Tag: Bristol

Busch still searching for his old Bristol feel with Next Gen car

It doesn’t come as a surprise to see Kyle Busch has one victory in his last four starts at Bristol Motor Speedway. However, what is a surprise is that his spring 2022 victory was not on the surface Busch often made a habit of dominating on …

It doesn’t come as a surprise to see Kyle Busch has one victory in his last four starts at Bristol Motor Speedway. However, what is a surprise is that his spring 2022 victory was not on the surface Busch often made a habit of dominating on throughout the years.

“The car really changes a lot … for me,” Busch said Next Gen. “We won here with this car on the dirt surface, but I would say that since we’ve been bringing the new Next Gen car to the concrete surface, I have not found my way with it yet.”

Next Gen, NASCAR’s seventh-generation race car, debuted in 2022. Busch won the spring race at Bristol that season; however that was the second edition of the dirt race. In the fall 2022 race on concrete, he finished 34th.

“I definitely had a way with understanding this place and having a sense of setup, and how to drive it and whatnot with the old stuff, but not with the new stuff,” Busch said. “We’ll see what happens here this weekend with our No. 8 FICO Chevrolet. [I’m] looking forward to the truck race — it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a truck here. I think the last time was ‘17 when I won. So certainly would be nice to come out here and go back to victory lane with one of those.”

Busch’s last win on concrete at Bristol came in the spring of 2019. Of his eight concrete wins, five have been in the spring race.

The numbers for Busch at Bristol have always been impressive, even outside of the Cup Series. He has victories in all three national series at the track and was the first driver to sweep all three races in the same weekend in 2010 (a feat he repeated in 2017).

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He’s led nearly 2,600 laps at Bristol in the Cup Series and has an average finish of 13.9 in 34 concrete starts, with a best finish on concrete in the Next Gen of 20th.

“Bristol is a lot of rhythm, but it takes a feel of what you’re looking for here…,” Busch said of what’s been so different. “This car just drives a lot different, and it drives a lot different because of the limitations in which it’s built. It just has a different way of you needing to go about it. I’ve learned some of that, but I guess I’m not the best at figuring out how to be better than some of the other drivers. Or maybe their cars are better than my car, I don’t know. It’s not like we can swap seats.”

The plan of attack at Bristol has also changed for Busch in the last two years.

“I’d always run this place more round,” he said. “I’d always try to make it as much of a circle as I possibly could, and now you kind of run this place in a diamond. You go up to the wall, you try to come off the wall, you go up to the wall in the corner, you come up the wall [on the straight]. You know what I mean?

“It’s more diamond-shaped, so it’s definitely a different way of running it. That seems to be a little bit more of the faster way this day and age. It’s a different technique to get used to, but that’s not to say that I can’t do it. It’s just a matter of [not outracing] your own equipment, and you’ve got to go and get what you can get out of it, but nothing more.”

Busch was second fastest in Saturday’s practice session at Bristol. He qualified 14th, which is his best start in the Next Gen car on the Bristol concrete.

Sunday’s Food City 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX) is the first spring race on the concrete at Bristol since 2020.

Logano’s title defense over after Bristol pileup

Joey Logano’s NASCAR Cup Series title defense is over after three races. A multi-car crash on lap 262 of Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway ended his night. Logano piled in when Corey LaJoie spun on the backstretch, hit the inside wall, …

Joey Logano’s NASCAR Cup Series title defense is over after three races. A multi-car crash on lap 262 of Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway ended his night.

Logano piled in when Corey LaJoie spun on the backstretch, hit the inside wall, and came back across the racetrack. But he had already been struggling with his No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang and was off the lead lap.

“I knew my situation and what I needed to do, but it’s Bristol, and there’s not really many things you do differently depending on your scenario,” Logano said. “There’s nothing I could have done there in that wreck. It’s just a product of being back there, and the way we raced or anything like that didn’t affect that. The only thing that affected that is we were back there, so that’s it.”

Logano entered Bristol only 12 points above the NASCAR Cup Series playoff grid cutline. He missed advancing by four points after finishing 34th, while Bubba Wallace, who earned the final spot in the next round, finished 14th.

In the three-race round, Logano’s average finish was 17th. A late caution at Kansas Speedway allowed the team to make a strategy call to stay on out for track position, which earned Logano a fifth-place finish after running 15th. It was his best finish of the round.

“Inconsistent, not fast enough, not scoring stage points,” Logano said of the season. “When you don’t score stage points that just says you’re not fast enough. We’ve been able to manufacture finishes like we did last week – Paul [Wolfe] does a great job of giving me a chance to finish good.

“If this was a few years ago and there wasn’t stage racing, we’d be sitting in a lot better shape because we would figure out a way to close races. But we don’t score the points during the race because we’re just not fast enough.”

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Logano did not earn stage points in three of the last five races (including Bristol). His stage point total through Bristol is 135.

A lone victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the spring earned Logano his postseason berth. However, Logano and his team have not been as dominant as shown in previous years, with 260 laps led through 29 races and five DNFs.

It’s been a season of struggle for Ford teams, particularly on high-speed, downforce racetracks. Logano felt optimistic his team was heading in the right direction as the postseason approached, but it wasn’t enough.

“I haven’t really felt like we’ve made any big gains that we need to and unfortunately, it seems like it’s at every track,” Logano said of the uphill battle. “Typically, you may say, ‘Oh, we’re off on a mile-and-a-half, but our short tracks are okay, or your road courses are okay.’ It just seems like we’re off everywhere right now, so we’ll see what happens here … and if we get knocked out, it gives us a few races to swing big and try to figure it out for next year.”

Harvick ‘missed by a mile’ at Bristol

Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team’s up-and-down season was more down than ever before on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, and it ended his run in the postseason. “We’ve been like that all year,” Harvick said after …

Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team’s up-and-down season was more down than ever before on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, and it ended his run in the postseason.

“We’ve been like that all year,” Harvick said after finishing 29th, five laps down. “We’ve been hit or miss, and tonight we just missed by a mile.”

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There was not much to the highlight reel for Harvick. Harvick qualified 16th, which was the highest he would sit on the leaderboard, and less than 100 laps into the night, Harvick called his car a “piece of (trash).”

Harvick was 29th at the end of the first stage. In the second stage, Harvick began to fall laps off the pace and was as low as 33rd in the running order. His average running position at Bristol, a track he has three victories at and has led over 1,000 laps, was 27th.

“I’ve had some good days and bad days,” Harvick said of his night, “but that’s definitely the worst one I’ve had with fenders on it.”

In his final season, Harvick will not earn a second championship. Harvick was the first driver below the final transfer spot by four points to Bubba Wallace.

“I didn’t really have many expectations with how up and down the year has been,” Harvick said. “It is what it is, and that’s probably about what we deserved.”

Bristol was Harvick’s worst finish in the three-race round.

“We were slow,” he said.

Harvick had a top-five car in the opening race of the playoffs but was penalized for pitting under a closed pit road because the caution came out as he was crossing the commitment line. With how close it was to Harvick making the commitment line, the No. 4 team elected to complete the pit stop. Doing so triggered the penalty, whereas if Harvick had driven through pit road, he could have blended back into the running order. Harvick finished 19th.

“We could have won Darlington,” he said. “We were off at Kansas and terrible here.”

There are seven races remaining in the season and Harvick is still seeking a victory before his tenure with Stewart-Haas Racing is over.

“I’m probably looking forward to Phoenix,” he said. “I think that’s definitely been our best racetrack. We haven’t been great on the mile-and-a-halves, and tonight we were just way off.”

Hamlin handily wins Bristol, Logano eliminated from playoffs

Denny Hamlin landed a knockout punch in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. survived to fight another round. Bubba Wallace rescued himself from the brink of elimination …

Denny Hamlin landed a knockout punch in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. survived to fight another round.

Bubba Wallace rescued himself from the brink of elimination from the series Playoffs and advanced to the Round of 12 by four points.

Kevin Harvick, winner of the first elimination Playoff in 2014, won’t be around to fight for the title in his final season of Cup racing. He joins defending champion Joey Logano on the outside looking in for the final seven Playoff races.

Despite a strong run on Saturday night, Michael McDowell didn’t get the win he needed to advance, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. likewise fell by the wayside in a car that couldn’t compete for a top-five position.

Taking the lead off pit road on lap 366 of 500, Hamlin beat Kyle Larson to the finish line by 2.462s. Hamlin led the final 135 laps in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 142 overall, and second only to the 187 circuits led by pole winner and third-place finisher Christopher Bell.

Led by Hamlin, all five Toyota drivers in the Playoffs advanced to the next round.

“Can’t thank this whole FedEx team enough,” said Hamlin, who won for the third time this season, the third time at Bristol and the 51st time in his career. “They’ve really kicked ass this whole first round. Really amazing how our team has been. So happy about the way we’re running. Can’t wait to keep going.

“It’s our year. I just feel like we’ve got it all put together. We’ve got the speed [at] every single type of race track. Nothing to stop us at this point.”

Chris Buescher followed Bell to the stripe, as the top four finishers all will race in the Round of 12. Brad Keselowski and William Byron (eighth and ninth Saturday) also advanced, as did 23XI Racing teammates Wallace and Tyler Reddick (13th and 14th), Truex (19th), Kyle Busch (20th), Ryan Blaney (22nd) and Ross Chastain (23rd).

Wallace finished 14th, a lap down, but the eight points he gained by running third in Stage 1 proved decisive. Only 10 cars finished on the lead lap, the last of whom was Stenhouse, who ended the Round of 16 in 15th, seven points behind Wallace.

Wallace was greeted with a chorus of boos when he climbed from his car, as was Hamlin.

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“Like Coco Gauff said, all they’re doing is adding fuel to the fire—I love it,” said Wallace, who drives for Hamlin and co-owner Michael Jordan at 23XI. “I love where I’m at with this team. Wish my mom, dad, sister were here to celebrate with me.”

“I’m mentally exhausted. I’m wore out. Gave it our all there. Battled hard and executed. That’s what you got to do. We know next week’s a reset. We just got to go out and have some fun, work our asses off. Thank you to the ones that believe in me. Keep it going. Yeah, on to next week.”

A vicious wreck on the backstretch cost Joey Logano a chance to advance to the Round of 12—the first time under the elimination format that a defending championship has exited the Playoffs in the opening round.

Logano was a lap down, running toward the back of the pack, when Corey LaJoie went three-wide underneath the Chevrolet of Erik Jones and lost control of his No. 7 Chevrolet. LaJoie’s car swept up the track into the path of Logano, Justin Haley and Ryan Newman, all of whom were knocked out of the race in the accident.

“Yeah, I saw the smoke,” said Logano, who was credited with a 34th-place finish and missed the Round of 12 by four points. “I saw the No. 7 spinning. (Spotter) Coleman (Pressley) was saying, ‘He’s coming up. He’s coming up’ as I was on the brakes to try to pull onto the bottom.

“I think it was Newman behind me, but I think someone hit him behind him, and it was just kind of a chain reaction into it. Once I got hit, I was like, ‘Shoot, I’ve got to go up now,’ because I couldn’t make the bottom, so I committed to that and the hole closed up.

“Obviously, it’s a real bummer. You get out of the race like that and you’re behind the wall and you’re in denial for a minute. You don’t want to believe that it happened, and you want to think that it’s fixable, but the car was tore up too bad.”

Harvick fought an ill-handling car from the outset and finished 29th, five laps down. Like Logano, he finished four points behind Wallace in the battle for the final spot in the Round of 12.

“We’ve been like that all year,” Harvick said. “We’ve been hit-or-miss. Tonight, we just missed by a mile. I’ve had some good days and bad days, but that’s definitely the worst one I’ve had with fenders on it.”

Ty Gibbs finished fifth after leading 102 laps. McDowell ran sixth, followed by Chase Elliott, Keselowski, Byron and Stenhouse.

RESULTS

‘Slap worn out’ Wallace ekes his way into NASCAR’s Round of 12

Bubba Wallace may have been the last driver to climb out of his race car after pulling onto pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway with the other NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers. The 23XI driver took his time rejoining the world after 500 laps. With …

Bubba Wallace may have been the last driver to climb out of his race car after pulling onto pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway with the other NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers.

The 23XI driver took his time rejoining the world after 500 laps. With his helmet still on, Wallace sat alone with his thoughts and emotions. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came over and poked his head into the cockpit. Tyler Reddick, Wallace’s teammate, did the same and enthusiastically slapped Wallace’s helmet a few times.

The No. 23 finished 14th in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, and when Wallace finally climbed from his car, “slap worn-out” by his own admission, he laid his head on the hood, greeted his wife Amanda, and then needed a few minutes to sit down before fulfilling interviews obligations.

As he stood up to address the media, Wallace shouted, “(expletive), yeah!”

That’s how much it meant for Wallace and the No. 23 team to advance into the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. He overcame a 19-point deficit, entering the weekend outside a transfer spot.

“[I was] just trying to gather my thoughts and man, just emotional,” Wallace said. “I said to myself out loud, not on the radio, ‘Proud of you, kid,’ and we all know I rarely do that. Way to stick with it. I tried to give it away a couple of times, got frustrated at myself, frustrated at others, but it all worked out.

“Just what you need to do is execute, so this is a special day and got to cherish it but can’t get complacent. We know Texas is up, and we’re OK there, but we got to come out swinging and come out on the right end of it. Ready to go to work.”

Wallace and his team ‘survived’ the race because he acknowledges they didn’t have the car that they needed. But despite fighting the handling, he ran his race to remain in contention in the bigger picture.

“I thought Daytona was stressful, but that was stressful,” Wallace said of Bristol.

“I beat myself up so many times over the years, and I sound like some of them people up in the stands,” Wallace said of why advancing meant so much. “And to see us continue to march forward is important for my mental, the team’s mentals, everybody involved in this program. Just have to keep it going.”

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A strategy call by crew chief Bootie Barker in the first stage made the difference. Barker kept Wallace on track under the first caution on lap 69, moving them into the top five. Wallace finished the stage in third place, earning eight points.

The No. 23 didn’t place in the points in the second stage, but some of his fellow playoff contenders began encountering trouble. Wallace finished ahead of Kevin Harvick and reigning series champion Joey Logano, who fell out of the race in the final stage.

The final transfer spot went to Wallace by four points over Logano and Harvick. Stenhouse was 17 points below the final transfer spot and Michael McDowell wound up 16 points behind.

“I think the strategy at the beginning was the game changer, staying out there,” Wallace said. “We watched last year’s race and saw that tires were not that big of an advantage, so thought that was key, and that gave us our buffer.”

In his first year in the postseason, Wallace advances to the second round when he knows there were doubters who counted him out. He said as much over the radio, poking fun at how he and his team were “supposed to be out” after the first round.

He didn’t say he’s motivated by proving those people wrong but he hears them.

“You can’t chase that stuff too much; I think that’s where I got caught up in years past…trying to prove the doubters wrong and not racing for [myself] and the team,” Wallace said. “When you race for the team and race for yourself, all that stuff falls in line. It’s cool.”

Zane Smith signs with new Trackhouse partnership for 2024

In a multipart announcement Saturday, Trackhouse Racing revealed it has signed Zane Smith to a multiyear deal for its NASCAR Cup Series program. In 2024, Smith will compete in the Cup Series for Spire Motorsports with the goal of joining Trackhouse …

In a multipart announcement Saturday, Trackhouse Racing revealed it has signed Zane Smith to a multiyear deal for its NASCAR Cup Series program.

In 2024, Smith will compete in the Cup Series for Spire Motorsports with the goal of joining Trackhouse proper in 2025. Spire has formed an alliance with Trackhouse after purchasing a third charter from Live Fast Motorsports.

“Expansion is not something to be taken lightly, but we feel Trackhouse is commercially and technically positioned for growth,” Justin Marks said. “You need good timing, very good partners, and great drivers. Adding Zane is like signing the No. 1 draft pick, and we are proud that he is now a member of the Trackhouse family.”

Trackhouse Racing will field two full-time entries next season, having previously signed Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez to extensions. The organization debuted as a single-car team with Suarez in 2021 and grew to a two-car team last season, finishing second in the championship with Chastain and winning three races with both its drivers.

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A fourth-year driver in the Craftsman Truck Series, Smith is the reigning champion. He is in the midst of defending his championship with Front Row Motorsports.

Smith has made seven starts in the Cup Series, his debut coming in June 2022 in St. Louis as the substitute driver for Chris Buescher at RRK Racing, finishing 17th. He’s made six starts this season between Front Row Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing, finishing 10th in the Coca-Cola 600 with Front Row.

“This is an incredible moment for me,” Smith said. “Trackhouse is one of the most progressive organizations in the garage. I told some friends a year ago that I wanted to be a part of what Trackhouse is doing and I just can’t believe this is all coming true. I am very excited and thankful to have a future with the organization.

“The Cup Series is the pinnacle of racing in America, and I cannot wait to compete, learn and hone my skills against the best in the world. I am really looking forward to working with the Spire Motorsports team in 2024 and believe the alliance with Trackhouse will help continue Spire’s ascent up the grid.”

Earlier this week, Trackhouse announced the signing of Shane van Gisbergen to a development deal. The New Zealander will run across all three national series in 2024. The look of the team’s lineup in 2025 will be determined over time.

Allgaier Xfinity win redeems rough night at Bristol for JRM

On an ambivalent night for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier took advantage of a brilliant strategic call by crew chief Jim Pohlman to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first event in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series …

On an ambivalent night for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier took advantage of a brilliant strategic call by crew chief Jim Pohlman to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first event in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Charging from 13th after restart on lap 257 of 300, Allgaier passed Daniel Hemric for the lead on lap 288 and pulled away to win by 1.695s, securing a spot in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.

Allgaier also broke news in Victory Lane, announcing off the cuff that he had re-signed for another season with JR Motorsports.

That was the good news. In a rare appearance as a driver team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 47 laps before pulling off the track on lap 271 with a fireball in his car licking at his firesuit. Earnhardt made a quick exit and finished 30th.

And that was after three JR Motorsports cars were eliminated from the race in the same wreck.

Without hesitation, Pohlman called Allgaier to the pits when Josh Bilicki’s spin in Turn 1 caused the sixth and final caution on lap 248. Allgaier rocketed through the field until he caught Hemric, harrying the driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet until he slipped past with just over 12 laps left.

The victory was Allgaier’s second at the 0.533-mile short track and his first since his initial Xfinity Series win in 2010. Between victories Allgaier led plenty of laps but couldn’t return to Victory Lane—until Friday night.

“This team has done an amazing job at this racetrack since I started at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier said. “We led a lot of laps, and the monkey was definitely on our back. The pit strategy there… coming down pit road by myself was nerve wracking, right?

“I’m speechless, man. This place, Jim Pohlman and I circled this place on our calendar when we started the year, before we ever even took a green flag lap, we said we want to win Bristol. Man, we won Bristol! It’s Bristol, baby—let’s go!”

The victory was Allgaier’s third of the season and 22nd of his career.

Hemric floundered early in the race until the top lane came in. Then his car came to life.

“We just enough race car there that once the top came in, I was going to live by it,” Hemric said. “I thought it would be OK. I thought if I could hold the No. 7 (Allgaier) off to get to that next group of traffic maybe I’d have a chance to at least race him down in the last five or 10 laps.

“Yeah, the tires were just too much there. Him and Dale Jr. had the best cars all night. So yeah, proud of this group. We definitely stole a finish tonight but came a long way through traffic.”

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Playoff drivers John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Chandler Smith finished third through fifth, respectively. Custer led 109 laps, one fewer than Allgaier.

A four-car wreck in Turn 1 on lap 167 sidelined three JR Motorsports cars, two of them driven by Playoff contenders Josh Berry and Sam Mayer. After slight side-to-side contact with the No. 1 Chevrolet of Mayer, Berry’s No. 8 Chevy cut a right front tire and turned up the track into Mayer, knocking him into the outside wall.

Running behind his JR Motorsports teammates, Brandon Jones also was collected in the wreck, as was the No. 39 Ford of Ryan Sieg.

Those weren’t the only teammates who ran afoul of each other. On lap 217, Sheldon Creed clipped regular-season winner Austin Hill just short of the start/finish line. Out of control, Hill’s Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet bounced off the inside wall and nosed into the outside SAFER barrier in Turn 1. Hill was unable to continue.

Hill finished 33rd. Creed came home 11th.

As if that weren’t enough drama, Earnhardt ran in or near the lead until his car began to smoke with 30 laps left.

“The shifter tunnel column was on fire,” Earnhardt explained. “I saw some smoke in the car…I was like, ‘Hopefully that’s not me,’ but it was. That last lap, I saw a big fireball down in the tunnel of the car and I felt it.

“Obviously, my uniform was burning up. I was like, ‘I can’t keep going. I got to stop.’ And usually when you stop the fire gets bigger.

“So I pulled over by the pit stall and some of the guys were pretty alert, and they helped me out. We were going to finish with a top 10, maybe top five. We had a shot at winning it, if the car was going to run good at the end.”

Mayer, Berry, Parker Kligerman (who lost 53 laps under repairs in the garage) and Jeb Burton (who started from the rear in a backup car and finished 13th) all dropped below the cut line for the Round of 8 as the series heads for the second Round of 12 Playoff race Sept. 23 at Texas Motor Speedway.

RESULTS

RCR swaps Dillon and Busch crews to rejuvenate No. 8’s playoffs

Richard Childress Racing swapped the over-the-wall pit crews for Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon this week as Busch works toward advancing in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason. Busch, a two-time series champion, said Friday he didn’t push for the change …

Richard Childress Racing swapped the over-the-wall pit crews for Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon this week as Busch works toward advancing in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason.

Busch, a two-time series champion, said Friday he didn’t push for the change but was among those who made the suggestion. It then became a conversation amongst key individuals in the company.

“It was a group decision; it was a group conversation that kind of happened, but there was one guy who made the decision,” Busch said. “Austin was included in that conversation as well.

“I feel like if you could go with an eight, nine pit crew to a nine, 10 pit crew, you’re going to take it right now. You have to. Whether it’s speed or consistency or both – in our case, I think it was both – if there’s an improvement you can make, you’ve got to make it right now.”

Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway (6:30 p.m. ET) is the first elimination race in the postseason. Busch and the No. 8 team entered as the No. 5 seed and is 24 points above the cutline. Dillon did not earn a postseason berth.

Busch’s new over-the-wall crew will be Joshua Thomas (front changer), Paul Swan (tire carrier), Ethan Tingler (rear changer), and Nick Covey (jack). No change was made among the fuelers.

The first time Busch will work with his new crew will be in the race. He was unable to make it to the Childress campus this week for pit practice.

“There wasn’t time this week, unfortunately,” Busch said. “My schedule didn’t allow me to get up there on Tuesday when they were doing pit practice stuff. Hopefully it’s a plug-and-play and everything’s good.”

Another week, another pole for Bell at Bristol

Christopher Bell is perfect in poles through the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after earning the top spot for the third consecutive week Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s pole-winning lap was …

Christopher Bell is perfect in poles through the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after earning the top spot for the third consecutive week Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s pole-winning lap was 126.997mph (15.109s) — his ninth career pole and first at Bristol.

Denny Hamlin made it an all JGR front row by qualifying second, clocking in at 126.930mph.

“It doesn’t get much closer to that,” Bell said of beating his teammate. “What was it, a 0.109s to a 0.117s at Bristol? That’s crazy tight. Really, really proud of this team. All the mechanics, all the engineers that work back at Joe Gibbs Racing and putting this No. 20 car together are just doing an amazing job, and we’ve been able to show that through qualifying really all year long.

“500 laps tomorrow is an extremely long time, and if I’ve learned anything, I’ve learned that qualifying means nothing for the race. But we’ve got a great pit stall again, great starting spot. Man, I’m excited. I love this racetrack; it’s one of my favorites.”

William Byron qualified third at 126.345mph, Michael McDowell fourth at 126.220mph and Martin Truex Jr. fifth at 126.154mph.

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Brad Keselowski qualified sixth at 125.963mph, Chase Elliott seventh at 125.914mph, Ty Gibbs eighth at 125.914mph, Bubba Wallace ninth at 125.897mph and Corey LaJoie completed the top 10 at 125.625mph.

All four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers qualified inside the top 10 and, with Wallace’s 23XI Camry in ninth, Toyota chalked up their best final round of qualifying since Charlotte 2022 when they claimed five of the top seven spots.

The rest of the playoff drivers in qualifying were Ryan Blaney 11th, Tyler Reddick 12th, Kyle Busch 15th, Chris Buescher 20th, Kevin Harvick 21st, Ross Chastain 23rd, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 25th, Joey Logano 28th, and Kyle Larson 36th.

Larson got loose during his qualifying lap and had to chase his Chevrolet through the corner.

Buescher is the defending race winner at Bristol.

There are 36 drivers entered in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The race has been moved up by one hour to 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday due to the threat of inclement weather.

STARTING LINEUP

Larson leads Bristol practice with some playoff drivers mired deep

Three NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers led the way in practice Friday evening at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson was the fastest overall at 126.353mph (15.186s). Chris Buescher was second fastest at 125.724mph and Bubba Wallace was third at …

Three NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers led the way in practice Friday evening at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Kyle Larson was the fastest overall at 126.353mph (15.186s). Chris Buescher was second fastest at 125.724mph and Bubba Wallace was third at 125.142mph.

Ty Gibbs ran fourth at 124.873mph, Christopher Bell fifth at 124.865mph and Corey LaJoie sixth at 124.841mph.

Chase Elliott was seventh fastest at 124.792mph followed by teammates William Byron (eighth, 124.678mph) and Alex Bowman (ninth, 124.630mph). Tyler Reddick was 10th fastest at 124.614mph.

The rest of the playoff drivers didn’t fare as well, with Ross Chastain in 11th at 124.573mph and Denny Hamlin 12th at 124.476mph. Joey Logano was 15th fastest at 124.331mph.

Kyle Busch only made it up to 17th fastest at 124.299mph, Kevin Harvick 19th at 124.098mph and Ryan Blaney 20th (124.042 mph). Martin Truex Jr. was only 24th fastest at 123.586mph and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 25th at 123.340mph.

Brad Keselowski and Michael McDowell rounded out the playoff drivers’ practice runs in 28th and 30th respectively.

Gibbs, Buescher, Byron, Bell, and Wallace were the fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap category.

There were no incidents to report.