Kyle Larson cruised to an easy win at the Charlotte Roval as Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe were eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs before Alex Bowman was disqualified.
Bowman, who finished 18th, was DQed for his car not making minimum weight in post-race inspection. The disqualification puts Logano in the playoffs, though Hendrick Motorsports will have the opportunity to appeal the DQ this week.
Larson led the last 33 laps as he beat Christopher Bell to the finish line. The last caution in the 109-lap race came on lap 80 for debris, as the only drama in the final stages happened when Tyler Reddick worked his way through the field on fresh tires to kick Logano out of the playoffs before Bowman’s DQ.
Larson led 62 laps as he clearly was the driver to beat. It’s the second Roval win of his career as he won the race in 2021 ahead of his first (and only, so far) Cup Series title.
William Byron finished third ahead of Cindric and Chase Elliott. The eight drivers advancing to the third round of the Cup Series playoffs were Larson, Bell, Byron, Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman. Now Bowman has been (provisionally) replaced by Logano, who was the first driver out of the playoffs.
Bell was the only driver who was within sniffing distance of Larson at the end. He finished roughly 1.5 seconds back as Byron was nearly nine seconds back at the finish.
After the race, Larson mused that he was going to miss his 8:40 p.m. ET flight to Cabo San Lucas for a vacation before the semifinal round begins at Las Vegas on Oct. 20.
How Cindric, Suarez and Briscoe got eliminated
Logano finished eighth but needed Reddick to stop charging through the field in the final stage to advance. Reddick had to pit earlier in the race to fix a broken rear toe link after his car hopped a curb in Turn 7 behind a stack-up ahead of him.
Reddick pitted for tires during the final caution of the race and that paid off. He passed numerous cars and made it into the third round comfortably before it ultimately didn’t matter because of Bowman’s DQ.
Briscoe had mechanical issues and retired from the race early. He entered the race needing a win to advance. Suarez was 20 points out of the semifinals before Sunday’s race and had to deal with brake issues. He finished 31st.
Cindric ran well all day but never got close to the lead. Like Briscoe, he needed a win and simply wasn’t fast enough to get it.
Bank of America Roval 400 results
1. Kyle Larson
2. Christopher Bell
3. William Byron
4. Austin Cindric
5. Chase Elliott
6. AJ Allmendinger
7. Shane van Gisbergen
8. Joey Logano
9. Bubba Wallace
10. Ryan Blaney
11. Tyler Reddick
12. Carson However
13. Kyle Busch
14. Denny Hamlin
15. Michael McDowell
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17. Chris Buescher
18. Alex Bowman (DQ)
19. Todd Gilliland
20. Zane Smith
21. Harrison Burton
22. Martin Truex Jr.
23. Josh Berry
24. Brad Keselowski
25. Daniel Henric
26. Ryan Preece
27. Justin Haley
28. Kaz Grala
29. Ross Chastain
30. Josh Bilicki
31. Daniel Suarez
32. Noah Gragson
33. Austin Dillon
34. Erik Jones
35. John Hunter Nemechek
36. Ty Gibbs
37. Chase Briscoe
38. Corey LaJoie
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