Chase Elliott scored his second consecutive Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 win Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway to lock in a spot in the Round of Eight. Reigning champion Kyle Busch failed to race his way above the cutoff line and is eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs along with Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola. The win is Elliott’s second road course win in 2020 and his fourth in a row.
“We definitely don’t show up just expecting to be good,” said Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. “We show up trying to do better than we did last time. We’re looking forward to this next round, and I’m going to try to make some noise.”
The 24-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native seems to know the secret to success when it comes to road courses. Alex Bowman, who was the final driver to race his way in to the Round of Eight, studied a page out of Elliott’s road course book to try to prepare for today’s cutoff race, but just couldn’t match the success of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
“I spent a lot of time in the simulator this week,” said Bowman. “We went more their direction today, and I struggled more than usual. I don’t know what he does so differently.”
Busch’s 2020 misfortune continued, as he made contact with Bowyer near the end of stage two sending him crawling to pit road for repairs. The reigning Cup Series champion failed to reach victory lane once again, finishing 30th, and does not advance to the Round of Eight, marking the earliest a defending champion has been eliminated in the playoffs.
Bowyer, who was in a must-win situation, started off strong leading nine laps. His hopes of making it to the next round of the playoffs disappeared when Bubba Wallace spun Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in turn one, causing the rest of the field to scramble. Bowyer bumped into the back of Brad Keselowski, damaging his front end and falling through the field.
Playoff action continues next Sunday when the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas.
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