Much of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s infield road course was short on action and long on strategy.
At least it was until lap 104, when a caution set up a series of events that sent several drivers spinning and set up Christopher Bell to make a trip to victory lane.
Bell came into the day needing nothing short of a win to move on to the Round of 8 of the Playoffs. Using fresher tires, Bell bypassed Kevin Harvick in overtime to take lead and take the victory.
“Man, you just got to be there at the end of these things,” said Bell. “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength year. We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice, gambled, it paid off for us.”
It’s the second win of the season for Bell, and the third of his series career.
But it may be the most important, as it moves him forward in the Playoffs when nothing less than a win would allow him to make the cut.
“I feel really good about it, that’s for sure,” said Bell. “I knew that the whole time going into this second round of the Playoffs this was the troublemaker, with Talladega and then the road course being in here, when we weren’t strong on the road courses. I was really nervous about this round.”
It looked like it was going to be Chase Elliott’s day. The Dawsonville, Georgia draiver had the lead and was driving away from A.J. Allmendinger as the laps wound down.
But that all changed when the first caution on the day for an on-track situation flew for debris with five laps remaining.
On the restart, Allmendinger shoved his way to the lead, and then he was moved aside by Harvick. Moments later, Bell, racing on fresher tires, moved around Allmendinger and set his sights on the leader. Behind them, Elliott was sent spinning off the front bumper of Tyler Reddick.
“I thought I had a pretty good launch and thought I got through (turns) one and two good,” said Elliott, who finished 20th but will lead the Playoff standings going into the Round of 8. “I thought I gave A.J. (Allmendinger) enough room through one and two to not run into the fence. I don’t know if he just got loose, overdrove turn three or whatever, but I ended up on the outside. Whatever the reason, he ran wide and I ended up the track in a super compromised situation.”
Half a lap later, the race was halted again when a multi-car spin in the backstretch chicane dislodged a piece of metal from the curbing. That led to a brief red flag to allow for repairs to be made.
That sent the race into overtime, setting up the finish.
“Whenever I came off pit road and I was the first car with tires, I was just trying to wait and see where I stacked up,” Bell said. “I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires, I was the first one on new tires. I said, I guess we’re going to roll the dice here and see what happens.
“When I got into turn one, my spotter did an amazing job. They all started wrecking. He told me to stay tight to the middle, and that kept me out of all the junk in turn one.”
Meanwhile further back, Chase Briscoe’s focus was on making it into the next round of the Playoffs.
After being spun before the red flag, Briscoe came to pit road for fresh tires. On the restart, he pushed his way forward, powering past two other drivers in the backstretch chicane on the final lap.
Briscoe crossed the line in ninth, which was enough to make the cut by two points over defending series champion Kyle Larson, who was eliminated.
“It took every bit of it there at the end,” Briscoe said. “To be easily in, then that debris caution comes out. Still, I thought we had a really good shot of making it in. Get wrecked on the backstretch. Crazy at the end of these races, especially the road course race, how much can change so quickly.”
Larson made contact with the wall with about 10 laps to go, leaving him with a broken toe link. That led to a long pit stop to make repairs, and putting him in danger in the points. Larson would finish 35th.
“Yeah, I mean, you give up that many spots, you know you’re going to be close,” said Larson. “Then the caution there. So, yeah, I just made way too many mistakes all year long. Made another one today. Ultimately cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship.
“Just extremely mad at myself. You let the team down a number of times this year, and let them down in a big way today.”
Briscoe joins Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Bell, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Denny Hamlin in the Round of 8.
Chastain, who won the second segment of the race, had issues late, as a broken toe link sent him to the garage for repairs with 25 laps to go. He would finish 37th, nine laps down, but the points garnered by his segment win helped him make the cut to the Round of 8.
“Just a testament to the No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevy team to get my car back out there that quick,” said Chastain. “They got the suspension fixed and got us back out there to finish.”
Larson is joined on the outside of the Playoffs by Austin Cindric, who was close to making the cut until a spin late in the going sent him plummeting back in the standings. He finished 21st at the end of the day.
“We were golden there if that red flag wouldn’t have come out,” Cindric said. “Great spot to get in. The way these go. If we get the finish we deserve at Texas, we’re not even in this position.
“Just frustrating. But that’s Playoff racing. There’s a lot of guys who have had a lot worse luck in the Playoffs. Learned a lot in my rookie season, proud to have a shot to finish out the season strong and have fun the next couple weeks.”
Also eliminated was Daniel Suarez, who was in contention early on before his Chevrolet suffered power steering issues near the halfway mark. Suarez would wrestle the car around the 2.28-mile, 17-turn course for the rest of the race. He tangled with Corey LaJoie on lap 96, sending LaJoie spinning into the grass, but everyone got away without a caution. Suarez would soldier home to a 36th place finish.
“Very tough,” Suarez said. “The second-half of the race was probably the most difficult race I’ve driven in my life, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, me as a driver, that’s something that’s out of my control.”
Alex Bowman, who has missed the last two races due to concussion symptoms following a crash at Texas Motor Speedway, was also eliminated.
Harvick finished the race in second, with Kyle Busch third, Allmendinger fourth, and Justin Haley fifth.
Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Reddick, Briscoe, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR Cup Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
Bank of America 400 – October 9, 2022
1. (8) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 112.
2. (22) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 112.
3. (20) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 112.
4. (7) A.J. Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 112.
5. (13) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 112.
6. (21) Chris Buescher, Ford, 112.
7. (14) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 112.
8. (4) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 112.
9. (17) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 112.
10. (15) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 112.
11. (26) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 112.
12. (30) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 112.
13. (24) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 112.
14. (31) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 112.
15. (37) Aric Almirola, Ford, 112.
16. (2) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 112.
17. (19) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 112.
18. (1) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 112.
19. (25) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 112.
20. (9) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 112.
21. (5) Austin Cindric # (P), Ford, 112.
22. (16) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 112.
23. (29) Noah Gragson(i) (P), Chevrolet, 112.
24. (12) Cole Custer, Ford, 112.
25. (28) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 112.
26. (6) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 112.
27. (11) Michael McDowell, Ford, 112.
28. (23) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 111.
29. (34) Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 111.
30. (32) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 111.
31. (38) Josh Williams(i), Ford, 110.
32. (35) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 110.
33. (36) Loris Hezemans(i), Ford, 110.
34. (39) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 109.
35. (18) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 107.
36. (3) Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 107.
37. (10) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 103.
38. (27) Joey Hand, Ford, Accident, 79.
39. (33) Daniil Kvyat(i), Toyota, Engine, 17.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 86.661 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 59 Mins, 54 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.790 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 10 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano (P) 1-27;T. Reddick 28-30;A. Allmendinger(i) 31-48;R. Chastain (P) 49-51;A. Allmendinger(i) 52-54;T. Reddick 55-72;A. Allmendinger(i) 73-75;E. Jones 76;C. Elliott (P) 77-106;K. Harvick 107-110;C. Bell (P) 111-112.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Chase Elliott (P) 1 time for 30 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 27 laps; AJ Allmendinger(i) 3 times for 24 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 21 laps; Kevin Harvick 1 time for 4 laps; Ross Chastain (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,24,99,12,2,5,14,11,8,16
Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,21,5,16,8,99,22,14,12,9
Playoff Standings: 1. Chase Elliott – 4046 (5 Wins); 2. Joey Logano – 4026 (2 Wins); 3. Ross Chastain – 4021 (2 Wins); 4. Christopher Bell – 4018 (2 Wins); 5. Ryan Blaney – 4015; 6. William Byron _ 4015 (2 Wins); 7. Denny Hamlin – 4013 (2 Wins); 8. Chase Briscoe – 4009 (1 Win).
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (P) Playoff driver
