Things looked promising for The Blue Oval in the early stages of the annual dirt race at Bristol on April 9th, 2023, but a series of incidents knocked the NASCAR Ford teams back throughout the event, which saw 14 caution flags thrown for stage breaks and on-track incidents.
The most notable incident occurred between the No. 41 Ford Mustang of Ryan Preece and the No. 5 Chevy Camaro ZL1 of Kyle Larson. Larson led for quite a few laps in the No. 5 Camaro, but he made contact with Preece’s No. 41 Mustang, forcing the latter into the outside wall. Preece, understandably upset by the contact, then tracked down Larson’s No. 5 Camaro 20 laps later and threw his No. 41 Mustang into it. Larson’s No. 5 Camaro spun, sustaining terminal suspension damage, and was ultimately scored 35th, while Preece piloted the No. 41 Mustang to 24th.
After winning Saturday’s Truck Series race on the Bristol dirt, Joey Logano was expected to be a threat in his No. 22 Mustang, but he just couldn’t get the race car under him. In fact, Logano ended up wrecking and had to retire the No. 22 NASCAR Ford early, finishing dead last in 37th.
Chase Briscoe, meanwhile, kept the No. 14 Mustang near the front of the field for the duration of the race, though he never led any laps. He was passed by eventual winner Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Toyota TRD Camry, as Briscoe’s No. 14 scraped the outside wall and scrubbed off speed. Briscoe and the No. 14 Mustang were credited with a fifth-place result.
Todd Gilliland quietly finished eighth in the No. 38 Mustang, followed by Kevin Harvick’s ninth-place finish in the No. 4 Mustang.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | 20 | Christopher Bell | DeWalt Power Stack Toyota | 250 | 100 | Toyota TRD Camry |
2 | 6 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | SiriusXM Radio Toyota | 250 | 69 | Toyota TRD Camry |
3 | 2 | 3 | Austin Dillon | BREZTRI Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
4 | 22 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Irish Spring Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
5 | 14 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Magical Vacation Planner Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
6 | 25 | 31 | Justin Haley | Tide Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
7 | 27 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 250 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
8 | 15 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Speedy Cash Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
9 | 26 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Busch Light Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
10 | 23 | 54 | Ty Gibbs # | Interstate Batteries Toyota | 250 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
11 | 13 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
12 | 11 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald's/Dr Pepper Toyota | 250 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
13 | 10 | 24 | William Byron | RaptorTough.com Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
14 | 18 | 43 | Erik Jones | Club Wyndham Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
15 | 20 | 21 | Harrison Burton | DEX Imaging Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
16 | 29 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Gain Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
17 | 33 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | King's Hawaiian Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
18 | 28 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
19 | 7 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Discount Tire Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
20 | 3 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | Public Sq. Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
21 | 32 | 77 | Ty Dillon | Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
22 | 30 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Ground Toyota | 250 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
23 | 9 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Maytag Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
24 | 8 | 41 | Ryan Preece | United Rentals Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
25 | 34 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Jockey Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
26 | 37 | 78 | BJ McLeod | Gunk Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
27 | 31 | 9 | Josh Berry(i) | Hooters Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
28 | 16 | 1 | Ross Chastain | AdventHealth Chevrolet | 249 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
29 | 17 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 248 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
30 | 35 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | NationsGuard Chevrolet | 247 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
31 | 19 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 240 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
32 | 5 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet | 236 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
33 | 36 | 42 | Noah Gragson # | Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet | 205 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
34 | 24 | 51 | Matt Crafton(i) | Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford | 185 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
35 | 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 177 | 75 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
36 | 21 | 13 | * Jonathan Davenport | Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet | 176 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
37 | 12 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 96 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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