Shane Van Gisbergen won the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday, but his victory wasn’t the story to come out of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Joey Logano won a battle with Ross Chastain to become the final driver qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs round-of-8.
Logano made up the difference to Chastain on the final few laps. Chastain’s last gasp to stay alive in the postseason included a collision with Denny Hamlin and a backward finish.
The eight remaining playoff competitors now have three races in the round-of-8 to qualify for the championship race at Phoenix on November 2.
The updated points standings can be found here on NASCAR.com.
Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano will participate in the round-of-8.
Logano worked his way into the round-of-8 thanks to a strategy call in the final laps that allowed him to have fresh tires to pass cars and make up the points gap on Chastain.
Chastain pushed until the last turn of the race to try and keep his advantage, but he came up short. Chastain bumped Denny Hamlin on the final turn and had to finish backward in a last-ditch attempt to preserve his advantage.
Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney advanced to the round-of-8 in the last two weeks thanks to their respective race victories at New Hampshire and Kansas. The other six drivers moved on to the next round on points.
The round-of-8 participants have three races to try and clinch a shot at the championship. The top four drivers in the standings move on to Phoenix to have a shot at the title.
Las Vegas is the first stop on the round-of-8. Logano, Larson and Hamlin all have victories in the fall race at Las Vegas over the last four years. Logano won twice at Las Vegas in that span.
Talladega and Martinsville, where Hamlin won back in March, are the other two spots in the round-of-8.
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