Kyle Larson appears to be a very good racecar driver driving a very good racecar.
The Winner
Kyle Larson. Dropped back into the pack a couple times but avoided any pitfall that would have made what seemed inevitable more clearly not inevitable. It was nearly inevitable. It happened. Larson won.
The Race
Picked up at the end with a few cautions, but again, it was the Kyle Larson show. Only question was whether he’d get caught back for some mistake of his or some foible outside his control and not be able to make it back up front in time. He made no such mistake. There was no such foible.
Notable Names
Chase Elliott put a little pressure on Larson, but didn’t make it too dramatic. Wonder if he held off because they’re teammates. 2nd place.
Martin Truex Jr. was a factor at times but just couldn’t run with Larson or get past Elliott in the end. 3rd.
Joey Logano managed to hang around. Not a bad race from him. 4th.
Kyle Busch was 5th.
Kurt Busch got a big result for his playoff hopes, driving up from 30th to 6th.
Ross Chastain was up towards the front, half-caused a big wreck, snuck through the innards of a turn after the wreck, didn’t get sent back by NASCAR, and finished 7th. Nice for him in the standings as well.
Denny Hamlin was 8th.
Alex Bowman survived late contact to finish 9th.
Ryan Blaney was 10th.
Erik Jones wound up 11th.
Daniel Suárez came in 12th.
Austin Dillon overcame some early car troubles to finish 13th.
Bubba Wallace had a flat tire early, but worked his way back onto the lead lap through one of the late-race cautions and then drove up to 14th.
Brad Keselowski almost caught a huge break, pitting right before one of the late cautions, but his team came over the wall early, resulting in a penalty that made him restart at the back of the field. 15th place.
Chris Buescher was 16th.
Chase Briscoe was 17th.
Tyler Reddick was in the mix late, not pitting under caution because he was out of new tires, but too many cautions created too many opportunities for too many drivers to pass him. 19th.
Cole Custer was 20th.
Ryan Preece was 21st.
Kevin Harvick took some big damage in one of the late wrecks. 22nd.
Matt DiBenedetto was 23rd.
Christopher Bell took some big damage late. 24th.
Aric Almirola took some big damage late. 27th.
Michael McDowell was the loser in some contact coming to the checkered flag. 28th.
Ryan Newman suffered a similar fate to McDowell, but was further back to begin with. 33rd.
William Byron wrecked out in one of the late ones. 35th.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecked/engined out on the early side. 37th.
Standings
Ten points races left before the playoffs.
1. Larson (3 wins)
2. Truex (3 wins)
3. Bowman (2 wins)
4. Elliott (1 win)
5. Byron (1 win)
6. Logano (1 win)
7. Kyle Busch (1 win)
8. Blaney (1 win)
9. Keselowski (1 win)
10. Bell (1 win)
11. McDowell (1 win)
12. Hamlin (333 points ahead of first driver out)
13. Harvick (152 points ahead of first driver out)
14. Dillon (105 points ahead of first driver out)
15. Reddick (67 points ahead of first driver out)
16. Buescher (last driver in, 60 points ahead of first driver out)
17. DiBenedetto (first driver out, 60 points behind last driver in)
18. Kurt Busch (63 points behind last driver in)
19. Stenhouse (82 points behind last driver in)
20. Chastain (84 points behind last driver in)
21. Wallace (93 points behind last driver in)
22. Suárez (98 points behind last driver in)
23. Newman (104 points behind last driver in)
24. Preece (110 points behind last driver in)
25. Jones (119 points behind last driver in)
26. Briscoe (120 points behind last driver in)
27. Custer (138 points behind last driver in)
28. Almirola (186 points behind last driver in)
Thoughts, Implications, Up Next
We didn’t get a wildcard winner, which is meaningful in that it keeps the number of non-winner playoff spots at five for the time being. Still feels wise to assume the cut line, at the moment, is between Reddick and Buescher, but ten races is a lot of races, so much can happen between now and the end of the regular season.
Of course, if things keep going as well for Larson and Hendrick as they’re currently going for Larson and Hendrick, we won’t get a new winner for the rest of time. But that too is suspect. The Toyotas were rather fast yesterday. It was just a few weeks ago we were thinking Martin Truex might be the championship favorite. And it would be rash to count out Penske and the Fords (or at least their Fords—Stewart-Haas continues to struggle).
The All-Star Races are next weekend. Sunday night, specifically.
Videos, Fun Stuff
California is pretty.
Stenhouse’s issue:
Quin Houff and his team might be a plant from NASCAR to draw late-race cautions.
Watch for Chastain sneaking across the infield at the end of this:
Ryan Preece did something dumb:
Cautions on cautions on cautions:
The McDowell (and later, Newman) spin at the end:
