HOMESTEAD, Fla – In one of the most thrilling NASCAR Cup Series Playoff races of the season, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell rallied from a frustrating race start to lead the final 16 laps of Sunday’s 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to earn a second straight appearance into the Championship 4.
With less than 50 laps remaining, Bell got around a pair of the day’s front runners in the final laps to blaze to the lead in the No. 20 JGR Toyota and claim that automatic championship admission ticket. It’s the 28-year-old Oklahoma native’s second win of the season – sixth of his career – and his first at Homestead.
His margin over second-place Ryan Blaney was 1.651 seconds.
There were five caution periods for a total of 35 laps. Twenty-three of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
This was the second race in the penultimate Round of 8 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Bell secured his spot in the Championship 4 via his win and joined last week’s winner, Kyle Larson. William Byron and Blaney are the other two drivers above the top-four cutline while Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, and Chris Buescher are currently below the cutline with one race remaining before the final, winner-take-all Championship 4 Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway.
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
SHR Race Finish:
- Aric Almirola (Started 30th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
- Kevin Harvick (Started 22nd, Finished 11th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
- Ryan Preece (Started 29th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 21st, Finished 17th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
SHR Points:
- Kevin Harvick (14th with 2,170 points)
- Aric Almirola (22nd with 616 points)
- Ryan Preece (24th with 590 points)
- Chase Briscoe (30th with 473 points)
Aric Almirola earned his fourth top-10 of the season and his fifth top-10 in 14 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead.
This was Almirola’s second straight top-15. He finished 14th last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“We ended up with a solid top-10 today even after a mistake on pit road by me,” said Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. “We finally had something go our way with that caution that brought us back into the game. We found some speed in our Smithfield Ford Mustang today. We needed a top-10 as a team after the year we’ve had, and to do it at Homestead is awesome. We never gave up today after coming back from 30th, to that penalty, and then back up again. We kept taking a swing at the balance all day and found something when it mattered. I love it here at Homestead and in my home state. Really excited to carry this momentum to Martinsville next weekend, where we had a shot at a win and ran up front all day.”
This was Harvick’s second straight result of 16th or better. He finished 16th last Sunday at Las Vegas.
Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only one finish outside the top 11 at Homestead.
Preece earned his 11th top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in five career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead.
Preece’s 13th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Homestead – 21st, earned in 2021.
“Decent day for our 41 group,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang. “We spent the majority of the first stage trying to get our car a little bit tighter so we could run the top, but our entry and exit were good throughout the day. Our car was fast and we were able to make positive gains throughout the day with pit strategy. Wish we could’ve gotten a few more spots there at the end, but it was an overall good day for us and we’ll take a 13th-place finish. Really looking forward to Martinsville next weekend, I know it’ll be a good weekend for us.”
Briscoe’s 17th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Homestead – 18th, earned in 2021.
“We never really could get the track position,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang. “I felt like our car was good enough to run up front. We were able to pass the 23XI guys who finished up front and were able to, about halfway finally get to 11th or 12th, then got a penalty that just kind of killed our day. Frustrating but, overall, we still had a fast car, which is a positive for our mile-and-a-half program. But it’s definitely frustrating. It shows how important execution is at this level, where you win or lose as a team – frustrating because we definitely had a car that was capable of running up front.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Xfinity 500 on Sunday, Oct. 29 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It is the second-to-last race of the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs and the final race in the Round of 8. The Xfinity 500 starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
