Kyle Larson gave the NASCAR Cup Series field a good old-fashioned beatdown, leading 462 out of 500 laps and winning the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night (Sept. 21).
With few cautions and green flag passes hard to come by, the normally chaotic Bristol played out as a straightforward race. But for a couple of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, miscues on pit road spelled the end of their playoff runs.
Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs Speed Their Way Out of the Playoffs
From Austin Cindric’s slow stop at Atlanta to Brad Keselowski’s issues at Watkins Glen, subpar execution by playoff teams has become a recurring theme. At The World’s Fastest Half-Mile, it was JGR’s turn to commit errors that sealed the playoff fate of two drivers.
Making his first playoff appearance, Ty Gibbs entered Bristol six points ahead of the cut line. In the early going, Gibbs positioned himself well to advance to the Round of 12, qualifying 13th and moving up to eighth by the end of stage one.
However, on the ensuing post-stage one pit stops, Gibbs got tagged for speeding exiting his stall. The infraction occurred in section six, right at the end of the backstretch portion of Bristol’s unique pit lane. Restarting from the tail of the field, Gibbs struggled to regain track position, finishing 15th and falling short of the Round of 12.
Like Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr. was also fighting for his playoff life under the lights, starting the race 14 points below the cut line. Truex fared even better than Gibbs in the race’s early stages, finishing fourth in stage one and second in stage two for a grand total of 16 stage points. In fact, by the end of stage two, Truex had worked his way back above the cut line.
Then on lap 332, under what turned out to be the final caution, Truex came off pit road in second behind the dominant Larson. He would not stay in that spot, as Truex got busted for speeding in section nine of pit road entering his stall.
Truex never came close to contending again, finishing 24th to end his playoff run in his final full-time Cup Series campaign.
“I hate it,” Truex said afterwards. “I screwed it up for everybody. You gotta keep track position, and I lost all of ours when I sped.”
Tire Compound Disappoints Under the Lights
The spring race at Bristol brought a surprise of tires falling off after just 40-50 laps of green-flag racing. For most, including drivers and fans, this was seen as a pleasant surprise that made for great racing.
That fallout did not carry over to the late summer night race. In the spring race, there was only one green-flag run longer than 50 laps. On Saturday, there were four green-flag runs longer than 50 laps.
It is unclear why the same tire compound produced significantly different results. It may have been due to changes in the weather from the spring, the difference between day and night racing, or perhaps the teams adjusting after what occurred in the spring.
One thing was clear: With such little tire wear, passing under green became a tall task, as some drivers pointed out postrace.
“Yeah, it’s hard,” Gibbs told Frontstretch afterwards. “It’s always hard to pass. It doesn’t change if we slow the tire down, if we speed the tire up, we all go the same speed. You can’t really pass.”
Look Ahead to Next Week
The Cup Series Round of 12 begins on Sunday, Sept. 29, with the running of the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet at Kansas Speedway.
The last trip to Kansas produced one of the most memorable finishes in NASCAR history with Larson edging out Chris Buescher. It will be interesting to see if the second trip to Kansas comes close to that hype, as well as what role pit road and strategy will play in the outcome.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.