Ryan Blaney led the field to green to start the Ambetter Health 400 over teammates Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, and Joey Logano. Cindric then took the lead early. Things singled out through the top-10 and then top-15 with drivers further back racing side-by-side. Logano took the action at the front with Todd Gilliand in tow and the Fords took turns taking shots at the lead of the pack as 23XI teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick made moves on the third lane to join the top-five as Blaney got shuffled to the back half of the top-10.
Berry moved to the lead over Cindric as they continued to dice it up two and three wide behind him. As the run wore on, handling became more of a factor. This didn’t stop drivers from racing for every position they could get as fuel saving wasn’t necessary in at least the initial stage of the race. Gilliand made a move on Berry to take the lead with 17 to go in stage one, but Berry quickly re-took the point position.
Wallace made a move for the lead, but with a lack of help behind him in the bottom lane, he wasn’t able to take it anywhere. Coming to the green and white checkered flag, Berry and Cindric held off the charge by William Byron and Wallace, and Berry won the first stage.
Stage 1 Results
1. Josh Berry
2. Austin Cindric
3. William Byron
4. Bubba Wallace
5. Chase Elliott
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Todd Gilliand
8. Ryan Blaney
9. Carson Hocevar
10. Joey Logano
Pit stops during the stage put Logano to the top of the pylon and moved Wallace back to the 10th position. Brad Keselowski took equipment out of his pit box, and Kyle Busch had issues pitting that caused him to restart in the 30s. Logano led the field to green with teammates behind and to his inside while Cindric pushed him and Berry was pushed by Byron. Logano held the point as Berry slid up into line behind him.
Our first yellow of the day for incident came out on lap 81 as Ty Dillon blew a tire on the straightaway and spin out into the corner, needing assistance to get his car back to pit road. This brought the field down pit road with Byron moving up to fourth place from ninth with a faster fuel only stop. Logano, with teammate Berry behind, and Alex Bowman with Byron behind him led the field back to green. Berry got shuffled out of the top-five by the Chevy and Toyota efforts. Bowman and Gilliand both challenged for the lead with the latter managing to swap the lead with Logano as the two lines battled.
The second incident of the day came on lap 102 as Erik Jones spun in traffic by Chris Buescher, blowing his tires out and resulting in contact with the inside wall. Logano and Gilliand led the field back to green with Cindric and Bowman behind them, respectively. Gilliand and Bowman prevailed initially with the Penske duo responding and retaking the top-two spots back quickly. The pack behind remained two and three wide behind the leaders with locks of jockeying for position, especially from about seventh place on back. Logano and Cindric were actually able to build a half second gap on the field as they battled behind them. Caution flew for the third time in the race for Gilliland, who lost a tire from a top-five running position. Luckily, no other cars were involved. Pit stops during the caution brought us our first strategy of the day as Reddick, Elliott, and others running away from the front elected to get tires before the end of the second stage to limit their time on pit road during the next stage break.
Logano and Bowman led the field to green with their respective teammates, Cindric and Larson, behind them. They battled as those on fresh rubber tried to battle pack through the pack. This did not end well for Chase Elliott as he got put into the wall with 11 laps to go in the stage as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Chase Briscoe coming out of turn 4. This broke a toe link and sent the 9 car spinning off the wall into both Corey Lajoie and Brad Keselowski, effectively ending both their days. This brought even more cars down pit road trying to flip their strategy. The restart with four to go in the stage saw Logano and Bowman battle for the lead on the two lines, with Bowman able to clear Logano. On the last lap of the stage, Logano shuffled out Bowman to fifth. However, Larson was able to hold on to win the second stage.
Stage 2 results:
1. Kyle Larson
2. Bubba Wallace
3. Joey Logano
4. William Byron
5. Tyler Reddick
6. Alex Bowman
7. Carson Hocevar
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
9. Austin Cindric
10. Noah Gragson
Pit stops during the stage break saw all of the top-10 drivers and others who had stayed out came in for service. Of these cars, Larson got off pit road first.
To start the final stage of the race, we had Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe up front with help from Shane van Gisbergen and John Hunter Nemechek behind them. The Trackhouse duo prevailed and took point position. The entire field was fighting for every inch as those who hadn’t held track position up front all day were trying to hold back the group that stayed out front for stage points. Caution flew next on lap 184 as Riley Herbst checked up the top line. This put Daniel Suárez the top of three wide, and he got turned by Ty Gibbs wrecking both of their cars. J.J. Yeley, Noah Gragson, Cole Custer, Zane Smith, and Cody Ware were also collected. This resulted in pit stops under the caution period. Busch won the battle off pit road over Briscoe by inches. Blaney also gained 14 positions. Busch led the field to green with Byron behind, over Briscoe with Blaney behind them. The two lines battled with Byron jumping Briscoe to lead the outside line to the point. Busch fought back with help from stage one winner Josh Berry on the bottom line. Berry and Blaney made their way past Byron and Busch for the lead. Caution was put out for the eighth time on lap 198 as Briscoe hit the wall and checked up Buescher into van Gisbergen and hit Bowman as well. Gibbs also spun again.
The race restarted with 48 laps to go with Berry and Blaney on the inside line and Busch and Cindric on the outside lane. Busch prevailed, and Ross Chastain made an incredible dive on Blaney to move up behind Busch. They continued to swap positions in the pack as Busch led. Holding off challenges from the likes of Blaney and Chastain before Blaney made the move stick, he was almost immediately passed by an identical move from Chastain. Berry almost sent Chastain around but managed to swap positions with Chastain as the two battled for the lead. The ninth caution of the day fell with 27 to go as Ryan Blaney spun off the bumper of Hocevar and spun sideways through almost the entirety of turns 1 and 2 on the apron. This set up a dash to the finish with just 23 laps to go. Berry and Cindric led the bottom, and Chastain and Larson led the top. The latter split Berry three wide, and Larson took the lead coming to 20 to go. Hocevar dove and took the lead from Larson with Cindric and Berry, following him through and making their way past him. The top-10 spread out single file for one of the few times as they crossed 15 laps to go. A second line attempted to form back in line as the race hit 10 laps to go. Blaney on fresh rubber had made his way into the top-10 as Bell made a move to the lead. Cindric prevailed only momentarily as Larson and and Cindric made contact coming out of turn 2. This move spun out both Cindric and Byron and brought out a caution with three laps to go, setting up an overtime finish.
Chastain and Hocevar let on the bottom with Larson and Bell on the top coming to the overtime attempt. Hocevar split the middle to send Chastain to the bottom and the field wrecked coming off of turn 2 with Berry turning off the nose of Denny Hamlin. This caused NASCAR to call the caution to end the race as Bell, Hocevar, and Larson were going three wide for the lead. The Dewalt Camry was ahead at the time of caution, and as such, Christopher Bell notched his first win of the season.
Race Results:
1. Christopher Bell
2. Carson Hocevar
3. Kyle Larson
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Kyle Busch
8. Ross Chastain
9. Bubba Wallace
10. John Hunter Nemechek
Photo Credit: @JoeGibbsRacing on Twitter/X
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