Playoff Pulse: Round of 8 set after Charlotte Roval

Posted on October 9, 2022October 12, 2022 by Staff Report

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course resulted in the second group of four drivers being eliminated from the 2022 playoffs, finalizing the eight remaining championship contenders.

WINNER

Christopher Bell entered Sunday’s race needing a win and nothing else. After a masterful strategy call on the second-to-last restart, Bell pulled ahead of race leader Kevin Harvick and sailed off into the sunset for a dramatic, walk-off victory to advance to the Round of 8. It was Bell’s second victory of the 2022 season and first on a road course since his Daytona International Speedway road course win in February 2021. The win shuffled the standings, resulting in defending series champion Kyle Larson left on the outside of the elimination line and out of the championship hunt.

RELATED: Race results | Photos from Charlotte

ELIMINATED DRIVERS

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports
Daniel Suárez, Trackhouse Racing
Austin Cindric, Team Penske
Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports (missed Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Roval)

ADVANCING TO THE ROUND OF 8
(Ordered by the points reset after Charlotte Roval)

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, 4,046
Joey Logano, Team Penske, 4,026
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, 4,021
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, 4,018
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, 4,015
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, 4,015
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, 4,013
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, 4,009

WHO’S HOT?

Christopher Bell. In a season where parity has written most of the story lines, you can put a premium on the type of momentum Bell gained with his victory. Bell strung together a near-flawless Round of 16 performance, stalled by a mishap at Texas Motor Speedway and an unfruitful Talladega, leaving him in the win-or-go-home situation at the Roval. But with the Round of 12 behind him, Bell and the No. 20 team are right back on track and climbing toward the top of title talks. He now has six finishes of eighth or better in the last nine races and his top-10 result at Las Vegas in March should have them trending upward in the playoff outlook.

WHO’S NOT?

Ryan Blaney. Remembering that this is relative to the other remaining contenders, questions still surround the No. 12 team and Blaney on if they will reach Victory Lane this season. Blaney is the only winless driver remaining in the playoffs and slides down in the standings a bit on the reset because of this. After starting the playoffs 0-for-4, playoff drivers have once again reasserted that winning is the standard in the tight playoff push. Yes, Blaney had a solid Round of 12 with top-four finishes at Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega. But it may have been his best round with three tracks he has won at in his career. As the field slims down, the pressure is on for Blaney to get a win sooner rather than later.

NEXT RACE

The Round of 8 opens Sunday, Oct. 16 with the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

WHO IT FAVORS

Joey Logano. Although Denny Hamlin won the Las Vegas playoff race in 2021 and led 31 laps in the spring before drivetrain issues, the track edge among remaining title contenders goes to Logano. Logano has been stellar at the Nevada track, leading the series with an 8.9 average finish to go along with a pair of wins (spring 2019 and 2020) and nearly 500 laps led. In 18 starts, Logano finished outside the top 16 just once all the way back in 2011. If anything, the 2022 season has rewarded consistency in a year where it has been pretty hard to come by. Based on that and the No. 22 Team Penske team’s speed in recent weeks, they should get off to a great start in the Round of 8.

WHO IT HURTS

Chase Briscoe. In three starts at Las Vegas, Briscoe hasn’t found much success with a 23.3 average finish and an unfortunate crash in the spring race. Already on the outside looking in, the No. 14 team will need to pick up the pace and contend for wins if they hope to make it into the Championship 4. On the bright side, Briscoe does have two Xfinity Series wins at the Nevada track, but it is a different story competing against the top talent at the Cup Series level — especially in pursuit of a title. Though he has flashed solid speed at times throughout the year, his lack of experience and routine success in Vegas compared to the remaining contenders hurt him heading to one of the toughest tests of his career.

Posted on October 9, 2022October 11, 2022 by Staff Report

Phoenix Communications 150

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Race Results

Pos	No.	Name	Sponsor	Laps	Diff
1	58	Eric Goodale	GAF Roofing	150	—
2	7	Mike Christopher, Jr.*	Stuart Automotive	150	3.383
3	92	Anthony Nocella	Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas	150	11.298
4	07	Patrick Emerling	Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway	150	17.245
5	22	Kyle Bonsignore	Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto	150	17.785
6	79	Jon McKennedy	Middlesex Interiors	150	19.388
7	15	Kyle Soper	Eastport Foods	149	1 Lap
8	10	Doug Coby	Mayhew Tools	149	1 Lap
9	16	Ron Silk	Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes	149	1 Lap
10	44	Bobby Santos III	Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market	149	1 Lap
11	64	Austin Beers*	Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical	149	1 Lap
12	36	Dave Sapienza	Sapienza Enterprises	148	2 Laps
13	18	Ken Heagy	Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant	148	2 Laps
14	51	Justin Bonsignore	Phoenix Communication Inc.	148	2 Laps
15	54	Tommy Catalano	FX Caprara	148	2 Laps
16	50	Ronnie Williams	Empower Financial Services/RB Enterprises	147	3 Laps
17	3	Ryan Preece	Propane Plus/ACG/Island International	147	3 Laps
18	32	Tyler Rypkema	Northeast Drilling/MUSCO	146	4 Laps
19	78	Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.	Last Minute Racing	146	4 Laps
20	34	J.B. Fortin	Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal	144	6 Laps
21	27	Gary McDonald	Lakeland Landscape Supply	139	11 Laps
22	26	Ed Brunnhoelzl III	Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict	136	14 Laps
23	82	Craig Lutz	Horton Avenue Materials	121	29 Laps
24	01	Melissa Fifield	Pine Knoll Auto Sales	30	120 Laps

RACE STATISTICS

Time of Race: 0 hrs., 52 mins, 52 secs

Average Speed: 106.400 mph

Margin of Victory: 3.383 Seconds

Caution Flags: Laps 13-15 (Car #54, #58, #34, #79 turn 4, no FP). 1 for 3 laps.

Lap Leaders: Doug Coby 1-77, Eric Goodale 78-150.

Total Laps Led: Doug Coby 77, Eric Goodale 73. 1 change involving 2 drivers.

Posted on October 9, 2022October 9, 2022 by Zach Sturniolo

CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Larson will not repeat as the NASCAR Cup Series champion in 2022.

A 35th-place finish, five laps down, in the Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course on Sunday relegated the No. 5 team beneath the elimination line as Chase Briscoe charged through the field. When the checkered flag waved, Larson was ousted by two points as Briscoe was the final driver to advance.

Larson got loose at the exit of Turn 7 and contacted the wall with the right-rear quarter of the car, resulting in a broken toe link in the rear suspension. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet hit pit road at Lap 98 to repair the damage and lost five laps in the process.

The defending title winner lamented the on-track mistake, one in a series this year, he said.

“The only thing that I could have done differently was not crash and hit the wall and break the toe link,” Larson said. “So yeah, it’s all on me and then you know the team repaired it as quickly as they could and yeah, then at that point they’re just along for the ride as far as points go. Just dumb mistake on my part.”

This season was never going to replicate the team’s dominance of the 2021 season, a year that produced a stunning 10 wins, an All-Star Race victory and a championship celebration in Phoenix. A new car provided different challenges, and Larson at times found himself playing catch-up.

“It’s frustrating to end like this but as up-and-down as I was this season, I’m not surprised that I made another mistake — and a costly one at an important time.”

While crew chief Cliff Daniels appreciated Larson’s accountability to a degree, the longtime Hendrick Motorsports crewman noted many issues that plagued the team that were out of Larson’s control.

“As far as him taking so much of the blame, I stand by it that there’s probably nobody better than — and only a few similar to — the talent level of Kyle Larson in the world right now, much less in NASCAR in Cup racing,” Daniels told NASCAR.com. “So I will always stand behind him. I have every reason to stand behind him. He’s been incredible, you know, since we’ve been together, and I know that he’s owning some of his mistakes.

“But look, me as the leader of the team, I have to own the mistakes of you know, things on pit road, and when we miss the setup or miss the call or whatever the situation would be. And again, we’ve had some mechanical issues that you just can’t have. So no, it doesn’t fall all of it on his shoulders. And I know he’s trying to take a lot of the blame. But man, you know, the way it all shook out for us, there’s no single individual — not even him — that’s to blame.”

Indeed, Larson suffered three engine failures this season. Mechanical issues had historically been uncommon with the powerhouse Hendrick organization, but Larson found trouble as recently as the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

The results have ultimately been spotty at best — two wins nearly six months apart with 16 top-10 finishes in 32 races and just three such results in the six postseason events.

MORE: Playoff Pulse: Round of 8 set

“It’s been tough,” Larson said. “I mean, there’s been no real rhythm to it for me and our team, but we fought hard all year to get better. And we’re gonna continue to fight, continue to work hard to be better for the rest of the season as well as be more prepared for next year.”

It’s been a season of introspective moments for Larson, renowned over the past 19 months (at least) for his world-class abilities.

“I’ve learned that there’s still a lot of area to get a lot better and just smarter,” Larson said. “Just doing a better job. Last year, seemed good. I was on my game and things were working out, restarts, everything. Every area was better as far as the driver goes last year. So just got to figure out how to get back to that point.”

Nonetheless, Larson and Daniels see chances to grow from the adversity that ended the No. 5 team’s championship hopes prematurely. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is the last driver to repeat as Cup champion, winning five straight titles from 2006-10.

“It’s only gonna make us stronger because what do you get when you don’t get what you want? You get experience,” Daniels said. “And you can use that to build your character and to build your grit, or you can let it sidetrack you. And like not even 1% is this going to sidetrack us. We’re going to continue our process, our system, keep our team strong, which they are. I cannot say enough about the guys at the shop, the guys on the road, the guys that prepare this car every week. They’re an incredible group.”

“Cliff is an extremely good leader, a great leader,” Larson said. “He’s gonna continue to hold ourselves to a high standard and continue to push us along throughout the rest of the season and throughout the offseason to where we’re in much better shape.

“It’s definitely tough moments like today that are gonna shape our team into contending again next year.”

Posted on October 9, 2022October 9, 2022 by Reid Spencer

CONCORD, N.C. – In a turn of events that bordered on the unbelievable, Christopher Bell found his only path to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

On fresh tires, thanks to a strategic pit stop under caution on Lap 105, Bell passed Kevin Harvick to the outside through Turns 1 and 2 after a restart on Lap 111 and pulled away to win Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

With the victory, Bell transferred to the Round of 8 and simultaneously eliminated reigning series champion Kyle Larson, who brought his No. 5 Chevrolet to pit road on Lap 98 after hitting the wall and breaking the right-rear toe link on his car.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

Larson finished five laps down in 35th and was ousted from the playoffs by two points. After spinning in the backstretch chicane on Lap 107, Chase Briscoe recovered to finish ninth on fresh tires and grabbed the eighth and final berth in the Round of 8 by the two-point margin over Larson.

Bell didn’t have the fastest car on Sunday, but he and crew chief Adam Stevens took advantage of two late cautions to make the winning move.

“Man, you’ve just got to be there at the end of these things,” said Bell, who entered the race 45 points below the cut line for the Round of 8. “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength this year.

“We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win (before taking tires). We rolled the dice, gambled, and it paid off for us.”

A chagrined Larson blamed himself for his ouster.

“I just made way too many mistakes all year long,” Larson said. “Made another one today. Ultimately cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship.

“Just extremely mad at myself. I let the team down a number of times this year, and let them down in a big way today.”

Austin Cindric and Daniel Suárez also suffered elimination. Cindric spun entering the backstretch chicane after the final restart on Lap 111 and finished 21st, missing the Round of 8 by 13 points. Suárez fought his No. 99 Chevrolet after his power steering failed during the third stage and came home 36th, leaving him nine points behind Briscoe for the final transfer spot.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Briscoe restarted outside the top 20 on Lap 111 and took advantage of Cindric’s spin, his own aggression and a block from Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer, who held up cars Briscoe needed to pass on the final lap.

“Yeah, man, what a wild day,” Briscoe said. “It took every bit of it there at the end. To be easily in, then that debris caution comes out (on Lap 104). Still, I thought we had a really good shot of making it in. Get wrecked on the backstretch. Crazy at the end of these races, especially the road-course races, how much can change so quickly.

“I had no idea we were even going to have a shot (on the final restart). Truthfully, I knew we were probably out. I saw the 2 (Cindric) wreck, I thought maybe there’s still a chance. We had so much fresher tires than anybody. (Crew chief) Johnny (Klausmeier) pumped them way up to qualifying pressures, let me go attack, have the ball in my hands.”

What had been an orderly race for 103 laps descended into chaos after NASCAR called the third caution of the race on for debris in Turn 6, ending a 50-lap green-flag run.

That’s when Bell brought his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to pit road for tires. He restarted 12th on Lap 107, and by the time he returned to the finish line — due in part to a pile-up in Turn 1 — Bell was pursuing Tyler Reddick for the second position.

On Lap 108, Bell slipped past Reddick and was chasing Harvick when a second debris caution for a melee in Turn 2 forced the race to overtime. On the final restart, Harvick was a sitting duck on older tires, but he managed to hold off Kyle Busch for the second spot.

Joining Bell and Briscoe in the Round of 8 are Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Ross Chastain. Elliott led a race-high 30 laps and appeared headed for his third victory at the Roval before the caution on Lap 104.

After the Lap 107 restart, Elliott, who had qualified for the Round of 8 with last Sunday’s victory at Talladega, spun through the grass outside Turn 6 after contact from Reddick and came home 20th.

Logano, the pole winner, took the first stage wire-to-wire but was buried in traffic after a pit stop on Lap 27 and finished 18th.

AJ Allmendinger ran fourth after leading 24 laps, followed by Justin Haley, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Reddick, Briscoe and Austin Dillon.

With points reset entering the Round of 8, Elliott holds the top spot in the NASCAR Cup standings with a 20-point edge over second-place Logano.

The Cup Series’ next race is the South Point 400, scheduled next Sunday, Oct. 16 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The event opens the three-race Round of 8, which will determine the Championship 4 field for the season-ending title race Nov. 6 at Phoenix Raceway.

NOTE: Inspection is complete in the Cup Series garage with no issues, confirming Bell as the race winner. The Nos. 2 and 48 will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for further inspection.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

Monday, Oct. 10
10 a.m., IMSA: Prototype Challenge at Road Atlanta (tape delay), USA
11 a.m., IMSA: Michelin Pilot Challenge at Road Atlanta (tape delay), USA
1 p.m., ARCA Menards Series West: NAPA Auto Care 150 at All American Speedway (tape delay), USA
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, Oct. 12
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, Oct. 13
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
10 p.m., Race for the Championship: The Cutoff, USA

Friday, Oct. 14
1:01 a.m., Race for the Championship: The Cutoff (re-air), USA
7:30 p.m., Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway (tape delay), USA
8:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, USA

Saturday, Oct. 15
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, USA
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NBC

On PRN:
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,

Sunday, Oct. 16
6 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Las Vegas Motor Speedway, FS2
7 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Features — 2022 season, FS2
8 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Boundless — Betty Skelton, FS2
9 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
Noon, NASCAR RaceDay: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, FS1
2 p.m., Countdown to Green, NBC
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NBC

On PRN:
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Posted on October 9, 2022October 9, 2022 by Staff Report

Kaulig Racing announced Sunday that Daniel Hemric will return to its No. 11 Chevrolet in the 2023 Xfinity Series.

The agreement was revealed Sunday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway, ahead of the Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) in the Cup Series Playoffs.

Hemric, 31, was last year’s champion in the Xfinity Series. He transitioned away from Joe Gibbs Racing after his title-clinching win to his first year with Kaulig Racing this season.

News of the extension came as part of the Kaulig Giving philanthropic group’s announcement that it would provide additional support to Hemric’s Be The Change Scholarship endowment. The annual scholarship program began in 2019, and will now assist two students on a path through the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s motorsports, welding or mechanical engineering fields of study.

“I was going to come here today and talk about the scholarship program with the Be The Change Scholarship and all that Kaulig Giving has done for myself, my family and our community,” Hemric said. “When they told me they wanted to bring me back on top of that, well that was … let’s tie it all together, right? So knowing this was happening today made it a little easier to sleep last night, given what had happened, but I also don’t rest easy on that, either. I know that there’s a lot for this race team, a lot for Kaulig Racing to do still left in this year.”

Hemric was eliminated from championship eligibility in Saturday’s Xfinity Series playoff race at the Charlotte road course. He has two top-five and 10 top-10 finishes with the Matt Kaulig-owned No. 11 team this year, including a pole in their first race together at the season-opener at Daytona.

The announcement shores up the Kaulig Racing lineup for 2023. AJ Allmendinger was introduced Wednesday as a full-time Cup Series teammate to Justin Haley next year. Chandler Smith will debut next season as a full-time replacement for Allmendinger on the Xfinity side, joining Hemric and the returning Landon Cassill in its three-car lineup.

“We thought it was no better time to announce that with what he does, and all of the givings that they do,” said Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice. “We think Daniel has had a year that’s probably been trying. That’s no means … it’s not where everybody wants to be, but we don’t take that lightly. We know as a race team, we’ve got to be better and we feel like with AJ Allmendinger going to Cup, Daniel Hemric can continuously help us with Chandler Smith, with those guys in the Xfinity Series just to continue the wins and continue to compete for championships.

“So really excited for Kaulig Racing. Super cool what Matt does for the racing program each and every week, but also all the givings he does. So just really excited to have Daniel back next year.”

Posted on October 9, 2022October 9, 2022 by Nick Giffen

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting
analysis here.

With practice and qualifying wrapped up for Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR) bettors can now turn their attention to analyzing the on-track data from those sessions.

In addition to on-track data, we have a solid five-race sample size from road courses in 2022 to help guide us.

One trend that’s been noticeable across all the road course races is the lack of speed in the Toyotas.

This trend continued in practice and qualifying. With this group of drivers all similarly struggling, there’s a large value bet hanging out there among the Toyotas.

Let’s dive in.

NASCAR Pick for Charlotte

*Odds as of Sunday morning

Christopher Bell is clearly class of the field in the Toyota camp both this year, and on track this weekend.

Bell had the fastest five-lap average among the group, and also qualified the best.

However, his top Toyota odds are simply too short to bet.

Turning to the next fastest driver this weekend, we come to Bubba Wallace.

Wallace isn’t known for his road-course prowess, which is why his odds are so long, but he has definitely improved. While his finishes haven’t been great, his performance has actually been quite solid.

In the one race he finished, Bubba took home a top five in the chaotic Indy race.

At Road America, he worked his way forward, running as the second Toyota at one point before mechanical issues struck.

In fact, other than Indy, Bubba has had a parts failure at all four of the other road courses.

However, the same has been true for most of the Toyota stable. Not only have they struggled to find speed, but they’ve also struggled in the reliability department.

Bubba has the second-fastest car among the group.

That means the 18-1 price that Caesars Sportsbook is hanging is simply too long in a seven-car field.

One added bonus: He can race for the win knowing he’s not in the playoffs.

My model might be a bit too high on him, but it shows fair value on his top Toyota odds at +330. Certainly he shouldn’t be any worse than average among the seven Toyotas, making +600 a fair bet.

For a bit of breathing room, I’d take this down to +800.

The Bet: Bubba Wallace Top Toyota +1800 | Bet to: +800

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Dustin Albino

Throughout the 2022 season, many story lines have remained the same at road courses. Trackhouse Racing is strong, Tyler Reddick is merciless and Toyota has struggled. Those all remained true after Saturday’s practice and qualifying session – even with Ross Chastain slipping up – at the Charlotte Roval. Enter Joey Logano, who won his third pole of the season and first on a road course since 2011.

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Chase Elliott
Starter 2: AJ Allmendinger
Starter 3: Daniel Suárez
Starter 4: Austin Cindric
Starter 5: Tyler Reddick
Garage pick: William Byron

NEXT IN LINE: Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell

MORE: Updated race-day odds

RISING: Much has been made of Toyota’s struggles on road courses during the 2022 season. But one thing has remained the same: Christopher Bell leads the camp with speed when turning left and right. That proved to be true once again on Saturday at the Roval, with Bell starting eighth while his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates will start 19th on back. The one concern for fantasy players using Bell should be that he’s only concerned about winning and could forego stage points.

It’s been more than 11 years since Joey Logano won his last pole on a road course (Sonoma, 2011), but the No. 22 Ford will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday. Logano ranked fourth in practice as well and has consecutive top-10 efforts on road courses in the Next Gen, including a third-place outing at Watkins Glen.

FALLING: Entering the final round of qualifying, Ross Chastain was sitting pretty, guaranteed to start inside the top 10. But on his warm-up lap, the No. 1 Chevrolet went off course in Turn 5 and smacked the tire barriers. The Next Gen car is extremely durable, but the Trackhouse team will have to repair the left-front fender and will have to drop to the rear. With Chastain’s Cinderella-type season, it wouldn’t be surprising if he has a strong rebound on a track type he’s performed well at in 2022.

In last year’s Roval race, Cliff Daniels had to throw just about everything but the kitchen sink to repair the No. 5 car during the race. So, the fact that Kyle Larson will line up 18th on Sunday shouldn’t be too concerning. But with Larson winning the last road-course race at Watkins Glen, it seems like he’s third-best out of the Hendrick Motorsports camp thus far in Charlotte.

FEATURED MATCHUPS

Chase Elliott vs. Kyle Larson: Because of their recent battles on road courses, I thought this would be another case of oneupmanship between the HMS teammates. But with Elliott’s track record at the Roval, it’s awfully hard to bet against the No. 9 team. Since he will only be going after the race win, Elliott should be in your lineup.

Christopher Bell vs. William Byron: Throughout his Cup career, Byron has shown glimpses of speed at road courses. And even though he has just one top-10 finish on road courses in 2022, he’s likely going to chase stage points on Sunday, just 14 points above the playoff cutline entering the race. Bell, however, will be solely going after the checkered flag and is a realistic threat to win. These two cars looked to be the best from their respective teams, but the advantage should go to Byron, even if he doesn’t finish higher than the No. 20 car after 109 laps.

Austin Cindric vs. Chase Briscoe: After his qualifying performance, Briscoe was upset with himself, believing he left a couple of tenths on the table. Cindric was steady, as he has been all season on road courses. Because of his starting position and the fact that he has four top 10s in five road course races this year, Cindric is the choice.

Daniel Suárez vs. Joey Logano: This is about as even as it can get, with Suárez and Logano starting in the first two rows. From COTA to now, Logano has shown great improvement on road courses in the Next Gen car. Suárez, though, has been one of the front-runners all season on these tracks, with a trio of top-five efforts. I’d give the nod to Suárez; plus, it allows for you to save Logano for an upcoming event.

Posted on October 8, 2022October 8, 2022 by Cameron Richardson

CONCORD, N.C. — No matter what a driver has accomplished in their career, playoff elimination is always a disappointing moment.

After Saturday’s Xfinity Series Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, there may have been no driver more disappointed than last year’s series champion.

RELATED: Official results | Playoff standings

Nearly a year after his surprising and thrilling championship victory at Phoenix Raceway, Daniel Hemric will not defend his Xfinity crown as he finished Saturday’s race 11 points below the elimination line.

After grabbing third on the starting grid, odds appeared to be in Hemric’s favor to point his way through the 72-lap event with favorable track position. However, on Lap 3, his day was ravaged as he went off-course in Turn 5 and slammed the outside barrier. The damage wasn’t enough to end the defending champ’s day but the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was grounded toward the rear of the field.

Hemric lugged his car to a 17th-place finish and was blunt on his playoff exit.

“Just made a mistake that you can’t make,” Hemric said. “The rest of the day kinda took care of itself so gotta be better than that. Just wasn’t good enough and when you aren’t good enough, you get beat. That’s what happened today.”

Joining Hemric among the Xfinity Series’ first-round playoff exits were Riley Herbst, Jeremy Clements and Ryan Sieg.

Herbst had the most eventful day of the 12 playoff drivers as he crashed multiple times in the final Stage. The No. 98 Ford ran up front for a majority of the race, scoring second and fifth-place finishes in Stage 1 and Stage 2, respectively. However, the remaining laps spiraled downward for the Las Vegas native, beginning with James Davison running into the back of Herbst’s car on a restart. The left rear of the No. 98 suffered heavy damage, dropping Herbst to the back of the field. Herbst then got caught in a chain reaction stack-up in Turn 2 that elevated his damage, and the final blow came on the first overtime restart as he crashed off Turn 4, ending his day scored in 32nd.

Sieg was the closest of the drivers eliminated to the cutline as he fell just two points below Brandon Jones when the checkered flag flew. Those lost two points came in Stage 2 after a costly mistake from the driver of the No. 39 Ford.

“I messed up and missed the backstretch chicane and lost out on two spots and two points that probably would’ve gotten us in,” Sieg lamented.

Sieg produced great results throughout the Round of 12 with top 10s across the board, including a fourth-place run at Talladega Superspeedway that matched a season-best that also came at Talladega in the spring. While being eliminated from the playoffs, Sieg said he has a lot to be proud of given the circumstance of being a small team going up against the likes of Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Kaulig.

“I was pretty confident. We made some adjustments and got better after Stage 2, ” Sieg added. “Just had to fight hard and do all I could do to gain points because they were letting me know every lap how many we were out. Just wasn’t enough at the end but good fight from our CMR Ford all day long. Just wish I had Stage 2 back. Great day though at a road course for myself and the team. Nothing to be ashamed of. We’ve just got to fight harder because we wanted to be on the other side of it.

“We had three top 10s and one top five in those three races and didn’t make it. Not a whole lot more we could’ve done except get a few more points. Everything kinda didn’t work out too well and found ourselves not getting stage points. We had the right strategy but I just messed up a little bit and cost us a few points.”

Like Sieg, Clements competed and hung with the top teams in the sport to put themselves into the playoffs. However, Clements said the writing on the wall for his postseason came with their engine failure at Texas Motor Speedway that opened the Xfinity Series playoffs.

“Going into Texas, we were excited and then we broke really early,” Clements said. “I knew that was going to be hard to get out of that hole we were in. It was fun to be a part of the playoffs for sure. We won Daytona and that was just badass. We had nothing to lose but unfortunately that engine failure at Texas really put us behind and then Talladega went like none of us thought it would. Here, we didn’t have enough speed and finished 14th.”

This is the second year in a row and third time Clements has been eliminated in the opening playoff round, and while he said he knows the team still has work to do to compete at a high level, he’s positive on where the team is going.

“Racing’s tough and when you are a small team, your back is against the wall all the time so we’re just always trying to get better,” Clements said. “We’ve got some engineering support coming from Chevy and that’s all we can do to make our team better but we definitely got a couple steps to get up there, but we will and I feel good about where we’re at and where we’re going.”

The Xfinity Series Round of 8 begins next Saturday, Oct. 15 with the Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on October 8, 2022 by Zach Sturniolo

CONCORD, N.C. — Two points. When the checkered flag flew on Saturday afternoon, that’s all that separated Brandon Jones from elimination in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

That barrier proved strong enough as Jones wheeled the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a seventh-place finish at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, narrowly advancing to the Round of 8 in the Xfinity Series’ postseason battle.

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Jones battled through multiple late-race restarts as the Drive for the Cure 250 wound into overtime, his nerves rattling as each lap wound down and spotter Drew Herring fed him all the right info. In the end, he finished two spots ahead of ninth-place Ryan Sieg, who wound up on the other side of the elimination line by that thin margin.

“I’m an adrenaline junkie and that was definitely some adrenaline for sure to keep listening to those numbers and it keeps getting tighter and tighter every restart,” Jones said.

Jones, in his swan-song season for Joe Gibbs Racing, wanted Herring to keep him updated on points throughout the entire event. That proved helpful — if perhaps a little more stressful, too.

“Man, I think at first it was good to hear. And then once it got down to the wire, like Drew’s voice escalated on the radio a little bit, and I’m just thinking, ‘Man, let’s just not have any lockups or anything crazy,'” Jones said. “And that’s what we had to do, man. We did our job today.”

The team, headed by crew chief Jeff Meendering, opted for stage points in Stage 2 and snagged the stage victory, resulting in an additional 10 points for Jones total. He needed all of them by the time the round concluded.

“I think as far as coming into this race, and being just extremely solid, did a phenomenal job of flipping that stage and getting that stage win,” Jones said. “That’s probably really what saved our butts a little bit was getting that stage win to just have a couple of extra points there to go into it.

“I mean, like I said, I don’t think we could have played this out any better.”

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Jones now sets his sights on a run to the Championship 4. He finished sixth in the final points rundown in 2020 and seventh in 2021. This year, Jones’ lone victory came at Martinsville Speedway, which also serves as the elimination race that decides the four drivers who will compete for the Xfinity Series Championship.

He likes his chances.

“I know we talked about how close it was today, but it doesn’t matter now,” Jones said. “It all resets and it goes down to back to everyone’s equal, so I think that these next couple of tracks are the key to getting to Phoenix for me, man. I’m so good at the rest of the mile-and-a-halves. The short track, Martinsville, we’ve proven ourselves there. We’ve won. So there’s so many tracks that we can go out here and heck, we can we can have a couple more wins before we get to Phoenix, I think.

“Get me to Phoenix. I’ll have a good time there. And maybe we’ll be getting a championship.”

Jones sits seventh in the reseeded standings, 22 points behind Justin Allgaier for the transfer spot ahead of the three-race Round of 8. The penultimate playoff round begins Saturday, Oct. 15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).