The second round of the Cup Series playoffs comes to a close Sunday afternoon at the Charlotte Roval.
Four drivers will be eliminated from championship contention after the road course race. Seven others will join William Byron in the Round of 8.
AJ Allmendinger is the defending winner of the Roval Cup Series race. He will be back in the lineup on Sunday afternoon to seek another win at NASCAR's home track.
Charlotte Roval Cup Series race information
Weather: The WeatherUnderground forecast calls for sunny skies and warm temperatures throughout the day. A high of 78 degrees and no chance of rain at the start of the Cup Series race.
Green flag time: Ricky Rudd and Carl Edwards will give the command to fire engines at 2:26 p.m. ET. The green flag will wave at 2:38 p.m. ET.
Starting lineup: Roval Cup Series starting lineup
Pre-race: The garage opens at 11 a.m. ET. Driver introductions will take place at 1:50 p.m. ET. Pre-race coverage begins with "Countdown to Green" on NBC at 2 p.m. ET. Race coverage continues on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Stages: The race will consist of three stages. The first stage ends at Lap 25. The second stage ends at Lap 50. The scheduled end of the race is Lap 109.
Playoff picture: Two non-playoff drivers have won the first two races of the Round of 12. Ross Chastain won at Kansas Speedway and then Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
Despite the lack of playoff drivers winning races, one has locked up a spot in the Round of 8. William Byron punched his ticket to the next round on points.
Christopher Bell is 57 points above the Round of 8 cutline while Kyle Larson is 52 points above. Both drivers are in a prime position to move to the next round on points.
The other drivers above the cutline are Denny Hamlin (+30), Alex Bowman (+26), Ryan Blaney (+25), Tyler Reddick (+14), and Chase Elliott (+13).
The four drivers below the cutline are Joey Logano (-13), Daniel Suarez (-20), Austin Cindric (-29), and Chase Briscoe (-32).
Past winners: Multiple Cup Series drivers have celebrated wins at the Charlotte Roval. For example, Blaney won the inaugural race in 2018 after Jimmie Johnson spun into Martin Truex Jr. in the final turn.
Elliott won back-to-back Roval races in 2019-20 and then Larson won in 2021. Bell and Allmendinger are the drivers who celebrated Next Gen wins at the Roval.