BRISTOL, Tenn. — Denny Hamlin won the Bristol Night Race while Bubba Wallace, whose car Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan, overcame a 19-point deficit to advance to Round 2 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. also survived Bristol while defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano, the soon-to-retire Kevin Harvick, Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell were all eliminated.
Below, The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi give their takes on what just happened.
What was the scene like around Wallace?
Gluck: It took several minutes for Wallace to get out of his car, as he was overcome with emotion. 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick, who also made it to Round 2 for the first time in his career, leaned into Wallace’s window for a celebratory face-to-face moment.
Even after Wallace emerged to hug wife Amanda and slap hands with crew chief Bootie Barker, he slumped to the ground multiple times next to his No. 23 car to collect himself.
There were plenty of tears, and Wallace said it was a combination of everything: relief, joy, exhaustion. It was clear he put every ounce of himself into advancing into Round 2 after making the playoffs for the first time.
“I said to myself out loud, ‘Proud of you, kid.’ We all know…
