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Ryan Blaney crowned first NASCAR Cup Series championship; Ross Chastain wins finale at Phoenix

As Ross Chastain concluded the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season on a strong note by winning the season-finale NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, November 5, Ryan Blaney captured the main spotlight by winning his first NASCAR Cup Series championship with a runner-up finish and by outdueling title rivals Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell on the track.

The 29-year-old, third-generation Blaney, who was born in Hartford, Ohio, but grew up in High Point, North Carolina, led two of 312-scheduled laps in a finale where he started the deepest of the four championship finalists in 15th place, but used the long runs to his advantage as he methodically carved his way through the field and found himself mixed within the battle for the title against Byron, Larson and Bell. With Bell falling out of contention amid an early incident and Blaney left to battle against two Hendrick Motorsports competitors for the title for the remainder of the finale, Blaney continued to persevere against the competition, even against a multitude of non-title contenders vying for the finale victory.

Despite being overtaken by both Larson and Byron during the final pit stop during a caution period with less than 40 laps remaining, Blaney, who restarted inside the top 10 during the final restart with 31 laps remaining, drove his way back to the front and overtook Larson for both the runner-up spot and the lead in the championship battle with 20 laps remaining. From there, Blaney managed to pull away and remain ahead of Larson by more than a second for the remaining scheduled laps as he crossed the finish line in the runner-up spot behind race winner Chastain and captured his first championship in his eighth full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, November 4, title contender William Byron notched his fourth Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the 12th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 132.597 mph in 27.150 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Martin Truex Jr., who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 132.509 mph in 27.168 seconds. Byron’s title rivals, which included teammate Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney qualified fourth, 13th and 15th, respectively.

Before the event, Brad Keselowski dropped to the rear of the field after being absent during Saturday’s qualifying session due to his wife going into labor, which resulted in this year’s Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer qualifying Keselowski’s No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing entry.

When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, William Byron rocketed ahead with the lead over Martin Truex Jr. as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. With the field still fanning out through the backstretch, Byron proceeded to lead the first lap while Kevin Harvick challenged Truex for the runner-up spot followed by a hard-charging Kyle Larson.

Then as Larson used the dogleg in an attempt to overtake both Harvick and Truex for the runner-up spot during the following lap, Harvick and Larson continued to battle for the runner-up spot through the first two turns while Bubba Wallace battled and overtook Truex for fourth place. As Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney tried to muscle their way into the top 10, Byron retained the lead by a steady margin over Harvick and teammate Larson through the fifth lap.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, title contender Byron was leading by more than a second over Harvick followed by teammate/title contender Larson, Wallace and Denny Hamlin as Truex, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick and rookie Ty Gibbs were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher were running in 11th and 12th followed by title contenders Bell and Blaney while Kyle Busch occupied 15th place in front of Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Austin Dillon. Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was in 21st ahead of Alex Bowman, Aric Almirola, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland while Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger were mired in the top 30 ahead of Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Ty Dillon, JJ Yeley, BJ McLeod and Ryan Newman.

Ten laps later, Byron stabilized his advantage to a second over Harvick while third-place Larson trailed by more than three seconds. As Wallace and Truex continued to run in the top five on the track, title contenders Bell and Blaney were still mired back in 13th and 14th, respectively. Byron would continue to lead by more than a second over runner-up Harvick and by more than three seconds over teammate Larson by Lap 30 while Bell and Blaney were mired back in 11th and 14th, respectively.

At the Lap 40 mark, Byron retained the lead by more than a second over Harvick. Behind, Wallace overtook Larson for third place followed by Chastain, Truex, Buescher, Erik Jones and Hamlin. Meanwhile, Bell cracked the top 10 as he was up to 10th place while Blaney battled Tyler Reddick for 11th place.

By Lap 50, Byron’s advantage decreased to six-tenths of a second over runner-up Harvick, who started to gain ground on the former’s lead and used the inside lane through the turn to gain even more ground amid lapped traffic, while third-place Wallace trailed by a second. Behind, Larson was back in fifth after being overtaken by Chastain, Bell was running ninth behind Erik Jones and Blaney was battling Hamlin for 10th.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, title contender Byron fended off a late charge from Harvick to claim his ninth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season and to strike first in his bid for his first Cup title. Harvick settled in second place after following Byron by four-tenths of a second followed by Chastain, Wallace and Larson while Buescher, Truex, Erik Jones, Bell and Blaney were scored in the top 10 on the track. By then, all four championship finalists that included Byron, Larson, Bell and Blaney were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Byron pitted for the first service of the afternoon. Following the pit stops, Byron retained the lead after exiting pit road first from the first pit stall ahead of Harvick and Chastain while Larson, Buescher, Wallace, Truex, Blaney, Bell and Hamlin followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Kyle Busch and BJ McLeod were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

The second stage period started on Lap 68 as Byron and Harvick occupied the front row. At the start, Byron retained the lead from Harvick and Chastain as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg before navigating their way through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Byron maintaining the lead through the frontstretch, Harvick and Chastain battled for the runner-up spot ahead of Larson and Wallace while Blaney moved up to sixth as Bell battled Buescher for seventh. Blaney would proceed to overtake Wallace for fifth place as Bell followed suit in sixth, leaving both to gain ground on Larson for fourth place. Meanwhile, Byron retained the lead in both the race and the championship battle by seven-tenths of a second over Harvick at the Lap 75 mark.

Just past the Lap 80 mark, Byron extended his advantage to more than a second over Harvick followed by third-place Chastain, who trailed by two seconds. Behind, title contenders Larson, Blaney and Bell occupied fourth through sixth on the track while Wallace, Buescher, Truex and Hamlin were running in the top 10 ahead of Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, Reddick, and Ryan Preece. Byron would retain the lead by six-tenths of a second over Harvick and by a second-and-a-half over third-place Chastain by Lap 90 while Larson, Bell and Blaney retained fourth through sixth, respectively.

Then on Lap 93, Harvick used the outside lane through the first two turns and entering the backstretch to rocket past Byron and move his No. 4 Busch Light Harvick Ford Mustang into the lead. Harvick would proceed to stretch his advantage by more than half a second over Byron while third-place Chastain tried to close in on Byron for the runner-up spot.

At the Lap 100 mark, Harvick was leading by more than a second over Chastain followed by Byron, who now trailed the lead by one-and-a-half seconds but continued to lead the championship battle. Behind, however, Blaney moved up to fourth place and started to close in on Byron for the championship lead while Bell and Larson occupied fifth and seventh, respectively, on the track. With Buescher running sixth, Truex, Wallace and Erik Jones were in the top 10 while Hamlin, Suarez, Briscoe, Reddick and Keselowski followed suit in the top 15.

Five laps later, Blaney drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Byron for third place on the track, but for the lead in the championship battle. After spending the next two laps battling Byron for the spot, Blaney managed to muscle his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang past Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turns 3 and 4 assuming both third place on the track and the lead in the championship battle. By then, title contenders Bell and Larson trailed in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Harvick continued to lead the race over Chastain.

Shortly after, the caution flew after Bell, who was running in sixth place and had radioed braking concerns a few laps earlier, went dead straight toward the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 after his brake rotor exploded as he scraped and heavily damaged the right side of his No. 20 DeWalt/Rheem Toyota TRD Camry. The incident all but evaporated Bell’s hopes of winning this year’s Cup Series championship as he retired from the race in 36th place, dead last.

Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“That was my first time I’ve ever exploded a rotor in my career,” Bell, who ended in fourth place in the final championship standings, said in the infield care center on NBC. “I was surprised. Just obviously a disappointing way to end, but super, super proud of this No. 20 team, all of our partners DeWalt, Rheem. To be in the Final Four, it’s something that we’re really proud of. It stinks to not have the shot at the end of it. Obviously, we were all four [title contenders] really close and we all four showed strengths at different times, so I think it’s gonna be a great championship race. Whoever’s [the championship] is his is gonna be well-deserving.”

During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Harvick pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Harvick retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Chastain, Byron, Buescher, Larson, Truex and Blaney.

With the race restarting under green on Lap 116, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as Harvick maintained the lead over Chastain and Byron. Through the first two turns and the backstretch, Buescher would move into third place and Chastain would move into the lead over Harvick while Byron was in fourth ahead of Truex, Larson, Erik Jones and Blaney. As the field navigated through the frontstretch, contact was made between teammates Briscoe and Preece as Preece slipped up the track. With the field still fanned out to four lanes through the dogleg, Chastain maintained the race lead over Harvick and Buescher while Byron, who was in fourth, retained the lead in the title battle over teammate Larson and Blaney.

Just past the Lap 125 mark, Chastain was leading by half a second over Harvick followed by third-place Buescher, who trailed by more than a second, while Byron retained the lead in the championship battle in fourth place. Behind, Truex occupied fifth place ahead of title contenders Larson and Blaney while Wallace, Erik Jones and Hamlin were scored in the top 10 ahead of Suarez, Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, Kyle Busch, Logano and Reddick.

Fifteen laps later, Chastain continued to lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Buescher and Truex while Byron, who continued to lead the championship battle, fell back to fifth place in front of title rivals Larson and Blaney. Meanwhile, Austin Cindric, who got into the wall earlier, was on pit road and mired multiple laps down in 35th place.

At the halfway mark on Lap 156, Chastain was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Buescher followed by Harvick and Truex while Byron maintained the lead in the championship battle while running fifth place on the track ahead of Blaney and Larson. Meanwhile, Wallace, Erik Jones and Keselowski occupied the remaining spots in the top 10 on the track while Suarez, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Hocevar, Logano, McDowell, Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon were running in the top 20 ahead of Reddick, Chase Elliott, Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Briscoe.

Fourteen laps later, Chastain’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Buescher, who started to gain ground on the former for the top spot, while third-place Harvick trailed by three seconds. As Truex retained fourth place, Byron continued to lead the title battle and retain fifth place in front of Blaney and Larson. A lap later, Buescher muscled his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang past Chastain’s No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch to assume the lead for the first time. Buescher would stretch his advantage to half a second over Chastain by Lap 175 while Harvick, Truex, Byron, Blaney and Larson followed suit in the top seven.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Buescher, who was eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 8 finale last weekend, captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Chastain and Harvick settled in second and third followed by title contender Byron while Truex, Blaney, Larson, Wallace, Keselowski and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Buescher pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Chastain reassumed the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Byron, Truex, Larson, Blaney, Harvick, Keselowski and Buescher.

With 119 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Chastain and Byron occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch’s dogleg, Chastain maintained the lead while Byron and Truex battled for the runner-up spot. As the field navigated back to the frontstretch, Byron fended off Truex to retain the runner-up spot on the track and the lead in the championship standings over Blaney and Larson, both of whom were running fourth and fifth, while Chastin continued to lead the race. Meanwhile, Harvick slipped to sixth as he was running in front of Wallace, Keselowski, Buescher and Hamlin.

With 100 laps remaining, Chastain was leading the race by more than a second over Blaney, who overtook Byron two laps earlier to assume the lead in the championship battle. With Byron following pursuit of Blaney in third place, Truex slipped to fourth place on the track while Larson occupied fifth place ahead of Harvick, Wallace, Buescher, Keselowski and Hamlin.

Twenty laps later, Chastain retained the lead by less than three-tenths of a second over Blaney, who started to close in on Chastain for the race lead and continued to lead the championship battle, while Truex was up to third place. Meanwhile, title contender Byron trailed in fourth place on the track and by more than four seconds followed by teammate/title contender Larson while Buescher, Harvick, Wallace, Keselowski and Hamlin occupied the top 10. Chastain would stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Blaney with 75 laps remaining while Byron and Larson continued to run fourth and fifth, respectively, behind Truex.

Then with 73 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as title contenders Byron and Larson pitted from the top five. The leader Chastain and Blaney would pit during the following lap along with Buescher, Harvick, Wallace, Keselowski, Bowman, Kyle Busch, Logano, Suarez, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Truex, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Hocevar, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley, Preece and others. Amid the green flag pit stops, Hamlin, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Briscoe and Stenhouse while Chastain and Blaney, the first two competitors who pitted, followed suit in fourth and fifth.

Hamlin would then surrender the lead to pit his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry under green with 61 laps remaining as Briscoe assumed the lead. Two laps later, however, Chastain rocketed past Briscoe to reassume the lead followed by a hard-charging Blaney, who retained the lead in the championship battle. By then, title contenders Larson and Byron were mired back in fifth and sixth on the track while Truex moved up to third place on the track before Briscoe pitted his No. 14 Mahindra Tractor Ford Mustang under green.

With 55 laps remaining, the battle for the race lead intensified as Blaney attempted to make a move beneath Chastain entering the backstretch. With Chastain still running on the outside lane, Blaney drag-raced Chastain entering the frontstretch and led the following lap by a hair before Chastain fought back on the outside lane. Chastain then used the lapped competitor of Ryan Newman to muscle ahead through the backstretch, but Blaney fought back on the inside lane.

Then with 53 laps remaining, Blaney gave Chastain a bump in the rear bumper, which allowed Truex to join the battle entering the backstretch. Amid the battles, Blaney and Chastain continued to duel for the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns until Blaney muscled ahead with the lead on the inside lane. Chastain, however, pulled a crossover move on Blaney through the backstretch as both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and in front of Truex. Chastain would then reassume the lead and pull away from Blaney through the backstretch entering the backstretch as Truex made his move beneath Blaney, who got loose, to assume the runner-up spot in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry. Despite losing ground of the race lead, Blaney, who fell back to third, retained the lead in the championship fight as he was ahead of title rival Larson by more than two seconds and with Byron running in fifth place with 50 laps remaining.

With 44 laps remaining, the battle for the lead between Chastain and Truex ignited as Truex made his move beneath Chastain for the lead through the frontstretch as Chastain was getting mired in lapped traffic. With both competitors dueling for the lead through the backstretch, Chastain used the outside lane to retain the lead as Blaney closed back in on the two leaders. Blaney then made his move beneath Truex entering Turns 3 and 4 to overtake the runner-up spot over Truex with 43 laps remaining before proceeding to regain ground on Chastain for the race lead.

Then with 37 laps remaining and just as Blaney attempted to take the lead from Chastain, the caution flew after Kyle Busch spun his No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 4. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Chastain and Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin and Erik Jones exited pit road first and second, respectively, after both opted for two-tire pit stops while title contender Larson exited in third place and as the first competitor with four fresh tires followed by Chastain, Byron, Blaney and Truex.

Down to the final 31 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch’s dogleg, Hamlin muscled ahead with the lead before Larson and Chastain attempted to pin Hamlin in a three-wide move for the lead through the first two turns. With all three leaders remaining in three-wide formation through the backstretch, Chastain used the outside lane to muscle ahead with the lead before Larson and Hamlin fought back in three-wide formation through the frontstretch.

Then as Larson tried to muscle ahead from the inside lane with 30 laps remaining, he got loose entering Turns 1 and 2, which allowed title rivals Blaney and Byron to join the battle. As Chastain and Larson dueled for the lead through the backstretch, Chastain muscled ahead to control the race lead. Larson settled in the runner-up spot as Byron, Blaney and Hamlin battled for third place. As Chastain retained the race lead by a second with 25 laps remaining, the battle for the championship ignited as Larson, who was running second, had Blaney close in on his rear bumper while Byron trailed both by a second in fourth place.

Then with 22 laps remaining, the battle for this year’s championship ignited as Blaney closed in on Larson’s rear bumper. Then as Larson got loose and nearly wrecked in the frontstretch during the following lap, Blaney moved to the outside lane and made his bid to overtake Larson through the first two turns. With both Larson and Blaney dueling against one another through the backstretch, Blaney then gassed his No. 12 Ford ahead of Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the outside lane and to claim both the runner-up spot on the track and the lead in the championship battle with 20 laps remaining. Blaney would then move in front of Larson through the frontstretch and muscle ahead with a slight advantage through the backstretch. With Larson trying to use the outside lane to regain ground, Blaney, however, maintained his ground and remained in front of Larson during the following lap.

With less than 15 laps remaining, Chastain continued to lead the race by two seconds over Blaney, who remained a half a second ahead of Larson in his bid to win the title, while Byron, who was in fourth, trailed his two title rivals by two seconds followed by Buescher, Truex, Harvick and Hamlin. Blaney would retain the runner-up spot on the track and the lead in the championship battle by eight-tenths of a second over Larson with 10 laps remaining while Chastain retained the race lead by nearly two seconds.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Chastain stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Blaney, who continued to lead the title battle by more than a second over third-place Larson as fourth-place Byron trailed Blaney by nearly four seconds.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chastain remained as the race leader by more than a second over Blaney, who remained as the championship leader by nearly two seconds over Larson and by four seconds over Byron. Following one final circuit around the Phoenix circuit, Chastain was able to cross the finish line in first place to claim the victory in the finale while Blaney was able to follow suit in the runner-up spot and win the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

With the championship, Blaney became the 36th different competitor to win a NASCAR Cup Series championship and the third to do so while driving for Team Penske, which achieved its fourth Cup career title. Blaney, who became the eighth different competitor to win a Cup title since the inception of the current Playoff-elimination format in 2014, also recorded the second consecutive Cup driver’s title in recent years for Ford as the Ford nameplate achieved a sweep in driver’s titles across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Ben Rhodes won the Craftsman Truck Series title and Cole Custer won the Xfinity Series title). The championship was also the first for crew chief Jonathan Hassler and Penske’s No. 12 entry.

Overall, Blaney, who achieved his first Cup title in his eighth full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series, capped off the 2023 season with three victories (Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway in October), which tallied his wins total to 10. He also earned six stage victories, eight top-five results, 18 top-10 results, 562 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1.

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“It was just time to go to work [on the final restart],” Blaney said on NBC. “We did a good job of getting where we needed to be and [Larson and Byron] had two good pit stops, so just needed to go to work. [I was] Hoping our car was good enough, which it was. Just so proud of this team. What an unbelievable year. What an unbelievable Playoffs for us. To win back-to-back Cup titles for Mr. [Roger] Penske, that’s so special, and to have my family here on my first Cup title. I got emotional in the car. I’m not a very emotional guy, but so cool. Thank you, [fans], for coming. I hope it was an awesome show. Can’t wait to celebrate with my guys.”

“[I was praying] No yellow,” Blaney added. “[I] Didn’t want a caution and knew once I got to the white [flag], I felt pretty good about us just getting there and finishing it off. I just didn’t want a yellow and luckily, everyone kept it straight. We were going good. I wanna shout out also to Kyle [Larson] and William [Byron]. That was fun racing those guys all day, and [Christopher] Bell. Racing those two guys at the end there, racing clean. That’s what racing’s all about. That was a lot of fun. I think in the summer, we were struggling a little bit, but we never gave up. We just went to work and I’ve said that all week. This group goes to work and they figure out problems. That’s why they’re such an amazing group to be with the Team Penske folks because they just put their heads down and do the work and accept the challenge. It was a lot of hard work by a lot of amazing men and women over at our race shop and I can’t thank them enough for that. They deserve this [championship] just as much as the guys who travel here as much as me. They’re just a big part of it.”

Upon receiving the championship trophy on the championship stage, Blaney echoed his praise towards his crew chief, team owner Roger and his team for the hard work and perseverance towards achieving this year’s Cup title while paying homage to his family’s deep background of racing that includes his grandfather, Lou, and father, Dave.

“I think we did an amazing job on [never giving up],” Blaney said. “It was somewhat of an up and down year, but you’re gonna have those moments and through the summer we just worked really hard to get back to where we needed to be and set a deadline for the playoffs and we met that deadline. I’m just super proud of the effort by everybody at Team Penske who put in tons and tons of hours of hard work and nobody really got down. They just put their heads down and decided to really put in a lot of work and it showed up, especially these playoffs and especially the last five weeks. It’s so cool to have all of their hard work pay off, so they should be proud. Obviously, I come from a family of racers – my grandfather and dad and uncle. Dad is obviously who I grew up watching and admiring and wanted to be like, so to be able to do what he did because as a kid I just wanted to do what dad did, so to be able to race and let alone compete for wins and championships and still have my parents around and people that you look up to that are still around it makes it even more special.”

“It’s, obviously, a great place to be here today,” Roger Penske, team owner of Penske Racing, added. “The job that Blaney did racing clean with [Larson, Byron and Bell] was a pleasure to be in this race. To race my best friend, [owner] Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs, what a team. You can’t beat this. That’s why we do this every day. At the end of the day, [Blaney]’s a champion. That’s what counts.”

“It’s incredible,” Jonathan Hassler, Blaney’s crew chief, added. “It’s just a huge testament to the whole organization and this No. 12 team, working hard day in and day out and never being afraid to be a little bit better.”

“Yes, I believe it,” Dave Blaney, Ryan Blaney’s father and former NASCAR competitor, added. “A huge day. I don’t even know how to describe it. I thought [Ryan Blaney] was gonna win it five times and lost it five times. He just kept getting after it and did it. Proud of him and everybody on the team. He’s so talented. It’s just building confidence and if this doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will. I’ve seen it for a long time. Great kid. I’ve seen a lot of races, but this was the coolest one.”

As Blaney celebrated his first Cup Series title, Larson and Byron, both of whom finished third and fourth, respectively, on the track, were left disappointed on pit road after both fell short of winning their second and first title, respectively, while representing Hendrick Motorsports in the finale. For Larson, the 2021 champion who ended up in the runner-up spot in the final standings for the first time in his career, he concluded this season with four victories, eight stage victories, two poles, 15 top-five results, 18 top-10 results, 1,127 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.6.

Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[Blaney]’s car was really fast, really the last few months, and especially today,” Larson, who applauded the competitive and clean racing with Blaney and who commended the fast pit services from his pit crew, said. “Our pit crew and pit road just really kept us in the game. We weren’t the greatest on the track, but I was just hoping for pit stops because I knew the way our team executed our lights and the way our pit crew can execute a fast pit stop, I knew it was gonna be our only shot to win. They did everything in their power to give us the winning job there, so huge thank you to them. I needed to come out [as] the leader on that restart. I’m not sure if it would’ve made a difference. I was just not as good as a few guys, especially Blaney and Ross [Chastain], probably. It would’ve been difficult, but my team did a really good job all season, so I’m extremely proud of them. We had an up-and-down year and we finally put together two solid weeks in a row. We’ll come back next year and try to be stronger. A lot of fun there. Congrats to Ryan. He’s a deserving champion. Him and his team have done an amazing job. It’s been fun to kind of come up through the ranks with him and now, you see him be a champion. Congrats to Team Penske and their whole team. We’ll try and beat them next year.”

For Byron, who led 95 laps, won the first stage, and achieved a career-best third place in the final standings, he concluded the 2023 season with a career-high six victories, a season-high nine stage victories, four poles, 15 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 1,016 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.0.

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“Once the track rubbered out, we got really tight,” Byron said. “Especially when we lost the lead on track, we just had a big balance shift and got tight back in second through fifth and just couldn’t gain a lot of speed through [Turns] 1 and 2 and just kind of having to really over-slow the car and get it to the bottom [lane]. That’s all we had there. Just really proud of our AXALTA team. Just a great season. It stinks to come up short, but I’d like to think we’re gonna be back in this position and we’re gonna have more shots at it. Just gotta keep working, gotta keep working on the short track program for us. It was definitely the tough part of our season, but I felt like we brought a good car this weekend and really until the track kind of changed, I thought we were in the game. All we had there. We’ve had a great season. Lots to be proud of and we’re gonna keep digging hard, so this was a great season for us.”

Amid Blaney’s championship celebration, Ross Chastain celebrated in Victory Lane for the first time at Phoenix and for the second time in the 2023 Cup Serie season after leading a race-high 157 of 312 laps. Chastain’s fourth career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and the sixth overall for Trackhouse Racing was enough for the 30-year-old native from Alva, Florida, to conclude this season in ninth place in the final standings as he became the first competitor not vying for the title to win the finale since Denny Hamlin won the 2013 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“We did something else that’s never been done before, for everybody on this Worldwide Express team,” Chastain said in Victory Lane. “This vision for Trackhouse [Racing] and what this was was goals like this and they were lofty. I couldn’t think of anything I would want to do more as to try to be like Kevin Harvick and race with him early in the race was bucket list, little kid in me, racing that 2005 GameCube game. I am beside myself that we were able to do that. That last caution, we were really tight and it saved us. [Crew chief] Phil Surgen and this group at Trackhouse, all our GM support staff, SIM staff and everybody at Trackhouse, somehow, came up with a way to make this thing turn and we drove off into the sunset.”

On the track, Chris Buescher finished in fifth place while Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10.

Notably, Harvick finished seventh in his 826th and final career start in the Cup Series while teammate Aric Almirola finished 13th in his 460th and final full-time event as a Cup competitor. In addition, Ty Gibbs, the 2023 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, finished 21st in front of Reddick, Carson Hocevar finished 19th in his final event with Legacy Motor Club, Ty Dillon finished 28th in his final event with Spire Motorsports and Justin Haley finished 29th in his final event with Kaulig Racing. Denny Hamlin, who finished eighth, claimed fifth place in the final standings while Chase Elliott, who finished 16th, settled in 17th place in the standings over Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez and teammate Alex Bowman.

There were 18 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Ross Chastain, 157 laps led

2. Ryan Blaney, two laps led

3. Kyle Larson

4. William Byron, 95 laps led, Stage 1 winner

5. Chris Buescher, 18 laps led, Stage 2 winner

6. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

7. Kevin Harvick, 23 laps led

8. Denny Hamlin, 14 laps led

9. Michael McDowell

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Daniel Suarez

12. Austin Dillon

13. Aric Almirola

14. Ryan Preece

15. Brad Keselowski

16. Chase Elliott

17. Alex Bowman

18. Joey Logano

19. Carson Hocevar

20. Erik Jones

21. Ty Gibbs

22. Tyler Reddick

23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24. Chase Briscoe, two laps led

25. Kyle Busch, one lap down

26. Harrison Burton, one lap down

27. JJ Yeley, one lap down

28. Ty Dillon, two laps down

29. Justin Haley, two laps down

30. Todd Gilliland, three laps down

31. Corey LaJoie, four laps down

32. AJ Allmendinger, four laps down

33. BJ McLeod, six laps down

34. Ryan Newman, seven laps down

35. Austin Cindric, 11 laps down

36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates championship finalists

Final standings

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Kyle Larson

3. William Byron

4. Christopher Bell

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Chris Buescher

8. Brad Keselowski

9. Ross Chastain

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Martin Truex Jr.

12. Joey Logano

13. Kevin Harvick

14. Kyle Busch

15. Michael McDowell

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

The NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Busch Light Clash on February 4, 2024, that will air at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, which will occur on February 18, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX and officially commence Cup Series’ 76th season of competition.

November 5, 2023
Custer earns first Xfinity Series championship with dramatic, overtime victory at Phoenix

In his first full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series season in four years, Cole Custer etched his name as a first-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion after fending off title rivals Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer and John Hunter Nemechek amid an overtime shootout to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 4.

The 25-year-old Custer from Ladera Ranch, California, led four times for a race-high 96 of 202 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in seventh place and provided early speed, especially throughout the long runs, to carve his way to the front. After finishing in the runner-up spot during the first stage period, Custer made his first presence as the leader on Lap 53 and he would spend the majority of the event battling amongst his title rivals Nemechek, Allgaier and Mayer towards the front on the track.

Then after beating his title rivals off of pit road following a late pit stop with less than 20 laps remaining during a caution period, Custer reassumed the race lead from Daniel Hemric during a restart with 12 laps remaining and had appeared to be cruising for both the race victory and title when another caution period with four laps remaining briefly stalled his momentum and sent the event into overtime. Despite slipping back to third at the start of the overtime shootout, Custer then overtook Allgaier and Nemechek amid a three-wide battle before the final lap and would muscle away from the field to win the 2023 Xfinity Series’ finale and claim his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in his fourth full-time season in the series.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, rookie Sammy Smith notched his second Xfinity pole position of his career and in recent weeks after posting a pole-winning lap at 132.582 mph in 27.153 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Austin Hill, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 132.572 mph in 27.155 seconds. Meanwhile, John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-qualifying title contender as he started in third place while his title rivals Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer started seventh, eighth and 16th, respectively.

Prior to the event, Anthony Alfredo dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his B.J. McLeod Motorsports entry. Rookie Blaine Perkins also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his Our Motorsports entry.

When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, Sammy Smith rocketed his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra away from the field that fanned out through the dogleg and entered Turns 1 and 2. As the field continued to fan out through the backstretch while the competitors jostled for early spots, Smith proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of a side-by-side battle between teammate Myatt Snider and Austin Hill while title contenders John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and rookie Chandler Smith followed suit.

During the second lap, a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Hill, Myatt Snider and Nemechek as Sammy Smith checked out with the lead by half a second. In the process, Allgaier fended off Chandler Smith for fifth place as he tried to make a move on both Nemechek and Hill for more. Then on the third lap, the first caution of the finale flew after Allgaier, who was trying to make a three-wide move beneath Nemechek and Hill, got loose underneath Nemechek and spun his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro in Turn 1, with the field scattering to avoid hitting Allgaier as the veteran proceeded without making any on-track contact.

When the race restarted on the seventh lap, the field fanned out through the dogleg as Sammy Smith retained the lead ahead of Hill and teammate Myatt Snider. Not long after, the caution quickly returned after Kyle Sieg spun and wrecked across the outside wall in the frontstretch.

During the following restart on Lap 12, Hill and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Hill muscled his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the outside lane to assume the lead. With Hill leading the field through the backstretch, Daniel Hemric, who was running in the top 10, made on-track contact, but he continued to run under the race pace as the field fanned out and continued to jostle for early spots. With Sheldon Creed being penalized for a restart violation and Hemric pitting under green to address a flat left-front tire, Hill retained the lead by a narrow margin over Sammy Smith while Nemechek, Myatt Snider and Chandler Smith trailed in the top five by the Lap 15 mark.

Through the Lap 20 mark, Hill was leading by three-tenths of a second over Sammy Smith followed by title contender Nemechek, Snider and Chandler Smith while title contender Cole Custer trailed in sixth place ahead of teammate Riley Herbst, title contender Sam Mayer, Connor Mosack and Brandon Jones were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Allgaier moved up to 15th while rookie Parker Retzlaff, Josh Berry, Brett Moffitt and Kyle Weatherman occupied the remaining top-15 spots. In addition, Rajah Caruth, who was driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports, was battling Derek Kraus for 16th place.

Ten laps later, Hill continued to lead the race by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Nemechek, who was currently leading the championship battle, while Sammy Smith, Custer and Snider trailed in the top five. Meanwhile, Mayer was in seventh while teammate Allgaier returned to the top 10 as he was in 10th place behind teammate Brandon Jones. Another two laps later, Nemechek overtook Hill exiting the frontstretch to assume the race lead in his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Supra as Custer was scored in third place and trailing by more than two seconds. By then, Mayer gained one spot to sixth place while Allgaier was still mired in 10th.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, title contender Nemechek scored his 11th Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Title contender, Custer, followed suit in the runner-up spot and by less than four seconds while Chandler Smith, Hill, Mayer, Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Snider and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Nemechek pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after he managed to exit pit road ahead of his title rivals Custer, Allgaier and Mayer, respectively, while Hill, Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Sammy Smith was penalized for speeding on pit road while Derek Kraus was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

The second stage period started on Lap 52 as Nemechek and Custer occupied the front row in front of Allgaier and Mayer. At the start, Nemechek and Custer dueled for the lead through the dogleg and the frontstretch as Custer fended off Nemechek to assume the lead both in the race and the championship battle. With Custer leading Nemechek, Mayer was in third ahead of teammate Josh Berry and Chandler Smith while Allgaier fell back to sixth in front of Hill, Connor Mosack and Brandon Jones. Amid the battles ensuing within the pack, Custer was leading by half a second over Nemechek while third-place Mayer trailed by more than a second.

By Lap 60, Custer was leading by half a second over Nemechek followed by Mayer, Berry and Hill while Allgaier trailed in sixth place ahead of Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones, Mosack and Snider. Behind, Herbst trailed in 11th place in front of Creed, Parker Kligerman, Moffitt and Caruth while Jeb Burton, Kaz Grala, Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Weatherman and Jeremy Clements occupied the top 20.

Ten laps later, Custer continued to lead by more than a second over title rival Nemechek and by more than two seconds over title rival Mayer while Berry and Hill trailed in the top five. As Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones followed suit in sixth and seventh, Allgaier was mired back in eighth while Herbst and Creed were in the top 10.

At the Lap 80 mark, Custer extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Nemechek while third-place Mayer trailed by less than three seconds. Meanwhile, Allgaier retained eighth place while Hill, Chandler Smith, Berry and Brandon Jones were running in front of him on the track.

Five laps later, the caution flew after Derek Kraus blew a right-front tire and smacked his No. 11 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro into the outside wall just past Turn 2. Kraus’ incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 90 to conclude under caution as Custer claimed his ninth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Mayer settled in second followed by Nemechek, Hill and Chandler Smith while Brandon Jones, Berry, Creed, Allgaier and Herbst were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting first ahead of Mayer, Hill, Nemechek, Creed, Chandler Smith and Jones while Allgaier exited in ninth place.

With 105 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Custer and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch dogleg, Custer retained the lead ahead of Mayer while Hill was in third behind Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Creed and Berry. Shortly after, Nemechek would navigate his way up to the runner-up spot over Mayer while Custer retained the lead nearly six-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Allgaier would trail in eighth place as Custer led the halfway mark on Lap 100. Another lap later, the caution returned after JJ Yeley wrecked in the backstretch.

With the race restarting with 91 laps remaining, Custer retained the advantage by a narrow margin over Nemechek through the frontstretch before Nemechek used the outside lane to navigate past Custer and return to the lead. With Nemechek leading both the race and the championship battle over Custer, Chandler Smith was in third followed by a side-by-side battle between Mayer and Creed while Hill and Allgaier pursued in sixth and seventh, respectively. As the front-runners settled in a long single-file line, Nemechek retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Custer with less than 90 laps remaining.

With 75 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by half a second over a hard-charging Creed while Custer, Mayer and Hill trailed in the top five. Behind, Allgaier was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Herbst, Jones and Berry while Grala, Caruth, Moffitt, Snider and Sammy Smith occupied the top 15.

Ten laps later, Nemechek was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Creed, who led four laps from Laps 127 to 130 before Nemechek reassumed the top spot through the frontstretch. Behind, title contenders Custer, Mayer and Allgaier trailed in the top five ahead of Hill, Chandler Smith, Jones, Herbst and Berry.

Another lap later, the caution flew after Snider, who was battling Caruth and Moffitt for 12th place, slipped sideways off the front nose of Moffitt entering Turn 3 as Snider then spun and slapped his No. 19 Tree Top Toyota Supra against the outside wall before he spun again. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Nemechek pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Creed, Custer, Allgaier, Mayer, Hill and Chandler Smith. Amid the pit stops, Moffitt and Brandon Jones were penalized for speeding on pit road.

During the proceeding restart with 58 laps remaining, Nemechek and Custer dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Nemechek muscled ahead with the lead while Custer overtook Creed to move into the runner-up spot. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Chandler Smith challenged Creed for third place while Allgaier and Mayer pursued within close distance along with Herbst, Hill and Daniel Hemric. As Allgaier battled Creed for fourth place in front of Mayer, Nemechek retained the lead over Custer and Chandler Smith with 55 laps remaining.

With less than 50 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over title rival Custer followed by Chandler Smith as Allgaier and Mayer pursued in the top five. Behind, Creed fell back to sixth while Herbst, Hill, Sammy Smith and Hemric were in the top 10.

Then with 43 laps remaining, Custer used the inside lane to muscle his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang past Nemechek through the backstretch as the Californian reassumed the lead. Despite Nemechek’s efforts in keeping Custer close within his front windshield, the latter started to pull away with the lead in both the race and the title fight by four-tenths of a second with 40 laps remaining. By then, Chandler Smith retained third place while title contenders Allgaier and Mayer remained in fourth and fifth.

With 36 laps remaining, Chris Hacker spun while trying to enter pit road, but the event remained under green flag conditions as Custer retained the lead by more than half a second over Nemechek as Chandler Smith, Allgaier and Mayer continued to pursue in the top five on the track.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, all four championship finalists were running first through fourth on the track as Custer continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over runner-up Nemechek, by more than two seconds over third-place Allgaier and by less than four seconds over fourth-place Mayer, with non-title contender Creed occupying fifth place ahead of Hill and Chandler Smith.

Two laps later and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, the battle for the lead between Custer and Nemechek reignited as Nemechek tried to make several runs beneath Custer for the top spot. As both continued to battle closely for the lead amid the lapped traffic, Allgaier started to close in as he was trailing by only a second while Mayer trailed by more than three seconds.

With 20 laps remaining, the four championship finalists continued to run first through fourth on the track as Custer retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Nemechek and by less than two seconds over Allgaier while fourth-place Mayer trailed by three seconds. Just then, the caution flew after Connor Mosack made contact against the outside wall entering Turn 3 before he came to a halt just towards the wall within the turn.

During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Custer pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hemric exited first after opting for a two-tire pit stop followed by Custer, the first competitor with four fresh tires, as Allgaier, Nemechek, Hill, Mayer and Creed followed suit.

As the race restarted with 12 laps remaining, Hemric and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch’s dogleg before Custer muscled ahead with the lead through the first two turns. Behind, Allgaier, who had faint smoke puffing out of his car, threaded the needle between Hemric and Hill to assume the runner-up spot while Nemechek followed suit in third place. As the field behind continued to jostle and fan out for late spots, Custer retained the lead in both the race and the championship battle by a narrow margin over Allgaier and Nemechek, with the latter two battling for the runner-up spot and trying to keep Custer within close reach. Shortly after, Custer was leading by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Nemechek with 10 laps remaining.

Down to the final five laps of the event, the top-four championship finalists returned to running first through fourth on the track as Custer continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Nemechek as Allgaier and Mayer trailed within two seconds. Shortly after, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime after Anthony Alfredo spun in Turn 4 after getting hit by Dawson Cram. By then, Custer was leading by more than a second over Nemechek as Allgaier and Mayer remained in third and fourth, respectively.

When the event restarted in the first overtime attempt, Nemechek and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch’s dogleg before Nemechek muscled ahead while Custer was stuck in a three-wide battle with Allgaier and Mayer entering the first two turns. Then through the turns, all four championship finalists went four wide entering the backstretch as Nemechek, who went wide entering Turns 1 and 2, and Allgaier rubbed fenders, which resulted in Nemechek briefly scrubbing the outside wall in his No. 20 Toyota, while Custer made his move beneath both. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the top spot before Custer muscled his No. 00 Ford ahead with the lead and took the white flag to start the final lap.

During the final lap, Custer remained as the leader followed by a hard-charging Allgaier as Creed and Herbst made their way into third and fourth on the track. By then, Mayer was back in fifth while Nemechek was slowly falling off the pace and losing ground of his title rivals. Through Turns 1 and 2, Allgaier was caught in a tight battle for the runner-up spot involving Creed, Herbst and teammate Mayer. This, however, allowed Custer to muscle away with the lead through the backstretch. With Allgaier unable to close the gap entering the final set of turns as he was trying to retain second place on the track, Custer was able to smoothly navigate his way around the final turns at Phoenix before returning to the frontstretch and streaking across the finish line first to win both the race and the championship.

With his accomplishment, Custer became the 33rd different competitor to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship as this marks the fourth consecutive season where the Xfinity Series featured a first-time champion. Custer also became the first competitor from California to win the Xfinity title since Tyler Reddick won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019 as he recorded the first Xfinity driver’s title and the second owner’s title for Stewart-Haas Racing. The championship was also the first for rookie crew chief Jonathan Toney as Custer became the first Ford competitor to win the Xfinity title since Austin Cindric made the last accomplishment in 2020. This season marks the sixth consecutive year where the championship-winning competitor won the final event on the schedule.

Overall, Custer, who finished in the runner-up spot in the final standings in 2018 and 2019 and returned to full-time Xfinity Series competition this season after spending the previous three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, achieved three victories throughout the 2023 season, with the Phoenix finale victory occurring after the Californian had won at Portland International Raceway in June and the inaugural, rain-shortened Chicago Street Course in July. He also racked up a total of nine stage victories, six poles, 14 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 586 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.8 throughout the 33-race schedule.

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I thought it was over,” Custer, while addressing the overtime shootout, said on USA Network. “I went from first to third. I was able to shift the car all night. Doug Yates’ horsepower worked out. It pulled me off the corner. I can’t believe we won that thing after going back to third on that restart. Man, I can’t say enough about these guys. We started the year off and it was a struggle. We had to kind of dig deep with each other and really talked about how to get better. To see how much this group’s grown through the year and to be a part of something. I knew I wanted to work with [Jonathan Toney]. I knew he was the guy that could make it happen. I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else. I just can’t thank [owner] Gene Haas enough. He’s given me opportunities. I wouldn’t be here without him. I can’t thank him enough and Ford Performance, Haas Automation, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s awesome to bring one back to Stewart-Haas right now. Man, I’m gonna enjoy this.”

“You get knocked down a little bit and you just want to prove that you can go out there and do it,” Custer, who will return to Stewart-Haas Racing to defend his title in 2024, added. “I think these guys have just really, always believed in me all year and I just can’t thank them enough for giving me really fast race cars and still believing in me when things weren’t going great.”

“I am super proud of Cole [Custer],” Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, added. “He literally won that one on his own. I’ve watched the replay four times and I still don’t know exactly what he did, but what he did was perfect. It didn’t look good going into [Turn] 1, but coming off of [Turn] 2, whatever he did in the center of [Turns] 1 and 2 was perfect and then, finished it off in [Turns] 3 and 4. This group of guys, they don’t have any quit in them. It hasn’t been a perfect season, but at the end when it counted, they did their job and did their work. Cole drove his ass off tonight.”

With Custer winning both the race and the championship, Sheldon Creed finished a career-best second place for the seventh time in his career and during his final event driving for Richard Childress Racing while Justin Allgaier ended up in third place on the track and as this year’s championship runner-up. The runner-up result in the final standings marks the second time that Allgaier concluded the season as the championship runner-up, though the Illinois veteran remained positive in a season where he notched four victories, a season-high 13 stage victories, three poles, 15 top-five results, 20 top-10 results, 643 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.6.

Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“First of all, hats off to this whole race team, everybody at JR Motorsports” Allgaier, who will remain at JR Motorsports for the 2024 Xfinity Series, said. “To bring the Camaros that we brought this weekend. I don’t know if I’ll get another shot at [the championship] next year. We, at least, will have a shot at it, but I don’t know if we’ll make [the Championship 4]. So proud of the effort of this team and what we were able to accomplish. The restart was fantastic. I thought we did everything right. [Nemechek] kind of missed the bottom [lane] and drove all the way up. Honestly, I was afraid I was gonna run in the back of him and when I tried to turn back down the hill, it just was enough to let [Custer] get back to my inside and ultimately getting down into Turn 3, I don’t know. I’m gonna replay this one in the back of my head a couple of times. I drove it in there pretty deep and just kind of washed up. [Custer] had the turning car all night and we were just a little bit too free, but again, proud of our team, everybody at BRANDT Professional Agriculture. To have the season we had, to finish third in the race and second in points, I can’t be more thankful. We weren’t quite there, but especially even after trying to give [the championship] away on Lap 2 or 3 or whatever, still coming back through, what a night. We’ll be back. We got three months, two months to Daytona. We’ll come back stronger and go try to get to Victory Lane again.”

Meanwhile, Sam Mayer finished fifth on the track behind Herbst and in third place in the final standings while Nemechek, who wrecked on the final lap, ended up 28th on the track and in fourth place in the final standings. The third-place result in the final standings kept Mayer optimistic in a season where he rallied from rolling on his roof at Daytona International Speedway to notch his first four career victories and notch 13 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 177 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.2 while contending for his first Xfinity title. Nemechek, however, was left disappointed on pit road in a season where he notched a season-high seven victories along with two poles, 17 top-five results, 24 top-10 results, 1,083 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.5.

“Those last two restarts were hectic,” Mayer, who will remain at JR Motorsports for the 2024 Xfinity season, said. “We had our work cut out for us. We somehow made it happen there on the first [restart] and then, God blessed us with a second one and gave us another chance at it, but just a little bit short. Our Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity 10G [Internet]. We were up in the top five. You really can’t do much more other than that. It’s my first top five here [at Phoenix]. I can’t really be too bummed out. It’s more motivating to go out there and do it next year and win the [championship] next year…My best is gonna be even better next year, so I’m looking forward to getting to Daytona, starting the year off right instead of upside down and finish it right instead of third.”

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[The car was] Destroyed and it didn’t turn,” Nemechek, who will be driving for Legacy Motor Club for the 2024 Cup season, said. “I don’t know if we had a right front [tire] start going down or what exactly it was, but just drove in and didn’t turn. Man, I hate it for our guys, hate it for Toyota [Toyota Racing Development], Pye Barker. [My] Toyota GR Supra was really, really fast, but drive down and it doesn’t turn, it’s not a very good thing. Once we got pinched into the fence there off of [Turn] 2, it hurt the right side even more. I think we had a right rear [tire] start going down as well. It sucks to end up where we finished. I had a really strong effort all day. Proud of this whole No. 20 crew. Just sucks to end our season this way, but overall, a really successful season for this No. 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing. I was proud to be behind the wheel of this No. 20 car all year. Seven wins is a lot to be proud of. One race doesn’t define us as a group. It’s really just another race. If you win, you come out a champion. It’s what we told ourselves all week. We almost had it, but overall, really proud of this group, proud of myself. We put ourselves in contention. That’s really all you can do. Just needed [the car] to turn a little bit better and the results might have been a little bit different. Man, it sucks, but I’m looking forward to next year and looking forward to getting in a Cup car.”

Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.

On the track, Josh Berry finished sixth in his final event driving for JR Motorsports while Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Kaz Grala completed the top 10 on the track.

There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 46 laps. In addition, 29 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Cole Custer, 96 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Sheldon Creed, four laps led

3. Justin Allgaier

4. Riley Herbst

5. Sam Mayer

6. Josh Berry

7. Austin Hill, 21 laps led

8. Chandler Smith

9. Sammy Smith, 11 laps led

10. Kaz Grala

11. Brandon Jones

12. Jeb Burton

13. Parker Retzlaff

14. Rajah Caruth

15. Brett Moffitt

16. Parker Kligerman

17. Kyle Weatherman

18. Ryan Sieg

19. Dawson Cram

20. Jeremy Clements

21. Daniel Hemric, four laps led

22. Myatt Snider

23. Jeffrey Earnhardt

24. Anthony Alfredo

25. Josh Williams

26. Ryan Ellis

27. Joey Gase

28. John Hunter Nemechek, 66 laps led, Stage 1 winner

29. Brennan Poole

30. Timmy Hill, two laps down

31. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

32. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

33. Stefan Parsons, eight laps down

34. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident

35. Chris Hacker – OUT, Suspension

36. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

37. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident

38. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Vibration

*Bold indicates championship finalists

Final standings.

1. Cole Custer

2. Justin Allgaier

3. Sam Mayer

4. John Hunter Nemechek

5. Austin Hill

6. Sammy Smith

7. Sheldon Creed

8. Daniel Hemric

9. Chandler Smith

10. Parker Kligerman

11. Josh Berry

12. Jeb Burton

The NASCAR Xfinity Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway to commence the 2024 racing season. The season opener at Daytona is slated to occur on February 17 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

November 4, 2023
Rhodes survives chaotic finale for second Truck Series title; Eckes wins at Phoenix

In a finale that came down to the survival of the fittest, Ben Rhodes withstood a series of late caution periods and on-track carnages that involved his three championship rivals, including himself during the next-to-last restart, to capture his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship in the Craftsman 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 3, that was won by Christian Eckes.

The 2021 Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, rolled off the starting grid from sixth place and managed to remain within title contention as he achieved top-10 results during both stage break periods while rallying from a slow pit stop before the second stage. Restarting within the top 20 at the start of the final stage period, an opportunity for the title presented itself for Rhodes after title rivals Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar made contact that resulted in Hocevar spinning Heim as Heim plummeted below the leaderboard. During the ensuing restart with 26 laps remaining, Rhodes, who restarted ninth, muscled his way past Hocevar to assume the lead in the championship battle.

Amid more late caution periods that sent the field into four overtime attempts, among which involved title rival Grant Enfinger making a pit stop for fresh tires after making contact on the track during the first overtime attempt and Rhodes sustaining damage to his truck after hitting and sending the leader Zane Smith for a spin during the second overtime attempt, Rhodes managed to retain the lead in the championship battle and fend off a final lap charge from Enfinger to clinch his second series title by finishing in fifth place, one spot ahead of Enfinger, as Eckes concluded the season by winning the finale.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, championship contender Corey Heim started in the pole position after posting a lap at 136.654 mph in 26.344 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 136.571 mph in 26.360 seconds. Heim’s title rivals, Ben Rhodes, Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger started sixth, 13th and 17th, respectively.

Prior to the event, Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck after wrecking his primary truck during Thursday’s practice session.

When the green flag waved and the finale started, Heim and Majeski dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to three and four lanes through the dogleg and the frontstretch before navigating through Turns 1 and 2. With rookie Nick Sanchez trying to make a three-wide move for the lead, Majeski managed to muscle ahead from the outside lane as he proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Heim.

During the second lap, Majeski retained the lead ahead of Heim while title contender Ben Rhodes muscled his way up to third place in front of Sanchez, Zane Smith and Chase Purdy while Christian Eckes and Jesse Love pursued. Amid the early on-track battles, Majeski was leading by half a second over Heim while third-place Rhodes trailed by more than a second.

Then on the fourth lap, the first caution of the finale flew after Stewart Friesen, who was running 16th, spun entering Turn 4 after getting hit by Derek Kraus, which resulted in Friesen sliding his sideways truck up the track as Hailie Deegan slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting Friesen.

When the race restarted on the ninth lap, Rhodes attempted to make a move in between Heim and Majeski for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. As the field jostled for early spots through the backstretch, Majeski managed to fend off Heim entering Turn 4 to retain the lead to sole possession and with both lanes under his control. With Majeski leading, Heim retained second ahead of Rhodes while Sanchez and Chase Purdy were in the top five. Shortly after, Taylor Gray moved into the top five over Purdy followed by Zane Smith while title contenders Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger were in eighth and 10th, respectively. Amid the battles, Majeski retained the lead by nine-tenths over Heim and less than two seconds over Rhodes by the Lap 15 mark.

Through the Lap 20 mark, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Heim while third-place Rhodes trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, Sanchez and Zane Smith were in the top five ahead of Purdy, Taylor Gray, Eckes, Hocevar and Enfinger while Rajah Caruth, Jack Wood, Jake Garcia, Jesse Love and Jake Drew were running in the top 15. Meanwhile, Tanner Gray occupied 16th place ahead of Matt Crafton, Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson and Bayley Currey while Friesen was up in 21st. In addition, Deegan was mired back in 32nd behind Marco Andretti while Tyler Ankrum was in 28th.

Ten laps later, Majeski increased his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Heim and by more than four seconds over third-place Rhodes while Hocevar and Enfinger were running eighth and ninth, respectively. Majeski would stabilize his advantage to more than a second over Heim by the Lap 35 mark. By then, Zane Smith overtook Rhodes for third place followed by Sanchez while Hocevar and Enfinger remained in eighth and ninth, respectively.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Majeski claimed his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Title contender Heim settled in second followed by Zane Smith, Rhodes and Sanchez while Purdy, Eckes, Hocevar, Enfinger and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Heim exited first and emerged with the lead while Majeski, Zane Smith, Hocevar, Taylor Gray and Eckes followed suit. Behind, Rhodes and Enfinger exited pit road 11th and 12th, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Tanner Gray was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Sanchez would pit for a second time prior to the restart.

The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Heim and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Heim dueled with Majeski through the dogleg before muscling ahead entering Turn 1 from the outside lane as he led entering the backstretch. With Heim leading both the race and the championship battle, Majeski fell back to second followed by Zane Smith while Hocevar was in fourth followed by Taylor Gray and Eckes with Jake Garcia and Enfinger following suit. Two laps later, the caution returned after Chris Hacker and Marco Andretti, both of whom were running towards the rear of the field, wrecked in Turn 3.

Once the carnage was cleared amid an extensive caution period, the race restarted on Lap 64. At the start, Heim and Zane Smith dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the dogleg before entering Turns 1 and 2. With the field still fanned out through the backstretch, Heim managed to muscle away from Smith and maintain the lead from the outside lane while Majeski tried to close in on Zane Smith for the runner-up spot. During the following lap, Majeski overtook Smith for the runner-up spot while Enfinger trailed in fourth place ahead of Garcia, Taylor Gray, Eckes and Hocevar as Rhodes, who endured a slow pit stop during the first stage break period, was mired back in 11th.

Just past the Lap 70 mark, Heim was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Majeski while third-place Zane Smith trailed by more than a second. Behind, title contender Enfinger retained fourth place ahead of Garcia, Taylor Gray and Eckes while Hocevar and Rhodes were mired back in eighth and 10th, respectively. Heim would retain the lead by a second over Majeski by the Lap 75 mark while his title rivals Enfinger, Hocevar and Rhodes continued to trail in fourth, eighth and 10th, respectively.

Shortly after, the caution flew after Tyler Hill spun and wrecked in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Garcia pitted while the rest led by Heim and including Majeski, Zane Smith, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Rhodes, Jesse Love and Stefan Parsons remained on the track.

With the race restarting on Lap 82, Heim fended off Majeski and Enfinger through the dogleg and entering the first two turns to retain the lead and maintain control of both lanes through the backstretch. With Heim still leading, Zane Smith moved back into second followed by Majeski, Taylor and Eckes while Enfinger fell back to sixth as he was battling Rhodes to maintain the spot. Amid the battles, Heim stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Zane just past the Lap 85 mark.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, title contender Heim captured his series-leading eighth Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Zane Smith settled in a close second place followed by Majeski, Eckes and Taylor Gray while Rhodes, Purdy, Enfinger, Garcia and Hocevar were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, some led by Heim and including Rhodes and Enfinger pitted while the rest led by Eckes and including Hocevar remained on the track.

With 51 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Eckes and Purdy occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes rocketed away from the outside lane as the field fanned out through the dogleg and the first two turns. With the field still fanned out through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4, Eckes retained the lead over teammate Garcia while Sanchez, Purdy and Friesen trailed in the top five. By then, Hocevar was trying to make his way into the top five from sixth while Heim, Enfinger and Rhodes trailed within the top 15.

Two laps later, the caution returned after Connor Jones and Jake Drew wrecked in Turn 3, with Jones colliding into Drew and sending both hard against the outside SAFER Barrier while battling for 15th place, as Deegan spun to avoid the carnage.

During the following restart with 41 laps remaining, Eckes and Sanchez dueled for the lead until Sanchez motored ahead through the backstretch. With Eckes fighting back on the outside lane, he managed to motor past Sanchez through Turns 3 and 4 and reassume the lead. With Eckes back out in front over Sanchez, Garcia was in third ahead of Zane Smith and Friesen while Hocevar was the highest-running title contender in sixth place. Meanwhile, Heim was in 10th in front of Enfinger while Rhodes was mired back within the top 15.

With 35 laps remaining, Eckes was leading by half a second over Sanchez followed by Garcia, Zane and Friesen while Hocevar retained sixth ahead of a hard-charging Heim. Meanwhile, Enfinger and Rhodes were in 11th and 12th while Purdy, Crafton and Majeski occupied the top 10.

Three laps later, Heim overtook Hocevar for sixth place on the track through Turns 1 and 2 and reassumed the lead in the championship battle. A lap later, however, Hocevar made contact with Heim and sent Heim’s No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro spinning into Friesen as the latter two wrecked in Turn 2, with Friesen damaging his rear bumper after hitting the wall. The incident left Hocevar frustrated and placing blame on himself over the contact while Heim managed to continue without hitting the wall as he pitted for fresh tires.

With the race restarting with 25 laps remaining, Sanchez fired off with the lead from the outside lane while Hocevar, who nearly got turned at the start, was being fanned out by Eckes and Majeski through the dogleg as the field behind fanned out entering the first two turns. Amid the restart and with the field still fanning out, Rhodes overtook Hocevar from the outside lane on the track as Sanchez and Zane Smith made contact against one another and towards the outside wall through the backstretch. Amid the chaos, Sanchez maintained the lead ahead of Zane Smith followed by Eckes, Majeski and Rhodes while Enfinger made his way into the top six. Meanwhile, Hocevar was plummeting in the leaderboard as Rhodes occupied the lead in the title fight while running in fourth place on the track. Then with 23 laps remaining, Zane Smith overtook Sanchez for the lead entering the frontstretch with Eckes following in second place. Behind, Rhodes was in fourth, one spot ahead of a hard-charging Enfinger, while Heim and Hocevar were mired back in 13th and 18th, respectively.

Then with 21 laps remaining, the caution flew for a multi-truck wreck that erupted in Turn 3 and involved Currey, Daniel Dye and Stefan Parsons. The carnage was enough to place the event in a red flag period during the following lap. By then, Rhodes was leading the title fight in third place, one spot ahead of Enfinger, while Heim and Hocevar were mired back in 11th and 18th, respectively, as Zane Smith was scored the race leader.

Nearly 12 minutes later, the red flag lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace. During the caution period, some including Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.

As the race restarted with 15 laps remaining, Zane Smith and Eckes dueled for the lead through the dogleg as the field fanned out. Amid the battles, Smith fended off Eckes entering the backstretch to assume the lead. During the following lap, Smith was leading Eckes while Enfinger was in third place and leading Rhodes for the championship. Behind, Heim moved back up to seventh behind Purdy and Jesse Love while Hocevar was mired back in 19th.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading the race by a second over Eckes while Enfinger was running third, but leading the championship battle in front of Rhodes, as Heim climbed up to sixth. By then, Hocevar was mired back in 14th.

With five laps remaining, Zane Smith continued to lead the race by more than two seconds over Eckes while Enfinger, who retained third place, continued to lead the title fight ahead of Rhodes as Heim trailed in sixth place. Meanwhile, Hocevar climbed up to 10th place.

A lap later, the caution flew when Heim, who was running seventh and had Hocevar making a move to his outside for position, went up the track and sent Hocevar into the outside wall in Turn 2 in retaliation from their earlier on-track incident that sent Heim spinning. In this recent incident, Hocevar, who collided into the outside wall amid the contact with Heim, limped his damaged No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST up against the wall while Heim was hit on the driver’s side by teammate Taylor Gray, thus leaving both championship contenders with wrecked trucks. By then and with the race sent into overtime, Zane Smith was still leading the overall race followed by Eckes while Enfinger and Rhodes, both of whom were running third and fourth, were the lone two title contenders left to battle for the title amongst one another.

At the start of the first overtime attempt, Eckes and Zane Smith dueled for the lead as Rhodes tried to thread the middle. With the field still fanning out through Turn 2, Rhodes overtook Enfinger on the track and boosted his way to second place as he challenged Zane Smith for the lead. Amid the field still fanned out through the backstretch, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt after Kraus wrecked in Turn 3 after getting hit by Sanchez. By then, Rhodes settled in second behind Zane while Enfinger, who made contact with Eckes entering the backstretch before he got hit by Love and sent up the track in Turn 3, fell back to ninth. During the caution period, Enfinger pitted his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST for fresh tires and repairs amid the contact as his title hopes were placed in jeopardy.

At the start of the second overtime attempt, Zane Smith briefly muscled ahead from Eckes through the dogleg until Smith, who missed a shift to fourth gear and quickly fell off the pace, was hit hard in the rear by an oncoming Rhodes as Rhodes turned Smith, who was T-boned by Crafton and Jack Wood through the frontstretch, while Rhodes escaped with front nose damage to his No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 as he fell back to sixth place, but remained on the track. In the process, Eckes assumed the race lead followed by Purdy and Garcia while the event was sent into a third overtime attempt.

With the event restarting for a third overtime attempt, Chase Purdy muscled ahead of Eckes from the inside lane to assume the lead through the dogleg as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned and the event was sent into a fourth overtime attempt after Majeski, who was running towards the front, got turned by Jesse Love through the frontstretch. Amid Majeski’s spin, teammate Matt Crafton spun while trying to avoid carnage as Sean Hingorani, Zane Smith, Colby Howard and Tyler Hill wrecked in the process. At the moment of caution, Purdy was leading Eckes while Rhodes was in sixth. Meanwhile, Enfinger was mired in 17th as he remained within close distance of Rhodes for the title.

During the fourth overtime attempt, Eckes muscled his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Purdy’s No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST from the outside lane as he reassumed the lead through the first two turns. With the field fanning out, Enfinger charged his way back into the top 10 and had his eyes on Rhodes, who was battling Kaden Honeycutt and Jesse Love for a spot within the top five.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes remained as the leader over teammate Jake Garcia and Purdy while Rhodes retained the lead in the championship battle by three spots over a hard-charging Enfinger. Even as Tyler Ankrum wrecked entering Turns 3 and 4, the race remained under green flag conditions. Through the dogleg, Rhodes was battling Honeycutt for fifth place, though he remained ahead of Enfinger, who was trying to fend off Sanchez, Dean Thompson and Tanner Gray for spots. Then entering the backstretch, Enfinger, who was still trying to overtake Tanner Gray, had Rhodes in front of him for a final opportunity to snatch the title away from the former. As Enfinger stepped on the gas and tried to get to Rhodes’ No. 99 rear bumper to get Rhodes loose entering Turns 3 and 4, he was unable to make physical contact to get Rhodes loose. With Enfinger sliding up the track, Rhodes was able to step back on the gas and fend off Enfinger for a final turn to streak across the finish line in fifth place and win his second Truck Series championship.

With his accomplishment, Rhodes, who won his first title in 2021, joined Ron Hornaday Jr., Jack Sprague, Todd Bodine and Matt Crafton as the only competitors to achieve multiple Truck Series championships as he became the first competitor to repeat as a champion since teammate Crafton won his third title in 2019. He also delivered the fifth driver’s championship and the second owner’s title for ThorSport Racing while crew chief Rich Lushes, who reunited with Rhodes midway into the 2023 season and who won the 2021 title with Rhodes, captured his second title as a crew chief.

In total, Rhodes, who barely transferred through the Rounds of 10 and 8 to make this year’s Championship 4 by a narrow margin, capped off his second championship-winning season with a victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, seven top-five results and 14 top-10 results throughout the 23-race schedule.

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I can’t even believe it. Let’s go!” Rhodes exclaimed on the frontstretch on FS1. “Man, I hate when people do that on TV, so I’m sorry, but hey, this is so awesome, man. To go 25 laps into overtime, you know what that feels like? Almost lose it three times? Look at the front of the truck. It’s crazy. I didn’t think we were going to make it. I thought we were going to pop a tire. I thought anything that could have gone wrong was going to go wrong. Grant [Enfinger] almost got me. Hats off to him. He ran a great race. I wouldn’t want to race against anybody else for the championship. He raced me clean, and I respect the hell out of him for it.”

“I saw [Enfinger],” Rhodes added. “I’m watching the replay right here. I saw him. He went for everything, but he ran me clean, and I thank him for that. That’s what these championships are all about. It’s unfortunate we had so many cautions, but we ran each other clean, all of us did tonight, and great show. I love you guys. Thanks for all the fans coming out. I love it. What a team. I don’t know how we pulled it off, but we got here and we did it.”

While Rhodes celebrated the series’ championship, Enfinger, who finished in sixth place behind Rhodes and achieved three victories this season, was left disappointed on pit road after coming up one spot short of winning his first NASCAR national touring series title and delivering one final championship for GMS Racing, which is set to cease operations at this season’s conclusion.

“It was just the original green-white-checkered [restart] there where we went four wide, Ben [Rhodes] gassed it up there on the bottom [lane], drove us in [Eckes] and tore up our truck and then, we had to restart from 22nd there,” Enfinger, whose racing plans for 2024 remain undetermined, said. “That’s kind of what ended our run. Obviously, we got close there at the end. I don’t know. Maybe if he didn’t have such a run down the back straightaway, but I needed to get under him to make that pass. It’s a shame that the championship came down to a race like that with 15 green-white-checkereds or whatever it was right there, 30 laps extra. I feel like we did everything we could to win this race and just kind of got used up right there. Championship racing, it’s just incredibly unfortunate to end GMS Racing like this. I really felt like we had that championship in grasp and to be honest with you, I don’t know if I’d have done anything different. Just wasn’t meant to be.”

Like Enfinger, Corey Heim, the 2023 Truck Series Regular Season champion who captured three victories this season, was left disappointed on pit road after ending up in 18th place on the track and in third place in the final standings following his pair of incidents with title rival Carson Hocevar.

“Ask [Hocevar] if he stands by the first one,” Heim, who will return to TRICON Garage for the 2024 season, said. “I mean, he wrecked me, then I got my right rear destroyed. From there, I had no side force and he put it on my door and I lost control. Just really got to hold our heads high for a great year. It was a phenomenal year for us. This was our worst finish in like six months. Really put together a good race and really hoped that the guys would race me clean. I’ve got a lot of respect for everybody in the field, but clearly not [Hocevar] anymore. It is what it is. It’s part of racing and unfortunately, that turned into a wreck fest, but I did all I could.”

Meanwhile, Hocevar, who was unable to finish following his second and latest on-track altercation with Heim, ended up in 29th place on the track and in fourth place in the final standings in a season where he notched his first four career victories. The wrecked result marked Hocevar’s final scheduled Truck Series start with Niece Motorsports as he will be moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive for Spire Motorsports in 2024.

“I’m just more mad right now that I cost [TRICON Garage] a shot to win the championship,” Hocevar said. “I don’t care about my reputation right now. I just feel bad that I robbed [Heim]of that. I feel sorry for him. I can’t say that I was mad, I just messed up. I didn’t even want to run the rest of the laps. I wanted to crawl into a hole and I just feel bad. I’m trying so hard to be better and trying to stay with him. I wasn’t going to give up. I just didn’t know how to give up in that moment. I didn’t want to wreck him, I didn’t want to hit him that hard, I didn’t want to spin him. I was just trying to hold him up a little bit.”

Amid Rhodes’ championship celebration, Christian Eckes, who missed the cutline to this year’s Championship 4 by a narrow margin, celebrated in Victory Lane for the fourth time this season and the fifth in his career after leading 36 of 179 over-scheduled laps, including the final three laps during the fourth overtime attempt. The victory was enough for Eckes to conclude his first Truck Series season with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in fifth place in the final standings as he will remain with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing for the 2024 Truck season. The victory, however, did little to ease Eckes’ disappointment over not contending for this year’s title.

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“That one’s gonna sting,” Eckes said in Victory Lane. “It still stings. I mean, it’s awesome to win. It’s always awesome to win, especially with our great partners. To come short of the goal to win a championship and being able to come and win the final race kind of stinks for sure, so it is what it is now. We can always look back and Monday morning quarterback in it and say that we could be champions, but at the end of the day, we aren’t. At the end of the day, I’m also really proud of the whole No. 99 group. That was my team last year at ThorSport [Racing] for the most part with a few different pieces. Super proud of them and yeah, it is what it is.”

On the track, Jake Garcia notched a career-best runner-up result in his final Truck event with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing while Chase Purdy finished third in his final event driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, the winningest team in the Truck Series that will cease operations at this season’s conclusion. Jesse Love finished fourth followed by the champion Rhodes and Enfinger while Dean Thompson, Kaden Honeycutt, Tanner Gray and Nick Sanchez, the 2023 Truck Series Rookie of the Year, completed the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Rajah Caruth finished 12th in his final event driving for the ceased GMS Racing while Hailie Deegan finished 15th in her final Truck Series start as she will be moving up to the Xfinity Series to drive for AM Racing. In addition, Zane Smith ended up in 25th place with a DNF in his final Truck Series event with Front Row Motorsports while Jack Wood and Daniel Dye ended up 27th and 32nd in their final events driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports and GMS Racing, respectively.

There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 77 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Christian Eckes, 36 laps led

2. Jake Garcia

3. Chase Purdy, eight laps led

4. Jesse Love

5. Ben Rhodes

6. Grant Enfinger

7. Dean Thompson

8. Kaden Honeycutt

9. Tanner Gray

10. Nick Sanchez, five laps led

11. Matt Crafton

12. Rajah Caruth

13. Lawless Alan

14. Ty Majeski, 48 laps led, Stage 1 winner

15. Hailie Deegan

16. Christian Rose

17. Spencer Davis

18. Corey Heim, 47 laps led, Stage 2 winner

19. Nick Leitz

20. Tyler Hill

21. Colby Howard

22. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

23. Taylor Gray, two laps down

24. Stewart Friesen, four laps down

25. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident, 35 laps led

26. Sean Hingorani – OUT, Accident

27. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

28. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident

29. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident

30. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

31. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident

32. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident

33. Jake Drew – OUT, Accident

34. Connor Jones – OUT, Accident

35. Marco Andretti – OUT, Accident

36. Chris Hacker – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates championship finalists

Final standings

1. Ben Rhodes

2. Grant Enfinger

3. Corey Heim

4. Carson Hocevar

5. Christian Eckes

6. Nick Sanchez

7. Zane Smith

8. Ty Majeski

9. Matt Crafton

10. Matt DiBenedetto

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway to commence the 2024 racing season. The season opener at Daytona is slated to occur on February 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

November 4, 2023
John Hunter Nemechek to make 100th Xfinity career start at Phoenix

The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to mark John Hunter Nemechek’s first official opportunity to contend for his first Xfinity Series championship during this weekend’s Xfinity Series season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway. The finale is also set for the second-generation racer to achieve a significant milestone start. By competing in the finale, the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra will make career start No. 100 in the Xfinity circuit.

A native of Mooresville, North Carolina, Nemechek made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series in 2018 when he was signed by Chip Ganassi Racing to pilot the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro on a part-time basis. By then, he had won both the Snowball Derby and the All American 400 in 2014 and was a three-time winner of the SpeedFest 125. He had also campaigned in two Truck Series seasons, where he had accumulated five victories and made the Playoffs in 2016 and 2017.

Making his Xfinity Series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, Nemechek rallied from being involved in an early incident with Cole Custer and Elliott Sadler to finish an impressive fourth place. He went on to post six additional top-10 results during his next 13 scheduled starts. Then at Kansas Speedway in October, Nemechek rallied from sliding through his pit stall to lead 64 of 200 laps and beat Daniel Hemric by more than five seconds to claim his first Xfinity career victory and become the fourth first-time winner of the 2018 season.

By recording the sixth victory of the season for Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 42 entry and winning the first Round of 8 event in the Xfinity Playoffs, Nemechek secured a spot for the No. 42 team to compete for the owner’s championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. He went on to finish no lower than ninth during the final three Xfinity events on the schedule, including a third-place run during the season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as the No. 42 team ended up in second place in the owner’s standings.

In 2019, Nemechek was signed by GMS Racing to drive the No. 23 Chevrolet Camaro on a full-time basis. He commenced the season by finishing eighth at Daytona International Speedway in February before finishing second behind Kyle Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a month later. With a total of four top-five results and 12 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Nemechek clinched a spot in the 2019 Xfinity Playoffs. Despite finishing no lower than 15th during the Round of 12, he was one of four competitors to not transfer to the Round of 8. Nonetheless, he concluded the season with four consecutive top-eight results and in seventh place in the final standings.

While he did not record a victory throughout the season, he captured a total of six top-five results, 19 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 12.5. A month later, Nemechek moved up to the Cup Series to drive for Front Row Motorsports for the 2020 season.

Upon returning to the Truck Series to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports and compete for the series championship in 2021, Nemechek also made five starts in the Xfinity circuit between Sam Hunt Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. Nemechek’s first start of the season occurred at Dover Motor Speedway with SHR in May, where he finished 32nd after being involved in an early incident. He then posted a strong third-place run at Richmond Raceway in September with SHR before finishing 22nd at Talladega Superspeedway in October while driving for JGR.

Then at Texas Motor Speedway in mid-October, Nemechek rallied from serving a late pit road speeding penalty to lead a race-high 92 of 200 laps and beat teammate Hemric to claim his second career victory in the Xfinity circuit and the 10th victory of the season for JGR’s No. 54 Toyota team. He made his final start of the season in the finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he finished in sixth place after leading 39 laps and placed JGR’s No. 54 entry in the runner-up spot in the final owner’s standings.

Nemechek remained a full-time Truck competitor for KBM in 2022 while also increasing his part-time Xfinity schedule from five to 11 between Sam Hunt Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. In 11 scheduled starts, he recorded three top-five results and four top-10 results. His best result driving for JGR was second at Richmond Raceway in April after being overtaken by Ty Gibbs on the final lap while his best result with SHR was fourth at Darlington Raceway in May.

Following a two-year campaign with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series, Nemechek joined Joe Gibbs Racing as a full-time competitor of the No. 20 Toyota Supra for the 2023 Xfinity season, which marks his first full-time campaign in the series since 2019. After commencing the season with a close runner-up result at Daytona, he claimed his first victory of the season in the series’ final event at Auto Club Speedway in February. Six races later, he scored his second victory of the season at Martinsville Speedway after leading a race-high 198 of 250 laps.

Nemechek would proceed to claim regular-season victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July before winning at Michigan International Speedway in August, where he recorded the 200th Xfinity career victory for Joe Gibbs Racing. Nemechek then capped off the regular-season stretch by winning the regular-season finale at Kansas in September. Despite falling short of winning the regular-season title to Austin Hill, Nemechek capped off the regular-season stretch with six victories, 13 top-five results and 19 top-10 results through 26 events.

Qualifying for this year’s Playoffs, Nemechek commenced the Playoffs by finishing third at Bristol Motor Speedway before winning at Texas in late September and transferring from the Round of 12 to 8. After finishing eighth during the Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Nemechek proceeded to finish second, third and 18th, respectively, during the Round of 8’s three events, which was enough for him to transfer into this year’s Championship 4 round by points. As a result, Nemechek will square off against Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and Sam Mayer for this year’s Xfinity Series driver’s championship in this year’s finale at Phoenix.

In addition to competing for this year’s title, Nemechek will attempt to become the seventh competitor to win in Xfinity career start No. 100 alongside Ronnie Silver, Jeff Green, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Cole Custer and Austin Cindric, who also won the 2020 Xfinity title during his centennial start. This season is also set to be Nemechek’s last as a full-time Xfinity competitor as he will be returning to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive the No. 42 Toyota TRD Camry for Legacy Motor Club for the 2024 season.

Through 99 previous Xfinity starts, Nemechek has achieved nine victories, three poles, 34 top-five results, 61 top-10 results, 1,587 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.4.

Nemechek is scheduled to make his 100th Xfinity Series career start in the Xfinity Series Championship event at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 4, with the event’s broadcast time slated to occur at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.

November 1, 2023
Blaney achieves first Championship 4 berth with dominant Cup victory at Martinsville; Byron rounds out Championship 4 field

For the first time in his career, Ryan Blaney earned a spot into the Championship 4 round after capping off a dominant performance by winning the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, October 29.

The third-generation racer from High Point, North Carolina, led four times for 145 of 500 scheduled laps in an event where he started 11th and methodically worked his way to the front in the early stages. After finishing in the runner-up spot behind Playoff rival Denny Hamlin during the first stage’s conclusion, Blaney made his presence at the front known as he led for the first time on Lap 194. After swapping and bumping with Hamlin for the lead on several occasions, Blaney took care of business by winning the second stage period and claiming more valuable stage points.

Then after pitting during a late caution period with less than 178 laps remaining, Blaney, who restarted outside the top 10 with 168 laps remaining, spent the remainder of the event carving his way back to the front. After reassuming the lead from Aric Almirola with 22 laps remaining, Blaney was able to navigate his way through lapped traffic and beat Almirola by nearly nine-tenths of a second to grab his third checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season and clinch a Championship 4 berth, where he will be one of four competitors who will contend for this year’s championship in next weekend’s season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 28, Playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. notched his third Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the 23rd of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 94.153 mph in 20.112 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and rookie Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 94.115 mph in 20.120 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Truex launched his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry ahead from the outside lane as he jumped to an early lead through Turns 1 and 2 while teammate and Playoff rival Denny Hamlin battled Ty Gibbs for the runner-up spot. Amid the early battles ensuing behind, Truex proceeded to lead the first lap as Hamlin and Gibbs continued to battle for the runner-up spot in front of Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace.

By the third lap, Hamlin managed to move his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry in front of Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry and assume the runner-up spot to his sole possession. Behind, Playoff contender Kyle Larson cracked the top five as he moved into fifth place followed by Kevin Harvick while Truex stretched his advantage to more than a second by the fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Truex was leading by a second over teammate Hamlin followed by teammate Ty Gibbs, Briscoe and Larson while Harvick, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece were running in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contender William Byron was in 13th while Playoff contenders Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher were mired in 18th and 19th, respectively.

Fifteen laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over teammate Hamlin while teammate Ty Gibbs retained third in front of Briscoe and Harvick. Behind, Playoff contenders Bell, Larson and Blaney trailed in sixth through eighth while Preece and Wallace occupied the remaining top-10 spots. Behind, Chase Elliott was in 11th ahead of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Byron and Aric Almirola while Ross Chastain, Todd Gilliland, Reddick, Buescher and Austin Cindric were scored in the top 20 in front of Michael McDowell, Harrison Burton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon.

Another 15 laps later, Truex, mired within lapped traffic, was leading by half a second over teammate Hamlin while third-place and teammate Ty Gibbs trailed by more than a second. With Briscoe and Harvick continuing to run in the top five, Playoff contenders Bell, Larson and Blaney remained in sixth through eighth while Byron was mired back in 14th. In addition, Reddick and Buescher continued to run 18th and 19th, respectively.

At the Lap 50 mark, Hamlin, who overtook Truex for the race lead two laps earlier, was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Truex. Behind, Ty Gibbs retained third place ahead of Briscoe and Harvick while Bell, Blaney, Larson, Preece and Wallace continued to run in the top 10. By then, Byron, Reddick and Buescher retained 14th, 18th and 19th, respectively, while Elliott, Keselowski and Logano were running 11th through 13th. In addition, the following names that included Almirola, Chastain, Gilliland and Cindric continued to run within the top 20.

Twenty-five laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by half a second over teammate Truex and by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Ty Gibbs while Briscoe and Harvick remained in the top five. With Playoff contenders Bell, Blaney and Larson continued to run sixth through eighth, Playoff contenders Byron, Reddick and Buescher retained 14th, 18th and 19th, respectively while Preece and Wallace continued to run in the top 10 on the track.

At the Lap 100 mark, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Truex as teammate Ty Gibbs, Briscoe and Harvick remained in the top five. Behind, Playoff contenders Blaney, Bell and Larson along with Preece and Wallace continued to run in the top 10 as Byron was in 15th behind Elliott, Keselowski, Logano and Almirola. In addition, Reddick was in 17th and Buescher was in 19th in front of Cindric.

Three laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Harrison Burton, who was bumped and overtaken by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for 22nd place in Turn 3, was getting bumped by Alex Bowman in Turn 1, which ignited a brief stack-up as Burton then turned back into Bowman and got Bowman loose before he got bumped by Austin Dillon as Dillon turned Burton into Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, with the latter two spinning and Bowman getting hit by Corey LaJoie as the field scattered to avoid the carnage in the backstretch. The incident occurred just in front of Hamlin, who was in the process of lapping the competitors.

During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin peeled off the track and onto pit road for service for the first time. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of teammate, Truex, Briscoe, Blaney, Bell, Keselowski and Harvick.

When the race restarted on Lap 111, Hamlin retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane while Blaney challenged and overtook Truex for the runner-up spot. As the field jostled for spots amid two stacked lanes, Hamlin continued to lead over Blaney and Truex while Briscoe, Keselowski, Bell and Ty Gibbs battled for fourth place in front of Preece, Logano, Larson, Harvick, Elliott and Byron, with the event surpassing the Lap 115 mark.

By the Lap 120 mark, the battle for the lead slowly brewed between Hamlin and Blaney, with the latter keeping the former close within his front windshield and by nearly half a second as third-place Truex trailed by more than a second. Behind, Briscoe and Keselowski continued to run in the top five in front of Bell, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Logano and Harvick.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 130, Hamlin, who came into the event 17 points below the top-four cutline to make this year’s Championship 4 field, captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Blaney settled in second followed by Truex, Briscoe and Keselowski while Bell, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Logano and Harvick were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Larson, Byron, Buescher and Reddick were mired in 11th, 12th, 17th and 19th, respectively, and without the first wave of stage points.

Under the stage break, some led by Keselowski and including Playoff contenders Larson, Byron, Buescher and Reddick pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 140 as Hamlin and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin gained another strong start, this time on the inside lane, as he retained the lead while Blaney fended off Truex to retain the runner-up spot. Behind, Briscoe and Ty Gibbs battled for fourth place in front of Bell, Logano and Preece while Elliott and Harvick trailed in the top 10. Further back in the pack, Larson was in 15th, Byron was mired in 18th behind Buescher and Reddick was down in 21st.

Just past the Lap 150 mark, Hamlin was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Blaney while third-place Truex trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Bell was in sixth while Buescher, Larson and Reddick were mired within the top 20. Meanwhile, Byron had dropped to 21st. Byron would remain in 21st place behind McDowell and Reddick, who nearly spun a few laps earlier while dealing with water pressure issues to his No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota TRD Camry, would drop to 24th place by the Lap 160 mark as Hamlin retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Blaney and nearly two seconds over Truex. By then, Bell retained sixth place, Buescher was in 15th place amid a battle with Wallace and Larson was down in 18th place behind Daniel Suarez.

By Lap 175, Hamlin retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney while Truex was trailing by more than a second in third place. Behind, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe were in the top five ahead of Bell, Preece, Logano, Harvick and Keselowski while Buescher and Larson were scored in 15th and 18th, respectively. Meanwhile, Byron remained in 21st place while Reddick, who was rubbing fenders and bumpers with Erik Jones earlier, was down in 25th place.

At the Lap 200 mark, Blaney, who overtook Hamlin for the lead six laps earlier, was leading in his No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang by a second over Hamlin followed by Truex, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe while Bell, Preece, Logano, Harvick and Keselowski were scored in the top 10. Behind, Elliott, Almirola, Gilliand, Cindric and Buescher were running in the top 15 while Suarez, Wallace, Larson, Chastain and McDowell were running in the top 20 ahead of Austin Dillon, Byron, Erik Jones, LaJoie and Reddick.

Fourteen laps later, the caution flew after Ryan Newman spun after he was hit by Playoff contender Bell in Turn 4. The caution flew moments after Blaney rubbed and lapped Playoff contender Reddick, with Reddick receiving the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin cycled back into the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of teammate Truex, Blaney, Briscoe, Todd Gilliland, Logano, Ty Gibbs and Harvick. Amid the pit stops, however, Truex was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. Austin Dillon was also sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 225, Hamlin fended off Blaney to retain the lead by a narrow margin and both would make slight contact during the following lap as Blaney tried to take the lead from the inside lane. Blaney would lead the Lap 227 mark before Hamlin pulled a crossover move and fought back on the inside lane, with both refusing to give an inch. As Hamlin and Blaney continued to rub fenders and fight for the lead, Briscoe trailed in third while Logano and Keselowski were mired in the top five ahead of Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Harvick and Bell. Then just past the Lap 230 mark, Blaney would muscle ahead of Hamlin to regain the lead and have both lanes to his control.

Just past the Lap 240 mark, Blaney was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Briscoe, Logano and Keselowski remained in the top five. Behind, Bell was in 10th, Buescher was in 14th and Larson was scored in 17th. Meanwhile, Truex was mired in 22nd behind Playoff rivals Byron and Reddick as Blaney retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin at the halfway mark on Lap 250.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 260, Blaney, who came into the event 10 points above the top-four cutline, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Hamlin settled in second followed by Briscoe, Logano and Keselowski while Ty Gibbs, Preece, Gilliland, Harvick and Bell were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Buescher, Larson, Byron, Reddick and Truex were mired in 14th, 17th, 20th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.

During the stage break, some led by Briscoe and including Playoff contenders Truex, Byron, Bell, Buescher and Reddick pitted while the rest led by Blaney and Hamlin remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Truex’s car fell off the jack, which cost him time.

With 230 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Blaney and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney retained the lead over Hamlin through the first two turns and the backstretch before he almost got turned by Hamlin exiting the backstretch. Amid the contact, Blaney and Hamlin continued to bump and jostle for the lead in front of Logano and Ty Gibbs, with Blaney managing to retain the lead. Then two laps later, the caution returned after Logano bumped and sent third-place Gibbs spinning in Turn 3 before Gibbs was hit hard by Suarez and Keselowski, with a stack-up that collected McDowell, Gilliland, Chastain, Cindric, LaJoie, Truex and Erik Jones.

As the race restarted under green with 216 laps remaining, Blaney and Hamlin dueled for the lead for a full lap and they continued to battle dead even for another lap until Blaney cleared Hamlin for the lead with 214 laps remaining. As Blaney retained the lead over Hamlin, Wallace moved into third place followed by Logano and Cindric while Reddick was in sixth ahead of Larson, Preece, Almirola and Bell as Harvick tried to overtake Bell for 10th place. By then, Buescher was in 12th while Byron and Truex battled for 16th.

With 200 laps remaining, Playoff contender Blaney was leading by more than a second over Hamlin while Wallace, Logano and Cindric were running in the top five. Behind, Playoff contender Reddick was in sixth ahead of Playoff rivals Bell and Larson along with non-Playoff contenders Almirola and Preece while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Buescher, Byron and Truex were mired in 12th, 16th and 17th.

Two laps later, the caution flew after Ty Gibbs spun for a second time, this time in Turn 2 after getting hit by Carson Hocevar. During the caution period, some led by Larson pitted while the rest led by Blaney and Hamlin remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 190 laps remaining, Blaney fended off Hamlin and Wallace to retain the lead. Wallace and Hamlin would battle for the runner-up spot as Blaney retained the lead ahead of the field. The caution, however, returned with 178 laps remaining after McDowell spun amid contact with Erik Jones in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Blaney and Hamlin pitted amid mixed strategies while the rest led by Chase Elliott remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, the Dillon brothers along with Bowman and Newman were penalized for speeding on pit road.

During the proceeding restart with 168 laps remaining and following a brief delay due to the primary pace car being towed due to a mechanical issue, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott and Corey LaJoie dueled for the lead for a full lap and they continued to battle dead even for the lead while Erik Jones and Almirola made contact while battling for third place in front of Larson and Buescher. As the field slowly fanned out and bumped while jostling for late spots, Hamlin was trying to carve his way back into the top 10 along with Blaney and Bell while Elliott was leading by half a second over LaJoie.

With 150 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by two seconds over LaJoie as Almirola, Erik Jones, Larson and Buescher were running in the top six in front of Briscoe, Hamlin, Blaney and Gilliland. Behind, Bell was in 11th while Playoff rivals Byron, Reddick and Truex were running 20th through 22nd, respectively.

Twenty-five laps later, Elliott continued to lead by more than a second over LaJoie while Almirola, Erik Jones and Larson continued to run in the top five. With Larson currently being scored as the highest-running Playoff contender, Playoff rivals Buescher, Hamlin, Blaney and Bell followed suit in sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th while Byron, Reddick and Truex were back in 19th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Elliott retained the lead by more than a second over Almirola while third-place LaJoie trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, Erik Jones and Larson were in the top five followed by Buescher, Hamlin, Blaney, Briscoe and Bell while Gilliland, Logano, Stenhouse, Cindric, Preece, Chastain, McDowell, Wallace, Byron, Harrison Burton, Reddick and Truex trailed in the top 22.

Ten laps later, the battle for the lead ignited between Elliott and Almirola as the latter challenged the former for the top spot. Another lap later, Almirola, who pitted during the previous caution period and announced his departure from Stewart-Haas Racing at this season’s conclusion a day ago, moved his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang into the lead after clearing Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch. With LaJoie retaining third in front of Erik Jones, Larson and Buescher, Blaney battled Hamlin for seventh place while Bell trailed in 10th. In addition, Byron was still mired back in 18th in front of Truex while Reddick was down in 22nd.

With less than 70 laps remaining, Almirola retained the lead by more than a second over Elliott followed by LaJoie and Erik Jones while Blaney moved up to fifth place in front of Larson, Hamlin, Buescher, Briscoe and Bell. Behind, Byron and Truex were mired in 18th and 19th while Reddick was in 22nd as Almirola proceeded to extend his advantage by more than three seconds over Elliott with 60 laps remaining. By then, Blaney moved up to third place while Hamlin was mired in seventh behind Larson.

With 50 laps remaining, Almirola continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than four seconds over Elliott while third-place Blaney trailed by more than six seconds. Behind, LaJoie and Hamlin were in the top five while Briscoe, Logano, Erik Jones, Larson and Bell trailed in the top 10 followed by Buescher. Behind, Truex and Byron swapped spots in 18th and 19th while Reddick was still mired in 22nd.

Fifteen laps later, Almirola stabilized his advantage to two-and-a-half seconds over Blaney while third-place Elliott trailed by more than five seconds. Another 10 laps later, however, Blaney, who was carving his way back to the front, was only trailing the leader Almirola by three-tenths of a second. Blaney would proceed to reassume the lead from Almirola another three laps later as Hamlin was up to third place and trailing the lead by more than five seconds.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Blaney was leading by more than a second over Almirola while Hamlin, Logano and Briscoe were scored in the top five as Elliott pitted under green. By then, 13th-place Byron was lapped by Blaney while Truex was scored the final competitor a lap down in 12th place.

With five laps remaining, Blaney stabilized his advantage by nearly a second over Almirola while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than four seconds followed by Logano and Briscoe. By then, Byron, who was still back in 13th in his No. 24 PODS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, still occupied the fourth and final vacant spot over Hamlin while Truex was still mired in 12th as Larson, Bell and Buescher were running sixth through eighth. Meanwhile, Reddick, who pitted under green, was down in 26th as his Playoff hopes were slowly coming to an end.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained as the leader by a second over Almirola and more than four seconds over Hamlin. Despite being mired within lapped traffic and amid late concerns of not having enough fuel to finish, Blaney was able to coast his No. 12 Ford around the Martinsville circuit smoothly for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag and punched his ticket into the Championship 4 round.

With the victory, Blaney scored his 10th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, his third of the season, his first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in early October and his first at Martinsville. Above all, Blaney, who raced his way into the Championship 4 round for the first time in his career and will represent Team Penske in this year’s title fight, will officially race for his first Cup Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“It’s awesome,” Blaney said on NBC. “I grew up in High Point [North Carolina], so not too far from here. [It is] Closer to High Point, honestly, to Martinsville than Charlotte. It’s really cool. I’ve been wanting to win here for a long time. [I have] Just been super close for many years and awesome to close one out. We probably put together a really solid, strong Playoffs, especially in the Round of 8. We had a good run the whole Round of 8. Just overall, really proud of the whole effort. This is awesome. Can’t wait to get to Phoenix next week.”

Amid Blaney’s celebration and automatic transfer into the Championship 4 round, William Byron, who came home in 13th place, was left relieved on pit road as he claimed the fourth and final transfer spot into the Championship 4 by eight points over Hamlin, who ended up in third place and led a race-high 156 laps but missed the Championship 4 cutline for a second consecutive season. As a result, Byron and Blaney will both be newcomers in the Championship 4 as they will square off against one another along with Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson for the 2023 Cup Series championship.

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“Obviously, we were not very good,” Byron said. “It’s our worst race of the year, but these guys deserve it so much. They worked so hard. With 50 [laps] to go, I felt really, really bad and I just had to drive the hell out of it. The guys stuck with me. They just kept motivating me through little bits and pieces and just kind of keeping my mind straight. I’m just really thankful for them. It was a slugfest. Just appreciate everyone racing me good there at the end. Man, we just had to hang on. I just had to dig a little bit deeper. The result just means more than anything. These guys work so hard and we’ve worked so hard all season. I’m just really proud of them.”

“Ultimately, the mechanical failure last week, with the power steering, that’s our fate,” Hamlin said. “Really proud of this whole FedEx Toyota team for showing up today when we really needed to and having probably a mid-50-point day. [The team] did great. They did absolutely great. [Blaney] was the best car today, so congrats to them and all the final four [competitors] that made it. They’re all deserving. It’s gonna be a great show next week, but hate we’re not in [the Championship 4], for sure, with our FedEx Camry, but I was happy with the performance we had today and really, all around. Just in the Round of 8, you just can’t have one bad week and unfortunately, mechanical failure takes us from running really well to in the 30s and that’s it.”

In addition to Hamlin, teammate Martin Truex Jr., Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher were eliminated from the Playoffs as their hopes of advancing into the Championship 4 for this season evaporated.

“If we couldn’t find a way to flip track position pit stop-wise, we were never gonna get there,” Truex said. “Our car was good, but the field’s so tight and so close. Your car just drives so much worse in traffic. I felt like we did really good to get back where we did. You just burn the tires off so much worse back there, that hot dirty track and dirty air. You’re in more rubber. It’s just a dogfight, so we gave it a hell of an effort. I feel like we had a really strong car. I don’t think we could’ve beat [Blaney]. He was really, really strong, but we were definitely close. Something to work on for next time, but just really disappointed. I thought I was well under speed leaving that box. Clearly, we were speeding. Obviously, we got something to look at there and it’s devastating, but that’s racing.”

“I’m really proud of everybody at [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing],” Buescher said. “It’s been a heck of a season. We knew what we had to do today and we knew it was gonna be hard. We moved up, we got close there. Had some good strategy calls, some good stops from pit road. Had some good fire-off speed and really put ourselves in position where we were close. Just couldn’t quite pass like we needed to. Regardless, that was a good fight from everybody. Proud of that effort. Proud of everybody for the entire season we’ve had.”

“We just didn’t have the handling we were expecting to have today,” Reddick said. “The car was really solid in practice, so we thought some of that would translate into the race. Obviously, our qualifying effort wasn’t ideal, but all day long, the Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry TRD, just really struggled with a number of things. We tried a number of different things to try and help one of the issues and go to the other. I felt like the more we tried, the worse it kind of got, which was really frustrating. It’s a tough day for us, but as a whole, everyone at 23XI’s [Racing] really come to the table. I love this team and what it’s about. It’s been a good first year. To be here a year early and just missing the Championship 4, I think that’s a really, really good start to my tenure at 23XI.”

On the track, Almirola notched a strong runner-up result in his penultimate event as a Cup Series competitor for Stewart-Haas Racing while Briscoe and Logano finished fourth and fifth behind Hamlin.

“I just needed my rear tires to hang on a little bit longer,” Almirola, who led 66 laps, said. “So frustrated. I had my family here, the people that helped me get my start in racing. I wanted so bad to celebrate with them in Victory Lane. Just proud of my race team. I wanted to celebrate with them too. They deserve it. I wanted to go out with a bang and just came up one spot short. Sad and frustrated, but still proud of the effort. This has been quite the journey and I’m just very thankful.”

Larson, Bell, Buescher, Cindric and Todd Gilliland finished in the top 10 ahead of Wallace, Truex and Byron while Reddick ended up 26th, two laps down.

*Notably, Chevrolet secured its third consecutive Cup Series’ manufacturers title and the 42nd overall, which completed a clean sweep for the manufacturer after previously securing its 11th Craftsman Truck Series manufacturers title and its 25th Bill France Performance Cup in the Xfinity Series.

There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 61 laps. In addition, 12 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Ryan Blaney, 145 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Aric Almirola, 66 laps led

3. Denny Hamlin, 156 laps led, Stage 1 winner

4. Chase Briscoe

5. Joey Logano

6. Kyle Larson

7. Christopher Bell

8. Chris Buescher

9. Austin Cindric

10. Todd Gilliland

11. Bubba Wallace

12. Martin Truex Jr., 47 laps led

13. William Byron, one lap down

14. Ross Chastain, one lap down

15. Harrison Burton, one lap down

16. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

17. Chase Elliott, one lap down, 83 laps led

18. Ty Gibbs, one lap down

19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

20. Ryan Preece, one lap down

21. Erik Jones, one lap down

22. Corey LaJoie, one lap down, three laps down

23. Austin Dillon, one lap down

24. Ty Dillon, one lap down

25. Michael McDowell, one lap down

26. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

27. Kyle Busch, two laps down

28. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down

29. Ryan Newman, three laps down

30. Justin Haley, three laps down

31. Carson Hocevar, four laps down

32. Alex Bowman, four laps down

33. Brad Keselowski, 194 laps down

34. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Dvp

35. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Overheating

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

2. Christopher Bell – Advanced

3. Kyle Larson – Advanced

4. William Byron – Advanced

5. Denny Hamlin – Eliminated

6. Martin Truex Jr. – Eliminated

7. Tyler Reddick – Eliminated

8. Chris Buescher – Eliminated

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to conclude next Sunday, November 5, at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 29, 2023
Allgaier grabs thrilling Xfinity victory at Martinsville in overtime, secures Championship 4 berth

In a matter of one turn during an overtime shootout, Justin Allgaier went from being scored outside of the cutline to make the Championship 4 round to racing his way into the round and receiving an opportunity to contend for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship after notching a thrilling victory in the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 28.

The 37-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led twice for 21 of 256 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and quickly took care of business in the early stages by winning the first stage period amid a strategic pit call to remain on the track on old tires. After pitting for fresh tires prior to the second stage, Allgaier spent the stage mired outside the top 10 and battling amongst his fellow Xfinity Series rivals to remain in contention of making the cutline.

Then amid chaos after chaos followed by a multitude of caution periods and restarts, including an overtime shootout, Allgaier, who restarted fifth in overtime, managed to muscle his way up to third place on the final lap. He then benefitted from a final lap altercation involving Richard Childress Racing’s Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill to overtake both entering the final turn before edging Creed in a photo finish to win for the fourth time in this year’s Xfinity Series season and race his way into the Championship 4, where he will be one of four competitors who will battle for this year’s championship at next weekend’s finale at Phoenix Raceway.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 27, Playoff contender and rookie Sammy Smith notched his first Xfinity pole position of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 94.515 mph in 23.035 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Justin Allgaier, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 94.458 mph in 20.047 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Jeb Burton, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chris Hacker, Devin Jones and Brett Moffitt dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Sammy Smith rocketed his No. 18 Pringles Toyota Supra ahead of the field prior to entering Turn 1 as he maintained the lead over Allgaier and Playoff contender Cole Custer. With the field running in two-wide formation and stacked through the backstretch, Smith proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of both Allgaier and Custer while Riley Herbst and Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek pursued in the top five.

During the next three laps, Sammy Smith stretched his advantage to more than a second over Allgaier, who was being pressured by Custer for the runner-up spot while Nemechek and Herbst remained dead even for fourth place in front of Playoff contender Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones and Richard Childress Racing’s Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill. Amid the early on-track battles, the first caution of the event flew on the fourth lap after Joe Graf Jr. spun with a flat left-rear tire in Turn 2.

When the race restarted on Lap 10, Sammy Smith and Allgaier dueled for the lead until Smith muscled away from Allgaier entering the backstretch. Behind, Custer was in third ahead of Nemechek while Herbst, Creed, Chandler Smith and Austin Hill battled for fifth. Amid the battles, Sammy Smith retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier and a second over Nemechek by the Lap 15 mark.

At the Lap 20 mark, Sammy Smith was leading by half a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Custer and Herbst while Creed, Hill, Myatt Snider, rookie Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones were in the top 10. With Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Parker Kligerman running in the top 15, Playoff contender Sam Mayer, who is already guaranteed a spot into this year’s Championship 4 by winning last weekend’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, was in 18th.

Fifteen laps later, Sammy Smith continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Nemechek, Custer and Herbst continued to run in the top five. Behind, Creed, Snider, Hill, Chandler Smith and Hemric were scored in the top 10 while Mayer was mired in 19th.

Another six laps later, the second caution flag of the event flew due to an incident involving Kyle Sieg in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the lead lap field led by the leader Sammy Smith pitted while the rest, including Allgaier, Nemechek, Custer, Hill, Josh Bilicki, Anthony Alfredo, Rajah Caruth, Josh Williams and Brennan Poole remained on the track.

During the following restart on Lap 49, Allgaier briefly dueled with Nemechek through the first two turns before muscling his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the inside lane to gain the advantage with the top spot. Shortly after, Custer battled and overtook Nemechek for the runner-up spot as Hill tried to join the battle amid a series of on-track battles ensuing behind the front-runners.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Allgaier, who came into the event three points below the top-four cutline to make this year’s Championship 4 round, captured his 13th Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer followed suit in second along with Nemechek, Hill and Sammy Smith while Alfredo, Herbst, Myatt Snider, Chandler Smith and Josh Bilicki were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contender Sheldon Creed ended up 11th while Mayer was mired back within the top 30.

Under the stage break, some led by Allgaier, including those who remained on the track during the previous caution period, pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 68 as teammates Sammy Smith and Myatt Snider occupied the front row. At the start, Smith and Snider dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Smith managed to fend off Snider through the backstretch to retain the top spot. Behind, Chandler Smith moved up to third ahead of Herbst and Berry while Creed was in sixth ahead of Hemric, Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Ryan Sieg. The caution, however, would return on Lap 72 after Custer, who was mired within the middle of the pack after pitting during the stage break, made contact with Layne Riggs entering Turns 1 and 2 as Riggs spun while Mayer slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting Riggs.

When the race restarted on Lap 79, Sammy Smith fended off Chandler Smith entering Turn 1 to retain the lead while continuing to run on the inside lane. Shortly after, Snider gave Chandler Smith a light bump to move him out of the groove and overtake him for the runner-up spot while both Berry and Herbst tried to move Chandler Smith out of the groove to overtake him for third and fourth. In the midst of the bumping and on-track contact for positions, Creed pursued closely in sixth while Sammy Smith maintained the lead over teammate Snider.

On Lap 87, the caution flew after Ryan Sieg, who was battling Herbst for sixth place, got loose underneath Herbst, made contact against Herbst’s Ford and spun towards the middle of the track in Turn 2, with the field managing to fan out and dodge Sieg’s No. 39 Ford as the Georgian continued without sustaining any significant damage to his entry. During the caution period, select names that included Mayer, Kligerman and Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

The ensuing restart on Lap 94 featured Sammy Smith rocketing away from the inside lane to retain the lead while Berry retained second place ahead of Snider, Chandler Smith, Creed and Herbst. Not long after, a three-wide battle ensued between Chandler Smith, Snider and Creed while Brandon Jones carved his way up to sixth followed by Hemric, Herbst, Grala and Retzlaff. Amid the contact and physical battles ensuing behind, Sammy Smith extended his advantage by nearly a second over Berry as the event surpassed the Lap 100 mark.

At the Lap 110 mark, Sammy Smith was leading by more than a second over Berry and more than two seconds over third-place Snider while Creed, Chandler Smith, Grala, Brandon Jones, Retzlaff, Custer and Jeremy Clements were running in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contenders Allgaier, Nemechek, Mayer and Hill were scored in 14th through 17th, respectively.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 120, Sammy Smith, who navigated his way through lapped traffic and came into the event 49 points below the Championship 4 cutline, captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Berry trailed in the runner-up spot followed by Snider, Creed and Grala while Retzlaff, Chandler Smith, Custer, Brandon Jones and Herbst were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Allgaier, Mayer, Nemechek and Hill were scored in 11th, 14th, 15th and 17th, respectively, as Nemechek managed to clinch his spot into this year’s Championship 4 round.

During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Sammy Smith pitted for service while Layne Riggs and Ryan Sieg remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Mayer exited pit road first after only electing fuel to his entry while Sammy Smith followed suit with four fresh tires along with Berry, Snider, Creed, Custer and Herbst.

With 121 laps remaining, the final stage period started as Riggs and Ryan Sieg occupied the front row. At the start, Riggs gained a strong start on the inside lane to muscle away from the field with the lead while Mayer quickly made his way into the runner-up spot along with a hard-charging Sammy Smith while Ryan Sieg fell back to fourth in front of Snider. Behind, Creed battled with Custer and Allgaier for seventh as Sammy Smith overtook Mayer for the runner-up spot before igniting his charge on Riggs for the lead.

Then with 116 laps remaining, Sammy Smith reassumed the lead after overtaking Riggs for the top spot. Snider and Berry would follow suit not long after as Riggs managed to remain in fourth in front of Mayer.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Sammy Smith was leading by more than three seconds over Berry and by four seconds over teammate Snider while Custer muscled his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang into fourth place ahead of Riggs. Mayer, Creed, Herbst, Grala and Allgaier were in the top 10 while Retzlaff, Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith and Hill were back in the top 15.

Four laps later, the caution flew after Riggs, who was running fifth, got hit by Mayer as Riggs spun for a second time in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names that included Playoff contenders Allgaier and Hill pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 90 laps remaining, Sammy Smith fended off teammate Snider and Berry to retain the lead as the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions. As Sammy Smith retained the lead and started to pull away from his competition, the caution returned a few laps later after Akinori Ogata spun in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names that included Snider, Creed and Chandler Smith pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chandler Smith was penalized for having too many men over the pit wall.

During the following restart with 81 laps remaining, Sammy Smith muscled away from Berry to retain the lead through the first two turns as Berry managed to remain in front of Custer and maintain the runner-up spot. With Herbst and Mayer battling for fourth place in front of Nemechek, Grala and Jones, Sammy Smith checked out with an advantage of more than a second with 75 laps remaining. Shortly after, the caution flew due to Kligerman losing a right-front tire and falling off the pace through the frontstretch. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 68 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead ahead of the field while Hill made his way into the runner-up spot. As Allgaier was trying to carve his way into the top five, the bumping within the pack continued to ignite amongst the Playoff contenders and front-runners through every turn and straightaway. Then three laps later, more on-track trouble ignited after Snider fell off the pace and stacked up the field exiting the backstretch, which resulted with Connor Mosack, who was hit by teammate Grala and was scraping the inside wall, spinning and hitting Grala as Clements and Jeb Burton were also involved by hitting Mosack. In the midst of the carnage, Playoff contender Custer sustained minimal front-nose damage to his No. 00 Haas Ford, but he continued to remain on the track in 12th place. Not long after, Playoff contender Chandler Smith retired due to a mechanical issue to his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro, which took him out of the equation of making this year’s Championship 4 round.

In the ensuing restart with 54 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill dueled for the lead for a full lap, with Hill leading the next lap, and they continued to duel for the lead during the next lap as he led the respective lap before he muscled his No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Nemechek’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra and clear with the lead from the outside lane. The caution, however, quickly returned during the following lap after Akinori Ogata spun for a second time of the day, this time in Turn 4.

During the following restart with 44 laps remaining, Nemechek challenged Hill for the lead from the outside lane and he managed to pull ahead through the frontstretch to lead the following lap just before the caution flew against after JJ Yeley and Ryan Ellis wrecked in the frontstretch.

With the race restarting with 36 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Nemechek used the outside lane to retain the lead from Hill. With Nemechek leading Hill, Allgaier was trying to fend off Creed and Sammy Smith for third place, with Creed and Smith placed in “must-win” scenarios to advance into the Championship 4 round, before the latter two managed to overtake the veteran Allgaier for third and fourth. As the race progressed, the caution would return with 31 laps remaining after Kaz Grala spun in Turn 2.

With the race restarting with 25 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead as he restarted from the inside lane while Hill managed to fend off teammate Creed to retain the runner-up spot. This allowed Sammy Smith to challenge Creed for third place followed by Allgaier and Custer as Smith made his way into third place.

With less than 20 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hill while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than a second. Behind, Creed, Allgaier and Custer engaged in a fierce battle for fourth place and for the final spots to the Championship 4 round while Herbst, Jeb Burton, Snider and Riggs were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Mayer was mired in 16th as the battle between Creed, Custer and Allgaier ensued while Nemechek extended his advantage to more than a second over Hill with 15 laps remaining.

Following another caution period after Alfredo spun in Turn 4 with 14 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with eight laps remaining. At the start, Sammy Smith tried to make a move beneath teammate Nemechek entering Turn 1, but Nemechek blocked his teammate and retained the lead over Hill through the first two turns. Behind, Sammy Smith lost third place to Creed after he hopped the curb entering Turn 1, which allowed Allgaier to challenge him to fourth place. Back at the front, however, Hill gave Nemechek a push to the bumper entering Turn 3, which moved Nemechek up the track as Hill and Creed moved into first and second through the frontstretch. Then as Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Herbst and Custer battled for third behind the two Richard Childress Racing competitors during the following lap, the caution returned for six laps remaining as a multi-car wreck ignited entering the backstretch when Jeb Burton and Snider made contact and resulted with Snider hitting Riggs, spinning back across the track and collecting Grala, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Mayer, Clements, Josh Williams, CJ McLaughlin, Rajah Caruth, Chad Finchum, Jones and Bilicki. The carnage was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for 28 minutes.

Once the red flag was lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace, the event was sent into overtime as the on-track safety workers continued to clean the racing surface amid the carnage and leaked fluid. Amid an extensive caution period, the race restarted in overtime as teammates Hill and Creed occupied the front row in front of Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Custer. At the start, Nemechek got into the rear of Hill, which caused Nemechek to go way below the inside lane as Hill tried to fend off teammate Creed for the lead entering Turn 1. Hill and Creed then made contact entering the backstretch, which allowed Hill to muscle ahead of his teammate as Allgaier trailed in third place. By then, Nemechek moved up to fourth while Sammy Smith and Custer battled for fifth.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill, who was bumped by teammate Creed entering Turns 3 and 4, remained as the leader ahead of Creed and Allgaier, who scrubbed the frontstretch’s outside wall after making contact with Nemechek. Then in Turn 1, Creed ran into the rear of teammate Hill, which caused Hill to go wide as Creed made his move beneath Hill for the lead. After dueling with Hill through the backstretch, where Hill rammed into the side of Creed, Creed muscled his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro ahead from Hill and assumed the lead before he went up the track in Turn 3, locked up the front tires and was hit in the rear by Hill. Amid the chaos, Allgaier made his move beneath both as Hill was then turned by Nemechek and triggered a multi-car wreck. With the wreck ensuing behind, Allgaier and Creed rubbed fenders approaching the finish line, with Allgaier edging Creed by 0.032 seconds to grab the victory and race his way into the Championship 4 round.

With the victory, Allgaier achieved his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season, his first at Martinsville, his first since winning the Playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway in September and the 23rd of his career. The 2023 season marks Allgaier’s sixth season reaching the Championship 4 round as he will officially contend for his first elusive Xfinity Series championship in his 13th full-time campaign in the series, eighth while driving for JR Motorsports.

“[Spotter] Eddie D’Hondt, [crew chief] Jim Pohlman, both of those guys kept telling me it’s not over,” Allgaier said on USA Network. “Thank God is so good. You fans that came here today. Coming to the start/finish line, I don’t think I saw a single person sitting down. I just was hanging on and trying to go as fast as I can. I hope everybody that crashed on the frontstraightaway is alright. Man, this Hellmann’s car has been lights out all year. It’s been as fast as Xfinity 10G, for sure. I cannot say enough about the Hendrick Engine shop, everybody at Chevrolet, all of our partners. We got a shot at going for the championship in Phoenix. This is an emotional one. I’ve wanted to win at Martinsville for a long time and man, I’ve been on the other end of that too many times. To be able to come out of here tonight with the win and to have a shot at the championship next week, Jim Pohlman, what an incredible crew chief. He’s done an amazing job. Pit crew was lights out. Heck, I don’t even know who to thank right now. This is incredible.”

Amid the overtime shootout and the final lap accident, Cole Custer, who ended up 19th backwards and with a wrecked race car, managed to claim the fourth and final spot into the Championship 4 berth by seven points as he will join Allgaier, John Hunter Nemechek and Sam Mayer as the four competitors who will contend for this year’s Xfinity Series championship.

“It’s just Martinsville, everybody’s desperate,” Custer, who made the Championship 4 for the third time in his career, said in the infield care center. “It’s just one of those deals. I just can’t all my guys enough. They worked so hard and just gotten better and better and better throughout the year. I’m so glad this is over. It’s just amazing to be in the Final Four and have a shot at [the championship]. I think we’ll have something for [the competition] at Phoenix.”

Meanwhile, Austin Hill, this year’s regular-season champion who was unable to limp his wrecked race car across the finish line, ended up 21st with a DNF and was the first competitor scored out of the Playoffs. Teammate Sheldon Creed and Sammy Smith along with Chandler Smith were also eliminated from the Playoffs after all three came into Martinsville placed in “must-win” situations to transfer. The incident did very little to ease Hill’s frustration over missing an opportunity of contending for the title and towards his Richard Childress Racing teammate over the late contact.

“It wasn’t cool of me to do what I did into [Turn] 1 like driving [Creed] up the racetrack, but I still kind of stayed off of him,” Hill said. “[Creed] just did not give me a chance getting into [Turn] 3 and he didn’t give me a chance getting into [Turn] 1 [on the final lap]. Just shoved me up the racetrack. I know he’s in a “must-win” situation, but still, man, uncalled for that to happen and then, neither of the [Richard Childress Racing] guys make it to the Final Four. It’s just frustrating. Pretty excited for [Creed] to go to his next adventure over at [Joe Gibbs Racing]. I don’t have to put up with him no more…Just ridiculous.”

“I don’t know if it’s fair,” Creed said. “I don’t like racing that way and that seems to be the way that this race always plays out. I thought we had it there coming to the checkered. Not proud of racing like that. A shot at the Championship Four. I didn’t blast [Hill]. He’s still with me. I drug [raced] right here to keep him next to me and then, we raced pretty hard [in Turn 3] and I don’t know who gets into him. I feel like I played pretty fair for the situation and he’s gonna be mad, but it’s for a Championship 4 spot and I wanna fight for my guys all the way to the end.”

On the track, Sammy Smith ended up third followed by Herbst and Josh Berry while Hemric, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Kligerman finished in the top 10.

There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 15 cautions for 101 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Justin Allgaier, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Sheldon Creed, one lap led

3. Sammy Smith, 147 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Riley Herbst

5. Josh Berry

6. Daniel Hemric

7. Parker Retzlaff

8. Anthony Alfredo

9. Jeb Burton

10. Parker Kligerman

11. Layne Riggs, nine laps led

12. Rajah Caruth

13. CJ McLaughlin

14. Josh Williams

15. Myatt Snider, one lap led

16. Brandon Jones

17. Jeremy Clements

18. John Hunter Nemechek, 54 laps led

19. Cole Custer, one lap led

20. Brett Moffitt

21. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident, 22 laps led

22. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

23. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

24. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Transmission

25. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

27. Chad Finchum – OUT, Accident

28. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

29. Joe Graf Jr., 16 laps down

30. Chris Hacker – OUT, Radiator

31. Connor Mosack – OUT, Radiator

32. Brennan Poole – OUT, Engine

33. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Oil line

34. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

35. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Steering

36. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident

37. Devin Jones – OUT, Engine

38. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff competitors

Playoff standings

1. Sam Mayer – Advanced

2. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

3. John Hunter Nemechek – Advanced

4. Cole Custer – Advanced

5. Austin Hill – Eliminated

6. Sammy Smith – Eliminated

7. Sheldon Creed – Eliminated

8. Chandler Smith – Eliminated

The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to conclude next Saturday, November 4, at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The finale’s broadcast is slated to occur at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.

October 28, 2023
Bell clinches Championship 4 berth with dramatic Cup victory at Homestead

A week after coming within striking distance of securing a Championship 4 berth before being edged by Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell earned a redemptive NASCAR Cup Series victory in the 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 22, to officially race his way into this year’s Championship 4 round.

The 28-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led two times for 26 of 267-scheduled laps in an event where he started 13th and flirted between running towards the top 10 to running outside the top 10 throughout the event’s first two stage periods. Then after leading for the first time with 37 laps remaining, Bell withstood three late caution periods that knocked out Larson along with teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin to assume the lead for the second and final time with 15 laps remaining amid an intense battle between Playoff rivals William Byron and Ryan Blaney. From there, Bell muscled away with the top spot and claimed the checkered flag by more than a second over Blaney to notch his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season and become the second Playoff competitor alongside Kyle Larson to secure one of four vacant spots into this year’s Championship 4 round.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 21, Playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. secured his second Cup Series pole position of the season and the 22nd of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 167.411 mph in 32.256 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Bubba Wallace, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 167.115 mph in 32.313 seconds.

Prior to the event, Joey Logano dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car during Saturday’s practice session.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Truex and Wallace dueled for the lead through the first two turns as the field behind fanned out. Entering the backstretch, Wallace gained the momentum and pulled his No. 23 McDonald’s Grimace Toyota TRD Camry ahead of the pack, but Truex fought back on the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 as he managed to lead the first lap by a hair over Wallace. Truex and Wallace would continue to duel dead even for the lead through the next two laps until Wallace used the outside lane to his advantage as he led the next two laps before clearing Truex to have both lanes to his control.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Wallace was leading by a tenth of a second over Truex. Wallace would retain the lead by three-tenths of a second over Truex by the Lap 10 mark as Brad Keselowski, William Byron and Tyler Reddick were in the top five. Then during the following lap, Truex moved his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry back into the lead over Wallace as Keselowski and Byron battled for third place in front of Kyle Larson.

At the Lap 20 mark, Byron emerged as the new leader over Truex followed by Keselowski, Larson and Tyler Reddick while Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Christopher Bell were running in the top 10. Behind, Kyle Busch trailed in 11th place ahead of Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell while AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs and Austin Cindric occupied the top 20 in front of Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Ryan Preece and Playoff contender Chris Buescher. In addition, Logano was mired in 27th in between Buescher, Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe while John Hunter Nemechek was in 34th behind Todd Gilliland.

Ten laps later, Byron continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Keselowski followed by Larson, Truex and Reddick while Blaney, Hamlin, Wallace, Austin Dillon and Bell were running in the top 10 on the track. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Buescher was mired back in 28th.

Shortly after, the first wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece pitted their respective entries. Austin Dillon would pit by Lap 31 along with Chase Elliott, McDowell, Bowman and others before a bevy of names led by Keselowski, Larson, Truex, Blaney and Chastain pitted by Lap 32. By Lap 33, Byron surrendered the lead to pit his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green before Reddick, who led a lap for himself, pitted his No. 45 McDonald’s Hamburglar Toyota TRD Camry during the proceeding lap along with teammate Wallace as Hamlin cycled into the lead.

By Lap 40 and with most of the field having made a pit stop under green, Hamlin, who led the previous seven laps, surrendered the lead to pit his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota TRD Camry along with Logano as Keselowski cycled into the lead ahead of Larson, Byron, Blaney and Truex.

Ten laps later, Keselowski retained the lead by a second over Larson followed by Byron, Blaney and Truex while Reddick, Austin Dillon, Bell, Hamlin and Chastain were running in the top 10. With seven of eight Playoff contenders running in the top 10, minus Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Chastain, Buescher was the lone Playoff contender not running in the top 10 as he was mired in 26th behind Harrison Burton.

Another four laps later, Larson muscled his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over Keselowski while racing on the inside lane. Larson would proceed to lead at the Lap 60 mark by two seconds over Keselowski’s No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang while Byron, Blaney, Truex, Reddick, Austin Dillon, bell, Hamlin and Chastain were scored in the top 10. By then, Buescher was mired back in 27th while AJ Allmendinger, Wallace, Ty Gibbs, LaJoie and Kyle Busch occupied the top 15 in front of Kevin Harvick.

By Lap 70, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Keselowski as Blaney, Byron and Truex battled in the top five ahead of Reddick, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Bell and Ty Gibbs. Meanwhile, Buescher lost one spot in the process as he was down in 28th.

Then on Lap 76, the first caution period of the event flew after Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was running 18th, made contact with the backstretch’s outside wall before he spun below the track and damaged the right-rear toe link of his No. 47 Boost by Kroger/Vitaminwater Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The caution for Stenhouse’s incident was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 80 to conclude under caution as Larson, who secured his spot into this year’s Championship 4 round by winning last weekend’s Playoff event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Keselowski settled in second while Blaney, Byron, Truex, Hamlin, Reddick, Austin Dillon, Bell and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, Buescher was the lone Playoff contender to not score the first round of stage points as he was mired in 27th.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson pitted. Following the pit stops, Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Keselowski, Byron, Truex, Blaney, Austin Dillon and Reddick.

The second stage period started on Lap 85 as Larson and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Larson muscled ahead on the outside lane as he retained the lead over Keselowski, Byron, Ty Gibbs and Truex while Blaney and Reddick battled for sixth place alongside Chastain. As the field behind jostled for spots, Larson proceeded to lead just past the Lap 90 mark over teammate Byron by two-tenths of a second as Keselowski, Truex and Blaney trailed in the top five. Behind, Chastain, Ty Gibbs, Reddick, Austin Dillon and Hamlin were in the top 10 while Bell and Buescher were mired in 14th and 26th, respectively.

At the Lap 100 mark, Larson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Keselowski while third-place Byron trailed by more than a second in third place. Behind, Blaney and Truex were scored in the top five ahead of Chastain, Reddick, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs and Hamlin while Allmendinger, LaJoie, Wallace, Logano and Bell occupied the top 15 ahead of Aric Almirola, Cindric, Erik Jones, Harvick and Chase Briscoe. Meanwhile, Suarez, Ryan Preece, Elliott, Kyle Busch and McDowell were running in the top 25 while Buescher was mired in 26th.

Thirteen laps later, a second wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Ty Gibbs pitted under green along with Briscoe and Preece. Larson would then surrender the lead to pit under green by Lap 114 along with teammate Byron, Blaney, Logano, Almirola, Bell, Buescher and Ty Dillon as Keselowski assumed the lead. Keselowski would then pit from the lead on Lap 115 followed by Truex, Reddick, Austin Dillon, Chastain, LaJoie, Erik Jones and Jusitn Haley as Hamlin moved into the lead. Hamlin would lead through Lap 125 before he pitted under green as Larson cycled back into the lead followed by Keselowski, Blaney, Byron and Truex. By then, more names that included LaJoie, Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Suarez and Wallace had pitted under green.

At the halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, Larson was leading by more than four seconds over Keselowski followed by Blaney, Byron and Truex while Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Chastain and Allmendinger were scored in the top 10. Behind, Logano was up to 11th ahead of LaJoie, Briscoe, Hamlin and Almirola while Bell, Erik Jones, Wallace, Preece and Harvick were scored in the top 20 ahead of Suarez, Elliott, Cindric, Kyle Busch, McDowell and Buescher.

By Lap 150, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Blaney while Byron, Keselowski and Truex were running in the top five ahead of Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Chastain. Meanwhile, Bell was mired back in 18th behind Wallace while Buescher continued to run in 26th behind McDowell.

Then on Lap 162, Blaney tracked and overtook Larson for the lead. Byron would then overtake teammate Larson for the runner-up spot during the following lap as Blaney checked out with the lead by a second in his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Blaney, who came into Homestead 17 points below the top-four cutline, captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Byron settled in second followed by teammate Larson, Hamlin and Keselowski while Truex, Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Bell and Buescher were scored in 22nd and 26th, respectively.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Byron, Keselowski, Hamlin, Larson, Logano, Austin Dillon and Reddick.

With 95 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Blaney and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney retained a brief advantage over Byron through the first two turns and the backstretch before Byron drew himself into a side-by-side challenge against Blaney for the top spot while running on the inside lane. Byron would then muscle ahead during the following lap before he engaged in another side-by-side duel against Blaney for the lead. Amid the duel, Blaney would use the inside lane to muscle ahead, slide up and clear Byron through the frontstretch with 92 laps remaining. In the process, Hamlin was in third place and trailing by eight-tenths of a second while Keselowski and Larson were in the top five.

With 85 laps remaining, Blaney was leading by half a second over Hamlin while Byron, Larson and Chastain trailed in the top five. Behind, Truex, who endured a slow pit stop during the second stage break, and Keselowski made contact as Keselowski then hit the outside wall exiting the backstretch, but the race proceeded under green. Amid the late on-track battles, Blaney retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin while Larson, Byron and Chastain remained in the top five with 75 laps remaining. With Austin Dillon, Truex, Keselowski, Reddick and Bell running in the top 10, Buescher was mired back in 27th while racing a lap down.

Then with 57 laps remaining, another wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Keselowski pitted followed by Truex, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Ryan Newman and Chastain. Then amid the green flag pit stops, the caution flew with 55 laps remaining after Larson, who was trying to enter pit road behind the leader Blaney under green, locked up his front tires while trying to ease off of the throttle and hit the sand barrels towards the pit road entrance before he nursed his damaged No. 5 Chevrolet into his pit stall. The incident was enough for NASCAR to place the event in a red flag period as the track crews proceeded to clean up sand from the destroyed barrels towards pit road entrance.

Following the red flag period that lasted more than 12 minutes, the field led by Hamlin returned under a cautious pace. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Hamlin pitted while Blaney, who benefitted during Larson’s incident by pitting his No. 12 Ford Mustang and remaining on the lead lap, remained on the track as he inherited the lead. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited pit road first followed by Byron, Harvick, Allmendinger, Bell, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. Amid the caution period, the following names that included Chastain, Truex, Briscoe, Ty Gibbs and Elliott took the wave around back to the lead lap while Keselowski received the free pass.

With the race restarting under green with 46 laps remaining, Blaney and Hamlin dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering the first two turns until Hamlin motored ahead on the inside lane to assume the lead from Blaney as Bell joined the battle. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned after Keselowski, who was running in the middle of the pack and was sandwiched in between Chastain and John Hunter Nemechek entering the backstretch, sent both Nemechek and Chastain sideways and into one another, where they collected JJ Yeley in the process as Yeley spun and pounded the inside wall head on while Nemechek also spun towards the inside wall and Chastain spun sideways in the middle of the track. During the caution period, some that included Wallace, Keselowski, Truex, Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Preece and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

During the following restart with 38 laps remaining, Hamlin and Blaney dueled for the lead in front of Bell and Byron through the frontstretch and entering the first two turns. With Blaney and Hamlin continuing to duel dead even for the lead through the backstretch, Bell made a bold three-wide move on both through Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead during the following lap. With Bell checking out with the lead, another three-wide battle ensued for the runner-up spot between Hamlin, Blaney and Byron before Byron used the outside lane to clear both through Turns 3 and 4 and retain the runner-up spot. As Blaney and Hamlin continued to battle dead even for third place, another three-wide battle ensued behind between Harvick, Austin Dillon and Logano for fifth place while Bell was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Byron with 35 laps remaining.

Then three laps later, the caution flew after Playoff contender Hamlin, who was locked in a tight battle with Blaney for third place, went up the track in Turn 1 and pounded the outside wall hard as a result of a broken steering before he limped his damaged No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry to pit road and eventually retired from the event. In the process, concerns started to occur for teammate and Playoff contender Truex after light smoke was seen billowing out of the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry, an issue that would result with Truex’s car being pushed to the garage.

During the caution period, the field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Byron assumed the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Blaney, Bell, Harvick, Logano, Wallace and Reddick.

The following restart with 25 laps remaining witnessed Byron and Blaney duel dead even for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch while Bell trailed closely behind. Byron and Blaney continued to battle dead even for the lead through the frontstretch as Bell, Logano and Wallace battled for fifth place. Then with 24 laps remaining, Byron managed to clear Blaney entering the backstretch and assume both lanes to his control while Bell challenged Blaney for the runner-up spot through the frontstretch.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Byron was leading by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bell as third-place Blaney trailed by seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Wallace overtook Logano for fourth place and Reddick was in sixth as Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Almirola and Austin Cindric were in the top 10.

Then five laps later, Bell made his move beneath Byron as he assumed the lead by a hair through the frontstretch. Bell and Byron would duel for the top spot through the first two turns until Bell slid up the track and cleared Byron through the backstretch. As Bell assumed the lead, Blaney, who was trailing the two leaders by nearly two seconds, retained third place ahead of 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace.

With 10 laps remaining, Bell continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Byron as Blaney, Reddick and Wallace retained their respective spots in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Almirola and Harvick. Bell would proceed to retain the lead by more than a second over the new runner-up competitor, Blaney, as Byron fell back to third in front of Reddick, Allmendinger and Wallace with five laps remaining.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by more than a second over Blaney. With Blaney unable to narrow the deficit amid his late-race charge, Bell was able to cycle his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry around Homestead smoothly for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed both the checkered flag and a berth into this year’s Championship 4 round.

With the victory, Bell notched his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season, his first since winning the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April, his first at Homestead and the sixth of his career. The victory was also the eighth of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing and the 10th of the year for the Toyota nameplate.

Above all, Bell, who punched his ticket into this year’s Championship 4 round for a second consecutive season, will contend for his first Cup Series championship two weeks from now at Phoenix Raceway.

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I’ve got the best team behind me,” Bell said on NBC. “Honestly, I don’t know, man. That race was a whirlwind. I was ready to throw the towel in there in the second stage and I got really frustrated on the radio. [Crew chief] Adam [Stevens] kept after it. Adam, Tyler, William, the guys back at the shop are working over the adjustments. They gave me what I needed. Whenever we got some clean air, this thing was really good. I cannot say how proud I am to be here with our partners. I’ve been with Toyota since day one. Thank you everyone that supported me. This is better than a dream come true.”

Behind Bell, Blaney muscled his way into a strong runner-up finish ahead of Playoff rivals Reddick and Byron while Allmendinger, the highest non-Playoff contender, settled in fifth place. With the results, Blaney and Byron are currently scored above the top-four cutline to make this year’s Championship 4 round entering the Round of 8 finale next weekend at Martinsville Speedway while Reddick stands as the first competitor currently scored out of the cutline by 10 points. Hamlin, Truex and Buescher are also scored below the cutline following the second Round of 8 event.

“We were good on the long runs all day and that’s what we needed,” Blaney said. “I just couldn’t go for 10 laps or so and those guys got better. I just couldn’t maintain the lead or second, and by the time we kind of got going and people’s stuff were falling off, just too late. Overall, proud of the Menards, Duracell Ford Mustang team. Really, really strong piece. Just got a little bit there at the end, but proud of the effort.”

“The balance was really tricky on our McDonald’s Toyota Camry TRD,” Reddick said. “I just think the biggest thing is we didn’t fire off too good on a couple of restarts. Thankfully, the pit crew did a good job overcoming the difficulties today. Like we weren’t the best on pit road, but the last pit top, we maintained and gave us a shot at that restart. It was still a terrible restart for us, maybe lost two of three spots still, but just found the top [lane] and others weren’t up there and was able to get to third. I was so much faster than [Blaney]. It’s just as soon as he moved up, I was just stuck. It’s just the nature of these cars.”

“We were just really tight all day,” Byron said. “We did a really good job executing our race and kind of managing our long runs and being able to run the fence. We just built way too tight in the center and it’s as much wheel as I could put in the car and as much as I could to slow it down to go left. The guys did a great job of adjusting on the car all day. We had a really good execution day. We came out there with the lead thanks to my pit crew. We just need to bring a winning car next two weeks to get where we want to be, but we’re close.”

Wallace ended up sixth while Ty Gibbs, Logano, Almirola and Austin Dillon finished in the top 10 with Kevin Harvick finishing 11th in his final race at Homestead. In addition, Playoff competitor Chris Buescher capped off his long afternoon in 21st place while Truex and Hamlin ended up 29th and 30th after both were unable to finish the event.

There were 25 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 35 laps. In addition, 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Christopher Bell, 26 laps led

2. Ryan Blaney, 53 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Tyler Reddick, one lap led

4. William Byron, 25 laps led

5. AJ Allmendinger

6. Bubba Wallace, nine laps led

7. Ty Gibbs

8. Joey Logano

9. Aric Almirola

10. Austin Dillon

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Austin Cindric

13. Ryan Preece

14. Erik Jones

15. Chase Elliott

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Chase Briscoe

18. Kyle Busch

19. Alex Bowman

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Chris Buescher

22. Michael McDowell

23. Justin Haley

24. Ty Dillon, one lap down

25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

26. Ryan Newman, two laps down

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., four laps down

28. Brad Keselowski, five laps down, 16 laps led

29. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Engine, 10 laps led

30. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 31 laps led

31. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

32. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

33. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

34. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, 96 laps led, Stage 1 winner

35. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

36. Harrison Burton – OUT, Overheating

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Kyle Larson – Advanced

2. Christopher Bell – Advanced

3. William Byron +30

4. Ryan Blaney +10

5. Tyler Reddick -10

6. Martin Truex Jr. -17

7. Denny Hamlin -17

8. Chris Buescher -43

The Round of 8 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to conclude next weekend at Martinsville Speedway, which will determine the Championship 4 field. The event is scheduled to commence next Sunday, October 29, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 22, 2023
Mayer clinches Championship 4 berth with late Xfinity victory at Homestead

Two weeks after keeping his championship hopes alive by earning a walk-off victory in the Playoff’s Round of 8 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Sam Mayer will officially race for his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship after achieving a late victory in the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 21.

The 20-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led three times for 46 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started 13th and made his presence at the front known at the start of the second stage period while scoring a handful of stage points during the first two stage periods. Then after assuming the lead with 49 laps remaining while pole-sitter and Playoff rival Cole Custer pitted under green due to a flat tire, Mayer, who pitted with under 37 laps remaining for his final set of tires, withstood two late restarts, including the final one with 23 laps remaining, to fend off a hard-charging Riley Herbst and claim his fourth Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season. Above all, Mayer punched his ticket into this year’s Championship 4 round as he will contend for the 2023 Xfinity Series title at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks’ time.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 20, Playoff contender Cole Custer secured the pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 165.604 mph in 32.608 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 164.704 mph in 32.786 seconds.

Prior to the event, Patrick Emerling and Ryan Ellis dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Custer used the outside lane to rocket away from Nemechek and retain the lead through the first two turns. With the field fanning out and jostling for early spots through the backstretch, Custer proceeded to lead the first lap while Nemechek was overtaken by Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill for second and third place. Josh Berry would follow suit during the following along with rookie Sammy Smith while Custer was leading by half a second.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Custer retained the lead by half a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Hill, and Berry while Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer, Brett Moffitt, Riley Herbst and Ryan Sieg were in the top 10. Behind, rookie Chandler Smith and Sheldon Creed were in the top 15 along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Kaz Grala and Daniel Hemric were a part of the battle.

Ten laps later, Custer stretched his advantage to a second over Nemechek followed by Allgaier, Hill and Sammy Smith while Mayer, Herbst, Berry, Moffitt and Creed occupied the top 10 on the track. Behind, Chandler Smith was in 13th ahead of Hemric and Earnhardt Jr. while Ryan Sieg and Grala were in the top 12. In addition, Ryan Newman was running in the top 20.

At the Lap 35 mark, Custer continued to lead by more than a second over Nemechek as Allgaier, Mayer and Creed were in the top five. Behind, Herbst occupied sixth place ahead of Moffitt, Hill, Grala and Sammy Smith while Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, Daniel Hemric, Earnhardt Jr. and Berry were in the top 15.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Custer, who came into the event 15 points above the top-four cutline to transfer into the Playoff’s Championship 4 round, captured his eighth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Mayer settled in second ahead of Nemechek, Creed and Moffitt while Allgaier, Herbst, Hill, Grala and Hemric were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith were mired in 11th and 14th, respectively.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer pitted. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting pit road ahead of Mayer, Creed, Nemechek, Allgaier and Herbst. Amid the pit stops, Brandon Jones was penalized for his crew members’ going over the wall too soon. Josh Williams was also penalized for pit interference.

The second stage period started on Lap 52 as Custer and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Custer and Mayer dueled for the lead for nearly a lap. Mayer would lead the following lap by a hair until Custer fought back and reassumed the top spot by Lap 54. Another few laps later, Allgaier made his way into the runner-up spot over teammate Mayer as Nemechek and Hill trailed in the top five.

At the Lap 60 mark, Custer was leading by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier followed by Mayer, Nemechek and Hill while Herbst, Kligerman, Berry, Creed and Chandler Smith were racing in the top 10.

Seven laps later, the caution flew after Dawson Cram wrecked in Turn 1 and lost his left-rear wheel in the process. During the caution period, the front-runners led by Custer remained on the track while select names that included Jeremy Clements, Derek Kraus, Brennan Poole and Kyle Sieg pitted for fresh tires.

When the race restarted on Lap 72, Custer and Nemechek briefly dueled for the lead until Nemechek muscled ahead with the lead from the inside lane. With Nemechek driving away from the field, Mayer and Custer battled for the runner-up spot followed by Allgaier and Kligerman while Hill and Herbst followed suit along with a hard-charging Kraus.

Then on Lap 78, Kraus, who pitted during the previous caution period, assumed the lead from Nemechek. Kraus would proceed to lead just past the Lap 80 by more than a second over Nemechek as Custer, Mayer and Allgaier were scored in the top five. By then, Kyle Sieg was in sixth while Hill, Kligerman, Herbst and Hemric were in the top 10. By then, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Creed were in 11th, 12th and 14th while Earnhardt Jr. was in 13th.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Kraus, who was making his seventh Xfinity career start, captured his first Xfinity career stage victory. Nemechek settled in second ahead of Custer, Mayer and Allgaier while Kligerman, Kyle Sieg, Herbst, Hill and Hemric were scored in the top 10. 16, 18 and 2 in 11th, 12th and 14th while Earnhardt Jr. was back in 16th.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting pit road first. Amid the pit stops, Berry was penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started as Custer and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Custer and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the first two turns and they continued to battle dead even entering the backstretch. Shortly after, the caution returned after Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who was battling for a top-10 spot on the track, was hit by teammate Kraus, who was being rubbed by Brandon Jones, before Smith bounced off of Creed and spun before he was then hit by Brett Moffitt.

During the following restart with 97 laps remaining, Allgaier benefitted from restarting on the inside lane as he muscled away from Custer to inherit the lead. Amid the battles ensuing behind the leaders, Allgaier would lead the next eight laps before Custer reassumed the lead with 90 laps remaining.

Then with 81 laps remaining, Allgaier, who was running third, made a pit stop under green to address a loose left-rear wheel on his No. 7 hellowater Chevrolet Camaro. By then, Custer extended his advantage to two seconds over Mayer followed by Herbst, Nemechek and Hill while Earnhardt Jr., Sammy Smith, Creed, Hemric and Kraus were running in the top 10.

With nearly 65 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as Joe Graf Jr. pitted. Richard Childress Racing’s Hill and Creed would pit under green a few laps later followed by Earnhardt Jr., Herbst, Custer, Mayer and others. As the green flag pit stops dwindled, Custer reassumed the lead with 53 laps remaining.

Four laps later, however, Custer fell off the pace while leading through the frontstretch and pitted after the right-front tire was spotted flat on the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang. Custer’s late misfortune moved Mayer into the lead while Hill, Nemechek, Herbst and Allgaier followed suit in the top five.

With 37 laps remaining, the caution returned after a wheel was spotted leaning against the outside wall on pit road. The caution occurred a few laps after Allgaier had pitted for his final set of tires. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Mayer pitted for their final set of tires.

As the race restarted with 30 laps remaining, Mayer retained the lead ahead of Hill, Nemechek and Herbst as the field fanned out and jostled for late positions. Shortly after, the caution returned after Earnhardt Jr., who was battling within the top 10, got loose entering the backstretch, slipped up the track and bumped against his JR Motorsports’ driver Berry, which sent Berry into the outside wall before Berry went up the track in Turns 3 and 4 and scraped the wall amid a flat tire to his No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet Camaro.

During the following restart with 23 laps remaining, Mayer cleared Hill entering Turn 2 to retain the lead as the field behind fanned out through the backstretch. Mayer would stabilize his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Hill as Nemechek, Herbst and Brandon Jones followed suit in the top five with 20 laps remaining.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Mayer extended his advantage to more than a second over Nemechek while Herbst, Hill and Earnhardt Jr. were scored in the top five. Behind, Hemric was in sixth while Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Kligerman and Joe Graf Jr. were up in the top 10.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader by more than two-tenths of a second over Herbst. Amid Playoff contender Creed wrecking just past the backstretch, the race remained under green flag conditions. With Herbst unable to narrow the gap, Mayer was able to navigate his No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet Camaro around the Homestead circuit smoothly for a final time as he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his fourth checkered flag of this season and of his career.

With the victory, Mayer, who achieved his first oval-circuit win in the Xfinity Series and came into the event 16 points below the top-four cutline, became the first Playoff contender to secure one of four vacant spots into this year’s Championship 4 round as he will officially contend for his first Xfinity Series championship. Mayer’s victory was also enough for the Chevrolet nameplate to secure this year’s manufacturer’s title and it was the seventh of the season for JR Motorsports.

“That’s unreal. We won on an oval! Whoo!” Mayer exclaimed on USA Network. “I can’t believe it. These guys, the Accelerate Pros Camaro today was just so good. It’s all about putting a full race together and I’m so proud of these guys. They kicked tail on pit road. We made it happen with these [Hendrick Motorsports] engines. Stewart-Haas [Racing] had [the race won] today, that’s for sure. It’s just really cool to be able to beat an amazing organization like that. We got to turn it on a little harder going to Phoenix.”

Herbst, who achieved his first Xfinity victory a week ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, settled in the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Hill and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished in the top five. Behind, Hemric ended up sixth while Kligerman, Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith and Joe Graf Jr. finished in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Custer, Allgaier and Creed, all of whom led a combined 126 laps, ended up 13th, 15th and 26th, respectively.

There were 13 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 33 laps. In addition, 12 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Sam Mayer, 46 laps led

2. Riley Herbst

3. John Hunter Nemechek, seven laps led

4. Austin Hill

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

6. Daniel Hemric

7. Parker Kligerman

8. Brandon Jones

9. Sammy Smith

10. Joe Graf Jr.

11. Derek Kraus, 21 laps led, Stage 2 winner

12. Parker Retzlaff

13. Cole Custer, one lap down, 114 laps led, Stage 1 winner

14. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

15. Justin Allgaier, one lap down, eight laps led

16. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

17. Josh Williams, one lap down

18. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

19. Brennan Poole, one lap down

20. Jeb Burton, one lap down

21. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

22. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

23. Leland Honeyman, one lap down

24. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

25. Patrick Emerling, two laps down

26. Sheldon Creed, two laps down, four laps led

27. Mason Massey, two laps down

28. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

29. Blaine Perkins, four laps down

30. Kaz Grala, six laps down

31. Connor Mosack – OUT, Electrical

32. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

33. Mason Maggio – OUT, Electrical

34. Chandler Smith – OUT, Engine

35. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

36. Dawson Cram – OUT, Accident

37. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Carburetor

38. Ryan Newman – OUT, Rear gear

*Bold indicates Playoff competitors

Playoff standings

1. Sam Mayer – Advanced

2. John Hunter Nemechek +44

3. Cole Custer +3

4. Austin Hill +3

5. Justin Allgaier -3

6. Sammy Smith -49

7. Chandler Smith -54

8. Sheldon Creed -65

The Round of 8 in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to conclude next Saturday, October 28, at Martinsville Speedway, which will determine the Championship 4 field. The event’s broadcast is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

October 21, 2023
Hocevar capitalizes for late Truck victory at Homestead; Championship 4 field set

Eleven days after announcing his move to the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2024 season, Carson Hocevar will receive an opportunity to contend for this year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship after leading the final 11 laps en route to winning the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 21.

The 20-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, led the final 11 of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and battled within the lead pack. He also scored a handful of stage points throughout the event’s two stage periods. Then, amid a series of late battles and late pit strategies ensuing between Playoff contenders trying to race their way into this year’s Championship 4 round, Hocevar tracked and overtook Playoff rival Ben Rhodes with 11 laps remaining.

He then cruised to his fourth Craftsman Truck Series career victory of the 2023 season and raced his way into the Championship 4 round. As a result, Hocevar will square off against Corey Heim, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes for this year’s Truck Series championship in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in early November.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 20, Playoff contender and rookie Nick Sanchez secured his fifth Truck pole position of this season after posting a pole-winning lap at 167.084 mph in 32.319 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Carson Hocevar, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 165.858 mph in 32.558 seconds.

Prior to the event, Spencer Davis, Trevor Bayne, Jonathan Shafer and Armani Williams dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks. Brothers Tanner and Taylor Gray also dropped to the rear of the field due to missing driver introductions.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Sanchez and Hocevar dueled for the lead entering Turn 1 as the field fanned out and jostled early for positions. Through the backstretch, Sanchez managed to muscle his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Hocevar from the outside lane as he then maintained control of both lanes through Turns 3 and 4 before he led the first lap. By then, Ty Majeski was in second ahead of Carson Hocevar while Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger were in the top five ahead of a hard-charging Corey Heim, who started eighth.

Five laps later, Heim, who was already guaranteed a spot in this year’s Championship 4 field, made his move and assumed the lead from Sanchez. By Lap 10, Heim was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hocevar followed by Majeski while Sanchez fell back to fourth ahead of Zane Smith and 38. In addition, Enfinger, Eckes, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum were running in the top 10 while Playoff contender Ben Rhodes was mired back in 22nd.

At the Lap 20 mark, Heim extended his advantage to more than a second over Majeski followed by Zane Smith, Hocevar and Enfinger while Sanchez, Friesen, Eckes, Crafton and Chase Purdy were in the top 10. Behind, Rhodes was mired in 24th behind teammate Hailie Deegan while Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Bayley Currey, Dean Thompson and Jack Wood were in the top 15. Notably, Trevor Bayne was in 18th while Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray, Brad Perez and Jake Garcia occupied the top 20.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim captured his sixth Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Majeski settled in second ahead of Hocevar, Zane Smith and Enfinger while Friesen, Eckes, Sanchez, Crafton and Purdy were scored in the top 10. By then, Rhodes was mired in 24th place while 26 of 34 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Majeski, Hocevar, Zane Smith, Eckes, Friesen, Crafton and Enfinger. Amid the pit stops, Hailie Deegan and Nick Leitz were penalized for uncontrolled tire violations while Memphis Villarreal was penalized for a safety violation. In addition, Marco Andretti was penalized for unapproved fueling.

The second stage period started on Lap 39 as Heim and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Heim, who briefly dueled against Majeski for the lead, maintained the lead over Majeski and a bevy of Playoff contenders as the field behind fanned out. With Heim retaining the top spot, a three-way battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Majeski, Zane Smith and Hocevar while Eckes and Friesen tried to join the battle.

At the Lap 45 mark, Heim was leading by a second over Zane Smith followed by Hocevar, Majeski and Friesen while Eckes, Currey, Sanchez, Crafton and Enfinger were in the top 10. Behind, Rhodes was mired in 16th.

Five laps later, Heim stabilized his advantage by a second over Hocevar followed by Zane Smith, Majeski and Friesen while Eckes, Currey, Sanchez, Enfinger and Crafton were battling in the top 10. Meanwhile, Rhodes was still running in 16th behind Bayne.

Three laps later, the caution flew after Spencer Boyd stopped on the track. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Heim returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Heim maintained the lead after exiting first ahead of Zane Smith, Eckes, Currey, Sanchez, Majeski and Friesen. Amid the pit stops, Playoff contender Enfinger was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

With the race restarting with two laps remaining in the second stage period, Heim maintained the lead over Zane Smith and Currey muscled his way up to third as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Amid the battles, Heim retained the lead over a hard-charging Zane Smith once he started the final lap of the second stage period.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Heim notched his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2023 season and the second of the day. Zane Smith settled in second ahead of a side-by-side duel between Currey and Sanchez while Friesen, Eckes, Majeski, Crafton, Purdy and Hocevar were scored in the top 10. By then, Rhodes was in 11th while Enfinger was mired back in 20th.

With the front-runners remaining on the track during the second stage break period, the final stage commenced with 67 laps remaining as Heim and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Zane Smith made his way into the lead over Heim as the field fanned out while jostling for late positions. A lap later, however, the caution returned after Colby Howard and Hailie Deegan wrecked on the frontstretch.

During the following restart with 60 laps remaining, Zane Smith and Heim dueled for the lead until the former maintained the top spot ahead of the field. As Smith retained the lead, Currey made his way into the runner-up spot over Heim while Hocevar, Sanchez and Majeski followed suit. Rhodes would also make his way into the top 10 while Enfinger was trying to re-enter the top 10.

Following another caution period with 56 laps remaining after Mason Maggio spun in Turn 4, the race restarted with 50 laps remaining. At the start, Heim, who restarted on the front row alongside Zane Smith, spun the tires, which allowed Smith to pull away with the lead as Hocevar made his way into the runner-up spot. Shortly after, Heim battled and reassumed the runner-up spot over Hocevar while Zane Smith was leading by seven-tenths of a second.

Then with 40 laps remaining, Heim, who had slipped to sixth, pitted his No. 11 Chateau Elan/Explore Braselton Toyota Tundra TRD Pro under green. Playoff contenders Enfinger and Eckes would also pit four laps later before Eckes was penalized for speeding on pit road, thus damaging his hopes of transferring into the Championship 4 field. Within 30 laps remaining, more Playoff names that included Sanchez, Zane Smith and Majeski pitted as Rhodes, who pitted during the previous caution period amid a gusty pit strategic call from crew chief Rich Lushes, cycled his No. 99 Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 into the lead.

With 15 laps remaining, Rhodes was leading by more than five seconds over a hard-charging Hocevar while Zane Smith was in third and trailing the lead by more than five seconds. By then, Heim and Enfinger were in the top five.

Four laps later, Hocevar, who gained massive ground on Rhodes, assumed the lead from Rhodes. Hocevar’s move placed Rhodes only two points above the top-four cutline while Zane Smith was 15 points below and mired in a “must-win” situation to advance.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Hocevar was leading by three seconds over Zane Smith’s No. 38 Ambetter Health Ford F-150 while Rhodes, Heim and Enfinger were scored in the top five. By then, Hocevar, Enfinger and Rhodes were still scored above the cutline along with Heim while Zane Smith, Sanchez, Eckes and Majeski were currently scored below the cutline.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hocevar remained as the leader by nearly three seconds over Zane Smith. With Smith unable to generate a final lap charge as he was too far behind Hocevar, Hocevar was able to smoothly navigate his No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST around Homestead for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch to claim his fourth checkered flag of his career and of the 2023 season.

With the victory, Hocevar also punched his ticket into this year’s Championship 4 round and will officially contend for his first NASCAR National Touring Series championship in the Truck circuit at Phoenix Raceway. Hocevar will compete alongside Corey Heim, Ben Rhodes and Grant Enfinger, all of whom finished in the top five and will contend for their first series title, minus Rhodes, who will contend for his second title.

“We were so fast,” Hocevar said on FS1. “It kills me [that] I can’t do a burnout. We have to take this motor to Phoenix. So good. This truck was so good. We got behind on pit stops and just lost track position, which really was unfortunate. I love winning! I love it! We just got to win at Phoenix. Even with all the setbacks, from the debris and everything, we had a shot to win and we did just that.”

“I don’t know what to think,” Rhodes said. “To be honest, the whole day was so difficult. I knew we were in for a long day. I just didn’t know it was gonna be this difficult, but what an absolute blessing to finish where we did. I can’t thank [crew chief Rich Lushes] enough for making that [pit] call. He’s really good at making these calls when it counts. I just wish we weren’t in this position so much. We’ve dealt with this pressure year over year and every time, we’ve been able to show through we get. I’m thankful for the effort by the team. What a day.”

“It feels great,” Enfinger said. “These guys deserve to be running for a championship at Phoenix. Pretty disappointed in our execution. You can’t make mistakes against these guys. We were blessed to have a second opportunity. [Crew chief] Jeff [Hensley] made some great calls on the truck. The truck was as good as it was gonna be those last two stints. That was all we had. Congratulations to all these guys. Hopefully, we can make the most of it in two weeks.”

“Definitely really excited for Phoenix,” Heim said. “I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and studying into that race. It’s gonna be the biggest race of my career. We’ve got bigger things on the horizon here, so we’ll focus on that.”

Amid the Championship 4 field being set, Zane Smith, the reigning series champion who finished in the runner-up spot, did not transfer along with Ty Majeski, rookie Nick Sanchez and Christian Eckes.

“Just a bummer,” Smith said. “The Round of 8 was not good to us. It only takes one bad race and unfortunately, we had two. Just one spot short today.”

“We had a truck [that was] able to advance and just kept making mistakes,” Eckes said. “Just wasn’t good enough today.”

“We just missed it a little bit today,” Majeski said. “We were all over the splitter, way too hard to be able to attack on restarts, maintain our track position. Long run, we were OK. Just couldn’t get going. Proud of this No. 98 team. Wished we could’ve been competing for a championship at Phoenix, but I see my teammate Ben [Rhodes] made it, so good for ThorSport [Racing]. All hands on deck these next two weeks, trying to prepare four fast trucks to go to Phoenix and hopefully, bring home a race win and a championship.”

“To miss [the Championship 4] by one point is pretty rough,” Sanchez said. “Guess all you can do is go to Phoenix and try to win, but yeah, it’s on me.”

Following the post-race inspection process, Zane Smith was disqualified from his runner-up result for windshield support violation. Amid Smith’s disqualification, the Championship 4 field occupied by Heim, Hocevar, Enfinger and Rhodes remained unchanged, with Rhodes earning the fourth and final transfer spot in a tie-breaker over Sanchez.

There were eight lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 29 laps. In addition, 15 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.

*Notably, Chevrolet secured this year’s Craftsman Truck Series manufacturer’s title.

Results.

1. Carson Hocevar, 11 laps led

2. Ben Rhodes, 22 laps led

3. Corey Heim, 57 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

4. Grant Enfinger

5. Bayley Currey

6. Stewart Friesen

7. Matt Crafton

8. Rajah Caruth

9. Ty Majeski, one lap led

10. Chase Purdy

11. Tanner Gray, four laps led

12. Jack Wood

13. Taylor Gray

14. Trevor Bayne

15. Jake Garcia, one lap down

16. Dean Thompson, one lap down

17. Nick Sanchez, one lap down

18. Marco Andretti, one lap down

19. Lawless Alan, one lap down

20. Christian Eckes, one lap down, five laps led

21. Daniel Dye, one lap down

22. Tyler Hill, one lap down

23. Nick Leitz, one lap down

24. Brad Perez, one lap down

25. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

26. Jonathan Shafer, two laps down

27. Mason Maggio, three laps down

28. Hailie Deegan, three laps down

29. Memphis Villarreal, three laps down

30. Colby Howard, five laps down

31. Armani Williams, 13 laps down

32. Spencer Davis – OUT, Electrical

33. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Electrical

34. Zane Smith – Disqualified 34 laps led

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings standings

1. Corey Heim – Advanced

2. Carson Hocevar – Advanced

3. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

4. Ben Rhodes – Advanced

5. Nick Sanchez – Eliminated

6. Christian Eckes – Eliminated

7. Ty Majeski – Eliminated

8. Zane Smith – Eliminated

The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, on November 3, where a champion will be crowned. The finale’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.

October 21, 2023
Larson clinches Championship 4 berth with dramatic Cup victory at Las Vegas

A year after having his championship hopes evaporated just past the midway section of the Playoffs, Kyle Larson stapled his name back into the Championship 4 round after capping off a dominant performance by fending off a late charge from Christopher Bell to win the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 15.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led seven times for a race-high 133 of 267 scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and quickly made his presence at the front known, beginning on the third lap. After sweeping both stage periods while dodging a near-catastrophic moment by getting loose and nearly hitting the outside wall just past the halfway mark, Larson withstood two late caution periods to muscle away from Brad Keselowski and the field during the final restart with 45 laps remaining.

Despite having Playoff rival and pole-sitter Christopher Bell gain ground on him in the closing laps, Larson managed to block and fend off Bell twice on the final lap entering the frontstretch to capture his fourth Cup Series victory of the 2023 season and punch his ticket to this year’s Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway as he will officially contend for the 2023 Cup championship.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 14, Playoff contender Christopher Bell notched his sixth Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the 10th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 186.335 mph in 28.980 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Kyle Larson, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 186.271 mph in 28.990 seconds.

Prior to the event, Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars after both wrecked their primary cars separately during Saturday’s practice session.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Bell muscled ahead from the outside lane as he retained the lead through the first two turns ahead of Larson. With the field jostling for early spots amid two lanes through the backstretch, Bell proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry while William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. challenged Larson for the runner-up spot.

Two laps later, Larson, who managed to fend off the early charges from teammate Byron and Truex, made his move beneath Bell in Turn 1 as he assumed the lead in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, with Bell dropping to second place in front of Byron, Truex and Chris Buescher. Larson would proceed to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over Bell through the first five laps while Truex and Byron continued to battle for third place in front of Buescher and Tyler Reddick.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Larson continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Bell followed by Truex, Buescher and Byron while Reddick, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney were in the top 10. Behind, Alex Bowman occupied 11th place in front of Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, rookie Ty Gibbs and Kevin Harvick while Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, Carson Hocevar and Erik Jones were running in the top 20.

Fifteen laps later, Larson retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Bell while Truex, Buescher and Byron continued to run in the top five. With Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Reddick, Bowman and Hamlin in the top 10, Ross Chastain was in 11th ahead of Almirola, Harvick, Wallace and Logano while Ty Gibbs, McDowell, Hocevar, Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski battled within the top 20. Meanwhile, AJ Allmendinger, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, was in 21st ahead of Ty Dillon, Justin Haley, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Cindric while Daniel Suarez was in 27th behind Austin Dillon. In addition, Chase Elliott was mired in 30th in between Harrison Burton and Ryan Preece while Chase Briscoe was in 32nd.

Within the Lap 30 mark, the first wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Austin Dillon pitted his No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Shortly after, Kyle Larson surrendered the lead to pit along with Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, McDowell, Erik Jones, Hocevar, Haley, Allmendinger, Suarez, Cindric, Harrison Burton, Buescher, Blaney, Byron, Hamlin, Chastain, Reddick, Almirola, Harvick, Logano and Wallace. Amid the pit stops, Chastain was penalized for speeding on pit road.

In the process of the green flag pit stops Bell reassumed the lead as he was leading by Lap 35 ahead of teammate Truex, Bowman, Stenhouse and Todd Gilliland while Elliott pitted. Third-place Bowman would pit on Lap 38 before Bell and Truex followed suit to pit their respective Joe Gibbs Racing entries. Once they pitted, Larson cycled back into the lead by Lap 40.

At the Lap 50 mark, Larson, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, was leading by nearly two seconds over Bell followed by Truex, Blaney and Byron while Bowman, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Buescher and Almirola were scored in the top 10. With seven of the remaining eight Playoff contenders running in the top 10 minus Bowman, Kyle Busch and Almirola, Reddick was the lone Playoff contender running outside of the top 10 as he was in 11th while Harvick, Logano, Keselowski and Ty Gibbs were running in the top 15.

Fourteen laps later, the event’s first caution flew when Erik Jones blew a right-rear tire in Turn 1 as he limped his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road with the tire carcass coming out just past the backstretch. By then, Larson was still leading by more than two seconds over Bell while Truex, Blaney and Byron were running in the top five. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Bell, who opted for two fresh tires, exited pit road first ahead of Larson, Reddick, Keselowski, Truex and Blaney.

With nine laps remaining in the first stage period, the race restarted under green. At the start, Bell and Larson dueled for the lead through the first two turns and they continued to duel dead even back through the frontstretch as the field behind fanned out while jostling for positions. During the following lap, Larson managed to rocket ahead of Bell to reassume the lead. Behind, Keselowski was in third ahead of Reddick while Kyle Busch, Truex and Blaney went three-wide while battling for fifth in front of Byron, Hamlin and Harvick. Amid the battles, Larson was leading by four-tenths of a second over Bell while third-place Keselowski trailed by nearly a second.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Larson notched his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Bell settled in second followed by Keselowski, Reddick and Truex while Blaney, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contender Buescher was mired in 16th while all but two of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Larson returned to pit road for service while the rest led by Truex and including JJ Yeley and Brennan Poole remained on the track. Yeley and Poole would pit shortly after while Truex continued to remain on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 86 as teammates Truex and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin and Truex dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Through the first two turns, Truex rocketed his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry away from Hamlin, who was getting attacked by Keselowski as Bell and Ty Gibbs followed suit through the frontstretch. With Hamlin and Keselowski continuing to duel for the runner-up spot during the proceeding laps behind Truex, Bell retained fourth ahead of Ty Gibbs and Buescher while Larson made a three-wide move to overtake the latter two. By then, all eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 on the track while Keselowski and Ty Gibbs were the top two non-Playoff contenders racing in the top-10 mark. Amid the on-track battles towards the front, AJ Allmendinger was penalized for a restart violation.

Then on Lap 91, Hamlin made his move beneath teammate Truex through the frontstretch as he assumed the lead in his No. 11 Mavis Tries & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry. Another two laps later, Keselowski assumed the runner-up spot followed by a hard-charging Larson while Truex was locked in a heated battle with Buescher for fourth place. Buescher would prevail by Lap 94 as Truex was in the process of losing another spot to teammate Bell. By then, Hamlin was leading by half a second over Keselowski.

At the Lap 100 mark, Hamlin was leading by three-tenths of a second over Keselowski followed by a hard-charging Larson, who trailed by half a second, while Buescher, Bell, Blaney, Byron, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch and Reddick were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Truex had dropped to 13th behind Logano and Bowman while Harvick and Chastain were in the top 15 followed by Wallace, Suarez, Almirola, Preece and Hocevar.

During the proceeding laps, a three-way battle for the lead ignited as Hamlin had both Keselowski and Larson closing in on him for the top spot through the turns and the straightaways. Despite being pressured by two former Cup Series champions, Hamlin maintained the top spot by and past the Lap 105 mark while Bell and Buescher were scored in the top five. Meanwhile, Truex was still mired in 13th ahead of Chastain and Harvick.

Then on Lap 111, the caution flew when Hocevar, coming off his announcement of graduating to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive for Spire Motorsports in 2024, blew a right-front tire and scraped the outside wall entering Turn 1 before he slid the No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways and rammed into the wall again as Austin Cindric dodged him. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin peeled off the track to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Keselowski assumed the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Larson, Bell, Hamlin, Byron, Blaney and Buescher.

During the ensuing restart on Lap 117, Keselowski rocketed away from Larson from the inside lane through the frontstretch before Larson fought back and battled dead even against Keselowski from the outside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch. During the following lap, Keselowski managed to slide up and clear Larson as he retained the lead in his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang while Bell trailed in third followed by Byron and Hamlin.

Just past the Lap 125 mark, Keselowski was leading by two-tenths of a second over Larson followed by Byron, Bell and Hamlin while Buescher, Blaney, Chastain, Kyle Busch and Bowman were racing in the top 10. By then, Truex was mired in 13th behind Reddick and Wallace as Harvick and Logano rounded out the top 15.

At the halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, Keselowski retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Larson while Byron, Bell, Hamlin, Buescher, Blaney, Chastain, Kyle Busch and Bowman were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Truex and Reddick were back in 11th and 12th ahead of Wallace, Harvick and Logano while Almirola, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Cindric and Ty Gibbs were in the top 20 followed by Suarez, McDowell, Haley, Corey LaJoie and Erik Jones. In addition, Elliott was mired in 29th place while racing a lap down.

Just past the Lap 140 mark, Larson, who was running in the runner-up spot, got loose entering the backstretch as he slid his car sideways and made light contact with the outside wall, but he managed to continue at full pace and remain on the track, though he lost spots from Bell, Byron and Hamlin. The caution, however, flew on Lap 145 when teammate Bowman got loose and wrecked his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 off of Turn 4 before coming to a stop towards the low groove in Turn 1. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Keselowski exited first amid a two-tire pit stop while Byron, Kyle Busch, Logano, Harvick, Larson, Bell and Hamlin followed suit.

With the race restarting under green on Lap 149, Keselowski and Byron dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch in front of Kyle Busch and Logano. With Larson making a three-wide move on both Kyle Busch and Logano while trying to make his way back to the front, Keselowski and Byron continued to duel dead even for the lead until Keselowski muscled ahead on the inside lane and through Turns 3 and 4, which occurred just prior to Lap 152.

A few laps later, Larson set his sights on Keselowski for the lead as Byron fell back to third while Chastain and Bell moved up into the top five. By Lap 155, Larson transitioned from the outside to the inside lane as he overtook Keselowski and reassumed the lead. Behind, Chastain overtook Byron for third while Hamlin occupied sixth in front of Logano, Harvick, Kyle Busch and Blaney. Chastain would proceed to overtake Keselowski for the runner-up spot another few laps later as he also started to gain ground on Larson for the lead.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Larson captured his seventh Cup stage victory of the 2023 season and second of the day after pulling away with an advantage of more than a second. Chastain settled in second in front of Bell, Hamlin and Keselowski while Byron, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Reddick and Wallace were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Buescher and Truex were mired back in 15th and 20th, respectively, while 31 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Bell returned to the top of the leaderboard after barely exiting pit road first ahead of Chastain and Larson while Keselowski, Hamlin, McDowell and Byron followed suit.

With 96 laps remaining, the final stage period started as Bell and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Bell muscled ahead and retained the lead from the inside lane while Chastain and Keselowski battled for the runner-up spot in front of Larson, Keselowski and Byron. With Kyle Busch joining the battle, Bell maintained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Chastain while Keselowski maintained third in front of Larson and a side-by-side battle between Byron and Hamlin.

With 90 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead by half a second over Chastain as Keselowski and Larson gained ground on Chastain for the runner-up spot. Byron maintained fifth ahead of Hamlin while Kyle Busch, Blaney, Reddick and Logano were in the top 10. By then, Truex was down in 18th while Buescher was in 20th.

Fifteen laps later, Bell continued to lead by nearly half a second over Chastain followed by a side-by-side battle between Keselowski and Larson for third place while Hamlin occupied fifth ahead of Byron, Blaney, Kyle Busch, Reddick and Logano. By then, Truex and Buescher were still mired in 17th and 19th, respectively.

Another 15 laps later, Bell retained the lead by more than a second over Keselowski while Larson and Blaney were running third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Chastain, who got loose and missed the racing groove entering the backstretch a few laps earlier, dropped to sixth as he was in between Hamlin and Byron while Kyle Busch, Logano and Ty Gibbs were in the top 10. By then, Reddick dropped to 11th, Truex was in 14th and Buescher was in 16th.

Another two laps later, the caution flew after Chase Briscoe ran up towards the outside wall in Turn 1 while battling AJ Allmendinger and barely clipped Stenhouse before he got sideways and spun his No. 14 Code 3 Associates Ford Mustang below the track in Turn 2. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Larson managed to edge both Keselowski and Bell off of pit road first as Chastain, Hamlin, Byron and Buescher followed suit.

With the race restarting with 52 laps remaining, Larson launched ahead of Keselowski from the inside lane as the field fanned out to three and four lanes through the backstretch. With the field stilling fanning out through the frontstretch, Larson retained the lead ahead of Keselowski and Bell while Chastain was in fourth ahead of Logano, Byron and Hamlin. The caution, however, quickly returned with 50 laps remaining after Ty Gibbs slid up and scraped the outside wall entering the backstretch, where he limped his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry back to pit road, but lost his right front wheel in the process.

During the restart with 45 laps remaining, Keselowski and Larson briefly dueled for the lead before Larson rocketed ahead from the inside lane. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Larson maintained the lead ahead of Keselowski and Bell while Byron charged in fourth ahead of Chastain and Reddick.

With 35 laps remaining, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Keselowski followed by Bell, Byron and Chastain while Kyle Busch, Reddick, Blaney, Logano and Hamlin were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Buescher and Truex were scored in 12th and 14th, respectively.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Bell while Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Byron remained in the top five. By then, Truex and Buescher moved up to 11th and 12th while Chastain, Blaney, Reddick, Hamlin and Logano were scored in the top 10.

With 10 laps remaining, Larson, who navigated his way through lapped traffic, retained the lead by more than a second over Bell as Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Chastain were in the top five. Larson would maintain the lead by six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bell with five laps remaining while Keselowski trailed by nearly four seconds. As the laps dwindled, Larson’s advantage over Bell dwindled to four-tenths of a second as Bell used the outside lane to gain more ground on Larson for the lead.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Bell. Through Turns 1 and 2, Bell used the outside lane to cut the deficit down to within two- and three-tenths of a second. After remaining behind Larson through the backstretch, Bell used the outside lane entering Turns 3 and 4 to get to Larson’s rear bumper as Larson went up the track to block him. Bell then tried to make a move to Larson’s outside through the frontstretch, but Larson again blocked Bell as he managed to keep Bell behind him and claim the checkered flag for the win by 0.082 seconds.

With the victory, Larson, who was eliminated from title contention following the Round of 12 one year ago, notched his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season, his 17th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, his second at Las Vegas, his first since winning the Playoff opener at Darlington Raceway in September and the 23rd of his NASCAR premier series career. The victory was also the 10th of the season for Hendrick Motorsports and the 850th Cup Series career win for the Chevrolet nameplate.

Above all, Larson became the first Playoff contender to secure a spot for this year’s Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway which will occur three weeks time in early November as he will contend for his second Cup Series championship.

“I could see [Bell] coming in my mirror, for sure,” Larson said on NBC. “I was hoping those [lapped competitors] were gonna give me the bottom [lane]. [Todd Gilliland] peeled off to the bottom and I knew I couldn’t follow him. I just didn’t wanna go all the way to the top and leave the middle [lane] open, but thankfully, Christopher [Bell] has always raced us extremely clean. It could’ve got crazier than it did coming to the start/finish line. Thank you to him for racing with respect. What a job done by my team, too. Just a great race car. I almost gave it away there in [Turns] 1 and 2, getting sideways, getting in the wall. [I] Had to fight back from there with our balance. They got it much closer there with the lead. I was happy to pull away as much as we did, was hoping that was gonna be enough to maintain, which it was, but I thought they weren’t gonna be able to get as close as they did there at the end. Nerve-racking. This is really cool to get to go race for another championship here in a few weeks. Glad we don’t have to stress for these next two races.”

While Larson celebrated the victory and an early ticket to the championship finale with his family on the frontstretch, Bell was left disappointed on pit road after missing an early opportunity to secure a championship finale spot. With his runner-up result, Bell is currently ranked in fifth place in the Playoff standings and is two points below the top-four cutline approaching the upcoming two Round of 8 events.

“Man, I don’t know what else I could’ve done,” Bell said. “I don’t know. I feel like that was my moment, that was my moment to make the final four and didn’t quite capture it. Coming to the checkered there, I knew that he was gonna be blocking, so I’m like I’m gonna try and go high and he went high, but I don’t even know if I had a run to get by him there coming to the line. Just wasn’t enough, but a great day. A great day, for sure, to get those stage points and get a second-place finish out of it. I think I saw we’re minus two [from the cutline], so we’re not out of it by any means. It would’ve been nice to lock in.”

Amid the late battle for the victory, hometown hero Kyle Busch came home in third place followed by Keselowski and Chastain while Playoff contenders Blaney, Byron, Reddick, Truex and Hamlin finished in the top 10. Meanwhile, Buescher was the lone Playoff contender to finish outside the top 10 as he ended up in 11th place.

Following the post-race inspection process, however, Blaney was disqualified from his sixth-place finish due to the left-front shock from his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang not meeting the overall specified length outlined in Section 14.11.3.5 from NASCAR’s Rule Book. As a result, he was relegated to last place in the 36-car field and stripped of his eight stage points he earned throughout the event, where he is now 56 points below the top-four cutline.

*On Monday, NASCAR rescinded the penalty and disqualification levied to Blaney and the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang team due to an issue with the damper template used for inspection during the race weekend debrief and following a detailed investigation. As a result, Blaney was rewarded his sixth-place result and stage points accumulated during the event as he is now only 17 points below the cutline.

There were 20 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 36 laps. In addition, 26 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Kyle Larson, 133 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Christopher Bell, 61 laps led

3. Kyle Busch

4. Brad Keselowski, 38 laps led

5. Ross Chastain

6. Ryan Blaney

7. William Byron, one lap led

8. Tyler Reddick

9. Martin Truex Jr., nine laps led

10. Denny Hamlin, 23 laps led

11. Chris Buescher

12. Joey Logano

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Aric Almirola

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Kevin Harvick

17. Michael McDowell

18. Austin Dillon

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Harrison Burton

21. AJ Allmendinger

22. Justin Haley

23. Austin Cindric

24. Ty Dillon

25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

26. Ryan Preece

27. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

28. Erik Jones, one lap down

29. JJ Yeley, one lap down, two laps led

30. Brennan Poole, one lap down

31. BJ McLeod, one lap down

32. Chase Elliott, one lap down

33. Chase Briscoe, four laps down

34. Ty Gibbs, eight laps down

35. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

36. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Kyle Larson – Advanced

2. William Byron +9

3. Martin Truex Jr. +2

4. Denny Hamlin +2

5. Christopher Bell -2

6. Tyler Reddick -16

7. Ryan Blaney -17

8. Chris Buescher -23

The second Round of 8 event in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to occur next Sunday, October 22, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 15, 2023