NASCAR has trimmed the playoffs to the Round of 12 following a dominant Bristol race by Kyle Larson. Larson led 462 laps to collect win No. 5 of the 2024 season Saturday night in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. It helped him advance to the next portion of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott (second) and Alex Bowman (ninth) joined him in the top 10.
Here are our winners and losers from the NASCAR Bristol race.
Winners
Kyle Larson
This is what we all expected of Larson in the NASCAR playoffs. His spectacular performance is the headline of the night. It gives him win No. 5 of the season with more racing left. Larson headlines a group of four Hendrick Motorsports drivers that all advanced to the Round of 12.
Team Penske Racing
Who had Team Penske advancing all three of its drivers to the Round of 12 when the NASCAR playoffs began three weeks ago? Austin Cindric is one of the surprises of those who advanced. He’s in ninth. Add in Ryan Blaney, who is fifth and Joey Logano, who is eighth and has won a race in the playoffs.
Bubba Wallace
Wallace got a contract extension with 23XI Racing early in the week and then left Bristol with a third-place finish. This is his best finish at Bristol and first top-five finish at the East Tennessee track. His previous best result left him 10th in the May 2020 race.
Losers
Brad Keselowski
Keselowski’s playoff run came to a close at Bristol thanks in part to a 26th-place finish. That comes after finishing third in the March race at Bristol. He was 15th in the playoff standings heading into the Round of 12.
Kyle Busch
There was a time Busch was dominant at Bristol, collecting eight wins in his career. But he’s had five consecutive finishes of 20th or worse after a 25th finish in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Joe Gibbs Racing
If the playoffs are truly a Hendrick vs. Gibbs showdown, Joe Gibbs Racing takes the loss for the first cut. Half of Joe Gibbs Racing’s drivers in the playoffs were eliminated after Bristol. A speeding penalty took Martin Truex Jr. out of the hunt to reach the Round of 12 and ended his hopes of winning the championship in his final full Cup season. And Ty Gibbs was the first driver who failed to advance.
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @Kreager.
