Hendrick Motorsports is just going around the garage now.
The Winner
Chase Elliott. The road course man.
Curious how unusual it is to have a guy who wins this consistently on road courses. And there is a piece of me that wonders if NASCAR got real smart with this and added road courses to the schedule in part to help Elliott build his dominance.
The Race
Matt DiBenedetto was a factor. Austin Cindric was briefly a factor. Kyle Busch was a factor. But Elliott’s just too good at these places, or so it seems.
Notable Names
Christopher Bell had his best day in a long time, finishing 2nd.
Kyle Busch wound up 3rd.
Kurt Busch survived a trip through the grass (as many did) to grab a lot of points in 4th place.
Denny Hamlin was 5th.
Chase Briscoe had a great day, finishing 6th.
Ross Chastain grabbed some good points, coming in 7th.
Tyler Reddick grabbed a stage win with some pit strategy and stayed strong overall, coming in 8th.
Martin Truex Jr. got hit with a penalty but still got himself to 9th.
DiBenedetto was 10th.
Austin Dillon was 11th.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was 12th.
Brad Keselowski was 13th.
Aric Almirola was 14th.
Joey Logano was 15th.
Kyle Larson got spun late by Alex Bowman, finishing 16th.
Cole Custer was 17th.
Chris Buescher was 18th.
Erik Jones was 19th.
Ryan Blaney was 20th.
Bowman was 22nd.
Bubba Wallace was 24th.
Kevin Harvick was 27th.
Michael McDowell was 30th.
Ryan Newman was 32nd.
William Byron won the first stage but finished 33rd.
Daniel Suárez had some early mechanical trouble, got back on the track, and finished 36th.
Cindric spun and had some car issues right after taking the lead, having to stop and take a 38th-place result.
Ryan Preece broke down almost immediately, finishing 40th.
Standings
Six races left before the playoffs. Heating up.
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. Bell (1 win)
11. McDowell (1 win)
12. Hamlin (352 points ahead of first driver out)
13. Harvick (153 points ahead of first driver out)
14. Dillon (98 points ahead of first driver out)
15. Reddick (75 points ahead of first driver out)
16. Kurt Busch (last driver in, 25 points ahead of first driver out)
17. Buescher (first driver out, 25 points behind last driver in)
18. Chastain (69 points behind last driver in)
19. Stenhouse (70 points behind last driver in)
20. DiBenedetto (74 points behind last driver in)
21. Wallace (79 points behind last driver in)
22. Suárez (88 points behind last driver in)
23. Briscoe (126 points behind last driver in)
24. Newman (139 points behind last driver in)
25. Preece (141 points behind last driver in)
26. Jones (142 points behind last driver in)
27. Almirola (154 points behind last driver in)
28. Custer (177 points behind last driver in)
Thoughts, Implications, Up Next
Great week for Kurt Busch, building himself a cushion, but Reddick’s success keeps the 1-car in a dangerous spot. Really rough week for Suárez, who had been 48 points back of the playoffs entering the week. The Chastain/Stenhouse/DiBenedetto/Wallace/Suárez pack as a whole went from 48-72 points back to 69-88 points back, but these guys also all dodged having a wildcard win and narrow things further. Seems like 88 points is a conceivable number to make up with a couple good breaks these weeks. Reddick, if it ends up mattering, has closed the gap on Dillon pretty well.
Atlanta next week, where Blaney won earlier this year.
Videos, Fun Stuff
I got a kick out of this:
Bowman and Larson almost really messed up their teammate’s day near the end:
