By Roy J. Akers www.skyviewsports.net
Bristol, Tennessee — Drivers were introduced before the Bass Pro Shop 500 to songs ranging from Nelly to Limp Bizkit. Denny Hamlin was introduced to the theme from the iconic TV show Law and Order. But it will be “It’s My Life” walkup music played for Christopher Bell who wins his fourth race win of the season. When Bell and Hocevar go up the track, Bell stayed low and left his competitors to wonder what might have been.
Story below and catch up on Bristol coverage
Stage 1 (1-125) Top 8
AJ Allmendinger takes the field to green, and he led the first 23 laps of the race after leading only four laps all season before the Bristol night race. The field runs single file, and Gibbs takes the lead as Allmendinger reports tire issues. Blaney goes ahead just laps later. Drivers are reporting tire wear issues on a concrete track that has cooled since temperatures approaching 80 degrees earlier in the day. Managing tires is the central issue for drivers in the race. Gibbs runs with the lead. Blaney pits as his tires have expired. At lap 71 of 500, Ty Gibbs leads the race in the No. 54 Toyota. The green flag is out with 429 laps remaining. There have been five lead changes among four drivers, with no cautions.
Gibbs, who started fourth, has led 16 laps and holds a 2.658-second advantage over William Byron. Gibbs has spent 53 laps in the top five and 59 laps in the top 10. His best lap time of 15.653 seconds (122.584 mph) came on lap four. Gibbs last pitted 31 laps ago and has made one pit stop so far. William Byron runs second in the No. 24 Chevrolet, followed by Zane Smith in third driving the No. 38 Ford. Byron started seventh and has yet to lead, while Smith has climbed 21 positions from his 24th starting spot. Josh Berry’s car catches fire and the cockpit is filled with smoke. Berry’s car fire triggers a caution on lap 80. Berry is ok, but his playoffs are done. Only 12 machines of 36 are on the lead lap.
Gibbs takes the field to green on lap 107 and quickly builds a lead. Gibbs takes the stage. Only 12 drivers are on the lead lap and of those, six were playoff drivers.
Stage 2 (126-250)
Between Stage 1 and 2. Timeline
Pit Stop – Kyle Larson returns to pit road for a major adjustment under the hood. Upon leaving, he incurs a pit road speeding penalty.
Gibbs take the field to green, but Bubba Wallace goes high side and takes the lead by three car lengths. Laps later, Gibbs powers the 54 to the lead. Lap 147 finds a spin at the finish line. A caution flag is waved as Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, and Michael McDowell experience separate spins on the frontstretch.
At lap 195 of 500, Ty Gibbs leads the race in the No. 54 Toyota. The event has seen 10 lead changes among five drivers, with four cautions totaling 40 laps. Gibbs, who started fourth, has led a race-high 130 laps across five different stints.
Gibbs has demonstrated strong performance, maintaining an average running position of 2.75 and spending 177 laps in the top five. His best lap time of 15.653 seconds (122.584 mph) came on lap four. Gibbs last pitted 66 laps ago and has made three pit stops total.
Carson Hocevar in the No. 77 Chevrolet holds second place, 0.884 seconds behind Gibbs. Ryan Blaney, piloting the No. 12 Ford, runs third, 1.311 seconds off the lead. Blaney has led 29 laps and started from the second position. Hocevar takes the lead but passes the 77 on lap 228. SVG hits the wall on lap 237 and goes around, drawing the 5th caution of the race.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads the field to green and Ty Gibbs blows by him at the green flag and the 47 sinks with his tires spent. Gibbs runs down the S2 followed by Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, and Carson Hocevar.
Final Stage (Lap 250-Finish)
Gibbs takes the field to green with Buscher and Briscoe right behind. Within three laps, SVG goes into the wall and brings a caution. Just laps later, Cole Custer spins from 37th position in Turn 1 after contact with Ty Dillon, followed by contact with the wall. This incident brings out the caution flag. Briscoe takes the green flag on lap 288 and leads Buescher by a car length. Just laps later, Noah Gragson brings a caution on lap 293. Briscoe leads with the lap 300 restart. Elliott goes into the wall between turns 3 and 4, and a caution is thrown.
On lap 314 of 500, Chase Briscoe leads the race under caution. There have been 19 lead changes among nine drivers, with 10 cautions for 86 laps. Briscoe, who started 31st, has led 38 laps and holds a 0.74-second advantage over Chris Buescher. Bubba Wallace runs third, 1.59 seconds behind the leader.
Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota has shown speed, posting a best lap time of 16.307 seconds at 117.667 mph. Despite an average running position of 14.31, he has spent 49 laps in the top five and 77 laps in the top 10. Briscoe last pitted 56 laps ago and has made seven pit stops total. Wallace leads the field after the caution starting with lap 328. Briscoe, Wallace, and Gibbs are 2-3-4. Stenhouse goes around on lap 353 in turn two, bringing the 11th caution of the race. Most of the field pits. Hamlin loses a wheel on lap 383.
Gibbs leads his 190th lap with 79 laps left with Briscoe second and Keselowski third. Gibbs, while trying to pit, goes into the wall, causing damage to his 54. Zane Smith takes over the race lead with Bell third. Logano is in second place. Logano takes the lead with 54 to go with Bk 2nd and Hocevar third. BK takes over and several laps later, Hocevar, who is looking for his first win leads with 32 to go. Bowman is now in second place with Zane Smith third. With tire fall off, Keselowski leads with Bell second and Briscoe third. Wallace goes into the wall with 13 to go and the 9th caution of the final stage shows BK in the lead.
With drivers pitting as their tires are spent, Hocevar cycles to the lead with five to go. The green flag falls and Bell outmaneuvers BK and Hocevar to take the lead and pulls away. Bell wins for his fourth win of the season.
Checkered Flag
Christopher Bell wins his fourth race of the season and first since Phoenix in March. JGR Racing has swept all three races in the Round of 16. Bell has been very vocal with crew chief Adam Stevens and the team on the performance of his car in recent weeks. Bell appeared on our podcast High Banked Fury. Check it out here.
- After Kyle Larson led nearly 900 of 1,000 laps, he led 12 laps tonight. Would you rather snag a win or be dominant or are you just glad to have a win, period?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Well, certainly I have been harping on my team about leading laps. I think leading laps is a super important stat. We didn’t really increase that box very much tonight, but we increased the important box, or the more important box of getting a race win.
I thought that our car was capable of leading laps tonight. Just the way that the race played out, it didn’t work in our favor to do that. But it did work out in our favor to win the race, and obviously that’s the most important goal.
Leading laps is a super important thing. It shows your speed, what you have as a race team, and we haven’t been able to do that this year very well.
It’s definitely a focus point.
They Said It
Josh Berry – DID THE TIRE WEAR SURPRISE YOU? “It definitely caught me off guard. I was fully convinced it was gonna be hammer down, but I could tell probably 15 or 20 laps into the race we were running like 16-teens and you could see some people start coming back to you and you could tell. The pace during practice was 15.70s, 15.80s and it was hammer down the whole time, and when we’re in the 16s that quick, you could tell that’s going on. You could see the marbles start developing and, man, it’s crazy. It just has to do with the weather, I guess. It’s excessive, but I think it’s gonna be a hell of a race to watch, for sure.”
Fantasy NASCAR
Factoids that may interest only me…
Joey Logano is on a bad run at Bristol
In the last 2 races at Bristol, Larson led 873 of 1000 laps. Tonight, Larson has led zero.
Tale of the Tape
Who goes home?
Alex Bowman
Alex Berry
SVG
Austin Dillon
Roy J. Akers covers NASCAR for www.skyviewsports.net
