Photo courtesy of NASCAR.com
That was one of the most enjoyable race weekends in a long, long time.
The Bristol Night Race is probably my favorite race weekend of the year. Three fantastic races further emphasized what a treat Thunder Valley is. A great cutoff race in the Trucks with Chandler Smith breaking through was cool to see. Then, the Xfinity series had one of the best finishes I’ve ever seen with Aj Allmendinger edging Austin Cindric for both the win and the regular season championship. Add to it the terrific Cup race, and it’s no mystery as to why people love Bristol.
Not only that, but Bristol ended the first round of NASCAR’s Playoffs. Three races at Darlington, Richmond and Bristol marked the end of the road for Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola and Kurt Busch (guess who went 4/4). While we learned who is out of the Playoffs, we also managed to learn a lot about who is still left. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest takeaways from the opening round.
1. Joe Gibbs Racing is a real threat.
Joe Gibbs had some real question marks coming into the Playoffs. The team that looked like the best in NASCAR early in the season seemed to be sputtering into the Playoffs. How were they going to perform early in the Playoffs? They answered in a big, big way. It started with Denny Hamlin out dueling Kyle Larson in the Southern 500 to finally get to victory lane. The team then had one of their best collective performances in their history, nearly going 1-2-3-4 before Kyle Busch’s speeding penalty on the last stop. Even with Busch and Christopher Bell losing tires late at Bristol, they still advanced relatively easily. The team was arguably the best on the 750 HP package all year, specifically Hamlin and Richmond winner Martin Truex Jr. Guess what package will be used at Phoenix? Having ⅓ of the remaining Playoff field is no small feat. Make no mistake: to win the Championship, you’ll have to go through Gibbs.
2. Byron and Bowman barely brush by.
Hooray for alliterations! Kyle Larson can seemingly cruise to Phoenix, having scored an additional win and a few stages in this round. Chase Elliott ran just well enough to breeze his way through the opening round. William Byron and Alex Bowman, however, didn’t have it so easily. After getting collected in a wreck together at Darlington, a race I will now call Carmageddon, they both found themselves in an early hole. Bowman and Byron ran 12th and 19th respectively at Richmond, in a race that saw Playoff drivers grab nine of the top-10 positions. They needed big runs at Bristol to survive, which they got. Byron, in particular, rallied from 18 points back to advance by a mere point thanks to a great third-place run. As rough as their rounds were, they’re alive. That’s all that matters. They’re going to three tracks that both historically run well at. Hendrick could very possibly put all four cars in the round of eight.
3. Kevin Harvick won’t go down easily.
I loved everything about what I saw from Kevin Harvick on Saturday. Whether you blame him or Chase Elliott for the contact they made (I see it as good, hard racing), that fight and refusal to back down is quintessential Harvick. As rough as his season has been, he still put himself right in the middle of every race, running 5-8-2. Seeing Harvick bang his helmet after the altercation with Elliott was the angriest I’ve seen him, which says a lot. I said in my Playoff Prediction that Harvick was easily the hardest driver to gauge going into the Playoffs. He is hungrier than I’ve ever seen him before. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if he wins his way into the next round.
While I don’t necessarily love the Playoff format, the first round was full of action and excitement. What did you think of the first round? What are you looking forward to seeing in round two? Feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @HBLoomis. Let’s talk racing!
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