Kyle Larson took a commanding victory at the reconfigured Charlotte Roval, ahead of Christopher Bell and William Byron. Larson then took daughter Audrey for a ride around the track in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after she retrieved the checkered flag for him.
“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 week,” said Larson. “I think it’s the first time I’ve been here without crashing. Good weekend … Obviously, we’re here at Hendrick’s home and got so many people here from there. Gonna be fun to celebrate with them. Knowing that I don’t really use the sim much and I was in the sim this week, so huge thank you to the guys there. It really helped me get into a rhythm early on and help us kind of fine tune our car. Hats off to everybody there.”
Though Larson was cruising, drivers situated near the cut-off were put under incredible pressure — namely, Tyler Reddick, who had a roller coaster of a race. It started with a Stage 1 win for the 23XI Racing driver, only to then crash into the side of his boss Denny Hamlin at the start of the second stage, damaging both cars. The team was able to make repairs and he made a heroic drive through the field on fresh tires.
With a handful of laps remaining, Reddick closed the gap to Joey Logano and overtook him on the track — as well as in the points standings — for the final transfer spot.
Logano, a two-time NASCAR Cup champion, was eliminated, but not for long. Following post-race inspection, Alex Bowman was disqualified for failing to meet the minimum weight requirement. The penalty puts him out of the playoffs and Logano back in.
Austin Cindric, who finished fourth, also fell from title contention. Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe were also eliminated alongside Bowman, but HMS could appeal.
The top-ten finishers: Larson, Bell, William, Cindric, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, Shane van Gisbergen, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney.
Race rundown
Van Gisbergen led from pole position early in the race, but as expected, those who didn’t need stage points chose to pit just before the stage end. This allowed Reddick to win the opening stage, which became crucial later on.
At the start of Stage 2, Reddick and the others who didn’t short-pit were now deep in the pack. It didn’t take long for trouble find him. As the field stacked up due to the spun car of Austin…
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