A look at the winners and losers from the Charlotte Roval elimination race.
WINNERS
AJ Allmendinger — He led 46 laps at a track where he has dominated in the Xfinity Series with four wins in four starts. He held off Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and William Byron on multiple late restarts before scoring his third career Cup win. Allmendinger is responsible for both of Kaulig’s Cup wins.
Kyle Larson — He started from the rear of the field after crashing in practice and going to a backup car. He still scored six points in stage 2 as other drivers pitted early. Larson finished 13th and moved on to the Round of 8 for the second time in three years. Now he heads to Las Vegas and Homestead, two tracks where he has recent wins.
Martin Truex Jr. — Once again, Truex survived a difficult round of the playoffs. He has not finished inside the top 15 in any of the first two rounds of the playoffs but has moved on to the Round of 8. This is due to the points earned by winning the regular-season championship. Now that the points reset, he will be the second seed in the Round of 8, only five points behind leader William Byron.
Denny Hamlin — He finished last at the Roval after a multi-car crash. This occurred after he had already clinched a spot in the Round of 8 on points. Hamlin has the opportunity to contend for a spot in the Championship 4 during a round featuring Las Vegas, Homestead and Martinsville. He has nine combined Cup wins at these tracks.
LOSERS
Brad Keselowski — He entered the Round of 12 elimination race two points above the cutline. He dealt with issues throughout the road course race. He spun in an incident with Ross Chastain, served a pass-through penalty for failing to stop after missing a chicane and made multiple pit stops during the final stage. Keselowski finished 18th and failed to advance to the Round of 8.
Ross Chastain — He made the Championship 4 in his first season with Trackhouse Racing. This season, he failed to advance to the Round of 8 after only scoring three top-10 finishes in the first six races of the playoffs.
Bubba Wallace — He entered the weekend needing a standout performance. He delivered this early by qualifying fourth, his best starting position on a road course in Cup. He then scored 13 points in the first two stages. Contact from Austin Cindric sent him spinning in the backstretch chicane and disrupted his race. He finished 16th and failed to advance to the Round of 8.
Kyle Busch — He entered the race weekend in a must-win situation. Stage points did not matter. Busch put himself on the front row for the final restart but could not hold off William Byron. He finished third at the Roval and failed to advance to the Round of 8.
