On the last overtime lap, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was in a race for the lead with Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, and William Byron. Byron seemed to give Stenhouse the boost he needed to move out into first place as the pack moved onto the front stretch.
As the drivers got closer to the start-finish line, Byron tried to go three wide, but he was a bit too late. First across the finish line was Stenhouse, followed by Keselowski and Byron.
This group has worked extremely hard. Evidently, since the 500 in 2023, we haven’t prevailed,” Stenhouse remarked afterwards.
We knew this was a track we had to take, so we worked very hard to find even a tiny bit of speed. I therefore thank all of our Southern Mississippians for attending.
The final ten places were occupied by Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, and Christopher Bell. Austin Cindric won Stage 2, and Chris Buescher won Stage 1.
Their postseason standing was enhanced by Byron and Larson placing in the top five. Prior to the race, Byron had the lead, followed by Larson in third. Byron secured his spot in the Round of 8.
Bell has a better chance of making the cut before the field of eight drivers gets smaller thanks to his sixth-place performance.
