Whether you consider it one of NASCAR’s Crown Jewels or not, one of the most consistently popular races on the NASCAR schedule is the annual Bristol Night Race. It just has a vibe like no other. And there was a lot riding on tonight’s race for our Playoff contenders. It being the last race of the Round of 16, many drivers would see their playoff hopes come to an end tonight while others survived to fight another day. Already through to the next round were the JGR drivers of Denny Hamlin (Gateway winner) and Chase Briscoe (Darlington winner). That left 10 spots still up for grabs. Some drivers had the opportunity to lock their way in early on points. They were Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace. Others were in decent shape on points. And then others needed to complete that Hail Mary pass.
Josh Berry entered tonight’s race in a must-win situation due to two consecutive last-place finishes. Other drivers that had a mountain of work ahead of them were Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen, and Austin Dillon. All of them were below the cutline coming into tonight’s race. Who prevailed at the Last Great Coliseum? Let’s break it down. Here’s everything that happened in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway!
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The JGR teammates of Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe restarted the race on the front row to kickstart the final stage. Gibbs, being the more dominant car of the night, took it to Briscoe; however, the No. 19 prevailed in the short term. It didn’t happen without a little bit of hard-nosed racing between the two teammates. But, as they ran longer, Gibbs’ car came to him and he was able to overtake the No. 19 toward the last cycle of green flag pit stops of the race.
A number of high-profile Playoff drivers had issues during this final stint of the race. Most notable among them was Chase Elliott. The drive of the blue NAPA No. 9 Hendrick Chevy came down the track as John Hunter Nemechek divebombed the corner. This resulted in The No. 42 getting into the No. 9, sending him around. Elliott made pretty significant contact with the SAFER barrier and, ultimately, the incident ended his night. This put his Playoff hopes in jeopardy as Alex Bowman was running in the front. In the end, however, despite a 38th-place finish, Elliott managed to advance. He may not get so lucky in the later rounds, though. Check out this footage of the incident.
Also having issues tonight was Austin Cindric, who, similarly to Berry, came down pit road with some fire near the brake rotors. He was able to continue, however, as the fire was put out in a timely manner.
Despite having the dominant car for most of the night, Ty Gibbs made a costly mistake that changed the course of this race. During a cycle of green flag pit stops, Gibbs was coming into pit road too hot, Knowing that he wasn’t going to get slowed down enough to make it, he remained on track but lost control of his No. 54 Monster Energy machine. Subsequently, he slammed hard into the outside wall. The damage was bad enough to end his chances of winning tonight’s race.
As the laps wound down, the main story was whether or not Alex Bowman was going to gain enough points to advance. In a must-win situation, Bowman was running up front as Austin Cindric had his issue. The No. 2 car went several laps down during his problems but, since he was five laps ahead of the next car in the running order, it was unlikely that he’d fall any more positions. This meant that Bowman had to win to get in.
With a restart at 4 laps to go, rookie Carson Hocevar led with Zane Smith on the inside. Brad Keselowski got to the inside of the No. 48, shuffling him out of contention. Meanwhile, Hocevar and Smith washed up the track, racing hard. This opened the door for Christopher Bell to get through. Bell went to the lead and right behind him was Brad Keselowski. Keselowski gave Bell a shot in the final corner but Bell held his ground. Christopher Bell went on to win the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This made for a clean sweep for the Round of 16 for Joe Gibbs Racing. Meanwhile, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, and Shane van Gisbergen failed to advance to the next round.
This was Bell’s first win since he went three in a row back in the spring.
There was a question going in tonight about how the softer tire compound that Goodyear brought would hold up. We got our answer very quickly as even before we got to Lap 30, we heard various reports that tires were going down. Before we even got to Lap 50, most of the cars came down pit road for fresh Goodyear tires. Working in conjunction with the Goodyear rubber, it was apparent that the concrete surface of Bristol was not taking rubber, as blackened beads formed in the outermost groove. The only driver who as able to make it halfway through the stage was Ryan Blaney, who limped around the track, backing his No. 12 Menards Ford way down to a crawl as the rest of the field powered by on all sides.
Aside from the tire issues, the first driver who had a major issue was driver Josh Berry. After cycling through the first and abrupt cycle of green flag pit stops, Josh Berry had another issue when his brakes caught on fire. Black smoke quickly filled the cockpit of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford and Berry came down pit road, hastily exiting his vehicle. This ended his night and, unfortunately, his Playoff hopes. This will be his third consecutive last-place finish. It was his 7th DNF of the season.
When the race restarted, Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith led the race. The next Playoff driver who had an issue was the No. 48 of Alex Bowman. In this incident, Riley Herbst pinched Bowman down low, causing the No. 48 to bottom out and spin around. This caused the second caution of the night. Thankfully, there was no damage to the No. 48 of Bowman.
When the race restarted, Gibbs pulled away from Smith in 2nd. As the run went on, though, the drivers, such as Ryan Blaney, William Byron, and Bubba Wallace, raced to the front. On the last lap of the stage, Ryan Blaney made the pass for the lead but couldn’t clear the 54. Coming out of Turn 4, the two drag raced to the line with Blaney coming out on top. Something to note is that only 3 of the Playoff drivers finished in the top 10 in this stage with several of them being trapped a lap down due to the earlier tire issue.
*Playoff Drivers Depicted in BOLD.
The second stage of the race was a lot less eventful. With the tire situation better understood, the greatest drivers in the world entered expert tire-saving mode, using various strategies to lengthen the life of the Goodyear rubber. The goal was to split the stage in half. Most drivers managed to do that, coming down pit road around 50 laps to go. Of course, some drivers ran longer than others. The key to winning this race was clear: who ever could conserve their stuff the most would be pulling into victory lane at the end of the night.
Ty Gibbs dominated the first half of the stage before being cycled out due to pit stops. Carson Hocevar then took the race lead. He was one of the unlikely contenders, along with John Hunter Nemechek, who ran in the top 5 for most of the race. However, on fresher tires, it didn’t take long for Ty Gibbs to work his way back up to the front of the pack. Gibbs was back in front as the field took 22 laps to go.
On the final restart for the stage, Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs fought for the stage win. This time, however, Ty Gibbs was able to hold off the No. 12 to win the stage. At least this time half of the top 10 was made up of playoff drivers.
*Playoff Drivers Depicted in BOLD.
The following are the unofficial results following the conclusion of the 500-lap NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This list will be updated once tech inspection is completed and the results become official.
*Advancing Playoff Drivers Depicted in BOLD.
**Eliminated Playoff Drivers Depicted in Italics.
The Round of 16 is now officially in the books. Now, we look forward to the Round of 12, starting with New Hampshire next week. The following drivers enter New Hampshire above the Round of 12 cutline.
These drivers enter the Round of 12 below the cutline.
These drivers were eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway.
That does it for our coverage of the Round of 16 finale at Bristol. What did you make of this crazy race, Daily Downforce readers? How’s your Playoff bracket doing? Of these 12, who do you think will miss the Round of 8? Let us know! And be sure to come back here at DailyDownforce.com all week long for the latest news and hottest rumors straight out of the NASCAR garage!
Where do all the drivers stand after the first official points race in the standings table?
After winning the opening points race of the season at Daytona by leading one lap, Tyler Reddick made it to the top of the standings. Under the new rules, he managed to pull up 58 points. He pocketed 55 for the win and added three more by finishing Stage 2 in P8. He may have squeezed out at least one more had he landed inside the top 10 in Stage 1, but after getting swept into a Lap 5 crash, Reddick limped the Stage 1 in P20, giving him no extra points.
Rounding out the top 10 are Brad Keselowski with 39 points in sixth despite a P5 finish, followed by his driver, Chris Buescher, in seventh with 39, Bubba Wallace in eighth with 37, Carson Hocevar in ninth with 36, and Ryan Blaney in 10th with 36.
Atlanta could be a springboard for Elliott, who owns an average finish of 11.4 across 14 starts there, with two wins, including one in last year’s fall race, plus three top fives and nine top 10s. The track could also pull Kyle Busch back into contention. Having already shown his speed at Daytona by winning the pole, he may potentially pull it off at the 1.54-mile track. The RCR driver sits P14 in the standings, but with an average finish of 8.8 at Atlanta since 2023 across six starts, the place might finally snap his 94-race drought.
Then again, Connor Zilisch has only one start at the track and came home P11 last year when he made his third Cup start there, making Atlanta a stage where he could stamp his mark.
Ryan Blaney will also have a better chance than anyone else to climb through a win or even points alone at Atlanta. The No. 12 Team Penske driver has one win there from 2021, but consistency has been his strong suit, with seven top fives and nine top 10s in 15 starts. And that puts him in a position to move the needle when the field rumbles into Atlanta.
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The Daytona 500 and Speedweeks may be over, but that doesn’t mean the chaos will cool off for the stars of NASCAR’s three National Series, as they roll into Hampton, Georgia, to the high banks of EchoPark Speedway for one of the schedule’s most unique race weekends.
Note: This article will be updated as more information about the weekend comes out.
One race weekend is in the books, and a 36-week march back to Florida is underway for the three NASCAR National Series. Whether you are going to be at the track or home, what does the forecast look like for the race weekend in Hampton, Georgia?
Before the Races (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
During the Truck Race (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM)
During the OAP Series Race (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM)
After the Race (8:00 PM – 11:00 PM)
Before the Race (11:00 AM – 3:00 PM)
During the Race (3:00 PM – 7:00 PM)
After the Race (7:00 PM – 10:00 PM)
NASCAR got lucky at EchoPark in 2025, and, as a matter of fact, everywhere else, but that doesn’t mean weather hasn’t affected the track’s races in the past with spot showers and major showers taking on race weekends. Take the summer of 2023, when the race took on a large rain shower that resulted in the race ending after just 185 laps, with race winner William Byron the leader at the time of caution.
Note: This article will be updated with a more accurate and detailed forecast as the race weekend nears.
