Bass Pro Shops Night Race from Bristol Motor Speedway | NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay

let's take a look at tonight's starting grid brought to you by wendy's up front it's an old penske first row brad keselowski who won here in may also won last week one of the hottest drivers right now in the cup series yeah martin trex jr kevin harvick in row two down there in row four though denny hamlin he'll be going to the back with his teammate of kyle busch and eric jones you see down there in row 10. also took him a few trips to inspection william byron finally got that win in daytona he'll roll off in row eight back a little further you see jtg doherty racing drivers stenhouse and greece making up row 11. he's gonna be crowded at the back bubba wallace jj yayley we've seen this before though no practice no qualifying between inspection and some unapproved adjustments this is kind of normal four or five cars going in the back cars starting to roll off of pit road a unique pit road here where there's both pit road or pitch stalls on the front and back stretch as the cars are rolling we're gonna ride along with a few of them yeah we got bakersfield california's kevin harvick with the busch light camera there's kevin also high point north carolina ryan blaney with the advanced auto parts camera kyle busch the toyota cam looks great right now but in just a little bit he's going to go to the back everything will look as good the connecticut driver on the front row joey logano the verizon cam all right so that's going to be a great view to be able to enjoy riding along with a few of these drivers tonight another great view will be with rutledge wood but i believe you found the fan zone and i'm not sure you're probably gonna move from there are you ah the bush beers are flowing up here not for me of course rick but so amazing to be back here with the fans and we saw 30 000 fans almost come in tonight but all week long they've been getting ready they've been hitting the tailgates we've seen the fans come in in big numbers and they've been really smart really safe knowing that we need to do the stuff that we need to do so we can get back to normal but i'll be honest the corn was on the grill stuff looked tasty out there in the campgrounds but we got to give a big hat tip to smi marcus smith brute smith jerry caldwell all the teams that worked so hard to get these fans back in here safely grouped together spread out guys it feels different it feels like what bristol is supposed to feel like i know the fans at home are going to feel that hopefully the drivers can feel that sense of the car tonight too rick thanks rutt and steve i t it up a little bit the cars now are on pit road getting pit road speed but a difficult pit road here a difficult and a very unique pit road a place where we have two separate pit roads a front stretch and a back stretch and under green flag conditions you only run the straight away in which you pit on so if you're on the back stretch you just enter off turn two exit off turn three so you only run one straight away that's important because that final stage could have green flag pit stops now under yellow you enter off turn two you go all the way basically around the track regardless of where you're hitting you have to run all of pit road and i'm gonna tell you rick when we say enter off turn two ah you don't think that makes a big deal it it just jumps on you if you get caught on the radio chit-chatting with your spotter you can forget to communicate to your driver the plan and turn two comes up quick and nascar warns the drivers in the driver's meeting that you can't cut turns three and four under yellow because you could get caught for speeding in that area let's go back to pit road and dylan well rick alex bowman is rolling off from the eighth spot tonight eighth in points coming in 27 above the cut line spoke to him just before he jumped in the car said i'm more nervous playing defense on this race normally coming into these cutoff races i'm having to make something happen so a little bit of an interesting perspective he doesn't like having to worry about what everybody else is doing just wants to focus on his race he'll do that tonight feel like they've got some speed in the race car and again he'll roll off eighth tonight dave dylan the pleasant surprise of the playoffs so far austin dillon now why he's been here before three other times but he's never looked this strong finishing second at darlington and fourth at richmond he's plus 36 at the cut line and eyeballing the next round of the playoffs marty eric almarola is plus seven dave coming into the cutoff race here in the round of 16. he said earlier this week bristol for us has been feast or famine tonight i know we'll have the performance in our car i felt like we had one of the best cars here in may what we cannot have lack of execution they had two mistakes on pit road here in the spring that cost them they got into a wreck he said we cannot have mistakes tonight if we want to advance to the round to 12. rick yeah party great point as we were just watching the 11 get out of line and start going to the back the 18 doing the same thing as well as the 20 those three joe gibbs racing cars it took them two times to get through inspection steve yeah and i think they're going to be okay speed wise the big problem is we talk about the chaos you know will they be able to work through the chaos will they be able to miss other people's mistakes and for kyle bush and only plus 18 down there in the ninth position can he get to that all-important top ten before the end of stage one is going to be interesting now to his benefit there'll be a competition yellow around lap 30. so that's going to save him the risk of going a lap down because the leaders no matter how fast you are they're coming while you're stuck in traffic all right let's listen in on the one radio of curt bush scheduled to start ninth tonight appreciate all the hard work guys that's what it's all about nice good smooth efforts all the way through let's give ourselves a chance to win and we'll try to win it appreciate it guys he's the same guy who said he would wreck his brother if he could have got to his bumper here at bristol [Music] and drivers have said they'll be aggressive kyle petty said the recipe for success aggression and intellect who will get the recipe right tonight the cut off race underway under the lights at bristol chase elliott already jumping up on the outside of martin truax jr he's gonna make that work yesterday before the xfinity series race they put traction compound down pj one on the track nascar decided they were not going to reapply that before tonight's race and so what is down there was not reapplied it is what was at the end of the xfinity series race is what they're experiencing on the track now three teammates right there the 14 the 10 the 41 all racing for a playoff spot clip warrior told me earlier today the pathway to the next round is beating his teammates if he can do that he's in great shape points on the left side of the screen and you see right now the 18 is one point out of making it into the round of 12. that's because he had to start at the back that many positions lost just because of failing free race inspection yeah but he's gonna have to take a deep breath five laps in at least they kind of got through the start we've seen early accidents just two or three laps into the race we're at least five in it's mostly single file now the 18 can kind of take his time although at this point you see no real pressure on the cars ahead i mean this is his view where's he gonna go teammate side by side [Music] dave all close between danny hamlin the 77 dave and steve what lane are they running they're running that high lane that's not being used by the slower cars adam stevens the crew chief on the 18 told me we hope that line comes in early so we can use it as a passing lane now get tougher as they move forward but maybe they're working enough rubber in right now marty dave i asked amy hamlin about starting in the back he said the one advantage we have we've already advanced we don't need stage points tonight so we can do opposite of what everybody else does in terms of hit strategy and work our way to the front he said i care about one lap tonight lap 500 i want to be there and be able to win hamlin's so excellent at this racetrack still feels like he has a shot to win even from the back tonight [Applause] there you hear the end car camera telling his team that he's got in the fence a little bit doesn't look like it's hurting the car anything i've got to be a little concerned junior there was no yellow lettering on that right front tire i wasn't sure where that came from yeah i think he's gonna be okay maybe on the left front too he's two for two on the front tires he got squeezed in the wall there he'd be fine look up there a lot of contact between bubba wallace bubba also went to the back the 32 43 and 15 all went to the back at the start of the race as well we'll see this all night long guys lat traffic will play a factor in this race leaders are so much faster than these guys and how they catch them the timing of when they catch them and how they manipulate them and determine who's going to win this race yeah 12 laps into the race and starting to lap cars no practice these guys some of these cars just not going to be comfortable not going to be fast kyle bush right now is nine seconds behind the race leader brad keselowski but again mired in traffic so a little bit more difficult for him to get through well he has committed to the top of the racetrack one thing that concerns me about that is that in the prior races to this no one's run up there so that's going to be really hard on your tires there's no rubber in the racetrack so will he damage these tires by running that top lane this early his commitment to the top tells him or tells me that adam stevens and kyle bush perhaps already discussed what their plans are for that competition yellow which they do that was close to the leaders took my breath away right there rick a little pressure being added by harvick now on keselowski early in this run you know cars up there getting into each other in front of leader [Music] so now keselowski will have to wait on that lap traffic that allows harvick to close back in on the bumper brandt's gonna go to the high side here to try to get on the outside saw kevin hartley stay on the bottom he did that because there's no sense in jumping oh brad's loose wow loose he was a little sideways here comes harvick for the lead and kevin harvick will take it away from brad keselowski as they complete lap 18. kevin harvick leading it's the last race of the round of 16. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] an 11th boyer the farmer out of kansas trying to keep his playoff hopes alive well you have kurt bush the next car currently in only one point above but you couldn't ask for a better racetrack a six-time bristol winner jeff i think he's just biden his time being patient with what looks like a little bit of an ill-handling race car oh stenhouse junior heavy contact on the front of the 47. and the caution has come out there was going to be a competition caution at lap 30. stenhouse jr was running 16th but didn't make it to the competition caution and look at this one terminal for the 47. well that's going to be disappointing for jtg in the 47. bristol one of those tracks we all you know stenhouse his name just comes up you expect him to run well somewhere inside the top 10 or 15 i know they had a lot of hopes and obviously some heavy contact jimmy johnson oh jimmy tries to get the inside of the lap car he comes down the racetrack and i don't think that ricky was ready for that it turned ricky an inside wall you see right there ricky thought that jimmy was going to go up against the outside wall behind that lap car wasn't expecting him to be that low on the racetrack they made contact i would love to hear that from the spot or the 48 because it would appear that the 47 was inside him but jimmy changed lanes yeah the um you know ricky ricky does run really good here he had a very fast car last week at richmond had a few mistakes he feels like cost him a great run i think they were expecting to have another quick race race car tonight this will be the comp yellow guys there you go rick there's bristol that's how fast it can happen right there the amr safety team on the track helping out ricky stenhouse jr there and we mentioned earlier how fast things happened it happened just that quick for ricky stenhouse jr he looks like he's not ready to end this race tonight i was gonna say it's like a there's a debate going on in that helmet do i go say something to mr johnson it's been a frustrating year too right i mean it's it just adds to what's going on with this year so frustrating let's listen to that radio communication from jimmy johnson's car inside 47. still there yeah outside crash behind you jesus really a huge so does he think that it was ricky's fault i it sounds like it from from that that he feels like ricky was not supposed to be there but i don't i i'm with you with with you steve i think it's a great view right here so you see right here jimmy's trying to get underneath that lap car yeah and ricky just wasn't expecting him to do that was expecting him to go up and be against the wall that's racing man that's racing at bristol you know it's a narrow race track two guys kind of going for the same spot navigating their way around lap traffic we said it earlier that traffic would play a factor in this race and already even before the competition cautioned it played a factor it looked to me that jimmy johnson thought it was clear they were going to go three wide around that lap car ricky stanhouse jr it was clear to him they were not and and the disagreement happened with his left rear quarter panel and ricky stenhouse junior's right front fender so 10 sets of tires for the cup series these guys uh pretty much can change every stop if they want to steve yeah and and i was actually surprised as i mentioned i was up there last night and want to you know wander around pit road i was um surprised that the heavy wear on the left side goodyear tires not not a bad amount i actually think it's good it makes the driver take care of his tire setup will take care of the left side tires better the reason i bring that up is 100 laps that's probably all i'm going to want to try to run on a set of tires so with 93 laps to go in this stage i think right here everybody's thinking about coming to pit road for at least left sides as crazy as it sounds perhaps even four tires all right as we are under a short break here let's check in with rut rick it's crazy when you see fans react to these cars running 15 second laps and a caution that quick we always talk about how bristol is a bucket list for so many people i think all these fans that made those sacrifices to get back out here tonight the graduated entry all those processes they are loving it it's so loud you feel every single lap guys i wish y'all could be down here with me it is amazing here at bush banks and beers yeah i think he was eating something he had something stuck between his teeth but a lot of fun and great sight there to see the fans you know smattering all the way around bristol motor speedway so the official app of nascar it delivers an all-new racing experience for the playoffs you can customize your car and compete head-to-head against cup series playoff drivers earn points so search nascar in your app store and download for free to start playing today and as soon as pit road is open we will see teams dive in and as we mentioned before you all everyone has to come in under caution at the same point dylan kevin harvick is in very first pit stall off the exit of turn and number two saying that he just needs a little bit more grip on late exit in the rear of the race car for tires and fuel for kevin harvick a little bit further up pit road his teammate cole custer is reporting as well that he is just a little bit tight from the center of the corner off wrench in the right rear chassis adjusted four tires in fuel dave bottom of the screen you see kyle push up from the back of the field to 19th position utilizing that high groove the car was a little bit free but he said i like it leave it four goodyear tires and sunoco fuel he's gonna get stuck behind daniel suarez and that'll cost him time marty hey dave kind of the same story for william byron he said my car is a little bit too free he's on the top of your screen but i like it as the run goes on i think we're going to be pretty good meanwhile ryan blaney said the car started loose i need help in the middle of the corner with a little bit of turn he said the first 15 laps were okay not great matt de benedetto said he was too tight but look at that the two tire stops as steve mentioned maddie d picks up 11 spots here on pit road rick saw that race off pit road brought to you by pnc bank couple hit strategies coming into play so [Music] so [Music] getting ready for the restart nascar cup series playoffs from bristol telecast presented by wendy's and now the choice rule comes into play once again so de benedetto and tyler reddick they make the decision to do just two left side tires and we'll see how they do choose rule here never seeing a few more guys going out high lane now yeah that hat line is usually where the control car goes a lot of potential to spin the tires for the inside line so we'll see how tyler reddick does with one new tire one used tire on the left rear now he can launch that inside line [Music] so we saw the troubles that kyle busch had on pit road let's listen into the radio how they discussed it anybody want to tell me they couldn't get that worked out sounds like that engine deal paying off yeah no kids we tried i'll definitely remind them though there you go 48 right he gets long in his box jeff i think he's really talking about the 96 i was thinking he hoped the 96 would be a little deeper in his box yeah closer yeah closer to the wall would have been better for the 96 to just get turned and be closer to the wall that would have helped kyle bush he was running 19. he followed up from the back to 19th and lost six spots through that exchange yeah he couldn't get much deeper in the box as far suarez goes yeah but you could get a little closer to the left but you know we got the guys on the right front changing tires on that 18 you don't want to run over those guys they got their ankles and feet and sticking out there it's hard getting into it's really difficult getting in the pit boxes trying to give the room to the guy behind you giving yourself room so you can get out very difficult to do you know you pick that box thinking well we're going to outrun the 96 because before the penalty the 18 was gonna start well up inside the top ten he would have just driven into his box through the 48s box probably had a nice clean exit even if the 96 drove in but because of that penalty they kind of get them behind already all right the field approaching the geico restart zone de benedetto and reddick making up row one matt de benedetto coming into this race feeling like he didn't need a win but he had to have a stellar race and right now a little strategy has put him up front and just so hard for that inside line to get going sometimes been a few times we've seen him match the match to launch and do a good job because alaska to the outside the 21 here trying to get on the outside quarter panels can't quite get there steve what's a win for this strategy the two left side tires if they stay within the top 15 they're still good well i think he thinks that he'll hold on better than that uh you know i'm thinking they're going to want to be in the top five top seven uh the real win for this call would be if you go 30 or 40 more laps and get another yellow if it goes all 83 to the end of this stage it's gonna be a long go on those right side tires yeah the more positions he loses i think the more difficult it gets for him gets in more and more dirty air even on this short track he was running 12th when he hit it so let's see how this nets him out where he ends up when they come back down pit road the next time he's running 12. so i guess a win is if he's still better than 12. see right here kevin harvick he was out front they pitted lost a couple spots he lined up behind the eight car the end car did not get going on the restart now look how far back he is that little bit of an exchange just not everything going right he's already back in tenth place and look what's in front of him this is what's so difficult about bristol now you gotta fight your way through all this i will say though jeff this is why i'm a fan of the choose rule because before i would say that was bad luck for harp to start on the inside and now this was the decision i mean i know it didn't work for him here i'm not blaming him but it just wasn't bad luck he decided to start there on the inside dylan and steve keep in mind even though these guys have a win already in this round advancing them to round number two they still want to run well today just to hit all the lineup metrics and everything that goes into setting the lineup for next week in las vegas also want to build a bit of a build of a bit of a points buffer with saladaga and the road course the robo in the next round don't feel like they run very well in the road courses so kevin's going to be aggressive here tonight even though he's got a win even though he's locked into the next round they still want to go out to this win tonight yeah that's the great thing about bristol is even the guys are locked in want to win this race such a special race with an amazing trophy great distinct trophy to give away here they don't give it away you have to earn it junior you guys have done that i grew up in a house it seemed like they were giving them away that's pretty funny right there the other thing about kevin harvick he wants to make sure if there's playoff points out there he wants to grab him himself he doesn't want anybody else to get those so i love this shot right here guys it really shows you bristol and how hard it is and what you have to be good at in order to make passes this is one of the most difficult race tracks to pass on so you what kevin harvick is trying to do it's kind of break even with him getting in the corner but from this point to the exit of the corner right there that's where he needs to be faster but as long as tyler reddick keeps his car on the bottom of the racetrack how do you pass and that's why the bump and run is so popular here because it's just so difficult if that guy in front of you is disciplined so right there he lost the bottom of the racetrack a little bit now from harvard that's what he's looking for do that again and i'm gonna be there to take advantage of it yeah i think the other thing that's interesting is he's harvick is patient and not trying the top not trying to build a racetrack i feel pretty confident that he might be able to jump to the middle or top of the racetrack and get on the outside of that car but being very patient to do that he's got no pressure behind him so if he go up there and it doesn't work he's not going to lose these spots steve is it harder on the left side tires down low here when he's running right along the line i do think it's hard on the left side tires between that and that sticky stuff i think gains grip on those tires and i think that's one reason they're wearing more i say that because that's what i saw last night we'll see if the groove does move up if the wear gets better that'll prove the point but i do believe the bottom is going to be a little tougher this is also a good sign guys that put no left there goes harvick there he goes trying to top yeah i figured that was coming sooner later he'll give it a couple corners figure out whether he can find his feet up there he's looking for he's got about 10 car lengths behind him to the next position so that really helps him cole custer 10 10 car lengths back so you know he can breathe a little bit try to go for his mother didn't know if i knew where that seven was going another car that took two tires danny hanna on the 11 currently 16th marty and that caution came at a very good time for denny hamilton and chris gabhard they were absolutely stuck in 31st position couldn't go anywhere and to his word denny hamlin promised before the race we're going to do the opposite of what most all the leaders do they did that they took on left side tires on that stop jumped all the way up to 16th we'll see where hamlin can go from here and steve i did check in with gabe hart about those fenders he said they were fine they didn't have to pull him away although he did make contact with the right rear early in the race well those won't be the only dents i mean even as fast as this place is these cars will look like martinsville at the end it's just there's no room and you can't lift you got to push like right there off the corner just so close to the 14 very easy to have contact right now the 12 o'brien blaney is running in the top five but he's had to be aggressive to get into that top five take a look at how he made a pass earlier time to go see right there to ten cars a little bit slow in the middle and ryan just a little bit of love back there get him up the racetrack drive under him but i really know and love yeah ryan actually called that shot earlier in the week he told his competitors what he was going to do this is what he said i caution those in front of me i'm not going to be behind very long if or faster than them so that's uh i feel like that's what everyone has to realize and that's just the position and everyone knows what position the 12 and the 21 are in yeah i i do think it's important to you know want to go back to watch ryan blaney and kyle petty talked about this and dale jarrett you'll go back and watch ron blaney how fast he's been at these this racetrack in particular but a lot of the finishes have been rex have been incidences that may not have been his fault but it's bristol right so ryan lady tonight it doesn't matter about sage points only that matters is getting a win so you've got to be there on that 500 you don't want to be too aggressive too early you don't want to make too many enemies tonight at the right time you need to pull that trigger but when is that right time don't do it too early get yourself in trouble and jeff i asked ryan about that earlier today and he said what i need to be better at at bristol yes we've had speed over the years i need to be better in the last third of the race i need to tell todd gordon where the car needs to go i need to do a better job of telling my crew chief what we need to do so we can be a contender in those final 100 laps that's the key mark for him how good are we from lap 400 to lap 500 that's the key for ryan blaney this evening and quite a bit of traffic here as everyone fighting to get through at bristol and it is the last great [Music] coliseum tonight's aerial coverage brought to you by geico we look down on the world's fastest half mile you're watching the bass pro shops night race from bristol motor speedway and still out front brad keselowski who was able to get by matt demendetto in that 21. he hasn't put a lot of distance between himself and that number 21 car so matt debenedetto and this call a pretty good call so you would have to say greg irwin did the right thing here with a two tire stop to get him up front he's holding on to second it was a great call it was an aggressive call i love the aggression we've talked about hey you got to win so you got to call the race like you got to win you can't just hope it's going to fall in your lap even if it's wrong all right you reload try it again and matty d great restart got in line and kind of what i call jeff you know kind of like stop the bleeding right like he knew he wasn't gonna get the lead or keep the lead but once he got past he's just driving within the speed of his race car a couple guys need to stop the bleep flynn slid all the way back to 19. cole custer 23rd marty hey junior you got to give a call as we mentioned a moment ago to greg irwin for making that call for matt de benedetto and jun you know steve's made those calls before they were running 14th when that caution came out it bolted him to the lead now he's held on the second so if they wind up here in the top five that's a terrific move as chase elliott gets around joey logano for the third position for them to be able to hang in the top five for matt d that's nice dave so marty in the spring race here paul wolf he didn't have a good finish based on the late wreck with chase elliott joey legato speed was quite good he said the one thing that we didn't like so much about it was our long run speed and we talked about it this may be a long run to the end of the stage this would be a good chance for paul wolf and joy logano to evaluate what's going on with their situation he just lost third to chase elliot but hanging in there pretty tough right now talk about the guys at the front hanging in there tough one guy that's not hanging in there at all he's on full-blown offense and that's the 18 of kyle busch he has gained 16 positions since the restart we showed him get blocked in on pit road and i'm going to tell you we didn't know if the stage was set we didn't know if the long winless season was going to get under the skin of kyle busch we didn't know what was going to happen tonight but if the other 415 laps or anything like the first you know 85 of this race these competitors are going to have to deal with kyle busch this car looks like kyle bishop bristol a place that he's had so much success i got kyle winning this race but he is running that high line and i think more cars will find that speed up there and be able to kind of close that gap in speed once they understand what he's doing i'm sure the spotters are all communicating hey the 18 car fastest car on the track where is he running uh and they're they're all going to go up there and find that speed as well and that line that he's running getting a little darker you can see the rubber being put down on the racetrack up where he's running i want to see who is on the move brought to you by credit one and of course the biggest mover [Music] kyle busch currently running in the ninth spot so he's already up into the top ten started 37th after their issues with inspection earlier when you look at teammate denny hamlin who also had to go to the back he's only 17. so kyle busch definitely the fastest car on the track right now dave and rick this race run is now 49 laps old the beginning wasn't so good for kyle busch he kind of got boxed in to the cars around him but boy once he got going he passed like six or seven cars in six or seven laps and has been on a tear all the way up to ninth position now keeping an eye on him and that battle for second on the left yeah the night car moving up the track to try to get some momentum off the high side 21 is not going to come up the bottom so that might be chase his only option to go to the top here he goes again to the high side flap traffic could be a problem up there he's got him on the outside now he's on the outside quarter panel great move by chase matt being very patient there allowing the pass to happen and matt has to think big picture obviously they're gonna get some points potentially at the end of this stage which would help him but in the end he's got to put himself in position to where he could win this race yeah but i think points are going to be enough guys i mean look at him at minus one i know we talk about a must win dale jr but if he goes up here runs top four or five in this stage cole custer at minus 21 is back in the 24th position i think he can do enough work in the stages to take him out of that must win position i agree i would just like to see him be a little more aggressive you know even in this first round is the whole body work to me he's been a little bit too conservative and the fat that i know from last year was driving for a job given everything he had trying to prove himself and i want to see that guy come out because i think that sort of style will get him further through these rounds is it fair to say that that he can't you know you talk about mistakes i think he has to take some risks and if you make a steak that's fine sure or you want to see aggressive here it is right here kyle bush he is just mowing through the field in that top lane just making it happen and this car right here this four car we should we were on board earlier as he was trying to make a pass and just couldn't make it happen he jumped to the outside got by some guys now he's run these these guys in front of him he's running down he's a lot faster than they are but now maddie d goes to the top sees all this coming from behind and sees a lot of them running that top so now he's changed his line yeah considering the tires on that car on the left side i think that's a good choice [Music] car working at bottom 18 car is going to win the stage kyle able to get up to fourth now working for third kozlowski's up front he has something to say as who's going to win this stage should we go nonstop new leader at bristol the nine of chase elliott now out front was able to get by the two of brad keselowski so kozlowski drops back to second here brancas kuzlaske was laughing ryan newman brian newman drives back around the two car kenzalowski struggling here on the long run yeah it's almost like he's worn out his left side tires or something the last couple laps he is just completely off the pace the penske cars have such great short run speed especially the short tracks like richmond last week and again tonight even in the xfinity series last night it's gonna be a hard pass and you know right now you see kyle busch flying up here trying to win this stage well it's in second now chase elliott he has to clear ryan newman if not this 18 car is going to come right up on him chase has cleared ryan newman now 13 to go before the end of this stage remember he swept those stages in the spring here talking about kyle busch no because he's about ready to win this stage starting at the back that's how impressive this run is well we all were wondering when's the defending champ gonna show up and be himself again he's won one out of 50 races and now he only won one stage so far this year only one stage the entire year he doesn't even sound like himself does he jeff like you talk to him he just sounds i don't want to say defeated but he sounds confused he sounds just a little short on the confidence that made kyle kyle i think that was the word to confuse even after the xfinity race in richmond where he didn't you know didn't run horrible but didn't run great he was like i just can't figure this out like it talked a lot about the fire you're just not understanding how it's supposed to feel dave but how do you make this guy great the reigning champion of the series you give him a challenge he may get mad and kyle starting at the back is the way to do that talk to adam stevens as crew chief after they failed inspection for the second time he said well he said we'll probably have to give up one stage one points all together stage points but he said it's not impossible when you're talking about kyle busch at bristol it certainly isn't he's good for nine right now marty going for a 10. they've rapidly closing in on the end of stage one seven to go brad kozlowski led 82 laps here in the state so the front tires are absolutely gone on that race car they also said hey round two terrifies us the most important race in the playoffs according to jeremy bollins next week in las vegas he said i want to win there and avoid all the chaos at talladega and the robo dylan marty you see kevin harvick in the four car just working the high side around brad keselowski that'll make his crew chief rodney childers happy set feels like we've had silly things that have relegated us out of the top ten the last three races here but every time the racetrack moves to the top that's where we shine they gain two tenths of lap in the spring when they moved up it's moved up already here comes the four car under five to go now and chase elliott is starting to see that 18 in his mirror is it enough time can kyle bush get up there or will it be a win for him to be in the top two at the end of stage one after where he started chase caught the lap traffic in a really good situation right there in turn three that really helped him create a little get under three to go [Music] chase elliott stays down low kyle bush mired behind the lap traffic can't get by two to go what a run it's been though for the 18 team here he has a shot trying to get below the left traffic can't do it maybe a little contact up there with the race leader looked like chase elliott may have had some contact on this final lap looking for his third straight stage win at bristol jeff you mentioned it he's three in a row now unfortunately for maddie d in that 21 car i think those right side tires just finally slowed down too much he ended up 12th rick outside the points got somebody also didn't see ryan blaney he ran as high as fifth in that stage he fell all the way back to 23rd to benedetto twelfth and a little bit further back but it's chase elliott the winner of stage oh one really got the best of me [Music] [Music] so [Music] wendy's is adding even more of the spicy chicken you crave to the four for four dollar squad with the addition of our new spicy crispy chicken sandwich grab it with spicy nugs fries and a drink not in here or is it just this deal wendy's got you pit crews getting ready and chase elliott kyle bush kevin harvick alex bowman and christopher bell all in the top five they are making their way onto pit road now dylan and a little further back couple of our playoff drivers battling some issues clint boyer one of those drivers said he feels like the car is just disconnected it is quite a handful for tires fuel air pressure adjustment planting a left rear chassis adjustment as well to try and get this car dialed in and move him up from inside the top 20. full customer there the top right of your screen said that he felt like he was still tight they've been battling that since the start of the race dave saw chase elliot gets more tires they didn't feel like they wanted to change much on the nine car uh at this point so they left it pretty much the way it was stage one winner came into the race 28 points for the good those ten points will help marty william meyer on top of your screens a little tighter this run the bottom but absolutely away just could not get it to turn down there ryan blaney middle of your screen man he was four cars away from going down a lap in 23rd so the car got extremely tight from the center of the corner off and also matt de benedetto said his tires absolutely shot at the end they needed a big step according to matadi two rounds up on the track bar congratulations to the 18 pit crew they got kyle busch off of pit road first ahead of chase eliot [Music] [Music] um um tomorrow sunday night football on nbc cam newton and the patriots are going to visit russell wilson and the seahawks coverage beginning at 7 p.m eastern with football night in america sounds so good and rudlage where have you found yours wait a minute are you still in the fan zone oh rick i can't get enough bush banks and beers you know what i told you earlier almost 30 000 fans here tonight and there are so many special fans one of those i want to mention is michael palmer you a lot of you'll remember seeing him on lunchtime live with michael tarico and of course uh jimmy johnson he's a big jimmy johnson fan well he wanted to bring his son to the michigan race they weren't able to have fans there he is an er nurse in michigan frontline work well guess what he brought his son here tonight jimmy johnson helped get them tickets he's saying what an incredible time they've had especially that first run the excitement we saw there with ricky stenhouse jr but really special night for them big shout out to all those front line workers keeping us safe out here rick appreciate that rut and again it was race off pit road putting kyle busch up front party hey rick real quick we saw brad kozlowski go from the lead back to six check out the left front tire off of kazowski's car there is cords kind of goes all the way around the left front tire there's more cords as you spin it around so brad kazowski's left front tire clearly very worn out during that run and steve that's not good it's a try when you pull that off as a crew chief is it no not good but uh you know you guys mentioned it the penske cars are known for their short run speed so i'm not surprised that the penske cars are the hardest on the front tires we'll see if it gets better it's the real question you know this type this track normally the wear gets better on the tires but it didn't seem to last nine minutes finished series race so important at the end of stage one top ten receiving stage points two non-playoff drivers a part of the top ten with christopher bell and bubba wallace finishing up in the top ten but all the rest of them getting stage points and joey logano has clinched a spot into the round of 12 because of his finish in stage one and the amount of points that he has now guaranteed yeah alex bowman we didn't talk about him a lot in that stage but he's got some good speed in that car christopher bell driving up there like you said bubba wallace finch 10th is the top 10 here at bristol another fast car here tonight see the field approaching the geico restart zone the top two off of pit road decided to take the top lane good launch for the 18 not so great for the nine yeah that's gonna be that's gonna save the 88 denying got such a poor launch allow him to get into second place there comfortably interesting kyle bush didn't even think about running the bottom everybody else right on the bottom of the racetrack he'll accomplish lead the race going where he wants he's in the middle lane on that outside chasing after curt bush in the one you see the points as they run and right now clint boyer just outside of the playoff picture for the round of 12. nicole custer 21 and 12. those two struggling didn't get playoff points now in more of a must-win situation than they were to start the race chris ravel in that 95 car ran really well early got stage points had a bad pit stop lost some of those spots now back to work got to get those spots back trying to go to work on a future teammate he'll be back with joe gibbs racing next year i mentioned earlier when the 11 car brushed the fence that didn't hurt the body of the car too bad but he hasn't had the speed or been able to kind of match the speed of the 18 as they drove through the field kind of struggling right there to make time on the guy in front of him here's brian blaney trying to work his way back through the pack now i got some new fresh rubber on the front of that car so it's going to work a lot better for him he's back at 26. remember he was running as high as fifth in stage one moving forward yeah now he's kind of mired back here trying to work his way around these guys one thing junior also is that you know he we just saw penske car with damage on a left front tire you know do you have enough confidence that you can go run hard early in these runs and not hurt the tires yeah i think the i think the bottom groove is the groove that does the most damage on that left front because the transitions here are kind of funky you come off the corner and the track flattens out before the turns over so you don't the banking isn't there right watch the banking go away they're still turned right so as you're losing the banking it starts to pick the left front tire and drag it across the racetrack and grain that tire off [Music] marty hey junior you guys were mentioning ryan blaney a moment ago right on board with them the car way too tight at the end of that run they fell all the way back to 27th now they're up in 25th todd gordon freaks to ryan blaney from immediately after the richmond race was over there's a points pass for us through to the next round but in order to do that they needed 15 stage points tonight so getting none in stage one that means there is now one path for ryan blaney they know it now they must win tonight and the aggression will pick up for blaney if he wants to make it to the next round dylan hey marty we talked at the start of the broadcast about alex bowman and how he didn't like to play defense the best way to play off this is just drive up there and charge through the field and run up front that's exactly what they've done here chief ray guys told me earlier today that they want to build on the momentum of the last four weeks they've had top tens in every single race this track isn't a great track for them but it's all about base hits today just running solid not doing anything flashy they're doing that right now as alex runs inside the top five steve early on in this stage 26 laps into it of 125 lap stage we really haven't talked about fuel we talked mostly about tires fuel shouldn't be an issue but these guys are probably going to be a little worried about 125 laps on one set of tires yeah you could go about 150 laps on fuel so as you pointed out fuel's not an issue tires though we saw the chords in the left front of brad keselowski but that was about a 90 lap run this as you pointed out would be 125 laps unfortunately drivers i'm not sure you could take care of tires here dale jr i won't deny you were making me cringe as you were talking about the left front drag up out of the corner i felt like i was that left front tire you gave me a great picture of the rubber just coming off that tire under these conditions well i think if you are having tire issues you know you would try to convince yourself or your driver to run the top he can make time up there run up there because that might improve the transition that's where that transition is bad the top roof has a much more general natural transition into the corner where the banking stays with you further around the track so i would tell you know my drivers can make time on the high side early in the run do it only use that bottom when you really really had to dylan we see kurt bush up to the fifth spot now is he happy with his car in the performance he is now he wasn't at the start they were super super free but they came down that last stop at the end of stage one made an air pressure adjustment car has come to life bert said he's really good on the top was tight on the bottom but that air pressure adjustment has brought the car to life on the bottom as well matt mccall talked about how much of an opportunity race this was for them well they didn't need it necessarily to advance to the next round of the playoffs the optimism was very high kurt obviously loves this racetrack that's infectious amongst the team they were all really excited to get here and see what kurt can do they're having a really really strong run so far he fell back and he is carving his way through his field now as he's up to bed running in the top five chasing after his brother kyle busch who is up front has about a six tech six tenth of a second lead over the field his telecast presented by wendy so nascar drive that's your live race day companion you can follow your favorite drivers with high definition in-car cameras just visit nascar.com driver you can download the mobile app today let's ride along and see what joey logano had to look at there here's blaney with the advanced auto parts on board and we're seeing a lot of cars would it be diamonding this track running up high and then having that straight run off or just running the high line yeah right now oh lady really loose on the exit of the corner right there now back to the bottom of the racetrack as this track starts to change and the top starts to get really good many times you can run in the corner like this and then turn and leave really low corner exit then that kind of goes away and you have to exit on the top right now the track's just going through a big transition and everybody is trying to figure out where to put their cars and it's going to change all night yeah some guys their cars will will feel very good in that dark area where the rubber has been laid out on the track and some guys cars will be tight or loose on top of that rubber so you have to kind of cross it straddle it run under it and as it goes on you'll see cars even higher on corner exit and you'll try to get as close as you can to the wall on corner exit and then if you know there's a little bitty groove there where all that debris and tire rubber gets built up you get into that you get that on your tires you hit the wall so that'll continue to move up the racetrack i'm sure yeah there's a it's a it's a funny funny thing that the higher you go there's there's a little more speed but there is a there is a point where you can get into those marbles and get in the fence but man right next to those marbles is the fastest way around the track so it's so such a tease to try to get to that point and uh all these guys at one point or another are going to try to get the marbles on those right side tires and fences it's almost like there's a little hole in the wall if that makes any sense so right on the exit of the corners the wall almost goes to the right a little bit and intends you to go up there but that's where all that debris gets built up hadn't quite got there yet but it's heading there laney running in the 21st position right now he's got austin dillon right in front of him they are a long ways away from kyle busch dave [Applause] leading the race rick that guy that started at the back yes that guy that's trying to keep a 15-year win streak alive and he's doing it with adam stevens his crew chief recently kyle talked about the notebook that they have together i imagine it's a laptop these days but just the experience that they have together when they face at first conditions like they did today failing inspections starting at the back but knowing each other and knowing this racetrack and knowing what the other needs on the night adams needs lots of information kyle gives it kyle needs adam to make sure that information is well utilized and so far they have good adjustments on the 18 marty hey dave brad kazowski led the first 82 laps of the race tonight steve you were here at bristol last night what did you talk about with the noise and how hard it is to communicate well on the pit stop for jeremy bullins and brad katowski they went the wrong way on the track bar last time so brad has not been relayed that information yet but has his hands full inside the car that's what happened communications so difficult at a loud race track like crystal and sometimes mistakes on pit road can be made we talk about execution i think this is the hardest track to execute pit stops driver spotter adjustments communication everything gets tested everything happens in a louder environment with more pace and you just can't take anything for granted this is the one track where we actually got the whiteboard back out forget intercoms and radios burton we would write it on a sticky note or a whiteboard make sure that you actually read it seen it nod make sure you know that you and i are on the same page when i talk to my picker i'm glad i didn't have to do all that when i was driving i wouldn't want to have known that i thought y'all had a great means of communication down there it's hard to beat a sticky note kevin harvick running in the third spot right now and you could score the ultimate prize built for the ultimate fan in and out for a chance to win a customized ford mustang gt plus you can get five bonus entries we'll use the code bump and run which will be used tonight a few times get started at nascar.com ford playoffs promo we talked about the different lines the guys can run one the unique line that i've always noticed about kevin harvick when he runs the top on the bottom right here but when he runs the top you mentioned jeff how you you know most drivers like to open up or get wider on entry get closer to the wall when harvard runs the top he kind of chops that entry like almost a car length and goes in way deeper than everybody else and up to the top of the track in the center right there and then turns i do not know how he drives that line and gets the car to rotate typically when you drive in lower deeper and straighter he said i might have a tire coming apart then one lap later that the vibration is getting very bad and then the next lap he said i cannot do it anymore coming to pit road for maddie d who came in below the cut line knowing they needed to win they are going to lose a ton of time here now you can recover from the stakes at bristol with hitting under green like this they're going to lose a ton of lap speed had to come down pit road said he felt like he had a tire coming apart from that divinity now the big concern for the 21 first of all is how far behind they're going to be let's take a look we're here with some contact with his teammate well kind of teammate in the 12 of blaney pretty light contact i don't think that would be any damn the exhaust pipe right there though got into maybe the left rear maybe i don't know uh we'll have to see if the tires come off if he really has a flat tire that's your biggest concern this place is tough on equipment we talked about the speeds the loads the banking all of that gets transferred through the car so we'll see if it really was a flat tire or if there's other issues with the 21 we're gonna have to wait and see when the tires come off the car and the crew get his chance to look at him there you go so where that has him right now is the problem when you have a problem in bristol it is it takes you forever to go down pit road while everybody's just flying around you they're going around there at 16 second laps and you come down pit road and you lose three laps that's where maddie is right now three laps five pit road speed is 30 miles per hour so you mentioned a 16 second lap and you have to go 30 on pit road marty it was indeed the right rear that was loose for matt to benedetto craig irwin told me this morning we've had three mistakes on pit road the last three weeks we cannot afford that tonight and here it is in stage two matty d having a mistake on pit road right rear loose for that 21. can't make mistakes and a loose wheel for the 21 of matt devendetto might keep him out of the round of 12. the last time that kyle bush won a race was when he won the championship at miami it's been that long could the drought in tonight at bristol so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] tomorrow it's the final round of the 120th u.s open coverage on nbc begins at noon eastern morning action will be available on peacock at 8 a.m and golf channel has it at 10 a.m big round today for matthew wolf five under par he is the leader bryson de chambeau at three under don't take it personal rick noon on do not disturb don't call don't text don't email well something wolf making just his second major start and right now he's leading the u.s open i want you to see if the pressure built the no fans i think is affecting some of those players but the final round of the open the pressure's going to have to be got an interesting situation right here where matt definitely is now only two laps down i think three down your your your night's over but with it with two down i think he can get get those back the 41 here is fighting to stay on the lead lap after a pretty much a disastrous race up to this point colt custer fighting for his playoff future here oh a little bump there as kyle busch said it's time for me to get by because the nine of chase elliott was getting very big in his mirror yeah the nine to four get chase thread the needle through there yep here comes harvick as well nicole custer giving everything he can does not want to go that down obviously lap down hoping now the caution will come out before kyle busch gets another guy a lap down that high line is the line of choice tonight as we see kyle busch running there elliot runs there harvick runs there and again cole custer has fallen back now to the 24th position dylan they've just been battling a super super tight condition all evening long and mike shipley talked about the importance of the early part of this race and not getting behind so they didn't have to go into desperation mode that's part of what you saw there i think was him not wanting to go another lap down trying to put the block on the race leader and it almost ended in an even worse outcome than what it could have been so desperation starting to set in for these guys they know they've got to do something miraculous if they want to advance to the round of 12. and ryan priest got by cole custer that puts ryan priest the first car lap down now it's a bad situation for a rookie driver cole custer rookie being put in that desperation situation that's normally not a good recipe interesting to see the 18 car made all this time got to the front of this field running the high side now working the bottom of this racetrack here in this stage and that truex is right in front of the 18 and 2x is in danger going to lap down right here yeah i'm hearing the 19 as a vibration they're not sure if it's a tire or a wheel but definitely an issue on the 19 let's listen in here there you go the 19 peels off the bank he comes to pit road he'll only have to run one straight away but as you pointed out jeff two probably three laps will be lost by martin 2x junior a car that came in feeling okay about the points dave this is going to be nerve-wracking no wins in 19 tries for mark turek jr at this track something always seems to go wrong even though his star track program has picked up so much in recent times doesn't look like it's going to happen here again tonight but we'll see four fresh goodyear tires they'll send him on his way talk about the banking of bristol rick you know when you you could tighten four lug nuts even five luggage if you try to tighten all five one sometimes doesn't get all the way pulled up as we have a good battle here for a second some tracks not a lot of load a flat track like martinsville they can survive but here on the banking those wheels will come loose we've seen it before we've seen it before tonight and potentially seeing it right there with the 19 and the four using that bottom line gets to the inside fighting for that second spot yeah that was so smart saw the lap car head of the 66 lap car hit oh big damage on the 11 car here a lot of damage for denny hamlin wow he has run into something seriously denny hamlin maybe didn't know that mark tricks junior was coming to pit road and may have gotten into the back of the 19. i'm impressed you can see over that hood that's a great point steve it's definitely in his vision a little bit she wondered obviously when we think about a short track we don't we think aerodynamics don't matter but they do matter that is gonna hurt that race car in the way it drives he had enough points he's advancing to the round of 12. no matter the outcome of tonight's race i'm in a precarious position because i got the 19 and the 11 in my fantasy lineup i don't know what to do at this point perhaps if they fight do i get extra points well looking at the rear bumper the 19 i think we know where the front bumper of the 11 made contact and so jgr cars getting together and creating some damage for the 11 of denny hamlin let's listen in to mark trex junior's radio 19's got a little damage on the right side as well and right there oh yeah i think you were mentioning like it was coming to pit road i think it was after they had pitted rick because the right side tires on the 19 have the goodyear missing so i think he came to pit road got four tires because of his issue got back on the racetrack looking at that replay van dale jr he goes up makes contact with the wall must jump out of the gas i assume because he hits the wall the left runs into it nowhere to go for denny hamlin you heard him you heard himself has no idea what happened it just wouldn't turn it's like he's on the splitter with those new tires low air pressure take another look here sorry is coming out of the corner and he's expecting that car to turn and just got really tight like you said junior maybe just low air pressure and on the splitter it wouldn't turn seems to really hurt to speed on that 11 car all right you talk about the splitter look really close to the left front splitter sparks once sparks twice and then right here the right front's off the ground but the left front looks like it was dragging the ground you see right there i think way back when all the way into the corner i saw two or three sparks dale i think you were dead on right it seems like it hit the racetrack probably not a lot of room on exit dave and just eyeballing the wheels that came off of the 19. the right rear did have those oblong holes that are noticeable once it gets to shaking and vibrating oh rick these are the days i'm so thankful that we're in the tv booth and not on a pit box pull my hair out oh that's it right there you see the holes that used to be round this one right here is the worst that's probably the easiest one to check used to be a nice clean circle now it has a lot it's an oval yeah not good all the racetracks good all the wheels bad kyle busch still up front only 22 to go at stage two [Music] coming into tonight's race william byron was three points below the cut line and now involved in an accident he was running 10th this could be it for william byron look at this the steam rolling out from underneath the hood a lot of damage to the front martin rick they're done they're done for the night it got the radiator william byron also said i have no oil pressure so william byron came in hoping to be able to advance and did everything he needed to do in this race he was the only bubble guy who earned stage points in stage one was running temp and he said someone in the middle of the track just stopped and that's when william byron made contact and going by me well you can smell the oil pouring from that 24 car listening to the 24 radio i don't know why just stopped in the middle of the street will come off of the pit box it was a big season for william byron got his first career win in the cup series made his way into the playoffs but this isn't the way they envisioned the 2020 season as far as the playoffs go ending any racing for your your life advance to the playoffs and have a chance to win the championship and now it's over yeah looks like there's some heavy damage to the back of the 95 car it might have been the car he ran into a lot of damage stacked back there christopher bell you guys said it earlier though these cars are going to end up looking like martinsville it's short track racing we've seen the 11 get into the back of the 19 now the 24 potentially got into the back of the 95 loose wheels see a lot of hustle around this car we have to ask nascar but in my mind he was the cause of the yellow he's on the dvp he's going to the garage so in my mind his his night should be over we'll confirm that with nascar yeah if you're the cause of the caution you're immediately on the clock but then if you go to the garage to work on it that means you're done [Music] and pit stops taking place here with just 14 to go in the stage dylan clint boyer still struggling with the balance of that race car said it started off tight early then just built loose as the run went on four tires in fuel for clint boyer dave leader kyle busch comes in he said it was a good on the fire off but then it got a little bit on top of the track needs more grip they made an adjustment for that bottom of your screen chase elliot wanted a track bar adjustment couldn't quite roll strongly enough into the center and make the car turn so into the turn security is what he's really looking for marty ryan blaney top of your screen still fighting tight and this time just three cars from going down a lap for ryan blaney they've been still struggling with that race car eric almorollo emilio screen said i need help everywhere too light too loose and i needed to turn meanwhile the 11 car didn't say really much about the damage and you don't see much damage repair going on for getting your tires to niddy hamlin who stays in assault now they're going to do the damage repair on the 11 rick holding position kyle busch kevin harvick let you know how they'll line up when we come back [Music] um [Music] [Music] back in bristol motor speedway nice telecast presented by wendy's marty you've got a guy with you that did not want to be out of the car this early absolute heartbreak for william byron who will not advance to the round of 12. he's out of the car they're trying to uh assess exactly all the damage on the 24 car but it is going to end his evening what happened william on the track everything was going fine and then what happened yeah i don't the i think the 51 car was like a black and and green car checked up in the middle of the straightaway and we were as fast as we were running the top i was right um behind the 95 and i had no literally nowhere to go you can't stop in the middle of the straightaway when everybody's so committed to the top like that so just just ridiculous that that's what takes us out but i mean i thought honestly we had a shot to run top five or seven carver's really really good we just needed a couple good pit stops and we're running probably ninth or tenth there and just super disappointing i don't i don't really i gotta go back and watch that because that was kind of ridiculous such a heartbreaking way to end the season for william byron are in the playoff run for william byron who will be out here early at bristol yeah unfortunate uh the driver of the 51 that's joey gaines behind the wheel the 27 year old from cedar rapids iowa he mentioned he was behind the 95. we saw the damage on the back of the 95. and it doesn't look like a lot of damage on the back of the 51 so i think with the 51 checking up maybe he did get into the back of the 95 because the 95 had to check up as well because there's most of the damage you see there but you know a lot of work has already been done to that the two of brad keselowski got the free pass so he got back on to the lead lap and getting ready for the restart the 18 and four once again chosen that high line another great launch for kyle busch kevin harvick a better restart there al is just unbelievable on those restarts look at the click the cappy aria's created harvick able to clear legato and now chase elliot working on legano for that third spot did not hit that time so he stayed out which actually got him one of those laps back just keep an eye on him this night's not over fight continues jeff the fight continues for the 21 and that issue for byron is a little bit of life for everyone else because with him out of the race now you kind of know the bogey of where he's going to end up in points we get just seven to go in stage two i'll add to that issue with fire and you know we don't have that many cars out of the race so even you look at the points right you take someone like the 10 or the 14 to 41 you know if anybody has an issue they're going to lose a ton of points because there's so many cars still on the track let's look at the tent eric almarola alvarola currently 11th in the point standings plus 29 over the cut line behind him is boyer running seventh and eighth trying to get some stage points right here boyer said he has to beat his teammate so there's one up right in front of you he's got a good eye on there's one and two they've separated themselves coming up on two to go kyle busch finished second in stage one behind chase elliot and now with two to go he's trying to hold off kevin harvick he's got about three car links on him steve so many tires in the pitch even though this is only about a ten lap run are we going to see him come back onto pit road at the end we see a caution coming out though the six has an issue so the caution comes out this will probably end stage two i think at this point rick you asked about the tires before the yellow came out with that few elapsed i think people are gonna stay out to keep their track position i mean they were up to 24 cars in the lead lap jeff we're gonna have to get the word from nascar maddie d stayed out and he might have worked himself into the free pass position we'll wait to see where that's awarded rick but if that's the case huge couldn't be a better turn of events for the 21 car yeah huge for the 21 car mp is in which right now according to our scoring monitor he's in the position for the free pass take a look at what happened with the six of ryan newman sideways through the turn doesn't look like he makes any contact on the outside and sure enough the free pass does go to matt de benedetto he'll be back on the lead lap so so nascar on nbcsn is brought to you by wendy's new pretzel bacon pub cheeseburger get yours right now through the wendy's app liberty mutual insurance only pay for what you need credit one bank the official credit card of nascar perfect for race fans and by toyota want to take a look at the toyota driver updates and what a night it has already been for kyle busch after they failed pre-race inspection twice that means he went to the back of the field for his starting position was able to race up to second at the end of stage one and now has won stage two start of the night 18 points above the cut-off line but i don't think it was so much advancing into the round of 12 but maybe finding that momentum that they had lost well he told us rick we asked him on the zoom talk about playoffs he almost interrupted us and said i just want to win it doesn't matter yeah just want to win a race which was so surprising and he made the comment he said and we heard it earlier from dave he's invested 15 years into this streak he's won a race for 15 straight years he said hey you're 16. i don't want that to end dylan back half of the lead lap cars coming in here is cole custer still battling that tight condition looks like a little hiccup on the right front they're going to try to make a chassis adjustment as well to free him up before tires and fuel the struggles continues marty brad keselowski and his his team they're going to make their way to their front stretch pistol very first one here on the front side and they finally got the track bar in the right position for keslowski who was much better obviously that run with the car fixed the way it should be for goodyear tires here they're going to continue with a chassis adjustment he said i have to start so loose but i have to do that because of how tight it gets at the end of the run meanwhile denny hamlin also came down pit road they made some damage repairs on the 11 car they came down early i think they're going to come down one more time and trying to fix all that damage on the hood of the 11. kyle busch out front at bristol telecast presented by wendy's so [Music] join us after the race for the nascar america post race show the question is who will we be talking about because so far we've seen a little bit of everything you see denny halen's crew working on that damage on the number 11. stage points we talked about it dale kyle the start of our pre-race show here is who has earned them tonight kyle the other kyle kyle busch has been on a mission but what are you looking for in stage three yeah i have no idea uh i i look at this and and i looked at the stage points they're gone the guys that needed them most didn't really get them uh but we really are treated to a double header tonight there's a kyle busch race and there's everybody else racing will that continue in in stage three that's going to be the interesting thing for me to see if kyle can keep up this pace yeah i think the other thing is to look at is can these guys make some adjustments on these race cars to get them in a position to take advantage of an opportunity a late race opportunity that might take a chance of staying out or just getting two tires or something like that to give them an opportunity to win and move on into the round of 12. so a lot to be determined here yet but kyle busch is definitely the man to beat well we know joey logano chase elliott they have locked in on points tonight someone's going to have a moment that's what sports is all about it's just whether it'll be kyle busch possibly ryan blaney matt de benedetto he is still in the mix the fans are loving it right rut what's going on where you are they sure are crystal we're seeing some cool pictures of fans in a tweet like emmitt spicer he and his buddy are way up top here they're watching tonight but steve latar you notice how many people are bundled up in hoodies and stuff around them from a crew chief side is this something where you reach for the spring notes because it's usually a little colder there or does temperature not affect as much what you got to do tonight you know that's something i've been asking myself with the cooler temperatures is that why the bottom has lasted longer than it has i think you have a good point maybe these guys are going back to the spring when it's a little bit cooler this night race normally run in the middle of the summer well we mentioned the 21 of de benedetto getting his lap back uh being the free pass but he's sped on pit road so now he's going to start at the back of the field david martin truax was told the situation which wouldn't be as dire if he wasn't running 28th right now listen if somebody finishes from the bottom let's do the best go forward from where you are that's a long ways back there rick that's some great information though you know a lot of creatures don't give that much detail to help the driver understand the job i'm not gonna let that hurt my feelings i i think he was actually looking at you when he said it that's why i'm looking at you i was looking for you to agree with me it's funny the more you are right you looked at steve the further steve looked away yeah like he kept talking about that right you're talking about it what me legato will be on the inside the 22. kyle bush on the outside of the 18. and the final stage is underway harvey got a much better launch that time now with drivers locking themselves in clint boyer 24 points 26 points above the cut line cole custer we know william byron's out the 12 and the 21. they are in must-win situations they've got to get up front if they want to advance into the round of 12. one car we just haven't talked about much tonight but heck of a heck of a round is that three carve off some dylan a couple cars behind him right you know the first two races were good enough actually more than good enough they were really really good for the three cars where he's plus 53 riding around here thinking oh i feel that i'm out of all the drama i just want to get out of bristol good for the three justin alexander austin dillon just a great great first round through the rcr car yeah i think coming into this race people were wondering whether they were for real uh you know was the last two races i know they were great races but man can they keep it up it looks like they got the pace tonight again but it was really quiet for a while there he's back up in the top 10 now and he said the car just gets tight over the lawn or doesn't three up until the long long run so they wanted to free up a little bit more at the start of the run justin alexander the crew chief made adjustment last time they were down pit road for that what's interesting about that team is they're up in buckle north carolina kind of a satellite team in terms of most of the other teams centered around mooresville north carolina charlotte area concord here harrisburg see ryan blaney getting by the 14 and clint warrior look over there on the points so the 10 of admiral is 11. boyer's 14. 26 points they're good no problem right well that car that just passed him ryan blaney if he goes up there and was able to win this race that would bump one of those two guys out so they have been around each other all night long and it looks like they're safe right now but they have to assume that ryan blaney or matt benedetto is going to win this race and it could be a battle between one point between those two cars marty and jeff look who has come to life ryan blaney who has struggled with a tight race car all evening long finally in a position where the car is much better running in seventh and for the last five laps or so is he right on board with laney he's been one of the five fastest cars on the racetrack so blaney knows his only path into the round of 12. he's got to figure out a way up to the front and figure out a way to beat kyle busch tonight which no one's been able to figure that out dylan and marty talking about clint boyer he's on the bubble tied right now with his teammate cole custer boyer sits 12th in points listen to what he and the team we're discussing on the radio just a few laps ago about their point situation 21 or 40 or the 12 with a win obviously the biggest thing they wanted to do tonight as this 14 team was just having no drama night needed some stage points as well they got some at the end of stage two running as high as they've been all night they cannot afford to lose any positions on the racetrack because they are again tied with their teammate to make it to the round of 12. i spoke to clint boyer earlier today and i asked him you know how do you feel going into this race and he said man i feel great he said here's the deal it's a short track you have to attack every corner anyway you have to go and be aggressive you're going to be successful so that's what i that's what i'm going to do i'm going to race like that and i thought that was an interesting point like you just go and race this race and don't worry about the boys and treat it like a short track here comes chase elliott once again in the nine as he's running the tire tracks of joey logano chase to the top of the racetrack [Music] gonna get a run here flat car on the outside he's got momentum down to get the inside of this 22 here and one and two i think that bottom groove is really nice in one and two better than in three and four down here would be tough to make this pass on the bottom of 22 he's gonna stay out there in the fight for the third spot here you wouldn't think about looking at the racetrack but the corners are different i've always felt like that jeff that turn one and two is a little bit more of a tighter radius yeah no question i think one or two is a much tighter radius he see elliot making that pass it doesn't look like it when you look at it from the sky but it's just they feel completely different it's always looser getting into turn three than it was into turn one look at how chase elliott now checks out on legano yeah chase got good speed here marty what's happening with the 21. well rick i think it bears repeating what a 20 lap swing as we watch kevin harvick go for the lead against kyle busch rick running that high line harvick with momentum he'll take the lead away from the 18. interesting kyle busch had been running that high line that's how he got up front and now he goes to the bottom and he gets passed by the four using the high line early in the race remember we were talking about the four of kevin harvick how he didn't want to run the top he was running the bottom being very patient but now goes right up there takes the lead away let's get back to you marty hey guys as we were saying about matt de benedetta what a 20-lap swing greg owen makes a call we're gonna take the wave around and then 20 laps later they catch the caution and they happen to get the free pass and here was the conversation after all that went down we got uh that was a good situation there man we're in this together man you gonna stand with me yeah it's important now maddie d back in 24th they had the speeding penalty so he had to start tail into the field and he's moving his way back up so the night not over steve if you're the crew chief you're greg irwin you're preaching that all night long hey we're still in the game let's go get them yeah you you got to keep the momentum you got to keep spirits up the concern for the 21 is you know even though they have got back in the lead lab as we see a little stack up here three wide it's become clear with their lack of stage points rick that it's gonna need to be victory lane for the 21 to move on in the playoffs marty mentioned earlier how ryan blaney was talking about they need to get to lap and then that aggression starts they've got to work to the front to see if they can win matt de benedetto he's a deeper hole as he's running 24th right now blaney's running in the sixth position both of them in a must-win situation another guy that's basically in a must-win situation at this point cole custer's got big damage to the front of that car huge hole in the front end that's definitely not helping the turn on that car taking a lot of front grip away he'd like to forget so far it's been a tough night for quite a few kevin harvick though is out front 25 laps led and continuing to add to that number as he's just in front of kyle busch [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so chevrolet wants to thank jimmy johnson for driving chevy's throughout his unforgettable career tweet a tribute to one of the greatest of all time by using jimmy tribute and you could play a special part in sending the 48 off in style marty what's going on with the two of brad fallon back to the field said he's lost power steering you do not want to have that here in bristol boy he can barely keep it on the racetrack jeff i don't know how much longer he can go but i know it's not long here bristol no power steering that's not an easy game marty last night opinski car yeah austin cedric who's leading the race and he lost power steer and he hung in there way longer than i thought he could but another power steering issue for pennsy car tonight and look at this for the lead the 18 made a run on the high side now the four boxed in behind the slower cars [Music] you see who's that four car kevin harvick's trying to put a lap down to it's not going to be easy to laugh kev denny hamlin 18 following down to the bottom of the track again another playoff car we're hearing a little bit of trouble out of the 88 alex bowman's but talking about a vibration sounds like they may be coming to pit road yeah they're here guys the the reports the last couple after this that vibration was getting worse and worse so not sure if it was a loose wheel or what the problem was but they couldn't hang on to it any longer so alex brought it down pit road they're going to change four tires to be safe and send him back out another loose wheel steve it's the third one we've seen tonight have to pit on the green so harvick has put hamlin down a lap now the 18 trying to stay in pace with the four jeff we talk a lot about the cut races because they're kind of the crescendo of the round right that's where everything happens but your performance in the first two races can dictate the pressure in that third race i say that because the 88 off alex bowman loose wheel that would have been a pressure spot currently though still 40 points above feeling good about it next week the next round starts at las vegas and if you think this is a crazy finish how about the rovel and talladega to finish out a round i think las vegas other than phoenix the championship race las vegas next week could be the most pressure-packed race we see in the playoffs [Music] see kevin harvick well he's coming up on all this lap cars we talked about it when this race started how lap cars would impact the evening we've seen it already a couple incidents is on track the timing when you catch these guys how you get around them how quickly you get around them so important there's that 21 car guys they've done a nice job getting themselves back on the lead lap but it might not be long-lived right now they're the last car on the lead lap and here comes harvick as we take a look at the xfinity's fastest lap kyle bush has turned the fastest but take a look at when these fast laps have been turned about 262 left 265 and left 267 getting cooler here in bristol nascar is going to post the two car for not meeting minimum speed so brad's gonna have to come down pit road what can they do i mean i wonder if there's a way for him to fix the power steering issues allow him to get back out there and compete i think it all depends on what it is you know we hadn't seen any fluids so i don't think it's a leak or or a hose loose maybe the through yeah maybe the belt did come off here comes the 18. look at the inside of the four the fight is on and right now matt demenedeto in the 21 fighting to stay on the lead lap you see that right there kevin harvick got into the corner really easy made sure he didn't miss the bottom kyle bush drove it in deep almost got to the back of him you see the two car trying to figure out what's going on [Music] guys the team obviously knew that this was going to happen so for the last five minutes or so since brad said that they've been preparing as if they could fix it so they brought a belt over pit road and they're kind of trying to figure out exactly right now you guys are over talking and they're telling them take it to the truck obviously they've already advanced for the round of twelve so brad karkoski with the win last week attention boy that loons pretty big right now doesn't it guys at the locked in spot in the round of 12. and again to benedetto fighting for his playoff life but the laps continue to wind down and in a position where he's got a win and the guys who are leading the race right now are about to put him a lot down guys used to race years ago without power steer the power stand would go out they could finish the races back in you know the 80s well those cars had different geometry different specifically more specifically more importantly caster settings because they set those cars up to run without power steering power steering came into the late cave into the sport in the early 80s and the geo settings in the cars were pretty much the same for many years so if the power steering did go out you could continue but today with these cars they do not turn at all without power steering you physically cannot turn the steer wheel [Music] you will not be able to go out there and compete at a reasonable pace specifically at this race track it's probably the worst one to lose the power steering one of the hardest hits i ever took i was making a mock qualifying run at texas and i lost power steering off a turn two wide open and i just couldn't turn the car and i hit the wall and i'm telling you i still don't remember part of that but it it just you could not turn the car dylan what do you have on the 88 car yeah jeff we saw him obviously come down pit road unscheduled for what he thought was a vibration for a loose wheel the crew checked all of the wheels and said that they were all tight they didn't have the uh the holes widened like we saw earlier with one of the reports here so they said all the wheels were tight but it may be something else so we'll just keep an eye on bowman and see if there's any sort of vibration that returns but it was not a loose wheel so maybe something else but better to be safe than sorry for sure and come down and just make sure they're all snug if you watch these cars go through tech a lot of these teams will run these big giant metal wheels uh as they push cars through tech and that's why because the car is so hard to steer without the engine running in the power steering worker hate that as a crew chief when your driver comes down because of vibration and you can't confirm with damage on a wheel we'll have to check on that's a good report from dylan another car reporting a vibration the one of kurt bush they're even having a chat about perhaps pitting the vibration getting so bad for kurt bush he's running 11th right now steve so difficult obviously to come to pit road in that situation but you don't want to have bigger issues later on in this race kevin harvick out front of kyle bush as we go nascar nonstop so tonight's aerial coverage brought to you by geico we look down on the one who came to pitt road watching the bass pro shops night race from last great coliseum bristol motor speedway and guys right now fighting to stay in the playoffs like eric alvarola who currently is 11th 28 point cushion over the cut line and he's really done it almost silently he's stayed up here he's been running in the top 15 and currently eric almarola holding on to a tent position and he's trying to do what he has to do to advance to that round of 12. you know kurt bush we just saw him pit the right front wheel was loose on the one of kurt bush currently 19 points still above and as long as the 41 doesn't find some speed or a way to repair the damage kurt is still looking pretty good at the moment well cole custer that's that's the deal you just had an opportunity opened up for you have to find a way to take advantage of was kurt's problem now you're only 19 points back where do you go find those 19 points how do you make something happen in a rookie season for cole custer i know he's disappointed right now but he's done a nice job in the most difficult year to be a rookie with no practice no opportunity to get better except for during race day a good solid year for it for cole even if he doesn't advance in the next round of the playoffs ryan blaney in the 12 in a must win situation has rebounded in this race started up in the top ten worked really well early in the race what fell out for that top 10 with big time tire wear issues on the left front fell all the way to 26 and he's working his way back into the top 10 but now struggling again on this long run losing the handle on the front of his car look at left right tire got a lot of turn in it pushing again and hoping for a caution to be able to come over here and get some new rubber yeah junior for a while it looked like ryan blaney was in a terrific spot up in the sixth position but again they're struggling with the car getting too tight at the end of these runs blaney came on the radio a moment ago so guys we're getting better we're in the game but we've got to fix this problem with the car tightening up at the end of the run and that's what todd gordon challenged ryan blamey with this week you got to help me in those last hundred laps to know what to do the car blaney terrific with his feedback tonight we'll see if it'll be enough he was sixth a few laps ago's falling back tonight some of the guys that came down and got new tires and last caution had gotten around blaine but he's struggling right here with tim carr very camarolo trying to get around him and look at i noticed when he was showing laney's car from outside those brake loaders were glowing really really brightly it's not unusual for brake rotors to glow on short tracks but normally not a place like bristol look at that look how hot those front brakes are and you're not on the brakes if you're loose yeah so and that and all that heat is being transferred into those front tires which is that car ambarola his rotors are glowing as well it could just be a wear issue we the early run that you mentioned junior was 97 laps or currently 84 on this green flag run he has 95 laps on his tires so it's the same issue perhaps from earlier that the 12 is figuring out dylan well steve had you reported for the one of kurt bush he was the right front that was loose on that race car so kurt didn't make the right choice coming down there and changing that obviously frustrated the team is but i think more frustrated that it felt like it took them out of contention because they felt like they had a really really strong race-winning car tonight so they're still okay so to speak on the playoff level 19 points ahead of cool customer but i think the bigger disappointment is they felt like they could win tonight and now they sit three laps down hey dylan catch your breath because we want to go through the field brought to you by credit one and we're going to start with your driver who's running up front kevin harvick and like we talked about earlier rick even though these guys are locked into the next round they still want to bank some playoff points because of the unpredictability of what round two brings so they're doing that right now they've gotten to the race lead if they can hold on and win that's seven more playoff points that'll just add that much more of a buffer to their points position in round two dave kyle busch's 18 car right now needs a little bit of an adjustment it was a little bit tight there to start the run you saw kevin harvick get by for the lead now he's broken the corner down at the 50 mark plus 1 8 for adam stevens if you can get me better there i can rip the bottom like i was earlier third place goes to chase elliott right now came into the night not having earned any playoff points since he started the round of 16 but he earned one tonight with a stage win and the points he has accumulated have locked him into the round of 12. chase can breathe easy if that's ever possible at bristol dylan dave one of the beneficiaries of kurt bush's bad luck is quinn foyer he's moved up to the 10th spot in points right now runs fourth on the racetrack they've battled the handling of this race car but felt like throughout the course of this year the two races we've run here they've really hit on something with the balance and proved that overall that's showing right now clint's been chomping away at it and runs strongly in the fourth spot marty hey dylan all the playoff attention for rcr has been on austin dillon but now up tyler reddick right now running in the fifth position very strong he told me before the race even though i won here in xfinity this is one racetrack where i just never feel like i got the handle on it we'll see what happens tonight well we're seeing what's happening tyler reddick a terrific run up in fifth day joey lagano good speed here in may good speed here tonight but it may not be the winning hand harvey's had a pair of threes to start the round of 16 and those finishes have been good enough to give them a nice points cushion throughout the night here he said being on the cut line at bristol is stressful and i'm glad i'm not there jimmy johnson not in the playoffs but having a decent night after recovering from early contact with ricky stenhouse jr also the car falling off of the jack and a bit of an adventure tonight but jimmy hanging strong in the top ten dylan eric jones having a nice quiet run inside the top fantasy runs in the eighth spot you see him there chris scale as crew chief talked about how much of a struggle these 750 horsepower low downforce tracks have been this is not one of those they've had this racetrack circled as an opportunity all season long really want to try to capitalize on that marty 144 to go and here's the first pitter in stage three ryan delaney coming to pit road obviously knowing they're in this must win scenario car extremely tight for laney we had just talked a moment ago about how they were losing all of these spots they made a big swing at it todd boring gordon going with two rounds of wedge trying to free up that 12th car we'll see how all this cycles out steve when do you think the rest of the leaders would be coming to pit road here oh i wouldn't come for at least another 20 laps or so i think the 12 is forced to come dale jr you called it just like it happened in the first stage the left front tire is gone on that 12th car jeff you talked about the brakes apparently our turns fine on new tires as he about spins out off the corner but you talked about the brakes glowing trying to get that car to turn and i think that's put him in a predicament where they just have to come early the 22 of joe logano his teammate also has lost some pace you have to wonder if another penske car will be coming to pitt road soon great job on through the field guys 11 cars on the lead lap chris for bell the last car on that lead lap kevin harvick blistering pace here to go nascar nonstop [Music] go inside the headset with access to nascar scanner only 499 during the playoffs you can listen in on pit strategy spotter communication log into the app to use on mobile devices visit nascar.com scanner as we see the pit stop taking place here crystal this telecast presented by wendy's dave rick joey logano couldn't take it any longer remember that earlier run of 97 laps the tires that came off the 22 the fronts were according to the driver shot and when uh viewed visually yes all the wear marks on the tread were gone you couldn't see him anymore so i assume that's what it is this time for joey just had enough of those front tires marty and dave you have to credit his teammate ryan blaney for knowing his situation they came down under green a moment ago they certainly hope it stays straight here but the left front that came off of laney's car was down to the fabric you can see right there that fabric you can see where it is playing with it there and uh that that's not good steve when the tire gets that bad isn't it no they got all the use out of that one and this is something we saw earlier in the day it's a setup issue and i've said it i don't blame goodyear for this we we want tires that you have to manage that can wear out everyone isn't having this issue i think everyone has high wear but obviously is where is the worst something that they're going to have to try to keep in mind with 125 laps to go we've either got aggressive left front static static camber or a lot of camber gain in that tire with green flag pit stops happening steve let's remind everyone under green they can come on their side of the pit road only half of pit road if you're on the front stretch just put on the front stretch back stretch just on the back search i say that because it's important for these spotters and crew chiefs to remind their drivers multiple times they have been under green for 116 laps at 16 second laps just that's unnatural make sure you know my old buddy jeff gordon i've seen him do it one of the best ever to run at bristol it's an easy mistake to make you don't go to bristol with a mindset of hitting on the green you know so you don't even it doesn't even get into your prep mode where you start thinking about that this is where the spotter the crew chief they have to help the driver here they have to remind him the rules the only place that we do this so you have to have some help as a driver and at the bigger tracks rick like las vegas perhaps when you see one car pit everybody picks darlington richmond one car pits everybody pits well here the cars that have pitted are three and two laps down you lose so much time the risk of pitting is higher than the reward of new tires let's listen into the 18 he's running in the second position so remember if we do need to do a green flag pit stop we're just coming down our pit lane only off with two there you go so steve not only is it where you pit is where is the end of pit road speed right i've seen drivers go all the way around the apron right rather than getting to the end of europe look at the damage right there well yeah newman got a little bit closer and just pulled some of the sheet metal off so when you get to the end of your side of the pit road at the end of that there's a line that's where your pit road speed stops you don't have to go all the way around on the apron slow drivers forget that as well nine cars on the lead lap austin dillon the last car on the lead lap he's 16 seconds behind and right now laps being run at 16.4 seconds only a matter of time before kevin harvick catches up with austin dillon to put him a lap down as we see clint boyer trying to work around the 43 of the wallace that boyer having a solid night exactly the kind of night he needed there you they really improved the handling car remember we were talking about how he was unhappy with the car how was driving and usually that that's pretty much the end of the night for clint boyer usually that doesn't get better for this team but they've improved and he's he's got a great top five run going run 14th his future uncertain at stuart haas racing so clint boyer as we heard with chase briscoe yesterday in the xfinity series race he said every race is an audition for him this is clint boyer's line right here too every time we go to bristol when we see clint running well cars up by the wall scraping the wall clipboard or left sides on the bottom that's where he wants to be dylan that is exactly right jeff that's what they've been trying to get him all night is comfortable down there on the bottom they seem like they've finally gotten there just a little bit tight is the latest report before he comes in to make his pit stop keep in mind too though this has been a good couple weeks with these guys although 10th was not satisfactory for them last week remember they didn't have their crew chief johnny klosmeier because of a lug nut violation at darlington so they were just happy to get out of there with a tent but felt like coming here they were going to be much better and they have been this is up to where they expected to be running inside the top five and they're delivering so far coming up on now 100 laps 111 laps to go rutledge i'm guessing the fans are up on their feet watching this as it's getting pretty hot up front we sure are rick and it's easy to see lots of little mini battles that keep sort of breaking out through the field so the question i'm wondering is the recruits even the driver how many more cautions are you thinking might come with people's anger getting higher and higher on the track well i think if you look at the stats a lot of cautions early a lot of green flag running and a lot of cautions at the end it just takes one caution drivers to bunch up the field get them close to one another in the restarts and that seems to breed more yellows with 109 to go i expect to see some yellows before the end of this race yeah with so much on the line everybody having to push push the button trying to make something happen if we do get that one caution watch out you know you've got a couple guys in the top ten that aren't playoff contenders you know tyler reddick jimmy johnson eric jones that would love to win tonight jimmy on his way out retiring at the end of the season eric jones looking for work a young guy just trying to make some things happen a couple wins in the xfinity series for tyler reddick couple championships running with rcr now harvick kyle busch chase elliott one two three in bristol as we go nascar [Music] non-stop [Music] [Music] the tracker 800 sx does it all with an impressive towing and payload capacity it makes the hard jobs look easy plus an engine that's quietest in its class available now at bass pro shops and cabela's kevin harvick trying to put eric jones a lap down eric won't be driving for joe gibbs racing in 2021 so looking for a ride and marty looks like denny hamlin's on pit road 97 to go this is the first of the rest of the leaders coming down pit road hamlin running in 14th but down the lap they did fix all of that damage fitted three times under the last caution you get that damage fit but they have lost a ton of downforce from that 11-car game jimmy johnson on putting out now the 48 will go to work there getting his four fresh tires and fuel gave up a top 10 position there see if he can rotate back toward that by the end of the night chase elliot coming to pit road as well chase was running up front i believe in the third position there he is now getting to his pits pretty well uh pretty good handling balance wise tonight for chase he'll just get his four fresh tires and fuel here and hope he doesn't catch a caution at the wrong time dylan right there the 53 into the wall kevin hartwick the leader was right there in that vicinity i don't know if he got any damage or not yeah he was headed to pit road three car just wrecked us he was hitting the three cars tried to shove it in when the four was pitted and wrecked you 53 driven by james davison the 34 year old out of australia oh rick get your notepad out his first time at bristol and you see the damage to the back of the car and obviously they thought they had a little help he's underneath the car here yeah you see austin the looks like the smoke comes as he was hitting the brakes hard the four was coming to pit road it looks like so this is gonna be a good break for the four yeah that's what happened so austin was trying to slow down big time to keep from getting into the back of the four and lost control and got up in the side of james davidson there's a lot happening right there i can't really put the blame on anybody austin's lucky though to come out of there with less damage our scoring monitor shows six cars on the lead lap harvick kyle busch clint boyer tyler reddick eric almarola and eric jones were shown on the lead lap listen into the four radio here all right here stay low stay low stay low reckon reckon stay out stay out down down job timmy tim feeble his spotter yeah that that that good job timmy was from kevin harvick him saying stay out stay out stay out kevin was right at that point in the racetrack where you have to commit and his spotter saying stay out stay out stay out that let kevin know that it was going on behind him stay on the racetrack there's an orange box here as well when you enter pit road you had to have all four tires inside of that orange box to be committed to pit road and when you hear your spotter say stay out stay out stay out he obviously didn't commit to pit road and was able to stay out on the racetrack there's that orange box now like we see it at short tracks before a caution in the middle of a pit cycle is definitely going to jumble up the running order let's take a look at kevin harvey you mentioned that orange box if he turns left he's onto the apron you see the brake rotors glowing trying to get slowed down the wreck happens to his right and kevin harvick wisely oh he misses it by a long way just turns back to the right nelson dylan as long as nascar doesn't consider him involved in the accident shouldn't get the free pass i think he's in the accident well we'll see what nascar has to say yeah if you pick out that you're part of bringing out the caution you're not eligible for the free pass so hypothetically rick if you're racing to make the playoffs back in about the 2011 range and you spin somebody out at richmond in the free pass position you are not going to get your lap back is that fair dale junior they just took it away from us there was a silence at the other cars just told nascar's just let the three car know that they are now not the free pass nascar has changed their mind they were involved so there should be no free pass they don't go to the next car which is unfortunate because the next car is maddie d in eighth and he would love to get the free pass no give it to me get me back because rick there are seven cars in the lead lap actually six cars and normally we talk about oh wave around this that none of that applies everybody's gonna have to pit to get fuel so there are literally going to be unless someone gambles i shouldn't say it can't apply i don't know how you could stay out with 150 laps of fuel being burned there's only going to be six cars on the lead lap of this race when it resumes going to work on the 41 of cole custer chase elliot was on pit road at lap 405. just the fifth caution of the day from bristol so quite a few less than what we had seen here earlier this year dylan guys could you see cole custer coming down just a couple laps down already so they wanted to get a head start on fixing that damage race leaders coming in as well kevin harvick is in his pit box has been very quiet about the balance of the race car all night long just four goodyear tires sunoco fuel for him a little further up pit road clint boyer will be in his stall as well he's got the 98 explodes his guys but they fitted the 98 xfinity series car last night to a race win just a little bit tight at the balance of the 14. dave kyle bush gets up second place he told his crew chief adam stevens whatever you did air pressure wise to tighten up the car please take it back out they'll make that adjustment and send him on his way party hey i know you'll be shocked by this but tyler reddick wants to run the top of the racetrack he said i'm too tight to run the top two loose on the bottom we need to be on the top of the track so they're going to try and free up that eight car for tyler reddick who's having an outstanding evening in the fourth position meanwhile eric almarola doing everything he needs to do right now should dance easily to the round of 12. he's at the back end just dancing a little bit but the front end is pushing as well so i'm not sure what to tell you they come in running fifth almarola looks like he's going to move on to the next round if he holds where he is guys coming off the pit road and almarola looking to advance harvick trying to hold on to the lead here at bristol [Music] foreign make sure to tune in to sirius xm it's nbc sports on series 6-m that's nascar radio channel 90. wednesday morning at 9 a.m eastern kelly stavis is going to join the morning drive lots to talk about from here at bristol taking a look at tonight's ram trucks built to serve all right guys know your situation avoid problems and can kyle snap his streak break it down for us guys well i'm gonna go and know your situation because it's so important with these playoffs on the line to understand exactly what you need to accomplish in these last 80 some laps do not try harder than you need to but there's some guys gonna have to go make something happen yeah just don't have any problems i mean that's easy to say but a lot of guys have created some issues for themselves loose wheels on pit road uh you know this track has a lot of load in the corner and it's shaking these wheels loose these guys got to take a little more time with those pick guns making sure they got those lugs secure but a lot of things happen as well speed penalties running in the back of other cars on the racetrack you just can't take yourself out of this well kyle busch currently running second told us that a win would be more important than the playoffs he wants to continue that winning streak into its 16th season he's currently second in rick with only six cars on the lead lap i think that frees kyle buschoff to not worry so much about points i think he can be aggressive to go after and chase that win but behind him boy or reddick almarola jones man that's five or four other drivers that also would love to get a win very hungry maybe none more hungry than kyle busch although eight wins already at this racetrack he knows how to get up front run rick i got a great picture from albert john i think he might be from memphis take a look at this but he said heart pounding when he feels those cars grow across the start finish line chest is pounding we are about to see that in such a big way here at bristol rick just pounding a real american hero there behind him here man [Music] and lining up it's going to be harvick and the 18 will also be on that outside line again let's listen into harvick's radio that was 156 laps man we ain't done that in a while here tires look good no cords anywhere used up pretty good but no cords so we're here in rodney childers there and rodney childers we talked to him a couple weeks ago and it was surprising he mentioned they have to prove themselves and here's a team that has eight wins already and they have had incredible success but ronnie childers still thinks every race they've got to go out and prove themselves it's the right attitude because i can promise you everybody on that racetrack is trying to take it away from you you have to bring it every week every day you have to keep the intensity exceptionally high lights are out on the truck he'll pull off onto pit road field in the hands of harvick once again 82 laps to go from bristol and the jumps the leaders get just incredible tonight i recall them being that big but pretty much every restart the leader has been comfortably in the lead by term one two guys behind me with nothing to lose they're not in the playoffs only here for one thing one thing only that's the win to race clint needs to understand their situation not just his own they're willing to take gambles and they don't really care about you they're here to serve themselves as we see eric jones get by jones to third boyer to fourth reddick running top five jones was just about to go lap down when that caution came out he bounced the car off the ball twice out front leader trying to stay on the left here he is listening straight away behind him in third place it's just interesting right we talked so much about the playoffs but in nascar the other guys continue to get to race rick eric jones has got to feel just a little you know a little torn he's not going to be back at joker's racing don't know what he's going to be doing next year well the best audition in the world would be going to victory lane we don't know if he already has a deal signed but winning fixes a lot of things dylan well i think all you guys know this and understand what a moral dilemma it is or what a battle it is internally when you're in the situation he's in because as much as you try to block it from your mind it's always going to be there and it's been really difficult for both eric and chris gale because they both don't really know what the future holds for them so they try really really hard to separate it and keep their team together but said the best medicine for that is just to have a good run and like we said they felt like this was going to be a place where they could do that they're very focused on getting a win before the season's out and in a great position to do that right now as they run third eric jones running third and we've mentioned that his career is in jeopardy they don't know what they're going to be doing well kyle busch talked about drivers just like eric jones and what they might do here at this race track maybe desperate moves in these positions you know it is a playoff race it's it's going to come down to crunch time it is a you know an elimination race as you put it so there's going to be guys doing some desperate things making some desperate moves uh if they're on the outside looking in if they don't have a good darlington or a good richmond um you know they they're winning you're in that's always the sediments so uh you gotta be careful of everybody's agendas when you get down towards the end of these races he's well aware of what people are willing to do and right now a little bit looser of harvick can he get by him for the lead 18 super quick right now has a lot of speed we just don't know how hard harvick is pushing he may be riding trying to save those tires for this long run to be finished and kevin's still right there on the bottom of the racetrack kyle busch trying to make the top work i think if kevin kevin knows he has a little bit more in the pocket i'm moving up the racetrack i think he's actually just kind of rolling that bottom very quiet very easily see what happened right there when kyle went to the bottom kevin was able to gain a little bit of ground on him and one and two interesting kyle can drive in the corner a little bit deeper than kevin can and still run the bottom but then kevin leaves the corner leaves the exits a little better than kyle's able to [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] 18 had just a moment ago now seems to be going away he's searching up and down the racetrack trying to find that advantage back trying to get that speed back in his car bottom top looking around finding grip kevin harvick out there just committed to that bottom taking it easy coming up on this lap traffic so that changes their line as well we all know how bad kyle busch wants to win steve you talked about early in the race almost winning is as important to him as advancing through these playoffs but even if he doesn't win this race a huge night for those guys to lead as many laps running the front we've not seen that from kyle bush this year that often so can this give them some momentum moving further into the playoffs can they use that to get a little better and then find themselves to phoenix never count this team out never count this driver out but they won the championship last year a lot of us didn't think there's any way they could do it man that 18. i'm gonna do the top more on the bottom only the top this time on the bottom i mean he is frantically like trying to find that edge will not let this four car drive away i think he knows if he can just keep him this close when you get into traffic anything can happen with 63 laps to go they will reach traffic and heavy traffic if he continues on the green i think something else guys you know think about this i mean this run has been 20 laps these two cars have put over two seconds to third place that's how fast they are now the 18 right on the back bumper oh harvey to the top barbie goes up kyle tries to cut down so this let's see if that four car had anything in his pocket he moves to the top of the racetrack [Music] he knows that's going to make it hard for that 18 to get him on the bottom harley has his hands full yes it is not easy for him right now but that's protection when you go to the top you're like i i got a car putting the pressure on me i'll go to the top and and the hardest place for him to get around me is going to be on the bottom maybe i can find more speed my car look at him sliding around up there and the fourth bar on the on the exit of both corners you really see the back of the car sliding around a lot and now a pretty good gap between the four and the 18 as harvick has put about two car lengths between the two he ran that top a little bit took the line away from 18 now back to the bottom and he ran that bottom he gained some ground on kyle bush that makes you want to keep trying to do it so that's what you're seeing is like the bottom kind of being the preferred line at one and two it's a little tighter radius a little more grip a little quicker turn down there and then running the top down here rick another thing that this caution has done we keep continuing to follow harvick and kyle bush jones in third tyler radek and fourth having a great run but even cards one lap down inside the top ten chris busher and ryan priest and the thing about the year that they've had this would be a nice run if ryan priest could get it to the finish inside the top ten i say that because the action up front is gonna stay pretty heated we'll see how it goes with 56 to go pusher moving back over to rausch fenway racing increased with jpg dougherty as we're watching kevin harvick i love this shot where we can see him working as hard as he's working and we can see the glare is not on the helmet you can see his eyes how every time as soon as he gets on the straight he looks up he's where the 18 is and that's engaged did i have a good corner does that work am i gaining ground on him but that you always learn it as a driver every single corner you may do something a little different in an effort to get it a little bit better and you're gauging that off of the ground that you've made or lost on the car behind you watching the hands too not a lot of movement back to the right entering the corner of the car is it too loose isn't it very uncomfortable and coming off the corner he moves hands a little bit but he's got a pretty comfortable race car obviously leading this race he's got a fast car but down the bottom just being more patient on that throttle looking up checking the mirror to clear that lap car get back to the top where he wants to be look at all those lap cars in front of him he sees that knowing that he's got accomplished behind him he's gotta be able to pick his way through these guys as quickly as possible as efficiently as possible without letting heart with that left kyle get an opportunity to to get around this is kyle's chance you talked about it steve kyle waiting on this lap traffic this is his chance he sees it just need to be close enough right you mentioned harvick's gonna have the pressure as the leader to make the right choices but if he does make the wrong choice it's not going to be a huge window right kevin harvick's a pro at this kyle has to be within touch you know has to be a couple car lengths back up the racetrack harvick goes kyle busch stays down to the bottom a lot of traffic in front of them some of kyle busch running the bottom right now is learning what he needs to do on the bottom meaning if the four car gets blocked on that top what what does the bottom do how does it feel how do i drive my car some of that's just learning and preparation when he does catch these cars you see a couple of those guys up there ryan blaney austin dillon older tires trying to stay just one lap down trying to go by bubba wallace on the high line he does it one and two staying about the same distance apart as we go nascar nonstop 38 laps left nascar cup series playoffs from bristol to telecast presented by wendy's new leader in the 18 of kyle busch it was lap traffic you guys called it bush was able to get by the four of kevin harvick when harvey got caught behind reid sorensen in the 77. [Music] now can kyle bush pick his way through traffic and keep kevin harvick off of him here's how the change for the lead happened both guys on the top of the racetrack behind this 42 car 12 88 or 18 goes to the bottom look at that 77 resourcing up there on the outside 18 is going to kind of box him in reed lifts pretty hard for the turn one park has no choice he's gonna win three bottoms that's three two with the four just two down clear harvey still there though the lap traffic not gonna get easier for the 18. and now side by side for the lead legano slowing down the 18. again can kevin harvey clear the 22 right here that's the whole battle can you get by the 22 he wasn't able to do it and again the 22 slows the 18 down kevin harwick's hoping legato slips just a little bit right there so close man legato is nervous too he's got the you've got the 18 behind him right on his bumper sees nothing but windshield when he looks in the mirror it's like i don't want to be here yo go around me marvik back to the lead that's incredible how that traffic wow look at joey surprise 18 didn't give it to him there back in the lead for harvard man that's got to be frustrating for kyle bush pulling away as well now does kyle bush have anything left 30 laps to go at bristol harvick looking for his ninth win of 2020 kyle busch looking for his first win of 2020. there'll be more lap traffic up here for the four car to contend with and they both know that's the game right now bro they both lost the lead in lap traffic so now they have to understand that that's where the opportunity is what do you do differently so denny hamlin's the next car that'll be a challenge for the leader they've had a lot of they've had a lot of good chemistry and camaraderie between the four and 11 between their two amazing seasons but all that's out the window now dylan jr one of the things that kevin harvick and rodney schilders both have tried to balance today is that mixture of being too aggressive and too cautious even though they're in a fine position from playoff standings they do obviously still want this win but don't want to put themselves in a bad spot to tear up a car or jeopardize anything so it's been interesting and it will be interesting to watch harvard continue to try and go through this lap traffic how hard will he push because dave we know the guy behind him is going to push awfully awfully hard dylan he's had to be aggressive all night long starting at the back has kyle busch trying to stay in a 15-year added to 16 winning streak in his life it's been a surprise this year that he hasn't won all season long and adam stephens told me in may they were just a little bit off trying to make it a little bit better he'll see if he has enough for harvick here the car just pulls right over yeah is that a classy move by denny hamlin knowing that the race is if you're uh kevin harvick you love it oh car on the fence up here in front of the leaders the 95 down at the bottom crystal rail hard on the wall he's got a flat tire no caution yet as he's slow trying to get off of the race track they stay green 23 to go he's going to make it to pit road is killed guys be ready and these two continue to battle harvard maintains the lead laughing daniel suarez kyle bush not giving him a chance to breathe that's what kyle's got to do he's got to keep that pressure on knowing all this loud traffic's coming there is lap traffic but not a lot 21 laps to go here it comes [Music] i think these guys might give a lot of weight to the leaders john hunter nemechek going low allowing harvard to have his preferred line harvick's probably on the radio or his spotter tim feeder was on the roof whoa sideways was the board of harvard wow that shows you how hard harvick's having to push to stay in front of kyle bush spotters are trying to direct these black guys out of their preferred line they badly want to keep that top harvard's hoping that mcdowell is going to move low and allow him to stay up here under 20 laps to go four more drivers have locked themselves in the 18-3 the 88 and the 19 all will advance to the round of 12 only three spots still up for grabs and harvick is pushing that car to the limit right up against the marbles this entire run that four car has been a handful on corner exit gal closed again off of two there's nothing left he's getting everything he can get little hole in your nose that's what probably makes you tight i don't want to hear that right yeah don't tell me that oh don't how are you doing yeah don't give me any excuse don't give me anything all right it's perfect 16 to go kyle busch he's got close enough we could continue to talk about what would blaney do what would matty d do what will kyle bush do i know he's the defending champ i know he's won a lot of races but he has been vocal that a win is what he is looking for more than points more than the playoffs dale jr would you move him well how many times have we seen the four card use that same bump and run on this 18. you know i mean last couple of years they've been in a few good battles coming down the wind and it seems like harvest the one you know moving kyle up out of the way so i think kyle owes him one new answer yeah comes i think there's a lot of respect between these two drivers but you know carter's having to run that bottom kyle bush has never gone this far into a season without getting the win so he's hungry so that's it the 34 is he going to give the buck the top almost wasn't sure about that he does but a good run by the 18 again eric jones only 1.2 seconds back i think that's a little out of touch to run him down but we saw it at darlington a couple weeks ago rick if they get together eric jones will be there yes if these guys get even racing a little bit eric jones will be there understanding the tenths of a second separating the top two you can see eric back there in the back of the screen so you're eric you got to stay on that radio if you're a screw chief 18 to the bottom here i was a little faster than kevin right now does can he find a way around the bottom can he find an opportunity for kevin to get blocked behind a slower car kevin's gonna have to go to the bottom of the racetrack right here he's gonna clear this car no gonna have to stay on the bottom that's an advantage to kyle kyle trying to jump on the outside couldn't get back into the gas quick enough that's what kyle's wanting he's just won that opportunity to get on the outside of kevin if he ever can get there or get to his bumper there's that too gray golden up here on the outside line will he have oh he gets out of the way smart move for great he did get out of the way but that was a really good run off the bottom for kyle busch coming up with seven laps to go kyle almost to the fence right there [Music] see right here is where i think kyle bush is better than harvick they get into pretty close to the same they rotate the middle but right here and on the corner exit that's where kyle's car is better guys a lot of traffic in front of kevin and kyle here got to his door wasn't able to pin him down watch the run 18 gets right here on this exit wasn't able to gain as much ground as i thought he could harvick back to the bottom coming up on four laps to go four more times around can he get to the bumper 13 car todd dillon's gonna stay low off of four harvick loves to see it under three to go clear sailing now in front of harvick can kyle get there though will harvest slip [Music] two to go [Music] kevin harvick kyle's closing in trying to be perfect great exit for carving one more here one final lap oh this lap car gonna slow harvick up a little bit final time coming through three and four harvick's gonna hold him off harvick wins again wow what a race kevin harvick just ran yeah yeah great job what a car sorry i knocked that hole in it though man what a race car nine wins in 2020 for kevin harvick ain't nothing like winning at this place especially with all those fans in the stands and this place [Music] a second place finish for kyle bush doesn't accomplish what he wants to he needs a win to keep that streak alive i said a second place finish would lead to a bunch of laps and contending for the win would be good for this team i don't think kyle sees it that way yeah i don't know if he had a chance to to get aggressive or physical with the four car getting into three that lap guard slowed harvard up quite a bit [Music] interesting to hear what he has to say but you can tell how special bristol motor speedway is this guy's won everything this guy's had an amazing career look how important this win is to him not only that but you see this back and forth between he and denny hamlin with denny hamlin the last three races has slid backwards and kevin harvick is going forwards as he gained the momentum and now has he become the clearest favorite to win the championship i think he just pointed at kyle busch when he went by saw kyle on pit road i you know i love watching him and kyle go at it it's like watching petty and pearson battle it out in the 70s so many one-two finishes between those two legends look how excited harvard is you see the fans it's really cool guys i you know our fans are what make this sport and hearing them feeling them tonight it's just awesome i mean just they have an energy about them you can't you just can't replace them you gotta have fans their fans are awesome kevin army knows that he's taking it in on the final restart harvick jumped out to the lead but it was lap traffic that allowed kyle busch to take the lead away and then the two continue to battle to the point where another lap car slowed down the 18 the four was able to get by and he never made a mistake after that he pulls it to the start finish line for the ninth time this season and he can hear the roar rick what incredible fight kevin harvick and this team have shown here in the round of 16 winning the southern 500 and now the night race at bristol in front of 30 000 fans by the way all the fans here cheering on kevin harvick i think that's the noise he loves to hear the most [Applause] kevin what an incredible round yeah bristol baby i know this place means a lot to you but to beat kyle one of the best here in an incredible scrap for over 50 laps how did you get it done kevin man i just want to say thank you to all the fans thank you guys i was so jacked up when we started this race because of you guys in bristol motor speedway uh just really really proud of everybody on our busch light forward mobile one hunt brothers pizza everybody from jimmy john's fields uh just um we'll bring the sword to the go-kart tent tomorrow so you boys better be ready to take a picture how about the battle with kyle though it was tit for tat and there was not an inch of room for error kevin yeah it was uh you know to beat kyle busch at bristol i kind of got myself in a little bit of a ring there i hit a lap car and got a hole in the right front nose but just kept fighting we don't have anything else to lose you know we were here to try to win a race i know how much rodney really enjoys coming here and hell how could you not have come in here with all this enthusiasm everybody's tired of being at home i think kevin speaks for everybody but to win in front of the fans that makes it more special doesn't it i know you guys are tired of being at home like me so i'm glad we're all here having a hell of a time thank you kevin harvick incredible round of 16 on the round of 12 in the championship fight that's a great point marty 12 drivers advance that means that four definitely will not advance and their playoff hopes are now done let's go to dave and of course rick kyle busch will be one of those drivers who advances an epic battle here tonight you came out on the short end kyle why was the 18 just not able to get around that four just uh just didn't have enough there in the end you know the guys did a great job and gave me a really good piece tonight to contend and at least be up there and be close but um unfortunately just just didn't have enough you know lap cars were definitely a problem but it's part of racing you got to try to get around them where you can and there's just no room for me to uh to do what i needed to do on a couple of those opportunities to get past them we thought we heard you say on the radio boy that four car is really good did that mean you thought and i'm better i'm gonna get around him or man i'm not sure if i can get around him uh no that was earlier in the race when uh he drove away by like six seconds so he obviously had the better car the faster car than us tonight but adam made some good adjustments on that last run in order to keep us in the ball game and keep us close but i think the 20 you know kind of stayed pretty consistent with us too gap wise so um i don't know just um come up short what do you say all right kyle is third of the round of 12. he goes home next week to las vegas to try to lock in at the first race of that round [Music] and still searching for his first win kevin harvick celebrating win number nine on the season it was just that close and what an epic battle between two of the greats future hall of famers for nascar and you see just how excited kevin harvick can be plenty more from bristol when we return after this you

Channel: NASCAR

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Id: -P-6s1VfrNY

Length: 180min 1sec (10801 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 22 2020