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Kevin Harvick is on the board.
The veteran NASCAR Cup driver earned his first win of the 2022 season, having his checkered-flag moment at the Michigan International Speedway's FireKeepers Casino 400.
Bubba Wallace finished as the runner-up, with Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five.
Harvick had gone 65 straight races without a win. And did he need it, as he entered Sunday 17th in the playoff standings but moved into the 16-car postseason bracket with three races remaining.
"Good timing, for sure," Harvick said of getting a clutch win Sunday in his post-race interview on USA. "You know, we've had several good runs the last few weeks ... where the car ran good, and we just didn't have everything work out."
"Everybody who doubted us doesn't know us," he continued. "They obviously know that we thrive in these types of situations. A lot of things went our way today, which we haven't had all year long."
That leaves the race for the final playoff spot between Blaney and Martin Truex Jr., barring a new top-30 winner down the stretch. Blaney, who came into the day with 696 points and finished fifth, will remain ahead of Truex, who came into the day with 671 points and finished sixth. Neither has a victory that would automatically qualify for the playoffs.
As always, a number of crashes impacted the race, as JJ Yeley, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and Aric Almirola found themselves at the center of a nine-car wreck in Lap 25.
And Ross Chastain and Christopher Bell had a dustup with 41 laps remaining, but both were able to continue.
The Cup Series now moves to Richmond, Virginia, for the Federated Auto Parts 400 next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA.
Ryan Blaney overcame a bizarre finish to win the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on Sunday.
Blaney took home a $1 million prize for his victory. It's his first top-four finish in the All-Star Race in his sixth appearance.
On the final lap, Blaney had a massive lead, but as he approached the finish line, a caution came out for a car in the back of the pack running into the wall. The rules of the All-Star Race state that the race must be completed under the green flag. Blaney was seconds away from victory before the yellow lights flashed.
However, Blaney and his team already thought they had the win. He had brought down his window netting and had trouble getting it back up for a while before the restart. When things finally got back underway, Blaney managed to hold off Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric to earn the win.
Here are the winners from each of the four stages:
Stage 1: Kyle Busch
Stage 2: Austin Cindric
Stage 3: Ryan Blaney
Stage 4: Ryan Blaney
Kyle Busch opened the competition with an easy win in the first stage. He started in pole position and didn't relinquish the top spot in the 25-lap run.
The top-eight drivers after the first stage stayed out and chose not to pit.
Late in the second stage, Kyle Larson ran into the wall causing the caution flag to be brought out. Larson, a two-time All-Star Race winner and the reigning champ, blew out his right front tire, ending his chances at a second consecutive victory.
After the restart, Sunday's race quickly got turned upside down. A tire issue by Busch caused his car to slow down on the race track, and Ross Chastain collided with him and then ran into Chase Elliott, knocking all three of them out of the race. Each of them was among the favorites to take home the victory prior to the wreck.
Austin Cindric was the main beneficiary, as he held on to win the second stage after the restart and inherited the pole for the final stage.
Joey Logano's team won the pit stop competition between the second and third stages, earning him the fourth spot for the final. The pit crew earned a $100,000 prize for the win.
The third stage was close to being completed with no issues, but Christopher Bell ran into the wall to bring out the caution with three laps to go. Blaney managed to take the stage win after the restart.
Blaney moved into the overall lead to open the final stage. Midway through, the caution came out after Erik Jones spun into a wall, continuing the theme of tire issues.
With 25 laps remaining after the restart, drivers faced a crucial decision of whether to pit or stay on the track. The front of the field stayed out while the drivers in the middle of the pack entered pit road for some quick adjustments.
Blaney opened up a substantial lead over Hamlin before the chaos ensued. While the rules are known, it seemed a bit trivial that Blaney had to run another lap to officially win. But he managed to hold on to secure his first career victory in the All-Star Race.
With the All-Star Race in the books, the drivers will turn their attention to next Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 400-lap race will begin at 6:00 p.m. ET on Fox.
Hendrick Motorsports dominated the Daytona 500 qualifying session on Wednesday night.
Kyle Larson took the pole position for Sunday's race, and Alex Bowman ended up on the front row alongside the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion.
Larson and Bowman have nothing to race for in Thursday's Duels, which takes out half of the Hendrick cars for victory contention in the two qualifying races.
Most of the recent Duel winners have come from NASCAR's big teams. Team Penske has a Duel win in three of the last four seasons, and Stewart-Haas Racing picked up wins in 2019 and 2021.
Ryan Blaney is the top non-Hendrick driver scheduled to take part in Duel 1 on Thursday. Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch will attempt to get results for their new teams.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch headline the Duel 2 lineup. Hamlin is a three-time Daytona 500 champion.
Updated Daytona 500 Odds
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
Denny Hamlin (+850; bet $100 to win $850)
Chase Elliott (+1000)
Kyle Larson (+1100)
Joey Logano (+1200)
Ryan Blaney (+1200)
William Byron (+1500)
Kyle Busch (+1500)
Brad Keselowski (+1600)
Kurt Busch (+1700)
Kevin Harvick (+1800)
Alex Bowman (+1800)
Austin Dillon (+1800)
Duels Predictions
Ryan Blaney Captures Duel 1
Ryan Blaney has the potential to grab a second-row starting spot on the Daytona 500 grid through a win in Duel 1.
Blaney put down the fastest time in the second practice session on Tuesday, and he is just a few years removed from winning a Duel race in 2018.
Blaney has one teammate to work with in Austin Cindric. The two Team Penske drivers should work together to reach the front.
The No. 12 car driver faces a major threat from the three Hendrick cars in Duel 1, but one of those drivers is not racing for anything. Larson likely will not be as competitive as he preserves his car for Sunday's race.
The two Penske drivers could control the race alongside Chase Elliott and William Byron since a bunch of drivers from smaller teams are entered into Duel 1.
Team Penske proved it has the horsepower on Tuesday, and its best opportunity to extend its Duel-winning run to four times in five years comes via Blaney in a weaker Duel 1 field.
Joe Gibbs Racing Cars Control Duel 2
One of the best things to have at Daytona International Speedway is a teammate or two to draft with throughout the race.
Joe Gibbs Racing has its full complement of cars in Duel 2. Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell all start between the second and fifth rows.
The four drivers can team up to remain near, or at, the front of the competition for the duration of the race.
Even though Hamlin is a three-time Daytona 500 champion, the Joe Gibbs cars have not won a Duel since 2017, when Hamlin captured the second qualifying race.
The quartet of drivers should try to stick together in an attempt to win Duel 2 and to be lined up behind each other for the Daytona 500.
The second Duel race will determine the even-numbered starting positions, which means all of the Gibbs cars will start on the same lane on Sunday.
Hamlin, Busch, Truex and Bell could use Thursday's race as practice for how they can control the main event on Sunday, and that should result in all of them running at the front.
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The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Duels will take place as part of a condensed schedule to open the season at Daytona International Speedway.
The series typically spends two weeks at Daytona, but this year's Clash exhibition race took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Feb. 6.
NASCAR's best drivers did not get on the track in Florida until Tuesday for practice. The qualifying session for the front row will take place on Wednesday.
The starting lineups for Duel 1 and Duel 2 will be determined based off the order from Wednesday's qualifying runs.
One of the duels will set the odd-numbered starting positions for Sunday's Daytona 500, and the other will determine the even-numbered spots on the grid.
NASCAR Duels Information
Date: Thursday, February 17
Start Times: 7 and 8:45 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and FoxSports app
Predictions
Team Penske Sits At Top Of Field
Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano laid down the two best times in the second practice run on Tuesday afternoon.
Austin Cindric, who took over for Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 car, was eighth in the second practice session.
The three strong runs by the Team Penske cars put them in a good position for the qualifying session and to have success in the duels.
Of course, plenty of alterations will be made over the next 48 hours, but it is a promising sign for Team Penske to open up the NextGen car era with a strong outing on the track.
The team is used to having success in the Duel races. It has won one of the two races in three of the last four years. Blaney claimed victory in 2018 and Logano triumphed in 2019 and 2020.
The recent success in navigating the event could help Team Penske settle into the races. It would help any of the three drivers if they ended up in the same race for drafting purposes.
If Blaney or Logano do not earn the pole through qualifying, look for them to be at the front of their races. Cindric, the 2020 Xfinity Series champion, could be in the mix as well because of the horsepower in his car.
Ford Cars Control Races
Ford cars produced all of the top-10 times during Tuesday's second practice.
Some unlikely drivers, such as Harrison Burton, Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe, were among the racers with the best times.
As noted, though, plenty can change over a day during Speedweeks, but the initial takeaway is that the Ford cars have the most speed.
Team Penske has the most notable group of Ford cars, but Stewart-Haas Racing, RFK Racing and some smaller teams could benefit from the control of the speed standings.
Ford had three of the top four finishers in Duel 1 last season and the top finishers from four different teams in Duel 1 in 2020.
The manufacturers sometimes form a drafting alliance throughout the Daytona Speedweeks to have strength in numbers.
That could be the case during one or both of the Duels for Ford to take advantage of its early speed in Daytona.
The second race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs' Round of 12 will take place Sunday at the Talladega Superspeedway.
Drivers hoping to advance to the next round will take on the largest oval on the circuit for 188 laps of steep banking in the always competitive and challenging YellaWood 500.
Denny Hamlin will be on the pole after his win last time out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but the Joe Gibbs Racing stalwart is already in the third round of the playoffs, so this race isn't as important to his title hopes as it is to those of Joey Logano (3,045 points), who is in seventh place and a whopping 51 points behind leader Kyle Larson (3,096 points).
Brad Keselowski (3,043 points) and Kevin Harvick (3,036 points) are in eighth and 10th place, respectively, so they should have vastly different strategies heading into Sunday, hoping to close the gap in the standings.
Here's a quick look at the lineup of top drivers, schedule and odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
Geico 500 Information
Date: Sunday, October 3
Start Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports App
Starting Lineup
Odds
Denny Hamlin: +900 (bet $100 to win $900)
Joey Logano: +1000
Chase Elliott: +1000
Ryan Blaney: +1,000
William Byron: +1100
Brad Keselowski: +1,200
Kyle Larson: +1,200
Kevin Harvick: +1,500
Kyle Busch: +1,500
Alex Bowman: +1,800
Preview
Not all drivers are best suited for the superspeedway, so Talladega can be a bit tricky, but it's always entertaining because it's downright Darwinian on the track.
Hamlin is the favorite going into Sunday's race, but he's got some stiff competition from drivers who like to shine in Alabama.
Of all the drivers taking the track, Keselowski has the most wins at Talladega (six), followed by teammate Logano, who has three. The Team Penske duo are both trying to remain in the top eight, so they will be pushing hard to cross the finish line first.
The third member of the Penske trio, Ryan Blaney, is in fifth place in the standings (3,063 points) and oddsmakers have him as the fourth-favorite.
And even though Keselowski has one foot out of the door with Team Penske, bettors still aren't counting him out this Sunday.
"Maybe [you would overlook him] if he wasn't racing for a championship or [was] leaving on bad terms. Or if the team was folding," professional sports bettor Zack White told Marcus DiNitto of NASCAR.com. "Everyone still wants to win in this case, so no change for me."
Looking to shake things up is Hendrick Motorsports driver and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott. Sitting in sixth place with 3,061 points, Elliott will try to draw on his first and only win at Talladega (April 2019) to make good on his third-ranked odds and race to victory.
No matter what, it's going to be an unpredictable but must-see race Sunday.
