Kyle Larson Dominates at Charlotte ROVAL for Series-High 6th Win of '24
Do you see that off in the distance? Kyle Larson certainly does. It's the Bill France Cup, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver continued to be the one Playoff contender who has found himself consistently capable of stacking trophies this season as he triumphed for the sixth time on Sunday in the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
For Larson, who experienced the biggest disappointment of his season when he was unable to start the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May due to a rain delayed start to the Indianapolis 500, which he was competing in for the first time this year, was just excited to pick up a win on his home turf this weekend.
"It was just cool to win here at home, and get to have everybody there in victory lane celebrating from the [Hendrick] Automotive Group and Hendrick Motorsports and the crew members, their families and kids and all of that. I think that's what makes winning here at Charlotte extra special.," Larson said.
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America ROVAL 400 Race Results
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings After the Charlotte ROVAL
The California native dominated on the day, leading a race-high 62 laps, including the final 33 trips around the challenging 17-turn, 2.32-mile road course inside the confines of the traditional 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway. And while it was another statement day for the No. 5 driver and team, Larson says he and his team aren't worried about sending statements or messages to his competitors. They'll simply trying to do whatever it takes to get to the Championship 4.
"For myself and I think our team it's no statements that we're trying to send to the field. I think the field knows that we're strong. I think the field knows that we could win at any track," Larson explained. "It is nice to win and really more than anything just gain five more points that rolls into the next round. We've won stages. We've won a couple of races since the playoffs have started, and that really helps.
"I'm just excited to kind of get ourselves to the next three great tracks for us and hopefully we can make that final four."
Larson, who actually clinched his advancement earlier in the race, won the race by 1.511 seconds over Christopher Bell, a fellow Playoff contender, but the race wasn't even remotely that close over the final run of the race.
In all, five NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers swept the top-five finishing positions in the race as the cream seemingly rose to the top on Sunday. Behind Larson and Bell were William Byron, Austin Cindric, and Chase Elliott.
Unfortunately, for Cindric, his fourth-place run was not enough to overcome the points deficit that he had to the Playoff cutline heading into the race, and his bid for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series title came to an end on Sunday.
Along with Cindric, Joey Logano (finished eighth), Daniel Suarez (31st), and Chase Briscoe (37th) were initially eliminated from Playoff contention at the end of Sunday's race, but Logano was actually elevated back inside of the Round of 8 Playoff field after Alex Bowman's car failed post-race inspection based on his car being too light on the scales.
The Hendrick Motorsports team has a right to appeal the penalty, but has yet to decide whether or not they would.
Bowman, who finished 18th in the race, had his No. 48 car launch into the air after hitting a turtle curb early in the race. Before post-race inspection began, Bowman told Racing America On SI that the impact into the curb was the hardest he's ever hit something.
"Yeah, I didn't crash, and that's the hardest I've ever hit something in my life. Yeah, I mean, just a car thing, right? These things have big rub blocks underneath them, and when they come down they just hit that and its really solid."
Bowman said that incident occurred due to him not being able to see around the cars ahead of him. He was really surprised his car was able to continue on after the impact.
"I hit hard enough to break a lot of stuff. So, glad we didn't. I don't know."
The question becomes, was Bowman's car too light in post-race inspection due to the curb incident early in the race? Who knows, but it is a valid question, and one that may be answered if the team does decide to ultimately appeal the infraction.
The top-two non-Playoff contenders were Kaulig Racing teammates and road racing specialists AJ Allmendinger and Shane van Gisbergen in sixth and seventh.
Logano, Bubba Wallace, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
Tyler Reddick, the regular season champion, finished 11th in a wild up and down day, which saw him win Stage 1, but then also rally back from toe-link damage to score enough points to advance to the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.
With his disqualification, which Hendrick Motorsports has to decide whether to appeal or not, Bowman missed out on the Playoffs Round of 8 by 20 points..
The eight drivers, who will continue their quest for a NASCAR Cup Series championship are Larson, Bell, Byron, Elliott, Blaney, Reddick, Denny Hamlin (14th), and Logano.
Of the eight drivers, three drivers race for Hendrick Motorsports.
Larson will be the No. 1 seed in the Round of 8 as he carries a 33-point advantage over the Playoff cutline. Christopher Bell (+13), Tyler Reddick (+10), and William Byron (+4) will also head into next weekend's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway inside of the cutline.
Ryan Blaney (-4), Denny Hamlin (-8), Chase Elliott (-9), and Joey Logano (-11) will all look to rally their way into the Championship 4.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.