It was a bad day to be a playoff driver at Watkins Glen International.
On a day when 15 of the 16 title contenders were hoping to avoid trouble and secure their place in the Round of 12, most of the field was caught up in crashes and drama that left their playoff fates uncertain heading to the Round of 16 finale.
A classic battle for the win was settled by drivers outside of the playoff field. No playoff drivers finished in the top five and only two playoff drivers ended the day inside of the top 10. Chase Briscoe led all contenders with a sixth-place run, while Austin Cindric came home 10th.
Ryan Blaney was taken out in a lap 1 crash that also included Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell. Blaney was knocked out in 38th, but that was only the beginning of long days for the other three. Bell was later spun by Austin Dillon while trying to get to pit road.
Keselowski was hit with penalties for speeding and an uncontrolled tire that mired him in traffic and forced him into an alternate strategy. Hamlin had to rally from two laps down to salvage a point with a 10th-place finish in Stage 2.
The pair came together in Stage 3 when a three-wide battle with Kyle Larson went awry in the esses, sending Hamlin slamming into the wall a second time and causing further damage.
Hamlin wound up salvaging a 23rd-place finish from a brutal day that left him below the playoff cutline.
“It’s just a couple races where things out of your control didn’t go well,” Hamlin said of his Round of 16 run thus far. “(It started on) the first lap. I’ve got to take responsibility for what I did on Saturday, which is not qualify well. That’s on me. Certainly, that put us right in the middle of where wrecks usually happen and we got shoved into it.”
Keselowski soldiered on but was caught up in a third crash when Joey Logano lost control of his No. 22 Ford and turned him up into the wall in the esses again.
That last incident sent Keselowski into the path of William Byron, who climbed up the guardrail and put his right-front tire on top of Keselowski’s left-rear window. Thankfully neither driver was hurt, Byron didn’t get into the catch fence and they were each able to continue on after coming unlatched.
Keselowski’s Mustang had a lot of wear and tear. Motorsport Images
Keselowski limped home in 26th. Byron got the worst of the damage and finished two laps down in 34th.
“It’s really a shame,” Keselowski said of the final crash that ruined his comeback. “We had brand-new tires on. … I feel like we were going to salvage a really good day with everybody having old tires. Drive up to a top 10. Who knows? Maybe have a shot at a top five after everything we’ve been through. Didn’t make it through the first lap. Just a tough way to go.”
While those drivers got the worst of the damage, they were far from the only playoff drivers to endure difficult days. Larson, Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick were caught up in an accident that send Reddick spinning. Suarez later spun by himself and got trapped in the gravel with two laps left in Stage 2, throwing off the planned strategy for leading Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain and future teammate Shane van Gisbergen.
Larson and Suarez emerged relatively unscathed from the mayhem, coming home 12th and 13th at race’s end. Bell and Logano followed in 14th and 15th.
Reddick was less fortunate. Todd Gilliland was forced to lift after contact with Larson heading into the esses on a late restart and the field stacked up behind him. Two pairs of drivers made contact and washed up into the wall, including playoff contenders Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. Reddick was behind them and spun off the nose of Kyle Busch.
The accidents significantly hampered the runs of all three drivers. Elliott and Truex had to settle for 19th and 20th. Reddick faded to 27th.
None of the other playoff contenders fared much better. Harrison Burton avoided crashes, but blew a tire with 11th to go and came home 24th. Alex Bowman ended up 18th, with Ty Gibbs four spots back in 22nd.
Sunday’s chaos sets up a dramatic ending to the Round of 16 at Bristol, with many expected title contenders at risk of elimination.
Logano is locked into the Round of 12 with a win. Bell is in the best position of all other drivers, up 46 points on the cutline. Cindric (+43), Bowman (+41) and Suarez (+36) are also in good position to advance heading to the “Last Great Coliseum.”
Just behind them are many of the championship favorites. Reddick (+30), Elliott (+30), Blaney (+29), Larson (+26) and Byron (+25) can advance without any further issues, but run the risk of a shocking elimination with any issues.
Briscoe’s solid day turned his playoff hopes around, lifting him from last among contenders to six points above the cutline. Gibbs is tied with Briscoe in the final provisional Round of 12 spot.
The most shocking of the drivers below the cutline is Hamlin, who sits six points back heading to Bristol courtesy to his misfortune and lost playoff points from the penalties tied to his win at Bristol in the spring. The Virginian was a regular season title contender a month ago, but now sits at risk of an early postseason exit.
Despite the risk, Hamlin isn’t worried. “We’ll be fine,” he said. “I have no doubts that we’re going to be good, up front and control our own destiny.”
Keselowski sits 12 points out after his crash-filled day in New York. The retiring Truex (-14) will need a strong Bristol run to keep his final playoff run alive, while longshot Burton (-20) heads to Bristol in need of a win or some chaos to shock the field and advance to the Round of 12.
