It wasn’t supposed to be A.J. Allmendinger’s party but the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was happy to play the role of spoiler by winning the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway road course on Sunday.
The win in the final race of the Round of 12 was the first victory of the season for Allmendinger. He now has three career Cup Series victories, and all have come on road courses.
William Byron finished second and Kyle Busch third at the Roval. Busch needed to win to advance to the Round of 8.
The three-race Round of 8 kicks off on Oct. 15 at Las Vegas. That will be followed by races at Homestead, Fla., and Martinvsille before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix.
Round of 8 Qualifiers
1, William Byron, Chevrolet, 4,041 points
2, Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 4,036
3, Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 4,032
4, Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 4,024
5, Chris Buescher, Ford, 4,021
6, Christopher Bell, Toyota, 4,016
7, Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 4,016
8, Ryan Blaney, Ford, 4,014
Eliminated at Charlotte Roval on Sunday:
- Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing, 2,192
- Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 2,172
- Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 2,160
- Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 2,150
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
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