What’s up, NASCAR fans? After a thrilling finish last week, which saw Chase Elliott score his second win of the season, four of NASCAR Playoff hopefuls went into the wildcard of the Charlotte Roval for one last chance, a final Hail Mary pass, to advance to the Round of 8. The drivers in trouble were Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, and Austin Cindric. They needed great days today, if not wins in order to advance. But not safe by any means were the drivers just above the cutline heading into this race, particularly Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe. They needed not only clean runs today, but also decent runs if they wanted to keep their championship hopes alive.
Meanwhile, the likes of Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney entered today’s race locked in due to their wins in the Round of 12. Also looking fairly safe based on points were Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and William Byron. They just needed solid, clean days. All the while, Shane van Gisbergen, who was eliminated from the Playoffs in the Round of 16, was the overwhelming favorite to win today. Was he able to continue his road course dominance and upset the Playoff field or did one of the Playoff drivers rise to the occasion to punch their ticket to the Round of 8? Let’s break it down.
Here’s everything that happened in the 2025 running of the Bank of America 400 at the Charlotte Roval.
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With the start of the final stage, we set in for the long haul–over 50 laps of racing to go. While SVG still looked like the favorite in the early going of the stage, Kyle Larson came to life about halfway through, overtaking the No. 88 for the race lead. While those two were battling out front, the focus around the cutline really started to heat up. For a while, Chastain and Logano only had 1-2 points between them. We also saw some different strategies starting to take shape. Some drivers were going to attempt to split the stage in half and only stop one more time. However, others, desperate to try something different, opted to stop a number of times. Fresher tires were the only tools they had against the dominant drivers of SVG and Larson.
During a cycle of green flag pit stops, Ross Chastain made a costly mistake as he exited his pit stall. He shifted into the wrong gear and the car took off. As a result, Chastain slammed on the brakes, locking up his front tires as a result. He knew he was going too fast. But it was too little too late. He had to serve a drive-through penalty, costing him many needed positions. This gave Joey Logano a massive upper hand when it comes to advancing to the Round of 8.
As they ran, it seemed like the No. 88 of SVG had faded as he fell to 3rd. Christopher Bell slipped into the second position and set his sights on Larson up front. But that didn’t last long as, after pit stops, SVG worked his way back up to Larson and the battle got heated. The two pressed each other and leaned on each other hard. Larson wasn’t too keen on the way SVG was racing him and he let him know it. In the end, though, SVG regained the lead. The field behind the No. 88 pitted again and, with 7 laps to go, he had a lead of over 20 seconds as SVG hadn’t yet pitted.
Meanwhile, Chastain didn’t pit during that final cycle of green flag pit stops, resulting in him gaining a points advantage on Logano. All Logano could hope for was that Chastain’s worn tires were enough for him to fall through the field to close the gap. At 5 to go, it was clear that SVG also wasn’t planning to come down pit road. He nursed his tires through to the very end, giving some of his lead over Bell and Larson back. Ultimately, the Goodyear Eagles on the No. 88 car managed to hold on as SVG went on to win at the Roval. It marked his 5th win of the year, tied for the most of the season.
The story heading into today’s race was tire fall-off. In practice and qualifying on Saturday, drivers were losing seconds off their lap times at an alarming rate. With that in mind, drivers were in tire-saving mode from the jump. Tyler Reddick upset Shane van Gisbergen and nabbed the pole. This was a big but small victory for him and that No. 45 team who virtually needed to win today in order to advance. It had been a tough week for Tyler Reddick as his youngest son, Rookie, was hospitalized with heart issues. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family in this terribly tough time.
Shane van Gisbergen was the odds-on favorite to win this week as we’re at a road course. Since the Mexico City date, SVG has won every road course race on the NASCAR schedule. The Roval is a bit of a different beast compared to the more traditional road/street courses, but the odds were in his favor nonetheless. He made moves and got to the lead in a hurry. He led most of the opening stage, only faltering during green flag pit stops. SVG went on to win the stage pretty handedly with Kyle Larson crossing the line in 2nd. Other Playoff drivers who ran well in this stage were Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, and William Byron. Meanwhile, Austin Cindric had some issues early on, falling deep in the running order. His points deficit grew even larger following this stage.
This marked SVG’s 7th stage win of the 2025 season, all of them coming on road/street courses.
*Playoff Drivers Depicted in BOLD.
The second stage started with a number of drivers staying out. A. J. Allmendinger led and he remained out front for the first half of this stage. It took that long for Shane van Gisbergen to work his way back up through the field to retake the lead. The No. 88 led briefly before green flag pit stops broke out and drivers started to flip the stages. A few stayed out. One was Ryan Blaney, who went on to win the stage, capturing 10 points and 1 Playoff point for the next round. Tyler Reddick also stayed out as he hovered 15 points below the Playoff cutline. As a response to Ross Chastain staying out, Logano also called an audible and opted not to pit as they were in a tight and heated battle for that last transfer spot.
Shane van Gisbergen, following pit stops, rebounded to finish 5th in the stage. He was set to restart the final stage in the race lead.
*Playoff Drivers Depicted in BOLD.
The following are the unofficial results following the conclusion of the 109-lap Bank of America 400 at the Charlotte Roval. This list will be updated once tech inspection is completed and the results become official.
*Playoff Drivers Depicted in BOLD.
**Drivers Who Were Eliminated Are Depicted in Italics.
The following drivers are entering the Round of 8 above the cutline.
These drivers have some work to do if they want to make it to the Championship 4. They enter the Round of 8 below the cutline.
The following drivers failed to advance to the next round in today’s Bank of America 400. Their championship dreams have ended.
That does it for the Bank of America 400 at the Charlotte Roval! What did you think of this crazy race? Did you expect SVG to win or did you think one of the Playoff drivers would have put up a better fight? What about that last corner between Hamlin and Chastain? Did your favorite driver get eliminated? Let us know what you think! And be sure to come back here to DailyDownforce.com all week long for the latest news and stories straight from the NASCAR race hub! Up next: It’s time to cash in at Las Vegas!
