Capping off a triple header weekend, the Cup Series looks to add one more driver to the final four with the second race in the round of eight with the Dixie Vodka 400 and join Joey Logano who secured his spot in the championship race last week at Las Vegas.

While it was the first race in the round of eight, the bigger news last week was the actions of Bubba Wallace and his purposeful retaliation on a fellow driver when he hit Kyle Larson taking himself, Larson, and innocent bystander Christopher Bell out of the race.  As a result of his actions, Wallace was suspended for today’s race.  John Hunter Nemechek will be driving the number 45 car in today’s race.

This both of the 23XI Racing cars will be driven by substitute drivers with Ty Gibbs in the number 23 car and John Hunter Nemechek in the number 45 car.

John Hunter Nemechek led the 18 drivers in Group A practice. In Group B, AJ Allmendinger led the practice session.

After the two groups had a 20 minute round of practice, BJ McLeod is the first driver on the track to make a qualifying run and posts a time of 33.380 seconds around the mile and a half track.

Posting a time of 32.253 seconds, John Hunter Nemechek leads the way in Group A; Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, and Chase Elliott will all move on to round two of qualifying.

Kyle Larson leads the way in Group B with William Byron, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, and AJ Allmendinger will move on to round two of the playoffs.

Only three of the eight playoff drivers move on to round two of the playoffs and will start the race in the top 10.  There are also two substitute drivers making a run for the pole with John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Gibbs.

Even after getting loose on his second qualifying run, John Hunter Nemechek posted a time of 32.534 seconds.

With a time of 32.454 seconds, William Byron puts his number 24 car on the pole for his eighth career pole.  Christopher Bell will start alongside Byron on the front row.

The starting lineup for the Dixie Vodka 400:
William Byron
Christopher Bell
Chase Elliott
John Hunter Nemechek
Kyle Larson
Ty Gibbs
Tyler Reddick
Chris Buescher
Brad Keselowski
AJ Allmendinger
Kyle Busch
Martin Truex Jr
Ryan Blaney
Denny Hamlin
Justin Haley
Kevin Harvick
Joey Logano
Michael McDowell
Chase Briscoe
Ross Chastain
Harrison Burton
Erik Jones
Daniel Suarez
Noah Gragson
Cole Custer
Austin Cindric
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Aric Almirola
Todd Gilliland
Ty Dillon
Corey LaJoie
Austin Dillon
Landon Cassill
JJ Yeley
BJ McLeod
Cody Ware

Both of the 23XI Racing substitute drivers put their cars on the top 10 for the starting lineup.

Stage one of the race is 80 laps long, stage two is 85 laps long and stage three is 102 laps for a total of 267 laps around the mile and a half track.  Drivers can run 60 to 65 laps on a single load of fuel and will have to make at least one pit stop in each of the stages.  More than a full fuel cell, the drivers will be looking for fresh tires at every stop; Homestead-Miami is a very abrasive track and rough on tires.

Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie will start the race from the back of the field after their crews made some unapproved adjustments to the cars.

William Byron brings the field down for the green flag start of the race from the outside lane with Christopher Bell alongside.  Byron quickly gets out in front for the lead as drivers gets four wide through the field.

William Byron leads lap one.

Lap two, William Byron leads the race with Christopher Bell in second; John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.  Drivers are two and three wide through the field.

A few drivers have already found their spots near the outside wall.

Lap four, William Byron has a half second lead on Christopher Bell; Kyle Larson, John Hunter Nemechek, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.

Loving to ride the high line, Tyler Reddick has already left his mark on the sea foam green wall.

Lap six, William Byron has increased his lead to just under a second on Christopher Bell.

Lap seven, William Byron has a lead of nearly a second on Kyle Larson; Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, and John Hunter Nemechek round out the top five.

Lap eleven, William Byron has a one second Lead on Kyle Larson; Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.

Lap 17, William Byron has led every lap so far with Kyle Larson in second up along the wall less than half a second back; John Hunter Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, and Tyler Reddick round out the top five.

Lap 20, Kyle Larson is just haf a second behind leader William Byron; John Hunter Nemechek is in third nearly four seconds back with AJ Allmendinger and Tyler Reddick rounding out the top five.

Ryan Blaney reports there is no grip.

Lap 24, William Byron continues to lead the race with Kyle Larson in second; John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.

This season has caused some major issues for some teams trying to get familiar with the new Next Gen car; but Tyler Reddick has had little difficulty when it comes to riding the high line against the wall.  He says that it is more about feel and its just like the old car.

Lap 27, Kyle Larson has caught up to William Byron and has passed him to take over the lead.

Lap 30, John Hunter Nemechek was riding against the wall when he got loose and spun out hitting the inside wall.

Drivers are reporting no grip.

Drivers come down pit road for fresh tires and fuel.  The drivers can make it to the end of stage one from here.  William Byron wins the race off of pit road from pit stall number one.  Noah Gragson got blocked into his pit stall and lost 10 spots after having to back up to get out of his pit stall.

William Byron brings the field down for the green flag restart on lap 36 with teammate Kyle Larson alongside.  Byron gets out in front for the lead with Kyle Larson in second; Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, and Ross Chastain round out the top five.

Lap 39, after passing two cars at one time, AJ Allmendinger takes fifth place.

Kyle Larson passes William Byron for the lead; Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.

William Byron reports that he is a little too free.

Lap 41, Kyle Larson has a quarter of a second lead on William Byron who is being challenged by Tyler Reddick; AJ Allmendinger and Chase Elliott round ou the top five.

Lap 44, Tyler Reddick and William Byron battle for second with Reddick getting the spot; Kyle Larson pulls out to a ne second lead.

Denny Hamlin lost seven spots on pit road after the crew had an issue with the air gun.

Lap 53, Kyle Larson has pulled out to a lead of nearly three seconds on Tyler Reddick; William Byron, AJ Allmendinger, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.

Lap 56, Kyle Larson has increased his lead to over four seconds on Tyler Reddick; William Byron, AJ Allmendinger, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.

Lap 59, all 36 cars are on the track and on the lead lap.

Lap 60, Kyle Larson continues to increase his lead and is now over five seconds in front of Tyler Reddick; William Byron, AJ Allmendinger, and Martin Truex Jr round out the top five.

Lap 62, Kyle Larson has a seven second lead on Tyler Reddick.

Lap 68, Kyle Larson has an eight second lead and has begun to lap slower cars; Tyler Reddick, William Byron, AJ Allmendinger, and Martin Truex Jr round out the top five.

Christopher Bell reports that when he goes on the bottom he gets passed on the top and when he goes to the top he gets passed on the bottom.

Lap 69, “driving it like he stole it”, Kyle Larson has a lead of over nine seconds on Tyler Reddick; William Byron, Martin Truex Jr, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.  There are 32 cars on the lead lap.

Six laps remain in stage one, William Byron and Tyler Reddick battle for second with Kyle Larson over nine seconds out in front with the lead.

Lap 76, Martin Truex Jr passes Tyler Reddick for third.

Lap 77, Martin Truex Jr and William Byron battle for second.

Kyle Larson’s lead is not in double digits with a 10 second lead.

With a lead of over eight seconds, Kyle Larson wins stage one for his fifth stage win of the season.

The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Kyle Larson
William Byron
Martin Truex Jr
Tyler Reddick
AJ Allmendinger
Austin Dillon
Brad Keselowski
Chase Elliott
Ryan Blaney
Joey Logano

Drivers come down pit road for service with Kyle Larson winning the race off of pit road.

Kyle Larson brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two with William Byron alongside on lap 88.  Martin Truex Jr give Kyle Larson a push before coming up on the outside to make it a three way battle for the lead.

Teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron battle for the lead with Larson getting the edge.

Lap 90, the top five are Kyle Larson William Byron, Martin Truex Jr, Chase Elliott, and Brad Keselowski.  Drivers are spread out all across the track.

AJ Allmendinger and Ross Chastain battle for seventh.

There are 30 cars on the lead lap with all 36 drivers till on the track.

Lap 94, Kyle Larson leads the race, but William Byron is keeping him close; Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.

Denny Hamlin reports a tight condition; he has fallen back on every restart.

Lap 97, Kyle Larson has pulled out to a near one second lead on William Byron.

Lap 98, Martin Truex Jr battles with William Byron for second.

Lap 100, Kyle Larson has a lead of over a second on Martin Truex Jr; William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.

Lap 105, Kyle Larson has a near two second lead on Martin Truex Jr; William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott rounds out the top five.

The 23XI Racing drivers qualified in the top 10 but have since fallen back in the field to 27th and 28th.

Lap 109, The top five remains Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott with Larson over a second out in front.

Currently in 15th, Tyler Reddick reports that he is tight and he has no grip.

Lap 114, Kyle Larson continues to pull away from the field and has a lead of two and a half seconds on Martin Truex Jr; William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.

Lap 121, Joey Logano is the first driver to come down pit road for green flag pit stops; followed by Chase Briscoe.

Lap 122, pit road becomes very busy as drivers make their green flag pit stops.

Giving up a near 10 second lead, Kyle Larson comes down pit road on lap 123; Christopher Bell is the new leader.

Denny Hamlin nearly hits Landon Cassill and Kyle Larson on pit road.

Noah Gragson was caught speeding on pit road.  Tyler Reddick overshot his pit stop and had a slow pit stop after having to back into his pit stall.

Lap 127, Christopher Bell comes down pit road; Kyle Larson retakes the lead and has a lead of over four seconds on Martin Truex Jr.

Lap 130, Kyle Larson has a four and a half second lead on Martin Truex Jr; William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.

Lap 133, Justin Haley has to make an unscheduled trip down pit road with a flat tire.

Lap 137, Kyle Larson has a lead of five and a half seconds on Martin Truex Jr; William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski rounds out the top five with 23 cars on the lead lap.

Lap 141, Kyle Larson continues his domination on the track with a lead of over six seconds on Martin Truex Jr.

Lap 144, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain continue their laps long battle for sixth place.

Between them Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr, and Ryan Blaney have a total of 73 race wins but all are facing an end to seasons with a race win – Keselowski has an eleven year run, Truex has a seven year run, and Blaney has a five year run.

Lap 150, Kyle Larson continue to lead and dominate the race with a lead of over five seconds.  He has just passed Chase Briscoe to put the 20th place driver one lap down.

Eleven laps remain in stage two, Kyle Larson has a lead of over five seconds on Martin Truex Jr; William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.  William Byron has hit the wall but the track stays green.

With just six laps remaining in stage two, Kyle Larson has put all but 18 cars one lap down.

The caution flag comes out on lap 160 for Chase Briscoe’s heavily smoking car.  Briscoe reports that something broke in the car.  He hit the wall pretty hard.  Briscoe was going to take his car to the garage but if a driver goes to the garage after a crash he is out of the race; they are only allowed to take a car to the garage for mechanical repairs.

Stage two ends under caution with Kyle Larson sweeping the stage wins.

The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Kyle Larson
Martin Truex Jr
William Byron
Ryan Blaney
Brad Keselowski
Chase Elliott
Daniel Suarez
Ross Chastain
Joey Logano
Denny Hamlin

Chase Briscoe becomes the first driver out of the race.

Drivers come down pit road for service with Kyle Larson winning the race off of pit road.

Kyle Larson brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three on lap 171 with Martin Truex Jr on the inside.  Kyle Larson gets out in front despite William Byron coming up on the outside to try and take the lead.

Lap 172, the top five are Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Martin Truex Jr.

Lap 173, Ryan Blaney and William Byron battle for second with Blaney taking the spot.

Lap 174, teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr battle for fourth.

Drivers are getting three wide across the track in battle for position.

Lap 177, Kyle Larson has a  one second lead on Ryan Blaney; Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr, and William Byron round out the top five.

William Byron is falling through the field saying that he is “plowing tight”.

Lap 180, Kyle Larson has dominated the race since taking the lead and now has a lead of over a second on Ryan Blaney.

Lap 182, Kyle Larson has led 142 laps of the race.

Denny Hamlin gets loose and is slideways on the track; the wall helped to straighten him out.  The track stays green.

Lap 189, Kyle Larson has a four and a half second lead on Ryan Blaney; Martin Truex Jr, Chase Elliott, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Seventy-five laps remain in the race, Kyle Larson has a five and a half second lead on Ryan Blaney; but the drivers still have to make more pit stops and the track conditions will be changing as the day goes one and the sun begins to set.

Lap 201, Kyle Larson has continued to expand his lead and is now over eight seconds out in front of the field as he rides the wall.  There are 19 cars on the lead lap.

Lap 206, Kyle Larson’s lead is now over nine seconds on Martin Truex Jr; Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Lap 207, William Byron becomes the first driver to come down pit road for his green flag pit stop.  Byron had a long pit stop when he tried leaving before all of the wheels were on the car.

Lap 209, Joey Logano also has a long pit stop.

Top five drivers Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott come down pit road for service.

The caution flag comes out on lap 211 when Ryan Blaney spins out on the access road coming off of pit road.  Kyle Larson was preparing to come down pit road when the caution flag came out. 

Drivers who have yet to make a pit stop now come down pit road for service with KyleLarson winning the race off of pit road.

Martin Truex Jr and Ross Chastain are on the front row and will bring the field down for the green flag restart; Kyle Larson is in third place.  Denny Hamlin comes out to make it a three wide battle for the lead.  Drivers are three and four wide through the field.

Lap 218, Denny Hamlin leads the race with Martin Truex Jr in second. Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.

Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski battle for fourth.

Martin Truex Jr passes Denny Hamlin for the lead with 47 laps remaining in the race.

Kyle  Larson passes Brad Keselowski for fourth.

Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin battle for second with Chastain taking the spot.

Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson continue to battle for fourth.

With 44 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr leads the race with Ross Chastain in second; Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.

Kyle Larson passes Denny Hamlin for third.

With 38 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr has a one second lead on Ross Chastain; Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.

AJ Allmendinger passes Denny Hamlin for fourth.

With 33 laps to go, Kyle Larson is running laps faster than the leaders.

Denny Hamlin passes AJ Allmendinger for fourth.

With 32 laps to go, Kyle Larson passes Ross Chastain on the outside for second; Martin Truex Jr is over two seconds out in front.

Lap 241, Martin Truex Jr leads the race with Kyle Larson in second; Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.  Larson has slowly been cutting into Truex’ lead; it is now just over a second and a half.

Tyler Reddick gets into the wall and brings out the caution flag with just 23 laps to to.  He has some significant damage to front end of his car.  Reddick gets out of the car unaided.  After slapping the outside wall, Reddick comes down the track and hits the inside wall head on.

Drivers come down pit road for service.  Martin Truex Jr gets hit on pit road coming into his pit stall.  The crew is servicing the car that is turned around backwards.  Kyle Larson was on Truex’ bumper coming down pit road.  The cars were stacked up coming down pit road.

Martin Truex Jr appeared to come up on his pit stall but didn’t pull in and locked up the brakes trying to make his pit stall.  Kyle Larson’s crew says that Truex would have missed his pit stall otherwise.

Kyle Larson wins the race off of pit road.

Kyle Larson brings the field down for the green flag restart with Denny Hamlin on the inside; there are just 17 laps remaining in the race.  Kyle Larson gets out in front for the lead with Ross Chastain and DennyHamlin battling for second.

The top five are Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, and AJ Allmendinger.

Fifteen to to, Kyle Larson has a half second lead on Denny Hamlin; AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, and Austin Dillon round out the top five.

AJ Allmendinger passes Denny Hamlin for second.

Ross Chastain passes Denny Hamlin for third.

With 12 to go, Ross Chastain passes AJ Allmendinger for second.

Ross Chastain has closed the gap on lead Kyle Larson.

Less than half a second separate leader Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, and AJ Allmendinger.

After restarting the race back in 19th, Martin Truex Jr is back in the top 10 in ninth place.

Nine to go, Kyle Larson has pulled out to a lead of over half a second on Ross Chastain; AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger continue to battle for second place with Kyle Larson one second out in front.

Martin Truex Jr has moved up to seventh place. As he continues to aggressively move through the field.

Five to go, Kyle Larson has a one second lead on Ross Chastain; AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Denny Hamlin gets into the wall; the track stays green but Hamlin loses some spots.

Three to go, Kyle Larson has a lead of a second and a half on Ross Chastain.  Martin Truex Jr passes Denny Hamlin for sixth.

Kyle Larson takes the white flag.

Kyle Larson wins the race after a dominating day on the track.  He may have been eliminated from the playoffs and cannot defend his championship, but Kyle Larson can notch another track win on his record with his first win at Homestead-Miami.  He led all but 68 laps of the race.

Larson said that Martin Truex Jr was hard on the brakes on pit road and he bumped into him.

Martin Truex Jr said that it was hard to see through the windshield with the sun and missed his stall a bit and was bumped by Larson.

The unofficial results of the Dixie Vodka 400:
Kyle Larson
Ross Chastain
AJ Allmendinger
Austin Dillon
Brad Keselowski
Martin Truex Jr
Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick
Kyle Busch
Daniel Suarez
Christopher Bell
William Byron
Chris Buescher
Chase Elliott
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Michael McDowell
Ryan Blaney
Joey Logano
Austin Cindric
Harrison Burton
Aric Almirola
Ty Gibbs
Corey LaJoie
Cole Custer
Noah Gragson
Ty Dillon
John Hunter Nemechek
Justin Haley
Landon Cassill
Erik Jones
Todd Gilliland
JJ Yeley
BJ McLeod
Cody Ware
Tyler Reddick
Chase Briscoe


Joey Logano remains the only playoff driver assured of a spot in the final four going into the final race of the round of eight at Martinsville;  Currently Ross Chastain is 19 points above the cut line; Chase Elliott is eleven points above the cut line, and William Byron is just five points above the cut line; while Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe are all below the cut line and face elimination from the playoffs next week.