Jimmie Johnson won his second straight race, beating out Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick in a rescheduled Bristol race on Monday. Stage winners Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. both had late speeding penalties, which hurt their chances.
Lap 420: Erik Jones, who was in the top five for much of the day, cut a tire and hit the wall. As he did, AJ Allmendinger ran into the back of him. Up until the caution, though, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano put on one of the most entertaining races for the lead all year. During the caution, though, Kyle Larson was caught speeding on pit road.
Lap 381: Kyle Busch crashed for the second time with another tire problem. The frustrated driver pulled the car straight off the track and went to the garage, his day finished. Busch popped two tires during the race.
Lap 360: It’s been a very entertaining battle since the restart. Joey Logano leads, but just barely. Martin Truex Jr. is second, followed by Kyle Larson (running the high line), Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson — all within 1.7 seconds of each other.
Lap 323: David Ragan, trying to avoid the slow car of teammate Landon Cassill (who was on old tires), collided with Danica Patrick. Both cars crashed on the backstretch, and Patrick’s race was over. “This is the end of a miserable day,” she told her team.
Lap 295: Brad Keselowski had to make an unscheduled pit stop for repairs, leaving him three laps down in 28th place. A few laps later, he had to take it to the garage with steering problems and other issues. Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead Joey Logano.
Final stage restart: Landon Cassill stayed out and took the lead, but was quickly dropped on the restart. Martin Truex Jr. retook the lead ahead of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin (who nearly got into Cassill) and Joey Logano.
Lap 250: Martin Truex Jr. wins Stage 2, giving him 10 stage points and a bonus point for the playoffs. The other drivers who scored stage points: Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Lap 218: On the restart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered a mechanical problem that resulted in a broken oil cooler. Earnhardt ended up hitting the wall in Turn 1 and had to go to the garage, done for the day. Then, on his way to the care center, a kid tried to ask him for a selfie (but it didn’t work out).
Lap 210: Kyle Busch pops a tire and his the wall in Turn 2. It’s yet another tire problem for Busch, who seems to have more issues with his Goodyears than any other driver (coincidence or not).
Lap 203: After leading the first 202 laps, Kyle Larson gave up the lead to Martin Truex Jr. Once he lost the lead, Larson quickly fell back to third.
Lap 175: Kyle Larson has led every lap so far and still continues to dominate the race. Joey Logano is second and Martin Truex Jr. is third.
Lap 125: Stage 1 ends with Kyle Larson having led all 125 laps. The rest of the top 10: Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Busch.
Lap 111: FOX shows an in-car camera view of Ryan Blaney’s struggles. He’s been without power steering for roughly the last 30 laps or so and has fallen two laps down in 33rd place.
Lap 100: Kyle Larson has led every lap so far. Martin Truex Jr. is in second place, 2.5 seconds behind.
Lap 88: Erik Jones is on the move. The rookie is now up to second place, trailing only Larson. Jones won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.
Lap 71: The race goes back to green with Kyle Larson still leading. Behind him are Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch.
Lap 67: Red flag. You know that caution (see below)? Well, it’s still going. They stopped the race to clean up the track in Turn 1.
Lap 54: Kurt Busch lost control on the inside of and slid into the inside of the frontstretch wall entering Turn 1. There was significant contact for Busch, and Chris Buescher also crashed into Reed Sorenson when the car in front of him jammed on the brakes. “That’s my bad,” Busch told his team on the radio. This caution will also count as the competition caution, which had been coming up.
Lap 40: With a 2.5-second lead, Kyle Larson has decided to move up to the high line and try to work it in when he can. Chase Elliott is second and Martin Truex Jr. is third.
Lap 15: Kyle Larson is running the bottom as the race leader and has already lapped the first two cars. All the leaders are on the bottom so far, as it’s showing to be the fastest way so far after a morning re-application of VHT TrackBite.
1:11 p.m. ET: Kyle Larson elects to take the top and starts the race as the leader.
1:03 p.m. ET: OK, engines have been fired. Chris Buescher starts at the rear. Ryan Blaney changed a tire, but will keep his starting spot because NASCAR ruled it was no advantage since drivers did not qualify on those tires.
Pre-race: Why are you reading this now? The race hasn’t started yet. Check back in a few for the first update.
This is helpful for those of us who have to watch on Fox. They’ve been peddling single pack viagra during almost every caution and/or important event. Took 3 commercial breaks before showing Buescher’s incident.
Great job today Jeff. Thanks