As Allmendinger celebrates, 4 prominent NASCAR Cup drivers get eliminated from playoffs
Now that was a celebration.
AJ Allmendinger won at the Charlotte Roval road course Sunday afternoon, besting the rest of the NASCAR Cup field and then absolutely crushing the post-race ceremony.
The Bank of America Roval 400 was a personal joyride for Allmendinger, who sobbed throughout his victory lap, exchanging numerous “I love you, man!” sentiments with the guys on his radio. Then he screamed/cried throughout most of his televised interview on NBC. And then, most winningly, he climbed into the stands at Charlotte Motor Speedway to keep the party going, this time with the fans.
You’ve heard of the Lambeau Leap?
This was the Allmendinger Ascension. The driver scaled a wall and then started interacting with surprised fans who were fumbling for their cell phones and occasionally looked to be spilling beer on him. A few minutes later in Victory Lane, Allmendinger jumped on somebody’s back, yelled some more and generally acted like a man who was absolutely delighted with the world and all that was in it, which of course he was.
It’s not as if this race won Allmendinger a NASCAR Cup championship or anything. He was a non-playoff racer Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, meaning he was already out of the playoffs.
Sunday’s results did eliminate four drivers from the Cup playoff field was winnowed from 12 to eight, however, and some big names were culled.
So who’s out?
Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace all were unable to advance. Busch, who was in a “win-or-go-home” situation, came fairly close. He was in second place late but couldn’t catch Allmendinger, got passed by William Byron (already safely in the next round of the playoffs) and ultimately finished third.
Wallace got a hug from his racing team co-owner Michael Jordan after the race ended and some encouraging words. It was interesting to see Jordan in Charlotte on Sunday, since he’s kept mostly out of sight in the Queen City since he sold his majority stake in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.
“Just didn’t have enough,” Wallace said on the NBC broadcast. “It wasn’t in the cards.”
Why was this one so emotional, Allmendinger was asked on TV?
“Because you don’t know when you’re going to do it again,” he said, his voice breaking. It was the 41-year-old Allmendinger’s first Cup win since 2021 and only his third in 426 career Cup races.
Allmendinger and his wife Tara also have a new baby boy, Aero James, who is a month old. His voice rose to full throttle as he kept going.
“I usually give these checkered flags away,” Allmendinger said, “but I’m going to have to wrap this around Aero. ... I hate crying right now but it’s a freaking Cup race, man! You don’t know when it’s ever gonna happen again!! Let’s go, c’mon!!!”
And that’s the way it should sound after a race, right? Or after any big triumph in life.
Enjoy yourself. As Allmendinger said, you can never be sure when — or if — you’ll get to do it again.
As Allmendinger would explain it later in his press conference: “You see my emotion, and that’s real. It’s raw. I don’t want to be crying on TV, but it comes down that’s how much I care. I hope fans respect that. You don’t have to be a fan of mine, but I hope you respect how much I care and how much winning a race (means). The thing I hate most is watching somebody win a race and it’s because they win too much. They get out of the car and they’re like, Yay!’ They go, ‘Next.’
“Like OK, that’s how you know you win too much — which, don’t get me wrong, I’d like to be like that. But it’s just raw emotion. You just want to go up there and celebrate.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2023 at 7:26 PM.
