NASCAR at Charlotte Cup playoff race live updates: Chase Elliott wins the Roval 400

NASCAR gears up for what could be a historic wet weather race at the Charlotte Roval this Sunday. The Bank of America Roval 400 is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. on NBC.

The road course elimination race is 253 miles (109 laps) with stages ending on laps 25, 50, 109 and a competition caution on the tenth lap. Click here for a live NASCAR leaderboard.

Follow along here for lap-by-lap updates from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Refresh this page for the latest updates and follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

Roval winner at Charlotte: Chase Elliott

Kyle Busch among drivers eliminated from NASCAR playoffs

Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola are the four drivers eliminated from the postseason.

5:32 p.m., Lap 97: Caution out for Brennan Poole

Caution out for Poole, whose car stalled and stopped on the track. With 10 to go after the restart, it’s Elliott, Jones, Kurt Busch, Logano, Kyle Busch is the front.

5:20 p.m., Lap 89: Kyle Busch leads briefly

After the restart, Kyle Busch was out front followed by Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott. That quickly became Jones and Elliott in the lead.

5:18 p.m.: What TV channel is the NASCAR roval race on today?

Tuning in late? The Bank of America Roval 400 is on NBC.

5:10 p.m., Lap 86, Matt Kenseth wrecks

Another caution with 24 to go. Caution for debris in Turns 3 and 4. Matt Kenseth’s car is stopped and smoking in the tire barriers. Up front at the Charlotte Roval: Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.

4:51 p.m., Lap 73, Ryan Blaney loses lead

Ryan Blaney spins from the lead off the track — but there’s no caution — and Ryan Preece gets the lead. Bowman, Logano in second and third. Blaney was fortunate that all the passing drivers missed colliding with him.

4:49 p.m., Lap 71: William Byron penalized

Kurt Busch wins the race off pit road for the restart and previous leader William Byron gets a speeding penalty and will go to the rear. Order for restart is Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

4:40 p.m., Lap 69: Austin Dillon wrecks

Austin Dillon, who is below the playoff cutoff line, crashed into the wall after a bump from Kyle Busch. It’s the seventh caution of the race.

4:28 p.m., Lap 64: Ty Dillon in the grass

A caution is out for Ty Dillon, who was stuck in the grass momentarily. The sun is actually shining at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

4:13 p.m., Lap 54: Race restarts with early spins

Hamlin goes into the grass off the restart for the second stage, as does Custer, and Ty Dillon (re-starting 13th) has contact with the wall. Custer comes to pit road shortly after his spin for new tires. Nemechek also pits. The running order is Byron, Bell, Keselowski, Bowyer and Kurt Busch in the top-five. Kyle Busch is up to 22nd.

4:04 p.m., Lap 50: Blaney wins Stage 2, struggles continue for Kyle Busch

Blaney takes the lead on the final restart to close the stage. It’s a two-lap shootout to the green-and-white checkered and Blaney holds onto P1 through the flag. The finishing order for the stage is Blaney, Elliott, Bell, Truex, Logano, Bowman, Byron, Reddick, McDowell and Keselowski. Blaney wins his fourth stage of the season. Kyle Busch, meanwhile jumps off the restart only to have his left front tire blow out and he is forced to pit just before the end of the stage. He drops to 32nd.

Kyle Busch’s crew chief Adam Stevens tells Busch over the radio that the team patched a hole on the front of the No. 18 Camry and then says, “I have no clue what’s going to happen the rest of this race but we need to be there at the end of it.”

3:58 p.m., Lap 47: Caution out with three laps left in Stage 2

After mid-pack teams make green flag pit stops, the yellow comes out for JJ Yeley, who spins rounding Turns 5 and 6 and gets stuck in the grass. Aric Almirola, who is in a must-win scenario, was on pit road when the flag officially waved will go a lap down for the restart.

3:45 p.m., Lap 39: Blaney passes Byron for P1

Add Almirola to the list of spinning drivers. The caution still doesn’t come out. In the lead, Blaney chases up behind Byron and eventually catches him for first place by driving inside Byron rounding Turn 1. Byron drops to second, and Logano is also out front in third. The order is Blaney, Byron, Logano, Elliott, Bowman, and Kyle Busch. Custer, Bowyer, and Truex Jr. follow closely behind as the stage winds down.

3:35 p.m., Lap 33: Race keeps running following spins

Newman spins on the frontstretch, but doesn’t make contact with anyone, and the race stays green around Lap 30. Then, Keselowski spins across the track rounding Turn 4, parks on the side with Jones and DiBenedetto stopped behind him. Those behind them are able to pass and no yellow comes out. Bell, in second, then spins from the top of the running order a few minutes later on the same lap.

3:29 p.m., Lap 29: Bell-Byron exchange lead

Byron made an early pass of Bell off the restart, but Bell takes it back as Byron wiggles outside the line on one of the turns. Byron recovers and leads the next lap. The two race side-by-side until Byron eventually gets a run to pull ahead. Blaney and Dibenedetto are also battling in the top-five for position.

3:20 p.m., Lap 25: Ty Dillon wins Stage 1

Dillon leads the one-lap shootout to close the stage. Bell, DiBenedetto, Byron, Timmy Hill, Newman, Blaney, Logano, Wallace and Jones all finish in the top-10. Only Logano is a playoff driver who will gain points this stage. With the stage finish, Harvick is locked into the next round.

3:15 p.m., Lap 23: Caution for Nemechek

Nemechek gets stalled in the grass near Turn 6 as Hamlin also spins following his change to dry tires. The caution comes out for Nemecheck, who has a sign stuck to the front of his No. 38. Bowyer, Truex and Ky. Busch pit under yellow to change to tires, and will ultimately lose their track position to close out the stage.

3:09 p.m., Lap 20: Ty Dillon’s tire choice pans out

Ty Dillon, on slick tires, takes the lead from Bowyer with five laps left in the stage. The order is Dillon, Bowyer, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch. Mid-pack cars come to pit road to change to slick tires in two different major groups a few laps earlier, but Johnson and Bell were the first after Newman and Ty Dillon to change to the dry tires.

2:58 p.m., Lap 15: Bowyer to the lead

Truex leads after the re-start, but Bowyer passes him for P1 coming off the fronstretch chicane. The Busch brothers also get a run, in to fourth and fifth (Kyle followed by Kurt), while Newman (on slicks) gets loose and falls back. But the dry tires on Dillon are posting fast laps times, so if the track continues drying, those on the dry tires could make a run at the end of this stage. The order is Bowyer, Truex, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch.

2:57 p.m., Lap 12: Slick tire calls for Newman, Ty Dillon

Dillon and Newman are among those who pit and opt for slick tires, saying he thinks it’s the right call. Others to pit include Harvick, Byron, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Blaney, Buescher, Almirola, DiBenedetto and Stenhouse, who change their wet tires. Buescher gets a penalty for a crew member over the wall too soon and restarts at the back.

2:44 p.m., Lap 10: Bowyer makes moves, tire decisions

The competition caution comes out with the running order Elliott, Truex, Bowyer, Keselowski and Ty. Dillon in the top-five. Elliott made a pass of Keselowski just after the sixth lap and entering the first turns. Bowyer has also made moves and posted the fastest time so far on lap 6, according to NBC to put himself in third at the competition caution. Kyle Busch, in seventh, reports the backstretch is still wet and that the only part that’s dry is Turn 2.

2:37 p.m., Lap 3: Keselowski takes early lead

Keselowski makes big move from the third place spot on the backstretch. The No. 2 gains momentum on the backstretch chicane, racing to the inside of Hamlin and takes a clear through Turns 13 and 14. He leads the first laps then pulls ahead for the next two. Hamlin drops back as Kyle Busch makes a move up to sixth.

2:30 p.m.: Make that two drivers to the back

Erik Jones was having a mechanical issue before the green flag and was unable to start his wipers/engine on pit road. NASCAR sends him to the rear for the start as well. He was slated to start 14th.

2:27 p.m.: One driver to the rear

NASCAR declares two teams, the No. 51 of Josh Bilicki, will start at the rear for a driver change (previously Joey Gase), but no other teams have had multiple pre-race inspection failures to send them to the back for the start. There was a big cheer from the limited fans for defending Roval winner Chase Elliott during earlier driver announcements. He’s starting second.

2:25 p.m.: Pre-race ceremonies

After much hype and uncertainty over a wet weather start, the race will start under dry conditions. The track appears damp in some spots, but no major puddles, at least on the frontstretch. NASCAR declares teams must use wet tires for the start of the race.

Country music duo Pryor & Lee performs the national anthem and the command to start engines is given by “This Is Us” actor Justin Hartley virtually. Let’s go racin’.

2 p.m.: How long is the Charlotte roval?

The 109-lap race is a 252.88-miler on a 2.32-mile road course. There are 17 turns on the course with two chicanes (one on the backstretch and one on the frontstretch). The average race time is three hours and 20 minutes, but depending on weather conditions, it could last longer today. There will be a competition caution on Lap 10.

1:45 p.m.: Rain stopped, track drying continues, cars on the grid

Air titans make the rounds (roval?) to dry wet spots that developed on the track from earlier rainfall. Rain has stopped as of 1 p.m. and the largest cell appears to be moving out of the vicinity, according to local weather radars. Teams roll their cars onto the grid with the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin on the pole and the No. 9 Chevy of Chase Elliott starting behind him in the front row.

NASCAR PLAYOFF DRIVER STANDINGS PRE-ROVAL

NASCAR CUP RACE AT CHARLOTTE STARTING LINEUP

*Playoff driver

*Driver change - Josh Bilicki replacing Joey Gase

This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 1:46 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription