NASCAR race at Charlotte live updates: Bell wins, remains in playoffs; Larson eliminated
The NASCAR Cup Series is in action today at 2 p.m. at the Charlotte Roval — one of the most challenging racetracks on the circuit. And playoff cuts are on the line.
Who will be eliminate from the championship chase?
This question, along with dozens of others, will be answered by the multiple Observer journalists who are on-site at Charlotte Motor Speedway today, including beat writer Alex Zietlow.
Lap-by-lap live updates will be posted in the section below and will be published frequently during the race. Refresh this page for the latest news. Full results will be posted after the race.
Unofficial results
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Time behind | Laps | Best time | Best speed |
| 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | -- | 112 | 82.613 | 101.098 |
| 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | 1.79 | 112 | 82.883 | 100.769 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 1.976 | 112 | 82.816 | 100.85 |
| 4 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | 3.136 | 112 | 81.795 | 102.109 |
| 5 | 31 | Justin Haley | 4.635 | 112 | 82.64 | 101.065 |
| 6 | 17 | Chris Buescher | 4.974 | 112 | 83.155 | 100.439 |
| 7 | 45 | Bubba Wallace (P) | 5.442 | 112 | 82.631 | 101.076 |
| 8 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | 6.839 | 112 | 82.359 | 101.41 |
| 9 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (P) | 6.973 | 112 | 83.274 | 100.295 |
| 10 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 8.329 | 112 | 83.069 | 100.543 |
| 11 | 43 | Erik Jones | 8.716 | 112 | 83.115 | 100.487 |
| 12 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | 8.89 | 112 | 82.781 | 100.893 |
| 13 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | 9.148 | 112 | 83.458 | 100.074 |
| 14 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 9.412 | 112 | 83.482 | 100.046 |
| 15 | 10 | Aric Almirola | 10.045 | 112 | 83.398 | 100.146 |
| 16 | 24 | William Byron (P) | 10.639 | 112 | 82.339 | 101.434 |
| 17 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | 11.151 | 112 | 82.977 | 100.654 |
| 18 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | 11.833 | 112 | 82.088 | 101.744 |
| 19 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 16.053 | 112 | 83.535 | 99.982 |
| 20 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | 16.809 | 112 | 82.493 | 101.245 |
| 21 | 2 | Austin Cindric # (P) | 18.86 | 112 | 82.768 | 100.909 |
| 22 | 23 | Ty Gibbs(i) | 19.024 | 112 | 83.144 | 100.452 |
| 23 | 48 | Noah Gragson(i) (P) | 20.706 | 112 | 83.077 | 100.533 |
| 24 | 41 | Cole Custer | 30.528 | 112 | 82.937 | 100.703 |
| 25 | 42 | Ty Dillon | 31.678 | 112 | 83.783 | 99.686 |
| 26 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | 33.921 | 112 | 82.738 | 100.945 |
| 27 | 34 | Michael McDowell | 47.159 | 112 | 82.79 | 100.882 |
| 28 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | -1 | 111 | 83.681 | 99.808 |
| 29 | 77 | Mike Rockenfeller | -1 | 111 | 84.345 | 99.022 |
| 30 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | -1 | 111 | 83.057 | 100.557 |
| 31 | 78 | Josh Williams(i) | -2 | 110 | 85.047 | 98.205 |
| 32 | 51 | JJ Yeley(i) | -2 | 110 | 85.407 | 97.791 |
| 33 | 27 | Loris Hezemans(i) | -2 | 110 | 84.85 | 98.433 |
| 34 | 50 | Conor Daly | -3 | 109 | 84.127 | 99.278 |
| 35 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | -5 | 107 | 82.627 | 101.081 |
| 36 | 99 | Daniel Suarez (P) | -5 | 107 | 82.716 | 100.972 |
| 37 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | -9 | 103 | 83.033 | 100.587 |
| 38 | 15 | Joey Hand | -33 | 79 | 84.055 | 99.364 |
| 39 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat(i) | -95 | 17 | 84.993 | 98.267 |
Live updates from Charlotte Motor Speedway
Stage 3
Checkered flag: Christopher Bell, facing a must-win scenario, wins at the Roval! He’s into the Round of 8, pushing Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez out. Chase Briscoe in by the skin of his teeth! What a finish!
Overtime: Christopher Bell takes the lead from Kevin Harvick, and currently now sits inside the but line as a potential trace winner.
Overtime: The cars are rolling again at the Roval, and with playoff positions in the balance, the most nervous driver out there is likely Austin Cindric. Firmly on the 8-driver cut line, Cindric is out if Christopher Bell somehow wins this race. He sits in second, behind Kevin Harvick at the moment.
Overtime: With the prospect of overtime looming, the cars are stopped on the track while awaiting the go signal.
Lap 107: And now we have a caution! Christopher Bell, who is in second and stalking the leader Kevin Harvick, is now just behind Harvick with fresh tires and will get a restart to try and take a win and earn his way into the final 8.
Lap 107: Kevin Harvick assumes the lead after a series of spinouts, including previous leader Chase Elliott. Logano involved in a series of spins, too. This is chaos.
Lap 104: Caution is out! The caution so many teams have been waiting for has happened. A piece of the wall has made its way somehow onto the track, and that forces the yellow flag.
Lap 103: With seven laps to go, Chase Elliott in form control here at the Roval. AJ Allmendinger the only car within 15 seconds of him. That said, there’s been plenty of contact elsewhere, and some of those top cars are praying for caution at this point.
Lap 94: Daniel Suarez is back to the pits with another issue, and his 3-point deficit on the bubble right now looking more and more daunting. Ross Chasdtain, meanwhile, rolled out of the garage. He had a stage win and he’s sitting in decent positon 13 points above the cut line, but any extra laps he can run is a bonus. Chase Elliott is still comfortably in front here at the Roval.
Lap 86: Ross Chastain’s car has been pushed into the garage. A very difficult day for TrackHouse Racing, turns out. Daniel Suarez still battling. The only two playoff drivers in the Top 10 at the moment: Chase Elliott (who is maintaining a four-second lead over the rest of the field) and Christopher Bell.
Lap 72: Daniel Suarez is battling. His arms are clearly struggling, and he’s a bit off pace, one lap down. The only playoff driver in the Top 10 with one trip down pit road left for most of the field? Chase Elliott.
Lap 63: Conor Daly goes on the radio and makes mention of sparks flying within the car. Scary stuff. Daniel Suarez, who is in 28th, just said he lost power steering. He entered this week right on the cutline. He’s falling through the field as we speak. Still leading: Tyler Reddick and AJ Allmendinger and Chase Elliott.
Lap 55: And we’re green again! Tyler Reddick, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley and Kevin Harvick make up Top 5. Already more aggressive driving in Stage 3’s opening lap — going three- or four-wide in chicanes — then the rest of the race, it seems.
Stage 2
Lap 50: Ross Chastain takes the Stage 2 win. Still no caution flags outside of the stage cautions. Others in the Top 10: Harrison Burton, Kyle Larson, AJ Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott. (Suarez overtook Blaney in the back of the pack.)
Lap 48: With two laps to go and after even more pit-road entries, Roass Chastain — after being buried at the rear at the beginning of the race — leads. Can he earn his first stage win at the Roval?
Lap 39: Chase Elliott has crept into the Top 5. The points leader and only playoff driver with a playoff win this postseason is about 3.8 seconds behind Allmendinger, who’s held a solid lead for a while now.
Lap 30: And we’re green again! Tyler Reddick and AJ Allmendinger lead as a large chunk of the leading field — Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron (see below) — hit pit road under caution.
Lap 26: Stage 2 is set to begin. Only one caution (the stage caution) thus far today. Pretty much all playoff cars who stayed out all of Stage 1 headed down pit road. The order off of it: Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson.
Stage 1
Lap 25: Joey Logano leads every lap and takes the Stage 1 win — his sixth stage win on the season. The rest of the Top 10: William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, AJ Allmendinger.
Lap 22: A bunch of drivers descend on pit road, including Chase Elliott (who’s already won and advanced to the Round of 8) and Christopher Bell (in a must-win situation). Thanks to those pit stops, Denny Hamlin, who started in P24, has moved into the Top 10. Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric have also cracked the Top 10.
Lap 19: Why do cars have a pink window net? Read about the Kurt Busch-led effort, which started at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval race last year in this story.
Lap 17: It’s been a pretty fast race thus far. Nine laps from Stage 1’s conclusion, and we haven’t yet had a caution. Joey Logano, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney make up Top 5. AJ Allmendinger — who absolutely loves the Roval (and is fresh off a Xfinity win here yesterday) — is in P6.
Lap 4: Bubba Wallace missed the chicane that represents Turn 17. That’s the second driver to do so in four laps. The No. 45 car adequately stopped after the missed turn, though, and so will not be assessed a mid-race penalty. He had to pit immediately afterward for tires. He’ll stay on the lead lap but is far behind the field.
Lap 2: We’ve already seen a missed chicane! Austin Dillon on Lap 2. That’ll be a penalty. Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the NBC broadcast said that races last about 10 missed chicanes per Roval race. Joey Logano had a fantastic start, holding a 1.36-second lead over second-placed William Byron.
Green flag! 2:24 p.m. Let’s do this!
1:45 p.m.: Another fun note: UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis will give the command for drivers to start their engines at Sunday’s Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (He was just introduced on the infield stage.) It continues a trend of college basketball coaches places: Dawn Staley drove the pace car at Darlington, Tom Izzo gave the command at Michigan, and Bruce Pearl waved the green flag at Talladega.
1:30 p.m.: Nelly, donning a black shirt that said “NASCAR” on its back, was here for the pre-race concert. Played a multitude of hits that transported those in attendence back to Y2K. Among them: “Hot in Herre,” “Just a Dream,” “Ride Wit Me” and more.
1:22 p.m.: Some pre-race timing stuff, per NASCAR:
- Driver introductions at 1:35 p.m. at the stage
- Invocation: 2:05:20 p.m.
- National Anthem: 2:06:00 p.m.
- Command: 2:13:00 p.m.
- Green Flag: 2:25:00 p.m.
1:20 p.m.: NASCAR officials and drivers didn’t meet today to continue discussions of improving the safety of the Next Gen car. That suggestion was because NASCAR didn’t get through its entire presentation yesterday. Here’s what went down at yesterday’s “tense” and “candid” conversation — and the changes NASCAR has committed to.
1:06 p.m.: Several drivers have been sent to the rear after pre-race car inspection, per a NASCAR report that just came out. Ross Chastain (unapproved adjustments); Brad Keselowski (unapproved adjustments); Chris Buescher (unapproved adjustments); Loris Hezemans (unapproved adjustments); Conor Daly (unapproved adjustments); Aric Almirola (engine change); Josh Williams (multiple inspection failures).
12:31 p.m.: The three “stars” of the Xfinity Series — AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Ty Gibbs — will be in the Cup race this weekend. Allmendinger, who won his fourth consecutive Roval Xfinity race on Saturday, will start in P7 in the 16 car today. Gragson will be racing in Alex Bowman’s stead in the 48 car and is starting in P29. Gibbs will be running in Kurt Busch’s absence in the No. 23 car and will start P16.
12:12 p.m.: We’re two hours from the green-flag-drop. Tailgates at the (transformed) infield have been going on for hours. Most fans are at the infield staging area, listening to playoff drivers participate in Q&A sessions with fans. Chase Elliott laughed with the crowd when he told a story about trying to talk fans out of getting tattoos of his name on their bodies. He then added that now, if fans insist, he signs his name on a piece of paper (instead of directly on a fan’s arm) so a tattoo artist can properly adapt it: “Not that I want anyone to do it,” Elliott said with a big smile. “But if you’re gonna do it, do it right.”
What makes the Charlotte Roval so ... weird?
We wrote this in a story earlier this week — a feature on Ryan Blaney reliving his win at the first Charlotte Roval in 2018: Martin Truex Jr. said pre-race that the “drivers are a bit nervous.” Alex Bowman predicted there’d be a “lot of beating and banging, probably a lot of torn-up race cars and carnage.” Former NASCAR Cup Series star and current NBC broadcaster Jeff Burton told the Observer he “initially thought it was crazy” and actually met with Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith “to tell him he shouldn’t do it.”
The Roval is a 17-turn, 2.28-mile course that mixes in the most challenging parts of road and oval courses (hence the name, “Roval”): There are stretches that you’d find at a normal speedway — but there are also tight right turns and chicanes and elevation changes and more.
Here’s a look at the map for your reference.
Charlotte Roval: How to watch, stream, race details
- Race: Bank of America ROVAL 400
- Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 9
- Time: 2 p.m. ET
- Purse: $7,262,080
- TV: NBC, 1 p.m. ET
- Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
- Distance: 252.88 miles (109 Laps)
- Stages: Stage 1 (ends on Lap 25), Stage 2 (ends on Lap 50), Stage 3 (ends on Lap 109)
Starting lineup for Bank of America Roval 400
Cars sent to the rear: Ross Chastain (unapproved adjustments); Brad Keselowski (unapproved adjustments); Chris Buescher (unapproved adjustments); Loris Hezemans (unapproved adjustments); Conor Daly (unapproved adjustments); Aric Almirola (engine change); Josh Williams (multiple inspection failures).
| Order | Driver | Car No. |
| 1 | Joey Logano | 22 |
| 2 | William Byron | 24 |
| 3 | Daniel Suarez | 99 |
| 4 | Tyler Reddick | 8 |
| 5 | Austin Cindric | 2 |
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | 12 |
| 7 | AJ Allmendinger | 16 |
| 8 | Christopher Bell | 20 |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | 9 |
| 10 | Ross Chastain | 1 |
| 11 | Michael McDowell | 34 |
| 12 | Cole Custer | 41 |
| 13 | Justin Haley | 31 |
| 14 | Bubba Wallace | 45 |
| 15 | Austin Dillon | 3 |
| 16 | Ty Gibbs | 23 |
| 17 | Chase Briscoe | 14 |
| 18 | Kyle Larson | 5 |
| 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 |
| 20 | Kyle Busch | 18 |
| 21 | Chris Buescher | 17 |
| 22 | Kevin Harvick | 4 |
| 23 | Harrison Burton | 21 |
| 24 | Denny Hamlin | 11 |
| 25 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 |
| 26 | Erik Jones | 43 |
| 27 | Joey Hand | 15 |
| 28 | Ty Dillon | 42 |
| 29 | Noah Gragson | 48 |
| 30 | Corey LaJoie | 7 |
| 31 | Brad Keselowski | 6 |
| 32 | Todd Gilliland | 38 |
| 33 | Daniil Kvyat | 26 |
| 34 | Mike Rockenfeller | 77 |
| 35 | JJ Yeley | 51 |
| 36 | Loris Hezemans | 27 |
| 37 | Aric Almirola | 10 |
| 38 | Josh Williams | 78 |
| 39 | Conor Daly | 50 |
This story was originally published October 9, 2022 at 12:12 PM.
