Well that stinks. We had a really nice race going, with a whole lot of intrigue, and then Joey Logano had to go and win it.
The Winner
Logano’s in the playoffs, as was expected. It was inevitable that he would win a race or more on the season, but it would’ve been nice if it came in one less prominent. We have to notice this one.
The Race
Early on, it looked like Martin Truex Jr. might sweep the day after winning the Truck race (side note we got beef between John Hunter Nemechek and Matt Crafton—here’s the rundown and here’s one aftermath video and here’s another aftermath video). But the 19 fell off the pace, and after Daniel Suárez led for a while (sparknotes on Suárez: has bounced around teams, came up through his native Mexico, wears a sweet helmet), he left the door open for Logano to pass him towards the end of the second stage, something Logano did. It looked like Denny Hamlin would have a chance at the victory on a late restart in the final stage, but the 11 tried to pass Logano high rather than just wrecking him, and it didn’t work out.
Blech.
Notable Names
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the runner up.
Hamlin finished third.
Suárez wound up fourth.
Ryan Newman was a factor, surviving a vulnerable spin at one point. He finished fifth.
William Byron was sixth.
Tyler Reddick was seventh.
Ryan Blaney was eighth.
Erik Jones had a solid day, coming in ninth.
Chase Elliott ended tenth.
Brad Keselowski was eleventh.
Michael McDowell started the race at the back of the field due to a late modification, but finished twelfth.
Matt DiBenedetto also started the race at the back of the field, with the 21 team tearing the car’s fender unloading it from the hauler and having to replace it. He ended the race in 13th.
Kevin Harvick was 15th.
Kurt Busch was 16th.
Kyle Busch overheated early and had to pit (it looked, at the time, like this was going to plague the race, but teams evidently figured it out), but he fought back, only to get collected in a late second-stage wreck and finish 17th.
I missed when and how Truex fell back, but he finished 19th.
Chase Briscoe was 20th.
Austin Dillon was 21st.
Alex Bowman was 22nd.
Cole Custer was 24th.
Bubba Wallace raced in the top ten for most of the day, picking up a handful of stage points, but Stenhouse bumped him late, cutting his left rear tire, and NASCAR didn’t wave the yellow flag when Wallace spun, resulting in a green-flag pit stop and a letdown of a 27th-place finish.
Kyle Larson, the favorite, was involved in all sorts of contact, finishing 29th.
Christopher Bell, the secondary favorite, wrecked and finished 34th.
Aric Almirola was knocked out by an early collision and finished 36th.
Standings
Seven races in, so a long way (19 races) to go before the playoff field’s set, but here’s where we’re at:
1. Logano (1 win)
2. Truex (1 win)
3. Larson (1 win)
4. Byron (1 win)
5. Blaney (1 win)
6. Bell (1 win)
7. McDowell (1 win)
8. Hamlin (159 points ahead of first driver out)
9. Keselowski (64 points ahead of first driver out)
10. Harvick (57 points ahead of first driver out)
11. Elliott (43 points ahead of first driver out)
12. Dillon (18 points ahead of first driver out)
13. Kyle Busch (15 points ahead of first driver out)
14. Stenhouse (12 points ahead of first driver out)
15. Kurt Busch (5 points ahead of first driver out)
16. Bowman (4 points ahead of first driver out)
17. Chris Buescher (first driver out, 4 points behind last driver in)
18. Ryan Preece (18 points behind last driver in)
19. Newman (23 points behind last driver in)
20. Suárez (28 points behind last driver in)
21. Wallace (36 points behind last driver in)
22. Jones (50 points behind last driver in)
23. Custer (54 points behind last driver in)
24. DiBenedetto (55 points behind last driver in)
25. Reddick (60 points behind last driver in)
26. Ross Chastain (62 points behind last driver in)
27. Briscoe (68 points behind last driver in)
28. Almirola (84 points behind last driver in)
Thoughts, Implications
With regard to the standings: It’s interesting how far back Almirola is after making the playoffs each of the last three seasons, especially because he only has those two career race wins, meaning he’s more likely than most to need to get in on points). Also, I’d imagine it was a relief for some bubble drivers that Logano won instead of a wildcard like Suárez or even Stenhouse. Keeps a spot open that might otherwise have closed.
As far as the race itself goes…
NASCAR pulled it off. It was competitive. It struck the balance between messy and disaster. It didn’t come off as too gimmicky.
It really looked, Sunday morning, like NASCAR had a debacle on their hands. The rain was torrential. The heat races—one of the fun parts of the whole dirt-track thing—were canceled. But Bristol got their track dried, the truck race went well, and the Cup Series race went well enough. There were issues—NASCAR had to switch to single-file restarts late in the second stage after a big wreck demonstrated that no one could see out their windshield while racing that closely—but beyond the expected midrace track maintenance, it was a relatively normal day in terms of how much time was spent actually racing. And the actual racing was pretty fun.
They announced late in the race that they’ll be doing this again next year. Seems like a good call.
What’s Next
Nothing Easter weekend. Next race at Martinsville the following weekend, and it’ll be a Saturday night affair.
Videos, Fun Stuff
The big early crash that took out Almirola:
Newman spinning and somehow not getting hit:
Bell and Larson wrecking:
The competition caution/between-stage pit stops, where the running order was held constant while Bristol worked on its track:
Suárez’s pass of Truex:
The late-second-stage wreck where it became clear that double-file restarts were not going to work:
Did I intentionally leave out any video of Logano’s pass of Suárez or holding-off of Hamlin? No. But I also didn’t look very hard for it.
