Alex Bowman disqualified and Joey Logano takes the 8th spot. Bowman is out of the playoffs
By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
The Round of 12 has become the Round of 8 as Alex Bowman (Disqualification), Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe failed to advance. Logano fought to the end and was saved after the race. Austin Cindric had a decent race. Suarez and Briscoe were out of it early.
1st Stage- Points after the Stage
Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) won the pole and led the first 22 laps after taking the green flag. The biggest move in the top ten happened early when Kyle Larson overdrove a corner and shoved Joey Logano out of his way. Larson navigated his way from a sixth place start to second. Starting on lap 19, drivers start making their first scheduled pit stops starting with SVG and Larson. The rest of the top ten stays on the track. Starting with Keselowski who was 11th, the rest of the drivers start heading in. Reddick leads the final three laps of the stage and does not pit. Daniel Suarez, who has a spotty record at the Roval, is in a win or go home scenario, heads in as well. The top five finishers in Stage One are all playoff drivers looking to advance to the Round of Eight.
Stage Two- Points after the stage
Cycling to the lead, Larson leads the race. On lap 31, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick collide and Hamlin suffers heavy damage. No caution flag. Hamlin falls back and is scored 22nd. (bent toe link) Reddick falls to 35th, nearly a lap down and radio’s in, “my car does not feel right.” On lap 35, there is debris in turn 14 as Briscoe shredded a tire. The top three are Larson, van Gisbergen, and Bell. Reddick pits and determines his rear toe link needs to be replaced. Three wide racing occurs frequently on the oval part of the course. Ross Chastain collides with Martin Truex Jr. who spins him on lap 40. Chase Briscoe exits the race on lap 41 and his playoffs are over. Bubba Wallace shoves Suarez off course .Late pit stops by the top three of Larson, van Gisbergen and Bell put them out of the top ten. Alex Bowman wins the stage and Joey Logano, who was in quarter panel to quarter panel racing with several drivers, is third. In all, five playoff drivers are in the top ten. Larson clinches the Round of Eight leaving ten drivers for the six remaining spots. Joey Logano has earned 17 stage points after the first two rounds and he needs all of them and a top finish to advance.
Final Stage Race Final Results
AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace cycle to the front as they all stay on the track to start Stage 3. Only four leaders have been at the top of the leaderboard halfway through the race. Of the three cautions, only one was legit as the other two were for the end of the stages. Early on, Ross Chastain get turned around again with Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, and Brad Keselowski being part of the collision. A caution is thrown for debris and Suarez, who ran well early has pitted with brake issues. Bell becomes the third driver to advance to the round of eight. Allmendinger controls the early part of the stage and leads 16 laps. Larson controls most of the rest of the laps and wins the race. Late passing jumbled the final playoff stats. The final laps saw drivers point situations change to determine the final eight with Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick going back and forth. In the end, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe failed to advance.
The Checkered Flag
Kyle Larson won for the 6th time on Sunday after qualifying sixth. He led three times for 62 laps and moves onto the Round of Eight. KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 Finished: 1st
“It was a great day, for sure. This place has not been easy on me. This is probably the most difficult track out of the road courses for me. I put in a lot of work this week; a lot of studying and a few hours in the sim. It’s cool to win here with Cliff’s (Daniel, crew chief) family and everybody’s family. Just a great day for the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team. Execution from start to finish was amazing.”
In the Mix-1
AJ Allmendinger led the race one time for 16 laps on Sunday and passed Joey Logano late and held him off to end the 22’s hopes of moving on. Allmendinger qualified third. He has a ride in 2025 after racing in Xfinity in 2024.
In the Mix-2
Christopher Bell finishes second behind Kyle Larson on Sunday and he has advanced to the Round of Eight. How does this result feel? “It feels alright. It feels good – I’ll be honest. Happy for this DEWALT Toyota team. We had a goal today to win the race, and that’s what we came here to do, and it was close – me and the 5 (Kyle Larson) seemed like we were pretty evenly matched once we got out to our equal spacing. I would make a bad lap, and he would pull away, and he would make a bad lap, and I would close in. Hopefully, we get a redo in Phoenix.”
Shane van Gisbergen wins the pole
SVG is a road course master. He has his 2025 ride secured with Trackhouse Racing and after winning the Chicago Street Race last year and nearly winning Watkins Glen in the Round of 16 last month, he is a formidable foe. After honing his skills in all three NASCAR series in 2024, he is a formidable foe. Moving to the Charlotte Roval, it is one more course with both left and right turns that SVG is learning to master. van Gisbergen gets caught up in a couple of incidents in Stage 3 and combined with a declining machine, he finishes 7th after being in the top 3 for most of the day.
Making my own luck- Tyler Reddick
On the brink of elimination for much of the race after a Stage 2 incident, Reddick finished 11th by gaining 15 spots over the final 30 laps. Reddick edged Joey Logano by four points to advance to the next round and got congratulatory hugs 23XI Racing co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin after exiting his No. 45 Toyota.
No Racing Luck
Daniel Suarez ran well early at the Roval and was in the top ten early before spinning out and doing damage to his car. He finishes 31st, one lap down. His playoffs end. Suarez only has one top-20 finish at the Roval dating back to 2018. He deserved better on Sunday.
Going Home
Joey Logano really raced hard on Sunday. He was used as chum and he took a lot of rough racing by several drivers, but he fought hard and finished eighth. When Allmendinger passed Logano on lap 98 and van Gisbergen passed him afterward, Logano needed to return the favor or hope a charging Reddick would lose a couple of spots himself. UPDATE: after the Bowman disqualification, Logano moves from the 9th spot to the eighth. Bowman is out.
Who Advances
Reddick on Moving On
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing- Finishing Position: 11th
You won stage one and then had to recover from the incident early in stage two. I think you get the big air award for that. “Yeah, I thought I was going to flip, but I think I was behind the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) – trying to work the move to the inside. I got clear of him – I saw the 3 (Austin Dillon) spun and everyone on the binders coming to a stop, and of course, me and my boss (Denny 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 four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in stage three. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off.”
Leaders and Lead Changes
What’s Next
NASCAR opens the three race Round of Eight in Las Vegas next Sunday. The final four driver shootout happens in Phoenix in November.
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net
