When rain interrupted Kyle Larson’s attempt to race in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day—preventing him from completing a single lap at Charlotte Motor Speedway—he returned to the track ready to impress.
“I don’t want to say it’s a chip, but I think the fact that he didn’t get to race here and Indy didn’t turn out too good, that was the extra motivation,” said team owner Rick Hendrick.
On Sunday, Larson secured his sixth win of the season in the Cup Series, easily moving on to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs by winning at The Roval, a combination road course and oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Crew chief Cliff Daniels commented, “After some of the comments he made about the Indy-Charlotte experience, he felt a lot of pressure on himself, almost like he let his team and fans down. I don’t think that was fair for him to feel, but he did. He’s been working hard, showing intensity, and is determined to perform well like everyone else.”
Larson led the race for a record 62 laps in the No. 5 Chevrolet, winning by a large margin over his rival and title contender, Christopher Bell, by 1.511 seconds.
“It was good to have a little bit of a stress-free weekend,” Larson said, mentioning he was taking his family to Cabo for a short vacation before the next round of playoffs starts in Las Vegas.
He shared that he traveled to Paris during the season, went to Italy during the Olympic break, and usually wins a race before taking a vacation.
“I think every vacation I’ve taken this year, I think I’ve won the race leading into it,” Larson said. “So I should start taking vacation every week. I shouldn’t have to argue. I shouldn’t have to prove a point. It’s my life, and we perform at a high level, so whatever.”
This was Larson’s second win in the playoffs, and he is the first championship-eligible driver to win in the round of 12. The elimination race cut the field from 12 drivers to eight, and among those eliminated from title contention was Hendrick driver Alex Bowman, who was disqualified after failing post-race inspection.
Bowman was disqualified for not meeting the minimum weight, according to NASCAR. This disqualification knocked him out of the playoffs and allowed Joey Logano to re-enter title contention.
“We are working to understand the decision Monday to about whether to submit an appeal,” said Hendrick Motorsports.
Along with Bowman, Team Penske driver Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez from Trackhouse Racing, and Chase Briscoe from Stewart-Haas Racing were also eliminated from title contention.
Three of the four Hendrick drivers—Larson, William Byron, and Chase Elliott—have officially moved on to the round of eight.
Joining them for the next three-race series are reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney from Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell in Toyotas, and Tyler Reddick, the regular-season champion, who made it through in a Toyota for 23XI Racing.
Blaney and Logano are the two Ford drivers still eligible for the Cup title.
Bell finished in second place, followed by Byron, Cindric, Elliott, defending race winner AJ Allmendinger, and Shane Van Gisbergen. Logano took eighth place, while Bubba Wallace and Blaney rounded out the top ten.
Reddick won the first stage but got involved in a spin with Austin Dillon in the second stage, which dropped him to 37th place and below the cutline. He had to work hard the rest of the race to finish 11th and keep his spot in the playoffs.
Michael Jordan, who co-owns 23XI Racing with Hamlin, embraced both Hamlin and Reddick on pit lane after they advanced.
Logano finished eighth and was nearly eliminated by four points from moving to the next round until Bowman’s disqualification changed the situation.
