NASCAR: Bell wins Charlotte Roval race
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell had to win today’s NASCAR Bank of America Roval 400 in order to advance in the NASCAR Cup championship, and he did just that passing Kevin Harvick on the final restart and drove to a 1.790s victory.
On fresh tires, thanks to a strategic pit stop under caution on Lap 105, Bell passed Kevin Harvick to the outside through Turns 1 and 2 after a restart on Lap 111 and pulled away to win Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.
With the victory, Bell transferred to the Round of 8 and simultaneously eliminated reigning series champion Kyle Larson, who brought his No. 5 Chevrolet to pit road on Lap 98 after hitting the wall and breaking the right-rear toe link on his car.
Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley rounded out the top-5.
Bell didn’t have the fastest car on Sunday, but he and crew chief Adam Stevens took advantage of two late cautions to make the winning move.
“Man, you’ve just got to be there at the end of these things,” said Bell, who entered the race 45 points below the cut line for the Round of 8. “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength this year.
“We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win (before taking tires). We rolled the dice, gambled, and it paid off for us.”
A chagrined Larson blamed himself for his ouster.
“I just made way too many mistakes all year long,” Larson said. “Made another one today. Ultimately cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship.
“Just extremely mad at myself. I let the team down a number of times this year, and let them down in a big way today.”
Austin Cindric and Daniel Suárez also suffered elimination. Cindric spun entering the backstretch chicane after the final restart on Lap 111 and finished 21st, missing the Round of 8 by 13 points. Suárez fought his No. 99 Chevrolet after his power steering failed during the third stage and came home 36th, leaving him nine points behind Briscoe for the final transfer spot.
Briscoe restarted outside the top 20 on Lap 111 and took advantage of Cindric’s spin, his own aggression and a block from Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer, who held up cars Briscoe needed to pass on the final lap.
“Yeah, man, what a wild day,” Briscoe said. “It took every bit of it there at the end. To be easily in, then that debris caution comes out (on Lap 104). Still, I thought we had a really good shot of making it in. Get wrecked on the backstretch. Crazy at the end of these races, especially the road-course races, how much can change so quickly.
“I had no idea we were even going to have a shot (on the final restart). Truthfully, I knew we were probably out. I saw the 2 (Cindric) wreck, I thought maybe there’s still a chance. We had so much fresher tires than anybody. (Crew chief) Johnny (Klausmeier) pumped them way up to qualifying pressures, let me go attack, have the ball in my hands.”
What had been an orderly race for 103 laps descended into chaos after NASCAR called the third caution of the race on for debris in Turn 6, ending a 50-lap green-flag run.
That’s when Bell brought his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to pit road for tires. He restarted 12th on Lap 107, and by the time he returned to the finish line — due in part to a pile-up in Turn 1 — Bell was pursuing Tyler Reddick for the second position.
On Lap 108, Bell slipped past Reddick and was chasing Harvick when a second debris caution for a melee in Turn 2 forced the race to overtime. On the final restart, Harvick was a sitting duck on older tires, but he managed to hold off Kyle Busch for the second spot.
Joining Bell and Briscoe in the Round of 8 are Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Ross Chastain. Elliott led a race-high 30 laps and appeared headed for his third victory at the Roval before the caution on Lap 104.
After the Lap 107 restart, Elliott, who had qualified for the Round of 8 with last Sunday’s victory at Talladega, spun through the grass outside Turn 6 after contact from Reddick and came home 20th.
Logano, the pole winner, took the first stage wire-to-wire but was buried in traffic after a pit stop on Lap 27 and finished 18th.
AJ Allmendinger ran fourth after leading 24 laps, followed by Justin Haley, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Reddick, Briscoe and Austin Dillon.
With points reset entering the Round of 8, Elliott holds the top spot in the NASCAR Cup standings with a 20-point edge over second-place Logano.
The Cup Series’ next race is the South Point 400, scheduled next Sunday, Oct. 16 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry
Finishing Position: 1st
At what point did you think you would be in position to get the victory and advance in the Playoffs?
“Oh, man, I don’t even know. Whenever I came off pit road and I was the first car with tires, I was just trying to wait and see where I stacked up. I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires, I was the first one on new tires. I said, I guess we’re going to roll the dice here and see what happens. When I got into turn one, my spotter did an amazing job. They all started wrecking. He told me to stay tight to the middle, and that kept me out of all the junk in turn one. Really proud of everyone on this DeWalt team. They deserve it, man. We’ve been trying so hard to get DeWalt in Victory Lane. We finally got this Camry here.”
What does this win say about not giving up and the determination of this race team?
“Man, you just got to be there at the end of these things. I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength year. We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice, gambled, it paid off for us.”
How dangerous can this team be in the Round of 8 and to contend for this championship?
“I feel really good about it, that’s for sure. I knew that the whole time going into this second round of the Playoffs this was the troublemaker, with Talladega and then the road course being in here, when we weren’t strong on the road courses. I was really nervous about this round. I felt good about Texas. When we got out of there with no points, I thought it was going to be a really tough road. It was a really tough road. But there was an end to it.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How was your race overall today?
“It was definitely a good day for our M&M’S Camry. There at the end, before everything happened, we were just trying to keep it on the track and stay straight. We were really losing rear tire grip and losing time. But we got that late caution, made a pit stop and took advantage of new tires – came up with a third-place finish. Vegas is next week and we always look forward to it. We were fast there in the spring so hopefully we can do the same thing.”
Race Results
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | BEHIND | LAPS |
| 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) |  |
— | 112 |
| 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |  |
1.790 | 112 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | |
1.976 | 112 |
| 4 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) |  |
3.136 | 112 |
| 5 | 31 | Justin Haley | |
4.635 | 112 |
| 6 | 17 | Chris Buescher | |
4.974 | 112 |
| 7 | 45 | Bubba Wallace (P) | |
5.442 | 112 |
| 8 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | |
6.839 | 112 |
| 9 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (P) | |
6.973 | 112 |
| 10 | 3 | Austin Dillon | |
8.329 | 112 |
| 11 | 43 | Erik Jones | |
8.716 | 112 |
| 12 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | |
8.890 | 112 |
| 13 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | |
9.148 | 112 |
| 14 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | |
9.412 | 112 |
| 15 | 10 | Aric Almirola | |
10.045 | 112 |
| 16 | 24 | William Byron (P) | |
10.639 | 112 |
| 17 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | |
11.151 | 112 |
| 18 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | |
11.833 | 112 |
| 19 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | |
16.053 | 112 |
| 20 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | |
16.809 | 112 |
| 21 | 2 | Austin Cindric # (P) | |
18.860 | 112 |
| 22 | 23 | Ty Gibbs(i) | |
19.024 | 112 |
| 23 | 48 | Noah Gragson(i) (P) | |
20.706 | 112 |
| 24 | 41 | Cole Custer | |
30.528 | 112 |
| 25 | 42 | Ty Dillon | |
31.678 | 112 |
| 26 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | |
33.921 | 112 |
| 27 | 34 | Michael McDowell | |
47.159 | 112 |
| 28 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | |
-1 | 111 |
| 29 | 77 | Mike Rockenfeller | |
-1 | 111 |
| 30 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | |
-1 | 111 |
| 31 | 78 | Josh Williams(i) | |
-2 | 110 |
| 32 | 51 | JJ Yeley(i) | |
-2 | 110 |
| 33 | 27 | Loris Hezemans(i) | |
-2 | 110 |
| 34 | 50 | Conor Daly | |
-3 | 109 |
| 35 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | |
-5 | 107 |
| 36 | 99 | Daniel Suarez (P) | |
-5 | 107 |
| 37 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | |
-9 | 103 |
| 38 | 15 | Joey Hand | |
-33 | 79 |
| 39 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat(i) | |
-95 | 17 |
(I) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME