Who won the NASCAR race yesterday? Complete results from Bristol playoff race

The winner of Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway drove to checkered flag as a teammate tried to settle a score with another driver.

Kyle Larson passed Kevin Harvick with three laps remaining to win the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the final race in the Round of 16. Harvick had his hands full at the time with Larson's teammate Chase Elliott, who was holding up Harvick in retaliation for Harvick knocking Elliott out of contention for the win about 30 laps earlier.  

NASCAR AT BRISTOL: Updates, highlights from playoff race

All three drivers advanced to the next round of the playoffs, the Round of 12, which will begin next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Below is more about Larson's win Saturday, plus the complete results of the race.

Who won the NASCAR race yesterday?

Kyle Larson won for the sixth time in the 2021 season thanks to his late pass of Kevin Harvick.

The winning move 🔥@KyleLarsonRacin | @TeamHendrick pic.twitter.com/Y1b05WobHq

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 19, 2021

Larson became the third different playoff driver to win a race in the Round of 16, joining Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.

He was in position to win because his teammate Chase Elliott was holding up and slowing down Harvick. Elliott lost his chance to win with 35 laps remaining when Harvick's car got into the left side of Elliott's car, causing a tire on Elliott's car to go down. Elliott had to pit, lost laps and finished 25th. He was intent on retaliating after that.

MORE: Elliott, Harvick get heated on, off track

"It was so cool to be able to race there for the win," Larson said. "Obviously, Harvick and Chase got together. Chase was upset. Kind of held him up. It got Harvick having to move around and use his tires up off the bottom."

Elliott and Harvick fumed at each other after the race. The argument began on pit road and ended inside Elliott's team hauler. 

"I just told him it was kind of a chickens— move that he did there at the end," Harvick said.

"At some point you've got to draw the line. I don't care who he is or how long he's been doing it, I'm going to stand up for myself and my team and we'll go on down the road," Elliott said. He said that Harvick did the same thing to him two weeks earlier at Darlington and regularly runs into the left side of other drivers' cars.       

NASCAR Cup playoff standings

The playoff field was reduced to 12 drivers after the Bristol Night Race. Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch and Michael McDowell were eliminated. Almirola and Reddick didn't finish high enough Saturday to advance despite racing all out to the checkered flag.

NASCAR reset the point totals for the Round of 12; playoff drivers started with a base of 3,000 points, and then the playoff points they have earned in the first 29 races of the season (regular season and playoffs) were added. Kyle Larson enters the Round of 12 with 3,059 points, 30 points ahead of second-place driver Martin Truex Jr.

Chase Elliott enters the Round of 12 in sixth place. Kevin Harvick starts at the bottom of the field in 12th. He's 12 points behind eighth-place driver William Byron, who needed a big race Saturday to clinch a playoff berth. Byron finished third. 

As in the Round of 16, drivers automatically advance to the Round of 8 if they win a race in the Round of 12. The playoff field will be cut to eight after the third race in the round, the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 10.   

MORE: NASCAR playoffs, explained

Eliminated: Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch, Michael McDowell.

NASCAR results from Bristol

Kyle Larson made it three different winners in three playoff races with his win in the Night Race. Playoff drivers won the three races in the Round of 16: Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Larson. 

Kevin Harvick finished second Saturday after being held up by Elliott. Harvick was poised to win until Elliott got in his way. Playoff drivers William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman completed the top five.

Tyler Reddick (12th in Saturday's race), Aric Almirola (18th), Kurt Busch (19th) and Michael McDowell (24th) were the first four drivers eliminated from this year's playoffs.  

The first race in the Round of 12 is the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 26, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, PRN. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Races at Talladega and the Charlotte road course, the Roval, will follow.

P-Playoff driver.