Originally published on Apr. 29, 2025
By Zane
Miller
First
round
(8) #18
Kyle Busch v. (1) #9 Chase Elliott
(7) #20
Christopher Bell v. (2) #22 Joey Logano
(6) #1
Ross Chastain v. (3) #12 Ryan Blaney
(5) #5
Kyle Larson v. (4) #19 Martin Truex Jr.
The first
playoffs of the NextGen car era kicked off at Kansas Speedway, which was no
problem for Christopher Bell as he took an unexpected lead over Joey Logano
with a third-place finish against a disappointing 17th from Logano. Kyle
Busch was also a no-show in the Sunflower State, ending up two laps down in 26th
after having a similarly mediocre qualifying run, enabling Chase Elliott to
claim the early lead with an 11th-place finish. In contrast, both
Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson ran inside the top-10, with Truex Jr. even
leading a handful of laps. At the end of the day, Truex nabbed the fifth spot
with Larson trailing behind in eighth. Another close battle took place between
Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney, with Chastain getting the seventh position and Blaney
following in ninth.
Bristol
Motor Speedway spelled the end of the postseason runs for three drivers,
beginning with Kyle Busch as he suffered an engine failure just past the
halfway point of the race. Elliott, now already locked into the semifinal
round, grabbed the runner-up spot. Logano was also out of the race before the
checkered flag fell, as he was done in by a suspension failure leaving him in
27th while Bell captured the fourth spot. Although Blaney was
technically still running at the finish, he was only able to return on-track after
spending 150 laps behind the wall. This was because of a flat tire causing the
#12 ride to strike the outside wall, snapping a toe link in the process. Blaney
ended the night in 30th, as Chastain finished sixth to punch his
ticket to the semifinals. The only series which was still ongoing after Bristol
was the Truex-Larson series, as Truex Jr. had the misfortune of finishing dead
last due to a broken steering system. Larson claimed fifth to go into Texas
with momentum. That momentum paid off with a ninth-place finish at the 1.5-mile
track, though the battle was already over on lap 267 with Truex blowing a tire
and crashing, ending what had been a promising run in 31st.
Semifinal
(7) #20
Christopher Bell v. (1) #9 Chase Elliott
(6) #1
Ross Chastain v. (5) #5 Kyle Larson
Despite
starting from the pole at Talladega, Bell was unable to stay up there, getting
the short end of the stick in the typical late race shuffle and finished 17th.
Meanwhile, Elliott earned the race win with a last-lap pass of Ryan Blaney for
his second career victory at the Alabama track. Elliott’s teammate did not fare
nearly as well, as Larson ended the afternoon in 18th despite a
front row starting spot. Chastain secured a sixth-place run to go into the
Charlotte roval with the advantage in the series.
At the
Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, Bell was able to redeem himself with an
overtime race win, getting around Kevin Harvick on the final restart to do so. Elliott
led 30 laps late in the going and seemed like he would have the series sweep,
but was spun out on the penultimate restart of the day. Though he had minimal
damage, his chance at the race win was over and wound up in the 20th
position. The battle between Chastain and Larson turned out to be a turtle
derby, as both drivers ended up finishing at the back of the field. Chastain
was the first to meet misfortune as he hit the wall off of turn two, breaking a
toe link as a result. He spent several agonizing laps in the garage for
repairs, but ultimately was able to return to the race. With 10 laps to go,
however, Chastain would see a glimmer of hope. Larson, who had been having an
uneventful day up to that point, made a similar error to Chastain by smacking
the wall in turn seven. This too broke a toe link on the #5 Chevy, sending him
to the garage. Larson had a nine-lap cushion over Chastain, but facing an issue
as severe as a broken toe link, the team would need to move quickly to complete
the repairs. The final laps began to tick away with Chastain continuing to
literally run laps around Larson, but the team was able to get their driver
back on the track with only five laps lost. The checkered flag waved with Chastain
in 37th and Larson living to fight another day in 35th.
At Las
Vegas for the conclusion of the semifinals, Larson would not make it to the
finish as this time he was involved in a crash that his crew could not help him
come back from. Racing for the lead with Bubba Wallace on lap 94, Larson
squeezed him into the outside wall, causing Wallace to intentionally wreck
Larson as the pair made their way down the frontstretch. Larson pounded the
outside wall hard, ending his shot at back-to-back titles. However, in the
process of sliding back up the track, Larson clipped Bell, which sent him into
the wall and ended his race as well. This resulted in a rather inconsequential
final 173 laps, with both Chastain and Elliott essentially locked into the
finals. They would finish 2nd and 21st respectively.
Final
(6) #1
Ross Chastain v. (1) #9 Chase Elliott
At
Homestead for the opener, Elliott was the pre-race favorite thanks to a
third-place starting spot, while Chastain was buried back in 20th.
However, once the race actually got underway, Elliott started going backward
while Chastain slowly clawed his way to the front. By the end of stage two,
Chastain was just two spots behind Elliott. In the final stage, it became
apparent that crew chief Phil Surgen had hit the setup perfectly on Chastain’s
car as he made his way deeper into the top-five. Chastain took the checkered
flag in the runner-up spot, with Elliott ending the day in 14th.
The finals
continued at Martinsville, which would be an interesting finish to say the
least. In the first two stages, Elliott showed himself to have the superior
car, as he finished second in both stages with Chastain in eighth both times. After
the caution came out with just 32 laps to go, though, Elliott lost a handful of
positions after a bad pit stop. Still, was able to stay ahead of his
championship competitor by one spot. For the next 25-plus laps, Chastain
patiently followed behind Elliott, waiting for his chance to strike. With four
laps to go, he got that chance as Elliott was held up by the slower car of Cole
Custer, giving Chastain a run from the inside lane. Despite his best efforts,
Chastain was able to complete the pass in turn two of the following lap. Now
with the #9 in his rear-view mirror, Chastain evidently wanted to make
absolutely sure that Elliott would not get around him on the final lap. As the
field approached turns three and four for the final time, Chastain did not slow
down for the tight corner, instead going full speed against the outside wall to
fly past the slower cars on the inside lane. The bold move succeeded(?) as he
gapped Elliott by a few more spots, taking fourth while Elliott finished 10th.
In any case, it created a memorable sight for Chastain’s first career Cup
championship.
Ross
Chastain’s stats for 2022 included two wins, 15 top-fives and 21 top-10s, finishing
runner-up in the real-life championship to Joey Logano.
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