Relive the 2024 Bristol Night Race that saw one driver dominate and several drivers fighting to advance in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at the 'The Last Great Colosseum.'
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00:00As the saying goes, it's Bristol, baby, so let's go!
00:17Alex Bowman continues his amazing playoff run, he has been stoic in the face of criticism
00:25and the Hendrick man leads this race early.
00:32Christopher Bell up on that higher line and tucks back in behind William Byron.
00:38Martin Truex Jr, fellas, this is a must-do, must-win, must-have-a-great-result night.
00:43You see how aggressive he is, he saw a hole he could drive into to keep from getting blocked
00:47in the outside, he immediately took it from William Byron.
00:53Caution is out.
00:54Yellow, yellow, yellow.
00:55Yellow is out.
00:56John Hunter, he was having issues down the back straightaway.
01:02Looks like a left rear tire may be low.
01:05He got really loose, ended up spinning out.
01:09And look at that, yeah, look at that rod rear.
01:13He had trouble off of two.
01:16He had trouble off of two and then ultimately, whatever happened to the car, spun contact.
01:23A pretty significant contact, too.
01:28Right there, it looks like all the tires are still inflated.
01:30I was trying to see if that right rear might have gone down beforehand.
01:33Oh, right there.
01:35What do we got there?
01:36A little contact.
01:38Hard to tell what.
01:40Oh, man, he's still chasing it, isn't he, Jeff?
01:42Yeah, they got stacked up.
01:43I think he got really high in one and two and got up against the wall and, you know,
01:49maybe cut a tire, maybe damage the right rear toe link, something.
01:52We're getting ready for the restart.
01:54Lights are out on the pace car as it ducks down.
01:57Back down onto the apron.
01:59Let's get this thing going again after an early caution caused by John Hunter.
02:03It's Hendrick Motorsports up the front.
02:05Martin Truex Jr.
02:06Takes the fight to Kyle Larson.
02:09Again, pops out three wide about five rows back, gets back in line, gets organized.
02:14This is 77 on the low side.
02:16Carson Hosovar, the 21-year-old following on from his top three result last weekend
02:21at Watkins Glen in the Spire Motorsports Chevy.
02:24Unreal qualified on the front row at Darlington.
02:27And here he is running at the front of the field, Jeff, in Bristol.
02:30Awesome.
02:30But Larson is only 26 above coming into this race.
02:33He has not had the smoothest playoffs as well.
02:36So these 10 playoff points will definitely be a little bit of insurance.
02:40A little bit of insurance, no guarantees, but a little pressure off.
02:44Cliff Daniels, Kyle Larson and the five team.
02:46Half a mile to go.
02:47Less than that until the end of stage one.
02:51And this will be the 11th stage win this year for the five of Kyle Larson.
02:58That was convincing.
03:00That was a statement.
03:02His teammate Alex Bowman follows him across Christopher Bell.
03:06That was a really solid first stage as well.
03:09To everybody who has entered that already.
03:12Now, while we're away, got the news from Race Control.
03:15There's been a penalty handed to Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs.
03:21He had a really solid opening stage, but this is going to hurt the playoff driver.
03:25Let's go.
03:26Stage two.
03:27On the inside, that bright yellow and black number 20 Christopher Bell
03:31puts the pressure to Kyle Larson.
03:34Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr.
03:36That light blue and white car.
03:38We haven't spoken much about William Byron.
03:43Been a source of frustration for Byron that he's never led laps here,
03:47never had a pole, never won.
03:48He said, I'd love one of those dominant cars, Jeff,
03:51at Bristol where I could be the guy up the front.
03:53And so much more fun when you're out front rather than being in this mess.
03:56A little contact.
03:58Bubba Wallace.
04:02We haven't really spoken a lot about Bubba.
04:04He, too, was in the top ten, pretty much all of stage one.
04:08As we take you back to something that just transpired.
04:10Watch that black car high up.
04:1254 in heavy traffic.
04:13It's squeezed right here between two cars.
04:16Remember, the penalty for the 54 was tail end of the field.
04:20He had to line up behind the lap down cars as well.
04:23And this is what happens.
04:24I mean, look at the craziness, beating and banging.
04:27And why?
04:28Because you said it.
04:29Larson is coming.
04:30Larson's four cars behind him.
04:32But there's a caution out.
04:34Caution is out.
04:36And the man who locked himself in at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Joey Logano.
04:42Maybe a flat.
04:47What caused this?
04:49Some damage to the nose, but not super severe.
04:52We'll see if he can get around without more damage because of the flat tire.
04:55He's running 12th.
04:58Started 22nd, up to 12th.
05:02Oh, contact there.
05:05Can't tell from that angle whether there's contact from behind or I still can't really
05:09tell.
05:10Either way, he gets just kind of spit out of line.
05:13I think that was a slow car.
05:14Josh Balicki in the top lane and Ryan Priest was in there.
05:26So how bad is this race car, Steve?
05:28It's really hard to tell.
05:29Obviously, tires are flat.
05:32I feel like we haven't really spoken much about Rennick tonight.
05:36He started in 15th.
05:38And a strategy play there as we go back to racing with just a few laps to go.
05:44Two laps to go here in Bristol Motor Speedway in the second stage.
05:48And look at the effect of those new tires.
05:50I'm shocked.
05:50I thought it would fire off quicker than that, but easily the 19 goes by.
05:54Now the 45 up the hill tries to shut the lane off for the 20.
05:59I think he has a chance.
06:00He has a half a lap now to just kind of almost stay side by side with the 11.
06:03Jeff is the goal.
06:04Not allow a third lane for Christopher Bell out front.
06:06Larson's going to win the stage.
06:09Stage one and stage two for Kyle Larson.
06:13No worries there.
06:15And how did it work out for Tyler Rennick?
06:17Comes in behind one of his team owners in fourth place.
06:22Check this out.
06:24Chase Briscoe in the middle of running.
06:26Chase Briscoe in the middle of Ryan Truex and Denny Hamlin.
06:32That's got the attention of James Small.
06:34Look at the eyes wide open of the crew chief of the 19.
06:38Well, look at the points.
06:39Look what happens.
06:39Truex is only two points to the good.
06:42They both get by.
06:43Watch what happens.
06:45Chase Elliott has a front row seat.
06:46He's trying to figure out which line to follow.
06:49I always vote top.
06:50I like the top line.
06:51I think it has the momentum.
06:52You have the least amount of risk.
06:54Chase Briscoe and the courage of conviction.
06:58He said, forget whether I just won Darlington and I got in and you counted me out.
07:02I'm not the underdog.
07:03I can win this thing.
07:05I feel like Denny Hamlin.
07:06He was in the middle of that.
07:07I feel like he didn't want any parts of that.
07:09Yeah.
07:09You know, he looked like he backed up to me.
07:12Just did not want to be in the situation where he was three wide.
07:16And he's going to potentially give that spot up to chase Elliott because of it.
07:22Elliott runs high.
07:24Look at this.
07:26So while Kyle Larson is more than three seconds out in the lead, second, third,
07:31fourth and fifth are all together.
07:34Throw in sixth place.
07:35Ryan Blaney as well.
07:38Caution is out.
07:39And it's the seven of Corey Lejoy.
07:43Having such a good night.
07:47He was running at 11th.
07:49Qualified in the top 10.
07:51Right.
07:56This is his final drive for Spire Motorsports before transitioning to Rickwear racing for
08:03next week's race in Kansas.
08:04Let's show you how it went down for Lejoy.
08:08Kind of in the middle there.
08:11Oh, man.
08:12Josh Berry.
08:14Contact with Josh Berry from that angle.
08:16It's hard to tell.
08:17I mean, definite contact, but I can't really tell.
08:20It's late in the corner to know who's climbing, who's going.
08:23I'm sure there's way more to it than that.
08:25Probably starts even earlier.
08:27And we're going to see it.
08:28It gets loose.
08:29Yeah, it gets loose and loses momentum.
08:33See right there is loose.
08:34And I think you get slow.
08:36And Josh Berry just doesn't get slowed up and gets into the back of him.
08:41Sorry, guys.
08:43As we welcome you back to Bristol, if you are a Martin Truex Jr.
08:47fan and this Bass Pro Shops Toyota, we don't have good news for you.
08:53He just apologized to his team on the radio.
08:56He got caught speeding on Pitt Road.
08:58The night was going so well.
09:01One of the big headline stories was, can Denny Hamlin win three here at Bristol in a row?
09:06Can Denny Hamlin drive his way into the round of 12?
09:09Larson gets a terrific restart.
09:12Here comes his teammate Chase Elliott in the red car around the outside.
09:15Elliott has been spectacular tonight and just sneaking his way forward through the
09:20top ten.
09:21There goes Bubba Wallace right around Denny Hamlin as well.
09:24Christopher Bell lining up.
09:26Ryan Blaney in the mix, too.
09:31Wow, look at this.
09:32This started on the back straightaway.
09:34Suarez is angry.
09:37Suarez and Eric Jones.
09:39Suarez isn't out of this.
09:40He needs to be.
09:41What the hell was that all about?
09:42Watch this.
09:43This happened on the back straightaway.
09:46Eric Jones just comes across the nose of Suarez, and Suarez is mad.
09:56I'm not real sure how he didn't spin him out there.
09:58He was trying pretty hard.
10:01Daniel's trying to stay alive in the playoffs, and he is walking a really delicate line right
10:09now.
10:09There's some big numbers being racked up here tonight under the lines at Bristol.
10:14Ten to go from here.
10:15Ten to go, and your physical fitness is at a test.
10:1841 minutes of green flag racing.
10:2041 minutes of 16-second laps.
10:23Basically four seconds on the straightaway, and you're into the high banks again.
10:26Vertical loading.
10:27Jeff, I know these drivers are fit, and the seats are custom-made.
10:30The headrests are there, but this has to be a mental and physical challenge as the 54
10:35is shoving the 43 out of the way.
10:38He had that huge crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway to begin the playoffs.
10:43It wasn't a great Watkins Glen either, and just recently on the radio, he said to Cliff
10:48Daniels, I'm trying to get to the white flag as quickly as I can.
10:51Well, that white flag has come, and Kyle Larson is on his way home.
10:58It has been a stellar first-class performance under the lights in Bristol.
11:03Kyle Larson is the man.
11:07Cliff Daniels says, there you go.
11:09You took care of business.
11:10And we give you the updated playoff standings.
11:12Yeah, now there are 12.
11:1416 entered, 12 survive.
11:16Austin Cintric, a great first round.
11:19He's going to need a repeat performance, much like Alex Volman.
11:22Those two below the cut line, as well as Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe.