Needless to say, a lot happened in the last three laps of Sunday’s Cup race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Playoff dreams were shattered in one corner and resurrected in another.
Jimmie Johnson entered the final two turns in second place and locked into the second round.
But after his accident with Martin Truex Jr. and coming to a stop to serve an on-track penalty for cutting the chicane, Johnson finished eighth.
It wasn’t until Kyle Larson, in his battered and bruised No. 42 Chevrolet, passed the stalled car of Jeffrey Earnhardt right before the start-finish line that Johnson’s playoff fate was determined.
In three-way tie between Johnson, Larson and Aric Almirola, and with each driver’s best result from the round determining the tie-breaker, Johnson was eliminated from playoff contention.
But that’s just a portion of how the playoff picture shifted in the final laps.
In the above video, NASCAR America’s Steve Letarte and Dale Jarrett go through each lap to show how the playoffs changed.
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