All three of NASCAR’s top series were at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. The Craftsman Truck Series started the racing action on Thursday, then the Xfinity Series headlined Friday night’s action, and the Cup Series closed out the weekend on Saturday night.
NASCAR Cup Series – Bass Pro Shops Night Race
On Saturday night, Christopher Bell held off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski to win the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway for his first at Bristol, fourth win of the season, and the 13th of his career.
“I never in a million years would have thought that my first win at Bristol would have come with a tire fiasco (referring to excessive tire wear) like we had tonight,” said Bell.
Keselowski finished second, Zane Smith finished third, Ryan Blaney finished fourth for his 12th top-five finish of the season, and Joey Logano rounded out the top five finishers.
“Just the story of our season, just a 50/50 shot on the restart, and I got the lane that couldn’t launch,” Keselowski said. “Just frustrating. We had a great car, great strategy, put ourselves in position to, if not win, at least have a really, really solid day, and on that last restart, just rolled the dice and didn’t get anything good.”
Corey Heim finished sixth, Carson Hocevar seventh, Alex Bowman eighth, Chase Briscoe, who led 127 laps, finished ninth, and Ty Gibbs, who led a race high of 201 laps, rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman, and Josh Berry were eliminated from the Playoffs.
Cup Series Playoffs – Advancing to Round of 12
| Pos | Driver | No | Points | Behind | Next | Wins | Stage Wins | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denny Hamlin (P) | 11 | 3034 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 34 |
| 2 | William Byron (P) | 24 | 3032 | -2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 32 |
| 3 | Kyle Larson (P) | 5 | 3032 | -2 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 32 |
| 4 | Christopher Bell (P) | 20 | 3028 | -6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 28 |
| 5 | Ryan Blaney (P) | 12 | 3027 | -7 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 27 |
| 6 | Chase Briscoe (P) | 19 | 3018 | -16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
| 7 | Chase Elliott (P) | 9 | 3013 | -21 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| 8 | Bubba Wallace (P) | 23 | 3009 | -25 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 9 | Austin Cindric (P) | 2 | 3008 | -26 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 10 | Joey Logano (P) | 22 | 3007 | -27 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 11 | Ross Chastain (P) | 1 | 3007 | -27 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 12 | Tyler Reddick (P) | 45 | 3006 | -28 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
Josh Berry came to pit road with smoke from the right-front wheel well filling the cockpit on lap 75, and finished last for the third straight event, ending his chances to advance in the playoffs.
“We’ve been up front. We’ve qualified well. We had the issue at Darlington, bottoming out. Last week, we got clipped by the 9 (Chase Elliott), and then tonight the car catches on fire.” said Berry
Austin Dillon had to pit for right side tire issues on lap 28 and also received a pit road speeding penalty, was down two laps by the end of the race, and finished 28th, and missed the next playoff round by 14 points.
“We just couldn’t go as far as the field on tires. Our setup just wasn’t conducive to that, and then no matter how easy I went, it was just chewing tires. It was just an unfortunate night for the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / Winchester Chevrolet team. I just wish we would have had the ability to run as long as the other guys, and I think we would have been OK. I tried a lot to save it, but it was just out of my hands.” Dillon said.
Shane van Gisbergen finished in 26th, and Alex Bowman recovered from a spin on Lap 100 to finish eighth, but both drivers were below the playoff cutoff line to advance.
“Just proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for the fight. We obviously had a shot at it if we would have gone green to the end. We had a good Ally Chevy compared to yesterday. We made some gains on it and still have some gains we need to make.” Bowman said.
“It was a pretty wild night. I got run over once by a guy that was pretty average, but the rest of it, I just needed to put myself in better spots and understand what was going on earlier in the race. I just made it hard on myself early.” Van Gisbergen said.
The race featured 14 caution flags for 137 laps, and 36 lead changes among 14 drivers.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Mobil 1 301 at 2 p.m. ET on the USA Network for the first race in the Round of 12.
NASCAR Xfinity Series – Food City 300
Aric Almirola elected not to pit his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with 36 laps remaining and was able to hold off the drivers on fresher tires by .381 seconds to capture his second victory of the Xfinity Series season and the ninth win of his career at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Yeah, just tired of getting beat by those guys. I figured I would try my chances with the lead. They’ve been so fast, and the fire off so fast on new tires. I just didn’t think I could beat them straight up on new tires. It took me about 20 laps to get going. I thought my best chance was to stay out on old tires. Seth (Chavka, crew chief) and I watched the last two or three races here, and we saw where the 9 car, with Noah Gragson, won with like 100 laps on his tires, so I decided to stay out when they said pit.” Almirola said.
Sheldon Creed finished in second place and captured another runner-up finish, Sam Mayer finished third, and Carson Kvapil finished in fourth.
Connor Zilisch finished fifth and came up short while trying to become the first Xfinity series driver in history to win five consecutive races, but he did capture an Xfinity record of 15 consecutive top-five finishes.
“It was a good day, just so hard those decisions at the end because whatever you do, everyone else is going to do the opposite,” the 19-year-old rookie Zilisch said. “We had a really good day with our WeatherTech Chevrolet, got further up above the [Playoff] cutoff line, and we’ll move on to next week and keep on building.”
Polesitter Justin Allgaier finished sixth, Harrison Burton seventh, Christian Eckes eighth, Jeremy Clements ninth, and Brennan Poole rounded out the top 10 finishers.
The race featured seven caution flags for 60 laps, and seven lead changes among six drivers.
After Bristol, Connor Zilisch holds a 32-point lead in the Xfinity series standings over Justin Allgaier, 50 points over Sam Mayer, 69 points over Carson Kvapil, and 76 points over Harrison Burton.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Kansas Lottery 300 on Saturday, September 27th at 4:00 pm ET on the CW Network.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Standings after Bristol
| Pos | Driver | No | Points | Behind | Next | Wins | Stage Wins | Playoff Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connor Zilisch # (P) | 88 | 2116 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 65 |
| 2 | Justin Allgaier (P) | 7 | 2084 | -32 | 32 | 3 | 11 | 36 |
| 3 | Sam Mayer (P) | 41 | 2066 | -50 | 18 | 1 | 3 | 16 |
| 4 | Carson Kvapil # (P) | 1 | 2047 | -69 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Harrison Burton (P) | 25 | 2040 | -76 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Brandon Jones (P) | 20 | 2039 | -77 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| 7 | Sheldon Creed (P) | 0 | 2038 | -78 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | Taylor Gray # (P) | 54 | 2034 | -82 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 9 | Nick Sanchez # (P) | 48 | 2031 | -85 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 10 | Jesse Love (P) | 2 | 2031 | -85 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| 11 | Austin Hill (P) | 21 | 2018 | -98 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| 12 | Sammy Smith (P) | 8 | 2010 | -106 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – UNOH 250 Presented by Ohio Logistics
Layne Riggs recovered from a first-lap spin, took over the race on lap 142, and held off two-time series champion Ben Rhodes to capture his third win this season, second win at Bristol Motor Speedway, and the fifth win of his NCTS career in Thursday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series UNOH 250.
“You don’t get two mulligans in the playoffs, and I got two, so I’m not sure what happened on the initial start with the 7. I felt like I was there pretty good, and the first lap of the race to spin out is a blow to your confidence, for sure, but I’ve got faith in this team and I’ve got faith in everybody here. Thank you to all of the fans. You all are great. Thank you for the energy. I’ve got to thank Love’s Travel Stops. Ford Racing. Man, you all are awesome and loud. Thank you to Peak, just everybody involved.” said Riggs.
This was the second race in the Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, and the win automatically sends Riggs into the Round of 8.
“I think this shows that we’re right there, we’re in contention, we can do it,” said Riggs. “That’s three in a row at Bristol for Front Row Motorsports. It’s a big testament to all these guys. We’ve got a really good package here. Man, I’m excited for New Hampshire. I’ve never even been there, and I already love that race track.”
Rhodes finished second, and Corey Heim, who led a race-high 122 laps and won the second stage, finished in third place.
Ty Majeski and Daniel Hemric finished fourth and fifth. Majeski is in fourth place in the series standings (-87) and Hemric is in third (-82) heading into the elimination race at New Hampshire.
After Bristol, Corey Heim leads the series standings by 61 points over Layne Riggs, 82 points over Daniel Hemric, 87 points over Ty Majeski, and 104 points over Grant Enfinger and Tyler Ankrum.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the EJP 175 on Saturday, September 20th at 12:00 PM Eastern Time on FS1.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Point Standings after Bristol
| Pos | Driver | No | Points | Behind | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corey Heim (P) | 11 | 2177 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Layne Riggs (P) | 34 | 2116 | -61 | 61 |
| 3 | Daniel Hemric (P) | 19 | 2095 | -82 | 21 |
| 4 | Ty Majeski (P) | 98 | 2090 | -87 | 5 |
| 5 | Grant Enfinger (P) | 9 | 2073 | -104 | 17 |
| 6 | Tyler Ankrum (P) | 18 | 2073 | -104 | 0 |
| 7 | Kaden Honeycutt (P) | 52 | 2062 | -115 | 11 |
| 8 | Rajah Caruth (P) | 71 | 2058 | -119 | 4 |
| 9 | Jake Garcia (P) | 13 | 2044 | -133 | 14 |
| 10 | Chandler Smith (P) | 38 | 2034 | -143 | 10 |
