Posted on by Track Release

Sonoma Raceway will return to the circuit’s historic 12-turn, 2.52-mile road-course layout for the 2019 Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR weekend as part of its upcoming 50th anniversary celebration, raceway officials announced Saturday.

The full track layout, which was originally unveiled when the raceway opened in 1968, incorporates the raceway’s signature sweeping downhill corner known as “The Carousel.” The Carousel plunges from Turn 4, down through Turns 5 and 6 and navigates a more than 200-degree radius turn before dropping onto the raceway’s longest straightaway into the Turn 7 hairpin.

The 2019 Sonoma race course
Sonoma Raceway

“The Carousel is a corner where history has been made, and as we celebrate the half century of track history in 2019, we are excited to re-introduce this signature turn on the Sonoma Raceway circuit,” said Steve Page, Sonoma Raceway president and general manager.  “We look forward to seeing a new generation of racers battle through this challenging corner and create moments fans will remember 50 years from now.”

The Carousel has been the site of many memorable moments in the raceway’s history, including Dale Earnhardt’s critical pass of Mark Martin in 1995 resulting in the Intimidator’s first NASCAR road-course victory.

“Innovation and exceeding expectations is in the DNA of SMI. This is something fans and drivers have been talking about for years, and we are excited to bring it to them, particularly as part of the track’s 50th anniversary,” said Marcus Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.

NASCAR utilized the full 12-turn course beginning with its first Pacific Coast Late Model Division race at then-Sears Point Raceway in 1969 through numerous Cup Series, West Series, Southwest Series and Truck Series events until 1997. Since 1998, NASCAR has competed on a shorter, 1.99-mile configuration, which utilized a bypass connecting Turns 4 and 7 known as “The Chute.” The 2019 Toyota/Save Mart 350 is expected to run 85 laps and the race distance will remain 350 kilometers.

“The carousel adds a technical aspect to the track that will be a challenge for the drivers. I’m looking forward to the FOX broadcasts of the race weekend next year and analyzing how the teams deal with this new challenge,” said Gordon, a five-time Sonoma winner.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Sonoma Raceway for the 2019 Toyota/Save Mart 350, June 21-23. Sonoma Raceway will celebrate its 50th anniversary season throughout the year and will announce additional plans in the coming months. For more information on upcoming raceway events or to secure tickets for 2019, visit www.sonomaraceway.com or call 800-870-7223.

Posted on by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski recorded the fastest lap in Saturday’s final Monster Energy Series practice at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course – before he crashed his primary car just before the practice session ended.

Keselowski pushed his No. 2 Team Penske Ford to 105.596 mph in a lap around the 17-turn, 2.28-mile track before he brought out the red flag with about 10 minutes remaining in the 50-minute practice session when he hopped over a “turtle” bumper coming into Turn 17 and crashed into the wall. He will go to a backup car for Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 RELATED: Final practice results

William Byron was second-fastest in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after moving his car around the track at 105.072 mph. Kyle Larson (104.995 mph), Paul Menard (104.982 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (104.876 mph) rounded out the top five.

The practice was devoid of the kind of crushing wrecks that came in the earlier practice as drivers were helped by NASCAR moving the angle of the tire barrier wall on the backstretch chicane. The wall was angled back to give cars more room — about four feet — to maneuver through the turns.

That was the wall that both Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones plowed into during the earlier practice, forcing both to backup cars for Sunday’s race.

According to the No. 41 team, Kurt Busch’s Stewart-Haas Racing Ford lost power in the first practice of the day because of an electrical issue. It was back on track for final practice after repairs, but nothing was done that will force Busch to surrender the pole or start in the rear.

Two cars served practice holds in the final 15 minutes: the No. 00 of Landon Cassill and the No. 51 of Stanton Barrett (both late to pre-race inspection). Additionally, the first 10 minutes of the final practice were designated as restart practice.

RELATED: Early practice results

Jimmie Johnson topped the leaderboard in Saturday morning’s early Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course, maneuvering the 17-turn, 2.28-mile track at 105.175 mph in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Daniel Hemric was second-fastest in the No. 8 Chevrolet at 104.962 mph. Martin Truex Jr. (104.878 mph), Brad Keselowski (104.870 mph) and Kyle Busch (104.753) rounded out the top five.

The second Monster Energy Series practice session of the weekend once again contained plenty of action as drivers sought to master the new road course. Notable incidents involved wrecks for Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones, and a mechanical issue for pole-sitter Kurt Busch.

About seven minutes into the 55-minute session, Wallace crumpled the front of his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet when he slammed hard into the tire barrier on the backstretch chicane after getting loose. Wallace was able to walk from the car, but will go to a backup car for Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC / NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With about six minutes before the end of the session, Jones hit the same tire barrier on the backstretch chicane, wrecking the front of No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The crew began rolling out the backup car as the No. 20 was towed from the track while practice ended.

Kurt Busch had a mechanical issue that slowed his car and necessitated him stopping his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford between Turns 3 and 4. He needed the assistance of a tow truck to push the car back to the garage for repairs.

 

Posted on by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — Competition officials Saturday morning announced updates to the in-race penalty procedures for this weekend’s NASCAR events on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

The updated race procedures specifically involve penalties for shortcuts at the 2.28-mile track’s two chicanes, marked as Turns 11-12 and Turns 15-17. The decision was reached after receiving feedback from teams and drivers after Friday’s on-track activity.

Both sections are outlined by curbing. The latter chicane, just beyond the pit entrance and the oval track’s Turn 4, is also defined by synthetic turf.

Should a driver cut the course in the Turn 11-12 chicane, the penalty would require drivers to come to a full stop in the restart zone alongside Turns 15-17. If a driver cuts the Turns 15-17 chicane, they would be required to stop on the apron off the racing surface before the start-finish line.

RELATED: Charlotte road course 101 | Turn-by-turn analysis

Teams would be assessed a pass-through penalty if drivers fail to serve their penalties by stopping in the designated areas. Pass-through penalties would also be issued if, in NASCAR’s discretion, drivers intentionally cut the chicanes.

NASCAR will also use its discretion to determine whether drivers should be penalized for missing either chicane if they are attempting to avoid an accident. In that case, NASCAR officials would forgo penalties and re-order the lineup based on running position before the evasive action.

In the previously outlined procedures, officials were to either issue a pass-through penalty on pit road or assess a 30-second time infraction if the penalty was unable to be served during the race distance. The 30-second penalty still applies to violations under the new procedures.

The updated procedures will be in place for Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 200 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Sunday’s inaugural Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM) in the Monster Energy Series.

Competition and track officials also applied rubber to two areas of the track before Saturday’s on-track activity. The “Tire Dragon” machine, designed to enhance grip by dragging used tires onto the racing surface, was used in Turns 3-4 and 5-6 after Friday’s Busch Pole Qualifying and before Saturday’s Monster Energy Series practice.

Posted on by Staff Report

Trackside Live is heading back to Charlotte Motor Speedway to help celebrate the first Roval weekend in NASCAR history. The two shows will be on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET and Sunday, Sept. 30 at 10:15 a.m. ET.

WATCH: Trackside Live | MORE: Full schedule for Roval | Buy your tickets

Don’t miss your chance to meet your favorite drivers and get in on the playoff action!

Posted on by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Larson has qualified among the top five for the last three Watkins Glen races and won the pole position at Sonoma Raceway two years running.

So perhaps Friday’s fifth-place qualifying effort ahead of Sunday’s inaugural Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) shouldn’t present such a striking surprise for the driver of Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 42 Chevrolet. Still, Larson was hesitant to take on the label of road-race specialist ahead of the first Monster Energy Series event on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s combination road course and oval layout.

RELATED: Turn-by-turn at the Roval | See every car in the field

“Maybe a qualifying expert, but not a race expert, that’s for sure,” Larson said. “I seem to struggle when it comes to racing on road courses. For whatever reason, I feel like our cars always qualify good on short tracks and road courses. We’ve gotten better in race conditions, so hopefully this weekend we can have a decent balance on it and not be too out of control and keep from making a mistake. We’ve seen a lot of people have issues already, so just try to be cautious to not make a bad day out of Sunday.”

Larson was involved in test sessions at the 2.28-mile course then rolled to the sixth-best time in Friday’s opening Monster Energy Series practice. But the Roval circuit continues to be a mystery for the 40-car field in terms of what to expect in race conditions.

RELATED: Full schedule for Charlotte | Starting lineup

With drivers not yet pushing the limits to complete passes, side-by-side action has been limited so far. That’s why Larson says he’ll be a curious observer in Saturday’s preliminary event, the Drive for the Cure 200 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“I’m definitely going to be paying attention to the Xfinity race to see how they start that thing,” Larson said, “then also just seeing how we go down to the end of pit road.” The layout requires a sharp left at the commitment line, a tight turn if cars are running abreast.

Whatever the outcome, the week has already been a memorable one in the life-event category for Larson, with Sunday’s event coming on the heels of his Wednesday wedding to longtime girlfriend Katelyn Sweet. The couple was engaged last December and has two children, 3 1/2-year-old son Owen and 4-month-old daughter Audrey.

MORE: Larson, Sweet tie the knot

Friday afternoon on pit road, Larson reflected on the nuptials with equal parts elation and relief.

“I feel like our lives are so, there’s no certain schedule or stuff,” Larson said. “We’re pretty crazy and just go with the flow of things, so having a midweek wedding in the middle of the season, middle of the playoffs is just normal life. It’s just cool to get it done, and it went perfect. It was a lot of fun. Glad to have it over with, though. I slept a bunch yesterday. I’m ready to go home and sleep some more.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

CONCORD, N.C. – Kurt Busch and his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford crashed the Chevrolet party at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Friday, winning the pole for a race in which the word “crash” could be commonplace.

Running late in the final round, Busch toured the 2.28-mile, 17-corner course in 76.805 seconds (106.868 mph) to edge road-course ace AJ Allmendinger (76.846 seconds at 106.811 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Full results | Weekend schedule | Best photos

On a track that will host its first NASCAR events this weekend, Busch earned his fourth Busch Pole Award of the season and the 26th of his career, after spending time on the Ford simulator preparing for the debut race.

“This is really special to win any inaugural race or pole,” Busch said. “To have this little trophy next to me means a lot. It brings me back to my past, when you go into a new event and you’re a rookie, you have to execute with fundamentals and an open mind. 

“The way our team on the 41 car approached this weekend was to make sure that we had all bases covered, with front cambers, rear shocks — the setup in general and all those little things. Behind the scenes, I spent over two days at the Ford simulator, working on the Roval, making sure my shift points were proper, braking zones. …

“When you have such good technology available to you, it’s a matter of utilizing it. I turned 40 this year, and here I am on the simulator, acting like it’s a video game. You have to do those things, and I’m really happy that it panned out today.” 

Led by Allmendinger, Chevrolets claimed the next five starting spots and eight of the top 12. Alex Bowman (106.800 mph) qualified third, followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott (106.596 mph). Both drivers are in vulnerable positions entering the Round of 16 cutoff race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Jimmie Johnson earned the fifth and sixth spots on the grid for what should prove an action-packed race, based on a continuous succession of incidents in opening practice. 

WATCH: All the opening practice incidents

“We’re going to see two races, I think,” said Allmendinger, who said he probably could have nit-picked his final-round lap and found an extra half second, provided he stayed mistake-free. “You’re either going to see everybody get so cautious because of all the accidents in practice, and people are on the cutoff line for the playoffs; or we’re race car drivers, and we’re not very smart and we just go out there and get crazy and tear up a lot of stuff.

“Either one could happen, and I think it’ll probably be the second.” 

WATCH: Drivers’ thoughts on Roval: ‘We’ll deliver in a big way’

Playoff drivers Clint Bowyer and Ryan Blaney qualified seventh and ninth, respectively, in Fords, with Erik Jones taking the 12th starting position in the only Toyota in the top 12.

Chevrolet driver Chis Buescher qualified 10th, followed by Daniel Hemric, who was announced on Friday as the full-time driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, starting in 2019. Hemric is driving the No. 8 RCR Chevy for his second Cup start this weekend.

None of NASCAR’s Big 3 advanced to the final round. Martin Truex Jr. claimed the 13th starting spot, missing the final 12 by .040 seconds. Kyle Busch will start 14th and fellow seven-time winner Kevin Harvick 19th.

Joey Logano earned the 15th spot, with fellow playoff drivers Aric Almirola 20th, Austin Dillon 24th, Brad Keselowski 25th and Denny Hamlin 27th.

Hamlin, who entered the weekend ranked last among 16 playoff drivers, encountered trouble early in the first round on his initial qualifying lap as he clipped the barrier wall on the backstretch chicane that sent him careening into the outside wall and causing damage to the rear of his car. Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew was able to repair his Toyota for him to make another qualifying lap, but his speed was still worst among playoff drivers. He will go to a backup car for Sunday’s race and start from the rear.

Moments later, Jones tagged that same wall — the one that also caused damage to Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet in practice earlier in the day — but continued on, despite some damage. He still managed the 11th-fastest lap in the first round.

Brad Keselowski also damaged the side skirt on his No. 2 Team Penske Ford when he ran over a “turtle” bumper at an awkward angle in his initial qualifying lap.

Contributing: Staff Reports

Posted on by Holly Cain

For the first time in his seven-year full-time career, Aric Almirola is on his way to advancing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. He’s not just making an appearance on the big stage, he’s ready to contend. 

The 34-year old Tampa, Florida, native is in his first season driving the No. 10 Ford for the championship-winning Stewart-Haas Racing team. And there is a smile on his face and confidence in his heart as he prepares for Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course (at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Almirola is ranked sixth among the 16 playoff drivers with a 23-point cushion on the cut line – only two points behind fifth-place Joey Logano and six points over seventh-place Kyle Larson. 

RELATED: Playoff standings

He didn’t luck his way into contention and he hasn’t coasted on the first-year accomplishment with his team.

“I think we (home) in on what we do and we show up and put our head down and go to work, and some weekends it’s good enough to run up front and win, and some weekends it’s not,” Almirola said. “But our goal is to go and maximize every week and these last couple weeks we’ve showed up to the race track with speed and run up front — and we’ve been kind of riding that high and riding the momentum.” 

With eight races remaining in the 2018 season, Almirola already has almost twice as many top-10 finishes (12) as his next best full season effort (seven in 2014). His 116 laps led this year is almost equal to his total (118) of the previous six full seasons combined.

This is the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs he has qualified for since his lone premier series victory in 2014 in Daytona. And having this most legitimate and promising opportunity to contend at the highest level is clearly something Almirola could get used to. 

He has two top-10 finishes — sixth at Las Vegas and fifth at Richmond – in the two opening playoff races, and earned a healthy points cushion as the series debuts on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn Charlotte road course this weekend.

“We’ve been kind of riding that high and that momentum from showing up at all sorts of different race tracks with speed, and our team is coming together,” Almirola explained.

“Our team is jelling. (Crew chief) Johnny (Klausmeier) and myself are getting on the same page. We’re a young team. Most of our guys on our team are in their late 20s and early 30s. It’s Johnny’s first year of being a crew chief at anything. … And this is my first year with the organization, so we’ve kind of gone through some growing pains and continue to go through some. But building together and working together has been so much fun and I feel like we’ve had a lot of success and we’ve run really good, and our ceiling for potential is so high.”

Almirola conceded that the elimination race this weekend will be a good test for himself and the team. He’s never won on a road course. His best showing on either of the Monster Energy Series’ longtime road courses — in Sonoma or Watkins Glen – is an eighth-place finish at Sonoma just this summer.

In fact, Almirola noted that in preparation for this job with SHR, he had made it a personal priority to raise his road-course skills.

“Going into this year, I would say on a scale of 1-10 (I was) about a two,” Almirola said, laughing. “Slightly above novice, but I have put so much work and so much effort into it this year, knowing that I would be the weak link, knowing that the cars were gonna be good, and knowing that I was gonna have the tools and resources at my disposal to get better, and to have teammates that are really good at it to lean on.

“That’s the first time in my career that I’ve had the car, the tools, the people, the teammates and so I’ve put a full-out effort on getting better at road-course racing because I knew that has been my weakest link on all the tracks that we go to, and I feel like I’m probably a seven now.

“I don’t think I’m even close to being good enough to challenge to win on the road courses that we go to, but I think that I’m very competitive.”

This weekend, Almirola doesn’t necessarily have to win to sustain what’s been a career-best season. He’s proven every bit up for the new job at Stewart-Haas Racing, which has all four Fords qualified for the playoffs: fourth-place Kevin Harvick (seven wins), eighth-place Kurt Busch (one win) and 13th-place Clint Bowyer (two wins), who sits only four points shy of that transfer position. They are the only team in the Monster Energy Series with all four cars in the postseason. 

“I think we’ve proven that the last couple weeks with the runs that we’ve had, and then kind of riding that high and that momentum — and then this week announcing we’ve got a new partnership with Valley Technical Academy — it just feels right,” Almirola said. “Like everything is going right. And you see that in sports and especially in racing, where when things get on a roll they just kind of continue to go. And I feel like we’re right there.

“I feel like we’re on the brink of just continuing to keep this momentum going.”

 

Posted on by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR’s frenetic season of rumor mill movement and personnel changes continues in full swing, including two more moves announced Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Chris Buescher, for one, is glad his name isn’t in play.

JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Tad Geschickter indicated Friday that Buescher would return for a third season in the team’s No. 37 Chevrolet, continuing a multiyear deal already in place. The official word came during a Friday morning news conference where the organization tapped Ryan Preece to its No. 47 Chevy in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2019.

RELATED: Silly Season moves

“There’s a mess this season with everything going on,” Buescher said after Friday’s opening practice for Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM). “It is nice to be able to have some continuity, being able to know I’m coming back to the same team to be able to build on what we’ve been able to do the last few years. Honestly, I haven’t run more than two years with a single team since my ARCA days. It seems like it’s always been so much switching around and moving that it’s so hard to build any momentum that way. We’ve been able to find some success in doing it, but it’s really hard.

“To be able to know that we don’t have to go through that process again, that we have a group over here that we know and understand each other and we can work on that for next year, it makes it that much simpler going through the off-season.”

Buescher will have a new teammate in Preece, 27 and two years his elder. The Connecticut native will replace AJ Allmendinger at season’s end, advancing to his first full Monster Energy Series campaign next year.

RELATED: Preece moves up in 2019 | Full schedule for Charlotte

Though he doesn’t know his new JTG Daugherty stablemate that well yet, Buescher says he’s liked what he’s seen from Preece so far in Whelen Modified Tour and Xfinity Series competition. He also says he appreciates his can-do spirit.

“I think he’ll bring something to the table that reminds me a little bit of myself,” Buescher said. “He works on his stuff, he knows (cars) in and out. It’s not one of those deals where he’s just bringing this big sponsor in and that’s how everything happened. It’s somebody that has talent and can go out there and get the job done.”

Another news nugget dropped by Geschickter in Friday’s media session is that the team will switch to Hendrick Motorsports engines next season. It’s a technology connection that Buescher hopes will help lift the two-car team from its current rank of 23rd and 24th in the team owner standings.

“That’s something that has been the works for a long time and really glad that everybody was able to make that happen,” Buescher said. “Everybody at JTG and HMS, to get that deal in place so that we can go into next year and feel like we can have the most horsepower we can possibly get. … I think that’ll be really good for us going forward to have that alliance. At the same time, we’re trying to do a lot ourselves and trying to be as independent as we can be, but being smart about it.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Only four points separate 12th-place Ryan Blaney and 13th-place Clint Bowyer heading into the season’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff elimination race, however neither driver seemed overly concerned or palpably troubled about the high stakes playoff implications of Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 (at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Only the top 12 drivers following the race will continue on in the playoffs, championship eligible. But the fact is — no one truly knows what to expect for Sunday’s debut of the 17-turn, 2.28-mile track at Charlotte Motor Speedway that includes a brand-new, infield road course as well as portions of the traditional 1.5-mile speedway.

RELATED: Playoff standings

It’s a big weekend for racers and race track.

The veteran Bowyer is making his first playoff appearance since 2015 and carries a pair of 2018 trophies (at Martinsville and Michigan) in his quest. He had been ranked among the top 10 of the standings all year before suffering some tough playoff luck in the last two weeks’ opening pair of championship races.

He finished 23rd at the Las Vegas Playoff opener and 10th at Richmond last week. However, far from being panicked, the always-affable Bowyer insisted Friday morning before opening practice at the Charlotte road course that he was in a good place competitively and ready to make up that point gap. 

“I think any time you have something new like this, you have to look at it like an opportunity and I need an opportunity,” said Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford who spent 10 weeks as one of only four drivers with multiple wins this season. 

“Four points out of the playoffs and you need a good opportunity and that’s exactly what this track is. We had a good test here and I made a lot of laps that were relatively comfortable and I enjoyed it. 

“I’m going to enjoy this weekend. The opportunity is there and we’ve got to go out there and take it.

In the morning trackside news conferences, both drivers were asked more questions about the new playoff road course than about their particular precarious position in the standings. 

Alex Bowman sits only one more point to the good than Blaney, the first-year Hendrick Motorsports driver holding a five-point edge on the playoff cutoff position. His veteran Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson is ranked 14th, only six points behind Blaney and seven behind Bowman.

Both Bowyer and Johnson – two veterans — have won a Cup road course race in their careers; neither Blaney nor Bowman have. Bowyer won at Sonoma in 2012. The seven-time Cup champion Johnson won there in 2010. Blaney’s best road course finish in three full-time seasons of Cup competition was an eighth-place finish at Watkins Glen in 2017. Bowman’s best showing in his three full-time seasons was a ninth at Sonoma this summer. 

Johnson has a series-high eight wins on the Charlotte 1.5-miler, Bowyer has one. Neither Blaney nor Bowman has won at the Cup level there. 

Yet as teams prepared for opening practice on Friday – with the threat of rain creating another variable — the great unknown of the venue dominated talk of who would advance to the next round of the playoffs. 

WATCH: First Roval practice incidents

“It is what it is,” said Blaney, the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford. “It’s a race track and we have our job to do.  … You have to make the best of it and I don’t think you can judge it really at all right now. You just have to get on it, race it and overcome it. 

“If you have a bad outlook at it you’re already kinda behind the 8-ball. You have to be positive about it and just try to do the best job you can, especially when you’re in our position. We’ve got to have a really good day Sunday to try and advance to the next round.” 

Bowyer was also quick to bring up another element to this weekend’s competition: The fans. His Stewart-Haas Racing team held a big fan Open House this week since the race was in NASCAR’s Charlotte hub and he said the excitement for the venue was readily evident. And, he reminded, that would be a good thing to build upon. 

“You know this was a good gauge for me,” Bowyer said. “Yesterday we did a fan day at the shop at Stewart-Haas Racing and the turnout was phenomenal. It really took me back pre-2008 in the world and especially our world of NASCAR, the energy, the turnout, the crowd that’s the way I remember the height of this baby. 

“We finally have something new to sell to a fan and let me tell you, they’re excited to see it. That got me excited. I think (Charlotte Motor Speedway executive) Marcus (Smith) has done a good job of turning this into an “event,” not just another race. 

“I think we’re all going to be excited to see the crowd that shows up for this race. We’re all going to see something new and it’s exciting to be on the forefront of this. 

“We’re trying something new in our sport and I’m happy our sport is doing that.” 

Especially so, Bowyer said smiling, if the new venue results in his ticket to keep advancing in the playoffs.