At one point in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series playoffs round of 12 finale, a faulty alternator and ensuing power issues looked like they might ruin what has been a banner season for Kyle Larson. But as a true contender would, the winningest driver of the 2021 season battled all the way back to take the checkered flag and continue his march to the Championship 4.
After having to fight back from power issues earlier in the race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Kyle Larson was able to take a late-race lead and then pull away from Tyler Reddick in the closing laps, winning the Bank of America Roval 400 for his seventh win of the season.
Larson's win allowed him to move on to the round of 8, as four drivers -- Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Alex Bowman -- saw their playoff runs come to an end.
Unofficial Bank of America Roval 400 results
1. #5 - Kyle Larson
2. #8 - Tyler Reddick
3. #17 - Chris Buescher
4. #18 - Kyle Busch
5. #11 - Denny Hamlin
6. #21 - Matt DiBenedetto
7. #22 - Joey Logano
8. #20 - Christopher Bell
9. #12 - Ryan Blaney
10. #48 - Alex Bowman
After a crash at Talladega eliminated much of the breathing room he had above the cutoff line, things began to look dire for Larson mid-race when he began to report voltage issues on his car. But without panicking, Larson's crew was able to successful change both the battery and the alternator on his car, putting Larson back into contention. After a pair of late-race restarts, Larson was able to take the lead from Denny Hamlin on fresher tires and then pull away to cruise to the victory.
"It wasn't looking too good. Thankfully everybody on our No. 5 car did a great job of staying calm," Larson told NBC Sports. "(Crew chief Cliff Daniels), as always, did a great job communicating with me what was going on, getting the battery changed, the alternator -- whatever it takes to get our batteries running.
"... I knew I was gonna have some sketchy moments (in traffic). I just had to pick my way through traffic and stay calm, and we had some good restarts there at the end and was able to kind of use my tire advantage to get under Denny and kind of squeeze him out of real estate off of [turn 4] there."
Beyond Larson's mechanical issues, the biggest story of the day was a flareup of bad blood between Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick stemming from their run-in last month at Bristol. As the two were racing for position coming out of the infield on Lap 55, Harvick got his payback by hitting Elliott from behind and sending him into the Turn 7 wall, destroying the rear end of Elliott's car and putting his playoff hopes in serious jeopardy.
Elliott was able to recover with some thrashed-together repair work by his team, and he looked to have a shot at retaliating against Harvick late in the race. But with 11 laps to go, Harvick overshot Turn 1 with Elliott closing in, slamming the wall and ending both his race and his playoff run.
In post-race, Harvick was coy about whether or not he had gotten into Elliott on purpose -- "Sometimes real life teaches you good lessons" was all he said. But regardless, Elliott was able to advance to the round of 8 and continue his defense of the Cup championship.
"As far as Kevin goes, I just want to wish them a merry offseason and a Happy Christmas," Elliott told NBC Sports. "... It's all good. Just glad we're moving on. Proud of our team."
Late in the race, it looked as though William Byron may pull off a win-and-in victory from below the cutoff line, as he led much of the second half of the race and looked to be in position to run down Kyle Larson. But his charge stalled as he made his way up to third, and his playoff ambitions came to an end as he ran off course in the infield with two laps to go.
NASCAR Cup Series round of 8 playoff standings
1. #5 - Kyle Larson - 4,065 (+42)
2. #11 - Denny Hamlin (+7)
3. #19 - Martin Truex Jr. (+6)
4. #12 - Ryan Blaney (+1)
5. #18 - Kyle Busch (-1)
6. #9 - Chase Elliott (-2)
7. #22 - Joey Logano (-11)
8. #2 - Brad Keselowski (-16)
