The concrete surface at Bristol Motor Speedway tore up quite a few tires during the Cup Series race on March 17th, 2024. At the end of the day, just five cars finished on the lead lap, and two of them were NASCAR Chevy teams, while the rest of The Bow Tie brand’s stable struggled to find speed on the tough track.
William Byron was Bristol’s first victim. On Lap 21, his No. 24 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 tagged the wall after a little help from the No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse of Joey Logano. Byron’s race car suffered a broken toe link, and while his crew was able to repair it, he lost eight laps and couldn’t fight his way back to the lead lap. He ultimately finished 35th out of 36 drivers. In fact, he only beat Zane Smith, whose No. 77 Camaro suffered a blown engine on Lap 192.
Meanwhile, Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Camaro, got into a scuffle for 15th with Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang, causing the two drivers to make contact a handful of times going for the checkered flag, though they were both one lap down. Chastain came out ahead after the dust settled.
Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson were the only two NASCAR Chevy drivers to finish on the lead lap. Bowman’s No. 48 Camaro qualified 29th, and he had to manage extreme tire wear to get to the front of the field, finishing fourth. Larson’s No. 5 Camaro did the same, rounding out the top five. The only other lead-lap finishers were Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry in first, Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 19 Camry in second and Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Mustang in third.
NASCAR and Goodyear stated that they would assess tire wear at Bristol, as most teams reported tire issues after just 45 green flag laps.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Express Oil Change Toyota | 500 | 163 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 2 | 11 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 500 | 54 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 3 | 17 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | King's Hawaiian Ford | 500 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 29 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 500 | 3 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 5 | 10 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 500 | 19 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 6 | 26 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Dollar Tree Toyota | 499 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 7 | 34 | 17 | Chris Buescher | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 499 | 17 | Ford Mustang |
| 8 | 5 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 499 | 5 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 19 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | SiriusXM Toyota | 499 | 137 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 10 | 12 | 20 | Christopher Bell | DEWALT Toyota | 499 | 29 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 11 | 7 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 499 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 12 | 2 | 4 | Josh Berry # | SunnyD Ford | 499 | 25 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 6 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 498 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 25 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 498 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 15 | 36 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Busch Light Fishing Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 16 | 1 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Dutch Boy Ford | 498 | 14 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 32 | 51 | Justin Haley | Ohanafy Ford | 498 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 18 | 28 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Jockey Outdoors by Luke Bryan Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 19 | 33 | 15 | Kaz Grala # | N29 Capital Partners Ford | 498 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 20 | 15 | 43 | Erik Jones | AdventHealth Toyota | 498 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 21 | 18 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 498 | 4 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 22 | 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 498 | 5 | Ford Mustang |
| 23 | 30 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Mountain Dew/Doritos Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 24 | 31 | 3 | Austin Dillon | BREZTRI Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 14 | 8 | Kyle Busch | FICO Chevrolet | 498 | 5 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 26 | 24 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | CITGARD Ford | 497 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 35 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Gainbridge Cal Ripken Sr. Fdn. Chevrolet | 497 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 28 | 20 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 496 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 29 | 9 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Leidos Toyota | 496 | 15 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 30 | 23 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Monster Energy Toyota | 495 | 4 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 31 | 21 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Discount Tire Ford | 495 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 32 | 13 | 21 | Harrison Burton | DEX Imaging Ford | 495 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 27 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ball Park Buns & Rolls Chevrolet | 495 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 34 | 22 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford | 494 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 35 | 8 | 24 | William Byron | Liberty University Chevrolet | 492 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 36 | 16 | 71 | Zane Smith # | Focused Health Chevrolet | 192 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comment
BORING as all cow S—T. I have been watching every Nascar race since the early 1960s. Tyre management, all drivers were driving slow to save tyres, became one big procession. If Nascar lets this happen again, Nascar will end up boring like formula one, a procession every week, you can name the winner even before the race starts. Give the drivers unlimited fuel and tires, let them race, that race at Bristol was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO boring, i must admit, the last ten laps was great.