NASCAR penalty report released for weekend at Charlotte Roval

NASCAR has released the penalty report for this past weekend’s Round of 12 playoff races at the Charlotte Roval.

The chief infraction was a tire coming off the car of Austin Dillon during the 81st lap of the Cup Series race. As a result, NASCAR suspended RCR No. 3 crew members Joshua Thomas (front tire-changer) and Nick Covey (jack) for the next two Cup Series events — Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Oct. 27 event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR also fined four crew chiefs from the Xfinity Series for unsecured lug nuts.

Each crew chief was fined $5,000. The crews were as follows:

• No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (crew chief James Pohlman, driver Justin Allgaier)
• No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (crew chief Phillip Bell, driver Sammy Smith)
• No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (crew chief Andy Street, driver Austin Hill)
• No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (crew chief Jeff Meendering, driver Chandler Smith)

Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 was the Round of 12 finale, and while the drama was relatively low during the race, eight drivers did advance to the Round of 8. The field remaining includes four drivers who have already won a championship (Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano) and four still looking for Cup Series title No. 1 (Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Tyler Reddick).

Round of 8 field set after Round of 12 finale at Charlotte Roval

Larson was dominant throughout the race, leading 62-of-109 laps en route to winning his series-leading sixth race of the season. The Hendrick Motorsports star is the No. 1 seed for the next round with a 33-point advantage above the cutline. As dialed in as the No. 5 team is, Larson has to be considered the championship favorite with four races remaining.

“Really, it’s the first time in my playoff career I’ve not been close to the cutline, so it was good to kind of have a little bit stress-free of a weekend,” Larson said after the race, via NASCAR.com. “I think the first time I’ve been here without crashing, maybe, besides the other time I won [in 2021].

“It’s known that I don’t really use the sim much, and I was in the sim this week. It really helped me get into a rhythm I think early on and helped us kind of fine-tune our car, too.”

While Larson’s excellence prevented much drama during the race, the post-race events provided plenty. NASCAR disqualified Alex Bowman and his No. 48 team after the car failed post-race inspection for being underweight. The disqualification knocked Bowman below the cutline and gave Logano the eighth and final spot.

With the field set, the Round of 8 gets underway this Sunday at Las Vegas.