Denny Hamlin scored another swell finish Monday in the dirt.  He fell back to third on the final restart, but that was more than enough to expand his points lead.  His advantage is now 58 points, nearly a full race, over Monday's race winner Joey Logano.  Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps and won stage one Monday. but cut a tire on the final restart and finished 19th.  Despite this, he still moved up to third in points.  Kyle Larson was the odds-on favorite, but got caught up in multiple incidents.  He's down to fourth as a result of finishing 29th.

Brad Keselowski had a very quiet day Monday, but eventually rose up to 11th by the finish.  This performance keeps him in fifth.  William Byron is up two positions to sixth after a sixth-place finish.  Ryan Blaney got caught up in a late wreck that tore up the left rear of his Ford.  Despite this, he got back up to an eighth-place finish and keeps the seventh spot in points.  Kevin Harvick is down two positions to eighth after finishing 15th.

Chase Elliott has sole possession of ninth after finishing 10th.  Christopher Bell and Austin Dillon are now tied for 10th.  Bell ran in the top five early before getting eliminated in a crash.  Dillon struggled, but brought his Chevrolet home in 21st.  Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch are tied for 12th.  McDowell finished 12th, while Kyle Busch had overheating problems almost immediately.  He had to fight back from a lap down to finish 17th.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moved up three places to 14th after charging up to second in the closing laps.  Kurt Busch remains in 15th after a tough run to 16th, while Alex Bowman dropped two places to 16th after having to run the majority of the race in third gear.

Bowman is currently the last driver in the playoffs.  He has a four-point advantage over Chris Buescher, who ran decently before falling to 14th.  Ryan Preece is 18th, while Ryan Newman's fifth-place finish moved him up to 19th.  Daniel Suarez's fourth-place finish puts him 20th in points, 28 behind Bowman.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 327, 2) Joey Logano -58, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -80, 4) Kyle Larson -85, 5) Brad Keselowski -95, 6) William Byron -99, 7) Ryan Blaney -101, 8) Kevin Harvick -102, 9) Chase Elliott -116, t-10) Christopher Bell -141, t-10) Austin Dillon -141, t-12) Michael McDowell -144, t-12) Kyle Busch -144, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -147, 15) Kurt Busch -154, 16) Alex Bowman -155.

Playoff Points: 1) Joey Logano 9, 2) Kyle Larson -1, t-3) William Byron -3, t-3) Ryan Blaney -3, t-3) Martin Truex Jr. -3, t-6) Michael McDowell -4, t-6) Christopher Bell -3, , 8) Denny Hamlin -6, t-9) Brad Keselowski -8, t-9) Chase Elliott -8, t-9) Chris Buescher -8.

Stage Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 101, 2) Joey Logano -29, 3) Kyle Larson -39, 4) Ryan Blaney -40, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -42, 6) William Byron -46, 7) Chase Elliott -48, 8) Brad Keselowski -49, 9) Kurt Busch -67, 10) Kyle Busch -68, t-11) Kevin Harvick -69, t-11) Austin Dillon -69, 13) Christopher Bell -70, 14) Bubba Wallace -72, 15) Alex Bowman -75, 16) Chris Buescher -76.

Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -94, 23) Michael McDowell -95.

Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 261, 2) Joey Logano -30, 3) Kevin Harvick -39, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -41, 5) Kyle Larson -47, 6) Brad Keselowski -50, 7) Michael McDowell -55, 8) William Byron -57, 9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -59, 10) Ryan Blaney -66, 11) Chase Elliott -72, 12) Christopher Bell -77, 13) Austin Dillon -78, 14) Kyle Busch -82, 15) Chris Buescher -87, 16) Alex Bowman -92.

Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Kurt Busch -95.

Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Martin Truex Jr. (Phoenix), Ryan Blaney (Atlanta), Joey Logano (Bristol)

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

John Hunter Nemechek started from the pole and was decent early on.  Then, he got tapped by Matt Crafton entering turn 1 and spun.  10 seconds later, he was hit by Derek Kraus, ending his day.  The 39th-place finish resulted in minimum points for the day.  Despite that, he keeps the lead going into Richmond.  The advantage shrinks from 47 points over Ben Rhodes all the way down to six points after Rhodes finished second to Martin Truex Jr.  Sheldon Creed is still in third after finishing 16th.  Crafton is still in fourth despite his contact with Nemechek.

Stewart Friesen may not have been able to race against his wife Monday, but he ran well before dropping back to a 12th-place finish.  He is still in fifth.  Austin Hill is just two points behind him in sixth.  Zane Smith is up one place to seventh after finishing seventh.  Grant Enfinger, despite finishing the race on 110-lap tires, is up one place to eighth.

Tood Gilliland's fourth-place finish put him up to ninth, while Austin Wayne Self's 10th-place finish put him into the top 10.  Johnny Sauter and Carson Hocevar are tied for 11th.  Sauter crashed with Chandler Smith and ended up finishing 32nd while Hocevar had mechanical issues early, then recovered to finish 21st.

Sauter currently has the final spot in the playoffs at the moment due to a tiebreaker.  Brett Moffitt remains in 13th despite a spin dropping him to a 24th-place finish.  Raphael Lessard finally scored a decent finish Monday.  The third-place finish moved him up five places to 14th.  Chandler Smith's crash dropped him from 11th to 15th, while Tanner Gray is up to 16th.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 211, 2) Ben Rhodes -6, 3) Sheldon Creed -21, 4) Matt Crafton -40, 5) Stewart Friesen -53, 6) Austin Hill -55, 7) Zane Smith -74, 8) Grant Enfinger -80, 9) Todd Gilliland -84, 10) Austin Wayne Self -100, t-11) Johnny Sauter -102, t-11) Carson Hocevar -102, 13) Brett Moffitt -110, 14) Raphael Lessard -112, 15) Chandler Smith -116, 16) Tanner Gray -124. 

Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 10th in points.

Playoff Points: t-1) Ben Rhodes 10, t-1) John Hunter Nemechek 10, t-3) Raphael Lessard -8.

Note: If he were eligible for points, Martin Truex Jr. would be third in playoff points while Kyle Busch would be fourth.

Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 72, 2) Sheldon Creed -20, t-3) Ben Rhodes -30, t-3) Stewart Friesen -30, 5) Austin Hill -32, 6) Matt Crafton -38, 7) Raphael Lessard -40, 8) Zane Smith -49, 9) Chandler Smith -53, 10) Grant Enfinger -54, 11) Johnny Sauter -57, 12) Todd Gilliland -61, t-13) Brett Moffitt -62, t-13) David Gilliland -62, 15) Austin Wayne Self -63, 16) Christian Eckes -65.

Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be sixth, while Martin Truex Jr. would be 10th and Ross Chastain 14th.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 144, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -17, 3) Sheldon Creed -21, 4) Matt Crafton -26, 5) Grant Enfinger -45, t-6) Stewart Friesen -46, t-6) Austin Hill -46, t-6) Zane Smith -46, 9) Todd Gilliland -48, 10) Carson Hocevar -55, 11) Austin Wayne Self -62, 12) Brett Moffitt -71, 13) Johnny Sauter -74, t-14) Tanner Gray -75, t-14) Parker Kligerman -75, t-16) Chandler Smith -81, t-16) Ryan Truex -81.

Note: If he was eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 14th in old school points.

Race Winner: Ben Rhodes (Daytona-1, Daytona-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Martin Truex Jr. (Bristol)

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

"Man, it’s incredible. How about Bristol on dirt? This is incredible, unbelievable racetrack — great job by everyone that prepped the track. Obviously, a lot of work over here the last few days. We did a lot of work in the dirt department here the last few weeks. My buddy Ryan Flores and my car chief Jerry Kelley doing a good job with the modified and just making laps and learning where I was going. A lot of that helped. Kevin Buskirk helped a lot, too. He has a lot of knowledge and obviously Paul Wolfe, this team, great car obviously to be able to execute the race that we did and get a win. I was getting nervous. There were so many first-time winners and different winners than there has typically been I said, ‘We’ve got to get a win to make sure we get in the playoffs,’ so it’s amazing to get this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang into Victory Lane at Bristol. There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting dirt on it and being the first to do it is really special." - Joey Logano, race winner

"Our Kroger Camaro was really good on the long run; we needed a little bit more NOS Energy Drink for the restarts. I just couldn’t get going; couldn’t get the turn in the race car that we needed. But we made a ton of adjustments and we kind of went back and forth overnight of what we were going to do. (Kyle) Larson and I came out and hung with the track crew. Steve Swift and the boys did a great job of getting this thing raceable today with all the rain and all the challenges that they had.

"Man, we had a blast. At the start of the race, I was terrible with the green race track and a little bit of moisture in it. But as it blew off, we got back to where we were in practice and felt really good with it. A good way to go into the off week. I’m going to go run my sprint car with my dad this weekend. Hope everyone has a good Easter. Go get some NOS Energy Drink at Kroger!" - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished second

"Probably, I couldn’t see a whole lot. I was kind of guessing, but I thought I could – on that last restart – run the top-end hard, but they didn’t prep it in-between cautions like they did before, so it was just marbles up there. I’m proud of this whole FedEx Camry team. Man, I thought I had a shot there. I cut the 22 (Joey Logano) too many breaks there when he was cutting us off, but at the end of the day it looked like he had a little bit better car in the long run. I’m proud of this whole team. We are third-best again." - Denny Hamlin, finished third

"To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. But we’re having fun. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing did an amazing job. This is the second week in a row that we’ve had very fast race cars capable of running in the Top-5, Top-10. I couldn’t be more proud of all these guys (like) Justin Marks, Ty Norris, and everyone that helps in this program; Camping World, Chevy, CommScope. Everyone has been a huge support of myself. It just feels so good to be back. It’s been a little bit difficult the last year, and it feels so good to be able to race with these guys and to have some fun up front. Hopefully our time will come soon." - Daniel Suarez, finished fourth

"That was fun, no doubt. It was a good run for our Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang and a great team effort the entire week. I wish we could have had a chance to run the Truck race for Coke and Aggressive Hydraulics. I am really proud of the effort and a lot of guys got to see a lot more and experience a lot more. We got turned around there from a racing accident in turn 2 with the 24 and had to fight back and did. We just didn’t make it all the way back to the front. We had a pretty good car. I would have liked to see what we would have done with some track position but I am sure everyone else would say the same thing." - Ryan Newman, finished fifth

"That was a tough day for everybody out there, but I’m really proud of my BetMGM team for sticking with me all day long. It was truly a battle out there to keep up with the changing track conditions. I felt like we had everything come at us today. Our No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE fired off too loose and then built too tight as the track changed. Visibility was a huge challenge too. My spotter, Derek Kneeland, did a great job helping me through all the restarts when I couldn’t see anything on the track with all the dust. Towards the end of Stage 2, my engine temps started pegging and we were all worried that was going to ruin our race, but thankfully a caution came out at the right time. I was able to cool it off long enough under yellow to make it to the stage break and have my team work on it. We had a shot at a top-five at the end today, but I went for it on the top and the grip just wasn’t there like I hoped. But overall, a really good day for us. We’ll take this top-10 finish and build on it in a couple weeks at Martinsville Speedway." - Tyler Reddick, finished seventh

"Obviously, it was a long day, for sure, starting up towards the front and just hanging around there. We ran fifth or something in the first stage, but we were struggling a little bit with our race car and trying to find the best way to work on it and fix it. It was pretty tight in the middle. We couldn’t get the tightness out of it all day until the last run, really. And then we got really good, but we faded a little bit there and then had a restart and I couldn’t see nothing. Everyone was in the dust and I think I chopped down on the 18 and we wrecked and, luckily, we were able to fix it up nice and made some really good changes there for that last run. We drove all the way from like 22nd or 23rd to eighth, so just really proud of the effort. It’s a shame we didn’t find that change a little sooner than what we did, but, overall, a good comeback by the 12 group." - Ryan Blaney, finished eighth

"It was a good day for our No. 43 Tide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at the Bristol Motor Speedway. We started a little bit further back in the lineup, and worked our way towards the top-10. Our Richard Petty Motorsports team ended up getting some good stage points throughout the day (Stage 2, 8th-place) and ended up coming home in the ninth place. It was a solid day. What we were looking for today was getting back towards the top 10, and I think our Chevrolet Camaro was probably a little bit better than that even. We just kind of ran out of laps and ran out of time the way the race was sectioned out." - Erik Jones, finished ninth

"I was just trying to run the water in under yellow. I knew it was a little bit slick, but I felt like I could go up there and make some time and I kind of entered shallow underneath of it and tried to pick it up on exit and it was just really greasy up there. I hate it for all of our partners – IRWIN Tools, PristineAuction.com, Toyota, TRD. That was a lot of fun, being able to be out there for that first run was really cool and hate it that I can’t be out there longer." - Christopher Bell, finished 34th (Crashed out)

"It started before that. [Stewart Friesen] slipped off the bottom. I was hunting the bottom and he slipped off the bottom, and I was trying to get in between him and the silly humps there and he turned back down across my nose and hit me in the right-front and kind of ran me up over the dirt hump and I spun. You can’t stop. You can’t see. That’s honestly the biggest problem. In dirt racing you don’t have a windshield in front of you, so you can pull a tearoff. We can’t reach out there and pull a tearoff off our windshield, so you can’t see anything. Everybody just comes piling in because you can’t see." - Aric Almirola, finished 36th (Crashed out)