Over a span of just a few hours, all of Hendrick Motorsports drivers sat beneath the cut line for the NASCAR playoffs round of 8. Each driver experienced issues threatening their championship run but at the end of the day, both Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott advanced. Alex Bowman and William Byron were not so lucky.
Larson recovered from early race issues when he required both his battery and his alternator belt to be replaced. His team performed and made the necessary changes and was able to put Larson in contention for the win.
He was able to work his way through traffic and when the checkered flag waved, Larson was first across the line to take his 7th win of the season and advanced to the round of 8.
“It’s so satisfying, because I really did not think that we’d have a shot to win. I had a lot of different emotions throughout the middle parts of the race, thinking, ‘It’s so depressing and sad, I’m gonna lose my shot at a championship due to an alternator needing to get fixed.’ Then, I was passing some cars, we had a good green-flag cycle and I saw Denny in my mirror. I thought I must be at the front and thought, ‘Man, it’d be nice to get a caution now.’ It all worked out. Just a wild race, all kinds of emotions all race long. I knew that I had a car that was definitely capable of winning. I had fresher tires than Denny but I was patient to a point. I was too patient, but I was able to finally get him. From then on, I had to just manage the gap behind me and not make mistakes. My team did an amazing job today.”
Bank Of America ROVAL Results:
Kyle Larson
Tyler Reddick
Chris Buescher
Kyle Busch
Denny Hamlin
Matt DiBenedetto
Joey Logano
Christopher Bell
Ryan Blaney
Alex Bowman
William Byron
Chase Elliott
Daniel Suarez
Bubba Wallace
Austin Dillon
Michael McDowell
Erik Jones
Cole Custer
Ryan Preece
Brad Keselowski
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Chase Briscoe
Ross Chastain
Aric Almirola
Kurt Busch
Anthony Alfredo
Joey Hand
Josh Bilicki
Martin Truex, Jr.
Quin Houff
Scott Heckert
Timmy Hill
Kevin Harvick
Garrett Smithley
Corey LaJoie
Cody Ware
Justin Haley
A.J. Allmendinger
Ryan Newman
The race-winning No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson passed NASCAR’s post-race inspection, thus confirming the victory. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch had two lug nuts not safe and secure, which will result in a fine of $20,000 and a one-race suspension of crew chief Ben Beshore. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin and the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Chris Buescher each had one lug nut not safe and secure.
Check out USA Today with coverage from the AP:
Chris Estrada has the recap at NBC Sports:
See what Dani Mohr from the Sporting News Shared: