Bass Pro Shops Night Race | NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay

welcome race fans the nascar cup series action coming to you from the last great coliseum bristol motor speedway i'm jesse punch i'll be bringing you updates all evening long from down here on the grid and on pit road tonight's competition is the first elimination race of the nascar playoffs so which drivers will advance to the next round well christopher bell is the only driver who was officially locked in on a win i should say a few other drivers are looking safe on points but there are definitely some guys that are needing to find victory lane tonight if they want to advance like i said i'll keep you updated with story lines updates all evening long from down here at bristol have some fun tonight race fans all right [Music] [Music] [Music] until the work was done [Music] [Music] it's [Music] [Applause] and roll [Music] [Music] it's nascar cup series playoffs from bristol the bass pro shops night race and it is elimination saturday and what better track than the world's fastest half mile bristol motor speedway alongside our crew chief steve lettart rick allen with you and steve this has become such a huge event the night race here but now it's an elimination race yeah well it's electric it's the idea nascar runs all over the country but these big spread out race tracks but not here at bristol it's the coliseum it is jammed in as a competitor it's the one racetrack you can feel the fans they are right on top of you that energy that excitement it's always existed at the knight race now a playoff cut race i didn't think it could be more intense but tonight has that feeling and now what's on the line let's take a look at the cup playoff standings presented by xfinity only one driver coming in before this race starts is comfortable and he will head on to round two that's christopher bell based on points there are two champions and kyle busch and kevin harvick below the cut line right now and again after this race the bottom four in points are eliminated let's bring in our drivers dale earnhardt jr jeff burton all right guys are these guys nervous as a cut race here at bristol yeah i think they're a little bit nervous i mean you can't help but get nervous when you come to bristol this place is menacing it's intimidating and a lot of bad things can happen to you here i mean there's something happening around the racetrack you can't escape from the race car drivers on the track there's nowhere to go if you're in great shape and points you hate this place track in this racetrack if you're in trouble like kevin harvick you'd love it because opportunity is created a guy like harvard he's going to embrace this chaos is an advantage to him tonight he wants to create it and then use it to his advantage all right a win and you advance junior who's your guy who do you think's going to win tonight yeah you're looking at him kevin harvick i love this scenario for kevin i think he's built for this just like you said jeff and you know him really well having worked with him in the past i think the guy looks at this is like this is how this is how i make my name this is how i become an icon this is how i really you know raise the level of who i am i i'm gonna win this race in a in a moment where it looks like it's totally impossible my back's against the wall he said it earlier in the year they don't know us this is what we are about he's going to prove it tonight yeah i'm going to go with kyle larson i think kyle larson what i saw yesterday in practice he just looked like he had the best car he's very good at moving around the racetrack that's gonna be important tonight we're gonna see cars running the bottom we're gonna see him against the wall he loves all of that in any of it so i think kyle larson's a guy tonight i'm gonna take the guy rick you said was comfortable because he was in christopher bell who drives that 20 car he's the only playoff driver guaranteed to advance he's already into the next round he says he loves this racetrack he loves this race that energy that excitement and a little bit of that comfort that'll be the driving factor for christopher bell he's my pick and again 16 drivers all with an opportunity for the championship but after tonight that will be whittled down to 12. drivers are all strapped in let's fire the engines that means we go trackside for the command here to give the command to start engines for tonight's bass pro shops night race please welcome noted conservationist johnny morris the founder of bass pro shops joined by some of his favorite fishing buddies and the next generation of conservationists to start us off tonight the voice of champions michael buffer good evening once again race fans the pardon me the track is ready the drivers are ready the cars are ready bristol are you ready racing plans are you [Applause] and the millions watching around the world it's bristol baby let's get ready to rumble what a beautiful saturday night in america and on behalf of all the outfitters that wake up every day excited to serve our customers with everything they need to do with the great outdoors on our 50th anniversary of bass pro shops we are very proud to sponsor the great american night race we proudly dedicate this race to all the sportsmen and women in this country to our conservation partners most of all we dedicate it to the next generation of anglers and hunters and conservationists jesse get us started betty [Applause] [Music] just got a text from ward burton that's a bugling elk that we just heard there before the command the engines are fired we're ready to go we're racing at night of bristol tonight's race is the first elimination race of the playoffs and chase briscoe is sitting in the 15th position nine points below the cut line if he's going to advance he's going to have to make something happen here this evening now we talked to briscoe a few weeks ago about the unknowns of racing here at bristol this is what he had to say about tonight's competition i think you know this bristol is going to be obviously totally different than the first race but i don't think the next gen car is has seen anything like bristol and now with the playoff race this will be you know we don't have the the spring race to go back on and look at notes or even know what to expect so yeah i think bristol is a huge question mark for all the teams just because it's unlike any other race track we go to so hopefully your setup stuff that maybe you learned at dover can apply but you know bristol is its own character despite the unknowns on the preparation side strong qualifying effort for briscoe he rolls off tonight in the second position in that 14th it's a track that you have to think about breathing i mean you can't take a single second off your heart rate's just spiked all the time things happen so fast that you forget to breathe just get you jacked up as a driver damn i'm ready to rip somebody's freaking head off so high paced and no time to relax bristol is one of those tracks that definitely has you up on the wheel you got to have your elbows up the entire time it's just a very intense place to race it's an intense place to just make laps honestly it's an intense track i mean it is it lives up to the height saturday night under the lights that's the coolest place to go race [Music] and it's all about to happen right now i want to take a look at tonight's starting grid brought to you by bass pro shops that will be on the left side of the screen up front eric almarola and chase briscoe an all ford front row alex bowman denny hamlin right behind them want to dial up chase elliott with the xfinity on board and we chat with him junior hey chase elliott it's junior in the booth you got us yeah man go ahead man it's the night race at bristol 500 laps tell us what this race means to you don't get any better than this this is one of those events as a kid that made me want to be a race car driver so this atmosphere is unmatched and just a real thrill to be a part of this this event this year talked in the media a little bit about some of the challenges of this track some of the bumps down in one and two what are some things you're thinking about yeah just thinking about uh my poor qualifying effort now i'm gonna i'm gonna figure our way forward so got our work cut out for us but got the right team and group to fight through it tonight got to be around those last 100 have a shot so ready to go to work all right man we know you got a long night ahead of you we're going to be watching you put on a show for us thanks for talking to us yeah man appreciate it y'all enjoy this one you've had quite an influence on a lot of these drivers we're going to see their gloves that they're wearing looks like your gloves that we have seen in the past with you wearing but this is for your foundation correct yeah we're actually uh we've got about 50 drivers this weekend and a couple series at bristol wearing these gloves we're going to auction them off on the website foundation for the dale junior foundation and all of this goes to nationwide children's hospital so we're excited for people to help us raise a lot of money to help those kids and thankful for the drivers to uh to you know drivers are particular about what they wear their shoes their suits and all that stuff and everybody's kind of you know wearing these gloves and they got to break them in get them comfortable so we really appreciate them kind of going with the inconvenience there actually saw curt bush you sent a pair to him as well he said i can't be there i wish i could be there for the race at bristol but i've signed one dale jr is going to sign the other and they'll be able to auction that off so that was cool for kurt bush as well we know he's watching all right story lines of plenty here the last race of the first round of the playoffs let's start it off with dylan welsh rick daniel suarez is six points to the good on the positive side of the playoff line not exactly comfortable but there's only one thing that they're worried about tonight and that's themselves that 99 car daniel told me today that if they just control their own car their own race the points will be taken care of at the end of the night and while he's struggled here lately some overnight changes have him much happier for now than he was at the start of the weekend dave burns dylan the camera has to pan way to the back to find austin dillon at the start of this racing qualified 28th and a very nervous looking camaro so he's got to go forward in stage one the leaders will be coming he's going to ruffle some feathers he may have to take some risks but he cannot ride he's got to make up time because he starts below the cut line minus three points kim well dave chase briscoe enters tonight's elimination rates 15th on the playoff board nine points below that bubble and when i talked to the team this morning they told me they're taking an optimistic approach to their situation as you see chase there with the mahindra tractors on board camera crew chief johnny klosmeier told me it's simple they're currently out they need to be in and that means chase gets to play offense they were extremely happy with where they unloaded yesterday and said they did what they needed to do and that's it early track position with their p2 qualifying effort and the next goal marty take advantage of that starting spot and get sage points for kim kevin harvick three times has been in a must-win situation in the playoffs and he has delivered with a victory to either advance to the next round or win a championship i would describe the mood in the four camp as we ride on board with the hunt brothers pizza camera as quiet confidence rodney childress said kevin harvick went out made a 45-lap run in practice didn't say a word on the radio plugged in as digital radio and said don't touch a thing rodney asked him again this morning you won't make any changes he said i said don't touch a thing kevin harvick knows how to get it done at bristol he's finished first and second in the last two races a win tonight rick would put him into the next round and that's what he needs he's below that cut line by 35 points before this race starts so an uphill climb for him all right steve give us the numbers on this night race well we all know about the excitement and the grueling challenge that the bristol racetrack is a half mile high bank high speeds 500 laps a little over 266 miles stage one and stage two both 125 laps that leaves a final stage of 250 laps a long final stage half the race fuel window over 150 laps so stage one stage two no problem that final stage will absolutely require a pit stop all right steve so the fuel window is 150 to 160 but what about these tires we saw in the xfinity series last night tires lasted old tires actually won the race yeah old tires won the race last night the xfinity series now the cup series is next gen a very different tire it's a bigger wheel but much the same in practice some of the fastest laps were run 35 40 45 laps on the tires so this is going to be a little throwback elliott sadler throwback remember elliott sadler wanted on old old old tires this is going to be a grind you heard elliot or chase sally already concerned about where he starts because i don't think we're going to see a lot of pit stops these drivers are going to have to figure it out out on the racetrack cars make their way back out onto the track after coming onto pit road and checking their pit road speed leading the field with some unique views is the coca-cola pace car cam so we'll be able to check this view out as everyone falls in behind the pace car a few other cool on boards that we're going to ride along with and one of those is the number eight of tyler reddick the cheddars and it's on the spoiler steve and this spoiler is going to get a workout right here this look uh bristol new bristol old bristol basically they spray the bottom with this sticky stuff way earlier in the week we've seen a truck race through scenic speedy race at some point maybe even here in the middle of stage one they're gonna be right up against the fence this right rear spoiler is gonna give you a great shot yeah the best shot system right here eric amarola set it on the pole the ford performance cam he's gonna have a great shot when this green flag stops i know that's the view he wants all night long it's gonna be hard to keep it so rick you mentioned a must win for kevin harvick now mathematically it isn't but realistically it really is because it's not just minus 35 but minus 35 behind all of those drivers if it was only one driver you could say oh man if it was just chase breastscore just austin dillon maybe they have an issue kevin harvick has a great night he can make up 35 points but conceivably to think briscoe dylan bush and then even cendrick or reddick would all have to have issues that's asking a lot so i do think the mentality is a must win if you look at ross chastain and then go up the board all those guys what they're looking for tonight is clean simple nothing that goes wrong if they have that they're in good shape from there down it is a dog fight they're gonna have to treat every stage every lap as it's the last one if not you'll find yourself not moving to the next round oh much like last night we saw the front row swap junior surprise you or would you take the outside as well as the pulsator the outside's been the best to restart the truck race and the xfinity race and i think that's what we'll see tonight especially as this track widens out and that top becomes more and more preferred which i think is going to happen about midway through this first stage happened in the second stage last night it's gonna happen quicker tonight that outside groove is gonna be where the leader wants to control the start chase briscoe will be on the inside listening to his radio boys know what we need to do tonight i don't want to go to battle with anybody else got the best picture best guys up on the box i want nothing more to go get a picture take it with all you guys on top of that building at the end of the night that's what we're trying to do with sword in hand as the fireworks are working their way around this half mile the last great coliseum the site of the cut race for round number one of the cup series as they are fighting for a championship green flags in the air for racing at bristol already seeing that outside line performing really well denny hamlin sliding into second place and he's gonna use that middle to try to continue to move forward felt so good three and four he's gonna run it one and two back to the bottom of the racetrack mahindra tractor is giving us this view on board with briscoe as he's falling back to that third spot now blaney just behind him laney to the middle of the racetrack gonna try to get on the outside his 14 right there jumps in the gas forces the 14 to come out of the throttle on the corner exit beats him down the straightaway again 14 will struggle off corner here he surprised the 14 of briscoe he's not going to surprise him this though this time though briscoe is going to try to get him to throttle wow blaney gave him no room whatsoever foreshadowing there guys we saw a pass already early in this race on the outside oh it's gonna happen we know the group's gonna move to the outside yeah i mean all the way back in the pack the back half of the pack a lot of guys way up the racetrack using that high groove it's another guy using that top as well kyle larson running the middle around the outside of brad keselowski is going to take this position and larson moves up into the seventh spot ahead of brad keselowski ross jastain behind them a lot of guys making up a lot of ground back half the field here in this high lane just a matter of time before the spotters and everybody starts telling their drivers about it and what gets difficult though is when everybody starts going up there not all the cars are good and you you know when you first jumped up there you had an advantage but once you get double wide it's really nowhere to go there was a traction compound put on the bottom of the racetrack that bottom groove but it was put on before an arca race and a truck race and xfinity race and never applied again is that wearing out now yeah i think it just loses it's you know loses its grip still seems to be working really well but that top has been ground years ago and as the cars go up there and run it really takes forever much quicker than any other part of this racetrack and when that top takes rubber it two grips up look at these guys chasing it way up the racetrack they're gonna get higher and higher right against the wall in the middle of three and four before the end of the night remember when they first ground that upper lane it was a one groove racetrack there was nowhere to run but the very very top impossible to pass they put that traction compound on the bottom to spread the grooves out to give an advantage an advantage to one for a period of time then an advantage to the other drivers searching around looking all night long coca-cola camera on denny hamlin giving us this view back to ryan blaney these two have been the fastest two cars on the racetrack lap after lap laney's got a high entry low exit trying to get underneath denny going into one denny's gonna give him room right here but now denny's in the preferred line on the top he can fight this off if he wants to he can make this really difficult on blaney right here oh lady can't get to the throttle unless if he stays in the trolley drives into the 11 car so he has to lift well you say he can drive it to the 11 car especially if laney keeps cutting down on people like that that's the second driver that blaney has given no room to whatsoever early in this race how aggressive do you need to be early on here and for ryan blaney here's a driver who currently is in good position 72 points above the cut line watch this rick watch this 11 car he's going to try this top a little bit let's see he's going to take him a few laps watch that run he gets down the front straight away he likes that now back to the bottom of racetrack i wish he would have kept running up there looked like a couple more corners he about figured it out i love this look back at danny hamlin on the worst he's coming behind the wheel but as he goes to the top junior the drivers are talking about the force the actual steering wheel is taken this new car the steering of it the downforce the bigger tires the combination of all three just physically tougher to drive it'll be interesting to see how it affects the drivers all night yeah like an arm wrestling all night long hopefully they get out tired more out we know these cars are going to take abuse too it's you know we've seen this race car fail in some difficult situations throughout the season difficult part all these new parts and stuff that they've maintained throughout the year have never experienced a race at bristol yeah remember the last time the cup series was here it was on dirt so a completely different feel for the cars and drivers oh danny man he's smart he's moving around he's going to find where this car wants to run right here bell trying to take the spot away from briscoe again briscoe was up there on the front row running in the fourth spot now but bell has put a lot of pressure on him [Music] i haven't said anything but eric amarillo continuing to lead this has been an impressive weekend for that 10 car in that team he's had speed and obviously qualifying up front but that speed is in that car as he maintains the lead and a comfortable lead at that dave what you got on the 11 car well to rick's point about this place being covered in dirt earlier this year this is the first time these guys have used these cars on this pavement and it was a big challenge according to denny hamlin's crew chief chris gabhard but he said denny took to it right away has a great feel for this place and you can see here already testing the lines in the 11 card big challenge for these teams here these are the three who've got it right so far a little bit higher up the racetrack the 10 of eric almarola and that closes the gap now from first to second as denny hamlin has closed into two car lengths gonna look in the mirror and see that 11 car closer and he's probably not going to try that again back to the bottom of the racetrack denny can't follow him the dirty air is no good he's gonna have to go wherever this tank car doesn't go to try to get some down force some grip in this 11 car up the top of the race track he goes and we're seeing now from that ford performance on board that he's pulling away from denny hamlin yeah most laps led tonight for eric almarola than all of his 20 22 combined then he doesn't like the top and one and two he's not really wanting to run up there right now getting the battle here from the 12 car he's made the high line work in three and four though he's actually got some good pace there but it wanted to it's not working and already the leaders have found traffic eric umroll already lapped the 78 here goes the 11 and the 12 and some of that traffic are playoff cars suarez and austin dillon just in front of the leaders so 27 laps in and some playoff implications already you see the 22 legato he's lost some spots he's down to 18. he's had a lot of pressure coming from behind he's been struggling a little bit kyle busch he's driving forward marty he has gained one spot jeff and i talked to ben bayshore about how they're approaching this race coming in barely below the cut line ben told me honestly it's three races and one for us this first stage is massive for us in the 18 team we have to get stage points because we know chase briscoe started second he's likely going to get stage points and we have to match that so they have to come up through the field and how quickly they have to do it and jeff he also said something interesting in his interview he said i have to get comfortable with being loose what does he mean by that here at bristol well what he was talking about marty is that you know this car especially this this year's car is very hard to drive when the back of the car is not attached to the racetrack feeling like it wants to spin out it's hard to be aggressive with that so in order to go fast all night long if you don't have a little bit of that eventually it's never going to turn it's not going to turn like you want it to so he thinks you're going to have to have that car loose so that it's good on the long run fellaini up to second elmarola leading you're watching nascar cup series playoffs from bristol it's the bass pro shops night race when it comes to struggling so far [Music] situation but is not to mention he has the most recent advance seasons tonight nascar on usa is brought to you by liberty mutual insurance only pay for what you need toyota let's go places northern tool and equipment start solving your projects today at northerntool.com we're made for this and by bass pro shops sportsmen serving sportsman for 50 years new leader at bristol and that would be ryan blaney he was able to get by denny hamlin eric almarola has fallen back to the third spot now chase briscoe running fourth christopher bell is fifth side flat here boys right oh the 15. oh we got it we got the 21 racetrack the 15 as well with the right front flat yeah i saw a tire down on the 21 and now the caution has come out all right stay up stay up stay up stay up that's jj yeahly in the 15. they both it seemed like i think both those cars have right fronts go down at the same time wonder what what what's going on with that steve i don't know but the right rear on this 21 cart is missing the lettering as well so i don't know if he hit the wall before or after the right front went down he went into turn three and had his tire problem and went up got in the wall and then the 15 had his problem down the street interesting right side tires and right out of his pit stall yeah i wonder if it's a wear thing or maybe there's something on the racetrack seem kind of odd let's take a look yeah a lot of the tire issues that we've had this year aren't aren't tiring they take a while to develop uh you know it takes several laps for this you know for a tire to fail right this could be uh something the teams might need to be concerned with as far as low air pressures and so forth yeah so the best way to think about it is a sidewall on the tread like a little bit of a 90 degree picture a coat hanger you bend it enough time the coat hanger breaks well if you run too low in air that corner of the tire goes back and forth back and forth back and forth and time after time after time it gets hot it springs a leak and then to your point dale over time it gets low low low and finally goes flat too much camber too much tow not enough air pressure multiple things go into this definitely some wall contact but like we said is this before or after uh checking the tow link right there and the steering and making sure everything's still working for this 15 car jj so they got the right side tires changed there you can download the official app of nascar and follow the action with free live scoring in-car cameras as well as radio broadcast search nascar in your app store to download and start a free trial and now the parade coming to pitt road and they're headed right at you marty kevin harvick said his car was building free fairly happy with the handling of it though he did say though the brakes are shaking like crazy they have a definite wobble to them we'll certainly keep an eye on that kim and in the middle there kyle larson told crew chief cliff daniels he needs help on entry just two free it's going to be four tires and snowcoat fuel right there on the bottom chase briscoe said he was just way too tight couldn't do anything with it the last seven laps he told his team it felt like his power steering went out dave leader lorian blaney all the way around turns three and four hard left turn into his stall he'll get four goodyear tires and snow go fuel just a little bit loose as for denny hamlin his car was migrating to the tight side on the exit of the corners to get the adjustment for that dylan christopher bell started off a little bit tight on this run but by the end of it he said we are really really good no changes four tires and fuel for bell and here's the race off pit road almost a dead heat coming off of fit road but it was hamline by inches in front of ryan blaney we'll get ready for the restart [Music] there so [Music] and welcome back to bristol as we get ready for the restart riding along with eric almarole that ford performance on board and eric almarola's car is showcasing the new blue oval city paint scheme this all-new electric vehicle and battery manufacturing campus is in west tennessee this will be home to ford's next all-new electric truck and will produce batteries for future ford and lincoln vehicles with production beginning in 2025 again eric almarola was up front here earlier today as we see the cars choose right here everybody kind of gets stacked up because you can't hit that orange box but we've had a handful of cars stay on the racetrack brad keselowski uh bubba wallace busher reddick suarez and la joy the top six cars have stayed on the racetrack bowman didn't you see down there that little dash but he came to pit road he's running 13th you'll see we talked about thinking that these tires we're not losing much speed during a run well we're getting ready to find out because the guys that were leading this race they did pit top for three rows did not yeah and you think about where some of those cars were running brad had a decent track position but like suarez was getting close to going to lap down so we'll see if this pays off for the 99 field approaching the geico restart zone again kozlowski wallace up front and not a great start there for bubba wallace in the 45. ryan kozlowski surges out ahead you will see that all night long that inside line's going to struggle all the way back through the field everybody's giving up a couple rows or a couple positions just to take that outside line it looks like bush was going to be able to clear bubba wallace so buscher moves up to second wallace third tyler reddick is fourth for le joy out of spire motorsports back there in the fifth position mata suez is struggling being one of the last cars on old tires he's got all these guys right on his heels with new tires not a fun position to be in for this 99 and they are pushing him you feel like you're in the way you're trying to do your best to find some pace trying to get somewhere on this racetrack there's nowhere to hide look at that car bouncing in the back end off into turn one dylan and they've been having that problem all weekend junior daniel said that was their issue yesterday the car just bounced and he couldn't get it to turn they're battling that again daniel said it's just way too tight they told him stop the bleeding we got to stay inside the top 15 here so that's the goal for stage one well he qualified 29th and he was running 29th when the caution came out he stayed out and now he's trying to get some track position the reason he was running the 29th is because of the bouncing the poor handling car and older tires is not going to help that goodness that can't feel good inside the car i mean what we can see it's 10 times worse than the seat [Music] but to your point jeff right 29th is kind of the the line for this 99 right if we run 30 laps here and he falls back to 20th was he gonna drive from 29th to 20th because it didn't look like it in the first 40 laps of the race on the outside of chase briscoe briscoe hugging that yellow line on the inside and briscoe still trying to hold off that 99 kim some complications for him during his pit stop we reported that he felt like his power steering went out well i checked in with the team they said it's a problem they felt like they've had for a few weeks and it's not unmanageable and it's just very very stiff and hard to turn that wheel briscoe currently in the 11th position not unmanageable might be a matter of opinion i'm not sure if chase briscoe is going to think that as fast and as loaded as this racetrack is look who's also coming to the picture here uh teammate there at stuart haas racing the four of kevin harvick looks like that car is coming back to life and look at the 99 while the bouncing kind of continues he's finding a little bit of pace off this top dale really the top seems like maybe that helps those old tires a little bit keeps the momentum up yeah i mean it just so hard for the guy on the bottom to make the pass because he can't use the throttle now they're you see that car up there in front of them the seven run to the bottom that's corey lejoy use that car as a pick there and get some clean air right in front of me there's no other car so he'll have all kinds of clean air in front of him that'll help him as well this is a battle right now for third place between reddick wallace they're swapping that back and a forth wiggle there out of reddick in the eights as bubba wallace driving the 45 interesting how tyler reddick is seen running the low line here he's one of those drivers that's not afraid to run the high line in the eight car we'll see how that works over the course of the evening wallace still with the advantage here redick for his part during that run it was tight across the bottom three up top to start then it migrated tight overall especially over the bumps and one and two he's the highest running playoff driver right now did not stop on that pit round 13 laps in now 14 laps in since the restart old tires still hold the top four positions keep that in mind we get a late caution a little bit of a shootout last night noah gregson on nearly 100 lap tires won that xfinity series race these crew chiefs right here paid attention i know it's a different tire but it looked the same in practice these old tires are still holding on really well for the guys that have the cleaner air marty nice battle between the austins both playoff drivers further back austin cendrick in 22nd austin dillon in 23rd on their last stop austin cendrick's team lost nine positions steve they got the wedge wrench stuck in the back window so if you're jeremy bollins calling the rest of this race does that take a page out of your playbook for adjustments of austin centric moving forward would you be hesitant to make a wedge adjustment knowing hey that's a tight fit for that wedge wrench yeah that would be concerning for sure but with so many laps left in the race i'm not sure you could just take that adjustment off the table i mean we know the groove is going to move around these concrete tracks change dramatically and we're talking 434 to go so this is where it comes down to communication and honesty go to that pit crew member like could you have done it any better or do we have an issue let's really talk through this can you put grease on that and say hey is that something that could help out if that make we make sure it doesn't stick in there absolutely i'll take any idea that allows me to still make wedge adjustments under these pit stops looks as though the field's starting to move up the racetrack now that high line has become the preferred line for most of these competitors is kizlowski still holding on to the top spot buscher wallace hamlin and redick the top five reddick still trying to hold off eric alvarola [Music] eric's rolling around that bottom and he's got to start putting some playing some defense because he's got blaney catching him from behind so you have to kind of you're trying to make a pass on a car but you also see the car behind you catching you and that changes what you're able to do dylan and dale we just heard some radio or a report about chase briscoe possibly having some steering issues here's another stuart haas car maybe with a similar issue take a listen doing what chase talked about last week [Applause] so that's obviously not ideal anywhere but we've talked a lot tonight about how hard the loading is gonna be and how hard it's gonna be to drive these cars when they're driving well it's not gonna be easy when you have a steering issue so not only are you fighting this track you're fighting against 35 other competitors but now your car is fighting against you as well as you're trying to turn kozlowski out front has almost a one second lead over chris busher running in the second spot here at bristol so 78 laps complete here from bristol motor speedway when you take a look at that top 10 running order notice the 12 of ryan blaney currently in the sixth position lady is the only playoff driver that has yet to get a win this season he had three last year but has not been able to do it in 2022 it's consistency and strong finishes that have got this small team to this point 36 points above the cut line all ryan has to do today is earn 20 points to advance to the round of 12. which shouldn't be a problem he's earned at least 20 points in 24 of 28 races this season but in talking to ryan as far as consistency and as far as momentum goes he does feel like they're going to need to get a win this season if they can make sure they can compete for a championship at phoenix [Music] as brad keselowski continues to lead bush are running in the second spot we got a car in the wall of boston does he have a right front down as well this could be the third flat right front yep says he has a right front flat steve and he's trying to get a hole to come down i can't imagine how frustrating that must be as a driver jeff there's the hole to get austin tinder down now he's got to come all the way back around to his side of the the 21 of harrison burton the rick ware racing car and now the two of syndrick three forwards three flat right fronts this is huge for cendrick he was not that great in points anyway this is a major setback marty yes you're right jeff came in below the cut line this is going to be a huge setback for austin zendrick a green black stop at bristol will normally lose you two spots at least jeremy bowen's making the call though for four goodyear tires here to make sure they got it they did see it with the right front flat austin cendrick his playoffs in jeopardy now after losing multiple laps here at bristol we'll see how many exactly he loses rick so now let's just make sure the two knows he can leave off pirro's take a look at it right here yeah flat right front tire just oh man straight up the hill it definitely just went flat it looks almost identical to what we saw on the 21 car and the two did i was bringing up pit road because it's easy to make a mistake here it's a long pit road under yellow under green you only have to run your half front or back stretch thank goodness because the two cars still three laps down if you're to run the entire pit road had been five or six laps down but the young rookie very wise he knows it's a bad situation but only ran his straightaway marty that did save them at least a lap and steve i think this is extremely important to note austin cervick just told jeremy bollins on the radio i had no contact with anybody at any point boy if you're a crew chief and you hear that we are now 90 laps into this race i'm sure everyone on pit road is now concerned steve we've talked camber too about these cars and some people run a little more aggressive but is it coincidence oh we got another right front flat in the 12. and there's another board another board is behind him contact into the wall as well and the caution comes out this time eric alvarola spinning in that 10. so to your point you know they all share information so whatever they believe air pressure camber settings toe settings i don't think it is random i don't know if they are all just randomly going down right these are all the same manufacturer i don't think it's a like forward issue as far as arrow or something specific it's more of an information concern right we are we are literally around the same lap where you know we're 45 laps in we had the two right front tires on the 15 and the 21. now we're about 40 laps 45 laps into the next run since that pit stop where we're seeing tires again so around 40 to 45 laps is when these tires are starting to give these guys issues so you watch the 12 go up that's pretty hard contact there might be suspension damage and then the 10 spins out just because it's you know everything is happening so fast dale to your point i believe these tires are being damaged early when the air pressure is the lowest right that's when the damage is happening it takes 40 something laps for this to become a big big issue and now we have the 12 sending off pit road and i think he has lost a wheel yes he did lose the wheel oh man that wheel rolled down into the pit box of the three car no left rear wheel no left for a tire on that car so this is going to be a big issue because right here we'll see all the hands waving the left rear is not tight this rule has been updated but this right here will be a penalty it's updated to think if your tire stays in your pet box no big deal but that is a big deal it went down you saw it hit the wall in the three pit very dangerous situation hopefully nobody was hurt from that equipment dale back to your point right 45 laps we've had a rick ware ford we've had the 21 the two and now the 12. they all share information now it is what can you change here camber you're kind of locked in can you get enough air pressure in it to to bring yourself to a comfortable level this is this is the we talked about bristol hey you know what don't we know well now we know that the right front tires are susceptible to damage and i would since it's being consistent with one factory yeah i would say it's some sort of setting with this trouble only 12 points above the cut line now for ryan blaney who coming in here looked as though he was in pretty good position steve i would think that would force you on a pit road right here too like if you are ford sharing that information i don't see how you can keep running i think you got to change tires and make some sort of air pressure adjustment well joey logano right he's the he's the last guy on standing marty boy what a flip of development developments here kevin harvick having a checkup there for uh todd gillan coming off of pit road he said his car was better still a little bit tight but rodney childers did tell him listen two cars lost tires within a few laps of each other so you gotta wonder if another ford made adjustments there dave toyota on the top of the screen denny hamlin running fine moved his way back up toward the front uh after that first stop they'll make another one here four more goodyear tires dylan dave chris pusher in the bottom of the screen didn't pit at the first yellow they'll come in here and pit this time was running second said his car was pretty good up front when he had a little bit cleaner air we'll see what he does here mired in traffic not a good sign right here the hood of the 10 up for eric alvarola so my 96 laps complete here from bristol motor speedway more tire troubles for the ford camp including the two of austin centric a playoff driver austin was one of the only playoff drivers to not have an issue at this point in the playoffs but he can no longer say that and in talking to austin just a few weeks ago about preparations for bristol this was one of the things he mentioned one of the unknowns that teams were anticipating trying to figure out how to prepare this is what austin said specifically i think it's i think it's the biggest challenge in the playoffs as far as like racetracks that we're going to and question marks throughout the week because there's there's no gauge on tire fall-off there's no gauge on how traffic's going to race there's no gauge on race car setup there's no gauge on what lanes we're going to be able to run hell we don't even know what the track pipe is going to be like so from that standpoint there's the most unknowns here at bristol that two team brought it down pit road made a four tire change we'll have to see how that fares the rest of this race the all-new two for five dollar menu at sonic choose two classics fritos chili cheese wrap small jumbo popcorn chicken or a quarter pound double cheeseburger for just five bucks the two for five dollar menu only at sonic or in the app the 22 of joey logano dave looked like he had to come back to pit road more mistakes rick the left rear tire left her wheel was not secured on this ford no other reports of tire damage on the 22 but the left rear was not secured they had to come back down they changed the entire wheel and tire assembly out by the way the 11 of denny hamlin running strong tonight he's in the toyota his crew chief chris gabhard is watching this situation very carefully listen right down on the 12. we have had no known issues in our camp we've done everything we can due diligence-wise to confirm that but definitely worried about right front load here steve it gets your attention doesn't it absolutely um you know and like what chris gabe hart said everything we know i mean everyone down here is in a real hustle so they're on their communication talking to their warms jeff trying to make sure everybody has the same information concerned about right front load the only way to back that off is slow down i mean you know it's from the driver that's what's the other thing that he can do is slow down are you telling your driver to slow down or you tell him to roll no no i need option b please all right tyler reddick on the inside and brad keselowski on the outside kozlowski easily taking the top spot here comes christopher bell in the 20 and he'll take second away that kyle bush made three wide in the middle of one and two he is picking a ton of spots up right here kyle bush up to third now what a restart by kyle yeah that outside line working as we see chase briscoe in the 14 also taking another spot marty remember what ben bay sure said to me earlier today and i just reported a little while ago stage one is huge to us the car we have to beat the 14 car chase briscoe kyle busch with an incredible restart they did not pit last time 24 to go in the stage and they look like they could get stage points exactly the way they planned it out how about that well 24 to go hopefully it will stick with the plan i love that call you see the five on the bottom the eight run at the top just remind everybody on the left hand side brad keselowski and tyler reddick 102 laps we've seen these right front issues on the fords kazlowski in a ford he has the same set of tires from the beginning of the race continues to lead so the durability as far as grip is there it's just a question if there's another setting that are causing these flats as we see the five of larson trying to get by the eights of tyler renick and he'll complete the pass spark still coming out behind the twelve what's going on here steve i don't know what he has he's had a missing left rear tire plus he had a flat right front something is obviously bent and dragging remember he hit the right side wall pretty hard very hard it looks like something under the right half of the car like something in the right rear suspension can bend with these coilovers and actually change the height of the car significantly something is dragging this is going to be a long 20 laps for blaney if he can go 20 laps i don't know if it'll make it that long he came in plus 36 and right now blaney has moved down he's only 16 ahead of the line and now everyone else is scared to death right you see this car sparking ben is probably there you go feels like something's been probably gonna break and all these other cards you can't this isn't michigan you just can't tiptoe by him it it's like rush hour traffic get a fishbowl steve it sounded like he said toe link and we've heard that so many times at different race tracks the toe link bends and could it be something that's causing spikes i think it's the lower control arm or something that actually can adjust the height the toe really only affects where this right rear corner is pointed that shouldn't make the car travel more it's remember we saw chase out there that darling to bend the actual suspension components that would have a car what are you gonna do hey his point is what are you gonna do if you pit on the green and fix it you're done right you what they're hoping for now is to get a caution and not be the caution and then hopefully china try to raise the back up so you're not dragging right now now the left side's dragging as well yeah so i mean they have a big issue they're gonna have to fix the real question is i believe they're off to dvp they've definitely run a 17 second lap so now they won't be out of the race i know that doesn't help jeff but at least you get to continue if you can milk it for 15 laps without whatever the issue is breaking and then just stop under the yellow you're going to lose more laps but but at this point you have to win i mean it's so bad the left foot tires off the ground right right when he's on the brakes he came onto the apron now he's on pit road so they're going to the pit box now dave he's in now and we'll see what they can do you see the wedge wrenches going in there they're changing the entire setup in the back of that car hoping it'll just stay up off the track steve there's only so much adjustment these coilover shocks have basically a little hydraulic thing that you adjust it's not like jack screws like the old car so depending on how you set them there's a little bit of wiggle room but there's only just a minimum and maximum you can raise the back of this car and it's not a lot rick it's like a half an inch like the thickness of your finger that's it once you get at that high you're gonna have to stop jack it up and make some manual adjustments how about brad keselowski yeah who just goes by the 12. he has yet to come to pit road i'm not that's my kind of pit strategy that's the easiest thing i can do from a top of the pit box is drinking water until you just stay on the racetrack great call right here from the sixth car matt mccall i know they're you know first year together or first year together at rfk and there he is on the bottom a late model racer himself driven a lot of cars and i like brad could he be the big upset we've seen two non-playoff drivers jeff could brad keselowski make it three in a row laney gotten really slow again that's something that's broke yeah they've made some whatever did they did you know raising the car up has made it worse nascar is going to get fed up with this and really quick yeah the back end of that car is dragging it is getting lower and lower hey guys crew chief jonathan hassler told me before the start of this race today the one thing that we have to avoid is early trouble yep and he's gonna come back again junior this is the early trouble they wanted to avoid so badly right rear tires flat and nascar has posted him for not making it happen i don't know what you're going to do so now the towing is broken yeah so there was a suspension item now i think it's the toe link as well look if this car just needs to go behind the wall change the suspension they're going to go 25 50 laps down and hope there's a lot of attrition i know that's hard to say but that's that's all i have left make the necessary repairs before you are eliminated from the race under five laps to go in stage one and as you mentioned brad kozlowski out in front has just a two-tenth of a second lead over christopher bell you see how close it is bell again already locked into the next round but wouldn't it be great to get another playoff point if christopher bell could get in front of brad keselowski to win this stage the bottom of the racetrack he's made up the ground again now three laps to go here at bristol in stage one brad has not come off the bottom of the racetrack this entire run here he goes to the top trying to find some speed bill has to go to the bottom stay out of that dirty air red oh a little bit loose right there under two laps to go kozlowski trying to hold off bell it's kozlowski bell kyle bush briscoe and larson they're all in the top five the final lap of stage one bowman buscher renick byron and martin trex jr in the top ten coming out of four for the final time and kozlowski is going to win the stage here at bristol first stage win for brad keselowski in 2022 as the work continues on ryan blaney on pit road four leaders today none with 20 22 wins that means 18 different winners already could it be 19. [Music] [Music] stage one is complete and it is brad keselowski who is your stage winner christopher bell coming in second grabbing those stage points christopher again the only driver officially locked into the round of 12 coming off his win in the first race of the playoffs now bell didn't get the stage win but quick fun fact about that in the last 13 short track races that stage one winner has not gone on to win the race something to think about here as we watch these final two stages foreign um bristol it's the bass pro shops night race and the fields making their way onto pit road marty rick i'm sure if ben bayshore drew up a play in the dirt earlier today it would look a lot like this kyle busch started 21st eight stage points that's huge for this 18 team who came in below the cut line he said i can feel it starting to hurt the right front really bad i need a big adjustment for a longer run kim first stop of the night for brad keselowski just said it's a little bit tight in his front tires chattering over the bumps you see them finishing service there chase briscoe on the bottom said balance not bad three and four he's pretty good he needs to work on one and two it just bottoms out sometimes dave tyler reddick stayed out the entire stage three stage points for him he needs him as well he'll get four tires here the left rifle was bottoming out dylan in the middle of your screen christopher bell still pretty happy with his race car just said he was a little bit loose off the top they were debating an air pressure adjustment but no major changes on the 20. alex bowman at the bottom of your screen no changes for him he was just sliding over the rubber on that run it's risco gaining three spots legato the big winner there only two tire stops [Music] so [Music] getting ready to start stage two here at bristol but i'm here now with the director of racing for goodyear greg stucker greg we've already seen some issues on the track in regards to tires what can you tell me about this unique tire setup for bristol well you know bristol's a half mile race track but it it doesn't race like any other half mile in the country it's uh extremely high bank which leads to a lot of speed and a lot of load so from a tire perspective we actually treat you like a speedway and down to shore track so you know we make sure we've got a construction that's durable we make sure we you know we work with the teams to make sure their setups are right make sure they got plenty of air pressure in the tires make sure they're not aggressive on their suspension settings and and we'll continue to do that throughout the course of the night because you know like i said we've seen a couple issues we we feel like we know what that is and we'll work with the teams to make sure we get some adjustments made thanks for the time greg i appreciate the insight you bet getting ready to start stage two here at bristol hits the wall he's put on the damaged vehicle policy that's a 10 minute clock he then goes out runs minimum speed with the damaged car that doesn't just reset it to zero that eliminates it you're no longer on the clock and for that reason he can really sit here and make whatever changes he needs but he just continues to lose laps currently 19 laps down what we see right there laying on the ground over a frame looks like they may be changing and when the car was out there on the racetrack sparking and you talked about it steve with the damage uh what would bend allow that car to travel more right so it's definitely the lower a frame and those suspension parts that allow that car to lay on the racetrack that's right that's where that shock is mounted so if that you know the foundation of your house moves the whole thing settles that's basically what happens the low control arm bends the whole car settles goodyear just came back and said that last right front we took off what's good that's rodney childers giving that information to kevin harvick who's on the inside pusher on the outside as we get back underway stage two underway here tonight race in bristol you got to tell you driving that information because he's nervous he's seeing all these issues and he's putting that up in his head and it's going to bother him well he also put it on that 95 so he didn't put on stickers right here so he knows he's got to run these tires for a little while ross chastain was at the bottom of the racetrack has drifted way up high and the battle back here in the middle of the pack is insane you got guys way up against the wall look at the five larson going three wide he has to back out right here a lot of give it and a lot of take it's got to be equal and when it gets unequal that's when they have problems at some point they give you a shot and take your spot but that ain't got to that point just yet it's coming though going lap 137 it's only going to get more aggressive 2x2 here around bristol todd gilland in the 38 trying to make the move on the 42 of ty dillon todd stayed out he put it last a lap 95. logano he's the highest guy that hit it but he only fought two hours got a crash on the front straightaway car spinning around here's the burt get it back around right front tire down again this is gonna be a long run flat i believe yeah right front's flat so now if you're this 21 car you have to ask yourself if you can't put enough air pressure in it or if that's going to have too much of a damage then brian wilson needs to come up with a plan a or b i mean you hate to say it but he's back in the lead lab you see him spinning right here i guess i don't know if the right front was down before after it might have went flat after the slide it looks like it has air in it right there yeah i would think if the right front was down he wouldn't have been spinning there yeah i agree jeff i just jumped to the right front now you might the crew chief hit me i'm trigger happy to talk about tires going down because that's what i'm so concerned about that looked like a separate issue harrison burton bringing the 21 back onto pit road and to the attention of his crew harrison one of the rookies in the field [Music] harrison was a spin but once again a theme that we are seeing right front tires going down the next generation of wi-fi it's here with supercharged speeds faster than a gig unbeatable internet made to do anything so you can do anything xfinity proud premier partner of nascar chinks elliott had a epic battle a year ago with kevin harvick ended up not working out for either of them as kyle larson ended up winning the race right now chase ella running in the 20th spot and harrison i had mentioned you know he had a flat tire earlier but they're back on the lead laps so even with that caution you know they're the last car in the lead lap now we're starting atlantic castle's gonna get the free pass he was multiple laps down we have no one one lap down uh that's not surprising here sometimes we see it but it's been a i call it a slow go to run the first 141 laps i just think that makes makes it just an even more exhausting night for these drivers just time in the car the effort's still going to be there to run all the laps 31 cars on the lead laughing as you mentioned the last one there is harrison burton four cautions come out the most recent for harrison [Music] foreign want to take a look at the xfinity fastest lap and that is a fast one turned by kevin harvick at 15.326 seconds around this half mile track the old hockey fight the slash that turns into the wreck a little bit later tape room working hard tonight a lot going on right here this is on board the 10 right here you're gonna see a little contact with the two eccentric boom he's trying to save his car and unfortunately real estate was at a minimum he got into the left rear of the 21. so i'm going to shove you into the fight and then walk away rick and if you get i'm sorry if it turns ends up bad for you yeah once again great job by uh those folks down in our truck finding that that's what happens when you are on the pole and now you're back here in the middle of the mess and 29th trying to work your way back to the front era camarola so it's buscher and harvick making up row one once again as the field approaching the geico restart zone and four cautions already pusher on the outside harvick on the inside oh man that was an interesting restart really good for that inside line almost looked like cole custer was pushing harvick at that start there's a lot of contact in both lanes butcher just brought him real down down real slow didn't try to really out launch them just trying to slow them all down right before we got the green bubble loss in the 45 the money line 45 of wallace on the outside will custer on the inside and the 41. and basically what i'm seeing right here steve is you need to call this race kind of like a road course as good as this tire is as fast as you can be on on an old tire all you need to do is really just pitch yourself to cycle toward the front wow look at the one car just went way to the top of the racetrack when are you making your last pit stop 150 to go yeah absolutely these guys have pitted at 95 are going to try to go all the way to the end of stage two i would assume and then you just like you said it's all about when you make that last pit stop this one car continues to run up the race track money line on board here for the 45 of bubba wallace that's exactly right junior i'm doing the math backwards very quickly i want to get that last set of tires on as soon as i can make it on fuel hey steve let's debate that a little bit though if you're kevin harvick and rodney childress you're sitting in second you're gonna try to go as you mentioned 155 laps to the end of stage two you're a four car though you've seen a couple of fords have tire issues tonight is that worth the risk to be able to push it to the end of safe two on these good years i don't think laps have anything to do with it it's another issue as dale pointed out the consistency or the the kind of the consistent details meant about lap 40 for the cards that had a right front tire we saw brad kozlowski easily run 125. so i think if your car is set up correctly the goodyear tires that came off brad keselowski the report from kim kun under caution was that they looked absolutely fine so at this point you can't call the race scared you're gonna have to go and run as long as you can on those tires plus for the four rick he's still 19 points below the cut line he needs to find victory lane steve the other the other variable in that equation is they know what setup they have in there and if it's similar to what the 12 had in it or if it's similar to what the 21 had in it then you would say okay wait a minute we might need to worry about it but if you're similar to the six you're saying we think we're good well you're assuming they all know i mean just because they're forwards i don't believe that rfk and stuart haas racing and penske share that much information if they do then the world has changed dramatically i think there's some sharing of information but i would have a hard time living in the world if i just had to open my notebook for everybody that had the same manufacturer there's bubba wallace painting the bottom of this race track is ross chastain taking an opposite line around here now wallace goes up into ross chastain's line dave nice run for the most recent winner in that blue black number 45 bubba wallace said his car was a little bit loose coming to the end of the stage they made adjustments for that and he said love it as they restarted in stage two one thing to keep in mind he had two different restarts one where he restarted in second gear didn't like it at all restarting in first was a little bit better so keep an eye on that it's good when your driver says love it chris busher out in front harvick hamlin wallace chastain the top five there's a fight for the 10th spot legato and the 22 trying to get by bowman in that 48. bowman had great speed in practice i thought he had a really you know this is a team that doesn't really have a lot of pace this year showed up this weekend looking really really fast can put together a good race tonight you get a lot of points larson also had great pace in practice and he hasn't been able to really work himself toward the front yeah they're if they're just limited to running this bottom they're not going to go anywhere they're going to need to figure out a way to get that track position otherwise passing on that bottom has proved difficult you see the 48 look like he always had that 22 cleared to 2 2 drives right back by him on the straightaway there again he's clear here comes the 22 back on the outside just so hard to be able to put that pass together it takes many many corners wow 18 there yeah kyle push almost to the back party what you got only 18. well junior remember earlier in the pre-race show kyle busch said with my success at bristol eight wins here more than anybody in the field i've always worked the bottom tonight he's having to work the top so they've had to adjust on this race car which gets tighter the longer that kyle runs in back earlier in the run he said it was eight out of a 10 tight on the bottom of the racetrack working the high group now for his teammate martin 2x jr he's back in the 16th position the bass pro shop car with the bass pro shop on board camera tonight truex is saying he's having intermittent steering issues we've heard this throughout the weekend here we've also heard it earlier he said it's just like the test at the robo last year and when it locks up it locks up big junior the other thing that martin directs jr said is that he had something in his eye in stage one he tried to get it out under the last caution couldn't do it said it's really bothering him inside the race car add 500 laps of crystal to all of that as kyle busch makes a pass around kyle larson i can't imagine what something in your eye would feel like yeah that is going to be a long night we heard a lot of drivers talking about that marty just very difficult you have power steering and then all of a sudden when it gets loaded up it gets very hard to turn well it's hard to turn right in the middle of the corner when you need the car to turn the most the guys are going to have to be conditioned the one advantage they have it's not a very hot night so temperatures are coming down that's going to help the drivers but you better have come into this race physically prepared we continue to show the playoff bubble in the lower left corner of the screen and you see right now in ninth laney they are still on pit road as we continue to watch the battles on the racetrack this 99 car suarez he is loose the back of that car it keeps dancing around he's using that highlight to keep this position but he is driving his his hands off tonight he is working hard harvick there battling closing in on bush for the lead but to see what what options harvick has as he closes in on this 17 car pusher running the top of the racetrack followed him up there yeah harvick runs a low entry traditionally lower than the car in front of him and then he runs a higher exit so he's sort of offset both times entering and exiting the corner there's a little offset which we know this car really appreciates any kind of offset as far as downforce and grip but how does he make the pass that's the question two wins already this season they came back to back but it was after a long drought a lot longer than harvick was hoping for his line is unique to india there's no one else that runs this line and i know it's just a few feet different but he enters a little bit lower then he runs off the corner a lot higher i do not know how he makes the pace because it's it kind of goes against the style that you would typically drive you know you never chop the entry or shallow up the entry and think that's going to make a fast lap he makes it work around this unique race track time and time again he makes it work no matter the car come out of the race this guy figures it out and how about rfk and the driver up front of kevin harvick that is chris busher and he's never led here before but right now leading at bristol and maybe a little bit of smoke out of the 45 yeah right side smoking absolutely big scoop that's a that's a power steering issue yeah says he can't turn it so let's see on board it's hard to tell from this angle obviously you see the cars going by he's having some sort of issue behind the wheel the difference in this one guys is that the other one they have power centering and then they lose it just gets hard to turn he was never having it right there well if he had smoke that tells me that there has to be fluid somewhere either the tires rubbing something oh there's fluid look at the inside of that right tire that just came off soaking wet guys there's no reason to change tires that's not going to fix this issue you have to open the hood start looking at it let's look at this tire right there all that shine on that tire all that right there that is fluid coming out from i'm guessing the power steering system at some point yeah you either need to open the hood or push behind the wall yep behind the wall or mechanical issues are going to happen he can't even move up that's wow so bubba wallace last week's winner now on pit road shaking his head you can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows and it's happening right here at bristol 57 laps into stage two you'll notice if you look at the top ten two jgr teammates running together the 18 and kyle busch and the 11 of denny hamlin big week for kyle busch as he officially made the announcement of where he'll be racing in 2023 joining the rcr camp he'll be piloting that number eight chevrolet next season meaning that he will no longer be teammates with cindy hamlin now this may be a bigger deal than race fans realize kyle busch and diddy hamlin have driven 516 races together as teammates which is actually more than jeff gordon and jimmy johnson now i will say in comparing the two duos kyle and daddy are still a bit behind in wins 98 total to jeff and jimmy's 111. [Music] side by side for the lead harvick who is in a must-win situation coming into this bristol race almost taking the lead away from buscher but there buscher comes down to the bottom of the racetrack and he holds on to that top spot both 23-11 toyota's i believe have retired from the race with power steering issues the 45 and the 23 almost at the same lap things heating up here as you see the points again the bottom four in points will be eliminated after tonight's race redick harvick austin dillon and cedric currently below that cutoff line still working on the car is blaney they've been working on it for quite a few laps and so they are behind the wall right now trying to fix the 12. and dave how far are they sorry guys i was getting out of the way of a wrecker that i was standing in front of which was near the 12th car here so safety issues about here they're far along on the right rear they've gone to the right front as well but remember how they got here to this point and now they even still have a chance in the playoffs points and they're only falling down a little bit yeah harrison burton up into the wall 1643 is backwards on the front stretch as well oh everybody is going by him there's chaos everywhere all this eric jones spins around 50 laps that was a long green flag run the longest of the nights that's good to hear but harrison burton's woes continue yeah harrison's got another right front flat take a look here this is eric jones in the 43. you see him and there was the contact made ah so the 42 sees the 21 he tries to run the middle lane and the 43 kind of just gets stacked up and then these cars here avoiding yeah oh man the 21 so whatever it is that is caught even causing the right front issues for some of these specific fords this is interesting that it went just a little bit longer so it may be an air pressure issue they're just creeping up with that air pressure their teammates or the other penske cars have maybe made bigger changes to just drastically avoid any problem jones still stopped on the racetrack am our safety team yeah right there wondering do you need a push asking for push there he's got it started and rolling down time again see also we're hearing is having a power steering issue is this power steering our engine on this one i i checked the level yet see if the city fluid left okay check the level that sounds like a power steering issue to me kim confirmed when i checked with the team before they went behind the wall they did in fact say it was a power steering issue as they brought it behind the wall billy scott told the team find every extra part and piece you have for the steering we likely are going to have to replace it all so both of the winners of the last two races the first playoff races have had issues within the last 20 laps bubba wallace and then eric jones so now with this caution the fifth of the night and that was a saving grace for austin dillon and tyler reddick two cars getting ready to go lap down right before that yellow comes out it's been that kind of night for austin dillon and reddick both of them have been running right really at the end of the lead lap now the field coming on to pit road once again marty kyle busch told ben bayshore we gained on it but we're still way too tight he said i really have to work the break to get the car to turn especially on the bottom an interesting radio from a few guys talking about how the bottom is going to be big they're talking about the top caking up kim and chase elliott right there he said i just don't have the versatility i need i've not got comfortable with the pace and the balance yet they're still working on that race car for chase elliot dave remember joey logano early took two tires then four they will come down it looks like they'll take four here to keep legato in the game dylan daniel suarez at the bottom of your screen still trying to get that balance of that race car a little bit better for him it was tight center that run but still struggling with the bounce big chassis adjustment for him christopher bell still pretty happy with his race car just trying to get some track position back that they lost here in this second stage kyle busch gains a spot chris cabell loses one on pit road [Music] so so it's nascar cup series playoffs on usa bass pro shops night race and what an amazing crowd here almost 100 000 people in attendance watching this the cut-off race for the round of 16. the mind-blowing ford f-150 lightning is here and you could win one during nascar playoffs scan the qr code now or visit nascar.com ford playoffs promo to get your chance to win the most innovative ford f-150 ever 19 of mark trex jr behind the wall and you see martin out of the car yeah we're hearing power steering issues with what we heard over the radio when he comes by right here just look out the right front you're gonna see just a little wisp of smoke see it just kind of pops out of it right there marty boy another toyota with a power steering issue martin was kind of the first one to report it in stage one said it was intermittently locking up but when it locked up it totally locked up and now it's done and you see truax who is not in the playoff hunt here out of the race car we'll see if we can get a word with martin truax jr here and ask him exactly what happened hey martin let me get over here and grab them talking with coach gibbs you said in stage one it was intermittent as it locked up and when it locked up it locked up big is it finally done yeah it blew the seal out and pushed all the fluid out on the right front tire so um it's unbelievable i mean uh what what harvick said crappy parts if you if you're your teammate kyle bush how worried would you be right now well he's not going to worry he's going to drive until it stops working i mean the end of the day that's all you can do is another one huh i don't know he talks about another one that's bubba wallace pulling behind us trying to get back out on the racetrack dave and so marty how do you prevent another one what is the 11 team of denny hamlin doing to try to prevent this listen how's your steering bent really bad underbreak especially up top it feels like it spikes the load even worse than that the front tire slides i cannot use brake at all when i'm on top the final word from chris gabe crew chief was i'm not sure what to tell you but i think if you try not to load it don't load it under steering you may be able to save it dylan so now guys we've seen problems for fords problems for toyotas here's the first problem for a chevy alex bowman reporting he's having power steering issues as well and starting to fade on him the crew is down here game planning what to do if it goes away completely and alex has to come to pit road or go behind the wall just remember this is the first time the next gen car has been to the concrete version of bristol we have seen the dirt version the concrete version has a ton of load a ton of banking the steering is an issue has been an issue in this car earlier in the year the teams all seem to have resolved that issue bristol creating new ones busher on the outside harvick on the inside back underway 45 laps to go in stage two saw hamlin in the 11 down at the bottom of the racetrack there maybe a different line running for denny hamlin to avoid issues it's interesting from his crew chief talking about trying not to load the steering i just don't know how you do that steve i don't know as a driver you got to turn the car the only way to not load it more is just enter the corner slower i just don't know how you can not load this theory yeah i wonder jeff jeff he did tell him to back up the corner a little bit too would that be one way to not load it well yes but once you go to the throttle you know to get your speed back up now you're loaded in the middle of the corner where the most load is so i just don't know how you prevent it well the physics are physics if you're running the same speed through the middle of the corner as everyone else i i think the load is we're talking really close to the same there could be some variation between running the bottom of the top that would be the only thing there you go does the bottom at the bottom is it harder to turn on the bottom of the racetrack seem to work the power steering pump or the rack harder running the top only the drivers would really know that great racing here the toyotas have blown they're saying they're blowing martin said he blew the seals out of the unit so that is that is something you're not gonna fix yeah that's a great move by kyle busch brendan needle between his teammate and his 31 car justin haley on the outside and that leaf filter chevrolet gives the spot away to kyle bush and dale on the left look at the big variety right 116 laps with guys up front a few with 80 and then a bunch of guys with 12 laps so you know everybody with a different opinion but these old tires are still holding on fine near the front yeah i will sleep on the whole night get a set that works your favorite set of tires all right buscher's up front harvick running in that second position hamlin custer and chastain top five then it's larson kyle busch bell haley bowman and kozlowski those two fighting for positions how about uh roush fenway tonight we saw how well keslowski ran early now butcher leading the race i'm gonna give a tip of that to board i was very vocal that i didn't think they haven't needed the big track but they played all but one lap tonight rick so ford is showing up in the playoffs and showing up here at the coliseum yeah christopher bell the only non-four to lead a lap today and that's only been one lap marty boy rick imagine being kyle bush came in below the cut line the two-time champ right now above the cut line but jeff i thought martin truex made a fantastic point why worry about what could happen with a power steering kyle's going to go drive as hard as he can gets another spot from his teammate christopher bell now plus 21 above the cut line so i think that's the mentality on the 18 team right now they haven't said a word about their teammates power steering issues i think kyle is simply focused forward i think he has to be i think that's the right approach if there was something that we feel like there was something major the driver could do to help this problem then yes go do it but we just don't see it from here we'll see who's on the move with power moves brought to you by propane busher 19 spots up since the start of this race kyle bush has made up 13 positions chase elliot 12. buscher up front leading this one has a 4 10 of a second lead over harvick who runs right up against the wall and they are both running different lines look at harvick here running the top of the racetrack three and four the lap before he's on the bottom of the racetrack back to the top christopher to the bottom [Music] this racetrack is providing these drivers a lot of options [Music] you know kevin harvick you know we didn't think he could point himself in tonight but if these troubles continue can enough guys have trouble where he might not have to win this race he's got two guys still in front of him before that cut line in reddick and austin dillon but he's only 11 points now 10 points back but again a win cures everything and he's running second so if he gets up there wins the race he advances into the next round there's the gap between one and two lap times are just so even and dirty air is really frustrating this four car 18 laps into this run and amazingly look at this racetrack you could barely see another car in front of the race leader chris busher [Music] dylan so junior to your point about kevin harvick and dirty air the opposite is true for chris busher he said they felt like they've been really bad until they got to the front of this field now he's led 96 laps and nobody can pass it so on a track as small as this is clean air really does matter doesn't it it can affect how your car drives and really make the difference marty dylan i thought jeff burton brought up an outstanding point a moment ago and when i talked to rodney childers this afternoon he told me i think there is a points path for us to make it through the next round because i think the biggest key tonight is going to be surviving it's going to be attrition and he was exactly right and keep this in mind as you look at the left-hand side of your screen kevin harvick minus 11 right now but he could get these stage points right here rick could be nine or ten and that could put him close to the cut line yeah huge for harvick if he's able to finish with either nine or ten points here in stage two now down to 23 laps 22 to go in this stage man it's fun to watch him try to move his throttle trying to figure out something to find an advantage when he gets closer to the 17 he kind of gets frustrated with the dirty air he has to change what he's doing what a night for rfk as bush are out in front this is the most laps he has ever led in a race out front here at bristol more trouble for playoff drivers at bristol motor speedway you see the damaged car of denny hamlin right front definitely down contact with the wall denny's now forced to bring this toyota to hit road [Applause] take a look at what happened yeah i think it's just a right front tire from what we heard on the radio yeah he goes up the hill let's look at the contacts wow nice job whether it was in control or a little bit of luck a little bit of bow oh this will show us everything yeah steve most right front so we've seen guys are running the top penny on the bottom here you're retired but it happened slowly yeah it it it didn't you know it didn't go boom it turned it you heard it going you heard it unraveling and that's why he didn't hit hard so a little different this tie right here where he mentioned 40 45 laps at the ford's 113 green on the toyota so then unraveling is it i know it is a right front tire still going flat but is it a different cause right like results the same cause could be different yeah that sound like that tire unwound it's a great night to be sitting up here in the booth well you think about what going through denny's head probably kyle busch's head he has toyota teammates that are behind the wall and out of this race harding with a power steering issue now he has a right front tire go down well not only that but with 14 laps to go into stage pit road's open so what do you do right here yeah i mean i pit i pit because the end of the race is 264 you can make it a one stop from here i pit here and i sacrifice the stage points to stay out under the stage that would be my move unless i need to make it on to the next round marty and steve that's the move rodney childers makes and they counter that with ross john state's team who was coming and then they saw the four pit and said hey we want the stage points here harvard saying his car's just a little bit too tight for going stage points here in stage two kim and right there the five car of kyle larson they felt good where they were in point so strategy call by cliff daniels kyle just reporting that he's tight to fire off not enough turn loading into one on the shorter run and just very hard to clear people was his main point dave 22 of joey logano hits pit road again this will be another air pressure adjustment slight adjustment this time for joey he'll get four tires don't they're gonna go as a chassis adjustment as well tyler redick is on pit road as well working his way from the back they were just terrible in traffic there in the back we'll see if they do this on this set of tires interesting strategy there for that pit stop the guy who put the left front tire on was also the jack man yeah the tire carrier one and jack man basically have a little bit of the similar duties right to left it's it's a real ballet for sure and that's some of the reason why we see some left sides leave before they get tight because your job changes so you're not like confirming one job gets done you move to the jack and it's all just a timing thing and if the timing's wrong the wheel doesn't get tight it's gonna be a sprint to the finish of stage two under 13 to go all right steve so many things happening tonight uh under the hood and really let's take the body of your car away and look a little bit closer and explain to us what's happening yeah let's go to our toyota virtual car right here let's just take a conversation about steering we've seen some steering issues we've seen some right front tires so as we kind of come around we're going to talk about really both first let's talk steering so in this area right here this is the whole steering system right there so it's a hydraulic system you see there's a line there there's a line that runs down there's a pump and a reservoir what happens is this system fails it usually fails in this area right here that's where that seal is that uh trucks is talking about in this area right here when this system fails basically it becomes a hydraulic issue and it leaks the fluid out this has to have fluid for it to work when we talk about some of the right front failures really there's some adjustment you see right here is the a arm right that's kind of what you use to set the camber so it doesn't look as simple as the old car because it isn't this isn't something you're going to open the hood and just take some shims in and out of this thing so two issues uh well there you go you want to know what one looks like in real life that is what a steering rack looks like going in and you see just how difficult on my beautiful virtual world you just take all those other parts out of the way and you can see it you just see how difficult it is the 19 on the other side i would um i would probably vote for this as well if i didn't make the playoffs i won't have a good year and have a power steering issue i'd be beating traffic and steve the reason i believe that they're doing the 45 is because they're still in a chase for the championship as far as the owners championship goes now again with the win last week they advanced to the next round already but and that's kind of why i'm wondering why they're why are they going to do it yeah they're advanced you know maybe listen practice and get bubba back out i mean i understand it'll be ten laps to go in stage two christopher buscher in the gas first frisco on the inside and the 14. that's christopher bell up front they used to be clear but now there's two christopher's the whole thing see the nine of the eighteen both of those drivers almost got together off turn four chase has kind of struggled tonight back in the pack had a hard time finding any track position finally has it be interesting to see if this night car has any pace for these leaders more contact right there with him and kyle see right here kyle busch just trying to run that bottom chase elliott on the top look how much momentum chase can carry on the exit of the corners looking back from the xfinity on board of chase elliott down to the bottom of the racetrack you see kyle busch going up high [Music] playoff bubble seven to go in stage two stage points awarded austin dillon below the line redick below the line cedric and harvick all below the cut-off line well christopher bell this team center leading this race they have brought their best to the playoffs when the playoffs started they stepped up six to go in the stage so steve walk us through the decision for rodney shielders to give up what looked like nine stage points there it would have taken kevin harvick very close to the cut line they restarted 15th now and 12th not sure he's going to get any stage points here in stage 2. well the issue was when he was minus 11 that was already figuring in that finish of the stage so even running second he was still double digits out so they are calling this race to win so for the fourth car pitting now staying out at the end of the stage that is a winning strategy to try to cycle to the front um everyone else you know who came in questionable on points or even if you were somewhat safe you could lock it up right now and not have to worry about the second half yeah even with all the issues that we have seen out of these playoff drivers kevin harvick still in a very deep hole as pit road is closed now under two laps to go in stage two frisco trying to work his way around elliott but it's still christopher bell out front ross chastain has cleared briscoe and so he is up to second and christopher bell who's gonna do it he wins stage two that's four cups during stage wins all the last eight races of this season the crazy night continues and we're just halfway of this night race you're watching the nascar cup series playoffs from bristol the bass pro shops night race [Music] i all right tuesday just complete here from bristol motor speedway and we have already seen the chaos that breeds here on this famous short track if you haven't had an opportunity to watch a race here from bristol i took you out on the high banks earlier this afternoon to give you a feel for what this place is like so the final stage in front of us you see the lights in the background there of the stands here at bristol it is an amazing event as the fans taking part in this night race as you see the cars working their way on to pit road now here at the end of stage two barney 14 key stage points for kyle bush and he's pitted right behind ross chastain he said i don't have the security to throw it into the corner like i would like it freed up that run justine right in front of him said the rubber build up on the top of the track is really hurting us i cannot be any looser than it was on that run kim chase briscoe on the bottom of the screen stage one's accrued in both stages goal accomplished he said the steering's killing me dead center the corner feels like at hydroplanes just really tight they made a chassis adjustment for tires snoko fuel dave three stage points for austin dillon he's now out by just one as they run same adjustment direction his steering is getting a little catchy dylan alex bowman will pit he said he didn't have a great feel for what the car was doing because he's battling not only a steering issue but a great shake issue they'll fit here and take four tires and fuel as well for bowman if steering was your drinking word you're not gonna make the second half i'm just letting you know it's gonna be a long night top three all holding position as they come off of pit road [Music] [Applause] experiencing a race in bristol is unlike anything else on the nascar circuit if you haven't had the opportunity to come to the last great coliseum i took a short walk out of the high banks earlier today to give you some insight about what this place is like they call bristol motor speedway the last great coliseum and just look at this place 360 degree stadium seating watching a race here there is truly nothing like it but the racing here is even more unique a half mile short track 40 feet wide and the progressive banking in the corners ranges from 26 degrees to 28 degrees that means that when these drivers are running the high line they're almost two stories above race fans that are watching from in the infield when it comes to short track racing there is truly nothing like it here at bristol and when you ask the drivers how to describe this place they always reference the old phrase it's like flying fighter jets in a gymnasium the last great colosseum the world's fastest half mile whatever you want to call this place there is no doubt that it is exciting and with 244 laps to go in this race i can guarantee we are in for a show great crowd on hand proud sponsor of the great american night race johnny morris's bass pro shops is celebrating 50 years of serving those who love the great outdoors today it has grown to be known as north america's premier outdoor company and worldwide leader in conservation congratulations to johnny and the team at bass pro shops on 50 years and i mentioned that light show by the fans being a part of it johnny morris is a big nascar fan as well not only a big supporter of this race truax austin dillon noah gregson multiple cars at the field but you used to always see him in all the races i mean this is the man that runs a huge company i'm sure he has a lot of other things he could be doing and spending his time here at nascar races very much appreciated great friend of richard childress by the way oh yeah i saw him today walking across the racetrack over in turn three and he was strapped across the racetrack he was happy to be here right now he's in the radio booth next to us i'm waving right at him oh there you go there he goes that man is making his round marty 14 stage points for kyle bush so far tonight could be massive in his hope to advance to round two ben bayshore gave him an update listen as we run we are five points above the cut line the 14 and the eight are tied for uh 12 and 13. so they came in below the cut line steve a lot of nerves here ben bayshore hoping the power steering holds out but right now kyle bush would advance with where he is and as quickly as those are worried about points there are four more that are locked in that joined bell william byron denny hamlin joey logano and alex bowman they will be in the round of 12. i'm sorry go ahead i was going to say man what a relief for a couple of those guys bowman experiencing some issues danny's got to be a little nervous about what he sees all his teammates going through you and i were thinking the same thing i'd be nervous about that four car as he's sitting there in third he last pitter lap 237 chris travell chase elliott coming back to the green flag as stage three underway this is going to be a big challenge both on the racetrack and on pit road how you consume this last 240 laps when you pit it's easy to say tires don't have a whole lot of value but now the field knows it how are you going to play your chess piece is different way right at the bottom of the racetrack here his teammate kyle larson running the high side can't really make the exit work off of turn four haven't seen william up here much we'll be paying attention to his pace here now that he has some clean air on this 24 seams and everybody seems to get better when they get in that top two top three position big run on the five as he's gonna go to the outside trying to get by william byron right on the corner of your screen you saw the 12 car ryan blaney pulling back out on the race track to rejoin the field blaney scored 148 laps down yeah so with 200 238 left to go if somebody had a wreck right now he could catch him plus with wallace gibson tracks out i believe those points are available marshall to the outside here second place that second spot as byron continuing to run the bottom of the racetrack and larson on the outside clears it for second william's gonna go to the top trying to find that speed the five car has up there now here comes his teammate chase elliott to the inside chase working that hooters chevrolet on the bottom of the racetrack and turn three and four great shot off the nose infinity camera giving us this great shot from chase's car down in the corner watching both his teammates work two different lines around this racetrack pretty cool seeing chase elliot just wrapped that line old school bristol he said as a kid this was the track that made him want to be a race car driver well that's the line that he watched that's what he watched his dad do that's how he used to win races here and he's trying to make this pass unsuccessful so far and has allowed this four car harvard to close in again he's gonna have to be defensive he jumps up in that outside line to try to take away any kind of momentum from the four car but eventually harvard's gonna try to get on that right side ellie's going to defend that by going to the top now remember the four and the nine a year ago got into each other harvick in a must-win situation he's going to do anything he can to advance into the round of 12. harvard gets the position now he's gonna go to the bottom of the racetrack turn three and four he's trying to catch this 24 car here there was the contact between the two a year ago and issues for the 18 he's into the wall kyle bush below the cut line to start the race he was above the cut line all right and that looks like an engine yeah i was going to say that's out of both headers right there so that does not look like oh man is that water i see pouring out four times four tires four tires there's no four tires your man is not coming to see you and you hear the crowd you either love him or you hate him you see the fans with the m m's gear the 18. there's a lot of rowdy fans out there but this is not what they wanted to see out of kyle bush out of the race car out of the race and more than likely he's gonna be out of the playoffs remember guys he had an agent failure at darlington yeah he could win right yes it's just failure oh yeah you see them we call that you when the water and oil mix that's that's a major internal failure on this engine smoke rolling out of the 18 and the night is over for kyle busch an eight-time winner here at bristol guys i know you can have a failure anywhere but without shifting and i haven't seen a lot of i can't confirm with an ar jeff an engine failure right the cycles on the engine aren't really awful here kyle busch never has been eliminated from this round ever in his career a two-time champion and now out of the playoffs let's think about the week think about the week that god bush has had all summer contract contract contract big announcement down at the hall of fame with richard childress i'm going to rcr next year got that off his shoulders finally could put his foot forward and focus on this year in the playoffs and now a second engine in this round i agree with you will perhaps end the count the 18's chances of moving forward you would think so but you just have 20 22. yeah and look at all the failures already this year this this race i mean this has been a race of attrition and why is it going to get any better 228 laps to go why why are all of a sudden cars gonna stop breaking so yes it does not look good for kyle busch at all but who knows what can happen here hey that that's a small little thing right there right so it's marty doing a great job chasing him down he he is very focused but he saw you know james small i know that sounds silly but but that's someone you know you trust it's a teammate right whatever information he needed to give or whatever that just shows that while he is frustrated at the moment i know that seems small but as a crew chief that used to chase down a teammate asking information or whatever the fact that he would stop and talk tells me he's still very plugged into gibbs right here and he wanted to have a good finish to the year the 18. behind the wall hopefully we can talk with kyle busch when we return but it's bell that's out front here at bristol so so [Music] [Music] change the past one leap at a time don't miss the premiere of quantum leap that's monday at 10 9 central on nbc and streaming next day on peacock i'm sure kyle busch would love to be able to change the past as the engine expires for him and potentially he could be out of the playoffs so we said potentially under break we kind of talked about it dale jr you guys brought up a great point over there kyle busch is currently out in fifth but look who's above him redick and briscoe even suarez suarez on the racetrack running 13th he could lose 11 points briscoe having a decent run but he's a 17th he can lose nine points and redick only plus five could lose as well so it's definitely not over for the 18 the other three cars in front of them have to finish off these nights exactly one thing once you are one thing's gonna hurt him is blaney's back on track so he will probably pass kyle busch yeah with 224 laps to go if he's able to finish all of the laps he's only 155 now the back stretch multiple cars wadding it up in turn three the 99's in it guys suarez is a part of it yeah we just talked about that the 48 advanced and he's going to feel good about it because his car is smooth come on come on through the hood hustle over here look at that they told pit road just those position changes there yep as quickly as that happened wow somebody got turned around halfway down the back stretch guys who was the first one oh suarez is loose all night he's been loose corrects it gets just gets behind on the steering gets it to the side of cent house then house just nothing he could do todd gilliam coming into it barely cleared it out yeah rick wow austin dillon there as well in the three the one thing i'll say though is we've seen these cars get beat up and they take a lot of hits and as long as you can keep that toe link straight except for the damage to the right front there on the eight yeah reddick uh right front damage we'll see how bad that is this body cosmetic outside only just a 38. easy you're getting low getting low staying look at the damage here to the eight this is reddick yeah the body damage is certainly not going to help him but the biggest concern is the suspension damage what's hurt that tire is can okay i couldn't tell if it was still tight or not on all right so the toe links kind of right there looks like it's in one piece uh best i can tell a couple wrenches out where's he gonna go to work here that's the toe link he just grabbed it's broken oh look at the three card the left front is awesome all right look we got the kit out guys look at this right here we got a little tool kit we practice this at the shop we have talked about this it looks like we have a i can't tell yeah that's a whole upper control arm and a piece of foam this is we talked about this in the production meeting who is going to practice more than just pit stops we got to get it out there there's rc we just got to get it out there these mechanics know it that's an entire upper control arm assembly 10 minutes to do this steve right yeah nascar made the adjustment in the playoffs the teams requested and i think this was a good adjustment the idea of the damaged vehicle was to not eliminate cars that could return so they extended from six to ten minutes because this car just seems to take a little more time dave richard childress on the radio as you heard both of his cars involved in that as austin dillon described it sorry guys that all happened in a big old hurry and yes it did damage to both of these cars now we'll see what they can do you look at on the left you see the playoffs as they run both dylan and reddick just a little bit below but we also saw how long blaney spent fixing his car earlier they'll try to get this done in 10 minutes steve you pointed it out earlier go get to race pace again and then the clock is no longer an issue they can work on it the rest of the night when they want to yeah but race pace unfortunately here is 17.53 seconds that's about a second and a half a little under two seconds faster than you run on new tires i've never run a lap at bristol but guys i can't imagine 17 seconds it's easy to accomplish with something broken on your race car we have to at least get the car off the racetrack and the tires pointed in the right direction there's rc looking on both of the rcr cars on pit road like worst case scenario a year ago they battled and couldn't seem to get two in this year they got both of them in and now here they are both below the cut line austin dillon and reddick continue to fall kyle busch we know he's not moving he's blown up plus four currently in 12th okay we still have 219 laps to go but playoff driver issues already and it started early austin center with some tire issues a couple more fords are going to have problems i thought this was going to be the theme of the night boy we're wrong timmy hamlin a little bit later he had a right front tire go down kyle bush smoke came out of the fight never good lone engine looked like for him and then a huge wreck down the back straightaway with multiple playoff drivers involved one thing we we didn't cover there that that has been another issue throughout the night is power steering a lot of guys having power steering issues it's put a couple cars behind the wall eric almarola a guy that early in the race was the pole sitter he's run really well he's been having power steering issues as well you see this eight car you mentioned richard childress we should showed him on top of that building the thing that made richard childress that guy right there with your dad what they did so much better than everybody else has run all the laps that's what he believes in so he he knows he had these teams prepared in case of something in case something happens have your stuff ready we got to get this stuff fixed that's what has made him successful and i promise you he pushes everyone in that company to make sure they're prepared for every situation and we have seen about every situation here at bristol tonight this one a big rack happening in turn three wadding up cars and a lot of playoff drivers [Music] caution is out once again here from bristol and as they stand in those top 10 the 10th position the 22 of joey logano now joey is a winner here at bristol on the dirt but in talking to him a few weeks ago he told me that win on the dirt does nothing for confidence heading into tonight's competition when you're going to check for the first time with this car it's like okay i'll rewatch last year's race what am i really learning from this like sure is it going to be like this at all not really no we've learned all year long it's nothing like it used to be you actually have to unlearn a lot of things that we were used to so um yeah i mean i i wouldn't say you're completely winging it but you are to a certain extent like you can't say that other short tracks are like bristol you can't say dirt bristles close to concrete bristol is completely different despite that lack of confidence heading into tonight joey sits well above the cut line with 215 laps to go in the 10th place position um i just i mean i don't even know what to say i'm flabbergasted um i just feel so bad for my guys i mean they don't they don't deserve to be in this spot you know they work too hard we're too good of a group to be this low down on the bottom and um and fighting for our lives just to make it through but two engine failures in three weeks that'll do it to you so um you know really feel bad for all of rowdy nation everybody at m m's it's just interstate batteries rowdy energy all the all the partners that get us going every week i mean man this is not our normal as we go green here kyle will you hang around to see if you do make it to round two here if i get done with my media obligations and nascar releases me i'm going to the house i got kids at home all right we're back green here at bristol but right now above the cut line plus six we'll have to see how this race plays out and it's been a crazy night rick who knows yeah it has changed quickly as we see still christopher bell out front larson running second kozlowski byron and harvick all in the top five again harvick in a position if he wants to advance he's going to have to win this race i think crazier things crazier things have happened though so maybe he doesn't have to win this race to advance bottom right on board with tyler reddick now it's all about that magic minimum speed you only get three laps to do it so you're gonna have to get a good run and have a good plan great battle at the top for the lead tyler reddick team doing a nice job putting some new suspension on he's gonna take three shots at it we need to see a 17-second lap oh almost in the wall right there they ain't working too good and here's the problem you only get three shots three laps three consecutive laps and you don't make it your day's over yeah he got a lot of debris on his tires up there against the wall [Music] that's not good enough used up nine minutes of that clock kim and alex bowman out of the race the good news is you advance to the next round what happened out there though yeah so we lost power steering the beginning of stage two and we stayed out there to get stage points and kind of topped our way through it and then um restart in the back because we stayed out so long and they all crashed in front of me nowhere to go so bummer we had a really fast alec camaro capable of running the top five all day but uh sucks when you lose power steering it's hard to overcome that at a place like bristol and i think we still would have ended up okay just did the same thing to stay out for stage points and uh at least we're locked in the next round steve the eights looks like he made minimum speed he did so he's coming back on pit road now to continue some more repairs because the damage vehicle clock clock no longer exists minimum speed completely throws it out the window unfortunately for his teammate the three of austin dillon he sits on pit road but still up under one minute you can see the little bit of urgency right here trying to get this three car no if you start right there that head shake taking it behind pit wall the three cars night is going to be done it ended up being a pass-through penalty for the eight uh they left equipment out of the box so he was serving that penalty as he comes back out on the track now yeah and now for the eight i mean we're looking at him right he's uh let's see 13 laps down it's all about attrition he's hoping some other cars will have some issue you look on the left side he's five points behind kyle busch kyle can't really move maybe one spot to blaney as as jeff pointed out for reddick he can't really catch anyone he's ahead of everyone who's out of the race he needs more attrition kyle busch right now scored in 32nd and again it was a big first and second stage for kyle bush he gained 14 points stage points that was huge for him reddick only three interesting to know bubba wallace is on the racetrack 90 laps down he too could pass kyle busch as well you know that's a good point i i'll be running down there like hey man you sure you want to keep running you're into the next round you just come on i'll buy you lunch right along on the helmet of bubba wallace that bunny lion helmet cam denny hamlin on the outside of ross chastain that has been an eventful season already for these two drivers we knew bristol was going to be crazy it is not disappointing we still have 199 to go hamlin going by chastain hamilton running in the 12th spot chastain 13 chase briscoe in 14th [Music] right behind these guys is justin haley having a great run and 15th in that 31 car he's right on the inside here of the 14 and briscoe justin's kind of turned it on the last several weeks starting to improve this team this team getting better each week starting you know you run around in the back side of the top 20 and then you start trying to get a little better 15. maybe the top 10 here and there [Music] you mentioned justin haley a best of 36th here in the cup series we want to take a look at the toyota driver updates bell up front then you look a little bit further back the 11 of denny hamlin is 12th kyle busch out of the race in 32nd bubba wallace he's back on track but scored 33rd and martin trex jr also out of the race in 34th but it's kind of the shining star right now for toyota and christopher bell steve you had him as your guy you thought he might be the one that could get to victory lane here tonight i liked his points position i liked his enthusiasm i mean he he the way he talks about this place was such like it is special to him and i think you know in today's day and age of just you know another race another race another race it was it's great to see kind of that sparkle when he talks about bristol i think that helps dale right in these closing laps and you got to deep dig deep and find a little extra knowing you love the track you're driving on i think it helps a guy like christopher bell dylan how about that 25 yeah he loves running here too and i think it's fun to watch him as the leader move around on the racetrack you know he's not saying complacent he hasn't just been running the bottom long in laps he's been moving around because he can he has a pretty good feel of what's slow on the racetrack hope lines are maybe working a little bit faster without being told adam stevens is group she said that's one thing he does really well and we don't have to tell him to move up he'll just move up by himself if he feels like he needs to move up so his dirt racing background that constant searching notion and thought process certainly helps him at a place like this and is helping him stay in front of larson now larson nine tenths of a second back keslowski really good run for brad keselowski today 1.3 seconds behind bell then it's byron and harvick as we mentioned harvick in a very tough position right now for the points standings he is 16 19 below the cutoff line right along with him a lot of racing still to go 188 laps remain here and harvick's put himself in a good position just two points behind or excuse me two seconds behind back to the strategy steve a lot of these guys got to be thinking we're getting close to being inside the window do you you know you get that caution 150 laps to go you're coming to pit road putting on that last set of tires and telling your drive you're probably not coming back yeah we figure they can run 160 on fuel green 186 right now i mean if you get a yellow around now you might be thinking you're going to get a ton of yellows or you can kind of connect the dots uh the other side of that though just to keep in mind christopher bell he has 116 laps on this current run there's a bunch of yellows in there but he is you know sounds like a lot of laps probably 50 laps away from needing fuel that uh you know 15 seconds that is not good for your anxiety if you only have 15 left and he is him and byron are the two another car that's better in that situation another car pulled back onto the racetrack ty gibbs 132 laps down back out on the racetrack making laps in the number 23 toyota and there are enough laps that he could get by kyle busch as well so bell up front larson running second here in bristol so 180 laps remaining here at bristol motor speedway take a look at those rfk cars both of them are running in the top 10 right now brad keselowski in his first year in the six car currently in the third position does not have a win yet this season but is on his way to his best finish this year and chris busher in the 17 currently running seventh that team has been very vocal this season about keeping all eyes on butcher using that 17 car as a benchmark when it comes to progress this season and what buscher has done has been nothing short of impressive if he could along to another top 10 finish here that would only add to his impressive 2022 resume two top fives and short tracks four top tens on short tracks and he won the duel at daytona earlier this season with one win in one goal so far in his cup series career it's nascar cup series playoffs from bristol the bass pro shops night race looking down on this incredible facility aerial coverage brought to you by geico nearly a hundred thousand fans right here in bristol and think about this east tennessee you've got knoxville about two hours from here and the football team there generates over a hundred thousand people over two hundred thousand sports fans two hours apart enjoying sports on this saturday this is an incredible battle right here three wide for position chase elliott his teammate william byron harvick on the bottom busher crime climbing into this as well all of this is being created by that slow car up front tyler redick on the high side these these two fighting for position up here tyler's got it you know tyler's got the issue with the damage the 10's got a little power steering issue all these guys just try there's nowhere to go you know they're not doing anything wrong they just can't there's nowhere for them to go to get out of the way you can't slow down and let everybody go right you're going to have cars coming time and time again to try to get by and laugh you so you just get up the top of the racetrack and go as hard as you mention the two can for position harvick and busher but as you look at the bubble how frustrating would it be if you're reddick or cinderick you're five points behind a guy who's not even in the race anymore [Music] you're hoping for some attrition yeah when i look up there i think the one that's really in in a little bit of nerves is daniel suarez because he's plus six running 23rd but if he was to fall out of this race he could lose six points and he's a couple laps down and he's had some damage from this accident so i don't know how severe the damage is but he is just hoping to have a clean finish and now if harvick somehow got up there and won the race then he eliminates kyle that's right moves the whole cut line a spot harvick closing in on buscher buscher had to check up there with sores getting out of the gas just in front of him dave rick it was a spectacular win at daytona that put austin dillon into the playoffs a spectacular crash took you out here what did you see yeah you know i think we were doing our job there we had a pretty good bass pro shop chevy and i haven't seen the replay but i heard daniel just wrecked it got wrecked to 47 and caused a big one so part of it um wish we would have been a little better spot just broke the suspension on the left run we had gotten stage points and really we had a pretty good race car so feeling pretty good about we just needed to miss that one tough first round with a decent race car before all that yeah it was that was the best car we brought you know we put ourselves in a mind after the first two races and brought something that we could race with today and felt good about it um yeah it's over probably for us so you know thank you for the opportunity we'll just go try and win a race for the end of the year austin dillon out of the race and presumably out of the playoffs guys [Music] you see him nine points down and no positions really to gain we talk about austin cendrick and being five laps down being five points out of the playoffs he's going to be able to pick up one position here mccloud at 24th is also on the same lap as him so he'll be running him down he's about to straight away behind mcleod so that'll be one spot for him his spotter crew chief everybody's probably giving him that information and dale one thing that's making this as a challenge is with the tire that's here the leaders aren't pitting every time if the leaders pitted every yellow you could hail mary these wave arounds and try to get some laps back with the leaders stay out though you're five laps down there there's no pathway back to you know gaining laps that's right 158 laps to go 157 to go the next time we get an opportunity a yellow those cars are coming to pit road for the final time like you say you'll never get a chance to get the free pass to the wave around for the rest of the race how about guys like christopher bell he came on lap really around lap 200. he's coming close to that halfway in between uh the when he stopped and at the end of this race yeah perfect caution would be right now because he is almost out of fuel he probably can make it to the finish on fuel so this will be the perfect time for a yellow he's run 146 laps since his last pit stop they have not all been green i'm sorry sure he was saving under yellow our man dylan welch is in his pit so we'll see if maybe he can get a little insight i'm sure they're going to be holding their information close to their best but it's christopher bell uh elliott in the fourth as i go down the list byron in eighth mcdowell and ninth who are all at that lap 199 last pit situation you see it on the left side 147 laps we say they can go 160 they've had some yellows probably 170 175 25 laps 16 seconds of lap it's counting down quick they just don't want to get caught after coming to pitt road on their stop if some caution comes out and they get caught a laugh or two down yeah now to your point junior you know suarez there's a couple of guys that green flag pit stops might actually help him save some points right there a couple laps down as well so a lot of racing still to go here with just over 150 to go out front christopher bell then larson half a second behind him keselowski elliott busher the top five there's been close calls all around this racetrack take a look here with denny hamblin hamlet trying to make it three wide wow a lot of contact yeah you mentioned it a bit ago juniors when you're trying to stay out of the way it's very difficult here so easy to get caught up into something calls a wreck oh we got a car slow on the back straightaway to 43 of eric jones must have a right front tire down that's going to bring out the yellow oh looks like a right bear tires flat on that car and christopher bell is very happy to see this this is pay dirt for the 20. perfect timed yellow your point junior now they're inside their fuel when they'll make it to the finish they didn't have to come underground adam stevens being aggressive we're going to take a look right here yeah you see the nose kind of pop up that's the right rear losing air and steve everybody on the lead lap which right now we have 14 cars on the lead lap everybody comes to pit road yeah i mean you're inside your last fuel window i don't think there's any reason you would stay on the racetrack at this point tyler once again on pit road but now if they do that there is three six cars one lap down you know they may all stay on the racetrack and take the wave around uh you're just trying to buy yourself some laps is really the key you know there's adam stevens right there great call i mean he's called one heck of a race right here you get it you have to get a little lucky for any strategy to work he knew what he needed and he was and you know you ask yourself all the time is there something specific that makes this strategy work and for him it was a caution inside a certain window this caution is exactly in that window all right nascar fans don't let anything pass you by the official app of nascar tracks lets you stay up to date on the latest race and event information from all of your favorite tracks search nascar tracks in the app store to download for free saw alma roller there bubba wallace back out on the track after power steering issues for the 45 23 also having power steering issues they're back out on the racetrack as well gibbs 132 laps down bubba wallace 91 laps down again kyle busch out of the race he scored 32nd austin dillon's out of the race alex bowman ricky stenhouse jr so bubba wallace and ty gibbs could leap frog those four drivers pushing kyle bush stenhouse junior bowman and dylan all down a spot redick is 26 laps down and we see him coming out of his pit stall so the the idea now i guess is so you know tired tires and track position aren't going to really do nothing for you trying to get tires and be cute with track position ain't gonna do nothing for you you're gonna have a hard time passing the guys in the top five i think anything anything left in the driver's hands right now just comes down to the chews if you do get a rash of yellows to choose what you decide from here on out is going to be critical to where you finish in this race marty kevin harvick and likely a must-win situation right now 20 below the cut line sitting in six rodney childers needs to take a big swing here harvick said i've got to have more grip the bottom is getting difficult about wrecked it off turn two you see that wedge adjustment the bottom is going to be key for the end of this race in the middle there kyle larson no big complaints for him cliff daniels just saying don't overdo it on pit road meaning don't smear to put us behind his teammate chase elliot on the bottom looks like a little bit of a slow stop there no major issues on the balance dave for the 9-4 tire sunoco fuel no changes locked in lagano will get four goodyear tires and sunoco fuel as well denny hamlin hamlet's car for its part said he was a little bit tight late exit logano needed some security on entry dylan christopher bell at the bottom of your screen said that he was sliding the front in the center of the corner they made a chassis adjustment four tires in fuel by the way steve they were plenty good on fuel not going to give away their number but it wasn't a concern at all larson bell swapping a spot on pit road larson elliott and chastain have all clinched a spot in the next round [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign so [Music] he was struggling tomorrow sunday night football from lambeau field that's justin fields and the bears visit aaron rodgers and the packers coverage beginning with football night in america at 7 00 pm eastern on nbc and peacock 142 laps remaining from here at bristol in this the final race of the round of 16. four drivers will be eliminated in 141 laps now those that have advanced from the points that they've gained tonight and the attrition that has happened on the racetrack larson bell came in already advancing william byron hamlin logano elliott chastain and bowman those drivers those eight drivers are guaranteed a spot in the round of 12. once again the eight on pit road so we talked about most of the leaders pitting the one i think hit it the second time by and i think there was a little gamesmanship in my opinion because that is gonna keep six cars one lap down and that gives suarez a chance to catch those guys marty steve it wasn't gamesmanship ross chastain simply missed his box the first time around so they had to pit the second time around but now he's pretty far back in the field but that's why he did come down the second time with the lap down cars so he pitted and missed his box correct that's what i was just told by phil's heart oh all right i didn't think he had come down pit road at all so then why is was he allowed to pull up would be the question for me and back underway larson and bell we'll see if larson could take advantage of that win off of pitt road he stays out in front of l and now brackets alaska on the outside of bell as well this six car brad having the run of his season for roush racing the driver owner brad keselowski working that high line trying to clear bell hasn't done it yet it's a fight down there oh and right in front of these guys the eight car comes off a pit road that's gonna have to force the 20 to lift up off the throttle you see it right there ready just come off pit road and blend it back in front of the leaders here that was close reddick almost got into the back of the 20. as harvard goes by renek and buscher trying to do the same again reddick multiple laps down everybody's gonna start getting really frustrated with reddick he needs to get all the way out of the way why is reddick that slow halfway in the middle of the racetrack get out of the way down the streets look at him he's all the way up the racetrack that's unacceptable you're that slow get out of the way [Music] reddick's in the red you see him he's just below the cut line for the playoffs four points back from kyle bush who by the way is out of the race redick the problem he is going to incur is he's 29 laps down and he's 24 laps behind landon castle who's the next position so he can't gain positions where he is how did how did he get from five down to four down bubba wallace out on the racetrack making laps his pass kyle bush the next car that can do that ty gibbs still on the racetrack as well ryan blaney still on the racetrack possibly able to pile past kyle busch two more spots right there are you surprised that two toyotas potentially are going to take two points away from kyle bush two toyotas coming back out on the racetrack yeah moving ahead of him i i don't i can't seem to uh get my head around how how that would be accepted by the manufacturer but i guess they're gonna let it organically play out i guess there's some tip of the hat that they're just gonna let it see where it lands but i would be frustrated if i was on the 18th team fight for fourth busher still chasing down that four of harvick harvick's got the position two different lines being run by these teams [Music] kevin harvick he's talking about the bottom's going to be important for this end of this race you just must feel like that the top's going to start going away and you're going to have to be able to use the bottom one thing's for sure with everybody running the top if you're going to pass you're going to have to do something different and kevin harvick just been focused on trying to make that bottom work all night long will the top wear out for kevin harvick's strategy to play out we don't know we'll just have to have to wait [Music] almost a second separating kyle larson and brad keselowski running first and second larson won the race a year ago can he go back to back here at bristol he's still out front [Music] 122 laps remain here at bristol take a look at that number 16 of aj allmendinger representing pawlik racing aj and xfinity series regular ran here at bristol last night locked up the infinity series a regular season championship and solidified his spot in the playoffs he also won that race last year so getting more track time tonight representing colin grayson on his way to his best finish here at bristol previously ninth back in 2016 aj currently holding on to a ninth place position it's nascar cup series playoffs from bristol the bass pro shops night race and this is how close it is for the lead the five of larson has the top spot and brad kozlowski has chased him down to a carling same scenario though again what does brad do he can run that high side faster but when you get to the leader and you have to go somewhere else that bottom is not as quick he's gonna have to really put the pressure on right here and make this five slip up he's to the inside wow just like that it's not opening up the racetrack yeah almost a slight job but he gave him he went back to the bottom he knew he had he knew he had done a slight job but he actually pulled it off brad keselowski on a mission tonight this is the most lapse that roush has led 192 laps and that's gonna keep adding up now between he and busher since 2012 a decade ago so remember the comments from harvick gonna have to make the bottom work gonna have to make the bottom work well that's why how are you gonna pass everybody's running around the top you don't have to run the bottom the whole time you just gotta find a way to run the bottom just enough to clear that guy in front of you and that was a heck of a move great amazing driving by brad keselowski and i'm gonna imagine that if he if he does pull this off if he does win this race it's gotta be the most satisfying feeling he's ever had behind the wheel of a race car it's awesome to win races driving somebody else's car but when you're driving your own car something you feel like you've got a lot of equity in that's a that's an amazing experience and this is at the top top level this is the most elite level in motorsports in north america it's been a grind right he didn't just go over there and all of a sudden things just got better it's been a process and he said it would be he said hey i expect to win immediately but it's gonna be hard it's gonna be a process and they just keep grinding and getting better and better and better well let's go through the field brought to you by applebee's and we will take a look at the playoff drivers on the lead laps starting with kim and kyle larson you see right there looking to defend his win from last year we'll have to make it back around brad kislasky to do it but i asked liz daniels the crew chief can you lean on past experience here being that it's a different car and he told me yes and that's because the best race car drivers can slow the track down and kyle has a natural ability to do that to just slow down what's happening around him and process everything and be able to do that in a track where things happen at lightning speed that's the advantage that kyle larson has dylan damn the advantage christopher bell had coming in here was that he was already locked into the next round of the playoffs that allowed them to start their preparation already for next week at texas christopher said i'd love to live here love to win here it's my favorite race on the schedule but ultimately it doesn't matter we're already on to texas we need to win there because of the next two races being talladega and the roble they sure would love to end this race with a win dylan three times oh joy logano coming to pit road yeah the issues for the 22 a flat right front tire the one penske car that had avoided this issue tonight will now have a flat tire with a hundred to go here at bristol and so joey logano comes to pit road my ad and through the field would have been paul wolfe kobe this morning round one was about not making mistakes we talked about it every year and he had solid finishes don't know maybe it came off of his suit do they have a second one on there i don't know i saw the nut on the concrete as well just like the pit crew member did just that confusion it rolled from the or the right rear you saw it roll underneath the car and then come popping back out you see the 40 or the 23 car on pit road four laps short of passing kyle bush comes down pit road they look under the hood looks like their night's done they must have the lug nut on and i'm assuming because it's still on at the moment but i saw this that had to be fair then because the crew member was just confused he was waving his hands saw the lug nut on the ground yeah that was unfortunate for the 22 obviously the right front tire going down bringing him to pit road but then as they were doing the service on that they tried to stop him from leaving all right so we're gonna come in we're gonna watch him change the tire so i'm thinking it comes off this guy's belt right here let's see if that's what happens oh yeah there it is so it knocks off his belt off both belts and there's a there's another nut sitting here there's nuts on the both sides so the jack man has confusion now he's going to double check the right front and the right rear give him the thumbs up actually give him you know i know it isn't or wasn't an issue but when you look down and that lug nuts there it has to be concerned you got to give him credit steve because what happened that left rear tire when he went to take it off it fell off the gun he immediately grabbed that other one and put it on there so very quick thinking for that tire changer now larson working the high side and bell coming into the picture again christopher bell to second larson back to third and here comes larson looking at the inside almost a little contact wow again drivers that are locked in the five the 20 24 11 9 1 22 and 48 they are all going to advance now we see the 23 behind the wall again so back to your question the 45 went on the racetrack and has advanced in front of kyle bush the 23 is now behind the wall and i don't know if they have another issue we haven't gotten an official report but this would seem to be a better situation they had mechanical issues make no mistake about it this isn't a great call taking themselves out of the race they are way behind already with steering issues earlier and that makes basically this situation on the left is a whole story for the rest of the night you have briscoe who's plus 17 and running in the 14th position so he really can't lose 17 spots with how many cars are out of the race suarez though at plus seven he could get down 229th or pretty close to it so it would be basically almost a tie if he fell out of the race how stressful is it sitting watching wondering if you're going to make the next round of the playoffs or not i mean absolutely nothing you can do well kyle busch because of attrition remember he was below the cut line when he first left the racetrack but because of attrition he has moved back above the cut line by four points and could advance into the next round yeah so i was just thinking about it as i can imagine oh whoa brad keselowski had trouble down the back straight away he got in the outside wall the exit he's got a right front down stay low stay up high stay up high can't get you now i'll get you down in a second three two one come left now come on left come on left watch right here he drives in the corner goes in and gets in the gas boom right there right front down another right front tire issue this time it's the six of rack kozlowski no caution coming out so they continue to race bell up front larson running second [Music] quickly as we mentioned how well rfk racing was doing tonight another issue back to what dale mentioned early early in the day 53 laps in that right front for brad keselowski it was about 40. you wonder the six fights of speed i've i've done it we've seen other guys do it right you're feel like you're safe you got to find a little speed you take a little air out take a little air out and then you finally go too far dave ryan blaney will be on pit road again for a tire down on this car remember they were 100 they are 158 laps down but they're still above the cut line it was a great start to their playoffs that got them there and allowed them to be in this position not locked in yet but still above the cut line austin cedric is going to pick up a position right now on the racetrack and turn three and four passing mcleod for 24th both those cars six laps down the next car for position for cendrick is joey logano four laps down all right with 80 laps to go kevin harvick trying to get by kyle larson they're a second just over a second behind christopher bell the leader marty what do you have on this car look who's in the picture you guys mentioned it kevin harvick three times he has won a must win race to advance to the next round or win a championship the questions are did they make enough of an adjustment on the last stop 79 to go a long way to go in this race harvick has been extremely loose and how desperate does kevin harvick get behind the wheel his playoff hopes could be riding on these finals at seven eight laps kim and kyle larson riding in that second position the big issue just a really tight race car and he's had that problem all right slot when he fires up which is way too tight and there's not enough turn especially loading into one as you see the 10 on hit lane dylan and kim eric almarola is on pit road they've been battling steering issues all night long and it appears to be what they're looking at right now another board having some issues with the steering that's another spot right there for austin cedric so cedric grabs another point he's going to he's i think he needs one more lap or half a lap he's going to pass him and you're going to watch it live he's going to go from minus 3 to minus 2. well the other thing that's about to happen is blaney as he continues to make laps he's gonna go by kyle busch bush is going to lose a spot now it's two points that separate the two right at that bubble cedric is slow i know that he's out there looks like he's ran in the back of somebody marty just think about their night lap 84 they were the first team to have a right front issue earlier in the night and that last caution very timely for austin center he had another right front going down you guys mentioned right now minus two below the cut line they told austin that trying to hang in there christopher bell out front 72 laps left at bristol who advances to round two we'll find out only 70 laps to go here from bristol running in the 10th position the 34 of michael mcdowell strong run for that team here today michael has uh finished 24th in this race last year but so far this season his best finish was third to no surprise on a road course at sonoma michael's vocal about the fact that rogue horses seem to be his forte only one top ten on short tracks but tonight he is prevailing holding on to a tenth place position with 68 laps to go caution has come out and it was christopher bell who brings it out with a right rear going down we've had a couple cars have flat tires that did not bring out yellows but the 20 car goes down into turn one and two sparks flying the tire is low keeps control of the car remember brack has lousy leading the race had a right front flat now christopher bell the right rear goes flat caution comes out less than 63 laps to go the points right now one point separate austin centric and the 18 of kyle busch cendrick he has joy logano who's the next spot in front of him that would be another point that cedric could gain if he can get by legano but legano is two laps in front of him yeah but the one thing he likes is this yellow because his bunches of fields up you know one guy gets wrecked going for the win and he's gonna get by him he's only seven laps down so he just needs one more car to fall out of the race in front of him he will then tie the 18 of kyle busch and it goes to the best finish this round and cabbage said anything but a solid round so the tie breaker would absolutely go to austin syndrome cedric right now has a 12th place finish and that was the last race out at kansas that would be the tiebreaker that would go to austin centric we talk about [Music] we'll see what the leaders do right here are they going to pit not very many cars in the lead lap larson leads them to pit road marty steve one of the questions we asked a moment ago had they made enough adjustments on kevin harvick's car rodney children's just said how's the balance he said it seems okay front could be a little bit better but happy with it now can he get the lead and put himself in a round two kim and you see kyle larson there in the middle back up back up back up back up [Applause] unbelievable they had worked all night to put themselves in the position to be able to win this race now the left front coming off on this final stop of the night could be for kevin hartman problems on pit road now we'll see between the other leaders who wins the race off pit road because this could be the [Music] race with the eleven car let the car have a problem too all right he's having to back back up picking him up i think that will have one of their wheels tight as well all right need a jack in a jack jack and a nut come on let's go let's not lose and you see right there the race off pit road butcher elliot byron larson all the way back to fourth steve this one's not going on it looks like the pins are having an issue with the right the left rear the official is i was trying to look at i don't know if it was a wheel issue i don't know if they change wheels but man pretty exciting here with 61 to go a lot of things happening we'll have a restart from bristol when we come back foreign [Music] less than 60 laps to go when we take the green a lot of trouble on pit road for some playoff drivers and potential race-winning factor drivers but as it sits now the 17 of chris busher is in the lead now as we head into the final laps of this race a few things to keep in mind the last six short track races have been won by different drivers so have the last six races here at bristol when it comes to bristol the last four races have been won by four different organizations so if those trends continue and christopher bell is the winner tonight excuse me chris busher is the winner tonight that would bring another organization a win here at bristol in the first one of the season for rfk racing [Music] 12 of the 16 playoff drivers have had issues and this was an issue for the 11 of denny hamblin yeah you see the damage i'm gonna circle it right here all right these holes are smashed in that's why the pins wouldn't go on and in that cycle of pit stops austin centric had found a couple laps on joey logano so that moves austin centric now to the 22nd position that ties him with points with the 18 so that eliminates kyle busch currently as they run from the playoffs we'll see if cedric can stay on the racetrack for the last 58 laps 17-24 making up a row one busher on the outside william byron on the inside buscher trying to clear him could he become the 19th different winner in 2022 [Music] we mentioned rfk and the successes they have had buscher's already led 113 laps once again the 22 of legano on pit road elliott up to second hendrick motorsports strong here as they run two three four not really ever seen anybody do two tires don't know how long this 17 is going to hold on with all those bad pit stops chase ellie and that team now they're sitting here running second you'd have to imagine that after a few laps those four tires will start to show up maybe but remember the six car won the first stage on 125 lap tires and nobody could run them down with new tires we haven't really seen new tires matter but will they matter now with 53 to go to your point junior right is two tires gonna mismatch not handle is good i love the call right now he's pulling away separation about three car links bell trying that higher line he's got chastain behind him bell has led 143 laps tonight buscher 118 and counting as he's out front brad keselowski led 109 laps tonight christopher got a bad break when he had that right rear go down but he got an extremely great break with nascar through the caution so here he is still with a chance to win this race bell trying that low line again gets to the inside of the five and contact made that was christopher bell just pushing the throttle as hard as he could and got up the racetrack a little bit typical bristol action so the most of the field is the top six are all running the high side except for the leader 17 you see him up there he's still running the bottom lap after lap byron tries the bottom back there back to the top of the racetrack here in turn three and four as you look at the contact christopher bell into the five happens just about every lap out here on this racetrack all these guys right here running the high side really not able to run down this 17 car leading the race less than 50 to go not that many cars on the racetrack which is very unusual why that will matter is because for the lat traffic there's so many cars so many laps down they may not be as big of a factor as what we've seen here in the past in bristol when the leader catches them bell still working that low line trying to get by larson those two running fourth and fifth larson and fourth bell in fifth we think about the tire issues these guys have had happening around lap 40 lap 50. that's right where we are and this is probably as fast as these guys have ran all night long loads on the right front are worse than ever you see the 42 car ty dillon up in the wall and turns three and four he's gonna get down to pit road he was slow for about a lap finally gonna make it to pit road but i wonder steve if the loads increasing in this final run really pushing these tires to the test whose tires can survive yeah i think the loads increasing and like you know if you feel like you have to be safe but there's grip there how will it close are you willing to get we just saw a pit stop you know dude these guys take that half a pound out to help their car turn oh don't be afraid to do that very thing i've watched yeah but if you're the 20 you're locked in you're the five you're locked in this little guy never hit the wall with a blown right front guy over there baby chicken another half pound don't tell me about it yeah i don't want it he don't do it don't tell me hey just tighten his belt and as we've seen the points there's a tie right now between the 18 and the two of austin cendrick as far as points earned up to this point the tiebreaker goes to the best finish in this round and so the best finish between these two drivers kansas last week austin cedric that 12th place finish could be the difference of advancing into the round of 12. and with ty dillon's issue he's now lost a couple laps oh the five into the wall contact man oh i was wondering when something was going to go down right there christopher bell was running out of patience he knows he's got a good enough car to win this race if i was holding him up quite a bit there now we wonder if the five car is comfortable they get down in the corner christopher wants to go to the top maybe the bottom i'm not sure where's the five going the five gets loose up the track out of the gas christopher says here's my shot to go by you but we're gonna have a little contact when it happens incidental but still just hard racing i think the five has got his hands full right now kyle larson just not really comfortable now the 20 car is clear of him and he sets cell to go after william byron bell up to the fourth spot byron in third yeah and right for this battle for the lead the last few laps chase elliott's had a little bit of a faster car busher on the bottom chase elliot on the top bush are starting to encounter some lap traffic let's see how that affects all these cars and we saw the nine or excuse me the six of brad keselowski have a right front tire issue out of that same rfk shop so is busher going to be thinking all right can i make it that final say 33 laps all the way to the end and have my right front tire hold up well 45 has been the magic number there's 33 to go sorry jeff i was just going to say we're going to have to get by that uncomfortable 45 to 50 lap number well and butcher don't know it right chris bush he does not know when tires have blown the only thing he knows is there's a bristol trophy at the end of these 32 laps he's just gonna push this hard dylan yeah and the good news is they've gone long on a couple stints already so i think they feel confident but anything can happen of course but man you gotta tip your cap for this entire rfk organization they they went off strategy here with chris bush's car at the beginning of this race just to get track position which they knew they were going to have to do they got it then scott graves has made the aggressive calls the right call here with two tires to keep the track position now they're trying to hold on and get chris bishop's first win as you saw over 200 races kim and chase elliot running there in the second position behind butcher and it was an uphill battle this weekend they were not happy with that part yesterday and alan gustafsson told me it was all but junk but they were optimistic about the changes they made for today they struggle with track position early now they find their way to the second position right now they're telling chase on the radio just keep your rhythm for the rest of the 28 laps to go and hopefully you'll catch him eric jones has some issues on and off pit road that gives cedric austin centric another point as he takes that position away and you see the 22 legato finally retiring from the event he's behind the wall he's still in the car but behind the wall and multiple laps down there's the battle for the lead christopher buscher now moved up the racetrack trying to find a little extra speed running the high line here's the battle for third it's been about like this for the last several laps christmas rail can't really close in on william byron on the 24 car but all this really is almost all in the same straightaway the leader of the race second third fourth all right there together lap traffic something like that they could really draw all this together or stretch it out they're gonna be passing a lot of cars here throughout the rest of this race it's been five years since roush has been to victory lane it was with ricky stenhouse jr at daytona back in 2017. still a lot of work to go a lot of work to do but scott graves crew cheese on this 17 car having the courage to put on two tires clearly even if it doesn't yield a win which is looking pretty good right now is a great call well scott graves and buscher they have a great chemistry together they won the 2015 xfinity series championship together and now just under 22 laps to go well it's funny how this works too this isn't just one good run out of chris butcher we've all seen constant improvement out of this car all year long and you know that's what we talk about top fives top tens they turn into opportunities to win a race two tires is a great call but you can't do that from 15th or 20th a lap down you have to have a good enough car to make a good strategy call so here we go chris busher he's ripping the top over here chase elliott he's on the bottom jc elliott trying to find some speed feeling like what he was doing a bit ago wasn't going to get it done so chase elliot's looking and as he's been looking william byrne in that 24 car he's starting to run chase down will they have enough time under 19 laps to go busher quickly getting by the lap traffic the gap not changing much between busher and elliott and a few spots back in the 10th position is kevin harvick marty yeah meanwhile with 18 to go rick the second round hopes for kevin harvick and his race team are quickly fading away i think it's important to note that kevin harvick's pit crew all year long has been top three easily last week at kansas they were the best pit crew on pit road steve they just picked a bad time to have a bad stop well like pickers like special teams doesn't matter how many extra points a kicker makes when he misses that kick to win the game that's all the fans remember kevin harvick's fans will they won't care about the other races all year long they'll know when he needed to stop stopped to change the season for the fourth car they were unable to provide it it's an unfortunate place to be put in as a pit crew member um but that is the reality of the what the sport has become it's very it's a lot of pressure for the men and women down there on pit road trying to get these pit stops done yeah those money stops as you call them you can't mess up and that's where the four had an issue take a look at the most different winners in a season since 72 18 already this year if buscher continues in the position he's in he'll be number 19 that will tie the most different winners in a season with that 2001 season how about if he can win this race we'll have gone through the first round of the playoffs with no playoff drivers winning a race that's never been done before in this current situation in the playoffs we've never seen an entire round only in 2022 unbelievable well it has been great racing all season long with such diversity as far as the different teams cars drivers all getting to victory lane now 11 laps to go here at bristol for buscher will the tires hang on can he hold off the nine of chase elliot he's been able to keep the gap there at about nine tenths of a second ten laps to go watch all these guys racing up front gotta shout out aj almandinger back in seventh and that sixth in car having a great run cole custer also in eighth place michael mcdowell running at 11th and then 34. justin haley we talked about him earlier running in 12th all these guys having great finishes corey lejoy in 15th taking advantage of the opportunities tonight guys think about tyler reddick currently sitting 13th two points out the last time this series came to bristol it was covered in dirt tyler reddick looked like he was going to win the dirt race that have been five more points five more playoff points he would have carried in currently two points out the last lap move by briscoe contact with reddick kyle busch goes on to win the race we talk about the regular season race wins stage wins how they matter the last time to bristol if this car goes to victory lane he's currently plus three on the cut line not minus two all the way back in the spring is going to affect redick's opportunity to advance in the playoffs yeah every driver looks at that one spot that one position that they lost somewhere in the season that might not allow them to advance and it's been a tough day for richard childress reinstinct under six laps to go both reddick and austin dillon below the cut line cindrick's above it by two points under five laps to go a milestone start for busher 250th start has now four laps to go looking for his second ever win in the cub series that first win it was valuable and it was important and he earned it but you know he wants to see the checkered flag that one was weather short he didn't get to cross that star finish line and see that flag waving see kozlowski who's a lap down running in the 13th spot made the move over to rausch fenway the name of the company changed to roush fenway keslowski a driver owner and one of the things he has said over and over and over is he wants to make this organization better every race and he looks at chris bushra and says he deserves to have great equipment well chris busher is showing what kind of a driver he is and now the white flag is out one more time around for chris busher here at bristol two more turns for the bass pro shops night race chris busher will win his second cup series race and it happens in bristol that's awesome good job guys you hear him almost out of breath i hope jack roush is here tonight i know how hard that man works give these teams the equipment they need i certainly hope he's here to enjoy this think about brad keselowski almost sitting there thinking you might have this race for yourself to win so he's disappointed with that right front tire but this company is starting to develop into the vision 19 different winners in 2022. yeah i'll take that one nice job y'all nice job what a season it has been steve you made the comment it hasn't just been this race and you see owner and driver here stopping for a moment [Music] and [Music] 222 races [Music] since his last win at pocono [Music] and then partnership fast and all they've been there a long time stuck with this organization finally rewarded for the trip to victory lane look at these guys [Applause] [Music] there are coveted wins in the cup series and the bristol knight race has to be very high on the list of all drivers marty christopher or christopher busher christopher on the side of the door christopher busher climbing out of the car [Applause] [Music] and now there are 19 only in 2022 how about the non-playoff drivers representing here sweeping round one it's been five years and two months chris since ralph's fenway keselowski won a race what does this mean to you to bring them back to victory lane and this is just so special this team did such a great job scott graves the man who made the call for the two tires at the end that's just um first cup win for fastenal for a boys bay race so that's awesome glad to have faso on board tonight uh just so special here at bristol i love this racetrack i love the fans i love every time we come here it's so special to me lost one that that uh really broke our heart back in 2015 on the xfinity side with grays on top of the box so this um this makes up for that that's pretty pretty awesome pretty special how about scott's two tire call were you worried that wouldn't hang on in that final restart not one bit it was up to me at that point just hold on and make it work and we we had a really fast passing on mustangs just so proud of everybody we knew we had a good race car after practice and uh didn't didn't quite get the job done in qualifying but what a race car it's just a special get rfk in victory lane for the first time and um you know we had great race cars brad had really good speed too so so i don't know what else to say right now i'm out of breath uh this place is wearing a flat out and i love that about it but such a special night almost a hundred thousand fans here tonight at bristol motor speedway what's the significance of winning the bristol knight race for you personally it's number one on the list right here so this is uh this is it thank you all for coming out it's a great crowd great weather we appreciate it hope you enjoyed the race come back and do it again are you gonna celebrate man we haven't gotten that far yet all right chris busher brings roush fenway keselowski to victory lane at the night race here at bristol [Applause] 12 advance as this was a cut-off race for the round of 16. it's down to 12 now and the points reset so chase elegant once again climbs up to the top of the list with the playoff points that advance once they reset the points to three thousand and now chase briscoe alex bowman daniel suarez and austin cedric already in a hole they are now fighting to get out of that bottom four yeah i think perhaps the biggest story heading into the round at 12 is all the way at the bottom of the screen texas talladega and the robo i mean i can't think of a bigger variety of racetracks and one eliminated the four of kevin harvick dylan and unfortunately his playoff run comes to an end and you guys fought hard this round and in this race but how frustrating was it to just not be able to go up there and race for a shot at the win tonight pretty tough i mean we pitted in front of the 17 so just kind of the way the year has gone and just went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade just difficult to pass started way too fast through the corners can't race so moving forward now the rest of the year you guys just full on you about you're about race wins at this point we wouldn't do anything different we do that every week thanks kevin dave well dylan from the disappointment to i guess jubilation or maybe astonishment your folks worked hard tonight to get you through the next round yeah that was easy right came in plus two leaf plus two just how we drew it up what a night dave um just proud of everybody on a freightliner ford mustang we had right front tires going down left and right from the beginning of the race and um don't really know why but i tried to run the bottom at the end of the race [Music] at least it's a mustang he deserved that congrats to chris and brad that's obviously really cool congrats to ford performance but uh yeah to get all of us into the round of 12 after a very scary night for team penske try to do my job hang in there and got that one out what does that do to your head when all that chaos is going on around you and you know all you really need is points and you need help from other people having trouble driving my butt off man that's what it takes um you got to stay in the game you know that when there's issues they're just going to keep happening throughout the race and just got to stay in it and make the issues smaller than the rest but um yeah just proud of the team proud of everything probably my spotter doug kept me informed very well throughout the race so total team effort but uh back to work we'll work in round 12 austin cendrick threw seven laps down tonight but they still did it rick chris busher has made it up to the rudolph mortgage victory lane and he will celebrate there with the team you just saw brad keselowski lean into the window there as co-owner there rausch fenway keselowski rain sink it had been 222 races since his first win and now buscher has a second win in the cup series and it happens at the bristol knight race more to come from here at bristol [Music] [Music] that concludes 500 miles here from bristol motor speedway in the first elimination race of the nascar playoffs the four drivers not advancing to the round of 12 tyler reddick kyle busch austin dillon and kevin harvick reminder the action continues in the round of 12 next week at texas nascar radio channel 90. it's nbc sports on siriusxm wednesday 9 a.m eastern steve is going to be the guest there on the morning drive with the bag man and feet for stoney you might be able to answer what's going to happen the next race that is the start of the second round of the playoffs and it's texas motor speedway as the round of 12 begins race coverage on usa at 3 30 pm eastern

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 122,120

Keywords: nascar cup series full race, martinsville speedway, nascar, nascar cup series, alex bowman denny hamlin, denny hamlin mad, alex bowman, denny hamlin, hamlin, bowman, NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay, tempers, angry, bump and run, spin out, crash, wreck, denny hamlin gets spun by alex bowman, nascar playoffs, playoff race drama, COTA, Circuit of the americas, last lap wreck, Denny Hamlin, William byron

Id: SUE6td0iS9w

Length: 210min 48sec (12648 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 20 2022