NASCAR Bristol Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race highlights, stage results

The Last Great Colosseum is ready to host the NASCAR Cup Series again, and we keep you up to speed with highlights and stage results from Bristol.

It might not be the impossible to get ticket it once was, but there’s still something magical about Bristol Motor Speedway under the lights. The Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race is ready to weave its spell once again, one made all the more powerful because of the spot it occupies near the end of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

Kyle Busch has been nearly unbeatable at Bristol in recent visits, winning the last two Cup Series races at The Last Great Colosseum. But he ran into trouble in the XFINITY Series race on Friday night, and Kyle Larson, who started from the pole on Saturday night, took full advantage.

Adding to the intrigue was the weather, as rain came in and washed at least some of the Friday night rubber away. There could be some white-knuckle moments early on in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race until drivers figure out where they have grip.

Stage 1

Larson got off to an excellent start, shooting free at the front of the field after the green flag flew. Drivers behind him were not so lucky … and one of the least fortunate ones in a multi-car mess on Lap 2 was Kyle Busch.

Replays showed that Kyle Busch just seemed to get loose on his own in the wrong place, but once his No. 18 Toyota came to a rest across the track, he was hit by multiple cars.

Kevin Harvick got the better of Larson and Ryan Blaney on the restart, but that didn’t last long as both of the young stars were able to pass him, with Blaney assuming the lead. Meanwhile, Paul Menard was having all kinds of trouble and eventually saw his right-front wheel give way, sending him into the outside wall.

Among the drivers caught in the initial wreck, Gray Gaulding, Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace and AJ Allmendinger all saw their nights come to early ends. The competition caution on Lap 60 provided a chance for the entire field to come in, with Blaney still in front and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. up to third.

Stenhouse won the race up pit road, but we soon found out it was at least in part due to him speeding coming off pit road. Blaney, Harvick and Erik Jones settled into the top three spots with just over 40 laps to go in Stage 1.

Blaney and Harvick had a ton of lapped traffic to deal with on the final lap, and even though it got extremely tight, Blaney held on and nipped the 4 to get the stage win.

Stage 1 results

1. Ryan Blaney: 10 points plus 1 bonus playoff point
2. Kevin Harvick: 9 points
3. Clint Bowyer: 8 points
4. Chase Elliott: 7 points
5. Aric Almirola: 6 points
6. Kyle Larson: 5 points
7. Kurt Busch: 4 points
8. Erik Jones: 3 points
9. Joey Logano: 2 points
10. Trevor Bayne: 1 point

Stage 2

The opening laps of the second stage saw another different leader, Chase Elliott, come to the fore. Blaney and Harvick remained near the front, both within two seconds of the lead.

Aric Almirola also joined in the fray, jumping up into the mix when lapped traffic became a factor and Blaney was back in front. But another caution for a one-car incident led to a round of pit stops, which brought yet more players into the battle for the lead. One of them was Joey Logano, who was pushed by Elliott, Larson and Blaney and fortunate that they had to battle each other behind them.

With less than five laps to go, Logano and Elliott were duking it out for P1 while Harvick and Kyle Busch went nose to nose for the free pass position, both one lap down. Logano and Kyle Busch prevailed, though both by the slimmest of margins.

Stage 2 results

1. Joey Logano: 10 points plus 1 bonus playoff point
2. Chase Elliott: 9 points
3. Kyle Larson: 8 points
4. Aric Almirola: 7 points
5. Ryan Blaney: 6 points
6. Clint Bowyer: 5 points
7. Erik Jones: 4 points
8. Jimmie Johnson: 3 points
9. Kurt Busch: 2 points
10. Alex Bowman: 1 point

Final stage

Logano stayed in P1 after the restart for the final stage, and it took nearly 50 laps for Elliott to hunt him down. Eventually he did just that, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was delighted as he used a slide job to take over the lead.

With 165 laps to go, the radar made it appear that there could be some precipitation on the way — the reason that NASCAR moved up the start time for the race in the first place. While the announcers discussed the chance of rain, Almirola was shown the black flag with the white cross, ordered to pit road for smoke coming from the back of his No. 10 Ford, giving up fifth place to do so.

That meant another restart, and yet another driver who hadn’t been up front all night, Clint Bowyer, got to lead some laps. Martin Truex Jr. and Austin Dillon entered the picture for the first time as well.

Kyle Busch was on the serious comeback trail as well, making it up to third position. The next driver he had to pass was Truex, but the 78 ran into trouble before that happened, smashing into the 7 car of JJ Yeley and the wall. Kyle Busch appeared to make slight contact with him, though it didn’t look intentional as it was Truex coming down from the top groove when the two cars touched.

After the run-in, Truex gave his thoughts on what happened, appearing to share the blame because he was too nice about not knocking Bowyer out of the way to take the lead.

More drama beckoned as a spin by Brad Keselowski brought out another caution with 29 laps to go, with drivers like Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin opting for just two tires and others not coming in at all.

And the drama found Kyle Busch. While racing hard for position in the top five, the 18 lost a left-rear tire, probably as a result of contact, and spun out to bring out another yellow flag. Somehow, he was able to get his car going again.

Three-wide racing between Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher and Jimmie Johnson appeared to do the damage that (probably) finished off the 18, with the other two cars somewhat the worse for wear as well.

Kurt Busch led after the restart but had a mirror full of Larson, who had much fresher tires. The rubber didn’t matter in the end, though, as the 41 stayed ahead of the 42 and the 9, and Kurt Busch broke his 58-race winless streak with his sixth Bristol win.