Kyle Larson wins BofA Roval 400 amidst another Elliott, Harvick beef

Kyle Larson can’t seem to celebrate a NASCAR Cup Series playoff win in an elimination race without some sort of drama involving team-mate Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick in the background. As he scored his seventh win of the season in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, everyone’s focus was on the grudge between Elliott and Harvick as the two tangled once again as they did at Bristol three weeks ago.

Denny Hamlin started on the pole ahead of Brad Keselowski.

Stages #1 and 2

Hamlin led until the competition caution on lap 10, during which he and other leaders pitted; Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Christopher Bell suffered a speeding penalty on his stop. Team Penske‘s Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney would assume the top spots for the restart, while third Penske driver Brad Keselowski spun further back on the backstretch shortly after.

On lap 19, Keselowski avoided another brush with disaster when he barely missed a spinning Ryan Newman. Blaney led the field to the restart but lost two positions to Elliott and Saturday Xfinity winner A.J. Allmendinger. Elliott, one of the top road racers in the Cup Series, and Allmendinger, whose six road course wins are the most in Xfinity Series history, sparred until the end of the stage. Elliott cleared Allmendinger on the final lap to take the win.

Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Logano, Kurt and Kyle Busch, William Byron, Michael McDowell, and Harvick rounded out the top ten. Kurt Busch and McDowell were eliminated in the Round of 16 while Allmendinger, being an Xfinity full-timer, is ineligible to receive stage points.

Allmendinger paced the field to kick off the second stage before losing the lead to Kyle Busch. Meanwhile, Larson and Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Alex Bowman began reporting electrical issues that forced them to change batteries, with Larson also having his alternator belt replaced, during a lap 33 caution for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spinning Chase Briscoe.

Busch led to the end of the stage. Elliott, Harvick, Blaney, Logano, Larson, Keselowski, Truex, Bowman, and Stenhouse followed. Stenhouse was the lone non-playoff driver in the top ten.

Stage #3

The final stage commenced with Byron leading.

On lap 55, Harvick and Elliott re-ignited their feud from Bristol when the former turned the latter into the wall, resulting in substantial but not fatal damage. As his car was still able to continue, Elliott sought out Harvick but ran at his own pace. With both drivers below the cut line, the situation sets up the potential for more drama entering the final Round of 12 race.

Byron continued to lead before pitting on lap 75, beginning a cycle of stops that allowed Kurt Busch, Chris Buescher, and Hamlin to lead laps before it resettled with Byron. Further back, Elliott’s wounded car dropped its rear bumper cover that resulted in a lap 86 caution, which quickly generated controversy as critics argued he should have received a black flag, a penalty that is often applied in such situations. However, such a body component is not required for road courses and short tracks.

Hamlin assumed first for the restart. On lap 92, Cup newcomer Joey Hand and Corey LaJoie hit the wall in turn two for a caution.

Shortly after another restart, Harvick met his own demise when Elliott was giving chase, only for Harvick to lock his brakes entering turn one and slam into the wall. Unlike Elliott, the damage was terminal and eliminated him from the playoffs.

Larson held off Hamlin on the final restart and led for the final eight laps to win his third road course race of the year. With his Coca-Cola 600 win in the spring, he is the first driver to sweep both Charlotte Motor Speedway races in a season since Kasey Kahne, coincidentally a former Hendrick #5 driver, in 2006 (when the fall race was also on the oval).

“I obviously had a pretty good idea (of being below the cut line),” began Larson in his post-race interview. “I’ve gone through it here a couple years ago, a few years ago in the #42. When you think you’re good, all of a sudden you’re running like fortieth—whoa, I’m down below the cut line.

“I knew I was going to have some sketchy moments, just had to pick my way through traffic, stay calm. We had some good restarts towards the end. Was able to use my tire advantage to get under Denny, squeeze him out of real estate off of four.”

While Larson moves on to the Round of 12, Hendrick team-mates Byron and Bowman were not as fortunate as they were eliminated; Bell and Harvick were also knocked out. Elliott was able to rebound from his early wreck to finish twelfth and advance.

“Our team has a lot of fight, I’m just super proud of that,” said Elliott after the race. “As far as Kevin goes, just want to wish them a merry offseason and a happy Christmas.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	10	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	Running
2	29	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
3	16	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	109	Running
4	9	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	109	Running
5	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	109	Running
6	30	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	109	Running
7	3	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	109	Running
8	4	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	109	Running
9	6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	109	Running
10	12	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	Running
11	11	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	Running
12	8	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	Running
13	25	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	109	Running
14	15	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	109	Running
15	14	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
16	19	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	109	Running
17	17	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	Running
18	23	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	109	Running
19	31	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
20	2	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	109	Running
21	18	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
22	22	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	109	Running
23	27	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
24	21	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	109	Running
25	13	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
26	20	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	109	Running
27	36	52	Joey Hand	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	109	Running
28	37	15	Josh Bilicki*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	109	Running
29	5	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	109	Running
30	28	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
31	35	78	Scott Heckert	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	109	Running
32	39	66	Timmy Hill*	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	108	Running
33	7	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	98	Accident
34	34	53	Garrett Smithley*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	96	Running
35	26	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	93	Accident
36	32	51	Cody Ware*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	90	Accident
37	38	77	Justin Haley*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	66	Engine
38	33	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	57	Engine
39	24	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	19	Accident