Saturday, September 18th, 2021
Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN
Kyle Larson celebrated victory in Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race with a burnout on the frontstretch at Bristol Motor Speedway, as tempers flared between Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott on pit road.
With an assist from Elliott, who took Harvick's line at the .533-mile concrete track and slowed his progress, Larson made the winning pass on Lap 397 of 400 and sealed his sixth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season.
At the other end of the spectrum, Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch and Michael McDowell were eliminated from the Playoffs in the cutoff race of the Round of 16. William Byron snagged the final transfer spot into the Round of 12 by finishing third behind Larson and Harvick.
That result gave Byron a two-point edge over Almirola and Reddick, the first two drivers out of the Playoff.
On Lap 465 of 500, as Harvick was attempting to pass Elliott for the lead, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford pinched Elliott's Chevrolet toward the outside wall, with contact between the cars cutting a tire on Elliott's machine.
Elliott brought his car to pit road on Lap 466, lost three laps in the process and returned to the track behind Harvick. On new tires, Elliott quickly passed Harvick to get one lap back and took Harvick's line at the top of the track.
Larson gradually closed on Harvick and made the winning pass on Lap 397. Larson did an admirable job keeping his car under control as Harvick retaliated with contact to the rear of Larson's Camaro on the frontstretch.
"Yeah, that was an awesome race," said Larson, who won for the first time at Bristol and the 12th time in his career. "It was so cool to be able to race there for the win. Obviously, Harvick and Chase got together. Chase was upset. Kind of held him up. It got Harvick having to move around and use his tires up off the bottom.
"I started to get some dive-ins working off of (Turn) 2, got a big run, decided to pull the trigger, slide him, squeeze him a little bit. Then he had me jacked up down the frontstretch. It was wild."
While Larson celebrated, Harvick and Elliott traded their views of the finish in a heated exchange on pit road.
"It's just chicken (expletive)," Harvick said after the confrontation broke up. "I don't know what else to say. Throw a temper tantrum like you're two years old because you got passed for the lead and got a flat tire. We barely even rubbed. It's all Chase's way, or it's no way. If he doesn't get his way, he throws a fit."
Not surprisingly, Elliott had a different interpretation of the events in the closing stages of the race.
"It's something that he does all the time," said the reigning Cup Series champion, who finished 25th. "He runs into your left side constantly at other tracks, and sometimes it does cut down your left sides. Other times it doesn't.
"Whether he does it on purpose, it doesn't matter. At some point, you've got to draw the line. I don't care who he is and how long he's been doing it. I'm going to stand up for myself and my team, and we'll go on down the road."
Of the 12 drivers who advanced to the second round of the Playoff, four represent Hendrick Motorsports (Elliott, Larson, Byron and Alex Bowman); four represent Joe Gibbs Racing (Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell); and three represent Team Penske (Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney).
Harvick is the lone driver from Stewart-Haas Racing to advance to the Round of 12.
Both Kyle Busch and Bell survived cut tires near the end of the race to clinch spots in the next round. Blaney finished fourth and Bowman fifth on Saturday night. Keselowski, Truex, Erik Jones, Hamlin and Matt DiBenedetto completed the top 10.
Harvick and Elliott later continued their discussion behind closed doors in Elliott's No. 9 transporter.
ENTRY | # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | DOB | AGE | MAKE | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Tampa, FL | Mar 14, 1984 | 40 | Ford | Smithfield | Stewart-Haas Racing | Mike Bugarewicz |
2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Auburn Hills, MI | Feb 12, 1984 | 40 | Ford | Discount Tire | Team Penske | Jeremy Bullins |
3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Chesterfield, VA | Nov 18, 1980 | 43 | Toyota | FedEx Freight | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gabehart |
4 | 51 | JJ Yeley | Phoenix, AZ | Oct 5, 1976 | 48 | Chevrolet | Nurtec ODT | Rick Ware Racing | Mark Hillman |
5 | 22 | Joey Logano | Middleton, CT | May 24, 1990 | 34 | Ford | Shell Pennzoil | Team Penske | Paul Wolfe |
6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Bakersfield, CA | Dec 8, 1975 | 48 | Ford | Subway Delivery | Stewart-Haas Racing | Rodney Childers |
7 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Las Vegas, NV | Aug 4, 1978 | 46 | Chevrolet | Monster Energy | Chip Ganassi Racing | Matt McCall |
8 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Las Vegas, NV | May 2, 1985 | 39 | Toyota | M&M's | Joe Gibbs Racing | Ben Beshore |
9 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | Mayetta, NJ | Jun 29, 1980 | 44 | Toyota | Bass Pro Shops | Joe Gibbs Racing | James Small |
10 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Phoenix, AZ | Dec 21, 1984 | 39 | Ford | Love's Travel Stops | Front Row Motorsports | Drew Blickensderfer |
11 | 6 | Ryan Newman | South Bend, IN | Dec 8, 1977 | 46 | Ford | Kohler Generators | RFK Racing | Scott Graves |
12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Lewisville, NC | Apr 27, 1990 | 34 | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Off Road | Richard Childress Racing | Justin Alexander |
13 | 66 | David Starr | Houston, TX | Nov 11, 1967 | 56 | Toyota | The Naked Market | Motorsports Business Management | Johnny Roten |
14 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Olive Branch, MS | Oct 2, 1987 | 37 | Chevrolet | Kroger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Brian Pattie |
15 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Sacremento, CA | Jul 31, 1992 | 32 | Chevrolet | Valvoline | Hendrick Motorsports | Cliff Daniels |
16 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Tuscon, AZ | Apr 25, 1993 | 31 | Chevrolet | Ally | Hendrick Motorsports | Greg Ives |
17 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | High Point, NC | Dec 31, 1993 | 30 | Ford | Menards / Richmond | Team Penske | Todd Gordon |
18 | 7 | Corey Lajoie | Kannapolis, NC | Sep 25, 1991 | 33 | Chevrolet | Schluter Systems | Spire Motorsports | Ryan Sparks |
19 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Dawsonville, GA | Nov 28, 1995 | 28 | Chevrolet | Hooters | Hendrick Motorsports | Alan Gustafson |
20 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Grass Valley, CA | Jul 27, 1991 | 33 | Ford | Reese / Draw-Tite | Wood Brothers Racing | Jonathan Hassler |
21 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Prosper, TX | Oct 29, 1992 | 31 | Ford | Fastenal | RFK Racing | Luke Lambert |
22 | 43 | Erik Jones | Byron, MI | May 30, 1996 | 28 | Chevrolet | US Air Force Tuskegee Airmen | Richard Petty Motorsports | Jerry Baxter |
23 | 78 | BJ McLeod | Wauchula, FL | Nov 17, 1983 | 40 | Ford | Honor and Remember | Live Fast Motorsports | Frank Kerr |
24 | 37 | Ryan Preece | Berlin, CT | Oct 25, 1990 | 33 | Chevrolet | Viva | JTG Daugherty Racing | Trent Owens |
25 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Monterrey, Mexico | Jan 7, 1992 | 32 | Chevrolet | Coca-Cola | Trackhouse Racing | Travis Mack |
26 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Alva, FL | Dec 4, 1992 | 31 | Chevrolet | Moose Fraternity | Chip Ganassi Racing | Phil Surgen |
27 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Mobile, AL | Oct 8, 1993 | 31 | Toyota | McDonalds | 23XI Racing | Mike Wheeler |
28 | 24 | William Byron | Charlotte, NC | Nov 29, 1997 | 26 | Chevrolet | Axalta | Hendrick Motorsports | Rudy Fugle |
29 | 41 | Cole Custer | Ladera Ranch, CA | Jan 23, 1998 | 26 | Ford | Autodesk / HaasTooling.com | Stewart-Haas Racing | Mike Shiplett |
30 | 53 | Garrett Smithley | Ligonier, PA | Apr 27, 1992 | 32 | Chevrolet | Boom Mobile | Rick Ware Racing | Billy Plourde |
31 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Menomonee Falls, WI | Jun 3, 1995 | 29 | Ford | Insurance King | Rick Ware Racing | Jason Houghtaling |
32 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Corning, CA | Jan 11, 1996 | 28 | Chevrolet | Food City / Childress Vineyards | Richard Childress Racing | Randall Burnett |
33 | 00 | Quin Houff | Weyers Cave, VA | Sep 15, 1997 | 27 | Chevrolet | Boss Hoss Cycles | StarCom Racing | George Church |
34 | 77 | Justin Haley | Winamac, IN | Apr 28, 1999 | 25 | Chevrolet | Diamond Creek Water | Spire Motorsports | Kevin Bellicourt |
35 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Norman, OK | Dec 16, 1994 | 29 | Toyota | Sirius XM | Joe Gibbs Racing | Adam Stevens |
36 | 15 | James Davison | Melbourne, Australia | Aug 28, 1986 | 38 | Chevrolet | Greatest Generations | Rick Ware Racing | Ken Evans |
37 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mitchell, IN | Dec 15, 1994 | 29 | Ford | Cummins / Rush Truck Centers | Stewart-Haas Racing | Johnny Klausmeier |
38 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Ridgefield, CT | Mar 1, 1999 | 25 | Ford | Dude Wipes | Front Row Motorsports | Seth Barbour |