The NASCAR Cup Series‘ Round of 16 came down to a tyre war of sorts as multiple playoff contenders found their hopes of advancing to the next round impacted by flat tyres in the waning laps of Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. One particular downed tyre was that of Chase Elliott after contact with Kevin Harvick. Although his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Kyle Larson went on to score his sixth win of the year, Elliott and Harvick exchanged words after the race.
Martin Truex Jr., coming off his win at Richmond, and Denny Hamlin formed a Joe Gibbs Racing front row.
Stages #1 and 2
Truex led the first five laps before Elliott took the spot and held it to the competition caution on lap 40. Larson battled with Hamlin for second behind him before Larson passed his ally on lap 84. However, Hamlin would become the leader on lap 91 and take the stage victory. Larson, Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Truex, and William Byron rounded out the top ten. All ten drivers were in the playoffs, while the six who failed to finish in that range were Aric Almirola (twelfth), Tyler Reddick (thirteenth), Alex Bowman (fourteenth), Michael McDowell (eighteenth), Kurt Busch (twenty-first), and Joey Logano (twenty-second).
Elliott suffered a speeding penalty between stages as Larson and Keselowski began Stage #2 in the lead. The former briefly led before the latter did so, though Hamlin was once again on top by lap 145. About twenty laps into the stage, Almirola’s playoff hopes took a hit when his car started to smoke, and he was eventually black-flagged. On lap 166, Ryan Newman hit the wall and caused a stack-up that collected Chris Buescher, Cole Custer, Daniel Suárez, and Bubba Wallace.
The race resumed on lap 182 with Larson leading. Anthony Alfredo and B.J. McLeod produced another caution on lap 219 with a wreck that also claimed Spire Motorsports‘ Justin Haley and Corey LaJoie, resulting in a red flag that spanned nearly eight minutes. Alfredo eventually retired from the race due to crash damage, which locked Elliott into the Round of 12.