CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Road course master AJ Allmendinger conquered the tricky corners of the Charlotte Roval to earn his third career NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Allmendinger led a race-high 46 laps on his way to earning his first win on the Roval in the Cup Series, a track he has won at four times in the Xfinity Series.
The Charlotte race was the last race in the round of 12 for the NASCAR playoffs. Allmendinger is the first non-playoff driver to win a race during this season's playoffs.
Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch are the four drivers who were below the playoff cutline and will miss out on the round of eight, losing a chance to win this year's championship. Chastain was the closest one behind eighth place, 13 points behind Martin Truex Jr.
William Byron, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Truex are the eight drivers who will still have a shot at the 2023 title.
Reddick started on the pole and went on to lead 28 laps throughout the day as he easily won the first stage. In typical road course fashion, pit strategy shuffled the field around after the first caution on lap 23, leaving Bell out in front.
A caution did not fall for an on-track incident until lap 48 when Josh Bilicki was spun around by Corey LaJoie.
Busch then inherited the race lead and held it for just a few laps until Allmendinger got around him.
Hamlin came into the race with a huge cushion that essentially locked him into the next round of the playoffs. And he definitely needed all of those points on Sunday when he spun out twice in a matter of six laps. He was smacked by Mike Rockenfeller after the second spin, causing a caution and relegating Hamlin to a 37th-place finish.
Allmendinger cruised to victory from there. Byron, Busch, and Ty Gibbs each took turns challenging Allmendinger for the win but nobody could get around him once he found the lead.
The NASCAR Cup Series is back in action on Sunday, Oct. 15 at Las Vegas.