‘Dinger wins again at The Roval in NASCAR playoffs spoiler. Busch, Chastain, Keselowski, Wallace out

AJ Allmendinger (16) competes through Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023, in Concord, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — AJ Allmendinger spoiled NASCAR’s playoffs by winning Sunday’s elimination race on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Allmendinger is fantastic and refused to yield just because he’s not part of the championship field. Allmendinger led 46 laps for Kaulig Racing to win for the first time in NASCAR’s top series since Indianapolis in 2021. Allmendinger won four consecutive Xfinity Series races on the hybrid road course/oval but wasn’t entered Saturday for Kaulig because he’s already exhausted his allotted five starts in the second-tier series. Allmendinger won twice in Xfinity Series, and it’s unclear if he’ll be in the Cup Series or return to the Xfinity Series next year.