Four more drivers will leave the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Sunday. They’ll be taking a circuitous route to the exit.
The Round of 12 will end with the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The road-oval hybrid will test both car and driver with seven spots in the Round of 8 still open.
Only Chase Elliott, road course ace, is already locked in for the next three playoff races. He won last weekend at Talladega to secure an automatic berth.
MORE: Watch NASCAR at Charlotte live with fuboTV (free trial)
The weekend competition for the spots below him began in earnest with qualifying Saturday. Here’s what you need to know about the results.
Bank of America Roval 400 qualifying results
Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Charlotte?
Joey Logano will start on the pole Sunday. The Team Penske driver edged out Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron by 0.124 mph in the final round of qualifying for his 25th career pole.
“Starting up front’s nice. Hopefully we can do what we need to do this weekend,” Logano told NBC’s Dave Burns after qualifying. “Our job’s to get into the next round here and we’ll figure out what we do from here. But this is a great starting spot, for sure. We’ve got a good pit stall and (we’ll) try to keep that track position. It’s pretty sketchy when you lose your track position here, so we’ll try to keep it.”
Logano enters the race fifth in the playoff standings, 18 points above the cut line. Byron enters in seventh, 14 points to the good, thanks to a reprieve by NASCAR. It gave back the 25 points it docked him for his intentional spin of Denny Hamlin under caution at Texas two races ago. Byron appealed the penalty and won.
Final group results
| Finish | Driver | Lap speed (mph) |
| 1 | Joey Logano | 103.424 |
| 2 | William Byron | 103.300 |
| 3 | Daniel Suarez | 103.103 |
| 4 | Tyler Reddick | 103.088 |
| 5 | Austin Cindric | 102.743 |
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | 102.685 |
| 7 | AJ Allmendinger | 102.295 |
| 8 | Christopher Bell | 102.089 |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | 101.746 |
| 10 | Ross Chastain | 78.695 |
Lineup, starting order for Charlotte playoff race
All three Team Penske drivers qualified in the top six, led by pole-sitter Joey Logano. Teammates Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney will roll off fifth and sixth, respectively.
Eight of the top 10 spots in the field went to playoff drivers. Three other playoff drivers/teams are starting at a disadvantage after poor qualifying results: Chase Briscoe (17th), Kyle Larson (18th) and Denny Hamlin (24th). Briscoe is 12 points out of the top eight.
| Pos. | Driver | Car No. | Team |
| 1 | Joey Logano (P) | 22 | Team Penske |
| 2 | William Byron (P) | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 3 | Daniel Suarez (P) | 99 | Trackhouse Racing |
| 4 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 5 | Austin Cindric (P) | 2 | Team Penske |
| 6 | Ryan Blaney (P) | 12 | Team Penske |
| 7 | AJ Allmendinger | 16 | Kaulig Racing |
| 8 | Christopher Bell (P) | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 10 | Ross Chastain (P) | 1 | Trackhouse Racing |
| 11 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 12 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 13 | Justin Haley | 31 | Kaulig Racing |
| 14 | Bubba Wallace | 45 | 23XI Racing |
| 15 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 16 | Ty Gibbs | 23 | 23XI Racing |
| 17 | Chase Briscoe (P) | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 18 | Kyle Larson (P) | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 20 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 21 | Chris Buescher | 17 | RFK Racing |
| 22 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 23 | Harrison Burton | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing |
| 24 | Denny Hamlin (P) | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 25 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 26 | Erik Jones | 43 | Petty GMS Motorsports |
| 27 | Joey Hand | 15 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 28 | Ty Dillon | 42 | Petty GMS Motorsports |
| 29 | Noah Gragson (R) | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 30 | Corey LaJoie | 7 | Spire Motorsports |
| 31 | Brad Keselowski | 6 | RFK Racing |
| 32 | Todd GIlliland | 38 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 33 | Daniil Kvyat | 26 | Team Hezeberg |
| 34 | Mike Rockenfeller | 77 | Spire Motorsports |
| 35 | JJ Yeley | 51 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 36 | Loris Hezemans | 27 | Team Hezeberg |
| 37 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 38 | Josh Williams | 78 | Live Fast Motorsports |
| 39 | Conor Daly | 50 | TMT Racing |
(P) Playoff driver
(R) Replacement for playoff driver Alex Bowman
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