Three playoff races, three Joe Gibbs Racing wins.
In what became a polar opposite to Bristol’s spring race, it was Christopher Bell who came through to win a tire-testing affair during the Cup Series’ annual Bass Pro Shop Night Race Saturday night (Sept. 13).
Brad Keselowski took home the runner up position, with Zane Smith right in tow as he looked for his first career victory. Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points leader Corey Heim notched a sixth-place finish while Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, and Ty Gibbs finished with top 10s.
After a lack of tire wear during practice, it was unknown how Bristol would look given the surprising contrast during the Food City 500 back in April. Once the green flag flew in Thunder Valley, a can of chaos was unleashed as several radios lit up with concerns about tires.
It only took 30 laps for cars to come down pit road, with pole sitter AJ Allmendinger among the first bunch needing service. Towards the end of the second green flag run, Josh Berry‘s playoff run took a final nosedive as rubber accumulated in the rocker panel behind his right front tire. The rubber heated up and eventually caught fire, which forced him to come down pit road and retire for the evening, leaving as little as eight cars on the lead lap.
Gibbs lead most of the remaining first stage, before Blaney jumped to his outside enroute to claiming the stage win in a close finish.
Hocevar and Bubba Wallace presented themselves to challenge Gibbs in the ensuing laps. With cars still playing bumper tag due to varying tire strategies, William Byron made contact with Shane van Gisbergen, resulting in van Gisbergen spinning out. Byron initially got the free pass before it was rescinded by NASCAR.
After Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stayed out on old tires, Gibbs would easily get back by and take the stage two win.
A series of cautions would slow down the pace to start the final stage, as Cole Custer and Noah Gragson went for spins. Within the touch and go sequences, it was Chase Elliott who found himself in trouble.
On lap 310, contact from John Hunter Nemechek via Denny Hamlin in turn 3 sent Elliott hard into the wall. The crash ultimately ended his night.
Wallace would struggle on the ensuing start, dropping rapidly through the field before shipping up into Stenhouse and spinning him around. If that wasn’t enough disarray for playoff organizations, Hamlin and Kyle Larson found themselves in the middle of their own issues with simultaneous problems that brought out the next caution. It wasn’t the end for Hamlin’s troubles as he and Allmendinger got into it, with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver losing his right front wheel in the process.
Through it all, Briscoe stood in charge at the front. With less than 100 laps left, Gibbs pounced on his teammate to take the lead. Fresh tires continued to roar through the field as Bell and Hocevar stormed to the lead while the prior frontrunners sunk.
On the final stretch run of the race, it became a fight between Hocevar and Alex Bowman, who all but needed a win to advance. An Austin Cindric right front fire almost derailed his night but it got put out, allowing the Penske driver to keep his points gap by the slimmest of margins.
Keselowski elected to stay out and push his final run, leaving Hocevar and Smith to chase. With less than 15 laps remaining, the leaders ran into the slow car of Custer, resulting in Wallace being sent into the wall and bringing out the caution.
Bell nudged Smith and Hocevar on the final restart with four laps to go to take the lead before holding off a Keselowski bump-and-run to take the win.
Bowman, Austin Dillon, van Gisbergen, and Berry were eliminated from the playoffs.
NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race Unofficial Results
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue with the Round of 12 opening next week in New Hampshire. Coverage of the Mobil 1 301 is on USA Network starting at 2 p.m. ET.
Thomas is in his first year covering NASCAR at Frontstretch. A Bay Area NASCAR fan for over 15+ years, he found his love for the sport through Jeff Gordon.
Thomas has enjoyed several trips to Sonoma Raceway in his time and currently covers college football in the Bay Area, also writing about the California Golden Bears.