Denny Hamlin won the final race of the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, winning his 51st career race.
Racing under the lights, Hamlin put his No. 11 in victory lane to claim the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
With wins in the first two races of the playoffs Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick had advanced already entering the race. Other drivers making the next round along with them and Hamlin include William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Martin Truex,
Failing to advance to the next round were Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Michael McDowell.
NASCAR made the decision to move up the race start time from 7:30 pm ET to 6:30 pm ET, however the race would not start until 7:11 pm ET as there was moisture on the track.
When the race did start it was Bell out front as he began his third race in a row on the pole. The first caution came for debris after AJ Allmendinger hit the wall and then made contact with Austin Cindric. Several drivers opted to stay out on older tires with McDowell being the first one off pit road in seventh. Hamlin, Larson and Chase Briscoe would all pick up penalties on their pitstops.
Corey LaJoie would lead them back to green before a second caution would come out for rain. When the race resumed Bell would win the first stage. NASCAR would red flag the race shortly after 8 pm ET with 138 laps completed. Later in the stage Harvick’s night would take a turn for the worse on lap 174 when he went a lap down. The stage ended with Bell out front.
In the third stage Ty Gibbs would get out in front of the field before LaJoie got loose and spun. Logano would see his night and playoff hopes end as a result of LaJoie’s spin as others also took damage. Harvick would lose his second lap of the night in the stage as his playoffs hopes also began to slip away.
Hamlin would begin to click off laps in the third stage and Harvick continued to lose laps and Truex spun on lap 359. While Truex would lose two laps he would still manage to squeak into the next round.
Bristol NASCAR Cup Series Results
September 16, 2023
|
POSITION
|
START
|
LED
|
BEHIND
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
D. Hamlin#11
|
2
|
142
|
Winner
|
|
2 |
K. Larson#5
|
36
|
20
|
2.437
|
|
3 |
C. Bell#20
|
1
|
188
|
5.098
|
|
4 |
C. Buescher#17
|
20
|
1
|
9.206
|
|
5 |
T. Gibbs#54
|
8
|
102
|
9.237
|
|
6 |
M. McDowell#34
|
4
|
0
|
10.196
|
|
7 |
C. Elliott#9
|
7
|
0
|
15.325
|
|
8 |
B. Keselowski#6
|
6
|
0
|
15.795
|
|
9 |
W. Byron#24
|
3
|
0
|
16.113
|
|
10 |
R. Stenhouse Jr#47
|
25
|
0
|
16.128
|
|
11 |
C. Hocevar#42
|
16
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
12 |
R. Preece#41
|
17
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
13 |
A. Bowman#48
|
13
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
14 |
B. Wallace#23
|
9
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
15 |
T. Reddick#45
|
12
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
16 |
T. Gilliland#38
|
30
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
17 |
A. Dillon#3
|
18
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
18 |
A. Almirola#10
|
26
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
19 |
M. Truex Jr#19
|
5
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
20 |
K. Busch#8
|
15
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
21 |
D. Suárez#99
|
24
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
22 |
R. Blaney#12
|
11
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
23 |
R. Chastain#1
|
23
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
24 |
E. Jones#43
|
31
|
0
|
3 Laps
|
|
25 |
C. LaJoie#7
|
10
|
48
|
3 Laps
|
|
26 |
J. Yeley#15
|
35
|
0
|
5 Laps
|
|
27 |
C. Briscoe#14
|
14
|
0
|
5 Laps
|
|
28 |
H. Burton#21
|
32
|
0
|
5 Laps
|
|
29 |
K. Harvick#4
|
21
|
0
|
5 Laps
|
|
30 |
A. Allmendinger#16
|
22
|
0
|
9 Laps
|
|
31 |
B. McLeod#78
|
34
|
0
|
10 Laps
|
|
32 |
A. Cindric#2
|
29
|
0
|
12 Laps
|
|
33 |
T. Dillon#77
|
33
|
0
|
|
|
34 |
J. Logano#22
|
28
|
0
|
|
|
35 |
J. Haley#31
|
19
|
0
|
|
|
36 |
R. Newman#51
|
27
|
0
|
|
