Kyle Larson gave the NASCAR Cup Series field a good old-fashioned beatdown, leading 462 out of 500 laps and winning the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night (Sept. 21).
With few cautions and green flag passes hard to come by, the normally chaotic Bristol played out as a straightforward race. But for a couple of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, miscues on pit road spelled the end of their playoff runs.
Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs Speed Their Way Out of the Playoffs
From Austin Cindric’s slow stop at Atlanta to Brad Keselowski’s issues at Watkins Glen, subpar execution by playoff teams has become a recurring theme. At The World’s Fastest Half-Mile, it was JGR’s turn to commit errors that sealed the playoff fate of two drivers.
Making his first playoff appearance, Ty Gibbs entered Bristol six points ahead of the cut line. In the early going, Gibbs positioned himself well to advance to the Round of 12, qualifying 13th and moving up to eighth by the end of stage one.
However, on the ensuing post-stage one pit stops, Gibbs got tagged for speeding exiting his stall. The infraction occurred in section six, right at the end of the backstretch portion of Bristol’s unique pit lane. Restarting from the tail of the field, Gibbs struggled to regain track position, finishing 15th and falling short of the Round of 12.
Like Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr. was also fighting for his playoff life under the lights, starting the race 14 points below the cut line. Truex fared even better than Gibbs in the race’s early stages, finishing fourth in stage one and second in stage two for a grand total of 16 stage points. In fact, by the end of stage two, Truex had worked his way back above the cut line.
Then on lap 332, under what turned out to be the final caution, Truex came off pit road in second behind the dominant Larson. He would not stay in that spot, as Truex got busted for speeding in section nine of pit road entering his stall.
Truex never came close to contending again, finishing 24th to end his playoff run in his final full-time Cup Series campaign.
“I hate it,” Truex said afterwards. “I screwed it up for everybody. You gotta keep track position, and I lost all of ours when I sped.”
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