Riding a motorcycle offers a sense of freedom and excitement, but it also comes with significant risk, especially if riders choose not to wear helmets. Despite widespread campaigns and legal requirements in many regions, some individuals still opt to ride without this critical safety gear. The impact of this decision extends beyond individual preference, affecting not just the rider but also the broader community.
Statistics paint a sobering picture of the consequences of not wearing a motorcycle helmet. In crashes, unhelmeted riders are more likely to suffer severe head injuries, which are a leading cause of motorcycle-related fatalities. Helmets are estimated to be 37% effective in preventing motorcycle deaths and about 67% effective in preventing brain injuries. Yet, despite these numbers, non-compliance persists.
The fiscal implications of choosing not to wear a helmet are also significant. The costs associated with the medical care, rehabilitation, and potential long-term disability resulting from head injuries place a burden on healthcare systems and the economy. These outcomes underscore the widespread impact that personal choices about helmet use have on public health and resources.
The Consequences of Riding Without a Helmet
Riding a motorcycle without a helmet significantly enhances the probability of severe brain injuries and fatalities in accidents. Riders also expose themselves to legal and financial penalties.
Increased Risk of Brain Injuries
When motorcycle riders choose not to wear helmets, they put themselves at an exponentially increased risk of sustaining brain injuries. In the event of an accident, the absence of a helmet means that there is no layer of protection to absorb the impact, which can lead to concussions or more severe traumatic brain injuries. These conditions can have long-term effects on their cognitive functions, sensory processing, and emotional well-being.
Higher Fatality Rates in Accidents
Statistics show that helmetless riders are more likely to suffer fatal injuries in a crash. Using a helmet reduces the likelihood of death by a significant margin. Without the critical protection a helmet provides, the head is vulnerable to impacts that can result in instant or eventual fatality following an accident.
Legal and Financial Repercussions
Individuals involved in a motorcycle accident without a helmet may face legal consequences, varying by state law. In Castle Rock, for example, a motorcycle accident attorney could attest to the challenges in claiming insurance without adhering to helmet laws. Riders without helmets may be considered negligent, affecting legal outcomes and insurance claims. Financially, the costs from medical bills, potential lost wages, and legal fees can be enormous. The rider might be subject to higher medical expenses and possible fines for legal infractions.
Preventive Measures and Safety Laws
Protective gear and adherence to legal guidelines are crucial for motorcycle riders. Helmet safety laws vary between states and understanding these regulations, along with the role of legal advice, is essential for motorcyclists to reduce the risk of injury or claims post-accident.
Helmet Safety Standards
Motorcycle helmets must meet specific safety standards to be considered adequate. The Department of Transportation (DOT) sets the standard in the United States, often indicated by a DOT certification sticker. Helmets may also meet even more rigorous standards set by the Snell Memorial Foundation.
DOT standard: FMVSS 218
Snell certification: Varied, e.g., M2020
Riders should look for these certifications when purchasing helmets to ensure they meet the minimum safety requirements.
State Helmet Laws and Regulations
Helmet laws differ across states. Some states require all riders to wear helmets, while others have laws that exempt adult riders over a certain age. For instance:
Universal helmet laws: Required for all riders, regardless of age
Partial helmet laws: Required for riders under a certain age, e.g., 18
A motorcycle accident attorney in Castle Rock, or a local equivalent, would advise that Colorado implements a partial helmet law, mandating helmet use for riders under 18 years of age.
Role of Legal Advice in Accident Claims
Legal advice becomes important if a rider is involved in an accident. A motorcycle accident attorney can provide guidance on:
Claims process: Ensuring riders receive compensation for injuries and damages sustained.
State laws: Understanding the impact of local helmet laws on the claim.
In states like Colorado, a motorcycle accident attorney in Castle Rock would be able to assist with understanding local statues and the effect of not wearing a helmet on insurance and legal outcomes.
In an event where tire management was the name of the game, Denny Hamlin implemented his racing roots by preserving his tires to the very end, which enabled him to fend off teammate Martin Truex Jr. and win a wild conclusion to the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 17.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led 13 times for a race-high 163 of 500-scheduled laps after starting in third place and quickly making his presence at the front known by leading for the first time on Lap 21. Then, amid a series of caution periods and tire wear issues that plagued several front-runners and stars, Hamlin preserved his tires and managed to carve his way through traffic and run up front.
He traded the lead on several occasions with his fellow competitors and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates and stretched his worn tires further than his competitors before pitting under green with 53 laps remaining. After cycling back to the lead shortly after, he then managed to fend off a late challenge from Truex while leading 47 of the remaining 48 laps, which was enough for him to claim his first checkered flag of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, March 16, Ryan Blaney secured his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season and the 10th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 124.954 mph in 15.356 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Josh Berry, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 124.792 mph in 15.376 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead to take the lead and managed to fend off both Berry and teammate Joey Logano for a full circuit around the Last Great Coliseum’s concrete surface to lead the first lap. Blaney and Berry battled dead even for the lead during the following two laps before Berry muscled his No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of Blaney who fell back to second in front of teammate Logano and Chase Briscoe while Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott joined the battle.
Through Laps 5 to 10, Berry retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Blaney while Briscoe, Hamlin and Elliott were running in the top five. Behind, Michael McDowell moved up to sixth followed by Bubba Wallace and Truex while Logano fell back to ninth in front of Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Berry was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin followed by Blaney, Elliott and Wallace while Chase Briscoe, Truex Jr., McDowell, Larson and Brad Keselowski were running in the top 10 ahead of Harrison Burton, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, William Byron and Christopher Bell. Meanwhile, Logano had fallen to 16th ahead of Kyle Busch, rookie Zane Smith, Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick.
A lap later, however, Hamlin overtook Berry for the lead. By then, Byron, who was running in the top 15, had fallen off the pace after he was hit by Logano, who was hit by Bell first, entering the backstretch, which resulted in Byron getting loose, scraping the backstretch’s outside wall and bumping across Bell before slipping towards the outside wall in Turn 3. Byron would pit with a broken toe link to his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as the event’s first caution period flew on Lap 22 due to debris reported in between Turns 3 and 4.
During the event’s first caution period, nearly the entire field led by Hamlin pitted for service for the first time while Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops amid mixed strategies, Berry exited first with two fresh tires ahead of Wallace, Elliott, Truex, McDowell and Hamlin. Amid the pit stops, Erik Jones was penalized for equipment interference.
When the event restarted under green on Lap 30, Reddick muscled ahead with the lead ahead of Berry and teammate Wallace. As the field cycled back to the frontstretch, however, the caution quickly returned after Reddick received a bump from Berry and was pinned in a tight three-wide battle with Wallace and Berry for the lead entering the frontstretch that got Reddick’s No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE spinning sideways in front of McDowell, Elliott and the field. With Reddick spinning below the track, he was then hit by rookie Zane Smith while Daniel Hemric, Corey LaJoie, AJ Allmendinger and rookie Carson Hocevar, all of whom were running towards the rear of the field, all wrecked across the frontstretch while stepping off the gas.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 38, Wallace fended off Berry from the outside lane to retain the lead while McDowell followed suit in a close third place. With Wallace still leading just past the Lap 40 mark, Hamlin and Elliott battled dead even for fourth place while Blaney and Ty Gibbs battled for sixth. Berry, however, would make his move beneath Wallace to reassume the lead through the frontstretch by Lap 41 while McDowell tried to follow suit. This allowed Hamlin to narrow the gap and challenge McDowell for third place, which he would succeed in doing so on Lap 44 while Blaney and Elliott joined the battle. Amid the early battles towards the front, Berry continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Wallace.
On Lap 47, Wallace cycled his No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE past Berry to reassume the lead. Team owner Hamlin would quickly follow suit in second along with Blaney and Elliott as Berry settled in fifth by the Lap 50 mark, where Wallace would continue to lead. Three laps later, however, Hamlin assumed the lead in his No. 11 Express Oil Change Toyota Camry XSE following a strong move to the outside lane with four fresh tires entering the backstretch over Wallace. Blaney would also follow suit to move into the runner-up spot followed by Elliott while Wallace fell back to fourth as he was being challenged by Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe for more.
Just past the Lap 60 mark, Hamlin was overtaken by Elliott for the race lead in front of a stacked field jostling for positions amid two lanes. With Elliott leading in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Blaney battled Hamlin for second in front of Keselowski while Kyle Busch battled Wallace for fifth place.
Nearing the Lap 70 mark, the event’s second caution period flew due to debris reported across the frontstretch after Zane Smith blew a right-front tire. By then, Blaney had led Laps 65 to 68 before the lead was acquired by Kyle Busch, starting on Lap 69. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Busch returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Blaney and Elliott while Busch, Keselowski, Briscoe and Bell followed suit. Amid the pit stops, McDowell was penalized for having too many crew members over the pit wall.
With the event restarting under green on Lap 79, Hamlin retained the lead after rocketing away from the field past the restart zone as Blaney and Elliott battled for second in front of Busch, Keselowski and Briscoe. With the field behind battling dead even amongst one another for spots, Hamlin would continue to lead until Blaney shoved his way into the lead through the frontstretch on Lap 83. Blaney would stretch his advantage to as high as two-tenths of a second during the following six laps until Hamlin cycled back into the lead on Lap 89. Behind, Kyle Busch prevailed in a tight battle with Elliott for third place as he tried to close in on the two leaders while Keselowski, Briscoe, Bell, Larson Ty Gibbs and Wallace followed suit in the top 10.
Through the first 100 scheduled laps, Hamlin stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Busch followed by Blaney, Elliott and Keselowski while Bell, Briscoe, Gibbs, Larson and John Hunter Nemechek occupied the top 10 in front of Wallace, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Berry and Justin Haley. Meanwhile, Erik Jones was in 16th ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Truex, Logano and Todd Gilliland while Ryan Preece, McDowell, Austin Cindric, LaJoie and Ross Chastain trailed in the top 25.
Ten laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by over three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Busch as Blaney and Bell were running third and fourth, with teammates Elliott and Larson fending off Gibbs for fifth and sixth. Hamlin would then stretch his advantage to more than a second over Blaney, with he and Bell overtaking Busch by the Lap 115 mark. By then, Larson retained fifth in front of Gibbs while Elliott was overtaken by Keselowski and Buescher for seventh and eighth.
Then on Lap 120 and with the majority of the field being mired with tire wear concerns, Blaney overtook Hamlin for the lead as Gibbs and Larson followed suit while Hamlin went wide up the track in Turn 1. By then, Busch and Wallace were falling off the pace and losing a bevy of spots amid concerns of losing their tires towards the end of the first stage period. Gibbs then overtook Blaney for the lead on Lap 121 as he proceeded to lap Austin Cindric while Larson moved into the runner-up spot.
Two laps later, the caution flew after Busch spun in Turn 2 after he lost a right-tire tire to his No. 8 FICO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, where Busch would proceed to reverse his entry through the backstretch before spinning it back to the front below the apron as he lost a lap to the leaders. Busch’s incident occurred after Hamlin had hit the outside wall entering the frontstretch due to getting bumped by Byron, with Hamlin also cutting a tire but proceeding straight.
Busch’s incident was enough for the first stage period to conclude under caution as Ty Gibbs captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season and of his career. Larson settled in second followed by Buescher, Keselowski and Nemechek while Blaney, Truex, Preece, Berry and Bell were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Gibbs returned to pit road for service and for another round of fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Larson edged Gibbs off of pit road to exit first while Keselowski, Blaney, Buescher and Nemechek followed suit.
The second stage period started on Lap 140 as Larson and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Larson muscled ahead with a brief advantage through the first two turns and the backstretch before Gibbs rocketed his No. 54 SiriusXM Toyota Camry XSE back into the lead during the following lap. John Hunter Nemechek would follow suit in second along with Berry, with the latter then battling Nemechek for second and challenging Gibbs for the lead by the Lap 145 while Larson fell back to fourth along with Nemechek. Shortly after, teammate Martin Truex Jr., who was quick to carve his way to the front, rocketed his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE into the lead by Lap 146 before teammate Gibbs cycled back into the lead by Lap 150. By then, all four Joe Gibbs Racing entries were running in the top five while Larson was battling for second in front of Bell, Truex and Hamlin.
On Lap 154 and with the field running stacked amongst one another through the high banks of Bristol, Larson assumed the lead. Gibbs would reassume the lead three laps later before teammate Hamlin cycled into the lead another two laps.
By Lap 175, Gibbs, who reassumed the lead four laps earlier, was leading by nearly two-tenths of a second over teammate Truex followed by Berry, teammate Bell and Buescher while Keselowski, Larson, Logano, Preece and Nemechek occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin had fallen to 11th in front of Blaney, Haley, Daniel Suarez and Kaz Grala.
A lap later, the caution flew after Stenhouse, who was running in the top 20, was mired in a midfield stack-up that started with him making contact with McDowell through the backstretch before he made contact with Hemric and Zane Smith through Turn 4 as Stenhouse’s No. 47 Ball Park Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 emerged wobbling entering the frontstretch while Hemric and Smith hit the outside wall. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Gibbs returned to pit road for service and fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Buescher exited first followed by Gibbs and Truex while Bell, Gilliland, Larson, Logano and Keselowski followed suit. Not long after, Ty Gibbs made an extra pit stop for qualifying scuff tires to preserve his sticker tires.
As the field restarted under green on Lap 189, Buescher retained the lead from the outside lane over Bell and Truex. Buescher would continue to lead by the Lap 200 mark before Bell would zip by Buescher through the frontstretch during the following lap. Teammate Truex would follow suit in second over Buescher while Nemechek and Larson were running in the top five in front of a stacked field. A few laps later, Daniel Suarez nearly wrecked after making contact with Justin Haley through Turns 1 and 2 while battling for a top-10 spot, but he kept his car straight and dropped to 17th while the event remained under green flag conditions.
Twenty-five laps later and amid a series of jostling for positions occurring around the field, Truex cycled past teammate Bell for the lead. By then, teammate Gibbs carved his way back to third place followed by Nemechek and Keselowski while Logano was running sixth ahead of Berry, Hamlin, Grala and Larson.
Another three laps later, the caution flew after Kyle Busch, who was mired in 31st and a lap down, spun for a second time on his own in Turn 2. With nearly the entire field led by Bell pitting again, Bell retained the lead after exiting first with four fresh tires while Nemechek, Logano, Hamlin, Larson and Truex followed suit in the top six. Back on the track, however, Spire Motorsports’ LaJoie and Hocevar remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Blaney was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With the event restarting with 11 laps remaining to the second stage’s conclusion, LaJoie led the field entering the first turn before Bell used the four fresh tires to his advantage as he zipped his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE past the Spire entries for the lead. Logano would quickly follow suit in second along with Nemechek as the field stacked up while navigating past Hocevar and LaJoie.
On Lap 242, Logano gave Bell a bump through Turns 1 and 2 in his bid for the lead, but Bell withstood his ground as he retained the lead. Logano would give Bell another hit on the side during the following lap as they both battled dead even for the lead in front of Nemechek and Gibbs. With Logano claiming the lead and clearing Bell by Lap 245, Gibbs navigated his way past teammate Bell for second during the following lap while Keselowski and Nemechek battled Bell for third. In the process, Logano retained a narrow lead over Gibbs before Gibbs claimed the lead back on Lap 248.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 250, Ty Gibbs claimed his second consecutive Cup stage victory of the day and of the 2024 season. Keselowski overtook Logano through the frontstretch to claim second place while Nemechek, Bell, Truex, Hamlin, Larson, Wallace and Ryan Preece were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Gibbs peeled off the track to pit road. Following the pit stops, Gibbs retained the lead after exiting pit road first with two fresh tires ahead of Logano, Truex, Bell, Gilliland, Nemechek and Keselowski, who was hit on the right front side by Austin Cindric while trying to exit his pit stall. Amid the tire concerns generated by all teams since the event’s start, Goodyear released an extra set of tires for all teams to use.
With 236 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Gibbs and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs retained the lead over Truex while teammate Bell settled in third ahead of Logano, Nemechek and Keselowski. With the field stacked amid two lanes, Gibbs stretched his advantage to three-tenths of a second with 230 laps remaining. By then, Gilliland moved up to fourth as he was running in between Bell and Nemechek while Keselowski and Logano dropped to eighth and ninth as they were running behind Larson and Hamlin on the track. In addition, Ross Chastain was running 10th on two fresh tires as he was trying to retain the spot over Berry and Wallace.
With 115 laps remaining, Truex cycled past teammate Gibbs for the lead as teammate Bell trailed by half a second in third place. By then, teammate Hamlin was running in sixth place behind Nemechek and Larson while Berry and Haley cracked the top 10. In addition, Logano was plummeting in the leaderboard as he had dropped out of the top 20 while nearly making contact with teammate Blaney.
Down to the final 200 laps of the event, Truex was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Bell while teammate Gibbs trailed by half a second in third place. Behind, Nemechek was in fourth place ahead of Hamlin, thus placing five Toyota competitors in the top five, while Keselowski, Larson, Berry, Gilliland and Haley were running in the top 10 ahead of Grala, Chastain, Blaney, McDowell and Wallace. Meanwhile, Logano dropped to 27th behind Austin Dillon and Buescher was in 20th while Elliott was mired in 23rd in between Hocevar and LaJoie.
Nine laps later, the caution flew after Berry, who was running in the top 10, slipped sideways and did a full 360 spin entering the backstretch, but managed to keep his No. 4 entry off the wall. By then, all four Joe Gibbs Racing competitors led by Truex were running first through fourth in front of Keselowski, Larson and Nemechek. As the lead lap field led by Truex drove to pit road for service, Hamlin emerged with the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of teammates Bell and Gibbs followed by Larson while teammate Truex exited fifth ahead of Keselowski, Nemechek and Blaney.
With the event restarting under green with 178 laps remaining, Hamlin muscled ahead with the lead through the first two turns before teammate Gibbs rocketed past Hamlin through the backstretch to return to the lead. Behind, Hamlin fended off teammates Bell and Truex to retain second while Larson tried to challenge Truex for fourth place as he was running ahead of Gilliland, Nemechek and McDowell. As the field behind jostled for late positions, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin with 170 laps remaining.
With 160 laps remaining, Gibbs continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin while teammate Bell trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second. With a three-wide action ensuing between Gilliland, Berry and Alex Bowman for top-15 spots and more battles ensuring around the Last Great Coliseum, Gibbs stabilized his narrow advantage to two-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin while teammate Bell, Larson, Keselowski and teammate Truex were running third to sixth with 150 laps remaining. Additionally, Haley was running seventh in front of McDowell, Blaney and Bubba Wallace while Kaz Grala and Nemechek settled in the top 12.
Through the final 135 laps of the event, Hamlin zipped by teammate Gibbs for the lead through the frontstretch. By then, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson each made separate contact with the outside wall, but the event remained under green flag conditions.
Two laps later, the caution returned after Cindric, who was trying to remain on the lead lap from the leader Hamlin, slipped up the track while avoiding Gilliland and made contact with Stenhouse, who was a lap down, that sent both for a spin in Turn 4 as Hamlin, Gibbs and Bell scattered to avoid the chaos. The caution period prompted the leaders to return to pit road for service, where Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of teammates Bell and Gibbs along with Larson, teammate Truex and Keselowski. Amid the pit stops, Larson was penalized for an equipment interference penalty.
During the ensuing restart period with 121 laps remaining, Hamlin retained the lead after muscling away from teammates Bell and Gibbs, though Bell managed to muscle ahead and lead the proceeding lap before Hamlin reclaimed the top spot by the next lap as Gibbs battled teammate Bell in front of teammate Truex and Keselowski. As Hamlin retained the lead in front of his three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammates with 110 laps remaining, Keselowski settled in fifth ahead of McDowell while Haley was running in seventh ahead of Blaney, Wallace and Nemechek.
Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Gibbs, who reassumed the lead from teammate Hamlin a lap earlier, was leading ahead of teammates Bell, Hamlin and Truex, respectively, while Keselowski retained fifth ahead of McDowell, Haley, Nemechek, Wallace and Berry.
Fifteen laps later, Gibbs continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Bell as teammates Hamlin and Truex followed suit in the top four. Another nine laps later, Hamlin nearly took the lead from teammate Gibbs, but he had to move up the track to avoid hitting Gilliland as Gibbs retained the lead in front of Hamlin and Truex while Bell was in fourth ahead of Keselowski.
Not long after and with the concern of tire wear returning amongst the teams, Hamlin, who assumed the lead with 75 laps remaining, was leading over teammate Truex. By then, a bevy of competitors including Berry, Blaney, Bell, Larson and Gilliland were losing ground of the leaders due to tire wear. Gibbs would then lose ground of the lead as his tires were wearing out, which allowed Keselowski to move up to third place. With Briscoe also falling off the pace, Blaney fell off the pace after he lost a tire, which forced him to pit, and Larson pitted under green. Bell would then pit under green with 60 laps remaining due to a flat tire while Hamlin retained a narrow lead over teammate Truex as he was trying to preserve his tires.
With 55 laps remaining and with nearly the entire field being pinned a lap down after having made a pit stop under green for fresh tires, the top-six competitors led by Hamlin were scored on the lead lap. Two laps later, Hamlin surrendered the lead to pit under green as Hocevar made contact with the wall, though the event remained under green flag conditions. Teammate Truex would pit another two laps later along with Keselowski. Once Alex Bowman pitted from the lead with 49 laps remaining, Hamlin cycled back into the lead.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by more than a second over teammate Truex while Berry, Keselowski and Larson were scored in the top five ahead of Buescher, Bell, Nemechek, Haley and Bowman. Hamlin’s advantage would then shrink to three-tenths of a second over Truex with 30 laps remaining as they were mired in lapped traffic.
With 20 laps remaining, Hamlin continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Truex as they both continued to be mired in lapped traffic. With Keselowski scored in third ahead of Berry and Larson, Hamlin managed to navigate his way through the lapped traffic to fend off Truex and retain the lead with 10 laps remaining.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Truex as both cleared a majority of the lapped traffic, but the latter kept the former within his sights.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained as the leader by half a second over Truex. With Truex unable to mount a final lap charge on his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for a final circuit, Hamlin was able to preserve his tires and navigate his way around the Bristol circuit smoothly for a final time as he claimed the checkered flag by a second over Truex.
With the victory, Hamlin, who became the fifth winner through the 2024 season’s first five events, recorded his 52nd career win in the NASCAR Cup Series, his fourth at Bristol, with the victory being his first in the spring, and his first since winning the Bristol Night Race last September. The 2024 Cup season marks Hamlin’s 18th season where he has achieved at least one victory in NASCAR’s premier series as he also recorded the second consecutive victory in recent weeks for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.
Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[Tire management], That’s what I grew up doing here in the short tracks of the whole mid-Atlantic [region],” Hamlin said on FOX. “South Boston [Speedway], Martinsville [Speedway], all those tracks. It’s just what I grew up doing. Once it became a tire management race, I really liked our chances, but obviously, the veteran in Martin [Truex Jr.], he knew how to do it as well. We just had a great car. Great team. The pit crew just did a phenomenal job all day. Can’t say enough about them. Man, it feels so good to win at Bristol.”
Truex, who has finished in the top 15 through this season’s first four-scheduled events, came home with a strong runner-up result for his first top-five finish of the 2024 campaign.
“Just really proud of my team, everybody on our Auto-Owners Camry,” Truex said. “[Crew chief] James [Small] and the guys did a great job this weekend in having a plan coming here. I guess this tire management thing fit into my wheelhouse here at Bristol. The difference was just coming down to the pits so far behind Denny. I had to use mine [tires] up more than him on the last run and then, the last four or five laps of the race, my right rear [tire] was cored. We gave it a hell of an effort. I had a lot of fun today. Second always hurts a little, but it’s a really good run for us here. It’s been a great season so far for us.”
Keselowski settled in third place while Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson finished in the top five and as the final group of competitors to finish on the lead lap. John Hunter Nemechek, Buescher, Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Bell, who were all a lap down, finished in the top 10.
Notably, Berry finished 12th, pole-sitter Blaney ended up 16th, Logano fell back to 22nd and Kyle Busch ended up 25th behind teammate Austin Dillon.
There were a race-record 54 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 98 laps. In addition, only five of the 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the fifth event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson and Truex Jr. are tied for the regular-season lead in the points standings as they are both ahead by seven points over Ty Gibbs, eight over Ryan Blaney and 12 over Denny Hamlin.
Results.
1. Denny Hamlin, 163 laps led
2. Martin Truex Jr., 54 laps led
3. Brad Keselowski, one lap led
4. Alex Bowman, three laps led
5. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led
6. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
7. Chris Buescher, one lap down, 17 laps led
8. Chase Elliott, one lap down, five laps led
9. Ty Gibbs, one lap down, 137 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
10. Christopher Bell, one lap down, 29 laps led
11. Michael McDowell, one lap down
12. Josh Berry, one lap down, 25 laps led
13. Chase Briscoe, two laps down
14. Ryan Preece, two laps down
15. Ross Chastain, two laps down
16. Ryan Blaney, two laps down, 14 laps led
17. Justin Haley, two laps down
18. Daniel Suarez, two laps down
19. Kaz Grala, two laps down
20. Erik Jones, two laps down
21. Corey LaJoie, two laps down, four laps led
22. Joey Logano, two laps down, five laps led
23. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down
24. Austin Dillon, two laps down
25. Kyle Busch, two laps down, five laps led
26. Todd Gilliland, three laps down
27. Carson Hocevar, three laps down
28. Daniel Hemric, four laps down
29. Bubba Wallace, four laps down, 15 laps led
30. Tyler Reddick, five laps down, four laps led
31. Austin Cindric, five laps down
32. Harrison Burton, five laps down
33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., five laps down
34. Noah Gragson, six laps down
35. William Byron, eight laps down
36. Zane Smith – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ fourth annual running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The event is scheduled for next Sunday, March 24, and will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Date: March 17, 2024 Event: Food City 500 (Round 5 of 36) Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval) Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps) Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) Stage 1 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) Stage 2 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
● Chase Briscoe (19th with 107 points, 78 out of first)
● Josh Berry (27th with 74 points, 111 out of first) ● Noah Gragson (32nd with 56 points, 129 out of first) ● Ryan Preece (34th with 54 points, 131 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Berry earned his first top-15 of the season and it came in his first career NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol. ● This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 20th, earned March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. ● Berry finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point. ● Berry led twice for 25 laps – his first laps led at Bristol. ● Berry was the highest finishing rookie. ● Berry qualified second for the Food City 500, his best qualifying effort in 17 career NASCAR Cup Series starts. His previous best was 14th, earned Feb. 24 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. ● Briscoe earned his third top-15 of the season and his third top-15 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol. ● Briscoe’s 13th-place result equaled his previous best finish at Bristol, originally earned in September 2021. ● Preece earned his first top-15 of the season and his fourth top-15 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol. ● This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 16th, earned Feb. 25 at Atlanta.
● Preece finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn one more bonus point.
Race Notes:
● Denny Hamlin won the Food City 500 to score his 52nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his fourth at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Martin Truex Jr., was 1.083 seconds. ● There were nine caution periods for a total of 98 laps. ● Only five of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap. ● There was a track-record high of 54 lead changes, the most since April 14, 1991 (40), and the number of leaders matched the previous record of 16, first set on April 9, 1989. ● Kyle Larson and Truex leave Bristol tied for the championship lead with a seven-point advantage over third-place Ty Gibbs.
Sound Bites:
“That was a good weekend. We had good speed. I was really pretty happy with the car, but obviously there were a number of issues going on and I’m really kind of speechless on that part, but I thought we did a good job managing everything. We just seemed to make some adjustments at the end that seemed to cause the (tire) cording a little bit sooner and that kind of tied our hands a little bit there toward the end. But all in all, it was a great effort. Hate that we didn’t get a top-10, but it was a positive day and, honestly with everything going on, it was a lot of fun.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Crazy race, by far the most bizarre race I’ve ever been a part of trying to not go hard at all trying to save your tires, and then you’d feel good and they would just go all at once – they would be blowing. It was definitely weird just how you had to run that race, a cat-and-mouse game, which I think would’ve been really fun if you didn’t have to worry about the tires blowing or coming apart. Thirteenth for us, we were definitely way better than 13th, but there at the end my tire went down and I was just trying to make it to the end without having to pit again. To be frustrated with 13th from where we were last year just as a season says a lot about where we are this year. We’ll just have to move on and continue to get better.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I’d rather things go the way they did today than get beat by somebody with a faster car that day. Obviously, they’ve got some work to do, the (tire) wear was excessive, but we maximized our day. If we didn’t have that tire come apart there at the end, we could’ve finished maybe top-10, but it is what it is.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“We put ourselves in a box there early. We made a lot of speed on the first run, got up to 13th running the outside, then we cut a right-front down, or wore the right-front all the way down to the cords. Came down pit road, got trapped a lap down. We just didn’t execute today, especially myself, I hit the wall later in the race getting up into the marbles. There was a ton of tire rubber out there. But there are no excuses. I need to get it together for the Bass Pro Shops team and just didn’t run a good race. I appreciate all the hard work by everyone. We’ll keep it going. It was a tough weekend, a tough result, but we’ve got to rebound next weekend.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Ranger Boats/Tracker Boats & ATVS Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday, March 24 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
HAMLIN GOES BACK-TO-BACK AT BRISTOL Joe Gibbs Racing delivers another dominating performance
BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 17, 2024) – Denny Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart proved to be the master of the tire strategy at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday evening. In a race dominated by tire wear, Hamlin led 13 times for 163 laps and defeated his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Martin Truex Jr. by just over one second on his way to his 52nd career victory and 49th with Toyota.
JGR dominated the laps led category for the second consecutive weekend – leading 383 of 500 laps, while Toyota drivers led 402 of 500 laps. All four JGR drivers – Hamlin, Truex, Gibbs (ninth) and Bell (10th) – finished inside the top-10, with Gibbs earning the first two stage wins of his career.
John Hunter Nemechek had a strong day throughout the evening in his LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota Camry XSE – with top-five finishes in both stages and a sixth-place finish – which gives the North Carolina-native a new career-best NASCAR Cup Series finish.
Toyota Post-Race Recap NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Bristol Motor Speedway Race 5 of 36 – 266.5 miles, 500 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS 1st, DENNY HAMLIN 2nd, MARTIN TRUEX, JR. 3rd, Brad Keselowski* 4th, Alex Bowman* 5th, Kyle Larson* 6th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK 9th, TY GIBBS 10th, CHRISTOPHER BELL 20th, ERIK JONES 29th, BUBBA WALLACE 30th, TYLER REDDICK *non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Express Oil Change Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How did you wheel your car to victory today?
“Yeah, experience was a big part of it for sure. I was trying not to get pushed so much by Ty (Gibbs). I knew he was going to push a little too hard. Obviously, I knew Martin (Truex Jr.) was going to be the next guy in line that had the experience to challenge. Really proud of the team. Obviously, a really great job on the pit sequence there. Being able to hang on longer than others was the key to us being able to stop later and have some tires at the end.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What would’ve you wanted to differently there at the end?
“You know, we just came out too far behind him (Denny Hamlin) there on the green flag stop. I was right on his bumper when he pitted and when I came out, he was a straightaway ahead of us and just used my stuff up too much to try to get there. The last five laps, my right rear was corded. It was close. A great run for our Auto-Owners Camry. Great job by everybody on our team all weekend to put us in this position. I was an interesting race, that’s for sure. Just came up a little bit short there.”
How did you manage your tires today?
“Early in the race, went way too hard and realized your tires were gone. And then, it’s like ‘alright, we can’t run as hard as we can.’ Just had to figure out how hard you could push it and what kind of lap times you could run throughout the run. Then kind of manage it from there. It was tricky, honestly, I barely pushed harder there on that last run for 10 laps and you know, at the end, I was right rear corded. There’s a fine line and fortunately for us, we had a lot of speed in our Toyotas today and we were able to save tires and stay up front. That was the key.”
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Finishing Position: 6th
Strong run all day, and finished in the top-10. How was your race?
“The car is in one piece, and finished p6. Solid day. Definitely needed that. Finished top-five in both stages. I was joking with the guys that it’s just an oversized Pensacola with tire wear. I grew up short track late model racing – places that you had to manage tire wear till the end of the run. We were able to do so. My guys gave me a great Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE all day, and everyone at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB worked hard. We were able to finish top-five in both stages and finish sixth overall. Great points day. We definitely needed that as a team.”
“That’s just what we had today with our SiriusXM Camry. I felt like we were great all day, just that last run, the right rear just came apart. We were just two laps late of coming in. When we had that tire come apart, I think I was like four laps down at one point. Just frustrating but you have to work for it here.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 26 electrified options.
SEBRING, Fla. (March 17, 2024) — On Saturday evening at Sebring International Raceway, Wright Motorsports secured a well-deserved spot on the GTD class podium in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, clinching third place with the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer, and Jan Heylen.
Despite facing high temperatures in the 80s throughout the week, the drivers and crew exhibited remarkable resilience to deliver a strong performance in this challenging race. The classic endurance event marked only the second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race for Adelson and Skeer, who relied on veteran Heylen’s expertise and familiarity with his home track’s marquee event.
Adelson qualified the team in 13th place out of 22 cars, and shortly after the green flag waved, an incident near the Wright Motorsports Porsche resulted in contact with another car, necessitating an early pit stop to repair the front bumper and temporarily putting them a lap down in the GTD field. However, they swiftly recovered during the first full-course caution, regaining their lost lap and rejoining the rear of the field from 19th position.
Despite facing further setbacks due to untimely full-course cautions, the team persevered. Hour by hour, Adelson, Skeer, and Heylen executed flawless driving duties, steadily advancing the Porsche up the ranks. By the halfway mark, they had reclaimed a position in the top three, maintaining consistent lap times and benefiting from quick pit stops by the determined crew.
They encountered another obstacle in the early dusk hours, as the No. 120 Porsche was in the middle of a three-wide battle for position coming to a restart. As the field went to green, the Porsche was stranded after a spin in turn 17, and came straight into pit lane for fresh tires and a splash of fuel. Undeterred, the team pushed through the final two hours of night racing with unwavering determination.
The closing stages of the race were marked by intense competition and numerous full-course cautions, totaling 13 over the 12-hour duration. Skeer showcased his skills during the final stints, relishing his first experience of night racing at Sebring International Raceway and holding his ground with the lead pack, ultimately securing a third-place finish for Wright Motorsports.
This impressive result not only marks the team’s first podium of the 2024 season but also represents Adelson and Skeer’s inaugural WeatherTech podium. Looking ahead, the young duo will return next month for the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19-20 before continuing with their six-race Michelin Endurance Cup Championship effort alongside Jan Heylen at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen from June 20-23.
DRIVER QUOTES
Adam Adelson
I genuinely am at a loss for words. I can’t believe we just podiumed at both Elliott’s and my Sebring debut. Obviously, we got all the experience from Jan and we definitely leaned on that when we needed to. This is an unbelievable feeling, and it just makes me hungry for more with the team. The team did an absolutely incredible job. The strategy calls were on point. We had so many unfortunate occurrences out there that put us a lap down on multiple occasions, and they just got us back right where we needed to be. The car was unbelievable. Porsche makes an incredible race car and a big thanks goes to Porsche, Wright Motorsports, my co drivers, and to John Wright because this was just an incredible experience.
Elliott Skeer
The Twelve Hours of Sebring to me, is my favorite race in the world outside of Le Mans. So not only to do it as a rookie, but then to do it with my favorite team in a Porsche 911, alongside my best friend, and alongside one of the best in the business, that’s a dream in itself. To be in it at the end is otherworldly, and with a chance to fight for the win was just the coolest experience in my life. It’s an entire career’s worth of effort and patience, all coming down to those final 45 minutes, and realizing you can do it. It’s truly unbelievable. The amount of preparation that this team has put into the car over the last year, in addition to the work Adam has put in alongside of his natural talent, really shows that you can bring people in and achieve these higher levels. We had issues here at Sebring, but I think the most important thing is how we bounced back from all of them. This entire team did an unbelievable job.
Jan Heylen
I’m super excited for the team after we’ve had a couple of near misses for our last couple of races.
I’m excited for Elliott and Adam to achieve their first result on the podium, and to have it at Sebring is just awesome. Anytime you can finish on the podium here is a good thing.
Wright Motorsports Wright Motorsports is the premier Porsche race engineering facility in Ohio and a multi-series and international racing team known for superb car preparation, expert race strategy, and driver development. Located in Batavia, Ohio, it is owned and directed by John Wright, a certified Porsche factory-trained technician. As a crew chief John Wright has played a key role in winning eight driver and seven team championships in World Challenge, IMSA (ALMS) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Wright Motorsports won the team championship in Porsche GT3 Cup USA in 2012, 2013, and 2015, and went on to win the Pirelli World Challenge Overall, Sprint, Team, and Manufacturer’s titles in 2017. In 2020, the team captured the GT World Challenge America Am championship. In 2021, Wright Motorsports had a wildly successful season, capturing nine championships across their five racing efforts.
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 | Sunday, March 17, 2024
Unofficial Ford Performance Results: 3rd – Brad Keselowski 7th – Chris Buescher 11th – Michael McDowell 12th – Josh Berry 13th – Chase Briscoe 14th – Ryan Preece 16th – Ryan Blaney 17th – Justin Haley 19th – Kaz Grala 22nd – Joey Logano 26th – Todd Gilliland 31st – Austin Cindric 32nd – Harrison Burton 34th – Noah Gragson
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU WERE UNDER THE HOOD AFTER THE RACE. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? “I just wanted to make sure the car wasn’t gonna burn down. That’s happened before and it’s real expensive. They came and put the fire out, so it’s fine. It was a pretty good day for us with RFK and the 6 car here We just kind of ran top five pretty much the whole race and kept them honest. I got ran into on one of those pit caution cycles. That did a little damage to the front end, otherwise I think I could have had a shot to win it today, but still solid to come home third. It was a really good week.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU WITH THE TRACK CONDITIONS? “It was an interesting day. There was a lot of discipline required and it was a fun race, to be honest, because you just had to be so smart behind the wheel. It would bite you in a heartbeat and you had to have a good setup. I think we had a good setup and tried to run the smartest race I could.”
IT LOOKED LIKE PARADE LAPS IN STAGE 2 RUNNING SIDE-BY-SIDE. “It ain’t no parade lap. You’re still hauling the mail. It’s different, but you’re just managing.”
HOW HARD WAS IT TO MAINTAIN DISCIPLINE IN THE CAR WHEN YOU PROBABLY WANT TO CHASE GUYS DOWN? “It’s hard. I just wish the whole race would have been like the end where we just ran and we didn’t throw yellows because we were in a really good spot for that, but, either way, we had a good car. We ran really solid and came away with a great finish and a ton of points. It’s the kind of weekend where we feel like we can come back here in the fall and win.”
HAVE YOU BEEN IN A RACE LIKE THIS BEFORE WHERE TIRE CONSERVATION WAS SUCH A BIG DEAL? “It’s been a while, yes.”
WOULD YOU LIKE MORE OF THESE? “I thought it was fun. It’s different. Variety is the spice of life.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was a good weekend. We had good speed. I was really pretty happy with the car. Obviously, there were a number of issues going on. I’m really kind of speechless on that part, but I thought we did a good job of managing everything. We made some adjustments at the end which seemed to cause the cording a little bit sooner and that kind of tied our hands a little bit towards the end, but, all in all, it was a great effort. I hate that we didn’t get a top 10, but it was a positive day and, honestly, with everything going on it was a lot of fun.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “What a crazy race. This is by far the most bizarre race I’ve probably ever been a part of just with trying to not go hard at all and trying to save your tires. You’d feel good and then they would all just go at once and they’d be blowing. It was definitely weird just how you had to run the race. It was a cat-and-mouse game, which I think would be really fun if you didn’t have to worry about the tires blowing and coming apart. Thirteenth for us, we were definitely way better than 13th. There at the end, my tire just went down, so I was trying to make it to the end without having to pit again. To be frustrated with a 13th from where we were last year says a lot about where we’re at this year. We’ll try to move on and just continue to get better.”
WHAT KIND OF RACE WAS THAT? “That was definitely the craziest race I feel like I’ve ever been a part of in the Cup Series. We normally just run every lap as a qualifying lap and you might save a little bit, but you’re never going that slow to save tires. It was definitely bizarre how it all played out and green flag pit stops, and it was like you had 1000 more horsepower than the field when you were on new tires. It was nuts. It was unfortunate circumstances from a racing standpoint, but, for us, to end up 13th for as crazy of a race as it was, we were definitely way better than 13th.”
DO YOU LIKE THAT STRATEGY? “I don’t mind trying to save tires, but we can’t have the tires just coming apart like that. It would be fun if we fell off two or three seconds and you didn’t have to worry about tires coming apart. I think that would be really fun, but when you’re trying to not make them blow up, that’s not very fun.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – THIS WAS EXTREME HAVING TO MANAGE TIRE WEAR. “Yeah, I’d rather that than getting beat by somebody with a faster car that day. Now, I think that obviously they’ve got some work to do. The wear was excessive, but we maximized our day. I think if we didn’t have that tire come apart there at the end, we could have maybe finished top 10, but it is what it is.”
JUSTIN HALEY, No. 51 Ohanafy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We were fast. At the end the tires just fell off, but we ran in the top 10 all day and that’s awesome to establish that because it put a lot of smiles on a lot of people’s faces. I’m excited to keep digging. I feel like the cars have speed, we just need to keep running like that and we’ll be OK.’
HOW DID YOU LIKE THAT KIND OF RACE? “I loved it. I don’t know what social media says, but as a driver I thought it was fun because you had to manage it. You weren’t all-out the whole time, so it was fun to have a major part in how the car ran.”
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 10 Bass Pro Shops Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We put ourselves in a box early. We started making a lot of speed the first run and got up to 13th running the outside and then wore the right-front all the way down to the cords. We came down pit road and got trapped a lap down. We just didn’t execute today, especially myself. I hit the wall later in the race getting up in the marbles. There’s a ton of tire rubber up there, but there’s no excuses other than I need to get it together for the Bass Pro Shops team. I just didn’t run a good race. I appreciate all the hard work by everyone. We’ll keep it going. It was a tough weekend and a tough result and we’ve got to rebound next weekend.”
KAZ GRALA, No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We had great speed in our Ford Mustang Dark Horse. I’m proud of everyone at Rick Ware Racing. Both of our cars were fast. We were just straight-up top 15, top 12 cars today, which was really cool. Unfortunately, we got behind on the very last run there tire cycling-wise. I got shoved to the top and that wore out our right-front a little early, so we ended up 19th, but we had a strong day. That’s cool to see. It gives us a lot of encouragement going forward. We’re upset with 19th because we ran better than that today, but it’s not a bad position to be in when you’re mad about that.”
NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOOD CITY 500 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT MARCH 17, 2024
Bowman, Larson Lead Chevrolet with Top-Five Finishes at Bristol
TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20: POS. DRIVER 4th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 5th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1 8th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 15th Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Fishing Camaro ZL1 18th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Outdoors by Luke Byran Camaro ZL1
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES: Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
Finished: 4th
Bowman on his fourth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“We just made our left-front tire last a little longer than some others there. I think it was a good, solid day for the No. 48 Ally Chevy team. I feel like we had a pretty good Chevy, but we just had to go roll around half-speed and try to make it last. It kind of reminded me of Greenville Pickens (Speedway), short-track racing in the East Series, or something like that. Just had to be really, really, really patient. Obviously that long green-flag run where we all pitted, I think our right-front probably lasted the longest. It got us some track position and we ended up with a fourth-place finish. I don’t really know where my race car could have ended up, straight-up, because we were never able to run hard, but it was pretty good.”
How difficult was it to get into a rhythm in today’s race?
“Yeah, it was tough.. tough to get a rhythm. I felt like I was kind of in a rhythm when I could run around fourth to sixth behind the Gibbs cars and kind of pace myself. I felt like I was doing a good job of managing my stuff, we just never got a long run. And then the one time we get a long run is when we had the penalty and we had to go to the back, and abuse my tire to get back to the top-five.
It all just kind of weirdly worked out. I still don’t really know how we ended fifth, but we will take it and move on.
You’ll take a fifth. You don’t care how you got there, as long as you get to fifth, right?
“Yeah, for sure. Obviously, I would have loved to not get that penalty because I felt like I could pace the 11 (Denny Hamlin) well, and I thought I could manage my tires good. He would have been hard to beat, but we could have ended up a little bit better and we could have ended up worse. So, yeah, I think I will take the fifth and be happy with it.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Mountain Dew/Doritos Camaro ZL1
Finished: 23rd
“We initially struggled to find balance in our No. 16 Mtn Dew Cheetos Chevy. Combined with the tire issues the field faced, we had our hands full. I’m proud of our team and Travis [Mack] on the pit box. The way our day started, it wasn’t looking good, but we refocused as a team and made the most out of our day.”
Austin Dillon, No. 3 BREZTRI Camaro ZL1
Finished: 24th
“We fought hard with the No. 3 BREZTRI Chevy. It didn’t matter what we did, we just kept losing tires. We were kind of in a box there trying to save and trying to go. Man, it was a weird race. Hate it that we couldn’t hold on because that would have been good run if we would have gotten ourselves into a better position. It was a good fight. We’ll go get a little bit more next week at COTA.”
Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1
Finished: 28th
“Lots of highs and lows during this long race. We had a solid second stage, but after making some contact with the wall, we just fought a really tight-handling No. 31 Cirkul Chevy. The right front would wear quickly, and the rear would start going away not long after. Hopefully we can come back in the fall for some redemption.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
AJ Allmendinger qualified 30th for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Allmendinger reported early he lacked grip in his No. 16 Mtn Dew Cheetos Chevy. The team made adjustments under the caution flag and restarted on lap 31. When the caution came out on lap 32, Allmendinger slid while trying to avoid the wreck, resulting in four flat tires. The team pit early and restarted at the tail end of the longest line. Allmendinger went on to finish 26th in the opening stage.
The No. 16 restarted in 26th for the second stage. Allmendinger continued to lean on the right side tires, searching for grip. The team came down pit road for adjustments to help the loose handling car. Allmendinger continued to battle handling and went on to finish the stage in 26th place.
In the final stage, Allmendinger reported the car was the best it had been all day. He asked for no adjustments on the pit stop and continued to make laps while taking care of his tires. On lap 426, Allmendinger took over 19th, the highest he had been all day. He continued to move up as other cars began having tire issues, forcing them to pit. After having to pit one final time, Allmendinger went on to finish 23rd in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“We initially struggled to find balance in our No. 16 Mtn Dew Cheetos Chevy. Combined with the tire issues the field faced, we had our hands full. I’m proud of our team and Travis [Mack] on the pit box. The way our day started, it wasn’t looking good, but we refocused as a team and made the most out of our day.” – AJ Allmendinger
DANIEL HEMRIC No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1
Daniel Hemric qualified 20th for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The first caution of the day came out on lap 23, as Hemric relayed his No. 31 Cirkul Chevy was free handling. He pitted for adjustments and restarted 35th before another caution immediately came out, collecting him in the process. Hemric made it through unscathed and pitted for new tires. When the next caution came out on lap 70, Hemric noted improvement but wanted more security. The final caution of the stage ended it early, and Hemric was scored 24th.
Hemric pitted for fresh tires under the stage break and took the green from 27th place. He made it as high as 22nd before the caution came out. Hemric was hit in the right rear but did not receive significant damage. He pitted for tires and fuel and took the green on lap 188. The final caution of the stage fell on lap 228. Hemric restarted 27th and made it as high as 17th, before finishing the second stage in 18th.
During the second stage break, Hemric pitted for sticker tires and started the final stage from 19thplace. The first caution of the stage came out on lap 310. Hemric relayed his No. 31 Chevy was tight and pitted for four tires. Just before the final caution came out on lap 368, Hemric fell one lap down to the leaders. After restarting on lap 379, Hemric made his final pit stop on lap 446 before going on to finish 28th.
“Lots of highs and lows during this long race. We had a solid second stage, but after making some contact with the wall, we just fought a really tight-handling No. 31 Cirkul Chevy. The right front would wear quickly, and the rear would start going away not long after. Hopefully we can come back in the fall for some redemption.” – Daniel Hemric
About Kaulig Racing
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and has won back-to-back regular-season championships. Before becoming a full-time NCS team, Kaulig Racing made multiple starts in the 2021 NCS season and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team expanded to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and added a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. In 2024, the team will once again field two, full-time entries in the NCS and continue to field three, full-time NXS entries. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.
Team: No. 42 J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado Driver: Matt Mills (New Philadelphia, Ohio) | Crew Chief: Jon Leonard Follow the Team: Twitter: @NieceMotorsport | Instagram: @NieceMotorsports | Facebook: /NieceMotorsports | Web: www.niecemotorsports.com Follow Matt Mills: Twitter: @MattMillsRacing | Instagram: @MattMillsRacing | Facebook: /OfficialMattMillsRacing | Web: mattmillsracing.com
Start: 18th | Finish: 25th | Driver Point Standings: 28th
Matt Mills on Saturday’s Race at Bristol Motor Speedway: “Tonight I made a costly mistake early on in the race,” said Mills. “We fixed it as well as we could, and proved to run top-five lap times. Ultimately, we couldn’t make too much forward progress being laps down. We’ll continue on and look to run a smart race at COTA.”
Race Recap: Mills lined up 18th for Saturday night’s race after the afternoon’s practice and qualifying session. Unfortunately, an early spin and contact with the wall put Mills and the No. 42 team behind the eight ball for the remainder of the race. The J.F. Electric Chevrolet showed speed, but was unable to make up the lost laps, ultimately finishing the day In 25th.
About Niece Motorsports: Niece Motorsports is owned by United States Marine Corps Veteran Al Niece. In 2024, Niece Motorsports enters its ninth season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Niece also owns Niece Equipment, which has for over 40 years provided clients with reliable products at competitive prices. Niece Equipment’s reputation is built on service, integrity and dependability. The company provides water and fuel/lube trucks that are engineered with quality and durability in mind for the construction and mining industry. Follow the team on Facebook and Instagram @NieceMotorsports as well as X @NieceMotorsport.
About J.F. Electric J.F. Electric is an electrical contractor that provides engineering expertise, backed by construction and installation know-how in a diverse range of service offerings, from utilities and commercial projects, to industrial and telecommunications customers. When having a long family history in an industry, a company not only builds on its knowledge and experience, it takes pride in cultivating a solid understanding of client needs, all the while nurturing strong relationships with its employees. Evolving through five generations of the Fowler family, J.F. Electric has matured into a well-managed and thoughtfully diversified electrical contractor which is poised to continue its growth and expansion into the future.
About Utilitra: Utilitra is a woman-owned firm specializing in utility and technology solutions with a diverse team of specialized professionals. Utilitra is committed to solving their client’s unique challenges, whether one expert or a team of experts is needed. By adapting to the needs of their respective industries, Utilitra has built a range of services for their utility and technology partners.
Start: 8th | Finish: 12th | Owner Point Standings: 13th
Kaden Honeycutt on Saturday’s Race at Bristol Motor Speedway: “We got stage points there which is great, and ran around the top-10 all night,” said Honeycutt. “We got a little burned on the second stage with a long run on the tires. It was tough to make up positions, but when we could capitalize, we did. Thank you to Chevy Accessories, Phil [Gould], Niece Motorsports and my entire 45 crew for bringing me another great truck.”
Race Recap: Honeycutt showed speed in practice and qualifying, lining up eighth in the No. 45 Chevy Accessories Silverado. Honeycutt and team ran in the top-10 for the majority of the night, running a clean race. The No. 45 Chevrolet would ultimately end the night in 12th.
About Niece Motorsports: Niece Motorsports is owned by United States Marine Corps Veteran Al Niece. In 2024, Niece Motorsports enters its ninth season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Niece also owns Niece Equipment, which has for over 40 years provided clients with reliable products at competitive prices. Niece Equipment’s reputation is built on service, integrity and dependability. The company provides water and fuel/lube trucks that are engineered with quality and durability in mind for the construction and mining industry. Follow the team on Facebook and Instagram @NieceMotorsports as well as X @NieceMotorsport.
