Kyle Larson moved on to the next round of the NASCAR playoffs in style at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, dominating the second half of the race to win the Bank of America Roval 400 and pick up his sixth win of the 2024 season. Larson's second-half dominance came after he clinched a spot in the Round of 8 on points, putting an exclamation point on his finish to the Round of 12 as he seeks to win his second Cup title.
While Larson and Christopher Bell were able to clinch Round of 8 spots on points and join William Byron in doing so, Sunday's elimination race featured high drama for the rest of the playoff contenders, namely regular-season champion Tyler Reddick. Despite considerable suspension damage suffered in a mid-race accident, Reddick capitalized on a call by crew chief Billy Scott to take fresh tires during the final caution of the day, marching through the field to make up the points he needed to advance to the next round along with Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Denny Hamlin.
Initially, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe were eliminated from playoff contention. But following post-race tech inspection, a disqualification for Alex Bowman for failing post-race tech inspection meant that Logano advanced to the Round of 8 instead of Bowman.
Bank of America Roval 400 unofficial results
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #24 - William Byron
- #2 - Austin Cindric
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
- #13 - Shane van Gisbergen
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #23 - Bubba Wallace
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
Entering the day with a 52-point advantage over the cut line, Larson only needed to avoid a complete disaster and pick up some points along the way to safely advance to the next round, and he would clinch a berth in the Round of 8 at the end of Stage 2 by virtue of points earned in each of the two stages. That freed Larson up to take control of the race from that point onward, as he would lead 62 of 109 laps on the day, including the final 32.
"Really, it's the first time in my playoff career I've not been close to the cut line. So it was good to have a little bit of a stress-free weekend, and I think this is the first time I've been here without crashing besides the other time we won," Larson told NBC Sports, referencing his Charlotte Roval victory in 2021. "Good weekend ... Thanks to (crew chief) Cliff Daniels, Chevrolet, GM too. It's known that I don't really use the Sim much, and I was in the Sim this week. So a huge thank you to you guys there.
"Really helped me get into a rhythm, I think, early on and help us kind of fine-tune our car too."
With six victories on the year, Larson now possesses double the amount of victories in 2024 as do the next-winningest drivers, as William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell -- all of whom advanced to the Round of 8 -- each possess three apiece. Larson's 29th career victory also gives him sole possession of 30th on NASCAR's all-time wins list, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Rex White and Hall of Famer-to be Carl Edwards.
Tyler Reddick's march to the Round of 8
By virtue of having won the regular-season championship and 15 bonus playoff points as a result, a relatively less difficult path to at least the Round of 8 had been laid out for Tyler Reddick at the start of the playoffs. But while that bonus has come in handy, things haven't gone particularly well for Reddick and his race team. Entering the Roval and starting on the outside pole, Reddick was looking to protect a 14-point advantage over the cut line and reverse a trend that had seen him finish 20th or worse in four of the first five playoff races.
With many of the leaders electing to pit towards the end of Stage 1, Reddick and his team elected to stay out on track and earn maximum points, and a stage win would give Reddick 10 points plus a playoff point at the cost of track position once he came to pit road under caution. The call would mire Reddick in midpack, where disaster struck shortly afterward.
As the field checked up for a spin by Austin Dillon in Turn 7, Reddick slid into the left rear quarter panel of Denny Hamlin under braking, resulting in wheel-to-wheel contact and the rear of Reddick's car being launched into the air. The incident would damage the toe link in the right rear of Reddick's car, severely compromising the handling and performance of the No. 45 Toyota.
Reddick's team was able to thrash to make repairs and keep their car competitive, but by the time they had done all they could, their driver's issues combined with 17 combined stage points for Joey Logano put Reddick below the cut line and desperately needing positions when the final caution came out for a loose wheel from Dillon's car.
Needing to make something happen to gain track position, crew chief Billy Scott called Reddick to pit road under the final caution for four fresh tires, giving him superior rubber to pick off spots for the final 26-lap run to the finish.
Slowly but surely -- and after a close call where he nearly spun under braking trying to pass Daniel Hemric -- Reddick was able to pick up and set down positions, clawing his way up to 11th by the checkered flag. With Logano losing spots to other cars on fresh tires and falling back to eighth, that was enough for Reddick to salvage his day and make it to the Round of 8 by a scant four points.
"This thing was absolutely destroyed. Hats off to everybody on this Monster Energy Camry -- I mean, this thing couldn't go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it and made it a lot better for stage 3," Reddick told NBC Sports. "This is how this place can be sometimes, but it's really nice to pull this off.
"... You've just got to stay calm and stay focused in those moments, man. It's so easy to lose track of what you can control. Either way, I was gonna drive the car as fast as I could and it just worked out for us. This thing was able to get back up through the field and get us to the good side of the cut line."
Logano makes it anyway
While a total team effort by Reddick and his crew got them out of their pinch, Logano was left to endure a slow burn as his car and his chances of making the Round of 8 faded over the final 26 laps. The two-time Cup champion was initially eliminated from the playoffs along with his Team Penske compatriot Austin Cindric, who could not overcome a deep points hole after two crashes in the Round of 12 despite a fourth-place finish. Daniel Suarez, who complained of brake issues after being forced off-course in the backstretch chicane, was eliminated after a 30th-place finish while Chase Briscoe saw his own playoff run end in the garage area after a cut tire and then crash damage made his car undrivable.
Then, in post-race inspection, everything changed: Sunday night, NASCAR announced that Alex Bowman had been disqualified for failing post-race tech, saying that Bowman's No. 48 Chevrolet was found to be too light. As a result, Bowman was stripped of an 18th place finish and given last-place points, dropping him to ninth in the Round of 12 standings and below the cut line. As a result, Logano was bumped back above the cut line and back into the next round.
Logano now inherits the final spot in the Round of 8, and will begin the next round 11 points back of the cut line. Kyle Larson begins the Round of 8 with a 33-point advantage over the cut line, followed by Christopher Bell (+13), Reddick (+10), and William Byron (+4) in position to advance to the Championship 4. Reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney (-4), Denny Hamlin (-8), Chase Elliott (-9) join Logano below the cut line.
In a statement issued Sunday night, Hendrick Motorsports said that the team was "working to understand the issue and will make a decision Monday about whether to submit an appeal."
Race results rundown
- While A.J. Allmendinger's streak of winning at least one race on Charlotte Roval week every year from 2019 to 2023 was snapped, he nonetheless enjoyed one of his best runs of the season after leading 14 laps on his way to finishing sixth, tying his season-best for the fourth time in 16 Cup starts this year. Teammate Shane van Gisbergen would lead the opening 21 laps from the pole before finishing seventh, giving Kaulig Racing cars a total of 35 laps led on the day
- Changes to the curbing in Turn 16 and its ensuing effect on track limits ensnared Bubba Wallace early in the day, as Wallace was penalized for cutting the course in that section, but Wallace would recover to run as high as second before finishing ninth. It's only the third career top-10 finish that Wallace has earned on a road course, two of which have now come on the Charlotte Roval.
- Depending on what happens in the Round of 8 and potentially at Phoenix, one of the most decisive moments of the 2024 season could end up being the moment that Daniel Hemric's car straightened out Tyler Reddick's as he was about to spin out under braking, sending Hemric around in Turn 7 instead. That's probably little solace for Hemric, as all he got for his troubles was a 24th-place finish.
- A frustrating season for Erik Jones and Legacy Motor Club continued, as Jones -- in his first race with interim crew chief Ben Beshore following the dismissal of Dave Elenz -- got in a mid-race shoving match with Kaz Grala before getting taken out in a crash in the frontstretch chicane that also wound up ending the race for his teammate John Hunter Nemechek. The Legacy M.C. cars were two of five cars that failed to finish, as crash damage left Chase Briscoe with a DNF while engine failures took out both Ty Gibbs and Corey LaJoie.
Next Race
The first race of the Round of 8, and the first opportunity for the remaining playoff drivers to earn the right to race for the Cup Series championship, will come in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
