Chaos reigned under the Gateway Arch as the NASCAR Cup Series made its inaugural playoff appearance at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, as the middle race of the Round of 16.
All that remains for 14 drivers now is the round’s finale, this year’s first elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
WINNER
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing’s stellar start to the postseason continues, with the organization 2-for-2 after Hamlin won Gateway to join teammate Chase Briscoe as the only two drivers locked into the Round of 12. Hamlin led a race-high 75 laps Sunday and has established himself as a real threat for the 2025 championship all over again with a season-best fifth victory.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Gateway
WHO‘S HOT?
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Logano charged onto the right side of the cutline Sunday with an impressive fifth-place run at Gateway, leaving the St. Louis-area track 21 points to the good. The three-time and defending Cup champion only led two laps but was a constant presence at the front of the field, a critical turnaround after a mediocre 20th-place day at Darlington in last week’s opener. At WWT Raceway, Logano boasted the day’s second-best average running position at 7.23, only behind Hamlin’s 5.54, and carries some needed momentum into Bristol, where he’s searching for his first top-20 finish since 2021.
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. Wallace was already in pretty good shape, up 25 points above the cutline after a sixth-place run at Darlington to open the postseason. But how about now? The Brickyard 400 winner left Gateway with double that cushion, sitting 50 points to the good in fourth place in the standings, second-best of the non-winners in the Round of 16. Wallace finished eighth at WWT Raceway and added 15 stage points to the tally, earning 10 of those and a playoff point by winning Stage 2. Nothing is guaranteed, but Wallace is in an incredible position to advance to the Round of 12 for the first time in his career.
WHO‘S NOT?
Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. For the second week in a row, an early crash put Berry behind the wall, and this time, out of the race. Contact from Chase Elliott at Lap 36 sent Berry from the middle of a three-wide situation to spinning and into the SAFER barrier. The damage was too significant to repair, and Berry’s best chance to advance to the Round of 12 will be a victory at next week’s elimination race.
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Execution thwarted what seemed to be a strong run in the making for Bowman. The No. 48 team didn’t have quite the same debacle as the 40-second pit stop that hindered them last week, but multiple issues on pit road did unravel what may have been a top-15 finish into a 26th-place result. The first problem came when the jack was dropped before the left-rear tire was secured at Lap 136. At Lap 207, Bowman was nabbed for speeding, sinking him to the rear of the field. Coupled with his Darlington finish of 31st, Bowman is now 35 points below the cutoff line entering Bristol.
BUBBLE WATCH
| RANK | DRIVER | +/- |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | +39 |
| 8 | Christopher Bell | +32 |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | +28 |
| 10 | Joey Logano | +21 |
| 11 | Ross Chastain | +19 |
| 12 | Austin Cindric | +11 |
| CUTLINE | ||
| 13 | Austin Dillon | -11 |
| 14 | Shane van Gisbergen | -15 |
| 15 | Alex Bowman | -35 |
| 16 | Josh Berry | -45 |
NASCAR INSIGHTS
Christopher Bell expressed some notable frustration over his radio after crossing the finish line: “We just [expletive] ran seventh with the best car on the track.” To Bell’s chagrin, analytics prove his point. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was ranked No. 1 in Passing Rating, according to NASCAR Insights, and scored second in speed. Bell ranked inside the top 10 in four of the five categories — seventh in pit crew and ninth in restarts — but ultimately placed just 15th on defense. Bell is optimistic in his team’s speed but is seeking better results: “I just think we’re underperforming,” Bell told NBC Sports. “… Our team cars are really good and I feel like I had what I needed to race with them, and we finished seventh and they finished 1-2.”
QUOTABLE
“We didn‘t come here with a good race car for some reason. All of our cars were pretty off today; we just missed it. But this No. 3 Dow DayGlo Chevrolet team did a great job executing with what we had. We got stage points and finished the best we possibly could right there. We outran our day by a lot, so hard work and execution gives us a shot at Bristol (Motor Speedway). Just feel like we‘ve missed some opportunities and could be in a better position, but we did all we could today.” — Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, after an 18th-place finish.
NEXT RACE
The first elimination of the 2025 season is here with 500 laps on deck in the Bristol Night Race. Third in the playoff standings and 60 points above the elimination line, Kyle Larson has dominated the Last Great Colosseum in each of his last two starts, winning both by leading a combined 873 of 1,000 laps. The 0.533-mile bullring will mark the end of four drivers’ championship hopes. For others, Bristol could represent a key step closer toward title glory.
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