Christopher Bell secures Round of 8 spot with Roval win, Custer penalised for team orders

Christopher Bell was in a dangerous spot entering the NASCAR Cup Series‘ Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval race. He was forty-five points below the cut line and needed to win to advance to the playoffs’ Round of 8. It took a frantic overtime restart, but he got the job done.

A caution for debris and Ty Dillon‘s spin with two laps remaining set up overtime, from which Bell faced non-playoff driver Kevin Harvick. As many drivers behind them overshot the first corner, Bell was able to clear Harvick and scoot away for his third career win, second of 2022, and second on a road course; incidentally, the first was also on an oval’s infield RC configuration (Daytona in 2021).

“The whole race went green flag, I thought we were just kind of buying our time, getting to the end of the race,” said Bell. “I think I was running seventh or eighth. A couple guys were closing on me. ‘Man, I hope I can get out of here with a top ten, focus on trying to race for fifth in the points.’

“(Then) the tides changed.”

While Bell was pulling away with the win, the mad dash for the final Round of 8 spots came down to Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, and Kyle Larson. Cindric knocked himself out when he spun in the backstretch chicane while running one point below the cut line, which left Briscoe to square off with the defending champion Larson.

As the final lap began, Briscoe and Larson were tied in points. However, Briscoe found a run around Austin Dillon and Erik Jones in the last oval corners to gain two more points, aided by Stewart-Haas Racing team-mate Cole Custer slowing down to block those two. Custer’s move enabled Briscoe to secure the eighth and final slot in the next round as he finished ninth to Larson’s thirty-fifth.

Unfortunately for Custer, the assist ultimately cost him fifty points, $100,000, and resulted in his crew chief Mike Shiplett being indefinitely suspended. NASCAR deemed the move to be a case of team orders to help a team-mate advance, which falls under race manipulation and a violation of the rulebook’s Section 5.5; a suspension for Custer had also been considered but struck down. SHR intends to appeal the penalty.

“When we got to the audio, and had the crew chief telling the driver that, ‘I think you got a flat. Check up, check up, check up,'” explained NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller. “When he couldn’t even see the car or have any idea whatsoever that the car might have a flat, obviously pretty telling as to what went on there.”

“We can’t have teams manipulating the finishing order. Certainly on super high alert for the playoffs, and had this been the determining factor in the #14 making it into the Round of 8 or not, our reaction certainly would have been bigger.”

Also eliminated were Daniel Suárez and Alex Bowman, the latter of whom has not raced since Texas due to injury. Despite Larson missing the next round, his #5 car is still locked into the owner playoffs over 23XI Racing’s #45.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	8	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	112	Running
2	22	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	112	Running
3	20	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	112	Running
4	7	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	112	Running
5	13	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	112	Running
6	21	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	112	Running
7	14	45	Bubba Wallace^	23XI Racing	Toyota	112	Running
8	4	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	112	Running
9	17	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	112	Running
10	15	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	112	Running
11	26	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	112	Running
12	30	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	112	Running
13	24	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	112	Running
14	31	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	112	Running
15	37	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	112	Running
16	2	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	112	Running
17	19	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	112	Running
18	1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	112	Running
19	25	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	112	Running
20	9	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	112	Running
21	5	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	112	Running
22	16	23	Ty Gibbs*	23XI Racing	Toyota	112	Running
23	29	48	Noah Gragson*^	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	112	Running
24	12	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	112	Running
25	28	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	112	Running
26	6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	112	Running
27	11	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	112	Running
28	23	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	111	Running
29	34	77	Mike Rockenfeller	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	111	Running
30	32	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	111	Running
31	38	78	Josh Williams*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	110	Running
32	35	51	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	110	Running
33	36	27	Loris Hezemans*	Team Hezeberg	Ford	110	Running
34	39	50	Conor Daly	The Money Team Racing	Chevrolet	109	Running
35	18	5	Kyle Larson^	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	107	Running
36	3	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	107	Running
37	10	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	103	Running
38	27	15	Joey Hand	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	79	Accident
39	33	26	Daniil Kvyat*	Team Hezeberg	Toyota	17	Engine

Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Competing in owner playoffs
Underline – Eliminated from playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
– Ineligible for points