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Ryan Blaney dominates for triumphant return to Victory Lane in the Coca-Cola 600

Ryan Blaney erased his winless drought spanning more than a season by emerging victorious in a wild, rain-postponed Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Monday, May 29.

The 29-year-old Blaney, a third-generation racer from High Point, North Carolina, led seven times for a race-high 163 of 400-scheduled laps, including the final 26. The event was originally scheduled to occur on Sunday, May 28, before being postponed to Monday amid ongoing precipitation and an increase of steady rain. Even when the race was delayed again for half an hour in the early stages due to light precipitation, Blaney prevailed through 6 cautions, on-track chaos and seven side-by-side restart battles against pole-sitter William Byron, including the final one with 20 laps remaining, to fend off the competition and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series checkered flag in 59 races.

With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Saturday, May 27, being canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a metric formula per the NASCAR Rule Book. As a result, William Byron, winner of the previous Cup event at Darlington Raceway, was awarded pole position and was joined on the front row by Kevin Harvick.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, William Byron managed to pull ahead of Kevin Harvick and clear him to assume an early lead through the first two turns. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Byron managed to retain the lead through Turns 3 and 4 and back to the frontstretch as he led the first lap while Brad Keselowski challenged Harvick for second place.

During the second lap and with Byron leading, Harvick managed to pull ahead of Keselowski exiting the backstretch to retain the runner-up spot as Keselowski was then overtaken by Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney for top-five spots. Kyle Busch would then overtake Keselowski and drop him out of the top five on the track while Byron continued to lead.

Then on Lap 13, Byron, who led the first 13 laps, was overtaken by the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota TRD Camry piloted by reigning Coke 600 winner Hamlin. Hamlin would proceed to lead at the Laps 20 and 25 mark. By then, teammates Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr., who started 10th and 18th, respectively, carved their way into the top five while Harvick, who started on the front row, was clinging a spot within the top 20 as he continued to slip backward.

When the scheduled competition caution flew on Lap 35, Christopher Bell, who assumed the lead from teammate Hamlin a lap earlier, was scored the leader in his No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry by nearly a second over Blaney, who just managed to overtake Hamlin for the runner-up spot. By then, Truex overtook Byron for fourth and Keselowski overtook Kyle Busch for sixth place while Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher were running in the top 10.

During the competition caution, the field led by Byron pitted. Following the pit stops, Byron reassumed the lead after exiting first followed by Blaney, Bell, Keselowski, Hamlin and Reddick while Truex dropped to seventh. Amid the pit stops, Joey Logano plummeted within the leaderboard after he slid through his pit box while running in the top 15.

When the race resumed under green on Lap 41, Byron retained a narrow advantage until Blaney managed to muscle ahead on the outside lane in his No. 12 BodyArmor Cherry Lime Ford Mustang and assume the lead during the following lap. With Blaney leading Byron, Keselowski battled Bell for third while Hamlin and Buescher battled for fifth.

Just past the Lap 50 mark and amid a series of early on-track battles, Blaney was leading by nearly a second over Byron followed by Bell, Keselowski and Hamlin while Kyle Busch, Truex, Reddick, Buescher and Larson were scored in the top 10. Behind, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was in 11th ahead of Chase Elliott, rookie Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones while Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell and Justin Haley were running in the top 20. Meanwhile, AJ Allmendinger was running in 21st ahead of Corey LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Logano and Harrison Burton while Jimmie Johnson, Zane Smith, Austin Dillon, Ryan Preece and Harvick rounded out the top 30, with names that included Aric Almirola, rookie Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe mired outside top 30.

Thirteen laps later, Bell, who methodically carved his way back to the front, reassumed the lead from Blaney. By then, Byron was in third ahead of Keselowski and Hamlin while Reddick overtook Kyle Busch for sixth. Behind, Truex was mired in eighth ahead of Larson and Stenhouse while Bowman, who made his return from a four-race absence amid a fractured vertebra from a sprint car accident at Iowa in late April, was scored in 16th.

On Lap 74, the second caution of the event flew when Jimmie Johnson spun his No. 84 Club Wyndham Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 off of Turn 2 and the outside wall. By then, Bell was scored the leader by more than a second over Blaney followed by Byron, Keselowski and Hamlin. During the caution period, the field led by Bell returned to pit road amid a stack-up. Following the pit stops, Byron reassumed the top spot after exiting pit road first from his first pit stall ahead of Blaney, Bell, Hamlin, Reddick and Kyle Busch while Keselowski, who pitted from fourth place, dropped to 10th due to a slow pit stop and hesitancy from the jackman. Amid the pit stops, Michael McDowell, who hit Bubba Wallace on pit road, was penalized for an equipment interference along with AJ Allmendinger. Austin Dillon would then pit for a second time for repairs to his front nose.

When the race restarted on Lap 79, Byron and Blaney dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Byron managed to pull ahead on the outside lane through the backstretch. Bell would then follow suit in second over Blaney, where both would battle for the runner-up spot, while Reddick marched his way up to fourth ahead of Larson, Truex and Hamlin.

At the Lap 90 mark, Byron retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Blaney while third-place Bell trailed by nearly a second. Amid a series of on-track battles within the middle of the pack, Reddick retained fourth while Truex moved up to fifth ahead of teammate Hamlin. In addition, Kyle Busch was in seventh, Larson fell back to eighth and Keselowski was back in ninth over Stenhouse, Erik Jones, Suarez, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott and Buescher.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 100, Byron fended off late charges from Bell and Blaney to claim his seventh stage victory of the 2023 season. Bell settled in second as Blaney dropped to third while Reddick, Truex, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Larson and Stenhouse were scored in the top 10. By then, 33 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Byron returned to pit road for service, except for McDowell as he assumed the lead. Following the pit stops, Byron exited pit road first for a third consecutive time following a fast pit service from the No. 24 pit crew ahead of Bell, Blaney, Reddick, Truex and Keselowski. Amid the pit stops, Austin Cindric was assessed a vehicle interference penalty while Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones and Noah Gragson took their respective cars to the garage due to mechanical issues as a result of running over the same debris on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 107 as McDowell and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Byron and McDowell dueled for the lead until Byron pulled ahead through the backstretch. With Byron back in the lead, Bell, Reddick and Blaney would overtake McDowell for positions as the field fanned out and jostled for positions. McDowell then began to fade and lose the track positions he gained while Byron was leading by a steady margin over Bell and Blaney.

On Lap 117, Bell tracked down and overtook Byron for the lead. Reddick would soon follow suit in second while piloting the No. 45 Carolina Blue Jordan Brand Toyota TRD Camry along with Blaney and Keselowski while Byron dropped to fifth at the Lap 120 mark. Through the Lap 125 mark, Kyle Busch was in sixth followed by Hamlin, Truex, Suarez and Stenhouse while Buescher, Elliott, Harvick, Gibbs and Larson occupied the top 15. Behind, Logano was mired in 16th ahead of Wallace, Haley, Almirola and Preece while McDowell had fallen back to 25th behind Cindric, Bowman, Austin Dillon and Allmendinger. In addition, Chastain was mired in 26th, LaJoie was in 29th and Briscoe, who received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap during the first stage break, was back in 32nd.

By Lap 135, Bell continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Reddick while third-place Blaney trailed by more than a second. Bell would then manage to stretch his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Reddick at the Laps 140 and 145 mark. Meanwhile, Cindric made an unscheduled pit stop under green after scraping his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang into the outside wall entering the backstretch. McDowell had also pitted under green, with both competitors falling out of the lead lap category.

Within the Lap 145 mark, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Hamlin pitted, though he stalled his car upon his service’s completion. Kyle Busch would then pit his No. 8 Alsco Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green followed by Keselowski, Truex, Reddick, Blaney, Chastain, Byron and a host of other competitors. Bell would then surrender the lead to pit by Lap 148 as Elliott, who had yet to pit, was leading. Upon his completed pit stop, which was slow, Bell was overtaken by Reddick, Keselowski and Blaney while trying to blend back onto the track. Amid the pit stops, Wallace was penalized for an equipment interference violation.

Once the remaining competitors led by Elliott pitted, the No. 45 Carolina Blue scheme piloted by Reddick assumed command of the field on Lap 154 followed by Keselowski, Blaney, Truex and Bell. A lap later, however, the caution flew due to precipitation reported in Turns 3 and 4 as the field was brought down to pit road and placed in a red flag period on Lap 158.

Half an hour later, the red flag lifted once the precipitation cleared and the track was dried as the field returned to the track under a cautious pace. During the caution period, some led by Byron and Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson had the hood of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 raised up while Logano was penalized for an equipment interference.

When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 163, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead until Reddick pulled ahead through the backstretch as Truex made his move for second. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned when Johnson, who was multiple laps down, made contact with his driver Gragson against the Turn 2 outside wall, which resulted in Gragson scrubbing the wall and debris being scattered while Johnson spun.

During the following restart on Lap 169, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead for a second time. They remained dead even during the following two laps until Reddick managed to muscle ahead of Blaney on the outside lane. With Reddick leading, Truex was in third followed by Elliott while Daniel Suarez battled Buescher, Keselowski and Byron for fifth.

Then on Lap 175, the caution returned when Kyle Busch, who was battling within the top six, got loose entering Turns 1 and 2 and made contact with Keselowski, sending Keselowski scraping into the outside wall, before Busch spun from the top to the bottom lane of the backstretch while being barely hit by Suarez as the field scattered to avoid Busch. Following his spin, Busch reversed his car below the apron towards Turn 4 before spinning his car the right direction and pitting for repairs. During the caution period, names that included Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Larson, Logano, Haley, Allmendinger, Bell, Cindric, Preece and Suarez pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track. During the pit stops, Larson’s No. 5 pit crew popped the hood up on the car for a second time for adjustments.

At the start of the following restart on Lap 181, Reddick and Blaney battled dead even for the lead entering Turn 1 until Blaney managed to pull ahead and assume the lead from the inside lane. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Almirola, who had a brief shoving match with Wallace during the red flag period, got loose and hit the backstretch’s outside wall while running within the top 10 and began to plummet below the leaderboard while the race remained under green flag conditions.

Then on Lap 185 and amid the on-track battles, the caution returned when Hamlin, who was battling Elliott within the top 10, slipped up and squeezed Elliott into the outside wall entering the frontstretch. With both managing to continue straight, Elliott then seemingly retaliated by darting back to the left and sending Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota straight into the outside wall head-on, thus collecting Elliott in the process with both sustaining significant damage to their respective entries as Keselowski barely dodged the incident. Despite sustaining heavy front nose damage to his car, Hamlin emerged uninjured as Elliott nursed his damaged No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage. The incident was one that prompted Hamlin to voice his displeasure towards Elliott while suggesting NASCAR to suspend Elliott for next weekend’s event at Gateway.

During the caution period, some that included Byron and Chastain pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.

When the race restarted on Lap 191, Buescher made his presence at the front known as he battled Blaney for the lead, which he succeeded during the following lap, while Reddick trailed in third. Behind, Harvick carved his way up to fourth followed by Logano and Keselowski while Truex was in seventh.

A few laps later, Harvick moved his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang up into second place as he battled Blaney and Keselowski to defend the spots while Reddick slipped to seventh behind Keselowski, Logano and Ty Gibbs. In the process, Buescher maintained the lead in his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang.

Then on the final lap of the second stage, the caution flew due to BJ McLeod spinning and stalling his car in Turn 4. The caution was enough for the second stage’s conclusion scheduled for Lap 200 to conclude under caution as Buescher captured his first stage victory of the 2023 season. Harvick settled in second while Keselowski, Logano, Blaney, Bell, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Chastain and Wallace were scored in the top 10. By then, 25 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Buescher pitted while Stenhouse and Kyle Busch remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Harvick beat Buescher off of pit road first followed by Logano, Gibbs, Blaney, Byron and Keselowski, whose pit stall erupted in flames upon exiting his stall.

The third stage started on Lap 207 as Stenhouse and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Stenhouse peeked ahead with the lead on the outside lane while Harvick battled Busch for second. Harvick then made his move on the frontstretch during the following lap as he assumed the lead while Logano challenged Stenhouse for second. As Logano assumed second in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, Blaney battled Busch and Stenhouse for third while Buescher was back to sixth in front of Keselowski.

At the Lap 220 mark, Harvick was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Blaney followed by Logano, Busch and Byron while Bell, Truex, Buescher, Gibbs and Chastain were scored in the top 10. By then, Keselowski dropped out of the lead lap category after pitting a lap earlier under green amid concerns of a loose wheel to his No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang.

Ten laps later, Blaney, who assumed the lead from Harvick four laps earlier, was leading by more than a second over Harvick while Busch maintained third ahead of Byron and Bell, who rallied from starting at the rear of the field during the race’s resumption after his No. 20 pit crew made an unapproved adjustment to his car during the red flag period. A lap later, however, Bell drew the caution after getting loose underneath Byron entering the frontstretch and spinning through the front-stretch’s grass. Bell, however, was able to prevent his car from hitting the wall as he slid through pit road before proceeding.

During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Harvick pitted. Following the pit stops, Byron reassumed the lead after exiting pit road first from his first pit stall followed by Harvick, Blaney, Gibbs, Logano and Buescher. Amid the pit stops, Kyle Busch, Truex, Buescher and Chastain made contact on pit road after getting squeezed into one another, with Truex later being assessed an equipment interference penalty.

With the race restarting on Lap 236, Byron and Blaney battled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Blaney peeked ahead and assumed command during the following lap. Behind, Harvick and Logano jostled for third as Larson drew himself into the picture. Reddick also carved his way up to sixth in front of Ty Gibbs while Kyle Busch was back in eighth ahead of Stenhouse and Chastain.

By Lap 240, Larson carved his way into third followed by Reddick while Logano and Harvick dropped to fifth and sixth. Meanwhile, Blaney maintained the lead by half a second over Byron as Wallace cracked the top 10 by moving into 10th.

Ten laps later, Blaney extended his advantage to more than a second over Byron as Reddick was in third followed by Larson and Harvick. By then, Busch was in sixth ahead of Gibbs, Logano, Stenhouse and Wallace while Bowman, Cindric, McDowell, Chastain, Truex, Preece, Haley, Bell, Zane Smith and Austin Dillon were scored in the top 20.

Another 10 laps later, Blaney continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Larson, Byron and Harvick trailed in the top five.

On Lap 274, the 10th caution of the event flew when Keselowski got loose and clipped the right rear of the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang piloted by Todd Gilliland as both spun through the backstretch. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted, but Byron reassumed the lead with the benefit of his first pit stall and another stellar pit stop from his No. 24 pit crew. With Byron exiting pit road first, Blaney followed suit along with Reddick, Harvick, Gibbs and Larson.

During the following restart on Lap 280, Byron retained the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Behind Byron, Blaney retained second while Reddick used the outside lane to battle and overtake Harvick for third. Two laps later, Blaney reassumed the lead after gaining a strong run beneath Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turns 2 and 3. Meanwhile, Harvick fell back to seventh as Larson, Truex and Gibbs occupied spots in front of him.

By Lap 290, Blaney maintained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Reddick while Truex carved his way up to third while trailing by more than a second, all while Byron slipped to fourth in front of teammate Larson.

When the third stage concluded on Lap 300, Blaney fended off a late charge from both Reddick and Truex to capture his first stage victory of the 2023 season. Reddick settled in second followed by Truex while Byron, Gibbs, Larson, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Stenhouse and Alex Bowman were scored in the top 10. By then, 27 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted. Following the pit stops, Byron retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Blaney, Larson, Ty Gibbs, Reddick, Kyle Busch and Harvick.

With 93 laps remaining, the final stage started as Byron and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Byron and Blaney engaged in another tight battle for the lead before Blaney pulled ahead and motored away with the lead.

Eighteen laps later, Blaney was leading by more than two seconds over Reddick followed by Kyle Busch, Byron and Larson while Gibbs, Stenhouse, Bowman, Wallace and Harvick were scored in the top 10. Behind, Truex was mired in 11th ahead of Haley, Zane Smith, Austin Dillon and Logano while Cindric, McDowell, Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe and Preece rounded out the top 20. Meanwhile, Buescher was mired back in 21st while Bell, Harrison Burton, Almirola, LaJoie, JJ Yeley and Chastain rounded out the 27-car field of competitors scored on the lead lap.

With 60 laps remaining, Blaney maintained the lead by more than three seconds over Kyle Busch while Reddick was back in third ahead of Larson and Byron.

Then with laps remaining, the caution flew when a right-front tire came off of the No. 34 Chicago Pneumatic Compressors Ford Mustang piloted by McDowell in Turn 2. During the caution period, the field led by Blaney peeled to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Byron’s pit crew continued to deliver after enabling their driver to exit first and reassume the lead ahead of Reddick, Busch, Blaney, Larson, Harvick and Truex. During the pit stops, Wallace, who pitted within the top 10, dropped to 19th after getting blocked by Bowman while trying to exit his pit stall.

With 51 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron and Reddick battled for the lead but Byron quickly retained the lead. Meanwhile, Reddick slipped up the track as Busch, Larson and Blaney overtook him. Truex also made his move into the top five during the following lap as Reddick fell back to sixth in front of Ty Gibbs and Harvick. Not long after, Larson battled Kyle Busch for second as Truex joined the battle with less than 50 laps remaining.

With 43 laps remaining, however, the caution flew when Harvick, who was battling Gibbs and Reddick for spots in the top 10, made contact against Reddick’s Toyota entering the front stretch and sent spinning through the frontstretch grass, though he continued and directed himself to pit road. During the caution period, all but Zane Smith pitted as Byron was the first competitor to exit pit road first.

Down to the final 38 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron assumed the lead from Zane Smith as the field fanned out, with Larson challenging Blaney for second. Nearly a lap later, however, the caution returned when Allmendinger received a nudge from Stenhouse, slipped sideways and spun towards the Turns 3 and 4 outside wall, barely clipping Logano in the process as Harrison Burton was also involved.

With the race restarting with 31 laps remaining, Byron received a strong push from teammate Larson to retain the lead over Blaney. As the field made its way through the backstretch, trouble struck again as Cindric, who was running within the middle of the pack, got sideways and slapped the inside wall head-on as his long event came to a late end.

During the following restart with 26 laps remaining, the calamity continued as Larson, who was running fourth, slipped sideways and ignited a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 that involved Gibbs, Bell, Logano and Almirola. At the moment of this recent caution, Blaney had managed to reassume the lead over Byron.

With the race restarting with 20 laps remaining, Blaney used the outside lane to retain the lead over Truex and Byron. Through Turns 3 and 4, however, Blaney briefly lost his momentum, which allowed Byron to fight back on the inside lane while Truex had to also step out of the gas to avoid hitting Blaney. Byron, however, was unable to mount his charge as Blaney retained the lead while Byron and Truex battled for second. Shortly after, Reddick made his charge to the front as he overtook Truex for third. Behind, Wallace carved his way to fifth while Kyle Busch, who nearly got turned by Stenhouse, was mired in sixth.

With less than 15 laps remaining, Blaney was leading by half a second over Byron and more than a second over Truex. Blaney continued to lead by six-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining as 23XI Racing’s Wallace and Reddick were scored in fourth and fifth.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Blaney retained the lead by more than a second over Byron and Truex while Wallace and Reddick trailed by more than two seconds.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained as the leader by nine-tenths of a second over Byron. Despite Byron mounting a final lap charge as he cut the deficit down to six-tenths of a second, he ran out of time as Blaney, who had a clear vision in front of him, was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag in 59 races.

With the victory, Blaney, who also achieved his first Coke 600 victory, notched his first Cup Series victory since winning at Daytona International Speedway in August 2021. He became the 10th different winner of the 2023 Cup season and the second Team Penske competitor alongside Joey Logano to win this season as he notched his eighth career win in NASCAR’s premier series.

As an added bonus, Blaney’s Coke 600 victory capped off a memorable weekend for his team owner Roger Penske, who notched his 19th Indianapolis 500 victory a day ago with the help of two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden. Blaney also recorded the first Cup points-paying victory for crew chief Jonathan Hassler.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I might shed a tear,” Blaney said on FOX. “Man, this has been a cool weekend. Obviously, Memorial Day weekend, it means a lot. I’ve been growing up here, watching dad [Dave Blaney] run this race for a long time. It’s just so cool to be a part of it, let alone win it. I was able to get the lead on the restart. Our car was so good that I could kind of bide my time a little bit and we were able to drive off. I was hoping no caution just because you never know. I knew we had the car to do it, but restarts can be crazy. You start to get to feel like you can’t win anymore and when you don’t win [a race] in a while, it kind of gets hard. Just super thankful to the No. 12 guys for believing in me and thank you [fans] for sticking around.”

Byron, the pole-sitter who led 91 laps and received superior service from his pit crew amid the long event and delay, settled in second place for his best result at his home track.

“We just needed a little bit,” Byron said. “Just really happy for Ryan. He really deserves it. He’s a good dude. Cool to see him get a win. I felt like there were enough restarts for him to get back towards the front. I knew [Blaney] and [Reddick] were a little bit stronger than us, but just thanks to this Liberty University Chevrolet team. The car was great tonight. Just not quite good enough, but really proud of the effort. Pit crew was phenomenal on pit road. Those guys are just high energy and that [number one] pit stall helps, so just a credit to the few weeks before Darlington. Just proud of where our team is at. Just needed a little bit more.”

Truex, a two-time Coke 600 winner, came home in third while Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick finished in the top five. Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Buescher, Austin Dillon and Zane Smith completed the top 10 in the final running order. Notably, Harvick finished 11th in his final Coke 600 event while Alex Bowman finished 12th in his first event since returning from his fractured vertebrae injury.

There were 31 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured 16 cautions for 83 laps. In total, 25 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

With 12 regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Ross Chastain leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Ryan Blaney, four over William Byron, eight over Kevin Harvick and 13 over Martin Truex Jr.

William Byron, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Joey Logano are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points, with Bowman occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by four points over Chase Briscoe, 15 over rookie Ty Gibbs, 20 over Daniel Suarez, 38 over Corey LaJoie and 42 over Austin Cindric.

Results.

1. Ryan Blaney, 163 laps led, Stage 3 winner

2. William Byron, 91 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Bubba Wallace

5. Tyler Reddick, 28 laps led

6. Kyle Busch, one lap led

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., four laps led

8. Chris Buescher, 12 laps led, Stage 2 winner

9. Austin Dillon

10. Zane Smith, three laps led

11. Kevin Harvick, 19 laps led

12. Alex Bowman

13. Ryan Preece

14. AJ Allmendinger

15. Justin Haley

16. JJ Yeley

17. Corey LaJoie

18. Harrison Burton

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Chase Briscoe

21. Joey Logano

22. Ross Chastain

23. Daniel Suarez

24. Christopher Bell, 48 laps led

25. Aric Almirola

26. Ty Gibbs, two laps down

27. Ty Dillon, three laps down

28. Michael McDowell, four laps down, four laps led

29. BJ McLeod, eight laps down

30. Kyle Larson – OUT, one lap led

31. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

32. Erik Jones, 59 laps down

33. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

34. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, six laps led

35. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 20 laps led

36. Noah Gragson – OUT, Engine

37. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second annual event at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 4, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 30, 2023
Hamlin clips Larson for thrilling last lap Cup victory at Kansas

Denny Hamlin executed a thrilling finish for the ages by stalking and making the slightest contact on Kyle Larson that sent Larson into the backstretch wall on the final lap to win the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, May 7.

The 42-year-old Hamlin from Chesterfield, Virginia, led eight times for 34 of 267-scheduled laps in a Heartland event that generated competitive racing and various lead changes from start to finish. At the event’s conclusion, Hamlin, who spent the final 26 laps trailing and cutting Larson’s steady advantage while trying himself to overtake him, seized an opportunity at the start of the final lap when he got to Larson’s rear bumper and tried to overtake him through the first two turns. Then as Larson gained the momentum to pull ahead entering the backstretch, both competitors’ cars came together as Hamlin slipped up and resulted with Larson getting sideways and wrecking against the outside wall. This allowed Hamlin to sneak by with the lead as he cruised to his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season by more than a second.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, William Byron notched his second Cup pole of the season and the 10th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 179.206 mph in 30.133 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Kyle Larson, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 179.170 mph in 30.139 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Josh Bilicki, Corey LaJoie and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron took off with the lead on the inside lane and assumed control of the field that fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field continued to jostle for positions, Byron led the first lap while teammate Larson and Ross Chastain battled for second. Behind, Tyler Reddick was in fourth while Martin Truex Jr. retained fifth ahead of Joey Logano.

During the third lap, however, Byron briefly fell off the pace and dipped his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the apron after getting loose entering the backstretch, which allowed Larson and Chastain to rocket past him as they battled for the lead followed by a hard-charging Reddick. A tight three-car battle for the lead then ensued between Larson, Chastain and Reddick, with neither letting off the throttle nor giving an inch as they fanned out and slid up the track to stall the momentum.

Then prior to the fifth lap, the three-car battle for the lead between Larson, Reddick and Chastain went south as Reddick, who was sliding up the track and attempting to file in behind Larson and in front of Chastain entering the frontstretch, made contact with Larson as he sent Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning across the frontstretch. Larson, however, managed to keep his car spinning below the apron without getting hit from the oncoming field and proceed without sustaining any damage as the event’s first caution flew.

During the first caution, names that included Larson, Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Josh Bilicki, Todd Gilliland, Harrison Burton, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley and JJ Yeley pitted while the rest led by the new leader Reddick remained on the track.

When the race restarted on the ninth lap, Reddick retained the lead on the inside lane as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. Behind, Chastain and Byron were in second and third while rookie Ty Gibbs used the outside lane to move his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry into the top five as he battled teammate Martin Truex Jr. for more. Denny Hamlin also launched his bid for a spot in the top five against Gibbs followed by Logano, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez.

Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by half a second over Chastain followed by Truex, Hamlin and Byron while Bell, Ty Gibbs, Wallace, Suarez and Logano were in the top 10. Michael McDowell was in 11th followed by Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch while rookie Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon were running in the top 20. Meanwhile, Larson, who was trying to carve his way back to the front following his early spin, was mired outside the top 25 on the track.

Thirteen laps later, Truex, winner of last week’s Cup event at Dover Motor Speedway, moved his No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota TRD Camry into the lead after gaining momentum and seizing an opportunity for the top spot through the backstretch and Turns 3 and 4. Teammate Hamlin followed suit in second in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry as Reddick fell back to third.

By Lap 37, Byron, who fell back to ninth, pitted under green, but was assessed a penalty for speeding on pit road, which dropped him to last place in the running order and out of the lead lap category. By then, Aric Almirola pitted as Austin Cindric, Suarez and Kyle Busch pitted their respective entries. The first cycle of green flag pit stops proceeded as Wallace and Chastain pitted along with Hamlin, Reddick, Harvick, Wallace and Logano.

By Lap 40, Truex surrendered the lead to pit along with Josh Berry, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and others. Truex’s pit stop, however, occurred a lap later than planned due to a miscommunication with his team. This allowed teammate Hamlin to overtake him for position on the backstretch with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop.

Just past the Lap 45 mark, Corey LaJoie, who had yet to pit, was leading followed by Keselowski while Hamlin, the first competitor who pitted, cycled to third ahead of Truex and JJ Yeley. Then once LaJoie pitted on Lap 47, Hamlin cycled as the new leader by three-tenths of a second over teammate Truex. Truex, however, managed to narrow the deficit and reassume the lead from Hamlin on Lap 49 while Keselowski, who had yet to pit, retained third followed by Reddick and Ty Gibbs.

On Lap 56, trouble ignited for Chase Briscoe, who exited his pit stall after completing a pit stop under green when the left-front wheel came off of Briscoe’s No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang and rolled down pit road. The tire, however, managed to roll behind the wall and Briscoe was able to reverse his car back to his pit stall without drawing a caution. He, however, was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation as Truex continued to lead ahead of teammate Hamlin, Reddick, Gibbs and Suarez.

By Lap 65, Truex retained the lead ahead of teammate Hamlin and more than nine seconds over third-place Reddick while Gibbs and Suarez remained in the top five. Behind, Wallace was in sixth ahead of Bell while Blaney, Chastain and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. Two laps later, Keselowski, who was trying to stretch his fuel tank after pitting on the seventh lap, pitted under green after slipping out of the top-10 running order while Larson and Harvick battled for 11th.

On Lap 71, the battle for the lead between teammates Truex and Hamlin reignited as Hamlin, who gained ground on Truex through the backstretch a lap prior, managed to carve his way past Truex amid lapped traffic to reassume the lead. By then, Byron’s rocky day went from bad to worse as he pitted under green after scrubbing the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Hamlin captured his second stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Truex settled in second followed by teammate Ty Gibbs while Reddick, Suarez, Bell, Wallace, Blaney, Chastain and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting first followed by Truex, Gibbs, Suarez, Wallace and Blaney. During the pit stops, Reddick lost five spots on pit road due to a slow pit service involving the jack while Kyle Busch, who backed his car on pit road to tighten a lug nut, was penalized for speeding on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 88 as teammates Hamlin and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, teammates Hamlin and Truex dueled for the lead as the field fanned out and battled in close-quarters racing through the first two turns and the backstretch. In the midst of the battle for the lead, Suarez, who restarted third, was nearly turned in the backstretch as he fell within the top 10.

As the field returned to the frontstretch, both Truex and Hamlin refused to give an inch nor let off the throttle as they continued to battle dead even for the lead while Chastain overtook Gibbs and Reddick for third. Behind, Elliott muscled his way to the front as he overtook Larson, Blaney and Wallace to move up to seventh.

On Lap 94, Hamlin attempted to side-draft teammate Truex for the lead through the frontstretch, but Truex gained the momentum on the outside lane through the first two turns as he retained the lead. Their battles were among many occurring around the speedway as Chastain was starting to be pressured by Wallace for third while Blaney and Bell battled for seventh.

At the Lap 100 mark, Hamlin, who pulled a slide job to reassume the lead from Truex, was leading by half a second over teammate Truex, with both continuing to pressure one another for the lead as third-place Wallace trailed by two seconds. Chastain and Gibbs were in the top five while Bell, Elliott, Larson, Josh Berry and Blaney were scored in the top 10. Behind, Suarez was back in 11th followed by Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Reddick and Buescher while Kyle Busch was in 16th.

Seven laps later, the caution flew when Austin Cindric, who was running 19th, blew a right-front tire and slapped the outside wall exiting the frontstretch and through the first two turns. Cindric’s incident was one that broke the wheel in half and fell off his No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang as he pitted. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Wallace emerged as the new leader after exiting pit road first followed by Chastain, Truex, Gibbs, Larson and Hamlin. During the pit stops, Elliott backed his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to his pit stall to have a left-side lug nut tightened as he lost a bevy of spots on pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 113, Chastain jumped ahead with the lead on the inside lane, but Wallace quickly fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Truex as he reassumed the top spot and held the lead amid a series of battles. With Wallace leading, Chastain and Truex battled for second as Hamlin was in fourth ahead of Larson, Gibbs and Almirola. Meanwhile, Reddick was back in eighth along with Kyle Busch, Josh Berry, Harvick and Bell while Blaney was back in 13th.

On Lap 118, Truex used the inside lane to his advantage as he overtook Wallace for the lead entering the frontstretch. Behind, Larson rocketed his way up to third while Hamlin was in fourth ahead of Chastain. As Gibbs occupied sixth, Reddick and Kyle Busch battled for seventh while Elliott was back in 12th in between Almirola and Harvick.

At the halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, Truex was leading by more than a second over Larson and more than two seconds over third-place Hamlin while Wallace and Chastain were back in the top five. Reddick, Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Bell and Berry were in the top 10 while Elliott Harvick, Almirola, Buescher, Blaney, Suarez, Gragson, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger and Logano were running in the top 20. Notably, Keselowski was in 21st, Erik Jones was mired in 25th behind Harrison Burton and Byron was in 32nd.

On Lap 138, the caution flew when Almirola, who was running 13th, snapped sideways and spun towards the bottom of the track in the backstretch as he slowly limped his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang back to pit road with multiple flat tires. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Larson managed to edge Truex and Hamlin off of pit road first as he assumed the lead followed by Chastain, Wallace and Kyle Busch. During the pit stops, Ty Gibbs reversed his car back to his pit stall to tighten a loose wheel on his entry. In addition, Keselowski was penalized for speeding on pit road.

During the following restart on Lap 143, Larson and Truex dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the backstretch and returning to the frontstretch. During the following lap, Larson managed to clear Truex, who had to lift off the throttle in Turn 4, to retain the lead as Hamlin followed pursuit in third. Behind, Wallace and Chastain battled for fourth as Kyle Busch and Elliott battled for sixth. As a series of on-track battles ensued, including one at the front where Wallace overtook Truex and Hamlin for second while Kyle Busch and Chastain bumped and rubbed fenders, resulting with the former voicing his displeasure to the latter, the caution returned on Lap 148 when Erik Jones spun his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entering the backstretch. At the same time, Berry also spun after pinning Gibbs in between himself and Buescher, which resulted with Berry spinning his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the backstretch.

During the caution period, names that included Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Harrison Burton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

With 12 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson and Wallace battled dead even for the lead for a lap, with neither managing to clear one another as Hamlin gained ground on both. During the following lap, both Larson and Wallace continued to duel with both Hamlin and Truex remaining within striking distance before Larson managed to pull a slide job and clear Wallace through Turns 1 and 2. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch moved up to fifth ahead of Blaney and Chastain.

Then with eight laps remaining and just as Wallace reassumed the lead from Larson, the caution flew when Bell, who was running eighth, made contact against Chastain, spun his No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota TRD Camry off of the backstretch and pounded the outside wall as his strong run came to an end. During the caution period, some led by Logano remained on the track while the rest led by Wallace pitted.

With three laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, the field scrambled and fanned out through the first two turns between competitors on old tires versus new tires as Logano and McDowell battled for the lead. Then through the backstretch, the caution returned when Kyle Busch, who was trying to carve his way back to the front amid the mixed strategy, slid across the nose of Ryan Preece and spun his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track as he slapped the inside wall and slid backwards on flat tires as his roller coaster day came to an end. The incident was one that ended Busch’s. Busch’s incident was enough for NASCAR to conclude the second stage scheduled for Lap 165 under caution as Logano captured his second stage victory of the 2023 season. McDowell settled in second while Gragson, Erik Jones, AJ Allmendinger, Buescher, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Larson and Hamlin were scored in the top 10. By then, 28 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, some led by Logano, including the ones that remained on the track during the previous caution period, pitted while the rest led by new leader Larson remained on the track.

With 97 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Larson and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Larson retained the lead ahead of Hamlin following a push from teammate Elliott as a series of on-track battles ensued from the front to the back. With Larson leading, Wallace challenged his owner Hamlin for second with Elliott settling in fourth as Blaney, Truex and Reddick battled for fifth. Truex would then fall back to seventh as he was being pressured by teammate Ty Gibbs and Harvick for more.

Then with 91 laps remaining and amid the continuous battles, the caution flew when Gibbs, who was battling teammate Truex and Harvick for seventh place, slid up the track entering the backstretch as he sent Truex up the track and towards the outside wall. While Truex proceeded, Gibbs then spun his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry below the track as he made little contact against the inside wall while flat-spotting his tires. He then damaged his right-front fender as his right-front tire shredded while he attempted to enter pit road, which resulted with him getting stuck towards the frontstretch grass and ending his race with a wrecked race car.

During the following restart with 84 laps remaining, Larson and Hamlin battled for the lead amid the field fanning out as Larson managed to clear Hamlin and retain the lead. Behind, Blaney carved his way up to fourth while battling Reddick for the spot while Elliott overtook Hamlin for second. Behind, Truex was trying to carve his way back to the front as he was in seventh behind Wallace as Elliott started to challenge teammate Larson for the lead. After gaining a strong run through the backstretch, Elliott, who is needing a victory to make the 2023 Cup Playoffs after missing six of the first eight scheduled events, moved into the lead with 81 laps remaining as Hamlin tried to battle Larson for second.

With 77 laps remaining, the caution returned when Harrison Burton spun his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang off of Turn 2 while trying to avoid hitting Buescher. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Elliott pitted while the rest that included Truex, Austin Dillon, Logano, Gragson and Todd Gilliland remained on the track.

At the start of the following restart with 72 laps remaining, Truex and Austin Dillon dueled for the lead as Larson, the first competitor restarting on fresh tires, fanned out while charging his way back to the front. With Truex retaining the lead, teammates Larson and Elliott pressured Austin Dillon for second with Suarez in fifth as Hamlin was back in sixth ahead of Byron and Logano. With 69 laps remaining, however, Hamlin capitalized exiting the backstretch to overtake both Suarez and Elliott for fourth place while Larson, who managed to overtake Austin Dillon for second, started to pressure Truex for the lead.

Then with 64 laps remaining, Larson side-drafted and overtook Truex through the frontstretch to reassume the lead on four fresh tires. He then started to pull away as Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Byron occupied the top five. Behind, Suarez was in sixth followed by Blaney while Wallace battled Reddick, Harvick and Elliott for eighth. The caution, however, returned with 62 laps remaining when Gragson, who was battling hard against Chastain for a top-15 spot and scrubbed the outside wall on the frontstretch a few laps earlier, got sideways by himself entering the backstretch as he spun his No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track.

During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Truex pitted while names that included Corey LaJoie, Preece and McDowell remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited first with the lead followed by teammate Byron, Hamlin, Suarez, Truex and Austin Dillon. Following the pit stops, however, Suarez was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation after a wheel rolled out of his pit box.

With the race restarting with 56 laps remaining, the field fanned out and scrambled as Preece and LaJoie dueled for the lead in front of Byron, Larson and Hamlin. During the following lap and with the field still scrambling, Byron, who was two laps down early in the event, cycled into the lead followed by teammate Larson, Hamlin and Truex. Larson then engaged in a battle with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate for the lead with both refusing to give an inch while Hamlin tried to close in while running third.

It would not take long, however, for the caution to return with 53 laps remaining when Erik Jones got loose after touching Almirola as he battled him for position and spun below the apron in Turns 3 and 4. At the same time, Berry spun off of the two turns, with both proceeding to pit their respective entries. The caution period enabled McDowell and Preece to pit while the rest of the field led by Byron remained on the track.

During the proceeding event with 47 laps remaining, Larson gained the momentum on the outside lane to assume the lead from teammate Byron with Hamlin in third as Wallace charged his way back to fourth along with Chastain. Truex, meanwhile, fell back to seventh after having issues gaining speed on the inside lane as Wallace and Chastain battled for fourth.

With 35 laps remaining, Larson was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Byron followed by Hamlin, Chastain and Wallace while Logano, Elliott, Truex, Reddick and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Behind, Harvick was in 11th ahead of Blaney, Stenhouse, Allmendinger and LaJoie while Keselowski, Almirola, Suarez, Buescher and Justin Haley occupied the top 20.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin, who overtook Byron for second a lap earlier, as Chastain and Wallace remained in the top five. Larson’s advantage, however, decreased to six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin with less than 20 laps remaining while third-place Byron trailed by more than two seconds.

With 10 laps remaining, Larson, who scrubbed the wall four laps earlier while trying to navigate his way through lapped traffic, retained the lead by only three-tenths of a second over Hamlin, who continued to close in for the lead and now had Larson close to his front windshield.

During the proceeding laps, Hamlin, who was experimenting different lanes to gain the ground needed on Larson, cut the deficit to as little as a tenth of a second as he tried to navigate his way around Larson for the lead amid more lapped traffic. Larson, however, maintained his ground as he was forced to block and fend off Hamlin for the lead. With nearly five laps remaining, Hamlin gained a run beneath Larson and nearly took over the lead on the frontstretch, but Larson managed to maintain the lead by a tenth of a second as he gained the momentum through the first two turns. Larson then managed to stabilize his advantage by only as high as half a second, leaving Hamlin more work to try and regain the ground.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson, who continued to block and fend off Hamlin’s charges through every turn and straightaway, remained as the leader by a tenth of a second over Hamlin. Through the first two turns, Hamlin tried once again to draw himself even with Larson for the lead, but Larson started to peek ahead entering the backstretch. It was there where the competitors’ cars touched as Hamlin slid up and barely clipped Larson left-rear quarter panel, which got Larson loose and into the outside wall on the backstretch. Despite hitting the wall, Larson managed to quickly straighten his car and proceed, but the damage was done as Hamlin escaped with the lead. After navigating his way through the final two corners without any pressure, Hamlin cycled back to the frontstretch and delivered with his first checkered flag of the 2023 season after winning by more than a second over Larson.

With the victory, Hamlin, who won for the first time since winning the 2022 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, notched his 49th NASCAR Cup Series career victory, which tied him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart on the all-time wins list, and his fourth victory at Kansas Speedway. He also became the ninth different competitor to win through the first 12-scheduled events and the third to do so while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, which achieved career victory No. 400 in NASCAR.

The 2023 season marks Hamlin’s 17th season with at least one victory in NASCAR’s premier series. Hamlin also produced the first last-lap pass for the victory at Kansas Speedway.

“Yeah, so proud of this whole FedEx team,” Hamlin, who was met with mixed reviews from the crowd, said on FS1. “I got position on [Larson] there. I was trying to side-draft him, but clipped his left rear. Glad he was able to at least finish and proud of my FedEx team, though. [That’s] 400 wins now for Joe Gibbs Racing. Just such a great accomplishment for them.”

Larson, who rallied from his early spin, settled in second place for a second consecutive time in the spring Kansas event as he also notched his second runner-up result of the 2023 season.

“I was really loose,” Larson said. “I was trying to do what I could to manage it. [I was] Just really loose on that end. [Hamlin] was a little bit better than me at the end there. Obviously, he was side-drafting really aggressively like he would, but he was like touching me, it felt like, and it just had me kind of out of control.”

Byron capped off his miraculous comeback from two laps down to finish third followed by Bubba Wallace, who notched his second top-five result of the season. Points leader Chastain came home in fifth while Logano, Elliott, Truex, Reddick and Austin Dillon finished in the top 10 on the track.

Meanwhile, tempers flared on pit road between 29th-place finisher Noah Gragson and fifth-place finisher Ross Chastain, both of whom made contact on the frontstretch that scales back to less than 70 laps remaining when Chastain forced Gragson up and into the outside wall and resulted with Gragson stalling Chastain’s momentum. After the race, both competitors met to discuss their incident on pit road and the conversation went south as Gragson grabbed Chastain’s chest. With the conversation intensifying, Chastain then swung a punch towards Gragson before both were separated by NASCAR officials.

There were a record-setting 37 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 57 laps. In total, 22 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 12th event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Ross Chastain continues to lead the regular-season standings by 31 points over Christopher Bell, 36 over Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin, 46 over Kevin Harvick and 50 over Tyler Reddick.

Results.

1. Denny Hamlin, 34 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Kyle Larson, 85 laps led

3. William Byron, 10 laps led

4. Bubba Wallace, nine laps led

5. Ross Chastain, three laps led

6. Joey Logano, eight laps led, Stage 2 winner

7. Chase Elliott, five laps led

8. Martin Truex Jr., 79 laps led

9. Tyler Reddick, 23 laps led

10. Austin Dillon

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. Aric Almirola

14. AJ Allmendinger

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Ryan Blaney

17. Chris Buescher

18. Justin Haley

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Corey LaJoie, seven laps led

21. Erik Jones

22. Ty Dillon

23. JJ Yeley, one lap down

24. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

25. Josh Berry, one lap down

26. Michael McDowell, one lap down

27. Ryan Preece, one lap down

28. Brennan Poole, three laps down

29. Noah Gragson, five laps down

30. Harrison Burton, six laps down

31. Austin Cindric, seven laps down

32. Chase Briscoe, seven laps down

33. Josh Bilicki, seven laps down

34. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident

35. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, three laps led

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled visits this season to Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Goodyear 400 and the sport’s throwback weekend. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 14, during Mother’s Day weekend at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 7, 2023
Martin Truex Jr. snaps winless drought; returns to Cup Series Victory Lane at Dover

Martin Truex Jr.’s 54-race winless drought evaporated on a clear Monday afternoon following a seven-lap dash to the finish as he proceeded to win the rain-postponed Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on Monday, May 1.

The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Mayetta, New Jersey, led two times for 68 of 400-scheduled laps, including the final 11, as he spent the majority of the event clashing with crew chief James Small for better adjustments and pit stops to move up to the front. After gaining ground on the leaders at the start of the final stage, Truex capitalized during a green flag pit stop sequence that started with 76 laps remaining to cycle ahead of Ross Chastain and inherit the lead with 68 laps remaining.

Then, while trying to fend off Chastain and navigate his way through lapped traffic, a late caution period with 14 laps remaining was called for Joey Logano who was wrecking. This enabled Small to roll the dice and opt for a two-tire pit strategy that kept Truex in the lead. When the field restarted with seven laps remaining, Truex fended off a side-by-side battle against Ryan Blaney before holding off Chastain, who was charging on four fresh tires, to claim his first elusive checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season at the Monster Mile on his home track, and claim his first points victory in over a year.

With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Saturday, April 29, being canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a metric formula per the NASCAR Rule Book. As a result, Kyle Busch, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Talladega Superspeedway, started on the pole position. Joining him on the front row was Christopher Bell. Prior to the event, Austin Dillon dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s practice session.

Due to the inclement weather, the main event was postponed from Sunday, April 30, to Monday, May 1, with a noon ET start time. When the green flag waved and the race commenced on Monday, Kyle Busch muscled away from Bell on the outside lane as he assumed the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out and jostled for early positions, Busch proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Bell as Brad Keselowski overtook Ryan Blaney for third. In addition, Chase Briscoe was in fifth ahead of William Byron as Chris Buescher pressured Byron for more.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Busch maintained the lead ahead of Bell, Keselowski, Blaney and Briscoe while Buescher, Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott were in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. while Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley occupied the top 20. With more on-track battles ensuing, Busch retained the lead at the Lap 10 mark.

When a scheduled competition caution flew on Lap 20, Busch was scored the leader by three-tenths of a second over Bell while Keselowski, Blaney, Byron, Buescher, Stenhouse, Hamlin, Reddick and Harvick were scored in the top 10. By then, Elliott was in 13th behind Suarez and Truex, Larson was in 15th behind Chastain and Briscoe had fallen back to 20th. Meanwhile, Berry, who was filling in driving the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the injured Alex Bowman, was in 17th.

During the competition caution, the entire field led by Busch pitted as all took four tires, except for Berry and Todd Gilliland as both opted for two fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Busch exited first followed by Keselowski, Byron, Buescher, Hamlin and Berry. During the pit stops, teammates Byron and Berry made contact on pit road, when Berry exited his pit stall and ran into the side of Byron’s No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and Byron then made contact with the pit wall. In addition, Bell fell back to 14th after enduring a slow pit service while his crew was changing the right-front tire.

Following the pit stops, however, Busch was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. Busch’s penalty allowed Keselowski and Byron to move up to the front row for the continuation of the event.

When the race proceeded under green on Lap 27, Byron rocketed away from Keselowski with a strong start on the inside lane and with Hamlin pushing him as Byron assumed the lead. The caution, however, quickly returned when rookie Noah Gragson, who was running towards the rear, slapped the outside wall on the backstretch before spinning towards the bottom of the track and making light contact with the inside wall as he nursed his damaged No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 33, Byron rocketed away with another strong start on the outside lane as he maintained the lead ahead of Hamlin and Keselowski, both of whom battled for second in front of Blaney. With the field fanning out for nearly a lap, the caution quickly returned during the following lap when Suarez, who was running towards the top 10, snapped loose and slapped the outside wall entering the frontstretch as he then spun his No. 99 Pitbull/Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 towards the inside wall. With the field slamming on the brakes to avoid Suarez’s incident, more issues ensued as Kyle Busch ran into the rear of Ty Dillon as both he and BJ McLeod also wrecked with Dillon sustaining more damage as he backed his Spire Motorsports entry into the inside wall. The incident knocked Dillon and Suarez out of contention as McLeod and Busch, whose early pit road speeding penalty sent him to the rear of the field, pitted for repairs.

During the following restart on Lap 41, Byron maintained the lead ahead of Hamlin as the field fanned out to three lanes entering the first two turns. Behind, Blaney overtook Keselowski for third while Ross Chastain used a three-wide move on the outside lane to move up to fifth. Shortly after, however, Truex battled his way into the top five as Keselowski fell back to sixth while Buescher, Berry, and Larson followed in pursuit.

Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Byron was leading by half a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney, Chastain and Truex while Keselowski, Buescher, Berry, Larson and Stenhouse were running in the top 10. Behind, Elliott was in 11th ahead of Bell, Harvick, Reddick and Cindric while Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano and Todd Gilliland were in the top 20. By then, Bubba Wallace was in 22nd ahead of rookie Ty Gibbs and Erik Jones, Kyle Busch was mired in 25th, Briscoe had fallen back to 27th, Aric Almirola was in 30th and Austin Dillon was in 32nd after starting at the rear of the field.

Ten laps later, Byron continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin as Blaney, Chastain and Truex remained in the top five. Byron proceeded to maintain his advantage by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin and more than two seconds over third-place Blaney at the Lap 75 mark. By then, Larson cracked the top five in fifth while Truex fell back to seventh. In addition, Bell returned to the top 10 in 10th, Elliott was in 13th behind Berry and Reddick, Harvick was in 14th and Kyle Busch was in 17th behind McDowell.

Then on Lap 80, the caution flew when Chastain, who was running fourth and getting pinned behind the lapped competitors of Brennan Poole and Austin Dillon, ran into Poole and sent Poole’s No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang sideways in Turn 1. Poole then came back across the track and collected Larson, who was running fifth, as both wrecked against the outside wall, with Larson spinning below the track and sustaining significant front-end damage to his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The incident was one that left Larson voicing his displeasure to Chastain over the radio.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field pitted, except for Kyle Busch as he remained on the track and inherited the lead in his damaged No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Chastain exited first after opting only for two tires followed by Reddick, who also opted for two tires, while Byron exited third and was the first competitor on four fresh tires. Blaney, Keselowski and Buescher followed suit from fourth to sixth.

At the start of the following restart on Lap 89, Busch and Chastain battled dead even entering Turn 1 as Chastain then slid up the track towards Busch. This caused Busch to brake to avoid wrecking as Byron seized an opportunity on the inside lane to battle and overtake Chastain for the lead. With Byron leading Chastain, Hamlin and Keselowski battled for third followed by Blaney while Busch fell back to sixth in front of Reddick. Meanwhile, Harvick was in 10th behind Buescher and Bell while Truex was in 11th in front of Corey LaJoie. In addition, Logano was battling Stenhouse and Ty Gibbs for 13th.

At the Lap 100 mark, Byron was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Chastain followed by Hamlin, Keselowski and Blaney while Reddick, Buescher, Bell, Harvick, Busch and Truex battled within the top 11. Not long after, Larson nursed his damaged No. 5 car to the garage for additional repairs.

Just past the Lap 110 mark, Byron maintained the lead by four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin with Chastain falling back to third on two fresh tires. Keselowski and Blaney remained in the top five while Buescher, Bell, Harvick, Truex and Reddick were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Busch was scored outside the top 20 while names that included Logano, AJ Allmendinger, Berry, Erik Jones, Elliott and Ryan Preece were running within the top 20.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 120, Byron claimed his sixth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season after fending off a last-lap charge from Hamlin. Blaney settled in third while Keselowski, Chastain, Buescher, Bell, Harvick, Truex and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Busch, who radioed a right rear tire issue to his car and was lapped by Byron a few laps prior to the conclusion of the stage, was overtaken and edged by teammate Austin Dillon at the stage’s conclusion for the free pass spot in 25th place.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Byron pitted. Following the pit stops, Byron retained the lead after exiting first followed by Keselowski, Blaney, Chastain, Bell and Harvick. During the pit stops, Hamlin exited ninth after enduring a slow pit stop after the jackman tripped over the pit hose. Teammate Truex also endured a slow stop after the jackman had issues jacking up the right side of Truex’s car during the pit service. In addition, Keselowski was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation for knocking a tire out of his pit box and towards the infield.

The second stage started on Lap 129 as Byron and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Byron rocketed away with the lead followed by Blaney and Chastain while Hamlin ignited his charge back to the front as he battled Harvick for fifth while Bell was in fourth. By then, Ty Gibbs cracked the top 10 in eighth ahead of Logano and Elliott.

Through Lap 150, Byron was leading by more than a second over Blaney followed by Chastain, Hamlin and Harvick while Bell, Buescher, Gibbs, Elliott and Berry were in the top 10. Behind, Erik Jones was in 11th ahead of Logano, LaJoie, Stenhouse and McDowell while Reddick, Truex, Wallace, Allmendinger and Preece occupied the top 20. By then, Keselowski had fallen out of the top 20 in 22nd while Kyle Busch was mired in 26th.

Twenty-five laps later, Byron stabilized his lead by six-tenths of a second over Blaney, who started to close in on Byron for the lead, while third-place Chastain trailed by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, fourth-place Hamlin was trailing by five seconds while fifth-place Harvick trailed by six seconds. By then, 21 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Logano, who restarted ninth during the previous restart, was lapped and mired in 22nd place.

Another 10 laps later, the battle for the lead began to slow brew between Byron and Chastain, with the latter, who overtook Blaney earlier, closing in on the former and was trailing within five and six-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Blaney fell back to third and was trailing by more than two seconds followed by Hamlin and Harvick, Gibbs started to battle Buescher for sixth and Bell was clinging towards the edge of the top 10. Not long after, Bell and Logano, who was a lap down, pitted. Briscoe, who was also a lap down, pitted after making contact with the Turn 4 wall.

Just past the Lap 190 mark, names that included Elliott, Buescher, Gibbs, Reddick, Harvick, Erik Jones, Hamlin and Stenhouse pitted under green as Byron continued to fend off Chastain for the lead. Then on Lap 194, Byron surrendered the lead to Chastain as he pitted under green. Chastain would pit during the following lap along with Blaney, Cindric, Truex, Preece, Berry and others.

At the halfway mark on Lap 200 and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, Keselowski, who had yet to pit, was leading while Chastain, who was trailing by a long distance in second, managed to blend back on the track ahead of Byron and Blaney. Just then, Keselowski pitted his No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang under green as Chastain cycled into the lead. By then, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, both of whom were in third and fifth, had yet to pit while Byron and Blaney were in second and fourth.

Ten laps later, Chastain was leading by two-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Blaney while Harvick and Hamlin moved back up into the top five. Buescher was in sixth ahead of Austin Dillon and Elliott while Kyle Busch was in ninth ahead of Ty Gibbs. By then, Truex was back in 12th ahead of teammate Bell while Berry was running just outside the top 15.

Another 15 laps later, Chastain continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Byron and more than two seconds over Blaney while Harvick and Hamlin remained in the top five. By then, Buescher, Gibbs, Elliott, Reddick and Truex were in the top 10 while Bubba Wallace moved up to 11th followed by Bell, Corey LaJoie, Erik Jones and Josh Berry. Meanwhile, Keselowski was mired in 16th, the final competitor on the lead lap.

Just past Lap 235, Chastain extended his advantage to more than a second over Byron and more than three seconds over Blaney as 15 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 250, Chastain claimed his fourth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Byron settled in second followed by Blaney, Truex and Hamlin while Gibbs, Buescher, Reddick, Elliott and Bell were scored in the top 10. By then, only 12 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Harvick, who was off the pace, had fallen back to 15th in his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza/Realtree Ford Mustang.

Under the stage break, the lead lap competitors led by Chastain pitted. Following the pit stops, Byron reassumed the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Chastain while Blaney, Truex, Gibbs, Buescher and Hamlin followed suit.

With 142 laps remaining, the final stage started as Byron and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain received a strong push from Truex to challenge Byron for the lead, but Byron managed to use the outside lane to his advantage as he retained the lead while Truex overtook Blaney for third. As Byron continued to lead, Gibbs and Buescher were in fifth and sixth while Hamlin battled his driver Reddick for seventh.

With 125 laps remaining, Byron stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Chastain while third-place Truex trailed by a second. Blaney and Gibbs were in the top five while Buescher, Hamlin, Reddick, Bell, Keselowski, Elliott, Berry and Wallace were scored in the lead lap category within the top 13. Meanwhile, LaJoie and Harvick battled for 14th place and to emerge as the highest competitor scored a lap down while Erik Jones, Stenhouse, McDowell, Harrison Burton and Allmendinger were scored in the top 20. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was mired in 22nd and Logano was down to 28th.

Then 11 laps later, Chastain, who had methodically narrowed his deficit from Byron while also trying to fend off Truex, overtook Byron, who was battling loose conditions, through Turns 3 and 4 as he returned as the leader. Truex then overtook Byron for the runner-up spot two laps later as he started to ignite his charge to the front.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Chastain was leading by six-tenths of a second over Truex. Behind, Blaney moved up to third along with Gibbs while Byron fell back to fifth. Meanwhile, Hamlin was in sixth ahead of Bell, Reddick, Keselowski and Buescher while Berry, Elliott and Wallace were scored on the lead lap.

Ten laps later, Chastain continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Truex. Chastain proceeded to stabilize his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Truex with 80 laps remaining. By then, Byron, who earlier reported an issue to his right-rear tire, was back in seventh as Blaney, Gibbs, Bell and Hamlin occupied the top six.

Then with 76 laps remaining, pit stops under the green flag slowly commenced as Keselowski pitted. Reddick would pit a few laps later along with Truex, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Byron and Wallace, who shredded a tire, as Harrison Burton spun after locking his front tires while trying to enter pit road behind Truex. With Burton managing to continue to pit road despite briefly blocking the entrance, the race remained under green flag conditions. Chastain would then pit with nearly 70 laps remaining along with Hamlin and others while McDowell was penalized for speeding on pit road.

Back on the track and with the green flag pit stops continuing to ensue, Truex, who managed to cycle ahead of Chastain, assumed the lead in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry over half a second over Chastain’s No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with 68 laps remaining.

With 50 laps remaining, Truex was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Chastain while third-place Blaney trailed by more than five seconds. Behind, Ty Gibbs was in fourth ahead of teammates Hamlin and Bell, thus placing all four Joe Gibbs Racing competitors in the top six. Keselowski was up in seventh while Byron was back in eighth ahead of Buescher and Reddick.

Then with nearly 40 laps remaining, the battle for the lead reignited as Chastain narrowed the deficit to less than three-tenths of a second over the leader Truex, who was getting mired in lapped traffic. By then, Ty Gibbs had fallen back to sixth place after being reported that he would be seven laps shy on his current tank of fuel.

With 30 laps remaining, Truex, who was trying to lap Harvick, stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Chastain. Truex, however, would manage to lap Harvick a second time and navigate his way through lapped traffic smoothly as he extended his advantage to nearly a second over Chastain, who was blocked by Larson as Larson stalled Chastain’s progress to express his continuous displeasure from the Lap 81 incident between both, with 20 laps remaining.

A few laps later, however, Truex encountered more heavy traffic, which enabled Chastain to close the deficit to within six-tenths and half a second. As Chastain started to encounter the traffic, among which included Reddick and Gibbs, he was trailing by within four-tenths of a second as Truex continued to lead.

Then with 14 laps remaining, the caution flew when Logano’s long afternoon came to a crashing end after he lost a tire, spun and wrecked his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang against the outside wall in Turn 4. By then, Truex had retained the lead over Chastain as both along with Blaney, Hamlin, Bell, Keselowski, Byron and Buescher were the only competitors scored on the lead lap.

During the caution period, the remaining eight lead lap competitors led by Truex pitted. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead after exiting pit road first while only opting for two fresh right-side tires along with Blaney and Bell. Meanwhile, Chastain, who opted for four tires, exited fourth followed by Keselowski, Byron, Buescher and Hamlin.

Down to the final seven laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Truex and Blaney occupied the front row in front of Bell and Chastain. At the start, Truex and Blaney, both of whom were racing on two fresh tires, battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while Chastain was trying to overtake Bell for third. Blaney then sent his No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang hard into Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead, but Truex fought back on the outside lane entering the frontstretch. Then after their side-by-side battle for more than a lap, Truex pulled away from Blaney with the lead through the backstretch with six laps remaining. Chastain then overtook Blaney for second entering the frontstretch as he tried to catch Truex despite both time and laps winding down.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex remained as the leader by nearly six-tenths of a second over Chastain. With Chastain unable to launch a final lap charge to get to Truex’s bumper on four fresh tires, Truex was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag of the season and his first win in over a year.

With the victory, Truex, who won the non-points Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in February, notched his 32nd career victory in NASCAR’s premier series, his 13th driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, his sixth with crew chief James Small and his fourth at Dover (three of which, including today and also in 2007 and 2019, occurring on a Monday). The victory also snapped a 54-race winless drought for the former Cup Series champion, who last won at Richmond Raceway in September 2021, and placed him in a guaranteed spot to make the 2023 Cup Playoffs after missing it during the previous season. It was also a memorable weekend for the Truex family, with Martin’s younger brother, Ryan, notching his first Xfinity Series career victory at the Monster Mile on Saturday.

“Man, it feels incredible,” Truex, who became the eighth different winner of 2023, said on FS1. “I felt like we’ve been close a bunch of times. We gave some [wins] away, that’s for sure. I thought today, ‘Oh man. Late caution. What’s gonna happen here?’ Just a great call by James [Small] to take two [tires] and was able to get a pretty good restart and get Blaney there. He raced me hard, but clean. Just thanks to everybody that stuck with us. We knew we could do this. We’ve showed it. We’ve led laps, we’ve dominated races and it just would never all come together, and I kept saying that we gotta just keep doing what we’re doing and not overthink it. Tough day today with a few pit stops early and then, obviously, the [pit] guys got it going at the end. Really psyched and happy for everybody. Thanks to everyone at [Joe Gibbs Racing] as well. Awesome job.”

Chastain, who is seeking his first victory of the season and since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2022, settled in second after leading 98 compared to Truex’s 68 laps led, but finishing behind Truex by half a second.

“[I] Knew whoever got into the lead was gonna have a good shot at [winning],” Chastain, who accepted the responsibility for the incident involving Brennan Poole and Larson, said. “Gosh, so close again for our Jockey Chevy. It’s surreal to continue to do this and race against my heroes. I guess I told [Truex] a few too many of my secrets last year after we went fishing.”

Blaney, who has not won a Cup event since Michigan International Speedway in August 2021, ended up third. Byron, who led a race-high 193 laps, came home in fourth while Hamlin finished fifth. Bell, Reddick, Keselowski, Buescher and Josh Berry finished in the top 10 followed by Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace, all of whom finished on the lead lap.

Notably, rookie Ty Gibbs ended up 13th, Kevin Harvick finished 19th in his final start at the Monster Mile, Kyle Busch settled in 21st, Logano retired in 31st and Larson finished in 32nd.

There were 19 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 46 laps.

Following the 11th event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Ross Chastain leads the regular-season standings by three points over Christopher Bell, 38 over Kevin Harvick, 40 over Martin Truex Jr. and 44 over Ryan Blaney.

Results.

1. Martin Truex Jr., 68 laps led

2. Ross Chastain, 98 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Ryan Blaney

4. William Byron, 193 laps led, Stage 1 winner

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Christopher Bell

7. Tyler Reddick

8. Brad Keselowski

9. Chris Buescher

10. Josh Berry, three laps led

11. Chase Elliott

12. Bubba Wallace

13. Ty Gibbs, one lap down

14. Corey LaLoie, one lap down

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

16. Erik Jones, one lap down

17. Ryan Preece, one lap down

18. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

19. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

20. Harrison Burton, two laps down

21. Kyle Busch, three laps down, 25 laps led

22. Michael McDowell, three laps down

23. Justin Haley, three laps down

24. Aric Almirola, three laps down

25. Todd Gilliland, four laps down

26. Austin Cindric, four laps down

27. Austin Dillon, five laps down

28. JJ Yeley, seven laps down

29. BJ McLeod, 19 laps down

30. Chase Briscoe, 22 laps down

31. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

32. Kyle Larson, 41 laps down

33. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

34. Noah Gragson – OUT, DVP

35. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

36. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled visits this season to Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 7, at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 1, 2023
Kyle Busch avoids final lap carnage for wild Cup victory at Talladega

In a similar scenario to the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course a year ago, Kyle Busch found himself situated at the right place to strike at the right time as he dodged a final lap carnage involving race leaders Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney to net a big victory in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 23, amid two overtime attempts.

The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led three of 196 over-scheduled laps as he placed himself in contention to win while starting on the front row during the second of two overtime attempts. Despite being overtaken by Wallace and a hard-charging Blaney on the frontstretch and as the final lap started, the seas parted ways for Busch as Wallace, who went from the bottom to the top lane to block Blaney, got bumped and turned sideways in front of Blaney on the outside lane.

The result triggered a multi-car pileup between Turns 1 and 2 as Busch dodged the carnage to reassume the lead before the caution flag waved to officially conclude the event on the final lap. Amid fuel concerns, Busch had enough fuel to coast his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 across the finish line first and claim his second checkered flag of the 2023 season and his first at Talladega in 15 years.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Denny Hamlin started in pole position for the first time in 2023 after posting a pole-winning lap at 180.751 mph in 52.979 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Aric Almirola, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 180.642 mph in 53.011 seconds.

Prior to the event, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger and Todd Gilliland dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin and Almirola dueled for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes entering the first turn until Almirola received a strong push from teammate Chase Briscoe to launch ahead and assume control of both lanes through the backstretch. With the field fanning out to two tight-packed lanes, Almirola proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Hamlin and Chris Buescher.

Then prior to the second lap and as Logano challenged Almirola for the lead, the first caution flew when Michael McDowell, who was running within the top 20, spun in the middle of the pack through Turns 3 and 4 after losing a right-rear tire. Amid the spin, the field scattered to avoid hitting McDowell as he pitted his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang for repairs.

During the first caution period, a host of names that included Ross Chastain, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Riley Herbst, Corey LaJoie, JJ Yeley, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric, Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith, BJ McLeod and Austin Hill pitted while the rest led by Almirola remained on the track.

When the event restarted on the sixth lap, Almirola maintained the lead on the outside lane followed by Logano while Briscoe challenged Buescher for third. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Briscoe drew himself into a side-by-side battle with teammate Almirola for the lead as the former led a lap for himself. Then on the eighth lap, Bubba Wallace was drafted into the lead on the outside lane as he had rookie Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney drafting him. As Wallace fought for the lead on the outside lead, Briscoe also fought back on the inside lane with drafting help from teammate Almirola and Logano.

At the Lap 10 mark, Wallace was leading ahead of Gibbs, Briscoe, Blaney and Almirola as the field battled amid two tight-packed lanes. Despite being pressured by Briscoe on the inside lane, Wallace maintained the lead on the outside lane through the Lap 20 mark.

By Lap 25, Wallace continued to lead as Blaney moved up to second. Martin Truex Jr. also moved up to third followed by Gibbs and Daniel Suarez while Briscoe fell back to sixth ahead of Kyle Busch, Almirola, Harrison Burton and Ross Chastain. By then, all but one of 38 starters were separated within two seconds amid a tight pack and two lanes.

Then as the first wave of green flag pit stops commenced approaching Lap 35 with Wallace leading his Toyota teammates to pit road, early trouble struck for teammate Tyler Reddick, who made a late dart to the left and locked up his front tires while trying to slow his car prior to entering pit road. After getting loose, Reddick then spun and hit the inside wall as he was dodged by Wallace and all four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota competitors. Despite the incident, the race proceeded under green as Reddick navigated his No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry back to pit road for repairs.

On Lap 39, another wave of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, led by Chastain, who passed Kyle Busch for the lead on Lap 36, pitted as Preece cycled to the lead. Then as another wave of competitors, mainly Ford competitors, led by Preece pitted by Lap 41, trouble struck for Briscoe, who spun after locking up his tires and trying to slow his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors YOG Ford Mustang while trying to enter pit road.

While the rest of his Ford competitors proceeded to pit, Briscoe’s event then went from bad to worse when he flattened his tires and was left stranded on pit road while the rest of his fellow competitors pitted. As a result of his mishap, the caution returned on Lap 42. By then, Erik Jones was leading ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Dillon, Haley, Corey LaJoie and AJ Allmendinger. During the caution period, some led by Erik Jones, who had yet to pit, pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 47, teammates Elliott and Bowman dueled for the lead in front of the pack. They continued to duel for the lead through the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4 until Bowman peeked ahead in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and led the following lap. While Bowman had drafting help from teammate Kyle Larson, Elliott had drafting help from Chastain as both Hendrick Motorsports teammates continued to swap back and forth for the lead.

Nearing the Lap 55 mark, the battle for the lead continued to intensify as Elliott reassumed the top spot with drafting help from Chastain on the inside lane while Bowman fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Larson. As the field remained dead even in a tight pack, Almirola tried to start a third lane towards the outside lane entering the frontstretch. Kyle Busch would then move up in front of Almirola along with Blaney and Zane Smith towards the outside lane as Elliott retained the lead.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Elliott, who swapped the lead with teammate Bowman since the previous restart amid the draft, claimed his first Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Bowman, Chastain, Byron, Larson, Cindric, Gragson, Logano, Preece and Suarez were scored in the top 10. By then, the event featured 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders while 36 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the second stage, the field led by Elliott returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Hamlin exited first after only opting for fuel. Harvick, who pitted for two fresh tires, exited second followed by Haley, Chastain on four tires, Truex and Cindric. Amid the pit stops, Todd Gilliland was penalized for having his crew members jump over the pit wall too soon. Buescher was also penalized for running over equipment along with Herbst, who was nabbed for pitting outside his pit box. JJ Yeley was also assessed a penalty for vehicle interference.

Prior to the start of the second stage, the following names that included Buescher, Kyle Busch, Zane Smith, Erik Jones, Keselowski, Stenhouse, Austin Hill and Herbst pitted to top off on fuel.

The second stage started on Lap 67 as Hamlin and Justin Haley occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin pulled ahead on the outside lane in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry through the first two turns as Haley tried to fight back on the inside lane with drafting help from Chastain. Hamlin, however, had drafting help from Harvick as he maintained the lead in front of the field battling in tight formation through two lanes.

Four laps later, Harvick, who drew himself in a side-by-side battle with Hamlin for the lead, led a lap for himself as he tried to receive drafting assistance from Truex while Hamlin moved in front of Haley on the inside lane. With Harvick in the lead, Logano then drew himself behind Harvick’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang in the draft while Truex drew himself in a side-by-side battle with Harvick for the lead.

At the Lap 75 mark, Harvick was leading ahead of Logano, Preece, Truex and Hamlin while Larson, Haley, Wallace, Chastain and Ty Dillon were scored in the top 10. By then, the top-36 competitors were separated by two seconds, with the first 21 separated by under a second.

Two laps later, Logano was drafted into the lead as he led a lap for himself. Another lap later, however, Truex made his move to the front after receiving a draft from teammate Hamlin and Harvick on the outside lane while Logano remained on the inside lane.

Through the first 90 scheduled laps, Truex, who had been swapping the lead with Logano since Lap 77, was out in front ahead of Logano while Hamlin, Haley and Harvick were in the top five. By then, Chastain was in sixth followed by Preece, Cindric, Wallace and Bell while Ty Dillon, Larson, Austin Dillon, Byron and LaJoie were scored in the top 15 ahead of Elliott, Almirola, Harrison Burton, Bowman and Blaney. In addition, 36 of 38 starters scored on the lead lap were separated within two seconds.

At the halfway mark on Lap 94, Truex continued to lead ahead of teammate Hamlin while Harvick, Logano, Preece, Haley, Wallace, Chastain, Ty Dillon and Cindric were battling within the top 10. By then, the top-26 competitors were separated by less than a second while a total of 36 lead lap competitors were separated by over a second and a half.

Three laps later, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as Wallace mounted a charge on the outside lane with drafting help from Erik Jones. Another lap later, Wallace was drafted into the lead as he moved in front of Truex and Hamlin while Harvick and Logano occupied the top five. By Lap 100, Harvick moved back into the lead as he battled Truex to maintain the spot while Preece and Ty Dillon moved up into the top five.

Three laps later, the second wave of green flag pit stops commenced as a host of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, led by Chastain pitted. Another lap later, a mix of Toyota and Chevrolet competitors led by Truex and Hamlin pitted under green for service. Another wave of competitors, mainly Ford competitors, led by Harvick would then pit under green by Lap 105, mainly for fuel. Amid the pit stops, Logano was penalized for speeding on pit road.

Nearing the Lap 106 mark, the top-four competitors led by Keselowski and followed by teammate Buescher, Yeley and Riley Herbst pitted. Once the second cycle of green flag pit stops concluded, Truex cycled his No. 19 Bas Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry into the lead followed by Austin Dillon and Byron while Kyle Busch, Bowman and Elliott were scored in the top six. By Lap 110, however, Wallace navigated his way back into the lead over Elliott, who led the previous lap.

Then on Lap 115, the field split Logano in the middle as Logano, who was left out of the draft prior to the field catching him, was mired a lap down following his pit road penalty. As Logano received drafting help from teammate Cindric to battle Briscoe for the free pass spot, Elliott, who spent the previous several laps battling Wallace for the lead, was out in front. By then, Almirola moved up to second followed by Harvick, Burton and Preece while Wallace was left battling Truex for sixth.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Almirola executed a move on Elliott with drafting help from teammate Harvick on the outside lane to claim his first Cup stage victory since 2020. Elliott settled in second followed by Harvick, Wallace and Burton while Truex, Preece, Hamlin, Stenhouse and Gragson were scored in the top 10. By then, the event featured 33 lead changes for 16 different leaders. In addition, Logano was the beneficiary of the free pass and cycled back to the lead lap after managing to remain ahead of Briscoe and BJ McLeod, both of whom were a lap down, on the track.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Almirola returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola exited first to retain the lead followed by Hamlin, Wallace, Elliott, Burton and Harvick.

With 62 laps remaining, the final stage started as Almirola and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Wallace peeked ahead with the lead on the inside lane with drafting help from Burton as he then darted up the track to block Almirola. This enabled Burton to be drafted into the lead on the inside lane followed by Gragson as Wallace battled Truex for third. Burton would then maintain the lead in front of Gragson, Wallace, Truex, Blaney and Almirola as the event reached its final 60-lap mark.

With 50 laps remaining, Blaney was leading NY a hair over Burton and followed by Wallace, Gragson and Almirola while Hamlin, Truex, Reddick, Elliott and Harvick were running in the top 10. By then, the top-22 competitors were separated by under a second while 35 lead lap competitors were separated by less than two seconds amid the tight two-lane packed racing.

Then with 47 laps remaining, the caution flew when Burton, who was being drafted by Gragson while battling for the lead, spun off the front nose of Gragson as he spun his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang below the Turn 3 apron, though he managed to sustain no significant damage. As the field checked up to avoid Burton’s spin, however, Logano got into the rear of Zane Smith, who then collected Austin Dillon as Dillon spun his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the apron and the grass while Smith made more contact with Austin Hill.

During the caution period, the field led by Blaney pitted, mainly for fuel, and Blaney retained the lead after exiting first followed by Almirola, Wallace, Hamlin, Truex and Gragson. Prior to the restart, names that included Keselowski, Buescher, Erik Jones, Logano and Hill pitted to top off with enough fuel for the finish.

With the event restarting with 41 laps remaining, Blaney and Wallace dueled for the lead before Wallace received a draft from his owner Hamlin to move into the lead on the outside lane. With Blaney remaining on the inside lane and in front of Almirola, Wallace maintained his momentum and lead on the outside lane in front of Hamlin and Truex as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes.

With 38 laps remaining, the outside lane led by Wallace briefly stacked up, which enabled Preece to try to ignite a drafting charge on the outside lane as Blaney was pushed clear to the lead followed by Almirola, Gragson and Harvick. As the field continued to fan out through three tight-packed lanes, Gibbs charged his way into third in front of Gragson, Wallace, Hamlin and Harvick as Blaney retained the lead. Gibbs then started to challenge Blaney for the lead with 35 laps remaining while running in the middle lane while Preece launched another bid for the front on the outside lane.

A lap later, the battle for the lead fanned out to three tight-packed lanes amid the draft as Blaney, Gibbs and Preece, all of whom were the front-runners of each of the three lanes, dueled for the lead. As Gibbs managed to peek ahead to lead a lap for himself, Blaney and Preece fought back from their respective lanes, with Blaney receiving a strong push from Almirola on the inside lane to move ahead. With Preece slowly falling back on the outside lane, Gibbs received drafting help from Wallace and his Toyota teammates to keep Blaney within his sights under the final 30-lap mark.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Blaney was leading ahead of Almirola, Gragson, Gibbs and Harvick while Wallace, Chastain, Hamlin, Truex and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, the top 20 competitors were separated by less than a second, with the top 33 separated by one-and-a-half seconds amid the tight-packed draft racing fanning out to three lanes.

Five laps later and with the field still fanned out to three lanes, Blaney and Gibbs continued to duel for the lead ahead of Almirola, Wallace and Gragson while Stenhouse tried to form a third drafting lane to the front. Another two laps later, the inside lane gained momentum as Blaney started to pull ahead followed by Almirola, Gragson, Harvick, Chastain, Larson, Kyle Busch and Allmendinger while Gibbs, Wallace and Hamlin were losing touch with the leaders while running on the outside lane. With 15 laps remaining, however, the outside lane led by Gibbs and followed by Wallace, Hamlin and Truex regained their momentum as Gibbs started to challenge Blaney for the lead.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event and with fuel becoming questionable for the front-runners, the top-33 competitors were separated within a second and in tight formation amid the draft as both Blaney and Gibbs continued to fight for the lead followed by Wallace, Hamlin, Almirola, Gragson, Truex, Harvick, Haley and Chastain.

With seven laps remaining, the top-four competitors that included Blaney, Almirola, Gragson and Harvick broke away from the tight pack while Gibbs was trying to maintain momentum as the lead competitor on the outside lane. Then as the intensity toward the front continued, the caution flew with five laps remaining when Logano, who darted to the outside lane to ignite a charge to the front while running in the middle of the pack, got bumped and loose by LaJoie as he briefly bounced off of Suarez before making contact with the backstretch’s outside wall and spinning below the track. Stenhouse and Herbst also sustained damage along with Byron, who made contact with Burton as Burton spun and slapped the inside wall, as the event was sent into overtime.

During the caution period, select names that included Byron, Bell, Stenhouse and Ty Dillon pitted for fuel while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.

At the start of the first overtime attempt, where Blaney and Gragson occupied the front row, Gragson received a push from Chastain to peek ahead of Blaney entering the first turn. Then through Turns 1 and 2, Chastain tried to make a move between Blaney and Gragson for the lead. Amid the tight racing, Chastain and Gragson ended up making contact as Gragson’s No. 42 Wendy’s Beef is in the Bag Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ended up shooting back across the track and hitting the outside wall. In the ensuing process, Larson got turned by Harvick as he spun below the apron. Larson then came back across the track and despite being dodged by most of the oncoming field, he was T-boned by Preece’s No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang as both of their events came to an end.

Under the caution period, Harvick, Hamlin, Chastain and Haley pitted for fuel while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.

During the start of the second overtime attempt, where Blaney and Kyle Busch occupied the front row, the momentum occurred on the outside lane as Busch was drafted into the lead followed by Wallace and Keselowski while Blaney was left to battle Truex for fourth. By then, Gibbs pulled his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry below the track after running out of fuel. Through the backstretch, the inside lane led by Busch continued to gain more momentum while Truex was mired back in sixth despite remaining on the outside lane.

Then through the frontstretch, Wallace made his move on Busch and assumed the lead on the outside lane in his No. 23 Columbia Toyota TRD Camry with drafting help from Blaney’s No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang as he started the final lap of the event. Through Turn 1, however, Blaney tried to make a move beneath Wallace for the lead but was blocked. He then moved up the track along with Wallace and the two made contact, which resulted in Wallace getting loose and spinning sideways as he came down the track and clipped Keselowski before spinning within the middle of the pack and towards oncoming competitors. Among those involved on the final lap included Keselowski, Truex, Allmendinger, Cindric, Gilliland and Byron while the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage.

With the caution waving and the race deemed official, Kyle Busch was back in front ahead of Blaney. Amid concerns of not having enough fuel to finish, Busch was able to have enough to remain ahead of Blaney and navigate his No. 8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch before claiming the checkered flag and the official victory.

With the victory, Busch, who won earlier at Auto Club Speedway in late February, notched his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season, which makes him the third multi-time winner of this season. He also notched his 62nd career win in NASCAR’s premier series, which makes the 2023 season Busch’s 13th of 19 full-time seasons with multiple Cup victories. The Talladega victory was also Busch’s second of his Cup career, with his first dating back to April 2008, and the 13th overall for Richard Childress Racing. Ironically, Busch’s Talladega victory marked his first restrictor-plate victory since winning at Daytona International Speedway in July 2008.

“Sometimes, you got to be lucky,” Busch said on FOX. “Some of these races come down to that. You gotta take’em when they come your way. The seas kind of parted there when [Wallace and Blaney] went up the racetrack. They were trying to push draft. These cars are just not stable enough to do that. Seeing [Wallace] just turn a little bit sideways, I was like get out of the way, just miss it and try to see if I was ahead of [Blaney] by the time [the race] was called. Just a great day for another new sponsor at [Richard Childress Racing] with McLaren Custom Grills. We have a great time being able to come out here and race and be a part of Team Chevy and get this Camaro in Victory Lane.”

“We were sweating it being close [on fuel],” Busch added. “I thought back to California, Fontana, earlier this year where we have a win. I’m like we gotta gamble. We’re up here, you gotta take the track position when you have it and go give it what you can on the restarts and see what happens. Low and behold, it worked out. Knock on wood for this one.”

Following an extensive review of the finishing order amid the final lap chaos, Blaney settled in second place after leading a race-high 47 laps. Buescher made his way to third followed by Briscoe, who rallied from losing a lap to the leaders, while Keselowski ended up fifth.

“You get big runs and you take’em when you can,” Blaney said. “I’m glad everyone’s OK, but on my mind, you kind of triple move like that, triple block and you can’t block three times. Just the runs are so big and as the leader, with Bubba, he’s trying to block, which is the right thing to do, but I think he kind of moved three times. You don’t really get a lot of those. I gotta go somewhere, so I hate that good cars got torn up. I hate for us being so close for the win. I’m not blaming anybody. It’s just hard racing at the end of this thing. Unfortunate [that] cars got tore up and we just missed out on another win.”

Erik Jones, Byron, Bell, Suarez and Todd Gilliland finished in the top 10. Notably, Elliott finished 12th in front of Bowman, Ty Dillon and Stenhouse while Hamlin ended up 17th behind Reddick. Almirola fell back to 22nd behind teammate Harvick, who made his 800th Cup career start, while Truex ended up 27th. Meanwhile, Wallace, who led 35 laps, was left in 28th place while Ty Gibbs ended up 31st after not having enough fuel to finish.

There were 57 lead changes for 21 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 34 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 10th event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Christopher Bell leads the regular-season standings by 12 points over Ross Chastain, 20 over Kevin Harvick, 36 over Kyle Larson, 41 over Kyle Busch and 45 over Tyler Reddick.

Results.

1. Kyle Busch, three laps led

2. Ryan Blaney, 47 laps led

3. Chris Buescher

4. Chase Briscoe, one lap led

5. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

6. Erik Jones, three laps led

7. William Byron, one lap led

8. Christopher Bell

9. Daniel Suarez, five laps led

10. Todd Gilliland

11. JJ Yeley

12. Chase Elliott, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

13. Alex Bowman, eight laps led

14. Ty Dillon

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Tyler Reddick

17. Denny Hamlin, seven laps led

18. BJ McLeod

19. Justin Haley

20. Riley Herbst

21. Kevin Harvick, 11 laps led

22. Aric Almirola, 11 laps led, Stage 2 winner

23. Ross Chastain

24. Austin Hill

25. Corey LaJoie

26. Austin Cindric

27. Martin Truex Jr., 19 laps led

28. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident, 35 laps led

29. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

30. Joey Logano, one lap down, three laps led

31. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Fuel, four laps led

32. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident, one lap led

33. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident

34. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident, two laps led

35. Michael McDowell, 13 laps down

36. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident, 11 laps led

37. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident

38. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of this season to Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 30, at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 23, 2023
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Larson: Larson charged early at Martinsville, and was into the top 10 by lap 20 after starting 19th. Larson surged again in the latter part of the race, holding off Joey Logano while leading.

“I was just in a hurry to get to Ryan Preece,” Larson said, “to see if he was for real after winning the pole and to get some payback for his treatment of me at Bristol. But as soon as I got near the front, he started dropping like a fly, proving that instead of running with the big dogs, he runs from them.”

2. Joey Logano: Logano started at the back of the field

“I have mostly fond memories of Martinsville,” Logano said, “and one not-so-fond memory. That’s thanks to Matt Kenseth. But I’ve mostly gotten over that situation, through therapy and positive imagery, in which I picture Matt Kenseth as himself, and I picture myself as Carl Edwards bullying him.”

3. Christopher Bell: Bell started 22nd and finished 16th in the NOCO 400.

“Every driver dreams of raising the grandfather clock trophy at Martinsville,” Bell said. “Now, Kyle Larson has his, and he’s won two of the last three races. He looks like the favorite to win the championship. Larson may have the clock, but everybody knows what time it is.”

4. William Byron: Byron finished 23rd in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville.

“Chase Elliott returned after missing the last six weeks recovering from a broken leg suffered while snowboarding,” Byron said. “Now, every time Chase vows to do something, he’ll hear the same three words from everyone at Hendrick: no, not ‘Break a leg.’ I’m talking about ‘Don’t go snowboarding.’”

5. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished third in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville.

“That’s my first top-five of the season,” Truex said. “Except for Christopher Bell, it’s been a pretty slow start for everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. With Kyle Busch gone, I’d say Christopher is JGR’s top driver. The rest of us, we’re the B-team. In short, with Kyle gone, Christopher’s taken over the job of ‘A’-hole.”

6. Ross Chastain: Chastain led 31 laps and finished 13th at Martinville, and is second in the points standings, 13 behind Christopher Bell.

“I feel pretty good about finishing 13th,” Chastain said, “especially since I started the race 34th. So, much like Denny Hamlin’s championship-less career, I feel like I won the battle, even though I didn’t win the war.”

7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished seventh at Martinsville.

“It’s amazing that Chase Elliott was able to return so quickly after breaking his leg,” Blaney said. “Kudos to the doctors who performed the surgery. Heck, there’s no telling what kind of hardware Chase has in his leg. It’s the same thing NASCAR inspectors say about Hendrick cars.”

8. Kevin Harvick: Harvick won Stage 2 at Martinsville but faded late and came home 20th.

“We were in contention,” Harvick said, “but we blew that when I had to return to the pits to tighten a lug nut. Seeing your chances evaporate like that is tough to swallow and hard to digest, much like a famous Martinsville hot dog.”

9. Kyle Busch: Busch finished a disappointing 21st at Martinsville.

“To make things even more frustrating,” Busch said, “I had to deal with Corey LaJoie. Corey’s earned a reputation as a real douchebag in this sport. So, he’s like a less-talented, less-successful version of me.”

10. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 36 laps and finished 4th at Martinsville, posting his first top-five result of the season.

“I’m pleased,” Hamlin said, “but the real story here for me is Bubba Wallace bumping me during the race. Did he forget that I’m his team owner? Ironically, it was a totally ‘boss’ move by Bubba.”

April 16, 2023
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol Dirt

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Christopher Bell: Bell led 100 laps and held off Tyler Reddick to win the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol.

“I’m thrilled to get this win,” Bell said. “Not only is it big for the Playoffs, but I also got that big trophy plus a sweet gladiator sword. There are two things I can’t wait to do with that sword: 1, Show it off to my friends, and 2, ship it to Mexico and ask Kyle Busch to bring it back the next time he’s there.”

2. Tyler Reddick: Reddick was on the charge late, attempting to catch Christopher Bell, but ran out of time and had to settle for his second consecutive runner-up finish in the Bristol Dirt Race.

“If you saw my post-race interview with Fox’s Jamie Little,” Reddick said, “then you’re well aware that I’m used to coming up a little short.”

3. William Byron: Byron finished 13th at Bristol.

“My team was penalized again after failing inspection at Richmond,” Byron said. “But let’s be honest, we’re just trying to make our car faster; NASCAR keeps catching us. They’re preventing us from making a ‘fast getaway (with it).’”

4. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished seventh at Bristol, as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell captured the win.

“Bell’s one of the best drivers on tracks like this,” Truex said. “His name has become synonymous with ‘dirt.’ The name ‘Denny Hamlin’ brings up similar associations, because his name is ‘Mud’ when it comes to retaliatory maneuvers on the track.”

5. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished a disappointing 28th at Bristol, one lap down.

“Dirt track racing is not my cup of tea,” Chastain said. “If I did have a cup of tea, I’m sure someone would have a problem with it. And with it being Easter, I’m sure I’d get crucified for it.”

6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished ninth at Bristol.

“Michael Waltrip was joined on his Bristol ‘Grid Walk’ by the Easter Bunny,” Harvick said. “From what I understand, the Easter Bunny doesn’t speak, yet he’s still a better interviewer than Waltrip.”

7. Kyle Larson: Larson started on the pole at Bristol and won Stage 1, but was knocked out of the race by Ryan Preece on Lap 177. He finished 35th.

“I think Preece was retaliating for earlier contact between us,” Larson said. “Does he know who I am? Heck. Does he know who he is? Obviously not, because he’s out there trying to make a name for himself.”

8. Joey Logano: Logano had an eventful day, full of spins and contact with other cars, and was finally knocked out of the race on Lap 96. He finished 37th.

“My car was all over the place,” Logano said. “That place was ‘last.’”

9. Kyle Busch: A broken shock with 13 laps to go ended Busch’s night in the Food City Dirt Race. He finished 32nd.

“It wasn’t the finish I was looking for,” Busch said. “On the bright side, though, I got to shake hands with Tim Tebow. That’s probably as close as I’m gonna get to feeling the hand of God. That is, a God-awful NFL quarterback.”

10. Ryan Blaney: Blaney ran near the front for the majority of the night at Bristol, but a spin on a restart with eight laps to go cost him a top-five finish. He finished 23rd.

“The track conditions changed quite a bit over the duration of the race,” Blaney said. “If you took a look at the stands, you noticed that the track was the only thing ‘packed.’”

April 10, 2023
Bell strikes late with first Cup victory of 2023 at Bristol Dirt Course

In a war of attrition match involving NASCAR’s elite around the Last Great Colosseum on dirt, Christopher Bell benefitted from a late strategic call to remain on the track. He then controlled the final stage to his advantage and motored his way to win the third annual running of the Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Easter Sunday, April 9.

The 28-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led the final 100 of 250-scheduled laps. Once he gained control of the lead for the start of the final stage spanning 100 laps, the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota TRD Camry survived a flurry of on-track chaos, caution periods and challenges from former dirt veterans turned NASCAR premier series stars to claim the first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup Series season for himself and for the JGR organization.

The starting lineup for the main event was determined through four 15-lap qualifying events that occurred on Saturday, April 8, where the 37 competitors that entered the main event accumulated points for their finishing results and passes by improving from their original starting spots during their respective heat events.

With that, Kyle Larson, who won the third qualifying event after starting sixth and accumulating 15 points, claimed his second pole position of the 2023 Cup Series season. Joining him on the front row was Austin Dillon, who won the first qualifying event after starting fifth and earning 14 points.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Larson took off with the lead on the outside lane and pulled away as the field slipped and slid their way through the first two turns on the dirt. With the field returning to the frontstretch, Larson led the first lap ahead of Austin Dillon, who was being challenged early by Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. As Larson continued to lead through the Lap 5 mark, he also extended his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon while Ryan Preece moved up into the top five. By then, JJ Yeley, who qualified an impressive third place in his No. 15 Rick Ware Racing entry, had fallen back to eighth in front of Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano while Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric moved up to sixth and seventh.

On the 10th lap, the first caution of the event flew when Bubba Wallace, who was running near the top 10, got loose entering Turn 2 and collected Logano, who spun Wallace right at the same time he got turned by William Byron and hit the sand barrels near the backstretch’s pit road entrance. Todd Gilliland then made contact with the outside wall after making contact with Byron, who was trying to straighten his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Larson managed to fend off Austin Dillon for the lead while Bell, Reddick and Preece remained in the top five. During the event’s first caution period, names like Gilliland, BJ McLeod, Brad Keselowski and Logano pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 20, Larson fended off Bell and Austin Dillon to retain the lead while having the outside lane to his advantage as the field jostled and slid on the dirt between two lanes for positions. As Larson retained the lead over Austin Dillon and Bell, Reddick retained fourth while Kyle Busch started to challenge Preece for fifth.

At the Lap 35 mark, Larson was leading by more than eight-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon and more than three seconds over third-place Bell while Kyle Busch and Reddick were in the top five. Preece, Blaney, Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Byron were in the top 10 while Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, JJ Yeley, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, Justin Haley and Matt Crafton occupied the top 20.

Two laps later, the second caution of the event flew when Matt Crafton, who was filling in the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing entry for Cody Ware, spun between Turns 3 and 4 and barely made contact with the outside wall. In the process, Logano made slight contact with Crafton while jamming on the brakes to avoid colliding with Crafton.

With the field restarting under green on Lap 45, Larson pulled away in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with the lead on the outside lane followed by Austin Dillon while Kyle Busch moved his No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third in front of Bell. In addition, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang into the top five while Reddick fell back to sixth.

Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by more than eight-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon while Dillon’s teammate Kyle Busch trailed in third by more than a second. As Bell and Blaney occupied the top five, Preece overtook Reddick for sixth while Briscoe, Byron and Cindric were in the top 10.

Seven laps later, the third caution of the event flew when Brad Keselowski spun by himself in Turn 4 and continued without sustaining any damage to his No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang. By then, Erik Jones and Corey LaJoie had made on-track contact and pitted while falling out of the lead lap category.

During the proceeding restart on Lap 64, Larson fended off Austin Dillon to retain the lead while Kyle Busch launched a challenge on teammate Dillon for second, which Dillon blocked Busch before the latter succeeded during the following lap. Meanwhile, Preece moved up to fourth followed by Blaney while Bell was back in sixth. As the field continued to jostle for positions, Larson retained a steady advantage over Richard Childress Racing’s Busch and Dillon, both of whom duked for second, as the event surpassed the Lap 70 mark.

Then on the final lap of the first stage, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck in Turn 4 that involved Denny Hamlin and Josh Berry. The incident in Turn 4 was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 75 to conclude under caution as Larson captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammates Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch were scored in second and third followed by Preece, Blaney, Bell, Briscoe, Reddick, Justin Haley and Byron. By then, 35 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Larson pitted under a six-minute, non-competitive break period while names that included Reddick, Wallace, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Dillon remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 76 as Reddick and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick maintained the lead through the first two turns while teammate Wallace muscled his way into second over Truex. Behind, Larson, the first competitor on four fresh tires, was back in fifth behind Ty Dillon while Preece joined the battle.

Four laps later and with the field jostling for positions while slipping and sliding in the dirt, the caution returned when Jonathan Davenport, a three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion who was making his NASCAR debut with Kaulig Racing, got loose and spun entering Turn 4 as the field scattered to avoid him. By then, Reddick retained the lead in front of teammate Wallace, Truex, Ty Dillon and Larson, who made contact with Preece and sent Preece into the wall a few laps earlier. The on-track contact prompted Preece to pull his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang alongside Larson’s to express his displeasure.

With the event restarting under green on Lap 86, Reddick retained the lead as the field fanned out to three lanes through the turns and the straightaways. A lap later, however, the caution quickly returned when McDowell got loose and did a full 360 spin entering the backstretch, but he managed to drive away without being hit by the oncoming field.

During the proceeding restart on Lap 94, Reddick rocketed with the lead on the outside lane while teammate Wallace fended off Truex and Ty Dillon to move to second as the field fanned out. A few laps later, trouble ensued for Daniel Suarez as he spun on the backstretch while Logano had smoke billowing out of his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Then shortly after, McDowell went for another 360 spin entering Turn 4, though he continued without sustaining any damage, while AJ Allmendinger made contact with the Turn 1 barriers. Amid all the issues, the event remained under green flag conditions as Reddick continued to lead. By then, Logano, who was aiming for a doubleheader sweep after winning Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series event on the Bristol Dirt, pitted and fell out of the lead lap category. He would eventually nurse his damaged car to the garage and retire in last place.

Through the first 100 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Wallace followed by Truex, Ty Dillon and Kyle Busch while Preece, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Larson were scored in the top 10. Three laps later, however, the caution returned when Preece, who was running in the top 10, got loose and spun on the backstretch due to a broken right-rear toe link.

As the event restarted on Lap 111, Reddick received another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead followed by teammate Wallace, who restarted behind Reddick on the outside lane during the last several restarts to remain within striking distance of the lead. With both 23XI Racing competitors running towards the front, Kyle Busch was in third followed by Truex and Ty Dillon while Larson was back in sixth in front of Blaney and Austin Dillon. A few laps later, Ty Dillon made contact towards the Turn 2 outside wall and slipped out of the top 10, but the event remained under green flag conditions. Then towards the Lap 120 mark, Wallace lost a bevy of spots after making contact with the wall.

Then at the halfway mark on Lap 125, the caution flew when Keselowski spun for a second time of the night, this time in Turn 2. By then, Reddick had maintained the lead over Busch, Austin Dillon, Larson, Bell and Truex while Wallace had plummeted back to 16th. In addition, Larson, who was running towards the front, made contact with the wall while battling Dillon for third before running into Bell to defend his spot.

The following restart on Lap 131 saw Reddick retain the lead over Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon amid a stacked-up field while Larson tried to use the outside lane to slip and carve his way back to the front. Soon after, Erik Jones spun entering Turn 2, but the event remained under green as a tight battle for the lead between Reddick, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Larson ensued.

Then on Lap 135, Busch pulled a slide job beneath Reddick entering Turn 4 to assume the lead. As Busch maintained the lead by a narrow margin over Reddick, Austin Dillon fended off Larson to remain in third while Bell was in fifth in front of Briscoe and Truex. Reddick, however, would seize an opportunity and overtake both Dillon and Busch in Turn 4 to reassume the lead on Lap 141 as Dillon and Busch engaged in a fierce battle for second with Larson closing in.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 150, Reddick captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Dillon settled in second in front of Larson while Bell managed to overtake Kyle Busch to claim fourth while Briscoe, Truex, Blaney, Haley and Aric Almirola were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, names that included Bell, Briscoe, Almirola, Byron, McDowell, Gilliland, Hamlin, Josh Berry and Ross Chastain remained on the track while the rest led by Reddick pitted during a six-minute break period.

With 100 laps remaining, the final stage started as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Bell retained the lead and checked out away from the field while Briscoe launched his way into second followed by Almirola, Gilliland and Berry as the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions. Four laps later, however, the caution returned when Larson, who was trying to carve his way back to the front while on old tires after electing not to pit during the second stage’s break period, spun in Turn 4 as he plummeted below the leaderboard.

During the following restart with 89 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead in front of Briscoe, Almirola, Gilliland and Berry amid a packed field. As Hamlin spun with 82 laps remaining through Turn 2, he continued without drawing a caution as his teammate, Bell, maintained a steady advantage over Briscoe while Almirola, Gilliland and Berry remained in the top five. By then, Kyle Busch was trying to carve his way back to the front as he navigated his way up to seventh behind teammate Austin Dillon as Byron joined the battle. Amid all the battles, however, Bell continued to lead as the laps began to dwindle.

Then with 76 laps remaining, the caution flew when Larson, who got bumped and squeezed against the frontstretch’s wall with help from Preece, veered back left into Preece before spinning up against the track and wrecking against the Turn 1 outside wall. The damage to his No. 5 Chevrolet was enough to conclude Larson’s event in the garage while Preece continued. The incident, however, was not viewed kindly from Larson’s perspective and it hinted at retaliation from Preece, who made contact with the wall earlier with help from Larson.

“Yeah, I’m guessing [Preece] was paying me back for whatever I did earlier,” Larson, who emerged from the infield care center uninjured, said. “He ran me straight into the fence, and my car was broke and we crashed. It sucks, but I should just be mad at myself for spinning out earlier and putting myself back there. Just sucks.”

In the ensuing restart with 69 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead over Briscoe and Gilliland amid a flurry of jostles for positions within the field. A lap later, Austin Dillon worked his way back up to third as he went after Briscoe for second while Kyle Busch challenged Almirola for fifth. By then, Berry and McDowell, who endured two 360 spins, were running in the top 10 as Reddick tried to work his way back into the top 10.

With nearly 60 laps remaining, Chastain spun in Turn 2, but the event remained under green as Bell continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Briscoe while Austin Dillon trailed by seven-tenths of a second in third.

With 50 laps remaining, Bell was leading by six-tenths of a second over Briscoe followed by Austin Dillon, Gilliland and Reddick while Kyle Busch, Berry, Stenhouse, Blaney and McDowell were in the top 10. By then, the event’s 12th caution period flew when rookie Noah Gragson spun in Turn 1 due to a broken toe link.

With the field restarting with 43 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead on the outside lane while Briscoe, who restarted on the front row and the inside lane, maintained second over Austin Dillon as Reddick and Gilliland battled in the top five. As Austin Dillon and Reddick battled for third, the battle at the front began to slowly brew between Bell and Briscoe, with the former holding the top spot.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, the battle for the lead continued to intensify as Briscoe tried to navigate his way around Bell for the lead through the turns and the straightaways while third-place Reddick tried to close in on the two leaders. Despite having an opportunity to assume the lead through the backstretch, Bell managed to rocket away from Briscoe, who briefly stumbled through the frontstretch, as Reddick launched his challenge on Briscoe for second. He would succeed with 28 laps remaining as Briscoe fell back to third. Soon after, Briscoe made contact with the wall as Dillon and Blaney overtook him for top-five spots.

With 20 laps remaining, Bell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney emerged in third place as he trailed the leaders by more than two seconds. Dillon, who scrubbed the wall, dropped to fourth in front of Briscoe while Gilliland, Stenhouse, Bowman, Truex and Haley were in the top 10.

Nearly five laps later, the event’s 13th caution flew when Kyle Busch, who was being told to pick up his pace, spun entering Turn 4 while nearly collecting ex-teammate Hamlin as he quickly nursed his No. 8 Chevrolet onto pit road with suspension damage. By then, LaJoie had spun in Turn 4 without drawing a caution.

Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race restarted as Bell rocketed away from Reddick and Blaney to retain the lead through the first two turns. Then through Turns 1 and 2, Briscoe made contact with Blaney and sent him spinning in the midst of oncoming competitors, but the event remained under green as Blaney continued without getting hit. By then, however, Bell had pulled away with the lead and Reddick was in second followed by Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Gilliand.

With five laps remaining, Bell continued to lead by more than half a second over Reddick while third-place Stenhouse trailed by more than a second.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Reddick, who tried to close in on Bell for the lead and the win. Behind the leaders, a multi-car wreck erupted when Suarez got loose off the front nose of Buescher and collected Berry, where both spun across the backstretch as Preece and Chastain collided into Berry with significant damage. Amid the carnage, the event concluded under caution on the final lap. This enabled Bell to cycle his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry back to the frontstretch under a cautious pace and claim the checkered flag over Reddick.

With the victory, Bell, a dirt racing specialist with three consecutive Chili Bowl Nationals sprint car victories and a former Truck Series winner at Eldora Speedway, became the seventh different winner through the first eight events on the 2023 Cup Series schedule. He recorded his fifth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first at Bristol, the first of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing and the second for the Toyota nameplate.

“Man, let me tell you, those were some of the longest laps of my entire life,” Bell said on FOX. “This place is so much fun, whether it’s dirt or concrete. Whenever the cushion got up there on the top [lane], it was very tough because you couldn’t drive it super hard. Otherwise, you get sucked in. If you got your right front into it, you push a little bit. If you got your right rear into it, you’d slide. It was a lot of fun. Man, I’m just so grateful to be here, driving this No. 20 [car] for DeWalt, Joe Gibbs Racing. That was a lot of fun. Man, I just can’t get over how long those laps feel. It’s a 20-second lap and you’re moving the wheel 18 times a corner. It feels like a long time to get around there.”

Reddick settled in second place on the Bristol Dirt Course for a second consecutive season while Austin Dillon, Stenhouse and Briscoe completed the top five.

“It was a lot of fun, honestly,” Reddick said. “Really intense. Towards the end there, [I] definitely feel like I found a little bit more. I thought I had the edge, but I wasn’t quite there in the last couple laps. Definitely found it. Just hate it for everybody on this SiriusXM Toyota Camry TRD. Just needed to be a little bit closer than I was. I think with two [laps] to go, it would have been really bold to try to make that move work. Obviously, on the white flag coming into [Turns] 3 and 4, I was going to see. We’ll never know if it [would have] worked. Still a good rebound for us.”

“I had a blast out there,” Dillon added. “I don’t care what anybody says about the dirt, the concrete. That was cool. That was one of the coolest races I’ve ever been in. [Speedway Motorsports] did a great job of making a track where you can just slide around, top to bottom, and it constantly was changing. It was a blast out there, really was. Just wished we could’ve brought home the win. We’ll keep working. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum. We got a lot of points tonight.”

Haley emerged with a strong sixth-place result while Truex, Gilliland, Kevin Harvick and rookie Ty Gibbs completed the top 10 on the track.

There were four lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured 14 cautions for 73 laps. In addition, 27 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the eighth event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Christopher Bell leads the regular-season standings by 13 points over Ross Chastain, 26 over Kevin Harvick, 39 over Kyle Larson, 46 over Tyler Reddick, 47 over Kyle Busch and 49 over Martin Truex Jr.

Results.

1. Christopher Bell, 100 laps led

2. Tyler Reddick, 69 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Austin Dillon

4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

5. Chase Briscoe

6. Justin Haley

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Todd Gilliland

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Ty Gibbs

11. Michael McDowell

12. Bubba Wallace

13. William Byron

14. Erik Jones

15. Harrison Burton

16. AJ Allmendinger

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Chris Buescher

19. Austin Cindric

20. JJ Yeley

21. Ty Dillon

22. Denny Hamlin

23. Ryan Blaney

24. Ryan Preece

25. Daniel Suarez

26. BJ McLeod

27. Josh Berry

28. Ross Chastain, one lap down

29. Alex Bowman, two laps down

30. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

31. Aric Almirola, 10 laps down

32. Kyle Busch – OUT, Suspension, six laps led

33. Noah Gragson, 45 laps down

34. Matt Crafton – OUT, Engine

35. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, 75 laps led, Stage 1 winner

36. Jonathan Davenport – OUT, Accident

37. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled visits this season to Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. The event is scheduled for next Sunday, April 16, at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 10, 2023
Larson reigns supreme with first Cup victory of 2023 at Richmond

Nearly a month after having a pair of victories within the West Coast region slip out of his grasp, Kyle Larson gained a needed late break to exit pit road ahead of the field and fend off the competition through two late-race restarts to win the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, April 2, for his first elusive NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led four times for 93 of 400 scheduled laps in an event that was dominated by drivers between Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. After enduring an up-and-down day, where he led in certain portions of the event before trailing the front-runners and slightly damaging his car amid contact with Daniel Suarez on pit road during the second stage, Larson capitalized on a pit stop under caution due to Tyler Reddick’s spin to beat the field off of pit road and cycle back to the lead. From there, he fended off substitute teammate Josh Berry and the competition through two restarts under the final 21 laps to grab his first victory of the season.

With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Saturday canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a qualifying metric system from NASCAR’s rulebook qualifying procedure. Based on the metric system, Alex Bowman, the series points leader, was awarded the pole position and was joined on the front row by Kyle Busch.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Bowman and Busch engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead for a full lap before Busch was able to lead the first lap by a hair on the outside lane as the entire field battled in close-quarters racing through two lanes. Bowman, however, was able to clear Busch and the field during the following lap as he assumed the clean air with the lead. Behind, teammate William Byron battled and overtook Busch for second as Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick proceeded to battle Busch for third.

By Lap 10 and with a series of on-track battles continuing around the short circuit, Byron, who had been closing in on teammate Bowman for the lead, made a strong move to Bowman’s outside entering the frontstretch to assume the lead in his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. He continued to lead the field through the Lap 20 mark while Bowman fell back to fourth as Chastain and Reddick overtook him. Soon after, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. muscled his way into the top five after overtaking Kyle Busch while Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin cracked the top 10 behind Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Byron retained the lead by more than two seconds over Chastain and more than three seconds over third-place Reddick while Bowman, Stenhouse, Larson, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Cindric and Hamlin were in the top 10. By then, all 37 starters were scored on the lead lap, with names like Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, rookie Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Josh Berry, AJ Allmendinger and Erik Jones were in 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th and 29th. In addition, Chandler Smith, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at Richmond and who was making his Cup Series debut for Kaulig Racing, was back in 34th.

During the competition caution, the entire field led by Byron pitted, and amid a jammed-packed exit off of pit lane, Chastain exited with the lead followed by Byron, Bowman, Reddick, Busch and Larson. During the pit stops, Hamlin was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road along with Todd Gilliland, who was penalized for equipment interference. In addition, Stenhouse, who was running in the top five prior to the competition caution, endured a long pit stop due to a mechanical issue as he took his No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage.

During the following restart on Lap 38, the field fanned out to four lanes as Chastain rocketed his No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with the lead followed by Byron and Reddick while teammates Larson and Bowman battle for fourth. With Larson eventually overtaking Bowman for position, Logano followed suit to move his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the top five while Bowman was being pressured by Kevin Harvick for more. As Ryan Blaney moved up the leaderboard to eighth in front of Daniel Suarez and Keselowski, Kyle Busch slipped out of the top 10.

Then on Lap 44, the caution flew when Hamlin, who was running just outside of the top 30 and was trying to rally from the rear of the field from his pit road speeding penalty, bumped and sent JJ Yeley sideways as Yeley backed his car into the Turn 1 outside wall with significant rear end damage. During the caution period, some like Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Corey LaJoie, Allmendinger, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon and Chandler Smith pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 50, Chastain struggled to launch on the gas, which allowed Byron and Larson to trap Chastain with a three-wide move as both Hendrick Motorsports competitors muscled away with the top-two spots. With Chastain falling back to third, teammates Byron and Larson engaged in a side-by-side duel for the lead for the following two laps until Byron managed to clear Larson and retain the lead. Behind, Harvick started to close in on his bid for the lead in fourth behind Chastain while a series of battles ensued within the middle of the pack.

Just past the Lap 60 mark, Byron was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Larson followed by Chastain and Harvick while Reddick was in fifth. By then, Logano was in sixth in front of Bowman, Keselowski, Bell and Briscoe while Kyle Busch was back in 12th. Meanwhile, Truex, who was the first competitor with four fresh tires after pitting during the previous caution period, carved his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry up to 16th.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Byron captured his fifth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammate Larson settled in second followed by Chastain, Harvick and Logano while Reddick, Bowman, Bell, Keselowski and Briscoe were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the entire field led by Byron returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Byron retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Larson, then Chastain, Harvick, Logano and Bowman. During the pit stops, Blaney and Allmendinger were penalized for speeding on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 79 as teammates Byron and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Byron rocketed with the lead ahead of Larson, Chastain, Harvick and Logano while Bowman, who struggled with launch pace in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on restarts, was being challenged by Chase Briscoe for sixth. As the field behind fanned out to three lanes, Byron maintained his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Larson. By Lap 82, however, Chastain navigated his way around Larson for second. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was mired back in 10th behind Bell and Keselowski while Hamlin was battling Ryan Preece for 14th.

On Lap 94, the caution returned when Blaney, who was running within the top 30 and trying to rally from his pit road speeding penalty during the first stage’s conclusion, bumped and sent Josh Berry’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning in Turn 4, with Berry managing to keep his car off the wall with no damage. During the caution period, the entire field led by Byron returned to pit road for service and Byron retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Larson, Chastain, Bowman, Logano and Bell. During the pit stops, Harvick, who pitted from fifth place, endured a slow pit stop and fell back to 16th. In addition, Team Penske’s Logano and Cindric pitted for a second time, with Logano addressing a loose right rear wheel while Cindric addressed power issues to his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang.

With the event restarting under green on Lap 101, the field fanned out to three lanes through the first two turns as Byron retained the lead over Larson and Chastain. Behind, Bowman slotted himself into fourth while Bell, the highest-running Joe Gibbs Racing competitor on the track, was in fifth. By then, Truex was up in eighth behind Suarez and Keselowski while Briscoe and Kyle Busch battled for ninth.

Through the first 125 laps of the event, Larson, who assumed the lead over Byron in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 a lap earlier, was leading by half a second over teammate Byron followed by Chastain, Bell and Bowman while Keselowski, Truex, Suarez, Hamlin and Briscoe were in the top 10. By then, Ty Gibbs was in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch Harvick, Preece and Bubba Wallace while Blaney, Reddick, Almirola, Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland occupied the top 20. Behind, Austin Dillon was in 21st followed by Harrison Burton, Logano, Berry and Corey LaJoie while Chris Buescher, rookie Noah Gragson, Haley, Ty Dillon and Cindric were in the top 30 as 35 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Twenty-five laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Byron while Chastain and Bell battled for third in front of Bowman. By then, Buescher and Berry made pit stops under green while Ty Gibbs carved his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry into ninth place behind teammates Truex and Hamlin along with Keselowski. Meanwhile, Harvick had fallen back to 11th behind Suarez.

Nearing the Lap 155 mark, green flag pit stops started to slowly commence as Reddick pitted his No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota TRD Camry. Truex, Kyle Busch, Gilliland and Logano would also pit nearing the Lap 160 mark followed by Byron. The leader Larson would then pit along with Bell, Burton, Chastain, Suarez, Harvick, Briscoe, Erik Jones and others. During the pit stops, Larson and Suarez made contact on pit road as Larson was trying to exit his pit stall while Suarez was trying to enter his. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin assumed the lead followed by teammate Gibbs, Blaney and Austin Dillon, all of whom had yet to make a pit stop. Once Hamlin pitted on Lap 166 along with Gibbs, Blaney and Dillon, Larson cycled his way back into the lead followed by Byron, Bell, Bowman, Chastain and Truex. Following the pit stops, Blaney was penalized for removing a wrench out of his pit box, an issue that would cost him a lap behind the leaders.

By Lap 175, Larson was leading by half a second over teammate Byron while Bell, Bowman and Chastain were running in the top five. Truex was in sixth ahead of Keselowski while Berry navigated his way to eighth followed by Hamlin and Reddick as Harvick trailed behind in 11th.

At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Byron, who assumed the lead from teammate Larson three laps earlier, was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Bell while Larson, who fell back to third, was battling tight conditions to his No. 5 entry as a result of the right-front fender damage from hitting Suarez’s No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on pit road. Truex and Bowman were in the top five followed by Chastain, Hamlin, Keselowski, Harvick and Ty Gibbs while 21 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Seven laps later, Bell overtook Byron, who was stuck behind lapped traffic, particularly Harrison Burton, to move his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry into the lead as he became the seventh different leader of the event. By then, teammate Truex overtook Larson for fourth while Hamlin was in fifth after claiming the spot over Bowman.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 230, Hamlin, who cycled his way around teammate Bell for the lead two laps earlier and rallied from his early pit road speeding penalty, claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Bell settled in second by Byron, Truex and Chastain while Keselowski, Bowman, Larson, Harvick and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted and Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Byron, Truex, Bell, Bowman and Keselowski.

With 160 laps remaining, the final stage started as Hamlin and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed out his No. 11 SHINGRIX Toyota TRD Camry in front to retain the lead followed by Byron and Truex as the field behind jostled and fanned out for positions, among which included Logano as he tried to carve his way into the top 15. As the laps proceeded, Keselowski, who was in eighth in front of Chastain and Larson, radioed gearing issues to his No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang as his car kept coming out of fourth gear, though he continued under race pace.

With 125 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading by half a second over teammate Truex while third-place Byron trailed by more than three seconds. Harvick and Bell were running in the top five followed by Larson, Bowman, Keselowski, Chastain and Preece while Wallace, Logano, Briscoe, Gibbs and Almirola were in the top 15.

Then with nearly 110 laps remaining, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Truex, who was closing in on teammate Hamlin for the lead, pitted along with Suarez, Josh Berry and Kyle Busch. By then, Allmendinger, who was not on the lead lap, had made a pit stop. Soon after, a multitude of names that included Larson, Bowman, Chastain, Gibbs, Briscoe, McDowell, Burton, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Byron, Cindric, Keselowski and Preece pitted as Hamlin continued to lead. With 107 laps remaining, however, Hamlin surrendered the lead to pit along with Bell and Harvick. During his pit stop, Hamlin endured a slow service for his pit crew to change the right-front tire. Once the last set of names that included Bubba Wallace, Logano and Blaney pitted, with Wallace being penalized for a safety violation after a crew member fell over the wall, Truex cycled his way into the lead with 105 laps remaining.

With less than 100 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than two seconds over Larson followed by Byron, Bowman and Bell while Chastain, Harvick, Almirola, Keselowski and Preece were in the top 10. By then, Hamlin was mired back in 12th following his slow pit service.

Down to the final 95 laps of the event, however, the caution flew when rookie Noah Gragson got loose entering Turn 2 at full speed and slapped the outside wall with smoke billowing out of his No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, the leaders led by Truex returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead followed by Byron, Larson, Bowman, Harvick and Chastain.

With 88 laps remaining, the event restarted under green as Truex and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Truex launched ahead with the lead followed by Byron, Larson and Bowman as the field behind jostled for late positions, among which included Hamlin as he tried to make his way through the top 10.

Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Truex was leading by four-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Larson, Bowman and Chastain while Harvick was in sixth ahead of Bell and Keselowski. By then, Hamlin carved his way only up to ninth while Logano was in 10th ahead of Almirola, Gibbs, Briscoe, Preece and Berry.

Fifteen laps later, Truex continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Byron while Larson, Bowman and Bell remained in the top five. By then, Hamlin was back in 10th behind Logano, Kyle Busch was back in 17th behind Briscoe, Reddick was mired back in 20th and Wallace was in 22nd, a lap down.

Another 10 laps later, Truex extended his advantage to more than a second over Byron as Larson, Bowman and Chastain remained in the top five followed by Harvick, Keselowski and Hamlin, who could not gain the lost ground on the leaders. By then, Briscoe pitted along with Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Preece, Harrison Burton and Ty Gibbs.

Shortly after, Byron pitted as he was soon followed by Larson, Bowman, Chastain, Almirola, Harvick, Suarez and the leader Suarez. While most of the leaders had already made a pit stop, Bell was leading a group of seven competitors who had yet to pit. Bell would pit with 45 laps remaining along with teammate Hamlin as Keselowski cycled to the lead for a lap before he pitted and handed the lead to Berry. By then, Berry, McDowell and Gilliland had yet to pit while Byron, the first competitor who recently pitted, was in fourth ahead of Truex and Larson.

Then with 33 laps remaining, Byron tracked and overtook teammate Berry for the lead. Truex would follow suit in second as Larson would eventually make his way into third. By then, Berry and McDowell remained on the track and in the top five.

With 29 laps remaining, however, the caution flew when Reddick spun in Turn 2. By then, Byron, who was locked in a side-by-side battle for the lead with Truex, was deemed the leader over Truex. During the caution period, the leaders led by Byron returned to pit road and Larson emerged with the lead after exiting first amid a tight-packed field followed by teammate Berry, Truex, Byron, Harvick and Bell. During the pit stops, Hamlin was busted for speeding on pit road for a second time.

During the following restart with 21 laps remaining, Larson peeked ahead of teammate Berry as the field started to fan out to multiple lanes entering the first turn. Through the first turn, however, Bell made contact with Byron and sent Byron spinning sideways into the outside wall as he plummeted below the leaderboard.

The next restart with 14 laps remaining saw teammates Larson and Berry duke for the lead until Larson managed to clear Berry for the lead through the first two turns. As the field fanned out behind, Chastain and Truex battled for third behind Berry while Larson pulled away by half a second.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate, Berry, while Chastain and Bell were in the top five. Truex fell back to sixth in front of McDowell, Bowman, Logano and Gibbs. Larson would retain the lead by nearly a second with five laps remaining while Truex slipped back to eighth.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than a second over teammate Berry. With the clean air to his advantage and no late challenges lurking behind, Larson was able to cycle his No. 5 entry around the short track circuit for a final time and back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup Series season.

With the victory, Larson notched his 20th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his second at Richmond as he became the sixth different winner through the first seven events on the schedule. The 2023 season also marked Larson’s sixth season with at least one Cup victory and his 14th driving the No. 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports.

The victory was also the first for veteran Kevin Meendering, who served his third race as an interim Cup crew chief for Cliff Daniels as Daniels is currently serving his third of a four-race suspension stemming from NASCAR confiscating the louvers from all four Hendrick Motorsports’ entries and the team being penalized for modifying pieces of the car pertaining to the air direction over the hoods. All four HMS entries were reinstated their points earlier in the week while the crew chief suspensions and $400,000 fine from each entry remained in place.

“It’s really cool,” Larson said on FS1. “We’ve been close to winning a couple [races]. William’s [Byron] been extremely good this year. It was probably gonna be between him, [Truex] and us. [Bell] was really good, so just things worked out. My pit crew had a great stop, so shoutout to Brandon Johnson. He’s out jackman, he just turned 30 today. Our spotter, Tyler Monn, he turned 30 today, so great day for them guys. What an awesome HendrickCars.com Chevy. I got into [Suarez] there on pit road sometime in the second stage. We were awful after that and I was hoping the damage was the reason why. [The pit crew] had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused, and I was able to get it done. Thanks to everyone on this team. [Crew chief] Cliff Daniels for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. Good to get a win and hopefully, many more.”

Teammate Josh Berry, making his fourth Cup start as an interim competitor for the injured Chase Elliott, made his late pit strategy pay off to perfection as he notched a career-best second place while Chastain, Bell and Harvick finished in the top five.

“Man, this is really cool,” Berry said. “I gotta give all the credit to this NAPA team, [interim crew chief] Tom [Gray], [regular crew chief] Alan [Gustafson],…everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Man, they made some great calls. When we got some clean track, we weren’t running bad lap times. I’m so glad they tried something different there at the end to just get us up front because I felt like we were decent the whole time. Just getting in clear air there. Really a little too free to run with Kyle [Larson], but man, what a huge day. To come here and start at the back, no practice, qualifying, get spun out, worked through the field like that to a second place, it’s pretty cool.”

McDowell, who also benefitted through a late pit strategy as Berry, came home in sixth place while Logano, Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs and Keselowski completed the top 10 on the track.

Notably, Truex fell back to 11th in front of Briscoe, Almirola, Kyle Busch and Todd Gilliland while Hamlin settled in 20th following his share of pit road speeding penalties. In addition, Chandler Smith finished 17th in his Cup Series debut behind Reddick, Wallace ended up 22nd in front of Suarez, Byron fell back to 24th after leading a race-high 117 laps and Blaney ended up in 26th, a lap down.

There were 22 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 54 laps.

Following the seventh event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Alex Bowman leads the regular-season standings by four points over Ross Chastain, 34 over Christopher Bell, 35 over William Byron, 36 over Kevin Harvick and 41 over both Joey Logano and Kyle Larson.

Results.

1. Kyle Larson, 93 laps led

2. Josh Berry, 10 laps led

3. Ross Chastain, 16 laps led

4. Christopher Bell, 26 laps led

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Michael McDowell

7. Joey Logano

8. Alex Bowman, eight laps led

9. Ty Gibbs

10. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

11. Martin Truex Jr., 56 laps led

12. Chase Briscoe

13. Aric Almirola

14. Kyle Busch, one lap led

15. Todd Gilliland

16. Tyler Reddick

17. Chandler Smith

18. Ryan Preece

19. Harrison Burton

20. Denny Hamlin, 71 laps led, Stage 2 winner

21. Corey LaJoie

22. Bubba Wallace, one lap led

23. Daniel Suarez

24. William Byron, 117 laps led, Stage 1 winner

25. Austin Dillon, one lap down

26. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

27. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

28. Austin Cindric, one lap down

29. Justin Haley, one lap down

30. Chris Buescher, two laps down

31. Erik Jones, two laps down

32. Ty Dillon, two laps down

33. Anthony Alfredo, four laps down

34. Cody Ware, five laps down

35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 16 laps down

36. JJ Yeley, 17 laps down

37. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the third annual running of the Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in Bristol, Tennessee. The event is scheduled for next Sunday, April 9, on Easter at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 2, 2023
Reddick survives three overtime attempts for wild Cup victory at COTA

In a highly anticipated event featuring a star-studded lineup of competitors and new names across the grid, Tyler Reddick captured the main spotlight by winning the third annual running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, March 26, amid three overtime attempts and a dominant run since the start of the weekend.

The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led a race-high 41 of 75 over-scheduled laps in an event where he utilized pit strategy and a fast race car to keep himself in contention towards the front. Swapping the lead with William Byron on several occasions before overtaking him with four laps remaining, Reddick then had to navigate his way around Austin’s 20-turn circuit through three overtime attempts and a series of carnages erupting behind him to muscle away from Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Byron to claim the first checkered flag for himself, 23XI Racing and Toyota of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, William Byron notched his first Cup pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 93.882 mph in 130.760 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 93.783 mph in 130.898 seconds.

Prior to the event, Michael McDowell dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports entry.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron jumped ahead with the lead as the field fanned out through the uphill climb to the first turn. With the field navigating its way into the first turn, Byron retained the lead through a series of right and left-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 before approaching a steep left-hand turn in Turn 11. As the field approached the long straightaway between Turns 11 and 12, Tyler Reddick and Austin Cindric battled for second with Daniel Suarez closing in after he overtook Jordan Taylor, a three-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar champion who was filling in the No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the injured Chase Elliott. Following the final series of turns from Turns 12 to 20, the field returned to the frontstretch as Byron led the first lap ahead of Reddick, Cindric, Suarez and Alex Bowman while Jordan Taylor fell back to ninth.

Just then, the first caution of the event flew on the second lap when Brad Keselowski, who was running within the middle of the field, spun in between Turns 19 and 20. As a bevy of cars approaching Keselowski scattered to avoid him, Ty Dillon got pinched in between Todd Gilliland and Chris Buescher, which resulted in Buescher hitting Dillon as he veered sideways and slammed into the No. 84 Club Wyndham Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 piloted by seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson as Johnson spun with right-side damage while Dillon emerged with significant front nose damage to his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The early incident was enough to knock both Dillon and Johnson out of contention while Keselowski continued.

During the following restart on the fifth lap, the field fanned out again entering the first turn as Cindric, who restarted third, managed to motor his way past Byron and Reddick, both of whom went wide in Turn 1, to assume the lead entering the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10. As the field jostled for positions past the turns and entering the frontstretch between Turns 11 and 12, Cindric maintained the lead over Reddick and Byron with Suarez in fourth and AJ Allmendinger in fifth. By then, Taylor locked up the front tires entering Turn 11 while battling within the top 10 and nearly clipped Erik Jones, which caused him to drop back to 13th.

A lap later, Chase Briscoe, who was running 17th, got hit by Justin Haley and spun in Turn 1, but the field remained under green flag conditions as Briscoe lost a bevy of spots on the track. By then, Joey Logano was assessed a pass-through penalty for shortcutting through the esses while running in 16th, all while Cindric retained the lead in front of Reddick and Byron. By the seventh lap, however, Reddick managed to cycle his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry around Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang entering Turn 19 to assume the lead on the eighth lap.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Cindric trailed by more than a second. Allmendinger and Suarez were running fourth and fifth while Bowman, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10. Behind, Bubba Wallace was in 11th ahead of Christopher Bell, Jordan Taylor and rookies Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Tod Gilliland, Harrison Burton and Martin Truex Jr. occupied the top 20. By then, Kevin Harvick was in 22nd ahead of Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon, former Formula One champion Kimi Räikkönen was in 25th, Keselowski was back in 27th, former Formula One champion Jenson Button was mired back in 31st in between Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe and IndyCar competitor Conor Daly was in 34th. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell were assessed penalties for cutting the course.

Then during the following lap, trouble erupted when Bubba Wallace locked up the front tires and slammed into Larson with Erik Jones also sustaining damage in Turn 12. While limping his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road, Larson endured more on-track issues when he got hit by Denny Hamlin and spun backward toward the pit wall in between Turns 19 and 20 at the same time when Wallace was pitting his wounded No. 23 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry as the caution returned. Despite the pair of incidents, Larson managed to continue while Wallace retired with a damaged oil line. By then, Cody Ware also endured on-track issues when he spun within the infield turns. In addition, names like Stenhouse, Harvick, Buescher, Keselowski, Almirola, Briscoe, Logano and LaJoie pitted.

The following restart on Lap 15 also marked the conclusion of the first stage as Byron managed to edge Cindric to capture his fourth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season followed by Allmendinger, Bowman, Chastain, Suarez, Kyle Busch, Taylor, Bell and Ryan Preece. Compared to the first five events on the schedule, the caution flag did not display and the competitors proceeded under green as part of NASCAR’s new rules for this season, which highlighted that no caution periods would be mandated at the conclusion of stage breaks on road course venues that hold Cup Series events.

With the second stage proceeding under green on Lap 15, the field fanned out and scrambled for positions through the first turn and the series of left and right-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 with Byron retaining the lead over Cindric, Allmendinger, Bowman and Chastain.

At the Lap 20 mark, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Cindric followed by Allmendinger, Suarez and Chastain while Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Bell, Taylor and Reddick were in the top 10. By then, 34 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Blaney, who spun in Turn 15 a few laps earlier after getting hit by Larson, and Keselowski, who received an earlier tap from Blaney before spinning in Turn 12, plummeted down to 27th and 35th, respectively.

Shortly after, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Kyle Busch pitted his No. 8 Netspend Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 followed by Jenson Button, Almirola, Preece, Gilliland and Gibbs. Taylor would also pit a few laps later followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Bell. By Lap 23, Cindric pitted despite enduring issues with changing the right-rear tire along with Bowman and Chastain while Byron retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger.

Once Byron surrendered the lead to pit his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green prior to Lap 24, Reddick, who pitted prior to the conclusion of the first stage, cycled back into the lead. Behind, Allmendinger and Suarez also pitted while Austin Dillon, McDowell, Harvick and Larson emerged in the top five. By then, every competitor still running on the field made at least one pit stop with all on mixed pit strategies.

By Lap 25, Reddick was leading by more than three seconds over Austin Dillon followed by McDowell, Harvick and Larson while Stenhouse, Buescher, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Gragson, Kimi Räikkönen, Keselowski and Byron while Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Gibbs and Chastain were in the top 20. By then, Bowman was in 21st, Bell was back in 26th ahead of teammate Truex and Taylor had fallen back in 29th ahead of Cindric and Jenson Button. Meanwhile, Blaney was mired a lap down in 34th following his earlier on-track incident and spin.

When the second stage concluded under green on Lap 30, Reddick captured his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season while former teammate Austin Dillon trailed by more than seven seconds. McDowell, Harvick, Buescher, Stenhouse, Larson, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Gragson were scored in the top 10 while 33 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.

With the final stage proceeding under green with 38 laps remaining, Hamlin and Keselowski pitted under green shortly after while Gibbs was penalized for cutting the course. Briscoe, Gragson, Larson and McDowell would eventually pit, with Larson being penalized for speeding on pit road. Then approaching Lap 32, Reddick surrendered the lead to pit along with Stenhouse while Buescher assumed the lead. Following Reddick’s pit stop, Byron managed to overtake Reddick on the track as he settled in third behind Buescher and Erik Jones while Reddick was back in 10th.

A lap later, Byron reassumed the lead once Buescher pitted along with Erik Jones. This enabled Allmendinger to move into second followed by Suarez, Chastain and Kyle Busch while Reddick moved up to sixth. Another lap later, the event reached its halfway mark. By then, Gibbs was assessed another pass-through penalty for cutting the course while Reddick set the fastest lap of the event while running towards the top five.

With 30 laps remaining, Byron was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Reddick followed by Allmendinger, Suarez and Chastain while Bowman, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Cindric and McDowell were mired in the top 10. A lap later, Reddick made his move beneath Byron in Turn 1 and moved back into the lead. Meanwhile, Logano pitted his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang under green while Bell, who spun in Turn 8, was in 14th.

Three laps later, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 9. This occurred after Hamlin, who was running 17th, spun his No. 11 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry a turn prior and kicked up dirt on the course. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for service that included fresh tires and enough fuel for the finish while Logano, who pitted a few laps prior to the caution, remained on the track along with Harrison Burton and Cody Ware. Following the pit stops, Reddick was the first competitor to exit pit road followed by Byron, Suarez, Chastain, Austin Dillon and McDowell. During the pit stops, Gibbs was penalized for pitting outside his pit box.

With 25 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Harrison Burton occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out entering the first turn as Reddick launched his move beneath Logano for the lead. Despite grabbing it approaching the turn, Reddick wiggled and went wide, which allowed Byron to overtake him for the lead as Reddick was left to battle Chastain for second. Through the series of left and right-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 and with the field still fanning out and jostling for late positions, Byron maintained the lead while Reddick was trying to navigate his way back into second. As the field continued to navigate through the next round of turns entering Turn 12, Suarez overshot the turn and lost a spot to fifth place on the track while Byron retained the lead ahead of Reddick, Chastain and Bowman.

Two laps later, a side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Reddick and Byron through the straightaway turn between Turns 11 and 12. Following a side-by-side, crossover and swapping duel fight between the top-two leaders through Turns 12 to Turn 20, Byron managed to retain the lead by a narrow hair over Reddick. During the following lap, Byron and Reddick continued to fight for the lead as Chastain started to close in on the two leaders. Through the infield turns, however, Reddick managed to pull ahead and remain ahead of Byron to retake the lead as Chastain started to challenge Byron for second. Meanwhile, fourth-place Bowman trailed by more than a second as he started to join the battle.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Reddick was leading by two-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Chastain trailed by nine-tenths of a second. Behind, Bowman was in fourth place while Austin Dillon occupied fifth place. With Suarez, Bell, Harvick, Logano and McDowell running in the top 10, Allmendinger, who endured a slow pit stop during the last caution period, was mired in 11th while Jordan Taylor navigated his way into 19th place, six spots over Räikkönen and eight over Jenson Button. Meanwhile, Larson limped back to pit road with a broken toe link to his No. 5 entry while Preece, who was assessed a pass-through penalty for short-cutting the esses, was assessed another pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road while serving his first penalty.

Five laps later, the Reddick and Byron, both of whom were instructed to save fuel, were separated by half a second, with Reddick leading while third-place Chastain trailed by more than a second. In the midst of the battles upfront, both Keselowski and Stenhouse spun through Turn 11, but the event proceeded under green. A few laps later, Hamlin and Kyle Busch pitted under green for enough fuel for the finish.

Then with 12 laps remaining, Byron slipped and went off the course in Turn 8, which allowed Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain and Suarez to move up to second and third. Not long after, Suarez bumped and moved teammate Chastain out of his way in Turn 11 to claim second place while Reddick retained the lead by more than a second. Just then, the caution returned when Keselowski came to a stop in Turn 7. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Reddick pitted while names like Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Räikkönen and Preece remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Reddick was the first competitor to exit first followed by Byron, Suarez, Bowman, Austin Dillon and McDowell while Chastain lost a bevy of spots amid a slow pit service.

During the following restart with nine laps remaining, where Bell and Kyle Busch occupied the front row, Bell jumped ahead with a slight advantage as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Then as Reddick challenged Bell for the lead on fresh tires, carnage ensued behind as Allmendinger clipped and sent Austin Dillon around. At the same time, Chastain, who went wide to avoid Dillon, made contact with Erik Jones as he spun. With Chastain unable to pull away in Turn 1, the caution returned to being displayed. By then, Reddick reassumed the lead ahead of Bell while Byron was up in third followed by Kyle Bush and Truex.

As the field restarted under green with seven laps remaining, Reddick jumped ahead with the lead. Through Turn 1, however, Reddick overdrove the first turn, which allowed Byron to draw back even and clear him for the lead entering the series of turns. Then through Turn 9, Bell got turned as he spun while running towards the front, but the event remained under green. With the field scrambling entering Turns 11 and 12, Byron was out in front ahead of Reddick and Kyle Busch while Truex and Suarez rounded out the top five.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Byron maintained the lead by half a second over Reddick while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. With Suarez and Bowman in the top five, Truex was in sixth while McDowell, Preece, Logano and Gragson were in the top 10. By then, 31 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Then entering Turn 11, Reddick, who kept Byron pressured for the lead, pounced on an opportunity to seize it back, which he did as he also fended off Byron through the straightaway from Turns 11 and 12 before maintaining the advantage through a series of turns from Turns 12 to 20. A lap later, the caution returned and the event was sent into overtime due to debris reported on the course as a result of Austin Dillon, who was penalized for cutting the esses earlier, shredding a left-rear tire on his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

With the event restarting in overtime, Reddick dueled against Byron amid the field fanning out before being locked into another side-by-side battle with Kyle Busch after he nearly overshot the turn. Behind, however, more on-track issues ensued in Turn 1 when Blaney got turned and spun. In front of him, Preece also got turned after making contact with Gibbs, which he also clipped Gragson. With the carnage ensuing behind, the event remained under green as Reddick maintained the lead over Kyle Busch and Byron. Then as Reddick was trying to motor his car back to the start/finish line to start the final lap, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt due to debris coming off of Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang while fluid was also leaking out of Preece’s damaged No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.

At the start of the second overtime attempt, Bowman, who restarted within the top 10 and fanned out in his move to the front, made contact with Suarez and the contact carried forth into Truex getting hit and spun in Turn 1 while Suarez plummeted below the field after stopping in front of Truex’s car. As Reddick remained ahead of Kyle Busch, Bowman and Byron with the lead, Justin Haley spun in Turn 11 while running in the middle of the pack, but the event remained under green. Then through the infield carousel turns, McDowell, Räikkönen and Bell also spun, but the event remained under green again. The caution, however, flew and the event was sent into a third overtime attempt due to debris on the course after Suarez shredded the left-front tire of his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, Reddick was scored the leader ahead of Kyle Busch, Bowman and Byron while Chastain maneuvered his way back to fifth.

When the event proceeded under green for the third overtime attempt, Reddick managed to fend off Bowman through the first turn to maintain the lead as the field bumped and jostled through the first turn. With Almirola falling off the pace, Reddick continued to navigate at the front through the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10. With more names like Logano, Bell and Suarez wrecking through the turns, Reddick retained the lead in front of Bowman, who had Kyle Busch pressuring him for second while Chastain was in fourth ahead of Byron.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick, who was able to navigate his way back to the frontstretch without another caution to stall his progress, remained as the leader by a second over Bowman, who was drawn even and overtaken by Kyle Busch for second. Having a clear view in front of him for a final time through the 20-turn circuit while his challengers battled behind, Reddick was able to smoothly navigate his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 campaign by more than a second over Busch.

With the victory, Reddick became the third different winner at Circuit of the Americas in the venue’s three-year history of hosting NASCAR Cup Series events. By becoming the fifth different winner of the 2023 season, he also notched his third victory on a road course venue and his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series. The victory was also the first of the season and fourth overall for 23XI Racing while the Toyota nameplate notched its first Cup victory of 2023.

“[The victory] means the world,” Reddick said on FOX. “This whole 23XI team has been working hard all winter long to make the road course program better and was extremely motivated to come in here and improve that performance. Just so proud of this Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD. This whole team, Toyota, everybody. All the resources, everything they’ve been putting into this to help turn around the road course program means a lot. I’m out of gas, but I feel a little bit better with Monster Energy.”

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch navigated his way around Alex Bowman for second place for his second top-two finish of the season. Bowman settled in third place for his second consecutive top-three finish at Circuit of the Americas while Chastain and Byron finished in the top five.

“I don’t know if we could have [beaten Reddick],” Busch said. “Even if we were on equal tires, when we tested here, [Reddick’s team] were lights out and had us beat on the front side of the runs. We needed longer runs, but even today, for some reason, we just didn’t have the really great long-run speed. We had good middle run speed, but overall, for as much as effort and everything that we’ve put into coming here and focusing on this place and all the testing and everything that we’ve been able to do over the off-season, we come out of here with a really good finish.”

“[Today] was really fun,” Byron said. “[Reddick’s team] were great all weekend. Tyler’s been great at the road courses. We made it a battle, for sure. Every time, crossovers, out-braking each other. That was a lot of fun. I hate that it kind of got down to restarts at the end. I got shoved off one time in second. We needed a top five and probably could’ve done some things different, but overall, a good day for the Liberty University Chevrolet. Good speed. Just, Tyler was so fast all weekend. I felt like, when I got the lead, I was just slipping and sliding, so it was fun.”

With 30 of 39 starters finishing on the lead lap, Cindric, Stenhouse, Buescher, Gibbs and Todd Gilliland completed the top 10 on the track.

Notably, Harvick finished 13th in his third and final start at Circuit of the Americas, Larson rallied for 14th, Hamlin fell back to 16th in front of teammate Truex, Blaney ended up 21st and Suarez settled in 27th in front of Logano. In addition, Jenson Button emerged as the highest-finishing open-wheel star in 18th while IMSA’s Jordan Taylor finished 24th and Formula One’s Kimi Räikkönen ended up 29th.

There were 16 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 17 laps.

Following the sixth event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Ross Chastain leads the regular-season standings by 19 over Kyle Busch, 25 over both Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, 27 over Christopher Bell and 34 over Ryan Blaney.

Results.

1. Tyler Reddick, 41 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Kyle Busch

3. Alex Bowman

4. Ross Chastain

5. William Byron, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

6. Austin Cindric, two laps led

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

8. Chris Buescher, one lap led

9. Ty Gibbs

10. Todd Gilliland

11. Corey LaJoie

12. Michael McDowell

13. Kevin Harvick

14. Kyle Larson

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Denny Hamlin

17. Martin Truex Jr.

18. Jenson Button

19. Justin Haley

20. Noah Gragson

21. Ryan Blaney

22. Harrison Burton

23. Erik Jones

24. Jordan Taylor

25. Cody Ware

26. Josh Bilicki

27. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

28. Joey Logano, one lap led

29. Kimi Räikkönen

30. Aric Almirola, one lap down

31. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, one lap led

32. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

34. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

35. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Driveshaft

36. Conor Daly – OUT, Transmission

37. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

38. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, DVP

39. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled events of this season at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

March 26, 2023
Zane Smith capitalizes on pit strategy for second consecutive Truck victory at COTA

Zane Smith executed a well-timed pit strategy followed by a late caution period to cycle to the lead and motor away in the final stage to win the third annual running of the XPEL 225 at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, March 25.

The reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Smith from Huntington Beach, California, led two times for a race-high 16 of 42-scheduled laps as he spent the majority of the event running towards the front and jostling for the lead with a host of front-runners, among which included Kyle Busch.

The key moment for Smith occurred at the conclusion of the second stage, which was won by Busch, when the Californian pitted under green for four fresh tires and fuel. Once the caution flew immediately afterward due to Parker Kligerman’s mechanical issue, a host of names led by Busch pitted and surrendered track position, which enabled Smith to cycle to the lead.

Then during a 13-lap dash to the finish, Smith was able to retain the lead and capture the victory from Busch who was trying to cycle his way back to the front from starting 16th but ran out of time as he was unable to narrow the deficit.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ross Chastain secured the pole position for the main event after posting a pole-winning lap at 91.877 mph in 133.613 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Busch, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 91.490 mph in 134.178 seconds.

Prior to the event, names that included Daniel Dye, Kris Wright, Matt Crafton, Parker Kligerman, Matt DiBenedetto, Kaden Honeycutt, Taylor Gray, Bret Holmes, Colin Garrett, Chase Purdy and Spencer Boyd (driver change) dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chastain jumped ahead with an early advantage approaching the uphill climb towards the first turn as the field fanned out. As the field approached a series of left and right-hand turns from Turns 2 to 9, Chastain remained ahead of Kyle Busch with Christian Eckes and Ty Majeski battling for third. With rookie Bret Holmes spinning behind in the field, the event remained under green flag conditions as the leaders approached Turns 10 and 11 before entering a long straightaway to Turn 12.

Towards the rear of the field, however, early troubles ignited for open-wheel competitor Ed Jones, who fell off the pace in Turn 8 with a flat left-rear tire and a potential broken rear suspension to his No. 20 Little Caesars Chevrolet Silverado RST. As the event remained under green, Chastain navigated his way through the next round of left and right-hand turns from Turns 12 to 19 before entering the final turn in Turn 20 and returning to the frontstretch as he led the first lap in front of Kyle Busch, Eckes, Majeski and Zane Smith. Not long after, the first caution of the event flew when Ed Jones pulled his truck off the course in Turn 13 with a flat tire and retired. During the caution period, names like Kris Wright, Colin Garrett, Jake Garcia, Spencer Boyd, Holmes and Jones pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

When the event proceeded under green on the third lap in Austin, the field fanned out as wide as five lanes entering the first turn with Eckes igniting his charge for the lead, which he succeeded over Chastain and Kyle Busch. Following Turns 2 to 10, however, Chastain drew his No. 41 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST beneath Eckes’ No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 11 as both engaged for the lead while Zane Smith, Kyle Busch and Hocevar battled for third. Then entering Turn 12, Chastain cleared Eckes to reassume the lead as the field behind continued to jostle for positions.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Chastain was leading by more than a second over Eckes followed by Zane Smith, Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar while Majeski, Kaz Grala, rookie Nick Sanchez, Corey Heim and Tyler Ankrum were in the top 10. By then, Tanner Gray was in 11th ahead of Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger, Logan Bearden and Lawless Alan while Matt DiBenedetto, Matt Crafton, Hailie Deegan, Parker Kligerman and Stewart Friesen occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, rookie Rajah Caruth was assessed a pass-through penalty for cutting the course.

Not long after, Deegan pitted under green as scheduled while running in the top 20 while driver Dale Quarterley was penalized for cutting the corner. Back at the front, Chastain continued to lead by more than a second over Eckes as Zane Smith, Kyle Busch and Hocevar were in the top five.

Then on the seventh lap, the caution returned when Hocevar, who was running towards the top 10, got loose due to brake pressure issues and spun as he got his No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST stuck in the gravel trap in Turn 11. Hocevar’s incident occurred as Kris Wright also spun toward the midfield. During the caution period, a host of names led by Zane Smith, Busch and Chastain pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. During the caution period, Logan Bearden was penalized for speeding on pit road.

During the following restart on the 10th lap, the field fanned out entering the first turn as Eckes pulled ahead with the lead while Sanchez and Majeski battled for second. Entering the second turn, contact from Majeski got Sanchez loose as he lost a handful of spots while Eckes pulled away through the first round of left and right turns. Behind, trouble ignited for Crafton as he spun in Turn 4 and got his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 stuck in the gravel trap. With the event proceeding under green, Eckes retained the lead in front of Majeski while Grala moved up to third in front of teammate Heim, Tyler Ankrum and Ben Rhodes.

At the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 12, Eckes, winner of last weekend’s event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, captured his third stage victory of the 2023 Truck season with Majeski, Corey Heim, Grala, Kyle Busch, Chastain, Tyler Ankrum, Zane Smith, Rhodes and Matt DiBenedetto scored in the top 10. Compared to the first three events on the schedule, the caution flag did not display and the competitors proceeded under green as part of NASCAR’s new rules for this season, which highlighted that no caution periods would be mandated at the conclusion of stage breaks on road course venues that hold Cup Series events.

As the event remained under green with the start of the second stage, a host of names that included Chastain, Kyle Busch and Zane Smith pitted under green. Eckes would pit under green during the following lap as Majeski assumed the lead. During the 14th lap, Kyle Busch, who managed to pass Chastain following the pit stops, overtook Majeski to assume the lead while Chastain followed through for second. Not long after, Colby Howard was penalized for cutting the course while Heim and DiBenedetto pitted under green.

As the event surpassed the Lap 20 mark, names that included Sanchez, Eckes, Majeski, Rhodes and Grala pitted under green, with Eckes dealing with a potential mechanical issue to his truck and knocking himself out of contention for a second consecutive win. By then, Chastain was leading ahead of Kyle Busch. Chastain would then pit on Lap 22 in light of a fuel pressure issue for the Floridian while Busch cycled his No. 51 Zariz Transport Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 26 and the event surpassed its halfway mark, Kyle Busch captured the stage victory. Zane Smith, who pitted to cap off the second stage, was scored second followed by Lawless Alan, Stewart Friesen, Parker Kligerman, Hailie Deegan, Chastain, Kaden Honeycutt, Rhodes and Nick Sanchez. Not long after, the caution returned when Kligerman, who was off the pace through the frontstretch, came to a stop towards the frontstretch’s uphill venue with smoke billowing out of his No. 75 Food Country USA Chevrolet Silverado RST. By then, names like Chase Purdy, Majeski, Tanner Gray and Ankrum had also pitted along with Zane Smith. In the midst of the pit stops and prior to Kligerman’s issues, Hailie Deegan and Kaden Honeycutt made contact entering Turn 19, which resulted in both spinning off the track.

During the caution period, some led by Kyle Busch, who opted to remain on the track during the second stage’s conclusion instead of pitting per crew chief Brian Pattie’s orders, pitted while the rest that included Zane Smith, Rhodes, Taylor Gray, Grala, Rajah Caruth, Majeski, Tanner Gray, Ankrum and Chase Purdy remained on the track.

With 13 laps remaining, the event restarted under green as Zane Smith and Rhodes occupied the front row. At the start, Zane Smith maintained the lead in front of Rhodes as the field fanned out and scrambled for late positions. As the field continued to navigate through the series of turns, Logan Bearden spun in Turn 15, but the field remained under green while Kyle Busch commenced his charge to the front on fresh tires.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than three seconds over Rhodes while third-place Kyle Busch, who continued to his charge to the front, was trailing by more than six seconds. Majeski and Grala were in the top five while Caruth, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Tanner Gray and Heim occupied the top 10 with 29 of 36 starters scored on the lead lap.

Four laps later, Kyle Busch overtook Rhodes for the runner-up spot. Busch, however, found himself trailing the leader Zane Smith by more than six seconds. As the laps continued to dwindle and the battles around the circuit continued, Busch could only get the gap between himself and Zane Smith down to four and five seconds, but he could not get closer to Smith’s No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 as the Californian continued to lead.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zane Smith remained as the leader by more than five seconds over Kyle Busch and by more than seven seconds over third-place Rhodes. With clean air in front of him and a clear advantage with no challenges lurking behind, Smith was able to navigate his way through the 20-turn circuit for a final time before cycling back to the frontstretch and claiming his second consecutive checkered flag in Austin.

With the victory, Smith became the first repeat winner of this year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season and notched his ninth series career victory. Smith’s win also marked the third consecutive victory for Front Row Motorsports No. 38 entry, which remains the only team to win every Truck event at Circuit of the Americas.

“Besides catching on fire in Victory Lane, that’s a first for me,” Smith, whose truck caught on fire while performing his burnout on the frontstretch, said on FS1. “Man, that’s a bummer right there, but man, just a shoutout to everyone at Team [Front Row Motorsports], [crew chief] Chris Lawson for that amazing strategy right there. That worked out for us good with that caution, advancing us in front of [Chastain]. Shoutout to my pit crew, man. They’ve been awesome all this year. It’s been so awesome having them and then, the strategy, putting Kyle [Busch] back there and us starting on the front row was just so perfect. The Speedco F-150 was fast there when it mattered. I just enjoy so much coming to all the road courses, especially here. It’s so cool [that Front Row Motorsports] is undefeated here. Just a true testament to this team. That was probably the most hectic Victory Lane celebration I’ve ever had.”

Kyle Busch, who was seeking the 100th Truck career victory for his organization, settled in second place and five seconds behind Smith while Majeski, Ankrum and Chastain finished in the top five.

“We were playing the long game and unfortunately, the long game didn’t work,” Busch said. “[Smith] got lucky today and beat us.”

Heim, Sanchez, Tanner Gray and Grala finished sixth through ninth while Rhodes, who had a drive shaft issue and had fallen off the pace approaching the finish line, ended up in 10th.

There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured three cautions for five laps. In total, 28 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the fourth event of the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season, Zane Smith leads the regular-season standings by two points over Ty Majeski, 18 over Ben Rhodes, 20 over Christian Eckes, 37 over Grant Enfinger and 38 over Matt Crafton.

Results.

1. Zane Smith, 16 laps led

2. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Ty Majeski, one lap led

4. Tyler Ankrum

5. Ross Chastain, 10 laps led

6. Corey Heim

7. Nick Sanchez

8. Tanner Gray

9. Kaz Grala

10. Ben Rhodes

11. Taylor Gray

12. Grant Enfinger

13. Rajah Caruth

14. Stewart Friesen

15. Kaden Honeycutt

16. Hailie Deegan

17. Lawless Alan

18. Daniel Dye

19. Jake Garcia

20. Colin Garrett

21. Kris Wright

22. Logan Bearden

23. Bret Holmes

24. Colby Howard

25. Timmy Hill

26. Mason Filippi

27. Chase Purdy

28. Dale Quarterley

29. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

30. Christian Eckes – OUT, Suspension, three laps led, Stage 1 winner

31. Parker Kligerman – OUT, Electrical

32. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Electrical

33. Matt Crafton – OUT, Accident

34. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Axle

35. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

36. Ed Jones – OUT, Suspension

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is another Texas event as the series will travel north from Austin to Fort Worth to compete at Texas Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 1, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

March 25, 2023