for the event, the final three starting spots will be determined through the All-Star Open event that will occur at 5:30 p.m. on FS1. The top two finishers in the Open will automatically transfer into the All-Star Race while one extra competitor will claim the final starting spot for the main event after being named the Fan Vote winner.

The Craftsman Truck Series’ Wright Brand 250 will resume on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET on FS1. The All-Star Race is also scheduled to occur on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1 following the All-Star Open.

May 18, 2024