Posted on by Adam Fenwick

Mohegan Sun 100

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

  • Entry list
Car No. Driver Team Crew Chief Chassis Sponsor
1 Patrick Emerling KPL Racing LLC Dale Hedquist LFR Fleetworks, Inc.
3 Tyler Rypkema Boehler’s Racing Equipment Greg Fournier Boehler Racing USNE; SYP; Northeast Drilling
06 Sam Rameau Rameau Family Motorsports TBA FURY Race Cars Quality Fleet Services; Powell’s Stone and Gravel
7 Doug Coby Tommy Baldwin Racing LLC Tommy Baldwin PSR Products TBD
8 John-Michael Shenette Eighty-Two Autosport Scott Morin LFR USNE Power Midwest Operations; Eighty-Two Services General Contractor
14 Jake Lutz Advantage Motorsports Bill Putney LFR Advantage Trucks; Washtronic’s; Anastasi Trucking
15 Joey Cipriano III Fueled Up Motorsports Ryan Plourde FURY Race Cars Eastern Propane & Oil; The Bass Plating Company
16 Ron Silk Haydt Yannone Racing Phil Moran FURY Race Cars Blue Mountain Machine; Future Homes
17 Anthony Nocella Michele Davini TBA LFR Keene Towing & Recovery; Copart; Xtreme Autobody; Sontag Motorsports; Bells Septic
18 Ken Heagy Christopher Fleming Greg Gorman FURY Race Cars Speed 77
21 Stephen Kopcik Wanick Motorsports Nick Kopcik Troyer Wanick Constructions, Inc.; Newtown Pools
22 Kyle Bonsignore Kyle Bonsignore Keith McDermott FURY Race Cars MTT; ChaLew Performance; Munns Auto
43 Matt Kimball William Kimball Jr. TBA LFR J&M Towing; Birch Financial; Central Mass Tree
44 Chase Dowling Tinio Motorsports Danny Gamache LFR S&S Paving / Harshaw Paving
46 Craig Lutz Goodie Racing Douglas Ogiejko FURY Race Cars Riverhead Building Supply
51 Justin Bonsignore Kenneth Massa Motorsports, LLC Ryan Stone FURY Race Cars Phoenix Communications, Inc.
54 Tommy Catalano Catalano Motorsports Rick Kluth Troyer FX Caprara
56 Trevor Catalano Catalano Motorsports David Catalano Troyer USNE Power
58 Eric Goodale Goodie Motorsports Rob Hyer FURY Race Cars GAF Roofing
60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee/Elite Motorsports Mike Stein LFR Elite Towing; Bar Harbor Bank and Trust
64 Austin Beers KLM Motorsports Ron Yuhas Troyer G&G Electrical Supply, Lumiere Electrical, Dell Electric, Fastrack Electric, Andrew James Interiors, AP Marquadt & Sons, Hugh
70 Andy Seuss Steve Seuss Steve Seuss LFR Rockingham Boat
77 Gary Putnam Mike Curb Kaitlyn Tarantino Troyer Curb Records; Mohawk Northeast
79 Jonathan McKennedy Jonathan McKennedy Racing TBA FURY Race Cars Stuarts Auto; Christophers Towing; John Young Landscaping
82 Woody Pitkat DWR Racing Corp. TBA LFR USNEpower, McKinney Construction and Horton Avenue Materials LLC
113 Michael Christopher Jr Mike Christopher, Sr TBA LFR Mohawk Northeast
129 Mike Marshall TLC Performance Kevin Ledoux Troyer MLM Diagnostics; Jusczak Electric

 

Posted on by Staff Report

With one race remaining in the Round of 10, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs drivers are set to battle Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Noon ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Truck Series

The “Magic Mile” will serve as the Round of 8 scene setter, with only two drivers, Corey Heim and Layne Riggs, advancing to the next round by virtue of wins.

Christian Eckes returns to his Truck Series roots this weekend, piloting the No. 16 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet. Carson Kvapil will once again be in the No. 97 for CR7 Motorsports and Michael Christopher Jr. will drive a second entry for Halmar Friesen Racing in the No. 62 Toyota.

HOW TO WATCH: NASCAR on FOX, FS1, more

See the full entry list below:

Posted on by Staff Report

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue in New England, where the remaining 12 title hopefuls will do battle at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to begin the Round of 12 (Sun., 2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Truck Series

The Mobil 1 301 begins the first of three Round of 12 events, with Kansas Speedway (Sept. 28) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Oct. 5) to follow. Four drivers will be eliminated following the Round of 12’s conclusion; Austin Cindric (minus-1), Joey Logano (minus-2), Ross Chastain (minus-2) and Tyler Reddick (minus-3) currently sit below the playoff cutline.

HOW TO WATCH: NASCAR on NBC, USA | Driver Cams on HBO Max

View the full entry list for the event:

Posted on by NASCAR Official Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR today announced that the annual NASCAR Awards will take place in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Nov. 4, capping off what promises to be a thrilling Championship Weekend.

The prestigious event will bring together drivers, teams, industry executives and fans to celebrate the 2025 season and honor the newly crowned champions from the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Most recently held in Charlotte, North Carolina, this marks the first time the event will be held in Arizona, reflecting NASCAR’s continued commitment to delivering memorable experiences in new and dynamic markets.

The awards ceremony and preceding red carpet will be livestreamed exclusively at 6 p.m. ET on The NASCAR Channel, allowing fans to join in the celebration. The NASCAR Channel — a free ad-supported streaming channel — can be found on Xumo Play, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus and Prime Video.

“Scottsdale offers the perfect backdrop for this year’s NASCAR Awards,” said Tim Clark, executive vice president and chief brand officer for NASCAR. “The incredible excitement from Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway will immediately carry into this year’s Awards, adding a level of energy we’ve never seen for this celebration.”

Watch NASCAR Channel on Prime Video, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Tubi and Xumo

Following the championship races at Phoenix Raceway, which conclude on Sunday, Nov. 2, with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race, the move to Scottsdale allows for a seamless transition into the awards celebration. The city’s renowned hospitality, culture and scenic desert landscapes are expected to deliver an unforgettable experience for both guests and viewers.

NASCAR will host a celebration for the NASCAR Regional Series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series) and the NASCAR International Series (NASCAR Brasil Series, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Mexico Series and NASCAR Whelen Euro Series), on Friday, Nov. 21, in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Don’t expect the Joe Gibbs Racing juggernaut to lose steam anytime soon.

After Christopher Bell charged to victory in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway — completing the organization’s sweep of the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs — team owner Joe Gibbs basked in the afterglow of yet another job well done.

“Yeah, just so excited about the start to the playoffs,” Gibbs said. “Just appreciate everybody back at our race shop. I talk about that all the time. We’ll hang a banner on Monday, and I get a chance to thank them, but it honestly takes everybody to be able to get our cars to the race track like this.

“We’ve got fast cars right now. It means a lot.”

All three of JGR’s playoff drivers had a hand in the sweep. Chase Briscoe opened the postseason with a victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Denny Hamlin followed with a win at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

RELATED: Round of 12 set at Bristol | Full race results

Bell completed the sweep by grabbing the lead after a restart with four laps left, as unexpectedly extreme tire degradation dictated a hodgepodge of strategies that produced 38 lead changes among 14 drivers and repeatedly shuffled the running order.

“I would have bet my house that it was going to be a normal Bristol race,” said Bell’s crew chief Adam Stevens, who was shocked by the fall-off of the new right-side tires Goodyear provided for the elimination race.

Fortunately, Stevens still has a place to live, and he and Bell will head to the Round of 12 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with confidence born of two sources: Bell’s victory at Bristol and his overwhelming success at the 1-mile flat track in the Granite State.

In five Cup Series starts at the Magic Mile, Bell has two victories, a runner-up finish and a pole. Last year, he used his dirt-track background and ability to find optimal racing lines to win a Loudon race that concluded on wet tires.

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Bell is undefeated in four starts at New Hampshire. He also participated in a July tire test at the track, along with fellow playoff drivers Joey Logano and Ross Chastain.

To explain JGR’s blazing start to the playoffs, look no further than the choice of tracks this year.

MORE: Playoff Pulse: Tires and tribulation jumble up the title hopefuls at Bristol

After hosting the regular-season cutoff race in 2024, Darlington returned to its typical spot as the playoff opener, replacing Atlanta. Hamlin is the leading active winner at the “Lady in Black” with five victories, and Briscoe was the defending winner of the Southern 500, in a Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, before moving to JGR in 2025.

At Gateway, which supplanted the Watkins Glen road course as the site of the second playoff race, Hamlin was a two-time runner-up before winning last Sunday, and Bell showed potential race-winning speed and swept the first two stages last year before engine issues dropped him to seventh at the finish.

The change of venues in the Round of 16 certainly helped, but the speed in the Gibbs cars is also undeniable. JGR’s Ty Gibbs, who missed the playoffs, led a race-high 201 of 500 laps at Bristol before trouble accessing pit road and a collision with Austin Hill’s Chevrolet sapped his winning chances.

Briscoe led 127 laps and Bell 12 — including the one that counted.

At New Hampshire, the JGR drivers will try to extend their winning streak to four. Then it’s off to Kansas Speedway, where Hamlin is the leading active winner with four victories.

It’s convenient — not to mention encouraging to other teams — to recall the words of Hal Holbrook to Charlie Sheen in the movie Wall Street: “You’re on a roll, kid. Enjoy it while it lasts — because it never does.”

The current tidal wave at Joe Gibbs Racing, however, feels more enduring. The remaining tracks on the playoff schedule set up beautifully for the organization, which seems poised to break Team Penske’s three-year stranglehold on the series championship.

But which Gibbs driver will do the honors? That’s where the guesswork is involved.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Heated, frustrated, annoyed. Christopher Bell was simply tired of losing.

Six days after a rare radio eruption following the NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens found themselves back in Victory Lane for the first time since March, winning the Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The boil-over at Gateway led to a midweek conversation between the driver and crew chief who have worked in tandem since 2021. Now in their fifth year together, the trust they’ve built in one another and the professionalism each exudes allowed for a quick dispatch of any hard feelings and made room for flawless execution in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol. The result? Bell’s first points-paying win since Phoenix Raceway on March 9, over six months ago.

“I think it goes to show that any week, it can happen,” Bell said. “I got really frustrated last week because we had an opportunity to win and we didn’t win. We’ve had several opportunities to win throughout the summer and we didn’t win.

“Every week, every week we can do it. And Adam, while I was frustrated with the calls last week, he nailed every call this week, and we ended up in Victory Lane. You’re going to have that. Tonight was just a perfect example of everybody doing the right things and not making mistakes and keeping us in it. We got the fruit of that.”

After Gateway, Bell shouted “I’m over it!” over his radio after finishing seventh with what he deemed the best car on track. The tone over the radio after Bristol was, of course, notably more positive.

“Way to never give up despite a little adversity this year in these playoffs,” Stevens keyed after the checkered flag. “Proud of you, Bell.”

“I’m proud of you boys,” Bell said. “Excellent, excellent job.”

The evolution of Saturday’s race required strong trust and communication between Bell, Stevens and spotter Tab Boyd. With a new, softer right-side tire from Goodyear, higher wear arose throughout the race than was originally anticipated after Friday’s lone practice session.

ANALYSIS: New tire tests Cup’s best in Bristol finale

Christopher Bell and Brad Keselowski race into Turn 3 at Bristol.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Once Bell’s approach needed to change, so too did Stevens’ atop the pit box.

“It’s definitely a lot of conversation between you and your crew chief and just asking him, hey, what is the plan here?” Bell said. “There are so many people on different strategies and different plans. We had a 125-lap stage, and all of sudden, people are having tire issues at like Lap 30. Are we going to two-stop this? Are we going to one-stop this? Do you need me to go hard? How long do I have to make these tires last?”

Together, the duo combined to produce all the right answers. The race ultimately came down to a restart with four laps remaining. Bell lined up in third place — second on the bottom lane behind Zane Smith — and was able to charge through the bottom lane in a three-wide pass on Smith and Carson Hocevar and held off a late charge from Brad Keselowski, who attempted a bump-and-run pass in the final set of corners.

Bell’s victory marks the 13th of his Cup Series tenure. It’s his fourth of the season, tying him with Shane van Gisbergen for the second-most wins of 2025. And while Bell’s elation was obvious Saturday night, so too was his unrelenting dissatisfaction.

“Winning, that’s what makes your career. That’s what makes your status in the industry,” he said. “That’s literally everything. In order to make it in this sport, you have to win. Frankly, I haven’t won enough. That’s what, win 13 in my career? That’s not enough, and I need to win more. But it starts with — every win gets it up a tick so I’m glad we got this one tonight.”

As the head of this team’s leadership, Stevens plays a key role in tempering those eager expectations, no matter how realistic they are.

“You don’t have a race, especially like this or really any race, without some circumstances affecting the outcome,” Stevens said. “My point to him last week was whatever gap there is between where we are and where we want to be, it might feel big, but it’s not big. It just takes a couple pieces of the puzzle — a right restart here and there, a little better qualifying — and we can have nights like this.”

Now, the No. 20 team is onto the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs, completing Joe Gibbs Racing’s three-race sweep of the opening Round of 16 with three different drivers. Its goal is to win a championship, which would mark Bell’s first and Stevens’ third in their third Championship 4 appearance in four years. They have to get there first, but Bell has won the last two spring races at Phoenix.

But gone are the frustrations of Gateway. Back are the good vibes after Bristol.

“Winning fixes everything, that’s for sure,” Bell said.

Posted on by Staff Report

After 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field is four drivers lighter.

An intriguing Saturday evening of high stakes and high tire wear produced a compelling Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the elimination event in the postseason’s Round of 16. The dozen who move on will grid back up for the playoffs’ next phase, which begins a week from Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

WINNER

Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Bell got the best of Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar on the final restart, then fended off Brad Keselowski to lead the last four laps of his fourth win of the Cup Series season. Bell was already in a reasonably safe zone for making the Round of 12 on points, but his Bristol victory gave him an automatic spot, making the math a moot point. The triumph also made it a clean sweep of the opening round for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has won the postseason’s first three races.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Bristol

WHO’S HOT?

Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford. No driver earned more points than Blaney on Saturday night, thanks to his second straight fourth-place result and first- and second-place finishes at the stages. The former Cup Series champ led three times for 30 laps in his 52-point night, and his No. 12 team was able to sidestep many of the tire issues that short-circuited his fellow competitors. Overall, Blaney has been piping hot in recent weeks, and Saturday’s outcome at Bristol marked his eighth top-10 finish in the last nine races.

Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Briscoe managed quite the rally from an uncharacteristically poor qualifying effort, a season-worst 31st for the driver who leads the series with six pole positions. He ended up leading 127 laps — second only to JGR teammate Ty Gibbs’ 201 — and kept his postseason momentum rolling, even after an ill-timed final caution flag trapped him on pit road and cost him a better finish. Briscoe had already advanced to the Round of 12 on the strength of his convincing Southern 500 victory, but he now has three straight top-10 results as the playoffs enter its next chapter.

WHO’S NOT?

Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. SVG’s oval-track growing pains had an untimely achy night at Bristol, where the affable rookie dipped out of the playoff picture with a 26th-place finish, three laps off the pace. Van Gisbergen was just minus-15 below the elimination line entering the 500-lapper, but lost more ground as the night went on, with a pair of midrace spins just 31 laps apart slowing his progress. A prime opportunity to regroup comes in the next round, where SVG could play the role of playoff spoiler in the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval event Oct. 5.

Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. The worst-case scenario spelled an early end to Berry’s brief playoff run, with three Round of 16 races resulting in last-place finishes. Saturday night’s early ouster was a fire that erupted from the No. 21 Ford’s right-front, filling the car’s cockpit with smoke and ending his race after just 75 laps. “We’ll try and win some races here coming up in this stretch,” Berry said, looking at the seven races left on the 2025 calendar. Among those is Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 12), where he is the Cup Series’ most recent winner.

BUBBLE WATCH

RANKDRIVER+/-
4Christopher Bell+20
5Ryan Blaney+19
6Chase Briscoe+10
7Chase Elliott+5
8Bubba Wallace+1
CUTLINE
9Austin Cindric-1
10Joey Logano-2
11Ross Chastain-2
12Tyler Reddick-3

QUOTABLE

“Crazy race. I didn’t have that one on the bingo card going into tonight. I don’t know if anyone did — truthfully. I don’t know. It was wild. I don’t know – I’m still processing what we just did.” — Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, after tire management emerged early as a crucial strategy element.

NEXT RACE

The Cup Series Playoffs re-racks next weekend with the circuit’s lone stop this year at New Hampshire, which returns to the postseason rotation for the first time since 2017. Toyota drivers have won the last three races at the 1.058-mile Loudon oval, including two by the series’ most recent winner — Bell. He’ll be among the 12 remaining title-eligible aces aiming to get the next round of the playoffs off to a substantial start, carrying his Bristol sword into the fray.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

BRISTOL, Tenn. — “If anybody said that they knew what was gonna happen tonight, we were all lying to you. We all got it wrong.”

After sweating out a curveball of a Bristol Night Race, Alex Bowman nearly got it right with a walk-off to advance in the Cup Series Playoffs.

However, when the checkered flag waved after 500 rip-roaring laps, Austin Cindric was the last driver to advance to the postseason’s Round of 12 while Bowman was the first driver eliminated, 10 points shy.

The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was in one of the best positions to win the race in the latter half, maintaining track position despite a Stage 1 spin. However, a late caution for Bubba Wallace’s Turn 2 incident bunched the field for one more restart with four laps to go. Restarts were the Achilles’ Heel for Bowman all race long and ultimately cost him a berth to the second round as he dropped from third to eighth at the finish.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“I thought our car, when we had some green-flag running, was really good,” Bowman said. “It just cycled really poorly for restarts. I would drive off into Turn 1 and just hope to make the corner. For whatever reason, it just wouldn’t take off. Then after five laps or so, go again. I couldn’t figure it out if it was something that I was doing, not cleaning the tires off enough, but I felt like I was cleaning the tires off too much at some point. I don’t really know what we lacked there.”

Bowman flirted with the cutline on points late as attrition became rampant among playoff drivers.

Most notably, his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott crashed in the final stage after contact with John Hunter Nemechek. But Elliott was spared a shock upset after fellow playoff contender Austin Cindric suffered a fire in the right-front of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford that forced Cindric to pit road.

As the fire continued and Cindric’s cockpit began filling with smoke, the No. 2 pit crew managed to put on a scuff right-front tire amid the blaze and kept Cindric in the race. It ultimately paid off in Cindric’s favor as he advanced — willing his way to the finish line four laps down in 30th.

“I was gonna wait till I saw a color other than smokey gray,” Cindric said about staying in his hot rod. “I don’t think the stress was there. I think everyone was pretty well prepared with the transfer of information once I got back out on track and with a scuff right-front tire, old-as-hell left-side tires and an old right-rear tire. I got a handle on the car and got all the fire-extinguisher stuff burned off the tires and dripping everywhere, and was able to finish the race. Hectic, and I’m sure it was crazy for a little while on paper.”

Saturday night was a summarization of a difficult 2025 for Bowman, who remains winless since his Chicago Street Course triumph in 2024, and to put the icing on the cake, he struggled to hear his crew chief and spotter all night amid the discombobulation on track.

“My radio didn’t work all night, so I didn’t have a clue what was going on,” Bowman added. “I didn’t know who we were racing on green-flag cycles. I couldn’t hear hardly anything. That was frustrating, but honestly, it didn’t really matter.”

Cindric joins his teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano in the Round of 12, while Bowman was the only Hendrick driver eliminated in the opening playoff round.

Also eliminated after Bristol were Austin Dillon (minus-14), four-time 2025 race winner Shane van Gisbergen (minus-16) and Josh Berry (minus-56).

“Everyone kept their cool,” Cindric said. “Credit to all the guys from the top down, transferring information, being prepared, not getting any penalties for going over the wall. I mean everything that went on there and still being able to come out and only lose a handful of laps and be in the position we needed to. Whenever we do great things, we do it as a team.”

“A top 10 with stage points and a solid day — the guys on pit road did a really good job,” said Bowman, who swapped pit crews with the No. 77 Spire Motorsports team for Bristol. “I’m sure the guys on the 77 did a good job, too. Those guys are like family, so it’s been a rough week. Just got to keep digging, right? There’s a lot of points we can still score. We can still finish way better than wherever we’re at in points right now.”

Posted on by Staff Report

In a topsy-turvy Saturday night showdown, four drivers were cut from championship eligibility in the first elimination of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Christopher Bell survived a 500-lap gauntlet with significant tire wear — and a last-lap bump from Brad Keselowski — to win Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bell was among the dozen drivers advancing to the Playoffs’ Round of 12, the next three-race portion of the 10-race postseason.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Bristol

The clock ran out on the title hopes of Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry. All four entered the Round of 16 below the provisional elimination line.

Berry was the first to be cut, stopping after 75 laps when flames from the right-front filled the cockpit of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. He ended the three Round of 16 races with three last-place finishes. Van Gisbergen spun twice, and he, Bowman and Dillon were unable to offset their points deficit on Bristol’s high banks, while Austin Cindric held on for the final Round of 12 berth.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin had already advanced with victories earlier in the round; Briscoe won the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway and Hamlin prevailed at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Three more drivers locked up their spots in the next round with mid-race clinchers at Bristol. Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace — the top points-earners without wins after two Round of 16 races — advanced at the end of Stage 1. Ryan Blaney sealed a Round of 12 berth after the second stage.

Below is the list of drivers for the Round of 12, with order based on the reset points.

NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 field:

— 1. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 3,034 points
— 2. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 3,032 points
— 3. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 3,032 points
— 4. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 3,028 points
— 5. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford, 3,027 points
— 6. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 3,018 points
— 7. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 3,013 points
— 8. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, 3,009 points
— 9. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford, 3,008 points
— 10. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford, 3,007 points
— 11. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, 3,007 points
— 12. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, 3,006 points

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — With a charge to the lead from fifth place with four laps left in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell kept Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota perfect in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Bell survived a hard, square shot to his rear bumper from Brad Keselowski in the final corner and steered straight to the finish line, 0.343 seconds ahead of the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing co-owner and driver.

Joining JGR teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin as winners in the Round of 16, Bell advanced to the Round of 12, which begins Sept. 21 at one of his best tracks, New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Bristol

The race marked the end of the playoffs for the four drivers who came to “Thunder Valley” below the elimination line — Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry.

Of the four, only Bowman made a significant charge, finishing 10 points below Austin Cindric, the final Round of 12 qualifier.

Six days after complaining bitterly about strategy in a seventh-place finish at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Bell was back on top, scoring his fourth victory of the season, his first at Bristol and the 13th of his career.

On fresh right-side tires after a pit stop on Lap 491, the driver of No. 20 Camry took the lead from fifth on Lap 497 of 500 and kept Keselowski, on four new tires, at bay for the duration, even though Keselowski got to Bell’s rear bumper on the final circuit.

With new, softer right-side tires supplied by Goodyear for the race, the extent of tire wear was a shock to the drivers and crew chiefs.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, I was nervous on the two (tires),” Bell said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to be on the bottom or the top, and whenever Brad picked the top (lane) didn’t really give me an option. I had to pick the bottom.

“All night long, I don’t know, old tires just really, really pushed up in the middle of the corners, so I was hoping that those guys (starting ahead of him) on old tires would push up, and they did. They did, and I was able to get by or get underneath them.

“It wasn’t pretty there at the end, but we got her done.”

WATCH: Stevens ‘would’ve bet my house’ on a normal Bristol race

Keselowski rued his pick of the top lane for the final restart.

“Just the story of our season, just a 50/50 shot on the restart and I got the lane that couldn’t launch,” Keselowski said. “Just frustrating. We had a great car, great strategy, put ourselves in position to, if not win, at least have a really, really solid day, and on that last restart, (we) just rolled the dice and didn’t get anything good.”

Bell’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, led a race-high 201 laps, but overshot pit road on the last green-flag stop and finished 10th. Briscoe was out front for 127 laps and finished ninth after a late green-flag stop for fresh tires.

Non-playoff driver Zane Smith ran third, followed by Team Penske title contenders Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Part-timer Corey Heim scored a career-best sixth, followed by non-playoff driver Carson Hocevar and Bowman.

For practical purposes, most of the Round of 16 eliminations were settled early. On Lap 75, Josh Berry brought his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to pit road with smoke from the right-front wheel well filling the cockpit.

Berry climbed from the car, finishing last for the third straight event, out of the race and out of the playoffs.

“It’s hard to put into words, but I’d be way more disappointed if we just ran like crap for three weeks,” said Berry, who had qualified 10th and moved forward from his starting spot. “We’ve been up front. We’ve qualified well. We had the issue at Darlington, bottoming out. Last week, we got clipped by the 9 (Chase Elliott), and then tonight the car catches on fire…

“Honestly, I think the way that was playing out, we would have 100 percent had a chance to win tonight.”

By the time Berry exited, Austin Dillon, who entered the race 11 points below the cutline, already had experienced severe cording of his right-side tires. Dillon pitted on Lap 28 and compounded his issues with a pit-road speeding penalty.

Dillon was 30th at the end of Stage 1, the last driver one lap down, with little hope of remaining in the playoffs. By the end of Stage 2, he was two laps down in 33rd. Dillon finished 28th, missing the Round of 12 by 14 points.

Shane van Gisbergen, 15 points down at the start of the race, steadily lost ground throughout the first two stages. The final blow for the New Zealander was a spin in Turn 4 after a bump from William Byron.

Another spin and a 26th-place finish left the Sunoco rookie 16 points behind Cindric in his first trip to the postseason.

SHOP: Christopher Bell winner gear

Of the drivers who started below the cutline, only Bowman mounted a concerted threat. Recovering from a spin on Lap 100, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet surged forward on new tires and finished third behind Gibbs and Ryan Blaney in Stage 2.

Bowman had come to Bristol 35 points down, but with the eight points he collected in the second stage, he moved to 11 points behind Ross Chastain for the final transfer spot into the Round of 12 for the start of the final stage.

Chastain recovered a lost lap and finished 19th, preserving his berth in the Round of 12, but Cindric had a close call when his right-front wheel well started spewing flames on Lap 457. Cindric lost five laps on pit road, as Bowman closed with a point of the transfer spot, but the gap widened in the closing laps.

Chase Elliott crashed on Lap 311 after contact with John Hunter Nemechek’s Toyota and finished 38th, but the Hendrick driver had enough of a cushion to move on to the Round of 12.

Other drivers advancing to the next playoff round on points were Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and Logano.

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Bell as the winner. No cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.