Talladega leaves the door to the Playoffs’ Round of 8 wide-open

As the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs move to the Round of 12 elimination race, the Bank of America ROVAL 400 on Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (2 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) the championship standings actually – and perhaps amazingly – look similar to their position before last weekend’s predictably unpredictable race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Several Playoff contenders needing good days, had good days. Until a massive 27-car accident in the closing laps. And for the second time in as many races in this round of Playoff competition, a non-Playoff competitor, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hoisted the trophy in Victory Lane.

Playoff driver Austin Cindric, who essentially needed a win and was leading the race with five laps remaining was among the title players to see their rally end abruptly with that massive accident. Instead of a trophy, he ended up in the garage with a frustrating 32nd-place finish that hardly reflected his No. 2 Team Penske team’s front-running effort on the afternoon.

Talladega crowd favorite, Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott, another driver dangerously close to the cut-off line before the green flag was also involved in that accident and finished 29th. The Regular Season Champion, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick – who went into the race ranked below the transfer line – rallied to a 20th-place finish after also being involved in the massive melee. As with Cindric, these cars had been up front in the final laps.

So as the series moves to the always-exciting Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL this weekend, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron – who finished third to Brad Keselowski and Stenhouse in a three-wide photo finish at Talladega – is the only driver to have secured a position in the Round of 8 based on points.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson are second and third to Byron in the standings with healthy 57 and 52 point advantages on the cutoff line, respectively. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who hardly raced near the front all day at Talladega benefitted from the turn of events, finishing 10th and now sits 30 points to the good in advancing – much better than the 11-point edge he had before Sunday’s race.

“I’m excited about the points standings,” Bell said. “We came out of here as good as we ever have, so that’s awesome. Hopefully, we can have a (good) day next week at the ROVAL. I think we’re going to have pace, and we can open up the strategy a little to hopefully race for the win.”

Alex Bowman, who was involved in two accidents Sunday, is still a strong 26 points above the Round of 8 cutoff line. Reigning series champion, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who finished 39th out of 40 cars Sunday after being collected in an accident just after the race midpoint, still holds a 25-point edge on the cutoff line.

Reddick is seventh, 14 points up and, Elliott is in that eighth and final position, 13 points to the good over Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who suffered a DNF after being in the late race “Big One” at Talladega.

Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez is 20 points below the Playoff elimination line, followed by Cindric (-29) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (-32).

“I don’t really feel like doing a whole lot of complaining about what happened or whose fault it is, it doesn’t really matter,” Cindric said Sunday. “It puts us in a must-win situation for the Charlotte Road Course. We’ve brought some exceptionally fast race cars every single race of the playoffs and I cannot understate how proud I am of my race team and we’ll have to bring another one next week.”

Four of the five previous Charlotte ROVAL race winners are current Playoff drivers – Blaney, Larson, Bell and the only multiple-time ROVAL winner Elliott, who claimed victory in 2019-2020.

Playoff drivers have won three of the four road course events this season. Byron won at Circuit of The Americas. Larson at Sonoma, Calif. and Bowman at the Chicago Street Race.

And it’s worth noting, all four of the drivers below the cutoff line – Logano, Suarez, Cindric and Briscoe – are winning road course drivers in either the NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Practice (12:30 p.m. ET) followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying (2 p.m. ET) for the Bank of America ROVAL 400 is Saturday (USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Only once – Elliott in 2020 – has the race been won from a front row starting position. No pole-winner has won in the six races to date.