What Happened?
Christopher Bell made a pass on a restart with five laps to go to and survived a rough bump from Brad Keselowski to win at the Bristol Motor Speedway night race on Saturday night, Sept. 13. Behind them were Zane Smith, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano to round out the top five.
Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry all were eliminated from this year’s playoffs.
The win was Bell’s first since he rattled off three-consecutive victories in the spring.
What Really Happened?
When the field took the green flag on Saturday evening, it seemed like any other normal Bristol night race with the Next Gen car. Cars were spreading out and the leader, then polesitter AJ Allmendinger, was pulling away with the lead.
Then, within 30 laps, Dillon started reporting his tires were going down. A couple laps later, Logano did the same. Then another driver shared concern. Then another, and another. Then the whole field.
Suddenly the whole Bristol media center was abuzz.
The Pee-Pee Tire had returned.
Long have the prophets of NASCAR racing spoke of a day the tires of Bristol yesteryear would return.
In the spring of 2024, a tire was forged by the scientists of Goodyear that wore so quickly that only a true master of the stock car racing craft could master it. Its one and only appearance became the hallmark to short track fans, and it was suggested as the answer to NASCAR’s short track dilemma.
As suggested by the race’s winner Denny Hamlin, I dubbed it:
The Pee-Pee Tire.
And after over a year and 10 short track races, it had finally returned.
Radios screeched to life about altering tire strategies, media reporters ran out to see the shredded tires in person, the NBC broadcast booth raised their voices in shock of how quickly the tires were falling off. Nobody expected it. The practice times from Friday afternoon showed no indication the tires would wear so quickly. It was chaos.
And I sat there smiling.
The short tracks of NASCAR have suffered when it came to the Next Gen car in recent years. Many of them have been plagued by the constant complaint of dirty air and the inability to pass cars on track, resulting in dull races far from the chaotic and competitive short track events we are used to and have grown to love.
As a result, Richmond Raceway lost one of its dates on the 2025 calendar. It was a grim sign for short tracks, which one could argue is the lifeblood of stock car racing.
So, when the spring Bristol race in 2024 came around and astonished many with an entertaining tire wear race, I thought it was the answer to the short track problem. After Saturday night, I still do.
Is it gimmicky? Maybe a little.
But something that forces drivers to use their skills of conserving tire wear and crew chiefs of coming up with the perfect pit strategy possible is as authentic as stock car racing can get.
So, when it comes to the Pee-Pee Tire, I don’t really give a damn if it’s manufactured, because it’s a hell of a lot better than another dirty air race.
Who Stood Out?
He didn’t lead the most laps of the night, not even close, actually.
But Carson Hocevar was probably the closest he’s been to his first Cup win on Saturday night.
With only 12 laps to go, Hocevar was leading the race on semi-fresh tires and no pit stops left for the night. The No. 77 was in firm control and just needed the race to stay green for only another couple of minutes to finally earn that first victory.
Then the caution flag waved, and his strategy was shot.
With no tire sets left, Hocevar had no choice but to watch as the rest of the field came to pit road behind him for fresher tires than his. On the restart, things went as expected, and the Spire Motorsports driver fell to seventh.
It was another near win for the Michigan native, but it resulted in a race where he led 26 laps – the second most of his career – and another top-10 run.
Right ahead of him in sixth, however, was first time top-10 finisher: Corey Heim.
The driver of the No. 67 earned his best career Cup Series result and first top 10 on Saturday night when he found himself among the leader near the end of the race thanks to some cunning tire strategy.
And it’s only his seventh start in the series.
Who Fell Flat?
Like Hocevar, Ty Gibbs was in perhaps a better position to win his first Cup race than he’s ever been in.
The No. 54 led a staggering 201 laps throughout Saturday night, the most of his career. The feat eclipsed his previous record, which was set in the similar tire wear thriller of the 2024 spring Bristol race.
With only 70 laps to go, everyone believed Saturday was finally going to be Gibbs’ time.
Then, in one of the final pit stop cycles of the race, he missed pit road.
It was a heartbreaking mistake. Gibbs had the clear fastest car of anyone at Bristol and was only two pit stops away from a victory he’s waited for 116 races. Even a minor pit road mistake would have been recoverable.
But when he missed the pit exit, his tire went down and he had to limp the No. 54 Toyota around one whole lap. All said and done, he was two laps down when he finally got back to speed.
To top it off, even with such a small amount of time left, he still finished 10th.
What could’ve been.
Paint Scheme of the Race
He may have been dealing with playoff pressure, but van Gisbergen sure did have a great-looking car while doing it.
Wendy’s has brought some pretty fantastic NASCAR paint schemes in recent years along with some great marketing ploys at the track as well. This week’s No. 88 Chevrolet was no different. A clever saying with “Wake and Baconate” adds the cherry on top.
The design itself is a whole other appealing aspect, too. The bright hues of blue, orange, pink and yellow brings warm vibes during what is about to become a chillier season.
What’s Next?
The Round of 12 begins.
The Cup Series heads to the Northeast for one final time in 2025 as it visits the Magic Mile of New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Coverage for round one of the second leg of the postseason will be live on USA Network on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. ET.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
Gibbs had the field covered until his pitting mistake. That was a fast, fast car.
Even more impressive, he seemed to be able to push, without doing any more damage than the remainder of the field was doing to their tires.
Enjoyed it. Best Bristol race I’ve seen in years. Low groove mostly dominant, drivers and teams having to manage their tires, or pay the price later. Plenty of passing due to tire wear and the varying strategies it created. Tires mostly just falling off, or slowly losing air, without cars being catapulted into the wall. Tempers flaring. This race felt like Bristol before the progressive banking, back in the bias ply era.
Really, my only nitpick is the fires suffered by Berry and Cindric. Other than their issues, the shredded tires looked bad, but they did what was needed for a good Bristol race.
Watching 500 qualifying laps, with the field strung out, is not what made short tracks or NASCAR famous. More of what we saw Saturday night, please!
There was no reason to throw the caution flag for the 23 at the end except that it was a Reverend Joe car and they needed a restart to get another driver to get a chance to win.
Exactly what I was thinking then. I was watching Bell’s times and thought Brad could do it. Then Denny pushed another car up into bubba and I thought jgr
And there was a FORD leading!!!!! Same thing when Jimmie Johnson needed a chance for a win and the phantom debris caution at the end of the event.
I agree. Same nonsense of manufacturing a crash-filled finish. The races only serve to create story lines. This allows writers to only touch on the superficial aspects of the sport and not have to dig deeper than Nascar’s press release to satisfy their diminishing volume of readers and advertisers. Owner’s money would be better spent on buying a Rolex for the guy with the finger on the caution light button. Its a judgement call, why not influence his judgement.
Wat a lousy race. Tire changes all night long. made me sick to watch it. Half full stands at Bristol, and this is the product they bring. Nascar needs some fans to run the show, because they sure arrent getting it done. They wonder why their ratings are off. It’s because the product is getting worse and worse. What a joke.
Remember the days when the night race at bristol was one of the hardest tickets to get in all of sports? Back before the ‘chase’, the ‘playoff’? Pre race Jeff Burton said the quiet part out loud; that the non playoff driver had to ‘be careful’ not to ‘interfere’ with the drovers in the playoff. Well, maybe they should just limit the field to playoff drivers period.
I had Bristol tickets for many years and gladly drove the 9-10 hours twice a year to attend races there. I eventually got tired of having to pay in full eleven months ahead of time for both the Busch and Cup races, and for both the spring and fall races. I gave my seats up around 2000, but I seem to remember the racing was still pretty good there at the time.
While the Next Gen hasn’t helped racing at Bristol, I think Bristol’s real downfall was the switch to progressive banking in the mid 2000’s. I wonder if the racing at Bristol wouldn’t be a lot better if they went back to a fixed degree of banking…and maybe even returned to a blacktop surface?
The blacktop races were very good with two grooves and lots of passing. I think the cars started to generate too much downforce for the pavement to not deteriorate quickly which drove them to concrete. That created the passing with the bumper era which most loved (I did not). The progressive banking has helped the ability to pass. And while the use of cautions for no good reason (aka debris cautions) has been with this sport forever, having them so close to the finish routinely is has only started since the big TV contracts. As the former CEO said, ‘Must create more Game 7 moments’. Couple that with a rule book fashioned after the youth soccer catch phrase ‘Everybody’s a Winner’ and you lose heroes. No heroes: no interest. Why? Because even the most mentally incompetent know that everybody is not a winner. And in those last few sentences is my philosophical difference with Nascar and, based on ratings, I may not be alone.
I drove 12 hours from Michigan to the races. Gave up my tickets in 2006. The ‘after you Alphonse’ mature of the ‘chase’ racing left me dozing off in the stands with 100 laps to go.
with the tire issue, reminded me of indy all those years ago. what a farce of a race.