Long Race, Short Track

Make the shirts, NASCAR. Make the shirts.

The Winner

Martin Truex Jr. locked himself into the Round of 12 with his…this was his fourth win of the year, right? Third? Who are we to know such things.

The Race

Lot of cars getting lapped, which makes sense given the whole “long race, short track” thing. Looked like Denny Hamlin might get another win, Chase Elliott was a factor at times, others were a factor at other times, but Truex looked like a great car all day (though he did have to drive through the field out of the gate after jumping the gun on the green flag and getting penalized).

Results

Top ten, other playoff drivers:

Hamlin was 2^nd.

Christopher Bell finished 3^rd.

Chase Elliott made a mistake on pit road but got back to finish 4^th.

Joey Logano was 5^th.

Kyle Larson was 6^th.

Ross Chastain was 7^th.

Kevin Harvick was 8^th.

Kyle Busch was 9^th.

Ryan Blaney was 10^th.

Alex Bowman was 12^th.

Brad Keselowski was 13^th.

Aric Almirola was 14^th.

Tyler Reddick was 15^th.

William Byron was 19^th.

Michael McDowell got a bunch of speeding penalties on pit road and finished 28^th.

Kurt Busch lost a tire early and hit the wall as a result, finishing 37^th.

Standings

Playoff standings, as they stand, with one race left before the bottom four get cut:

1. Hamlin: Advanced via win
1. Truex: Advanced via win
1. Larson: Advanced via points
4. Logano: 40 points ahead of first driver out
5. Blaney: 28 points ahead of first driver out
6. Harvick: 25 points ahead of first driver out
7. Elliott: 19 points ahead of first driver out
8. Bell: 17 points ahead of first driver out
9. Keselowski: 13 points ahead of first driver out
10. Kyle Busch: 8 points ahead of first driver out
11. Almirola: 3 points ahead of first driver out
12. Kurt Busch: last driver in, 0 points ahead of first driver out
13. Bowman: first driver out, 0 points behind last driver in
14. Reddick: 5 points behind last driver in
15. Byron: 18 points behind last driver in
16. McDowell: 38 points behind last driver in

Thoughts, Implications, Up Next

Should be dramatic next weekend under the lights at Bristol. Not a lot of drivers all that safe.

Xfinity

Noah Gragson won the Xfinity race. I know nothing else.

Videos

Kurt Busch’s wreck:

DISASTER FOR @KURTBUSCH!

The No. 1 goes around and takes a hard hit early at @RichmondRaceway. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/cta05qfAkD

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 12, 2021

Chase Elliott’s pit road mishap:

Chaos in the No. 9 pit box!@chaseelliott slides in too deep and destroys the jack while backing up! pic.twitter.com/H7i6lVdJd3

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 12, 2021