BRISTOL, Tenn. -- After securing his spot in the Round of 12 of the NASCAR playoffs on points, Denny Hamlin took complete control of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway to earn his third win of the 2023 season and the 51st of his Cup Series career. Hamlin took the win in convincing fashion over the final 150 laps, passing Ty Gibbs and then pulling away from Kyle Larson over the final green flag run.
Hamlin led the way among the 12 drivers who advanced to the next round of the playoffs, a group that included two drivers who had entered Saturday night's race below the cut line and in danger of elimination. 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace both made it to the next round of the playoffs, capitalizing on issues for 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick and defending Cup champion Joey Logano that resulted in them being eliminated from the playoffs.
Despite top-10 finishes, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell were both eliminated from the playoffs as well.
Bass Pro Shops Night Race unofficial results
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #54 - Ty Gibbs (R)
- #34 - Michael McDowell
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #24 - William Byron
- #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
"Can't thank this whole FedEx team enough. They've really kicked ass this whole first round," Hamlin told NBC Sports. "Really amazing how our team has been. So happy about the way we're running. Can't wait to keep going.
"... It's our year. I just feel like we've got it all put together. We've got the speed every single type of racetrack. Nothing to stop us at this point."
Hamlin's third career Bristol victory furthered his efforts to win his first Cup championship, and he also made Bristol's always-electric night race his platform to further entrench his standing as NASCAR's greatest heel. During driver introductions, Hamlin introduced to himself to the crowd simply by saying they knew exactly who he was.
As Hamlin grasped the checkered flag -- to a cascade of boos from the crowd -- he made sure to remind them exactly what he had done.
"I beat your favorite driver!" Hamlin chirped. "All of them!"
One champ in, two champs out
Entering Saturday night's elimination race, no driver in the Round of 16 faced greater pressure than Martin Truex Jr., who was trying to avoid becoming the first regular-season champion to ever be knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. Thankfully for Truex and his team, disaster didn't strike the same way it did at Kansas, and the meteor didn't hit -- though it certainly came somewhat close to the atmosphere.
Truex wound up sliding back to midpack in the second half of the race, and his playoff hopes came perilously close to being dashed when he got sideways on the exit of Turn 4 as he was being put one lap down, hitting the wall with his right rear quarter panel and nearly spinning out before saving his racecar. Truex wound up 19th, but it was enough for him to make it to the Round of 12 by a scant five points.
"It was just a fighting night," Truex told NBC Sports. "We had to fight through it and do the best we could. It wasn't pretty, but it was enough. So now we reset, and we can go and hopefully not have two terrible weeks in a row like we did this round in the next couple and be in good shape."
In avoiding making the wrong sort of history, Truex ended up passing the buck to another Cup champion: Joey Logano had not been having a particularly good race and was mired deep in the field when Corey LaJoie spun at the end of the backstretch and slid back up into traffic in Turn 3, collecting Logano as well as several other cars in the most major accident of the race on Lap 262.
Logano finished 34th and missed the Round of 12 by four points, becoming the very first defending Cup Series champion to ever be eliminated from the playoffs in the Round of 16.
While Logano's playoff hopes ended with a slam and a bang, the lights went out on Kevin Harvick's pursuit of a second and final Cup championship much more softly. Harvick had not been running well even before getting a piece of the multi-car accident that collected Logano, and he ended up finishing five laps down in 29th and missing the next round by four points.
"We've been like that all year. We've been hit-or-miss, and tonight we just missed by a mile," Harvick told NBC Sports. "... I didn't really have many expectations with as up and down as the year has been. So it is what it is. That's probably about what we deserve."
The Round of 12
The best part about surviving the Round of 16 for Truex is that his first-round woes no longer matter. Thanks to the playoff points he earned by virtue of his regular-season title, Truex goes from barely avoiding elimination to back on top of the playoff standings tied with William Byron for first, 25 points above the cut line. Denny Hamlin (+21), Kyle Larson (+12), Chris Buescher (+10), Kyle Busch (+8), Christopher Bell (+5) and Kyle Larson (+3) also begin the next round above the cut line.
Ross Chastain (-3), Brad Keselowski (-3) and Ryan Blaney (-6) start the next round below the cut line, and Bubba Wallace has the most ground to make up at 14 points below. However, just making it to the next round in his first try at the NASCAR playoffs is greatly satisfying for Wallace, particularly given the adversity he overcame after a blown tire at Kansas.
While Wallace finished a lap down in 14th, a third-place finish in Stage 1 gave the 23XI Racing driver a large chunk of points that ended up being the difference as he advanced to the next round by four points.
"I love where I'm at and this team," Wallace told NBC Sports. "... A career year. Just got to keep it going. ... I'm mentally exhausted. I'm wore out. Gave it our all there, battled hard and executed, and that's what you've got to do. We know next week's a reset, and we've just got to go out and have some fun and work our asses off.
"Thank you to the ones that believe in me. Keep it going and onto next week."
Race results rundown
- After leading 142 laps on the night, Denny Hamlin became the 12th driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to lead over 14,000 laps in his career. With his 51st career win, Hamlin now also becomes the winningest driver in history to have never won a Cup Series championship, breaking a tiebreaker he held with Hall of Famer Junior Johnson.
- Two different drivers set new career-bests in the laps led category, though only one ended up with the sort of finish that befitted their night. After leading no more than four laps in any Cup race to start his career, Ty Gibbs led 102 laps after the halfway point before tying his career-best finish in fifth. Meanwhile, Corey LaJoie used strategy to lead 48 laps before finishing second in Stage 1, more than doubling his previous best mark of 19 laps led at Atlanta in July 2022. LaJoie would finish 25th after his mid-race accident.
- Although Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, he proved to be a tough out and came a step closer to the best statistical season of his Cup career with a 10th-place finish. Stenhouse's eighth top 10 of the year is one off of the career-high of nine he set in 2017, and he has seven races left to either match or surpass that total.
- Arguably no driver in the field was more impressive on Saturday night Carson Hocevar, who yet again dazzled in just his fourth career Cup start. Hocevar ran deep inside the top 10 before earning an 11th-place finish, which is the best of the entire season for the Legacy Motor Club No. 42 team.
- On a night where Stewart-Haas Racing's chances of winning a championship with Kevin Harvick ended, short track ace Ryan Preece would end up carrying the company. Preece's 12th-place finish was the best for any SHR car, and it was also his first finish inside the top 15 since a fifth-place run at Richmond in July.
Next Race
The Round of 12 begins with a trip to the Lone Star State and the Texas Motor Speedway for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Coverage begins next Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network with streaming on fubo (try for free).
