We’re now two-thirds of the way through the NASCAR Playoffs Round of 16. With Darlington in the books, we head a little to the west to another, albeit flatter, egg-shaped oval in Worldwide Technology Raceway, or, Gateway. For the first time ever, Gateway is in the NASCAR Playoffs! In the past, FORD has been dominant here. Last year, Austin Cindric won the race after his teammate, Ryan Blaney dominated the event. Specifically, Team Penske seems to be the class of the field when it comes to short flat ovals. Were any of them able to nab a win here and punch their ticket to the Round of 12?
Speaking of the Round of 12, Chase Briscoe clinched his spot in the next round by winning a very chaotic race last week at Darlington. For any driver not named Briscoe, the Southern 500 was a race riddled with costly mistakes. Was today much of the same? Typically in these first couple of rounds, we see drivers essentially eliminate themselves due to horrific mistakes. Who had their Playoff hopes ended today? Let’s break it down.
Here’s everything that happened in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway.
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The restarts today were consistently hectic! While Playoff drivers such as Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, and Josh Berry had issues, the first one to have trouble in the final stage was none other than Shane van Gisbergen. On the restart, SVG got loose under Tyler Reddick and went around. He made light contact with the outside wall but no major damage was reported.
Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace was slow on the restart as his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota was stuck in gear. This caused a big stack-up and cost him the lead. Logano now led. During the caution for SVG, Bubba led a number of drivers down pit road. Some of them were hoping to make it to the end of the race, though it would be a stretch.
Following a late-race caution and more pit stops, all drivers were good to go on fuel. Restarting on the front row were Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. Hamlin radioed into his team and said that the car was handling much better than it was at the beginning of the race. On the restart, Hamlin jumped out to the lead. Keselowski slipped back to 3rd as Chase Briscoe worked his way by him. This left Keselowski in the clutches of a number of other drivers. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano all managed to get by the 6.
With 10 to go, Hamlin stretched his lead over teammate Chase Briscoe to just over 1.5 seconds. He continued to stretch out that lead in the closing laps of the run. Denny Hamlin ultimately went on to score his 5th win of the year, the 59th of his career. With this victory, Hamlin scored some bonus points heading into the next round and clinched his berth in the Round of 12. This also marked Toyota’s 200th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In the opening laps of the race, Denny Hamlin held onto the lead after starting the race on the pole. But as the initial run ran longer, Kyle Larson was able to reel in the No. 11 car and take the lead. Larson led a handful of laps before Kyle Busch went around coming out of Turn 2, triggering the first caution of the race. Some drivers, including Larson, came down pit road for service as others stayed out. Chase Briscoe took the lead on the restart and led the stage through to the end. He picked up where he left off last week and looked to continue his dominant performance.
We had big Playoff implications following the caution for Busch’s spin. The restart was chaotic and, going into the turn, Chase Elliott decided to divebomb for 14th position. NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver wasn’t able to make his No. 9 NAPA car stick to the bottom, and he washed up the track after getting loose. He caught himself on fellow Playoff driver Josh Berry. This spun Berry around, and he made hard contact with the outside wall. The incident ended Berry’s day early for the second consecutive week. Now, he is in a must-win situation heading to Bristol.
Briscoe’s win awards him 10 points and 1 Playoff point that he can then use in the Round of 12. By winning last week at Darlington, Briscoe has already locked himself into the next round.
*Playoff drivers depicted in BOLD.
After the stage, the drivers who stayed out during the first caution pitted. Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron inherited the lead to kick off Stage 2.
We got a lot of different strategies in the second stage of the race. During an early caution following a spin by Ty Dillon by the hands of his brother, Austin, Chase Briscoe had an issue. The team was slow changing his left rear tired and, mid-pitstop, James Small called for an audible and they ended up changing all fours. Due to the NASCAR rule that right side tires had to be changed first, the team was penalized. While serving their penalty, they came back down pit road and topped off with fuel. He was able to drive back up to the 16th position but stalled out.
Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace inherited the lead. Joey Logano slid into second and, despite Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell being faster than the No. 22, the dirty air made passing Logano extremely difficult. Since Bell was faster than Wallace, this ended up helping Bubba out as he continued to lead. With 8 laps to go in the stage, Kyle Larson took a page out of teammate Chase Elliott’s book and sent his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy too hard into the corner. Unable to make it stick, he washed up the track and made contact with fellow Playoff driver Ryan Blaney. This sent the No. 12 around. Fortunately for Blaney, unlike Berry, he didn’t hit anything and damage was minimal. Check it out.
The race restarted without much issue. Bubba Wallace was able to hold onto the lead and win the stage after three drivers stayed out during pit stops. This stage win awarded the driver of the No. 23 10 points and 1 additional Playoff point. Brad Keselowski (who didn’t pit) managed to hold onto 2nd and Joey Logano finished 3rd. Larson and Bell rounded out the top 5.
*Playoff drivers depicted in BOLD.
The following are the race results as they crossed the line at Gateway for the Enjoy Illinois 300. This list will be updated as the teams go through postrace inspection and the results are finalized.
*Playoff drivers depicted in BOLD.
The following drivers have clinched berths to the Round of 12 by winning. Chase Briscoe won last week at Darlington to punch his ticket and Denny Hamlin won today to advance.
These drivers are above water heading into the final race in the round at Bristol Motor Speedway. If they can avoid mistakes next week, they should be good to move on to the Round of 12.
The following drivers are in danger of being knocked out of the Playoffs in the first round. A couple of them may need to win next week at Bristol in order to advance.
That does it for the race weekend in St. Louis! What did you think of this race? How’s your Playoff Bracket doing? Is your favorite driver still in the hunt? Are they locked into the next round? Or do they have to win today to advance? Let us know what you think! And be sure to continue to tune in here at DailyDownforce.com all week long for the latest and hottest NASCAR news!
Up next: We return to the Last Great Coliseum of Bristol Motor Speedway for the conclusion of the Round of 16.
