A Fan’s Experience: Larson wins at the Roval

The NASCAR Cup Series has reached another cutoff race in the Playoffs Round of 12 for the Bank of America ROVAL 400, and four drivers would have their championship hopes come to an end at the end of the race. I was in attendance for the race and this is also my second time at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The other time I went to Charlotte was the 2006 Coca-Cola 600 when I was nine years old.

Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag that was waved by Daniel Craig to start the race. Hamlin would lead the opening laps until Ryan Blaney took the lead. Hamlin in the first ten laps lost two seconds as Brad Keselowski spun on the backstretch chicane on lap 14. The caution did not come out for the spin. Brad is one of the drivers that need points to advance to the Round of Eight. The caution would however come out on lap 20 when Ryan Newman spun off of turn four of the oval and cut a tire. Newman would DNF from the race after the incident. Stage One restarted with three laps left in it as AJ Allmendinger made a power move to take the lead from Ryan Blaney. On the final lap of the stage, Chase Elliott tracked down Allmendinger to make the pass to take the stage win.

Stage One Results:

1. Chase Elliott
2. AJ Allmendinger
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Martin Truex Jr
5. Joey Logano
6. Kurt Busch
7. Kyle Busch
8. William Byron
9. Michael McDowell
10. Kevin Harvick

AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Busch led the field to begin Stage Two at the Charlotte Roval. Kyle Busch would take the early lead from AJ Allmendinger and the next caution came out on lap 34 when Chase Briscoe was turned by Ricky Stenhouse Jr on the front stretch. For Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson had to get an alternator belt replaced during the caution as well as his teammate Alex Bowman having similar issues. Kyle Busch took off the lead again after the next restart as his teammate Christopher Bell went wide in turns five and six and ended up in the grass for a moment on lap 39. In the closing few laps of stage two, Chase Elliott was catching Kevin Harvick for second as Kyle Busch ended up winning the stage.

Stage Two Results:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Chase Elliott
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Joey Logano
6. Kyle Larson
7. Brad Keselowski
8. Martin Truex Jr
9. Alex Bowman
10. William Byron

The final stage began on lap 53 with William Byron and Austin Dillon on the front row. One lap later, the rivalry was reheated between Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott as Harvick shoved Elliott towards the wall, giving Elliott heavy rear-end damage. As Elliott tried to get back up to gear into turn one of the oval, he came down on Cole Custer, spinning them both to bring out the caution. At this point, the fans around me got loud whether it was for or against Elliott. I was absolutely stunned and couldn’t believe what had happened, but I had a feeling at this point that if Elliott had the chance for payback, it was going to happen. Elliott went through a lot of repairs but was able to continue racing. William Byron continued to stretch his lead as he needed to win in order to advance. Harvick and Elliott at this point in the race were below the cutline. Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson explained to his driver, “If you wreck the 4, it locks us in.” The spotter then replied with the following,

“Oh, it’s gonna happen.”

With 23 laps to go, after several laps of his rear bumper hanging off of his car, Chase Elliott lost his rear bumper and threw out a debris caution. Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney led the field once again to the restart with 20 laps left in the race. Tyler Reddick was able to charge up to the front and have a chance for his first career Cup Series win. Brad Keselowski then went spinning in the backstretch chicane for the second time in the race, which put him three points out of the cutline. With 19 laps to go, Byron was back on a charge, trying to get around Reddick and catch Hamlin to continue his championship hopes. But Byron ended up missing the backstretch chicane, which he had to stop and this would put his playoff hopes in jeopardy. Another caution came out after a four-wide maneuver, which gave the most damage to Corey Lajoie and Joey Hand, a sports car driver making his cup debut. The race resumed with 14 laps to go.

With ten laps to go, Chase Elliott was about to catch Kevin Harvick and all eyes were on what was about to happen next. That is until going into the Heartburn turn, Kevin Harvick locked up and went straight into the wall, which ended his playoff journey. At this point, the crowd once again went crazy after the wreck. It was insane seeing all of the fans’ reactions whether you were for or against Harvick/Elliott. Kyle Larson had a shot now to win the race after the issues he had. He and Hamlin led the field to the restart with eight laps to go. Hamlin had the lead at first but Larson was able to run Hamlin wide to take the lead. William Byron went into the grass with two laps to go, but his teammate Kyle Larson would go on to claim his seventh win of 2021 and punched his ticket to the Round of Eight. The crowd roared in cheer as Larson took the checkered flag. Larson also became the first Cup driver to win three road courses in the same season.

2021 Bank of America ROVAL 400 Top 10:

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

The four drivers eliminated after the Round of 12 were Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Alex Bowman. It was a fun experience at Charlotte Motor Speedway and it also made me reflect on the Gen 6 era of NASCAR. This race will mark the final time I will see the Gen 6 car live, as the NextGen car is prepped to debut in 2022. I look back on some old pictures I have in my backup drive that date back to 2011, I looked at some old pictures from the 2013 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky, the first Gen 6 race I saw live and it’s crazy to think how much the sport has changed in what has felt like a short time. This area is the true home of NASCAR, and I fell in love with it all over again. I can’t believe it has been 15 years since I was at this track, but I’m glad that I came to it and hope to return many more times in the future.