Bell Conquers Charlotte Roval in Must-Win Situation

Photo by Peter Stratta/TSJSports

NASCAR

Christopher Bell Wards Off Playoff Elimination at Roval

CONCORD, N.C. – One of the most clutch walk-off moments in recent NASCAR Playoff memory happened at the Charlotte Roval. After pitting late for fresh tires, the seas parted on an overtime restart for Christopher Bell. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 got the lead and eventual win in a must-win scenario, upsetting the Playoff picture by eliminating the defending series champion.

Both Stages went relatively straightforward with no on-track cautions. Joey Logano led all of Stage 1 from the pole, and late pit stops by many handed Stage 2 to Ross Chastain.

After the final cycle of pit stops, road course ace Chase Elliott had a big lead. With control of the race and seemingly the win in sight for the 9, a debris caution waved with five laps left. On the ensuing restart, Elliott lost the lead to Kevin Harvick, eventually getting spun out by Tyler Reddick. Another caution flew for debris, with a brief red flag for curb repair.

While Harvick held the lead for the overtime restart, he was a sitting duck on older tires. To his outside on much fresher tires was the 20 of Bell. Bell easily got by Harvick through the infield, driving off to a “buzzer-beater” win to remain alive for the NASCAR Playoffs.

“Whenever I came off pit road and I was the first car with tires, I was just trying to wait and see where I stacked up,” said Bell. “I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires, I was the first one on new tires. I said, I guess we’re going to roll the dice here and see what happens.”

“When I got into turn one, my spotter did an amazing job. They all started wrecking. He told me to stay tight to the middle, and that kept me out of all the junk in turn one. Really proud of everyone on this DeWalt team. They deserve it, man. We’ve been trying so hard to get DeWalt in Victory Lane. We finally got this Camry here.”

“Man, you just got to be there at the end of these things. I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength year. We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice, gambled, it paid off for us.”

While the Roval was elation for Bell, it was devastation for a few title heavyweights. Eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs were Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, and defending champion Kyle Larson.

Behind Bell and Harvick, top finishers were Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Dillon. Hear from some of these drivers and other Playoff contenders below.

With points now reset for the Round of 8, the Playoffs move onward to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The South Point 400 can lock a contender into the Championship round from Phoenix next Sunday. Tune in Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. At LVMS in March, we saw a late restart lead to a duel between teammates. Can we see similar fireworks this time?

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports