Kevin Harvick brought the pain once again Saturday night, winning the race and leading the most laps.  That performance was more than enough to give him the victory in the Round of 12.  His margin of victory was a huge 56 points over Joey Logano, who finished 11th Saturday night and moved up two places to second.  Denny Hamlin ran in the back of Martin Truex Jr. and damaged his front end.  He ended up three laps down in 21st and dropped to third.  Chase Elliott finished a lap down in seventh.  He used that finish, plus a stage victory to move up three places to fourth.

Kyle Busch led 159 laps and finished second.  That moved him up four places to fifth.  Austin Dillon remained in sixth after finishing 12th.  Brad Keselowski led 82 laps, but lost his power steering and spent significant time behind the wall after failing to meet minimum speed.  A 34th-place finish dropped him four places to seventh.  Alex Bowman held onto eighth by finishing 16th.

Truex dropped four places to ninth after finishing four laps down in 24th.  Aric Almirola finished the Round of 16 in sole possession of 10th after finishing fifth.  Kurt Busch ended up 11th after finishing 15th.  Clint Bowyer finished sixth and claimed the final spot in the Round of 12.

Bowyer's margin was 28 points over Cole Custer.  Custer dealt with front end damage and finished 23rd.  That still allowed him to gain a spot over William Byron, who ran in the back of Christopher Bell and punctured his radiator.  Ryan Blaney struggled with handling and braking and finished 13th.  That still moved him up to 15th.  Matt DiBenedetto made an unscheduled stop and dropped three laps down.  He made that up and got to seventh, the first driver a lap down.  A cut tire with 15 laps to go put him back three laps down and down to 16th in points.

Outside of the playoffs, Jimmie Johnson finished 17th and held oh to 17th in points.  He's 39 points ahead of Erik Jones, who finished a strong third Saturday night.  Tyler Reddick finished fourth and held onto 19th, while Chris Buescher jumped up to 20th after finishing eighth.

In the Round of 12, Harvick will start off with a 19-point lead over Hamlin.  Keselowski is more than half a race back in third, then Logano, Elliott, Truex and Bowman.  Only those seven drivers will be within a race of Harvick.

Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Kevin Harvick 2200, 2) Joey Logano -56, 3) Denny Hamlin -62, 4) Chase Elliott -66, 5) Kyle Busch -70, 6) Austin Dillon -80, 7) Brad Keselowski -81, 8) Alex Bowman -82, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -91, 10) Aric Almirola -99, 11) Kurt Busch -102, 12) Clint Bowyer -105, 13) Cole Custer -133, 14) William Byron -138, 15) Ryan Blaney -142, 16) Matt DiBenedetto -146.

Note: Drivers in Bold have locked into the Round of 12.
 

Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Kevin Harvick 3067, 2) Denny Hamlin -19, 3) Brad Keselowski -32, 4) Joey Logano -45, 5) Chase Elliott -46, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -51, 7) Alex Bowman -58, t-8) Austin Dillon -62, t-8) Aric Almirola -62, t-10) Kyle Busch -63, t-10) Clint Bowyer -63, 12) Kurt Busch -66.

Best of the Rest: 13) Cole Custer 2067, 14) William Byron -5, 15) Ryan Blaney -9, 16) Matt DiBenedetto -13, 17) Jimmie Johnson -1347, 18) Erik Jones -1386, 19) Tyler Reddick -1415, 20) Chris Buescher -1537, 21) Christopher Bell -1541, 22) Michael McDowell -1555, 23) Bubba Wallace -1569, 24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -1593, 25) Matt Kenseth -1626, 26) Ryan Newman -1631.

Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 1201, 2) Denny Hamlin -167, 3) Brad Keselowski -198, 4) Joey Logano -213, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -219, 6) Chase Elliott -243, 7) Ryan Blaney -298, 8) Aric Almirola -346, 9) Kyle Busch -350, 10) Kurt Busch -394, 11) Clint Bowyer -399, 12) Alex Bowman -400, 13) William Byron -470, t-14) Matt DiBenedetto -481, t-14) Jimmie Johnson -481, 16) Austin Dillon -513.

Playoff Points: 1) Kevin Harvick 67, 2) Denny Hamlin -19, 3) Brad Keselowski -32, 4) Joey Logano -45, 5) Chase Elliott -46, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -51, 7) Alex Bowman -58, t-8) Austin Dillon -62, t-8) Aric Almirola -62, 10) Clint Bowyer -63, 11) Kyle Busch -63, 12) Kurt Busch -66.

Stage Points: 1) Joey Logano 276, 2) Kevin Harvick -3, 3) Ryan Blaney -5, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -29, 5) Chase Elliott -44, 6) Denny Hamlin -52, 7) Brad Keselowski -67, 8) Alex Bowman -80, 9) Kyle Busch -84, 10) Clint Bowyer -141, 11) Aric Almirola -142, t-12) Jimmie Johnson -148, t-12) William Byron -148, 14) Kurt Busch -172, 15) Matt DiBenedetto -181, 16) Erik Jones -184.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 1065, 2) Denny Hamlin -120, 3) Brad Keselowski -141, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -199, 5) Chase Elliott -214, 6) Aric Almirola -215, 7) Joey Logano -217, 8) Kurt Busch -255, 9) Clint Bowyer -280, 10) Kyle Busch -281, 11) Ryan Blaney -305, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -315, 13) Alex Bowman -335, 14) William Byron -347, 15) Austin Dillon -348, 16) Erik Jones -359.

Outside of the Top 16, But Still In Playoffs: 19) Cole Custer -412.

Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona-1, Darlington-2, Homestead, Pocono-2, Kansas, Dover-1), Joey Logano (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Alex Bowman (Fontana), Kevin Harvick (Darlington-1, Atlanta, Pocono-1, Indianapolis, Michigan-1, Michigan-2, Dover-2, Darlington-3, Bristol-2), Brad Keselowski (Charlotte-1, Bristol, Loudon, Richmond), Chase Elliott (Charlotte-2, Daytona-2), Martin Truex Jr. (Martinsville), Ryan Blaney (Talladega), Cole Custer (Kentucky), Austin Dillon (Texas), William Byron (Daytona-3)

 
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

Austin Cindric was in position to score a victory Friday night in Bristol.  Then, the power steering turned traitor.  He was able to hold onto third and finish the regular season with a 65-point advantage over Chase Briscoe.  Briscoe was able to claim his seventh win of the year.  Ross Chastain finished second and finished the regular season in third.  Noah Gragson is still in fourth after finishing seventh.

Justin Allgaier had the best car for most of the night, but ended up finishing fifth.  He moved up one place to fifth as a result.  Justin Haley finished a lap down in 16th and dropped to sixth.  Harrison Burton is still in seventh after finishing fourth, while Brandon Jones moved back up to eighth after finishing eighth.

Jones passed Michael Annett, who was eliminated in an early crash and finished 31st.  Riley Herbst is still 10th, while Ryan Sieg is 11th.  Brandon Brown finished 12th and claimed the final spot in the playoffs.

Brown's final margin was 48 points over Jeremy Clements.  The two drivers have been evenly matched over the past month or so, but Clements couldn't make up for his bad start to the season.  Alex Labbe finished 13th Friday night and moved up to 14th in points.  Josh Williams is now 15th, while Myatt Snider had another miserable finish after an early engine failure.  That dropped him back to 16th.

When the playoffs begin Saturday in Las Vegas, Cindric and Briscoe will be tied for the points lead.  They'll have a 17-point advantage over Allgaier, then Gragson, Jones, Haley, Burton and Chastain.

Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 1135, 2) Chase Briscoe -65, 3) Ross Chastain -76, 4) Noah Gragson -141, 5) Justin Allgaier -217, 6) Justin Haley -226, 7) Harrison Burton -242, 8) Brandon Jones -344, 9) Michael Annett -357, 10) Riley Herbst -461, 11) Ryan Sieg -495, 12) Brandon Brown -573, 13) Jeremy Clements -621, 14) Alex Labbe -673, 15) Josh Williams -682, 16) Myatt Snider -684.

Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are currently outside of the playoffs.

Round of 12 Point Standings: t-1) Chase Briscoe 2050, t-1) Austin Cindric 2050, 3) Justin Allgaier -17, 4) Noah Gragson -25, 5) Brandon Jones -30, 6) Justin Haley -32, 7) Harrison Burton -36, 8) Ross Chastain -40, t-9) Ryan Sieg -48, t-9) Michael Annett -48, 11) Riley Herbst -49, 12) Brandon Brown -50.

Best of the Rest: 13) Jeremy Clements 514, 14) Alex Labbe -52, 15) Josh Williams -61, 16) Myatt Snider -63, 17) Jesse Little -83, 18) Anthony Alfredo -105, 19) Daniel Hemric -131, 20) Tommy Joe Martins -154, 21) BJ McLeod -174, 22) Joe Graf Jr. -176.

Playoff Points: t-1) Austin Cindric 50, t-1) Chase Briscoe 50, 3) Justin Allgaier -17, 4) Noah Gragson -25, 5) Brandon Jones -30, 6) Justin Haley -32, 7) Harrison Burton -36, 8) Ross Chastain -40, t-9) Ryan Sieg -48, t-9) Michael Annett -48, t-11) Riley Herbst -49, t-12) Brandon Brown -50.

Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 350, 2) Ross Chastain -48, 3) Justin Allgaier -64, 4) Chase Briscoe -72, 5) Noah Gragson -86, 6) Justin Haley -154, 7) Harrison Burton -181, 8) Brandon Jones -182, 9) Michael Annett -226, 10) Riley Herbst -244, 11) Daniel Hemric -258, 12) Ryan Sieg -263, 13) Jeb Burton -301, 14) Anthony Alfredo -308, t-15) AJ Allmendinger -321, t-15) Brandon Brown -321.

Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 13th in stage points.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Briscoe 913, 2) Austin Cindric -5, 3) Ross Chastain -34, 4) Noah Gragson -59, 5) Harrison Burton -79, 6) Justin Haley -95, 7) Michael Annett -152, 8) Justin Allgaier -157, 9) Brandon Jones -180, 10) Riley Herbst -234, 11) Ryan Sieg -248, 12) Brandon Brown -274, 13) Jeremy Clements -303, t-14) Josh Williams -355, t-14) Alex Labbe -355, 16) Myatt Snider -374.

Race Winners: Noah Gragson (Daytona-1, Bristol), Chase Briscoe (Las Vegas, Darlington-1, Homestead-2, Pocono, Indianapolis, Dover-2, Bristol-2), Harrison Burton (Fontana, Homestead-1), Brandon Jones (Phoenix, Kansas, Darlington-2), Kyle Busch (Charlotte), AJ Allmendinger (Atlanta), Justin Haley (Talladega, Daytona-3). Austin Cindric (Kentucky-1, Kentucky-2, Texas, Road America, Daytona-2), Justin Allgaier (Dover-1, Richmond-1, Richmond-2)

Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

"To beat Kyle Busch at Bristol, I kind of got myself in a little bit of a ringer there. I hit a lapped car and got a hole in the right-front nose, but just kept fighting. We don’t have anything else to lose. We were here to try to win a race. I know how much Rodney really enjoys coming here and, hell, how can you not enjoy coming here with all this enthusiasm. Everybody is tired of being at home.

"I’m just so happy to drive this Busch Light Ford. I’m so happy to see all these fans in the grandstands. I was so jacked up when I got in this race car tonight to come here and just race and to be able to do that in front of people, that’s the enthusiasm that you get is from the crowd and I’m so excited for our team. Everybody from Busch Light and Mobil 1, Ford Mustang, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Jimmy John’s, everybody who helps us at the shop. The guys are just doing a great job." - Kevin Harvick, race winner

"Just didn’t have enough at the end. The guys did a great job and gave me a really great piece tonight to contend and at least be up there and be close. Unfortunately, just didn’t have enough. Lapped cars were definitely a problem. It’s part of racing. You have to try to get around them where you can and there was just no room for me to do what I needed to do with a couple of those opportunities to get past them.

"We had a really good Skittles Camry; it was fast and the team gave me a piece to contend with at least. We definitely weren’t the fastest car. The 4 (Kevin Harvick) was definitely the fastest car. We made some adjustments there the last run and got closer and better. Just lapped traffic. Gotta go where they ain’t and man, where they are, you want to be. We got the lead from the 4 there on the last run and just got stuck with the 22 (Joey Logano), as usual, him being a dickhead. Then the last lap, I don’t even know who the hell the black car was that just stopped on the backstretch. That’s it, we lost." - Kyle Busch, finished second

"It was, I guess, a solid day. I felt like we had a good car out there in the end. We had to start in the back and that took a while to work through there and get some track position. It’s pretty challenging to pass here even though it’s a short track. A good run. The Auto Owners Camry got better all night, and honestly, the last run of the race was our best. We got up there into third and I kind of knew I couldn’t beat those guys straight up. So, I tried to stay a little bit on the front half of the run and run at the end hard and just kind of ran out of time. I had just got to those guys when I took the checkered, so a good day. It was nice to be up there in contention at the end, but close again at Bristol. Especially in this race. We’ve been close a few times, just want to close one out here soon." - Erik Jones, finished third

"Our No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet Camaro was a fast one tonight, and we had a great finish to show for it at Bristol Motor Speedway. It took a couple adjustments to get our car to where I needed it to be, but our communication as a team on what adjustments to make has been a big focus for us over the past few weeks and that paid off during tonight’s race. I fired off a little loose on the bottom and tight on the top, so our team had a decision to make on what to focus on. I felt that the top the better groove for our car, so we chose to work on loosening up our Chevrolet a little bit throughout the night and got it in a really good spot for the final stage. Those adjustments made it so I was able to cut through traffic during that last stage and race our way into the top five for the last 100 laps or so. I think I may have pushed my front tires a little bit too much on that final run, but this was a really good night for our team. We’re chasing wins in these remaining races while also working on building a strong notebook for next year, and this is a solid step in the right direction for both of those goals." - Tyler Reddick, finished fourth

"We definitely did what we needed to do. Our Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Engine Ford Mustang was pretty good tonight. We were just way too loose to run with [Kevin Harvick] or [Kyle Busch]. The cycle on the tires when we actually had that caution, had a cycle on the tires and that usually makes it tighter and that was by far our best run. We drove up through them pretty good and put ourselves in position there, but as soon as the green flag dropped right there at the end I was right back loose again. We did what we had to do. Obviously, you come here to win a race and be on top of that building over there, but proud of the guys and all their efforts. We’re moving forward and that’s all that matters right now." - Clint Bowyer, finished sixth

"Definitely excited to move on in the playoffs. I thought the NAPA team had a solid race tonight. It’s unfortunate the way the pit cycle went there, but I felt like we were close. Not sure if we were as good as [Kevin Harvick] and [Kyle Busch], but I thought we were close to them. I am proud of the effort and I hope this next round is good for us. It’s definitely not going to get any easier as it goes. Nice to get the stage point and stage win and we will try again in Vegas." - Chase Elliott, finished seventh

"Well, what an awesome night for our No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang. We got a top-10 at Bristol. I’m really proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports. I’m so thankful to Bob Jenkins and all of my guys for giving me this opportunity. It’s the best season that I’ve ever had and another top-10 really helps to keep our momentum rolling. We also have a Ford in Victory Lane, so that’s awesome. I’m just super-excited to get a top-10 at Bristol." - Michael McDowell, finished 10th

"We had a car that was probably top-five. It wasn’t as good as the 4 and 18 but we had something that was competitive and had that longer run with a loose right rear wheel and we tried to make it last long and it started to get pretty bad. Here, if you go too long it will ruin your chances for the day. It felt like we were late enough in the run that maybe we would start to cycle if we pit. We were so close. The caution was because of the 4 pitting and bottling everyone up. We were probably 10 or 15 laps from the cycle being complete and getting our lap back and being in contention for an even better finish. That is how it goes sometimes. We had a solid car and we have a lot of momentum still into the playoffs with three really solid runs outside of one little hiccup here. We will move on to the next round and be happy." - Joey Logano, finished 11th

"We did what we had to do tonight in our Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/ E-Z-GO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. We advanced to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs. We started off really strong, but our Chevy ended up getting extremely tight in stage two. We recovered from that and were running in the top 10 when Harvick slowed on the track to make a green-flag pit stop. I got on my brakes as hard as I could to avoid hitting him, but a lapped car was in the middle of the track and I had nowhere to go. My RCR team did a great job making repairs, but we were never able to catch the break we needed to get back into the top five. Our car was fast overall tonight, though, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish during the remainder of the season. We’ll go to Las Vegas next week and try to get a win." - Austin Dillon, finished 12th

"We started off tight and then that second run we got really tight after the comp caution and lost a lot of track position. After that, we kind of were able to drive up through there. We got to fifth or sixth the one time and we were super tight again and it went really long. That just kind of made it worse and we just kind of got behind there. The track just swung really tight. I was kind of tight all night, but it just swung really tight on us and that was just the wrong direction that the track needed to be at. That stinks. I thought we got our car pretty close there in the second half of the race after the second stage, and then we were on the cycle of pitting and getting laps down and was on old stuff, so it was an unfortunate end for this 12 group, but I’m really proud of the effort this year and we’re not done. We can still go and try to win races and try to get fifth in points, so thanks to Advance Auto Parts and Menards and Ford for what they do. We’ve got seven more races. We’ll do our best." - Ryan Blaney, finished 13th

"That was pretty eventful. We had a really good car all night. Our Axalta Camaro was really fast. Probably going to end up somewhere in the top five, at least the top 10. We just had a tire issue under green there in the last stage and had to pit. Unfortunately, we were not in our window to pit. Once the caution did come out, we weren’t able to take the wave around. We were just kind of trapped there and unfortunately couldn’t recover from that. I think we finished 16th. So awesome to advance to the next round. Proud of my team. This is the strongest we have been going into the Round of 12. I feel like we have some great tracks for us coming up. This is the most consistent we have been as a race team. I am bummed we lost our streak of top-10 finishes, but we have plenty more opportunities throughout the year to have great cars and contend for wins. Wish we would have ended up a little better, but we are ready for Vegas." - Alex Bowman, finished 16th

"If we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all. I don’t know. It’s just frustrating. I hate it. I want to get Menards and Dutch Boy and this team a good run like they deserve because we’ve had a rough couple weeks, and had a loose wheel, overcome it — drive through the entire field with a lot of green flag. We get to seventh, hoping for a caution, but either way we drove to the top 10 — good run — and I was screaming, ‘Debris in 1,’ three damn times and we found it. We ran it over multiple times and I cut the right-rear down and it just ruins our day. - Matt DiBenedetto, finished 17th

"I think [Martin Truex Jr.] must have been on the splitter or something when he came out after he took a green flag pit stop. He just kind of went straight off of the corner. I was running the top and when he went straight, he saw he was going to hit the wall, so he slammed on the brakes and I was going, so I jammed up under him. That was unfortunate. That was bad luck for us. I think he was a couple laps down, but they were fighting their car all day. I’m sure they got in the next round, but we just had some bad luck. We drove up to fifth, and I felt pretty good. We caught the lead within three seconds – drove to them within three seconds, so I was pretty happy about where we were going to be, and then we crashed." - Denny Hamlin, finished 21st

"We just struggled here. I don’t know why. I’ve always liked Bristol, it just hasn’t come together this year here. We’ve just really struggled. I just can’t thank everybody enough at SHR, everybody at HaasTooling.com, Autodesk. I just wish we had a better night. We were just a little bit off. I think we can hang our heads high on what we’ve done this year, but we still have a lot of races to win the rest of this year, so we just have to keep building." - Cole Custer, finished 23rd

"It was a frustrating night, there is no way around that. I am thankful we were able to lead some laps but that certainly was not what we were hoping for. We had a power steering pump issue. I am not sure exactly what it was. I will let the team guys get to that and chase it down. Obviously it killed out chances. I don’t know what would have happened if we didn’t have that problem but we did so we will move on to the next week and I am thankful we had the win at Richmond last week to fall back on." - Brad Keselowski, finished 34th

"Yeah, we were running tenth, I believe, and trying to get a couple of stage points. We had gotten a few in the first stage. Our car was really good, just needed a little bit of track position I feel like. Probably went the wrong way on the last adjustment – tried to get myself turning a little better and it got too free. Really the incident, [Joey Gase], I think it was green and black car, was coming off the corner and [Christopher Bell] and I were both running the top. [Gase] just checked up in the middle of the straightaway and had nowhere to go. [Bell] slammed on the brakes to try to not hit him and I slammed into him because I was on his bumper. So, just a terrible situation, but not really sure why that happened or what really transpired for him to stop like that. But, go back on SMT like we can now and look at what happened and move on." - William Byron, finished 38th (Crashed out)