Bubba Wallace "choked," Kyle Busch "don't get it," William Byron gives HMS 300th NASCAR win

Bubba Wallace says he, “choked."

And he finished third.

Further back in the back, it was even more dour.

“When you finish like this, there’s no encouragement,” AJ Allmendinger said after coming home 29^th.

For a race that had little passing, Sunday’s event at Texas was sure eventful in terms of comers and goers. And it left drivers all over the spectrum of emotions, particularly the 12 still in the playoffs.

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While it was celebration time for winner William Byron and even runner-up Ross Chastain, several drivers were left scratching their heads.

“I have no idea. I’m at a loss for words. I don’t get it,” Kyle Busch said.

See?

Busch was running in the top 5-8 the first stage until a flat tire that turned out not to be a flat tire caused him to crash just before points-paying time. He finished 34th and is 17 points behind Kyle Larson on the cutline.

Speaking of Larson, he was the class of the field again, leading 99 laps. But on a late restart, Wallace got to his outside, took the air off his car and he spun into the fence and finished 31^st.

“With these cars compared to the old ones, you don’t really get sucked around like that, so I wasn’t really expecting it,” Larson said. “Pretty bummed.”

So was Ryan Blaney, who earned 11 stage points but finished 28th after a late speeding penalty and crash. And Tyler Reddick, who won Stage 1 before smacking the wall and coming home 25th. Both join Busch below the cutline

Which brings us all the way back to Wallace who lost the lead on a restart with six laps to go after leading the most laps (111). He’s just two points back of Larson and in much better shape than before Texas, but knows he had a chance to win and lock in and with Talladega and the Roval looming, who knows what happens from here.

“Don’t know where that puts us, don’t really care,” he said dejectedly. “I know what I did and I choked.”

Let’s go through the gears

First gear

Back to Chastain for a moment.

Sunday’s second-place finish was made more incredible by problems with the throttle on the No. 1 car.

“It’s terrible, you push the gas and it ain’t got no gas,” Chastain said.

Almost midway through the final stage, Chastain was battling for 29^th but the team strategically used a two-tire call and good restarts to get to the front.

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Chastain, now 10 points above the cutline in sixth, has been solid and quiet so far in the playoffs even if his car was anything but on Sunday.

“I had to give it a lot of throttle so the next pit stop, our final two-tire stop was just a whole lot of throttle,” he explained. "I’m sure the ear drums are blown out of everybody behind our pit stall.”

Second gear

Just call Byron Mr. 300.

Or at least that’s what he delivered for Mr. H.

Byron’s victory was the 300^th for Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick and while the win was big for Byron and his playoff aspirations, he recognized its larger impact as well.

“I don’t know if I can even put it into words, I was such a Hendrick Motorsports fan as a kid growing up,” he said. “Mr. Hendrick for his investment in me, telling me at 17 years old that he was going to take me to Cup Racing. Just appreciate everything he’s done for me.”

Third gear

Despite contact with Ty Gibbs and subsequent damage, Denny Hamlin was fine on Sunday, finishing fifth, and that was good enough.

What wasn’t necessarily fine, was the racing at Texas, which, especially compared to other 1½-mile ovals on the schedule, was a little lackluster to say the least. And that’s not new.

Kyle Larson called for the complex’s demolition last September and with good races there few and far between, especially since a 2017 track reconfiguration, what lies ahead for Texas Motor Speedway is anyone’s guess.

“They just swung and missed on it for sure,” Hamlin said of the reconfiguration. “I don’t know what you do with it.”

Fourth gear

Over the last seven races, Erik Jones (8.7) and Ryan Blaney (9.3) have been the most consistent drivers at Talladega. Kyle Busch won here in the spring and Chase Elliott is the event’s defending champion.

NASCAR playoff standings after Texas

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: William Byron wins, Bubba "choked" as NASCAR playoff standings shuffle