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Denny Hamlin won the latest NASCAR Cup Series race at the Bristol Motor Speedway, his 51st career victory, on Saturday, September 16.
Hamlin started second and ran in the top-five for the majority of the race. Once he passed Ty Gibbs, he never looked back and dominated the latter portion of tonight's race.
With the dust settling on the contest, here are three takeaways from the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway:
#3 Carson Hocevar continues to impress
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20-year-old Carson Hocevar has been nothing short of impressive in his limited seat time in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In his first career start at Gateway Motorsports Park, Hocevar was close to the top 15 before his brakes failed. Since taking over from Noah Gragson in the #42, which is one of the worst cars on the track, he has been around the top 20 and was around the top 10 tonight. He even finished fifth in Stage 2, when multiple playoff drivers were struggling to stay on the lead lap.
With all signs pointing towards Hocevar being promoted from the Truck Series in 2024, it’ll be interesting to see what he can do with a full season ride.
#2 Playoff drivers' struggles
One of the major storylines tonight was the struggles of multiple playoff drivers. Even though Bristol is a small track and lapping happens quickly, it was still staggering to see how many drivers struggled tonight.
At one point, Michael McDowell, who is 16th in points, was only 15 points below the cut line and could have caused some issues for other drivers.
Even the defending series champion, Joey Logano, got caught up in a wreck and was eliminated.
#1 Bristol another perfect-cut race
While Daytona is the perfect cutoff race for the regular season, the Bristol Night Race is also a perfect cutoff race for the first round, even though there isn't as much of a chance of a wild card winner.
The short, fast action of the high banks of Bristol offers just as much chaos and a chance for what seemed like sure locks to be eliminated. We saw this tonight with Joey Logano.
With major changes to the 2024 season schedule seeming inevitable, this is one date that NASCAR should not mess with.
