Bristol Motor Speedway

How appropriate.

On a day where tire management was the essential element in a NASCAR Cup Series race, three veterans swept the podium positions, with Denny Hamlin winning Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

In a race that produced 54 lead changes—a record for Cup Series short tracks—Hamlin lost the lead briefly to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps but regained it in traffic and beat Truex to the finish line by 1.083 seconds.

In a return to concrete after three straight spring races on dirt, Hamlin won his second straight race at the 0.533-mile speedway and his fourth overall, second most among active drivers to Kyle Busch’s eight.

The victory was the 52^ndof Hamlin’s career, 13^thall-time, and his first this season.

But the story was the tires and the mysterious way they behaved in a race that saw the track start to eat through to the cords 45 laps into a green-flag run.

Goodyear brought the same tire that ran without issues in last fall’s Night Race, but on Sunday, the concrete surface did not take rubber. Instead, marbles (small balls of rubber from degraded tires) accumulated high in the corners, making the top of the track untenable.

There were two variables that might have helped to account for the tire issues. The temperature was roughly 10-15 degrees cooler than it was for last year’s Night Race, which was run on Sept. 16.

NASCAR also opted for a different resin the bottom lane from the PJ1 traction compound previously in use.

Whatever the cause, with his short-track background, Hamlin was best equipped to deal with the surprising situation.

“That’s what I grew up here doing in the short tracks in the Mid Atlantic, South Boston (Va.), Martinsville,” said Hamlin, who grew up in Chesterfield, Va. “Once it became a tire-management race, I really liked our chances.

“Obviously, the veteran in Martin, he knew how to do it as well. We just had a great car, great team. The pit crew just did a phenomenal job all day. Can’t say enough about them… Man, it feels so good to win in Bristol.”

Truex passed Hamlin for the lead in traffic on Lap 483 but surrendered the top spot to the race winner one lap later, as the teammates worked around slower cars. Truex’s tires gave up the ghost on the last few circuits, as Hamlin pulled away.

“Apparently, that’s what I needed to have happen here at Bristol to have a shot at winning—I guess this tire management thing fit into my wheelhouse here at Bristol,” Truex said.

“Man, the difference was just coming out of the pits so far behind Denny (after green-flag pit stops during the final run). I had to use mine up more on the last run. The last four, five laps of the race, was cord.”

Hamlin led a race-high 163 laps, as the four JGR drivers spent a combined 383 of 500 laps at the front field, with Ty Gibbs leading 137, Truex 54 and Christopher Bell 29.

Brad Keselowski, a three-time winner at the track, finished third, 7.284 seconds behind Hamlin.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson were fourth and fifth, respectively, as only five drivers finished on the lead lap.

The last time five or fewer drivers finished on the lead lap was the June 6, 2004 race at Dover.

John Hunter Nemechek, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Gibbs and Bell came home sixth through 10^th, respectively.

Larson and Truex leave Bristol tied for the series lead, passing defending series champion Ryan Blaney, who finished 16^th.

Denny Hamlin landed a knockout punch in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. survived to fight another round.

Bubba Wallace rescued himself from the brink of elimination from the series Playoffs and advanced to the Round of 12 by four points.

Kevin Harvick, winner of the first elimination Playoff in 2014, won’t be around to fight for the title in his final season of Cup racing. He joins defending champion Joey Logano on the outside looking in for the final seven Playoff races.

Despite a strong run on Saturday night, Michael McDowell didn’t get the win he needed to advance, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. likewise fell by the wayside in a car that couldn’t compete for a top-five position.

Taking the lead off pit road on Lap 366 of 500, Hamlin beat Kyle Larson to the finish line by 2.462 seconds. Hamlin led the final 135 laps in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 142 overall, and second only to the 187 circuits led by pole winner and third-place finisher Christopher Bell.

Led by Hamlin, all five Toyota drivers in the Playoffs advanced to the next round.

“Can’t thank this whole FedEx team enough,” said Hamlin, who won for the third time this season, the third time at Bristol and the 51^st time in his career. “They’ve really kicked ass this whole first round. Really amazing how our team has been. So happy about the way we’re running. Can’t wait to keep going.

“It’s our year. I just feel like we’ve got it all put together. We’ve got the speed (at) every single type of race track. Nothing to stop us at this point.”

Chris Buescher followed Bell to the stripe, as the top four finishers all will race in the Round of 12. Brad Keselowski and William Byron (eighth and ninth Saturday) also advanced, as did 23XI Racing teammates Wallace and Tyler Reddick (13^th and 14^th), Truex (19^th), Kyle Busch (20^th), Ryan Blaney (22^nd) and Ross Chastain (23^rd).

Wallace finished 14^th, a lap down, but the eight points he gained by running third in Stage 1 proved decisive. Only 10 cars finished on the lead lap, the last of whom was Stenhouse, who ended the Round of 16 in 15^th, seven points behind Wallace.

Wallace was greeted with a chorus of boos when he climbed from his car, as was Hamlin.

“Like Coco Gauff said, all they’re doing is adding fuel to the fire—I love it,” said Wallace, who drives for Hamlin and co-owner Michael Jordan at 23XI. “I love where I’m at with this team. Wish my mom, dad, sister were here to celebrate with me.”

“I’m mentally exhausted. I’m wore out. Gave it our all there. Battled hard and executed. That’s what you got to do. We know next week’s a reset. We just got to go out and have some fun, work our asses off. Thank you to the ones that believe in me. Keep it going. Yeah, on to next week.”

A vicious wreck on the backstretch cost Joey Logano a chance to advance to the Round of 12—the first time under the elimination format that a defending championship has exited the Playoffs in the opening round.

Logano was a lap down, running toward the back of the pack, when Corey LaJoie went three-wide underneath the Chevrolet of Erik Jones and lost control of his No. 7 Chevrolet. LaJoie’s car swept up the track into the path of Logano, Justin Haley and Ryan Newman, all of whom were knocked out of the race in the accident.

“Yeah, I saw the smoke,” said Logano, who was credited with a 34^th-place finish and missed the Round of 12 by four points. “I saw the 7 spinning. (Spotter) Coleman (Pressley) was saying, ‘He’s coming up. He’s coming up’ as I was on the brakes to try to pull onto the bottom.

“I think it was Newman behind me, but I think someone hit him behind him, and it was just kind of a chain reaction into it. Once I got hit, I was like, ‘Shoot, I’ve got to go up now,’ because I couldn’t make the bottom, so I committed to that and the hole closed up.

“Obviously, it’s a real bummer. You get out of the race like that and you’re behind the wall and you’re in denial for a minute. You don’t want to believe that it happened, and you want to think that it’s fixable, but the car was tore up too bad.”

Harvick fought an ill-handling car from the outset and finished 29^th, five laps down. Like Logano, he finished four points behind Wallace in the battle for the final spot in the Round of 12.

“We’ve been like that all year,” Harvick said. “We’ve been hit-or-miss. Tonight, we just missed by a mile. I’ve had some good days and bad days, but that’s definitely the worst one I’ve had with fenders on it.”

Ty Gibbs finished fifth after leading 102 laps. McDowell ran sixth, followed by Chase Elliott, Keselowski, Byron and Stenhouse.

With Chase Elliott pursuing him relentlessly for the final 50 laps, Chris Buescher held on to win Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motors Speedway, becoming the 19th different NASCAR Cup Series winner this season.

After the event that set the field for the Round of 12 in the series Playoffs—and eliminated superstars Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick from the postseason—a dozen drivers were breathing sighs of relief and hoping fervently for a return to stock car sanity in the next round.

A two-tire pit stop under caution on Lap 438 of 500 put Reddick in the lead for a restart on Lap 444. The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford led the final 61 laps and a race-high 169 overall to give the RFK organization its first victory since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the checkered flag at Daytona on July 1, 2017 at Daytona.

The victory was the first for RFK Racing since Brad Keselowski joined the organization as an owner/driver after the 2021 season.

Buescher was the third straight non-Playoff driver to win a race in the Round of 16, an unprecedented occurrence.

“It’s so special here,” said Buescher, whose only other Cup win came in a rain-shortened race at Pocono in 2016. “I love this racetrack. I love the fans. I love every time we come here. It’s so special. It’s pretty awesome.” 

Buescher said he wasn’t worried about starting the final run on two fresh tires, even though everyone chasing had four.

“I wasn’t a bit,” he asserted. “It was up to me at that point. I made it work, and we had a really fast (car). We knew we had a really fast race car in practice and didn’t quite get the job done in qualifying (20th)—but what a race car.

“I don’t know what all to say right now. I’m out of breath. This place will wear you flat-out, and I love that about it. It’s just a special night.”

Elliott was .458 seconds behind Buescher at the finish. William Byron came home third, followed by Christopher Bell, who posted his third straight top-five finish in the Round of 16. Kyle Larson was fifth and Ross Chastain sixth, as all five drivers immediately behind Buescher in the finishing order advanced to the Round of 12.

Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman also clinched spots in the next round, though all had serious issues during the race.

Elliott got closer to Buescher on the final two laps but ran out of time.

“I felt like we were gaining, but it was… I wasn't close enough to do anything with him,” Elliott said. “But I appreciate the effort. We had a long day yesterday. Was able to battle back from a bad qualifying effort (23rd) to get a top two, so proud of that.

“Glad to be moving on (in the Playoff) and looking forward to some more opportunities here these coming weeks.”

Needing a victory to advance to the next round, Harvick ran consistently in the top five after staying out at the end of Stage 1 to gain track position. But Harvick’s chances evaporated in the pits on Lap 438 when his crew failed to secure the left-rear on his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

As the tire rolled away, Harvick had to back up into his pit stall. The lost time left him 10th for the final restart on Lap 444. That’s where he finished, exiting the Playoffs in 16th place.

“It was pretty tough,” Harvick said. “We pitted in front of the 17 (Buescher), so just kind of the way the year has gone. Just went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade. Just difficult to pass.”

Busch’s ouster was a touch-and-go affair. Both he and Tyler Reddick fell two points short after Austin Cindric, who finished seven laps down in 20th place but gained enough positions by passing back markers to advance.

Busch had accumulated 14 points in the first two stages and was running above the cut line when his engine blew on Lap 270—Busch’s second such failure in the three Playoff races. 

“It just goes with our year,” Busch said. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m flabbergasted. I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They work too hard. We are too good of a group to be this low—down on the bottom, fighting for our lives just to make it through. Two engine failures in three weeks, that will do it to you.” 

Reddick and Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon both failed to make the Round of 12 after both drivers’ Chevrolets were damaged in a 12-car pileup on the backstretch on Lap 277. Reddick finished 25th and Dillon 31st.

Keselowski led 109 laps and appeared to have race-winning chances until his right-front tire went flat on Lap 414 while he was leading.

“We had two cars that were really good today and one that was unlucky and one that executed, and everything came the right way for them,” Keselowski said.

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.