Hendrick Motorsports is the new all-time wins leader.
The Winner
Kyle Larson dominated. Start to finish, for the most part. Best car on the track and that’s not to take away from the driver, who did his job.
The Race
Again, Larson dominated. The question was whether something would change as the race went on, and nothing really changed. Clean race for the most part, went rather quickly for a 600, I think.
Notable Names
Chase Elliott was a factor at times and finished 2nd.
Kyle Busch made up a ton of ground early, but there was only so much ground on the table. He wound up 3rd.
William Byron put pressure on the leaders at times, finishing 4th.
Alex Bowman made a good two-tire bet late in the…third stage? I forgot there were four stages and it bamboozled me. Ended up finishing 5th.
Austin Dillon was 6th.
Denny Hamlin did not like his car, but finished 7th nonetheless.
Chris Buescher was 8th.
Tyler Reddick was 9th.
Kevin Harvick was 10th.
Brad Keselowski finished 11th.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was 12th, and I believe he didn’t wreck anybody for what I think was the second straight week. Has he gone soft?
Ryan Blaney was 13th.
Bubba Wallace was 14th.
Erik Jones was 16th.
Joey Logano was 17th.
Matt DiBenedetto was 18th.
Michael McDowell was 20th.
Cole Custer was 21st.
Aric Almirola was 22nd.
Chase Briscoe was 23rd.
Christopher Bell hit the wall hard at one point and had to pit. He finished 24th.
Ryan Newman lost a tire and hit the wall hard, but stayed on track to finish 27th.
Martin Truex Jr.’s team got a wheel stuck after a blown tire. He ended 29th.
Ross Chastain and Kurt Busch, who are teammates for Chip Ganassi Racing, both had engine issues, with Busch’s actually blowing. They were 37th and 38th.
Standings
Eleven to go before the playoffs.
1. Truex (3 wins)
2. Larson (2 wins)
3. Bowman (2 wins)
4. Byron (1 win)
5. Elliott (1 win)
6. Logano (1 win)
7. Blaney (1 win)
8. Kyle Busch (1 win)
9. Keselowski (1 win)
10. Bell (1 win)
11. McDowell (1 win)
12. Hamlin (318 points ahead of first driver out)
13. Harvick (153 points ahead of first driver out)
14. Dillon (92 points ahead of first driver out)
15. Reddick (61 points ahead of first driver out)
16. Buescher (last driver in, 55 points ahead of first driver out)
17. DiBenedetto (first driver out, 55 points behind last driver in)
18. Stenhouse (62 points behind last driver in)
19. Kurt Busch (83 points behind last driver in)
20. Newman (87 points behind last driver in)
21. Chastain (93 points behind last driver in)
22. Wallace (95 points behind last driver in)
23. Daniel Suárez (102 points behind last driver in)
24. Ryan Preece (105 points behind last driver in)
25. Briscoe (119 points behind last driver in)
26. Jones (125 points behind last driver in)
27. Custer (134 points behind last driver in)
28. Almirola (175 points behind last driver in)
Thoughts, Implications, Up Next
The circuit goes to Sonoma this week for a road course race, with the all-star weekend the next weekend. So, we’ve got a little while before normal oval races are the thing again, which makes me wonder if one of these teams can close the gap with Hendrick over that timeframe.
The continued impotence of Stewart-Haas still jumps out, with three of those four guys sitting at 25th or lower in the standings and Harvick yet to win a race.
For the time being, the real playoff cut line should probably be assumed to be between Reddick and Buescher, given how likely it is we get a new winner from outside the top 16 over the next eleven races.
Videos, Fun Stuff
Not a lot of great clips, even from 600 miles of racing (which is part of how they were able to make it 600 miles), but the passing through lapped traffic was fun late before everyone realized that if they didn’t wreck and stayed on the lead lap they’d get a restart shot in the event of a caution elsewhere:
