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  • 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.

  • McDowell upsets the competition, scores first Cup triumph in the Daytona 500

    McDowell upsets the competition, scores first Cup triumph in the Daytona 500

    The ultimate upset was made under the lights at Daytona International Speedway after Michael McDowell avoided a multi-car pileup on the final lap to win the 63rd annual running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 14, and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph. McDowell’s first Cup career victory came in his 358th start in NASCAR’s premier series, which marked the second-most starts in the series prior to a first Cup win.

    The front row for this year’s Daytona 500 was determined on Wednesday, February 10, following a qualifying session, with the rest of the lineup determined on Thursday, February 11, following two Bluegreen Vacations Duel events at Daytona. With that, Alex Bowman started on pole position. William Byron, the outside pole-sitter, was due to start on the front row with teammate Bowman, but he dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car. The move allowed Austin Dillon, winner of the second Daytona Duel event, to move up to the front row to start alongside Bowman.

    Along with Byron, the following competitors that include Brad Keselowski, rookie Chase Briscoe, Kaz Grala, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer and Ross Chastain also dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars. Martin Truex Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to an oil cooler change along with Erik Jones, who did so following an engine change. Bubba Wallace also dropped to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice, thus resulting with his car chief being ejected for the event. 

    When the green flag waved and the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Bowman, who started on the outside lane, crossed over the bottom lane to jump to an early lead in front of Austin Dillon. Shortly after, he moved back to the outside lane in front of Kevin Harvick, who gave him a clear bump ahead of the field through the backstretch and entering Turn 3. 

    Bowman was able to lead the first lap before Harvick made a move to the bottom lane. Bowman, however, was able to retain the lead with his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE receiving drafting help from Kyle Busch through the backstretch until Harvick made a charge on the inside lane entering the tri-oval. Harvick was able to lead the following lap by a nose over Bowman.

    During the third lap, the crew members and the fans saluted the three fingers to pay tribute to Dale Earnhardt, seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, Hall of Famer and the 1998 Daytona 500 champion who died 20 years ago following an accident on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. 

    Shortly after, the first caution of the race flew when Derrike Cope, the 1990 Daytona 500 champion, blew a right-front tire and made contact against the outside wall in Turn 3. By then, Harvick was the leader followed by teammate Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Ryan Newman and Bowman.

    Under caution, names like Michael McDowell, Matt DiBenedetto, Byron, Truex, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Alfredo, Cody Ware, Briscoe, Grala, B.J. McLeod, Denny Hamlin, Josh Bilicki, Quin Houff and Wallace pitted while the rest led by Harvick remained on the track.

    The race restarted on the seventh lap with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick and Almirola at the top of the field. At the start, Harvick quickly transitioned to the bottom lane to move in front of teammate Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. The top lane, however, prevailed through Turns 1, 2 and the backstretch as Ryan Newman rocketed to the lead followed by Joey Logano. Nonetheless, Harvick was able to retain the lead by a nose over Newman when the field returned to the start/finish line.

    By Lap 10 and with the field starting to fan out from double lanes to triple lanes, Harvick was still out in front followed by teammate Almirola, Bell, Bowman and Kyle Busch. A few laps later, Bowman became the first car to lead the outside lane as he challenged for the lead followed by Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson. Meanwhile, Harvick continued to lead followed by teammate Almirola.

    Three laps later, trouble ensued at the front when a bump from Bell, who was being pushed by teammate Kyle Busch, got Almirola loose, where he made contact with Bowman as both wrecked against the outside wall and in the middle of the straightaway with a multitude of competitors approaching them. What then followed was a multi-car wreck that involved Newman, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher, Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, Tyler Reddick, Truex and Byron, who nearly flipped on his side before spinning and coming to rest on the muddy grass in Turn 3.

    In the midst of the on-track work for the safety workers to remove the wrecked cars, the race was red-flagged due to reports of lightning within eight miles of the superspeedway, which was followed by rain and on-track precipitation. At the time of the rain, Harvick was still the leader followed by Bell, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott. Larson, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10.

    Five hours and 40 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the majority of competitors returned to the track under caution, beginning on Lap 15, and under the lights as the skies darkened. By then, names like Alfredo, Almirola, Blaney, Bowman, Buescher, DiBenedetto, Jones, Newman, Ragan and Suarez were ruled out of the remainder of the race.

    Under caution, everyone pitted, except for Kaz Grala and B.J. McLeod. After leading 10 laps under caution, Grala pitted along with McLeod. Bell, Kyle Busch and a few others also pitted to top off on fuel for the end of the first stage.

    When the green flag waved and the race resumed on Lap 29, Elliott was the leader while Austin Dillon started along him. Through the backstretch, Dillon received a push from Ryan Preece to take the lead. The following lap, Cole Custer battled on the outside lane to lead a lap for himself. 

    Shortly after, Hamlin shoved Custer out of the draft in Turn 1 and became the lead car on the outside lane. He went on to assume command of the field. 

    By Lap 35, Hamlin was leading Keselowski, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Logano with the field settling in a single-file line. Meanwhile, Byron, who was three laps behind the leaders and still competing in a damaged No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, was black-flagged for a loose rear bumper cover.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Quin Houff cut a tire after running over the bumper cover from Byron’s car and made contact with the outside wall in the frontstretch. His incident also involved Chase Briscoe as both sustained damage and slid down to the apron near Turn 1. Briscoe continued despite the incident while Houff was knocked out of the race.

    The race resumed under green on Lap 43. At the start, Hamlin received a push from teammate Kyle Busch on the outside lane while Keselowski received a push from Bubba Wallace on the inside lane. 

    Through the backstretch and after briefly shoving Keselowski to the lead, Wallace made a three-wide move on Keselowski and Hamlin, which sent Keselowski back into the top 10. At the front, Hamlin retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Preece, Austin Cindric, Wallace, Austin Dillon and Logano. 

    By Lap 50 and with the field settling in a single-file lane on the outside lane, Hamlin continued to lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Preece, Cindric and Austin Dillon while Larson, Wallace, Harvick, Keselowski and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott were in 13th and 14th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Custer. In addition, 22 of the 40-car field were competing on the lead lap, with 12 out of the race.

    Ten laps later and with five laps remaining in the first stage, Hamlin was still out in front followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Preece, Cindric and Austin Dillon. Larson, Wallace, Harvick, Keselowski and Bell were in the top 10 while Custer, Logano, Stenhouse, Elliott and LaJoie were in the top 15.

    At the start of the final lap of the first stage, Austin Dillon made his move to the inside lane along with Larson. In addition, Preece also moved in front of Dillon, but teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch blocked the move on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, Kyle Busch got shuffled out of the lead draft when Preece and a multitude of cars moved to the outside lane and right behind Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry.

    Though Hamlin had a steaming pack of cars behind him, he was able to retain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 65. Preece settled in second place followed by Austin Dillon, Larson and Cindric. Bell, Wallace, Logano, Ross Chastain and Custer settled in the top 10, all of whom earned stage points. Kyle Busch fell back to 12th in front of Keselowski and Elliott. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin retained the lead. Meanwhile, Jamie McMurray received the free pass and returned to the lead lap.

    The second stage commenced on Lap 71 with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Bell on the front row followed by Cindric, Austin Dillon, Logano and Larson. At the start, Hamlin received a push from Cindric to retain the lead. Shortly after, Hamlin moved in front of teammate Bell on the inside lane, but Cindric, winner of the Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona a day ago, mounted a charge on the outside lane in his No. 33 Verizon 5G Ford Mustang as he had Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski pushing him to the lead.

    After leading two laps, Hamlin stormed back to the lead while Cindric fell back to seventh. A lap later, Bell made his way to the front followed by teammate Kyle Busch while Hamlin fell back to third. Austin Dillon, Cindric and Harvick moved up the leaderboard while Harvick was in seventh place and the lone car on the bottom lane.

    Another two laps later, the field settled in a long single-file line as Bell was out in front followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon was in fourth followed by Cindric, Logano, Larson, Elliott, Wallace and Chastain. Harvick, meanwhile, was shuffled back to 11th in front of Preece, Keselowski, Stenhouse and McMurray.

    Not long after, the leader Bell reported debris on the grille of his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry. Nonetheless, he continued to lead teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin while Austin Dillon, Cindric and Logano remained in pursuit.

    By Lap 90, Bell continued to lead followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon and Cindric continued to run in the top five followed by Logano, Larson, Elliott, Wallace and Chastain, all of whom were locked in a single-file lane. Harvick was in 11th followed by Stenhouse, teammate Preece, Keselowski and McMurray while Michael McDowell, Custer, LaJoie, Kaz Grala and Joey Gase were in the top 20.

    When the field reached the halfway mark on Lap 100, three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas led by Bell and followed by Kyle Busch and Hamlin were all still at the front. Austin Dillon and Cindric remained in the top five followed by Logano, Larson, Elliott, Chastain and Preece. Behind, Wallace, who attempted to make a move to the front on the inside lane, was shuffled back to 13th in between Keselowski and Harvick.

    Four laps later, pit stops under green commenced as a number of Ford drivers pitted, including Cindric, Logano, Keselowski, Harvick, Briscoe and Custer. McDowell, racing in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang, also pitted. Another three laps later, the Toyota drivers pitted, including Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Wallace. Not long after, a bevy of Chevrolet drivers led by Austin Dillon, Larson and Elliott pitted. Prior to the Chevrolets pitting, Preece pitted alone.

    When the field cycled back with 20 laps remaining in the second stage, Hamlin was back in front followed by Wallace. Shortly after, Wallace got shuffled out of the draft from Kyle Busch. Not long after, Bell got loose in Turn 1 after sustaining a left-rear tire and made contact with Stenhouse, who went on to make contact with Larson, before spinning entering the backstretch. Grala, LaJoie and McMurray, who spun, were also sustained damage while the rest of the field managed to avoid the incident and a spinning Bell. 

    Under caution, a handful of competitors led by Hamlin remained on the track while the rest pitted. In addition, Grala came to his pit stall with the right rear of his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE on fire. Though he tried to continue, Grala’s Daytona 500 debut came to an end as fire continued to burst out of his car.

    When the race resumed under green on Lap 117, Hamlin and Harvick led the field on the front row. At the front, Hamlin retained the lead and he moved in front of Harvick on the outside lane entering the backstretch. Shortly after, Logano received a draft from Kyle Busch on the bottom lane to lead the following lap. Entering the tri-oval, Harvick and Logano pulled a three-wide move on Hamlin with Harvick returning to the lead entering the backstretch. 

    The following lap, Wallace drafted his owner Hamlin to the front while Keselowski mounted a challenge beneath Hamlin. The outside lane, however, prevailed with a bevy of competitors opting to move up on the outside lane and Hamlin retaining the lead. Wallace was in second followed by Harvick, Elliott and Austin Dillon. McDowell was in sixth followed by Keselowski, Preece, Logano and Kyle Busch. By then, the field settled in a long single-file lane on the outside lane.

    At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Wallace made his move beneath Hamlin to take the lead followed by a bevy of competitors, including McDowell and Keselowski. Through the backstretch, Logano, receiving drafting help from Kyle Busch, formed a third lane as the pack started to battle intently and tight against one another. 

    With the field entering Turn 3 and the tri-oval, Hamlin received a push from Harvick on the outside lane to reassume the lead over Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry and claim the second stage on Lap 130. Harvick settled in second followed by Wallace, Elliott and Austin Dillon. Logano, McDowell, Larson, Kyle Busch and Keselowski were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Austin Dillon exited in first place. Hamlin exited in second place followed by McDowell, Harvick, Wallace and Logano. Following the pit stops, Larson was penalized for a safety violation.

    With 64 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Austin Dillon moved his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in front of Hamlin to retain the lead. His lead, however, did not last long was Hamlin retuned to the top point with drafting help from Harvick, though he got squirrelly while being drafted by Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang. Dillon settled in third place, the first car on the bottom lane, as he battled Logano and Kyle Busch. 

    With 60 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric while Custer, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray were in the top 10. Larson was in 12th while Wallace was back in 14th in front of Keselowski, McDowell and Bell. By then, 18 cars were scored on the lead lap. 

    Ten laps later and with 50 laps remaining, Hamlin was still out in front followed by Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric. Custer, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray were still in the top 10. Larson was in 12th, Keselowski was in 14th and Wallace was in 16th. By then, the field returned to a long single-file lane on the outside lane. 

    Another 10 laps later and with the next round of pit stops under green lurking, the field remained in a long single-file lane on the outside lane as Hamlin was still leading Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric. Custer was in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the race, Hamlin continued to lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Preece. 

    Shortly after, pit stops under green commenced when Ford names like Logano, Harvick, Cindric, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell pitted. Not long after, a bevy of Chevrolet competitors pitted. Shortly after, the Toyota drivers led by Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Wallace pitted.

    When the field cycled back on the track, Logano was able to assume command of the race followed by Harvick as Kyle Busch and Hamlin, both of whom exited pit road ahead of the field, were unable to blend in front of the lead pack with enough speed and retain the top spots.

    With 24 laps remaining, Logano, racing in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, was leading Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell. Ross Chastain was in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Preece. Wallace was in 11th while Hamlin fell back to 13th behind Larson.

    Four laps later and with the laps winding down, Logano was still at the top of the field followed by Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell as Fords comprised the top-five spots on the track. Chastain was the leading Chevrolet competitor in sixth while Kyle Busch was the leading Toyota competitor in ninth. By then, Wallace, who made another pit stop to address a vibration concern, was in 17th and a lap behind. In addition, the top-12 competitors, all within more than a second of one another, were locked in a single-file lane as Hamlin was back in 12th.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the race and with 15 competitors on the lead lap, the field remained in a single-file lane as Logano continued to lead followed by Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell. By then, Bell was pinned a lap behind along with Wallace. In addition, Hamlin remained in 12th place, three spots behind teammate Kyle Busch. 

    With 10 laps remaining, Logano remained at the front as the first of four Ford competitors leading the way followed by Harvick, Keselowski and McDowell. Behind, Austin Dillon was the leading Chevrolet competitor in fifth as he worked his way to the front followed by Elliott. Kyle Busch was in seventh followed by Larson, Hamlin and Chastain.

    Down to the final five laps of the race, the field remained in a long single-file lane with Logano still leading Harvick, Keselowski, McDowell and Austin Dillon.

    Logano continued to lead with three laps remaining while the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon, currently scored in fifth, was preparing his move as Elliott was in sixth. 

    With two laps remaining, however, Keselowski, racing in his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, gained a run and was able to move behind teammate Logano as McDowell also moved up while Harvick was shuffled out. When the final lap of the race started, Logano was still out in front followed by teammate Keselowski. 

    Through the backstretch, Keselowski received a push from McDowell and closed in on Logano as he prepared to execute his move for the win. Entering Turn 3, however, the two Penske teammates made contact and a multi-car wreck ensued. In the midst of the carnage, Keselowski made head-on contact against the outside wall before being slammed hard by Kyle Busch as Keselowski’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang went up against the outside wall and shredded against the catchfence amid a shower of flames and sparks. In addition, Logano slid up and clipped Chastain, who also made contact with Preece, before being hit by Wallace. Cindric and Custer were also involved in the midst of the fiery accident.

    The wreck ended the race under caution and at the moment of caution, McDowell was ahead of the field and declared the winner as he recorded his first career victory in NASCAR’s biggest event of the season.

    With his victory, McDowell became the 40th driver to win the Daytona 500, the eighth competitor to record a first Cup career victory in the 500 and the 196th competitor overall to win a NASCAR Cup Series race. The victory was the first for Front Row Motorsports since August 2016 (third overall), the second for crew chief Drew Blickensderfer and the 16th Daytona 500 victory for the Ford nameplate. In addition, McDowell became the third competitor to win the 500 after leading only the final lap.

    “I just can’t believe it,” McDowell said on FOX. “I’ve just got to thank God. So many years just grinding it out, hoping for an opportunity like this. I’ve got to thank Love’s Travel Stops, Speedco, [team owner] Bob Jenkins for giving me this opportunity. I’m so thankful. Such a great way to get a first victory. Daytona 500, are you kidding me?! We’re the Daytona 500 champions! We had our Ford partners at the end and they all crashed, but luckily I was able to make it through. I’m just so thankful. God is good.”

    Elliott, the reigning series champion, came home in second place as he achieved his best result in the 500 in his sixth attempt to win it.

    “I felt like we had a fast car,” Elliott said. “We weren’t as good as I thought we were on Thursday. I felt like we did a really good job executing today. Staying out of trouble, that’s not something I’ve done a very good job of here in this race, so I’m glad we could at least finish this one and have something to build on for when we come back and try to do better.”

    Austin Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 champion, finished in third place followed by Harvick and Hamlin, who came up short in his bid to win three consecutive Daytona 500 titles.

    “Yeah, you know you’ve just got to be thankful to be around at those moments at the end,” Dillon said. “I pulled out to see if the bottom would work and just didn’t get enough of a run. It was close. I’ve got to thank all my sponsors like Bass Pro Shops and everybody that helps this program. We were here all weekend scoring points and that’s all I can ask for…What can I say? Chevy was really close. I had fun working with my guys tonight in the Chevy camp.”

    Preece came home in sixth place with a wrecked car followed by Chastain and McMurray. LaJoie and Larson rounded out the top 10.

    Logano, Keselowski and Kyle Busch ended their nights in 12th, 13th and 14th following their vicious wreck. The wreck evaporated Keselowski’s hopes of winning his first 500 title in his 12th attempt along with Kyle Busch, who made his 17th attempt to win it.

    “[I] Had a big run down the backstretch, went to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended up really bad,” Keselowski said following his release from the infield care center. “[I] Don’t feel like I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everyone else’s car. Frustrating, the Discount Tire Ford was not the fastest, but [crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the whole team did a great job of keeping us in position and right then, we were in position. That’s exactly where I want to be running second on the last lap at Daytona with this package. Had the run, made the move. Then it didn’t work out.”

    “Pandemonium, I guess,” Logano said. “Chaos struck. [Keselowski] kept trying to back up, trying to get a run. I was trying to back up to him and try to keep the runs from being too big. I guess he got to the back of [McDowell] and it ended up being a really big run coming at me, and it seemed we all just collided in one spot. Real bummer. None of the Penske cars won, but at least a Ford won…I hate that we didn’t win with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. I feel like we had a great shot, being where we were and leading on the last lap, but if we couldn’t win, I’m really happy to see McDowell win this thing.”

    “It’s to be expected,” Kyle Busch said. “Just a matter of time before it all breaks loose and whatever happens happens. I saw a window to the outside and all of a sudden, I had [Keselowski] on my hood…Got clobbered a few good times and just fortunate that I’m all good. Our M&M’s Camry, that one won’t live to see another day. Hopefully, we’ll be back here next week and have a better go around on the [Daytona] road course and get back after it.”

    Cindric was scored in 15th place in his Cup debut while Briscoe was the highest-finishing Rookie-of-the-Year contender in 19th place. Wallace finished in 17th place in his first run with 23XI Racing.

    There were 22 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 40 laps.

    Following the first race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Austin Dillon leads the regular-season standings by six points over Hamlin, eight over Harvick, 10 over Elliott and 12 over McDowell and Preece.

    Results.

    1. Michael McDowell, one lap led

    2. Chase Elliott, three laps led

    3. Austin Dillon, seven laps led

    4. Kevin Harvick, 17 laps led

    5. Denny Hamlin, 98 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner

    6. Ryan Preece

    7. Ross Chastain

    8. Jamie McMurray

    9. Corey LaJoie

    10. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    11. Cole Custer, one lap led

    12. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

    13. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

    14. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    15. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    16. Christopher Bell, one lap down, 32 laps led

    17. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down

    19. Chase Briscoe, three laps down

    20. Joey Gase, four laps down

    21. Cody Ware, four laps down

    22. Kurt Busch, five laps down

    23. B.J. McLeod, five laps down

    24. Josh Bilicki, six laps down

    25. Martin Truex Jr., seven laps down

    26. William Byron, nine laps down

    27. Tyler Reddick, 12 laps down

    28. Kaz Grala – OUT, dvp, 10 laps led

    29. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

    30. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

    31. Chris Buescher – OUT, dvp

    32. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, dvp

    33. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, dvp

    34. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    35. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    36. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

    37. David Ragan – OUT, Accident

    38. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident

    39. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

    40. Derrike Cope – OUT, Accident

    With the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is the series’ return to Daytona International Speedway for the series’ second points-paying event on the road course layout. The event will occur on Sunday, February 21, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Austin Dillon steals second Bluegreen Vacation Duel win over Bubba Wallace

    Austin Dillon steals second Bluegreen Vacation Duel win over Bubba Wallace

    With a strong push from Kevin Harvick and a crossover move to overtake Bubba Wallace approaching the finish line, Austin Dillon was able to steal the win in the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 11. With his first Duel career victory, Dillon will line up in fourth place for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

    The lineup for the first duel event was based off of the Daytona 500 pole position qualifying session on Wednesday, February 10, where the even-numbered qualifiers in their respective order competed. With that, William Byron, the outside pole-sitter for the 2021 Daytona 500, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Bubba Wallace. Joey Gase started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced following a delay of more than two and a half hours due to rain, Byron jumped ahead with the advantage while Wallace and Kevin Harvick battled behind. Through the backstretch and in Turn 3, Wallace gained a run on Byron and overtook him to take the lead as he led the first lap. 

    The following lap and with the field fanning out to two and three lanes, Byron was able to utilize the inside lane to lead the following lap over Wallace, who moved to the outside lane. 

    After leading the second lap, Byron pulled ahead followed by Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott while Wallace was shuffled back on the outside lane and in a three-wide pack. 

    By the fifth lap, the top-10 competitors led by Byron were running in a single-file line on the inside. In addition, Noah Gragson, who started at the rear of the field, was in ninth place and leading the way as the highest non-chartered competitor on the field while Kaz Grala was in 14th.

    Through the first 10 laps of the race, Byron was still out in front followed by Austin Dillon, Harvick, Elliott and Kurt Busch while Ryan Blaney, Wallace, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain were in the top 10. Garrett Smithley, meanwhile, was the highest non-chartered competitor on the field in 11th while Grala and Gragson were behind in 12th and 13th.

    Two laps later, Harvick gained a run on the outside lane to emerge with the lead as Blaney drafted Harvick to the front. Shortly after, Wallace drafted and challenged Blaney for the runner-up spot on the inside lane. 

    By Lap 15, Harvick, racing in his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang, continued to lead by a narrow margin over Blaney and Wallace while Byron and Keselowski were in the top five. 

    After leading the next two laps, Wallace got shuffled out of the lead pack after being stuck in the middle lane. With Wallace falling back, Harvick reassumed the top spot followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski while Byron continued to fight back on the inside lane as he had Austin Dillon, Elliott and Kurt Busch behind him.

    Through the first 20 laps of the race, Byron was back in the lead followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Blaney, Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Truex and Wallace. Gragson and Grala were in 11th and 12th while Garrett Smithley was back in 20th.

    Not long after, the field settled in a long single-file lane on the outside lane as Byron continued to lead. 

    When the field reached the halfway mark on Lap 30, Byron remained at the front followed by Austin Dillon, Harvick, Blaney and Keselowski with Truex in sixth. Gragson was in seventh while Grala was back in 15th.

    Shortly after, Blaney gained a run on the inside lane followed by teammate Keselowski, Wallace and a number of other competitors as Blaney made a bid for the lead.

    By Lap 33, Austin Dillon emerged with the lead by a nose over Byron. The following lap, Harvick, who was behind Dillon earlier, emerged with the lead. By then, Austin Dillon was behind him while Truex formed a line leading a bevy of cars on the outside wall.

    Two laps later, trouble on the track ensued when rookie Chase Briscoe got loose entering Turn 1 and spun. Behind, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Kaz Grala also got sideways after both made contact against one another as both came to rest alongside Briscoe. Garrett Smithley and B.J. McLeod were also involved in the incident. Following the incident, McLeod and Alfredo retired while Grala, Briscoe and Smithley remained on the track. In the process, Grala, who sustained damage to his No. 16 HyperIce Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, lost a lap to the leaders.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Blaney emerged with the lead after only taking fuel during his stop. Harvick exited in second place followed by Byron, Austin Dillon, Truex and Wallace.

    With 20 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the front, Blaney pulled in front of Harvick on the inside lane and retained the lead. In Turn 1 and through the backstretch, Austin Dillon, racing in his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, gained a run on the outside lane with drafting help from Wallace to challenge Blaney for the lead. His run, however, did not last long as Blaney retained the lead when the field returned to the tri-oval.

    The following lap, Byron gained a run on the outside lane through the backstretch and back to the start/finish line to reassume the lead. Soon after, Byron and Austin Dillon battled dead even for the lead with the field fanning out to two lanes and running in a tight pack.

    With the race down to the final 15 laps, Byron cleared the field with the lead followed by Austin Dillon, Wallace, Keselowski and Blaney. Behind, Smithley and Gragson were battling one another for a transfer spot to Sunday’s Daytona 500.

    With 10 laps remaining, the No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Byron was still leading the field followed by Truex, Austin Dillon, the Busch brothers and Harvick. By then, Gragson was in 12th and in the transfer spot to the 500 while Smithley was in 15th. Meanwhile, Wallace and Blaney were shuffled out of the lead pack.

    Two laps later, Truex surged his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry to the lead on the outside lane and with drafting help from Harvick. As Truex took the lead, Harvick was locked in a battle with Byron for the runner-up spot as the field continued to battle tightly in two lanes at the front.

    Another two laps later, Harvick, who received a push from Byron, challenged Truex on the inside lane to take the lead.

    Down to the final five laps of the race, Harvick continued to lead while Keselowski challenged Truex for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Wallace shoved Truex to the lead as Kyle Busch also moved up into third place.

    The following lap, trouble ensued behind when Smithley, who attempted to shove his way in between Keselowski and Gragson past the tri-oval, made contact with Keselowski and turned him into Gragson. The contact ignited a multi-car wreck that also collected Byron and Ross Chastain. 

    The damage was enough for Byron to sacrifice his front row starting spot for the 500 with the team moving to a back-up car. In addition, Gragson was knocked out of the race as his hopes of making Sunday’s Daytona 500 and his Cup debut with Beard Motorsports disappeared. Smithley continued, though he lost two laps to the leaders. In the midst of everything, Grala received the free pass to return on the lead lap as his hopes of making the 500 were rejuvenated.

    The late multi-car wreck sent the race into overtime. At the start, Truex pulled in front of Wallace to retain the lead with Kyle Busch tucked in behind both in third place. Truex was able to retain the lead as he started the final lap, though he had Wallace, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Harvick closing in for one final charge.

    Entering the backstretch, Wallace and Austin Dillon, both racing with momentum on the inside and outside lane, left Truex stuck in the middle with no drafting help as Wallace took the lead with drafting help from Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry.

    Through Turn 3 and entering the tri-oval, Wallace moved his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry up in an attempt to block Austin Dillon, who had a run with drafting help from Harvick. Dillon, however, made a crossover move on the inside lane and was able to squeak ahead following light contact with Wallace to win by 0.057 seconds. 

    With his victory, Dillon will attempt to win his second Daytona 500 title after winning his first in 2018.

    “I was talking to my spotter before the restart and he was like, ‘We’ve got [Harvick] behind us and he’s been pushing well all night.’ He had [Blaney] so I knew the manufacturer thing was going to be tough,” Dillon said. “I made a decent block on the backstretch and just a heck of a push through [Turns] 3 and 4. I knew Bubba was going to try and block, but I just whipped the wheel and it worked out well.”

    Wallace, in his first run with 23XI Racing, settled in a strong second-place result as he will line up in sixth place for Sunday’s 500. Despite the strong run, Wallace was anything but pleased with the result.

    “Lot of mistakes,” Wallace said. “Good debut, but nothing to be really happy about on myself. It’s okay for drivers to be hard on themselves. That’s how we motivate ourselves, to get out and do better…It was a good night, but I got some learning to do.” 

    Harvick crossed the line in third place followed by Kyle Busch and Elliott. Blaney, Corey LaJoie, Ragan, Kurt Busch and Buescher rounded out the top 10 on the track. Truex fell all the way back to 12th place behind Keselowski.

    David Ragan, who was guaranteed a spot in the 500 based on his qualifying speed a day earlier, was able to improve his starting spot for the main event after claiming a transfer spot on the track via the duel. With that, Kaz Grala, who finished 14th, secured the final starting spot for the 500. With his accomplishment, Grala will be making his second career start in the Cup Series in Sunday’s Daytona 500 as Kaulig Racing will be making its second consecutive Daytona 500 appearance.

    “It’s great,” Grala said. “Obviously, we knew coming into it, this was going to be a really hard year to make the race — excellent competition, great teams, great drivers trying to make this race without charters. So we knew it was a tall order, but I will say now, being able to breathe a sigh of relief that we are in, it makes it that much sweeter knowing that we beat some real incredible teams and drivers to get into this race.”

    Garrett Smithley and Gragson, both of whom finished 16th and 18th, failed to qualify for the 500, joining Ty Dillon and Timmy Hill.

    There were 14 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured two cautions for eight laps.

    Results.

    1. Austin Dillon, two laps led

    2. Bubba Wallace, three laps led

    3. Kevin Harvick, 11 laps led

    4. Kyle Busch

    5. Chase Elliott

    6. Ryan Blaney, four laps led

    7. Corey LaJoie

    8. David Ragan

    9. Kurt Busch

    10. Chris Buescher

    11. Brad Keselowski

    12. Martin Truex Jr., nine laps led

    13. Joey Gase

    14. Kaz Grala

    15. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    16. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

    17. Derrike Cope, four laps down

    18. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

    19. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 34 laps led

    20. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

    21. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    22. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Accident

    With the 2021 Daytona 500 starting grid officially set, the main event will occur on Sunday, February 14, with coverage on FOX at 2:30 p.m. ET.

  • 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.

  • Joe Gibbs Racing announces 2021 crew chief lineup

    Joe Gibbs Racing announces 2021 crew chief lineup

    Joe Gibbs Racing revealed its crew chief lineup for the 2021 NASCAR season, featuring a handful of changes to the organization’s powerhouse stable between the Cup and Xfinity Series.

    Adam Stevens, two-time Cup Series championship crew chief, will move to JGR’s No. 20 Toyota Camry team and serve as crew chief for Christopher Bell, who is to embark on his first full-time season with JGR in NASCAR’s premier series. Ben Beshore, a former engineer for JGR’s No. 18 team, will become a full-time Cup Series crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota team and be paired with two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch.

    Stevens is coming off his sixth full-time season as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota team in the Cup circuit, having won two championships and 28 races with Kyle Busch. Beshore is coming off his second full-time season in the Xfinity Series as a crew chief, where he led Harrison Burton to four victories and the 2020 Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year title. He won four Xfinity races with Kyle Busch in 2019.

    Chris Gabehart, reigning two-time Daytona 500 winning crew chief, will remain atop the pit box of the No. 11 Toyota Camry team driven by reigning three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin while James Small, coming off his first full-time season as a Cup crew chief, will also return as crew chief for the No. 19 Toyota Camry team driven by former Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. for the 2021 Cup season.

    In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, veteran Jason Ratcliff will return to JGR and serve as crew chief for Harrison Burton and the No. 20 Toyota Supra team. Ratcliff is coming off a full-time Cup Series season as crew chief for Christopher Bell and Leavine Family Racing, which ceased operations following the 2020 season.

    Jeff Meendering will remain as crew chief for Brandon Jones and the No. 19 Toyota Supra team while veteran Dave Rogers will also return as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota Supra team set to be driven by Daniel Hemric, JGR’s newest competitor, in 2021.

    Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images.

    “We go through a process at the conclusion of every season that includes evaluating each of our teams,” Joe Gibbs, Owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “We believe our crew chief lineup for 2021 will best position each team and driver for success across both series.”

    JGR also announced plans to field a fourth entry, the No. 54 Toyota Supra, for the 2021 Xfinity Series season led by crew chief Chris Gayle. Gayle is coming off his fourth full-time season as a Cup crew chief, where he worked with Erik Jones, who transitioned to Richard Petty Motorsports for the 2021 season. The driver lineup and schedule of the No. 54 operation will be announced at a later date.

    “We take a lot of pride in our depth of talent across our entire organization,” Gibbs added. “All of our crew chiefs are proven winners. We are also looking forward to bringing the No. 54 Toyota Supra back to the track in 2021 with an exciting team of drivers.”

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s new driver-crew chief pairings will debut at Daytona International Speedway in February 2021.

  • 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.

  • Logano wins the battle at Kansas; clinches Championship 4 spot

    Logano wins the battle at Kansas; clinches Championship 4 spot

    With a championship spot on the line, Joey Logano punched his ticket into the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway after emerging with the lead following a pit stop under 50 laps remaining and holding off Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman on the ensuing restart and through the final 42 laps to win the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. In addition to securing a championship spot for the finale, Logano secured his third victory of the season, his first win since Phoenix in March and his 26th NASCAR Cup Series career victory, which moved him into a tie for 31st place on the all-time Cup wins list with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Fred Lorenzen.

    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, Chase Elliott, coming off his dominating win last weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Joey Logano.

    Prior to the race, Martin Truex Jr. and James Davison dropped to the rear of the field due to their respective cars failing pre-race inspection twice. 

    During the opening pace laps, Clint Bowyer got to temporarily lead the field behind the pace car and was saluted by a group of fans attending and watching the race from the grass around the track by carving out Bowyer’s No. 14 with Bowyer making his final start at his home track before retiring from full-time racing at season’s end and moving to the FOX Sports broadcast booth in 2021. Prior to the race’s start, Bowyer dropped back to his starting spot in 12th place.

    When the green flag waved and the Round of 8 in the 2020 Cup Playoffs commenced on a cold afternoon, Elliott rocketed with the lead through the first two turns. Behind, however, Logano, Harvick and Kurt Busch started to battle intensely and early for the runner-up spot. Through Turns 3 and 4, Logano, Harvick and Kurt Busch went three-wide for second place while Elliott was able to pull away and lead the first lap.

    Following the first five laps of the race, Elliott continued to lead by a narrow margin over Kurt Busch and a hard-charing Logano as the field behind continued to battle competitively for early positioning.

    Through the first 10 laps of the race, Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE continued to lead followed by Logano and Harvick while Ryan Blaney and Hamlin were in the top five. Kurt Busch settled in sixth followed by Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Brad Keselowski. By then, Truex, who started at the rear of the field, moved up to 17th place in front of teammate Kyle Busch.

    Five laps later, Elliott continued to lead by half a second over Harvick, who was being pursued by Logano. Meanwhile, Hamlin and Blaney battled for fourth place. By then, Truex, racing in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, was making his way towards the top 15 on the track.

    By Lap 20, Elliott extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Harvick while Logano trailed by three seconds. Hamlin and Blaney were in the top five followed by Kurt Busch, Bowman, Keselowski, Reddick and Byron. By then, Clint Bowyer was in 12th in front of Jimmie Johnson and Truex. In addition, Austin Dillon was in 15th ahead of Aric Almirola, Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch while rookies John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer were in 19th through 21st. Bubba Wallace, meanwhile, was in 23rd behind Chris Buescher while Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman were in 25th and 28th. 

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Elliott maintained his early advantage by less than two seconds over Harvick. By then, seven of the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running inside the top 10 while Truex moved up to 12th place behind Erik Jones. Blaney, Reddick and Byron were the only non-title contenders who were scored in the top 10 on the track.

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Byron emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop, Elliott exited in second following a four-tire pit stop, who was followed by Logano, Harvick and Hamlin. Following the pit stops, Kurt Busch was assessed a pit road speeding penalty as he dropped his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the rear of the field.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Harvick gave Elliott a shove on the outside lane, which allowed Elliott to move ahead of teammate Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet in Turn 2 before Harvick made a challenge himself for the lead in Turn 3 on the outside lane.

    The following lap, Harvick emerged as the new leader, though Elliott continued to pounce on him for the lead. Soon after, Hamlin moved up along with Penske teammates Logano, Blaney and Keselowski while Byron fell back to seventh place. While Byron continued to lose positions following his two-tire pit stop, Reddick, Bowman and Bowyer moved up. 

    By Lap 35, Truex moved into 15th place. By then, Jimmie Johnson was in 19th place while running in between DiBenedetto and Chris Buescher. At the front, Harvick stabilized his advantage by half a second over Elliott while Hamlin, Logano and Blaney were in the top five.

    Through the first 40 laps of the race, Harvick extended his advantage by nearly a second over Elliott. Hamlin settled in third while teammates Blaney, Logano and Keselowski battled for fourth place. Reddick moved up to seventh followed by Bowman, Bowyer and Erik Jones. By then, Byron was back in 14th in front of Kyle Busch while Truex was in 13th.

    When the race reached its 50-lap mark, Harvick, racing in his No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang, was still leading by more than a second over Elliott while Blaney moved up to third place. Keselowski and Hamlin battled for fourth place while Bowman was in sixth ahead of Logano. Reddick and Erik Jones were in eighth and ninth followed by Truex, who cracked the top 10. Bowyer fell back to 11th place in front of Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Almirola and Custer while Austin Dillon, Byron, Jimmie Johnson, DiBenedetto and Wallace were in the top 20. By then, Kurt Busch, who was penalized early for a speeding penalty, was back in 23rd behind teammate Kenseth, Newman was in 29th behind Ty Dillon and Daniel Suarez was in 31st behind Corey LaJoie.

    While Elliott continued to track down Harvick for the lead, teammates Keselowski and Blaney battled for third place, with the former succeeding. Meanwhile, Logano, who was battling towards the front with his teammates early, dropped back to ninth place behind Truex while dealing with handling issues to his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. 

    Through the first 60 laps, seven of the eight Playoff contenders led by Harvick were running in the top 10 while Blaney, Erik Jones and Reddick were the only non-title contenders running in the top 10. By then, Kurt Busch was the lowest-running Playoff contender in 22nd place behind DiBenedetto and Buescher. While Bowyer and Kyle Busch battled for 12th place, Byron dropped all the way back to 19th place after being overtaken by teammate Jimmie Johnson and Bubba Wallace.

    On Lap 64, Elliott reassumed the lead after tracking down and overtaking Harvick through the long green flag run. Not long after, Keselowski started to close in on Harvick’s No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang for the runner-up spot. 

    While the laps in the first stage continued to dwindle, Keselowski and Harvick continued to battle intensely for the runner-up spot while Elliott, who was battling with radio communication issues with his crew and spotter, continued to lead. During this time, Blaney trailed the top-three competitors by more than a second while Hamlin settled in fifth place, two seconds behind. 

    With three laps remaining in the first stage and the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Keselowski overtook Harvick for second place and his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang started to close in on Elliott’s Camaro for the lead. By then, Blaney and Hamlin moved into third and fourth followed by Erik Jones while Harvick fell back to sixth place. 

    With the top-six competitors duking it out at the front despite the heavy lapped traffic, Elliott was able to hold off Keselowski to win the first stage on Lap 80 and claim his ninth stage victory of the season. Keselowski settled in second place while Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry edged Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Moen Ford Mustang by a mere nose to settle in third place. Jones, Bowman, Harvick, Truex, Logano and Kyle Busch settled in the top 10. By then, Kurt Busch was in 19th place behind Custer, Bowyer was in 12th behind Reddick and Jimmie Johnson was in 16th behind Austin Dillon.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin was able to beat Elliott off of pit road in first place following a four-tire pit stop. Blaney exited in third place followed by Jones, Keselowski and Harvick. By then, Elliott’s radio issues were resolved. In addition, Reddick made another pit stop to address a loose left-front wheel.

    The second stage started on Lap 86 with Hamlin and Elliott on the front row ahead of Blaney and Jones. At the start, Blaney gave Hamlin a shove for the lead, but Elliott fought back on the inside lane. Behind, Kyle Busch, racing in his No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota Camry and eliminated from title contention, made a three-wide move on Logano and Bowyer in an attempt for more positions while the field continued to battle in double lanes. 

    By the time the field returned to the start/finish line, Elliott emerged ahead, but the following lap, Hamlin was able to emerge ahead and take the top spot back. Behind the leader Hamlin, Blaney and Elliott battled for second while Logano got loose in Turn 1 beneath Harvick’s No. 4 Ford while battling for more. 

    At the front, Hamlin continued to lead by a narrow margin over Blaney and Elliott while Harvick and Keselowski battled for fourth. Kurt Busch, meanwhile, muscled his way into sixth place ahead of Logano while Jones and Bowman were in the top 10. Truex was back in 12th behind Bowyer and Bell. Byron was in 14th in between Custer and Austin Dillon while Kyle Busch was back in 17th behind Wallace. Newman, Johnson and Kenseth were in 21st, 22nd and 23rd.

    By Lap 95, Hamlin was still ahead by a car length over Blaney. Elliott stabilized himself in third place while Kurt Busch, Harvick, Keselowski and Logano battled for fourth place. Not long after, Bowman, who was in eighth, started to join the party while Bell and Bowyer were in the top 10. 

    When the race reached its Lap 100 mark and the leaders started to approach lapped traffic, Hamlin and Blaney continued to battle for the lead. Behind, Elliott and Harvick battled intensely for third place, with the latter prevailing a lap later. Keselowski was in fifth place in front of Kurt Busch while Bell, Logano, Bowman and Bowyer were in the top 10. Truex was in 12th behind Custer.  

    Through Lap 110, Hamlin continued to lead by more than a half a second over Blaney, who earlier had a pass on Hamlin for the lead spoiled after encountering the lapped car of Quin Houff. Elliott was in third place ahead of Keselowski, Harvick and Kurt Busch. 

    By Lap 120, Hamlin continued to hold steady for the lead, though he had Blaney settling behind him by two-tenths of a second. By then, the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running no lower than 11th place. 

    Soon after, green flag pit stops started to occur as Erik Jones, who lost the balance of his No. 20 Reser’s Toyota Camry and had fallen near the top 20 on the track, pitted. In addition, Bowman pitted along with Harvick, teammate Aric Almirola, Logano, Byron, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Blaney, Elliott, Reddick and Johnson.

    By Lap 130 and with most of the leaders having made a pit stop under green, Keselowski, one of a handful of competitors who had yet to pit under green, was leading. Kurt Busch was in second followed by Truex, Bowyer, Ryan Preece, DiBenedetto, Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman, Corey LaJoie and Ty Dillon.

    A lap later, Keselowski pitted along with Bowyer and Preece while Kurt Busch took over the lead for the next two laps before he and Truex pitted. Back on the track, DiBenedetto emerged as the lead followed by McDowell, Newman, LaJoie and Ty Dillon while Hamlin and Blaney were in sixth and seventh. By then, the race reached its overall halfway point.

    During the racing on the track, Harvick narrowly avoided wrecking into Ty Dillon, who was slowing on the track to make the turn to pit road under green and caused Harvick to move up the track and pass Dillon’s No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE without contact. 

    With 20 laps remaining in the second stage, DiBenedetto continued to remain on the track and with the lead followed by McDowell, Newman and LaJoie while Hamlin was in fifth. Blaney, Elliott, Harvick, Keselowski and Bowman were in the top 10. 

    Three laps later, the caution flew when Matt Kenseth wrecked entering Turn 4 when he moved up the track and across the front nose of Erik Jones as both wrecked across the outside wall and Kenseth emerged with significant body damage to his No. 42 AdventHealth Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. At the time of caution, the top-three competitors led by DiBenedetto, Newman and LaJoie were still on the track. The good news for all three of them was that they were able to pit along with most of the leaders, cycle back and gain a number of track positions with the front-runners. 

    Under caution, most of the leaders led by DiBenedetto, Newman, LaJoie, Elliott, Harvick and Logano pitted while the rest led by Hamlin, Blaney, Keselowski, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Truex remained on the track. 

    With 11 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green and Hamlin received a push from Keselowski to retain the lead on the outside lane over Blaney. Through the backstretch and back to the start/finish line, Hamlin was ahead of Blaney while Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Bowman and Elliott battled for third place. Behind, Harvick was in fifth followed by Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Bowyer, DiBenedetto and Truex. 

    With the laps in the second stage dwindling, Hamlin was still ahead by a narrow margin over Blaney while Bowman was in third. Not long after, Harvick moved into second place over Blaney and Bowman while Elliott slipped back to sixth behind Keselowski. Truex and Kurt Busch were in eighth and ninth while Logano was back in 14th behind Bell and Kyle Busch. 

    Down to the final two laps of the second stage, Harvick was a car length behind Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota while Blaney, Bowman, Keselowski and Elliott battled for third place. 

    Despite having a challenge from Harvick on the final lap and for a full circuit, Hamlin was able to persevere and hold on to claim the second stage on Lap 160 while also achieving his 10th stage victory of the season. Harvick settled in second followed by Blaney, Bowman and Elliott. Keselowski, DiBenedetto, Truex, Kurt Busch and Bowyer settled in the top 10. By then, Logano was still mired back in 14th in between Bell and Almirola. 

    Under the stage break, nearly all of the leaders pitted and Logano exited in first place following a two-tire pit stop. Almirola exited in second place while also on two fresh tires followed by Hamlin, the first on four fresh tires. Bowman, Harvick and Elliott followed suit.  

    Back on the track, Kyle Busch emerged with the lead after he elected to remain on the track under the stage break.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage started under green and with Kyle Busch and Logano on the front row followed by Almirola, Bowman, Hamlin and Harvick. At the start, Logano emerged with the lead entering Turn 2 while a multitude of competitors battled and expanded into three and four lanes for positions. 

    Two laps later, Harvick emerged with the lead after overtaking Logano while Bowman moved up to third place over Kyle Busch. With the battles around the track continuing to ensue, Kyle Busch moved back into third place in front of Keselowski and brother Kurt Busch, all of whom were behind Logano. 

    Meanwhile, Bowman was in sixth ahead of Hamlin, Blaney, Truex and DiBenedetto while Elliott was mired back in 11th. Bowyer was in 14th behind Bell and Byron. 

    With 90 laps remaining, Harvick was clear out front by less than two seconds over Logano, who had teammate Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Kurt Busch and Hamlin challenging behind. 

    Shortly after, troubles ensued for Hamlin, who bounced off with the outside wall in Turn 4 while moving in front of teammate Kyle Busch in a battle for a top-five spot. Following the contact, Hamlin began to fall off the pace and he made an unscheduled pit stop under green the following lap to have the damage and any concerns of a tire rub addressed. By the time he returned to the track, he lost a lap to the leaders. 

    With 80 laps remaining, Harvick stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Keselowski while Penske teammates Logano and Blaney were in third and fourth. Kyle Busch, who was still holding strong on four old tires, was in fifth followed by Bowman, Kurt Busch, Truex, Bell and Bowyer. Elliott was in 11th ahead of Custer while Hamlin was in 28th place and a lap behind.

    Ten laps later, with 70 laps remaining, Harvick extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Keselowski while Blaney, Kyle Busch and Bowman were in the top five. Logano, Truex, Bowyer, Elliott and Bell were in the top 10. While Hamlin was behind in 28th place and still trying to fight his way back on the lead lap, Kurt Busch was in 19th place after reporting an electrical issue to his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. 

    Shortly after, a good day turned bad became sour for Kurt Busch, who lost his engine through Turns 1 and 2 as his No. 1 Chevrolet went up in a billow of smoke. The issue was terminal and  enough to end Busch’s day in the garage as his hopes for a second Cup title took an early hit in the Round of 8. 

    “Having an engine failure in the Playoffs, it’s just like a huge parachute that slows you up,” Kurt Busch said on NBC. “We’ll pack that parachute up, throw it away and we’ll go to Texas to win. We knew we were gonna have to win either here or Texas. Martinsville, we got a shot at it too. The odds were stacked against us, but hey, we’re in the top eight for a reason. I got a great crew chief, Matt McCall. We’ll bounce back… It’s just one of those things. We have an engine failure and there’s nothing we can do about it.” 

    At the time of caution, Erik Jones received the free pass to return on the lead lap while Hamlin remained a lap behind the leaders. Under caution, the leaders pitted for fresh tires and enough fuel to complete the race to its entire distance. Following the pit stops, Harvick retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Blaney, Logano and Keselowski. Prior to the restart, Hamlin took the wave around to return on the lead lap, though he is out of sequence with the leaders and needs another pit stop to complete the race to its distance.

    The race restarted under green with 62 laps remaining. At the start, Harvick retained the lead on the outside lane while teammates Blaney, Logano and Keselowski moved up. Bowman also moved up into the top five as Kyle Busch slipped back to sixth. 

    Four laps later, Harvick continued to lead by less than half a second over the Penske trio while Hendrick teammates Bowman and Byron were in fifth and sixth. Truex and DiBenedetto battled for seventh while Elliott and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, was back in 12th behind Bell. By then, Erik Jones, who had returned on the lead lap, pitted under green due to a tire rub.

    With 50 laps remaining, Harvick extended his advantage to a second over Logano, who had teammates Keselowski and Blaney behind him. Bowman was in fifth while Elliott was able to work his way back up to sixth place. Truex, Byron, Bell and DiBenedetto were in the top 10 while Kyle Busch was in 11th. Hamlin, meanwhile, was in 24th place behind Roush Fenway Racing’s Buescher and Newman. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned due to Reddick making contact into the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4, though he was able to pit without further incident. The caution allowed Hamlin, who was on the lead lap, to cycle back with the leaders and pit under caution at the same time with enough fuel to complete the race to its scheduled distance. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano was able to exit pit road in first place ahead of Harvick. Bowman, Blaney and Kyle Busch exited in the top five.

    With 42 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Harvick battled for the lead. Through Turn 2, however, Logano was able to retain the lead as Blaney battled Harvick for second place. Behind, Jimmie Johnson made contact with the wall following contact with Ryan Preece and he made an unscheduled pit stop, though the race remained under green. 

    At the front, Logano continued to lead followed by Harvick and Blaney while Bowman and Keselowski were in the top five. Behind, Elliott battled teammate Byron for sixth while Kyle Busch, Bell and Truex were in the top 10. 

    With less than 35 laps remaining, Logano continued to lead, but he had Harvick trailing by approximately a tenth of a second. Five laps later, with 30 laps remaining, Logano was still out in front by half a second over Harvick and Keselowski, both of whom started to battle for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Bowman and Blaney battled for fourth place while Elliott overtook Kyle Busch for sixth place. By then, Truex was in ninth while Hamlin was in 17th. 

    Down to the final 25 laps of the race and the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Logano remained out in front of the field by two-tenths of a second, though he had Harvick remaining well behind him and continuing to pounce for the lead. Keselowski stabilized himself in third place followed by teammates Bowman and Elliott. Kyle Busch was in sixth followed by Blaney, Byron, Truex and DiBenedetto. By then, Hamlin was in 16th place behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

    Five laps later, with 20 laps remaining, the top-five competitors led by Logano were separated by a second. By then, Logano continued to drive defensively with the lead over Harvick while Keselowski, Bowman and Elliott started to close in. 

    With 15 laps remaining, Logano and Harvick were able to pull away by third-place Keselowski by more than a second. A lap later, Bowman overtook Keselowski for third place while Elliott continued to run in the top five. By then, Truex was in ninth behind Byron while Hamlin only moved up to 15th place behind Custer. 

    Down to the final 10 laps of the race, Logano started to pull away as he extended his advantage to less than half a second over Harvick and with Bowman trailing by less than two seconds. Keselowski continued to run in fourth place, trailing by more than two seconds, while Elliott settled in fifth place, trailing by more than three seconds.

    A lap later, Harvick started to close in on Logano in an effort to pounce for the lead yet again. With the top-two competitors duking it out and the laps dwindling, Bowman and his No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Truck Hero Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE started to close in by six car lengths. 

    With five laps remaining, the top-three competitors were separated by less than a second, with Logano leading by a narrow margin and Bowman starting to close in on Harvick for the runner-up spot. By then, Kyle Busch and Blaney were battling for sixth place behind Keselowski and Elliott. 

    With three laps remaining, the top-three competitors were separated by half a second, with Harvick continuing to pounce on Logano for the lead and Bowman joining the party amid lapped traffic. 

    On the final lap, Logano was still leading by a narrow margin over Harvick and Bowman. Through Turns 1 and 2, Logano continued to lead while Harvick struggled to close in on Logano’s rear bumper. In Turn 3 and despite encountering two lapped cars, Logano was able to defend his spot over Harvick to cross the finish line in first place and grab his spot in the championship round with a victory at Kansas.

    With his third victory at Kansas, this marks the fourth time since 2014 where Logano was able to race his way into the Championship 4 round for the Cup Series finale as he will pursue his second Cup title, first since 2018.

    “You’ve got to want it, man,” Logano said in front of a limited number of fans attending the race on NBC. “What an amazing team this Shell/Pennzoil team is. Oh my goodness. I’m wore out. I spent more time in the mirror than the windshield there. Pit stops put us in position, got us the lead. [Harvick]’s fast. He was real fast, especially down the straightaways. I thought if I could hold him off the first 15 laps, I have a chance and actually, dirty air was the best for us. As we caught lapped traffic, I was able to gap ourselves as he got more dirty air…Man, I’m exhausted after that. We’re going to Phoenix! We’re racing for a championship again! Heck yeah.”

    “You come into this race knowing if you can win this thing, you got an amazing advantage,” Logano added, “The same thing happened to us in 2018 when we raced for the win at Martinsville, knowing that we have two races just to battle for nothing but the championship. I can’t believe it, especially with the way the beginning of the race was going. We were back there, not scoring stage points, running around 10th. Good strategy by [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe], great pit stops and this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang’s racing for a championship at Phoenix.”

    Harvick settled in second place for his third runner-up finish of the season and after leading a race-high 85 laps compared to Logano’s 47 while Bowman recorded a strong third-place result for his fifth top-five result of the season.

    “We just needed to get off of pit road first,” Harvick said on NBC. “It came down to controlling that restart. We lost the lead on the restart and wound up trying to battle. Didn’t get to lead on the restart, but just a really, really fast Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang. All our guys did a great job. We had a fast car and just moved all over the race track. We weren’t the best behind somebody, but I had a lot of options as they made the car better towards the end of the race. Good run for us. Wished we could’ve won, but one [spot] short…Joey’s a good blocker.” 

    “It seemed like we needed a really long run there at the end,” Bowman said on NBC. “We were pretty free all day and we snugged up, got our TruckHero Camaro driving a little better. Just really didn’t have much right-rear grip. There at the end, just running around, wide open, they finally came back to us enough, but then, I just couldn’t do anything once I got there. I burnt the tires off of it to try to get there in the first place. It’s a bummer. I messed up coming to two [laps] to go and cost us any chance that we had. It’s still a really good day for us. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, back at the shop, all the road guys, everybody’s working so hard…We’re building great Camaros. Just a little bit short today.”

    Keselowski, who ran at the front throughout the race, finished in fourth place while trailing the top-three competitors by three seconds as Kyle Busch made his way to finish in fifth place.

    “[Today] was really solid,” Keselowski said on NBC. “Here and Texas were two tracks we were a little nervous about. [I was] Really fast all day. Just didn’t have quite enough there at the end. I felt like if we would’ve had the lead, we could’ve won, but just wasn’t in the cards.”

    Chase Elliott rallied from his radio issues to lead 48 laps and finish in sixth place while Blaney, Byron, Truex and Bell rounded out the top 10.

    “[The radio issues] wasn’t a massive deal,” Elliott said on NBC. “The good news was [the crew] could hear me. I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. Once I understood the situation that they could hear me and I just couldn’t hear them, that helped, obviously. From there, [I] just kind of knew what to expect, just trying to pay attention to the lap count and when everybody else was gonna start pitting or not. I don’t think, ultimately, it hindered our performance at all. We had a pretty fast NAPA Camaro. I felt like we fired off well and lost a little track position in that middle stage. It’s tough to get a big chunk of it back in a hurry… I got two more weeks and we’ll try to go get’em at Texas.”

    “That’s about all we had,” Truex said on NBC. “We were eighth in both stages and ninth at the end. We didn’t really have much more than that. If we could’ve gotten some track position at times, on the really long runs, we were really strong. On restarts, it was really tough to fend people off and we just didn’t quite have the short-run speed. Just didn’t have what we hoped to have, but proud of everybody on this No. 19 team. We’ll do what we do. We’ll keep fighting. Today’s over. It wasn’t a terrible day by any means, but not what we needed to get to the final four. We’ll try to pick it up for Texas next week. Martinsville should be good too…I know we can do it. It’s just a matter of hitting it right. Ninth is unacceptable for us.”

    Hamlin, who was unable to mount a late rally back to the front following his late contact with the outside wall despite leading 58 laps, finished in 15th place behind Custer, though he remains above the top-four cutline.

    “[The contact] damaged the car,” Hamlin said on NBC. “On these tracks, you can’t have any damage on the car, but I was actually kind of fortunate to get a couple of cautions there to get back on the lead lap. That’s as far as I could go with the damage that I had. It hurt the car so bad, so top 15 with that damage, that’s the best we could probably hope for, but still, I definitely had a race-winning car today. Just drove it into the fence…We can win every week. Every week, we’re up front. I think we can win next week, we can win the week after that and we can win the week after that. [I’m] Not too worried about having to go out there and win because I know we can do it.”

    Clint Bowyer, who made late contact with the wall, finished 26th in his 25th and final Cup run at Kansas Speedway, his home track. Jimmie Johnson finished 31st in his 29th and final run at Kansas.

    There were 17 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 31 laps.

    Results.

    1. Joey Logano, 47 laps led

    2. Kevin Harvick, 85 laps led

    3. Alex Bowman

    4. Brad Keselowski, six laps led

    5. Kyle Busch, four laps led

    6. Chase Elliott, 48 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Ryan Blaney

    8. William Byron, three laps led

    9. Martin Truex Jr. 

    10. Christopher Bell

    11. Austin Dillon

    12. Matt DiBenedetto, 12 laps led

    13. Aric Almirola

    14. Cole Custer

    15. Denny Hamlin, 58 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

    17. John Hunter Nemechek

    18. Bubba Wallace 

    19. Michael McDowell

    20. Erik Jones

    21. Chris Buescher

    22. Ryan Newman, one lap led

    23. Corey LaJoie, one lap led

    24. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    25. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    26. Clint Bowyer, one lap down

    27. Daniel Suarez, two laps down

    28. Brennan Poole, four laps down

    29. Ryan Preece, five laps down

    30. J.J. Yeley, six laps down

    31. Jimmie Johnson, six laps down

    32. James Davison, nine laps down

    33. Quin Houff, nine laps down

    34. Timmy Hill, 11 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki, 13 laps down

    36. Reed Sorenson, 17 laps down

    37. Joey Gase, 39 laps down

    38. Kurt Busch – OUT, Engine, two laps led

    39. Chad Finchum – OUT, Transmission

    40. Matt Kenseth – OUT, Accident

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings.

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Kevin Harvick +41

    3. Denny Hamlin +20

    4. Brad Keselowski +8

    5. Chase Elliott -8

    6. Alex Bowman -27

    7. Martin Truex Jr. -31

    8. Alex Bowman -73

    The Round of 8 in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next Sunday, October 25, at Texas Motor Speedway for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500. The race will occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.