As the laps wound down in  Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway’ infield Roval, Christopher Bell found himself 28 points on the wrong side of the cutdown line and, hence, needing to get the victory in order to advance to the Field of Eight of the Playoffs.

When he passed Kevin Harvick for the lead on a restart in overtime, and then drove away over the final two laps, he got that victory.

The victory was the second of the season for the 27-year-old Bell and the third of his career.

“Man, you’ve just got to be there at the end of these things,” Bell said. “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength this year.

“We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win (before taking tires). We rolled the dice, gambled, and it paid off for us.”

Harvick, who restarted from the lead but was on much older tires than was Bell, finished second.

The margin of victory for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell was 1.7 seconds over Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick.

JGR’s Kyle Busch, who like Harvick had already been eliminated from the Playoffs, was third.

AJ Allmendinger was fourth and Justin Haley was fifth.

Defending series champion Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports was eliminated from the playoffs. He came up two points short of the cutoff line.

Bell wicked the wall on Lap 98 after hitting the wall and breaking the right-rear toe link on his car. That sent him to the garages.

Larson finished five laps down in 35th.

“I just made way too many mistakes all year long,” Larson said. “Made another one today. Ultimately cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship.

“Just extremely mad at myself. I let the team down a number of times this year, and let them down in a big way today.”

Larson, who won 10 races last year, has won just two this year.

Joining Bell the Field of Eight are Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports, Ryan Blaney of Team Penske, Joey Logano of Penske, Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing,  William Byron of Hendrick, Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing and Chase Briscoe of Stewart-Haas Racing.

Those Field of 12 drives who failed to advance to the third round were Larson, Daniel Suarez, Auston Cindric and Alex Bowman.

(This story will be updated shortly)

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NASCAR Cup Series Race – 63rd Annual Bank of America ROVAL 400

Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course

Concord, North Carolina

Sunday, October 9, 2022

1. (8)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 112.
2. (22)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 112.
3. (20)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 112.
4. (7)  AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 112.
5. (13)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 112.
6. (21)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 112.
7. (14)  Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 112.
8. (4)  Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 112.
9. (17)  Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 112.
10.     (15)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 112.
11. (26)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 112.
12. (30)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 112.
13. (24)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 112.
14.     (31)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 112.
15. (37)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 112.
16. (2)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 112.
17. (19)  Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 112.
18. (1)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 112.
19. (25)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 112.
20. (9)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 112.
21. (5)  Austin Cindric # (P), Ford, 112.
22. (16)  Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 112.
23. (29)  Noah Gragson(i) (P), Chevrolet, 112.
24. (12)  Cole Custer, Ford, 112.
25. (28)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 112.
26. (6)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 112.
27. (11)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 112.
28. (23)  Harrison Burton #, Ford, 111.
29. (34)  Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 111.
30. (32)  Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 111.
31. (38)  Josh Williams(i), Ford, 110.
32. (35)  JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 110.
33. (36)  Loris Hezemans(i), Ford, 110.
34. (39)  Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 109.
35.     (18)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 107.
36. (3)  Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 107.
37.     (10)  Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 103.
38. (27)  Joey Hand, Ford, Accident, 79.
39. (33)  Daniil Kvyat(i), Toyota, Engine, 17.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  86.661 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 59 Mins, 54 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.790 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  4 for 10 laps.

Lead Changes:  10 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   J. Logano (P) 1-27;T. Reddick 28-30;A. Allmendinger(i) 31-48;R. Chastain (P) 49-51;A. Allmendinger(i) 52-54;T. Reddick 55-72;A. Allmendinger(i) 73-75;E. Jones 76;C. Elliott (P) 77-106;K. Harvick 107-110;C. Bell (P) 111-112.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Chase Elliott (P) 1 time for 30 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 27 laps; AJ Allmendinger(i) 3 times for 24 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 21 laps; Kevin Harvick 1 time for 4 laps; Ross Chastain (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,24,99,12,2,5,14,11,8,16

Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,21,5,16,8,99,22,14,12,9

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