By: Zach Arnold

It seems like at least once every NASCAR race-weekend there will be some sort of rainfall. Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race was greeted with rain as soon as drivers fired their engines.

Once the race started, Christopher Bell led the field into turn one. The No. 20 on the front row has been a frequent sight having scored three straight poles. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led every single lap until the first caution came out due to Austin Cindric and A.J Allmendinger wrecking with 50 laps remaining in the stage. He would lose spots on pit road, and restart behind multiple drivers who stayed out.

During this caution, the NASCAR police were in full affect as six drivers received a penalty during this one pit stop cycle. Alternatively, the caution worked out for Corey Lajoie and Bubba Wallace whom did not pit to restart on the front row. Lajoie led for 30 laps, then the caution flag flew due to rain. Christopher Bell, a driver who took fresh tires during the first caution quickly made his way to second. The rest of the stage turned into a 12 lap shootout; Bell passed Lajoie and won the first stage.

Stage two took longer than normal to begin, due to rain as the caution was extended by15-20 minutes. Ty Gibbs was able to bring his No. 54 Toyota Camry to first place, and held the lead for a chunk of stage two, until Bell caught him. Bell won stage two, sweeping the first two stages, showing Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s were the cars to beat tonight.

Notably, Carson Hocevar, who only has four Cup Series starts, ran strong throughout the race. He brought his No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro to a fifth place finish in the second stage. He finished the race in 11th, just missing out on a top-ten. 

Ty Gibbs began the third stage from the first position, as Bell’s pit-crew lost four spots on pit road while Gibbs gained a couple spots. This was noteworthy as they swapped pit crews earlier in the season. Quickly into stage three, the caution flag flew. Unfortunately for Joey Logano, this caution ended his 2023 championship campaign. The No. 22 Ford Mustang had no where to go as others wrecked ahead of him. Corey Lajoie, Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon, and Ryan Newman were also involved.

Hamlin and Gibbs battled for a few laps once the race restarted. Hamlin was able to clear Gibbs for the lead. The final caution in tonight’s race was caused by their teammate Martin Truex Jr. as NASCAR made a quick call to throw out the yellow, Truex Jr only hit the wall and appeared slow on the backstretch. Even Truex Jr was confused on what the caution was for.

It was all about the No. 11 for the remaining 45 laps, as Hamlin beat a hard-charging Kyle Larson to the finish line.

“Everybody likes a winner right. I can’t thank this whole FedEx team enough. They really kicked ass this whole first round. Just amazing how good our team has been. So happy about the way we are running. I can’t wait to keep going.” Denny Hamlin said post race.

The Cup Series head to Texas motor Speedway to kick off the round of 12. Tune into NBC Sports this Sunday at 3:30 pm to catch the action.