Race report
NASCAR Cup Charlotte II
Bell advances in Cup playoffs with dramatic win at Charlotte Roval
Thanks to a wild overtime finish, Christopher Bell won his way into the semifinal round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at the Charlotte Roval.
Jim Utter
Edited: Oct 10, 2022, 7:40 AM
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The only way Bell was going to advance to the next round of playoffs was with a win, but that possibility didn’t seem likely until a pair of late-race cautions turned Sunday’s race upside down.
During a caution for debris on Lap 105 of the scheduled 109-lap race, Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team made the decision to pit for new tires. On the ensuing restart, A.J. Allmendinger got pushed past Elliott for the lead and then Kevin Harvick did the same to get around Elliott.
Just before Harvick was going to take the white flag, another caution was displayed for damage to the backstretch chicane. That sent the race into a two-lap overtime with Harvick in the lead but Bell, on the much fresher tires, in second.
Bell powered around Harvick entering Turn 1 on the start of overtime and ended up hanging on for the victory by 1.790 seconds.
The win is the second of the year for Bell and third of his career.
“I came off pit road and I was the first car with (new) tires. I was just trying to wait and see how I stacked up,” Bell said. “Then I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires. I just said, ‘We’ll roll the dice here and see what happens.’
“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. It’s been no secret that road courses have not been our strength this year but we were just there at the right time.
“We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice and gambled and it paid off for us.”
Bell, who was the top performing driver in the first round of the playoffs before falling into trouble in the first two races of the second round, said he’s looking forward to the semifinal round.
“I feel really good about it, that’s for sure. I knew that the whole time going into this second round of the playoffs this was the troublemaker, with Talladega and then the road course being in here, when we weren’t strong on the road courses. I was really nervous about this round,” he said.
“I felt good about Texas. When we got out of there with no points, I thought it was going to be a really tough road. It was a really tough road. But there was an end to it.”
Joining Bell in the semifinal round of the playoffs are Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe.
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Reigning series champion Kyle Larson was among the four drivers eliminated from further title contention, joining Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman, who missed his second consecutive race with concussion symptoms.
Kyle Busch ended up second in the race, Allmendinger was third and Justin Haley rounded out the top-five.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several lead-lap cars pit but Allmendinger remained on the track and inherited the lead. Chastain was the first off pit road among those who pit.
On the restart on Lap 55, Allmendinger led the way followed by Tyler Reddick, Elliott, Haley and Cole Custer.
Reddick got around Allmendinger coming off Turn 2 after the restart to return to the lead.
On Lap 62, Suarez reported he was developing a problem with his power steering and had lost a couple of positions on the track.
The problem only appeared to get worse and by Lap 67, Suarez had dropped to 33rd in the running order.
Bell, Harrison Burton and Aric Almirola were among the first to pit for their final green-flag stop with 39 laps to go, taking on new tires and fuel to make it to the finish.
Elliott pit on Lap 72 while Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. followed on Lap 73. Reddick pit on Lap 74, turning the lead over to Allmendinger.
Allmendinger made his stop on Lap 75. Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 77, Elliott emerged as the leader.
Chastain had contact with the wall with 26 laps to go. He dropped to 31st in the running order and pit on Lap 86 for repairs. Chastain eventually had to go to the garage for additional work.
With 20 laps to go, Elliott’s lead over Reddick had grown to 4.7 seconds as Allmendinger ran third, Harvick fourth and Haley fifth.
On Lap 95, Reddick missed the backstretch chicane and had to serve a stop-and-go penalty, which forced him to lose several seconds on the track.
Larson was forced to pit under green on Lap 99 with a broken toe link, which required extended repairs. He returned to the race on Lap 104.
On Lap 105, NASCAR displayed a caution for debris on the track – a sign that was knocked on the track and run over by Suarez at one point.
Several lead-lap cars elected to pit with Bell the first off pit road. Elliott remained on the track and in the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 107.
Allmendinger and Elliott tangled entered Turn 1 with Allmendinger briefly grabbing the lead before Harvick muscled Allmendinger out of the way and escaped with the lead. Shortly after that, Elliott got knocked off course in Turn 6.
With one lap to go, NASCAR threw a caution for damage to the curbing in the backstretch chicane to send the race into a two-lap overtime. The race was halted for nearly seven minutes for repairs.
On the start of overtime, Harvick led the way followed by Bell, Redddick, Allmendinger and Haley.
Bell powered around Harvick in Turn 1 to grab the lead.
Stage 2
Chastain cruised to the Stage 2 win by 1.7 seconds over Burton as most of the lead-lap cars elected to pit prior to the end of the stage.
Larson was third, Allmendinger fourth and Reddick rounded out the top-five.
Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, several lead-lap cars pit but Reddick remained on the track and inherited the lead. Logano was the first off pit road among those who pit.
On the restart on Lap 30, Reddick was followed by Allmendinger, Elliott, Haley and Michael McDowell.
Allmendinger went to the inside of Reddick in Turn 8 on Lap 31 and grabbed the lead for the first time in the race.
With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Allmendinger held about a 1-second lead over Reddick as Haley ran third.
On Lap 39, Corey LaJoie and Noah Gragson both missed the backstretch chicane and had to perform stop-and-go penalties.
With five laps to go, Allemendinger maintained a 3.3-second lead over Reddick but several of the lead-lap cars began making green-flag stops prior to the end of the stage.
On Lap 48, many of the lead-lap cars, including Allmendinger, elected to pit under green, which turned the lead over to Chastain on Lap 49.
Stage 1
Logano held off a determined Byron by 0.524 seconds to claim the Stage 1 win, his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season.
Suarez was third, Blaney fourth and Cindric rounded out the top-five.
Logano started on the pole and cleared quickly for the lead.
In the opening five laps, both Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace both missed the frontstretch chicane and had to serve stop-and-go penalties.
Wallace pit under green on Lap 6 for new tires.
With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Logano maintained about a half-second lead over Byron with Suarez in third.
On Lap 14, Busch missed the frontstretch chicane and immediately served a stop-and-go penalty.
On Lap 21, Chris Buescher and Chastain were among the first drivers to hit pit road under green prior to the conclusion of the stage.
Several more cars pit on Lap 22, including Gragson, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Laps Led Retirement Points Bonus 1 20 
Christopher Bell Toyota 112 2:59'54.010 2 40 2 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 112 2:59'55.800 1.790 1.790 4 35 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 112 2:59'55.986 1.976 0.186 34 4 16 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 112 2:59'57.146 3.136 1.160 24 5 31 Justin Haley Chevrolet 112 2:59'58.645 4.635 1.499 32 6 17 Chris Buescher Ford 112 2:59'58.984 4.974 0.339 31 7 45 Bubba Wallace Toyota 112 2:59'59.452 5.442 0.468 30 8 8 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 112 3:00'00.849 6.839 1.397 21 37 9 14 Chase Briscoe Ford 112 3:00'00.983 6.973 0.134 35 10 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 112 3:00'02.339 8.329 1.356 27 11 43 Erik Jones Chevrolet 112 3:00'02.726 8.716 0.387 1 26 12 7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 112 3:00'02.900 8.890 0.174 25 13 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 112 3:00'03.158 9.148 0.258 27 14 6 Brad Keselowski Ford 112 3:00'03.422 9.412 0.264 23 15 10 Aric Almirola Ford 112 3:00'04.055 10.045 0.633 22 16 24 William Byron Chevrolet 112 3:00'04.649 10.639 0.594 30 17 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 112 3:00'05.161 11.151 0.512 20 18 22 Joey Logano Ford 112 3:00'05.843 11.833 0.682 27 33 19 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 112 3:00'10.063 16.053 4.220 18 20 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 112 3:00'10.819 16.809 0.756 30 18 21 2 Austin Cindric Ford 112 3:00'12.870 18.860 2.051 22 22 23 Ty Gibbs Toyota 112 3:00'13.034 19.024 0.164 23 48 Noah Gragson Chevrolet 112 3:00'14.716 20.706 1.682 24 41 Cole Custer Ford 112 3:00'24.538 30.528 9.822 13 25 42 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 112 3:00'25.688 31.678 1.150 12 26 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 112 3:00'27.931 33.921 2.243 20 27 34 Michael McDowell Ford 112 3:00'41.169 47.159 13.238 10 28 21 Harrison Burton Ford 111 3:00'09.512 1 Lap 1 Lap 18 29 77 
Mike Rockenfeller Chevrolet 111 3:00'14.092 1 Lap 4.580 8 30 38 Todd Gilliland Ford 111 3:00'23.406 1 Lap 9.314 7 31 78 Josh Williams Ford 110 3:00'08.858 2 Laps 1 Lap 32 51 J.J. Yeley Ford 110 3:00'13.778 2 Laps 4.920 33 27 
Loris Hezemans Ford 110 3:00'17.880 2 Laps 4.102 34 50 Conor Daly Chevrolet 109 3:00'19.207 3 Laps 1 Lap 35 5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 107 3:00'07.994 5 Laps 2 Laps 15 36 99 
Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 107 3:00'17.637 5 Laps 9.643 14 37 1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 103 3:00'45.725 9 Laps 4 Laps 3 11 38 15 Joey Hand Ford 79 2:04'50.705 33 Laps 24 Laps Accident 1 39 26 
Daniil Kvyat Toyota 17 24'31.228 95 Laps 62 Laps Engine
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