Shane van Gisbergen capped off the NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of 12 Playoff battle by winning the eighth annual running of the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (Royal) on Sunday, October 5.
The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, led a race-high 57 of 109-scheduled laps in an event where he started alongside pole-sitter Tyler Reddick. After assuming the lead from Reddick for the first time on the fourth lap, van Gisbergen preserved both his tires through various pit strategies and his entry amid a bevy of on-track actions to remain in contention for the lead. Amid a late-race battle with Playoff contenders Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, van Gisbergen executed his race-winning pass on Larson with 12 laps remaining, which occurred not long after the latter two competitors made on-track contact. From there, van Gisbergen proceeded to notch his unprecedented fifth consecutive road-course victory in the Cup Series division.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 4, Playoff contender Tyler Reddick notched his second Cup pole position of the 2025 season and the 11th of his career with a pole-winning lap at 95.510 mph in 85.939 seconds. The competitor who started alongside Reddick on the front row was Shane van Gisbergen, the latter of whom clocked in his best qualifying lap at 95.474 mph in 85.971 seconds.
Prior to the event, Riley Herbst, who nearly flipped amid a wild wreck during Saturday’s practice session, and Erik Jones dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Tyler Reddick gained the upper advantage from the outside lane as he led Shane van Gisbergen and the field through the first turn. Behind, Kyle Busch, who was racing in the middle of the field and with new crew chief Andy Street, wrecked against the Turn 1 barriers, but the race remained under green flag conditions as Busch nursed his damaged entry around the Roval and took his car to the garage for repairs.
Back at the front of the field, Reddick retained the lead over van Gisbergen through the infield turns and the Charlotte Roval’s oval turns, including the backstretch and frontstretch chicanes. When Reddick returned to the frontstretch, he led the first lap over van Gisbergen while Playoff contender Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher followed suit in the top five, respectively.
Over the next two laps, Reddick maintained a reasonable advantage over van Gisbergen through every turn and straightaway. Then on the third lap through the backstretch chicane, van Gisbergen got underneath Reddick. Both dueled through the remaining oval turns before van Gisbergen rocketed his No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet entry ahead of Reddick’s No. 45 Jordan Toyota Camry XSE entry and assumed the lead for the first time just past the frontstretch chicane. Van Gisbergen proceeded to stretch his lead to more than a second during the fifth lap while Larson, Gibbs and Buescher continued to trail in the top five, respectively.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, van Gisbergen was leading by more than two seconds over Larson, the latter of whom assumed the runner-up spot from Reddick three laps earlier, while Gibbs and Buescher occupied the remaining top-five spots ahead of Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger along with a host of Playoff contenders that include Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe. Behind, Playoff contenders Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, William Byron and Denny Hamlin trailed in the top-15 mark ahead of Ty Dillon, Playoff contender Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Zane Smith and Cole Custer while Austin Cindric, who missed the backstretch chicane and spun shortly after amid contact from Justin Haley, plummeted to 36th place.
Shortly after, green flag pit stops commenced as Daniel Suarez and Cindric pitted their respective entries. By Lap 11, a host of names that included Briscoe, Blaney, Elliott, Byron, Ty Dillon, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar and Erik Jones all pitted before more names that included Ty Gibbs, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, John Hunter Nemechek, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Riley Herbst and Josh Berry pitted by Lap 12. Amid the pit stops, van Gisbergen continued to lead before he pitted for the first time on Lap 14. Larson also pitted with van Gisbergen while Buescher cycled to the lead.
At the Lap 20 mark and amid a series of on-track battles and jostling for spots within the field, van Gisbergen, who was reeling in Buescher on four fresh tires, returned atop the leaderboard after he overtook Buescher through Turn 7. Van Gisbergen proceeded to lead by two seconds over Buescher, the latter of whom continued to remain on the track on his current set of worn tires. Behind, Larson, Gibbs and Bell charged their way up into the top-five mark while Reddick, who has yet to pit, dropped to eighth place behind Chastain and McDowell.
Two laps later, a host of names that included Buescher, Allmendinger, Blaney, Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Bowman, Cole Custer, Cindric and Nemechek pitted their respective entries under green. Another lap later, pit road became inaccessible to the field as the first stage period was coming to a conclusion. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen retained the lead by more than six seconds over Larson.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, van Gisbergen captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2025 season. Larson followed suit in second place by more than eight seconds, which was enough for him to clinch a Playoff Round of 8 berth. Gibbs, Bell, Chastain, McDowell, Briscoe, Elliott, Byron and Ty Dillon followed suit in the top 10, respectively. While six of 12 Playoff contenders racked up the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Hamlin, Logano, Blaney, Reddick, Wallace and Cindric were mired back in 11th, 12th, 19th, 26th, 33rd and 36th, respectively.
Under the first stage break period, nearly the entire field led by van Gisbergen pitted for service while the rest led by Allmendinger and including Buescher, Blaney, Suarez, Bowman, Reddick, Custer, Wallace, Nemechek and Cindric remained on the track. During the pit stops, Chastain overshot the turn to exit pit road just after he crossed the exit commitment line, which dropped Chastain from 15th to 30th in the running order.
The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Allmendinger and Buescher occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger muscled ahead with the lead while Blaney charged his way into the runner-up spot over Buescher and Suarez through the first turn. As the field fanned out through the infield turns, Allmendinger retained the lead through Turn 7 and the oval turns, including the chicanes, before he navigated his way back to the frontstretch and led the following lap over Blaney, Buescher, Suarez and Reddick.
Then on Lap 32, Hocevar, who was racing within the top-20 mark, locked up the tires and overshot the frontstretch chicane. In the process, Hocevar made contact and spun Cindric, which left Cindric with a broken rear toe link as he took his entry to the garage. Amid the incident that evaporated Cindric’s hopes of advancing to the Playoff’s Round of 8, the race remained under green flag conditions as Allmendinger continued to lead.
Just past the Lap 35 mark, Allmendinger stabilized his lead to four-tenths of a second over Blaney while Buescher and Suarez remained in third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen, who started the second stage period in 11th place, was up in fifth place, but trailing the lead by three seconds, while Reddick, Larson, Bell, McDowell and Bowman followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Byron and Elliott. Meanwhile, Wallace and Logano were mired in 16th and 17th while Chastain, Briscoe and Hamlin were racing from 21st to 23rd, respectively.
Then on Lap 37, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney, who was slowly reeling in Allmendinger for the lead, led a host of names that included Elliott, Wallace, Custer, Logano, Reddick, Zane Smith and Nemechek to pit road for service. Meanwhile, Allmendinger continued to lead before he was overtaken by van Gisbergen on Lap 40. Not long after van Gisbergen assumed the lead, Allmendinger, who was told to pit a lap prior, pitted. As van Gisbergen started to stretch his lead, Larson also started to reel in on Buescher for the runner-up spot.
Just past the Lap 45 mark, more pit strategies ensued as a host of names that included Byron, Bell, Suarez, Buescher, Allmendinger, Ryan Preece, McDowell, Justin Haley, Keselowski, Briscoe, Wallace, Hamlin, Bowman, Berry, Noah Gragson, Zane Smith and Austin Dillon all pitted their respective entries under green. The leader van Gisbergen then pitted on Lap 47 along with Larson as Blaney cycled to the lead.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 50, Blaney captured his ninth Cup stage victory of the 2025 season. Reddick settled in second ahead of Elliott, Chastain and van Gisbergen while Larson, Bell, Logano, Suarez and Custer were scored in the top 10, respectively. With his seventh-place result in the second stage period, Bell officially secured his spot to the Round of 8.
With seven of 12 Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of Playoff points, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Byron, Briscoe, Wallace and Hamlin were mired in 22nd, 24th, 25th and 26th, respectively. In addition, Cindric was strapped in 37th place and still in the garage with his damaged entry. During the second stage break period, some led by Blaney and including Reddick, Elliott, Chastain and Logano returned to pit road for service while the rest led by van Gisbergen, Larson and Bell remained on the track.
With 54 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as van Gisbergen and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, van Gisbergen retained the lead through the first turn while Bell navigated his way into the runner-up spot over Larson, Buescher and Suarez. The field behind the leader van Gisbergen fanned out, bumped and jostled for spots through the infield turns and the tight left-hand turn of Turn 7 before they navigated their way through the oval turns. At the front, van Gisbergen retained the lead over a hard-charging Bell through the chicanes on the backstretch and frontstretch before he led the next lap.
Then with 52 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Austin Dillon wrecking into the tire barriers in Turn 5. Prior to the caution, van Gisbergen, Bell and Larson had engaged in a heated battle for the lead through Turns 13 and 14, with the former just managing to outduel and fend off the latter two through the frontstretch chicane. During the latest caution period, select names that included Byron and Wallace pitted while the rest led by van Gisbergen remained on the track.
The start of the next restart with 48 laps remaining featured van Gisbergen fending off Larson, Bell and the field as he led through the first turn and the infield turns. The field continued to fan out and jostle for positions through the infield turns, Turn 7 and back on the oval circuit as van Gisbergen proceeded to lead the following lap. Shortly after, Larson, who intimated van Gisbergen starting in Turn 7, overtook van Gisbergen through the backstretch chicane and assumed the lead. Bell then followed pursuit in the runner-up spot as van Gisbergen dropped to third place in front of Allmendinger and Buescher.
With 42 laps remaining, select names that included Buescher, Gragson, Zane Smith and Custer pitted under green. Stenhouse pitted during the following lap before more names that included Allmendinger, Keselowski, Bowman and Ty Dillon pitted during the next. Amid the pit stops, Larson led by more than a second over Bell while van Gisbergen, Preece and McDowell followed suit with 40 laps remaining.
During the next two laps, more names that included Briscoe, Gibbs, Cody Ware, Suarez, Bell, Reddick, Preece and Haley pitted their respective entries under green before Larson surrendered the lead to pit with 38 laps remaining. Two laps later, van Gisbergen, who cycled to the lead, pitted along with Playoff bubble drivers Logano and Chastain, which allowed Larson to return atop the leaderboard with 35 laps remaining.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Larson was leading by more than three seconds over runner-up Bell and by four seconds over third-place van Gisbergen, with Buescher, Allmendinger, Keselowski, Preece, McDowell, Briscoe and Suarez racing in the top 10. Meanwhile, Chastain, who was mired in 14th place, held sole possession of the eighth and transfer berth to the Playoff’s Round 8 by three points over Logano, the latter of whom had a slow pit service under green and was mired in 20th place.
Two laps later, select names that included Allmendinger, Bowman, Stenhouse and Zane Smith pitted under green as van Gisbergen, who overtook Bell for the runner-up spot three laps earlier, trailed Larson by two seconds. More names that included Keselowski, Reddick and Buescher, Bell, Briscoe and Gibbs pitted over the next three laps while van Gisbergen proceeded to decrease Larson’s advantage to more than a second.
Then with 23 laps remaining, van Gisbergen, who had been reeling in Larson for the lead, overtook Larson as he returned atop the leaderboard. As van Gisbergen led the next lap, Chastain pitted along with Todd Gilliland under green. Shortly after, Chastain was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 20 laps remaining and as more green flag pit stops occurred, Larson pitted from the runner-up spot while Chastain, who was racing in 19th place following his pit service, served a drive-through penalty as a result of speeding on pit road. By the time Chastain returned on the track, he was down in 24th place behind Logano, the competitor whom Chastain was battling for the final transfer berth to the Round of 8. As Keselowski pulled his car off the course in the backstretch due to power issues, van Gisbergen pitted with 18 laps remaining and he managed to blend back on the track in third place behind Larson and Bell.
Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Larson was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Bell while van Gisbergen, Buescher, Reddick, Preece, McDowell, Allmendinger, Briscoe and Suarez were scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Chastain, who was mired in 16th place, trailed Logano for the eighth and final spot to the Round of 8 by five points, with Logano racing in 14th place on the track. By then, Reddick, who was racing in fifth place, trailed the cutline by 13 points while Wallace, who was mired in 13th place, trailed the cutline by 30 points.
Shortly after, the battle for the lead intensified as van Gisbergen, who trailed Larson by eight-tenths of a second, muscled his way back ahead of Larson for the lead. Van Gisbergen’s pass for the lead occurred with 14 laps remaining after he made contact with Larson through Turn 7 before he drew alongside Larson and rubbed the latter through the backstretch chicane to reclaim the top spot.
Larson then returned the favor during the following lap by overtaking van Gisbergen and reassuming the lead through Turn 1 as Bell joined the battle. As Bell pitted for tires and dropped back to fifth place with 12 laps remaining, van Gisbergen zipped past Larson through the backstretch chicane to reassume the lead, this time with no contact. Amid the battles at the front, Logano, who was overtaken by Chastain on the track, opted to strategically pit for fresh tires with 11 laps remaining. Logano’s move allowed Chastain, who has not yet pitted, to overtake Logano for the final transfer berth by two points as van Gisbergen led by more than a second over Larson with 10 laps remaining.
With eight laps remaining, Larson pitted from the runner-up spot under green. Larson’s moved allowed Bell to assume the runner-up spot from him as van Gisbergen continued to remain on the track for the lead. Meanwhile, Chastain, who was mired in 13th place, was seven points ahead of Logano and above the cutline while Logano was mired in 24th place despite racing on four fresh tires. As Chastain maintained his points cushion ahead of a bevy of competitors who were racing on fresh tires, Larson, who dropped to fourth place, overtook Buescher for third place, but he trailed van Gisbergen by 21 seconds as Bell trailed the lead by 18 seconds in the runner-up spot with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, van Gisbergen remained in the lead by 17 seconds over Larson, the latter of whom overtook Bell for the runner-up spot. Having a huge lead to his advantage, van Gisbergen was able to smoothly navigate his way around the Charlotte Roval for a final time before he cycled back through to the frrontstretch and claim the checkered flag by 15 seconds over Larson.
With the victory, van Gisbergen notched his fifth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series win on road-course events. He also achieved his sixth career win in NASCAR’s premier series and his first at the Charlotte Roval.
“What an awesome race,” van Gisbergen said on the frontstretch. “Kyle [Larson] and Christopher [Bell] driving really good. [The battle] got a little rough, but man, the battle was awesome. I lost [the car] a little bit at the start of Stage 3 and whatever [the crew] did for the rest of the race. Unbelievable. Really enjoyed that and was a long time waiting, hoping the yellow wasn’t going to come out. I got [Larson] in a little bump at [Turn] 7 by accident and he just slammed me, and that sort of set it off. It was fun. I’m all for it. I hope he’s not too pissed off, but I hope it was good to watch, too.”
Amid van Gisbergen’s dominant victory, Chastain, who was initially a single point ahead of Logano for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8, had his hopes of transferring in jeopardy after Hamlin overtook him for 18th place on the track. Hamlin’s move placed Chastain and Logano in a tie for the final spot, with Logano being awarded the tie-breaker.
Then after trailing Hamlin from Turn 7 to entering the frontstretch chicane, Chastain sent his No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet entry into the rear of Hamlin’s No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE entry. Chastain’s move resulted with both him and Hamlin spinning through the chicane. As Chastain quickly placed his car in reverse to cross the finish line, he was overtaken by Bowman, Stenhouse and Logano.
As a result, Logano, who beat Chastain’s reversed entry to the finish line for 20th place, claimed the final transfer berth to the Round of 8 by four points over Chastain. The result enabled Logano to maintain his hopes of defending his championship from the previous season while Chastain had his Playoff hopes evaporated following the Round of 12 for a second time in three years.
“We’re still alive, baby,” Logano said. “We’re still going. I’m so excited. Such a close finish there. I knew it was within a point there and I knew we were going to be tied there at the end, and Ross is going to do whatever he had to do to make it happen. [I] Just wasn’t quite fast enough today with our car. But overall, man, it’s the drama of the Playoffs, right? If you want drama, the Playoffs bring it every time.”
“I’m proud of [crew chief] Paul Wolfe,” Logano added. “We made some really hard [pit] calls today. Three stop [strategy] in the end there. Kind of an audible there at the end. Our falloff was a little bit too much, so making that call there at the end was ultimately what kept us there in the game. So as a championship performance from the team. [I] Wish I was a little faster, but overall, we’re proud of the team and we still got a shot.”
“I’d restart the whole day,” Chastain said. “For Trackhouse Racing, they expect so much more out of me. To speed on pit road, I went off the end of pit road and didn’t turn. I had more room and just trying to get to the yellow line, and just completely started the downfall there and then came out of the pit stall and double clicked up into third [gear] and just unforced errors. It’s just terrible…[Team owner] Justin [Marks] hired me to carry this 1 car and to drive it and to be the leader, and I just completely unraveled our day. So, yeah, not acceptable. Like, just completely unacceptable.”
With the Round of 12 concluded, Logano joins Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe as the eight Playoff contenders who will square off against one another in the Round of 8 next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, Chastain joins Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric as the next round of four Playoff contenders who were eliminated from title contention.
Behind van Gisbergen on the track, Larson, who led 27 laps compared to van Gisbergen’s race-high 57, settled in second place ahead of Bell, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell. Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger and Tyler Reddick completed the top 10 in the final running order.
*Notably, Riley Herbst, who initially finished in 30th place, was demoted to the tail end of the field in 37th place due to his entry failing the height measurements during the post-race inspection process.
There were 15 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured three cautions for 10 laps. In addition, 26 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
1. Shane van Gisbergen, 57 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Kyle Larson, 27 laps led
3. Christopher Bell
4. Chris Buescher, five laps led
5. Michael McDowell
6. Ryan Preece
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Chase Elliott
9. AJ Allmendinger, 13 laps led
10. Tyler Reddick, three laps led
11. William Byron
12. Ty Gibbs
13. Ryan Blaney, four laps led, Stage 2 winner
14. Chase Briscoe
15. Bubba Wallace
16. Josh Berry
17. Todd Gilliland
18. Alex Bowman
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20. Joey Logano
21. Ross Chastain
22. Cole Custer
23. Denny Hamlin
24. Zane Smith
25. Justin Haley
26. John Hunter Nemechek
27. Ty Dillon, one lap down
28. Noah Gragson, one lap down
29. Carson Hocevar, one lap down
30. Erik Jones, one lap down
31. Austin Dillon, one lap down
32. Josh Bilicki, one lap down
33. Cody Ware, one lap down
34. Kyle Busch, nine laps down
35. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Drivetrain
36. Austin Cindric, 22 laps down
37. Riley Herbst – Disqualified
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders.
Playoff standings:
1. Kyle Larson – Advanced
2. Christopher Bell – Advanced
3. Chase Elliott – Advanced
4. William Byron – Advanced
5. Ryan Blaney – Advanced
6. Denny Hamlin – Advanced
7. Chase Briscoe – Advanced
8. Joey Logano – Advanced
9. Ross Chastain – Eliminated
10. Tyler Reddick – Eliminated
11. Bubba Wallace – Eliminated
12. Austin Cindric – Eliminated
The Round of 8 in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs commences next Sunday, October 12, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the South Point 400. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 5:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO Max.
