So Bell called Smith down pit road in the hopes that a caution would give them a fighting chance. And as luck would have it, the caution waved for a Sage Karam<\/a> incident as soon as the No. 8 reached its pit stall.<\/p>\n Just like that, Smith had a net zero track position and fresh tires, and drove his car to third place and a one point advantage over Taylor Gray<\/a> to reach the Round of 8.<\/p>\n So was that luck or strategy?<\/p>\n \u201cA little bit of both,\u201d Bell said with a laugh. \u201cIt didn’t play out exactly like we wanted it to but we had planned on splitting the stage in two if we were in a must-win situation. I didn\u2019t feel like at the time we were in a must-win situation but then it got down to three laps to go. We had a tire coming apart and it was the only play we had.\u201d<\/p>\n Bell always knew that if it looked like there was no other play, come down pit road, because the math shows to expect a caution inside of the final five laps.<\/p>\n But even then, Bell didn\u2019t expect it to actually play out that way, because who really does?<\/p>\n \u201cThe feeling, it was very good,\u201d Bell said. \u201cSammy said earlier in the week, that if there is a will, there is a way, and I know everyone has heard that before, but that\u2019s what we played off of.\u201d<\/p>\n This was a race all about the clich\u00e9s and idioms but it\u2019s only a silly notion when it doesn\u2019t work and it did work this time.<\/p>\n What\u2019s one more idiom?<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels really good,\u201d said Smith. \u201cObviously, it was a long shot coming into the day. We got lucky with that Hail Mary move Phil pulled and amazing call by him to do that. And yeah, just relieved because I felt like we are a Championship 4 caliber team and unfortunately what happened at Bristol took us out of it.<\/p>\n \u201cSo yeah, we\u2019re just going to regroup and just try to do everything we can to go make the final four.\u201d<\/p>\n Sammy Smith, JR Motorsprots Chevrolet<\/p>\n Photo by: Jordan Bank \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n This was just a whirlwind of possible results.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was from 10 to go thinking, ah, we\u2019re not really going to make it in because we didn\u2019t really have the speed to drive up and it didn\u2019t look like he was going to lose enough positions.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd yeah, Phil made a great call to pit and then obviously I had to make a lot of aggressive moves there and luckily, we were able to make it in. So yeah, just relieved and ready to move on to the next round. Just thank the good man above and obviously I feel like we had an unfortunate situation at Bristol and that put us in the position we are. So yeah, just very thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other end was Gray, who had spent most of the race battling Austin Hill<\/a> for the final spot, and seemed secure in a transfer once the Richard Childress Racing<\/a> No. 21 dropped a cylinder. Then came that final caution and a dogfight for every position.<\/p>\n The result left him despondent.<\/p>\n Agonizingly close for Gray Watch: Taylor Gray: ‘Just weren’t good enough’ to advance to Round of 8<\/p>\n \u201cJust obviously bummed out,\u201d said Gray. \u201cWe don\u2019t get to go racing for a championship at the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cJust weren\u2019t good enough. We weren\u2019t good enough today. We didn\u2019t have a good Bristol, and we shouldn\u2019t have to even be in this spot. We are though, and we are going to take our loss, and move on to the next four and try to win us a couple of races.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond that, Gray said he couldn\u2019t process his feelings in real time, and just said \u2018this is tough\u2019 before making his way back into the garage.<\/p>\n But again, this was a real rollercoaster of emotions for everyone involved in the cutline. Hill was eliminated due to his mechanical failure and Harrison Burton<\/a> lost three laps earlier in the race due to a fuel pickup issue.<\/p>\n Nick Sanchez<\/a> battled a variety of issues and was also eliminated from contention.<\/p>\n But the most notable elimination came in the form of Hill, who was stripped of all his playoff points for intentionally crashing Aric Almirola<\/a> earlier in the summer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n That ultimately cost Hill 21 points and he was eliminated by 21 points. It\u2019s not quite that simple as he likely would have earned five more playoff points for his final regular season championship result, but he admitted that he was responsible for that.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m not pointing the finger at anyone,\u201d Hill said. \u201cIf anyone is at fault, it\u2019s me for losing the 21 bonus points in the regular season \u2026 It’s just been our year unfortunately, ever since midway through the summer, maybe June, we just haven’t been firing on all cylinders.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are things that have gone wrong and things I could do better as a driver. I\u2019ve made a lot of mistakes throughout the middle portion of the season and later on, and I thought we were turning it around there at Kansas having a strong showing and we were showing it here today and, just came up short.\u201d<\/p>\n He was eighth and closing on Gray for the final spot when he started to lose power.<\/p>\n \u201cSpark plugs or something came out, and caused it to run on like seven cylinders, which sucks,\u201d Hill said. \u201cThese RCR and ECR engines are class of the field every week and I wouldn\u2019t want to have anything other than an ECR in our car.\u201d<\/p>\n Harrison Burton, AM Racing Ford<\/p>\n Photo by: Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images<\/p>\n For his part, Burton just had a fuel pickup issue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had an issue in practice and changed everything we could and felt like we were going to be okay,\u201d Burton said. \u201cIt turns out we had a fuel pickup issue, so that\u2019s a whole fuel cell change and that\u2019s not something we could really do under green.\u00a0It\u2019s just a bummer.\u00a0All of the evidence we had didn\u2019t really point to that being the issue, but it was and took us out of the race before it started.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when we were out there, I was trying to save fuel to make it last as long as it could, so I didn\u2019t ever really know how good we were or weren\u2019t.\u00a0That\u2019s the hardest part, but I\u2019m proud of our team.\u00a0I\u2019m proud of the season we\u2019ve had.\u00a0It\u2019s been a lot of fun to make the playoffs and go to Bristol, a huge highlight for us to run in a really competitive way to start our playoffs.\u00a0We just didn\u2019t end it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n Updated Grid<\/p>\n Connor Zilisch<\/a> +57 Those who remain<\/p>\n So now there are eight drivers left to race for the championship with just four spots available over the next three races at Las Vegas, Talladega and Martinsville. And realistically, it\u2019s seven drivers for three spots because it\u2019s realistic to go ahead and pencil in Connor Zilisch who just claimed his 10th victory at the Roval.<\/p>\n![\"Sammy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sammy-smith-jr-motorsprots-che.jpg\")
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![\"Harrison](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/harrison-burton-am-racing-ford.jpg\")
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Justin Allgaier<\/a> +24
Brandon Jones<\/a> +4
Sam Mayer<\/a> +2
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Jesse Love<\/a> -2
Sammy Smith -7
Carson Kvapil<\/a> -11
Sheldon Creed<\/a> -13<\/p>\n