NASCAR: Results and 3 takeaways from the Cup Series Roval race at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Results and takeaways from Sunday’s NASCAR Bank of America Roval 400 Cup series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
1. The Roval is a rousing success
Talk about a gamble paying off. NASCAR’s inaugural race on the Roval was expected to be chaotic, messy, and to be blunt, a wreck-fest. And while it took nearly the entire face for that reputation to validate itself, ultimately there was no escaping the inevitable. The two incidents in the last 10 laps not only drastically changed the outcome of the race and the playoffs, but every second of it was must-see TV (or for the surprisingly full stands at CMS, exactly what fans had hoped for). The Roval is about the furthest thing from conventional, traditional NASCAR that you could come up with, but it was also incredibly exciting, something that should always win out given the competitive sports landscape in modern America.
2. Johnson’s playoff elimination is his own doing
What a ... weird decision by Jimmie Johnson, to try and go for the race win in the last lap instead of just settling for second and moving on in the playoffs. Instead, Johnson cost both himself and Martin Truex Jr. a chance to win, and knocked himself out of the playoffs in the process. If he had simply accepted second place and let Truex have the win, he’d be through to the next round and able to continue competing for an eighth championship. Instead, his worst season maybe ever comes to an inglorious thud of an ending. Johnson said in the moment he decided to go for the win instead of accepting his place in the next round, but hey, hindsight is always 20/20.
3. What do we make of the remaining playoff drivers?
Other than Johnson, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, and Denny Hamlin were the other three playoff drivers eliminated Sunday at Charlotte. That is about as expected as could be with the way this season has gone. With two race wins between the four drivers, none of them were ever realistically going to mount a playoff run. But on the flip side, consider all the drivers we have left. All of the Big 4 of Truex, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski are through, as are several other race-winners this year. There wasn’t anyone outside of the projected top four who really mounted much of a championship this round, but merely surviving is an accomplishment when you’re talking about the Roval as a cutdown site. The Big 4 are still on the fast track (no pun intended) for Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, but there’s at least the most qualified outside contenders nipping at their heels.
Brendan Marks: 704-358-5889, @brendanrmarks
Race name
The full race results, from the Associated Press:
Bank of America Roval 400
Cup Series Bank of America Roval 400
At Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
Concord
Lap length: 2.28 miles
St | Driver | Car | Laps | * | ||
1 | 9 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 109 | ||
2 | 8 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 109 | ||
3 | 7 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 109 | ||
4 | 3 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 109 | ||
5 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 109 | ||
6 | 4 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 109 | ||
7 | 2 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 109 | ||
8 | 6 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 109 | ||
9 | 19 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 109 | ||
10 | 15 | Joey Logano | Ford | 109 | ||
11 | 29 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 109 | ||
12 | 27 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 109 | ||
13 | 28 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 109 | ||
14 | 13 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 109 | ||
15 | 32 | Regan Smith | Chevy | 109 | ||
16 | 30 | David Ragan | Ford | 109 | ||
17 | 10 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 109 | ||
18 | 18 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 109 | ||
19 | 20 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 109 | ||
20 | 33 | Cole Whitt | Chevy | 109 | ||
21 | 17 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 109 | ||
22 | 26 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 109 | ||
23 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Chevy | 109 | ||
24 | 35 | Ross Chastain | Chevy | 109 | ||
25 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 109 | ||
26 | 37 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Toyota | 109 | ||
27 | 31 | Justin Marks | Chevy | 108 | ||
28 | 36 | JJ Yeley | Toyota | 108 | ||
29 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Chevy | 108 | ||
30 | 12 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 108 | ||
31 | 25 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 103 | 1 | |
32 | 14 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 103 | 1 | |
33 | 22 | Paul Menard | Ford | 103 | 1 | |
34 | 21 | William Byron | Chevy | 103 | 1 | |
35 | 16 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 103 | 1 | |
36 | 34 | Bubba Wallace | Chevy | 103 | 1 | |
37 | 23 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 100 | 1 | |
38 | 40 | Timmy Hill | Toyota | 70 | 2 | |
39 | 24 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 64 | 1 | |
40 | 39 | Stanton Barrett | Ford | 11 | 1 |
Race Statistics
*–Reason out: 1–accident; 2–axel
Average Speed of Race Winner: 82.125 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hours, 1 Minute, 34 Seconds. Margin of Victory: 0.792 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 16 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Kurt Busch 1-6; K. Larson 7-36; R. Blaney 37-51; Kurt Busch 52; K. Larson 53-69; J. McMurray 70; R. Stenhouse Jr. 71-72; P. Menard 73-74; B. Keselowski 75-103; M. Truex Jr. 104-108; R. Blaney 109.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Larson 2 times for 47 laps; B. Keselowski 1 time for 29 laps; R. Blaney 2 times for 16 laps; Kurt Busch 2 times for 7 laps; M. Truex Jr. 1 time for 5 laps; R. Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 2 laps; P. Menard 1 time for 2 laps; J. McMurray 1 time for 1 lap.
This story was originally published September 30, 2018 at 7:55 PM.