By David Morgan, Associate Editor
CONCORD, N.C. – The Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs comes down to this.
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 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-mile oval to creating what they call the ROVAL, incorporating both the high banks of the oval with the track’s infield road course.
What emerged is a 2.28-mile, 17-turn behemoth that has been pushing drivers to their limits ever since as they battle to conquer the track and punch their ticket into the next round of the Playoffs.
Coming off last week’s wild card race at Talladega and straight into another at Charlotte, just one spot in the Round of 8 has been decided, with William Byron staking his claim by earning enough points thus far in the round to cement himself as one of the drivers that will continue their chase for the championship.
Behind him, there are those that are likely safe with enough of a points cushion, those in danger of falling out, and those that will be fighting for their Playoff lives from the drop of the green flag on Sunday.
Christopher Bell has the most breathing room with a 57-point advantage over the cut-off line, meaning he’s all but locked into the next round. He’s followed by Kyle Larson (+52), Denny Hamlin (+30), Alex Bowman (+26), and defending series champion Ryan Blaney (+15), all of whom have enough of a points buffer that they should be safe enough to move on to the next round.
From seventh on back, it’s a different story.
Regular season champion Tyler Reddick holds a 14-point advantage over the cut line in seventh, which gives him some breathing room, but not much. The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota will hope to turn around his Playoff luck and channel his previous road course success to keep his postseason run going.
Two-time Charlotte ROVAL winner Chase Elliott is clinging to the final transfer spot with a 13-point gap over those on the outside looking in. If Elliott can have a solid day, he can play defense to keep the drivers from ninth on back from knocking him out.
Behind them, Joey Logano sits 13 points back of Elliott and much like Reddick will hope to turn around the skid he has been on since winning at Atlanta to start the Playoffs, not finishing better than 14th in the four races since. Logano does have his record at Charlotte going for him though as he has finished inside the top-10 in five of his six starts at the track.
Then there’s the drivers that will likely need a win to break into the Round of 8, as Daniel Suarez Is 20 markers back, followed by Austin Cindric at 29 back, and Chase Briscoe 32 points in arears.
Suarez is the only one of the three to have won a Cup Series road course races as he was victorious at Sonoma in 2022. Briscoe and Cindric are no slouches on road courses though, with Briscoe finishing sixth in the most recent road course race at Watkins Glen and Cindric banking six career top-10 finishes on road courses.
ROVAL Revamp
The Charlotte ROVAL was already chaotic enough in its layout prior to this season, but officials at the track decided to up the ante heading into this year’s event.
Two major changes were undertaken to the track between last year and this year, starting with what will likely now be the biggest chokepoint on the track in Turn 7.
Instead of a sweeping right and left hander at Turn 6 and 7 before hanging another left onto NASCAR oval Turns 1-2, officials have lengthened the straightaway out of Turn 5 that sends the drivers over a blind crest into a right-hander at Turn 6 before funneling them into the new hairpin turn at Turn 7 before returning to the NASCAR oval.
The backstretch chicane has also been tweaked a bit for this year’s race, tightening up the Turn 10, 11, and 12 complex, but the bigger change has come to the frontstretch chicane.
A sharper Turn 16 and 17 will greet the drivers after they storm off the frontstretch and through the flowing right-hander that is Turn 15, making for another heavy braking zone that will no doubt be another section to bottle the drivers up in hopes of prompting more passing.
One way or another, excitement guaranteed.
By the Numbers
What: Bank of America ROVAL 400, NASCAR Cup Series Race No. 32 of 36
Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course – Concord, North Carolina
When: Sunday, October 13
TV/Radio: NBC, 2:00 pm ET / PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
Track Size: 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course
Banking: 24 degrees in oval turns, five degrees on oval straightaways
Race Length: 109 laps, 252.88 miles
Stage Lengths: First two stages: 25 laps each – Final stage: 59 laps
2023 Race Winner: A.J. Allmendinger – No. 16 Chevrolet (Started sixth, 46 laps led)
Track Qualifying Record: Kurt Busch – 1 minute, 16.805 seconds/106.868 mph – September 2018
Top-10 Highest Driver Rating at Charlotte:
- Chase Elliott – No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 111.2
- William Byron – No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 106.6
- Tyler Reddick – No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – 106.4
- A.J. Allmendinger – No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – 103.2
- Joey Logano – No. 22 Team Penske Ford – 95.9
- Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 95.8
- Ryan Blaney – No. 12 Team Penske Ford – 92.2
- Ty Gibbs – No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 91.8
- Kyle Busch – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – 91.6
- Christopher Bell – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 90.4
NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings:
- William Byron (Locked into next round on points)
- Christopher Bell (+57)
- Kyle Larson (+52)
- Denny Hamlin (+30)
- Alex Bowman (+26)
- Ryan Blaney (+25)
- Tyler Reddick (+14)
- Chase Elliott (+13)
——————————————————————————————————————–
- Joey Logano (-13 below cut-off)
- Daniel Suarez (-20)
- Austin Cindric (-29)
- Chase Briscoe (-32)
From the Driver’s Seat
“It’ll be a little bit different with the final chicane being a little tighter you’re going to see some more kind of outbreaking maneuvers there now than what it has been,” said Ryan Blaney.
“Exiting the infield there, I don’t know how that’s going to be; that’s a super tight corner when you turn back onto the banking you know of the oval Turn 1 track. I think you’re going to see some big dive bomb Hail Mary moves into there, just because it’s a pretty wide entry, and you’ll have to slow way down.
“So, we’ll see, but that’ll be a pretty exciting spot on the track. I think they also opened up a couple of passing zones, which is good. That’s what tracks need.”
Last Time at the Charlotte ROVAL
AJ Allmendinger played spoiler in this race a year ago, holding off two Playoff contenders to score the win at Charlotte – his first of the 2023 season and first Cup win at the track to go along with his four-straight Xfinity Series wins here from 2019 to 2022.
Driving the No. 16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, Allmendinger was a constant presence at the front of the field, leading twice for a race-high 46 laps including the last 33 after taking over the lead for the final time when Ryan Blaney pitted from the lead under caution on Lap 77.
From there, Allmendinger was able to keep the field at bay, including Playoff drivers William Byron and Kyle Busch. Byron had already punched his ticket into the next round, while Busch needed a win to be able to advance.
Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, and Ross Chastain would round out the top-10 finishers.
“I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man. You don’t know when it’s ever going to happen again. Let’s go!” said Allmendinger.
“This is why you do it. This is the only reason you do it. You fight. All the blood, sweat, tears, everybody at Kaulig Racing has just been such — I’d say a down year, but up-and-down year. It’s our second year in the Cup Series.”
Along with Busch getting eliminated from the Playoffs after his near-miss podium finish, Chastain, Bubba Wallace, and Brad Keselowski were the odd men out in the Playoff race and were also cut from the list of title contenders.
Much like Busch, Chastain needed a win to be able to advance, but just didn’t have enough speed in his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to get the job done.
Wallace had a good day going after qualifying in the top-five and finishing in the points in the first two stages, but late in the race found himself mired back in traffic before his race really went off the rails with 22 laps remaining.
Coming into the backstretch chicane, Wallace was the victim of a stack-up between Daniel Suarez and Austin Cindric that sent him spinning. Since the hit caused him to miss the corner, Wallace served a stop-and-go penalty and then brought his machine to pit road for fresh tires, dropping him all the way down to 32nd.
While he rebounded to 16th at the finish, he was still 18 points shy of being able to transfer on.
Last, but not least was Keselowski, who needed to have a solid day in Charlotte to be able to keep his razor-slim points advantage in his pocket to be able to move on.
Unfortunately for him, he got the exact opposite.
After starting mid-pack, Keselowski’s race started heading downhill just 17 laps in when he missed the frontstretch chicane and did not serve a stop and go penalty on the lap the miss occurred on. As a result, he would have to report to pit road for a pass-through penalty instead, which left him playing catch-up for the rest of the day.
In the end, he would finish the race in 18th, but it wasn’t enough for him to be able to keep his first Playoff run as the co-owner of RFK Racing alive.
Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)
- Saturday, October 12
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice (12:30 pm to 2:00 pm – USA Network)
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (2:00 pm – USA Network)
- Sunday, October 13
- Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte (2:00 pm – 109 laps, 252.88 miles – NBC)
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