A quartet of drivers will not move on to the Round of 12 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400.
Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Erik Jones all left Charlotte Motor Speedway eliminated from title contention.
Almirola missed the cutoff by just five points when he could not come back from a late race challenge to get the finish he needed to advance.
“I’m disappointed,” he said. “It didn’t work out the way that I wanted it to, but I’m still really blessed and fortunate to have this opportunity. So many people put a lot behind me.
“Everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, Smithfield, Ford Motor Company and so it stings, but the sun is gonna come up tomorrow, I’m still gonna be Aric Almirola, I’m still gonna be a husband and a father. They’re not gonna take my birthday away, so as disappointing as it is, it’s not the end of the world.”
Newman ended up 16 out on a day when he stalled on pit road and locked his brakes up trying to navigate through the chicane losing positions he was not able to recover.
“I felt like I made a lot of mistakes trying too hard,” Newman said. “We did not have the race car and that’s what I had to do. I felt like we were in a position at one point and then just kept trying too hard trying to keep the 10 car behind us and missed the curbs. That was unfortunate.
“We came in at a big deficiency and finished one point out or whatever it was, but, no matter what, we’re still gonna fight for fifth. I’m proud of everybody at Roush Fenway for the fight and the opportunity that they’ve given me. We’re not done, we’re just out at this point.”
Busch was eliminated from contention when he received damage in a crash and fell 30 points shy of advancing.
“Just frustrating,” said Busch, who was credited with a 20th-place finish. “Things just did not go our way in this round to say the least.”
Jones came into the weekend 45 points below the cut line and was in a do or die situation to stay in the playoff picture. But the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s day ended early when he was involved in an early accident.
“It’s frustrating,” Jones said. “It’s frustrating not just to even have a chance throughout the whole race, you know? We didn’t make it to the first stage and it wasn’t our fault. That’s probably the most frustrating part is getting taken out and nothing you can do about it. We’ll have to keep going all year, win some more races and come back and start over again in next year’s Playoffs.”
