Contact creates late drama in battle for Bristol Chase win

Well, that felt nostalgic.

Bristol Motor Speedway was once known as the place to come to for contact-filled, intense finishes. With a one-lane, bottom-dependent racing groove that forced the stars of the sport to nudge each other out of the way to make progress, the half-mile oval became an iconic track on the NASCAR circuit, known for bent fenders and boiling tempers.

The modern, multi-groove version of Bristol doesn’t always deliver the same type of product. But for a few fleeting moments at the end of Saturday’s race, contact and chaos returned.

Minutes after a controversial crash with 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar sat third going into the final restart of Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race. Ty Gibbs held the top spot, but had the oldest tires and damage from a three-wide crash with Alex Bowman and Cole Custer earlier in the final stage.

Gibbs was able to fire off well enough to clear Kyle Larson on the bottom with nine laps remaining, but was slow to move to the bottom. That allowed Larson to peek his nose in and, when the two made minor contact, allowed Hocevar to jump to Gibbs’ outside.

In retrospect, that was the moment that Gibbs felt cost him the race. “I just tried to stay up a little bit too long in [Turns] 1 and 2 to try to shut the 77’s air off,” he said. “The 5 got in there and we just missed it a little bit."

From there, the battle was on.

Hocevar got a strong run out of Turn 4 coming to seven to go. He and Gibbs collided while fighting for the same real estate and went into Turn 1 with a compromised line on the bottom.

That allowed Larson back into the fight up top. But Gibbs gave Hocevar a shove and sent the Michigander up to the outside lane, blocking Larson’s path.

By time the trio had risen off the corner and headed for Turn 3, Joey Logano had caught up and dove to the bottom of them all. Gibbs and Hocevar briefly cleared Logano going into the ensuing set of corners, but made contact again after Gibbs slid up the track.

That was all Logano needed. The three-time champion scooted past the young duo on the bottom and drove off to a major win.

“I thought there for a minute, I was like, 'OK, I might just finish third or fourth here tonight, but all kind of worked our way up,' and I was like, 'Well, Merry Christmas to me,'” Logano said afterward. “I got a gift there.”

Larson had hoped to do the same, but didn’t have the grip he needed to make a move like Logano.

“We were at a tire deficit there, and I felt like I was just vulnerable if I ran the bottom too long,” Larson said. “I was just trying to move up, get rolling and hope they got into a mess there, which they did.”

While Logano cruised to victory, the battle behind him raged on. Gibbs faded, dropping behind teammate Christopher Bell in a battle for fourth. But Larson chased down Hocevar and jumped to his outside in the final set of corners.

The pair drag raced to the line and Larson prevailed by just .005s for second.

“I was happy to come away with a second there at the end,” Larson admitted. “That was better than where I thought we could finish.”

Hocevar wasn’t caught up in losing second afterward. He felt worse about letting a chance to win one of NASCAR’s iconic events slip away.

“[It] would have been nice to close that one out,” Hocevar admitted. “I’m a [Detroit] Lions fan, so I know you only get a few shots within your window.

“We’re pretty good here and eventually competition’s going to catch up. But [I had] a lot of fun with these guys here.”