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  • Blaney perseveres late for a Cup victory at Atlanta

    Blaney perseveres late for a Cup victory at Atlanta

    In a late turn of events, Ryan Blaney overtook a dominating Kyle Larson and surged ahead under the final 10 laps to win the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 21, and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2021 season.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Martin Truex Jr., Hamlin’s teammate and winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Phoenix Raceway.

    Prior to the race, Chase Elliott and Timmy Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to multiple pre-race inspection failures. For Hill, he was also assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road and his car chief was ejected due to his car failing pre-race inspection three times. Quin Houff also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. 

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin pulled away with a strong start followed by Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick while Truex fell back to fourth. Behind, the field fanned out through two lanes.

    Following the first lap, Hamlin was out in front while Harvick and Logano battled for the runner-up spot. Through Turn 2, Truex gained a run on both Harvick and Logano, but Harvick blocked and stalled Truex’s momentum. 

    Through the first five laps of the event, Hamlin continued to lead by a narrow margin over Harvick with Logano trailing by less than half a second. Kyle Larson, making his 350th NASCAR national touring series start and who started sixth, moved up to fourth followed by teammate William Byron. Truex, meanwhile, fell back to sixth while Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were in the top 10.

    Over the next two laps, Larson advanced to third place over Logano, who was also pressured by Byron, who started ninth, for position. Behind, Truex was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon, all of whom were locked in a heated battle for position.

    By Lap 10, Hamlin was ahead by half a second over Larson, who continued to muscle his way to the front with Harvick behind by a second. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick made an unscheduled pit stop after making early contact with the outside wall. 

    While Hamlin and Larson pulled away from the field and by nearly two seconds over third-place Harvick, teammates Logano and Ryan Blaney battled for fifth place, Kyle Busch, winner of the Truck Series event at Atlanta and who started 19th, moved up into seventh place while Truex continued to lose positions. By Lap 16, he was in 10th after being overtaken by the Busch brothers and Austin Dillon.

    By Lap 20, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Larson with Harvick trailing by more than three seconds. Byron and Blaney, who started 10th, were in the top five followed by Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Logano, Austin Dillon and Truex. Brad Keselowski, meanwhile, was back in 12th behind Alex Bowman, who was making his 250th NASCAR national touring series start. Chase Elliott, on the other hand, was up in 16th after starting at the rear of the field.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Hamlin remained in the lead by more than half a second over Larson with Harvick, Blaney and Kyle Busch in the top five, thus dropping Byron to sixth place. By then, 31 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap. 

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Larson emerged with the lead over Hamlin followed by Harvick, Blaney and Kyle Busch. Following the pit stops, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Corey LaJoie were sent to the rear of the field after both were busted for speeding on pit road.

    Prior to the restart, Harvick returned to pit road after his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang suffered a flat left-rear tire.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Larson and Hamlin were locked in a heated battle for the lead through the first two turns. Hamlin received a push from Blaney to squeak ahead on the outside lane entering Turn 3, but Larson fought back on the inside lane to retain the lead when the field returned to the start/finish line.

    Shortly after, Blaney overtook Hamlin for second, who was also pressured by Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While Kurt Busch and Hamlin battled for third place, Kyle Busch battled Logano for fifth place. 

    By Lap 35, Larson continued to lead by nearly half a second over Blaney. Behind, Kurt Bush and Hamlin continued to battle for third place.

    Five laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Blaney with Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch in the top five. Bowman, teammate Byron, Logano, Truex and Keselowski were in the top 10. By then, Elliott was up in 11th ahead of Matt DiBenedetto, Cole Custer, teammate Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman. Christopher Bell was in 16th, Austin Dillon was back in 18th, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez were in 21st and 22nd ahead of Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric, making his second Cup career start, was in 24th ahead of Erik Jones. Rookies Chase Briscoe and Anthony Alfredo were in 28th and 29th while Harvick was back in 32nd place, the final car on the lead lap. Tyler Reddick was in 33rd, two laps behind the leaders.

    By Lap 50, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Larson was out in front of the field and by more than two seconds over Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry. Blaney, racing in the BODYARMOR Ford Mustang, continued to run in third place ahead of a charging No. 18 M&M’s Messages Toyota Camry driven by Kyle Busch. Brother Kurt was in fifth ahead of Bowman, Truex, Byron, Keselowski and Elliott.

    Ten laps later, Larson continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by over three seconds over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch trailing in third place by less than four seconds. While Blaney and Kurt Busch continued to run in the top five, Elliott moved up to eighth place ahead of teammate Byron and Keselowski.

    Another four laps later, pit stops under green commenced as Hamlin pitted followed by race leader Larson, DiBenedetto, Almirola, Blaney, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Logano, Harvick, Keselowski, Truex, Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Byron, Bubba Wallace and others. 

    By Lap 67 and with most of the leaders pitting under green, Larson was back out in front by more than a second over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch retaining third place. Meanwhile, Harvick, who was in 27th, was able to remain ahead of leader Larson and on the lead lap. 

    Through the first 75 laps of the event and with the leaders mired around lapped traffic, Larson was the leader by more than three seconds over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch behind by four seconds. Blaney was in fourth while Bowman, racing in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, moved up to fifth place. By then, Harvick, who tried to remain in front of leader Larson, was lapped, thus making Austin Cindric the final competitor on the lead lap.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson remained as the leader by six seconds over Kyle Busch, who earlier overtook teammate Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Blaney also moved up to third place while Hamlin and Kurt Busch were in the top five. Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Keselowski and Byron rounded out the top 10.

    By Lap 100 and in the final laps of the first stage, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than seven seconds over Kyle Busch with Blaney trailing by more than nine seconds, Kurt Busch by nearly 11 seconds, Hamlin by more than 12 seconds and Bowman by more than 13 seconds.

    With a fast car in the early stages of the event, Larson was able to cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 105 and with a seven-second advantage over Kyle Busch. Blaney settled in third followed by Kurt Busch and Hamlin while Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Chris Buescher and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with names like Aric Almirola, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, McDowell, Harvick, Cindric, Erik Jones and Briscoe pinned a lap behind.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road with the top spot followed by Kyle Busch, Blaney, Elliott, teammate Bowman and Kurt Busch. Following the pit stops, Chastain was penalized for an uncontrolled tire.

    The second stage started on Lap 112 with the two Kyles on the front row. At the start, Larson pulled away on the inside lane while Kyle Busch struggled to go on the outside lane and caused a stack up with Elliott running into the rear bumper of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota. Behind, Kurt Busch, who was behind Elliott, was bumped and turned by Hamlin as Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet made hard contact against the outside wall entering Turn 1. Though Busch limped his car back to pit road, the damage was enough to end his strong run early.

    Under caution, some like Hamlin, Logano, Suarez and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    The race restarted on Lap 118 with teammates Larson and Byron on the front row. At the start, Blaney muscled his way into the lead over the Hendrick teammates. While Blaney led himself a lap, Larson, with a strong, fast car, was able to reassume the advantage by Lap 120. Behind, Keselowski sustained damage to his fender and hood as a result of running into the back of Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry.

    By Lap 130, Larson was leading by nearly three seconds over Blaney, who had Bowman closing in for position. DiBenedetto and Byron were in the top five followed by Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Buescher, Elliott and Stenhouse.

    Twenty laps later, Larson increased his advantage to six seconds over Blaney. By then, Suarez was scored in the top 10 as he was in 10th place behind Buescher.

    Nearing the Lap 160 mark, a second round of pit stops under green occurred as the leaders pitted. When the field cycled through following the pit stops and the race reaching the halfway mark, Larson was back out in front by more than five seconds over teammate Bowman with Blaney, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch in the top five.

    By Lap 175, Larson continued to lead by more than seven seconds over teammate Bowman with Blaney trailing by more than eight seconds. DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch continued to run in the top five followed by Byron, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Buescher and Truex. Suarez, Elliott and Logano were 11th, 14th and 15th while Wallace was in 17th. Harvick, meanwhile, was mired back in 20th, two laps behind the leaders, while Keselowski was in 29th, three laps behind.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than nine seconds over teammate Bowman as he continued to set sail with a fast car.

    By Lap 200 and in the final laps of the second stage, Larson was leading by nearly 11 seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than 12 seconds.

    With no challengers lurking close behind, Larson was able to cruise to the second stage victory on Lap 210. Blaney crossed the line in second place, trailing by less than eight seconds, followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron while DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Hamlin and Suarez settled in the top 10 and with stage points. By then, 14 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap. While Ryan Newman and Elliott remained on the lead lap at the time of caution, names like Logano, Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, Almirola, McDowell, Harvick, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Cindric, Briscoe, Jones, Reddick and Keselowski were pinned at least a lap behind. Logano, though, received the free pass to return on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road with the lead by a narrow nose over Blaney followed by Bowman, teammate Byron, Kyle Busch and DiBenedetto.

    With 108 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with teammates Larson and Byron on the front row. At the start, Larson retained the lead followed by Blaney, Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron while Hamlin made a run alongside DiBenedetto and Suarez behind.

    Two laps later, the caution returned due to fluid on the track when smoke started billowing out of Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entering Turn 4. Though Elliott was able to limp his car back to his pit stall, his crew ended up taking the car to the garage as Elliott’s race came to an end at his home track due to a mechanical failure.

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and this time, Blaney exited the pits with the lead over Larson followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron. Following the pit stops, however, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road.

    Prior to the restart, 21 competitor opted for the wave around, with five returning on the lead lap, including Harvick. With than, 20 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap.

    With 101 laps remaining, the race restarted with Blaney and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Blaney retained the lead while Larson and Hamlin battled for the runner-up spot along with DiBenedetto.

    Six laps later, Blaney was the leader by less than two-tenths of a second over Larson, who worked his way back into the runner-up spot, while Hamlin, Bowman and DiBenedetto were in the top five.

    With 90 laps remaining, Blaney stabilized his advantage by four-tenths of a second over Larson with Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon in the top five. By then, names like DiBenedetto, Suarez, Buescher, Newman and Truex were in the top 10 while Byron, Kyle Busch, Logano and Harvick were in 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th.

    Two laps later, Larson reassumed the lead over Blaney, who had debris on the front grille of his car.

    With 75 laps remaining, Larson was out in front by more than two seconds over Blaney while Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five. By then, Suarez, in his sixth race with the newly formed Trackhouse Racing Team, moved up to sixth place ahead of Buescher and DiBenedetto. Behind, Truex and Byron were in the top 10 followed by Kyle Busch.

    While Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing Team were in sixth, Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing were inside the top 15. B.J. McLeod, driving for the newly formed Live Fast Motorsports, was in 34th.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to a second over Blaney, with the latter starting to decrease the deficit to himself and the leader. Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon remained in the top five while Suarez, Buescher, DiBenedetto, Truex and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. Byron fell back to 11th followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Wallace, Harvick, Newman and Logano.

    A lap later, another round of pit stops under green occurred, starting with Truex pitting followed by others, with the teams filling the cars with enough fuel to get to the finish. During the pit stops, rookie Anthony Alfredo spun on pit road and nearly collided against Almirola and his pit crew during Almirola’s service. Despite the incident, the race continued under green.

    With 50 laps remaining and the pit stops completed, Larson was back out in front by more than two seconds over Blaney. Bowman was in third followed by Hamlin and Austin Dillon. Teammates Truex and Kyle Busch were in sixth and seventh followed by Byron, Buescher and DiBenedetto. Suarez, who was running in the top 10, was back in 19th, a lap down, after speeding while exiting pit road.

    Ten laps later, Larson continued to dominate with an advantage of three seconds over Blaney. Bowman trailed by less than seven seconds in third place while Hamlin and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, moved up to sixth place over teammate Truex while Byron, Buescher and DiBenedetto continued to run in the top 10.

    With 25 laps remaining and the field reaching the Lap 300 mark, Larson was still leading by more than two seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than eight seconds and fourth-place Hamlin trailing by less than 10 seconds. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, was in fifth place, trailing the lead by less than 15 seconds, following an earlier pass on Austin Dillon.

    Five laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than nine seconds. By then, 15 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with Logano running in 15th place while Wallace was lapped in 16th place.

    With the laps winding down and the race transitioning to night conditions, Blaney started to narrow the deficit between himself and Larson, with the former behind by less than a second.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by four-tenths of a second over Blaney, who continued to close on Larson with a fast car. By then, Larson was mired behind Logano, who was trying to remain on the lead lap, and was having his large advantage slipping away.

    Two laps later, Blaney emerged with the lead in Turn 4 following a battle with Larson and following his late surge for the lead. Shortly after, he pulled away with a four-tenths of a second advantage over Larson, with both overtaking Logano and putting him a lap behind.

    Shortly after, Corey LaJoie made contact with the wall, but the race remained under green as LaJoie limped back to pit road.

    With five laps remaining, Blaney pulled away by more than a second over Larson with Bowman trailing by less than nine seconds.

    Not long after and when the final race started, Blaney continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Larson. With no challengers mounting behind, Blaney was able to come back around following his late surge and grab the checkered flag by two seconds over Larson.

    With his victory, Blaney became the sixth different winner through the first six races of the 2021 season as he also claimed his fifth Cup career victory and first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in June 2020. He also recorded the first Cup victory of the season for Team Penske.

    “Gosh, we had a great long run car all day,” Blaney said on FOX. “It took us a little bit to get going. I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it and it looked like Kyle was getting loose and I’m happy it worked in our favor that there was a couple long runs at the end that kind of let us get there. He got slowed up behind some lap traffic, but I’m really proud of this whole BodyArmor, Menards No. 12 group. We’ve been good this year and had some bad breaks and it’s nice to close out a race like that. That was awesome.”

    Larson, who led a race-high 269 of 325 laps, finished in second place for the second time at Atlanta and for his third top-five result in four races this season.

    “Yeah, I don’t know,” Larson said. “I think [Blaney] just got a lot better there that last stage and it kind of changed up my flow of the race a little bit. I could get out to such a big lead and then I could take care of my stuff; and run the bottom, where it was maybe slower, but I could take care of my tires. He was fast there and I just wanted to maintain that gap that I had, so I had to run in the faster part of the racetrack and just use my stuff up. And then, he was just a lot better than me there late in the run. Hate to lead a lot of laps and lose, but we had a really good car that we brought to the track. Our HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast there for a long time. I don’t really know; I don’t know if we got that much worse or he just got way better and, like I said, it just kind of changed up the flow of my race.”

    Bowman finished in third place for his first top-five result of the season while teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished in the top five.

    Austin Dillon, Buescher, Byron, Truex and Harvick finished in the top 10 on the track. 

    DiBenedetto finished 11th, Logano settled in 15th ahead of Wallace and Suarez, Cindric finished 22nd in his second Cup career start, Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie in 23rd and Keselowski ended his run in 28th.

    There were 11 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 25 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 43 points over Larson, 63 over Logano, 65 over Truex, 71 over Keselowski and 74 over Harvick.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Blaney, 25 laps led

    2. Kyle Larson, 269 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner

    3. Alex Bowman

    4. Denny Hamlin, 27 laps led

    5. Kyle Busch

    6. Austin Dillon

    7. Chris Buescher

    8. William Byron, two laps led

    9. Martin Truex Jr. 

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Matt DiBenedetto

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    13. Ryan Newman

    14. Ross Chastain

    15. Joey Logano, one lap down

    16. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    17. Daniel Suarez, one lap down, one lap led

    18. Cole Custer, one lap down

    19. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    20. Aric Almirola, one lap down

    21. Christopher Bell, two laps down

    22. Austin Cindric, two laps down

    23. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    24. Erik Jones, two laps down

    25. Ryan Preece, two laps down

    26. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    27. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

    28. Brad Keselowski, four laps down

    29. Corey LaJoie, six laps down

    30. Justin Haley, six laps down

    31. Cody Ware, nine laps down

    32. James Davison, nine laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

    34. B.J. McLeod, 12 laps down

    35. Joey Gase, 17 laps down

    36. Timmy Hill, 20 laps down

    37. Josh Bilicki, 40 laps down

    38. Chase Elliott – OUT, Engine

    39. Kurt Busch – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the highly anticipated Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Sunday, March 28, which will mark the series’ first event on dirt since 1970. The event is slated to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Truex snaps winless drought, records first Cup victory of 2021 at Phoenix

    Truex snaps winless drought, records first Cup victory of 2021 at Phoenix

    The 29-race winless drought for Martin Truex Jr. and Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota team came to an end under the afternoon sun in the desert state of Phoenix, Arizona, after the 40-year-old veteran from Mayetta, New Jersey, rallied from an early scrape in the wall to prevail on a restart with 25 laps remaining and over Joey Logano to win the Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 14. 

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Brad Keselowski started on pole position. Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was due to start on the front row with Keselowski, but ended up dropping to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice. As a result, Christopher Bell moved up to the front row.

    Along with Larson, teammate William Byron and Cody Ware dropped to the rear of the field due to their respective machines also failing pre-race inspection twice. Chase Elliott and Quin Houff also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments along with Garrett Smithley, his case due to a driver change.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Keselowski was able to jump ahead with a strong lead, even as he went low through the dogleg and entering Turn 1, followed by Denny Hamlin, who overtook teammate Christopher Bell for the runner-up spot. 

    Following the first lap, Keselowski was the leader followed by four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota competitors led by Hamlin. The following lap, however, Hamlin was able to move his No. 11 Offerpad Toyota Camry into the lead.

    By the fifth lap, Hamlin was ahead by more than half a second over Keselowski, who was soon overtaken by Bell for the runner-up spot. Truex remained in fourth place ahead of teammate Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney. 

    Five laps later and through the first 10 laps of the event, Hamlin stabilized his lead by half a second over teammate Bell while Keselowski, Truex and Blaney were in the top five. Kyle Busch fell back to sixth followed by brother Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto.

    The following lap, Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry made contact with the outside wall exiting Turn 1 and entering the backstretch, which allowed Blaney to overtake him for fourth place. 

    By Lap 20, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry while Team Penske’s Keselowski, Blaney and Logano were in the top five. Truex remained in sixth place while the Busch brothers battled for seventh place. Stenhouse was in ninth followed by DiBenedetto while Kevin Harvick was in 11th. 

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Hamlin remained in the lead followed by Keselowski, teammate Blaney, Bell and Logano. Kurt Busch and Stenhouse were in sixth and seventh while Truex fell back to eighth. Harvick was in ninth while Kyle Busch dropped back to 10th in front of DiBenedetto. By then, Kyle Larson was in 14th behind Austin Dillon and teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott were in 20th  and 21st behind teammate Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace, who was making his 250th NASCAR national touring series career start.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Keselowski exited pit road with the lead over Bell, Blaney, Harvick, Hamlin and Truex. Following the pit stops, Larson was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. 

    The race restarted on Lap 36 with Keselowski and Bell on the front row. At the start, Keselowski retained the lead followed by teammate Blaney. Bell dropped back to third followed by teammate Hamlin and Logano.

    On Lap 44, Blaney emerged with the lead after overtaking teammate Keselowski through the backstretch and coming back to the start/finish line. By then, Bell was still in third followed by Logano, Hamlin and Harvick.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Bowman, who checked up behind Ross Chastain and made contact with him, was hit by Austin Dillon and spun as his No. 48 Ally/Best Friends Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE made light contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. The accordion effect nearly collected Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Corey LaJoie and rookie Chase Briscoe. 

    Under caution, some like Kyle Busch, Byron, DiBenedetto, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell, Elliott, Larson, Bowman, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley and rookie Anthony Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. During the pit stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The race restarted on Lap 50 with teammates Blaney and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Blaney utilized the dogleg to remain in the lead. Teammate Keselowski, racing in his No. 2 Wurth Ford Mustang, remained in second while teammate Logano battled Bell for third in front of Hamlin. 

    By Lap 60, the three Penske competitors were out in front led by Blaney. Behind, Hamlin was in fourth while Chase Elliott, racing on fresh tires in his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, moved up to fifth ahead of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Stanley Toyota Camry. Bell fell back to seventh in front of Harvick while Byron, another competitor on fresh tires, was in ninth ahead of DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Truex, Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick. 

    Ten laps later and through the first 70 laps of the event, Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang continued to lead by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Keselowski, meanwhile, was pressured by Hamlin for third place as Elliott joined the battle. Kyle Busch, Harvick, Byron, teammate Larson and DiBenedetto were in the top 10 while Bell fell back to 11th.

    With the laps in the first stage closing, the battle for the lead heated up as Blaney came under fire from teammates Logano and Keselowski with Hamlin and Elliott scrambling in the battle. Despite nearly losing the lead to teammate Logano, Blaney was able to hold on ahead of a five-car battle and claim the first stage victory on Lap 75. In claiming his first stage victory of this season, Blaney also became the seventh different competitor to record a stage victory through the first five Cup events of the 2021 season. Logano settled in second followed by teammate Keselowski, Hamlin and Elliott. Kyle Busch settled in sixth followed by Harvick, Byron, teammate Larson and DiBenedetto. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Logano emerged with the lead after exiting pit road with the top spot followed by teammate Blaney Hamlin, Elliott, Keselowski and Larson.

    The second stage started on Lap 83 with teammates Logano and Blaney on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg, Logano retained the lead followed by Blaney while Elliott muscled his way into third place entering the backstretch. Keselowski and Hamlin battled for fourth followed by Larson and Harvick. Behind, Byron and DiBenedetto battled for eighth as Kyle Busch joined the battle. 

    Six laps later, the caution returned for an on-track accident involving Cody Ware and rookie Anthony Alfredo, who wrecked into the Turn 2 outside wall following contact from Ware and sustained heavy damage to his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang.

    Under caution, some like Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Cole Custer, McDowell, Preece, Haley and James Davison pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

    Following an extensive caution as a result of Alfredo’s incident, the race resumed under green on Lap 98 with teammates Logano and Blaney remaining on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg again, Logano retained the lead followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski while Hamlin was in fourth ahead of Elliott, Kyle Busch and Byron.

    Two laps later and through the Lap 100 mark, Logano was scored the leader followed by teammate Blaney and Keselowski. Elliott overtook Hamlin for fourth and went to work on Keselowski for more. Teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch were in fifth and sixth while Larson moved up to seventh ahead of teammate Byron. Bell and Harvick were in the top 10. 

    By Lap 110, Logano continued to lead by more than half a second over teammate Blaney while Elliott settled in third. Keselowski was in fourth while Larson, racing in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, prevailed over a battle with Hamlin to move into the top five.

    By Lap 120, Logano extended his advantage to less than two seconds over teammate Blaney. Elliott retained third place while teammate Larson moved into fourth place. Keselowski was back in fifth ahead of Hamlin, Harvick, Kyle Busch, teammate Truex and Byron. 

    Not long after, Larson continued to flex his muscles after overtaking teammate Elliott for third place. By then, he was less than four seconds behind race leader Logano. In addition, Keselowski started to close in on Elliott for position along with Hamlin.

    By Lap 130, Logano was leading by more than three seconds over Larson, who earlier overtook Blaney for the runner-up spot. Keselowski moved up to fourth followed by Hamlin while Elliott fell back to sixth. Truex started to close in on Elliott for the sixth spot while Harvick, Byron and Aric Almirola were in the top 10. Bell and teammate Kyle Busch were in 11th and 12th followed by DiBenedetto, Briscoe, Bowman and Wallace. Kurt Busch was mired in 17th followed by Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones and Stenhouse.

    Nearing the Lap 140 mark, pit stops under green started to occur as Keselowski pitted followed by Harvick, Elliott, Logano, teammate Blaney, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Stenhouse, Truex, Byron, Almirola, Erik Jones, Buescher, Cole Custer, Hamlin, teammate Bell, teammate Kyle Busch, Larson and Briscoe. Following the pit stops, Larson was busted with a second pit road speeding penalty. Kyle Busch was also penalized due to an uncontrolled tire violation.

    By Lap 150 and with most of the leaders completing pit stops under green, Corey LaJoie, who has yet to pit, was scored the leader. Logano was in second followed by teammate Blaney, Truex, Keselowski and Hamlin. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 156, Logano reassumed the lead from LaJoie. Blaney, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five followed by Hamlin, Harvick, Byron, teammate Elliott and Bell. By then, Larson was back in 22nd, still on the lead lap and in front of Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace, while Kyle Busch was in 30th, the sixth car scored a lap behind the leaders.   

    Through the first 175 laps of the event, Logano stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Truex. Teammates Blaney and Keselowski were in third and fourth followed by Hamlin. Harvick was in sixth while Byron, teammate Elliott, Almirola and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Larson was back in 17th and still on the lead lap while Kyle Busch was in 28th, the sixth car scored a lap down. Meanwhile, LaJoie, still on the track on old tires but with enough fuel to complete the second stage, was scored in the top 15.

    With the laps in the second stage closing, Logano continued to lead by approximately two seconds over Truex while Hamlin and Blaney battled for third place. Keselowski stabilized himself in fifth place followed by Harvick, Byron, teammate Elliott, Almirola and Bell. 

    While Truex was able to decrease his deficit to Logano to, Logano was able to retain the lead and navigate his way through lapped traffic to claim the Stage 2 victory on Lap 190. In claiming his first stage victory of the season, Logano also became the eighth different competitor to record a stage victory through the first five events of the 2021 Cup season. Hamlin was scored in third place behind teammate Truex while Keselowski managed to overtake teammate Blaney for fourth place. Harvick, Byron, Almirola, Elliott and Bell were scored in the top 10. By then, Larson moved back up to 13th ahead of Kurt Busch while Kyle Busch was in 27th, two laps behind.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead after exiting pit road in first followed by Hamlin, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski and Harvick. Following the pit stops under caution, Almirola, Elliott and Ross Chastain were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 113 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with Logano and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Logano nearly got turned after being bumped by Truex, but he retained the lead through the dogleg and entering Turn 1. Behind, Hamlin and Keselowski battled for the runner-up spot through the backstretch while Blaney retained fourth ahead of Harvick, Byron and Truex. Behind, Larson moved up to eighth followed by Erik Jones and Stenhouse. 

    With 110 laps remaining, Logano was ahead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski with Truex moving back into fifth over Byron. By then, Larson moved up to seventh over Bell, Harvick and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 11th ahead of Jones and Kurt Busch.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Logano was leading by approximately a second over Hamlin. Blaney, Truex and Keselowski stabilized themselves in the top five followed by Byron, racing in his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Larson was in seventh followed by Harvick, Bell and Stenhouse. Behind, Wallace, Jones, Briscoe, Kurt Busch and Bowman were running in the top 15. Almirola and Elliott, following their late pit road penalties, were in 18th and 20th while Kyle Busch was mired back in 24th, a lap behind.

    With 88 laps remaining, Truex gained a huge run entering the backstretch to emerge as the new leader over Logano. As Hamlin remained in third followed by Keselowski, Larson fought his way back into the top five after passing Blaney. 

    Eight laps later and with 80 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than a second over Logano. Hamlin, Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five followed by Blaney, Harvick, Bell, Byron and Bubba Wallace, who overtook Stenhouse for position.

    Down to the final 70 laps of the event, Truex extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Logano, who also had Hamlin starting to close in on him for the runner-up spot. Keselowski was still in fourth, trailing by less than five seconds, while Larson remained in fifth, trailing by more than five seconds. Blaney and Bell battled for sixth followed by Harvick, Wallace and Byron.

    Under the final 65 laps of the event, Byron made a pit stop under green. By then, Truex stretched his advantage to more than five seconds over teammate Hamlin, thus dropping Logano to third. Keselowski, Larson and Bell were in fourth, fifth and sixth while Wallace continued to his impressive run to the front as he was scored in seventh. 

    Shortly after, Logano and Larson pitted under green. Blaney soon pitted along with Keselowski, Elliott, Bell, Almirola, Wallace, Reddick, Ryan Newman, leader Truex and others.

    With 55 laps remaining and the leaders completing service under green, Truex was back out in front by nearly two seconds over Larson. Hamlin was in third followed by teammates Logano and Keselowski. Bell and Harvick were in sixth and seventh followed by Blaney, Byron and Wallace. 

    Behind, Kyle Busch, racing on old tires, made contact with the outside wall while scored in 14th. Despite the incident, the race remained under green as Busch pitted for fresh tires and dropped out of the lead lap category. 

    With 50 laps remaining, the caution flew when Reddick made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 after cutting a right-front tire.

    Under caution, nearly all of the leaders returned to pit road and Logano muscled his way back into the lead following a stellar service from his No. 22 pit crew. Truex exited in second place followed by Truex, Keselowski, Larson and Hamlin. On track, though, Wallace did not pit for fresh tires and emerged as the leader. Following the pit stops, Briscoe was busted with a pit road speeding penalty.

    With 44 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Wallace and Logano on the front row. At the start, Wallace and Logano made contact as the field fanned out to three lanes through the dogleg. Through Turn 1, Keselowski managed to prevail in a three-wide battle to take the lead followed by teammate Logano. Wallace remained in third followed by Truex while Larson, Hamlin and Byron battled for fifth. 

    With 40 laps remaining, teammates Keselowski and Logano battled for the lead while Truex trailed by more than a second. Truex, Larson and Hamlin were in the top five while Wallace was trying to hang on in sixth while battling Hamlin and Harvick.

    Two laps later, Logano used the infield dogleg on the frontstretch to reassume the lead over teammate Keselowski. 

    With 31 laps remaining, Logano extended his advantage to over a second over teammate Keselowski and Truex. Just as Truex was able to take over the runner-up spot, the caution returned the following lap when teammate Kyle Busch, the first competitor scored a lap down, spun across the start/finish line after receiving a tap from Ross Chastain. At the time of caution, Wallace had fallen back to 16th on old tires. 

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Logano retained the lead following another stellar pit stop followed by Truex, teammate Hamlin, Keselowski, Larson and Harvick.

    With 25 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Logano and Truex on the front row. At the start, Logano went super low through the dogleg, Truex remained on the outside lane and the field fanned out to multiple lanes.

    Back to the start/finish line, Truex reassumed the lead over Logano followed by Hamlin, who was locked in a battle with Keselowski and Larson. Teammate Elliott was back up in sixth followed by Almirola, Byron, Harvick and Bell. 

    With 20 laps remaining, Truex was leading by nearly half a second over Logano while Hamlin and Keselowski were in third and fourth. Teammates Larson and Elliott battled for fifth in front of their other teammate William Byron. Harvick was in eighth followed by teammate Almirola and Bell. Blaney was in 11th in front of Bowman, Kurt Busch was in 14th and Wallace was in 17th in between Cole Custer and Austin Dillon.

    Five laps later, Truex extended his advantage to a second over Logano with Hamlin trailing behind. Keselowski was locked in a battle with Larson for fourth while Elliott settled in sixth. Harvick, meanwhile, overtook Byron for seventh while Bell and Blaney were in the top 10. Earlier, Custer made a pit stop under green after making contact with the wall with help from Wallace.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Truex remained in the lead by more than a second over Logano. Hamlin settled in third, nearly two seconds behind, followed by Keselowski. Elliott, meanwhile, managed to move into the top five while Larson was locked in a battle with Harvick for sixth place. 

    With five laps remaining, Truex continued to lead by more than a second over Logano with Hamlin trailing by two seconds. By then, Harvick prevailed over Larson for sixth place while Keselowski and Elliott remained in the top five. 

    Utilizing the final laps to his favor in cruise control and with a respectable lead of over a second over Logano, Truex was able to take the white flag, navigate his No. 19 Toyota Camry through the circuit smoothly for a final time and come back around to claim his first checkered flag of the season and become the fifth different winner through the first five Cup races of the 2021 season. 

    The victory was Truex’s 28th of his Cup career, moving him to a tie with Carl Edwards and Rex White for 28th place on the all-time Cup wins list, and first at Phoenix as he also claimed his first Cup victory since June 2020 at Martinsville Speedway. In addition, crew chief James Small claimed his second career victory while Joe Gibbs Racing claimed Cup career win No. 187.

    “Just an awesome job by everybody, James [Small], [car chief] Blake [Harris] and all the pit crew guys fixing it,” Truex said on FOX. “Really solid. I thought at the beginning of the race, we were gonna run 15th or so. Man, I can’t really believe it, I’m speechless. This feels pretty amazing. Phoenix has been a tough one for us and to come here and win this, I wish it was November, but hopefully we can come back here in November and have a shot at being in the Final Four. Man, just so thankful and so proud of everybody at JGR and everybody who makes this possible.”

    Logano settled in second place for the second time this early in the season while Hamlin finished third and claimed his fourth top-five result through the first five events of this season.

    “All of the above, just a little bit everywhere is where it seemed [Truex] beat us,” Logano said on MRN. “Once they got [Truex] tuned in, he was the fastest car on the racetrack. We did a good job maximizing our day with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. We were a second-place car and finished second, won a stage and second in the other stage, so a lot of points. I hate finishing second, though. It really stinks, but, overall, this has been a good racetrack for us. The last few times we’ve been here is first, third and second, so we’re all over it, just needed that last run not to have a caution. I think we were in a pretty good spot to maybe run that thing out, but, overall, that was where we had it.”

    “Yeah, I think we are happy with [the finish],” Hamlin said. “Obviously, we want to win with our Offerpad Toyota but certainly the short tracks is something we want to put a lot of emphasis on this year. We just didn’t have the results on the short tracks that we wanted last year, but getting the first short track win here for JGR – 1, 3 is a good sign that we worked on the right things and we are headed in the right direction.”

    Keselowski finished fourth for his third top-five result in four races while Elliott rounded out the top five at Phoenix, which marked his best result since finishing in second place in this year’s Daytona 500. Harvick, Larson, teammate Byron, Bell and Blaney completed the top 10 on the track.

    Almirola rallied from his slow start to the season by finishing 11th followed by Stenhouse, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch. Wallace posted a 16th-place result in front of Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez finished 20th and 21st, rookie Chase Briscoe finished 22nd in front of Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch ended his long afternoon in 25th.

    There were 22 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 45 laps. 

    Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings 39 points over Brad Keselowski, 44 over Logano, 56 over Truex, 57 over Larson and Elliott and 60 over Harvick. 

    Results.

    1. Martin Truex Jr., 64 laps led

    2. Joey Logano, 143 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Denny Hamlin, 33 laps led

    4. Brad Keselowski, 19 laps led

    5. Chase Elliott

    6. Kevin Harvick

    7. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    8. William Byron

    9. Christopher Bell

    10. Ryan Blaney, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    11. Aric Almirola

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led

    13. Alex Bowman

    14. Matt DiBenedetto

    15. Kurt Busch

    16. Bubba Wallace, four laps led

    17. Austin Dillon

    18. Chris Buescher

    19. Ross Chastain

    20. Erik Jones

    21. Daniel Suarez

    22. Chase Briscoe

    23. Michael McDowell

    24. Justin Haley

    25. Kyle Busch, one lap down

    26. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    27. Corey LaJoie, one lap down, 12 laps led

    28. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    29. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    30. B.J. McLeod, three laps down

    31. Cole Custer, four laps down

    32. Quin Houff, seven laps down

    33. James Davison, nine laps down

    34. Garrett Smithley, 12 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Power steering

    36. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident

    37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Engine

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return to the south to compete at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first of two visits to the track for the series this season, on Sunday, March 21. The event is slated to occur at 3 p.m. on FOX.

  • Sweet redemption for Larson at Las Vegas

    Sweet redemption for Larson at Las Vegas

    From sitting out of the competition due to suspension last season to racing his way to an early trip to Victory Lane this season, Kyle Larson muscled his way to a dominating victory in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 7. The 28-year-old native from Elk Grove, California, led six times for a race-high 103 of 267 laps as he pulled away from Brad Keselowski in the late stages to record his first victory in his return to full-time NASCAR competition behind the wheel of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kevin Harvick started on pole position and was joined on the front row with William Byron, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Harvick received a push from Kyle Larson to jump ahead with the lead. Through Turn 1, Larson was also able to move into second place as Michael McDowell went to work on Byron for third place. 

    With the field fanning out early to three lanes through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4, Byron was able to fight back and lead the first lap over teammate Larson and Harvick. With the field towards the front still fanning out to three lanes. Harvick was overtaken by a few more positions as Larson and Truex battled behind Byron for the runner-up spot.

    Following the first five laps of the event, Byron continued to lead by nearly two-tenths of a second over teammate and a hard-charging Chase Elliott. Larson was in third followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Harvick, meanwhile, fell back to eighth.

    Five laps later and through the first 10 laps of the event, Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE retained a narrow advantage over teammate Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE while Truex and Larson battled dead even for third. Behind, Brad Keselowski challenged Hamlin for fifth while Christopher Bell, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman and McDowell were in the top 10. Harvick, meanwhile, was back in 11th and in front of Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch.

    Another three laps later, Larson managed to overtake teammate Elliott for the runner-up spot. Behind, Keselowski overtook Truex for fourth place. Meanwhile, Byron remained in the lead. 

    After trailing and intimidating his teammate in the early laps for the lead, Elliott managed to muscle his way into the lead on Lap 20 over Byron. A few laps later, teammate Larson moved into the runner-up spot.

    Elliott was able to extend his advantage to nearly a second over teammate Larson when the competition caution flew on Lap 25. Byron, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five followed by Hamlin, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney and Harvick. By then, Christopher Bell was in 11th, Logano was in 13th, Kyle Busch was in 16th in between Austin Dillon and Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick was in 19th, Bubba Wallace was in 21st, Aric Almirola was in 23rd in front of teammates Cole Custer and rookie Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez was in 26th and Ryan Newman was in 29th.

    Under caution, the leaders made the turn to pit road for early adjustments. Following the pit stops, Larson exited with the lead followed by Hamlin, Truex, Keselowski, Bowman Byron and Elliott. Behind, Wallace was assessed a pit road speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field.

    The race restarted on Lap 30 with Larson and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Hamlin received a push from Keselowski on the inside lane to move into the lead. Keselowski also moved into the runner-up spot while Larson fell back to third in front of teammate Elliott and Truex. 

    By Lap 33, Hamlin was out in front by two-tenths of a second over a side-by-side battle featuring Keselowski’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang and Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Elliott was right behind in fourth place followed by teammate Bowman, Truex, Blaney, Byron, Kurt Busch and Matt DiBenedetto. 

    Two laps later, Truex, Blaney and Bowman battled through three lanes for the fifth spot with Byron lurking behind. 

    Back at the front, Larson and Keselowski continued to battle for the runner-up spot with Elliott remaining in pursuit. At the front, Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry remained in the lead. 

    By Lap 40, Hamlin was still leading by approximately a tenth of a second over Larson. Teammate Elliott was in third followed by Keselowski, who slipped and nearly clipped Elliott the previous lap in Turn 1. Behind, Blaney cracked the top five over Truex, Byron, Bowman, Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto. 

    Shortly after, Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Larson and Elliott battled for the runner-up spot behind Hamlin while Blaney started to close in on Penske teammate Keselowski for fourth place. 

    In the midst of the battle towards the front, Bubba Wallace returned to pit road with the hood of his No. 23 Columbia Sportswear Toyota Camry up after he reported a power steering line issue.

    On Lap 44, Larson reassumed the lead over Hamlin. Behind, Keselowski caught back up to Elliott as he went to work on him for third place. Keselowski was eventually able to overtake Elliott for position and went to work on Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Blaney, meanwhile, remained in pursuit of the top-four leaders. 

    Not long after, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 2. The caution served as a huge break for Kevin Harvick, who had a left-front tire going down as a result of making contact with Erik Jones. Under caution, the majority of the leaders returned to pit road and Hamlin was able to exit off pit road first followed by Elliott, Keselowski, Bowman and Blaney.

    Back on the track, Larson remained in the race lead after electing to remain on the track on old tires. Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick and teammate Austin Dillon also remained on the track.

    The race restarted on Lap 51 with Larson and Logano on the front row. At the start, Larson retained the lead while Elliott made a bold four-wide move behind to move back to the front. Through the backstretch, the field fanned out to three and four lanes.

    The following lap, Larson and Logano battled dead even for the lead as the field, featuring competitors on fresh tires compared to worn tires, continued to fan out to three and four lanes for position towards the front.

    By Lap 54, two forms of three-wide battles ensued at the front with Keselowski challenging teammate Logano and Larson for the lead. A lap later, Logano was able to clear the field with the lead. Behind, Elliott muscled his way back into third before taking back second place from Keselowski. Blaney and Larson battled for fourth while Bell and Byron battled behind for sixth. Truex and Hamlin, meanwhile, were back in 10th and 12th.  

    By Lap 60, Logano, racing in his No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang on worn tires, continued to hold strong with the lead by a narrow margin over Elliott while Keselowski remained ahead of Larson for third place. Blaney was in fifth followed by Byron, Bell, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Hamlin. Truex was in 12th behind DiBenedetto.

    Two laps later, Elliott, racing on fresh tires, returned to the lead following a lengthly battle with Logano. In the ensuing laps, Penske teammates Keselowski and Blaney overtook their other teammate Logano for third and fourth. Behind, Larson fell back to ninth while Bell, Byron Bowman and Hamlin moved up. 

    Through the first 70 laps of the event, Elliott maintained a narrow advantage over Keselowski. Teammate Blaney was in third while Bell overtook Logano for fourth place. Bowman and Hamlin closed in on Logano for fifth while Byron, DiBenedetto and Larson were in the top 10. Truex was in 12th behind Kurt Busch.

    Two laps later, Keselowski made his way to the top of the field following a pass on Elliott for position. While Bell, teammate Hamlin and Bowman battled for fourth, Logano slipped back to eighth on worn tires, two spots ahead of Larson. 

    Back at the front, Keselowski and Elliott continued to battle intensely for the lead, with the latter prevailing not long after by two-tenths of a second. Blaney trailed by more than a second in third place while Hamlin and Bowman overtook Bell for fourth and fifth. 

    While Keselowski and Elliott continued to battle against one another on the track for the lead, Logano and Larson were back in ninth and 12th while Truex and Kurt Busch were in ninth and 11th. Kyle Busch was in 14th while Harvick, who started on pole, was mired in 18th.

    Following a lengthly battle with Elliott, Keselowski was able to reassume the lead on Lap 79 and hold on to claim the first stage victory on Lap 80, which also marked his first stage victory of the season. Elliott settled in second followed by Blaney, Hamlin and Bowman while Bell, Byron, DiBenedetto, Logano and Truex were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin returned to the lead following a strong pit stop from his crew. Keselowski exited in second place followed by Bowman, DiBenedetto, Blaney and Logano. During the pit stops, Elliott spent extra time on pit road to have damage on the right side of his No. 9 Chevrolet from an earlier pit stop caused by the jack repaired. In addition, Reddick was assessed a pit road speeding penalty.

    The second stage started on Lap 87 with Hamlin and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Hamlin and Keselowski battled dead even through Turn 1 and the backstretch while Byron made a bold move on the outside lane to crack the top five. 

    The following lap, Keselowski was able to reassume the lead followed by teammate Blaney. Bowman, racing in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, went to work on Hamlin for third while DiBenedetto and Byron battled for fifth. 

    By Lap 90, Keselowski was leading by approximately a tenth of a second over teammate Blaney. Hamlin retained third place by a narrow margin over Bowman and DiBenedetto while Larson closed in on teammate Byron for position. 

    Through the first 100 laps of the race, Keselowski continued to lead by approximately two-tenths of a second over teammate Blaney. Teammates Larson and Byron battled for third while Hamlin was in fifth. Bowman, DiBenedetto, Truex, Bell and Logano were in the top 10 followed by the Busch brothers. Elliott, meanwhile, worked his way up to 14th after restarting in 30th place at the start of the second stage.

    Five laps later, Larson muscled his way back into the runner-up spot and teammate Byron also moved up, thus dropping Blaney to fourth place. Meanwhile, Keselowski continued to lead the field. Another two laps later, however, Larson retook the lead by a narrow margin over Keselowski. 

    By Lap 115, Larson was the leader by nearly half a second over teammate Byron with Keselowski trailing by more than a second in third place. Blaney and Hamlin were in the top five followed by Bowman, DiBenedetto, Bell, teammate Truex and Logano. The Busch brothers were in 12th and 13th, Elliott was still mired in 14th and Harvick haas in 17th in front of Chris Buescher.

    By Lap 120, Larson continued to lead by approximately half a second over teammate Byron. Blaney was in third, but was now trailing by three seconds. Hamlin and Keselowski remained in the top five followed by Bowman, DiBenedetto, Truex, teammate Bell and Logano. Elliott, meanwhile, was back in 15th behind the Busch brothers and Ryan Preece.

    Shortly after, pit stops under green occurred as Bowman was the first of the leaders to pit followed by a multitude of competitors, including leader Larson.

    By Lap 130, Tyler Reddick, who had yet to pit, was leading followed by Michael McDowell, rookie/teammate Anthony Alfredo, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and Cole Custer while Larson was in seventh.

    At the halfway mark on Laps 133 and 134, Reddick continued to lead followed by Front Row Motorsports’ teammates McDowell and Alfredo. LaJoie and Suarez were in the top five while Larson was in sixth. Hamlin, Keselowski, teammate Blaney and Byron were in the top 10.

    By Lap 140 and with 20 laps remaining in the second stage, teammates McDowell and Alfredo were leading the field followed by LaJoie, Larson and Suarez. By then, Reddick pitted for service.

    On Lap 146, McDowell surrendered the lead to pit. A lap later, Larson reassumed the lead. Shortly after, rookie Alfredo pitted along with Corey LaJoie. By then, Larson’s advantage stretched to nearly six seconds over Keselowski. Hamlin was in third followed by Blaney and Byron. Bell along with teammates Truex and Kyle Busch followed by Elliott were in the top 10. DiBenedetto, meanwhile, was in 12th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while Kurt Busch, Logano and Harvick were in the top 15.

    With the laps in the second stage dwindling, Larson continued to lead by a steady and healthy margin over Keselowski. Having no challengers close in on him for the top spot, Larson was able to hold steady and claim the second stage victory by more than three seconds over Keselowski on Lap 160. In claiming his first stage victory of this season, Larson became the sixth competitor to record a stage victory through the first four Cup races of the 2021 season. Hamlin settled in third followed by Byron and Blaney while Bowman, Bell, Truex, Kyle Busch and Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, 21 of the 38-car field were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead following service from his pit crew. Hamlin exited in second place followed by Bowman, Truex, Bell and Kyle Busch. Byron, meanwhile, fell back to 10th behind Keselowski, Blaney and Elliott.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Larson moved his No. 5 Chevrolet in front of Hamlin on the inside lane. He then blocked Hamlin entering Turn 1 on the outside lane as Truex issued a challenge on the inside lane. 

    Through the backstretch and coming back to Turn 4, Larson retained the lead over Hamlin and Truex as the field fanned out while battling for spots. Behind, Kyle Busch started to make his way into the top five.

    The following lap, the caution returned when Elliott got loose entering the backstretch, made contact with Kurt Busch and spun in a full 360 degrees before continuing. While the rest of the field managed to dodge him, Elliott sustained left-front fender damage as he pitted to have the damage assessed. Kurt Busch also pitted to have damage on his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE addressed along with a flat right-rear tire. Meanwhile, Hamlin had taken the lead over Larson at the time of caution

    With 93 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with leader Hamlin and Larson on the front row. At the start, Larson squeaked ahead, but Hamlin received a push from teammate Truex on the backstretch to take back the lead. 

    Six laps later, the caution returned when Aric Almirola made hard contact against with the outside wall in Turn 1. The damage to the right side of Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Power Bites Ford Mustang was enough to end his race in the garage. At the time of caution, Hamlin was leading by nearly a tenth of a second over teammate Truex while Larson, Blaney and Keselowski were in the top five. Byron, teammate Bowman, Logano, Bell and Kyle Busch were in the top 10.  

    Under caution, some led by Hamlin, Truex and Blaney remained on the track while others led by Keselowski and Larson pitted.

    The race restarted with 83 laps remaining as teammates Hamlin and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, the two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates battled dead even for a full circuit before Truex peaked ahead in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry as the field behind fanned out to three and four lanes. 

    With 80 laps remaining, Truex was out in front by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Hamlin followed by Blaney, Byron and Bell. Keselowski, the first competitor on fresh tires, was in sixth while Larson, who restarted 17th on fresh tires, was up in eighth behind DiBenedetto. 

    A lap later, Hamlin came under pressure from Keselowski for the runner-up spot as teammates Byron and Larson overtook Blaney for positions in the top five. 

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Hamlin fought back and reassumed the lead by a narrow advantage over teammate Truex while Larson and Keselowski quickly went to work on Truex for the runner-up spot. Soon after, an intense six-car battle for the lead ensued between Hamlin, teammate Truex, Larson, Keselowski, Byron and Blaney as Hamlin continued to duke against Truex for the lead. 

    With 70 laps remaining, Hamlin was still leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over Larson. Truex and Keselowski battled intensely for third place followed by Byron and Blaney. Bell was in seventh followed by DiBenedetto and Erik Jones. Kyle Busch was mired back in 10th. Meanwhile, Logano was in 13th while Elliott was in 16th behind Austin Dillon.

    Ten laps later and under 60 laps remaining, Larson reassumed the lead over Hamlin. He then stretched his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin with Keselowski remaining in third. Truex was in fourth followed by Blaney while Byron, Bell, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto and Jones were in the top 10. 

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Larson was leading by more than a second over Keselowski with Hamlin trailing by more than two seconds. Blaney was in fourth, trailing by more than three seconds while Truex was in fifth.

    Nearly four laps later, pit stops under green started as a handful of leaders pitted followed by others.

    With 37 laps remaining and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, Daniel Suarez, who has yet to pit, was scored as the leader. Larson, the first competitor on fresh tires and fuel, was behind by less than nine seconds with Keselowski remaining in pursuit. 

    Eight laps later, Larson returned to the lead. By then, he was leading by a second and a half over Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford.

    With 20 laps remaining and the leaders making their way through lapped traffic, Larson extended his lead to two and a half seconds over Keselowski. Hamlin was tucked in third place followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Truex. Blaney was back in sixth followed by Bell, Byron, teammate Bowman and Logano. Meanwhile, DiBenedetto was in 11th ahead of Jones, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Elliott. Kurt Busch was in 20th behind McDowell while Harvick was in 22nd, the final car on the lead lap, behind Ryan Newman.

    A few laps later, Bowman, who was running in the top 10, made the turn to pit road due to a flat tire. During the process of trying to enter pit road, he nearly collided with rookie Alfredo. Shortly after, it went from bad to worse for Bowman, who was assessed a pass-through penalty down pit road due to a commitment line violation while trying to enter pit road to pit.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by more than two and a half seconds over Keselowski. Behind, Kyle Busch zipped his No. 18 Ethel M Chocolates Toyota Camry into third place while teammate Hamlin were in fourth. Blaney was in fifth followed by Truex, teammate Bell, Byron, Logano and Jones. 

    A few laps later, Larson extended his lead to more than three seconds over Keselowski with Kyle Busch trailing by more than six seconds, Hamlin by more than eight seconds, Blaney by more than nine seconds and Truex by more than 11 seconds.

    With five laps remaining, Larson remained in the lead by three seconds over Keselowski. By then, 15 competitors were recorded on the lead lap as the leaders continued to encounter heavy traffic.

    Spending the final laps methodically working his way through lapped traffic, Larson was able to maintain his healthy advantage of more than three seconds and complete the final laps on a successful note as he claimed the checkered flag to win at Vegas.

    The victory marked Larson’s seventh of his Cup career and first since October 2019 at Dover International Speedway as he became the fourth different competitor to win within the first four events of the 2021 season. Above all, the Vegas win also validated Larson’s return to the top level in NASCAR after being suspended nearly a year ago due to using a racial slur during a live iRacing event, a move that cost him his full-time ride with Chip Ganassi Racing. Late into the 2020 season, an opportunity for Larson to return to NASCAR arrived when Hendrick Motorsports signed Larson for the 2021 season.

    Larson’s victory also marked the first Cup victory for crew chief Cliff Daniels and the first for HMS’ No. 5 car since July 2017 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition, Larson became the 20th different competitor to win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports as HMS claimed Cup career win No. 265.

    “It was such an awesome race car,” Larson said on FOX. “[Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and everybody did a great job preparing this piece. It was so much fun to drive. I could go wherever I wanted to. I knew I had a really good car once we’d get single-filed out. Just drafting early in the run was tough. Thank you so much, Mr. [Hendrick], Jeff Gordon, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for the amazing opportunity I’ve been gifted…This is definitely special.”

    “I know that this is Rick’s most special paint scheme for obvious reasons,” Larson added. “It’s just an honor for me to be able to drive it, our first time out with this [blue, white and red] color scheme. Like I said, just blessed…That was some fun racing on the restarts, so I hoped everybody enjoyed it. I know I did.”

    Keselowski settled in second place for his second top-five result of this season. Kyle Busch came home in third place as he claimed his first top-five finish of this season while teammate Hamlin and Blaney finished in the top five.

    “Yeah, good for [Larson],” Keselowski said on PRN. “He ran a great race. He was really fast. The kid’s got so much talent. I still wanted to beat him, though, but we had a great Discount Tire Ford Mustang. If he wasn’t here, we would have just stunk the show up, but he was and he ran good.”

    “We fought hard obviously,” Busch said. “We were a little behind the eight ball at the start of the green flag and just were super, super tight all day long. [Crew chief] Ben [Beshore] and the guys made awesome adjustments to and I was trying to give the best feedback I can to give them good information that they can base that off of and make the good adjustments. We improved each time. I don’t know where we missed it so far from the simulator, but that’s two weeks in a row where we’re not apples to apples. Just can’t say enough about Ethel M Chocolates, thank you guys…Ready to keep working on it and keep improving. We were just a little off on pace, overall pace, overall lap time from the fast guys.”

    “We’re close,” Hamlin added. “We just have to fine tune it. We’re gathering up information right now to figure out how we can make our FedEx Camry better in the fall. This is a good start. We got it in the short rounds but not enough long run speed…Overall, good start. We will see, gather all the data and I will figure out this week what we have to do.”

    “I thought it was a pretty solid day all day,” Blaney added. “We had to start pretty far in the back from our bad finish last week and was able to make it up to ninth before the [competition] caution and got third in the first stage and then like fifth in the second and ended up fifth. I thought we could have run second or third. [Larson] was really the fastest one all day long. It didn’t matter where he was he just drove through the field but overall, a really good effort by our group. We really needed that after having three pretty bad races to start off the year. It’s nice to kind of finally get a good run and just a no problem day, just having a solid car and working on it throughout the day. I’m really proud of [crew chief] Todd [Gordon] and the whole No. 12 bunch and nice to get a good finish. Now we can get rolling here.”

    Truex, teammate Bell, Byron, Logano and Erik Jones came home in the top 10 on the track. 

    Elliott settled in 13th behind Austin Dillon, DiBenedetto ended up in 16th, Kurt Busch finished 19th, Harvick came home in 20th and Bowman settled in 27th following his late pit road miscue. Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie in 21st. Suarez finished 26th while Bubba Wallace finished 28th.

    There were 27 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 30 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 38 points over Keselowski, 40 over Larson, 48 over Elliott, 49 over Bell and Logano and 51 over Harvick.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 103 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Brad Keselowski, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Kyle Busch

    4. Denny Hamlin, 47 laps led

    5. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

    6. Martin Truex Jr., six laps led

    7. Christopher Bell

    8. William Byron, 25 laps led

    9. Joey Logano, seven laps led

    10. Erik Jones

    11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Chase Elliott, 22 laps led

    14. Chris Buescher

    15. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    16. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    17. Michael McDowell, one lap down, eight laps led

    18. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    19. Kurt Busch, one lap down

    20. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

    21. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

    22. Tyler Reddick, one lap down, seven laps led

    23. Ross Chastain, one lap down

    24. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down, one lap led

    25. Cole Custer, one lap down

    26. Daniel Suarez, two laps down, 12 laps led

    27. Alex Bowman, two laps down

    28. Bubba Wallace, five laps down

    29. Justin Haley, five laps down

    30. B.J. McLeod, seven laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, eight laps down

    32. Cody Ware, eight laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

    34. Joey Gase, 12 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki, 15 laps down

    36. Timmy Hill, 21 laps down

    37. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Rear end

    38. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will remain in the West Coast for the next event on the schedule at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, next weekend. The race will occur on Sunday, March 14, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Byron scores resounding victory at Homestead

    Byron scores resounding victory at Homestead

    After struggling for the first two races of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, William Byron rebounded by racing his way to a resounding victory in the late stages of the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, February 28. The win marked the second of his Cup career in his 111th career start.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Denny Hamlin, the reigning winner at Homestead, was due to start on pole position. He, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. With that, Joey Logano started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Christopher Bell, winner of last weekend’s event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.

    Along with Hamlin, Alex Bowman and Corey LaJoie started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. James Davison joined the trio due to multiple pre-race inspection failures.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Logano jumped ahead with an early advantage while the field behind fanned out to two and three lanes entering Turn 2 while battling for spots. Logano was able to lead the first lap as Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch moved up while Bell fell back inside the top 10. 

    By the fifth lap, Logano retained an early advantage by seven-tenths of a second over Harvick with Keselowski behind by nearly a second while closing in on Harvick. Kurt Busch and Bell were in the top five followed by Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, teammate Chase Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Two laps later, Keselowski overtook Harvick for the runner-up spot. Another lap by, Kurt Busch passed Harvick for the third spot. In addition, Larson moved up to sixth while Truex fell back to eight. 

    By Lap 10, Logano continued to lead, though his advantage shrieked to less than half a second over teammate Keselowski. 

    Two laps later, Keselowski muscled his way into the lead over teammate Logano. Behind, Larson continued to rim-ride his way to the front after passing Harvick for fourth place. Shortly after, Stenhouse overtook Harvick to move into the top five. Meanwhile, Truex and Elliott were back in ninth and 10th.

    By Lap 20, Keselowski stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Logano as Kurt Busch and Larson remained in pursuit. Stenhouse was in fifth followed by Harvick, Truex, Chris Buescher, Bell and Elliott.

    When the field reached Lap 25, a planned competition caution flew. By then, Keselowski extended his advantage to more than four seconds over teammate Logano. Kurt Busch fended off Larson and Stenhouse to remain in third place. Behind, Truex moved into sixth place followed by Harvick, Buescher, Bell and Ryan Blaney.

    By then, Elliott and Kyle Busch were in the top 15 while Tyler Reddick was in 17th, one spot ahead of Matt DiBenedetto. Alex Bowman was in 20th ahead of Bubba Wallace and Cole Custer while Denny Hamlin was back in 24th behind Aric Almirola.

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Keselowski retained the lead following a four-tire pit stop. Kurt Busch was able to exit pit road into second place followed by Logano, Harvick and Truex.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Keselowski and Kurt Busch challenged one another in a side-by-side battle for the lead for nearly one full lap. Entering Turn 4, however, Keselowski gained a run on the outside lane and retained the lead while teammate Logano attempted to pull a three-wide move on Harvick and Keselowski. Logano and Harvick were able to move into second and third while Kurt Busch slipped back to fourth. Shortly after, Buescher moved up to fourth over Kurt Busch as the field continued to battle for spots.

    By Lap 35, Keselowski was ahead by nearly half a second over teammate Logano. Behind, Harvick was in third followed by Stenhouse, Buescher, William Byron, Kurt Busch, Larson, Bell and Ryan Newman.  

    Five laps later, the two Penske drivers led by Keselowski were separated by seven-tenths of a second. Buescher moved up to third place followed by Byron and Stenhouse, who overtook Harvick for position. Larson moved back up to seventh while Kurt Busch fell back to eighth. Newman and Bell remained in the top 10 followed by Kyle Busch, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Blaney, Truex and Elliott.

    By Lap 42, Buescher made a move beneath Logano to move into the runner-up spot while Byron started to close in on Logano for third place.

    By Lap 50, Keselowski continued to lead by a narrow margin over Buescher. Byron remained in third place followed by Logano and Kurt Busch. Larson moved up to sixth followed by Stenhouse, Bowman and Newman. Harvick, meanwhile, slipped back to 10th followed by Bell, teammate Truex, Newman, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Kyle Busch. Further behind, Hamlin was in 20th and battling with power issues. 

    Three laps later, Buescher became the third different leader of the day after passing Keselowski. 

    By Lap 60, Buescher extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Byron while Keselowski fell back to third. Kurt Busch was in fourth followed by Logano while teammates Larson and Bowman were in sixth and seventh. Stenhouse fell back to eighth followed by Newman and Truex. Harvick, meanwhile, was back in 11th. 

    Four laps later, the caution flew due to fluid on the backstretch coming from the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by James Davison, who had smoke and flames erupting beneath the car as Davison made the turn to the garage.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Buescher retained the lead following a stellar four-tire stop over names like Keselowski, Logano, Truex, Bowman and Kurt Busch. During the pit stops, Byron dropped from second to seventh

    The race restarted on Lap 72 with Buescher and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Keselowski and Buescher battled for the lead followed by Bowman, who muscled his way inside the top three over Logano, as the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch. 

    The following lap, Keselowski was back in the lead followed by Buescher, Bowman, Truex and Logano.

    With the laps in the first stage closing, Buescher closed back in on Keselowski in a battle for the lead. After pressuring Keselowski for the top spot, Buescher moved back into the top spot with two laps remaining in the first stage.

    Following his late charge and strong start in the early portions of the race, Buescher was able to easily cruise his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang to the first stage victory on Lap 80. Keselowski trailed back by nearly a second followed by Truex, Byron and teammate Bowman. Larson settled in sixth followed by Logano, Elliott, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Buescher exited pit road in first place following another stellar pit stop. Keselowski exited pit road in second place followed by Bowman, teammate Elliott and Logano

    The second stage started on Lap 87 with Buescher and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Buescher and Keselowski battled for the lead while Logano was mired in a tight battle with all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors. 

    Shortly after, Elliott mounted his way towards the front after overtaking his teammates, Logano and Keselowski for positions. By Lap 88, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the lead after passing Buescher in Turn 1. 

    With Elliott in the lead, teammate Larson and Buescher, both of whom overtook Keselowski, battled for second place. Byron and Bowman, teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, were in fifth and sixth. Truex was in seventh while Logano dropped back to eighth. Hamlin, who struggled at the start, was up in ninth followed by Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch and Cole Custer.

    On Lap 93, Buescher reassumed the lead over Elliott, who led four laps. Two laps later, Buescher stretched his advantage to nearly half a second over Elliott as teammate Larson settled in third. Teammates Byron and Bowman were in fourth and seventh while Keselowski, Truex and Logano were in fifth, sixth and eighth.

    Five laps later, teammates Larson, Elliott and Byron were locked in a heated battle for the runner-up spot, with Larson and Byron prevailing and moving up.

    By Lap 100, Buescher was leading by more than a second over Larson, who had teammate Byron closing in for more. Behind, teammate Elliott was locked in a battle with Truex for fourth place. Keselowski was in sixth followed by Bowman, Kurt Busch, Logano and Hamlin.

    Ten laps later, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than one-and-a-half seconds. Behind, Truex overtook Larson and Byron for the runner-up spot while Kurt Busch worked his way back into sixth place. Elliott fell back to sixth followed by teammate Bowman, Keselowski, Hamlin and Austin Dillon.

    Another five laps later, Byron overtook teammate Larson for third place. By then, Buescher was still in the lead by more than a second over Truex.

    Shortly after, the first round of pit stops under green commenced as Newman pitted followed by Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Hamlin, Elliott, Keselowski, Logano, Aric Almirola, Bell, Byron, Bowman, Custer, Michael McDowell, Truex, Kurt Busch, Larson, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Corey LaJoie and race leader Buescher pitted in the ensuing laps.

    When the majority of pit stops under green were completed, Truex emerged with the lead on Lap 125 moments after Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace pitted under green.

    By Lap 135, Truex was leading by nearly two seconds over Buescher while Byron was in third, trailing by more than four seconds. Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon were in the top five. Bowman was in sixth followed by Newman, Hamlin, Larson and teammate Elliott while Keselowski was in 11th. Earlier, Elliott, who made a three-wide move on teammate Larson and Keselowski for position through Turns 3 and 4, slipped up and got loose, though he was able to avoid wrecking in front of Keselowski.

    Behind the leaders, Logano was in 13th, Harvick was in 14th and Kyle Busch was in 18th.

    With the first 150 laps of the race complete, Truex remained in the lead by nearly two seconds over Buescher. Byron continued to run in third place followed by Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon. Bowman remained in sixth place followed by Hamlin, Larson, Newman and Almirola. Behind were Harvick, Keselowski and Elliott while teammates Logano and Blaney rounded out the top 15. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned when smoke billowed out of Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE due to his engine letting go down the backstretch.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex retained the lead after exiting pit road in first place followed by teammate Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Byron and Buescher.

    The race restarted with a one-lap dash to conclude the second stage as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Hamlin were on the front row. At the start, teammates Truex and Hamlin battled dead even through Turns 1 and 2. 

    Entering Turn 3, Hamlin squeaked ahead and tried to slide in front of teammate Truex for the lead. Byron, meanwhile, had other plans and made the inside lane work to his advantage as he powered through both JGR competitors and came out on top to claim the second stage victory on Lap 160. Hamlin settled in second followed by teammate Kurt Busch, Truex and Larson. Buescher, Harvick, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some led by Truex pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with Byron and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Byron retained the lead followed by Hamlin as the field fanned out to three, four and five lanes through Turns 1 and 2. 

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Byron continued to lead by a narrow margin over Hamlin while Larson overtook Kurt Busch for third place. Truex and Harvick were in fifth and sixth while Custer, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick were in the top 10.

    With 90 laps remaining, Byron continued to lead by nearly a second over teammate Larson, who was locked in a heated battle with Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Truex was close behind in fourth while Kurt Busch was in the top five. Custer moved up to sixth place followed by Harvick, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Reddick. Bowman was in 11th followed by Kyle Busch, McDowell, Ross Chastain and Newman. Bell and DiBenedetto were in 16th and 17th followed by Bubba Wallace, Blaney and Buescher. Elliott was all the way back in 23rd while Logano was in 25th in front of rookie Chase Briscoe. 

    Twenty laps later, Byron remained in the lead by more than a second over Truex. Larson, Hamlin and Kurt Busch were in the top five followed by Harvick, who overtook teammate Custer for position. McDowell worked his way up to eighth followed by Reddick and Keselowski.

    Under the final 70 laps of the race, the caution returned for an on-track incident involving Aric Almirola and Blaney, where Almirola tried to slide up in front of Blaney entering Turn 3 and the two made contact that resulted with both competitors making contact against the outside wall and sustaining damage to their respective machines.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Larson, whose pit crew struggled throughout the event, emerged with the lead following a stellar pit stop. Truex exited in second place followed by Kurt Busch, Hamlin and Harvick while Byron dropped back to sixth place. Following the pit stops, however, Hamlin was busted with a pit road speeding penalty.

    The races restarted with 60 laps remaining. At the start, Truex squeaked ahead while Larson fought back on the inside lane. While Truex and Larson battled for the lead, Byron made a bold three-wide move to overtake Keselowski and Harvick for third place. Byron then went to work on teammate Larson for the runner-up spot, which he prevailed. 

    Not long after, Byron reassumed the lead with 58 laps remaining after passing Truex with Larson lurking behind. Custer, meanwhile, worked his way into fifth place as he went to work in challenging Keselowski for fourth place. 

    With 55 laps remaining, a three-way battle for fifth place heated up between Kurt Busch, Harvick and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Byron was leading by nearly half a second over Truex with Larson behind by less than a second and Custer trailing by two seconds.

    Five laps later, Byron remained in the lead by over teammate Larson, who prevailed over a late battle with Truex. 

    Under the final 50 laps of the race and with the lights coming on as the race fell into night conditions, Kurt Busch, who was battling Custer for fourth place, radioed vibration issues to his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    With 40 laps remaining, Byron stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Larson. Truex remained in third place followed by Kurt Busch and Custer.

    Shortly after, Kurt Busch surrendered his top-five spot on the track to pit under green for tires and following his vibration issues. 

    With 30 laps remaining, Byron’s advantage over teammate Larson remained unchanged as Byron led by more than two seconds. Truex remained in third place, trailing by more than three seconds, while teammates Harvick and Custer trailed by more than eight seconds. By then, Logano made a pit stop under green. Shortly after, teammate Keselowski also pitted under green for four fresh tires.

    With 20 laps remaining, Byron stretched his advantage in his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to four seconds over Larson’s No. 5 Nations Guard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE with Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry trailing by nearly five seconds.

    With 10 laps remaining, Byron remained in the lead by less than five seconds over teammate Larson. Truex was in third place and more than five seconds behind Byron, though he was closing in on Larson for the runner-up spot. Reddick was in fourth followed by Harvick. Teammate Custer remained in sixth followed by McDowell, Newman, Bowman and Kyle Busch.

    Under five laps remaining, Byron continued to lead while a three-car battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Larson, Truex and Reddick. Utilizing the outside lane to his advantage while running close to the outside wall, Reddick moved into third place. Entering Turn 4, however, he got loose underneath Larson, though he prevented the car from spinning out.

    With Byron long gone with the lead, the battle for the runner-up spot continued to heat up as Reddick overtook Truex for third place and went to work on Larson for more, which he prevailed not long after.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron was out in front by nearly four seconds over Reddick and Larson. With no challengers coming close, Byron was able to cruise around the circuit for a final time and come back around to claim the checkered flag in first place and with a victory margin of nearly three seconds.

    With his second Cup career victory and first since winning at Daytona International Speedway in August 2020, Byron, who led a race-high 102 laps, became the third different winner of the 2021 season. While he snapped a two-race streak featuring first-time Cup winners, he extended the race-winning streak of Hendrick Motorsports to 36 consecutive seasons.

    The victory was the first of the season for Hendrick Motorsports and the 95th career victory for the No. 24 car. The victory was also the first in the Cup Series for crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle, who worked and won seven Truck Series races with Byron in 2016. 

    “That guy [Fugle] has been huge for my career,” Byron said on FOX. “He’s the reason I’m here. I’m glad we could get him [a win]. He’s just awesome and this whole team did a phenomenal job. Everybody, pit crew, over the wall. Extremely blessed…I can’t even believe it. It was just a really smooth day and we worked hard in the winter on this track. I can’t believe it.”

    “You had to go with the wall at certain times; (Turns) 3 and 4 were really fast up there,” Byron added. “I definitely didn’t do it as good as the Xfinity cars do it, but I used it when I had to, and this car was just awesome. It’s really a lot of hard work. I think we went to the [simulator] four or five times this off-season and it just pays off, man. It’s awesome.”

    Behind, Reddick tied his career-best result after finishing in second place as he fell short in becoming the third first-time winner within the first three Cup races of the 2021 season. Compared to Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Homestead, where his car failed post-race inspection and the driver was disqualified from his runner-up result to winner Myatt Snider, Reddick’s car passed the Cup post-race inspection process and he was able to remain in second place officially. Despite the result, he was less than pleased in falling short of the win.

    “Second place, it’s a good night considering how the first two weekends have went,” Reddick said. “I needed to get this Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevy to Victory Lane because if I would’ve, it would’ve gotten a lot of people in America free chicken tenders on Monday night. Once I really saw how fast we were in clean air, at the end there and I saw how fast we were catching everybody, it’s beyond frustrating. Just two or three different decision on a restart would’ve put me miles ahead and I would’ve been within reach. Second’s great, but I saw how much faster I was than those guys there at the end. Naturally, it’s frustrating.” 

    Truex, meanwhile, was able to squeak ahead of Larson to take third place while Harvick rounded out the top five.

    “I felt like that last run, for whatever reason, it didn’t do what it’d done all day,” Truex said. “[Byron] and [Larson] got by us on that restart, I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m just gonna take care of it here and hope that this is gonna be a really long run.’ That’s where we were strong all day. It just never happened. My balance got off there the last 40 laps or so and the car wouldn’t do what it did earlier. So close. The guys did a great job. It was a solid good effort for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry. Just proud of everybody for working hard. It’s definitely something we can build on.”

    “That got pretty intense there at the end, “Larson said on MRN. “[I was] Just trying to take care of my tires and was just struggling on the long runs. Loose for the majority of the race and there that last run, [I] actually got tight. But I felt like being tight was better for my long run just because I could be just a little more confident leading with the right front than the right rear. A top-five finish, I would’ve like to finish second, but those guys were better than me at the end and just couldn’t hold them off. I hate that I gave up those spots but all in all, a good day for the Nations Guard team.”

    McDowell, Newman, Kurt Busch, Bowman and Kyle Busch completed the top 10 on the track. Hamlin settled in 11th, Elliott was in 14th, Keselowski ended up 16th and Logano finished all the way back in 25th.

    There were 20 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 36 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 20 points over Harvick, 31 over Logano, 33 over McDowell, 34 over Elliott and 35 over Kurt Busch.

    Results.

    1. William Byron, 102 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Tyler Reddick

    3. Martin Truex Jr., 37 laps led

    4. Kyle Larson, five laps led

    5. Kevin Harvick

    6. Michael McDowell

    7. Ryan Newman

    8. Kurt Busch

    9. Alex Bowman

    10. Kyle Busch

    11. Denny Hamlin

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    14. Chase Elliott, four laps led

    15. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

    16. Brad Keselowski, 47 laps led

    17. Ross Chastain

    18. Chase Briscoe

    19. Chris Buescher, 57 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    20. Christopher Bell

    21. Ryan Preece

    22. Bubba Wallace, two laps led

    23. Cole Custer

    24. Anthony Alfredo

    25. Joey Logano, 12 laps led

    26. Justin Haley, one lap down

    27. Erik Jones, one lap down

    28. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    29. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

    30. Aric Almirola, three laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, four laps down

    32. Cody Ware, six laps down

    33. Josh Bilicki, eight laps down

    34. B.J. McLeod, nine laps down

    35. Quin Houff, nine laps down

    36. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Engine

    37. James Davison – OUT, Engine

    38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the first of a two-race West Coast swing for the series. The Vegas event in Nevada will occur on Sunday, March 7, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Bell notches first Cup career victory at Daytona road course event

    Bell notches first Cup career victory at Daytona road course event

    With late chaos erupting around every turn and every corner, another first-time winner to kickstart the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season was born after Christopher Bell overtook Joey Logano prior to the final lap to win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course on Sunday, February 21, and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series career victory.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Chase Elliott, winner of the first Cup points-paying event on Daytona’s road course layout, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Michael McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion. 

    Justin Haley, making his first Cup start of the 2021 season, started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice along with Garrett Smithley, who dropped to the back due to unapproved adjustments. Erik Jones also started at the rear of the field due to an engine change from last weekend’s Daytona 500.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Elliott rocketed away from the field to retain the lead entering the first round of turns. Behind, McDowell locked up his front tires entering Turn 1 and went off the track as he lost a bevy of spots. 

    Through Turn 2 and the International Horseshoe turn, the No. 18 Interstates Batteries Toyota Camry driven by Kyle Busch started to drift to the back after being knocked in the grass prior to the International Horseshoe turn as damage was also spotted on his car.

    Shortly after, the caution flew on the first lap due to debris on the backstretch. By then, Elliott was able to lead the first lap and retain the top spot over Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Preece. Meanwhile, McDowell was limping back to pit road with the right-front tire on his car flat. 

    Under caution, Kyle Busch pitted to have the damage on his car repaired along with McDowell. Both were able to continue despite having to drop to the rear of the field. 

    The race restarted on the third lap with Elliott and Austin Dillon on the front row. At the front, Elliott retained the lead entering the first turn while Dillon was able to fend off Hamlin for the runner-up spot as Logano joined the battle. 

    Through the infield turns and returning to the superspeedway turns, the field was able to return to the start/finish line cleanly. By then, Elliott continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Hamlin, who overtook Austin Dillon for the runner-up spot. Logano started to battle Dillon for the third-place spot while Harvick was in fifth. Ross Chastain was in sixth followed by Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, Kurt Busch and Corey LaJoie.

    By the fifth lap, Elliott was still out in front of the field and by nearly two seconds over Hamlin while Logano, Austin Dillon and Harvick were in the top five. Meanwhile, rookie Chase Briscoe spun in the frontstretch chicane in Turns 13 and 14 as he dropped all the way at the rear of the field while the race remained under green.

    Halfway into the first stage on the eighth lap, Elliott extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry. Logano was in third place followed by Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson. Martin Truex Jr. was in sixth followed by Harvick, Kurt Busch, Chastain and Christopher Bell. Cole Custer was in 11th followed by Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Preece. A.J. Allmendinger carved his way in 16th place followed by Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto and Aric Almirola.

    Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace was in 21st in front of Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Ty Dillon. Kyle Busch was in 27th in front of Ryan Newman while Michael McDowell was back in 29th. Briscoe, following his early spin, was back in 35th.

    Nearing the Lap 10 mark, Erik Jones, who was in 24th, dropped off the pace and limped his way back to pit road through the superspeedway backstretch after blowing a left-rear tire on his Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. He was able to limp his way back to pit road as the race remained under green.

    On Lap 11, the caution returned when the right-rear tire off of Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang blew and ripped, leaving shredded debris on the track in Turn 12. Moments earlier, Brad Keselowski missed the frontstretch chicane when he locked up his tires and pitted for fresh tires.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted except for Bell, James Davison, Josh Bilicki and Scott Heckert. Following the pit stops, Tyler Reddick and William Byron were tabbed with an uncontrolled tire violation penalty.

    The race restarted on Lap 13 with Bell and Keselowski, who benefitted from his pit stop, on the front row. At the start, Bell briefly cleared Keselowski entering the first turn but Elliott quickly marched his way alongside Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry following contact in Turn 2 as he challenged him for the lead entering the International Horseshoe turn.

    Through the dogleg and entering the West Horseshoe turn, Elliott reassumed the lead. Behind, Keselowski moved back into second place followed by Logano, Bell and Hamlin.

    With the laps in the first stage dwindling, Elliott remained in the lead followed by Team Penske’s Logano and Keselowski as Hamlin started to pressure Keselowski for third place. Kurt Busch moved up to fifth place followed by Larson, Austin Dillon and Truex. Bell was back in ninth in front of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Cole Custer.

    With a number of battles and shuffling for positions ensuing around the track and every turn, Elliott was able to cruise his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the first stage victory on Lap 16. Logano coasted across the line in second place while Hamlin was able to overtake Keselowski to assume third place. Kurt Busch was in fifth followed by Larson, Truex, Austin Dillon, Harvick and Chris Buescher.

    Under the stage break, some led by Elliott remained on the track while others led by Keselowski pitted. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon was forced to the rear of the field due to a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon,

    The second stage started on Lap 19 with Elliott and Logano on the front row. At the start, Elliott battled dead even with Logano entering the first turn before clearing him in Turn 2 and holding the lead. With the field battling competitively through the infield turns, Hamlin made his way into the runner-up spot while Truex overtook Kurt Busch for fourth.

    By Lap 20, Elliott was out in front by nearly two seconds over Hamlin while Logano, Truex and Kurt Busch were in the top five. A.J. Allmendinger, who started at the rear of the field in his No. 16 Hyperice/Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, was up in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Custer, Larson and William Byron. Keselowski was back in 11th place in front of Alex Bowman while Bell and Harvick were in 15th and 16th.

    A few laps later, Truex moved up into third place after passing Logano while Allmendinger overtook Kurt Busch for fifth place. By then, Elliott continued to lead by more than a second over Hamlin.

    By Lap 25 and with the field fanning out and settling in a calm, competitive pace, Elliott stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Hamlin. Truex remained in third place, trailing by more than three seconds, followed by Logano and Allmendinger. Kurt Busch retained sixth place over Larson while Austin Dillon, Custer and Byron were in the top 10.

    Meanwhile, the top-15 spots on the track were occupied by Bell, Buescher, Harvick, Keselowski and Almirola, who was locked in a battle with Daniel Suarez. Bowman and Blaney were in 16th and 17th while Kyle Busch, who was mired with early issues with damage on his car and towards the rear of the field, was in 19th and in front of Chastain. 

    Newman was in 22nd followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., McDowell and Reddick. Bubba Wallace was in 26th in front of Erik Jones and Briscoe while Ty Dillon, rookie Anthony Alfredo and DiBenedetto were in 29th, 30th and 31st.

    The following lap, Truex overtook teammate Hamlin for the runner-up spot. In addition, Allmendinger continued his impressive run towards the front as he moved into fourth place over Logano, who had Kurt Busch closing in. Behind, Bell moved back into the top 10 in ninth place.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Chastain made hard contact against the Turn 6 outside wall following contact with Ryan Blaney and sustained right-front damage on his No. 42 McDonald’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Under caution, Reddick dropped off the pace through the tri-oval after reporting diagnostic issues on his car when he shut it off trying to save fuel. He was able to re-fire and continue while Chastain, who was able to limp back to pit road, retired.

    Under caution, most of the field led by Elliott pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Briscoe was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire penalty.

    The race resumed under green on Lap 29 with Allmendinger and Larson on the front row. At the front, Allmendinger rocketed away with the lead through the first two turns. Meanwhile, Harvick made his way into second place while Hamlin challenged Larson for third place. In addition, Kurt Busch challenged in fifth in front of Truex and Logano. Meanwhile, Keselowski, who was in the top 10, nearly got turned off the front nose of Bell through the straightaway nearing Turn 6 and lost a bevy of spots. 

    When the field returned to the start/finish line on Lap 30, Allmendinger was still in the lead by a narrow margin over Hamlin. Shortly after, Hamlin, racing on fresh tires, made his way into the lead through the infield dogleg and West Horseshoe turns. Behind, Kurt Busch was in third followed by Harvick and Truex. Larson, Logano, Bell, Byron and Custer were in the top 10 while Elliott, who struggled on pit road under the previous caution, was mired back in 11th. Keselowski, who nearly got turned following contact with Bell during the previous lap, was back in 21st.

    The following lap, Wallace made an unscheduled pit stop after locking up the front tires entering the chicane in Turns 13 and 14. By then, Hamlin was out in front by seven-tenths of a second over Allmendinger. Kurt Busch remained in third place followed by Truex and Logano. Bell was in sixth followed by Harvick and Byron. Elliott was in ninth while Custer was in 10th.

    With the laps in the second stage dwindling, Allmendinger was overtaken by Kurt Busch, Truex, Logano and Bell for position as Hamlin extended his advantage to more than two seconds. Entering the chicane in Turns 13 and 14, Truex locked up his front tires as he attempted to overtake Kurt Busch for the runner-up spot. His move allowed Logano to move into third place. The following lap and through the infield turns, Bell overtook Truex for position while Elliott joined the party. 

    At the front, Hamlin was able to retain the lead and claim the second stage victory on Lap 34. Kurt Busch held off Logano by a nose to settle in second place while teammates Bell and Truex were scored in the top five. Elliott, who restarted outside the top 10, worked his way up to sixth place followed by teammate Byron, Custer, Allmendinger and Kyle Busch. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted except for Suarez and DiBenedetto. Kurt Busch was the first competitor to exit off pit road followed by Hamlin, Bell, Elliott, Truex, Harvick and Logano. Following the pit stops, Allmendinger was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road.

    With 33 laps remaining, the final stage started with Suarez and DiBenedetto on the front row. At the start, Suarez, racing in his No. 99 iFly/Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, launched ahead following a strong start while DiBenedetto struggled on the outside lane. Kurt Busch, who also received a strong start, made his way into the lead following the first two turns as the field jumbled up. Bell quickly made his way into second place followed by Truex, Hamlin and Elliott, all of whom overtook Suarez starting from the International Horseshoe turn and through the West Horseshoe turn.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Kurt Busch was out in front by approximately a tenth of a second over Bell while Truex and Elliott battled behind for third. Hamlin was in fifth followed by Logano and Suarez. 

    Entering the West Horseshoe turn, however, Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE slipped off the track entering the dogleg, ran over the infield grass and spun from the lead prior to the West Horseshoe turn. With Busch dropping from the lead to outside the top 20, Bell assumed the lead followed by Elliott. Teammates Truex and Hamlin moved up in third and fourth followed by Logano. 

    With 30 laps remaining, Bell continued to lead by a narrow margin over a hard-charging Elliott. Through the backstretch, McDowell missed the chicane/bus stop while Chris Buescher ran his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang over the grass. 

    A lap later, Elliott made his way back into the lead. Behind, Keselowski spun after his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang received a bump from Kurt Busch in Turn 1. In addition, Wallace, who pitted under green, was tabbed with a speeding penalty. Rookie Anthony Alfredo was also tabbed with a pass-through penalty for missing the frontstretch chicane and not doing a stop-and-go penalty.

    With 27 laps remaining, Elliott, the dominant car of the day, was out in front by more than a second over Bell. Truex was in third, trailing by nearly three seconds, followed by Logano and Hamlin. Kyle Busch, following his early issues, was up in sixth place followed by Larson, Harvick, Almirola and Custer. 

    The following lap, Almirola spun his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang through the International Horseshoe turn, though he was able to continue and the race remained under green. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch overtook teammate Hamlin for fifth place. 

    Not long after, Blaney made an unscheduled pit stop under green due to a left-rear tire rub. 

    With 22 laps remaining and the skies darkening, Elliott, seeking his second consecutive victory at Daytona on the road course layout, remained at the front of the field by nearly a second over Bell, who remained in the hunt of his first Cup career victory. Truex, seeking his first victory at Daytona, remained in third followed by teammate Kyle Busch, who continued to march forward. Logano was in fifth while Hamlin, Larson, Harvick, Custer and Byron were in the top 10. 

    Two laps later and with 20 laps remaining, Elliott retained the lead by more than a second over Bell. By then, Truex, who was in third, made a scheduled pit stop under green. Suarez, Alex Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also pitted while Kyle Busch moved into third place. Hamlin, Larson and Logano also moved up from fourth to sixth.

    The following lap, Larson and Logano made the turn to pit road under green. Byron, Austin Dillon, Harvick, Erik Jones, Reddick, Almirola, Preece and Allmendinger also pitted.

    The lap after and with 18 laps remaining, the leader Elliott pitted followed by teammates Bell and Kyle Busch. By then, names like Hamlin, Briscoe, Custer, Ty Dillon, Newman and Kurt Busch also pitted.

    When the pit stops under green were completed and the field cycled through with 17 laps remaining, Elliott continued to lead by more than two seconds over Bell. Truex moved back into third place followed by teammate Kyle Busch and Larson. Logano was in sixth followed by Hamlin, Harvick, Custer and Byron. By then, reports of a few rain drops were reported on the track with the teams preparing a possible move to rain tires.

    Following the pit stops, DiBenedetto pitted due to a brake issue and made the eventual turn to the garage.

    With 15 laps remaining, the caution flew due to rain. By then, Elliott was leading by more than two seconds over Bell with Truex trailing by more than 12 seconds. 

    Under caution, everyone except for Logano, Briscoe, Kurt Busch, Buescher, Corey LaJoie, Keselowski, James Davison, Garrett Smithley, Cody Ware and Josh Bilicki remained on the track. For those who pitted, they pitted for slicks, not rain tires. 

    With 12 laps remaining, the race resumed under green with Logano and Briscoe on the front row. At the start, Logano jumped ahead with the lead through the first turn while Kurt Busch challenged Briscoe for the runner-up spot. Behind and with the field fanning out to three lanes, Reddick drove off the racing surface in Turn 2, kicked up the dirt in the grass and ran over a sign board as he came to a stop. While trying to pull away, flames erupted underneath Reddick’s No. 8 CAT Rental Store Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE and his race came to an end as the caution flew.

    Prior to the caution, Elliott got forced off the track past the International Horseshoe turn following contact with LaJoie but he made a spectacular save while sliding sideways through the grass to come back on the track and continue. The incident, however, dropped Elliott all the way back to 14th place.

    With 10 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Logano and Briscoe on the front row. At the front, Logano retained the lead following a strong start followed by Kurt Busch, who overtook Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang for position. Behind, however, Truex spun in Turn 1 after locking up the front tires of his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry. Despite spinning in a heavy cloud of smoke and forcing the oncoming field to fan out through the first turn, Truex continued while losing his track position towards the front and the race remained under green.

    Shortly after, the caution returned due to an on-track incident involving Elliott and LaJoie, thus damaging both racing vehicles.

    The race restarted under green with eight laps remaining. At the front, Logano and Kurt Busch battled dead even for the lead through the first turn until Logano pulled ahead through Turn 2 and the International Horseshoe turn. 

    Entering Turn 6, Larson got sideways and wheel-hopped while battling Kurt Busch for the runner-up spot as his No. 5 Nations Guard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE made contact into the tire barriers. Despite the incident, the race remained under green.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Logano was out in front by more than a second over Kurt Busch, who had Bell pressuring him for the runner-up spot. Keselowski was in fourth followed by Hamlin, Briscoe and Elliott. Behind, Kyle Busch bounced off several cars and got sideways on the tri-oval with Austin Dillon also sustaining damage after he ran over the grass. The incident spoiled Busch’s late comeback to the front following his early issues. Despite the incident, the race continued to run under green.

    While Logano continued to lead, Kurt Busch and Bell continued to battle intensely for second place. In Turn 6, however, Bell suffered a brief right-front tire rub after running into the rear bumper of Kurt Busch, who refused to surrender the spot to Bell.

    The following lap, Logano extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Kurt Busch with Bell remaining in pursuit. In Turn 7, however, disaster struck for Elliott, who got into the back of Keselowski, got loose and spun in a cloud of smoke as he lost all the track position towards the front. 

    With five laps remaining, Logano continued to lead by more than three seconds over Kurt Busch while Bell, Keselowski and Hamlin were in the top five. Harvick, McDowell, Preece, Allmendinger and Briscoe were in the top 10 followed by Bubba Wallace and Bowman. Elliott, following his late spin, was outside of the top 20.

    Shortly after, Briscoe’s hood flew up, which blocked his view. Despite the misfortune, he continued on the track, though he dropped out of the top 10. 

    With three laps remaining, Logano remained in the lead by more than two seconds over Bell, who was able to prevail over Kurt Busch a few laps earlier, with Busch trailing by five seconds in third place. Hamlin was in fourth followed by Keselowski and Harvick.

    With two laps remaining, Logano was leading by more than a second over Bell, who continued to close in for the lead and the win on fresher tires than Logano as light sprinkles were reported on the track.

    Entering the superspeedway Turn 3, however, Bell, who closed in to the rear bumper of Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, issued a challenge for the lead. He made a move to the outside lane, but was blocked by Logano. Nonetheless, Bell was able to draw himself to the outside of Logano entering the chicane in Turns 13 and 14.

    Through the chicane, Bell muscled his way to the lead as he also started the final lap of the race. Through the infield turns, Bell was able to remain out in front and he was also able to gap himself away from Logano while entering the superspeedway turns. 

    Through the chicane/bus stop, the final pair of superspeedway turns and the chicane towards the frontstretch, Bell was able to come back around to the tri-oval and claim the checkered flag by more than two seconds over Logano as he grabbed his first Cup triumph in his 38th series start. 

    With his victory, Bell became the 197th different competitor to win in the Cup Series, the 11th different competitor to win a Cup race driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and the 35th different driver to win across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series). The victory was also the first for JGR’s No. 20 team since Darlington Raceway in September 2019. For an added bonus, Bell became the first competitor from Oklahoma to win a Cup Series race.

    Bell’s first Cup career victory came one week after Michael McDowell claimed his first Cup triumph in last weekend’s Daytona 500. It marks the third time in NASCAR’s 73-year history, first since 1950, where the first two Cup events of the season have been won by first-time winners.

    “This is definitely one of the highlights of my life so far,” Bell said on FOX. “Just so incredibly thankful to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing…I don’t know, man. I’ve prepared my whole life for this moment to race in the Cup Series. Last year was a huge learning curve for me and I’m very grateful that I got the opportunity to run in Cup and it definitely prepared me to move to Joe Gibbs Racing.”

    “Whenever we pitted and then we came out, I liked where I lined up,” Bell added. “But then, the yellows kept coming and I thought the yellows were hurting me because I felt like I needed laps to get up through there. Honestly, I didn’t think I was gonna there. [Crew chief] Adam [Stevens], up on the pit box, kept telling me that I was gonna get there. Man, I didn’t believe it. [Logano] really struggled coming out of [Turn] 6 one time and it allowed me to close the gap.”

    Logano settled in second place followed by Hamlin. Kurt Busch and Keselowski rallied from their on-track issues throughout the race to complete the top five.

    “[Bell]’s the one that got through with tires,” Logano said. “Man, one more caution lap would’ve been enough to have a door-to-door finish across the finish line, maybe…I was just trying to get all I could out of that restart, trying to get out there as far as I could because I knew that those guys with tires were gonna catch us really quick…We maximized the day. I hate being that close, but congratulations to Christopher. It’s his first win…I’m happy for him, but not so happy for myself at the moment.”

    Harvick finished in sixth place followed by Allmendinger, who rallied to record the first top-10 result for Kaulig Racing in the Cup circuit. McDowell also rallied from his issues at the start of the race to finish in eighth place while Preece and Bowman finished in the top 10. 

    Truex finished in 12th, Elliott fell all the way back in 21st, Larson fell back to 30th and Briscoe dropped to 32nd. 

    “When you have those late race cautions like that and you have a mixed bag of who stays and who goes, it’s a bit of a gamble either way,” Elliott, who led a race-high 44 laps, said. “I thought tires was the right move. Tires won the race, so I think it was the right move. When you get back in traffic, it just gets to be so chaotic and then it just, depending on who gets through and who doesn’t, determines how it’s gonna shake out. I hate it. Too many mistakes. Went off track. Bad deal. We had a fast NAPA Chevy and I appreciate the effort…Try again next week.”

    There were 12 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 12 laps. 

    Hamlin now leads the regular-season standings by 12 points over Logano, 21 over Harvick, 22 over Bell and 25 over Elliott.

    Results.

    1. Christopher Bell, five laps led

    2. Joey Logano, 10 laps led

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

    4. Kurt Busch, two laps led

    5. Brad Keselowski

    6. Kevin Harvick

    7. A.J. Allmendinger, two laps led

    8. Michael McDowell

    9. Ryan Preece

    10. Alex Bowman

    11. Chris Buescher

    12. Martin Truex Jr.

    13. Cole Custer

    14. Erik Jones

    15. Ryan Blaney

    16. Daniel Suarez, two laps led

    17. Aric Almirola

    18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    19. Ty Dillon

    20. Ryan Newman

    21. Chase Elliott, 44 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    22. Anthony Alfredo

    23. James Davison

    24. Justin Haley

    25. Cody Ware

    26. Bubba Wallace

    27. Garrett Smithley

    28. Scott Heckert

    29. Timmy Hill

    30. Kyle Larson

    31. Corey LaJoie

    32. Chase Briscoe

    33. William Byron, one lap down

    34. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    35. Kyle Busch, one lap down

    36. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Brakes

    37. Matt DiBenedetto, five laps down

    38. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

    39. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

    40. Quin Houff – OUT, Engine

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ annual visit to Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will also wrap up the series’ month-long racing span in Florida. The race will occur on Sunday, February 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Kyle Busch wins a wild conclusion to the Busch Clash

    Kyle Busch wins a wild conclusion to the Busch Clash

    Starting the 2021 NASCAR season with a new crew chief, a new pit crew and a new slate, Kyle Busch took advantage of a last-lap incident involving Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott to win the 43rd annual running of the Busch Clash at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course on Tuesday, February 9.

    Busch, who was running in third place on the final lap and entering the final chicane prior to the straightaway for the finish line, benefitted from contact involving Elliott and Blaney, who spun, to overtake both and claim the first checkered flag of a new season of racing and the first Clash event held on Daytona’s road-course layout.

    Twenty-one competitors competed in the event, all of whom met the eligibility requirements to participate: 2020 Cup pole winners, former winners of the Clash as a 2020 full-time competitor, former Daytona 500 champions as a 2020 full-time competitor, former Daytona 500 pole winners as a 2020 full-time competitor, 2020 Cup Playoff competitors, 2020 Cup race winners and 2020 Cup stage winners.  

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw on Monday, February 8. With that, Ryan Blaney started on pole position with Alex Bowman starting alongside him on the front row. Chase Elliott, the reigning Cup Series champion, started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Blaney jumped ahead with an early advantage on the inside lane. Behind, Tyler Reddick made a bold move on the outside lane through Turn 1 and nearly gained the lead before settling in fourth place behind Blaney, Bowman and Denny Hamlin. 

    Blaney continued to lead the field through the infield turns until Hamlin made his move and took the lead entering the superspeedway Turn 1. He was able to maintain his advantage through the rest of the superspeedway turns and the two chicanes to lead the first lap over Blaney, who had Bowman and Reddick challenging him for the runner-up spot.

    Earlier through the bus stop/chicane on the backstretch, Logano ran over the curb on the backstretch bus stop chicane while battling teammate Keselowski as his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang briefly went airborne. Despite the incident, he continued on the track in the top 10.

    By the second lap, Hamlin stretched his advantage to nearly two seconds over Blaney while Bowman continued to retain third place over Reddick and William Byron. Brad Keselowski was in sixth followed by Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Cole Custer. By then, Chase Elliott moved up to 16th place.

    The following lap, early trouble struck for Kevin Harvick, who spun through the backstretch chicane. He was able to continue without sustaining any damage, though he fell all the way below the 21-car field, as the race remained under green. 

    By the first five laps of the race, Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry continued to lead by more than a second over Blaney and his No. 12 Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford Mustang. Bowman remained in third place ahead of teammate Byron, Reddick and Keselowski. Behind, Kyle Busch was locked in a heated battle with Joey Logano and teammate Martin Truex Jr. for seventh while DiBenedetto slipped back to 10th. By then, Erik Jones was in 11th, Elliott was in 15th, Ty Dillon was in 17th and Harvick was in 21st.

    Shortly after, DiBenedetto missed the frontstretch chicane and was forced to serve a stop-and-go penalty on the track. In addition, Kurt Busch and Logano made an early pit stop. During these events, Hamlin continued to lead the field.

    The first caution of the race flew on the seventh lap due to mud reported across the bus stop chicane on the backstretch. Under caution, some competitors led by race leader Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Logano was assessed a penalty for having his crew members jumping over his pit wall too soon.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 10, Blaney jumped ahead again with the lead, but he overshot the first turn and lost a multitude of spots. With Blaney’s misfortune, Reddick jumped ahead with the lead. In addition, the field jumbled up as Harvick spun again in Turn 2.

    At the front, Reddick continued to lead followed by Keselowski, Bowman, Buescher, Hamlin and Byron. By the time the field returned to the start/finish line, however, Keselowski drew himself alongside Reddick in a battle for the lead. In Turn 1, Reddick went wide, which allowed Keselowski to assume the lead. In addition, Hamlin moved up to second followed by teammate Martin Truex Jr. as Reddick fell back to fourth. Meanwhile, Harvick pitted following his second on-track incident. 

    By Lap 12, the battle for the lead heated up between Hamlin and Keselowski while Truex joined the battle. Following a lengthy battle through the infield turns, Hamlin prevailed entering the superspeedway Turn 1. Truex also overtook Keselowski for second as he went to work on teammate Hamlin for the lead. Trailing the top-three competitors by nearly three seconds was Reddick while Elliott overtook Erik Jones and cracked the top five. 

    The following lap, Hamlin got loose entering the bus stop and Truex took advantage of his teammate’s slip to take the lead. Shortly after, names like Reddick, Jones, Bowman and Logano pitted. Following the pit stops under green, however, Bowman was black-flagged due to speeding on pit road. 

    By the time the field completed Lap 15 and with Truex still leading, names like Elliott, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Blaney and Harvick also pitted. Not long after, the competition caution flew.

    Just as the caution flew, trouble struck for the leader Truex, who missed the frontstretch chicane and was tagged with a penalty to restart at the rear of the 21-car field. Under caution, the entire field pitted for adjustments and fuel. Following the pit stops, Kurt Busch assumed the race lead with a two-tire pit stop. Austin Dillon moved up to second place after electing for no tires while Hamlin exited in third place and as the first car on four fresh tires. Keselowski, Blaney, Logano, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Cole Custer and Chris Buescher exited from pit road in the top 10.

    With 17 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the front, Kurt Busch jumped ahead with the lead until he overshot the first turn. With Busch falling all the way to the back of the field after overshooting the track, Hamlin reassumed the lead followed by Blaney, Logano, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch.

    With 15 laps remaining, Hamlin continued to lead by less than a second over Blaney while teammate Logano was situated in third place. Kyle Busch was in fourth ahead of Austin Dillon and Custer while Keselowski, Buescher, Jones and Reddick were in the top 10. Truex, meanwhile, was in 11th  while teammates Byron, Bowman and Elliott were in 13th, 14th and 15th. Harvick was in 18th while Kurt Busch was still back in 21st. By then, the bumping and on-track battling started to ensue around every turn of the track.

    The following lap, the caution returned when Custer, who missed the frontstretch chicane and was set to serve a stop and go penalty, stalled his No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang near the chicane. Soon after, fire and smoke started to come out of Custer’s car as the safety workers arrived for assistance.

    Under caution, some like Blaney, Logano, Byron, Bowman, Elliott, Newman, Kurt Busch, Reddick, Buescher, Harvick and Aric Almirola pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track. 

    A lap prior to the restart, the left-rear tire of Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE shredded, which forced him to make another pit stop for a new tire. In addition, Logano was forced to drop to the rear of the field for not entering pit road in a single file earlier.

    With 11 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the front, Hamlin jumped ahead with the lead and he was able to retain it through the first two turns while the field behind fanned out to three lanes. Behind, Truex, who smoked his front tires entering the first turn, made his way through Austin Dillon for the runner-up spot as Kyle Busch also moved up the leaderboard. Behind, Blaney, who used the outside lane at the start to his advantage and gain a bevy of spots, challenged Dillon for fourth. 

    The following lap, Hamlin retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Truex as Kyle Busch settled in third. Blaney was in fourth, but closing in on Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for more. Austin Dillon was in fifth followed by Elliott, Keselowski, DiBenedetto, Bowman and Reddick. 

    Two laps later, the battle for the lead heated up as Truex drew himself alongside Hamlin through the infield turns. Truex was able to pull off a crossover move and grab the lead exiting the infield turns and entering the superspeedway turns. His race, however, went away through the bus stop/backstretch chicane when he ran over the mud, got loose, spun and made hard contact against the outside wall in Turn 10.

    With Truex out of the race following his accident, Blaney emerged with the lead followed by Hamlin, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Bowman. Under caution, however, Blaney and Hamlin led a number of competitors down pit road while Elliott, Kurt Busch, Logano, Reddick, Buescher and Aric Almirola remained on the track. This moved Elliott into the lead.

    With five laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Elliott pulled away with the lead and he retained it through the first turn. Behind, Kurt Busch went wide again and lost a bevy of spots. Meanwhile, Logano moved into the runner-up spot followed by Buescher, Blaney, Reddick and Kyle Busch.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Elliott remained at the front of the pack by less than a second over Logano with a hard-charging Blaney closing in. Through the bus stop/backstretch chicane, Keselowski, who was in eighth, spun in front of Byron. In addition, Reddick got into Buescher as Buescher spun through the chicane and clipped Bowman before coming to rest on the track. Despite the incidents, the race remained under green.

    At the front, Blaney, racing on fresh tires, closed in on Elliott for the lead through the infield turns, the superspeedway turns and the bus stop/backstretch chicane. With two laps remaining, Blaney made a move beneath Elliott through the dogleg turn as he took the lead, though Elliott kept Blaney in his sights.

    When the final lap of the exhibition event started, Blaney was still ahead by nearly half a second over Elliott. Through the infield turns, the superspeedway turns and the backstretch chicane, Blaney continued to retain the top spot while Elliott continued to close in. 

    Then entering the frontstretch chicane, Elliott made a move beneath Blaney in a bid for the win. Hen then made contact with Blaney as Blaney spun through the chicane. Following the contact, Kyle Busch, who was trailing the two leaders, made his way through the incident and overtook Elliott to win and grab the checkered flag by nearly eight-tenths of a second. 

    The victory was Busch’s second in the Clash as he recorded the 10th Clash win for Joe Gibbs Racing and the sixth for the Toyota nameplate. In addition, Busch achieved his first victory with new crew chief Ben Beshore.

    “I just knew to keep my head down, keep focused ahead and just seeing if I could hit my marks and get close enough to have a shot like that if something like that were to materialize,” Busch said on FS1. “Fortunately, it did for us. I can’t say enough about [crew chief] Ben Beshore and this whole M&M’s team, everybody over the off season. A new M&M’s team…It’s awesome to start off the year with a win. Non-points win, but we’d love nothing more than to be right here this Sunday.”

    Elliott limped across the finish line in second place while Blaney fell all the way back to 13th place. Following the race, both competitors met on pit road for a post-race discussion.

    “Neither one of us won, that’s the big one,” Elliott said on FS1. “I was close enough to drive it in there. I feel like I’d be mad at myself for not, at least, trying. Obviously, I don’t mean to wreck anybody, especially [Blaney]. Some guys, I wouldn’t mind, but he’s not one of them. Hopefully, he’s not too mad at me. I feel like you got to go for it here at an event like this in a situation. I can’t be sorry about going for the win, but certainly didn’t mean to wreck him. [I] Drove it in there. That corner gets so tight. I didn’t want to just completely jump the curb to the right, but I felt like I tried to get over there as far as I could to it and that point, we were coming together at the same time…We’ll try again Sunday.”

    “I hate it happened too,” Blaney added. “It didn’t work out for either of us. We were just racing hard. I had a little bit fresher tires there…I tried to protect and I drove into the last corner really deep to try to make sure I didn’t dive-bombed like that. We just came together there. What are you gonna do?”

    Logano finished in third place followed by Reddick and Byron. Hamlin, Bowman, Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10.

    There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for eight laps.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Busch, one lap led

    2. Chase Elliott, four laps led

    3. Joey Logano

    4. Tyler Reddick, one lap led

    5. William Byron

    6. Denny Hamlin, 21 laps led

    7. Alex Bowman

    8. Erik Jones

    9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    10. Matt DiBenedetto

    11. Austin Dillon

    12. Aric Almirola

    13. Ryan Blaney, five laps led

    14. Ryan Newman

    15. Kevin Harvick

    16. Chris Buescher

    17. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

    18. Ty Dillon

    19. Kurt Busch, one lap led

    20. Cole Custer, three laps down

    21. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return the following day, February 10, for the Daytona 500 pole position qualifying session, which will occur at 7 p.m. ET on FS1, followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at Daytona on Thursday, February 11, which will also commence at 7 p.m. ET on FS1. All of this will lead up to the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 scheduled on Sunday, February 14, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Elliott wins 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix

    Elliott wins 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix

    One for the ages on a cloudy afternoon in the desert state of Arizona.

    Nine months after the start of what would be a bizarre season of racing and on a day where a number of icons led by Jimmie Johnson made their final full-time starts in NASCAR’s premier series, Chase Elliott etched his name as a NASCAR Cup Series champion.

    The Dawsonville, Georgia, native, who started at the rear of the field and methodically worked his way to the front, led seven times for a race-high 153 of 312 laps, took the lead for the final time with 42 laps remaining and pulled away from title rivals Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano to claim his first title by winning the Season Finale 500 at Phoenix Raceway as he also claimed his fifth victory of the season and the 11th of his Cup career. Above all, Elliott was able to come back around and celebrate as the 2020 Cup Series champion.

    The starting lineup was based on four stats: current owner’s standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, the four championship finale contenders started first through fourth led by pole-sitter Chase Elliott and followed by Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.

    Prior to the race, however, Elliott started at the rear of the field due to his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE failing pre-race inspection twice. Brennan Poole also dropped to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice.

    Moments before the race started and during the pace laps, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson moved to the front of the grid as he received a final salute from the fans and the NASCAR community before he moved back to start in 26th place.

    When the final race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced under green, Logano, who started at the front, jumped ahead with the lead and was followed by teammate Keselowski, Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch as the field battled early for positions through the dogleg turn and entering Turns 1 and 2. The early start for Logano was enough for him to lead the first lap of the race.

    The following lap, Keselowski and Hamlin battled dead even for the runner-up spot and in front of Blaney and Kurt Busch. Alex Bowman was in sixth followed by Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, teammate Aric Almirola and Matt DiBenedetto. Elliott, meanwhile, was in 31st after starting at the rear of the field.

    By the fifth lap, Logano was leading by nearly a second over teammate Keselowski while Hamlin was in third ahead of Blaney, Kurt Busch, Bowman and Kyle Busch. By then, Elliott moved up to 25th place.

    Following the first 10 laps of the finale, Logano continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Keselowski, who had Hamlin pressuring on him for the runner-up spot. 

    The following lap, Hamlin went wide in Turn 2, which allowed Keselowski to make a crossover move and retain the runner-up spot as teammate Blaney joined the battle. By then, Elliott moved his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in the top 20. In addition, Ryan Preece, who made contact with the wall, pitted under green.

    By Lap 15, Logano extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Keselowski, who had Hamlin closing in for position. Blaney and Kurt Busch continued to run in the top five followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, DiBenedetto and Almirola. By then, Elliott made his way into the top 15.

    Five laps later, on Lap 20, Logano stabilized his advantage in the race and in the title battle by more than two seconds over Keselowski with Hamlin still in third and Elliott in 13th behind Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Cole Custer.

    Another five laps later, on Lap 25, Elliott was in 11th place and pressuring Almirola for a spot in the top 10 on the track. By then, Logano was still leading by more than a second and a half over teammate Keselowski and Hamlin, both of whom continued to battle one another for the runner-up spot. 

    Two laps later, Elliott made his way into the top 10 after passing Almirola, though he was more than 10 seconds behind race leader and title contender Logano and his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. 

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Logano was ahead by more than a second over teammate Keselowski and Hamlin, with Blaney and Kurt Busch in the top five. Bowman, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Bowyer and Elliott were in the top 10. By then, Harvick was in 11th ahead of teammates Cole Custer and Almirola, Jimmie Johnson was in 16th behind Erik Jones and William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. was in 18th in between Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon, Matt Kenseth was in 21st ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Newman and Bubba Wallace was in 24th. Christopher Bell, racing in Leavine Family Racing’s final race in NASCAR, was in 20th while Ty Dillon, racing in Germain Racing’s final race in NASCAR, was in 29th. 

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead following the first round of pit stops. Hamlin exited in second place followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch, Bowyer and Blaney. During the pit stops, Keselowski dropped six spots in eighth place following a slow pit stop, where his jack man ran into the tire changer during the service. Elliott exited in 11th place behind Harvick. Following the pit stops, John Hunter Nemechek was assessed a speeding penalty.

    The race restarted under green on Lap 36 with Logano and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Logano retained the lead after driving through the dogleg turn to block Kyle Busch and entering Turns 1 and 2. Hamlin also retained the runner-up spot while Kyle Busch and Bowman battle for third ahead of Bowyer and Keselowski.

    By Lap 40, Logano was ahead by nearly four-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Bowman while Elliott, who made a bold three-wide move on Keselowski and Kyle Busch for positions earlier, battled Bowyer for additional spots in the top five. 

    A lap later, Elliott moved his No. 9 Chevrolet into fourth place over Bowyer. Another lap later, Keselowski overtook Bowyer and Kyle Busch to move into fifth place with the four final title contenders running in the top five. By then, Logano was still leading by nearly two-tenths of a second over Hamlin with Bowman trailing by two seconds. 

    Three laps later, on Lap 46, Elliott overtook teammate Bowman exiting the backstretch and entering Turn 3 to move into third place as he was three seconds behind title rivals Logano and Hamlin. By then, Keselowski also started to close in on Bowman’s No. 88 Truck Hero/ChevyGoods Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for fourth place.

    By Lap 50, the final four title contenders were running first through fourth on the track, with Logano leading Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry by nearly eight-tenths of a second. Elliott was in third, trailing by more than three seconds, while Keselowski, racing in his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, was in fourth place.

    Behind, Bowman was in fifth followed by Kyle Busch, Blaney, Bowyer, Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto. Jimmie Johnson was in 12th in between Erik Jones and Byron while Kenseth was in 21st in between Bell and Bubba Wallace.

    By Lap 60, Logano stabilized his advantage to more than half a second over Hamlin. Behind, Elliott, the fastest car on the circuit, remained in third place, trailing by more than three seconds, while Keselowski remained in fourth place. Meanwhile, Blaney moved into fifth place.

    With five laps remaining in the first stage, the final four title contenders continued to run first through fourth on the track, with Logano leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over Hamlin, Elliott running in third and Keselowski settling in fourth. Blaney was the highest-running non-title contender in fifth while Bowman and Kyle Busch battled for sixth place. Bowyer, making his final start, was in eighth followed by Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto, both of whom were ahead of Johnson.

    Down to the final laps of the first stage and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Hamlin started to close in on Logano’s No. 22 Ford for position as he was two-tenths of a second behind. 

    Despite being pressured for the lead, Logano was able to hold off Hamlin and win the first stage on Lap 75 by more than half a second as he collected his seventh stage victory of the 2020 Cup season. Hamlin settled in second followed by Elliott, Keselowski and Blaney while Kyle Busch, Bowman, Bowyer, Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto settled in the top 10. By then, Johnson was in 11th and Kenseth was in 24th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead over Hamlin following the pit service. Elliott and Keselowski followed behind along with Bowyer, who received a stellar stop from his No. 14 crew to move into the top five. 

    The second stage started on Lap 83 with Logano and Hamlin on the front row followed by Elliott, Keselowski, Bowyer and Blaney. At the start, Logano retained the lead while Kyle Busch made a low dive through the dogleg turn in an effort to move into the top five. 

    Entering Turns 1 and 2 and the backstretch, Hamlin and Elliott battled for second behind Logano while Keselowski was shuffled back to sixth behind Kyle Busch and Bowyer.

    Shortly after, Elliott battled Hamlin for second, but the latter persevered as he went to work on challenging Logano for the lead. Elliott retained third place in front of Kyle Busch and Bowyer while Keselowski went to work on Bowyer for more. Keselowski would eventually take over fifth place and was followed by teammate Blaney, thus dropping Bowyer to seventh.

    By Lap 90, Logano was leading by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin, who was closing in for the lead, while Elliott was trailing by approximately seven-tenths of a second. Though Logano caught a piece of debris on his front grille not long after, he continued to lead by nearly half a second over Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota with Elliott in third and Keselowski in fifth.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Logano remained in the lead, but he had Hamlin closing in on him in another bid for the lead as the leaders started to catch lapped traffic. By then, Logano used the lapped car of Quin Houff to remove the debris off of his grille. Elliott was in third in front of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry while Keselowski was in fifth ahead of teammate Blaney. Bowyer and Johnson were in seventh and eighth while DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch settled in the top 10 ahead of Erik Jones, Truex, Byron, Bowman, Austin Dillon and Harvick.

    Five laps later, the final four title contenders were running first through fourth on the track, with Logano leading by a narrow margin over Hamlin as Elliott continued to run in third ahead of Keselowski. Blaney overtook Kyle Busch for fifth place while Johnson overtook Bowyer for seventh place. 

    On Lap 110, Logano continued to lead by a narrow margin over Hamlin as he made another bid for the lead in the race and the championship battle while Logano radioed vibrating concerns on his car. 

    Shortly after, Elliott caught the top-two title contenders for the lead as he battled Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Eventually, Elliott prevailed for the runner-up spot, though he, Hamlin and Logano battled for the lead. 

    On Lap 115, Kyle Busch, who was running near the top five, made an unscheduled four-tire pit stop to address a vibrating concern on his No. 18 Toyota.

    Five laps later, Elliott muscled his No. 9 Chevrolet into the lead following a hard on-track battle with Logano as Hamlin continued to linger behind the two leaders. Eventually, Hamlin overtook Logano for the runner-up spot with the latter losing ground on the lead. Keselowski, meanwhile, was more than three seconds behind in fourth place. Behind, Blaney was in fifth while Johnson was in sixth.

    On Lap 128, Keselowski surrendered fourth place on the track to pit under green following vibrating concerns. 

    Past the Lap 130 mark, Elliott was leading by nearly a second over Hamlin with Logano, teammate Blaney and Jimmie Johnson in the top five. Bowyer and DiBenedetto battled for sixth while Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron were in the top 10. 

    Nearing the Lap 140 mark, pit stops under green started to occur as Blaney and Bowman pitted. Logano also pitted along with Custer, Harvick, Hamlin and Elliott, the race/title leader.

    Back on the track, Jimmie Johnson, who had yet to pit, assumed the lead followed by DiBenedetto, Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Christopher Bell. By then, Bowyer and Byron pitted.

    Three laps later, Johnson surrendered the lead to pit. DiBenedetto, who briefly took the lead, also pitted along with Kurt Busch and Bell while Aric Almirola took the lead over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Keselowski and Elliott.

    By Lap 150 and with most of the leaders having completed a pit stop under green, Almirola was still at the front of the field and by four-tenths of a second over Elliott with Hamlin in third, Keselowski in fourth and Logano in sixth. A lap later, Elliott reassumed the top spot.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 156, the final four title contenders were running first through fourth on the track, with Elliott leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin with Keselowski in third and teammate Logano in fourth. Blaney was in fifth while Almirola, racing on old tires, was in sixth. Johnson was in seventh while Kenseth was mired outside the top 20.

    Just past the Lap 160 mark, the caution flew when James Davison made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Kurt Busch exited in first following a two-tire pit stop. Elliott, the first car on four fresh tires, exited in second place followed by Austin Dillon, who pitted for two fresh tires. Hamlin, Logano and Keselowski exited in fourth through sixth. Following the pit stops, Austin Dillon was assessed a pit road speeding penalty as he dropped to the rear of the field.

    Under caution, Bowman received the free pass while Christopher Bell, Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Chris Buescher, Ty Dillon, Nemechek and Stenhouse took the wave around to return to the lead lap.

    With 23 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, a majority of competitors racing on the inside lane made the low dive below the dogleg turn and entering Turns 1 and 2. At the front, Elliott reassumed the lead over Kurt Busch while Hamlin, who slipped entering Turns 1 and 2, fell back to fifth place as teammates Keselowski and Logano overtook him for position. 

    With 20 laps remaining in the second stage, Elliott was ahead by nearly four-tenths of a second over Keselowski while Logano was in third, though he had Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Johnson and Blaney pressuring him for more. 

    Three laps later, Keselowski assumed the lead, though he had Elliott pressuring him for the top spot. Though Elliott ran into the rear end of Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford entering Turns 1 and 2, Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet wiggled, which allowed Keselowski to retain the lead. By then, the final four title contenders were back running first through fourth on the track. 

    With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, Keselowski stretched his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Elliott with third-place Logano trailing by more than a second and fourth-place Hamlin trailing by more than two seconds. Blaney moved into fifth place followed by Johnson while Kurt Busch continued to hold strong on two fresh tires in seventh place. Kyle Busch rallied his way back into eighth place followed by William Byron, DiBenedetto, Harvick and Bowyer.

    Two laps later, Elliott muscled his No. 9 Chevrolet into a heated battle for the lead against Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford Mustang. While Elliott led the following lap, Keselowski fought back, but the former prevailed by a narrow margin. By then, Logano was still behind by more than a second while Hamlin was behind by more than two seconds. 

    With three laps remaining in the second stage, the battle for the lead between Elliott and Keselowski continued to intensify as the latter made a charge on the former through the corners. Despite the challenge, Elliott continued to lead by a narrow margin as he also started the final lap of the stage. 

    On the final lap of the second stage, Keselowski gained a run on the backstretch to draw himself dead even beneath Elliott. In Turn 3, he emerged ahead and managed to move up and clear Elliott entering Turn 4 to win the second stage on Lap 190 and claim his eighth stage victory of the season. Logano settled in third followed by Hamlin, who emerged with the most stage victories of this season (11). Blaney was scored in fifth while Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto and Byron settled in the top 10. Bowyer was in 11th behind teammate Kevin Harvick while Kenseth, meanwhile, was back in 27th behind Chris Buescher.

    Under the stage break, Ryan Preece’s car, which stalled while trying to enter pit road, was pushed back to the garage. Not long after, the leaders pitted and Elliott reassumed the lead after beating Logano off of pit road in first place following a four-tire stop. Hamlin exited in third place followed by Blaney while Keselowski, who received a slow pit stop, lost four spots and fell back to fifth ahead of Harvick.

    With 112 laps remaining, the final stage started with Elliott and Logano on the front row. At the start, Elliott and Logano battled dead even for the lead through the dogleg turn and through Turns 1 and 2 before Elliott prevailed on the backstretch. Logano retained second place over Hamlin while Keselowski moved up to fourth place. 

    Three laps later, Elliott was out in front by four-tenths of a second over Logano with Hamlin and Keselowski battling behind. Blaney settled behind in fifth while Byron moved up to sixth. Johnson and Harvick battled for seventh while the Busch brothers were scored in the top 10. 

    Down to the final 100 laps of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, the final four title contenders were running first through fourth on the track, with Elliott leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Logano as Hamlin and Keselowski trailed behind. Blaney was in fifth followed by Byron, Johnson, Harvick and the Busch brothers. Bowyer was in 13th behind Truex while Kenseth was in 24th behind McDowell.

    With less than 90 laps remaining, Elliott continued to lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Logano. Meanwhile, Keselowski overtook Hamlin for third place, with the latter struggling with loose conditions and keeping pace with his title contenders. 

    With 80 laps remaining, Elliott stabilized his advantage in the overall race and the championship battle by more than seven-tenths of a second over Logano while Keselowski and Hamlin continued to run in third and fourth. Blaney remained in fifth place while Jimmie Johnson overtook teammate Byron for sixth place. Harvick, DiBenedetto and the Busch brothers were scored in the top 10. Bowyer was in 12th while Kenseth was in 24th. 

    Ten laps later, with 70 laps remaining, Elliott extended his advantage to more than a second over Logano with Keselowski and Hamlin trailing behind, though final pit stops were expected for the lead lap competitors to complete the race to its scheduled distance.

    Another 10 laps later, with 60 laps remaining, Elliott remained in the lead by more than six-tenths of a second over Logano with Keselowski trailing by less than a second and Hamlin trailing by more than three seconds. Blaney continued to run as the highest-running non-title contender in fifth followed by Johnson, Harvick, DiBenedetto, Byron and Kurt Busch. 

    Not long after, pit stops under green occurred as Blaney pitted. Kurt Busch also pitted along with Kyle Busch, Byron, Hamlin, Harvick, Almirola, Johnson, Logano, Keselowski and Elliott, the leader. 

    Back on the track, Stenhouse, who has yet to pit, was the leader followed by Logano, Elliott, Hamlin and Keselowski. 

    With 50 laps remaining, Logano emerged with the lead in the overall race and the championship battle after Stenhouse pitted. Elliott trailed by one and a half seconds while Hamlin and Keselowski were in fourth and fifth, trailing by more than four seconds. Shortly after, Hamlin moved into third place over Keselowski, who suffered another slow pit stop. 

    Seven laps later, Elliott cut the deficit down to a tenth of a second behind Logano. In Turns 1 and 2, Elliott gained a run on Logano as they battled through the backstretch. Riding behind Logano’s rear bumper, Elliott made a move to the inside of Logano in Turn 3 and cleared him to reassume the lead in Turn 4 with 42 laps remaining. 

    With 40 laps remaining, Elliott was leading the overall race and the championship battle by nearly half a second over Logano. Hamlin was in third, trailing by nearly four seconds, while Keselowski was in fourth, trailing by more than four seconds. Blaney continued to run in fifth place followed by Jimmie Johnson, Harvick, DiBenedetto, Byron and Kyle Busch. By then, Bowyer was in 15th while Kenseth was in 23rd.

    Ten laps later, with 30 laps remaining, Elliott stretched his lead in his No. 9 Chevrolet to more than a second over Logano’s No. 22 Ford. Keselowski muscled his No. 2 Ford into third place, trailing by less than four seconds, while Hamlin faded back to fourth place, trailing by nearly five seconds, in his No. 11 Toyota.

    Another five laps later, with 25 laps remaining, Elliott continued to stretch his advantage to two and a half seconds over Logano. Keselowski and Hamlin remained in third and fourth, though both were slowly seeing their title hopes vanquish. 

    With 20 laps remaining, Elliott remained as the leader in the overall race and the championship battle by nearly three seconds over Logano with Keselowski and Hamlin running third and fourth. Behind the final four title contenders, Jimmie Johnson overtook Blaney to move into fifth place. Harvick was in seventh behind Blaney while DiBenedetto, Byron and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. Bowyer was in 14th while Kenseth was in 23rd behind Erik Jones and Ryan Newman.

    Five laps later, with 15 laps remaining, Keselowski started to close in on teammate Logano for the runner-up spot. By then, Elliott was still leading by less than three seconds while Hamlin was behind by nearly eight seconds. Jimmie Johnson continued to run in fifth place in front of Blaney. 

    With 10 laps remaining and a championship within sight, Elliott was still leading by more than three seconds over Logano, who had teammate Keselowski challenging him for second place. Hamlin was in fourth while Johnson was in fifth. By then, 12 of the 39 competitors on the track were scored on the lead lap, with Harvick, DiBenedetto, Byron, the Busch brothers, and Truex running on the lead lap. 

    Shortly after, Keselowski overtook teammate Logano for second place. By then, Elliott was still leading the race and the title battle by more than three seconds. Hamlin was behind by more than eight seconds while Johnson remained in fifth, nearly 11 seconds behind.

    With five laps remaining, Elliott remained in the lead by less than four seconds with a championship grower closer and closer towards his grasp. Keselowski continued to run in second place followed by teammate Logano and Hamlin while Johnson continued to run in fifth place ahead of Blaney.

    Despite closing in on lapped traffic, Elliott continued to methodically lead the race by a comfortable margin over his title rivals. When the white flag waved, he was ahead by more than three seconds over Keselowski.

    For one final lap, Elliott was able to navigate the turns and the straightaways at his own cautious pace as he came back to the finish line and claimed the checkered flag to win both the season finale and his first Cup title.

    With his accomplishment, Elliott became the third-youngest Cup champion at age 24 years, 11 months and 11 days. He also became the 34th different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series title, fourth to do so while driving for Hendrick Motorsports and the eighth in the last 10 seasons. In addition, Elliott became the first Chevrolet competitor to win the Cup title since teammate Jimmie Johnson won his record-tying seventh title in 2016.

    This marked the seventh consecutive year since the inception of the current Playoff-elimination format where the final Cup race of the season was won by the champion.

    Elliott’s championship achievement was one that was well-received by the limited fans attending the race, his crew members, his family headlined by his father and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Bill Elliott, team owner Rick Hendrick, and his fellow competitors, many of whom drove alongside Elliott to congratulate him, including seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who finished fifth in his 686th and final race as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor.

    “I’m not sure that I still even know [what it means to win the championship],” Elliott said on the frontstretch while emotional. “I’m at a loss for words. This is unbelievable. Oh, my gosh. We did it. That’s all I’ve got to tell you. Unreal. Championship crew chief, Alan Gustafson, is now a NASCAR Cup Series champion, and very deserving. I just can’t say enough about our group. I felt like we took some really big strides this year, and last week [at Martinsville Speedway] was a huge one. To come out of that with a win and a shot to come here and have a chance to race is unbelievable.”

    “All you can dream for is an opportunity, and I’ve been very fortunate to have that over the years,” Elliott added. “You know, and that’s all thanks to some great people. You know, my parents obviously have played a huge role. The past year has been tough. I lost my best friend about a year ago tonight. Lost my grandmother last year. And all those things bring families closer, so I really can’t thank them enough.”

    During the final laps of the race, Elliott mentioned how he was anticipating a caution to fall and have his stable lead and road to the title nearly vanquished. 

    “Yeah, just waiting on the caution, as always,” Elliott said. “You know, I saw Joey was pretty loose there and felt like I needed to get to him while I could. I knew I’d been kind of tight on a longer run and he was probably going to get a little better. Just unbelievable. I mean, I just never would have though that this year would have gone like it has. I mean, NASCAR Cup Series champion. Are you kidding me? Unreal.”

    Ironically, Elliott achieved his first NASCAR Cup championship the same season the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series and the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship, a feat both teams also made during the same year back in 1988 when Bill Elliott also won his first NASCAR Cup title.

    Following the 2020 finale, Chase and Bill Elliott joined the Pettys (Lee and Richard) and the Jarretts (Ned and Dale) as the only father-son combo to win a Cup title. 

    “I couldn’t breathe during Martinsville [last weekend],” Bill Elliott, along with wife, Cindy, said. “Today was, I just said we’ve had a heck of a year and whatever Chase does today, we’re so proud of him. We’re gonna make the best of it. When [Logano] got ahead of us during that last stop, I didn’t think we’d ever do it…Chase dug it in and came by and was able to pull it off. Unbelievable. If it wasn’t for Rick Hendrick, we would not be here today.”

    Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

    The 2020 Cup championship was the 13th for Hendrick Motorsports led by team owner Rick Hendrick and the first for veteran crew chief Alan Gustafson.

    “It was a nail-biter,” Hendrick said. “You saw all the action when the race starts and you get swept up in a wreck. [Elliott] came through there like a champ…I’m excited about next year with our young guns. It’s just a roller coaster. You’re happy, sad, jubilant, teary. It’s all of that rolled up in one, but it couldn’t be any better other than Jimmie [Johnson] could’ve won the race and Chase won the championship. I’m so proud of Chase and I’m very thankful that Jimmie got to race with me his career and I look at all the championships and look at what a great guy he is off the track. That Chase is unbelievable. I don’t know how many he’s gonna win, but it’s gonna be a bunch…To finish [this season] with a championship, it’s just unbelievable. I don’t think it’s gonna sink in.”

    “We’ve been close,” Gustafson added. “Man, a lot of good people have done a lot of good things for me. Got to thank all of them. Certainly, a great day. Sweet win here at Phoenix, which is a track I’ve won with three other guys with, so that’s cool, too. In the Playoffs, you’ve got to win. I think that’s the key. You got to win races. It’s different than the regular season. Everybody brings their best stuff and everybody’s on their A game. We knew we had to win. Last week was the big one. We knew we had to win to transfer. Winning when you have to like that when you’re back’s against the wall is a tough thing to do, but when you do it, it just brings a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence to the team. We knew coming here was a great track for us. We’re ready. We’ve been through a lot and we just knew it was our time.”

    Behind Elliott, Keselowski finished in second place and emerged as the championship runner-up for his best points result since winning the 2012 Cup title. Teammate Logano finished in third place on the track and in the final standings despite leading 125 laps and displaying competitiveness on the track for his second Cup title.

    “Man, just didn’t have the speed at the right time,” Logano said. “Early in the race, our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang was really fast and no one really did anything wrong. Our pit crew was on it. Our strategy got us out front there at the end. [Elliott] seemed like he really lit off pretty good there. That last run was able to go really fast. And got another vibration towards the end of the run and lost the turn. Still a little free. Yeah, we were close, and you know, everyone executed and did their job, and that’s what we should be most proud of. And also how far we’ve come from the beginning of the season until now as a team. A lot to be proud of. It stings not winning, I’m not going to lie, it hurts, but at the same time we’re stronger because we went through it…You either win or get stronger, and unfortunately we are the stronger ones today and we’ll get stronger, but we’ll be better for next year.”

    Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

    “I would have liked to have had one of those late race yellows like we saw in the Truck and Xfinity race,” Keselowski said. “I thought we were pretty good there, just didn’t have the track position to make it show. I thought we had a shot at the end of the second stage and just couldn’t keep it up in spot to keep it where we could have a lead. Really proud of the speed we had. Just a solid day and just wish we had one more spot.”

    Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

    Finally, Hamlin, who entered the finale while making his 15th attempt in winning his first Cup title, finished in fourth place on the track and in the final standings for the second year in a row after struggling with speed and keeping pace with his title rivals.

    “We were a little off handling, but I think just overall car speed, just didn’t quite have enough,” Hamlin said. “We just, as an organization, got to get a little bit better, especially on the short tracks. It just seems like we were a little bit off all year and that was all I had, that’s for sure. I was pushing for everything I had. The FedEx Camry just didn’t quite have enough today. We ended up fourth…Pretty proud what this team’s doing and what we’re building forward. Proud of the effort. We’ll come back and do it again next year. Looking forward to it. We’ll win as many races as we possibly can to get ourselves back in Phoenix again with another shot. Proud of this whole Joe Gibbs FedEx team for giving me cars that are capable of winning every week.”

    Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

    While Elliott celebrated a championship, Jimmie Johnson emerged with a smile upon exiting his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for the final time as he wrapped up his 19-year illustrious career in NASCAR with seven championships, 83 career wins, 36 poles, 232 top-five results, 374 top-10 results and over 18,000 laps led, all while driving the No. 48 car for Hendrick Motorsports.

    “Man, my heart’s full,” Johnson said. “I’m just so happy to have this wonderful career and so many great people behind me. First and foremost, my wife, Chandra, [she’s] been with me every step of the way. My kids. This has just been quite a journey for all of us. I’m very thankful for today. [I] Had a great run on the track. I just can’t go without congratulating Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports on another championship. It’s been a great run. I’ve had 19 years in the Cup Series, two years in the Xfinity Series. I’ve met so many wonderful people, I’ve worked for great people, with great people. I learned so many lessons inside and out of the car. I’m full. This has been a great journey. I’m ready to spend my time a little bit differently instead of 38 weeks a year being on the road, racing in the Cup Series. Just ready for it and very full…I’ll be around.”

    Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

    Along with Johnson, Clint Bowyer finished 14th in his 541st and final Cup career race while Matt Kenseth finished 25th in his 697th and final scheduled race of his illustrious career. Bowyer will be succeeded by Chase Briscoe while Kenseth will be succeeded by Ross Chastain.

    Seven-time championship-winning crew chief Chad Knaus called his 708th and final NASCAR Cup Series race as he will step down from the No. 24 team driven by William Byron and serve as Vice President of Competition for Hendrick Motorsports, beginning next season. Veteran Ryan “Rudy” Fugle will take over as Byron’s crew chief next season.

    Christopher Bell finished 17th in the final NASCAR race for Leavine Family Racing while Ty Dillon finished 21st in the final NASCAR race for Germain Racing.

    Bubba Wallace finished 15th in his 112th and final Cup race in the Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 43 Chevrolet, Alex Bowman finished 16th in his 118th and final race in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet before he takes over the No. 48 HMS Chevrolet, Erik Jones finished 22nd in his 110th and final race in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and Daniel Suarez finished 31st in his 35th and final race in the No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota.

    Cole Custer was officially named the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year in a year where he won his first Cup career race and made the Playoffs.

    There were 19 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chase Elliott, 153 laps led

    2. Brad Keselowski, Stage 2 winner, 16 laps led

    3. Joey Logano, Stage 1 winner, 125 laps led

    4. Denny Hamlin

    5. Jimmie Johnson, four laps led

    6. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

    7. Kevin Harvick 

    8. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

    9. William Byron

    10. Martin Truex Jr.

    11. Kyle Busch

    12. Kurt Busch, four laps led

    13. Aric Almirola, one lap down, seven laps led

    14. Clint Bowyer, one lap down

    15. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    16. Alex Bowman, one lap down

    17. Christopher Bell, one lap down

    18. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    19. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    20. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    21. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    22. Erik Jones, one lap down

    23. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    24. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    25. Matt Kenseth, one lap down

    26. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

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

    28. Cole Custer, two laps down

    29. Brennan Poole, three laps down

    30. J.J. Yeley, six laps down

    31. Daniel Suarez, six laps down

    32. Joey Gase, 10 laps down

    33. James Davison, 10 laps down

    34. Ryan Preece, 13 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki, 16 laps down

    36. Timmy Hill, 24 laps down

    37. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Rear end

    38. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Suspension

    39. Quin Houff – OUT, Handling

    Final standings.

    1. Chase Elliott

    2. Brad Keselowski

    3. Joey Logano

    4. Denny Hamlin

    5. Kevin Harvick

    6. Alex Bowman

    7. Martin Truex Jr.

    8. Kyle Busch

    9. Ryan Blaney

    10. Kurt Busch

    11. Austin Dillon

    12. Clint Bowyer

    13. Matt DiBenedetto

    14. William Byron

    15. Aric Almirola

    16. Cole Custer

    Bold indicates Championship finale contenders.

    The NASCAR Cup Series enters its off-season period before returning for the 2021 Daytona Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, beginning on Tuesday, February 9, for the Busch Clash on the Daytona Road Course and leading up to the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 14.  

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Chase Elliott: Elliott raced his way into the playoff finale with a commanding win at Martinsville.

    “This is the biggest win of my career,” Elliott said. “If I can still say that after the race at Phoenix, then you’ll know I’m not the 2020 Cup champion.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano finished third at Martinsville and will be joined by Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski in battle for the Cup at Phoenix.

    “2020 has been one of the most trying years in racing,” Logano said. “But if I take the championship in Phoenix, I’m gonna party like it’s 2019.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick’s championship hopes were dashed with a 17-place finish at Martinsville,

    “I turned Kyle Busch on the last lap in a last-ditch effort to gain a position,” Harvick said. “Or maybe I just wrecked Kyle because it makes me feel so darn good.”

    4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 12th at Martinsville and squeaked his way into the playoffs.

    “Luckily,” Hamlin said, “my Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones didn’t pass me there at the end. If he would have, it would have been the first time a driver was fired twice from a race team.”

    5. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski overcame a late speeding penalty to finish fourth and qualify for the championship finale at Phoenix.

    “The tension was noticeable at Martinsville,” Keselowski said. “You could feel it. You could taste it. You could smell it. Interestingly enough, you could say the same thing about a Martinsville hot dog, often two days after you’ve eaten one.”

    6. Alex Bowman: Bowman finished sixth at Martinsville.

    “Bubba Wallace will be driving the No. 23 for Michael Jordan’s race team next season,” Bowman said. “It’s currently unknown who will sponsor the No. 23 car in 2021. I’m sure Jordan will have some big-name sponsors for that car. By the way, when a sponsor places its paint scheme on that No. 23 car, Jordan calls it ‘putting money on.

    7. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished seventh in the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville.

    “It was a disastrous day for Stewart-Haas Racing,” Almirola said. “Kevin Harvick missed a shot at the Cup championship and Clint Bowyer and myself spun each other. And it all means Tony Stewart won’t be bringing donuts to the drivers’ meeting, or at least to share with others.”

    8. Kyle Busch: Busch finished ninth at Martinsville.

    “Kevin Harvick spun me just before the finish line,” Busch said. “It’s okay. I know he was trying to make a kamikaze move to miraculously make the championship final. But I guess God wasn’t looking out for Kevin. While he wasn’t touched by an angel, I was ‘touched by an a-hole.’”

    9. Kurt Busch: Busch finished fifth at Martinsville.

    “Kyle Larson has been reinstated,” Busch said. “He’ll be driving the No. 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports next season. I’m not sure what the paint scheme will look like, but I’m guessing the colors will be ‘muted.’”

    10. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex led as late as lap 457 at Martinsville but a loose wheel forced a pit stop under green, and Truex finished 22nd.

    “Congratulations to the four drivers with a chance to win the Cup,” Truex said. “I guess I’m pulling for my JGR teammate Denny Hamlin. I’m not Denny’s biggest fan, but team orders dictate that I have to say that. And I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud, like you would, say, on a radio.”

  • Elliott clinches championship spot with a win at Martinsville

    Elliott clinches championship spot with a win at Martinsville

    With a championship spot on the line and his back against the wall in the final laps and in a “must-win” scenario, Chase Elliott rose to the occasion and walked it off in style after dominating and pulling away late to win the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway and race his way into the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway, where he will contend for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. The victory was Elliott’s first at Martinsville, fourth of the season and the 10th of his career in his 184th start in NASCAR’s premier series.

    The starting lineup was based on four stats: current owner’s standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Brad Keselowski started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Martin Truex Jr. Garrett Smithley was the lone competitor who started at the rear of the field due to a driver change.

    Prior to the race, Playoff contender Denny Hamlin faced early adversity when a travel packer was left in the shock of his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry during pre-race inspection. Hamlin’s team, however, opted to not remove it to not fall to the rear of the field as he will start in fourth place.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Brad Keselowski jumped ahead with the lead as he led the first lap ahead of Martin Truex Jr. Behind, Alex Bowman settled in third place in front of Denny Hamlin while Kurt Busch and Joey Logano overtook Kevin Harvick for fifth and sixth. Not long after, Chase Elliott joined the party along with Kyle Busch.

    On the fourth lap, Truex emerged with the lead and Hamlin made contact with Keselowski’s No. 2 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang entering Turn 4 to move into second place. Kurt Busch, facing a “must-win” situation, also made a move for third beneath Keselowski, who was able to settle in front of Bowman.

    By Lap 10, Truex, racing in his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, continued to lead the race over teammate Hamlin with Kurt Busch, Keselowski and Bowman in the top five. By then, Elliott, Logano, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Harvick were in the top 10. Way behind the leaders, Michael McDowell was back in 28th place and he continued to fall below the leaderboard while dealing with a major left-rear tire rub on his No. 34 Ford Mustang.

    A few laps later, the left-rear tire on McDowell’s car flattened, but he was able to nurse his car back to pit road as the race proceeded under green. The situation went from bad to worse for McDowell, who was hit with a commitment line violation and was hit with a speeding penalty while serving a pass-through penalty, thus pinning him multiple laps behind the leaders.

    By Lap 20, Truex stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Hamlin, who had Kurt Busch and Keselowski closing in on him for the runner-up spot. Elliott was in fifth followed by teammate Bowman, Logano, Blaney, Kyle Busch and Harvick. By then, Clint Bowyer was in 12th ahead of Matt DiBenedetto and William Byron while Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 20. Tyler Reddick was in 21st ahead of Ryan Preece, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson were in 25th and 26th, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez were in 28th and 29th and Chris Buescher was in 30th.

    By Lap 30, Truex continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Hamlin while Kurt Busch, racing in his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, continued to pressure Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Elliott muscled his way into fourth place over Keselowski while Bowman, Logano, Blaney, Harvick and Kyle Busch continued to run in the top 10. 

    When 40 of 500 laps were complete, Truex stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over teammate Hamlin, who had Kurt Busch and Elliott closing in for the runner-up spot. Keselowski continued to run in fifth place followed by teammates Blaney and Logano. Bowman fell back to eighth in front of Harvick and Kyle Busch. 

    With 50 laps complete, Truex continued to lead while Elliott, who bumped Hamlin a lap earlier, made a move beneath Hamlin to move his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into second place. Kurt Busch dropped back to fourth place as Keselowski closed in for more. Logano was in seventh behind teammate Blaney while Bowman and Harvick were in ninth and 10th behind Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry.

    With the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Elliott was able to narrow the deficit between himself and Truex to as close to two-tenths of a seconds. It was not enough, however, to overtake Truex, who retained the lead when the competition caution flew on Lap 60. By then, the remaining eight Playoff contenders remained in the top 10 on the track, with Harvick and Bowman mired back in ninth and 10th. 

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Truex retained the lead following a stellar four-tire pit stop and exiting pit road in first place ahead of Elliott, Logano, Keselowski, Bowman, Hamlin and Harvick. Kurt Busch, who entered pit road in the top five, fell all the way back to 12th place for the restart.

    The race resumed under green on Lap 68 with Truex and Elliott on the front row followed by Logano, Keselowski, Bowman and Hamlin. At the start, Truex cleared the field and retained the lead while Elliott and Logano battled for second. Behind, Clint Bowyer suffered a left-rear tire rub, but he continued to run inside the top 15. 

    By Lap 70, Truex was at the front while Elliott, who lost second place to Logano, reassumed the spot following contact with Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang while Keselowski and Hamlin were in the top five ahead of Bowman and Blaney. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned when contact from teammate Aric Almirola entering Turn 1 sent Bowyer spinning sideways and Austin Dillon had to slam on the brakes to avoid making contact into Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford Mustang.

    The race restarted under green six laps later with Truex and Elliott on the front row. At the start, Truex retained the lead over Elliott while Hamlin retained third place on the outside lane over Logano. Keselowski was in fifth in front of Bowman and Blaney while Kurt Busch was in eighth ahead of Kyle Busch and Harvick. 

    By Lap 85, the front-runners settled into a single-file line of racing with Truex leading by a narrow margin over Elliott while Hamlin and Logano battled for third place. Keselowski continued to race in fifth while teammate Blaney overtook Bowman for sixth. Kurt Busch and Harvick continued to run in eighth and 10th with Kyle Busch mired in ninth.

    On Lap 88, the No. 9 Chevrolet of Elliott blasted by Truex’s No. 19 Toyota for the lead in Turn 4 while Hamlin and Logano continued to battle for third place with teammates Keselowski and Blaney in fifth and sixth.

    When the race reached its 100-lap mark, Elliott was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over Truex with Hamlin in third. Behind, Team Penske’s Logano, Blaney and Keselowski battled for fourth place while Bowman and Kurt Busch continued to run in seventh and eighth. Harvick, meanwhile, was mired back in 11th in between William Byron and Almirola. Cole Custer was in 13th followed by Ryan Newman and Matt DiBenedetto. 

    The caution returned on Lap 104 when the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Garrett Smithley stopped on the track in Turn 4. Under caution, most of the leaders led by Hamlin and Logano pitted while Elliott and Truex were among six competitors who remained on the track. Following the pit stops, however, Blaney was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Bubba Wallace was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for removing equipment from his pit box.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 109, Elliott retained the lead over Truex. In Turn 2, Bowyer ran into the rear bumper of teammate Almirola and moved him out of the racing groove as a possible payback from their earlier on-track altercation and incident. Following the contact with his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Almirola made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. entering Turn 4 while trying to fall back in line amid a tight pack of racing. 

    Back towards the front, Hamlin moved into third place over Bowyer while Bowman was in fifth. By then, Keselowski and Logano were in the top 10 while Kurt Busch and Harvick were running outside of the top 10 on the track. 

    On Lap 113, Hamlin, racing on four fresh tires compared to Elliott and Truex, emerged with the lead after passing Elliott. Not long after, the caution returned when Joey Gase spun in Turn 4 following contact with Quin Houff.

    With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, the race resumed under green with Hamlin and Elliott on the front row. At the start, Hamlin retained the lead and Elliott retained the runner-up spot. Behind, Bowman, racing on fresh tires, muscled his way into third place over Truex with Keselowski in fifth. 

    With the laps in the first stage coming to a close, Bowman overtook teammate Elliott for second place while Keselowski made his way into fourth place over Truex with Logano joining the party. By then, Hamlin was gone as he led by more than a second over Bowman’s No. 88 Planters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    With the on-track battles ensuing behind, Hamlin was able to cruise away from the field and claim the first stage on Lap 130 for his 11th stage victory of the season. Bowman crossed the line in second place followed by Keselowski while Elliott held off Logano for fourth. Truex fell back to sixth followed by Kyle Busch, Byron, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson. Harvick settled in 14th in between Bowyer and Matt Kenseth.

    Under the stage break, most of the leaders pitted and following the pit stops, Elliott exited in first place followed by Hamlin and Truex. Back on the track, Kyle Busch emerged with the lead after remaining on the track followed by brother Kurt Busch, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon, Almirola and Bubba Wallace. Following the pit stops, Kenseth was penalized for improper fueling.

    The second stage started on Lap 139 with the Busch brothers on the front row. At the start, brothers Kyle and Kurt battled dead even for the lead. Following an intense battle for the next several laps, Kurt cleared his brother Kyle for the lead with Custer in third. Behind, Elliott and Hamlin, both on fresh tires, carved their way int the top five. 

    On Lap 145, just as Elliott and Hamlin were up in third and fourth behind Kyle Busch, the caution returned when Buescher’s No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang spewed fluid and smoke on the track following an earlier contact with Suarez, an issues that ended Buescher’s race up in smoke and in the garage. Buescher’s engine issues occurred in front of Harvick, who was mired back in 25th and currently scored outside of the top-four cutline for the Championship 4 finale.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 158, Kurt Busch retained the lead ahead of Elliott while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Hamlin were in third and fourth. Behind, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Custer and Almirola battled for fifth place in front of Truex. Logano was 10th behind Ty Dillon and Wallace while Bowman was in 12th. Keselowski was in 15th while Harvick was back in 26th.

    On Lap 162, Elliott reassumed the lead following a pass on Kurt Busch in Turn 4. Shortly after, Hamlin made his way into second place while Kurt Busch remained in third place in front of brother Kyle. By then, Keselowski was mired back in 17th while Harvick could only work his way up to 24th place behind DiBenedetto.

    By Lap 170, Elliott extended his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin while Kurt Busch continued to run in third place ahead of teammates Kyle Busch and Truex. Behind, Logano moved into sixth place over Almirola while Custer, Johnson and Byron were in the top 10 ahead of Bowman. 

    On Lap 180, Harvick made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat left-rear tire on his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang as a result of an earlier contact with Kenseth. The misfortune cost Harvick two laps from the leaders.

    Back at the front, Elliott stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over Hamlin with Truex, Kurt Busch and Logano in the top five. 

    On Lap 185, the caution returned for Brennan Poole, who made contact into the outside wall due to a flat left-front tire. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Elliott exited the pits with the lead over Hamlin, Truex, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch. Following the pit stop, Erik Jones made another pit stop due to removing equipment from his pit box.

    When the race restarted on Lap 192, Elliott retained the lead over Truex with Hamlin settling behind his teammate for the spot. Kurt Busch retained fourth while Kyle Busch and Bowman battled for fifth. Logano moved up to seventh while Blaney, Byron and Custer were in the top 10.

    With the race reaching its 200-lap mark, Elliott stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Hamlin with teammate Truex in third. The Busch brothers were in the top five followed by Logano, Bowman, Blaney, Custer and Bowyer were in the top 10. Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Byron while Harvick was in 31st, the first car a lap down to the leaders. 

    By Lap 210, Elliott continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Truex with teammate Hamlin trailing by more than two seconds. Kurt Busch and Logano were in the top five while Keselowski and Bowman were in eighth and ninth. Harvick was still mired back in 31st place. 

    Six laps later, the caution returned when Ryan Preece spun in Turn 3 following contact from John Hunter Nemechek. At the time of caution, Elliott lapped Timmy Hill and Hill received the free pass to return to the lead lap, leaving Harvick still trapped a lap behind the leaders. Under caution, some of the leaders led by Elliott and Truex pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.  

    The race restarted on Lap 221 with Hamlin and Logano on the front row. At the start, Hamlin retained the lead while Blaney challenged and overtook teammate Logano for second place. Teammate Keselowski was in fourth followed by Bowman while Byron was in sixth. Behind, Elliott, racing on fresh tires, muscled his way into 10th place while Truex was stuck in 13th. 

    While Elliott continued to carve his way back to the front, Hamlin continued to lead Penske’s three-car lineup of Blaney, Keselowski and Logano with Bowman in fifth. Shortly after, Elliott overtook teammates Byron and Bowman to move back into the top five. Truex was in eighth place while Kurt Busch was in 14th behind Erik Jones.

    Just as the field passed the Lap 230 mark, Elliott worked his way back to third place while Hamlin continued to lead by nearly half a second over Blaney. Keselowski and Logano dropped back to fourth and fifth while Truex overtook Bowman for sixth place. By then, Kurt Busch returned to the top 10. Harvick was still back in 31st place.

    On Lap 239, Elliott carved his way back into the lead after passing Hamlin. Blaney settled in third behind Hamlin while Truex worked his way back to fourth place. Keselowski fell back to fifth ahead of Kyle Busch, Logano, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Byron. 

    By Lap 245, leader Elliott started to catch lapped traffic. He went on to lap J.J. Yeley and Timmy Hill, which placed Harvick in another deficit as he was no longer scored the first car a lap behind and currently scored outside of the cutline to the championship finale round. Behind Elliott, Hamlin continued to run in second place while Truex moved into third place. Blaney fell back to fourth while Kyle Busch was in fifth place ahead of brother Kurt.

    With less than 10 laps remaining in the second stage and with the overall race surpassing its halfway mark, Truex passed teammate Hamlin for the runner-up spot while Elliott was ahead by more than three seconds. He soon started to catch teammate Jimmie Johnson to place him a lap behind while Blaney mounted a challenge on Hamlin for third place. 

    With no challengers closing in behind his No. 9 Chevrolet, Elliott coasted across the start/finish line to win the second stage on Lap 260 and for his 10th stage victory of the season. Truex settled in second while Hamlin held off Blaney and Kurt Busch, all of whom settled in the top five. Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Logano, Bowman and Newman settled in the top 10. Harvick was mired back in 31st place and scored the third car a lap down to the leaders.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Elliott retained the lead following a stellar pit stop and exiting the pits ahead of Truex, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Logano. During the pit stops, Hamlin suffered a slow pit stop due to issues getting the left-front tire on his No. 11 Toyota as he exited in eighth place. Afterwards, Hamlin made another pit stop to have the lug nuts on his car tightened as he dropped all the way towards the tail end of the field.

    With 233 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with Elliott and Truex on the front row. At the start, Elliott retained the lead over Truex while Kurt Busch retained third place. Logano moved into fourth place over teammate Blaney and Kyle Busch while Bowman and Keselowski were in seventh and eighth.

    With 220 laps remaining, Elliott stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Truex with Kurt Busch, Logano and Blaney in the top five. Kyle Busch was in sixth followed by Bowman, Keselowski, Bowyer and Almirola. Hamlin was mired back in 24th while Harvick was trapped in 30th, a lap behind the leaders and still scored outside of the championship finale cutline, with Elliott currently in by leading the race.

    Ten laps later, with 210 laps remaining, Elliott stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Truex with Logano, Blaney and Kurt Busch still in the top five. Kyle Busch retained sixth place while Keselowski closed in on Bowman for seventh. Bowyer and Byron rounded out the top 10 ahead of Almirola, Newman, Jones, Custer and Corey LaJoie. By then, Hamlin was in 21st behind Stenhouse.

    Down to the final 200 laps of the race, Elliott continued to lead by less than a second over Truex with Blaney trailing by less than three seconds. Logano and Kurt Busch were in the top five followed by Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Bowman, Bowyer and Almirola. By then, 28 of 39 competitors on the track were on the lead lap, with John Hunter Nemechek scored the first car a lap behind in 29th and Harvick mired back in 30th place. Hamlin, meanwhile, was in 18th behind Christopher Bell, but he remained above the top-four cutline to the championship finale round.

    Twenty laps later, with 180 laps remaining, Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet was still out in front of the pack as he approached lapped traffic. Truex, who nearly closed in on Elliott for the lead, dropped to nearly a second of a deficit behind Elliott. Blaney was back in third place followed by Logano and Kurt Busch while Keselowski overtook Kyle Busch for sixth. Bowman, Almirola and Bowyer continued to run in the top 10 while Hamlin was in 17th behind Ty Dillon. Harvick, meanwhile, was back in 28th.

    As the laps progressed, Harvick was far from being the first car a lap down as Daniel Suarez, Nemechek, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon were all lapped by Elliott. 

    Another 20 laps later, with 160 laps remaining, Elliott’s advantage grew to more than a second over Truex while Logano overtook teammate Blaney for third place. Kurt Busch and Keselowski were in fifth and sixth while Bowman was in eighth. Hamlin was in 16th behind Corey LaJoie while Harvick was still in 28th, a lap behind. By then, 20 cars were scored on the lead lap with 21st-place competitor Kenseth being lapped. 

    Down to the final 150 laps of the race, the No. 9 Chevrolet of Elliott was leading by nearly two seconds over Truex with Logano behind by more than two seconds. Moments after, the caution flew due to Timmy Hill cutting a right-rear tire in Turn 2. Prior to the caution, Jimmie Johnson made a pit stop due to a flat tire.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano edged Truex to assume the lead upon exiting pit road followed by Blaney, Elliott and Kurt Busch. Following the pit stops, however, the situation went from bad to worse for Elliott, who was tagged with an over the wall penalty thanks to his Jackman upon his pit stop. For the moment, Elliott remained on the track as his team went to work in appealing the penalty. Moments before the restart, NASCAR rescinded the penalty due to his Jackman running back to the pit stall upon jumping over it too soon.

    The race restarted under green with 142 laps remaining with teammates Logano and Blaney on the front row. At the start, Logano retained the lead over teammate Blaney with Kurt Busch in third ahead of Elliott and Keselowski. By then, with Logano leading, Harvick moved back into the top-four cutline by a narrow margin over Elliott. 

    With 132 laps remaining, Blaney passed teammate Logano for the lead. By then, Elliott moved into third place ahead of Keselowski and Kurt Busch, Truex was in sixth ahead of Bowman, Hamlin was in 12th and Harvick was in 23rd, the second car a lap behind with Bubba Wallace in front of him. 

    Twelve laps later, with 120 laps remaining, Blaney continued to lead by nearly a second over teammate Logano as Elliott continued to close in on Logano for the runner-up spot. Truex was in fifth behind Keselowski, Kurt Busch was in sixth ahead of Bowman, Hamlin was back in 14th and Harvick was in 22nd, the first car scored a lap behind.

    With 110 laps remaining, Blaney stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Logano with Elliott trailing by more than two seconds as he started to have Keselowski close in for position. Truex was back in fifth place and in front of Kurt Busch and Bowman while Byron, Bowyer and Almirola were in the top 10. Hamlin retained 14th while Harvick settled in 22nd, a lap behind. 

    With 100 laps remaining, the caution returned when James Davison stopped on the track in Turn 2. The caution served as a well-timing welcome for Harvick, who was able to return to the lead lap after being scored the first competitor a lap behind in 22nd. 

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano reassumed the lead following another strong pit stop, with teammates Blaney and Keselowski, Truex and Bowman exiting in the top five. Elliott, who entered in third place, fell back to eighth place following a slow pit stop. Following the pit stops, disaster struck for Keselowski, who was busted with a speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field. After returning to the lead lap, Harvick was scored back inside the top-four cutline by a decent margin. 

    With 92 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Logano and Truex on the front row. At the start, Truex bolted ahead with the lead on the outside lane. Logano retained the runner-up spot and Blaney muscled his way into third place while Kyle Busch retained fourth place over Bowman. Behind, teammates Bowyer and Almirola battled for sixth in front of Elliott while Jones and Hamlin were in the top 10. 

    Down to the final 80 laps of the race, Truex, facing a “must-win” situation, was leading the field and over Penske teammates Blaney and Logano while Kyle Busch and Bowyer were in the top five. Elliott, Bowman and Hamlin were in sixth, seventh and eighth while Kurt Busch was in 11th. Keselowski, following his pit road speeding penalty, was in 16th and a few points below the cutline while Harvick was in 19th and currently inside the cutline by a narrow margin.

    Five laps later, with 75 laps remaining, Truex stabilized his advantage by more than a second over Blaney with Logano trailing by more than two seconds. Elliott carved his way back into fourth place while Bowyer was in fifth ahead of Bowman. With Hamlin in eighth, Keselowski was in 15th behind Byron while Harvick was in 18th behind Ryan Newman. 

    Another five laps later, with 70 laps remaining, the deficit between Keselowski and Harvick to the cutline to the championship finale round was down to a single point with Harvick, running in 18th, retaining the spot for a moment as Keselowski was in 14th behind Byron. 

    As the run under the lights progressed, Elliott, who was now scored outside of the cutline, passed Logano for third place while Kurt Busch faded back to 10th place, two spots behind Hamlin. While Keselowski moved up to 12th, Harvick was still mired back in 18th behind Newman, who refused to surrender his spot.

    With 59 laps remaining, the caution returned when William Byron spun due to a flat tire and made hard contact into the Turn 3 outside wall, thus demolishing the rear end of his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex retained the lead after exiting pit road ahead of Logano, Elliott, Blaney, Bowman and Kyle Busch. Back on the track, Corey LaJoie remained on the track to assume the overall lead.

    The race restarted under green with 51 laps remaining with LaJoie and Truex on the front row. At the start, Truex bolted ahead of LaJoie and the field for the lead while Logano and Elliott made a three-wide move on LaJoie in Turn 4 to move up with Elliott in second. While LaJoie was shuffled out of the picture, Elliott started to close in on Truex for the lead and a spot for the championship finale round. Logano was in third followed by Bowman and Kyle Busch while Kurt Bush was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Bowyer, Hamlin and DiBenedetto. 

    With 45 laps remaining, the battle for the lead intensified as Elliott shoved his nose beneath Truex for the lead, though Truex retained his spot. Behind, Bowman started to challenge Logano for third place. 

    Two laps later, the No. 9 Chevrolet of Elliott returned to the lead. By then, Elliott moved back into the cutline while Truex was shoved out. In addition, Harvick, who was back in 14th, was scored a single point ahead of Keselowski, who was in 10th, for another spot in the finale. 

    Down to 40 laps remaining, Elliott started to stretch his advantage to more than a second over Truex with Logano, Bowman and Blaney in the top five. The Busch brothers were in sixth and seventh while Hamlin, Bowyer and Keselowski were in the top 10. Harvick was in 14th behind Jones and following on-track contact with Jones’ No. 20 Toyota Camry.

    With 30 laps remaining, Elliott continued to stretch his advantage to more than two seconds over Truex, who radioed concerns about a possible loose right-front tire on his No. 19 Toyota Camry. Logano, Blaney and Bowman continued to run in the top five while Kurt Busch and Hamlin were in sixth and 11th. Keselowski carved his way to eighth behind Kyle Busch while Harvick was in 13th behind DiBenedetto. 

    A few laps later, Truex surrendered his spot on the track to pit under green to address the loose wheel on his car. The pit stop all but evaporated Truex’s hopes of advancing to the Championship 4 round and contending for his second Cup title.

    Back on the track, Harvick was in 12th behind Hamlin and scored below the cutline by a narrow margin while Keselowski, who was in fifth, moved back into the top-four cutline. Meanwhile, Elliott continued to flex his muscles as he led by more than four seconds over Blaney with Logano, Bowman and Keselowski in the top five.

    Down to the final 20 leaps of the race, Elliott was still leading by more than four seconds over Blaney with Logano, Bowman and Keselowski in the top five. Kurt Busch was in sixth ahead of Kyle Busch, Almirola, Bowyer and DiBenedetto while Harvick passed Hamlin for 11th. By then, Hamlin’s hopes of advancing to the finale started to become dim as Hamlin, who was overtaken by Harvick for position, retained the final transfer spot to the finale by a narrow margin.

    With 10 laps remaining, Elliott extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Blaney with Logano, Bowman and Keselowski in the top five. Kurt Busch was in sixth, Harvick was in 11th and Hamlin was in 12th while trying to fend off teammate Erik Jones for position. 

    Shortly after, Keselowski passed Bowman for fourth. By then, Keselowski and Hamlin were inside the cutline by a narrow margin while Harvick was outside by a narrow margin.

    Down to the final five laps of the race, Elliott’s advantage grew to nearly six seconds as he was on his way to the finale. Keselowski continued to run in fourth, Harvick continued to battle DiBenedetto for 10th while Hamlin was still in 12th in front of Jones. By then, Harvick was scored out of the cutline by a single point behind Keselowski and Hamlin. In addition, Hamlin had teammate Jones and Custer close in for position.

    When the white flag waved, Elliott was leading by more than six seconds. Keselowski was still in fourth behind teammates Blaney and Logano, Harvick was in 10th and Hamlin was in 12th. 

    With no challengers close behind his No. 9 Chevrolet, Elliott was able to smoothly navigate his way back to the finish line and claim his fourth checkered flag of the season. 

    By winning his first grandfather clock at Martinsville and earning his career-best fourth victory of the 2020 campaign, Elliott, who was in his fourth appearance in the Round of 8 in the Playoffs, earned a one-way ticket to the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway, the site of the finale, for the first time in his career. Elliott’s victory was also the record-leading 25th at Martinsville Speedway for Hendrick Motorsports as this also marks the first time since 2016 where a HMS and Chevrolet competitor will be a part of the Championship 4 round for the season finale.

    “Oh, my gosh,” Elliott said on the frontstretch. “This is the biggest win ever for us. I’m just so proud to be able to be backed into a corner like that and have to win tonight. I feel like that’s what we’ve been missing these past four or five years and perform when we don’t have a choice. And, to do that tonight; we couldn’t ask for a better night. This is unreal. Thanks to the fans for coming out. They’re here and I love to see it! I’ve just got to catch my breath. This is just unbelievable. We’re going to Phoenix with a shot to win a championship and have a beautiful blue NAPA Camaro headed out there with a shot to win a title. What more could you ask for?”

    Moments after Elliott won, all eyes were focused on Harvick, who closed in on Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota for ninth place. Needing Busch’s spot to have any hopes of making the finale, Harvick made contact with Kyle Busch entering Turn 4. Harvick’s plan to gain the spot, however, did not work as he also spun and came to rest on the inside wall and short of the finish line. His wreck allowed Keselowski and Hamlin to claim the final spots to the Championship 4 round while Harvick, who won a season-high nine races and was a potential title favorite, was left out of the title picture by eight points.

    Blaney finished in second place followed by Logano, Keselowski and Kurt Busch. Bowman, Almirola and Bowyer finished sixth, seventh and eighth while Kyle Busch limped across the line in ninth. Hamlin finished 11th while Harvick salvaged a 17th-place result, the final car on the lead lap. Truex came home in 22nd.

    Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski will compete for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway. 

    “Just lost the handling there as soon as it went night,” Hamlin, who made it into the finale by nine points, said. “We were not very good. A lot of that too, I got up into sixth or seventh and some guys teammates were kind of rubbing up against you and it’s like, ‘yeah, I don’t want to cut a tire,’ so I backed out of that. Then we just fell to a spot that was a little more open. Proud of this whole FedEx Shipathon Toyota team. I feel bad for Kevin [Harvick], they probably deserve better than that. It’s just the format, I guess. Everything you do for eight innings doesn’t matter if you don’t have a great ninth inning. It’s just tough to see. I really wish we were going to race those guys next week. It will be a tough battle with those other three that we’re going to have to race. We’re definitely going to have to step up our short track program…If you have a bad race or two in a three-race series, you’re out. We’re very fortunate with our FedEx team to be able to lean on all the work that we did in the regular season, to get Playoffs points, win the most stages throughout the season than anyone else. We’re optimistic. We’ll see.”

    “There was nothing I could do other than just pass as many cars as I could, look forward,” Keselowski, who transferred by eight points, said. “The last two runs, I don’t know if we were the best car, but we were close to it. Credits to [crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the team. They just kept adjusting on it at the end. It was just frustrating because that pit road speeding penalty, I just did not see that coming. The place where I got the penalty was right outside my box. I didn’t even think it was possible to speed right there, but I was wrong. I know we’ve got great cars on these short tracks and one-mile track. We bring this kind of effort at the end of the race at Phoenix, we got a great shot at [the title].” 

    Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.

    Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch have been eliminated from the Playoffs and will set their title hopes for next season.

    “Everybody kept battling there,” Harvick said. “I tried to run into the door of [Kyle Busch] as a last-ditch effort there and spun him out. Sorry to put him in a middle of trying to gain a point. Not a great three weeks. Didn’t go our way. We fought for everything we had and just came up short. These championships aren’t like winning like Petty and Earnhardt use to win them. You have to put them together three weeks at a time. It comes down to one race and it came down to one race for us tonight, and came up short.” 

    Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.

    “We had a great car all day long and just kept making adjustments waiting for it to cool off and get dark,” Truex, who fell 52 points shy, said. “That last run there before the final pit stop, the thing was on rails and it was perfect and we were driving away. I felt really good about it. Then we pitted and had a pretty good pit stop. Came out with the lead and right away I knew something was wrong. I was really, really tight and had a vibration.[Elliott] passed us and we started dropping and had to pit for a loose wheel. Unfortunate. I think we should be the one in Victory Lane right now, but you have to do it all. Just a little mistake there.”

    “I drive this place so wrong,” Bowman, who fell 28 points shy, said. “I try to roll the centers really fast. We get it turned in and I’m like, ‘Oh, now, I don’t have any drive off.’ I look at the data and know what I need to do differently. Still can’t seem to figure out how to do it. All in all, a good day for our Planters Camaro. Really proud of Chase to make the Final Four…Bummed we’re not a part of that, but I think we have a solid shot at getting fifth in points. The progress this team’s made over the last two months has been incredible and I think that’s something they really deserve. We’ll go do all we can to make that happen at Phoenix. Driving this No. 88 car’s been special. Being a part of the Round of 8 was great. I think we had one of the best, if not the best average finish over the past three races. Just didn’t have the Playoff points coming in. We gotta perform every week like we have the last 12 or 13 weeks. We gotta do that all season long to be in contention to go to Phoenix. We gotta do a better job of that next year, but looking forward to the challenge.”

    “We gave it all we had,” Kurt Busch, who fell 86 points shy, said. “Real proud of my guys. Chip Ganassi Racing put up a really good fight this year to get this far. To win and post top fives throughout the Playoffs, we crossed over a threshold. Last week, we finished seventh at Texas, fifth tonight and we’re walking around kicking the ground. When I started here two years ago, we finished in the top five and we’re celebrating. We’ve come that far in this short amount of time and I’m really proud of everybody back at the shop. To come here with a shot at it, we knew we had to win. It takes a team all the way through…Our weakest area was pit road and we know we need to work on that, but all in all, I can’t thank everybody enough. It’s cool to see the evolution of where we’ve come in two years.”

    For other notables on the field, Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson finished eighth and 30th in their penultimate runs at Martinsville while Kenseth finished 14th in his penultimate run of this season with his racing status for the future uncertain. Christopher Bell finished 15th in the penultimate Cup run for Leavine Family Racing while Ty Dillon finished 16th in the penultimate Cup run for Germain Racing.

    With one race remaining to the 2020 Cup Series season, Ford wrapped up the manufacturers’ title for the 17th time, first since 2018 and the first with the Ford Mustang stock car in the Cup circuit.

    There were 20 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 83 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chase Elliott, 236 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ryan Blaney, 36 laps led

    3. Joey Logano, 19 laps led

    4. Brad Keselowski, three laps led

    5. Kurt Busch, 23 laps led

    6. Alex Bowman, one lap led

    7. Aric Almirola

    8. Clint Bowyer

    9. Kyle Busch, five laps led

    10. Matt DiBenedetto

    11. Denny Hamlin, 42 laps led, Stage 1

    12. Erik Jones

    13. Cole Custer 

    14. Matt Kenseth

    15. Christopher Bell

    16. Ty Dillon  

    17. Kevin Harvick

    18. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    19. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. one lap down

    21. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    22. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down, 129 laps led

    23. Austin Dillon, two laps down

    24. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    25. Corey LaJoie, two laps down, six laps led

    26. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down

    27. Daniel Suarez, three laps down

    28. Michael McDowell, three laps down

    29. Timmy Hill, five laps down

    30. Jimmie Johnson, five laps down

    31. J.J. Yeley, six laps down

    32. Josh Bilicki, 10 laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

    34. Joey Gase – OUT, Electrical

    35. William Byron – OUT, Accident

    36. James Davison – OUT, Electrical

    37. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

    38. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

    39. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Electrical

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff Standings

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Chase Elliott – Advanced

    3. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    4. Brad Keselowski – Advanced

    5. Kevin Harvick – Eliminated

    6. Alex Bowman – Eliminated

    7. Martin Truex Jr. – Eliminated

    8. Kurt Busch – Eliminated

    The NASCAR Cup Series will travel to Phoenix Raceway for the season-finale 500-mile race and where the 2020 Cup champion will be crowned. The finale will occur on Sunday, November 8, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Kyle Busch survives three-day delay; snaps winless drought at Texas

    Kyle Busch survives three-day delay; snaps winless drought at Texas

    On one of NASCAR’s longest delayed events due to weather issues, the season-long winless drought for Kyle Busch ended under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway after the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion survived a late challenge from teammate Martin Truex Jr. while on a dry tank of fuel to win the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 on Wednesday, October 28. The victory was Busch’s fourth at Texas and the 57th of his Cup career, keeping him in 10th place on the all-time wins list.

    The starting lineup was based on four stats: current owner’s standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kevin Harvick started on pole position for the sixth time this season and was joined on the front row with Joey Logano, winner of last weekend’s Playoff race at Kansas Speedway and a 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship contender.

    Prior to the race, Martin Truex Jr. and his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team were issued severe penalties after NASCAR confiscated the spoiler from Truex’s car and noted that his car failed pre-race inspection twice. As a result, NASCAR issued a 20-point driver/owner dock towards Truex and his team with the driver being sent to the rear of the field for the Texas event. The penalty places Truex in a 51-point deficit below the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings. In addition, crew chief James Small was suspended for today’s race at Texas and fined $35,000. Car chief Blake Harris was named Truex’s interim crew chief for today’s race at Texas. 

    Along with Truex, Daniel Suarez and Chad Finchum started at the rear of the field due to their respective cars failing pre-race inspection twice. Timmy Hill and Garrett Smithley also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race started on a misty, cloudy afternoon, Kevin Harvick jumped ahead with an early strong lead. Brad Keselowski moved his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang into second place on the inside lane as the field behind battled through two lanes.

    By the third lap, Harvick was ahead by six-tenths of a second over Playoff contender Brad Keselowski with Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney pursuing behind.

    It did not take long until the first caution flew on the fifth lap when Chris Buescher got loose and made contact with the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2, though he was able to continue while multiple laps after sustaining damage to his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang.

    When the race restarted on the eighth lap, Harvick jumped ahead and retained the lead while Keselowski and Bowman battled for second. 

    Through the first 10 laps, Harvick continued to lead by nearly a second over Keselowski and Bowman while Logano, Elliott, Matt DiBenedetto and Ryan Blaney battled for position behind. 

    By Lap 20, Harvick extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over Keselowski with Bowman trailing by more than two. Logano was in fourth followed by DiBenedetto and Blaney while Elliott slipped back to seventh. Denny Hamlin was in eighth followed by Austin Dillon and Aric Almirola. By then, Jimmie Johnson was in 13th in between teammate William Byron and Kyle Busch while Martin Truex Jr. was in 19th in between Clint Bowyer and Christopher Bell. Kurt Busch was the lowest-running Playoff contender in 21st. 

    Shortly after, the caution flew when J.J. Yeley spun and backed his No. 27 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the outside wall entering Turn 2, thus sustaining significant damage to his car. With the wreck occurring past Lap 20, it served as the competition caution initially planned on Lap 25.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted for early service and Harvick retained the lead after only taking a two-tire pit stop and with mixed strategy ensuing throughout pit road. Bowman exited in second place following a fuel-only stop followed by Hamlin, DiBenedetto, Logano and Cole Custer. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch was assessed a penalty for speeding on pit road. In addition, Blaney made another pit stop to address loose lug nuts on the left-front tire of his No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang. 

    The race restarted under green on Lap 27 with Harvick and Bowman on the front row. Entering Turn 1, Hamlin, who restarted on the second row, ran into early issues when he attempted to make a run on the outside of Bowman and got loose. With his No. 11 FedEx Shipathon Toyota Camry wiggling up the track, he lost a multitude of positions as he dropped out of the top 20 on the track. 

    A lap later, the leader Harvick encountered issues of his own after he drifted up and smacked the outside wall hard on the right side of his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang entering Turn 2. Bowman quickly moved into the lead as the field scattered throughout Turn 2 to avoid Harvick, who dropped all the way towards the rear of the field. 

    With Harvick reporting smoke inside his cockpit, he made an unscheduled pit stop a few laps later to have the tires and the damage to the right side of his car addressed. By the time he returned to the track, he lost two laps to the leaders. By then, teammate Custer got loose through Turn 1 and entering Turn 2 with his No. 41 Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang nearly making contact with the outside wall, though he continued.

    Back at the front, Bowman continued to lead followed by Logano, DiBenedetto, Truex and Elliott while Jimmie Johnson moved up to sixth place.

    By Lap 40, Bowman was still ahead by nearly a second over Logano while DiBenedetto, Truex and Elliott were in the top five. Johnson retained sixth place followed by Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Hamlin was all the way back in 26th place while Harvick was in 36th place, a lap down. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned due to weather issues and the misty, cloudy conditions surrounding the track. Under caution, the leaders pitted and mixed strategy ensued again with Bowyer exiting in first place following a fuel-only stop. Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones and Logano followed in second through fourth after only opting for fuel while Truex exited in fifth place on two fresh tires. Leader Bowman, who opted for a four-tire stop, exited in 18th place. Harvick, who did not opt to take the wave around to return to the lead lap, pitted for an extended service to his No. 4 Ford, though he was able to continue following his early incident. 

    With the misty, wet conditions continuing to fall and surround the track, the competitors were brought down to pit road and the race went under a red flag period on Lap 52. At the time of the race being put in a hiatus, Bowyer was scored as the leader followed by Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones, Logano and Truex while Elliott, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Keselowski and Kyle Busch were in the top 10.

    Following a three-day weather delay, the competitors were able to re-fire their cars and return to the track under cautious pace. While nearly all of the competitors exited pit road, Harvick, who was still scored a lap behind the leaders, remained on pit road to have the damage on the right side repaired. Under caution, some like Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch came back around to pit while the rest led by Bowyer remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 56, Bowyer jumped ahead with the lead and Erik Jones moved up to second place while Johnson slipped entering Turn 2 and fell back to fifth place behind Martin Truex Jr. and Logano. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned when Matt Kenseth got loose entering Turn 4 and was bumped by Hamlin, who spun and collected Bubba Wallace as both cars wrecked across the grass with Wallace’s No. 43 DoorDash Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE clipping Aric Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang before making hard contact into the outside wall. The incident knocked Kenseth and Wallace out of contention.

    Under caution, some like Hamlin, Almirola, Ryan Newman, Corey LaJoie, John Hunter Nemechek, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, Timmy Hill, Josh Bilicki, Chad Finchum, Buescher and Harvick pitted while the rest led by Bowyer remained on the track. By then, Harvick returned on the lead lap.

    When the race restarted on Lap 68, Bowyer and Truex battled dead even for the lead for a full circuit with Bowyer still able to retain the lead. The following lap, Bowyer cleared Truex and continued to lead while Erik Jones settled behind teammate Truex. By then, Logano and Johnson were in the top five.

    By Lap 75, Bowyer continued to lead followed by teammates Truex and Erik Jones while Logano and Johnson were still in the top five. Ryan Blaney was in sixth followed by teammate Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch. By then, Alex Bowman was in 18th while Kurt Busch, Hamlin and Harvick were in 20th, 21st and 22nd. 

    A lap later, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track near Turn 4. Under caution, some like Christopher Bell, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Newman, Timmy Hill and Chad Finchum pitted while the rest led by Bowyer pitted.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 81, Bowyer and Truex battled dead even for the lead for a full circuit again with Bowyer leading by a nose when the field returned to the start/finish line. The following lap, Truex led a lap for himself before Bowyer reassumed the lead the following lap and cleared Truex’s No. 19 Toyota the next lap.

    With Bowyer leading Truex and Jones, Blaney moved into fourth followed by teammate Logano and DiBenedetto. Johnson was in seventh followed by teammates William Byron and Elliott while Keselowski and Austin Dillon battled for 10th. By then, Harvick and Hamlin moved into the top 20 in front of Bowman while Kurt Busch was in 24th. 

    By Lap 90, Bowyer was still leading by nearly half a second over teammates Truex and Jones while Blaney was in fourth. Behind, Logano was in fifth ahead of Johnson and Byron while DiBenedetto, Elliott and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. By then, Keselowski was back in 13th, Harvick was in 15th in between teammate Custer and Kyle Busch, Hamlin was in 18th, Bowman was in 19th and Kurt Busch was in 21st.

    Ten laps later and at the Lap 100 mark, Bowyer continued to lead by nearly two-tenths of a second over Truex, who remained within striking distance of Bowyer’s rear bumper, while Jones and Blaney trailed behind in third and fourth. Johnson moved up to fifth place over Logano while Byron, Elliott, Austin Dillon and DiBenedetto were in the top 10. 

    Coming to two laps remaining to the conclusion of the first stage, Truex gained a run through Turns 1 and 2 and had a run on Bowyer for the lead, but Bowyer was able to block and prevent Truex from making a run beneath him as Bowyer retained the lead. Despite encountering a few lapped cars in the process, Bowyer was able to hold off Truex and win the first stage on Lap 105 as he collected his fourth stage victory of the season. Truex settled in second followed by Jones, Blaney and Johnson while Byron, Elliott, Logano, Austin Dillon and DiBenedetto settled in the top 10. By then, Harvick, Keselowski and Bowman were in 15th, 16th and 17th while Kurt Busch and Hamlin were in 19th and 20th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Bowman emerged with the lead after only opting for fuel. Bell exited in second place following a two-tire stop while Bowyer, Truex, Jones, Blaney and Johnson, all of whom opted for a four-tire pit stop, followed behind. Following the pit stops, Bell surrendered his track position to make an extra pit stop.

    The second stage started on Lap 111 with Bowman and Bowyer on the front row. At the start, Truex pushed Bowman into the lead as he battled Bowyer for second place. Both Truex and Bowyer continued to battle for the runner-up spot as most of the field behind also battled through two lanes.

    On Lap 112, Blaney made a three-wide move on Truex and Bowyer in Turn 2 before Truex backed out while Bowyer continued to retain second place on the outside lane while also locked into a battle with Bowyer. Behind, Johnson started to pressure Truex for fourth place while Bowman continued to lead. 

    By Lap 116, Blaney cleared Bowyer for second and Johnson pulled away from Truex for fourth as he went to work on Bowyer for more. By then, Bowman continued to lead by less than half a second. Behind, Elliott was in sixth, Harvick was in ninth ahead of Kurt Busch and Logano, Keselowski was in 15th and Hamlin was back in 19th. 

    By Lap 120, Johnson, who was able to overtake Truex for third, started to put pressure on Blaney for second place while Bowman continued to lead by half a second. Bowyer settled in fifth ahead of Elliott and Austin Dillon while Harvick, Kurt Busch and Logano were in the top 10. 

    Ten laps later, Bowman continued to lead by nearly a tenth of a second over Blaney, who continued to close in for the lead, while Johnson, Truex and Bowyer continued to run in the top five. Elliott, Austin Dillon, Harvick, Kurt Busch and Jones were in the top 10 while Logano was in 12th. Hamlin and Keselowski were back in 18th and 19th. 

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Joey Gase spun and tapped the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Blaney emerged with the lead after only opting for fuel on his stop. Truex exited in second place following a two-tire pit stop followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott and Bowyer with a number of mixed strategy ensuing.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 138, Blaney and Truex battled dead even for a full circuit before Truex was able to lead the following lap. Soon after, Blaney gained a huge run on the bottom lane in Turn 1 to reassume the lead as Bowyer and Austin Dillon started to join the party. 

    By Lap 145, Blaney continued to lead by half a second over Truex while Bowyer, Austin Dillon and Harvick were in the top five. Kyle Busch was in sixth followed by Elliott, Logano, Bowman and Nemechek. Hamlin was in 11th in front of Johnson, Keselowski was in 17th and Kurt Busch was back in 22nd behind Ryan Preece.

    Five laps later, Blaney retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Truex, who started to close in and mount a challenge for the lead, with Bowyer settling in third. Kyle Busch moved into fourth place ahead of Austin Dillon and Elliott while Harvick fell back to seventh.

    On Lap 155, Truex gained a run beneath Blaney entering Turn 2 and took the lead after spending the last several laps trying to gain a run and pass Blaney for the lead. Behind, Kyle Busch started to close in on Blaney for second place while Bowyer and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five. 

    By Lap 160, Truex was ahead by four-tenths of a second over Blaney with Kyle Busch trailing by seven-tenths of a second. Bowyer and Austin Dillon were in the top five followed by Elliott, Harvick, Logano, Bowman and Nemechek. Hamlin was in 13th, Keselowski was in 15th and Kurt Busch was back in 23rd. 

    At Lap 167, the halfway mark, Truex continued to lead by less than four-tenths of a second over Blaney with Kyle Busch trailing by a second. Bowyer and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five followed by a battle between Harvick and Bowman, both battling in front of Elliott. 

    By Lap 175, Truex was out in front by three-tenths of a second over Blaney while Kyle Busch trailed by more than a second in third place. Bowyer and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five.

    Shortly after, Harvick, who was running in seventh behind Bowman, made a green flag pit stop after reporting a vibration to his car. By the time he returned to the track, he was back in 29th place and scored a lap behind the leaders.

    On Lap 185, Kyle Busch moved into second place over Blaney while teammate Truex continued to lead by more than a second. Bowyer continued to run in fourth place while Bowman moved into fifth place over Austin Dillon. By then, Elliott, Johnson, Logano and Bell were in the top 10. 

    Ten laps later and with the laps in the second stage dwindling, pit stops under green commenced as Blaney pitted. Shortly after, Austin Dillon pitted for only fuel. On Lap 198, Truex pitted under green as teammate Kyle Busch took the lead, with Truex falling off the pace. By then, Bowman made a two-tire pit stop under green along with teammate Johnson. Byron, Kurt Busch, Logano, Elliott also made a pit stop along with Kyle Busch. Keselowski also pitted for only fuel on his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang. Following the pit stops, Elliott made another pit stop to address a vibration to his No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. The late issue cost Elliott a lap to the leaders.

    By Lap 203 and with most of the pit stops under green completed, DiBenedetto emerged with the lead. A lap later, he pitted and Almirola emerged with the lead followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Jones, Kyle Busch and Truex. Another lap later, Almirola pitted and Jones took the lead. 

    With three laps remaining in the second stage, Jones pitted and Kyle Busch took the lead. With clean air, Busch was able to pull away and maintain his advantage as he claimed the second stage win on Lap 210 and his third stage victory of the season. Truex settled in second followed by Bowman, Keselowski and Blaney while Bell, Austin Dillon, Bowyer, Stenhouse and Harvick settled in the top 10. By then, Logano and Kurt Busch were in 15th and 17th while Hamlin was in 19th. 

    Under the stage break, nearly all of the leaders pitted, except for leader Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Logano, DiBenedetto and Hamlin. Following the pit stops, Truex exited in first after only taking fuel to his car. 

    With 118 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with Kyle Busch and Bowyer on the front row followed by Logano, DiBenedetto, Hamlin, Truex, Blaney, Bowman, Byron and Kurt Busch while Johnson and Harvick were on the sixth row.

    At the start, Kyle Busch and Bowyer battled dead even for the lead for one full circuit with Bowyer leading the following lap. The next lap, Busch reassumed the lead while DiBenedetto battled Bowyer for second place. Behind, Logano and Hamlin battled for fourth place as Bowman and Truex joined the party. Not long after, Truex overtook Bowman and teammate Hamlin as he went to work on Logano for more. At the front, Bowyer returned to second place over DiBenedetto and went to work on Kyle Busch for the lead. 

    With 110 laps remaining and the race settling into dark conditions, Kyle Busch continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Bowyer and with DiBenedetto trailing by less than a second. Truex made his way into fourth followed by Logano, Hamlin, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Johnson and Keselowski. By then, Harvick was in 14th behind Blaney and Austin Dillon. Elliott was mired back in 25th, a lap down.  

    Soon after, Truex overtook DiBenedetto for third place while Logano was still mired in fifth place in front of Hamlin, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Keselowski. At the front, Kyle Busch continued to lead by a narrow margin over Bowyer.

    With 100 laps remaining, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nearly two-tenths of a second over Bowyer while Truex, DiBenedetto and Logano were in the top five. Hamlin, Keselowski, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Blaney were in the top 10 ahead of Johnson, Bell, Byron, Custer and Austin Dillon. Harvick was in 17th behind Tyler Reddick while Elliott was in 24th, the first car a lap down to the leaders. 

    Shortly after, Keselowski overtook Hamlin and teammate Logano to move into the top five while Bowman and Kurt Busch closed in on Hamlin for seventh place. 

    With 90 laps remaining, Kyle Busch stabilized his advantage by nearly six-tenths of a second over Bowyer while Truex, DiBenedetto and Keselowski continued to run in the top five. Blaney, Logano, Bowman, Bell and Hamlin were scored in the top 10 followed by Kurt Busch. Harvick continued to run in 17th while Elliott, who was still a lap behind, moved up to 23rd place.

    Ten laps later, the gap between leader Kyle Busch and runner-up Clint Bowyer expanded by more than a second. While Truex continued to run in third place, Keselowski moved into fourth place in front of DiBenedetto, Blaney and Logano while Bowman, Bell and Hamlin continued to run in the top 10.   

    Two laps later, Bowyer surrendered second place to pit under green as he was out of fuel. Kyle Busch continued to lead followed by teammate Truex, Keselowski, Blaney, DiBenedetto and Logano. Meanwhile, Harvick, who was back in 18th, issued concerns about his tires chattering. 

    With 70 laps remaining, Kyle Busch continued to lead by more than six seconds over teammate Truex while Keselowski, Blaney and Bell were scored in the top five. DiBenedetto, Bowman, Logano, Kurt Busch and Hamlin were in the top 10. Harvick was in 19th while Elliott was mired back in 22nd. Bowyer was back in 24th and trapped a lap behind the leaders.

    Three laps later, leader Kyle Busch made a pit stop under green. Not long after, Logano pitted under green as Truex continued to lead followed by Bell, who overtook Blaney, DiBenedetto and Keselowski for position.

    Soon after, Harvick and Hamlin pitted under green along with DiBenedetto, Keselowski, Byron, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Truex, Johnson, Bowman, Newman, Blaney, Custer and Elliott.

    With 55 laps remaining, Bell was scored as the leader followed by Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Truex and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. A lap later, Bell pitted and Busch reassumed the lead, though Busch was told that he was short on fuel to finish the race. 

    Shortly after, Johnson pitted and the hood of his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE went up as a billow of smoke started blowing out of the exhaust pipe of Johnson’s machine with engine issues occurring. The engine issue was catastrophic and enough to end Johnson’s strong run into the garage and in 36th place in his 35th and final run at Texas Motor Speedway.

    With less than 50 laps remaining, Bowyer emerged with the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Truex, Bell and Blaney. By then, Keselowski and Bowman were in sixth and seventh, Kurt Busch was in ninth ahead of Hamlin and Logano and Harvick was in 19th. Elliott was mired back in 22nd. 

    With 40 laps remaining and the laps continuing to dwindle, Bowyer continued to lead followed by Kyle Busch, though both were in question of having enough fuel to complete the race to its distance. Behind by more than five seconds were Truex and Bell while Blaney was in fifth. Keselowski, Bowman, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Hamlin were in the top 10 ahead of Logano while Harvick and Elliott were still mired back in 19th and 22nd. 

    With 30 laps remaining, Bowyer retained the lead by less than four seconds over Kyle Busch with Truex and Bell trailing by five seconds. Blaney continued to trail by less than 12 seconds in fifth place while Bowman, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Hamlin were in the top 10. 

    Seven laps later, Bowyer’s hopes of winning in his final rodeo at Texas Motor Speedway came to an end as he pitted under green for fuel. With Bowyer out of contention, Kyle Busch assumed the lead while teammate Truex moved into second place followed by Bell. 

    Down to the final 20 laps of the race, Kyle Busch was ahead by a second over teammate Truex with Bell trailing by more than a second. Blaney and Bowman moved up into the top five while Keselowski, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Hamlin and Logano moved into the top 10. Harvick was back in 17th, the final car on the lead lap, while Elliott was in 21st. 

    Five laps later, Kyle Busch continued to lead by a second over teammate Truex with Bell lurking behind by more than a second and a half and with the leaders starting to catch lapped traffic. 

    With 10 laps remaining, Kyle Busch stabilized his advantage by more than a second over teammate Truex, who continued to track his teammate for the lead and a potential spot to the Championship Round, while Bell continued to remain in pursuit for the lead. By then, Harvick was lapped by Busch as Truex started to close in by less than a second.

    Down to the final five laps, Kyle Busch continued to lead by a second over teammate Truex as the leaders started to approach more lapped traffic. By then, Bell started to lose ground as he trailed by more than three seconds in third place and with Blaney and Bowman in the top five. 

    With two laps remaining, Kyle Busch was still running strong with the lead and by more than a second over teammate Truex. He continued to lead as he started the final lap of the race. 

    For one final circuit, Truex got the deficit down under a second but it was not enough as Kyle Busch was able to streak across the finish line in first place and win by four-tenths of a second over Truex. 

    With his victory, Kyle Busch extended his winning streak to 16 consecutive seasons as he snapped his 33-race winless drought dating back to November 2019 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he won his second Cup title. Despite Busch’s hopes of defending his title evaporating, the two-time champion expressed a huge sigh of relief upon bowing to the crowd with the checkered flag in celebration. 

    “[I] Just kept getting great leadership and mentoring from [crew chief] Adam [Stevens] and [spotter] from Tony [Hirschman], and those guys just keep talking to me, keep reminding me about saving [fuel] and being able to do what I could, trying to stay in the draft as much as I could on the straightaways,” Busch said on NBCSN. “It ran out coming right in here to do a burnout, so I had enough to get a little bit of a burnout. I don’t know if I’ll make it back [to Victory Lane.]”

    “I can’t say enough about Adam Stevens and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Busch added. “This Skittles Zombie machine looks bad to the bone. It’s really, really awesome! We got [the win]. I was nervous a little bit like the whole last run, but I’ve been in this position so many times. It’s like the last three laps though, that’s like winning the championship. That’s how nervous it was. I can’t believe it. We’re ready to fight next year. We’ll be back…We don’t ever give up.” 

    Truex settled in second place as he came up one position shy of winning and racing his way into the Championship 4 round. Including the 20-point penalty for having his spoiler confiscated during pre-race inspection on Sunday, the 2017 Cup champion trails the top-four cutline by 36 points entering next weekend’s final Playoff elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.

    “We knew [Kyle Busch] was close,” Truex said on NBCSN. “Hell of an effort by the Bass Pro guys and everybody that helps us. It just seems like one of them years, we’re second, third, fourth. We’re right there a lot. We just needed a little bit more to be better. Coming here, we had a lot of confidence and obviously, we had a strong run. This time of the year, Playoffs, second’s great, but it’s not good enough. Excited about Martinsville. I know we can win there. We showed that in the past, but it’s a new race and a new week. We’ll have to figure out how to be better when we’ve been there. I feel like everybody will get better. Looking forward to it, excited about the opportunity to get to do this and hopefully, put ourselves in another championship race.”

    Bell notched a career-best Cup result of third place while Blaney and Bowman rounded out the top five. Keselowski, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Hamlin and Logano finished in the top 10. Harvick ended his night in 16th place while Elliott came home in 20th place. Bowyer finished 17th in his 30th and final run at Texas.

    There were 23 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 47 laps.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Busch, 90 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Martin Truex Jr., 53 laps led 

    3. Christopher Bell, five laps led

    4. Ryan Blaney, 20 laps led

    5. Alex Bowman, 43 laps led

    6. Brad Keselowski

    7. Kurt Busch

    8. Matt DiBenedetto, two laps led

    9. Denny Hamlin

    10. Joey Logano

    11. Austin Dillon

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    13. William Byron

    14. Cole Custer

    15. Tyler Reddick

    16. Kevin Harvick, one lap down, 28 laps led

    17. Clint Bowyer, one lap down, 89 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    18. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    19. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    20. Chase Elliott, one lap down

    21. Erik Jones, one lap down, two laps led

    22. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down

    23. Aric Almirola, two laps down, one lap led

    24. Ty Dillon, two laps down

    25. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    26. Michael McDowell, three laps down

    27. Daniel Suarez, six laps down

    28. Brennan Poole, six laps down, one lap led

    29. Josh Bilicki, eight laps down

    30. Timmy Hill, nine laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, nine laps down

    32. Reed Sorenson, 13 laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 18 laps down

    34. Chris Buescher, 24 laps down

    35. Chad Finchum, 24 laps down

    36. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Engine

    37. Joey Gase – OUT, Suspension

    38. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

    39. Matt Kenseth – OUT, Accident

    40. J.J. Yeley – OUT, Accident

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings.

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Kevin Harvick +42

    3. Denny Hamlin +27

    4. Brad Keselowski +25

    5. Alex Bowman -25

    6. Chase Elliott -25

    7. Martin Truex Jr. -36

    8. Kurt Busch -81

    Next on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Martinsville Speedway for the Xfinity 500, which marks the third and final race of the Round of 8 in the Playoffs and where this year’s Cup Championship 4 field will be determined. The race is scheduled to occur on Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.