The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs ended the Round of 12 the same way as the Round of 16 — with a dominant Kyle Larson win. Larson led 62 of the 109 laps in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for his sixth victory of the season in the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
While there was not much drama at the front of the field, the fight for the final spot in the Round of 8 went down to the closing laps, with Tyler Reddick making a statement drive through the field to advance and perhaps jumpstart his run at a championship.
Resilient Tyler Reddick Uses Fresh Rubber to Advance
Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing team entered the ROVAL 14 points above the cut line, giving them some margin for error — but not much.
Early on in the race, No. 45 team crew chief Billy Scott made the call to keep Reddick out on the racetrack for the end of stage one in an effort to maximize stage points. That strategy paid off with a stage one win and the 10 stage points that come with it, which proved to be critical at the end of the day.
The downside to staying out for the stage points is that Reddick had to pit under the ensuing stage caution, restarting way back in 26th. Getting mired in traffic nearly cost Reddick his championship run.
Early in stage two, a spin by Austin Dillon triggered a chain reaction that led to Reddick making heavy contact with Denny Hamlin, significantly damaging Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota.
However, Scott and the No. 45 crew did not blink under the playoff pressure. Pitting a total of eight times, the team made repairs to a bent right-rear toe link and gradually improved the car in the lead up to the final stage.
Scott then made the race-defining call on lap 81 to bring Reddick down pit road during the race’s final caution for four fresh Goodyear tires. Restarting deep in the field, Reddick aggressively yet methodically drove his way through the pack to an 11th-place finish.
“This thing was absolutely destroyed,” Reddick said of his race after the stage two accident. “Hats off to everybody on this Monster Energy Camry. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was. We just kept working on it and made it a lot better for stage three.”
Reddick has had a quiet playoffs up to this point, unable to match the form that made him the regular season champion. But this bounce back could be the turning point the No. 45 team needs to make its championship run.
Breaking Down Larson’s Winning Strategy
Going back to our race winner, while the No. 5 car was fast, it also takes a well-planned strategy and good execution on pit road to win in the Cup Series. Behind crew chief Cliff Daniels, the No. 5 team pulled off exactly that.
Larson made his first trip down pit road on lap 21 for tires and fuel, one lap before then-race leader Shane van Gisbergen. That one-lap difference allowed Larson to leapfrog SVG for position, finishing stage one in fifth, though first among those who pitted.
When the four drivers in front of Larson pitted on lap 27, he assumed the race lead and went on to lead 61 of the remaining 82 laps in the race.
Larson’s second pit stop came on lap 48, just before the end of stage two. Again, even though he pitted late in the stage, Larson rallied to take the green-and-white checkered flag in 10th, acquiring one more stage point and clinching his spot in the Round of 8.
With his playoff position secure, Larson was freed up to go for the win, pitting once more on lap 76 with no issues and cruising to victory from there. With the win, Larson reaffirmed his status as the favorite to win his second Cup Series championship.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The Round of 8 commences with the running of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2:30 p.m. ET. NBC will carry the broadcast.
The Next Gen car has raced well on mile-and-a-half tracks like Vegas, which could open up the door for more creative pit strategy calls, especially among the eight remaining playoff teams.
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Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.