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Dover International Speedway
Location: Dover, DelawareYear of first Cup event: 1969Banking: Turns, 24 degreesBackstretch and Frontstretch, 9 degreesLength/Track type: 1 mile, ConcreteCup events currently hosted: AAA 400 Drive for Autism (held in June) and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 400, the fourth race of the NASCAR Playoffs (held in October).Most frequent winner: Jimmie Johnson, 11
CONCORD, N.C. -- The new Charlotte Motor Speedway road course race, an elimination event of all things in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, could have crossed the line from cool and innovative to ridiculous.
Thankfully, it did not. So Sunday was a win for NASCAR at a time when it could really use it.
"Change is important for us, and this is something I felt was good, and certainly I think at the end of the day people would vote that it was some race and some finish," team owner Roger Penske said.
Penske had reason to think that way considering his driver, Ryan Blaney, won the inaugural Bank of America Roval 400.
Editor's Picks Blaney wins on roval when Truex, JJ wreck Ryan Blaney won the debut race on the "roval" at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a chaotic finish in which he slid past leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson when they wrecked racing for the victory.
JJ rolls dice, ends up stalling in Cup playoff race A late wreck gave Jimmie Johnson an eighth-place finish at Charlotte, and he lost out on a tiebreaker to advance to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. 1 Related
But this was more than just another race. NASCAR, plagued by sagging attendance and television ratings, desperately needed a boost. In the hallways of its corporate office, a new president (Steve Phelps) takes charge Monday and hopefully that means some clear minds and fresh ideas.
The race Sunday featured not-so-clear minds and fresh ideas on the new 2.28-mile road course. Thank goodness.
Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were among the leaders who drove into the wall when they went too hard to take a 90-degree turn with just six laps remaining, creating a 15-car pileup.
"I guess all of us are just stupid and don't know where to break for the corner considering what our tires look like and so we just all drove off into a 90-degree wall for something to do because we had nothing else better to do," Busch said.
"That kind of sucked."
That set up a dramatic finish, with a restart with three laps remaining. Several playoff drivers were wounded, just hoping to get to the end and salvage their championship hopes.
One of those drivers without damage was Jimmie Johnson, who was second behind Martin Truex Jr. and eyed his first win of 2018. So a seven-time champion also lost his mind and went for the win, crashing into Truex on the final chicane and ultimately lost enough points not to advance to the next round.
Johnson was shell-shocked, and the fans seemed thrilled. They had seen an exciting finish and Blaney, one of NASCAR's newest stars, earned the second victory of his career. And they saw a driver appear to not give a damn about points and go for the win.
"I wish I wouldn't have been so focused on a race win and I could have transferred and kept my championship hopes alive, but we had such a good car and it was just one of those split-second decisions to race for the win instead of for the points and it bit me," Johnson said.
Blaney had no plans on winning the race as he pitted with 20 laps remaining just to keep on the same strategy as the other drivers -- Alex Bowman and Clint Bowyer -- that he thought he would battle for the last playoff spots.
But as the wrecks happened -- Blaney actually was in the big one and thought he might have damage, but no way could he afford to pit -- Blaney stole the victory.
"Whenever you win something like this, it's a weird feeling," Blaney said. "I don't really want to call it an undeserved feeling, but it's just kind of an odd feeling. But we put ourselves in a good spot, and it worked out for us.
"When I was running third, I was just thinking about points. We were good on points, and I was cool with just riding around in third. But then that situation happened, and we happened to be there."
The 17-turn Charlotte road course was designed for such dramatics. NASCAR didn't have a road-course race in its playoffs and its unwillingness to take races away from existing facilities resulted in Speedway Motorsports Inc. president Marcus Smith deciding to put millions of dollars into renovating his existing road course that included most of the 1.5-mile oval.
He did it right, with synthetic grass and an awesome paint job. It wasn't easy. The track opted to remove some infield turns early in the configuration process in order to have a faster course and quicker laps. They went through a variety of barriers and ended up changing the angle on one of the tire barriers the day before the race after some awful-looking wrecks for Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones.
The drivers expected a race of survival, and there were relatively few incidents until the final 43 laps. But fans will remember a wild ending, and this one had all of that at the front and as drivers attempted to earn enough points to advance in the playoffs.
A late wreck involving Jimmie Johnson, No. 48, and Martin Truex Jr. opened the door for Ryan Blaney to capture a victory on Sunday. Jaylynn Nash/Icon Sportswire
While Johnson's move wasn't the smartest when it came to trying to make the playoffs, fans will probably applaud it. He was the guy crazy enough to go for a win instead of playing it safe.
"You make decisions every single second behind the race car, and sometimes really hard decisions, and sometimes the will to win kind of is too high to just sit there and run second," Blaney said when asked about Johnson's move.
And then, Blaney added: "I couldn't really give you a good thought on that just because I'm not Jimmie Johnson."
Truth is, Johnson thought he was safe. And he thought he was making a safe move. And maybe the greatest stock-car driver ever made a mistake.
While Johnson admitted he was "shell-shocked" after failing to advance and by his mistake, Kyle Larson seemed just as shocked that he blew a tire with two turns remaining as he limped a damaged car to the finish and past just enough cars to advance in the playoffs.
"I knew I was in bad shape, so I kind of, I guess you could say, [I was] giving up. But I couldn't even drive my car, it was so bad destroyed," Larson said. "But then they said they were all crashed and they were coming to the checkered. ... I blew a right front center of [turns] 3 and 4 and plowed the wall, I was like, 'Crap, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get down to make the chicane.'
"But luckily it came down off the banking and I could turn right OK."
He was one of the few drivers who felt as lucky as the fans. Keselowski certainly didn't even though he knows his crash while leading with six laps left was his own fault.
"You like the ones you win at, you hate the ones you don't, so I guess that answers itself," he said when asked if he liked the track. "As a driver, I'm selfish."
So are fans. They want action, which often means wrecks if drivers are pushing the limit. They saw that Sunday. They felt their drivers made a difference, something they always don't feel when watching an oval race and it appears more a mechanical exercise.
"It was crazy," Truex said. "We at one point got spun by the 2 [of Keselowski] in the same corner and had to go to the rear -- I thought we were done. We restarted 27th and drove out way up through there.
"You never knew what was going to happen today, on the one restart the 2 drove straight into the wall. Just trying to survive and we were in the right spot, we did everything right and we got spun out twice and there's nothing you can do about guys running you over."
Frustrated drivers included those who took chances, those who were innocent victims and those whose championship hopes slipped away.
With Keselowski, Busch and Blaney earning spots in the playoffs on wins, the final margins on points looked like this: Truex made it by 74 points, Kevin Harvick by 44, followed by Kurt Busch (23 points), Joey Logano (18 points), Chase Elliott (11), Bowyer (7), Bowman (2) and then Larson. Aric Almirola won the tiebreaker (best finish in the round) over Johnson for the final spot.
"All I really cared about was leaving here plus-one, and it turns out plus-zero is good enough," Almirola said.
That's a solid elimination race right there. That's what this manufactured playoff system was all about. So why not throw in another curve -- or several curves of a road course -- to add to the drama?
"It wasn't much sleep the last couple nights," Bowyer said after his third-place finish allowed him to make the playoffs by seven spots.
"The little one woke up at 5 a.m., and once you're up, you start thinking about this gremlin that's ahead of you today and there wasn't any more sleeping. ... Now it's time to think about a cold beer because, my god, I want one."
Jimmie Johnson (48) and Martin Truex Jr. (78) spin while battling for the lead in the last lap of the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Mike McCarn, AP)
CONCORD, N.C. — A win seemed within reach to Jimmie Johnson, and he was so close to victory — what would have been his first of 2018 — that he couldn’t resist a risky move on the last lap of the Bank of America Roval 400.
The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion spent the final laps of Sunday’s playoff race trying to chase down then-leader Martin Truex Jr. He saw an opportunity to try to pass Truex on the 2.28-mile half-oval, half-road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway as the two sped toward the finish line, and he just went for it.
But Johnson’s split-second decision backfired when he lost control of his car and spun out through the chicane on the front stretch, hitting Truex as well. In what could have been a second-place finish, the 43-year-old driver finished 8th, which wasn’t high enough to advance him to the Round of 12.
With Johnson and Truex out of the picture, Ryan Blaney blew past them to win his first race of the season and automatically qualify for the next round.
"I really felt like I could put some pressure on them and take a shot at it," Johnson said of trying to pass Truex. "I just locked up the rears and couldn’t control my car and spun. I didn’t think that I initially got into him, but clearly, I did and spun him around. Took myself out of a shot at the championship and obviously affected their day which I feel bad about."
So much goodness right here.
Relive the final moments all over again! #NASCARPlayoffspic.twitter.com/iaAtE9Nzim — NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 30, 2018
His eighth-place finish put him in a three-way tie with Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola for the final spot in the Round of 12. But he lost the tiebreaker to them, which was determined based on who had the best finishes in the opening round of the playoffs. Larson had a runner-up finish at Las Vegas, and Almirola finished fifth at Richmond. Johnson's best finish was eighth — at Charlotte and Richmond.
"I wish I wouldn’t have been so focused on a race win and I could have transferred and kept my championship hopes alive, but we had such a good car and just one of those split-second decisions to race for the win instead of for the points and it bit me," a dejected Johnson continued.
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Frustrated after Johnson’s last-lap move likely cost him the win, Truex, who had already clinched his spot in the next round prior to Sunday’s race, was quick to point out Johnson settling for second would have kept his championship hopes alive.
“Desperation on his part and pretty stupid, really, if you think about it,” Truex said on pit road after the race. “He was locked into the next round, and now he’s out. So my guess, if there’s a silver lining, that’s it.”
"Pretty stupid, really. If you think about it."
Martin Truex Jr. called out Jimmie Johnson, who was in position to make the next round of the #NASCARPlayoffs before the last-lap incident cost them both the win. pic.twitter.com/RltZzUTL0P — NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 30, 2018
Blaney explained in his post-race press conference that he understands why Johnson went for it.
“By the time I got to them or by the time I was able to see something, Jimmie was sideways,” Blaney explained. “And I'm sure they just tried to out-brake each other, which you can't blame them. They're going for the win, of course.”
Johnson later continued his apology to Truex on Twitter, writing: “Everyone makes mistakes... apologies to the 78 and all of their fans.”
It was a disappointing end to a disappointing season for Johnson, whose last trip to victory lane was June 4, 2017 at Dover International Speedway, where he earned his 83rd career win, moving him to sixth on the all-time list.
Even though the Hendrick Motorsports driver is no longer a title contender, it’s still possible he could win one of the remaining seven races this fall. But if he doesn’t, 2018 will be his first ever full-time season without a victory.
And to make matters worse, Johnson is still in the market for a new sponsor after Lowe’s — the only primary sponsor he’s known in his 17 full-time seasons — announced in March that it’s leaving the sport after this year.
Along with Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon were eliminated as the playoff field dropped to a dozen drivers. The first race in the Round of 12 is next Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
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NASCAR Cup champion Martin Truex Jr suggested Jimmie Johnson's elimination from the playoffs was justice for their "stupid" last-corner collision while fighting for the Charlotte Roval win.
In a last push to take the lead, Johnson - now on a 51-race winless streak - locked up and spun at the final chicane, collecting Truex and allowing Ryan Blaney to snatch the win.
Johnson got going and crossed the line eighth, but that was insufficient to keep him in the playoffs.
Truex finished 14th and then pushed Johnson into another spin on the slowing-down lap.
"Last corner desperation behind us," said Truex.
"I gave him the inside lane and he had the run through [oval Turn] 4 and I was real tight down there. I let him have the inside coming out of there to the chicane.
"He just overdrove it and was never going to make it and used me as brakes and turned us both around.
"It sucks, we could have raced side-by-side off the last corner for a win and that would have been cool.
"The fans would have been digging it, but instead we finished 14th and he's locked out of the playoffs. I guess that's what he gets."
Truex reckoned Johnson had let the pressure of his championship plight get to him.
"He wasn't ever going to make it through that corner whether I was there or not," said Truex.
"It was just desperation on his part and pretty stupid really if you think about it because he was locked into the next round [if he had finished second] and now he's out.
"I guess if there's a silver lining, that's it."
Johnson admitted he regretted the move.
"I just locked up the rears and couldn't control my car and spun," he said.
"I didn't think that I initially got into him, but clearly I did and spun him around.
"Took myself out of a shot at the championship and obviously affected their day, which I feel bad about.
"I wish I wouldn't have been so focused on a race win and I could have transferred and kept my championship hopes alive, but we had such a good car.
"It was just one of those split-second decisions to race for the win instead of for the points and it bit me."
Johnson ended up tied on points with Aric Almirola but was eliminated from the playoffs via countback of best results.
"I knew where I was on the maths," Johnson said. "I didn't think that I was going to crash or spin trying to overtake him like I did.
"I thought I was making a calculated move and giving myself the chance to win and unfortunately it didn't turn out that way.
"I was just going for the win. Wins are so important. And the veteran could have taken a safe route and didn't, and unfortunately took us out of the playoffs and took out [Truex]."
