After a miserable start to the Round of 12, Christopher Bell's chances at the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship were all but over unless he could find a way to win at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. Then, the race played out in a way where Bell found a way to win, putting him in the Round of 8 and continuing his pursuit of the title.
After a late-race caution for debris, Christopher Bell came to pit road from seventh to take four fresh tires for a restart with three laps to go. After making his way to second before another caution sent the race to overtime, Bell used his fresh tires to power past Kevin Harvick and score a walk-off victory in the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte, putting him in the Round of 8.
Bell's victory was of major consequence at the cut line, as it bumped Kyle Larson below the cut line after Larson suffered mechanical problems late in the race. Larson, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman have all been eliminated from the playoffs.
Bank of America Roval 400 unofficial results
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #4 - Kevin Harvick
- #18 - Kyle Busch
- #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
- #31 - Justin Haley
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #45 - Bubba Wallace
- #8 - Tyler Reddick
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #3 - Austin Dillon
Sunday's race at the Roval was a tame affair until six laps to go, when a piece of signage in the infield came loose and landed in the racing groove. With the leaders staying out even after a long green flag run, Bell and his team elected to come to pit road for fresh tires, giving them an enormous advantage on a restart that quickly broke their way.
Chase Elliott got muscled out of the lead by AJ Allmendinger. Then, Allmendinger got knocked out of the way by Kevin Harvick. And as Elliott spun off the bumper of Tyler Reddick, Bell was able to weave his way through and get up to second before debris and a spin by Ty Dillon brought out another yellow with two laps to go.
Bell made quick work of Harvick in overtime, driving away for his third career win and pulling off a win-and-in for the sixth time in playoff history. The feat had previously been pulled off by Brad Keselowski (2014), Kevin Harvick (2014, 2015), Denny Hamlin (2019) and Chase Elliott (2020).
"You've just got to be there at the end of these things," Bell told NBC Sports. "I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn't always win. It's been no secret that road courses have not been our strength this year, but we were just there at the right time.
"We obviously weren't in position to win, we rolled the dice, we gambled and it paid off for us."
Briscoe's battle, Larson's lament
With most of Sunday's race taking place under green flag conditions, it had looked as though the playoff picture would end up playing out relatively straightforward. Daniel Suarez saw his playoff hopes evaporate as he dealt with a major power steering issue, but most other drivers of consequence were either able to stay out of trouble or couldn't find ways to make up track position.
Then, Kyle Larson hit the wall on the exit of Turn 7, breaking a rear toe link and sending him to pit road for extended repairs. Even with that issue, it looked as though Larson would still be okay to make the next round, until the caution came out to give others below the cut line a shot at making up spots.
While Bell came to pit road, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric elected to stay out for track position. Then, Briscoe lost that track position by getting spun in the backstretch chicane, prompting him to come to pit road for fresh tires before the overtime restart.
Briscoe proceeded to made a mad charge to the top 10 in overtime, including a daring move where he drove into the backstretch chicane as hard as he could -- aided by a pick from teammate Cole Custer -- to make his way to ninth.
"I told my guys before we even took the initial green of the race, 'There's a difference between thinking we can move on and knowing we can move on.' And I knew that we could move on," Briscoe told NBC Sports. "This team just never gives up, I told them I was never gonna give up. It took every bit of it there at the end. ... Truthfully, I knew that we were kind of out. And I saw the No. 2 wreck and I was like, 'Oh, well maybe there's still a chance.'
"We had so much fresher tires than everybody. (Crew chief Johnny Klausmeier) pumped them way up to qualifying pressures and just let me go attack and kind of have the ball in my hands."
As a result of that move and as a result of Bell's win, Briscoe was able to make the Round of 8 by two points, while Kyle Larson's title defense came to an end as the first driver eliminated in the Round of 12.
"I just made way too many mistakes all year long and made another one today, and ultimately cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship," Larson told NBC Sports. "Just extremely mad at myself. You let the team down a number of times this year, and let them down in a big way today.
"We'll keep fighting. We'll come back stronger, and I'll definitely come back stronger and smarter. Make better moves out there. Just mad at myself."
Next Round Reset
After winning at Talladega in the Round of 12, Chase Elliott enjoys a sizable points advantage to start the Round of 8. He leads Joey Logano by 20 points, and his advantage over the cutoff line stands at 31 points. In addition to Logano (+11), Ross Chastain (+6) and Christopher Bell (+3) will also begin the Round of 8 on the plus side of the cutoff line, while William Byron (-3), Ryan Blaney (-3), Denny Hamlin (-5) and Chase Briscoe (-9) are currently below the cut line.
- #9 - Chase Elliott -- 4,046 (+31)
- #22 - Joey Logano -- 4,026 (+11)
- #1 - Ross Chastain -- 4,021 (+6)
- #20 - Christopher Bell -- 4,018 (+3)
- #24 - William Byron -- 4,015 (-3)
- #12 - Ryan Blaney -- 4,015 (-3)
- #11 - Denny Hamlin -- 4,013 (-5)
- #14 - Chase Briscoe -- 4,009 (-9)
Race Results Rundown
- AJ Allmendinger was once again a threat to win on a road course, as he paced the field three times for a total of 24 laps. It was the most laps Allmendinger has led in a single Cup race since 2016, when he led 20 laps at Sonoma.
- Allmendinger's road racing prowess might have rubbed off a bit on his "son" Justin Haley, as Haley kept pace with his Kaulig Racing teammate all day and scored a fifth-place finish. That marks the first time in the history of Kaulig's Cup program that they've put both of their cars in the top five.
- A seventh-place finish marked Bubba Wallace's ninth top-10 finish of the season. Entering this year, Wallace had 12 top 10s in his entire Cup career, none of which came on road courses. Now, he has two top 10s on road courses, including a fifth-place run at Indianapolis in the summertime.
- Chase Briscoe's charge to ninth gave him his seventh top 10 of the whole season, which puts him in an interesting position compared to the other remaining playoff drivers. Briscoe has the fewest top 10s of any playoff driver, and fewer than six drivers -- Martin Truex Jr., Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch -- who didn't even make the playoffs.
- Corey LaJoie and Daniel Suarez had a spirited conversation post-race after LaJoie, unhappy with being spun by Suarez's out-of-control car, returned the favor to Suarez by putting him in the fence entering Turn 1. LaJoie had little sympathy for Suarez's power steering plight, and he doesn't need to with a 12th-place finish in hand.
- IndyCar driver Conor Daly had an unspectacular day in his NASCAR Cup Series debut, losing laps due to an electrical fire in his car but running as many laps as he could and finishing 34th. Daly was one of two drivers primarily known for their open-wheel experience in the field, joining former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat, who finished 39th due to an engine failure.
Next Race
The Round of 8 will begin out west in Sin City, as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the South Point 400 next Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
