And then there were 12: The Bristol Night Race

Denny Hamlin closed the opening round of the playoffs with a win at the Last Great Colosseum, while drama occurred at the playoff cutline. 

Hamlin’s teammate Christopher Bell took his 3rd straight pole, and from that position he jumped out to a commanding lead. The JGR #20 led comfortably until the first caution on lap 70, caused by AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric. 

Bell and most of the leaders would pit, while Corey LaJoie and Bubba Wallace would stay out and adorn the front row for the restart.  LaJoie got the jump on Wallace and led for a chunk of laps, all while the #20 was battling his way through the pack. 

Around this time, the third caution would come out for rain on lap 107. The cars would pace around for 7 laps before going green again, where Christopher Bell was able to reclaim the lead from the #7 of LaJoie and win the first stage. 

Stage One Results:

1. #20
2. #7
3. #23
4. #24
5. #45
6. #1
7. #6
8. #5
9. #19
10.  #54

The start of stage 2 was delayed briefly by more rain in the area, but on lap 140 the race started again with Bell and the #5 of Larson on the front row. The #20 jumped out ahead with the #5 close behind him. 

Meanwhile at the back of the pack, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano were fighting tooth and nail to stay above the playoff cutline, both battling ill handling cars. 

On lap 179, Bell got caught up behind some lapped traffic, allowing the 2021 champion to cruise past and take the lead. But 20 laps later, Bell would come storming back and reclaimed the lead once again. 

Bell cruised away to score his second stage win of the night, with rookie Ty Gibbs in hot pursuit. Also in the top 10, Carson Hocevar took 5th place in the stage in his 4th cup series start.

Stage Two Results:

1. #20
2. #54
3. #5
4. #11
5. #42
6. #34
7. #17
8. #24
9. #41
10.  #9

On the restart of the final stage, Ty Gibbs jumped his teammate and took the lead, but it was quickly erased when the #7 of LaJoie spun in turn 3. Involved was the #22 of Logano, who was forced to retire. This sent the 2 time champion outside the playoff cutline. Also involved was the #4 of Harvick, who avoided any significant damage but was still running just at the cutline. 

Gibbs lined up on lap 272 and jumped back out front, before losing the lead again to teammate Denny Hamlin. 

Behind them, Bubba Wallace and Martin Truex Jr held on to the final two spots in the round of 12, with Kevin Harvick still fighting his tight #4 car. Truex had a brief scare when he suffered from a flat tire, but the caution that was thrown allowed the 2017 champion to pit without losing ground to Harvick. 

Denny Hamlin continued to hold serve out front, running away from Kyle Larson behind him. The 2021 champion would try to run down the #11 but to no avail. Hamlin claimed his 3rd win of the 2023 campaign, still in pursuit of his first ever Cup series title. 

Larson finished in the runner-up spot after a strong night, Bell finished 3rd after scoring the pole, Buescher took 4th place to continue his career year in the cup series and Ty Gibbs capped out the top 5. 

Behind the leaders, Bubba Wallace and Martin Truex Jr held on to take the final spots in the round of 12, knocking out the defending champion Joey Logano. Despite a strong run tonight, Michael McDowell in the #34 was eliminated from the playoffs, along with the #47 of Stenhouse and the #4 of Harvick, whose career ends with 1 championship. 

Featured Image Credits: NASCAR On Twitter