CONCORD, N.C. — AJ Allmendinger spoiled NASCAR’s playoffs by winning Sunday’s elimination race on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Allmendinger is fantastic and wasn’t going to move over just because he’s not part of the championship field.
Allmendinger, who is in his first full season of his Cup return, led 46 laps for Kaulig Racing to win for the first time in NASCAR’s top series since Indianapolis in 2021. Allmendinger, who became a father within the past month, was sobbing when he collected the checkered flag.
“Because you don’t know when you are going to do it again,” cried Allmendinger, who turns 42 in December. He said he normally gives the checkered flag away to a fan but was keeping Sunday’s flag for his newborn son.
“That was probably the drive of my life,” he said later.
Allmendinger then went into the stands to pose for selfies with the fans chanting his name.
Allmendinger won four consecutive Xfinity Series races on the hybrid road course/oval but wasn’t entered Saturday for Kaulig because he’s already exhausted his allotted five starts in the second-tier series. Allmendinger won twice in Xfinity Series, and it’s unclear if he’ll be in the Cup Series or return to the Xfinity Series next year.
Either way, his win was pivotal in the playoff elimination of Kyle Busch, the two-time series champion who had to win Sunday to advance to the round of eight. Busch gave it a few tries but couldn’t get into second place – William Byron finished second – and Busch settled for third.
Busch was eliminated along with Ross Chastain, last year’s title runner-up, 2012 champion Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace, whose first playoff appearance ended in the round of 12 on his 30th birthday with 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan watching from Wallace’s pit stand.
It was a brutal day for Chevrolet, which lost both popular Chastain of Trackhouse Racing and a resurgent Busch, who won three times in his first season driving for Richard Childress Racing. He’s been a boost to the organization, which won its last championship in 1994 with the late Dale Earnhardt.
Keselowski knocked a Ford team out, while Toyota lost a championship chance with Wallace.
Moving on
The remaining eight drivers in the championship race are led by Byron and Ryan Blaney, who both won in this round to earn automatic berths out of the round of 12.
Denny Hamlin advanced in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, as did Tyler Reddick, who drives for Hamlin and Jordan at 23XI Racing. Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr., the regular season champion, advanced with Hamlin for Gibbs to get three cars through.
Kyle Larson drove a backup car to a 13th-place finish to join Byron, who has a series-best six wins this season, representing Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet in the next round. Larson crashed in Saturday practice and Hendrick Motorsports, which is located about a mile from the speedway, had to work into the night to get a car through Sunday morning inspection.
Ford has Blaney of Team Penske and Chris Buescher of RFK Racing, which didn’t advance Keselowski through but still has one driver racing for the championship.
Hamlin had already locked himself into the round of eight earlier in the race via stage points, so his last-place finish Sunday was irrelevant.
“We’ve already shifted our focus to Vegas and we’ll see what we can do there,” Hamlin said. “Really optimistic for the next three weeks.”
Up next
The round of eight of NASCAR’s playoffs opens Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Joey Logano is the defending race winner and Byron scored his first win of the season at Las Vegas in March.