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By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Through two rounds of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the 16-driver starting field has now been cut in half, with four more drivers getting axed from title contention following Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte. Entering the day, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, and Kyle Busch were the four drivers on the outside looking in, with Brad Keselowski hanging on by a thread, just two-points ahead of the cut-off line. By the time the checkered flag flew, Reddick had racedRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  CONCORD, N.C. – Road course aficionado AJ Allmendinger stole some thunder from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers with a convincing victory in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.  Driving the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, Allmendinger led twice for a race-high 46 laps, including the last 33, and beat runner-up William Byron to the finish line by 0.666 seconds to win his first Cup race of the season, his first at the Charlotte Road Course andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Tyler Reddick will start Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as he looks to race his way into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Entering the weekend nine points below the cut-off to advance, the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota showed off his road course prowess on Saturday by putting up the second-fastest time in practice and going one better in qualifying with a lap of one minute, 21.214 seconds at 102.839 mphRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – There are numerous adjectives that can be used to describe this weekend’s race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course: unpredictable, volatile, treacherous, chaotic, etc. One thing is for sure, Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 is going to be a hell of a ride, with four drivers getting cut from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs when the checkered flag waves. In an effort to spice things up back in 2018, Charlotte officials elected to switch from running another race on the 1.5-mileRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – The Round of 12 comes down to one race. Following the conclusion of Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the picture has become clearer for the drivers not yet locked into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Among the 10 drivers still hoping to punch their ticket to the Round of 8, there are some that just need a solid day on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, while others will need a win or some help to be able toRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – The second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs enters the gauntlet. Following the opening race of the Round of 12 last weekend at Texas that saw William Byron lock himself into the next round, the remaining 11 contenders head to Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday’s running of the Yellawood 500. Since opening its doors in 1969, the 2.66-mile track just off Interstate 20 in Alabama has been a wild card on the schedule with the unpredictable nature of superspeedway racing on full displayRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas – Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron took the lead on a restart with six laps remaining and held off the field to claim Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 victory on a steamy-hot highly-dramatic afternoon of NASCAR Cup Series Playoff action at Texas Motor Speedway. It marks a historic 300th victory for the championship Hendrick Motorsports organization – the most in NASCAR history for a NASCAR Cup Series team – and is the series-best, personal-high single-season sixth victory of the year forRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas – Bubba Wallace turned in a dramatic final lap of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday to claim the pole position for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Wallace’s qualifying lap of 188.337 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota around the 1.5-mile Fort Worth high banks just edged the hometown favorite, Texas-native Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford by a slight .039-second. It’s Wallace’sRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Christopher Bell earned a second chance on Saturday. For the second straight NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race, Bell will start from the pole position after a blistering lap at 180.276 mph (29.954 seconds) in the final round of qualifying for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell beat last Sunday’s Darlington winner Kyle Larson (179.826 mph) by 0.075 seconds to win his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. — Welcome back, Kyle Larson.  The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion held off a desperate charge from fellow Playoff driver Tyler Reddick at sold-out Darlington Raceway to claim victory in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 and earn an automatic berth in the Round of 12.  Larson entered the Playoff opener with an undistinguished average finish of 17.5 in his previous six races, but he weathered a transmission momentary stuck in neutral and a disconcerting brush with the wall to register hisRead More