By: Zach Arnold

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Whenever the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway, everyone expects a show to be put on. The fans who attended got their money’s worth on Sunday afternoon.

The Food City 500 started with Ryan Blaney leading the field to the green flag. He did not hold the lead long, as rookie Josh Berry quickly took the top position away. It was not long until Berry dropped to second place when Hamlin took the lead. Hamlin only led a few laps out front until the first caution flag flew because of debris.

Almost every driver had come to pit road for tires and fuel during this break. Tyler Reddick was the only driver who decided to stay out on the track. On the restart, the 23XI driver was taken three wide and spun out from the lead after a bump from Berry bringing out the second caution.

After the race resumed, many drivers were able to find themselves in the lead. Due to the lack of grip, lead changes were very prominent throughout Sunday’s race, with the track record for lead changes set at 54 on Sunday. The race resumed with a battle of Berry and Bubba Wallace into turn one. Berry lost the lead and shuffled back to eighth place due to being stuck in the outside lane. 

The stage ended early with a wreck involving Kyle Busch and Hamlin. At this point, every driver complained about the lack of grip and tried to survive until the break. Ty Gibbs won the stage.

Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson opened up stage two from the lead. A few moments after pit stops over the stage break, NASCAR and Goodyear saw how worn out each tire was and Goodyear brought out an extra set of tires to each team. Greg Stucker (Goodyear) spoke to the media during the race, seeming a little unsure of why the on-track product was different than last year’s racing as the tire package was the same. “Still a bit unknown of why it is not behaving the same way[as the 2023 Fall race],” Stucker said.

Stage two ran under green flag conditions with Truex Jr leading part of the stage. Two cautions occurred after, Stenhouse Jr and Daniel Hemric wrecked, and Kyle Busch spun out in the later caution. Gibbs swept the opening two stages with Joe Gibbs Racing showing they were the strongest team at the track. Grip levels were still the major topic throughout the race.

JGR opened stage three, with all four cars running inside the top four. Berry brought out the first caution in the final stage with a spin. The Toyota Racing team continued to dominate the race until another caution occurred due to a Stenhouse Jr and Austin Cindric wreck.

Gibbs, Hamlin, and Truex Jr. battled each other until green flag pit stops began. Gibbs had raced to the point where he was running two-second slower laps than the leaders and had trouble getting to pit road. This hurt the 21-year-old’s chances at the win, as he finished in ninth.

After green flag pit stops, Hamlin held off his teammate Truex Jr for the remainder of the race; this marked Hamlin’s second win in a row at Bristol as he won the fall race here in September.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Circuit of the Americas for the sixth Cup Series race in 2024. Catch the race on FS1 next Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.