In life, but especially in NASCAR, all it takes is one window of opportunity. Take A.J. Allmendinger at the Charlotte ROVAL as an example. The 41-year-old took home the checkered flag at Charlotte, marking his third career Cup win, and first of the 2023 season.
The classic “crazy roval” antics in Stage 3 culminated in a late-race caution with 13 laps to go, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s #47 engulfed in flames. This prompted a restart with ten laps remaining, where Allmendinger held off a hard-charging William Byron, to prevent another notorious late-race restart win by Byron.
As the Los Gatos, California native crossed the line, the sun set on four drivers’ hope of racing out west in Las Vegas, to reach the end goal of Phoenix in four weeks. Those drivers: Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch were all on the opposing side of a Kaulig Racing October upset win.
Passing was hard throughout the day, but passing onto the next round didn’t become a challenge for William Byron in second, Tyler Reddick in sixth, Chris Buscher in seventh, Ryan Blaney in 12th, Kyle Larson in 13th, Christopher Bell in 15th, Martin Truex Jr, who limped to 20th, and despite exiting the race early due to a spin, Denny Hamlin in 37th collected important stage points to advance for the Round of 8.
Despite the hard passing once again for drivers, the ROVAL was just announced to return for the 2024 season. Drawing scrutiny, NASCAR must take a look at the short track/road course package, with Martinsville and the championship race Phoenix, just after Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami to open the Round of 8.
The ROVAL was nearly two-dimensional all afternoon— either run through the car in front of you and move them out of the way, or leap-frog the field by pitting early with around two or three laps to go before each stage break. It has become all too familiar for fans and teams whenever attending or watching road course racing in the Cup Series, whether you implement stage cautions or not. If you want to have five road races on the schedule next season, notably with a marquee August Watkins Glen trip moved to the playoffs in September, you must improve the package this winter.
However, improvement has two counterparts in racing, now entering the Round of 8. Career-oriented and bounce-back performances since February should be acknowledged by Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski. Wallace who turned 30 on Sunday, recorded five top-5s, eight top-10s, 276 laps led, an average finish of 16th, and his first career postseason, making it to the second round. Fulfilling pre-season expectations set by team co-owner Denny Hamlin.
For the veterans of Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski still getting settled in with new organizations, both made strides forward in 2023. Busch won three races(Auto Club, Talladega-Spring, Gateway), and had eight top-5s, and 15 top-10s, with an average finish of 14th in year one with Richard Childress Racing. For Keselowski, after an abysmal 2022, the 39-year-old followed it up with six top-5s, 15 top-10s, and an average finish of 13th in year two with RFK Racing. Although in a year of regression from dominance, Ross Chastain, the second-year Trackhouse Racing driver made the postseason for the first time in consecutive seasons. All four drivers have much to build off of to close out the season, heading into Daytona in February.
As four races remain, so do eight drivers’ chances at a championship– Byron, Hamlin, Blaney, Reddick, Truex Jr, Bell, Larson and Buescher. All have had success in the next three dates, meaning expect the unexpected.
Now in the home stretch, the Round of 8 kicks off at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, at 2:30pm ET on NBC. We’ll have at least one answer that will be solved headed into Phoenix, starting next Sunday.
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The Slow Restart 