Xfinity 500 from Martinsville Speedway | NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay | NASCAR Playoffs

you just got to expect martinsville at the end of the race you're going to have some bumping and grinding legato just a complete coward move the bumper to the back of the 24. all right aggression and patience those are two words that other on opposite ends of the spectrum but at the same time you're going to have to use them equally here at this racetrack martinsville speedway car starting to roll off of pit road here's today's starting grid brought to you by xfinity we'll hear from the first eight drivers brad keselowski rochester hills michigan martin truex junior mayor of new jersey alex bowman tucson arizona danny hamlin chesterfield virginia kurt busch las vegas nevada kevin harvick bakersfield california joey logano middletown connecticut chase elliot dawsonville georgia take a look a little bit further back kyle busch got his first win of the season he'll start in row five no longer a part of the round of eight yeah clint boyer back in row eight maybe perhaps his final start over the fox next year gonna keep an eye on him as well as jimmy johnson back in row 14 two superstars that have won here at the short track can they repeat daniel suarez in the 96 in row 15 level wallace in row 16 will be moving over to 23-11 racing with denny hamlin and michael jordan team that has been formed got some car cameras will be riding along board with some of the drivers chase elliott will have the xfinity camera here he's got this roof cam also a passenger side reverse as we can see chase in there steering on it and joe logano also right there to his left here we are on the roof of that car has the coca-cola camp he too has the passenger side reverse camera mounted in the interior of that car kevin harmon real tree camo cam he's got a cool shot for us today can see a little footwork at martinsville [Music] denny hamlin coca-cola cam got a great shot for us as well this left front will be fun shot all day we go from right at track level to high above martinsville speedway our aerial coverage brought to you by geico all right steve uh give us the race breakdown here at martinsville it's a fairly long race in the sense of 500 laps i can't think of a better place to have the cut race in the round of eight just over a half mile the paperclip very obvious reasons looks just like a paperclip it looks flat but there's a little bit of banking eight to nine degrees it is concrete in the corners the asphalt 12 degrees if you get up to the asphalt you're in trouble that's way out of the groove you want to stay on the concrete in the corners 500 laps 130 laps for both stage 1 and stage 2. the final stage 240 laps you can go 150 on fuels you can go a long ways here we expect a competition yellow around lap 60. you have to ask yourself will that competition yellow be soon enough for denny halen marty reported to have an issue with that car it's going to be crazy to me that they chose not to fix it is the car i'm really going to keep an eye on here early to see if it can handle like they hope let's get a few more updates before the green flag we'll start with parker well rick we talk often about the what a win allows you to do in this round of eight going towards the championship four like it does for julia gone in terms of preparation what about the mental side just earlier on the grid i see paul wolf and him laughing i walk up there and say what's so funny they said hey we were just discussing how bad it would be to be those other guys having to find their way into the chimp chick four we're just here to race for fun and go get a clock party parker martin truax jr told me this morning if i could pick one racetrack where i could go for a must-win scenario this would be at martinsville he's won the last two races here he has the car that won last fall here at martinsville and the same exact pit stall that they've won the last two races out of pit stall 12. he said if nothing else that's a good omen for us today dave marty chase elliott was so confident in his pre-race interview he had our analysts thinking they should change their winner's pick to him when i talked to his crew chief alan gustafson this morning he said yeah we've got a shot today especially since we made changes from the june race we went back to what worked for us so well last fall added the tire data with a new right side tire in june we think the nine car has a shot he starts eight today and needs to win rick needs to win that is key words there for a few different drivers up on the flag stand is clay campbell he's martinsville speedway president he will be today's xfinity 500 honorary starter over there to the right not holding the flag yet that's clay he's a finalist for the comcast community champion of the year award along with bubba wallace and matt collig from the xfinity series one of the owners there the comcast community champion is going to be crowned in conjunction with nascar championship weekend in phoenix next week so congratulations obviously to all of those finalists and clay campbell uh it stays in the family here at martinsville want to listen into brad kozlowski's radio here before the green everybody let's have some fun today he's going to start up front as we look at the playoff leaderboard keslowski right now 25 points above the cut line but that all can switch so quickly depending upon who's leading the race yeah don't let that 24 25 point margin fool you uh truex back-to-back winner here kirk bush runs well here chase elliot i'm shocked he hasn't won here bowman fast the last time they were here i think all four of those drivers below as well as all four above i'll be honest all eight of those drivers could win this race and i wouldn't be shocked and if one below that cut line wins that's that win and you're in you automatically make it into the championship four and have a shot at the title next weekend so can what was wrong with the 11 car could it be maybe knocked out of the car before the green flag even flies it really could you know you were asking me the commercial break what's a travel pack or all of these cars show up to the racetrack set at certain heights for inspection that's not how they go on the racetrack so they add components in there they remove them after inspection so i honestly don't know what that component is for the 11 because every team uses something different i haven't seen what the 11 uses but it's something that limits the travel on the right rear i don't know if they feel it can come out on its own on the racetrack or if they're gonna have to remove it on a pit stop the big question is how is it going to affect this car if it isn't you know if it doesn't fall out under speed you know suspension's very finely tuned you're not supposed to have an extra packer in there you see denny moving the car around somewhat violently everybody does to warm the tires up i don't know if that's in hopes that it'll fall out or maybe i need an idea how it's going to feel steve is it something you could see right now could you tell that it's still in there is it it would make that much of a difference years ago you could not anymore these cars are so low to the ground already so hard to see getting ready for the second to last race of the season to determine the championship for clay campbell shows him the green flash for racing at [Music] martinsville the 11 dives down to the curbing yeah denny trying to get to that low line harvick jump to the outside see if he can make some ground up on the high side instant reaction looks just fine to me running through the quarters danny hamlin fashion right around that curve see kevin harvick stuck on the outside was not able to get down dave burns and i had a conversation this morning a lot of concern in the pit area about running too many laps on the outside that could hurt your tires we saw that here in the spring let me ask you a question stephen the levitt car drives up here takes the lead do you even worry about taking that thing out of there nope nope if it's driving good we're not we're going to worry about when we get home to figure out if it's still in there or not [Music] and now looking at the inside art shrek's junior must-win situation for the 19 team can he take it away watch as martin shrek's junior if he does get the lead here for brad keselowski what it will do to the points hamlin dives down into the inside of the 88 contact with the two aggressive move by handling right there following still aggressive in the back of the two car moves him up the racetrack then he into second place here comes denny and look at how close it is now brad keselowski one point ahead of the four of kevin hartman we wouldn't even thought he would be in the question of not being able to make it into the championship four shocking to see the penske car struggling here they are known for that early run speed right now the gibbs cars though had that speed first and second position kurt busch in third junior does it surprise you that seemed like a message early from the 11 of danny hamlin to the tour brad keselowski we're only five laps in we are not driving around here easy all day long we're going to be aggressive that definitely sets the tone for the rest of the race that's how he's going to race he's going to race the two at least look at the damage to the two car on the quarter panel there yeah they do i think the two car also he was pretty aggressive in the block you know he didn't give diddy hamlin any room whatsoever getting into turn one really pinched him down big time trying to get that bottom spot so both of those drivers in my opinion early set the stage take another look at what happened why there's a little bit of a wrinkled fender there on the two then he drives to the inside of the 88 here i don't think that kesalowski or his spotter expected denny to get that far up to the quarter panel of the two car then down here turn one did he just leans on a little bit that's typical martinsville right there send the guy off the racetrack easy way to get the spot chase elliot makes it by joey logano again legato is locked into the championship four when you look at the rundown truex and them you know looking for one winning first curb bush in third chase elliott and six i mean three of the cars below the cut line on their way in and they're inside the top six dad bowman 34 car yeah there's something majorly wrong looks like oh big tire up there for the 34. that's michael mcdowell behind the wheel but some contact has been made and how long will that tire last not long with that amount of rubbing on the left side you have to be very careful no inner liners here that tire goes flat you will definitely lose control we'll see if he tries to get the pit road it's on the back stretch where he has to get down that's right here it looks like he's going to continue take a look at what had mcdowell up the racetrack a little bit jimmy johnson to his inside boom looks a lot like what happened with the 2 and the 11. jimmy thinks he's going to roll to the inside of the 34 yeah i heard the crew chief right there said left sides only if we come the problem with putting on the green here is it's one pit road which is very long you're gonna lose at least two laps if not three yeah michael mcdowell right now stuck on the outside can't get down has that left rear tire rub he's got some guys tied against the curve getting even more contact with the left side of his race car he's got to be careful here jimmy you mentioned it normally we see so much short run speed from this two car and all the penske cars did not see it but look at brad keselowski he has started to run these guys down denny's holding up kurt kurtz holding up the two car of brad keselowski right now parker oh guys we watched kurt bush in that one car obviously move up from oh i think michael mcdowell's about to lose the left here come down down three see if he gets off the racetrack he is able to get to pit road there but as we were talking about curt going really fast off the start this is exactly what they had in the first race this year but around halfway they lost a hit on that car so they've come here hoping that they made the correct adjustments to show that short run speed but not lose it as this track potentially gains rubber or changes as we go through this race starting off really strong right now happening at 11. out of a thousand laps that had been run previously here at martinsville the last two races mark trex jr led over 590 of them and he's out front again [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] nascar drive that's your live race day companion you can follow your favorite drivers high-definition in-car cameras all you have to do is visit nascar.com drive or you can download that mobile app today i want to take a look at today's xfinity fastest lap it's changed elliott remember this is a half mile racetrack and he's turning a lap here at just over 19.99 seconds a lap that's over 94 miles an hour is the average speed around this racetrack pretty impressive as steve called it a paper clip shaped race track long straight away very very sharp turns at the end marty rick i got further definition from chris gabe on exactly what a travel packer is it's in the right rear shock for denny hamlin it's about a one inch piece of rubber actually on top of the pit box they recreated what it is inside the car and what they're gonna have to take off on this stop gabe hart described it as not optimal but it's not that bad either obviously danny hamlin started fourth today he's moved up to second but they are going to remove that travel packer from the right rear shock as soon as they can the damage to brad keselowski got in the first couple of laps on that left rear fender not bad not rubbing the tire and that is the good news when i talked to his crew chief jeremy bullins about why brad is good here the first thing on his list was takes care of his car you saw brad back out get the two where it was comfortable and now is going back on the attack marty what's up with harvick had a chance to visit with his crew chief rodney childers this morning dave and he kind of laughed at everyone saying hey we're advanced to phoenix he said you know what as great as our regular season was and the playoffs have been for us we're not automatically advanced we have to gain stage points today and you see that on the left-hand side of your screen obviously as soon as the 19 took the lead harvick immediately jumped down to the bottom of the leaderboard right now he's just plus five above the cut line and yes he's accurate they do need stage points today as we watch chase elliott and the two car brad kozlowski battle for fourth guys yeah things heating up there between these two as chase elliott just moved brad out of the way well it all started right here they're in lap traffic brad gets held up a little bit chase did a great job of timing it to make it three wide brad wanted to resist but chase was there one going to give it to him a little bit of contact right there that was just a great job by chase elliot see right here chase has the decision he decides that's my spot lose brad out of the way chase did a great job of setting that pass up using that lap traffic to help make the pass this is edgy early rick edgy early i like it long way to go you got to think brad's been moved twice now before lap 30 of the race see if that really uh gets him riled up what kind of race will he run going forward knowing that these guys are going to be this aggressive [Music] this is a must-win situation for the one of kirk bush right there as we're looking back from denny hamlin and that coca-cola on board and kurt busch you know up here being aggressive running in the third spot right now behind hamlet trying to put some pressure on him he's got to win if he wants to go to phoenix with a shot at the title talk a lot about all the guys in the playoffs i think kurt bush you know people perhaps don't get the credit he is a champion he won the first ever format other than the full season all the way back in 2004 he won that championship so you says listen i know it's 16 years later but why can't it be me why can't i win here and go on to phoenix yeah curry talk about kirk being aggressive he's been very patient at the same time he carries a lot of speed oh he's in the fence right there he's just talking patient jake he's been all over the 11 it's been very easy on the back bumper to that 11 car but he is ready to go starting to apply even more pressure that's why he got into the wall there and then he's moved up the racetrack here running about a half a lane higher through the corners trying to improve the handling on this 11 machine her just gets into the fence all right drivers rhythm race track you get into a rhythm here at martinsville absolutely you can move around too to change your groove just mentioning how denny was running a little bit higher chase ellis used a very high entry to turn across the middle of the corner and come off the bottom to make some passes um it's a lot of fun to try to find what's working and then try to improve on that lap after lap after lap parker well guys we noticed kurt bush running really great here right on the back of the 11 first of all don't mention it's a little loose after touching the wall there as we saw coming off the corner but another thing is you know you talked about how good he's here in his position to play us must win with two wins though there's been times this career he's admitted it's not one of his best tracks but he said since coming to chip ganassi the way these cars drive has just really shoot his style here and it has shown up three top tens in the last four race at martinsville and right now looking like he might be able to get by this 11 try to run down that leader parker meanwhile in the 11 camp they're expecting the one to get a little more aggressive here as you see chase elliot kind of joining this party and putting some pressure on kurt bush so steve let's talk about this right rear shock for the 11 team obviously denny turning pretty good lap times right now but with limited travel on that right rear shock what would you be worried about if you're chris gave her maybe more right rear tire wear obviously this kind of survived most of this run and with the comp caution coming here in what 23 laps they're gonna get a big break when that does come out yeah the question is aren't they gonna take the time to make the adjustment and pull out there doesn't seem like the 11's having a handling issue still running well inside the top two the only reason i think he's moving up the racetrack right because i think he's straddling the darker area of the concrete we're starting to see some goodyear tire rubber go down you can see really good in that shot just moves around to try to find some of that that clear track and at some point you have to just say look it's no big deal race within it mark trex jr after getting by brad keselowski has led 36 laps and counting you're watching nascar cup series playoffs on nbc the xfinity 500. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] grab an ice cold coke and buckle up you're watching nascar on nbc denny hamlin running in the second spot right now behind teammate martin trex jr and martin coming in must win situation he was below the cut line he's doing everything he needs to do right now leading this ranks out in front a competition caution coming up in about 13 laps such a nerve-wracking race though because even though the 19's out front 47 laps in this race is just never smooth we always see a bunch of yellows you know some guys will pit at some point other guys will spit at a different point you're gonna be in traffic so drivers you just have to mentally come in knowing you're going to be in traffic even as the leader you're going to be lapping cars all day long you're going to have to keep your temper calm down people going to run into you you're going to run into people and talk about it being a rhythm racetrack let's ride along with kevin harvick watching his foot cam here watch how he goes back to the throttle it will go pretty aggressively to the first part of the throttle then has to play with a little bit junior corner exit trying to get the rear tires hooked up he pumps brake pedal make sure he's got good solid brake pedal and consistent pressure corner after corner at the corner comes off the pedal as he gets down to the center of the corner to get off the brakes and let the car turn as he goes the gas is easily trying to go to as much power as you can without spitting the rear tires they're wanting to spin right out from under the car that's why you can't just mat it wide open and go on corner exit great battle right here second place yeah about to lose second here is denny hamlin so chase elliott another driver who came in below the cut line knows that he needs to get up front win this race if he wants to advance to the championship four and now denny hamlin falls back to third these two had a little contact earlier in the race got a replay of that coming up here i'll show you what was going on just before this pass hold denny gets in there and locks up the left front gets in the back of the lap car chase accidentally gets into the back of denny as well then he just having a hard time trying to keep that car on the bottom he's found a groove that's kind of found some speed or some decent speed but he's holding these guys up dave junior just a quick reminder why chase elliott is so far behind at this race last week he was near the cut line but he finished behind every other chase driver at texas finished 20th and that was because of a strategy call they had to make after he heard a sound in the nine car alan justice and crew chief told me but did not pit because his lap times were not falling off it would have been a different strategy they stayed out longer and by the time they came to pit road for a tire that was going down it really kind of killed the strategy they were on but again laps not falling off marty you don't call your guy to pit road and boy dave this is the nightmare scenario you see denny hamlin maybe kurt bush going to get in there for that spot the nightmare scenario for everybody that thought they would be in the championship four with truex leading now chase elliot in second look how the leader board has changed all year long everyone's saying denny hamlin kevin harvick a log for phoenix right now denny hammond plus eight kevin harvick plus two and points very precarious here as truex starts to work lap traffic this is exactly what those guys like hamlin and kozlowski and kevin harvick did not want to see the 19 up front and the nine right behind well this is what it looked like in front of truex for the last three or four laps he sees chase elliot coming but the 38 the 13 and in front of them it was the 43 alapago beating and banging in front of truex they were trying to stay in front of the lead lap look at this move right here by bubba wallace he's got to get to the inside of the 38 with a little shot and then he's got a cannonball through boom i got to go leaders coming my spotter's telling me i got to stay on the lead lap i know i have a yellow and just a handful of laps so it's not just the leader who's aggressive these other cars they know staying on the lead lap is a key to having a good day at martinsville ty dillon in the 13 just in front of martin trex jr trying to stay on that lead lap but look at the nine chase elliott right there right on the back bumper for the lead here at martinsville chase takes that high entry into the corner to try to turn the car low to get underneath martin martin's gonna dive down on the inside of the lap carve tie down ty dillon here [Music] he's gonna take the opportunity for chase away unless he wants to go three wide a little early for that look at the high entry chase doesn't have to go in this high but he's gonna turn the car across the center of the corner come off straight and low and really get a bunch of good drive off there to do that it's a big advantage right now for chase elliot because no one is behind him putting pressure on him so he's able to move around try different things the 19 car truex cannot do it because if he tries it and doesn't work tonight it'll take the spot now the 19 tries that entry that's how you run this track if you can like you say if you don't have pressure from behind work that wide entry to be able to get a good straight drive off the the struggle at this racetrack for every driver is getting the power down on corner exit and getting the car straight and low is the best way to get the power down we watch kevin harvick fight the caution's out competition caution has come out now you mentioned kevin harvick fighting he's back there in the ninth spot now just be behind kyle busch so trex jr up front james elliott was running second hamlin kurt bush brad keselowski all playoff drivers in the top five and it's blaney logano already advanced to the championship four kyle busch is eighth harvick ninth and tenth is alex bowman that was a stressful 70 laps right there guys if you think about it denny hamlin brad keselowski both seen martin truex jr chase elliott and kurt bush up there any one of those three guys wins and you got this incredible battle to be that last guy in the playoffs that's starts right now yeah all those guys battling hard they're not trying to stay on the lead lap we're wanting to be one of the guys to get that either stay on the lead lap or get the lucky dog because they knew this caution was coming out ty dillon was able to do that ty dillon and the 13 will get the free pass he was the he was the highest scored car a lap down and congratulations to ty and wife haley they just had their baby captain their son was born right after the texas race as a matter of fact jimmy johnson flew ty dillon back so that he could be there for the birth of their son so the nerves for the driver i think have settled in because they've got to run these 63 laps but the pit crews have been watching now it's their first chance to kind of get involved in this race this was always when i was part of a picker you just want to get the first pit stop underway kind of settle into your day parker if you saw kurt bush come forth there touch the wall a little bit right here that's because just a little loose in that one car lacking right rear grip sliding it a little bit too much you can do a track bar adjustment and air pressure adjustment marty vinnie hamilton's going to hit pit road he says it a little bit tight at the two third mark of the corner keep your eye on the right rear they're gonna try and pull that little packer out they put that right on they're also going to get four goodyear tires for denny hamlin their drive off is better than most it's actually on the left rear they pull that out so the stop will be a little bit longer 2x set up flat wore out the rear tires 2x said his car was too tight dave the nine crew put a fluorescent pink tape down for the left side tires of chase elliott to be on when he hit pit road he hits him perfectly they changed four goodyear tires no adjustment needed per the driver he'll come up hit road in the second position where he went in top two hold their spots legato gains for bowman five on pit road so so so nascar on nbc is brought to you by xfinity internet that's more than just fast xfinity proud premier partner of nascar liberty mutual insurance only pay for what you need and by fifth third bank this is racing a fifth third better all the spotters today are wearing these dk hats david keith recently passed away a long time spotter he's also a former driver with samarka wins passed away recently and all the spotters showing their respect and wanted to let their family family know they were thinking of him the spotter is definitely a fraternity a group of guys that hang out together a lot obviously at the top of press boxes the eyes for all of these drivers and now the choose rule coming into effect so far one for one now that inside line gets an extra car with kyle busch going down there a lot of conversation about the mistake the 11 had with that travel packer left in the car we were thinking it was the right rear but watching the pit stop it had to be the left rear a little extra time taking on the left rear to remove it so all was well in the 11 km he lost a little bit of time on pit road but they felt like they had to make an adjustment that being in the left rear can make the car a little bit tighter so we'll uh see if the 11 drives a little bit better here this run the only thing concerns me steve is that what did they learn that first run right like you're trying to build all day long all year changes the information that you got that first run may have not been as good and also thinking about this restart yesterday xfinity race this outside lane got the lead an awful lot let's see chase ellie can get it done field approaching the guy could we start zone martin trex jr on the inside chase elliott on the outside great launch for shrek's junior a little bit of smoke back there joey legato coming up here and challenging for second now as he gets to the inside of the nine the nine and the two looking for an opening somewhere jimmy hamill's going to force him down here inside the 88 for fifth place a little beating and banging right there between those two right behind him ryan blaney trying to become part of this battle ladies had a pretty good run today the 11 learn i think the 11 learned you don't want to drive around with the uh travel packer in because the car looks a lot better now that i've taken it out impressed for the nine of chase elliot he's able to dive back behind the 19. he was able to clear the 22 of legato i love that bumper cam on the 11th looking right at the left rear quarter panel of the two look at this there's already some damage on the bumper of the two from an earlier accident or contact with this car let's see if it can be a little cleaner this time and look to the left that red and white curving guys you know as drivers that will upset your car if you touch it buffed it right there sends the car up the racetrack just a little bit takes away a little bit of momentum he has down the straightaway you wanted to see what denny hamlin is doing right here want to be on the left front tire right on that curb got a wreck in one and two clint boyer in the 14 and austin dillon in the three have been collected boyer in his final start here at martinsville he'll be in the tv booth in 2021 looks like a little contact to the left rear of that car one if that's how this all got started clint was having a reasonable run in that first 50 laps of the race up to the competition yellow had some good fast laps a lot of damage right there looks like he's trying to block somebody from making a pass to the inside his teammate erica i'm rolling says no sir not my teammate next year i don't have to be nice they were 12th and 15th and so boyer goes on a little bit of a ride austin dillon nowhere to go [Music] getting gear for race day check out the greatest selection of t-shirts and hats die cast much much more for all of your favorite drivers you can visit nascar.com shop if you're a kevin harvick fan you might be wondering right now what's going on marty what's happening with the four yeah just plus six above the cut line right now and not happy with that last restart listen to this radio conversation this thing is rough rough rough time taking off the wall slide the back careful harvick and rodney childers will tell you rick this is not their best racetrack in the playoffs but rodney told me listen we put more work into this race maybe than any other playoff race and hopefully they're poping anyway that work pays off today and harvick who won the regular season title now that close to the cut line guys just amazing yeah and i remember you know talking to rodney childers right in the middle of all the wins i mean kevin harvick has been to victory lane so many times and he said we have to continue to prove ourselves and i thought wow that's incredible that you guys as successful as you are think that you need to prove yourselves but obviously things like this can happen where you are right now near that cut line and might not have a shot at the title that's the beauty of sports doesn't matter what your resume is doesn't matter how great last week went or last season went every time you line up on the grid you have to go out and re-prove kind of what you're here to do and to your point i didn't see the four this close to the cut line but here they are still early in this race a lot can go either for you or against car we saw early in the race battling to the front kurt busch was running in fourth place he had a 20-second pit stop that last stop so that has put him all the way back in the 10th just cannot afford at this racetrack to give up spots anywhere pit road on the track anywhere it's so hard to pass it's a long way to go but every time you make a mistake like that it just gets that much harder to get done what you need to get done well the last restart we saw a little bit of contact between the 22 and the nine take a look at this right here the nine was on the outside the front row 22's trying to fill the spot nine i think gives him room the 22 just kind of pushes off the curve hits him in the left rear you know this is kind of short track racing no intent on either guy but the result is the nine of the racetrack with a little mark on that left rear tire we'll have to keep an eye on getting ready for the restart martin trex jr once again will be on the inside jake's elliott on the outside the 19 and the nine a little better start with chase elliot but not good enough he's gonna have to enter side by side with martin truex junior if he's gonna try to take that lead gonna have to figure that restart out a little bit better see denny hamlin now has got to beat legano off this corner to get to the bottom they're lined up on the bottom denny knows it it's a driver you know you got to get by the way he got good rear grip leaving turn two he's gonna pull down in front of the gun clears him for third so denny hamlin to third how does that affect the points well he's plus eight on the cut line harvick plus two [Music] again all of this changes if martin shreks jr isn't up front but he is he's leading he continues to lead 78 laps already for martin trex jr up front this first stage just 49 laps remaining we talked about aggression and patience now would be a good time for patients but at the end of the stage you're going to be thinking aggression because all of these drivers are looking for points what i've seen today i haven't seen a lot of patients at any of these drivers they're taking the positions when they're available dave [Music] crew chief alan gustafson the crew chief of that nine car had no patience for joey logano during that last little dustup we showed you here listen we're gonna wreck him here and we're gonna wreck it next week thought he had funny room he did he's a pack and as you guys know you don't want to make a lot of enemies out here at martinsville because it's a place where payback can happen the nine again not happy with the 22. all right so rick at the top of the show when i said mathematician and psychologist from the crew chief i was thinking keeping the driver calm that was alan gustafsson doing anything but and you know what i like it with the must win allen's had enough he has drawn the line right here he wants the driver to draw the line he's like i've had it i'm done racing these guys this way this is a car that's been in every highlight rail at martinsville except going to victory lane they've been wrecked they've been turned around they've been turned around sideways it sounds like allen a guy that has won here before one with jeff gordon he knows what his take he's taking his driver on reminding him we are not going to be pushed around for 500 laps parker and that was something that paul wolf mentioned to me as one of the goals here today gucci found the 22 not to make enemies if they were going to do anything it was not to make any enemies heading into phoenix knowing they were locked in to go fight for that championship in the championship four so that is something that this team was really focusing on maybe not quite doing that well here at the beginning chase haley beats on the back bumper the leader tries his high entry is going to come off a little bit lower and get a great position on the 19 car down the front straightaway trick's going to let him have it new leader into turn one chase elliott takes the top spot at martinsville what a great corner by the nine that was textbook and so i said if anybody else leading other than martin trex jr it could shake up the points well chase elliott was in the same boat as martin trex jr so the swap of leaders does not help denny hamlin it does not help brad keselowski and it doesn't help kevin harvick also was not having denny hamlin is that 22 card he is all over the back of him i like to move from truex though clearly chase elliott's car is a little bit better just give the spot up no sense in driving into turn one side by side possibly losing multiple spots this 22 car legato denny hamlin is being very trusting of joey logano that line he's running higher through the corner the entire time didn't joey logano can see underneath and see the side of that eleven car he knows that's how he's got a passing then he's being very very trusting yeah denny's running about a half a car length up the racetrack except for right here most elapsed he's been up a bit higher but putting the left sides basically in the track where the right side rubber is going down on the racetrack trying to affect the balance of his car pass for fifth place brian blaney goes by his teammate krakazolowski right behind these two guys 22 still trying to put pressure on the 11. look at that right there you think that 11 is going to give the spot up but he's not he's just running the line he wants to learn that he wants to run marty and they're better in exact opposite parts of the corner you see there joey legato much better on entry denny hamlin center of the corner off he is better but he is surprising he's kind of leaving that half lane open going on corner entry every time and yet he's able to keep legato behind him as legato gives him a little bit of a shot but you got to feel like denny's maybe a little bit motivated the team mistake early on before the race then he was not happy when he got inside the car and steve you talked about that psychologist part of a crew chief he's been on denny hey stay focused here stay determined you can tell denny ham a little extra motivation today make sure he's in the championship four well rick it's not 500 miles but it is 500 laps and we have yet to reach 100. long afternoon to go here at martinsville chase elliot's out front now martin trex juniors fall into second [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's a cut race for the nascar cup series playoffs on nbc the xfinity 500 from martinsville speedway let's go to dave burns leader chase elliott finished fifth here in june but crew chief alan justices wasn't really happy with that he said we didn't have the car cutting through the center of the corner like we needed to for speed so we made a big change to what worked last year for this race and even though he's not out running truex by much right now elliott has the lead very strongly meanwhile daniel suarez in the 96 car today look at that peacock paint scheme very nice for daniel there's a proud hispanic man from mexico he celebrates dia de los muertos the day of the dead today and tomorrow for such a celebration of those that have passed and those who are uh still celebrating the continuity of life and that's a sugar skull helmet the calavera there's a duplicate of the one he wore last year about this time and he's signing them and giving them ways we have caution on the racetrack but for the next 24 hours you can still go on his website daniel suarezracing.com and sign up to maybe win one of those babies it's a sweet treat in mexico and it's a sweet helmet if you can get it rick yeah you see garen smithly in the 77 stopped on the racetrack so he brings the caution out here's how it happened yeah he had something happen off turn two was slow all the way back down the back straight away and finally came to a stop right here on the exit of four so still waiting to roll is garrett smith league the caution actually benefits the 96 of daniel suarez in that peacock paint scheme peacock premium is free for all xfinity customers because he will get that free pass be back on the lead lap that will put 30 cars on the lead lap here at martinsville we're already starting to see split decisions the leader chase alley the 19 of trucks stays out with a few other cars the majority of the lead lap cars come to pit road parker and one of those is the fourth place car of joe logano who said he was just struggling with the drive off late in the corners you see that adjustment in the right rear just trying to help that car get off the corner there for that guy parker the first two cars stayed out denny hamlin was the first one to come to pit road and he drug everybody behind him hamlin's saying the car is still too tight at the two-thirds mark of the corner that's what they got to fix dave tight in the middle of the corner for brad keselowski but on the late part of the exit the car is two free they'll change four goodyear tires here fill and pull up sonoco fuel get him off the pit road where will he come out rick pretty tight race off of pit road there saw the 11 the two the 12 and the 88 coming off the pit road and with just 25 laps to go in stage one already beating and banging short track racing from martinsville speedway [Music] [Music] so [Music] the official app of nascar puts race coverage and live in-car cameras right in your control you can unlock premium content today with a free trial to get access to driver and team radio communications all you have to do is search nascar in your app store or you can visit nascar.com mobile 2x2 once again as we get ready for the restart coming to the green it will be 21 laps a sprint to the end of stage one and the thing to keep your eye on the leader state on the racetrack but back there a few more positions cars on fresh tires handling kozlowski was bowman can they make a run with new tires chase elliott right up against the curb tracks going to have an opportunity here to get into second place jenny hamlin you see back there he's making it three wide on the bottom then boyer sends his teammate up the racetrack four wide a lot of contact back there in the pack yeah i think that was reap maybe because of the accident from earlier absolutely they're still four wide trying to settle it out here as they go to one but what that did for denny hamlin he's already in third place with new tires but clint moved eric it just created a huge hole for denny so now pressure being put on the nine of chase elliott by mark trex junior in the 19 here comes denny hamlin in the 11. fresher tires on that car are you going to see how much more grip new tires have right here on corner exit dives into turn three to the inside of the 19. handling trying to take second away 2x needs to fall in behind him as quickly as he can it's all about making lap time now 18 to go just gotta try to get as few people as possible to pass you and stage points huge for the 11 of denny hamlin he's trying to take the lead now from chase elliot yeah these points can kind of somewhat separate him between himself and brad kenoski in the points as they battle it out right now around third and fourth in points kevin harvick all the way down in 16th place right let's now a look at what was going on with that restart clint moyer sent his teammate up the racetrack four wide a lot of contact with the 47 here these guys have went all the way to the back of the pack clint says hey you remember that issue in term one and two where he sent me around caution is out on the racetrack caution got a car spun out and turned four the fifty dollars just dumped us joey and joey doesn't appreciate quinn half right now is the double zero is driven by quinn i think we're going to see contact i think there might be jeff i think you're going to see contact well let's see if he was right yeah he was right and they were they were all alone on the racetrack so obviously quinn had some intention there they were the last two cars on the on the on the racetrack in line there and that's what's great about martinsville these guys typically kind of just run their own race and try to stay out of trouble but everybody gets a little bit out of shape here in martinsville i don't care what car you're driving where you're at on the racetrack so now was that was that caution an advantage to the 9 and the 19 on old tires or a disadvantage because now it brings everybody closer to them jeff i pit oh if i'm martin trex jr i'm coming to pit road it's not about points it doesn't matter you know you're getting another yellow in 10 laps you're going to get another 10 or 12 cars pit again you can leapfrog those you're on the wrong end of this pitch strategy right here another caution's coming in inside of 15 laps you're going to have to pit at that point you're going to give up all your track position just do it now and hope at the end of the stage you get maybe 10 free spots what about the nine of chase elliot he's chasing points a little bit more than mark yeah when i look at where the nine is on points i can make the argument that he needs to stay out and get points so i think he stays out the 19 he pits there's just not a pathway forward for martin trex jr on points i would pit right here but they're going to choose to stay out i don't like this call for the 19. and again a new crew chief on top of the box in 2021 james small calling the shots for the 19 team he stays out [Music] mr mercedes a peacock exclusive drama series based on the best-selling trilogy by stephen king detective bill hodges coached out of retirement and into a thrilling chase with serial killer mr mercedes full episodes are available only on peacocks the streaming service from nbc universal sign up at peacocktv.com joey logano in the 22. here's the radio from him of a guy who was locked into the championship four i'm trying not to be physical just be smart out there you're doing a good job let them know you're there i cut them a break for so long though i agree i mean i know they're racing for a lot but eventually that's enough eventually enough's enough well joey logano is only going to take it for so long right now denny hamlin surging ahead under 10 laps to go at martinsville for stage one now he's bowman in that blue 88 car with new tires that's what he wanted to see he wanted to see the nine pull down in front of the 19. he was able to get it now he's battling for third bowman another one of those drivers must win situation the eight in the round of eight playoff drivers all fighting to be in the top four in points or a win gets you into the championship four for next week's championship race grand cay to the inside of a 19 car alex bowman goes around his teammate for second place puts chase elliott back in third new tires coming through the pack legano to the inside of the 19. drex just having to give him a little bit of room here doesn't want any contact still early in this race coming up and there's some more contact between the 22 and 19. fighting hard on this outside he's been kind of let both these guys go but at some point he's got to kind of maintain some sort of track position joe's like man he left him i gotta go why are you racing so hard now the 18 car not gonna be able to get on the inside of his teammate maybe letting him get back in line said 18 car kyle bush what he did entered very high was able to try to get under the 19 didn't they wasn't able to make it happen wonder how hard he'll race here to get around the 19. he said he felt bad for beating him last week denying him that opportunity to lock himself into the championship final here's the the two car going to the inside the nine man i thought brad was gonna slide up the racetrack here a little bit look a little free getting in the corner you can see it cost him on corner exit if you're brad keselowski you know chase elliott has older tires you feel like you should better make this pass immediately chase doing a great job putting up a battle he is right here is where chase gets a good run on corner exit but not good enough this time brad's got the spot definitely in the third line best position on the nine teammate joe legano going to try to fill that hole that'll be third for brad kozlowski that's the fight comes to 22. now he's gonna get a great run off the corner though be able to survive and that position from joey joey the high entry he's going to turn across the center of the corner here and try to get under the knife at the nine keeping it low on corner exit chase helix doing a nice job of checking everybody's speed right in the middle of the corner right here that slows the momentum down from the 22 but this time legato is going to take it got a run last lap of stage one can legato make the pass legano a guaranteed spot in the championship four chase elliott not so much he needs every point he can get chase powers back in front of the 22. he's going to give him the bottom here the 11 with his 11 stage win of 20 20. great fight from chase elliot to finish fourth that was he just got up on the wheel and made that happen gaining points valuable points alex bowman brad keselowski chase elliott martin tricks jr finishes six denny hamlin seven wins already on the season and he wins stage one in martinsville nascar on nbc is brought to you by credit one bank official credit card of nascar perfect for race fans coca-cola together tastes better and by toyota nascar cup series playoffs on nbc the xfinity 500 from martinsville speedway next week the champion will be crowned at phoenix but today in this race it is all about winning to advance to the championship four denny hamlin wins stage one ten points very helpful to keep him above the cut line we noticed a name that's not on there kevin harvick kevin harvick not finishing in the top ten in stage one parker joe logano finished fifth in the end of that stage there they took this extra couple laps under the caution here to evaluate the damage on the right front tj majors taking a look at giving it the aok was not rubbing on the right front tire joey said the fire off speed is great in the 22 cars because parker gave a call to denny hamilton that was his call on the last stop to come down pit road it resulted in a stage win for hamlet he said he's too loose in two loose on exit they're gonna go down on the track bar dave because alex bowman knew he was changing tires this stop uh they went part that run and finished in the second position in the stage just a little bit of a change for him needs to get the right rear of the track a bit more as for brad kazowski the balance is good but had a little less drive off so they wouldn't make a change there so chase elliott grabs three spots so does martin shrek's junior denny hamlin loses one jimmy johnson how about the multiple time winner here at martinsville three spots up on pit road what a huge weekend next weekend will be on nbc the breeders cup from keeneland as well as what a matchup college football notre dame hosting clemson and remember luion galule that freshman quarterback had a heck of a showing yesterday to keep them at the number one spot well it's just saturday then sunday we're gonna crown a champion in the cup series at three o'clock and then seven o'clock breeze brady saints bucks it's gonna be a great sunday night football you didn't even mention the xfinity series championship on saturday i mean it's gonna be a full day could be a full weekend of sports davos winnie said that uh trevor lawrence would be out he'd have to sit for that game against notre dame so that's why the freshman will probably get the nod once again take a look at the choose rule mark trex jr after running up front for so long all the way back into row five rick i'm shocked with the limited amount of tires only eight sets in the pits and 17 laps on the tires that all of those cars came to pit road they all didn't hit but the majority did um james small you mentioned it first year on the box for the 19 well he would have listened to me he'd lost track position and burn a set of tires so apparently winning in the spring he's got a pretty good handle on martinsville that i figured out yeah so now you have kyle busch and current bush the brothers on the front row and the oldest tires and a little group of tigers with custer dylan almarol and wallace and then brand new tires on elliott and hamlin we'll see how it works all right field approaching the geico restart zone once again you mentioned the bush brothers making up row one kurt bush on the outside a great restart [Music] trying to clear his younger brother on the inside this is that moment we talked about the top of the show regardless of your strategy you would be in traffic so now the bush brothers are out front battling for the lead but all the front runners from earlier mired back in traffic how about this rookie of the year candidate cole custer running up here in the third spot kirk bush doing a really good job on the outside kyle just does not have the speed to really fend him off i think lap after lap though it's going to be an advantage to kyle on the bottom but you would have thought by now now kyle could have cleared kurt on the outside jeff what a week last week was the accomplishment 18 car finally going to victory lane he made it known that he did not want to lose his winning streak in 15 seasons he won last week went to 16. he said those closing laps were the most nervous lapse of his career this is from a guy that's won two champions so he knows how to close the deal out look at this richard petty at 18 pierce of a 17 i mean i don't see why kyle bush won't win the next few years so i think he can continue to climb this list yeah one of the greatest could put his name at the top of the list amongst the greatest and his his brother just passed it had he not won this year he would only been the third champion defending champion to go winless benny parsons after his 73 championship and my father after his 1980 championship with windlass the following season i would have lost that jeopardy question well and he wouldn't he i'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to been on that list but those are some pretty good names to join too actually we want to join every list yeah so we talked so much about you know the nine leading in the 19 leading let's not forget the one of kurt bush is in the same situation currently leading that puts him into the championship four at phoenix with the 11 and the two currently the four of kevin harvick i can't imagine if kevin harvick leaves here not in the championship for marty and yes the points is a little bit of trouble there with the 17 car chris pusher and i'm not sure if that's going to bring out a caution looks like it might guys but yes the points on the left are correct kevin harvick below the cut line right now harvick sitting in 25th position as the caution comes out rick yeah we're going to have another restart and you see damage to the 17 lot to the front down in turn one and two those guys there's a lot of contact between him daniel suarez a few other people looks like he's got so much damage on the nose he's broke something up there in the cooling so daniel gets down here a lot of chain reaction getting in the back of each other in the 17 runs in the back of the 96 and breaks uh something on the front end of that card is dropping fluid [Music] it's broken broken the hose off the radiator or something so they're gonna have to bring it to pit road mark on that you'll see that fire coming out from underneath so it must be little cooler my goodness well we were getting shots from the four i mean kevin harvick was back here it's not been a great day for the fourth car martin yeah i wanted to finish this story as uh let you guys talk about what happened with the caution there just take a listen on the struggles that kevin harvick has had inside that four car this conversation happened on the last run i absolutely killed it through the center of the corner all take off turn no grip on exit too tight through the whole center of the corner and then it's got the slide sideways at the 583 quarter mark yeah i would say rodney childers has his hands full so on that last stop they did several changes that's why harvick is so far back in the field including pulling a spring rubber from the right rear spring but man they have a long way to go and you guys mention it now with the one up front leading the race kevin harvick below the cut line minus two who would have thought that coming into martinsville what a season he's had nine wins he's the winningest driver in 2020 he's been dominant and i saw a statistic earlier that if he doesn't win today five races is going to be the longest winless streak that he's had this season and now he's in the possibility i mean contention of not making the championship four yeah that winless streak could cost him a chance to race for a championship a week from now in phoenix it's it's horrible i didn't see it but you and i had this whole conversation who you know what's the race gonna be like what are they gonna be in points and i think i said every conversation oh the four's fine four's fine ricky can't lose that many points right while the pressure on all these different teams and drivers who's gonna fold first and which driver which team is going to make the biggest mistake first that takes them out of the equation i mean the pressure's building i know it's a long way to go in this race but it's being proven to them right now every lap matters and every position is going to matter who can who can stand up to it who's going to fold harvick right now running 25th he is the furthest back of any of the playoff drivers in this round of eight kurt busch is up front and needs to win so he's in the right place kevin harvick tonight it's sunday night football on nbc ezekiel elliott and the cowboys are going to face carson winston the eagles the coverage starts with football night in america at 7 00 p.m eastern well the fluid put down on the track has kept pit road closed they're going to continue to clean the race track up gives us a chance to get another break out of the way so we'll do that quickly and be back to racing near martinsville [Music] today's aerial coverage brought to you by geico as we look down track cleanup continuing here at martinsville a lot of fluid was put down well i think a normal amount of fluid was put down but a lot of speedy drive was put down they turned this place into a beach so a lot of cleanup happening right now and trying to get this thing ready to go that stuff there's still good they can use that again if we have another put it back on the track it's reusable right there like a car owner we got another anybody had any kind of leak on pit road we've got it recycle that don't buy new he goes around picking up tyrants it's absorbency is amazing all mechanics out there know you reuse that stuff over and over well it probably doesn't give you as much grip and so they're going to want to clean that up dave guys this race track is special to so many people including the crew chief of the two car there for brad keselowski his name is jeremy bullins and he grew up about 30 miles from here in a small community called walnut cove he told me this morning i love coming here as a kid my dad willie was a mechanic on a local dirt late model my uncle mike raced go-karts and they loved coming to martinsville brought me here when i was about this high and i've been coming here ever since i said you remember the first race you were here he goes uh no but i think dw was in the mountain dew car i remember that real well he said i'd love to win here today and get brad onto the championship four in phoenix a lot of drivers complain about this place some crew chiefs don't like coming here bollins loves it and so does this driver that's why you put the decals everywhere you reference it by the decal well i mean the decal made coverage that's why you stick them on everything headsets daryl walter won 11 times here at this racetrack second only to richard petty mount new car in 81.82 so that's a long time well we're only 156 laps into this race but we have seen this race provide fireworks in years past we can't forget the kansas lagana all the way back to 2015 retaliation from an accident to kansas earlier in the year kenza hits legano and then hamlin goes to move to 24 spins it what's chase say you wrecked me and then in 18 legato said this was our best chance to make it he moves truex and then backs it up by winning the championship and then back in 2019 some pushing and shoving on the racetrack which leads to a little shot and then a little more pushing shoving denny hamlin gets thrown to the ground i don't know why 2020 would be any different and we're like i said 156 laps in we've seen campers flare we've seen fenders wrinkled we've already seen contact on the racetrack oh quite a few times that's why i just uh i just love this playoff schedule i know we've had different varieties but we had the rovel we've had talladega we've just had some fascinating racing and i think that why not just come to a good old short track to figure out who's going to go to phoenix for a championship no aerodynamics no horsepower it's kind of how good you can drive how good is your setup but then at some point it always comes down to what are you willing to do and i think it tests every driver out there what they are willing to do and what opportunity they're going to have to to cross that i guess moral divide between good racing and reconciliation remember we saw joey logano you know he said this is my opportunity this is it this is my only chance of making it to the championship four well he took advantage of that went on and won a championship and so what what are you willing to do well whatever it takes to win a championship remember that truex made the point to say you know he won this but he won't win the war and truex is great and i'm not calling him out but he was wrong because then magana went and he won the championship so that aggression at martinsville did did pay off keep in mind also guys this race this the first year it's been a cut race the first year that's the last race in the regular season playoffs that even adds that much more pressure for those who don't know this choose rule allows the drivers to pick whichever lane they want to go the inside of the outside when you get to that mark on the racetrack you got to decide to want to go left we don't want to go right gives the drivers a choice it's made some very interesting racing so now brothers will be nose to tail kirk bush in front of the 18 and on the outside will be chase elliot in the nine so the one and nine making up row one pushing the one chase elliott and the nine green flag back in the air you mentioned the choose rule jeff right now but my notes if i'm second i'm taking the outside of the front row it just pays off too many times even if you can't get the lead you seem to be able to fall in line in second yeah no doubt a little bit better tire on this nine car than on the one car see already the change of line into turn one trying to get low on corner exit denny hamlet fighting once again moves up to third ahead of kyle bush and almost bumper to the back of the one is chase elliott in the nine that's for the lead again there's a high side here to rotate this car in the middle of the corner and try to get the drive off but he's not able to do it kurt getting off the corner pretty good here in the one and watch what happens as the 11 car denny hamlin closes that gap on the nine chase elliott will no longer be able to enter the corner that high because if he does denny hammond will take the spot from him he gets into the back of the one car kurt bush up the racetrack chase elliott to the inside down the back straightaway here heard a good power on the corner exit though not going to contest this spot getting into turn three chase ellie did a great job not making contact kurt really ran him tight down in the turn three chase ellie going to take the lead here and after chevrolet denny hamlin is going to follow chase through taking the fedex toyota down to the back straightaway into turn three kurt busch going to try to fight on this outside he's gonna fall back into position here in third place right in front of his brother kyle bush right there i think understanding that was his brother behind him turn left let let his brother know i'm gonna come down here give me some slack i need this spot brothers work that way do you award work that way here at martinsville no we didn't but they're doing it it won't last long if kyle's faster than kurt you know kurt nicollo have to go but trying to catch your brother a little bit of slack in the situation that he's in need to win these guys in this race there you see eric almerol in the tent worked his way back into the picture here after being moved out of the way by his teammate they've used a clever strategy to get that track position back for for eric behind them it's truex jr cole custer joey logano ty dillon and jimmy johnson on the top ten points bottom left-hand side first guy out brad kozlowski minus two we've been focusing a lot on the leaders but look at this battle right here the six of ryan newman gets a run on the two the two takes him basically over the pit commitment line which is a loud racing here we've seen it before the six says i'm not lifting i'm gonna drive in here drive you up the racetrack brad keselowski is back there in traffic and it is a dog fight back here no one gives an inch here comes almarola in that 10. eric almarola trying to take the spot away from kyle busch now bush with older tires truex trying to put him in position to attack and take a position here as well kyle's gonna race hard down into the corner trying to maintain this spot over here kevin harvick still outside of the top 20. running 24th right now you see him on the bottom of the screen and the thing i don't like about kevin harvick's car is watch him come off the corner he just does not have speed on corner exit this car does not look good at all right now this field is so even when everybody has relatively good tires on their car it's hard to make any headway in in the top 20 25 until the tires start to fade a little bit [Music] it could be frustrating because you think man we've lost something our car's not quite as good but just shows you how competitive this field is you take care of it and sit there and just try not to burn the tires off of it frustration you start to make up time and start to pass these guys go buy these cars that you think you should be beating as the laps goes on that's corey lejoy in front of that 21 car you know kevin harvick just did not come into this race expecting to be battling corey the joy this is not the kind of funded team let's see what kevin harvick is struggling with drives in a corner watch his hands pretty smooth pretty straight turns the wheel right here goes to the throttle looks like to me the car just is too tight car will not point for him won't change directions right here the car needs to turn left so he can throttle up cars just not doing that for him [Music] chase drove away from the second place car didn't hamline but then he's under pressure from kurt busch right now for second 2011 says kevin harvick's won at this racetrack yeah i don't think about you know kevin harvick when i think about martinsville i know he's been strong here in the past but uh some of the guys are you know currently [Music] doing so well at this racetrack and this team kevin's team's kind of struggled here last several trips to find some consistency and some good balance in their car that's her bush i'm feeling pretty good right now i'm sitting here with almost 30 laps more on my tires than denny hamlin in front of me and i'm sitting here running with him i feel pretty good about my race car in that situation steve without a doubt i mean this is a racetrack where new tires matter but a good race car can trump those newer tires i like what i see out of kurt bush we got to remember you know stats will say whether it's true or not this second stage seems to have a lot of green flag running so with 85 laps to go we just wonder if this is going to be the long green flag run where we see the lead lap cars kind of get narrowed down we'll see if kurt busch can still manage that on these older tires out front chase elliott leading stage [Music] two [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] a massive development in the playoffs kevin harvick the regular season champion everyone's favorite to be in the championship four had a flat left rear tire he told the team he had to come to pit road he had a fierce battle on the track with matt kenseth we talked about how their changes on the last stop put them way back in traffic and no one was giving kevin harvick any room on the track they were not giving him any quarter and kevin harvick had a cut left retire it came down pit road and when you pit under green here at martinsville you lose a massive amount of time harvick now down two laps and way below the cut line man things have shifted quickly here at martinsville rig yeah and he can't gain any ground right now being two laps down he's the first car scored that many laps down so here's a replay the 42 car on the inside of kevin they're coming off of turn four here down the front straightaway a lot of contact is they lean on each other that right there cuts the tire on the four car caution's out on the racetrack here's an opportunity for harvick to at least get one of those laps back if the leader's all pit you can see it right there you can see the 42 had he had damage on the right rear quarter panel the quarter panel was sticking out a little bit i think that added to this issue so 15 cars on pit road with a lot of damage see what happened here oh left front tire goes down and no control and that's what brings out the yellow brenden pool in the fence what a huge break for the four you mentioned it but he was two laps down which is almost impossible to recover from without having a few breaks well this is the biggest one he's only five cars behind the leader behind the one of kurt bush who's running fourth i imagine these top four cars will come to pit road they got 35 laps on their tires when they do kevin harvick merry christmas first lap back now you're only one now rick so many options to recover from one lap down and a lot of racing still to go haven't even come close to the halfway point of this race and also another point guys is there's really nobody a lap down like kevin harvick you know if he can get back get back one down he will then have a fairly easy pass to be the first car one lap down and then get back in the lead lap just timing of a yellow that yellow could be the difference between kevin harvick racing for a championship in phoenix or just racing well but let's remember kevin harvick has not looked good in this race yet up to this point so even though he gets his lap back he was still running outside of the top 20. so not that you want to play dirty pool not that you do but if you're the one of curt bush or the 19 of mark trex jr and you feel like you're kind of in a must win or the 11 of denny hamlin and you want to try to hold a guy down one of those cars in front of kevin harvick it would be bad for their strategy but they could stay on the racetrack and trap the four two laps down that would be an aggressive move i don't know if i would be that concerned about another car but kevin's gonna get one though from the free pass no no no he's two oh no there is no progress because it was a 15 who crashed gotcha the only way he gets one back here is if everyone in front of him pits i imagine they all will that's the right thing to do but if the 11 really wanted to kind of stick him let's listen to the two do you feel like it's worth telling him about the four or wait till the end of the stage [Music] there you go all the leaders pit the four is going to take the free power excuse me the wave round he's going to get to one lap down parker kurt bush pits down the fourth place position just said he was too loose when in the lead so to make a small air pressure adjustment on the left side and fork in your tires marty denny hamlin still struggling with the same thing parker too tight at the two-third mark of the corner he said i have way too much wheel in it when i get back to the gas martin 2x junior says i feel like we're going to be good but we're just a little 2-3 on the long run dave leader chase elliot hits his marks perfectly in the nine car he said when i get into my rhythm i can control what the buildups are doing in my tires but i gotta get in that rhythm really no changes though for them in this stuff they'll change the four tires and put the sunoco fuel in coming out pit rope top three are gonna hold their positions again brennan poole was in the position for the free pass but he brought the caution out no free pass [Music] martinsville short track racing nascar cup series playoffs on nbc it's the xfinity 500. kevin harvick obviously after an issue a left rear tire going down was two laps down we saw the 20 they came off of pit road and had equipment left in the car wrench i've actually done that before not you you personally didn't i did i was a rear tire carrier michigan stuck it in there making adjustment forgot it actually never even went up and tried to grab it out car left we did that yesterday i left the drink on here truck pulled out of here good point same thing so let's let's revisit kevin hartman so he's going to be he stayed out so he was able to pass the pace car because he was two laps down pass the pace car now he's one lap down he is the only car on the racetrack that's one lap down so pretty for a bad situation it's it's there's there's light at the end of the tunnel for him still a long way to go in this race so the car that's right in front of him should look out we gotta be careful because if you cause the yellow i've seen nascar say oh no free pass to you you can't cause your own yellow saw that first hand i was getting ready to say i think there's somebody else on this broadcast team that have seen seen that as well car does have a lot of laps on his right side tires green flag once again out here at martinsville as chase elliott on the inside martin trex jr on the outside both drivers coming in that were below the cut line fighting to be a part of the championship four chase elliott as the leader now you see the playoff points on the left side legano with his win at kansas he's in the championship four chase elliott leading here he's also trying to lock himself in denny hamlin enough points brad keselowski also enough points kevin harvick the struggles he is below the cut line junior at 19 car let denny hammond go to pull back in front of the one car so we did lose that spot what a job the drivers below the cut line are doing we got chase alley at first truex third kurt busch fourth and bowman six the four guys that need to win all running in the top six see how he's bowing to that blue car he is stuck on the outside of joey logano desperately needing to clear joey logano because they are lined up underneath him he cannot get down he's going to lose they'll potentially lose a lot of spots right here doesn't want to get freight trained out there on that outside line as ryan blaine is going to fill the hole as well in the 12. oh big run right here by bowman he's going to turn left get to the bottom he's going to try to put it in there actually cuts him a little bit of a break taps on the bumper right here in the middle of the corner ju that's a place where you just got to pull down there and hope he doesn't push you out of the way that's really all you can do so guys i'm going to ask you guys do you and did you race playoff cars differently is that ryan blaine saying you know what he's a playoff car i'm going to cut him a little slack yeah absolutely and it's unfortunate you don't want to have to do that but that's you know it's the box you're in if you're not in the playoffs i would say that but also now if it's a guy who's trying to take a spot away from your teammate in the playoffs then you're sort of your obligation to race that guy so if you're if you can do anything to help one of your teammates by racing another competitor then you race them really hard and hope that your boss is paying attention bowman currently running seventh junior and trying to move forward in that 88 card greg iverson's crew toby this morning we've been moving forward on our short track program very pleased with what we've been doing there and alex again needing a win today tapped the wall earlier today they pulled that damage away from the right side of the 88 and it's been pretty good since trying to make his way toward the top five and maybe in stage three being positioned to win dave you mentioned moving for the 88 it's been announced he will move to the 48 stay in the same organization obviously with hendrick motorsports but also last week it was announced kyle larson will be taking over uh for that vacated ride that was at hendrick motorsports after jimmy johnson retires at the end of this year he will drive the number five car for hendrick motorsports in 2021 take a look at this big battle back here between kevin harvick and john henry nemechek kevin is needing this spot he's been putting all kinds of pressure on john hunter nemechek but nemechek's not giving it to him keeps that battle up he wants that spot his contact kevin harvick just keeps pushing keeps pushing remember harvick has older tires on his right side he only put left sides when they pitted oh look here harvick's like hey you gave me the flat tire so i'm gonna give you the bumper but he's gotta go because he could get lapped i mean they could come around and lap him because he is not he does not have very much speed i know he's got to go but he doesn't have to speed these guys around him he doesn't have the tires you mentioned the tires on his car they're holding back right now as he lost a lot of speed to the 38 now the 20s right up behind him here going to try to take the spot he's already i don't know half of that 3 8 of a lap from getting lapped and i think that's the concern for rodney children's it's just you know that their leaders are coming number one but also there's another car one lap down james davidson they want to make sure they stay in this free pass position before the caution comes out but i think the biggest issue steve is just the handling of the four car i think that's the concern for rodney tortor's right now right on board with kevin harvick right there in the center of the corner he just says it won't go and you see everybody just pulling away from the four cars center the corner off he says we are absolutely struggling so rodney children's has got to find a way to make this car better clearly for kevin harvick this afternoon well i talked about the respect at the front blaney showed bowman well back here in the back they don't care they've won nine races they don't care that you're the favorite to go to phoenix they're racing you they're like you got back here this is your fault you have old tires seven time champ jimmy johnson's and i'm coming through and to make it even worse for kevin harvick is the 66 the last car in the lead lap is really unable to keep up as well he's about another straight away behind harvick as we see a battle towards the front with the 11 and the 19 and if that 66 goes a lap down then harvick won't be the only car one lap down yeah won't be in that free pass position because he wouldn't be scored as far in front as the 66 is right now so that's the one thing that's kevin harvick's got to worry about right now mark tricks junior in front of denny hamlin still handling 31 points over that cut line because of the issues kevin harvick is having right now harvick 15 points below the cut line a nine-time winner in 2020 potentially not making the championship four i just like i said earlier i didn't think it was possible marty said he talked to this team and they were worried about points they know they don't run very well but we have not seen harvick for at least the last couple years put into this position now in years past he had been in bus wins and he had those walk-off wins he wanted phoenix that got him to miami he had a off at dover he knows how to do it but this isn't a win this is just a survival i'm not sure if kevin hart has ever been in the position where yay just run on the top ten that's all you have to do and here he is unable to run inside the top 30. yeah running 31st right now and chase elliott continues to close in on the 66 of timmy hill [Music] so harvick fighting you see the damage to the front of that car everything he's got a championship on the line kevin harvick needs to be able to stay on this lap and have a shot at that free pass chase elliott continuing to lead here at martinsville [Music] the caution has come out here in martinsville but not good news for kevin harvick no unfortunately for harvick right before the caution came out we mentioned the 66 pace was down well here the leader of chase elliott goes to the inside of the 66. this is in three and four lapping the 66 and then junior you told us the yellow is coming sure enough yeah john hunter nemechek has been beating and banging here with the 37 car for a few laps and i just knew it was a matter of time before the patients ran out sent priests around down there and one and two brought out that yellow parker and there was a lot of discussion on curb bush radio about not hitting here because they only had 40 laps or so on the tires thinking might be a good time to stay out you see the adjustment right here to try and tighten up that car a little bit more on the exit of the quarters did you see mark truax jr coming down pit road he said we're really good on takeoff we're just 2-3 on the longer run james small told 2x on the radio there's 43 to go i think everybody's gonna come and only a few game day including the leader chase elliott takes the nine car to pit road they asked him what do you need he said still happy so we got the four fresh tires and fuel and marty's right a lot of guys stayed on the track rick a lot of guys stayed on the track harvick not in position for the free pass chase elegant fighting for the win here at martinsville [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] all right rick we talk a lot about championship coming up for the cup series in the decision series well monday night 8 p.m eastern the e nascar coca-cola i racing championship finale from the virtual homestead miami speedway log onto enaskar.com for coverage michael conte ryan lewis and nick ottinger bobby zielinski racing for a 300 000 purse 100 000 to the winner dale jr you get a car in this michael conte drives for junior motorsports he does had a great year won this pass race and texas to get his shot at that hundred grand so we're excited for michael i saw this caution and 16 cars stayed out right here that's going to line up chase elliott in that nine car martin truex jr and the 19 as well as kyle busch and kurt busch both they're going to line up way in the back that's one of the fears of martinsville you know you're going to get lined up different spots throughout the day but it's easy to get in a wreck it's easy to cause a wreck get damaged in your day let's see if they can get through this field cleanly flat tire just happened kevin hartman same thing could happen to those turric beating and banging positions so important here at martinsville back into the gas to go the best we've seen a driver restart on the outside yo not gonna be enough for joe logano still 39 laps to go in stage two as denny hamlin surging ahead here comes ryan blaney in the 12. dragon left fighting hard off the turn four stepping out the rear of that car he's trying to get every stage point he can here three penske cards running second third and fourth and rick i really think everybody wanted to come to come to pit road and get fresh tires drivers you want that grip but i think they're worried about running out of tires most guys only have four sets left to get through the rest of this race krakez lasky knows how many how important the stage points are here and i see him getting in the back of his teammate joe legato the last couple of corners look at how big it is when either the nine the 19 or 88 or one aren't leading this race kevin harvick's back in he's above the cut line now just by one point but if any one of those below the cut line gets up front and is leading that puts kevin harvick below the cut line brad continues to put the pressure on the 22 card for third place flaps winding down here unraveling late here in the stage two just can't seem to get the run off for exit to be able to move to the inside beats on the back bumper then 22 again moves him at the racetrack but joey holds position joey's going to move over and let him go here they're teammates we got to remember that too yeah let's see if joey can keep some pressure on the two if he just doesn't have the pace denny hamlin out front joey logano moving over and running in the fourth position we now invite you to the fast lane brought to you by coca-cola harvick now as we look at the points plus one over the cut line he is still a lap down he's running 31st on the racetrack fighting to stay in the championship for contention great battle right here yeah he is flying up through the field restarted in 14th he is passing right now for fifth place new tires right here guys shows you how important it is but what a great job by chase elliot to carve through the field and if he gets up front that once again will put kevin harvick below the cut line yeah we got 272 laps to go so much is going to happen to change the complexity of this race with kevin harvick and all these other drivers the position that kevin's in right now is just momentary i'm guessing he wants it to be as short as possible now let's hear from celebrity chef robert irvine with a special message from coca-cola think of a nascar driver putting premium fuel into his car to get the best performance out of it in our military we feed our men and women that wear the cloth of our nation with healthier smaller meals to make sure that they are up to the tasks that we are asking them to do just like nascar puts premium fuel in their cars healthy food gives great results and you know what i always say when you finish a meal it should be finished with something a little sweet hence finish with a coca-cola it makes the finish line along sweden chase elliot's on the move he's up to third now as we watch harvick back here stuck in that 31st position again he is a lap down timmy hill once again is the first car at the end of the lead lap cars and he's running 30th and right now only 12.3 seconds in front of race leader denny hamlin just in front of just in front of chase the 12th carve ryan blaine he's run down the leader of the levitt car marty you got more on the four yeah 28 20 now 27 to go here in stage two and that's going to be the game for kevin harvick can timmy hill in the 66 stay on the lead lap in these final 27 laps as harvec sits one lap down they have made the car better that's the good news for kevin harvick you know i asked rodney childers this morning i said i could see it on your face in 2014 their championship here i could see the pressure on you but it seems like it's less this year he said noah is actually the exact option there's more pressure right now because what happened to us last week in texas we had a winning car that didn't happen and now we're in this position and he was worried something like this might come to fruition and it is a nail biter right now it's battle for the lead heats up right now kevin harvick minus one below the cut line rick a little pressure there ryan blaney in the 12. yeah final bump got to get by this 11 fast because behind him the nine car chase elliot is coming quickly and fresher tires on the nine they got a big gap on the two-car bracket lasky who's being fought right now with mark tricks junior he's going to turn like a hard left right here he's going to get by or get next to ryan blaney yeah blaney just not able to get full throttle corner exit of turn two nike are able to fly a lot more throttle to be able to accelerate off the corner and make that pass with ease their second chinks elegant if he gets up in front of the 11 of denny hamlin that will put kevin harvick below the cut line i'd say elliott is so fast right now those newer tires just so much speed look at denny hamlin all day long he's shown that bottom three quarters of a lane i just think that's flirting with disaster just showing somebody that much of the left side of your car is dangerous good run into he's running that line with some purpose he understands his track as good as anybody and i i think he's fighting something in his race car that's forcing him to use that particular line but nine car going into the lead here down in turn one let's see how much hamlin can fight keep that from happening and now the back straightaway side by side denny on the outside he's going to give up the spot at chase elliot new leader off turn four and as crazy as this sounds that affects kevin harvick as well because now you have a much faster car that's trying to run down that 66 of timmy hill to put him a lap down sooner than he would have been 23 points below the cut line for harvick now the last time a hendrick motorsports car made the championship for was back in 2016 jimmy won the championship chase elliott now out in front trying to get his locked in spot to the championship four the xfinity 500 the determining race who will be in the championship four next week at phoenix right now leading up front is chase elliott in the nine see denny hamlin fighting here with the 19. mark trex jr behind him hamlin trying to hold on to that second spot shrek's junior trying to take it away 27 right there the 11th going past he's been laughed by the leader that matters because being a lap down kevin harvick no longer eligible for the free pass so the one lap down battle continues for kevin hart yeah he is now the third car a lap down in the scoring monitor here so harvick even at the end of this stage when they know a caution's coming out still not in the position for the free pass and still he is fighting below the cut line 19 points below the cut line now for kevin harvick i'm not sure they've made this car much better either even if they get back in the lead lap they're going to still have major changes they've got to make this is for second truex in the 19 right on the curve slips the right rear tire almost gets into the side of the 11 card denny hamlin down the front straightaway i think denny's gonna probably let him have it here and you wonder if denny hamlin has been told about the troubles with the four car if not he's in full panic mode right now both cars are in front of him win this race and knock him out of the playoffs just wonder how much information he has take a look at the toyota driver update mark trex jr denny hamlin running second and third right now martrex jr he's in a position where he's got to win the race if he wants to advance to the championship four so he's fighting to catch up to chase elliot marty this battle between teammates denny hamlin and martin truax jr hamlin kind of struggling with the hanley and to answer jeff's question yes chris gabhard has kept denny hamelin updated on what's happening all around the track and then he said quote i don't care and it was said in a way that he feels like he has the car that could win the race today and all the other talk would be moved for him he'll make it to the championship four as ryan blaney slips by meanwhile his teammate martin truax jr says the car is much better on this run for the 19 and they have worked all evening long and that car being better on the long run problem is he felt so far behind chase elliott with four to go he's never going to catch him but they have made the 19 better rick it's important to know that chase alley and mark dredd jr why they're putting some great runs here with four laps to go they do have roughly 20 lap fresher tires as hamlet this is just trying to get even on tires i bring that up because at the end of stage two if all of these guys change tires the majority only have three sets left that is going to be a chess match for the crew chiefs to try to figure out when to put them on long runs no problem it's pretty straight forward but if you get a bunch of 30 lap runs and it's just when do you put them on this battle right here for third place with nittany hamlin and blaney did he is fighting as hard as he can to keep this position he's basically gave blaney the entire bottom of the racetrack and he's just running this really high line trying to do all he can to get great drive off down the straightaway to defend that spot blaney's gotten to be getting frustrated he's given plenty of racetrack but just not able to get off the corner with the 11. under two laps to go in stage two hamlin won the first stage now fighting here with ryan blaney in that 12. trying to keep that position third spot slips in same check the steering wheel the top 10 in the finish of this stage get points and it's very important for these drivers as chase elliot is going to win stage two [Music] tenth time that he's been able to do that when a stage in 2020 second most of all the drivers behind denny hamlin hamlin won stage one and now chase elliott has won stage two kevin harvick still stuck a lap down and he's still below the cut line fighting for his championship hopes nascar on nbc is brought to you by progressive stay on track with grain rates at progressive.com credit one bank the official credit card of nascar perfect for race fans and by xfinity internet that's more than just fast xfinity proud premier partner of nascar parker kurt bush stroke with 19th up the fifth on that run after pitting that caution there finally had that car in the right rear in check very small justice party they told denny hamilton way to fight he held on to third there he has scored 18 stage points here at martinsville today more than anyone he said i lose too much speed on entry where i'm too free for his teammate martin truax jr he said i may have quote smoked my tires coming through the field too loose on exit for the 19 days 17 stage points for chase elliot today he's got his four tires and fueled and his team helped him get off pit road first yes he'll retain the lead rick [Music] you see the race off of pit road kurt kyle busch both gaining a couple spots legano three denny hamlin losing five spots on pit road so rick i know this is gonna sound crazy but this race is a lot like a speedway race you just have to keep yourself towards the front and out of trouble and score points when you can denny hamlin came in here above the cut line he knows the risk if other guys win but he has to score those points to try to ensure that he's done a nice job with keselowski getting 12 which is a great number but six more than the guy he's battling against well and also kevin harvick came in he was below kevin harvick by 15 points coming in but gaining those 18 so now he's ahead of kevin arvik and running ahead of him on the racetrack as well marty so denny hamlin lost those spots on pit road he's now in eighth they had trouble on the left front on that stop they had to hit a lot of lug nuts chris gabard said hey feel it out make sure that we got all of them tight check it out here hitting a lot of ludnick taking a long time to get that left front off number one and then they dropped the jack and then he said good thing i didn't leave because he saw they were having trouble on the left front a lot of times you'll go steve you'll tell your driver to go when we drop the jack then he waited and they are now telling denny you have to come back down pit road they did not get all the lug nuts tight on the left front denny very upset says 10-4 he's going to come back down pit road that's going to put the 11 way back in the field and change the playoff picture once again guys so the issue for the 11 isn't that they didn't tighten all the legos they did but he did it with the car on the ground and the weight on that left front tire so if you look at the pit stop again you're going to see right here there's trouble coming off on the left front that's where it all starts right he's waiting waiting waiting waiting great point of danny by not leaving but watch this he doesn't even start to hit lug nuts until the car is on the ground so the weight of the car and the camber is pushing that wheel off no matter how you hit those lug nuts it will not pull up tight against that hub with 3 400 pounds of weight sitting on it great call by gabe heart and handling unfortunately now they're gonna jack it up take the weight off that tire marty and make sure they're tight and chris gamehart said listen do not compound this we don't need another penalty he comes back down pit road but a terrific point by you steve way different to hit those lug nuts when the car is on the ground versus being in the air that's why they hit it back up off the air off the ground to make sure they can get them tight on the left front i got to say denny hamlin sitting there i know he had to come back and pit anyway that was an incredibly smart move the driver's cue is to leave when the jack falls he's not looking normally looking to see if everybody's job is done he's expecting him to be done jenny hamlin very heads up just sitting there waiting to compound the issue pit road was closed so there he does sits there lets everybody go by so not only the last corner left we're talking the last car at martinsville how does that affect the points he's only four points above the cut line when the green flag comes back out to start this final stage at martinsville yeah big run on the outside by truex i think we have two best cars on the racetrack up front here battling for the lead oh chase alien up the racetrack almost into the side of martin [Music] i thought truex was going to get the lead chase elliott drove it way down into turn three martin trex jr under a lot of pressure now from both the one and the 22. kurt busch having a great run today in this number one monster energy chevrolet for chip ganassi they put a lot of you know we talked a lot about how the 9 and 19 need to win but he's putting himself in this position to also be a threat to win this race today in a must win situation it's just amazing the three three of the drivers that pretty much had to win coming in here both said they're running first second and third [Music] below the cut line all three of these in the top three chase elliott martin trex jr and kurt bush all putting themselves in position to win look at this the four and the 11. the two most dominant cars in 2020 now back here running together and the four potentially not making it into the championship four a four the four is a lap down hoping for a yellow the 11 is still in the lead lap but just look at the speed difference we talk about the ford needing a yellow but he's just not fast even if he gets a yellow look how easily the 11 will go by nice and patient as requested by his crew chief marty and kevin harvick said on the radio a moment ago we really haven't made the car that much better everything you've done has just made the car tighter so harvick right now in the free pass position but different than the last few restarts right behind him jj yaley in the 27 car they're also trying to fight for the free pass position so daley two cars back from harvick and not any better with a handling on that four car meanwhile denny hamlin has moved up from the last car on the leave out now 27th he's gained a couple of spots and they keep preaching preaching patience on the radio they told him and listen we still control our destiny don't force anything here long way to go yeah 226 laps to go so yes long ways to go mckenzie and bubba wallace big contact right in front of denny hamlin and kevin harvick would have liked more contact he needs a caution he needs it now yeah the patience runs out as this race goes on like sans in an hourglass it just runs out for all these drivers and you see that's exactly what you saw with matt kinsey we're gonna see more and more of that from everyone on the racetrack as we get further into this race i feel like the complexities race is really going to change late for a lot of these drivers jimmy johnson moving to the inside of bubba wallace how hard they race back here all through the field the battles are intense trading paint beating on each other it's not more so back here in this pack these guys are frustrated not only by being back in the pack but their cars aren't driving well they're frustrated with how their car won't do what it should be doing frustrated with how the guy around him is racing jimmy johnson just took 26 from bubba wallace and that's how big of a fight it is right now back here see kevin harvick steve you just talked about it how just does not look good look at the struggle with the preferred lane to get by bubba wallace kevin's car just it's just not anywhere near like it needs to be just not good and there's nothing more humbling as a crew chief nine wins i mean it's just a great year and there are times we just flat miss it we were kind of waiting for this with no practice no qualifying every week i'll be honest rick the fourth car made it look easy all year long no practice of the qualifying fast once again the 11 to den hamlin fans once again but remember we saw this out of hamlin in the spring he ran 24th jeff you said it earlier only 40 laps on the lead lap for denny hamlin he has recovered here in the fall came back with much better race car unfortunately for kevin harvick not in a very good car today i remember kevin got into this position because of some contact early on in this race cut the left rear tire down he had to come to pit road under green lost two laps and so was able to get one back by just staying out on the racetrack but he's been trapped that one lap down and has not been able to be in the free pass when the caution comes out obvious guys we have been talking a lot about the playoff contenders championship contenders but somebody having a very strong day today this 32 car cory lejoy sitting 15 this team is way underfunded compared to all the people he's sitting there racing with cory lejoy doing a very nice job this entire year in this car sitting running 15th on a very very difficult race track great job yeah even more impressive because this team i believe goes away at the end of the year and uh corey has made the decision to step out of this car and try to find other opportunities so typically when teams are in that position they don't have these type of runs they they really kind of just make do and get through the final few races but they are putting their best foot forward here today go fast racing is the organization that he's running for 14 employees is what they have there so one of the little teams obviously that are fighting uh to be out here on the racetrack to be competitive every year and cory won't get in that car next year and they said they're actually going to go to a reduced schedule we don't know how many races that need corey has mentioned that he's been talking with a team already so he's looking like he can have a ride for 20-21 parker well guys we watched kurt bush they're trying to fend off brian blaine he eventually lets him go we talked about how he's been putting himself in position to win in a must-win position though when you look at the lap counter we're just past halfway and this is exactly where that one car you're here in the first race this year started to lose the hand a little bit kirkbush told me going to this race we need to be better at keeping up with the racetrack and it looked like they were doing that but sure enough right we're getting passed that way he's starting to make me lose a little bit of the handle losing the drive off in that one car right now let's see if that would call in that team to make the adjustments to get it back in the game and up towards the front [Music] we've talked a lot about all the different storylines it's just amazing to me that two of the guys that need to win are running first and second kurt busch keeps him in sight these last couple hundred laps rick are going to be pressure packed you mean it's going to pick up from what we've already seen yeah martin's at its finest still over 200 laps to go and you never know when a caution will come out christopher bell austin dillon roughing it up [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so so [Music] chase elliott still up front has an eight tenth of a second lead over martin trex jr in second let's take a look at today's ram trucks built to serve when you're in four drivers came to this racetrack feeling like they needed to win today chase elliot martin truex junior kurt busch frank and alex bowman they're all running top eight brad keselowski and denny hamlin and kevin harvick they're counting points so they're worried about where they finish they don't have to come in here and win tonight and all these teams are gonna have to figure it out on these last 200 laps with only three sets of tires in the pits so long runs not a big deal rick but if we start seeing a rash yellows that does not seem like a lot of tires to run a couple hundred laps here at martinsville marty rick kevin harvick no longer in the free pass position here's a problem for harvick it takes timmy hill about 25 to 28 laps within a run to get lapped and then harvick loses that free pass position so once again he would not get the free pass if the caution came out here's the handling issues on the four card help anything haven't done anything to make it better just made it tighter as far as the forward bike goes listen this is the championship team rodney childers a championship crew chief clearly kevin harvick a hall of famer but you can hear in that radio conversation a little frustration starting to creep in and jeff who could blame kevin harvick right here he is stuck all evening long and by the way he's raced around these same cars even when he's been in position to get a lap back he's been around these same cars that are running 23rd to 28th i think even if they get the lap back i'm not sure karvik has the car to run up in the top 10 today and marty i think that's a problem i agree with you i'm not so sure getting the lap back is going to be enough they just do not have the speed you told us earlier they put a tremendous amount of effort in this race so far it just has not worked out he didn't get any points at stage one or stage two he's had issues pretty much the entire race you see this yeah these guys going at it maddie d on the bottom losing rear grip getting it in the side of three of austin dillon yeah austin was trying not to get picked behind the lap car here big contact my left rear is i think austin's lucky it didn't cut that left retire he's had contact with the 21 the 95 if he left before that's tough little left rear tire on that break when we talk about kevin harvick being a lap down i'm confident he'll end up on the lead left at some point if he doesn't get lapped again and go two down just because we're gonna see yellows late but if those yellows come too late he doesn't have the car to recover that's the difference hamlin had to go to the back and he's driven it up to 18th wow that is great that's a lot of points rick right 12 points with the 11th game just in the last 25 or 30 laps kevin harvick can't as marty continues to report the handling on this four car is not good enough so now he's challenged with three things a lap down being the biggest chase elliot martin trex jr looking like they may win the race being the second and the third is just not fast enough to go score points and think about what kevin harvick the whole family has done they've had such a great season nine wins their son keelan during this coveted break they said you know what we're not going to send you to school we don't want the possibility of you getting the virus bringing it home and me not being able to continue to run they've changed their lives i mean everyone has changed their lives because of the pandemic but harvick knew this was his chance this is his chance for a championship he's got such a great season that is on the line right here right now in this race if he can't get below or he can't get above the cut line his championship hopes go away all those nine wins were great to celebrate at the time but they don't mean anything if he can't get out of this race and get into the championship four dave there was a pathway for the nine car to get there on points today but winning the race is the easiest and the most plausible as chase elliot continues to lead here now having led more than half the laps run here today the car is good the balance is good but it's still nervous time for this nine crew there's a lot of racing left and a lot of action at martinsville marty gave under 200 to go and this is shaping up to be a heavyweight battle because right behind him martin truex jr knows his only way to advance to the championship four again is to pass chase elliott and right now they don't have the car early in runs to keep up with chase elliot so james small working on a plan how can we make it better how can we get around the nine how can we advance to phoenix with a shot at the title dave you saw how respectful ryan blaney was racing playoff drivers earlier hopes he gets that favor return someday but he was very good here in june finished second leading 34 laps and they were confident they could make some noise here today in martinsville they've been doing that parker well dave for his teammate giorgano virtue of that win and kansas is locked in the change of four and remember last week we went all the way till wednesday before we actually got to race we talked about the preparation teams can have when they get locked in that championship board for the championship race well for paul wolfie said we already had decisions made as you see it past the lead here here comes martin trex jr fighting now with the nine he slowly caught the the leader chase elliott chasing traffic here have to make some smart decisions keep that 19 car behind him not give up the lead remark did right there and they are fighting for rear grip on corner exit that you were pointed out martin put himself in great position to get off the corner but just could not get the power down spinning the rear tires all the way down the straightaway [Music] trying to get a bit of the back to the back bumper of the nine close there roll through the center of the corner very well [Music] oh the nines 19 slides up a little bit bounces the nose up the center of the corner look at the steering wheel look at the hand movement of chase elliot very smooth very calm means his car is handling really well [Music] steve what's the fuel window how far can they go a lot further than they're going to want to making 150 laps this is only a 47 lap green flag run so we got 100 laps more fuel in the tank you think they're struggling for rear grip now that's what's so difficult about this race steve you don't know if you're going to get short runs or long runs it seems like you get that long run at the wrong time you have a short run car it really cost you sometimes happens in this final stage jeff and takes a short run car out of position to try to win the race martin boyd martin till just a battle of interest truex tries to get chase elliott right on board with chase on the left-hand side of your screen and truex has really struggled you guys mentioned it drive off the car being too loose from the center of the corner off late and runs but one thing steve it is getting much cooler the sun is setting here at martinsville i don't know if martinsville is a very sensitive weather race track but truex seems to be coming to life here in the second half of the race i think he's got something for chase elliot but it's definitely going to be a much cooler race as we go on and we'll probably finish under the lights here at martinville tonight it's going to be interesting here he goes the 19 of martin trex jr the opening was there chase elliott went way up the racetrack on his entrance but martin can't close the deal so interesting junior jeff we've seen denny hamlin do that just commit to the second line you get such a good run on corner exit that's almost what the nine did right there to the 19. yeah it's all about trying to get down the next straightaway make that straightaway as long as possible get up the racetrack turn the car in the center of the corner and make the exit as straight as you can make it to be able to drive the throttle get the throttle down if you're turning the wheel you cannot match the throttle full throttle you can't do it on corner exit you have to keep the wheel straight to go [Applause] forward [Music] you can see that green yellow car behind these guys it's ryan blaney he's starting to join this battle once again that'll be the 48 car's got a flat left rear tire heading down the back straight away he'll be coming to pit road to get that change he gets off the race track and so he will be on pit road and we stay green [Music] but the left rear tire down for the 48 of jimmy johnson the seven-time champion nine-time winner here at this racetrack chase elliott now a car length and a half in front of mark trex jr as we go nascar nonstop [Music] it's nascar cup series playoffs on nbc the xfinity 500 from martinsville speedway steve right now we see kevin harvick struggling the possibility exists he could go two laps down i would liken this to and i don't want to bring up his horse subject but your patriots when they were undefeated going into the super bowl everybody's like well they're undefeated they've got this great season they're gonna be super bowl champions well a nine-time winner this year kevin harvick might not make the championship four it's like the number one ranked team in the world doesn't make it to the championship race yeah and this is what makes sports wonderful and you don't believe that if you're kevin harvick fan this is what makes sports awful but this is why you have to watch every race every lap every game if it's a different sport nothing is guaranteed kevin harvick had the success of the regular season to lean on but it wasn't a guarantee it was a little bit of a safety net and unfortunately currently he's falling through that safety net at 15 points below and you mentioned it as this lead battle continues between elliott and truex and blaney they're also inching in on kevin harvick two laps down makes it very difficult for him to gain points and that's what it's all about he's gonna have to be in a position where he's expecting one of the guys in front of him to have trouble that is not what kevin harvard wanted truex was just putting the pressure on the nine cars they caught the lap traffic but now he is feeling a ton of pressure from this 12 car ryan blaney blaine he got into the back of the 19 got in the left quarter panel a couple corners ago laney's teammate joe logano right behind him as they continue to work this lap traffic it's really creating a lot of opportunities for this 12 car let's look at that contact not true tricks around a little bit here so the 19 gets up the racetrack just a little bit blaney says that's a hole i'm going in there not quite the radiator fit that's about it but hey man that's martin's that's what's so fun about racing here is you can do that to the guy in front of you and he knows that's what it that's what it's all about he's not gonna pull over and try to turn you in the next corner so we've run 67 laps right here on this set of tires that's the longest we've run all day long who has a good long run car we really don't know but we're finding out right now it looks like martin truex car is starting to fall off a little bit on this raw as chase elliot's driven away from him yeah you mentioned it jeff when we were on the end car the nine how smooth his hands were i thought the 19 had the better long run car but maybe the nine of chase elliott is just taking it a little bit easier on his race car on his tires mainly for this long run and staying really consistent here through the traffic and he's drove away from these guys truex trying to find a way around this eight cars put him on the high side here that's an opportunity for laney to go to the inside lady's going to have his teammate now on the right rear quarter panel who's this going to work out for tough decisions to make and it's really hard to laugh even the lap traffic on that higher side obviously if you get to the inside of them much simpler much easier now tonight blaney's going to get back in the back of the eight car and be like hey man i need to get by here he's gonna actually slot in behind his teammate joe logano for turn one entrance but that second lane that's something that we've seen that denny hamlin's been trying to do both those guys use that second lane to make that pass truex back to the bottom of the three-car austin dillon and remember the playoff picture changes completely if chase elegant or partner shrek's junior is not leading the race that's the other factor that comes into play both of those drivers came into this race below the cut line truex at the 22 of logano blaney the one kurt busch the two of keselowski all right here together within a few car links with each other want to get a few updates as we have now 161 laps to go we'll start with parker as you see kirkworth's trying to assist you back to traffic right here you know we mentioned how he's been putting himself in position to win this race he's had a great run going but he struggled at the end of these runs with being too loose and losing the grip of that right rear and that's the case right now for kurt west trying to just take care of it so maybe go up there go further up in the field brad keselowski was confident if he could just get a long run for the two car it would come to life well it's been 73 laps now on this run and he's only made up two positions he's in this group maybe he can get a couple here but trying to improve as the lauren goes on parker we've talked a lot about how big that win was for kyle busch last week at texas or on wednesday sorry at texas and i asked adam stevens was that like a fuel balance with you do you feel like you sort of calculate that for everyone else he goes no we had the speed to be in the lead we were put in that position having to save fuel but by no means do we consider that a fuel mileage when we did that on speed for alex bowman the laps are counting down below the cut line by 27 only running in the eighth position recently the cars had no grip on the right rear they were unable to fix it completely last time alex has got to go parker right behind him there that black and white carve eric almarola had that little tussle of his teammate clint warrior in the race but has recovered nicely from that has been looking forward to long runs just like this as he looks the inside of alex bowman and then behind him is the driver that he got in that little tussle with that is the 14 of clint weir who came across radio after bumping eric elmore out of the way to give him a little payback and said sorry guys i just had to do it i'm sorry about that marty parker denny hamlin has gingerly made his way through the field coming from 29th on the restart up to the 15th position he's had a terrific battle back here trying to get around the 41 jimmy johnson on the inside of him with those fresher tires hamlin saying the car is still too tight at the two-thirds mark of the corner and the longer they run it falls off pretty good hamlin pretty good on the short run trying to get cole custer for 14th and trying to slowly patiently work his way through the field [Music] colt custer rookie of the year on the outside of the 11 of denny hamlin as hamlet's able to take that spot away from him he'll move up to 14th we've talked all day about how aggressive it is and what you have to do through lap traffic brad keselowski kept catching james davidson makes it three rot wide with the eight car on the bottom then he just says uh that's my spot drives james all the way up into the third lane kind of self-cleared him just no time to mess around so steve you mentioned fuel window about 150 laps that's what we're coming up to left in this race as chase elliot out in front he's out in front clear track ahead until the fourth car of kevin harvick now i'm going to say as these tires of age kevin harvick's pace is kind of leveled out with a leader harvick is only between 5 100 and a tenth slower than chase so while it's not faster he is not losing a tremendous amount of ground it's during lap traffic that the four of kevin harvick's car really shows still handling he has a hard time passing cars where chase is able to kind of enter high like he's going to do right here and then turn down the racetrack and get a low exit that allows the nine to run that lane you see instantly how much of a gap he closes on the floor of harvick's drivers i mean there's not much harvard can do right here hope for yellow try to work lap traffic the best he can right there wait marty yeah jeff tim feeder with a veteran spotter for kevin hart i guess told him yes that is the leader behind you and i'm wondering jeff good just changes kevin harvick's race if he does go two laps down that changes the complexion completely for kevin harvick so every spot he gets here critical for kevin harvick and yes he said the car is going a little bit better direction but everyone he can pass and put between him and chase elliott and there's the caution kevin harvick though not gonna get the free pass rick yeah he's still a lap down he's actually the lowest scored driver that is one lap down timmy hill has a flat rat retire he's brought out the yellow so the caution has come out it's the 10th of the day timmy hill we've been focusing a lot on timmy hill in that 66 because he was the one who kept falling behind getting put a lap down and that would put him ahead of kevin harvick so harvick wasn't in the free pass position this time the 42 of matt kenseth is going to get the free pass the only benefit for harvick if there is one is that long run they lapped so many cars that they're now six or seven points available on his lap so he can gain a few points if he can improve the handling that and there are better cars that are one lap down so they won't get lapped as easily so kevin harwick's pit crew needs to step up getting some of those spots the pit crew trying to make the right changes to the four as well to get him back in position to where he's competitive parker hey guys kurt bush picking from the fifth position there ellen must win position here to advance the championship four said he's just driving the hell out of it he's not sure what they change you'll see a little adjustment there on the right rear martin truck's two-year-old james small he said man i feel like i've been telling you the same thing all day long loose in tight in the center loose on exit but that loose on exit is my biggest problem we've made it better in the longer run but we're still giving up too much time to the nine at the end of the day dave leader chase elliott said a little miscue on the jack there going around to uh this side first so might be a little bit of a slow stop here for the nine car as they'll change four a little tight but he said it wasn't bad and near the end of the run it was all about drive off which was good yes he will give up the lead here yeah a lot of spots lost by the nine chase elliot three spots to be exact logano up front now actually that could be good for kevin [Music] harvick [Music] most laps chase elliot has ever led in a race but it might all be negated because they're getting a penalty over the wall too soon by the jackman so we're gonna take another look at it this is those corners it's very hard for them to see you kind of try to time it right so look at the jack man he's gonna leave the pit stall you're allowed to be over one box before so you look at chase he's not one box so he tries to clear it by going back to pit wall touching it then running around the car i'll be honest i've never heard of the ability i mean you see the jack man he's a stall away the jack man's already in the pit box so i've never heard that you can go back and reset it against pit wall i mean the penalty is the penalty obviously the jack man had a quick reaction there well if i go back maybe they won't call it he obviously knew he was early i don't think that's an option nascar will let us know but they're calling the penalty on the nine being too early so see right here he couldn't see and he tried to reset it nascar is looking at it they're waiting to hear what they say sounds like maybe they're okay and that's why you argue right steve well so that so here's the thing what we have seen in the past is if a guy stands on pit wall and say he loses his balance ring and he steps off but then he steps back on pit wall and then jumps at the appropriate time that'll penalize that because so this is by far more blatant he didn't fall off he jumped off right but to his defense he did go back and reset himself on pit wall to try to release this penalty i would have never thought that was an option i was a pit crew member i would have never even thought about running back to pitt wall it would have been oh man i hope they didn't catch me it would be vibrant i think but if this saves the nine a penalty which is we're hearing from nascar it's gonna save him a penalty that is the play of the year for a pit crew member the play of the year for that jack man to have enough thought to say i know i'm early i'm going back to pit wall safkey that is i'm talking mvp move if the nine goes on into the championship fourth that single move by the jackman could be the difference 100 awareness unbelievable 100 awareness and you can see how allen was extremely happy with that his understanding to go back to the wall so now as they're side by side the green flag about to come out the nine is just below the cut line five spots but he's been one of the best all day long no penalty for the nine team he keeps a spot just i i i've raced a long time rick i've never seen a jack man reset like that what a move training training in practice that's what that is you have to be prepared he knew the rule he executed joey logano out front and what does that do for kevin harvick he's above the cut line right now as long as somebody below the cut line is not up front and leading kevin harvick still has a chance to make the championship four nascar just wanted to clear this up and said we know he was over too soon but the fact that he went back before performing any service he didn't jack the car he went back to pit wall kind of reset his starting position just like someone losing their balance they're not going to call penalty for that that's a first not just a long time that is a first great work just great work you see him over too soon he goes nope i know i'm in trouble i'm gonna go back touch pit wall and now he knows he's gonna slow the stop down so i do think like this alone is a penalty for the nine because it's a slow pit stop much better than just going to the back of the field the team knew the rules team they did it was clear right it was crazy yeah the team knew the rule he knew he had made a mistake alan allen knew it he knew the rule that was just preparation great job by the hendrick motorsports having their guys ready having them prepared now he's lost that time on pit road he's got him in fourth place here he's got to work his way back up by these guys to get back into the lead of this race truex also has fallen back into sixth position that's a lot of track position this late in this race to be given up in a must-win situation well look at the points look at the change the playoffs without the nine car winning or without the 19 car win look what happens this puts kevin harvick back in five points to the good yeah what do you do i mean these guys got a long way to go 140 laps or so i don't know if you really drive the car to its fullest right now you might want to be ready for another possible long run so save a little bit of rear tire on corner exit not giving the throttle everything you can give it so it might pay off on the long run but truex fall into six he's kind of losing a little bit of touch with the guys in front of him the night car going around the one of kurt bush for third well as he gains a point kevin harvick if you look at the points on the left currently six points above because all those cars are one lap down he's still a lap down but he's racing the 43 bubble walls in front of him for the free pass so the battle for the win on the left and you have on the right the four trying to get back in the lead lap his teammates beating bang yeah we saw ryan blaney there and the 12 get into the side of the 22 of legato that's for the lead wow he's in the back of him right now in turn one and two they go down the back straightaway that's pretty aggressive for teammates well joey logano is in the he's in he won so he's in the he's in we know that blaney is out of the playoffs so neither one really had much to lose but a lot to gain by winning this race yeah clock the grandfather one of the most common trophies on the series you can only get it here and blaney hungry trying to get by that 22 of logano logano trying to hold him off look at that showed him the outside then cut back underneath him now he's going to try to out break him into one so this won't affect kevin harvick either if ryan blaney's up front at least it's not someone that's in the playoffs below the cut line so now that blaney's still there it's not going to change the points for kevin harvick he's got some great pace on this car he's been in the top five all day long and now he's got the lead he's going to drive away from this 22 i believe chase ellie is trying to drive up to the back bumper of joe logano chase elliott his center of the corner speed is so fast right along with him [Music] watch right look at that look at that center of the corner how he gains on joey legato krakowski's got around kurt busch for fourth now kurt's under pressure for martin tricks junior in the 19 car chase elliot knows he has an extremely fast race car [Music] he's got to be smart here long way to go one lap at a time and with 130 to go jeff i believe everyone that hit it can make it on fuel so i'm not sure we're gonna see that long of a green flag run it would be the longest of the day but it's possible the track's changing a lot too lights have come on it's getting dark tracks cooling down that fight still for the transfer sport at least the free pass spot harvick needs to get by bubba wallace a little rough back here that's the battle of martinsville every corner somebody's hitting somebody and that's a that's a risk for harvick to take that chance with the tires go on his car get another flat he's back to pit road he's back to two laps down it's important for kevin to be obviously he needs to get the first car one lap down but at the same time he can't panic right still we've seen martinsville how crazy it gets in the last 50 laps anything can happen still up front ryan blaney logano holding on to second chance elliott is third brad keselowski running fourth kirk bush is fifth curt's gonna lose that spot to the 19 car here off turn two martin takes it away from him tricks just not showing the speed that he's had all night long now that he's lost his little track position parker hey guys kurt bush falling back a little bit here he was a little worried about the left front there when brad kelowski went by they touched a little bit he was worried about the damage the team gave him the aok and right now you can just tell curser of man handling that car putting on his back trying to hold traction right now marty parker martin truex jr did get around kurt bush and man it just takes truex a little bit to get going and then the middle part of the run that's where they're the strongest but then at the end of the run that's where they give up with all this time and they have fallen a second and a half behind chase elliot that's all the time that truex gave up they commented earlier hey i feel like heads up 2x said we're as good as the nine but when we're going through traffic the nine just get through so much cleaner and check that out rick the battle continues for the free pass harvick got around bubba wallace but bubba fighting back yeah the 43 went way up the racetrack miss turns one and two that opened the door for kevin harvick to get past him now he's trying to hang on to that spot yeah but wallace was on the inside of the 47 of stinthouse and lost the back of his car got up the track into the door of the 47 car harvick squeezed by those guys beating and banging that was a hard shot the 43 had with the 47. watch this boom bam bam probably just drove away down in the corner coming through good thing stenhouse is there he can spun out a caution now to get back on the lead lap but caution has to come out for him to get the free [Music] pass chase elliot running third lost some time on pit road with a slow pit stop but it could have been much much worse it could have been a penalty the jack man over too soon goes back understands the rule perfectly resets then leaves pit wall a slow pit stop four spots that's a whole lot better than the entire field [Music] so [Music] [Music] it's a cut race from martinsville nascar cup series playoffs on nbc the xfinity 500. tonight's aerial coverage is brought to you by geico as we look down the lights have come on here at martinsville closing in on the final 100 laps 112 now 111 to go out front it's ryan blaney not a fluke ryan blaney was second here in june he runs well at this racetrack he's out front joey logano running second chase elliott who's had the best car here today 192 laps led in the third position keselowski is fourth mark trex jr in fifth dave and brad keselowski in that blue and white two car he wants to join the penske party at the front of the field here but at the moment he's 19 points above the cut line remember things could change so one of the things that jeremy bonds his crew chief told me earlier today yes he saves the race cars here that's why he's good but the other thing is he understands the way this track changes as the temperature changes the swings that it takes and remember crew chiefs adjusting on the race car is only as good as the information he gets from the driver he said brad's very good at it and guys it's dropped since the sun went behind the grandstands another 10 degrees down here we're adding layers of clothes and crew chiefs are adjusting to it [Music] a reminder of somebody that's below the cut line coming in right now goes up and leads this race that changes everything for kevin hartman so the nine the 88 the 19 or the one if they can get up there if they can lead the race right now chase elliot running in the third position the 19 is fifth curt bush is running six alex bulman in seven great battle right here brad keselowski tries to find a way around this nine car chase elliot chase runs tidy and checks him up in the middle of one and two down here in three and four brad to the inside chase wide to be able to turn and get a good drive off the motor down the straight away and keep that spot brad just cannot put the power down spins over your tires just feel like these pesky cars though as the sun has gone down pesky cars have gotten better [Music] chase will not be able to block this gonna have to use that outside lane to try to make it work again brad using a little more racetrack that time that's going to help him on his corner exit first time yeah the first time he went through there he put his left sides on the curb now he's running up the racetrack a little bit that helps his exit yeah both cars are able to make the diamond maneuver and run straight off the corner when that inside car uses up a lot more race track drifts up in the middle of the corner like that like that right there so impressed with that outside lane though that outside lane is pretty good right now it is track's not taking a ton of rubber so it's relatively green and keeping a lot of grip it's confusing when you're on the bottom like that you think man i got the spot i should better easily pass this guy but if you're on the bottom though you're kind of you're still turning the steering wheel on corner exit you can't can't get the gas when you're turning the steering to finish the corner the south side lane did this a little bit in the spring race as well see brad keeps getting higher and higher and if you get that fender ahead or that few inches ahead you take more you go further up the track in the next corner because you know if you get into the inside of the nine car and you're kind of back on his left corner it's likely going to spit you out we got a car slow to top the race track here yes kevin harvick kevin harvick is hoping he stops he is the first car lap down he can't get going i think he's gonna have to go to caution right here he is going so slow completely on power yep he's lost power so he's not gonna be able to make it back to pit road and the caution will come out and kevin harvick is in the free pass position he can get back on the lead lap and with a much better race car that last run right there is the first time we've seen the four passing cars being aggressive driving up through the field so not only is he back in the lead lap but i think has a car with a hundred laps to go that can still get more points so james davison 34 year old from australia brings out the caution here at martinsville i wonder what he thinks about racing in martinsville it's so much fun got you know the guys come over and try something like this this is such a unique experience oh he's got some power now seem to have been able to switch switch it up reboot the system this caution right here kevin harvick has been trying for 200 laps to get his lap back hey the lucky dog i think he's actually got it in gear and just turning the motor over in gear and it's lugging the car down straight away 53 and davidson it won't last long he's going to use a starter to get it there marty well you guys think there would have been a big celebration kevin harvick finally getting back on the lead lap you heard the entirety of the celebration that was it championship team they're focused immediately hey what do we need to do to make the car better harvick said hey it's finally come to life just need it to turn a little bit more but by far that's the best we've been all day now harvick back on the lead lap back in the game so basically rick the way i look at it is without a new winner before it's kind of a points battle for the four between him and the 11 and other guys with a new winner if the nine can get up there where the 19 can get up there then it really gets tight between the four and the 11 and denny hamlin i know he had to go to the back at one point drove up but that whole run right there was just mediocre for the 11 car he did not have the speed he had earlier you've heard the comments from dave about cooling the lights coming on the track changing the penske car is coming to life whatever the track is doing has helped the four help the penske cars the four or the 11 of danny hamlin's car does not like the track jesus all right crew chief 99 to go you got a couple sets of tires still on pit road so you're gonna come down get some new your new tires but your crew they've got to be good they've got to be on point right now marty real quick before pit road opens yes steve you are correct hamlin went nowhere on that run he was not happy with eric jones his teammate and not happy with the handling of the car listen up in the center half rounds all we did yeah i know just hit him back under here chris gave heart said something interesting see he said we had to switch date codes date codes on the right side tires we didn't have a choice we'll do that for the rest of the race he said i think that's the biggest thing that you were struggling with maybe you can explain that well so basically goodyear puts a lot of information on the tires they're all the same tire but date is basically hey was it made in march was it made in april was it made in june all these different things that the teams measure and record and not that they're good or bad but if you do go from say something that was made in a different month it may have just a little different grip characteristic could change through balance you can't remember these guys are working in such small windows it doesn't take very much difference in grip from front to back to change the balance of the race car so again the reason the caution has come out james davison uh in the 53 slowed on the racetrack didn't get up into the wall but he just lost power so was not able to continue on had to have one of the tow trucks here get him back to pit road that is why the caution is out and here come the teams to pit road parker kurt bush picks out the sixth position the team asked him to move a foot to the right in the box that they don't have to double pump on the left they're going to tighten up that one cars i believe the track is loosened up as we go in the night time here at cooler temperatures marty boy the pressure on the cruise 97 to go martin track jr said man the car just never turned that run i don't know what happened clearly it's getting much different out here and then he said towards the end of the run got way too free for the 19 days time for the 12 team to shine for their driver can they get ryan blaney off a pit road first the nine teams crew already has shown tyler simpke the jack man cleanly off the wall that time down to the right side he'll get to the left side as well four tires going on the nine car and filling it with sunoco fuel as well here's the race off legano's gonna win it legato won the race off blaney goes second and all the way down four spots down chase elliot's struggling to get off pit road [Music] [Music] i had mentioned the crews can't make a mistake it's too important this track position well the driver can't make a mistake either and the two of brad keselowski speeding on pit road listening to the radio under my lights the entire run take a chance that's the box leaving here so the box leaving so the crew chief says it's after our pit stall leaving pit road is where the penalty was so a huge penalty for the two and so here is the two right here in his pit box and watch him accelerate leaving right here you know in martinsville you have so much grip and so much gear that i didn't think you could speed in that section but clearly you can and this right here another slow stop for chase ellie look at the left rear a lot of struggle trying to get the lug nuts off the left front's already been changed left rear just now coming off you mentioned it going away to break how he had a bit of an issue on pit road that issue will get chase elliott almost out of the top ten i think he's gonna restart like in the ninth position with the penalty on brad kelowski so just a lot of mistakes we talked about it no mistakes we've seen mistakes out of a lot of the playoff cars here down the stretch but opportunity at the front of the pack martin truex junior need to win this race starting on the outside good launch by martin wow he's gonna take it down into turn one almost clear in the 22 car legano he's gonna get great job by martin truax jr what a restart that was impressive remember it was this racetrack where it was the 22 and the 19 getting together and legato ended up winning the race mark tricks jr said he may have won the battle he's not going to win the war well right now he's winning the battle martin trex jr out front legato running second with that penalty of kaslowski look at the left side of the screen now harvick's in and keselowski is six points out kevin harvick restarted in the 21st position kozlowski is behind him wayne back in the third position as it goes by that 18 bar pal bush kyle fighting on the outside is going to maintain his position in front of alex bolman in the 88 down into turn three still these penske cars we talked about it the lights have come on track's gotten cooler it seems like they've gotten much better mark shrek jr with this lead still has a ton of work to do with those fast cars behind him two pinsky guards lined up and joey logano and ryan blaney and then it's kyle busch and that 18. running back in the fourth spot alex bowman also in a must-win situation his fifth so the four-car of harvick is in the points and the two is out and they are together on the racetrack now trying to battle through traffic they're coming through traffic like a cannonball we're six points behind harvick with truex leads the race right now [Applause] all right so six points six positions you gotta get in front of harvard you gotta find six more positions and you got 87 laps to do it in speeding on pit road could determine if brad koslowski makes it in the championship four or not we talk about this choose rule and how it's changed racing martin truex jr had the opportunity to pick the outside because blaney chose the inside went to the outside great launch on this restart watch him go right here fool's actually in front of the 22 now he's got great ford momentum clears joey logano now he has a lead that's everything he needed pit crew did a nice job got him that spot he took the gamble took the outside and then marty he made it work jeff you know what's funny is right before that two's cold martin truax jr told a spotter clayton hughes i don't want to take the outside if i don't have to and hughes said you know what only if you can go to the front row go to the outside and you know what it worked out he wound up getting the lead from the lane he didn't want to be in top of your screen kevin harvick brad kozlowski battling it out further back in the field 18th and 19th rodney childers told harvick right now we are in at that moment it was plus six above brad kazowski now it's plus four keslowski has gotten around harvick and is driving away from harvick so that's gonna be something we're gonna have to watch because if kozlowski continues to gain spots he'll continue to close that gap on harving yeah keselowski's going around cars left and right he's on the inside of the 42 right now here's the battle for second place 12th car to 22. brian blaney continuing to make up ground after losing some spots on pit road came in as the leader of the race now can he run down truex it's the best thing he could do for his teammate right if he could take 2x out of the lead that's the best thing he could do for brad keselowski yeah that will reset as far as a driver that's not below the cut line up front reset those points and that would put kozlowski back up into the championship four as well as harvey here's clint boyer trying to make the pass on that 18. there's the nine we mentioned how far back he restarted and he is working the traffic doing a nice job trying to enter the top five he says man 80 to go i'm not on this thing yet let me up here right now below the cut line chase eliot 12 points back only two points separating now harvick and kozlowski as they run on the track and kazowski's car just has proven that it's good i know he went to the back but he's moving up the four isn't awful it's kind of staying with him paint scheme on that 14 of clint boyer thank you fans he has all his sponsors that he's had really throughout his racing career on that paint scheme for clint boyer this is second to last race in the cup series as he will move on to the fox broadcast booth for 2021. he's got a very fast chase elliot and a very hungry chase elliot behind him not any longer he's beside him here comes james elliot trying to take that fourth position away i think it's best that he let him go chase has too much to gain does not have enough time to mess around for long truex just a little bit quicker right now on the lap tracker they have brian blaney in second place tricks starting to go through some traffic i think that is the best thing that could happen for a guy like chase elliot is to see our leader have some problems getting through this traffic close that gap up a little bit i think chelsea chase elliott's got to pass his car on the racetrack but he's just got such ground to gain right now kevin harvick running in the 18th spot listen to his radio we just gotta keep up with the two points for the good so harvick his goal now is to stay in sight of the two mark trex jr he's got a win he's up front here at marksville as we go nascar nonstop mark trex jr has a 1.4 second lead over ryan blaney mark trex jr needs to win if he wants to be a part of the championship four points though right now if you look at denny hamlin he's plus 13. kevin harvick right even now with brad keselowski as they run on the racetrack and chase elliott is 10 points back currently in sixth in the point standing steve so let's talk about chase elliot two bad pit stops in a row for different reasons one was corrected one was not and it has hurt this nine car so the question remains do you want another pit stop one fresh set of goodyear tires remaining they may have to come down to use them or they may go agree to the end marty kenny hamlin happier with the car sitting in eighth and right now plus 13. chris gabe has told him several times the entire picture right now hamlin is good on points that's all he needs to know right where we're at we're good dave brad knows what he has to do brad keselowski in that two car restarted 22nd all the way up to 13. this week he tweeted about loving the grind he has loved this racing grind and now he's got gotta write it out to the end here marty top right of your screen kevin harvick needs one point and guess who he has to pass ryan newman here's what he thinks about that keep the power down to finish the path i know harvick says i can't get the power down to finish the pass but this has been going on for 15 laps he's been beside newman almost in front of newman and he cannot get around the six and right now he is one point below the cut line as you see as brad kazowski just passed for 12. i think one of the issues for kevin hardick also is his car just isn't as good as it needs to be and he's having to push his car harder than he wants to if we get a long run he is killing these tires that could really hurt him he needs a caution here relatively quickly i think he's going to just pay the price big time later in the run here's a two car trying to get around the 21. dive down into turn three i think that the uh 21 let him have that one and that was the difference right now but i think he continues to drive through the pack this is a big problem for harvick big wreck in the middle of three and four the 24 of william byron has made huge contact the back of his car shortened up dramatically so the caution has come out 12th caution left rear of the night as hard as you hit it martinsville yeah william brian was running in the 14th spot when he backed it into the wall some fluid running out i don't know if that's fuel or oil this pace that it's running i believe that's oil you see on the left-hand side one set remaining for everybody except for newman ty dillon they have no new tires maybe some used scuffs as we see william byron climbing out almarola though has two sets with 59 to go could be an advantage if we run like say 20 laps and get a yellow with still enough laps to use those new tires but see william byron out surveying the damage what a season it's been for that young man william byron will have a new crew chief in 2021 rudy fugle will come over actually they will be re-united after a truck series we see guys on pit road parker there was a bit of debate whether it come to pit road or not use this set of tires to 22 juligano the top mirror screen there they decided to come down and get the four tires just a little too tight marty since mike hicks moved to the rear of the 19 they have been the best on pit road in the playoffs and he needs him more now than ever they gained him one spot on payroll last time 2x said the car is better can the crew deliver dave chase elliott from tenth to third on that run now it is up to the crew here as well let's see if they can get the left side tires off cleanly this time a little slow on the left front there will chase gain doesn't look like it chase able to come out pit road just in front of ryan's laney but behind the 19 and 22. legato gaining two spots on fit [Music] road so pretty clean pit road for everyone that came down as we are winding down the laps 56 to go here from martinsville the reason for the caution was the 24 of william byron take a look at this he's going to enter your screen right here turn down on the corner you're going to see him lose control the back of the car yeah he's either lost the left rear tire right rear tire flat tire or brake issue typically is what we're seeing down here in turn three with contact like that shortens up the back end of that car and hey they had some speedy dry left over i thought they might have used it they're reusing that and i had mentioned earlier rudy fugal will be uh on top of the pit box for the 24 of william bayern i guess one of the other big stories is that his over the wall had coveted 19. so they were not a part of the race on wednesday at texas and once again not here uh tonight as far as they the normal crew over the wall crew not able to be here for that team tonight and obviously a short ending there for william byron after this incident so now martin trex jr is up front corlejoy actually stayed out yeah if we showed the tire sets remaining corlejoy had no new tires so i believe that's the reason he stayed on the racetrack no new tires to put on i thought he might have a set of scuffs but apparently not steve if he stays on the racetrack as the leader that's going to really mix up this lineup where wherever he goes i think most drivers will go the opposite lane parker hey guys for kurt bush who's all the way back in 13th now after that sent us stops his crew chief matt mccall came on the radio just as they were about to pit and said do the opposite of everyone else well they didn't they came down and took that last set of tires i had to think in the position they were which was around 10th place why not do the opposite and take a little risk and see save that set of tires maybe later in the race in the must-win position yeah i like that now park sorry hey guys fourth spot right now for the nine of chase elliot he got that uh last set of tires as well and his crew gave him a clean stop on and off of pit road and chase has driven to the front a couple of different times today the night car has been very good chase has been very on behind the wheel now he's got a few laps left in this race to see if he can make it happen marty dave 54 laps to go and james small right behind me put it very simply to martin truax jr he said this is it this is our season this is your shot to make it to the championship four they actually were not happy that corey lejoy the 32s stayed out because they feel obviously it takes away their choice of what lane they could pick so now they're just going to go the opposite of whatever corey lejoy picks here and that's where 2x will start but 2x clearly has had a terrific car here this afternoon he's led 121 laps his only path to phoenix for a championship four is win but they also know chase elliott right behind him that's his only path as well this is going to be a dog fight mark trex jr is also trying to make a little bit of history for himself at least three consecutive wins at this racetrack he won the last two martinsville races showed up with another great car tonight i could see the frustration with the 32 standout but jeff i think i don't know i almost look at it as an advantage i would assume the 19 should be able to accelerate better than the used tires next to him it should almost guarantee him being the leader into turn one or am i looking at that wrong no i think you're exactly right i think it's the best case scenario because there's really no way that anybody should enter side by side with martin truax jr i mean the the leader has got to start the rule is the legal race has got to start restart the race but the tires on the 19 car so much better he's going to out accelerate corey lejoy should feed him into turn one yeah i think that's a concern for the 32 is just spinning the tires when they initially go to the gas and truex should be able to take advantage of him and also entering the corner we saw truex beat the 22 down into term one on the restart before this i feel pretty good about martin's shot of being the leader clear off of turn two now chase elliott is gonna restart behind corey lejoy chase elliott's mindset right now is three wide into turn one get a great launch and put them three wide into turn one that's chase elliott's shot because if he doesn't and he gets to be slow all the way through one and two that outside lane is going to just roll by them yeah chase has to get around the 32 someway somehow in this first corner or down the back straight away even if he has to get physical with this 32 cartila joint see what he's doing he's laying back a little bit to time it to get that bow forward momentum oh 51 laps to go enjoy with a big launch it's going to be tricks down into turn one truex though fight back on the outside of this 32 down the back straight away jurek's going to pull cordle joy into turn three lejoy up the racetrack a little bit this is no contact yet clears him three one down the front straightaway checks out on the inside corey backs out and now the nine up to second joey legato is third and now corey's in the outside lane so he's on older tires so that's going to hold that outside late up absolutely oh they're just going to set him up the racetrack blaine he had to do it they're keeping him out of the way alex bowman also in the 88 look who's up front guys who have to win mark trex jr chase ellie alex bowman all in the top four and the points battle between harvick and keselowski is the cut line if one of those drivers do win down to four points i see this battle back here there's there's the 32 car harvick's got to get to the bottom right here brad's gotten by him harvested trying to make it three wide corey le joy's going to get black flag here he left too soon so he did not start in the restart zone he went just before it so nascar has posted the 32. battle for the lead can't blame can i blame la joy for trying to make something happen right there on old tires what the heck try something see if it catch me yeah nine car chase elliot's closing in on the back bumper the leader [Music] holy turns comes off real low great run down his front straight away he's going to have an opportunity to look inside [Music] so mark rex jr and chase elliot chase is there gives him a little tap they're fighting for the lead whichever one is not up front they will be below the cut line chase high again in the corner cuts again down low gets a straight run off has the momentum another opportunity to look to the inside of the 19. you can hear him in the rev limiter right there getting such good rear grip chase is there truex trying to pitch him off keep him low and remember darlington they battling late in that race contact shreks up the racetrack a little bit here championship on the line this time chase putting the pressure on truex a little contact on the back bumper slides him up the racetrack nine car right on the quarter panel here down into turn three oh man the nine card drives it deep into turn three power moves to the inside now chase elliott leading at martinsville watch what happens to the 19. he'll drop below the cut line now chase elliott chase he's up front he has that short run speed he's showing it again today on this run truex just doesn't have that speed to fire off like he wants to he's talked about it listen alex moment says i haven't been up there yet today but i want to join the fun he's racing joey lagana for the third position we can see more yellows see more restarts the 88 driving in deep you see the front rotors glowing and as all of these leaders battle look at keslowski and harvick one point apart and they're leapfrogging through traffic currently teslowski in front of harvard by three spots on the racetrack if they end up with the same amount of points the nod would go to kevin harvick because he has a better finish in this round of second at kansas marty martin trex jr we talked about how important these pit crews are he said they have a vibration like the right front is loose going to ride it out as much as he can 41 to go james hall saying right now just keep as posted as you bet and saying right now it's getting worse there you go one turn feels like the right front is loose on the 19. battling for a win and a shot to make the championship four and the pit crew may have left the right front loose on that stop talking about that battle back in the field with keselowski and harvick every position matters tight point battle why brad keselowski he just ships the 20 of eric jones getting into turn three this flat moves him out of the way for that spot what would you do for a championship we're seeing it right now out of these drivers listen in to alex bowman's radio okay here's just a reminder this guy's locked in take kiki's advice if it's there take it we're done playing nice there you have it we're done playing nice now with 38 laps to go 37 laps to go everyone's done playing nice 88's been on the back bumper here you see it those kind of shots right there aren't going to you're gonna want to get a guy at the racetrack you're gonna have to really commit i just don't know if that's that's alex's style ryan blaine he's on his back bumper dave and when i talked to greg ives alex bowman's crew chief this morning he said one of the things we have going for us today is we don't have a lot of enemies out there to your point junior he doesn't rough up a lot of other drivers well now is the time now is the time maybe evil alex on this halloween weekend and take something away the two brac has last he sees two points in front of him he's one point below he has to keep going because the four of harvick is working on the 20 of jones a few spots behind him so here comes the two he's inside the quarter panel of the eleven two wide in front of him how aggressive will he be we already saw the contact with the 20. hard to clear eric jones behind him and so as the two clears the 11 they're going gonna stay at one point so if you look in front of the four 15 car lengths to the next spot in the 21 the 21's gonna want to outrun the four to help his you know corporate teammate and brad keselowski now brad is behind who else but harvick's teammate the 14 of clint boyer so now it's teammates first teammates to try to find these points yeah clint's not going to be able to hold off this two card brad to the inside he's going to go around clint boyer down the back straight away and pick up another spot then he's got about 10 15 car links to the 18 of kyle busch [Music] right there the points are even harvick and kozlowski again the tiebreaker goes to harvick right now has a better finish in this round oh you gotta you gotta feel for a guy right there we got a loose wheel it's gonna come off the car and it's gonna be bad you heard him say i'm sorry there's nothing he can do about it but as a driver if you wish it was and you're terrified that you're going to come in there they're going to say nothing was wrong the mark truck junior who's running second right now in this race potentially a loose wheel on the right front logano and the 12 of ryan blaney all over his back bumper now he's going to stay on the racetrack take another lap huge risks he's putting himself in real danger as a driver and that's that's the guilt that he feels on the bottom i'm sorry i was gonna say at the bottom of the screen now you got the two car looking for that point to break the tie but kevin harvick he's got the second fastest car on the racetrack the last three laps he's been the second fastest so he can catch those guys in front of him he's got the 11 and the 21 in front of him right now brad kozlowski trying to get by the 18. these two don't get along off the track but it looks as though keslowski will make a gentlemanly pass on the 18 of kyle busch kyle right back after him and there's that one point and the next guy in front of him is truex and truex is struggling very slow [Music] harvick has caught up to the 11. another car the struggle is denny hamlin only four points to the good right now if i'm denny hamlin i fight kevin harvick very hard i do not want to fight him in phoenix for a champion the 19's on pit road guys so that's not going to affect the points because both the two and the four will be able to get by him that pretty much affects his chance to go to the final four the final round of the playoffs and win a championship it's heartbreaking for that team here this is an interesting battle because denny seems to be struggling with his car at a very bad point in the race with 25 laps to go he's given up a few positions harvick trying to get by and this one only put look what denny is he's only four points to the good right now and he is struggling could denny hamlin get eliminated from the championship for marty yeah denny hamlin could be in danger here as well there was an interesting conversation on channel two that kevin harvick does not hear between veterans fighter tim feedwa and rodney childers he said we're one out do you want to tell him and rodney said no let him race right now so they're going to let kevin harvick race i'm sure harvick knows the situation he knows every pass is critical and he might know that this one will put him back in a tie with keslowski and back in the championship four what do you think about that i think kevin harvick the driver he is and i'd give you all that information i don't know how you don't tell him something so critical but yeah i'm with you dale i mean obviously rodney and kevin have a great relationship and they have success so we have to trust what rodney's doing but i know if it was you and i i would tell you i would want you to know i know you're doing all you can but give you every bit of information i have i want to know i want to know what my situation is so keslowski still one up on harvick harvick was able to get by the 11 of denny hamlin so now hamlin's plus two brad's closing in on the back of the 88 car of alex bowman for another position harvick he has about eight car links to the 21 car it's been about the same for them two over the last several circuits who has a better car in the long run they both have opportunities in front of them to pass four cars i just don't know that kevin's gonna be able to pull this off right in front of 21 as two teammates for harvick 14 in the 10. two more positions for harvick if he can catch him chase elliott by the way with a four and a half second lead yeah that can't be lost on what's happening here he's like 217 laps he's been dominant today chase elliot came into this race a must-win situation he's gone out he's done exactly what he's had to do even after his pit crew had some issues yeah i go back to that pit crew that jackman they went back and touched pit wall that is still that move has given the nine this opportunity we're also looking forward to all the post-race action on nbcsn the nascar america post race show will be driver interviews there and obviously you'll have disappointment after what's happening today but elation if the nine can stay out in front tell you what i have some concern for denny hamlin the 20 has got to the rear bumper of the 11 car i believe he's going to go by and i think the two car has enough speed to get by the 88 that's gonna move the two in front of the 11 in points if it can happen you see the battle right here between teammates and jones is doing anything but raising him easy he is trying to take this position marty i'll be shocked marty if the 20 goes around the 11. well and remember eric jones is not invited back to joe gibbs racing for 2021 he was told to move elsewhere he'll move on to richard petty motorsports and be in the 34 car and denny hamlin is not happy with the way eric jones is racing him he's saying come on cut me a break hamlin knows right now he's just plus two above the cut line and he's been told do not let the four out of your sight so hamlin wants his current teammate to cut him a little slack and help him make the championship four so steve you said last week you weren't a nice guy well i'm gonna say i'm not gonna be a nice guy this week because if they fired me why do i care i mean you know what i'm saying like you're you're you're out here for the best position you can get eric's had a few opportunities and good runs on the corner exit to to go to the inside of denny and just hasn't chosen to do that so i think he understands the situation denny's in harvick has closed in on the backbone of the 21 car for another position keselowski there you see it at the bottom of the screen has not been able to pass alex keselowski's used that car up as we know coming through the field does he have enough tires left the thing that hamlet has an advantage of though there's really nobody behind him even if eric jones gets buying there's no pressure from behind right now nobody's coming that's true but can these other guys continue to advance there you go what about stuart yeah the stuart haws racing drivers what if kevin harvick's able to get by them [Music] we don't show the leader of chase elliot because he's driven out to almost a six second lead 5.5 comes in here in a must win and has at this point with 11 to go laid the gauntlet down said here i go and what an impressive drive by the nine we don't show up because he has a huge lead it comes down to this points battle as long as something crazy doesn't happen to the ninth crackers alaska again into the back bumper the 88 alex bowman just can't get there he's going to make a shot right here though guys drives inside the 88 i think the 88 knows the desperation for the two he doesn't try to block two points down two positions down now below the cut line that's a position for brad then there's a long way probably about 15 car league 20 car lengths to the 22 illigano for brad there's kevin harvick working hard trying to get by the 21 car matt de benedetto chase elliott what a run he's out front 228 laps led eight to go here a huge lead comes into this race must win situation he's doing everything he has to do to advance to the championship four and one of the strongest competitors all year may be eliminated kevin harvick right now on the outside looking in [Music] [Applause] seven laps to go my gosh it's gotta be heartbreaking for this team to be in this position party they told kevin harvick he is two out as he tries to go around matt divinity the problem is that clint boyer his teammate and now kyle bush actually who got passed by boyer is a little further up the racetrack he's gonna have to hustle if he's gonna catch kyle bush to pass him for the next spot but kevin harvick knows now he's one point out of the playoffs look at this right here one point between him if harvick finds a position we'll have a three-way tie for the cut line i'm gonna let you do the math on that one rick when it comes to the tie breaker well right now he's got the advantage over brad keselowski denny hamlin also so it would go to kevin harvick all right five laps to go dean he's got his teammate behind him who hasn't been able to get by but behind that is the 41 car cole custer the stuart haas teammate to kevin harvick who's gonna try to get by these gipps cars less than four laps to go to determine who will be in the championship four chase elliott took matters into his own hands he is out front he's gonna try to win his way into the championship four [Music] what a great drive by chase elliott in a pressure field situation chase elliott was an opportunity to step up a career-defining moment possibly trying to make it into the championship four for the very first time under two laps to go i think denny's in pretty good shape right here harvick working really hard to close the gap on the 18. he's down to two car lengths to kyle bush he's got to make the pass or someone has to go around the 11. the final lap for chase elliott down the back stretch for the final time chase elliott through three and four he is going to win his way into the championship floor elliott wins in martinsville can harvick do it the final turn forget it he needs the position oh harvick spins the 18. turns into the 18 he turns as well the 18 crosses the start finish line and harvick is going to be out of the [Music] [Music] playoffs the question was asked earlier what would you do what would you do to make it into the championship four we saw kevin harvick that last turn effort trying to get that one point that he needed and it didn't work out what would you do and what can you do jay selig came in in what looked like a must-win situation and he wins at martinsville his first career win at martinsville to advance to the championship four and his first visit to the championship four chase elliott now has a shot at a title he's never won a title four wins in 20 20. you see the elation as he's climbing out of the car what a win for the 19. love you man you see the emotions we'll apologize for the language but the celebration is going to continue for at least a week now dave that is emotion coming out big time the pit crew who had a couple of bobbles but kept him in it and the driver the driver with the resolve this place has been bad to him in the past it's been good to him in the past it has never allowed him to get to victory lane and in its most important hour chase's career sees its first victory at the martinsville speedway chase to the fans and the emotions pouring out now your boys are a little excited there and the driver as well right chase oh my gosh uh biggest win ever for us just so proud um you know there's not to be able to you know be backed in the corner like that and have to win tonight i feel like that's what we've been missing you know these past four or five years to you know perform when we don't have a choice and to do that tonight it was uh couldn't ask for a better night it's unreal thanks to the fans for coming out they're here yeah yeah they are love to see it oh trying to catch my breath man what a it's unbelievable going to phoenix shot to win a championship beautiful blue napa camaro uh headed out there with a shot to win a title what more could you ask for chase when you had your car back in the pack just a little bit a couple of miscues on pit road what concerns did you have yeah just i didn't think our car was driving as good there at the end as it was the beginning of the race but those last couple of pit stops made some really good changes and had a had a good pit stop on the last one had a good last restart and that was the difference so just uh just huge thanks everybody that makes this possible this is unbelievable um there's a bit of a loss for words just to like i said just this is the the piece we've been missing and i feel like we've had the group to do this we just have to go make it happen and and we did tonight backed into the corner chase elliott claws his way out claws his way to victory lane at martinsville and goes on to the championship four marty well kevin harvard going to take a moment to process this one and uh you and i talked about points coming into the day how you fight all year long why you fight for every point kevin but honestly did you believe coming into the day that this was a possibility for sure with the way that we've run here in the past everybody kept battling there i tried to run into the door of the 18 as a latch just ditch effort there and spun him out so sorry to put him in the middle of trying to gain a point but um yeah just you know not not a great three weeks didn't didn't go our way and we fought for everything we had and it just came up short after all the wins this year kevin to not make it to the championship for what are the emotions in not doing that um you know look these aren't these championships aren't like winning like petty and earnhardt used to win them you have to uh you know put them together three weeks at a time and you know it comes down to one race and it came down to one race for us tonight and came up short kevin harvick obviously had some issues during the day today the cut left rear tire put him down two laps they fought back but the regular season champ will not be in the championship four he was coming out of turn four and ended up from one point to eight points back again more coverage on nascar america post race show on nbc sn make sure to join us there there are four drivers now with a chance at the championship it's brad keselowski chase elliott denny hamlin and joey logano logano and elliot they both raced their way in they won their way into the championship four if you've ever thought about momentum helping you win a title chase elliott joey logano they've got that momentum denny hamlin has been great at phoenix over the past few years he's going to be strong as well next week it will be determined who gets it who wins the championship the cup series

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 166,689

Keywords: NASCAR, motorsports, racing, stock car, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, chase elliott, fantasy sports, fantasy fastlane, glass case of emotion, ryan blaney, crash, wreck, pileup, pit road, penalty, race track, super speedway, highlight

Id: -evTuOjaEpQ

Length: 234min 37sec (14077 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 03 2020