18 Toyota when scooting through the melee. “Now we know what we have to do the next two weeks … we’ve got to go find a way to win,” said Logano, 43 points under the cutline.īusch was the only playoff contender in the vicinity of a huge backstretch crash only 31 laps into the race, though he took only some minimal contact on the back of the No.
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Logano, who was already eighth in points, was the first of the playoff drivers out at Texas, when his engine blew with 34 laps to go.
Truex was later done after contact with Daniel Suarez that sent him hard into the wall. “We just didn’t have a fast enough car, I thought we were probably fifth at best, honestly, and then two wrecks at the end,” Hamlin said. Hamlin had more contact later that damaged his splitter and finished 11th. The tire rub eventually blew, and sent Hamlin into a spin, though he was able to get to pit road and stay on the lead lap. Hamlin was on the outside of a three-wide situation with 20 laps remaining when Blaney made contact with the No. I just wanted some laps to let their stuff wear down.” We had long-run speed, but the 5 and 24 were just blistering fast on the restart and drove away from me. “We needed the long runs to be able to keep them honest. “Well, we didn’t need all those yellows,” Keselowski said. Keselowski’s fourth-place finish was the best among the other playoff drivers, with Blaney, Elliott and Busch finishing sixth through eighth. That cost him nearly every sponsor, his seat with Ganassi and nearly his career before Hendrick signed him before this season. But he missed the big-money exhibition last year and the rest of that season while suspended for using a racial slur during a livestream while in a virtual race when NASCAR was on pause during the pandemic. The 29-year-old Larson, who made his Cup debut in 2013, also won in his previous All-Star race, in 2019 with Chip Ganassi Racing. He also won at Texas in the $1 million, non-points All-Star race in June. Larson’s first appearance in NASCAR’s championship four comes in the same season that Rick Hendrick gave him an opportunity to get back into the Cup Series. Defending Cup champion Chase Elliott is fifth, ahead of Keselowski, Truex and Logano. Ryan Blaney, Hamlin and Kyle Busch are above the cutline going to Kansas, where Busch won earlier this year.
Texas had always been the eighth of the final 10 races, and the middle race of the third and final elimination round, before this season. The seven remaining playoff contenders leave Texas with two more chances to advance for a title shot, with Kansas and Martinsville left before the finale. “Kyle really deserves it, they’ve been awesome all year, flawless on pit road and they do everything right,” Byron said. There were two laps remaining on the final restart, and with a push from playoff contender Brad Keselowski, Larson was able to stay out in front of teammate William Byron. Already with a significant points lead, after closing out the second elimination round a week earlier with a win on the road course at Charlotte, the opening race in the round of eight provided the first chance to get into the championship four Nov.