Road course aficionado AJ Allmendinger stole some thunder from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers with a convincing victory in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
Driving the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, Allmendinger led twice for a race-high 46 laps, including the last 33, and beat runner-up William Byron to the finish line by 0.666s to win his first Cup race of the season, his first at the Charlotte Road Course and the third of his Cup Series career—all on road courses.
Kyle Busch finished third at the 2.32-mile, 17-turn circuit, two spots short of the win he need to advance to the Playoffs’ Round of 8. Joining Busch on the Playoff elimination list were Ross Chastain (who finished 10th), Bubba Wallace (16th) and Brad Keselowski (18th).
Kyle Busch needs to win to make the next round of the #NASCARPlayoffs.
He was winning, but gets passed by AJ Allmendinger! pic.twitter.com/KxleW1mZap
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 8, 2023
Allmendinger took the lead for the final time when Ryan Blaney pitted from the top spot on lap 77, under caution for a wreck in the frontstretch chicane involving Denny Hamlin, Ty Dillon and Mike Rockenfeller.
The 41-year-old from Los Gatos, Calif., survived four more cautions and four more restarts before he completed what he termed “the drive of my life.”
Allmendinger was weeping during the cool-down lap and teared up in his post-race interview.
“I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man,” he said. “You don’t know when it’s ever going to happen again…
“This is why you do it. This is the only reason you do it. You fight. All the blood, sweat, tears, everybody at Kaulig Racing has just been such… I’d say a down year, but up-and-down year. It’s our second year in the Cup Series.”
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Byron and Ryan Blaney already had advanced to the Round of 8 in the Playoffs by virtue of their respective victories at Texas and Talladega.
Joining them in the next round, which starts next Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, are Tyler Reddick (who ran sixth from the pole on Sunday), Denny Hamlin (37th), Christopher Bell (15th), Chris Buescher (seventh), Kyle Larson (who started from the rear in a backup car and finished 13th) and Martin Truex Jr. (20th).
The regular-season champion, Truex, claimed the final berth in the Round of 8 by 12 points over Chastain, the first driver out.
Ill-fortune that befell Chase Elliott near the end of Stage 2 facilitated Allmendinger’s victory. Just as Elliott, the race leader, was approaching pit road to “short” the stage, BJ McLeod’s spin in Turn 4 caused the second of seven cautions and forced NASCAR to close pit road.
Elliott steered back to the racing surface and won the stage but lost critical track position after pitting during the stage break and never regained it. He finished ninth behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman.
Ty Gibbs came home fourth, followed by Joey Logano.
After a strong run from start to finish, Busch was philosophical about his exit from the Playoffs.
“The guys gave me a great piece today,” he said. “The Lenovo Camaro was pretty fast, just lacked a little bit on the long run, just didn’t quite have the feel of the tire that I was really looking for to be able to turn into the corners and to be able to drive out of the corners and keep pace with the front two there at the end.
“But overall, this ride is on me anyways. The first two weeks of this round were obviously not very good, and we didn’t score any points. That’s where it’s at. That’s where it lies. Texas, Talladega, just not being able to execute and do a good job when points were on the line.”