Christopher Bell took the checkered flag Sunday in the thrilling Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and automatically locked himself into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
And, in a stunning turn of events, defending champ Kyle Larson was one of four drivers knocked out.
Ahead of the second elimination race of the postseason, Bell was 11th in the playoff standings and needed a win to guarantee his advancement out of the Round of 12 and into the Round of 8. But he and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team dug deep and pulled off the victory.
It came down to the final lap! @CBellRacing and @ChaseBriscoe_14 advance in the #NASCARPlayoffs! pic.twitter.com/70t3sjwXLg
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 9, 2022
The playoffs began with 16 drivers, and the first four were eliminated after the opening three races. Three more races later at the end of the Round of 12, the top-8 drivers moved on as the remaining championship contenders, surviving the most unpredictable and chaotic stretch of the playoffs after races at Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
Larson, who entered Sunday’s race sixth in the playoff standings, was among the four eliminated. On Lap 99 of 109 scheduled, Larson was forced to pit with a suspension problem following contact with the wall, and although he was able to continue, chaos ensued at the end of the race and he dropped below the cutoff line.
The contact that changed everything for @KyleLarsonRacin. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/VXHkcew2rw
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 9, 2022
Along with Larson, Daniel Suárez, Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman were dropped from the playoffs.
Going into Sunday’s playoff elimination race, Chase Elliott was the only playoff driver locked into the Round of 8 after he won last weekend at Talladega. With more parity in the sport this year, non-playoff drivers — those who either didn’t qualify or who were already eliminated — have dominated the postseason’s events, winning the first four playoff races.
The opening Round of 16 was the first time a NASCAR Cup Series playoff round was swept by non-playoff drivers, per NBC Sports. And Elliott’s Talladega win was the first victory by a remaining title contender with Bell’s being the second.
Ahead of the Round of 8, here’s a breakdown of the current NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture after the second elimination race and what’s to come.
Which NASCAR playoff drivers advanced to the Round of 8?
With a total of eight drivers now knocked out of the playoffs, those who advanced to the Round of 8 are: Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, along with Bell.
Logano and Elliott are the lone past champions still in the 2022 title race.
Kyle Larson is ELIMINATED from the #NASCARPlayoffs.
Chase Briscoe made some moves on the final restart to advance. pic.twitter.com/9LlsRluIot
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 9, 2022
Sunday’s race was particularly difficult for Trackhouse Racing and its two playoff drivers, Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain. In the final stage of the race, Suárez in the No. 99 Chevrolet had a power steering problem and fell out of the top-8 in the playoff standings during the race. Not long after Suárez’s issue emerged, Chastain in the No. 1 Chevrolet had to drive his car to the garage with a suspension problem after hitting a wall, but eventually returned to the track and remain in the top-8.
Chastain has to go to the garage! 😱 https://t.co/nQ9uiQPKQR pic.twitter.com/VR6Tk9y0bg
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 9, 2022
For Bowman — one of the four drivers cut after the Roval race — his elimination was a given even before the green flag flew Sunday. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports driver has missed the last two races at Talladega and the Roval, as he’s recovering from concussion-like symptoms following a crash at Texas Motor Speedway on September 25.
Without competing, Bowman was unable to earn points for himself in the last two races, and he was the 12th-place driver in the standings and 66 points below the cutoff line prior to Sunday’s race.
After the three Round of 8 races, the playoff field will shrink down to the Championship 4 drivers, who will compete for the title at Phoenix Raceway on November 6.
Which drivers enter the Round of 8 playing catch-up?
And then there were 8.
As the #NASCARPlayoffs field moves on to Las Vegas, here are the standings. pic.twitter.com/vBxpn1UPYc
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 9, 2022
With the start of the Round of 8, the new cutoff line is with the top-4 drivers in the standings, so that means four of them begin this round already behind.
The four drivers currently below the cutoff going into the next round are: William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.
The simplest way for them to get back on track is to win one of the next three races and automatically transfer to the Championship 4 round. But, especially with more parity this season and so many playoff races won by non-playoff drivers, that’s easier said than done.
NASCAR playoffs Round of 8 opens at Las Vegas and closes at Martinsville
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martinsville Speedway. Those are the tracks in the Round of 8, and the top-4 drivers at the end of it will compete for a championship at Phoenix in November.
Bowman won the first Las Vegas race of the season back in March, and Bryon won at Martinsville in April. As for Homestead — which hosted championship weekend for nearly two decades through 2019 — this is the 1.5-mile southern Florida track’s only appearance on the NASCAR schedule. So how well the Next Gen car will handle it remains to be seen.
The three Round of 8 races before four more drivers are eliminated are:
- Sunday, October 16 — South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
- Sunday, October 23 — Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
- Sunday, October 30 — Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC)
Although in a different car, during the 2021 playoffs, Hamlin won at Las Vegas, and Bowman won at Martinsville. Homestead was not part of the playoffs last season, but Byron won the lone race there in March 2021.
NASCAR playoff standings before the first Round of 8 race
For the original 16 drivers who qualified for the playoffs, their points in the standings were reset to 2,000 points each with any playoff points earned during the regular season — one playoff point for a stage win and five playoff points for a race win — then added on. For those who advanced out of the first round and to the Round of 12, their point totals were reset to 3,000 before adding on playoff points.
So for the Round of 8 drivers, their point totals were reset to 4,000, plus their playoff points. So ahead of the Las Vegas race to open the next playoff round, here’s a look at the current driver standings, along with their new point totals:
- Chase Elliott, 4,046
- Joey Logano, 4,026
- Ross Chastain, 4,021
- Christopher Bell, 4,018
- William Byron, 4,015
- Ryan Blaney, 4,015
- Denny Hamlin, 4,013
- Chase Briscoe, 4,009
