It was Larson’s second victory of the playoffs, but he’s the first championship-eligible driver to win in the round of 12. The elimination race cut the field from 12 drivers to eight, and those knocked out of title contention were the Team Penske drivers of Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez of Trackhouse Racing, and Chase Briscoe of Stewart-Haas Racing.
All four Hendrick drivers — Larson, William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Chase Elliott — advanced into the round of eight. Joining them for the next three-race series are reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney of Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Bell in Toyotas, and Tyler Reddick, the regular-season champion who squeezed through in a Toyota for 23XI Racing.
“I’m so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports to have four of the last eight standing,” Elliott said. “I think it is an extremely amazing statement.”
Hendrick Motorsports, which is based less than a mile away from Charlotte Motor Speedway, was also thrilled with the team success Sunday.
“Kyle just set a blistering pace and it was nice to get the win and get everybody locked in,” Rick Hendrick said. “If you set out every year and want to get better and better, well, our teams are better together. I’m living the dream.”
There is only one Ford driver still eligible for the Cup title in Blaney.
Reddick won the first stage but was involved in a spin with Austin Dillon in the second stage that dropped him to 37th in position and below the cutline. He had to scramble the rest of the race to finish 11th and preserve his spot in the playoffs.
Michael Jordan, Hamlin’s business partner in ownership of 23XI Racing, embraced both Hamlin and Reddick on pit lane for advancing.
Logano, meanwhile, finished eighth and was eliminated by 4 points from advancing to the next round. Two of three Penske cars being eliminated came a day after Team Penske won the IMSA sports car championship at Road Atlanta.
Briscoe was eliminated when he went to the garage with 66 laps remaining with mechanical damage that officially ended Stewart-Haas Racing’s shot at a championship. The team is scaling back from four cars to one next year without Tony Stewart as part of the ownership group and Briscoe will drive for Gibbs in 2025.
“I hate that it is coming to an end,” Briscoe said. “I know what that means for Stewart-Haas not to be racing for a championship anymore. That was keeping a lot of people, honestly, in the building.”
NASCAR announced another course change ahead of the race when Charlotte officials replaced the 4-inch “turtles” on the track with 2.25-inch curbing. The smaller curbing was aimed at lessening the impact Cup Series drivers feel when going over the speed bump with the car bottoming out when it lands.
Some drivers complained Saturday after practice and qualifying that the impact after their car launched over the turtle was too hard, with Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch said they felt like they suffered a concussion when the car landed.
NASCAR opens the third round of the playoffs next Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Larson is not only the defending race winner but also won in the spring.
