Bass Pro Shops Night Race

Joey Logano won for the third time this year in his Penske Racing Ford in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Logano led early in the race and would not do so again until the end when he slipped by Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs as they battled for the lead. Kyle Larson had a strong night and finished second, which puts him in the lead for the Playoffs by one point over Denny Hamlin. Hocevar would finish third after leading late in the event while Christopher Bell came home fourth in the top finishing Toyota. Gibbs was fifth in his M&M’s sponsored tribute paint scheme honoring the life of Kyle Busch. The battling did not stop at the finish line as Ryan Blaney confronted Hocevar to express his displeasure with how Hocevar raced him, resulting in shoves and punches, much to the fans delight. 

After qualifying for the race was rained out, the provisional pole went to Kyle Larson with Joey Logano beside him. Larson got the jump on Logano and led until the competition caution on lap 40. At the restart, Logano was back up front and held the lead until lap 95 when Erik Jones spun out coming out of turn 4, bringing out the second caution. Logano did not pit and remained in the lead until the end of stage one, winning the stage with Larson finishing second.

Stage two started with Ryan Blaney in the lead and remained there until Cody Ware spun out, bringing out the next caution with only three laps remaining in the stage. The stage would end under caution with Blaney winning stage two. 

Blaney would lead the field to the green flag to start the final stage. He would stay there until Ty Gibbs used traffic to pass Blaney on lap 326. Gibbs would make his green flag pit stop, handing the lead back to Blaney. The caution flag came out on lap 397 when Riley Herbst contacted Zane Smith, spinning Herbst out and damaging his front end. After the pit stops and a penalty for Blaney, Carson Hocevar led the field to the restart. Hocevar led until he got caught up in traffic and Gibbs passed him with 70 laps remaining. As soon as Gibbs took the lead, he was involved in an incident with Alex Bowman, spinning Bowman out and putting out another caution flag. Gibbs was out front for the restart with 59 laps to go. They only made two laps before William Byron spun on the backstretch, causing another caution.  When the green flag came back out, Gibbs led the field at the closing stage of the race. With 43 laps remaining, Blaney and Hocevar made contact each other, sending Blaney into the wall, ending his day after leading the most laps in the race. Gibbs once again led the field to the green flag. Once again, the caution came out, this time with 24 laps remaining as Chase Elliott spun out. The green flag came back out with 17 laps remaining and Gibbs leading. Two laps later, AJ Allmendinger brought out the last caution when he spun out in turn four. They restarted with 9 laps to go and Hocevar was able to get around Gibbs, but as the two battled for the lead, Logano snuck by both of them and held on for the win.

Kyle Larson broke his 51-race winless streak at World Wide Technology Raceway in the Enjoy Illinois 300. Larson held on for the win in a crash-filled race that saw a record-high 18 caution flags. Teammate Alex Bowman, who pushed Larson to the lead on a late race restart, finished second. Joey Logano, who led a race high 96 laps, finished third after taking two tires on his last pit stop for track position while Larson took four. The Hendrick Motorsports car of William Byron came home fourth, giving the team three of the top four spots. Ross Chastain in his Trackhouse Racing chevy finished fifth. 

Joey Logano started on the pole with Kyle Larson beside him. Logano jumped to the lead at the drop of the green flag. It did not take long before the first caution came out as Riley Herbst hit the inside wall on the frontstretch on lap 6. The green flag came back out on lap 11 with Logano retaining the lead. Just 4 laps later, Ricky Stenhouse spun out coming out of turn two. Logano once again jumped out front, but they could not complete a lap before another accident occurred when several cars got together coming out of turn two. Noah Gragson ran out of room and contacted Michael McDowell and Shane Van Gisbergen. Daniel Suarez also sustained damage in the incident. Logano managed to keep the lead again on the restart. The fourth caution came out on lap 28 when Van Gisbergen spun out. Logano kept the lead at the restart and stayed there until the end of stage one, winning the caution-filled stage.

Brad Keselowski started the second stage in the lead. On lap 56, Ty Gibbs spun out Erik Jones going into turn one bringing out another caution. On the restart, Keselowski held on to the lead. Herbst spun out on the backstretch and collected AJ Allmendinger, putting out the next caution flag. Pit stops mixed the field up and put Ross Chastain in the lead. Chastain would stay out front until lap 81 when Larson would get around him to take the lead for the first time in the race.  Zane Smith spun out in turn one when his brake rotor failed on lap 131, ending the stage and giving the stage two win to Larson.

The final stage began with first and second in the same order as they started, Logano first and Larson second. They could not complete a lap before another accident occurred in turn two as Bubba Wallace spun out, taking Chase Briscoe and William Byron with him. Logano kept the lead at the drop of the green flag. Ryan Blaney had a brake failure on lap 154 at the finish line, ending his day. Everyone on the lead lap but Larson and Josh Berry pitted, putting Larson in first and Berry second. Berry was able to take the lead, but Keselowski passed Berry. The two would swap the lead back and forth for the next several laps, until Keselowski finally cleared him. Chastain spun out on lap 170 when Cole Custer slowed down in front of him. Keselowski kept the lead at the restart. Riley Herbst brought out the caution again as he spun out in turn one. Keselowski would give up the lead to Logano on the restart. With 42 laps remaining, the caution came out again for a brake failure, this time it was Gragson. Most of the teams pitted during the caution, but Keselowski and four others on the lead lap stayed out. Keselowski led when they went back to green flag racing with 35 laps left. Chase Elliott was the next to experience a brake failure and he took out Briscoe in the aftermath, bringing out yet another caution. Logano would have a great restart and passed Keselowski for the lead. With 18 laps left, there was another big wreck involving Christopher Bell, Berry, Wallace and Tyler Reddick. On the restart, Larson passed Logano for the lead and then another big pile up happened behind them, Gibbs, Suarez, Allmendinger and Ty Dillon were all involved in the incident, bringing out the red flag. Larson kept the lead on the restart with four fresh tires compared to two on Logano’s car. Chris Buescher brought out the caution as he experienced a brake failure, sending the race into overtime. The red flag would be displayed for the second time in the race to clean up the debris from the accident. When they went back to green flag racing, Van Gisbergen spun in the first turn for the final caution period. On the overtime restart Larson held on to the lead for the win.  

Christopher Bell picked up his first win of the season after finishing second seven times this year. Bell held off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs who finished second in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Fellow Toyota driver Tyler Reddick would finish third for 23XI Racing while Ryan Blaney would be the top finishing Ford in fourth for Penske Racing. Kyle Larson, who dominated the final stage, would come home fifth in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. 

Qualifying was rained out so the starting positions were set by NASCAR and that put Tyler Reddick on the pole with Daniel Suarez second. Suarez jumped out front at the start for the first three laps before Denny Hamlin passed him to lead on lap four. Hamlin would keep the lead until lap 30 when Reddick passed him to go back up front. The competition caution came out on lap 36 and after the pit stops, Reddick was still in the lead. Hamlin would pass Reddick for the lead on lap 45. Hamlin came in for a green flag pit stop on lap 73, turning the lead over to Bubba Wallace. Wallace led for five laps before his stop, handing the lead over to Chase Elliott. Elliott only led a lap before he pitted, putting Carson Hocevar in the lead. Once again, Hocevar led for one lap and pitted, cycling the lead back to Hamlin. Reddick got back by Hamlin on lap 94 to take the top spot again. Brad Keselowski was spun out by Hocevar with less than ten laps remaining in the stage, so the new rule came into effect ending the stage with Reddick taking the stage one win. 

Stage two started with Reddick out front and would keep the lead until his green flag pit stop on lap 151, giving the lead to Blaney. Blaney led a lap and pitted, moving Larson to the lead. Larson led for three laps before pitting, completing the green flag cycle. This time Wallace would be in the lead over Reddick. Wallace would lead until the next set of green flag pit stops and when they cycled through, Briscoe would assume the lead after a quick pit stop. Reddick had a slow stop as his team had trouble with the right front tire, sending him back to the ninth position. With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Christopher Bell passed his teammate, Briscoe, for the lead. Bell would hold on for the stage two win. 

Larson started the final stage in the lead and remained out front until the green flag pit stops, but before they cycled through, the caution came out as Zane Smith spun out with his teammate Todd Gilliland leading. At the restart, Larson led the pack to the green flag and would pull out to a comfortable lead. On lap 316, William Byron spun out bring out the caution flag. After the pit stops, Bell was back in the lead for the restart. Bell lead a couple of laps before Briscoe passed his teammate for the lead. The caution came out again for rain with 33 laps remaining. Several teams pitted under caution, but Larson chose to stay out and took the lead. The teams that pitted to get new tires came through the field quickly and in five laps, Bell, Gibbs and Brisco were working on passing Larson. Bell was able to accomplish the pass on Larson with 12 laps remaining. Bell would hold off teammate Gibbs for the first win in the Chase.