Kyle Larson capped the NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of 12 playoff finale with deft left and right turns Sunday afternoon, conquering the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for the second time to win the Bank of America ROVAL 400 in Concord, N.C.
In the final restart, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver pulled away from Christopher Bell and slickly moved his Chevrolet around the 2.32-mile road layout for his series-high sixth win of 2024, topping Bell’s No. 20 Toyota by 1.511 seconds.
William Byron, Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott completed the top five, but the biggest moment in the elimination race was Tyler Reddick overcoming a double-digit deficit over the final 26 circuits and knocking two-time champion Joey Logano out of title contention.
Driving the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota for team owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, Reddick, the regular-season champ, finished 11th and locked in a spot in the championship standings.
Joining Logano in elimination were Team Penske teammate Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe.
On a beautiful afternoon outside North Carolina’s Queen City, first-time Cup polesitter Shane van Gisbergen brought down the 38-car field for the final road-course race of 2024 and the field-setter for the Round of 8, leading until Lap 22.
The 109-lap race went caution-free until the completion of Stage 1 when Reddick secured the segment win. Logano, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Larson rounded out the top five.
However, Reddick’s outlook soured when he banged into team owner Hamlin in Turn 7 on Lap 31 as Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet spun, sending Reddick’s car to pit road for service.
In a must-win scenario entering the Roval race, last-place title contender Briscoe, who welcomed the birth of his twins earlier in the week, lost a tire on his No. 14 Ford to bring out the first caution for incident.
In the latter portion of Stage 2, the racing intensified as drivers leaned on each other to gain positions while Larson created a gap on Bell. Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain were both sent spinning in minor incidents that kept the race under green.
Larson pitted from the point with two laps remaining, and Alex Bowman scored his first road-course stage win over AJ Allmendinger, Logano, Elliott and Bubba Wallace. Logano’s 17 bonus points in the stages boosted him in the standings.
Meanwhile, Briscoe retired his car after 43 laps in 37th, marking his elimination from title contention, while Suarez brought his No. 99 Chevrolet to pit road with brake problems during the fourth caution.
–Field Level Media
