There was an element of yesterday’s race which, with the upcoming hiatus for the Olympics, made it feel like a season finale.
What a twist to end on.
The Winner
Aric Almirola, who entered the day 27th in the standings, 232 points out of playoff position, with just two career wins before yesterday and no wins in the last nearly-three years, held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell just long enough.
The Race
The big story was NASCAR starting the race in rainy conditions and immediately seeing a massive wreck that took out Kyle Busch. Once they got the thing going, the absence of lights at the speedway (I almost wrote “in New Hampshire” but I didn’t want to confuse anyone about the existence of electricity in New England, since someone once told me the high school graduation rate in South Carolina is fifty percent so evidently people are capable of believing some very unbelievable things about their fellow states) made it a race against the sun. Once NASCAR called out the “ten laps to go,” it was on, with no overtime provision included in those ten laps.
Notable Names
Bell was 2nd.
Brad Keselowski finished 3rd.
Joey Logano overcame a two-lap penalty (!!) for “working on the car under caution” (it sounds like they did work on it, but it was a small thing, but they worked on it so eat it, Joey Logano) to grab 4th.
Ryan Blaney was 5th. Good day for Penske.
Kevin Harvick was 6th.
Kyle Larson was 7th.
Ross Chastain was 8th.
Alex Bowman was 9th.
Denny Hamlin was 10th.
Matt DiBenedetto was 11th.
Martin Truex Jr. was 12th.
Tyler Reddick was 13th.
Cole Custer was 14th.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was 15th.
Kurt Busch was 16th.
Austin Dillon was 17th.
Chase Elliott was 18th.
Erik Jones was 19th.
Daniel Suárez was 20th.
William Byron was 21st.
Ryan Preece was 22nd.
Ryan Newman was 24th, and after spinning Quin Houff at one point, now evidently has Quin Houff real mad at him (more on this below).
Michael McDowell was 25th, but with Aric Almirola winning it would be pretty hard for him to miss the playoffs, because if there are 17 winners (still possible), Almirola would be dumped before McDowell if the standings hold (71-point gap).
Bubba Wallace was 26th.
Chase Briscoe was 27th.
Chris Buescher was 29th.
Kyle Busch finished last (37th).
Standings
Four races left before the playoffs.
1. Larson (4 wins)
2. Truex (3 wins)
3. Bowman (3 wins)
4. Kyle Busch (2 wins)
5. Elliott (2 wins)
6. Byron (1 win)
7. Logano (1 win)
8. Blaney (1 win)
9. Keselowski (1 win)
10. Kurt Busch (1 win)
11. Bell (1 win)
12. McDowell (1 win)
13. Almirola (1 win)
14. Hamlin (283 points ahead of first driver out)
15. Harvick (82 points ahead of first driver out)
16. Reddick (last driver in, 5 points ahead of first driver out)
17. Dillon (first driver out, 5 points behind last driver in)
18. Buescher (121 points behind last driver in)
19. DiBenedetto (143 points behind last driver in)
20. Chastain (144 points behind last driver in)
21. Wallace (170 points behind last driver in)
22. Stenhouse (172 points behind last driver in)
23. Suárez (195 points behind last driver in)
24. Briscoe (219 points behind last driver in)
25. Jones (236 points behind last driver in)
26. Preece (239 points behind last driver in)
27. Newman (242 points behind last driver in)
28. Custer (259 points behind last driver in)
Hamlin does have 20 playoff points already, fourth-most behind Larson (42), Truex (23), and Kyle Busch (21), so he is not hurting, winless though he is.
Thoughts, Implications, Up Next
Bell winning would have been such a relief for Reddick/Dillon/even Harvick, who are now in big/big/small-to-medium danger of missing the field. The last four races before the playoffs go: Watkins Glen, Indianapolis Road Course, Michigan, Daytona. That’s enough, especially with Daytona on the docket, for one or two wildcards.
Quin Houff vs. Ryan Newman
Quin Houff, for those unaware, is, some would say, a terrible driver who puts everyone on the track in danger through his incompetence. Keep that in mind.
Now:
Newman spun Houff. Houff was unhappy:
Very unhappy:
Extremely unhappy:
That said, the “look forward to hearing your announcement” is a great touch, considering the announcement will be that Newman’s out of the 6 car next year as Keselowski joins Roush Fenway. Also funny to imagine Houff is using equipment as a euphemism for reproductive organs and just throwing that out with no bearing on the matter at hand.
Ok, the other fun stuff/videos
The opening crash:
Does Kyle Busch think NASCAR’s decisionmakers drive the pace car?
Buescher had a rainy day nap:
Wallace and Buescher got lucky with wall placement here:
Almirola got a little mad at Elliott:
Not teammates much longer:
Almirola prepared to dump Keselowski (don’t think this actually happened in any big way):
Almirola’s winning pass:
