That was certainly a NASCAR Cup Series event at Texas Motor Speedway.
The day started just past 2:30pm local time in Fort Worth, Texas with Kyle Larson leading the field to the green flag with Ty Gibbs by his side on the front row.
The first 50 laps of the race saw very little in the way of difficulty for Kyle Larson and the rest of the field, going caution-free until Jimmie Johnson looped his Advent Health Toyota coming out of turn 4.
(Get ready, you’re going to hear that a lot!)
The yellow flag disrupted the race from that moment on as Chase Elliott and other lead-lap cars stayed out during green-flag pit stops, thus trapping half of the field a lap down or more.
Early contenders of the race took another hit during this caution. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. both made second trips down pit road under yellow to fix tire miscues, putting them deep in the field.
Another short 26-lap run to end the stage remained under green with Larson marching back to the lead for his fifth stage win of 2024.
The top-10 drivers at the end of stage one were: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, William Byron, and Bubba Wallace.
Stage 2 opened up with a 13-lap stretch until the third caution of the day would wave for frontrunner Christopher Bell. Reminiscent of Johnson’s crash 50 laps previous, Bell lost the handle of his #20 Rheem Toyota Camry in turn 4 and backed into the fence.
As cars scattered like shards of broken glass, two bystanders to the incident collided when John Hunter Nemechek slid into the front end of Alex Bowman’s Ally Camaro.
The incident failed to ruin Bell’s chances of finishing the race with Nemechek (whom you’ll hear from again) staying on track with a wounded race car. Bowman was not as lucky, ending the day 37th.
The screaming machines lurched ahead on the lap 107 restart. The run would be short-lived as another caution flew, this time for Kyle Busch driving through rookie Carson Hocevar’s bumper in the middle of turn 1.
This brought some of the leaders down pit road with the pole sitter’s right wheel detaching from the car at the pit exit, leading to Larson receiving a two-lap penalty.
The grass was not greener on the following restart either as Josh Berry brought out two separate cautions within 16 laps, putting his car behind the wall.
As soon as Berry’s second accident was cleaned up, a wreck happened on the next restart.
Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell stayed out during the previous caution and were neck-and-neck heading into turn 3, and McDowell broke traction in the bumps before careening backwards into the outside wall in front of the field.
Luckily, McDowell and the field averted any further contact, which brought the field under the race’s seventh caution period.
Chastain inherited the lead on the ensuing restart, stretching his lead long enough in the first few laps of the dash to hold his lead over a hard-charging Bubba Wallace to claim his first stage win of the year.
The running order at the end of stage 2 was: Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Gibbs, and Chase Elliott.
Pit strategy splintered yet again during the stage caution, collecting most of the lead-lap cars and packing them in the midfield behind potentially slower cars.
Stage 3 kicked off with a green-flag run that lasted for just over a mile as Harrison Burton dove underneath the front row out of turn 2, three cars side-by-side-by side hurtling into turn 3.
As was the story for much of the day, Bubba Wallace hit the bumps in the middle of turns 3 & 4, breaking loose in front of Chase Briscoe and bringing out the ninth caution of the afternoon.
Not long after the pack went back racing, the track chewed up and spit out John Hunter Nemechek, sending the Legacy Motor Club driver on another trip to the barrier without causing a caution somehow.
The yellow wasn’t too far away. Ryan Blaney was the track’s next victim with the other Ryan (Preece) bumping the defending champ where Busch punted Hocevar earlier in the day.
The damage might not have been terminal, but Blaney’s day was ruined by another driver’s mistake.
The next 43 laps served as a reminder of what this race could have been when Tyler Reddick assumed the lead and checked out from his closest competition by nearly seven seconds over second-place Denny Hamlin.
This was undone on the next pit stop as the 23XI crew made their first big mistake of the day, struggling with a pesky right-rear tire on the #45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota.
In spite of the slow stop, Reddick chomped away at Hamlin’s advantage, eating into his car owner’s lead before overtaking him with the end of the race and a win in sight.
Sadly for this week’s writer’s pick, the race was incapable of staying green as John Hunter Nemechek’s third strike into the turn 3 retaining wall led to his car being dispatched to the garage.
Just like how the race started, a caution during green-flag pit stops split the strategy for the lead-lap cars. Drivers like Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano stayed out long much like Chase Elliott in stage one to put themselves in a position to contend for the win with the freshest tires in the field.
Against a group with tires up to 15-20 laps older, Keselowski in particular seemed poised to pay his first solo visit to victory lane as a car owner.
A restart with 33 laps left showed Denny Hamlin’s strength, darting to the lead on the restart and leaving his competition searching for answers.
To the surprise of a few, another yellow flag sighting slowed the field for the 11th time, finally putting points leader Truex back on the lead lap.
The field full of professional athletes couldn’t make it through the first two turns on yet another restart with Ty Dillon bumping the embattled Larson into Zane Smith, bringing out caution #13.
Suddenly, the race dwindled down to two laps. Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin dueled for almost a full lap until the caution flag reared its ugly head, sending Texas into its first spring Overtime finish in a decade.
Elliott stuffed his nose ahead of Hamlin’s at the perfect time, giving Engine Engine No. 9 the ability to dictate the next restart.
The move paid off immediately as Elliott pulled ahead of Hamlin. Refusing to lose, Hamlin fought back on the high side and had a chance to race the #9 Hooters Chevy outright for the victory for a brief moment.
But in a cruel twist of fate, the turn 4 asphalt of Marcus Smith’s property grabbed Denny Hamlin’s #11 car and slung the Yahoo! Toyota into the fence, squashing Hamlin’s bumper and his bid at a third win on the season.
Enduring through what felt like an eternity, the second Overtime restart would be the last as Chase Elliott squeezed past Ross Chastain, taking the white flag with the Trackhouse star getting smaller in his rear view.
Chastain proceeded to fade into a white smokescreen as Elliott’s teammate, William Byron, drove through the rear end of the Worldwide Express car on the exit of turn 2, bringing out the 16th and final yellow flag.
The victory, the 19th of Elliott’s Cup tenure, defiantly ended a 43-race winless drought that dated back to Talladega in October 2022. Since Texas was the site of his first Xfinity Series win 10 short years ago, this could provide the Dawsonville native and his #9 team a chance to reset after 2023’s turmoil.
The win represented a return to form for Elliott whose effort and commitment were called into question last season once he broke his leg in a snowboarding accident early in 2023 that sidelined him for six races as well as missing a seventh race later in the year due to right-rear hooking Denny Hamlin at Charlotte.
Though the #9 team performed well, they flopped in their pursuit of a Playoff berth and trophies. This gave Elliott a surge of determination in the offseason, dedicating his time and effort to strengthening his race craft.
The win locks in a third Hendrick Motorsports team into the Playoffs, only rivaled by Joe Gibbs Racing with two drivers securing spots for a chance at the Cup Series crown.
The final results can be found here, but the top-10 were: Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suárez, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, and Carson Hocevar.
The Review
I took the night to gather my thoughts.
I’ve come across numerous reputable sources calling this event a good race. I do not agree.
This race tied a record for number of cautions (16 for 72 laps) at Texas and saw an Overtime finish in the spring race for the first time in 10 years.
Multiple drivers lost the handle on their cars for a brief moment. Suddenly, their bumper was in the wall, and their day was done.
At a place like Darlington, I would appreciate this event more because the Track Too Tough To Tame drives and operates like it has since its opening in 1950.
Texas shares some attributes with Darlington in that the corners have different banking on opposite sides of the facility as well as its consideration as an intermediate track as it’s over one mile in length.
Past that, the comparisons stop for me.
Some have pointed to Texas, like Darlington, being single-grooved and difficult to pass. The Lady in Black is built narrow, far more narrow than Texas. It is designed for that style of close-quarters vehicular combat.
Texas Motor Speedway has a track width of 80 feet in turns 1 & 2, almost double the amount of Talladega’s turns where cars are intended to be three and four abreast.
The issue is that this racing was gamed into this by accident. The track itself is not providing passing opportunities in the NextGen era; the PJ1 stains in turns 2 & 4 artificially produces a one-lane track.
Obviously, drivers pay a heavy price when they dare enter the second groove on the latter half of the circuit with turn 4 bringing out an abominable six (6) cautions all on its own.
Though I can’t say for sure, the bumps likely spawned from the attempts by track ownership to remove the PJ1 from the track surface by desperately scraping and cleaning the asphalt.
Despite SMI’s (best?) efforts, the traction compound remains bonded to the surface in a variety of spots, even garnering comparisons to ice on the Truck Series broadcast Friday night.
I cannot in good faith reward this ownership group for what they’ve done to this once-good racetrack and the effects its had on the Cup Series’ racing product (not to mention IndyCar’s struggles here in recent years.)
In an ideal world, Marcus Smith wouldn’t have lazily glazed the track in PJ1 in 2019 and again for years. By now, I imagine more grooves would have emerged gradually over time rather than trying to cut corners.
The 80-feet turns 1 & 2 have the capacity to hold 12 Cup cars from the apron to the outside wall, all alongside one another, yet they’re only able to use maybe 35 feet of the available surface at best.
This track confounds me to no end because the Xfinity Series race on Saturday was marvelous even without the all-time finish between Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg.
I’m not entirely certain Texas is capable of putting on a good Cup race in its current form. IndyCar’s 2023 barnburner at the track excited all 78 fans that made it out to see the race and thousands more on TV.
I don’t think this goofy, misshapen circuit is beyond reproach; something still needs to be done.
To make matters worse, Fox’s broadcast of the Cup race underwhelmed, failing to clear a bar that was practically on the basement floor.
NASCAR fans writ-large expect Texas races to be an insufferable slog, and Fox treated it exactly like an insufferable slog.
Bubba Wallace gained over a second of ground on Ross Chastain as the second stage wound down; TV never put a camera on it though, instead focusing on stage one winner Kyle Larson.
Larson was 33rd and one lap down, putting around to keep his tires fresh for the final stage when he would finally rejoin the lead lap after losing a wheel about 60 laps ago.
When cameras flashed back to the front, fans had to suffer by watching a bland battle for third, seeing the top-2 cars get closer and closer together from a turn 2 camera as they faded out of view down the backstretch.
The Battle of the Ryans was not fully uncovered to the viewers until the last few laps of the race; the crash took place on lap 182 of what ended up being 276 laps.
NASCAR assumes that fans are online enough to find extra footage on Twitter or Instagram during the race. It’s just simply not applicable for a ton of people.
I come from a painfully small town where some people have cable with no access to the Internet. How were viewers supposed to know what really happened in that incident?
The booth itself maintained a solid overall showing, yet they weren’t immune to miscues.
Late in the third stage, Brad Keselowski battled Tyler Reddick for a top-5 spot. After watching the battle for a few laps, the camera cut away to the leaders that were admittedly rather close to one another.
While watching the leaders, a car creeped up toward the outside wall in turn 2 (broadcasted from a camera in turn 3, the other end of the track). It was Reddick!
One of the race’s strongest contenders nearly biffs it, and the first word out of an announcer’s mouth (in this case, Kevin Harvick’s) was accusing Keselowski of making contact with the #45 car.
Laps later when a replay was dug up, Keselowski held his line the entire corner while Reddick independently washed up the racetrack.
Anyone that’s been a NASCAR fan for a few years knows Brad K’s history with aggression. You still can’t just assume there was contact without seeing any evidence. This faux pas annoys me because Harvick has done a great job to this point, so much so that this accusation felt almost out of character.
I spent a portion of yesterday looking back at the race report on the NASCAR app. The app’s report stated that Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace tangled on lap 107; perhaps I missed it on the broadcast.
I didn’t see evidence of this anywhere other than Jeff Gluck’s tweet about it. Glad there are some attentive folks covering the sport at the racetrack.
Let’s put all the ingredients together.
We have a 1.5-mile* track that has different corners, two racing grooves, and a surface that has more craters and bumps than a teenage boy’s face (* Texas Motor Speedway is actually a 1.44-mile oval.)
We have a coverage team in Fox Sports that fails to focus on battles around the track, for the lead, and everywhere in between along with these cringy cartoon caricatures of every driver.
The longest run of the race took place from the start to the first caution. Following that, there were just two other stints the entire race longer than 20 laps.
The stars of the NASCAR Cup Series could not keep it together for 20 consecutive laps for much of the day.
Was I entertained by this race? Yes. Was the racing good? No. Was the winner deserving? Yes.
All three of these answers can be true, and for me, they are.
I don’t watch NASCAR for the manufactured drama like this is some episode of The Bachelor. The ownership of this track has abused the track surface and made the track untenable for its premier event. That’s why event is now singular because nobody in the Cup Series wants to race there.
I can’t say I blame them.
Acknowledgements
Chase Elliott is the real story of the day, which will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the venue where he won. The 2020 champion drove a good clean race, putting his car in contention and keeping it there, watching competitors drop like flies that wandered into a sauna.
Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe worked their way back to the top-10 after their stage 3 spin, and Atlanta race winner Daniel Suárez earned his second top-5 of the season.
Another spinning duo landed in the back-half of the top-10 with Kyle Busch finishing 9th, putting his ongoing struggle for speed behind for a weekend and Carson Hocevar placing 10th, his first Cup Series top-10.
Coming into the weekend 31st in points, Austin Dillon made some noise late in the race and landed his best result of 2024, earning 8th place and moving up three spots in the points.
Finally, Christopher Bell took a wild ride into the outside wall in stage 2, a hit that should’ve ended his promising day. Not letting the misfortune get the better of him, Bell limped his car around for almost 200 laps, stayed on the lead lap, and finished 17th.
Performances like these display a team’s toughness, and with two straight Championship Four berths, Bell and his team are putting the pieces together to win a title as soon as this season.
Next week, the Cup Series enters week 10 with a trip to Alabama for the GEICO 500 in a race that will somehow be easier to predict than Texas. The race airs at 3pm ET next Sunday, April 21 on Fox.
(Top Photo Credit: Jonathan Bachmann/Getty Images)
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