Tag: Charlotte Roval

No. 48 team ‘cut it too close’ before Roval disqualification – Gordon

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon says that the organization didn’t see anything they were comfortable enough to build an appeal around for Alex Bowman and the No. 48 team. Bowman was disqualified from Sunday’s race at the Charlotte …

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon says that the organization didn’t see anything they were comfortable enough to build an appeal around for Alex Bowman and the No. 48 team.

Bowman was disqualified from Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval because his Chevrolet was too light in post-race inspection. There have been no details from NASCAR or Hendrick Motorsports regarding how far out of tolerance the car was, or what caused it to be too light. After crossing the finish line 18th, Bowman was moved to last place in the finishing order and credited with one point for the event.

But the most significant penalty was Bowman being eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Bowman fell behind Joey Logano on points after the penalty, which moved the Team Penske driver back into the Round of 8.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“When we looked at all the factors and you saw early on in that race the 48 car launched up into the air and got into the wall, and you just look at this race in general and the amount of contact, we wanted to really inspect the car fully to see was there enough damage or was there something that got dislodged from the car,” Gordon told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“NASCAR was great through the whole process; you can’t really inspect much of it at the racetrack, so we weren’t really sure, but they took it over to the tech center and looked at it yesterday and thoroughly examined it and didn’t find anything.”

Bowman ran over the curbing at the exit of the frontstretch chicane, launched into the air, and landed in the tri-oval. The momentum of the incident took Bowman to the outside wall, which he hit with the right side of his Chevrolet.

“Quite honestly, it’s just one of those things where NASCAR has minimum pre-race and minimum post-race weights and our teams, in order to just make the best performing race cars every week for our drivers, we know that we’ve got to stay as close to those minimums as possible,” Gordon continued. “In this case, the No.48 car, they just cut it too close and missed it.

“So that’s on us, and pretty embarrassed by it and very disappointing after what was looking like a historical day and one of the most exciting days that we’ve had the racetrack, and it being a home race and everything, and celebrating in victory and all four (advancing) and that all got wiped away.

“We looked at all the facts and we didn’t feel there was anything that we felt comfortable appealing and we’re going to move on.”

Bowman is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver who is no longer championship-eligible. Until inspection was complete, Hendrick Motorsports accounted for half of the eight drivers advancing into the third round of the postseason, with teammate Kyle Larson having won Sunday’s race.

“We were celebrating until about 6 p.m. Sunday,” Gordon said. “It was probably one of the greatest days in the 40-year history of Hendrick Motorsports with the win by the No.5, a home race, and what we thought was getting all four cars getting through to the next round and making history.

“But obviously pretty disappointed to hear the news that we failed on the weights on the post-race inspection. It’s pretty devastating with all the hard work and effort that’s put in. Really disappointed that that happened.”

Gordon admitted one of the biggest reasons it’s tough to swallow is because of the performance of Bowman and his team. Bowman, prior to the disqualification, had earned the most points of all playoff drivers. His average finish in six playoffs races (before the disqualification) was 12th.

Larson dominates Cup elimination race at Roval; Reddick advances

Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 was as much about Tyler Reddick’s heroic drive into the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as it was about Kyle Larson’s continued domination of elimination races. As Larson cruised to his second Playoff …

Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 was as much about Tyler Reddick’s heroic drive into the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as it was about Kyle Larson’s continued domination of elimination races.

As Larson cruised to his second Playoff victory this season—and his second in an elimination race—Reddick charged forward from 26th after a lap 84 restart and clawed his way to 11th—good enough to knock two-time series champion Joey Logano out of the Playoffs by eight points.

Logano’s exit was temporary, however. In post-race inspection, Alex Bowman’s Chevrolet failed NASCAR’s weight requirement and was disqualified, knocking the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet below the elimination line and restoring Logano to the Round of 8.

Mirroring his rout in the final Round of16 event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Larson grabbed the lead for the restart of Stage 2 and stayed out front for 62 of the final 82 laps at the 2.28-mile, 17-turn Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

 

The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 1.511s ahead of Christopher Bell, the only driver who could stay in the same zip code with the race winner. Third-place William Byron was 8.965s behind at the finish.

With his sixth victory of the season, his second at the Roval and the 29th of his career, Larson led two other Hendrick teammates into the final eight—Byron, and fifth-place finisher Chase Elliott.

“Really, it’s the first time in my Playoff career I’ve not been close to the cut line, so it was good to kind of have a little bit stress-free of a weekend,” said Larson, whose previous win at the Roval came during his 2021 championship season. “I think the first time I’ve been here without crashing, maybe, besides the other time I won.

“It’s known that I don’t really use the sim (simulator) much, and I was in the sim this week. It really helped me get into a rhythm I think early on and helped us kind of fine-tune our car, too.”

Joining Bowman on the sidelines were Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (fourth on Sunday), Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez (31st) and Stewart-Haas Racin’gs Chase Briscoe (37th), leaving reigning series champion Ryan Blaney (10th) and Logano as the two Ford drivers left in the Playoff field.

If Larson’s dominating run stole the suspense from his victory, Reddick’s charge over the final 26-lap green-flag run provided nail-biting drama.

After pole winner Shane van Gisbergen (21 laps led) and Larson pitted from the top two spots in Stage 1, Reddick, the regular-season champion, stayed out in the lead to collect 10 stage points and an additional Playoff point on lap 25.

A pit stop during the stage break mired Reddick in traffic for a lap 30 restart, and then calamity struck. In the newly reconfigured Turn 7 hairpin, the new corner of chaos, Austin Dillon turned sideways in a melee that saw Reddick jump the curbing and smash into his 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Reddick’s car was severely damaged, and only a succession of pit stops throughout the remainder of the race—including a lengthy sojourn under caution to repair the left-rear toe link—made it competitive for the final run.

“Yeah, I thought I was going to flip, but I think I was behind the No. 19 (Martin Truex Jr.)—trying to work the move to the inside,” Reddick said of the wreck. “I got clear of him—I saw the No. 3 (Dillon) spun and everyone on the binders coming to a stop, and of course, me and my boss (Hamlin) get together. It was like I was going to do a front flip. This thing was absolutely destroyed.

“Huge props to everyone on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry. This thing couldn’t go within 4s of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in Stage 3. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off.”

It was crew chief Billy Scott’s call to bring Reddick to pit road for new tires under caution on lap 82 that proved decisive. The fresh Goodyears were the ammunition Reddick needed to pass 15 cars during the final run and eclipse Logano’s point total by four.

But the drama became moot with Bowman’s disqualification.

“You just have to stay calm,” Reddick said. “You just have to stay focused. In those moments, it is so easy to lose control. Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us that this thing was able to get back through the field and get us to the good side of the cut line.”

By the time the second stage ended, Larson and Bell had clinched spots in the Round of 8. Hamlin, who ran 14th on Sunday, also advanced. Bowman was nine points above the elimination line at the finish before the crushing disqualification and would have been the fourth Hendrick driver in the final eight.

At the checkered flag on Sunday, AJ Allmendinger was sixth, followed by Van Gisbergen, Logano, Bubba Wallace, Blaney and Reddick.

RESULTS

Bowman eliminated from Cup playoffs after failing tech at Roval; Logano advances

Alex Bowman has been disqualified from Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Roval for failing post-race inspection. Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed for being too light. He will be credited with a last-place finish …

Alex Bowman has been disqualified from Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Roval for failing post-race inspection.

Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed for being too light. He will be credited with a last-place finish and receive one point.

Bowman crossed the finish line 18th in the Bank of America Roval 400. However, as a result of the disqualification, he has been eliminated from the playoffs. Joey Logano is now in the Round of 8 after initially being eliminated by four points.

Hendrick Motorsports can appeal the penalty.

Hard work at Charlotte Roval pays off for Reddick and 23XI

Tyler Reddick wouldn’t say Sunday was the drive of his career, but he acknowledged he certainly had to fight to make the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Reddick advanced by four points over Joey Logano. But the regular season champion …

Tyler Reddick wouldn’t say Sunday was the drive of his career, but he acknowledged he certainly had to fight to make the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Reddick advanced by four points over Joey Logano. But the regular season champion wound up having a dramatic day at the Charlotte Roval after colliding with his boss, Denny Hamlin, going into Turn 7 on lap 31 when the field stacked up behind a spinning Austin Dillon. Reddick was hot on the brakes when his car hit the left side of Hamlin’s and went airborne.

The incident damaged the toe link of his Toyota. Reddick fell to 37th place after initially pitting and the rest of the afternoon saw more pit stops for repairs, having to drive through the field.

“I’m hurtin’ now,” Reddick said. “I got pretty airborne, right? It felt pretty crazy. My neck is probably a little sore, but there are a lot of good curbs you can go out there and jump; I was having to get aggressive and try to find speed. The car was still pretty good but it took all the repair work that everyone put in to finally get it somewhat drivable again.

“It was definitely a lot different from what we had in the beginning of the race. I think the track would have really come to what our car was in Stage 1, but just to get it back to where we were and be able to make passes was a good effort.”

Reddick had been 14 points to the good entering the day, but after winning the first stage (which gave him 10 more), the incident in the second stage kept him out of the points. Logano earned 17 points between the first two stages.

“I’m behind [Martin Truex Jr.] and I can’t see much,” Reddick said of what happened in Turn 7. “I was just trying to get to the inside of [Truex], and I get inside [him] and my eyes open up more. I can see the apex of the corner. The [No.] 3 is spun around and everybody is on the brakes stopping.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“You’re expecting everyone to take that corner somewhat normally but as soon as I could see what was happening ahead, everyone was hitting the brakes and stopping to avoid a spin. It was the wrong place at the wrong time for us.”

In the final stage, Reddick was mathematically below the cutline as the points were updated in real-time. However, the final caution with 29 laps to go allowed him to come to pit road for fresh tires.

He restarted 26th as Logano ran sixth. Then the march began.

Reddick was 24th with 25 laps to go and Logano was fifth. He was 23rd with 24 laps to go, 22nd with 23 laps to go, 21st with 22 laps to go and Logano was still fifth. The No. 45 was then 20th with 21 laps to go and Logano lost a spot, dropping to sixth.

With 20 laps to go, Reddick was 19th. At 18 laps to go, he was 17th (and the gap was then down to four points). He took 15th on the next lap, narrowing the gap to two points. Four laps later, he shrunk that gap to just one point by taking 14th.

At 11 to go, Reddick held station and Logano lost another spot, dropping to seventh, tying the two on the cutline. With nine to go, Reddick was 12th, giving him a two-point advantage. In two more laps, he picked up a further point on Logano when he took 11th place.

Logano then lost a further spot before the checkered flag, putting the final points gap at four.

“With how my car was driving before that pit stop, I was a bit unsure,” Reddick said of getting back through the field. “But we kept making adjustments to the car.”

‘It’s hard not to feel angry right now’ – Logano eliminated at Roval

Joey Logano knows exactly where he lost the points he needed to advance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs – not that it makes him feel any better. Logano was eliminated from championship contention Sunday at the Charlotte Roval, coming up short by …

Joey Logano knows exactly where he lost the points he needed to advance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs – not that it makes him feel any better.

Logano was eliminated from championship contention Sunday at the Charlotte Roval, coming up short by four points. The final spot went to Tyler Reddick, who used fresh tires in the final run of the race to gain the necessary positions to overtake Logano. As the field ran before the final caution flew with 29 laps to go, Logano was mathematically ahead of Reddick.

The two-time Cup Series champion from Team Penske would have had the tiebreaker had it come down to it. Reddick went from 26th to 11th place at the finish. Logano, who restarted sixth, fell to an eighth-place finish.

“[I feel] angry at the moment, and I guess it’s bittersweet because we still have something to race for through the end of the year with the owner’s championship,” Logano told RACER. “We can still spoil the party a little bit [and] we will fight for that, and I like that part of it.

“But it’s hard not to think about where four points lay, and really it lays on the entry of Turn 3 at Richmond. [That’s] really where it is, so it’s hard not to feel angry right now.”

Richmond Raceway was Aug. 11. Logano led on the last lap going into Turn 3 when he was spun by Austin Dillon, who came from multiple car lengths back to make contact. Dillon needed a win to make the postseason, and he did win the race, but having also made contact with Denny Hamlin in Turn 4, NASCAR stripped his postseason eligibility.

Logano went from first place to 19th from the spin, leaving him with 32 points. A victory that night would have netted Logano five playoff points that he would have carried through the playoffs.

Coincidentally, the final caution Sunday afternoon that allowed Reddick to come to pit road for fresh tires was because of Dillon. The left front wheel left loose during Dillon’s pit stop car came off.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

The race restarted with 26 laps to go. Reddick began picking off one competitor a lap. The gap was four points between Logano and Reddick with 18 laps to go as Logano ran sixth and Reddick was 17th. The gap was gone, and they were tied, with 11 laps to go as Logano fell to seventh place and Reddick was up to 14th.

It was with 12 laps to go when the points swung in Reddick’s direction. The 23XI Racing driver moved up to 12th place while Logano was still seventh. Over the final laps, Reddick kept moving forward. Logano stalled out.

“Once he started forward, I thought we were going to be in trouble there because we weren’t going forward anymore and the rear tires were shot on the car,” Logano said. “I knew they were going to be coming at me.”

Logano’s No. 22 is still eligible for the owner’s championship while Reddick, although he beat Logano in the driver’s championship hunt, is eliminated in the owner’s hunt. Reddick’s No. 45 car did not have as many playoff points in the owner’s championship because it didn’t win the regular season championships (Kyle Larson’s No. 5 car did).

That’s the small solace Logano has leaving Charlotte.

“We’ve still got a lot to fight for,” he said. “We have a chance at winning the silent championship that still pays really well, so we’ll go for that.”

NASCAR alters Roval curbs at frontstretch chicane

NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports have changed the curbing in the frontstretch chicane at the Charlotte Roval for Sunday’s Cup Series race. The 4-inch ‘turtles’ have been replaced with 2.25-inch curbing. The smaller curbing should help lessen the …

NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports have changed the curbing in the frontstretch chicane at the Charlotte Roval for Sunday’s Cup Series race.

The 4-inch ‘turtles’ have been replaced with 2.25-inch curbing. The smaller curbing should help lessen the impact Cup Series drivers feel when going over it and the car bottoming out when it lands.

[lawrence-related id=368785]

On Saturday, a few drivers complained after practice and qualifying that the impact was too hard from going over the curbing. Martin Truex Jr. said it felt like getting a concussion. Kyle Busch agreed with that sentiment.

NASCAR also sent out a reminder about track limits when it comes to penalties for cutting the chicane.

The rule reads as follows:

“Vehicles must run the full course at all times. Going straight at the chicane(s) may result in a stop-and-go penalty in an assigned location for the violation. If a vehicle goes straight in the back straight chicane, the vehicle must perform the stop and go prior to exiting the back straight chicane or on the apron, driver’s left, prior to the start/finish line on the lap the violation is announced. If the vehicle goes straight in the front straight chicane, the vehicle must perform the stop and go on the apron, driver’s left, prior to the start/finish line or driver’s right at the back straight chicane on the lap the violation is announced. If the stop-and-go is not performed by the vehicle prior to exiting the designated penalty assessment location(s), the vehicle may be assessed a pass-through penalty.

“If in the closing laps of the race, and there is not enough time to assess the pass-through penalty, a post-race time penalty of 30 seconds will be assessed to the vehicle total time prior to posting of the race results. You will be judged as missing or shortcutting any turn previously described when all four tires are on the non-track side of the red and white rumble strips that define the apex of the turns.”

Mayer snatches Xfinity win away from Kligerman at Charlotte Roval

As Sam Mayer celebrated his drama-filled victory in Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Parker Kligerman watched a replay of the whisker-close circumstance that …

As Sam Mayer celebrated his drama-filled victory in Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Parker Kligerman watched a replay of the whisker-close circumstance that knocked him out of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

In overtime, Mayer passed Kligerman in Turn 7 of the 2.280-mile, 17-turn circuit and pulled away to claim the victory that propelled him into the Playoffs’ Round of 8.

But Mayer’s win was devastation for Kligerman, who has never won an Xfinity Series race. Kligerman was leading, with the white flag waving, when NASCAR called a caution for Leland Honeyman’s spin into the barrier in Turn 3.

 

Had the caution call come a fraction of a second later, Kligerman would have been the winner under yellow. The overtime, however, gave Mayer another shot in his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet—arguably the class of the field—and the 21-year-old from Franklin, Wis., took full advantage.

“We were all crossed up getting up in there (Turn 7),” Mayer said of the winning pass. “I was loose getting into [Turn] 6, and I knew that was my only shot, if I got a good angle into that corner.

“He blocked the bottom, which was good for me in that it gave me a better angle up off the corner and got this Chevrolet hooked up, and we were gone from there. Now I get to celebrate.”

Both Mayer and Kligerman needed to win to advance in the Playoffs, but it was Mayer who got his third win of the season, his second straight at the Roval and the seventh of his career, beating runner-up A.J. Allmendinger to the finish line by 1.474s.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

He joins JR Motorsports teammates Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier in the Round of 8, along with Chandler Smith (fifth), Austin Hill (fourth), defending series champion Cole Custer (13th), Allmendinger and Jesse Love (19th), who earned the final transfer spot by two points over Saturday’s pole winner and third-place finisher Shane van Gisbergen.

Kligerman left Charlotte 12th in the standings, a distant 24 points shy of the Round of 8 after fading to sixth on the final lap.

“I’ve done this interview from that side,” said Kligerman, who has combined careers of broadcasting and racing—and who will retire from full-time competition at the end of the season. “It’s really tough from this side.

“I teared up when I thought we got it there at the white flag, then the caution comes out, and we had to re-focus… I thought I cut off Turn 7 enough, but he (Mayer) somehow got below me, and then it was on from there.

“It was full contact. Sam didn’t do anything egregious. It was hard racing, but as close as you could be to the line. Now I want to cry—I’m not going to cry, but I really love this game, and it would’ve meant the world.”

For Mayer, it was no cakewalk. On lap three, he served a pass-through penalty for jumping the start from the second grid position, and in the late going, Mayer had a problem getting into third gear through the first two corners on the NASCAR oval.

He persevered, as did Allgaier, who finished seventh after finishing third in Stage 1 and winning Stage 2—his 15th stage win of the season.

Exiting the Playoffs with Kligerman and Van Gisbergen were Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed, victims of a pileup in Turn 17 on Lap 34. Herbst finished 32nd and Creed 35th.

RESULTS

Truex looking forward to leaving Roval behind and focusing on final four Cup races

Martin Truex Jr. is ready to get through Sunday at the Charlotte Roval and move on. “I’m very happy I’m never racing here again,” Truex said. The former Cup Series champion is retiring at season’s end and makes his final start on the course this …

Martin Truex Jr. is ready to get through Sunday at the Charlotte Roval and move on.

“I’m very happy I’m never racing here again,” Truex said.

The former Cup Series champion is retiring at season’s end and makes his final start on the course this weekend. Truex has an average finish of 15.7 on the road course with two top-10 finishes in six starts.

“It has not been good to me at all, I don’t like it, and I’ve not been good here,” Truex said. “Aside from almost winning that first year, it’s been a struggle. For whatever reason, I haven’t been able to get my arms around this place.”

Truex was leading coming to the finish in the inaugural event. However, he was taken out from behind when Jimmie Johnson wheel-hopped through the frontstretch chicane, spun, and collided with Truex. The incident handed the win to Ryan Blaney.

Charlotte marks five races left in the season. It is the final road course race of the season, and the series will finish out the year with two intermediate racetracks (Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami) and two short tracks (Martinsville and Phoenix). All four tracks, which will provide a sense of normalcy to end the year, have been places where Truex has seen previous success.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Not only has Truex won on all four racetracks, he has a combined seven wins between them, and if he were able to get another one, it would break his winless drought (which dates back to July 2023) but could be the final one he celebrates in the series.

“I’m definitely excited about Homestead, Vegas, Phoenix,” Truex said. “They’re all great tracks. Martinsville, even. Yeah, four really good places. Hopefully we just get through here (Charlotte) with something to show for it. Honestly, we were not bad in practice and I just totally screwed up my first run in qualifying and then the second time out the tires felt terrible like I was in race trim, so I hate it for my guys that I screwed that up.

“I thought we could have been somewhere maybe fifth, sixth, seventh or somewhere in there. It’s going to be a battle tomorrow, but hopefully we can get some track position. We don’t need stage points and a lot of guys will be going for that, so that should get us some track position and then, yeah, I’d like to get out of here with a good day and decent points and then go race hard the next four and hope for a win.”

Truex qualified 30th.

As the end nears, he did acknowledge he is starting to get a different type of engagement from those he comes across. There have been more “congratulations” and “enjoy retirement” sentiments. Others have said, “thanks for the memories.” The competitor in Truex, however, is not yet letting him fully process it all.

“It’s been cool but I’m just trying to focus on what I’m doing and doing a good job, and today I just totally screwed that up,” Truex said. “We worked hard this week and I’m just disappointed right now. Hopefully tomorrow goes better.”

New Roval chicane leaves drivers feeling concussion-like symptoms

The most noticeable thing about the course changes to the Charlotte Roval wasn’t how to attack the corners. It was the turtles. “It feels like you get a concussion every lap, basically, if you hit them,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “It’s not much fun.” …

The most noticeable thing about the course changes to the Charlotte Roval wasn’t how to attack the corners. It was the turtles.

“It feels like you get a concussion every lap, basically, if you hit them,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “It’s not much fun.”

Kyle Busch was “glad somebody said it. It hurts.”

Busch said Truex, his former teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, wasn’t exaggerating by using the concussion word. While he didn’t anticipate seeing the data from the impact of hitting the turtles until after race weekend, Busch admitted his head was already hurting.

“Turtles”is the nickname given to the hard plastic elevated curbing used in the chicanes. On the frontstretch of the Charlotte Roval, which was reconfigured to be a sharper angle, the turtles were launching Cup Series cars during practice and qualifying. It was a hard impact for the drivers when the car bottomed out upon landing.

“The frontstretch chicane reminds me of Watkins Glen before they redid it,” RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski said. “You just really crush the curb but that’s where the speed is at, so you kind of have to.

“It doesn’t feel good, no. But I don’t know if it’s supposed to.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Busch, however, was confused about why the chicane was altered to begin with. Charlotte Motor Speedway wanted to create another potential passing area, and the change was made ahead of its seventh annual race (as well as the new infield portion where a longer straightaway was created).

“I don’t understand the reasoning behind making it tighter; just to make us slower through there so we don’t get into Turn 1 as fast?” the Richard Childress Racing driver said. “I don’t really know. But the turtles over there, the sharper corner, if you don’t ramp them, you miss the exit, you miss the second set of them. You have to ramp them to give yourself a shot to be able to miss the exit ones.”

The changes at Watkins Glen came after NASCAR examined the data from driver mouthpieces that showed the impact of going over the curbing. A smoother curb transition was put in place over the elevated curbing that is at the bus stop. There were no longer concerns or complaints about the impacts after the change was made for this season’s event.

Time will tell if the Charlotte Roval gets the same treatment. Busch, however, doesn’t expect changes before Sunday’s event.

Chris Buescher wasn’t fazed by the changes to the course. He felt the frontstretch chicane wasn’t different from what has been there in the past.

“You have to use the maximum amount of curb where I felt like before you could get away with dodging it a little bit more,” he said. “But it’s really narrow now, so we have to get all we can get on that one.”

Van Gisbergen rockets to first career Cup Series pole at Roval

Shane van Gisbergen topped the NASCAR Cup Series field in qualifying Saturday at the Charlotte Roval for his first career pole. He clocked in at 99.246mph (82.704s) in his first attempt at the Roval in a Cup Series car. Tyler Reddick (P) qualified …

Shane van Gisbergen topped the NASCAR Cup Series field in qualifying Saturday at the Charlotte Roval for his first career pole.

He clocked in at 99.246mph (82.704s) in his first attempt at the Roval in a Cup Series car.

Tyler Reddick (P) qualified second at 99.177mph and AJ Allmendinger, third at 98.874mph. Allmendinger is the defending winner.

Joey Logano (P) ran fourth at 98.694mph; Austin Cindric (P), fifth at 98.580mph; Kyle Larson (P), sixth at 98.500mph; Chase Elliott (P), seventh at 98.389mph; Brad Keselowski, eighth at 98.341mph and Bubba Wallace, ninth at 98.219mph. William Byron (P) rounded out the top 10 at 98.165mph.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Byron is the only driver locked into the next round of the playoffs going into Sunday’s elimination race.

Kyle Busch missed advancing to the final round when Keselowski bumped him in the final minute of the first round. Busch qualified 11th.

Christopher Bell (P) qualified 12th; Daniel Suarez (P), 13th; Ryan Blaney (P), 15th; Alex Bowman (P), 17th and Denny Hamlin (P), 18th.

Ty Gibbs wound up 19th, while Carson Hocevar qualified 20th. Michael McDowell managed 21st.

Chase Briscoe (P) was the lowest qualifying playoff driver in 25th place.

Martin Truex Jr. qualified 30th for his final Roval race.

*P denotes playoff driver

RESULTS