Larson Wins Amid Playoff Drama at the Roval

Kyle Larson won the Bank of America Roval 400 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in a wild Playoff cutoff race on Sunday afternoon.

Larson had to overcome a battery and alternator issue early in the race, and it seemed like he may even miss the cutoff for the next round of the Playoffs.  After getting the issues fixed, Larson was able to work his way back up through the field and he was at the front late in the race.

On the final restart, Larson was able to get around Denny Hamlin to get to the lead, and held off Tyler Reddick and William Byron over the final run to pick up his seventh victory of the season.

Larson said he was surprised to be standing in victory lane following his early battery issues that forced the team to go under the hood and replace the alternator belt.

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

“It wasn’t looking too good, thankfully everybody on our 5 car did a great job of staying calm,” Larson said.  “I knew I was going to have some sketchy moments; just had to pick my way through traffic and stay calm.”

Byron came into the race in a must-win situation, and he was almost able to pull off the upset. 

After racing hard with Larson and Reddick over the final run, he spun out on the final lap, which relegated him to an 11th-place finish and knocked him out of the Playoffs.

Byron said he was just pushing too hard at the end with everything on the line.

“Everything was looking like it was definitely going to be a good day…looking like we were going to have a shot to win,” Byron said.  “I was just too mad there at the end and made a mistake.”

The Playoff cutoff line was chaotic halfway through the race after a handful of drivers had problems early in the race. 

Kevin Harvick got into Chase Elliott and sent him in the wall, heavily damaging the rear of Elliott’s car. The contact seemed to be payback for an incident last month at Bristol, when Elliott held up Harvick and cost Harvick a victory.

Elliott was able to recover from the incident and finished the race without a rear-bumper cover.  Headed into Turn 1, Harvick locked up his tires with Elliott behind him.  Harvick slammed into the wall, ending his Playoff hopes.

Harvick said the incident was a lesson that Elliott needed to learn.

“I felt like I needed to go get a couple spots back that I lost and I got the left-front locked up and couldn’t get it to turn,” Harvick said.  “Sometimes real life teaches you good lessons.”

Elliott said he isn’t worried about more retaliation from Harvick with four races remaining in the season.

“For us, we’re just eyes forward and just excited to be moving on,” Elliott said.  “[Harvick’s] certainly not changing…just want to wish them a merry offseason and a happy Christmas.”

Byron, Harvick, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell were the four drivers eliminated following this round of the Playoffs.  The remaining eight drivers will begin to fight for a spot in the Final Four next Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Chris Buescher

4. Kyle Busch

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Matt DiBenedetto

7. Joey Logano

8. Christopher Bell

9. Ryan Blaney

10. Alex Bowman

11. William Byron

12. Chase Elliott

13. Daniel Suarez

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Austin Dillon

16. Michael McDowell

17. Erik Jones

18. Cole Custer

19. Ryan Preece

20. Brad Keselowski

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

22. Chase Briscoe

23. Ross Chastain

24. Aric Almirola

25. Kurt Busch

26. Anthony Alfredo

27. Joey Hand

28. Josh Bilicki

29. Martin Truex Jr.

30. Quin Houff

31. Scott Heckert

32. Timmy Hill

33. Kevin Harvick

34. Garrett Smithley

35. Corey LaJoie

36. Cody Ware

37. Justin Haley

38. AJ Allmendinger

39. Ryan Newman

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

Blaney Wins at Daytona, Reddick Takes Final Playoff Spot Over Dillon

Ryan Blaney won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night in NASCAR’s regular season finale.

Blaney took the lead on the final restart, and was able to hold off the field as a wreck took out most of the leaders heading into the final corner.  Blaney was ahead of Chris Buescher as the caution flag flew, and he was able to head to victory lane for the second-consecutive weekend.

Blaney said he had to use his superspeedway experience to choose the right line while in the lead.

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“You never know how the end of these are going to turn out,” Blaney said.  “Down the back you just don’t know what lane is going to get a bigger run.”

Blaney said the push from Corey LaJoie on the restart is what helped him get to victory lane.

“The biggest thing is just getting the push,” Blaney said.  “It really all started with [LaJoie] giving me a good push and getting me out front.”

With only one spot open for the Playoffs heading into the regular-season finale, Buescher was in position late to get the victory and lock himself into the Playoffs.

Buescher came up one spot short after restarting as the leader heading in overtime, and said he will be thinking about his final restart.

“I’m sure I’ll play it back and find something else different,” Buescher said.  “Top line wasn’t organized at the start and bottom was; they were digging.  Difficult ending to a day…to miss that Playoff spot by one spot.”

Tyler Reddick came into the race in the final Playoff spot, but his chances seemed to diminish throughout the race as his teammate Austin Dillon picked up points in the first two stages before Reddick was involved in a big accident towards the end of the race.

Reddick’s team got the car back out on track as multiple winless drivers battled for the win in the closing laps.  Reddick was able to sneak through the last-lap accident that collected Dillon and locked himself into the final Playoff spot.

Reddick said it was a stressful race with everything that went wrong.

“Almost felt helpless there, but we didn’t give up and we fought through it,” Reddick said.  “I knew it was about 14 points I had on that green-white-checkered.  It was just go hard and try to stay up tight to the cars ahead of me and keep the nose out of clean air.”

Dillon said his team fought hard with a fast car before their luck ran out at the end of the race to end their Playoff push.

“We fought our butts off in the stages; made some good moves to get stages points,” Dillon said.  “We fought hard.  The car was fast…unfortunate that we’re not in the Playoffs.  We gave it all we could and fought to the very end.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Chris Buescher

3. Bubba Wallace

4. Ryan Newman

5. Ryan Preece

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Justin Haley

8. Alex Bowman

9. Chase Elliott

10. BJ McLeod

11. Josh Bilicki

12. Erik Jones

13. Kurt Busch

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Aric Almirola

16. Kevin Harvick

17. Corey LaJoie

18. Austin Dillon

19. Ross Chastain

20. Daniel Suarez

21. Kyle Larson

22. Chase Briscoe

23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24. Joey Logano

25. Cole Custer

26. Matt DiBenedetto

27. Anthony Alfredo

28. David Starr

29. Cody Ware

30. Martin Truex Jr.

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Joey Gase

33. Christopher Bell

34. Brad Keselowski

35. Kyle Busch

36. Kaz Grala

37. Landon Cassill

38. William Byron

39. Quin Houff

40. Michael McDowell

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Byron Wins in Homestead

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

William Byron won the Dixie Vodka 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday to pick up his first victory of the season.

Byron led over 100 laps on Sunday, and he was able to pull away from Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. over the final run to claim his second-career victory.

Byron said his team worked hard in the offseason to make their cars faster at Homestead.

“We worked hard in the winter on this track,” Byron said.  “This car was just awesome.  I think we went to the sim four or five times this offseason, and it just pays off.”

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Byron picked up the victory in just his third start with new crew chief Rudy Fugle.  Fugle had been a crew chief for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series, and led Byron to seven victories in 2016.

“That guy has been huge for my career,” Byron said.  “He’s the reason I’m here and I’m glad I could get him.  He’s just awesome and this whole team did a phenomenal job.”

Tyler Reddick finished second after charging through the field on the high side over the final run.  Reddick had the fastest car in the closing laps, but didn’t have enough time to chase down Byron to fight for the win.

Reddick said he was disappointed to finish second with such a fast car.

“Second place is a good night considering how the first few weekends have went,” Reddick said.  “Once I really saw how fast we were in clean air at the end there and I saw how fast we were catching everybody, it’s beyond frustrating.”

“Just two or three decisions on a restart would have put me miles ahead, and I would have been within reach.”

Unofficial results:

1. William Byron

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Kyle Larson

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Michael McDowell

7. Ryan Newman

8. Kurt Busch

9. Alex Bowman

10. Kyle Busch

11. Denny Hamlin

12. Austin Dillon

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14. Chase Elliott

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Brad Keselowski

17. Ross Chastain

18. Chase Briscoe

19. Chris Buescher

20. Christopher Bell

21. Ryan Preece

22. Bubba Wallace

23. Cole Custer

24. Anthony Alfredo

25. Joey Logano

26. Justin Haley

27. Erik Jones

28. Matt DiBenedetto

29. Ryan Blaney

30. Aric Almirola

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Cody Ware

33. Josh Bilicki

34. BJ McLeod

35. Quin Houff

36. Corey LaJoie

37. James Davison

38. Timmy Hill

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Austin Dillon Wins at Texas

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Austin Dillon won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Dillon was able to use pit strategy to get to the front late in the race, and he took the lead from teammate Tyler Reddick on a late restart with 22 laps to go.  Dillon continued to lead over two following restarts, and held off Reddick, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch to win his first race of 2020.

Dillon said he was able to change up his restarts to keep the competition behind him in the closing laps.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

“I had to change it up a couple times,” Dillon said.  “Definitely had to earn it; I changed it up.  Waited the second one and went on the last one, so it worked out for me.”

One week after Cole Custer won to lock himself into the Playoffs, and knock Dillon out in the process, Dillon was able to lock himself into the Playoffs. 

Dillon said the victory was the result of his team’s fast cars they’ve been bringing to the track all season.

“This has been coming; we’ve had good cars all year,” Dillon said.  “It means a lot for the family and for our partners.”

Reddick finished second on Sunday for Richard Childress Racing’s first 1-2 finish since 2011.

After getting burned by a mid-race tire strategy call, Reddick said his team worked hard to get back into contention.

“We just couldn’t get our Camaro back in contention after we took right sides,” Reddick said.  “It really shifted the balance of our Camaro and that just put us behind.”

Reddick said he wanted to make sure the battle for the lead was between teammates in the closing laps and didn’t want Logano or Busch to get involved.

“I just wanted it to be between us,” Reddick said.  “I didn’t want to bring other cars into it; make sure we could fight it out.  There was one restart I probably could have…went to his inside.  Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get it done today.”

“Hats off to the 3, all those guys.  Gets one RCR Chevrolet to the Playoffs and now we’re below the cutline.  If we keep running like this, we won’t have to worry about points.”

Unofficial results:

1. Austin Dillon

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Joey Logano

4. Kyle Busch

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Erik Jones

7. Ryan Blaney

8. Kurt Busch

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Aric Almirola

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Chase Elliott

13. Ryan Newman

14. Buba Wallace

15. Michael McDowell

16. Corey LaJoie

17. Matt DiBenedetto

18. Matt Kenseth

19. Chris Buescher

20. Denny Hamlin

21. Christopher Bell

22. John Hunter Nemechek

23. Daniel Suarez

24. JJ Yeley

25. Gray Gaulding

26. Jimmie Johnson

27. Brennan Poole

28. Reed Sorenson

29. Martin Truex Jr.

30. Alex Bowman

31. Josh Bilicki

32. Joey Gase

33. BJ McLeod

34. Quin Houff

35. Ty Dillon

36. Timmy Hill

37. William Byron

38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

39. Cole Custer

40. Ryan Preece

Chris Graythen/Getty Images