Kyle Larson Dominates To Win At Charlotte ROVAL; Round Of 8 Field Set

Kyle Larson Dominates To Win At Charlotte ROVAL; Round Of 8 Field Set

by October 13, 2024 1 comment

CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Larson won his sixth race of the season on Sunday after dominating the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Larson locked himself into the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Playoffs way before the checkered flag on Sunday, but he continued to run up front all race long. The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet finished Stage 1 in fifth and Stage 2 in 10th; however, Larson spent the majority of the race out in front of the field as he led a race high of 62 laps. The victory marked his second at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

“Yeah, really it’s the first time in my playoff career I’ve not been close to the cut line, so it was good to kind of have a little bit stress-free of a weekend,” Larson said. “I think the first time I’ve been here without crashing, maybe besides the other time I won.

“Good weekend. Thanks to Hendrickcars.com, Hendrick Automotive Group. Obviously we’re here in Hendrick’s home and got so many people here from there. Going to be fun to celebrate with them.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell finished second on Sunday. The No. 20 DeWalt Toyota team was strong throughout the Round of 12, finishing seventh at Kansas and sixth at Talladega. Bell now enters the Round of 8 second in the standings with a ton of momentum moving forward.

“We had a goal today to win the race, and that’s what we came here to do, and it was close – me and the 5 seemed like we were pretty evenly matched once we got out to our equal spacing,” Bell said. “I would make a bad lap, and he would pull away, and he would make a bad lap, and I would close in. Hopefully, we get a redo in Phoenix.”

William Byron finished third. He will also advance to the Round of 8 with the strong top-five finish. In fact, Hendrick Motorsports will have three teams move one step closer to the Championship 4.

“It was an OK day for the No. 24 Valvoline Confetti Chevy team,” Byron said. “I feel like the whole day, we were just trying to find a little bit more pace. We could get better in some areas, and then other areas, we just struggled. It seemed like the back chicane, we just struggled changing direction there. It was kind of all we had. It was a good day, but we definitely wanted more. We just weren’t quite good enough.”

Austin Cindric finished fourth, but the strong finish wasn’t enough to catapult him into the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Playoffs. He finished 34th in Kansas and 32nd at Talladega and a 32-point deficit heading into the day was too difficult to overcome without winning the race.

“We had the speed and that is the encouraging thing and the exciting thing but today we needed it all,” Cindric said. “We had a great car. We had a great finish. My guys called a great strategy and we got points in both Stages, all the things that are hard to do in a Cup race, but we did those things and were capable of doing those things in the two prior races. That is what this format is. It is difficult. I think for us, having a better regular season, having a bit better of a buffer would definitely help. I am proud of everyone.”

Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five. AJ Allmendinger finished sixth, followed by Shaen Van Gisbergen, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney.

Tyler Reddick, who finished 11th, just barely advanced in the NASCAR Playoffs. During a late pit stop, Reddick took fresh tires, and it allowed him to slice and dice through the field to earn just enough points.

“Huge props to everyone on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry,” Reddick said. “This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in stage three. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off.”

In addition to Cindric not advancing, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman also didn’t advance.

STORY: Alex Bowman Disqualified And Booted From NASCAR Playoffs; Joey Logano Advances

Reddick won Stage 1, and with Alex Bowman being disqualified for not meeting the minimum weight requirements following post-race inspection, Shan Van Gisbergen has been credited with a Stage 2 win.

The caution came out on five occasions for 13 laps, but no caution for was an accident on the track.

Kyle Larson heads into the Round of 8 with a 33-point lead over eighth place. Bell is second (+13), followed by Tyler Reddick (+10), William Byron (+4), Ryan Blaney (-4), Denny Hamlin (-8), Chase Elliott (-9) and Joey Logano (-11).

The Round of 8 of the NASCAR Playoffs will get underway on Sunday, Oct. 20 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The South Point 400 will broadcast live on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com

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