Larson Cruises In ROVAL Romp As Round Of 8 Is Set

Kyle Larson celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

CONCORD, N.C. – It wasn’t quite as dominant as his win at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway three weeks ago, but Kyle Larson made himself two-for-two in NASCAR Cup Series playoff elimination races Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

With a No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that was easily the class of the field all afternoon, Larson led 62 of 109 laps in the Bank of America ROVAL 400 for his second win in four years at the 2.28-mile, 17-turn hybrid road course integrating portions of the 1.5-mile CMS oval.

Once he took the lead from A.J. Allmendinger on lap 67, Larson was able to cruise pretty much the rest of the way, only giving up the top spot for one lap to rival Christopher Bell when the pair made their final pit stops coming to 33 to go.

After that, Larson cycled back out in front of Bell and paced the final 33 circuits uncontested for his 29th career Cup Series victory and sixth this season, most among all drivers after 32 of 36 races.

Joined by daughter Audrey on the frontstretch after his burnout, Larson celebrated the continuance of a dominating 40th anniversary season for Hendrick Motorsports.

“Really, this was the first time in my playoff career [at this point] that I haven’t been super close to the cut line, so it was good to have a bit of a stress-free weekend,” said Larson, who clinched a spot in the Round of 8 on points at the end of stage two before going on to win the race.

“I think this might be the only time I’ve been here without crashing, too, besides the other time that we won [in 2021],” he added with a chuckle. “Good weekend; thanks to HendrickCars.com for all their support, and of course being here at Hendrick’s home [racetrack] where so many of their people can come here and be a part of this is really cool.”

Though a reconfiguration of the ROVAL at turns six, seven, and 16 was projected to provide chaos throughout the afternoon, there were no true cautions for incident in the race, though there were three slowdowns for debris in addition to the stage breaks at laps 25 and 50.

That allowed Larson to flex his muscles over the course of longer green-flag runs, eventually taking the checkers 1.511 seconds ahead of Bell after holding leads of more than two seconds at various junctures.

He cited his comfort level in the adjusted portions of the racetrack as coming from the simulation work he put in ahead of Sunday’s race to understand what he needed out of his car throughout the race.

“It’s known that I don’t really use the sim[ulator] all that much, and I was in sim this week trying to get better at the new layout, so thank you to Chevrolet and everyone that helped us prepare,” Larson noted.

Kyle Larson in action Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. (Scotte Sprinkle photo)

“That really helped me get into a rhythm, I think, early on and helped us fine-tune our car for later in the race.”

After short-pitting near the end of stage one to flip his track position, Larson got out front at the start of the second stage before doing the exact same thing just before the end of stage two in order to set himself up for the closing stint.

It left Bell chasing a rabbit that he wasn’t going to catch, though Bell also had a Round of 8 berth locked up on points before the finish and had little to stress over in the waning moments.

“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 (Larson) seemed like we were pretty evenly matched once we got out to our equal spacing,” noted Bell. “I would make a bad lap, and he would pull away, and he would make a bad lap, and I would close in.

So all in all, not bad, but hopefully we get a redo in Phoenix [for the championship race].”

Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who was the only driver entering the ROVAL with a clinched spot in the penultimate playoff round, crossed third but was a distant 8.965 seconds adrift.

Austin Cindric finished fourth, having needed a win to advance in the postseason, with Chase Elliott giving team owner Rick Hendrick three of the top five finishers.

Kaulig Racing teammates A.J. Allmendinger and polesitter Shane van Gisbergen were sixth and seventh, with Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, and defending series champion Ryan Blaney closing the top 10.

The playoff drama in the final laps centered around Logano and regular season champion Tyler Reddick, who were the pair battling for the final spot on points to advance out of the Round of 12.

Reddick’s position was somewhat surprising, given his regular season and winning stage one Sunday, but heavy door-to-door contact with his boss – Denny Hamlin – at the turn-seven hairpin while Reddick was trying to avoid a spinning Austin Dillon led to a broken right-rear toe link that needed repairs.

After eight total pit stops trying to massage the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE back into contending form, a late stop for fresh tires during the last debris caution allowed Reddick to charge from 26th to 11th and maintain hold on the eighth and final advancement position by a scant four points.

That meant that the four drivers who entered the day below the cut line – Logano, Cindric, Daniel Suarez, and Chase Briscoe – remained there and were eliminated from the postseason.

Larson, Bell, Byron, Elliott, Blaney, Alex Bowman, Hamlin, and Reddick will continue their pursuit of the Cup Series championship when the Round of 8 kicks off Sunday, Oct. 20 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.

Broadcast coverage of the South Point 400 in Sin City is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET, live on NBC, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.