The focus for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL is destined to be the second of three elimination events in the NASCAR Playoffs.
Allmendinger, a former NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series race-winner at the Charlotte ROVAL, was the fastest driver in Saturday’s practice session from the Concord, North Carolina racetrack.
The Los Gatos, California-native led the session with a time of 86.630 seconds, but was only four hundredths of a second ahead of second-place driver Ty Gibbs, who also is not a member of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field.
Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, and Zane Smith, three more drivers not in contention to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship this season, rounded out the top five, with Carson Hocevar, another non-playoff driver, just behind in sixth.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, was the fastest of the 12 NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers in seventh. Justin Haley was eighth quickest, with Christopher Bell and Noah Gragson rounding out the top-10.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers that practiced outside of the top-10 are: Ross Chastain (16th), William Byron (20th), Chase Elliott (23rd), Ryan Blaney (24th), Tyler Reddick (25th), Bubba Wallace (27th), Joey Logano (28th), Denny Hamlin (30th), Chase Briscoe (32nd), and Austin Cindric (33rd).
The Bank of America ROVAL 400 takes place Sunday, October 5 at 3:00 PM ET.
Practice Results:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Diff | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing CELSIUS Chevrolet | 86.630 | 94.748 | |
| 2 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy Toyota | 86.667 | 0.037 | 94.707 |
| 3 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing Choice Privileges Chevrolet | 86.816 | 0.186 | 94.545 |
| 4 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing Bank OZK Chevrolet | 86.881 | 0.251 | 94.474 |
| 5 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports Long John Silver's Ford | 86.935 | 0.305 | 94.415 |
| 6 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports Modo Casino Chevrolet | 87.049 | 0.419 | 94.292 |
| 7 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 87.100 | 0.470 | 94.237 |
| 8 | 7 | Justin Haley | Spire Motorsports Gainbridge STEM Chevrolet | 87.322 | 0.692 | 93.997 |
| 9 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing DEWALT Toyota | 87.359 | 0.729 | 93.957 |
| 10 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports Rush Truck Centers Ford | 87.367 | 0.737 | 93.949 |
| 11 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Family Dollar Toyota | 87.511 | 0.881 | 93.794 |
| 12 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing Sea Best Chevrolet | 87.520 | 0.890 | 93.784 |
| 13 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | HYAK Motorsports Real American Beer Chevrolet | 87.589 | 0.959 | 93.710 |
| 14 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing Titan Risk Solutions Chevrolet | 87.590 | 0.960 | 93.709 |
| 15 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports Ally Chevrolet | 87.669 | 1.039 | 93.625 |
| 16 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing Busch Light Chevrolet | 87.684 | 1.054 | 93.609 |
| 17 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing WeatherTech Chevrolet | 87.720 | 1.090 | 93.570 |
| 18 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing Fifth Third Bank Ford | 87.725 | 1.095 | 93.565 |
| 19 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing DEX Imaging Ford | 87.741 | 1.111 | 93.548 |
| 20 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports Valvoline Blood Cancer United Chevrolet | 87.793 | 1.163 | 93.493 |
| 21 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing Kroger / Totino's Ultimate Ford | 87.795 | 1.165 | 93.491 |
| 22 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing Monster Energy Toyota | 87.881 | 1.251 | 93.399 |
| 23 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports UniFirst Chevrolet | 87.937 | 1.307 | 93.340 |
| 24 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske Discount Tire Ford | 87.947 | 1.317 | 93.329 |
| 25 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing Jordan Brand Toyota | 87.994 | 1.364 | 93.279 |
| 26 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports Delaware Life / FIG Chevrolet | 88.006 | 1.376 | 93.266 |
| 27 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing Leidos Toyota | 88.030 | 1.400 | 93.241 |
| 28 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske Shell-Pennzoil Ford | 88.100 | 1.470 | 93.167 |
| 29 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team HaasTooling.com Ford | 88.197 | 1.567 | 93.064 |
| 30 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing Progressive Toyota | 88.382 | 1.752 | 92.870 |
| 31 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports Love's Travel Stops Ford | 88.410 | 1.780 | 92.840 |
| 32 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 88.464 | 1.834 | 92.784 |
| 33 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske Menards / Richmond Water Heaters Ford | 88.482 | 1.852 | 92.765 |
| 34 | 43 | Erik Jones | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB TriState Vacuum & Rental LLC Toyota | 88.655 | 2.025 | 92.584 |
| 35 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing Castrol Ford | 88.661 | 2.031 | 92.577 |
| 36 | 66 | Josh Bilicki | Garage 66 Truan Equipment Ford | 88.750 | 2.120 | 92.485 |
| 37 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing Parts Plus / Pronto Ford | 88.805 | 2.175 | 92.427 |
