Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez maintained their 2024 NASCAR Cup Sequence championship hopes for an additional three weeks because the trio capped off the Spherical of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Professional Retailers Night time Race with on-track outcomes that enabled all of them to switch into the Playoff’s Spherical of 12 on Saturday, September 21.
For Briscoe, who raced his approach into the 2024 Cup Sequence Playoffs total after profitable the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway, the Playoffs commenced on a tough word for the Mitchell, Indiana, native after he was concerned in a harrowing accident by T-boning into Playoff contender Kyle Larson on Lap 55 of 260 in the course of the Playoff’s opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Strapped with a 21-point deficit with a Thirty eighth-place consequence from Atlanta, Briscoe redeemed himself throughout the next Playoff occasion at Watkins Glen Worldwide as he dodged a sequence of on-track carnages that affected a bevy of Playoff contenders to complete in sixth place. The highest-10 run enabled him to spice up his approach up above the top-12 cutline and with a six-point benefit coming into the Spherical of 16 finale at Bristol.
As soon as Briscoe took the inexperienced flag from fifth place at Bristol, he proceeded to rack up a complete of seven stage factors with a pair of top-10 runs recorded throughout each stage durations. Briscoe’s robust evening of racing inside the top-10 mark then hit a minor roadblock in the course of the remaining warning interval that began with 172 laps remaining when he dropped to inside the top-15 mark amid a sluggish pit service from his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford workforce.
From the beginning of the ultimate restart interval with 163 laps remaining, Briscoe made up the misplaced floor by racing his approach again into the highest 10. Preserving his automobile intact for the rest of the occasion, Briscoe steered his No. 14 Ford and not using a rearview digital camera to an eighth-place consequence, which was sufficient for him to say the twelfth and remaining switch spot into the Playoff’s Spherical of 12 by 11 factors.
Along with his accomplishment, Briscoe, who additionally transferred previous the Spherical of 12 and as excessive as as much as the Spherical of 8 throughout his first Playoff bid in 2022, continues to set his sights on making the Championship 4 spherical and contending for a Cup Sequence championship for Stewart-Haas Racing, with the group set to be rebranded to Haas Manufacturing facility Crew and downsized to a single entry for the 2025 season whereas Briscoe prepares to transition to Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Actually, [the race] wasn’t actually aggravating,” Briscoe mentioned after the race on USA Community. “Even once we had that dangerous pit cease, we got here out thirteenth or 14th and I felt like I may drive [the car] again up there. Total, an excellent evening for us. Hopefully, folks will begin taking us [seriously]. I honestly really feel like we will battle for the championship, so hopefully, tonight proved that. [I] Hate that we needed to dig ourselves out of a gap after Atlanta, however hopefully, we will go on to Kansas and begin this subsequent spherical robust. I really feel like we will beat anyone on any given day once we put it collectively from begin to end.”
After initially being positioned below a microscope with back-to-back finishes exterior the highest 20 that almost had his championship hopes of the 2024 season diminished, Denny Hamlin responded by ending fourth at Bristol and racing his approach into the Spherical of 12 by 15 factors.
Taking the inexperienced flag from eighth place and with a six-point deficit to begin the Bristol occasion, Hamlin took care of enterprise for the primary half of the occasion by racking up a complete of 13 stage factors with finishes of eighth and third, respectively, in the course of the first two rounds.
Restarting contained in the top-five mark in the beginning of the ultimate stage interval with 240 laps remaining, Hamlin saved his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota racing in the direction of the entrance like he had been all through the primary half of the occasion. Regardless of being overtaken by his 23XI Racing competitor Bubba Wallace for third place within the closing laps, Hamlin would retain a fourth place on the monitor as he leaped his approach again contained in the top-12 cutline and maintained his title hopes with an computerized cross to the Spherical of 12.
Along with his accomplishment, Hamlin, who’s in his nineteenth consecutive season within the Cup Sequence degree, transferred into the Spherical of 12 for the tenth time in his profession. In a season the place he notched three regular-season victories, he now units his sights ahead and in pursuit of a primary elusive Cup Sequence championship.
