Kyle Larson dominates at Charlotte Roval
Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
CONCORD, N.C. — Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 was as much about Tyler Reddick’s heroic drive into the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as it was about Kyle Larson’s continued domination of elimination races.
As Larson cruised to his second Playoff victory this season—and his second in an elimination race—Reddick charged forward from 26th after a Lap 84 restart and clawed his way to 11th—good enough to knock two-time series champion Joey Logano out of the Playoffs by eight points.
Logano’s exit was temporary, however. In post-race inspection, Alex Bowman’s Chevrolet failed NASCAR’s weight requirement and was disqualified, knocking the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet below the elimination line and restoring Logano to the Round of 8.
Mirroring his rout in the final Round of16 event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Larson grabbed the lead for the restart of Stage 2 and stayed out front for 62 of the final 82 laps at the 2.28-mile, 17-turn Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 1.511 seconds ahead of Christopher Bell, the only driver who could stay in the same zip code with the race winner. Third-place William Byron was 8.965 seconds behind at the finish.
With his sixth victory of the season, his second at the Roval and the 29th of his career, Larson led two other Hendrick teammates into the final eight—Byron, and fifth-place finisher Chase Elliott.
“Really, it’s the first time in my Playoff career I’ve not been close to the cut line, so it was good to kind of have a little bit stress-free of a weekend,” said Larson, whose previous win at the Roval came during his 2021 championship season. “I think the first time I’ve been here without crashing, maybe, besides the other time I won.
“It’s known that I don’t really use the sim (simulator) much, and I was in the sim this week. It really helped me get into a rhythm I think early on and helped us kind of fine-tune our car, too.”
Joining Bowman on the sidelines were Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (fourth on Sunday), Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez (31st) and Stewart-Haas Racin’gs Chase Briscoe (37th), leaving reigning series champion Ryan Blaney (10th) and Logano as the two Ford drivers left in the Playoff field.
If Larson’s dominating run stole the suspense from his victory, Reddick’s charge over the final 26-lap green-flag run provided nail-biting drama.
After pole winner Shane van Gisbergen (21 laps led) and Larson pitted from the top two spots in Stage 1, Reddick, the regular-season champion, stayed out in the lead to collect 10 stage points and an additional Playoff point on Lap 25.
A pit stop during the stage break mired Reddick in traffic for a Lap 30 restart, and then calamity struck. In the newly reconfigured Turn 7 hairpin, the new corner of chaos, Austin Dillon turned sideways in a melee that saw Reddick jump the curbing and smash into his 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin.
Reddick’s car was severely damaged, and only a succession of pit stops throughout the remainder of the race—including a lengthy sojourn under caution to repair the left-rear toe link—made it competitive for the final run.
“Yeah, I thought I was going to flip, but I think I was behind the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.)—trying to work the move to the inside,” Reddick said of the wreck. “I got clear of him—I saw the 3 (Dillon) spun and everyone on the binders coming to a stop, and of course, me and my boss (Hamlin) get together. It was like I was going to do a front flip. This thing was absolutely destroyed.
“Huge props to everyone on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in Stage 3. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off.”
It was crew chief Billy Scott’s call to bring Reddick to pit road for new tires under caution on Lap 82 that proved decisive. The fresh Goodyears were the ammunition Reddick needed to pass 15 cars during the final run and eclipse Logano’s point total by four.
But the drama became moot with Bowman’s disqualification.
“You just have to stay calm,” Reddick said. “You just have to stay focused. In those moments, it is so easy to lose control. Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us that this thing was able to get back through the field and get us to the good side of the cut line.”
By the time the second stage ended, Larson and Bell had clinched spots in the Round of 8. Hamlin, who ran 14th on Sunday, also advanced. Bowman was nine points above the elimination line at the finish before the crushing disqualification and would have been the fourth Hendrick driver in the final eight.
At the checkered flag on Sunday, AJ Allmendinger was sixth, followed by Van Gisbergen, Logano, Bubba Wallace, Blaney and Reddick.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 32
Race Results for the Bank of America ROVAL 400 - Sunday, October 13, 2024
Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course - Concord, NC - 2.32 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 109 Laps - 252.88 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 10/13/2024 @ 08:42 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 6 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 109 5 9 48 Running 3 62 5
2 12 20 Christopher Bell (P) DEWALT Toyota 109 35 Running 1 1
3 10 24 William Byron (P) Valvoline Confetti Chevrolet 109 34 Running
4 5 2 Austin Cindric (P) Menards/Sylvania Ford 109 10 6 39 Running
5 7 9 Chase Elliott (P) UniFirst Chevrolet 109 3 3 48 Running
6 3 16 AJ Allmendinger(i) Celsius Chevrolet 109 8 1 0 Running 1 14
7 1 13 * Shane Van Gisbergen(i) WeatherTech Chevrolet 109 6 0 Running 1 21
8 4 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 109 2 2 47 Running
9 9 23 Bubba Wallace Leidos Toyota 109 4 35 Running
10 14 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Discount Tire Ford 109 4 5 40 Running
11 2 45 Tyler Reddick (P) Monster Energy Toyota 109 1 36 Running 1 6 1
12 20 77 Carson Hocevar # Delaware Life Chevrolet 109 25 Running
13 11 8 Kyle Busch Lenovo Chevrolet 109 8 27 Running
14 18 11 Denny Hamlin (P) Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota 109 10 24 Running
15 21 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 109 7 26 Running
16 24 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Harris Teeter/Totino's Chevrolet 109 21 Running
17 29 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 109 20 Running
18 15 38 Todd Gilliland Boozy Jerky! Ford 109 19 Running
19 23 71 Zane Smith # Ambetter Health Chevrolet 109 18 Running
20 26 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 109 17 Running
21 30 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 109 16 Running
22 36 4 Josh Berry # Bed Bath & Beyond Ford 109 15 Running
23 8 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Edge Ford 109 9 16 Running
24 27 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 109 13 Running
25 34 41 Ryan Preece United Rentals Ford 109 12 Running
26 33 7 Justin Haley Mattress Warehouse Chevrolet 109 11 Running
27 31 15 Kaz Grala # Meat N' Bone Ford 109 10 Running
28 16 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Chevrolet 109 9 Running
29 38 66 * Josh Bilicki(i) NCSHPfoundation.org Ford 109 0 Running
30 13 99 Daniel Suarez (P) Choice Privileges Chevrolet 108 7 Running
31 32 10 Noah Gragson Beef A Roo Ford 108 6 Running
32 22 3 Austin Dillon BetMGM Chevrolet 107 5 Running
33 37 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 56 4 Accident
34 35 42 John Hunter Nemechek Mobil 1 Toyota 55 3 Accident
35 19 54 Ty Gibbs Interstate Batteries Toyota 54 7 6 Engine
36 25 14 Chase Briscoe (P) Ford Performance Racing School Ford 41 1 Accident
37 28 51 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Ford 3 1 Engine
38 17 48 Alex Bowman (P) Ally Chevrolet 109 1 Running 1 5
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 0 Mins, 3 Secs. Average Speed: 82.817 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.511 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 45, 22, 9, 12, 5, 13, 54, 16, 6, 2
Stage 2 Top 10: 16, 22, 9, 23, 12, 2, 34, 8, 5, 11
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 5 for 13 laps; Laps: 27-29 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]); 37-38 (Debris in turn 14 [41]); 52-54 (Stage 2 Conclusion [None]); 57-59 (Debris [None]); 82-83 (Debris in turn 3 and 4 [None]).
Lead Changes: 7 among 6 drivers; *. Van Gisbergen(i) 1-21; T. Reddick (P) 22-27; K. Larson (P) 28-47; A. Bowman (P) 48-52; A. Allmendinger(i) 53-66; K. Larson (P) 67-75; C. Bell (P) 76; K. Larson (P) 77-109.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: October 20, 2024 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
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BOWMAN DOES NOT ADVANCE AFTER DQ AT CHARLOTTE ROVAL
Zach Sturniolo, NASCAR.com
CONCORD, N.C. — The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was disqualified following post-race inspection at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, officials announced Sunday.
Alex Bowman wheeled the car to an 18th-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the final race of the Round of 8 and provisionally advanced by nine points. However, the vehicle was determined to be too light in post-race technical inspection, disqualifying the result and dropping Bowman to a 38th-place finish instead.
“Unfortunately, the 48 had an issue (and) did not meet minimum weight,” said Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series. “We put the car to the side. We continued on. We … gave them the opportunity to fuel the car as well as purge the water system and add water. So we gave them every opportunity to make minimum weight. We ran them back through. Unfortunately, they were light again. They are allowed a 0.5% weight break, which is for usage of fluids and so on. That’s about 17 pounds.
“We backed the car back off the scales, ran it back on and then, unfortunately, it was the same weight. So the car had a weight issue. All the other cars cleared inspection. The 48 didn’t, and that ends up in a disqualification.”
Moran declined to elaborate on how light the No. 48 Chevrolet was during inspection, in case Hendrick Motorsports chooses to appeal the penalty.
“If the appeal happens, it’ll be expedited, so it’ll probably happen in the next couple of days,” Moran said. “So really can’t get into all the details of the information, but the car was light, and that’s where we ended up.”
The vehicle will be taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, until the conclusion of the appeals process if Hendrick appeals.
“We are working to understand the issue and will make a decision Monday about whether to submit an appeal,” the team posted on social media Sunday evening.
As a result, Joey Logano becomes the final driver to advance to the Round of 8. Bowman joins Austin Cindric, Daniel Suárez and Chase Briscoe as the drivers eliminated from playoff contention.
Bowman won his way into the postseason with a July victory at the Chicago Street Course.
The Round of 8 begins Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
CURRENT NASCAR CUP SERIES STANDINGS
POS NO. DRIVER MFR +/-
1 5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet +33
2 20 Christopher Bell Toyota +13
3 45 Tyler Reddick Toyota +10
4 24 William Byron Chevrolet +4
On The Bubble
5 12 Ryan Blaney Ford -4
6 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota -8
7 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet -9
8 22 Joey Logano Ford -11
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