The Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course had plenty of action and drama. The Bank of America ROVAL 400 ended with four drivers being eliminated from championship contention.
During the race there were a couple of cars that experienced electrical issues. The cars were the Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson. Alex started the race in a must-win situation if he wanted to advance in the post-season. Kyle needed to have a good race to advance. While his team took the time to fix the issue, he actually fell below the cut line to advance.
A few weeks ago at Bristol, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott had some on track issues. It never really seemed to be resolved after the race. During the Bank of America ROVAL 400 it appeared that Kevin intentionally hit Chase and caused him to crash. For quite some time following that incident on the ROVAL both Kevin and Chase were below the cut line.
During the race it was Chase Elliott that was able to win stage one of the race. Kyle Busch was the winner of stage two. What matters the most is the end of the race and the total points accumulated to either advance or not advance.
Kyle Larson was able to battle back from his electrical issues and claim the win at the ROVAL. This made him the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to ever win three road course races in a single season. It gave him two wins in the Playoffs and a series leading seven wins for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Non-playoff drivers Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher finished in second and third places respectively. Playoff-drivers Kyle Busch (4th place) and Denny Hamlin (5th place) were next. See the complete race results for the Bank of America ROVAL 400 here.
The four drivers that were eliminated from the post-season were Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Heading to the Round of Eight Kyle Larson starts at the top of the Playoff Standings. Denny Hamlin is in the second spot 35 points back. Third place is held by Martin Truex Jr. 36 points behind the leader. You can see the complete NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings here.
The Round of Eight will begin Sunday, October 17th with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
By: Buck Stevens
