Eliminated Cup playoff drivers keep perspective after Roval

CONCORD, N.C. – As AJ Allmendinger celebrated his Roval win in the Charlotte grandstands, four drivers stood on pit road, their championship dreams gone.

There was no sign of anger or bitter disappointment in their faces.

Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain were unable to advance in the playoffs after a wild card round featuring Texas, Talladega and the Roval.

For Busch, his elimination was the result of struggles early in the round. He crashed at Texas and finished 25th at Talladega. Busch fell below the playoff cutline heading into the elimination race and did not have the opportunity to move on with points alone. He could only advance with a win.

Busch finished third and fell short of delivering Richard Childress his first Cup championship since 1994.

“It rides on my shoulders anyway with the previous two weeks – not getting anything out of Texas and not getting a whole lot out of Talladega,” Busch said after the race. “Just bad circumstances, but we’ll fight on another day.”

Keselowski entered the weekend in a similar situation. He finished seventh at Texas but crashed at Talladega, one of his best tracks. He entered the Roval two points above the cutline but finished 18th after serving a pass-through penalty for missing the chicane, spinning after an incident with Chastain and pitting multiple times so that he could fight back through the field on fresh tires.

Keselowski entered the weekend with 42 road course Cup starts and no wins. He left winless once again but expressed optimism about the future after comparing this season to his first with RFK Racing.

“Obviously, never happy when you don’t advance, but if you look at where we were a year ago to where we’re at today, it’s a nice day,” Keselowski told media members on pit road.

“I want to make the same jump next year and there's a level of patience that comes with that and building a team and a company and there's a lot of great things that we're doing.”

Wallace entered the weekend facing an uphill climb. He was nine points below the cutline after finishing third at Texas and 23rd at Talladega. He had to overcome his deficit at a road course, a track style that hasn’t been his strength throughout his Cup career.

How did Wallace respond? He went out and qualified fourth, his best starting position on a road course. He then finished second in stage 1 and seventh in stage 2. He put himself in contention for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8.

The situation changed after Daniel Suarez locked up his tires entering the backstretch chicane and hit Austin Cindric. This turned Cindric into Wallace and sent him spinning. Wallace continued after losing numerous positions.

Wallace finished 16th and failed to advance to the Round of 8. Once he embraced team co-owner Michael Jordan, he reflected on how he has evolved as a competitor.

“We’re putting all of the cards in the right places,” Wallace said on pit road. “Usually, you couldn’t count on the 23 at a road course race, right? I don’t think you can say that anymore, and I don’t think I can say I suck at road courses.”

Chastain finished 10th at the Roval. This was a career-best effort at the Charlotte road course. It was also only his third top-10 finish of the playoffs. It was not enough to overcome falling 10 points below the cutline after a 37th-place finish at Talladega.

Chastain left pit road disappointed. He did not show it as he took the time to stop in the Cup garage and give a young NASCAR fan his hat.