NASCAR concluded its round of 12 at the Charlotte ROVAL and boy was it thrilling! While many expected it to be road course masters Shane van Gisbergen or AJ Allmendinger’s race, it was Kyle Larson who visited the victory lane for the 6th time this season. And this time on the reconfigured ROVAL track.

The recent reconfiguration made regular-season champion Tyler Reddick’s day quite eventful as he struggled to keep his playoff hopes alive. It was the scary, hairpin turn at turn 7, causing all the problems for him. This is the same one that many predicted could be a calamity corner, and it surely did not disappoint!

Tyler Reddick sneaks his way into the top 8

The race looked promising for Tyler Reddick, starting from P2 with a +14-point cushion and winning Stage 1 for extra points. But things took a turn in Stage 2 when Austin Dillon spun in the newly-tightened Turn 7. Reddick, trying to push past the field, lost control and collided with teammate Denny Hamlin, bending the #45’s toe link and forcing a pit stop. Despite this setback, he stayed on the lead lap and pushed to avoid being the first regular-season champion to miss the Round of 8.

By lap 80, Reddick was locked in a fierce battle with Joey Logano for the final spot. Just two points behind Logano, Reddick attempted to close the gap in the hairpin Turn 7 but lost control, colliding with Daniel Hemric. Luckily, the contact stopped his slide, allowing him to gain on Logano. Here’s how it unfolded:

Hemric technically saved Reddick from getting eliminated from the race. Post the race, Hemric explained what unfolded on the track. He said, “I think he made a mistake. I knew he was on fresher tires. I tried to get on the bottom, so that kind of caught me off guard, should have been ready for it. Spotter was trying to call, He was sliding, but it was already too late. It’s just part of the chaos back there. I know he’s on tires, he gonna make progress forward. I wish a little more patience.”

According to Daniel Hemric, he knew Reddick would race hard, especially with his fresher tires. While the #31 tried to get out of the way, it was too late. “I haven’t seen it (the crash) but I felt like as far back as he was. I saw him coming so I moved but couldn’t get out of the way or stop and let him cross me so, unfortunate,” Hemric added. Finally, Reddick, with fresher tires, was able to move up to 11th position, while Joey Logano fell down to 8th. Reddick continues his championship hopes after a day filled with ups and downs.

During the post-race pitlane interaction, Tyler Reddick said, “Huge props to everyone on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in stage three. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off.” However, this had the two-time Cup Champion eliminated from the 2024 playoffs.

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How did Joey Logano’s disappointment turn into a round of 8 entry?

Logano entered the race -13 points below the cutline, but a P4 starting position had the #22 hopeful of pointing his way in. After maintaining a good position and thanks to Reddick’s wreck with Hamlin, Logano had a real chance. However, fresher tires won the battle as Logano tried to fend off against road course masters.

With just 10 laps to go, AJ Allmendinger passed Logona, followed by Shane van Gisbergen, both on fresher tires than Logona. Meanwhile, Reddick too, with fresher tires, kept gaining positions, eventually getting a four-point lead on Logano. The Penske driver was naturally disappointed after the race; he said, “I mean, a bit of it is and you know you got tires that are coming behind you with two of the bests with AJ and Shane. They were coming at me and you know, you’re just trying to maintain the best you can and honestly, you’re just praying for a caution because that’s the only thing you can stir it up enough where a lot of what ifs can happen.”

Eventually, it was a hard-fought battle, but Logano had had the form in two of the playoffs. After a P14 at Kansas, he suffered a DNF at Talladega and now was bested by Reddick on the ROVAL. Gracefully accepting defeat, Logano said, “I mean we fought hard for sure and I think Paul and the guys did a good job of executing the strategy of what we needed to do today. Just didn’t get quite enough there at the end, fell off a little bit too much that last run. Honestly, the 45 and Tyler and those guys did a good job driving up through the field and scored more points.”

But according to a recent update by Bob Pockrass on X, “Playoff update — Alex Bowman has ben DQ’d for failing postrace weight (car was too light). That will put Joey Logano in the playoffs and Bowman has been eliminated. .. Any appeals would be heard this week.”

This means for now, the top 8 are now in with Bowman, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, and Chase Briscoe out of contention. However, HMS will have time to appeal further. As we near the championship, who do you think is going to make it to the final 4?