Larson Overcomes to Sweep 2021 Charlotte Cup Races

Kyle Larson celebrates with another epic burnout

(CONCORD, NC – OCT. 10, 2021 – RIS) A problem with the battery and alternator belt couldn't keep Kyle Larson out of Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway's Bank of America ROVAL™400. After the crew replaced the battery and alternator belt and he dropped back in the pack, Larson drove back to the front to lead the last eight laps of the race, beating out Tyler Reddick by 0.782 second. Chris Buescher took third, another eight plus seconds back with Kyle Busch fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.

Ryan Newman hit the front straight wall on lap 19 to bring out the first incident caution of the race, dropping the No, 6 Ford out of the race. The win is Larson's seventh win of the season and made him the first driver since 2006 and Kasey Kahne to win both Cup events at Charlotte.

Typical of road racing, some incidents caused only a brief local caution, allowing the overall flow of the race to continue without interruption. In spite of this, six cautions for incidents slowed the race, plus the competition caution and the stage ending yellows. The sole debris caution of the race flew on lap 88 when the rear panel flew off of Chase Elliott's car after damage on lap 56 in a first turn bump from Kevin Harvick.

Just after the green flag ended this caution, Corey LaJoie and Joey Hand both hit the wall in turn Two of the ROVAL, with Hand's car badly damaged on the right rear corner.

Late in the race, Keselowski got spun entering the back straight chicane on a restart, then William Byron missed the back straight chicane on the next lap and stopped/continued, losing several positions. 

Harvick missed his braking point and slamed hard into the turn one wall, destroying the right front corner of the No. 4 car for the final caution.

At the restart with eight laps to go, Hamlin led but Larson to moved into the lead lead exiting turn four (the second right hander in the infield) and Reddick dropped to second with Byron moving to third in the back straight chicane with Denny Hamlin gaining a position after bouncing off Kyle Busch.

On the final lap of the race, Byron got hit by Tyler Reddick, dropping the No. 24 Chevy out of the top ten and out of a chance to make the field of eight finalists in the Playoffs.

"Yeah, I know it was a mistake, but it doesn't make any difference," said the disappointed driver. "The awareness there in that situation where a guy is there in the Playoffs and the first guy on new tires is probably going to win the race. And there was just a lack of awareness there. I feel like if the roles were reversed, I would be aware.

"Yeah, I just first off wanted to hear it from him and not take it for granted that it was a mistake. And yeah, at that point, what do you do?"

Reddick explained that he "just flat out made a mistake and ran in the back of the 24. I am trying to stay as close as I can, and we are all trying to brake to the limit of the car and I got to the bumper trying to put myself back in position again to make a pass to the inside or outside. I got into the back of him ever so slightly and that is all it took to unhook the rear tires. Not on purpose. It's just that small amount of contact that changed the trajectory that much. That was shocking to me and sure disappointing."

Reddick added his understanding that Byron was "racing for everything and second means nothing. He just broke through on the best tires and in position to make the pass and take the win away. And yeah, I took that from him. So, he handled it very well and I would probably have been a little more upset than he was. He was great at listening and hearing what I said, but I really understand his frustration." 

"I wouldn't have believed it, that's for sure," said winner Larson after the race. " I noticed my battery was going low, so I was getting stressed out. Like man, I'm not going to get knocked out of the Playoffs like this. It wasn't looking too good. Thankfully, everybody on our No. 5 car did a great job of staying calm. Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) as always, did a great job of communicating with me and what was going on and getting the battery changed and the alternator changed and whatever it takes to get our battery running. But man, my HendrickCars.com Chevy was good. William (Byron) was obviously really good. It's a bummer to see that not work out for him. But I think the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) ended up making it, so that was some great perseverance by that team, too. So, it's just awesome to be with Hendrick Motorsports and glad to get another win and I'm looking forward to the next round a lot."

Joining Byron in being eliminated from the Playoffs were Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman. Moving on to the next rounds along with race winner Larson are Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Unofficial Results: 62nd Annual Bank of America ROVAL 400, October 10, 2021, Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course: 2.32 Mile Paved

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 10, Kyle Larson (P), No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 109, , 6, 1, 8, 5, 45, Running
2) 29, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 35, Running
3) 16, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 109, , , 1, 1, , 34, Running
4) 9, Kyle Busch (P), No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 109, 7, 1, 1, 22, 1, 47, Running
5) 1, Denny Hamlin (P), No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, 109, , , 3, 25, , 32, Running
6) 30, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Duracell Ford, 109, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 3, Joey Logano (P), No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 109, 5, 5, 1, 4, , 42, Running
8) 4, Christopher Bell (P), No. 20 Irwin Trade Strong Toyota, 109, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 6, Ryan Blaney (P), No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford, 109, 3, 4, 2, 10, , 43, Running
10) 12, Alex Bowman (P), No. 48 Ally x Charlotte FC Chevrolet, 109, , 9, , , , 29, Running
11) 11, William Byron (P), No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, 109, 8, 10, 2, 30, , 30, Running
12) 8, Chase Elliott (P), No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 109, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 44, Running
13) 25, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 15, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Door Dash Toyota, 109, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 14, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Whelen Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 19, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 109, 9, , , , , 23, Running
17) 17, Erik Jones, No. 43 Power to the Patients Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 23, Cole Custer, No. 41 Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford, 109, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 31, * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Kleenex Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 2, Brad Keselowski (P), No. 2 Wurth Ford, 109, , 7, , , , 21, Running
21) 18, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 22, Chase Briscoe #, No. 14 FordPerformanceRacingSchool/HighPoint Ford, 109, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 27, Ross Chastain, No. 42 Clover Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 21, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Ford Warriors in Pink Ford, 109, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 13, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 109, 6, , 2, 2, , 17, Running
26) 20, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 38 CITGARD Ford, 109, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 36, Joey Hand, No. 52 Boom Mobile Ford, 109, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 37, Josh Bilicki(i), No. 15 Insurance King Ford, 109, , , , , , 0, Running
29) 5, Martin Truex Jr. (P), No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 109, 4, 8, , , , 18, Running
30) 28, Quin Houff, No. 00 NC Sports HOF/Bos Klein Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 35, Scott Heckert, No. 78 Bremont Chronometers Ford, 109, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 39, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 Coble Enterprises Toyota, 108, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 7, Kevin Harvick (P), No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford, 98, 10, 3, , , , 13, Accident
34) 34, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Kendall Motor Oil Chevrolet, 96, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 26, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Schluter Systems Chevrolet, 93, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 32, Cody Ware(i), No. 51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 0, Accident
37) 38, Justin Haley(i), No. 77 Bon Secours and Swamp Rabbits Chevrolet, 66, , , , , , 0, Engine
38) 33, * AJ Allmendinger(i), No. 16 Jackpot Party Chevrolet, 57, 2, , 2, 5, , 0, Engine
39) 24, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Castrol Ford, 19, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 15 Mins, 4 Secs.
Race Length: 109 Laps, 252.88 Miles
Average Speed: 77.783 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.782 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 9, 16, 12, 19, 22, 1, 18, 24, 34, 4
Stage 2 Top 10: 18, 9, 4, 12, 22, 5, 2, 19, 48, 24

Comments: Kyle Larson won the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, his 13th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 53 (Multiple inspection failures).

Caution Flags: 9 for 18 laps;
Laps: 12-13 (Competition [None]);
21-22 (No.6 Incident Turn 14 [None]);
27-29 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
35-35 (No.47, 14 Incident Turn 17 [None]);
52-53 (Stage 2 Conclusion [34]);
56-57 (No.4, 9, 41 Incident Turn 8 [None]);
88-89 (Debris [15]);
94-95 (No.7, 41, 52 Incident Turn 2 [78]);
100-101 (No.4 Incident Turn 1 [00]).

Lead Changes: 15 among 10 drivers;
D. Hamlin (P) 1-9;
J. Logano (P) 10-13;
R. Blaney (P) 14-22;
*A.J. Allmendinger(i) 23-24;
C. Elliott (P) 25-26;
*A.J. Allmendinger(i) 27-29;
K. Busch (P) 30-51;
R. Blaney (P) 52;
W. Byron (P) 53-75;
K. Busch 76;
C. Buescher 77;
D. Hamlin (P) 78-80;
W. Byron (P) 81-87;
K. Busch 88;
D. Hamlin (P) 89-101;
K. Larson (P) 102-109.

Busch Pole Award: Denny Hamlin, No.11

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Chase Briscoe, No.14 

Unofficial Points standings after Charlotte:
Pos      Driver  Car       Starts   GL        Points  Ldr       Nxt      Race Wins       Stage Wins      Playoff Pts
1)         Kyle Larson (P) 5          32        1          4065    0          0          7          15        65
2)         Denny Hamlin (P)        11        32        -1         4030    -35       35        2          10        30
3)         Martin Truex Jr. (P)     19        32        2          4029    -36       1          4          5          29
4)         Ryan Blaney (P)           12        32        2          4024    -41       5          3          4          24
5)         Kyle Busch (P) 18        32        3          4023    -42       1          2          6          23
6)         Chase Elliott (P)           9          32        1          4022    -43       1          2          4          22
7)         Joey Logano (P)           22        32        -4         4013    -52       9          1          5          13
8)         Brad Keselowski (P)    2          32        -4         4008    -57       5          1          2          8
9)         Kevin Harvick (P)         4          32        0          2209    -1856   1799    0          0          2
10)       Christopher Bell (P)     20        32        0          2164    -1901   45        1          0          5
11)       Kurt Busch       1          32        2          2163    -1902   1          1          3          8
12)       Tyler Reddick  8          32        2          2160    -1905   3          0          3          3
13)       William Byron (P)        24        32        -2         2133    -1932   27        1          3          14
14)       Alex Bowman (P)        48        32        -2         2131    -1934   2          3          0          15
15)       Aric Almirola   10        32        0          2117    -1948   14        1          0          5
16)       Michael McDowell      34        32        0          2087    -1978   30        1          0          5
17)       Austin Dillon   3          32        0          835      -3230   1252    0          0          0
18)       Chris Buescher            17        32        1          690      -3375   145      0          2          1
19)       Matt DiBenedetto       21        32        -1         689      -3376   1          0          1          0
20)       Ross Chastain  42        32        0          659      -3406   30        0          0          0
21)       Bubba Wallace            23        32        0          656      -3409   3          1          2          6
22)       Ricky Stenhouse Jr      47        32        0          631      -3434   25        0          0          0
23)       Chase Briscoe #           14        32        0          590      -3475   41        0          0          0
24)       Erik Jones        43        32        0          564      -3501   26        0          0          0
25)       Daniel Suarez  99        32        0          560      -3505   4          0          0          0

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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Volume 2021, Issue 10, Posted 9:51 PM, 10.10.2021