NASCAR Bank of America ROVAL 400 Charlotte recap, finishing order: Ryan Blaney wins after wild final lap
By Nick Tylwalk
It took until the last few turns of the final lap, but the ROVAL delivered some of the highest drama of the entire 2018 NASCAR season.
It wasn’t hard to find people who predicted that the first ever race on the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway would be crazy. What they didn’t know was just how long it would take until the insanity arrived in the Bank of America ROVAL 400. Try the last few turns of the final lap, leading to an unlikely winner who had yet to taste victory in 2018.
Despite winning the second stage of the race, Ryan Blaney didn’t figure to be in the running for the win on Sunday. But after a wreck with less than 10 laps to go took out the two fastest cars, Blaney was running third on the final lap and drive on by after Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson spun out within sight of the checkered flag in one of the wildest NASCAR Cup Series finishes in recent memory.
Truex and Johnson figured to be the big winners after Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson, who appeared to have the cars to beat, both fell victim to a wreck with six laps remaining in the race. It came shortly after a restart, as Keselowski was trying to open up a lead on the field and simply overdrove a turn, resulting in a pile-up behind him that damaged the cars of Larson and Kyle Busch, among others.
A big pileup in Turn 1 at the @CLTMotorSpdwy ROVAL late in the race!
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 30, 2018
Keselowski, Larson, Kyle Busch, and more involved! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ggCrWxoBb7
Despite significant right-front damage, Larson’s 42 remained in the race, though his points position appeared perilous as Aric Almirola passed multiple cars in the closing laps. Ahead of him, Truex and Johnson were engaged in a final lap battle for the win, but Johnson hopped the curb on the final chicane spinning out his No. 48 Chevrolet and bumping Truex into a spin of his own when he slid back across the track.
As they struggled to get turned around and driving, Blaney led a group of cars past them to earn an improbable victory.
“So I couldn’t really see them, when they got in the chicane, I just saw a bunch of smoke,” Blaney said to Rutledge Wood after climbing out of his car. “I saw them really, really close together on the oval track and though something might happen. You’re not really hoping something might happen, you’re just kind of thinking something would happen. When I saw both of them wreck, I almost wrecked trying to gas up and beat them to the line, but like I said, just in the right spot at the right time.”
Larson knows something about that kind of good fortune too. Barely able to turn his Chevrolet left, he had all but given up on advancing to the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs, but he was able to bounce off the wall several times and dig hard to the start-finish line, passing Jeffrey Earnhardt right before coming to the line. That final pass for position left him in a three-way tie with Almirola and Johnson, which left the seven-time Cup Series champion on the outside looking in after tie-breakers were calculated.
Two wrecked race cars, just a few feet from the finish line.
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 30, 2018
That's an incredible race for one point that put Kyle Larson in the next round of the #NASCARPlayoffs. #TeamLarson pic.twitter.com/Q0bEdaNYv4
Fans, drivers and observers will be talking about this first visit to the ROVAL for some time to come, which is exactly what NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway were hoping for when they made the move to this configuration. The playoffs will continue on for 12 drivers, but it will be hard for them to top the drama that unfolded on this particular Sunday.
Next. Bank of America ROVAL 400 highlights, stage results. dark
2018 Bank of America ROVAL 400 finishing order from Charlotte Motor Speedway road course
- Ryan Blaney
- Jamie McMurray
- Clint Bowyer
- Alex Bowman
- Kurt Busch
- Chase Elliott
- AJ Allmendinger
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kevin Harvick
- Joey Logano
- Ryan Newman
- Denny Hamlin
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Regan Smith
- David Ragan
- Chris Buescher
- Michael McDowell
- Aric Almirola
- Cole Whitt
- Daniel Suarez
- Ty Dillon
- Daniel Hemric
- Ross Chastain
- Kyle Larson
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Justin Marks
- JJ Yeley
- Landon Cassill
- Erik Jones
- Brad Keselowski
- Kyle Busch
- Paul Menard
- William Byron
- Trevor Bayne
- Bubba Wallace
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Timmy Hill
- Austin Dillon
- Stanton Barrett