The Cup Series hits the high banks at Thunder Valley on Friday afternoon in preparation for some Saturday night racing.
This is the third race in round one of the playoffs. By race end the four drivers with the fewest points will be eliminated from the playoffs.
Goodyear has brought a new softer tire to Bristol and the teams will be evaluating the tire wear during the two 25 minute practice sessions.
The bottom four feet of the track has been sprayed with the “sticky stuff” – a traction compound.
Thirty-nine teams have brought cars to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shop Night Race – a 500 lap race around the half mile track.
Justin Haley topped the leaderboard in group one practice.
After numerous pit road issues over the past couple of weeks, Hendrick made some major changes to Alex Bowman’s pit crew; tapping several members from Carso Hocevar’s crews.
Coming in second, Ryan Blaney tops the leaderboard in group two practice.
The first driver on the track to make a qualifying run is Craftsman Truck Series driver Corey Heim with a time of 15.673 seconds around the half mile track.
With a time of 15. 117 seconds, AJ Allmendinger puts his number 16 car on the pole. It is his first pole in 10 years! Ryan Blaney will start alongside on the front row.
The starting lineup for the Bass Pro Night Race:
AJ Allmendinger
Ryan Blaney – playoffs
Austin Cindric – playoffs
Ty Gibbs
Kyle Larson – playoffs
Denny Hamlin – playoffs
William Byron – playoffs
Bubba Wallace – playoffs
Christopher Bell – playoffs
Josh Berry – playoffs
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Carson Hocevar
Ross Chastain – playoffs
Tyler Reddick – playoffs
Alex Bowman – playoffs
Chase Elliott – playoffs
Justin Haley
Brad Keselowski
John Hunter Nemechek
Ryan Preece
Chris Buescher
Joey Logano – playoffs
Austin Dillon – playoffs
Zane Smith
Michael McDowell
Cole Custer
Erik Jones
Shane van Gisbergen – playoffs
Riley Herbst
Noah Gragson
Chase Briscoe – playoffs
Kyle Busch
Austin Hill
Cody Ware
Daniel Suarez
Todd Gilliland
Ty Dillon
Corey Heim
Chad Finchum
Stages one and two are 125 laps each with stage three lasting 250 laps for a total of 500 laps around the half mile track.
AJ Allmendinger brings the field down for the green flag start of the race with Ryan Blaney alongside. Allmendinger gets out in front for the lead with Ty Gibbs in second; Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Austin Cindric round out the top five.
Lap six, AJ Allmendinger has a lead of over half a second on Ty Gibbs; ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Bubba Wallace round out the top five. An ill handling car, Denny Hamlin has fallen out of the top 10.
Joey Logano has fallen eleven spots since the race start and is below the top 30. He reports that the car is absolutely awful.
Lap 14, AJ Allmendinger has a lead of less than half a second on Ty Gibbs; Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Bubba Wallace round out the top five.
Denny Hamlin reports that his car is way too tight.
Lap 19, leader AJ Allmendinger has already encountered slower traffic.
Lap 22, Ty Gibbs has caught leader AJ Allmendinger and has begun to challenge for the lead.
There are 37 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 24, Ty Gibbs passes AJ Allmendinger for the lead.
AJ Allmendinger reports that he has a tire going down.
Ryan Preece and Austin Dillon come down pit road with tire issues.
Lap 29, Ty Gibbs leads the race and is on Joey Logano’s bumper. Logano is reporting an issue with his car.
Lap 31, Ryan Blaney passes Ty Gibbs for the lead and passes Joey Logano to put his teammate a laps down.
Austin Dillon was caught speeding on pit road and will have to serve a pass through penalty.
Lap 34, the top five are Ryan Blanehy, Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, and William Byron.
Lap 38, several drivers are making green flag pit stops.
Lap 40, Ryan Blaney leads the race with teammate Austin Cindric in second; Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Josh Berry round out the top five.
Drivers who are making pit stops show that the tires are corded and even shredded of rubber with nothing but fabric.
Lap 45, currently there are just 18 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 47, more drivers are making green flag pit stops for fresh tires. There are just 10 cars on the lead lap.
Austin Cindric passes Ryan Blaney for the lead.
Goodyear brought new softer tires to Bristol and they are showing some serious tire wear.
Crew chiefs are telling the drivers to slow down and save the tires.
Lap 56, there re just nine cars on the lead lap.
The crews have just 10 sets of tires for the race.
Lap 58, leader Austin Cindric comes down pit road; Ryan Blaney is the new leader.
The top five are Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Zane Smith, and Carson Hocevar.
Lap 62, Ryan Blaney is the only driver yet to make a pit stop.
Lap 63, Ty Gibbs passes Ryan Blaney for the lead.
Lap 65, Ryan Blaney finally makes his green flag pit stop.
Lap 67, the top five are Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Zane Smith, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Cindric.
Lap 77, Josh Berry has a fire coming out of his right front and is now on pit road. There is smoke pouring out of the car. He is out of the car. The crew is pushing the car to the garage.
The first caution flag of the race comes out on lap 80 for Job Berry’s car fire.
There are just seven cars on the lead lap.
The upper lane of the track is covered in rubber.
With Josh Berry out of the race, he is the first driver to be eliminated from the playoffs. Berry has had a DNF in every race in round one of the playoffs.
NASCAR has sent crews out to clean the rubber off of the track.
Some of the drivers come down pit road for fresh tires.
Denny Hamlin is reporting that his car is still way too tight.
Ty Gibbs brings the field down for the green flag restart on lap 95 with William Byron alongside. Gibbs gets out in front for the lead with Zane Smith in second; William Byron, Chris Buescher, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.
The second caution flag comes out on lap 100 when Alex Bowman spins out after contact with Riley Herbst but gets the car moving again.
A few drivers back in the field come down pit road for fresh tires.
Ty Gibbs brings the field down for the green flag restart on lap 108 with Zane Smith alongside. Gibbs jumps out in front for the lead.
The top five are Ty Gibbs, Zane Smith, William Byron, Chris Buescher, and Bubba Wallace.
With all the wave arounds, there are 20 cars on the lead lap.
Ryan Blaney passes Zane smith for second.
Ryan Blaney is less than a third of a second behind leader Ty Gibbs. Amid traffic, Blaney begins the battle to take the lead with just three laps remaining in stage one.
Coming up on the outside, Ryan Blaney passes Ty Gibbs to wins stage one.
The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Ryan Blaney
Ty Gibbs
William Byron
Bubba Wallace
Zane Smith
Chris Buescher
AJ Allmendinger
Brad Keselowski
John Hunter Nemechek
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Only three of the top 10 drivers at the end of stage one are in the playoffs.
Drivers come down pit road for service and fresh tires. Kyle Larson made a second trip down pit road for some damage to the car. He was charged with speeding on pit road and will have to restart the race form the back of the field. Todd Gilliland was charged with a commitment cone violation and will also have to restart the race from the back of the field.
Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace have secured spots in the next round of the playoffs on points.
Ty Gibbs brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two with Zane Smith alongside on lap 138. Gibbs takes the lead after a push from Bubba Wallace who then goes around Gibbs for the lead.
The top five are Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs, Zane Smith, AJ Allmendinger, and John Hunter Nemechek.
Lap 142, Ty Gibbs gets around Bubba Wallace to retake the lead.
AJ Allmendinger passes Bubba Wallace for second but Wallace retakes the spot.
There are 17 cars on the lead lap.
The caution flag comes out on lap 147 for Ricky Stenhouse Jr who spins out. Christopher Bell is the “lucky dog”.
A few drivers from the back of the field come down pit road for service. Kyle Larson comes down pit road for further damage repairs and reports some handling issues.
Ty Gibbs brings the field down for the green flag restart with Bubba Wallace alongside on lap 156. Gibbs jumps out in front for the lead with AJ Allmendinger in second; Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
Chase Elliott fell through the field on the top lane and is now in 30th place.
Lap 164, Ty Gibbs has a near half second lead on Bubba Wallace; Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, and John Hunter Nemechek round out the top five.
Carson Hocevar passes Ryan Blaney for third. Hocevar passes Bubba Wallace for second.
The top five are Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, and John Hunter Nemechek.
Former crew chief and current broadcaster Steve Letart compares saving the tires to the battery in a mobile phone. The drivers need to shut down some of their apps to make sure the battery holds out. The crew chiefs have calculated that the drivers need to go 55 laps on a single set of tires in order to make it to the end of the race on the sets of tires they have.
Lap 180, Ty Gibbs has a quarter of a second lead on Carson Hocevar; Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, and John Hunter Nemechek round out the top five.
Lap 186, green flag pit stops are beginning.
Goodyear is working on mounting up an additional set of tires for the teams; however, the announcement has yet to be relayed to the crews.
Lap 195, Ty Gibbs has a lead of over half a second on Carson Hocevar – both drivers are the youngest in the field at just 22 years old – Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap 209, Ty Gibbs gives up a lead of over a second to make his pit stop and gives the lead over to Carson Hocevar.
Carson Hocevar makes his pit stop and gives the lead over to Austin Cindric.
Austin Cindric makes his pit stop and gives the lead over to Alex Bowman.
Lap 216, Carson Hocevar passes Alex bowman for the lead; Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, and Austin Cindric round out the top five.
Lap 221, Ty Gibbs passes Brad Keselowski for third.
Lap 226, Carson Hocevar has a half second lead on Ty Gibbs; Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, and Austin Cindric round out the top five.
Lap 229, Ty Gibbs passes Carson Hocevar for the lead.
There are only 15 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 232, the top five are Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, Alex bowman, Brad Keselowski, and Austin Cindric.
Lap 235, leader Ty Gibbs is mired in slower traffic.
The caution flag comes out on lap 239 when Shane van Gisbergen spins out after some contact from William Byron. He gets the car moving again.
Drivers come down pit road including the leaders with just 10 laps remaining in stage two. Ty Gibbs wins the race off of pit road.
After staying out on the track, Ricky Stenhouse Jr brings the field down for the green flag restart with just six laps remaining in stage two. Gibbs takes the lead from the inside lane with Ryan Blaney passing Alex Bowman for second.
Ty Gibbs wins stage two.
The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Ty Gibbs
Ryan Blaney
Alex Bowman
Brad Keselowski
Carson Hocevar
Austin Cindric
Chris Buescher
Bubba Wallace
Zane Smith
Denny Hamlin
Crews are out on the track cleaning the top lane.
Ryan Blaney has secured his spot in the next round of the playoffs on points.
Drivers come down pit road for service.
NASCAR has just announced that the teams will be issued another set of tires. The amount will equal the number of sets issued the teams for the spring race.
Chad Finchum was caught speeding on pit road and will have to restart the race from the back of the field. He is currently in 38th, six laps down.
Ty Gibbs brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three on lap 266 with Alex Bowman alongside. Gibbs jumps out in front for the lead with Chris Buescher in second; Zane Smith, Chase Briscoe, and Christopher Bell round out the top five.
The caution flag comes out on lap 269 for Shane van Gisbergen who reports that he couldn’t turn and spins out after getting a bump form Ty Dillon.
Michael McDowell is the “lucky dog” to put 20 cars on the lead lap.
Bubba Wallace is one of only a few drivers to come down pit road for fresh tires. Chad Finchum was caught speeding on pit road again.
NASCAR has released the extra set of tires to the teams.
Ty Gibbs brings the field down for the green flag restart with Chris Buescher alongside on lap 277. Gibbs jumps out in front for the lead but teammate Chase Briscoe blows by Gibbs to take the lead.
The top five are Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, and Carson Hocevar.
Lap 280, Ty Gibbs battle with Chase Briscoe for the lead.
Cole Custer brings out the caution flag in 282 when he gets sent up the track and spins out after contact form Ty Dillon.
Some of the drivers come down pit road for fresh tires including Ty Gibbs.
Lap 285, Josh Berry is still the only driver out of the race.
Chase Briscoe brings the field down for the green flag restart with Chris Buescher alongside on lap 289. Briscoe gets out in front for the lead with Chris Bueschder in second; Christopher Bell, Carson Hocevar, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
The ninth caution flag comes out on lap 294 when Noah Gragson spins out. Ross Chastain is the “lucky dog”.
A few more drivers come down pit road for service.
Chase Briscoe brings the field down for the green flag restart with Chris Buescher alongside on lap 300. Briscoe jumps out in front for the lead with Buescher in second; Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell rounding out the top five.
Lap 305, Chase Briscoe has a quarter of a second lead on Chris Buescher; Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Gibbs round out the top five.
Lap 310 Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace battle for second.
The 10th caution flag of the race comes out for Chase Elliott whose car is smoking after spinning out and getting into the wall. John Hunter Nemechek made contact with Elliott before the spin. There is a great deal of fluid in Elliott’s pit stall. The crew is pushing the car behind the wall for assessment and repairs. The crew determines that the car cannot be repaired and is out of the race.
Drivers come down pit road for service causing a traffic jam with the drivers trying to merge back on the track.
John Hunter Nemechek was charged with an uncontrolled tire on pit road and will have to restart the race from the back of the field.
Bubba Wallace brings the field down for the green flag restart with Ty Gibbs alongside on lap 330.. Bubba takes the lead with Ty Gibbs in second; Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.
Chase Briscoe comes up to pass Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs for the lead.
Lap 335, Chris Buescher passes Bubba Wallace for second. Ty Gibbs passes Bubba for third.
Lap 338, Chase Briscoe has a quarter of a second lead on Chris Buescher; Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and Bubba Wallace round out the top five.
Lap 349, Chase Briscoe holds on to the lead with Christopher Bell in second; Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five with 23 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 354, the caution flag comes out when Ricky Stenhouse Jr spins out after making contact with Bubba Wallace.
Drivers come down pit road for another set of fresh tires with 144 laps remaining in the race. Chase Briscoe wins the race off of pit road.
Staying out on the track, Denny Hamlin leads the race with teammate Chase Briscoe alongside on lap 362. Briscoe gets out in front from the inside lane with Alex Bowman taking second.
The top five are Chase Briscoe, Alex bowman, Zane Smith, Chris Buescher, and Carson Hocevar.
The 12th caution flag comes out on lap 365 when Kyle Larson gets into the wall after contact with Daniel Suarez who also got into the wall.
After the restart, Denny Hamlin also got into the wall but kept going.
Denny Hamlin comes down pit road for fresh tires and still reports that he is very tight.
Daniel Suarez’ crew takes the car to the garage.
Chase Briscoe brings the field down for the green flag restart with Alex Bowman alongside on lap 374. Briscoe jumps out in front for the lead with Zane Smith in second and Carson Hocevar in third; Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher round out the top five.
Zane Smith gets slideways but the track stays green.
Just three of the top 10 drivers are playoff drivers.
Now that the temperatures have cooled off, several of the drivers are reporting loose conditions.
Lap 382, Chase Briscoe has a quarter of a second lead on Carson Hocevar; Zane Smith, Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs round out the top five.
The caution flag comes out when Denny Hamlin looses a tire and is rolling down the track. A part of the aluminum wheel is dragging down the track.
AJ Allmendinger makes contact with Hamlin and hits the wall.
NASCAR is holding Denny Hamlin for two laps for the tire coming off of the car.
Some of the drivers come down pit road for fresh tires.
Chase Briscoe brings the field down for the green flag restart with Ty Gibbs alongside on lap 398. Briscoe jumps out for the lead with Ty Gibbs in second; Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.
There are 24 cars on the lead lap with no cars just one lap down.
Lap 404, Chase Briscoe has a lead of over half a second on teammate Ty Gibbs; Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap 407, Ty Gibbs has closed the gap on Chase Briscoe to just a quarter of a second.
Lap 414, Ty Gibbs has caught leader Chase Briscoe and begins the challenge for the lead.
Lap 416, Ty Gibbs takes the lead.
Pole Sitter AJ Allmendinger is out of the race.
Drivers are beginning to make their final pit stops for fresh tires.
With 67 laps remaining in the race, Christopher Bell leads the race with Brad Keselowski in second; Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith, and Joey Logano rounding out the top five.
Ty Gibbs missed pit road and had to come back around when he had too much speed to make pit road.
There is a fire in Bubba Wallace’s pit stall.
Sixty to go, Zane Smith leads the race with Joey Logano in second; Christopher Bell, Corey Heim, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
Zane Smith makes his pit stop and gives the lead over to Joey Logano.
Still needing to make a pit stop, Joey Logano is the only driver on the lead lap with 53 laps remaining in the race.
Joey Logano comes down pit road with 51 laps to go.
Brad Keselowski is the new leader with Carson Hocevar in second; Zane Smith, Alex Bowman, and John Hunter Nemechek rounding out the top five.
With 45 Laps to go, Brad Keselowski has a lead of over half a second on Carson Hocevar.
There is a fire in Austin Cindric’s car and he has to make a pit stop to get the fire out. The crew can’t get the fire out and the cockpit is filled with smoke. They finally get the fire out and Cindric gets moving again. With the fire issue, Austin Cindric is just three points above the cut line with Alex Bowman just three spots below.
With 35 laps remaining in the race, Carson Hocevar passes Brad Keselowski for the lead.
The top five are Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman, Zane Smith, Brad Keslowski, and Chase Briscoe.
Chad Finchum comes down pit road with his right front on fire.
Just one point separates Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman on the cut line.
Alex Bowman comes down pit road for tires with just 29 laps remaining in the race.
The point difference between Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman is now 13 points.
Carson Hocevar gives up the lead to make a pit stop for tires.
Brad Keselowski is the new leader; Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano round out the top five.
With 20 laps remaining in the race, Brad Keselowski has a four second lead on Chase Briscoe; Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano round out the top five.
Chase Briscoe comes down pit road.
Sixteen to go and Brad Keselwoski leads the race with Christopher Bell in second; Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Carson Hocevar round out the top five. Alex Bowman is in eighth place; nine points below the cut line.
The caution flag comes out when Bubba Wallace gets into the wall hard after contact from Cole Custer.
The caution flag erased a lead of over six seconds for Brad Keselowski over Christopher Bell.
There are just eight cars on the lead lap.
Several drivers come down pit road for service; Carson Hocevar and Alex Bowman are among the drivers who stayed out on the track.
Ryan Blaney had to back up to secure one of the tires.
There is a fire in Bubba Wallace’s car.
Carson Hocevar leads the race with Zane Smith in second and Alex Bowman in third.
Carson Hocevar brings the field down for the green flag restart with just four laps remaining in the race. In a three wide battle Christopher Bell takes the lead with Brad Keselowski in second; Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, and Joey Logano round out the top five.
Christopher Bell takes the white flag.
Christopher Bell wins the race with Brad Keselowski in second.
The unofficial results of the Bass Pro Night Race:
Christopher Bell
Brad Keselowski
Zane Smith
Ryan Blaney
Joey Logano
Corey Heim
Carson Hocevar
Alex Bowman
Chase Briscoe
Ty Gibbs
Chris Buescher
William Byron
Justin Haley
John Hunter Nemechek
Tyler Reddick
Kyle Busch
Michael McDowell
Riley Herbst
Ross Chastain
Erik Jones
Ryan Preece
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Noah Gragson
Todd Gilliland
Austin Hill
Shane van Gisbergen
Ty Dillon
Austin Dillon
Cody Ware
Austin Cindric
Denny Hamlin
Kyle Larson
Cole Custer
Bubba Wallace
Chad Finchum
AJ Allmendinger
Daniel Suarez
Chase Elliott
Josh Berry
Denny Hamlin
Kyle Larson
William Byron
Christopher Bell
Ryan Blaney
Chase Briscoe
Chase Elliott
Bubba Wallace
Austin Cindric
Ross Chastain
Joey Logano
and Tyler Reddick all move on to the next round of the playoffs.
Alex bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry have all been eliminated from the playoffs.