Posted on by Zack Albert

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon said Tuesday that the organization accepted the disqualification penalty handed to its No. 48 Chevrolet team last weekend, explaining that the team did not file an appeal in part because no exonerating evidence was found in post-race inspection.

Gordon’s remarks came during Tuesday’s “Morning Drive” segment on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, after Kyle Larson’s clinching victory for Hendrick Motorsports in Sunday’s Charlotte Motor Speedway road course event. Larson reached the Round of 8 in the Cup Series Playoffs, with teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott joining him after Sunday’s elimination race. Fellow Hendrick driver Alex Bowman was also in position to advance in the postseason to make it a clean sweep for all four teams, but his No. 48 Chevy did not meet the minimum weight requirement in post-race inspection, resulting in a disqualification penalty.

RELATED: Hendrick opts against DQ appeal | Cup Series standings

Bowman was relegated to a last-place finish in the 38-car field, dropping him from the playoff field and opening the door for Team Penske’s Joey Logano to fill the eighth and final spot in the next round. Hendrick Motorsports faced a 5 p.m. ET deadline Monday to appeal the penalty but chose not to, apologizing to the team’s fans and partners and saying in a statement: “We simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. Although unintentional, the infraction was avoidable.”

Gordon said the organization considered multiple factors in reaching that decision, including any possible damage from the No. 48 car’s significant curb hop on the frontstretch chicane early in the race.

“You just look at this race in general and the amount of contact, we wanted to really inspect the car fully to see was there enough damage or was there something that got dislodged from the car,” Gordon told SiriusXM. “So NASCAR was great through the whole process. You can’t really inspect much of it at the race track, so we weren’t really sure, but they took it over to the tech center, looked at it yesterday and thoroughly examined it and didn’t find anything. So quite honestly, it’s just one of those things where NASCAR has minimum pre-race, minimum post-race weights, and our teams in order to just make the best performing race cars every weekend for our drivers, we know that we’ve got to stay as close to those minimums as possible, and in this case, the 48 car, they just cut it too close and missed it, and so that’s on us.

“Pretty embarrassed by it and very disappointing after what was looking like a historical day and one of the most exciting days that we’ve had at the race track, being a home race and everything and celebrating in Victory Lane and all four, and that all got wiped away. So we looked at all the facts, and we didn’t feel like there was really anything that we felt comfortable appealing, and we’re going to move on.”

Gordon said he has met with Hendrick Motorsports competition executives Jeff Andrews and Chad Knaus, along with the teams’ car chiefs and crew chiefs, adding that “we’re going to assess and probably adjust our procedures and our processes” to ensure that inspection tolerances are met in the races ahead.

“Certainly looking back at this, it doesn’t seem like pushing it as far as we did or cutting it as close as we did there was worth it,” Gordon said. “But at the same time, I love that our race teams pay attention to all the details, and it’s in a thousand different areas on the car. So we’ll certainly take a look at that, and the most important thing is making sure that all four of our cars moving forward are going to be able to meet those tolerances.”

MORE: Power Rankings | Las Vegas weekend schedule

Bowman’s championship eligibility expired after the Charlotte Roval, with his playoff hopes dashed by a 20-point margin after Sunday evening’s penalty. But Gordon lauded what’s been a bounceback season for Bowman, who snapped an 80-race skid with his summertime victory in the Chicago Street Race and who returned to the playoffs after missing the field in 2023.

“There’s a multitude of factors that make this tough to swallow, but one of the keys is the performance of the 48 team and what Alex has done,” Gordon said. “That team’s had a lot of pressure on them. They’ve been building this team up, getting more depth, getting comfortable with one another. Alex being healthy this year, they go win at Chicago, get themselves in the playoffs, and performed at a high level through the playoffs. So you hate to take that momentum and that opportunity away, and I know they’re disappointed as well, and I also know that they’ve got points to gain and get as high up in the points as they can once you see what plays out in this next round. Those guys can go gain a lot of points and get high up and keep the momentum going and win races and take that into next season and hopefully get the season started off right.”

The rest of the Hendrick Motorsports group has aspirations for finishing strong and advancing to the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 10. Elliott has built on his consistency, Byron has rekindled some of his early season magic in recent weeks, and Larson added another in a series of dominating outings Sunday with his sixth win of the season.

Hendrick Motorsports has placed two cars among the final four championship contenders in two of the last three years at Phoenix, and Gordon said the organization was inching toward a well-timed peak in performance.

“That’s super-impressive, and that’s what you want,” Gordon said. “You want to get red-hot at this time of the year, and I think all of our teams, I can just tell they’ve got that twinkle in their eye, they’ve got an amazing opportunity to go battle for a championship, and this next round aligns really well for all three of the teams that we still have in the playoffs. Any one of them can not only … I’m hoping we get all three of them to Phoenix, but any one of them can win the championship this year.”

Posted on by Chris Murdock

Rajah Caruth is now fully engulfed in his second full-time season in the Craftsman Truck Series and is currently competing in his first NASCAR Playoff appearance, eyeing a shot at making the Championship 4 to take home the coveted trophy at Phoenix Raceway when the series holds its finale on Friday, Nov. 8.

While Caruth has admittedly had an up-and-down year, the 22-year-old is still laser-focused on the tasks at hand and ensuring he is as prepared as possible when the time comes.

“It’s been an up-and-down year for sure, I think,” Caruth told NASCAR.com. “There have been a lot of solid times, but there have also been times where there are things that are left to be desired. I think what I’ve learned from the grind of the year so far is that truck racing isn’t as jam-packed as the Xfinity Series or the Cup Series, so I have just been trying to use my time wisely.

“I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of fun and cool things off of the race track, but at the same time, just using my time wisely and being present at the race shop and with my team and kind of learning what it takes to be a contending driver on and off of the race track.”

RELATED: Craftsman Truck Series standings

Caruth will enter the Round of 8 playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Saturday, Oct. 26, Noon ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) just five points below the elimination line after a fourth-place finish at Talladega, his third top-10 finish in the last four races.

Confidence is high for the Washington, D.C. native, returning to a 1.5-mile race track. Earlier this year, a win at the 1.5-mile oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway propelled Caruth to a postseason position.

“I think Homestead is just a really fun race track,” Caruth said. “I’ve only raced there once, but I feel like it’s kinda right in my driving style. I feel really confident in my ability to run against the wall or be disciplined to a line but also, at the same time, be flexible to change where I need to be.

“I honestly think it is going to be business as usual, but you never know. It’s obviously playoff racing, so things can happen, but fortunately, we have had good and bad luck this year but really had some good luck at Talladega. Hopefully, we won’t need to rely on it and just take it to them when we get to Homestead.”

MORE: Craftsman Truck Series schedule

The calmness and level-headed mindset can be felt just by how Caruth speaks and conducts himself. He blocks out the noise of everything around him and stays focused on what he and his No. 71 Spire Motorsports team can control. He intends to maintain this mindset as he stares down the opportunity at his first championship in the Craftsman Truck Series.

“To be honest, I don’t really care what the external view of it is,” Caruth added. “I am more focused on my team and the things we need to do on the race track. Just be invested in each other work-wise and in our personal lives as well. Really, for me, I feel like, why not us? We have shown potential, we have put in the work, and we have put ourselves in a position to get really good finishes. There is no reason why we can’t be one of the four in Phoenix.

“For me, if and when we get there, I guess the rest is just gravy. The goal is to get there with a shot, so I am confident in our chances to do so in about a month from now.”

Posted on by Tadd Haislop

Melissa Fifield’s 158th start as a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver will be one of if not the most meaningful in a decade-long career.

The 32-year-old from Wakefield, New Hampshire is engaged to be married in November. On Oct. 20, when North Wilkesboro Speedway hosts the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150, the familiar black No. 01 Modified will feature partners near and dear to Fifield and her fiancé Hunter Smith.

Their wedding venue, The Yellow House, will be the primary sponsor on her car.

Likewise, the couple’s wedding photographer — Samantha Couick Photography — will be on board as an associate sponsor. As will Fifield’s wedding-day hair and makeup artist, Heather Mariano of Fletcher and Gaines.

In what feels like an unprecedented arrangement, all parties are thrilled about the partnership that will culminate in the race at 2 p.m. ET that Sunday in hills of northwestern North Carolina.

“Melissa and Hunter are just delightful,” said Chad King, an Innkeeper at The Yellow House. “So easygoing; fantastic people. We’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them a little bit though this process.”

Melissa Fifield
Melissa Fifield’s custom racing gloves from K1 feature an image of her engagement ring on her ring finger. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Built in the late 1800s as a summer home, The Yellow House is now a bed and breakfast getaway in Waynesville, North Carolina, the meeting point of the Blue Ridge and Great Smokey Mountains. As a wedding venue, it offers patrons a personal and intimate setting.

That — a smaller venue where guests can feel as though they’re on a weekend vacation that just so happens to include a wedding ceremony — is exactly what Fifield and Smith had in mind for their special day.

The couple toured The Yellow House in November, ironically the exact weekend of their 2024 wedding date. Fifield quickly fell in love with the venue, and Smith concurred. They worked out the details with King and booked their event.

Then, the couple had an idea.

“We were driving, and we got to talking about the venue; we knew this was going to be the place we’d get married regardless,” said Smith, who manages a driver and crew performance operation and spots for Bobby Labonte in Modified racing. “I just kind of sparked the idea [of partnering with The Yellow House]. As we were driving home, we passed an exit for Wilkesboro. I mentioned to her: ‘What do you think?’

“Do you think they would do this? Would it be weird to ask? Do you think it’s overstepping? I don’t want them to think, like, if you don’t sponsor us, we’re not going to get married there.”

Melissa Fifield
Melissa Fifield is nearing her 160th start on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Fifield saw no harm in at least inquiring. Wilkesboro, after all, is an easy drive from Waynesville.

“We just presented the offer, like, ‘Let’s just shoot the shot,'” she said. “This would be a unique opportunity for both of us to do something that’s never been done.”

Fortunately for the couple, racing is a big part of King’s life. His brother races sprint cars in Wisconsin, and he’s spent many nights at dirt tracks getting pelted with mud, memories he cherishes.

So his response to the pitch from Fifield and Smith did not take long to formulate.

“It was like, ‘Yep, sure. Let’s do this,'” King said. “That’s exactly how the conversation went when I was talking with my partner about it. It was a really easy decision.

“The racing aspect is like, ‘Oh, I understand that world.’ It’s also a really interesting opportunity for us as a business. Especially being connected to NASCAR. We’ve never had an opportunity quite like this.”

Melissa Fifield
Melissa Fifield (Photo: Jeffrey Barnes/NASCAR)

Fifield’s Modified at North Wilkesboro will feature The Yellow House prominently. Despite his busy schedule, Smith will be able to attend the race; he just so happens to be spotting for Labonte that day.

King will bring his husband, father and racer brother to North Wilkesboro to share the experience with Fifield and Smith. For King and his family, as much as anything, the event is an opportunity to enjoy great racing at a historic track.

For Fifield and Smith, though, it will be an unforgettable experience partnering with those who will make one day in November the best of their lives.

“We’re both really looking forward to having Chad and everyone at the race in North Wilkesboro,” Fifield said.

Added Smith: “This is going to be really fun, and something different.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Hendrick Motorsports has elected not to appeal the No. 48 Chevrolet team’s disqualification penalty from last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, the team announced Monday.

RELATED: No. 48 team DQ’d at Charlotte | Cup Series standings

The No. 48 Chevy was disqualified in technical inspection after Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400, the final race in the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12. Competition officials determined that the car did not meet the minimum weight requirement, and No. 48 driver Alex Bowman was dropped from an 18th-place result to a last-place finish in the 38-car field.

A statement provided by the team said:

“Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 48 car following Sunday’s race at the Charlotte ROVAL. NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre- and post-race weight. After a thorough review by our team and the sanctioning body, we simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. Although unintentional, the infraction was avoidable. We are extremely disappointed to lose a playoff spot under these circumstances and apologize to our fans and partners.”

That demotion in the finishing order kept Bowman from advancing to the next round of the Cup Series Playoffs. His original finish plus an apparent Stage 2 victory were initially enough to clear Bowman’s path into the Round of 8 by a nine-point margin. The revised results left Bowman 20 points shy of advancing, and Joey Logano was the beneficiary with his move back above the elimination line into the championship-eligible field.

Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series, said the No. 48 team was provided with multiple attempts to clear post-race inspection: “We … gave them the opportunity to fuel the car as well as purge the water system and add water. So we gave them every opportunity to make minimum weight. We ran them back through. Unfortunately, they were light again. They are allowed a 0.5% weight break, which is for usage of fluids and so on. That’s about 17 pounds. We backed the car back off the scales, ran it back on and then, unfortunately, it was the same weight. So the car had a weight issue. All the other cars cleared inspection. The 48 didn’t, and that ends up in a disqualification.”

The Cup Series is set to open the postseason’s Round of 8 in Sunday’s South Point 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson, winner of Sunday’s Charlotte Roval event, has won the last two events at the 1.5-mile Nevada track and will join Hendrick teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott in the next round.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

CONCORD, N.C. — For nearly three hours, a brilliantly executed day by Joey Logano and Co. appeared all for naught.

Entering Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Logano sat 13 points beneath the advancement line. The No. 22 Team Penske cohort muscled up to the task, collecting a race-best 17 stage points and scoring 46 points — third-most behind only Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. But at the checkered flag, Logano’s eighth-place finish equated to a four-point deficit, missing the Round of 8 after a sensational charge by Tyler Reddick.

How quickly things change.

During post-race technical inspection, the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was ruled too light, ultimately leading to a disqualification for failing to meet minimum weight requirements. Driver Alex Bowman suddenly had his 18th-place result wiped from the board in addition to his 10 stage points, officially placing him last on the results rundown with only a single point awarded.

Bowman’s demise dropped him outside the postseason field of eight based on points allotted. And sure enough, there to capitalize was Logano.

RELATED: Race results | Reseeded Playoffs standings

Instead, Logano was credited with 18 stage points and 47 points, all enough to surpass Bowman by a healthy 20-point margin and advance into the Round of 8. And while a stroke of luck surely played to its favor, the No. 22 team positioned itself to take advantage of the opportunity.

“I mean, there’s a lot to be proud of,” Logano said moments after the race. “You know, we came here with our back up against the wall needing to score a lot of points. And you think about the stages and then cycling yourself into kind of a tough spot. No matter how you call the race, you put yourself in a spot where you’re going to be at a disadvantage on tires or be way back in the pack. We were at one point, and I was able to kind of manage and I think we’re what second and third in the stages. So we did good with that.”

That third-place result in Stage 2 was plussed-up to a P2 after Bowman’s stage win was discredited, offering another point to Logano’s tally.

The two drivers just ahead of Logano in the standings were regular-season champion Reddick (plus-14) and 2020 Cup champ Elliott (plus-13). Crew chief Paul Wolfe knew points would be at a premium for his No. 22 team Sunday and never wavered from that agenda. In the end, it paid off.

“I think today, I’m pleased with how we executed the day,” Wolfe told NASCAR.com. “You know, we had a plan this week of coming here, making sure we qualified well, get those stage points. It really played out exactly how we planned. I wish we could have had a little more speed in the car overall, but to get all the stage points and then keep track position all day, which there was opportunity for that to flip. We stayed out there at the end of Stage 2. Joey did a nice job managing the car on the older tires.

“I really can’t say that we could have played it any differently, other than just having a little more speed would have been nice. But overall, we did a great job today.”

Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media

A second life for a Team Penske contender is dangerous for the rest of the postseason players, too. Logano and teammate Ryan Blaney have scored each of the last two Cup Series championships, the first two in which the Next Gen vehicle were used. But Logano’s Round of 12 wasn’t flashy, marked by a 14th-place run at Kansas before the “Big One” at Talladega relegated him to 33rd place.

Yet doubt never crept into Logano’s mind.

“We’re a championship-winning team,” he said. “It’s just, you know, we didn’t have a good round.”

Wolfe described his team’s 2024 campaign as “up and down,” but its turnaround came in the summer months, which included a playoff-position-clinching victory in June at Nashville Superspeedway.

“I think the second part of the season here as a company, Team Penske has been able to close the gap, I guess, on the competition — or maybe they’ve come back to us a little bit,” Wolfe said. “I think it’s probably a combination of both with the way NASCAR has been trying to do a really good job of enforcing the rules and making sure everyone’s (good) on that side of it. So I think that’s helped us some, and we’ve found a few things that have just made us better on the higher speed stuff was where we were lacking.

“I mean, I think you look at how we ran in Kansas, which was probably one of our worst tracks earlier in the season, all the Penske cars were strong there. So that, I think, gives us hope and optimism going into this next round with Vegas and Homestead on the list there, and obviously, Martinsville is a strong race for us as well. I think we’re in a good spot and, like I said, we’re gonna keep digging here and hopefully get us (a) championship.”

Worth noting is that Logano has qualified for the Championship 4 in every even-numbered year since 2014, scoring the title in both 2018 and 2022. It seemed like that streak was over for good when the checkered flag waved Sunday at the Roval.

But just like that, Logano’s playoff magic sparked back to life.

“I’ve watched enough NASCAR races now — and I hope you have, too — to know it’s never over until they’re over,” Logano said.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

CONCORD, N.C. — The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was disqualified following post-race inspection at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, officials announced Sunday.

Alex Bowman wheeled the car to an 18th-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the final race of the Round of 8 and provisionally advanced by nine points. However, the vehicle was determined to be too light in post-race technical inspection, disqualifying the result and dropping Bowman to a 38th-place finish instead.

“Unfortunately, the 48 had an issue (and) did not meet minimum weight,” said Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series. “We put the car to the side. We continued on. We … gave them the opportunity to fuel the car as well as purge the water system and add water. So we gave them every opportunity to make minimum weight. We ran them back through. Unfortunately, they were light again. They are allowed a 0.5% weight break, which is for usage of fluids and so on. That’s about 17 pounds.

MORE: Official race results | Photos from Charlotte

“We backed the car back off the scales, ran it back on and then, unfortunately, it was the same weight. So the car had a weight issue. All the other cars cleared inspection. The 48 didn’t, and that ends up in a disqualification.”

Moran declined to elaborate on how light the No. 48 Chevrolet was during inspection, in case Hendrick Motorsports chooses to appeal the penalty.

“If the appeal happens, it’ll be expedited, so it’ll probably happen in the next couple of days,” Moran said. “So really can’t get into all the details of the information, but the car was light, and that’s where we ended up.”

The vehicle will be taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, until the conclusion of the appeals process if Hendrick appeals.

“We are working to understand the issue and will make a decision Monday about whether to submit an appeal,” the team posted on social media Sunday evening.

As a result, Joey Logano becomes the final driver to advance to the Round of 8. Bowman joins Austin Cindric, Daniel Suárez and Chase Briscoe as the drivers eliminated from playoff contention.

Bowman won his way into the postseason with a July victory at the Chicago Street Course.

The Round of 8 begins Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

CONCORD, N.C. – Tyler Reddick’s postseason fate was literally up in the air at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

A stack-up ahead of him entering the reconfigured hairpin of Turn 7 sent Reddick’s No. 45 sliding under braking, right-rear first, into Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and launching three of the car’s three wheels off the ground.

Bent toe link and all, Reddick’s 23XI Racing team rallied from early adversity to advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by 23 points on Sunday afternoon.

RELATED: Official race results | At-track photos 

In the final run to the checkered flag, Reddick was in a fierce points battle with Joey Logano for the final transfer position. But a post-race disqualification of 18th-place finisher Alex Bowman ultimately cost the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet enough points to drop him out of the postseason picture, allowing both Reddick and Logano to advance.

Reddick, the Regular Season Champion, entered the day 14 points above the provisional elimination line in seventh place, with eight of 12 playoff contenders set to advance with championship hopes still alive after Sunday’s race. A Stage 1 victory netted him 10 points to his cushion, but pitting plummeted him down the running order as other teams flipped the stage by hitting pit road before its Lap 25 conclusion.

Restarting 26th put Reddick in the hornet’s nest. Disaster struck, and the handling of his No. 45 Toyota was ruined.

“Dude, bad. It was real bad,” Reddick said.

The damage was immediately apparent behind the wheel, but much of the repairs couldn’t be completed until the end of the second stage. Crew chief Billy Scott was left to assess the next steps in the interim.

“It’s more or less trying to just figure out how much is wrong and what can we do to help it,” Scott told NASCAR.com. “Obviously, we’re finding stuff right now as we’re trying to put stuff on to go back through tech (inspection) of knowing what’s bent, and chassis points broke out and stuff. We figured there was more damage than we expected.

“So, we fixed the toe and verified camber and some of the stuff we could do on the pit stop and had to make a little bit of adjustment to the balance of the car to have it drive somewhat decent and let him make the most of it.”

By the time the green-white-checkered flag waved to end Stage 2, Reddick was 36th — the last car on the track. But the adjustments on the ensuing pit stop were apparently enough to give Reddick something to work with over the final 55 laps.

“We just got all the damage repair done we could do,” Scott said. “And it’s kind of like, ‘All right, here’s what you got. You have to relearn it now and figure it out.’ And he does a really good job adapting to stuff. Obviously, the guys did an excellent job of getting it back close and it was drivable, and then he did great of just figuring out how to drive it that way and making passes.”

Reddick couldn’t pinpoint exactly what changed, but that stop proved to be a pivot point.

“I don’t know what exactly they got right for the start of Stage 3, but it was a much better race car from that point forward,” Reddick said. “But it drove completely different than what I had in Stage 1.”

A two-time winner in 2024, Reddick worked his way to 19th by Lap 81 when the caution waved for Austin Dillon’s departed left-front wheel, with Reddick scoring five points out of the Round of 8. Under that yellow, Scott chose to call Reddick to pit road for four fresh tires, giving Reddick a chance to carve through the field on fresh rubber from the 26th spot all over again.

WATCH: An up-close view of Tyler Reddick’s late-race surge into the Round of 8 

With points on the line, Reddick said he was able to keep his emotions in check: “I was just doing my job.”

“It can all seem really complex in the outside looking in, but it’s pretty simple for me,” Reddick said. “I just asked them the cars I needed to pass, where I was to the cut line, and I just focused on running the best laps possible and trying to be aggressive and timing the passes. You know, if I could get within a car length of somebody in the hairpin, I could get to the inside and put us both in a bad spot, and you just have to be conscious about that.”

That came to a head with contact with Daniel Hemric at Turn 7 for 18th place, sliding into the corner and accidentally turning the No. 31 Chevy around.

“It’s tough,” Reddick reflected. “I needed to go, and we raced through there pretty tight. I was trying to stay on line, and he was trying to run close to me, and, yeah, went down into first (gear) and wheel-hopped a little bit, back kicked out and I spun him out. But that’s just what happens. I had to go. I had to race. I had to make the pass.”

Ultimately, Reddick surged all the way back to 11th place, while Logano backslid to eighth in the closing laps. Due to Bowman’s DQ, Reddick advanced to the Round of 8 as the seventh of eight drivers to move forward.

Part of that margin stemmed from Reddick’s charge to the Regular Season Championship, which provided an additional 15 playoff points for Reddick to carry from round to round.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule 

“I think it goes to show every point matters,” Scott said. “And I think you see it every year. About every round, it comes down to a few points — less than five, generally. So that’s just why you fight. I mean, even last week at Talladega, damage repair there, too. Watkins Glen — yeah, we’ve done it more often than we would like we’d like in these playoffs. So it’s just another statement that is how (much) it matters and never give one point on the table.”

The Round of 8 starts Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Posted on by George Winkler

Four championship hopefuls were eliminated from title contention after the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, resetting the standings board and cementing the Round of 8.

WINNER

Kyle Larson put on a masterclass to win at the Roval for his sixth victory of the 2024 season. Larson now has double the amount of wins as his next closest competitors this year and continues to make a strong case as the championship favorite as the playoffs move on to the Round of 8 and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results

ELIMINATED DRIVERS

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports (No. 48 was disqualified in post-race inspection)
Austin Cindric, Team Penske
Daniel Suárez, Trackhouse Racing
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing

ADVANCING TO THE ROUND OF 8

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, 4,052 points
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, 4,032 points
Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, 4,029 points
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, 4,023 points
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, 4,019 points
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, 4,015 points
Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, 4,014 points
Joey Logano, Team Penske, 4,012 points

WHO’S HOT? 

The Big Three. Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell clinched their spots in the Round of 8 before the Roval race was even over as they joined William Byron among the early advancers. The three drivers also finished 1-2-3 at the Roval, making a strong statement heading into the next round.

Chase Elliott. It wasn’t a win, but Elliott flashed his former road-course-ace self and came home with a fifth-place finish at Charlotte. More importantly, the 2020 champion withstood the pressure of racing just above the elimination line and advanced to the Round of 8 a year after not making the playoffs.

Joey Logano. While Logano appeared to be ousted from the postseason at first, a DQ to the No. 48 puts the two-time champion back in the postseason mix. Logano put himself in position to capitalize on the misfortune of the No. 48, though, by earning 47 points with a clutch Sunday showing.

WHO’S NOT? 

Chase Briscoe. The dream of a Stewart-Haas Racing machine advancing to the next round ended after Briscoe went out early at Charlotte. Already at the bottom of the playoff standings, Briscoe had a flat tire and other mechanical problems that forced him to make multiple trips to pit road and ultimately exit the race with a 36th-place finish.

NEXT RACE

The Round of 8 opens at Las Vegas for the South Point 400 on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

WHO IT FAVORS

Kyle Larson. He’s tied with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski for the most wins at Las Vegas (three) and boasts a series-best average finish of 9.3. Plus, Larson is the defending fall race winner here.

WHO IT HURTS

Christopher Bell. He owns the worst average finish at Las Vegas among the remaining playoff drivers (19.1) despite having two poles and four top-10 finishes in nine starts at the 1.5-mile desert track.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

CONCORD, N.C. — Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 was as much about Tyler Reddick’s heroic drive into the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as it was about Kyle Larson’s continued domination of elimination races.

As Larson cruised to his second playoff victory this season — and his second in an elimination race — Reddick charged forward from 26th after a Lap 84 restart and clawed his way to 11th — good enough to provisionally knock two-time series champion Joey Logano out of the playoffs by four points. Logano’s exit was temporary, however.

In post-race inspection, Alex Bowman’s Chevrolet failed NASCAR’s weight requirement and was disqualified, knocking the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet below the elimination line and restoring Logano to the Round of 8.

RELATED: Official results | More on No. 48 car’s DQ

Mirroring his rout in the final Round of 16 event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Larson grabbed the lead for the restart of Stage 2 and stayed out front for 62 of the final 82 laps at the 2.28-mile, 17-turn Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 1.511 seconds ahead of Christopher Bell, the only driver who could stay in the same zip code with the race winner. Third-place William Byron was 8.965 seconds behind at the finish.

With his sixth victory of the season, his second at the Roval and the 29th of his career, Larson led two other Hendrick teammates into the final eight — Byron and fifth-place finisher Chase Elliott.

“Really, it’s the first time in my playoff career I’ve not been close to the cut line, so it was good to kind of have a little bit stress-free of a weekend,” said Larson, whose previous win at the Roval came during his 2021 championship season. “I think the first time I’ve been here without crashing, maybe, besides the other time I won.

“It’s known that I don’t really use the sim (simulator) much, and I was in the sim this week. It really helped me get into a rhythm I think early on and helped us kind of fine-tune our car, too.”

Joining Bowman on the sidelines were Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (fourth on Sunday), Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez (31st) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (37th), leaving reigning series champion Ryan Blaney (10th) and Logano as the two Ford drivers left in the playoff field.

If Larson’s dominating run stole the suspense from his victory, Reddick’s charge over the final 26-lap green-flag run provided nail-biting drama.

After pole winner Shane van Gisbergen (21 laps led) and Larson pitted from the top two spots in Stage 1, Reddick, the regular-season champion, stayed out in the lead to collect 10 stage points and an additional playoff point on Lap 25.

A pit stop during the stage break mired Reddick in traffic for a Lap 30 restart, and then calamity struck. In the newly reconfigured Turn 7 hairpin — the new corner of chaos — Austin Dillon turned sideways in a melee that saw Reddick smash into 23XI Racing team co-owner Denny Hamlin, sending Reddick’s car skyward.

SHOP: Race winner gear

Reddick’s car was severely damaged, and only a succession of pit stops throughout the remainder of the race — including a lengthy sojourn under caution to repair the left-rear toe link — made it competitive for the final run.

“Yeah, I thought I was going to flip, but I think I was behind the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) — trying to work the move to the inside,” Reddick said of the wreck. “I got clear of him — I saw the 3 (Dillon) spun and everyone on the binders coming to a stop, and of course, me and my boss (Hamlin) get together. It was like I was going to do a front flip. This thing was absolutely destroyed.

“Huge props to everyone on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in Stage 3. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off.”

It was crew chief Billy Scott’s call to bring Reddick to pit road for new tires under caution on Lap 82 that proved decisive. The fresh Goodyears were the ammunition Reddick needed to pass 15 cars during the final run and eclipse Logano’s point total by four.

But the drama became moot with Bowman’s disqualification.

“You just have to stay calm,” Reddick said. “You just have to stay focused. In those moments, it is so easy to lose control. Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us that this thing was able to get back through the field and get us to the good side of the cut line.”

By the time the second stage ended, Larson and Bell had clinched spots in the Round of 8. Hamlin, who ran 14th on Sunday, also advanced. Bowman was nine points above the elimination line at the finish before the crushing disqualification and would have been the fourth Hendrick driver in the final eight.

At the checkered flag on Sunday, AJ Allmendinger was sixth, followed by Van Gisbergen, Logano, Bubba Wallace, Blaney and Reddick.

NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without further issue, confirming Larson as the race winner. The No. 48 Chevrolet will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on by Brandon White

THOMPSON, Conn. — A couple of crucial career milestones for Justin Bonsignore were reached during Sunday’s World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

Not only did Bonsignore take sole possession of second in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins at Thompson with 14 overall, but his 43rd career win moved him into sole possession of third on the all-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win list. The driver Bonsignore passed in both categories was Modified legend and 2008 series champion Ted Christopher.

RELATED: Complete race results from the World Series 150

Bonsignore had not won on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour since visiting Victory Lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June. A proper return to form for Bonsignore at one of his best tracks involved Kenneth Massa Motorsports dusting off a car that had guided them to victory on multiple occasions.

“We worked hard all summer, but haven’t had the best car,” Bonsignore said. “We brought back ‘Old Faithful’. This car has been sitting bare bones since [the] last Martinsville [race] and we finally got it back together. It got us back into Victory Lane at Thompson and the guys did a great job today with the quick turnaround.”

With his triumph, Bonsignore now has momentum back on his side in the battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.

Ron Silk entered Thompson with an 11-point lead over Bonsignore, which partially stemmed from late-race contact between the two at Riverhead Raceway that knocked Bonsignore out of contention. Three wins in four races from Patrick Emerling left him 16 points behind Silk and only five points behind Bonsignore.

Thompson presented an ideal opportunity for Bonsignore to reestablish the rhythm he developed during the first half of the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour campaign. After overtaking Silk in the opening laps, Bonsignore pulled away from the field until the lone caution of the day was displayed for Joey Cipriano III’s spin.

A bad pit stop nearly unraveled Bonsignore’s stellar performance, as he was knocked back to sixth for the ensuing restart. It only took Bonsignore a handful of laps to work his back to second before eventually making the race-winning pass on Silk.

With the disappointment from Riverhead still fresh in his mind, Bonsignore was determined to best Silk without any extracurricular contact. A clean fight for the championship is Bonsignore’s goal for the last two races, adding that the finish to Thompson perfectly encapsulated how that could play out.

“This does show we can race each other cleanly in this series,” Bonsignore said. “Ron’s car was pretty good and I was trying to pressure him as much as I could. I think everybody thinks we’re going to wreck each other every week, but I wanted to do it the right way. Hopefully that sets a precedent that he can race us the same way for the rest of the year.”

Bonsignore already has a comfortable place in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour record books with 43 victories, a third of which have come at Thompson. He also sits only one win away from tying Reggie Ruggiero for second on the all-time win list.

Earning a fourth series championship at Martinsville Speedway later this month would only further cement his status as one of the greatest Modified competitors of all time.

“It’s humbling to be around Reggie and Teddy and to have your name mentioned with them is really special,” Bonsignore said. “Obviously we try not to think about that stuff while we’re still racing, but it is really awesome to have that much success in this series over the 15 years that we’ve been year. Hopefully we’ve got another 14 or 15 years in us if we can stay competitive.”

Anthony Nocella earned a second consecutive runner-up finish on Sunday. Silk followed Nocella in the third position with Austin Beers and Matt Hirschman completing the top five.

Chase Dowling, Emerling, Craig Lutz, Dave Sapienza and Kyle Bonsignore were the rest of the top 10 finishers.

The final two races of the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season will take place in the Southeast, with historic North Wilkesboro Speedway being the first of the two venues. The Brushy Mountain Powersports 150, which was rescheduled from Oct. 5 due to Hurricane Helene, takes place next Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. ET on FloRacing.