On a cloudy St. Patrick’s Day in Bristol, Tennessee, it was Ryan Blaney, who had luck fall into his hands, as he led the field to green. At the drop of the flag, it was a neck-and-neck battle early on for position, however, it would be Blaney who would prevail with the top spot over Josh Berry in the No. 4 machine to lead lap one. Berry didn’t let up though, and would take the lead for his own just a few short laps later. Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the field, drivers battled one another hard to move up the leaderboard, with Denny Hamlin being an early standout. Eventually, the driver of the 11 would pass both second-place Blaney and leader Berry. The aggression in the field continued, leading to the race’s first caution at lap 23 after William Byron made contact with the wall.
At the restart, Tyler Reddick would gain the lead, electing to not pit. After a shot in the back from Berry, he would get spun around, with a major stack up of drivers ensuing, the yellow flag being displayed once again. The drivers caught up in Reddick and Berry’s mess included Daniel Hemric and Carson Hocevar, amongst others. Once back under green flag conditions Bubba Wallace, who had shown speed early on, captured the lead over Berry, which Berry quickly reclaimed. As laps continued to add up, Hamlin and Blaney rapidly began to climb up through the ranks, being the only two drivers to take four tires after the last pit cycle. It wasn’t before long that Hamlin would once again have the top placement on track, with Blaney hot on his toes.
Most Popular Driver, Chase Elliott, would put his name into the conversation when he began to battle with Hamlin for the lead. Upon claiming it, Elliott would lead Hendrick Motorsports’ 80,000th lap. The lead was tossed around once again though, with Blaney now taking the reigns from Elliott. The yellow flag was waved just five laps later after rookie driver Zane Smith would lose a tire. With a little over 40 laps to go in the stage, Hamlin would sit at the front of the field, with Blaney clashing with him for the mark. Around this time another player entered the mix, none other than ‘Rowdy’ himself, Kyle Busch. Busch would pass Blaney for second, and go full steam ahead to fight with Hamlin for first.
As the laps of the stage began to wind down, a lot of wackiness erupted in the trailing laps. Josh Berry, who had started the day off so well, got into the wall with a tire issue. Meanwhile, the battle at the front of the field gained new players like Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs. Just as Blaney thought he had the lead in his hands once again, Ty Gibbs rocketed to the front for the position. Meanwhile, Busch and Hamlin both were struck simultaneously with tire issues, resulting in Busch spinning out and Hamlin smacking the wall. The stage would end under caution and Gibbs would be rewarded with his very first Cup Series stage win.
Stage two was underway with the lead now being handled by that of Larson. However, Ty Gibbs quickly stuck his foot in the door, slipping the lead back into his control. New contenders now came into contention for the race lead, including the likes of Martin Truex Jr, with the veteran driver knocking the top spit away from Gibbs. However, Gibbs would bounce back and take the spot, as the hungry players behind him battled intensely for the positions throughout the rest of the top ten. The dominant Hamlin put his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota back out front, with Ty Gibbs not making it easy for him, as the two paddled the lead back and forth for several laps. In the end, Gibbs was the one to have the advantage. Taking away from the excitement at the front of the field, the caution flag would wave at lap 176, as Hemric, Smith, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would get into one another. On pit road Ty Gibbs would gain a penalty for equipment interference, sending him to the back of the field.
When the field returned to green flag conditions, Chris Buescher would become the new leader. The battling for the lead continued, with Christopher Bell now edging out Buescher to take control of the field. Positions continued to be jostled back and forth, causing Daniel Suarez to all but wreck on lap 202. Christopher Bell did his best to hold off Martin Truex Jr. But it was to no avail. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs very quickly rallied back from his penalty, sitting comfortably in the 3rd place position. Kyle Busch took another spin at lap 229, prompting the yellow flag to once again be displayed.
After being involved in an early race incident both Spire Motorsports drivers, Corey LaJoie and Carson Hocevar owned the front row at the restart. LaJoie took control of the lead with help from behind delivered by Bell. Bell was able to work himself around LaJoie to steal the lead with Joey Logano pressuring him from behind for the spot, with the laps winding down in the stage. Logano captured the lead, but a hard-charging Gibbs rushed up the field, practically snatching the lead from Logano’s hands, allowing him to collect his second stage win of the day. On pit road, Brad Keselowski made contact with Austin Cindric upon exiting his box on pit road.
Stage three was underway with Gibbs retaining his lead quickly, with teammates Truex Jr. and Bell behind him. As the stage went on, Gibbs continued to maintain his spot over the rest of the field, but not for long as Truex took over the point. Meanwhile, after receiving a speeding violation on pit road, Blaney began to move up the field, steadily working his way back to the front. For the first time all day, the chaos seemed to calm down, as Truex Jr. managed to hold his lead over the rest of the field. The eighth caution of the day came out when Josh Berry’s tire wore out and he went for a spin, just barely brushing the wall.
By lap 321, when Denny Hamlin once again took over the lead, it became the 40th lead change of the day. Ty Gibbs quickly got around Hamlin on the outside, putting himself ahead of his three other Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. After a lengthy time holding on to the lead, Hamlin eventually was able to get around Gibbs. The caution would come out though just in front of the leaders as Austin Cindric and Stenhouse Jr. made contact, nearly collecting Gibbs and Bell along with them. The drivers of Joe Gibbs Racing controlled the field when the green came back out, with Ty Gibbs at the front.
With just under 80 laps to go in the final stage, a multitude of cars started to fall off the pace and slip around, including leader Gibbs, allowing Hamlin to take over. As multiple drivers began to have tire issues, the green flag pit cycle began, with Hamlin cycling back out to remain the leader. As the laps continued to wind down, it seemed as though Hamlin was looking at a clear victory, but with a little help from lap traffic, Truex Jr. managed to snag it away from his teammate but not easily. The drivers of the 11 and 19 battled back and forth through lap traffic for the lead as the laps continued to wind down. With just five laps to go drivers tires began to wear away, the threat of a caution looming in the air. However, Denny Hamlin had luck on his side and took home yet another victory at the ‘Last Great Coliseum’.
Featured image credits to @JoeGibbsRacing on X.
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