CONCORD, N.C. — AJ Allmendinger isn’t racing for a NASCAR championship at this point, and he knew very well that Kyle Busch’s fate in the Cup Series playoffs rested on the outcome of Sunday’s elimination race.
Busch could advance to the round of eight only by winning on the Roval, the combination road-and-oval course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Still, Allmendinger figured he knows Busch well enough that the two-time Cup Series champion would understand another veteran driver racing for the win.
Allmendinger spoiled NASCAR’s playoffs by refusing to cede track position even though he’s not part of the playoff field. Back on the top-tier circuit full time for the first time since 2018, Allmendinger led 46 laps for Kaulig Racing to earn his first Cup Series win since a victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2021.
“I knew Kyle had to win. I kept looking up at the board to see where he was points-wise,” Allmendinger said. “Kyle has been fantastic to me my whole career. I knew he was going to race hard. I knew what he was racing for.”
Allmendinger, who became a father within the past month, was sobbing when he collected the checkered flag.
“Because you don’t know when you are going to do it again,” cried Allmendinger, who turns 42 in December.
He said he normally gives the checkered flag away to a fan but was keeping this one for his newborn son.
“That was probably the drive of my life,” he said later.
Allmendinger then went into the stands to pose for photos with the fans chanting his name. It was the third Cup Series career win for Allmendinger, who has raced across 16 seasons on the circuit but took a mental health break from NASCAR’s top series in 2019-20.
Kaulig slowly lured him back with five races in 2021, all the way to this year’s full season in the organization’s second year fielding cars at the elite level.
“I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man. You don’t know when it’s ever going to happen again,” Allmendinger said. “This is why you do it. This is the only reason you do it. You fight. All the blood, sweat, tears. It’s our second year in the Cup Series.”
Allmendinger won four consecutive Xfinity Series races on the Roval but wasn’t entered Saturday for Kaulig because he has already exhausted his allotted five starts this year in the second-tier series. Allmendinger won twice this year in the Xfinity Series, and it’s unclear if he’ll be in Cup competition or return to Xfinity next year.
Either way, his win was pivotal in the playoff elimination of Busch, who is in his first season at Richard Childress Racing. Busch gave it a few tries but couldn’t get into second place as William Byron wound up in that spot and Busch settled for third.
Busch was uncharacteristically optimistic after elimination and said he’ll try to win each of the final four races.
“I would love to be the spoiler. That would be fun,” Busch said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ll keep building.”
AP photo by Matt Kelley / NASCAR Cup Series driver AJ Allmendinger celebrates after his victory Sunday on the Roval course at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.Also eliminated was Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain — second in the final standings last year — 2012 champion Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing and Bubba Wallace, whose first playoff appearance ended in the round of 12 on his 30th birthday with 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan watching from Wallace’s pit stand.
“We weren’t supposed to be here, according to a lot of people, but we proved them wrong and then proved a lot of people in the garage wrong that you can’t really count on the 23 at a road course race,” said Wallace, who finished 16th. “Got to continue to work. I don’t think we’re a winning car yet, but we’re light-years from where we were a few races ago.”
It was a brutal day for Chevrolet, which lost from the playoff field both the popular Chastain and a resurgent Busch, who won three times in his first season at RCR. He has boosted to the organization, which won its last championship in 1994 with the late Dale Earnhardt.
“First year at RCR, means a lot to me for Richard having me and for the Chevy guys having me, everybody, to get this far,” Busch said. “Rides on me to get to the next round, so I’ve just got to do a better job.”
Keselowski gave Ford one fewer driver in contention, while Toyota lost a championship chance with Wallace.
The remaining eight drivers in the championship race are led by Byron in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Team Penske and Ford driver Ryan Blaney. Both of them won in the three-race round of 12 to earn automatic berths into the next three races.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin advanced in a Toyota, as did Tyler Reddick, who drives for Hamlin and Jordan at 23XI. Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr., the regular season champion, also advanced to give JGR three drivers among the final eight.
Kyle Larson drove a backup car to a 13th-place finish to join Hendrick teammate Byron, who has a series-best six wins this season, in the next round. Larson crashed in Saturday practice and Hendrick, headquartered about a mile from the track, had to work into the night to get a car through Sunday morning inspection.
In addition to Blaney, Ford has Chris Buescher of RFK Racing in contention.
Races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway will trim the field in half to the final four drivers who will be in contention for the title during the season finale on Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway.
Hamlin had already locked himself into the round of eight earlier in the race via stage points, so his last-place finish Sunday was irrelevant.
“We’ve already shifted our focus to Vegas, and we’ll see what we can do there,” Hamlin said. “Really optimistic for the next three weeks.”