Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 NASCAR Ford Mustang, won’t have the chance to go for back-to-back Cup Series championships this year, and Kevin Harvick will retire from the No. 4 Mustang without another championship trophy to his name. Both drivers were eliminated from the 2023 Playoffs after the race at Bristol on September 16th, 2023. In fact, three of the four drivers eliminated from the championship belonged to The Blue Oval camp.
Logano found himself in trouble after a wreck halfway through Saturday night’s race, during which the No. 22 Mustang was critically damaged. He ultimately had to retire from the event, finishing 34th and plummeting in the standings.
“Not as good as we needed to be,” Logano said of his overall 2023 performance. “Inconsistent. Not fast enough, not scoring stage points. When you don’t score stage points, that just says you’re not fast enough… If this was a few years ago and it wasn’t stage racing, we would be sitting in a lot better shape because we figure out a way to close races. But we don’t score the points during the race because we’re just not fast enough.”
Harvick, meanwhile, just wasn’t able to get the No. 4 NASCAR Ford up to speed and struggled with the handling throughout the race. He finished 29th, five laps down.
“There wasn’t a flash of brilliance from the time we took it off the truck,” Harvick said of the No. 4 Mustang. “We could have won Darlington. We were off at Kansas and terrible here.”
Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 34 NASCAR Ford, was also eliminated from the Playoffs, despite finishing sixth at Bristol. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., winner of this year’s Daytona 500 and driver of the No. 47 Chevy Camaro ZL1, was also knocked out of the championship.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | FedEx Freight Direct Toyota | 500 | 142 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 2 | 36 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | Valvoline/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet | 500 | 20 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | Reser's Fine Foods Toyota | 500 | 187 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 20 | 17 | Chris Buescher (P) | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 500 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 5 | 8 | 54 | Ty Gibbs # | Monster Energy Toyota | 500 | 102 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 4 | 34 | Michael McDowell (P) | Love's/Delo Ford | 500 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 7 | 7 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 8 | 6 | 6 | Brad Keselowski (P) | Castrol Edge Ford | 500 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 9 | 3 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Relay Payments Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 10 | 25 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (P) | Scott Brand Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 11 | 16 | 42 | Carson Hocevar(i) | Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet | 499 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 12 | 17 | 41 | Ryan Preece | Operating Engineers Ford | 499 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 13 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 499 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 14 | 9 | 23 | Bubba Wallace (P) | Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota | 499 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 15 | 12 | 45 | Tyler Reddick (P) | Jordan Brand Toyota | 499 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 16 | 30 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Speedy Cash Ford | 499 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 18 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet | 499 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 18 | 26 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield/IHOP Ford | 499 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 5 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. (P) | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 498 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 20 | 15 | 8 | Kyle Busch (P) | Cheddar's/ALSCO Uniforms Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 21 | 24 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Aerial Recovery Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 22 | 11 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Advance Auto Parts Ford | 498 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 23 | 23 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 24 | 31 | 43 | Erik Jones | U.S. AIR FORCE Chevrolet | 497 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 10 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | NEGU Chevrolet | 497 | 48 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 26 | 35 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | Steakhouse Elite Burgers Ford | 495 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 14 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford | 495 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 28 | 32 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 495 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 29 | 21 | 4 | Kevin Harvick (P) | GEARWRENCH Ford | 495 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 30 | 22 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Barger Precast Chevrolet | 491 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 34 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | FreedomWorksHere.com Chevrolet | 490 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 29 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Menards/Monster Ford | 488 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 33 | 77 | Ty Dillon | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 263 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 34 | 28 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 262 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 35 | 19 | 31 | Justin Haley | Mountain Dew Chevrolet | 261 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 36 | 27 | 51 | Ryan Newman | Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
P – Playoffs eligible
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