Richmond Raceway

It took a controversial full-contact finish but Austin Dillon claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in two seasons in Sunday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway – vaulting from a 32nd place in the points standings before the race to an automatic Playoff berth with the win.

Coming to the checkered flag during the final lap of overtime, Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevy hit the rear bumper of the race-leading No. 22 Team Penske driven by Joey Logano crashing Logano’s car into the catchfence. Then Dillon immediately moved low on track and hit Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as he was driving by. It allowed Dillon to take the checkered flag only a few feet ahead and claim the all-important win by a slight .116-second.

As Logano and Hamlin drove their dented, smoking cars to pit lane, the 34-year-old North Carolinian Dillon did victory doughnuts and spoke about the win and the move he used to gain it. He reminded reporters later that this was short track-style racing and that he’s seen both Logano and Hamlin make similarly aggressive moves to win a trophy.

“I don’t know man, it’s been two years and this is the first car I’ve had a shot to win with,’’ Dillon said when asked if he thought it was a fair move for the win.

“I felt like with two to go, we were the fastest car. Obviously we had to have a straightaway. Wrecked the guy. I hate to do that, but sometimes you just got to do it.

“I got to thank the good Lord above. It’s been tough for the last two years man. I care about RCR, these fans, my wife. This is my first [win] for my baby girl. It means a lot. I hate it, but I had to do it.’’

“When given that shot, you’ve got to take it,’’ Dillon added.

It’s Dillon’s first win in the last 68 races and fifth of his career. His last trophy came in the final regular season race of 2022 at Daytona International Speedway which earned a last chance position in that Playoff run. He was ranked 32nd in points coming into this Richmond race – 258 points behind the Playoff cutoff line – and now he becomes the 13th driver to win his way into championship contention.

Noted his grandfather, team owner and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Richard Childress, “He knew what he had to do and they (Logano and Hamlin) would have done it to him.’’

After speaking briefly with reporters alongside his car on pit road, an angry Logano went immediately to the NASCAR officials team hauler.

“It was chicken &*#! – there’s no doubt about it,’’ the two-time series champion Logano said of Dillon’s move. “He was four car-lengths back, not even close. Then he wrecks the 11 [Hamlin] to go along with it.

“I mean I get it, bump and run,’’ Logano continued, “I’ve done that, but he just drove through me, it’s ridiculous.’’

Logano’s crew chief Paul Wolfe was frustrated as well.

“It’s just a joke to call that racing. … something like that, that’s not racing,’’ Wolfe said. “We all put too much in this … that’s not professional what happened tonight.’’

Hamlin, who led the most laps (124) on the night, was equally as frustrated.

“There are no penalties for rough driving so it opens up the opportunity for Austin to just do whatever he wants,’’ said Hamlin, who was scored second.

“I got hooked in the right rear again. I was just minding my own business and he hooked me in the right rear and put me in the fence. I don’t know. The record book won’t care about what happened, He’s going to be credited with a win but obviously he’s not going to go far [in the Playoffs] because you got to pay your dues back on stuff like that.

“But it was worth it because he jumped 20 positions in points, I understand that and there’s no ill will there, but I just hate that I was a part of it. … I understand it but I don’t agree with it.’’

Finishing just behind Hamlin were 23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain was fifth. These positions were important with only three races remaining now to set the 16-driver Playoff field.

Playoff eligibility changed throughout the race – sometimes dramatically so.

Wallace’s top-five run was enough to move him from a seven-point deficit outside the Playoff 16 to just inside the top 16. He has a three-point advantage in that final Playoff position now over both Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher, who finished 18th Sunday night, and Chastain.

Martin Truex Jr. who led the championship standings for much of the early season and held a 102-point advantage inside the standings at the Richmond green flag, took a big hit in the points. His No. 19 JGR Toyota had to retire early with engine problems taking a last place finish in Sunday’s 37-car field and now the 2017 series champion holds only a 78-point advantage above the Playoff cutoff – ranked 14th still the highest ranked driver without a win.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs is 15th with a 19-point cushion above the cutoff line, followed by Wallace, Buescher and Chastain.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell, who led 122 laps and won Stage 1 – a series best 10th stage win – finished sixth, followed by Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott and Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez rounding out the Richmond top 10.

Larson continues to lead the standings – now with a five-point advantage over Reddick and a six-point lead on his teammate Elliott. Hamlin is fourth, only 21 points back.

Not only was the race noteworthy for its dramatic ending and the shake up in the points standings, it was a test run of the new option tire that allowed teams to have a choice of Goodyear rubber in-race. It certainly created a new element of strategy and suspense.

Suárez who tried the new tires early, for example, made up 15 points and took the lead immediately after his pit stop to change them.

“The Option tire worked exactly as it was intended,’’ said Goodyear’s Director of Racing Greg Stucker. “They fired off immediately and were more than a half-second faster than the Prime, which is big on a short track. Also, the Options gave up significantly more than the Primes over a long run, as intended.

“What was really exciting was how different teams used the Option tire at different times to accomplish their own goals,’’ he added.

With all the storylines, dramatic finish, and important new tire element, Reddick offered the understatement of the evening, “Wild way to end the night.’’

Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team gave him a clutch pit stop to emerge with the lead out of the pits and then he was able to hold the advantage on a two-lap overtime shootout to claim the Toyota Owners 400 victory Saturday night at his home track, Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

It was Hamlin’s 53rd career NASCAR Cup Series win, second of the season and his fifth victory at the three-quarter mile Richmond oval – a .269-second margin of victory over Team Penske’s Joey Logano. And it came at the expense of his JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. who finished fourth despite leading a dominant 228 of the race’s 407 laps.

“This was a team win for sure,” said Hamlin, who led 17 laps on the night. “Each one of these pit crew members just did an amazing job, they’ve been killing it all year.

“Such a great feeling when you can come in and have a pit crew like that.”

It was a certainly a frustrating ending for Truex, who had been out front 54 consecutive laps in his No. 19 JGR Toyota when a caution flag flew with only two laps of regulation remaining. On the ensuing pit stop, Hamlin beat him off pit road and Truex was unable to take the lead back in that final two lap run, ultimately getting passed by Logano for second and polesitter Kyle Larson for third.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s happened a few times over the years,” Truex said. “We were in a great spot and had a great Auto Owners Camry all night long and the guys did a really good job. Just got beat out of the pits and then he [Hamlin] jumped the start and just used me up in Turn 1.

“Definitely sucks. Another car capable of winning, we’ll just have to come back next week and try to get one.”

The silver lining for Truex, is that he still holds the championship lead by 14 points over Larson, who had a busy ending to the race. Contact between Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace brought out the final yellow flag to force the first overtime period for a NASCAR Cup Series race this season.

Larson was still able to come out fourth place on the pit stop and challenge for the win, although he and Truex banged doors in the closing laps fighting for position.

“My pit crew did a really good job to get us off pit road and get us those spots to restart fourth and gain one more,” Larson said. “I’ll take third after what could have been a lot worse there on the front stretch. Proud of the HendrickCars.com team.

“It was a good weekend for us, winning the pole, winning a stage and getting back to third. Happy about that.”

As for the late race contact between him and a frustrated Truex, Larson said. “I think he was just mad. He was mad the 11 [Hamlin] used him up on the restart and that’s probably where it really started from.

“I think he was more mad at Denny but I was the closest one for him to take his anger out on,” Larson added with a smile.

Larson’s Hendrick teammate – and fellow front-row starter – Chase Elliott finished fifth.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, Hendrick’s William Byron, RFK Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-10. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry finished 11th, having run in the top-10 most of the night and Wallace, who also ran top-10 most of the race finished 13th after that late race contact with Larson.

Of note, with the track still damp from afternoon showers, the field started the race on wet weather tires. NASCAR threw a competition caution at Lap 30, bringing the cars down pit road for a mandatory change to racing slicks. And cars returned to the track in the order they were running at the time of caution. The move to use the wet weather tires allowed the race to start only a few minutes late and was widely praised.

Chris Buescher capped Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s dominant day at Richmond (Va.) Raceway with a trophy, holding off the field on a restart with three laps remaining to win the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 Sunday afternoon – his and the RFK team’s first victory of the season.

Buescher and his teammate Brad Keselowski (also a co-owner of RFK) combined to lead a race-best 190-of-400 laps – Buescher’s 88 laps out front was the most laps he’s ever led in a race in his eight-year NASCAR Cup Series career. And it all results in an important automatic bid into the 16-driver Playoff field with only four races remaining in the regular season.

Buescher’s No. 17 RFK Ford ultimately held off last week’s race winner, Denny Hamlin by a slight .549-seconds although Buescher had held more than a five-second advantage on Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota up until that caution flag flew for an accident involving Noah Gragson and Daniel Suarez in the closing laps.

“It was smooth sailing trying to take care of this Fastenal Mustang, it was so good and trying to take care of it there and about the time (crew chief) Scott (Graves) said over the radio ‘It’s working perfect, keep it up,’ and then there’s a caution," said Buescher with a smile.

“But we were so strong during the race, I had a good feeling there about it," added Buescher who now has three career NASCAR Cup Series wins. “So awesome to pull it off. I’m proud of everybody. That was a long way from the back."

That late-race yellow flag was the only caution flag on the day other than the two stage breaks. And the afternoon racing at the Richmond three-quarter mile track was physically demanding under intense heat – over 130-degrees inside the race car. As seventh-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. said smiling after the race, “my cheek feels like it’s sunburned, it was like a hair dryer blowing on you."

The 30-year old Texas native Buescher, however, handled the heat and the field, starting 26th but steadily working his way forward. He first cracked into the Top-5 by lap 160 of the 400-lap race, chasing down then-leaders Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Keselowski and Hamlin.

For a race with so many green flag laps, it was actually issues on pit road that thwarted several winning efforts, not problems racing on the track.

Wallace’s 80 laps out front mid-race in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota marked the most laps led in a single race in his career. But he ultimately had to play catch-up when his team had a slow tire change on green flag pit stop on Lap 175. He finished 12th.

With 56 laps remaining, race polesitter and Wallace’s 23XI teammate Tyler Reddick got flagged for violating the commitment line coming to pit road for green flag stop, relegating him from running among the Top-3 to desperately trying to remain on the lead lap with the laps counting down. He finished 16th after leading 81 laps early – every lap of Stage 1 en route to claiming his fourth stage win.

Similarly, Keselowski suffered a misstep in the pits after his No. 6 RFK Ford led a race-best 102 laps. He made an awkward turn into his pit during a green flag stop with 115 laps remaining and it cost just enough time to allow his teammate Buescher to take the lead with under 100 laps remaining.

“We wanted to finish one-two, that’s the ultimate goal, but we still had a heckuva day," said Keselowski, who finished sixth and won Stage Two - his third stage win of the season.

Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch – the all-time active winner at Richmond – finished third; his best showing on a short track this season. Team Penske’s Joey Logano rallied in the late laps to finish fourth and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece turned in his best showing of the season with a fifth place run.

Keselowski and Truex finished sixth and seventh followed by SHR’s Aric Almirola, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon and SHR’s Kevin Harvick. Chase Briscoe finished 11th giving SHR one of its best full team efforts of the season – all four cars inside the Top-11.

Every car in the 36-car field finished the race, the first time the full field was running at the end since 2018.

Buescher is now the 12th driver to win a race in 2023, leaving four positions still available for a new winner or the top drivers in points. Harvick and Keselowski hold more than a 100-point advantage on the 16th place cutoff. Wallace is up 54 points and Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell holds an 18-point buffer on Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Ty Gibbs for that 16th place position. Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger is 22 points behind McDowell.

With the benefit of a fast final pit stop, Kyle Larson was able to put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out front at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and then hold off the field in the last 25 laps of Sunday's Toyota Owners 400 to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

The 30-year old Californian had to out-duel his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry on a pair of re-starts in the closing laps to secure the win at the first short track event of the season at the .75-mile Richmond oval. Berry, driving the No. 9 Hendrick Chevy for injured Chase Elliott, finished runner-up capturing his best ever NASCAR Cup Series finish – 1.535-seconds behind Larson to the checkered flag.

Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell and Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

It was the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson's 20th career win and the first ever NASCAR Cup Series victory for his interim crew chief Kevin Meendering, who has led the No. 5 team at-track while fulltime crew chief Cliff Daniels – along with the Hendrick team's other three crew chiefs – finish out a suspension penalty from NASCAR.

"It's really cool, we've been close to winning a couple,'' Larson said, adding, "Things just worked out and my pit crew had a great stop.''

It was certainly a Hendrick Motorsports day with Larson and Berry besting the field. And their teammate William Byron leading the most laps (117) and winning his series-best fifth stage. The season's only two-time winner Byron looked poised to have a say in the trophy hoist too, only to be knocked out of contention when he was hit from behind by Christopher Bell on a restart with 20 laps remaining.

"I was just re-starting fourth there, just trying to stay tight to the 9 [Berry] and get a good restart and got tagged in the left rear,'' said a frustrated Byron, who finished 24th. "Just a dive-bomb move on his [Bell] part. It is what it is. I had a great race car.

"The Raptor Chevrolet was awesome all day. We'll just keep bringing fast race cars like that. It was looking like another win before that caution there, but that's the way it goes.''

Larson led four different times, totaling 93 laps on the afternoon and survived contact on pit road with Daniel Suárez's Chevrolet early in the race. It was Larson's second Richmond win (also in 2017) and the fifth for Chevy through the season's opening seven races.

The Toyota contingent looked to give the Chevys a real run, looking especially strong mid-race. Four Toyota drivers combined to lead 154 laps – more than the manufacterer had been out front in the previous six races. Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota paced the Toyotas leading 71 laps and claiming the Stage 2 win, but a pair of pit road penalties – including a costly one on his final stop, took him out of contention. He finished 20th.

"What an awesome Hendrickcars.com Chevy,'' Larson said. "Can't say enough about it. I got into the 99 [Suarez] on pit road there sometime in the second stage, and we were awful after that. I was hoping the damage was the reason why, but they had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused and was able to get it done.

"Thanks to everyone on this team, Cliff Daniels, for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. So good to get a win, and hopefully many more."

Michael McDowell finished sixth – his first top-10 finish of the year. Reigning series champion Joey Logano was seventh, followed by polesitter Alex Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs and owner-driver Brad Keselowski. Gibbs ninth place effort marked his third consecutive top-10 finish.

Last Sunday at Michigan, Kevin Harvick broke a 65-race drought.

Now the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has a two-race winning streak.

Chased by runner-up Christopher Bell and third-place finisher Chris Buescher over the closing laps, Harvick threaded his way through traffic to win Sunday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway by .441 seconds.

The NASCAR Cup Series victory was Harvick’s fourth at the .75-mile short track—his first there since 2013—and the 60^th of his career, tying him with Kyle Busch for most among active drivers and ninth all-time.

Harvick led twice for 55 laps, passing eventual sixth-place finisher Joey Logano for the lead on Lap 334 and regaining it from Denny Hamlin on Lap 353 at the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops.

“It’s like I said last week, the cars have been running good week-in and week-out,” Harvick said, “and you see that we have a lot better understanding of what’s going on with how we adjusted on the car after the first run and were able to get our car handling a lot better.

“I think as it got dark, the race track really came to our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang.”

By pitting one circuit earlier than Logano on Lap 340, Buescher leap-frogged the Team Penske driver and began to chase Harvick, who led the final 48 laps. Buescher got to Harvick’s bumper in traffic but couldn’t make a run for the lead.

The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford lost his chance for a serendipitous victory when Harvick lapped Bubba Wallace and Buescher stayed trapped behind Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota and fell two seconds behind.

“Just burned the rear tires up,” said Buescher, who needs a victory to qualify for the Cup Playoffs. “Ultimately that’s on me. Lapped traffic didn’t do us any favors, either, but ultimately just got to keep the rears under us a little bit better so we can have a little bit better shot there to get after him for the win.”

On 12-lap fresher tires, Bell charged forward, slipped past Buescher on Lap 396 of 400 and closed on Harvick before running out of time.

“Well, I knew he was coming, but I forgot to shift down the front straightaway the last time,” Harvick said. “I was not paying attention, and he got closer than he should have. I made a mistake there a couple laps doing the same thing. I wasn’t shifting on the back, and I was shifting on the front. There was a lot going on, and made a couple mistakes, let him get too close.”

Bell, who already has a victory to his credit this season, seemed pleased with the runner-up result.

“Really, really proud of (crew chief) Adam Stevens, this entire 20 group,” Bell said. “The Rheem Camry didn’t feel very good at the beginning, and we had our fair share of troubles (including a spin on Lap 250), and the pit crew really came through at the end there with some blazing stops and allowed us to get in front of the 11 (Hamlin), who was on the same strategy as us and get up there and contend.”

In the battle for the last position in the Playoffs, Ryan Blaney widened his advantage over Martin Truex Jr. despite finishing 10^th to Truex’s seventh. The difference was in stage points. Blaney scored 11 to none for Truex and now leads the 2017 series champion by 26 with two races left in the regular season.

Hamlin came home fourth, followed by Chase Elliott. Logano led a race-high 222 laps, but his No. 22 Ford wasn’t as strong in the twilight as it had been earlier in the race.

“Yeah, I think just as the sun went down and the track cooled off, (we) lost some turn on our car,” Logano said. “Kevin and some others got a lot better the last couple of runs in the race. When it was hot and slick, that was probably our strength with the Shell Pennzoil Mustang.”

The Cup Series heads for Watkins Glen next Sunday for the 25^th regular-season race.

Perhaps there was no better place for Denny Hamlin to finally notch his first win of 2022. Much to the pleasure of the fans at Richmond Raceway, the hometown favorite from Chesterfield, Virginia took the lead of the Toyota Owners 400 from William Byron with five laps remaining and held off the field for a .552-second victory over Kevin Harvick and Byron.

It was amazingly Hamlin's first top 10 of the 2022 season, though it marked his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory at the 0.75-mile track - the very place the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota grew up watching NASCAR as a young fan.

It is the sixth win for the JGR Toyota team in the last eight races at the Richmond track - 18^thin the team's history there. And it is the third consecutive race there that all four JGR drivers finished in the top 10.

The victory was also significant in that the 41-year old Hamlin stopped a 12-race victory run by drivers 30-year old or younger - a mark dating back to last season.

"Just drove as hard as I could," said Hamlin, a perennial championship contender who had been ranked an uncharacteristic 20^th in the standings before the Richmond race.

"So proud of this whole FedEx Camry team, they just never gave up.

"There was no doubt in my mind, maybe just a little, but they got this car right there towards the end," Hamlin continued. "Wow this it's just unbelievable."

"We needed a data point, something, a good run to kind of balance ourselves on other tracks. Obviously, I think we got it here."

Byron and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team opted to stay out on older tires for the last 90 laps and at one point held a strong five-second lead on the field. But as the teams opted for fresher tires during a series of late race green flag pit stops, it became apparent that Byron would have to really work for the win - and do so on worn tires.

Ultimately, Hamlin, who got new tires with 47 laps to go, was able to dice his way through the field, taking the runner-up spot from his JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. with six laps to go and continue moving forward to dive low and move into the lead around Byron with five laps remaining. Also on fresher tires, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver Harvick was able to pass both Byron and Truex to take his best finish of the season as well.

"Really it's the first clean day we've had all year," said the 2014 series champion Harvick. "The cars have been fast and we had a shot there at the end just, I wanted to be close enough at the white [flag] to just take a swipe at him but the lapped cars got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Still a great day for us and hopefully a little bit of momentum."

Truex, who has three wins in the last five Richmond races, finished fourth, followed by reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Hendrick Motorsports Kyle Larson.

JRG driver Christopher Bell was sixth, followed by Penske Racing's Ryan Blaney, the polesitter who led the first 128 laps of the race - most on the day. Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman recovered from a pit road penalty to finish eighth. Kyle Busch recovered from a late race penalty as well, to claim ninth place and Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon was 10 ^th.

Blaney (first) and Truex (second) each won a stage and are the only three-time stage winners so far this season.

Blaney and Elliott are now tied for the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead with a 19-point advantage on third place Truex.

Martin Truex Jr. received a penalty on the opening lap of the race for crossing the start/finish line in front of polesitter Denny Hamlin at the green flag. But 400 laps later Truex led the field across the line again – this time as the race winner of Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

The convincing 1.317-second margin of victory over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Christopher Bell marked Truex's third win in the last five races at Richmond, his fourth win of the 2021 season and, most importantly, gave him that coveted automatic bid into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Truex joins Hamlin, who won last week's Playoff opener at Darlington, S.C. and Regular Season Champion Kyle Larson, who finished sixth on Saturday, as the only three drivers to have officially secured positions in the Playoffs' Round of 12 that begins in two weeks at Las Vegas.

The first thing Truex did after climbing out of his winning No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was acknowledge the importance of the September 11 date to our country and thank the fans for showing their support on the solemn anniversary and for their patriotic support of the sport of NASCAR.

As for his early setback, "That was frustrating, I'm not going to lie," Truex said of the race start. "But I knew we had a good enough car to overcome it. Just one of those things you have to put out of your mind and go race. A lot on the line tonight.

"But going to Bristol (Tenn.) next week without any worries is always fun," he added with a smile.

Truex, who led a total of 80 laps, took the lead for good – pacing the field for the final 51 laps – following a series of green flag pit stops in the final portion of the race. Just prior to the pit sequence, another JGR teammate, Kyle Busch, had positioned himself to be a factor at the checkered flag. Instead, Busch received his second pit road penalty of the night – a speeding violation during his green flag stop with 55 laps remaining. At the time, it dropped him to 10th place, the last car on the lead lap after he had been out front for 39 laps just prior to the green flag stops. He ultimately finished ninth.

Last week's winner Hamlin had been the strong car early, leading 100 of the opening 152 laps and a race best 197 on the night, winning both Stages. But the pit road sequence, lapped traffic and an awakened Truex forced Hamlin to play catch-up in the end.

"The whole JGR team had fast cars for all of us today. I really wish we had gotten two in a row, but regardless still a great day for the team," Hamlin said.

Unlike last week's Playoff opener at Darlington, when several of the 16 Playoff cars suffered setbacks and disappointing finishes, Saturday night those cars reminded why they are in position to challenge for a championship. Thirteen of the top 15 cars were driven by Playoff drivers.

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott finished fourth in a Hendrick Chevrolet and Team Penske's Joey Logano was fifth in a Ford. Larson finished sixth, followed by the only non-Playoff driver among the top 10, Ross Chastain.

Stewart-Haas Racing's driver Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Team Penske's Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 10.

Playoff drivers Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola and Tyler Reddick finished 12th-15th. William Byron (19th), Michael McDowell (28th) and Kurt Busch (37th) rounded out the Playoff finishers.

Busch, who led laps early, suffered a tire problem that sent his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet hard into the Turn 1 wall only 40 laps into the race.

"Something happened with that left rear, it let go," said Busch, who was running in the top-five at the time of his accident. "It let go of our points and it let go of our whole season right now. I don't know what we're going to have to do at Bristol other than win."

Despite the tough luck, Busch heads into Saturday night's Playoff Round of 16 finale at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in a mathematical tie with Bowman for the 12th Playoff position – and last transfer position.

Reddick (-5), Byron (-18), Daytona 500 winner McDowell (-38) are currently outside the top-12, with four of the 16 cars eliminated from the Playoffs following Bristol's Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Harvick is the defending winner of the Bristol Playoff race. Joey Logano won the 2021 race at the Bristol track's inaugural dirt race in March. Kurt Busch has six previous wins at Bristol and his younger brother Kyle is the winningest active driver with eight victories.

An emotional Alex Bowman could only shake his head and give kudos to the crew of his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet following a dramatic victory over Denny Hamlin Sunday in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.

Bowman took the lead for the first time all race on a restart with 10 laps remaining and easily pulled away from Hamlin, who had been the day's most dominant driver. Bowman's .381-second winning margin earned the 27-year old his first victory of the season, third of his career and first ever on a short track. He is the eighth different race winner in nine NASCAR Cup Series races this season.

"To be honest with you, we were terrible on short runs," said Bowman, who had to overcome a pit road speeding penalty as well. "We restarted third and I'm like, if we get out of here with a solid top-five we'll be good. We overcame a lot today.

"I don't know if [crew chief] Greg [Ives] pumped the pressures way up or what he did, but that's more grip than I've ever had in a race car at Richmond and it worked out really well."

It was an especially tough runner-up finish for Hamlin, considering how strong he'd been all day, and all season. Hamlin, who swept the two stages wins and led a race high 207 of the 400 laps, had to be thinking he may have finally secured his first victory of 2021. He held the race lead taking the green flag for that last restart, only to be passed easily by Bowman.

The second-place finish is the eighth top-five finish in the opening nine races for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver Hamlin - an all-time record for top fives to start the season without a win.

"We just didn't take off quite as good there at the end," an obviously disappointed Hamlin said. "I tried to warm it up and do everything that I could - just the 48 (Alex Bowman) had a little more on those last few laps and I couldn't hold the bottom.

"Once he got the position, we were just shut down there. Great job by this FedEx Ground team. First and foremost, we want to think of all of the families in Indy right now. Awful tragedy to happen there. Our thoughts and prayers are with these names. We will get them. We will keep digging. We are dominating - just have to finish it."

Penske Racing's Joey Logano, who led 49 laps and for much of the closing portion of the race looked as he would settle the trophy with Hamlin, instead finished third, followed by Hamlin's JGR teammates Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr., who led 108 laps.

Stewart-Haas Racing's Aric Almirola finished sixth - his best effort of the season, followed by Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, JGR's Kyle Busch, Wood Brothers Racing's Matt DiBenedetto and Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon to round out the top 10.

The late race caution - and the drama it created - was especially ironic considering most of the event had gone caution free.

Early on it was a duel between the Gibbs teammates and then Logano, who took the battle to Hamlin late.

"The adjustments they made on that final pit stop definitely made it start firing off really well," Logano said of Bowman. "He started to pay the penalty the last couple laps but he was so far out, it didn't matter.

"We were just so close with the Shell Pennzoil Mustang and wanted to get our Ford in victory lane here. We led some laps, made the pass on Denny Hamlin. He and I had a lot of fun with it going back and forth.

"I just hate being that close," Logano added.

With his runner-up effort Hamlin holds a commanding 81-point lead over Truex and 82-point advantage over Logano in the championship standings.