Christopher Bell won his second race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup season, winning the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600.
However, the biggest storyline of the NASCAR Charlotte race never evolved. Kyle Larson arrived at the track after finished 18th at the Indianapolis 500 just as the caution flag came out because of the rain, which would eventually end the race.
So race fans never got a chance to see Larson in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Here are our winners and losers from the NASCAR Charlotte race.
Winners
Justin Allgaier and Kyle Larson
OK, these need to be linked together, right? Subbing for Larson, Allgaier finished 13th in the Coca-Cola 600. He kept the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in contention until Larson could arrive after racing in the Indianapolis 500.
Now, here me out on Larson. Sure, he didn't turn a single lap at Charlotte on Sunday night. But for trying to run the double, only to have it ruined by Mother Nature, you have to give Larson props.
More:Who won NASCAR Cup race in Charlotte? Winner is Christopher Bell, plus full results
Christopher Bell
A win is a win, even if it's a rain-shortened victory. It's Bell's second win of the season and first since the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won at Phoenix. Bell led 90 of the 249 laps at Charlotte after starting the race third. This also marks his seventh top-10 finish of the season.
Brad Keselowski
Keselowski finished second after winning at Darlington two weeks ago. It's a not only a sign of RFK Racing turning things around but a sign that Ford has continued to figure things out. Keselowski was one of two Fords in the top 10, the other being Josh Berry of Stewart-Haas Racing.
Losers
Ryan Blaney
The magic Blaney captured a year ago en route to winning last year's Coca-Cola 600 and later the NASCAR Cup Series championship seems to have disappeared. Blaney finished 39th of 40 drivers in this year's race a year after winning it. Blaney completed just 143 laps and left the race after his right-front tire hit the outside wall in Turn 4.
He now has four finishes of 30th or worse.
Ty Gibbs
His time is coming. Sure, a sixth-place finish and a loser on this list, what gives? The polesitter had a hot rod at Charlotte. He late faded out of the top five. Gibbs has six top-five starts and with that five top-five finishes. He's shown all the signs of winning a race this year. It's just getting difficult to predict when.
NASCAR
Let's be honest. We all wanted Larson in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet just to see what he'd do on the track after finishing 18th in his first Indy 500 attempt. It's a quandary why NASCAR wouldn't have just held off and restarted the race at 1 a.m. when the track was projected to be ready. Yes, it would have mean a late night. But the Charlotte track is relatively close to race teams and Monday is a holiday with many fans likely off work.
If NASCAR was going to hold out for a late-night restart, this was the race.
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on the X platform @Kreager.
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