First Four Out: NASCAR Cup Playoff Field Cut to 12 at Bristol

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Speeding penalties, handling issues, and mechanical problems. The four drivers that saw their NASCAR Cup Series Playoff hopes dashed Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway had it all.

Ty Gibbs was the first driver to end the night on the outside looking in, having watched his six-point advantage that he came into the weekend with erased early on with a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 133.

The penalty dropped him to the tail end of the field and with track position being so important throughout the night, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was just never able to overcome the deficit and ultimately finished the night 11 points out.

To his credit, Gibbs took the blame for the penalty that set them back and was their ultimate demise in the Playoffs.

“I feel like we were really good in practice and qualifying, just a little bit too loose tonight and fired off too tight. Just unfortunate,” Gibbs said.

“The speeding penalty is on me. Just we run under the lights so close, and I just got a little bit too much, I guess. My fault. Unfortunate. Proud of these guys and all the effort that they’ve given me and we’ll keep hammering down.”

Truex: “Just hate I screwed it up for everybody.”

The pit road speed police also nabbed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex, Jr., who entered the night needing to make up a 14-point deficit to stay alive in the Playoffs in his final full-time season in the Cup Series.

For most of the night, he was in prime position to do so, running inside the top-five for the majority of the night to keep himself on the positive side of the cut-off line.

However, when Lap 333 rolled around, Truex was nailed for speeding on pit road and dropped to the tail end of the field as a result. Much like Gibbs, he could never make up the lost track position and finished the night in 24^th, 21 points out of being able to transfer.

Truex explained that he didn’t do much different on that run down pit road than any other time, but he found himself agonizingly over the speed limit by a miniscule amount – just enough to earn him the penalty.

“I was just trying to do the same thing every time, you know? And I guess it was 0.09 miles per hour, so just really frustrated, upset. Hate it for my guys,” Truex said.

“They worked so hard and we had a shot at it tonight. It wasn’t gonna be easy and there’s no guarantee. They said we had to run second or third to make it through. So, it was gonna be tough. I don’t know if we were quite good enough, but it would’ve been nice to find out at least. Just hate I screwed it up for everybody.”

He added that it was just a continuation of the disappointment he has faced lately, but hopes to be able to give his team a good run over the final seven races before they part ways when the checkered flag falls at Phoenix.

“Been getting used to swallowing disappointment lately, so I don’t know. It sucks,” said Truex. “But we got seven more races to try to go out on some high notes with this team and hopefully win a race. That’d be awesome. That’s gonna be our focus from here on out.”

Keselowski: “It was just a long night.”

The third Playoff driver to get kicked to the curb at Bristol was Brad Keselowski, who needed to make up 12 points entering the night to stay alive in the postseason, but seemingly from the start of the weekend, his No. 6 RFK Racing team had missed on the setup and struggled to find speed from the get go.

After falling a lap down in the first stage, it was all, but over for the 2012 Cup champion as he helplessly watched his Playoff hopes fade with each passing lap. He would finish the day in 26^th place, some 37 points in arears of the final transfer spot.

“It was just a long night,” said Keselowski. “We ran the best we could, we just didn’t have any pace.  We lost a lap early and that’s kind of what we had.  There was no attrition to the race and tires didn’t fall off and we didn’t have the pace.

“We didn’t show up in this round, I guess is probably just the easiest way to put it.  We didn’t get any results and it’s a results business.”

Burton: “We didn’t quit, but obviously a frustrating way to go.”

Last, but not least was Harrison Burton, who stunned the NASCAR world with his win in Daytona to even make the Playoffs, vaulting his team from outside the top-30 to be one of the teams with a shot at the championship.

However, with some 20 points to make up coming into Bristol to stay alive, Burton’s night went from bad to worse when a power steering issue cropped up on his No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Though he tried to muscle through it, he would eventually be forced to the garage for his team to repair it, but by then his Playoff hopes were toast.

Burton returned to the track several laps later and just ran out the remaining laps, finishing the night in 35^th, having been able to pick up a couple of spots due to attrition.

“Earlier in the race it started to get heavier and then by the last 60 laps I ran it had just zero power steering,” said Burton.  “It just got to where I couldn’t make corrections and my arms were just so tired that I couldn’t do anymore.  It’s a really sad way to end it, but really proud of our guys.  They changed the rack really fast and got a new pump in it.  We gained a couple spots just from guys wiping themselves out. 

“We didn’t quit, but obviously a frustrating way to go.  I’m happy to have been a part of it.  I’m proud of our guys for ending our relationship the right way and just hope to end the rest of the playoffs strong because we still have a lot to gain total points wise if we can just get some good races together. 

“We’re not quitting yet.  We’ll be back and ready to go.”