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RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid

Breaking down the full field for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

1. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Huge win for Johnson … even when it’s the 78th of your Sprint Cup career and you have six championships. Johnson led a race-high 155 laps and moved into the Round of 8 of the Chase for the first time under the current format. Grade: A+

2. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth started in the rear of the field because of prerace adjustments to his car … was penalized for too many men over the wall … and still finished in the top five. On a day when five Chasers were body slammed by big issues, Kenseth’s second place was almost as big as Johnson’s win. Grade: A

3. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne posted his best finish since his last win — in August 2014 at Atlanta. Grade: A

4. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Great run for Newman, who snagged his second top-five finish of the season. Grade: A

5. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Larson’s eighth top-five finish ties his career best, set in his rookie season two years ago. Grade: A

6. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite an early tire issue that put him a lap down and damage sustained in the big wreck on Lap 259, Busch came away with a big top 10. Grade: A

7. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. The No. 2 was one of many teams penalized for having its crew over the wall too soon, but Keselowski prevailed in the end, grabbing his 105th top 10 since the start of the 2012 season, tying Kevin Harvick for the most top 10s over the past five years. Grade: A

8. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. When Busch was told which Chase cars were caught up in the big wreck on Lap 259, he said, “Charlotte has turned into Talladega.” Nice line. Even better was his finish on a day he didn’t have one of his stronger cars. Grade: A

9. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. As you’ll see, attrition was the friend to many drivers Sunday, including Stewart, who was tagged for speeding during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 114. His 17.6 averaging running position was easily the highest among the top-10 finishers. Grade: A

10. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Solid day for McMurray, who sustained left front damage in the big wreck on Lap 259. His 325 laps in the top 15 were behind only Jimmie Johnson (332) and Carl Edwards (327). Grade: A

11. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick’s finish is her best since her last top 10, a ninth-place finish at Bristol in April 2015. Grade: B+

12. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Although Edwards never challenged for the lead, his 8.4 average running position was third-best, trailing only Jimmie Johnson (3.4) and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin (6.4). Grade: B+

13. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. Truex touched off the big wreck on the restart on Lap 259 when he got into the back of Austin Dillon — who restarted second — and sent him spinning and crashing hard into the inside wall. Truex said he was “trying to give him a shove and I just turned him completely around like a damn idiot.” Truex was contrite after the race, as well, but the damage was done. On the flip side … during a yellow-flag pit stop on Lap 311, karma made an appearance in the No. 78 pits when Truex’s clutch failed and he had trouble leaving his stall. He had been running third; he restarted 16th. Grade: D

14. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. Hats off to McDowell, who posted the fifth-best finish of his Sprint Cup career (207 starts). Grade: A

15. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola just missed getting tagged by Austin Dillon as Dillon’s car spun back onto the track after smashing nose-first into the inside wall on Lap 259. Almirola, who is still looking for his first top 10 of the season, posted his sixth top-15 finish of 2016. Grade: B

16. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. In his 36th career start, Buescher registered his fourth-best finish. Grade: B+

17. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Bowyer took home his best finish since his most-recent top 10, three months ago at Daytona. Grade: B

18. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Despite his top-20 finish, Bayne wasn’t exactly competitive Sunday: Of the drivers who finished in the top 20, he ran the fewest laps in the top 15 — one. Grade B-

19. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Six of Cassill’s 24 career top-20 finishes have come this season, one fewer than his career-best seven in 2012. Grade: A

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse has made more starts at Charlotte, 10, than at any other Sprint Cup track but is still looking for his first top-10 finish. He about nailed his average finish of 20.8, though. Grade: C

21. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Speaking of average finishes at Charlotte, Smith ran to form, as 20.7 is Smith’s number. Grade: B

22. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Scott posted his best finish at Charlotte in four starts. Grade: B

23. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Ragan registered his best finish at Charlotte since he finished 11th five years ago in his final Charlotte start for Jack Roush. Grade: B

24. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Making his 100th career Sprint Cup start, Annett posted his second-best finish of the season. Grade: B

25. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. DiBenedetto’s finish was his fourth best of the season. Grade: B

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 32 Ford, Go Fas Racing. Earnhardt posted the best finish of his career (19 starts). Grade: A-

27. Cole Whitt, No. 98 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Whitt posted one of his best finishes of the season to help Premium Motorsports put both of its cars in the top 30 for the first time since Kentucky in July. Grade: B-

28. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Ditto. See Whitt. Grade: B-

29. Josh Wise, No. 30 Chevrolet, The Motorsports Group. Our attrition theme that began with Tony Stewart ends here with Wise, who has posted only three better finishes all season. Grade: C

30. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin was running second with fewer than 30 laps to go when his engine blew up with “no warning” (Hamlin’s words). It also was a massive break for the four Chase drivers — Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick — who finished below Hamlin. If Hamlin had finished in the top five — or simply ahead of Martin Truex Jr. — the four would have been 19 to 24 points behind Truex (assuming Truex still finished 13th) for the final spot to advance to the next round. Instead, the four range from three to eight points behind Hamlin for the eighth spot. That’s a huge difference. Grade: D

31. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Blaney had been competitive most of the afternoon before he was collected in the Lap 259 mess when he ran into Chase Elliott who had spun and was facing the wrong direction against the outside wall. Grade: C

32. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. The No. 3 team’s decision to take two tires – when the rest of the top cars took four — might have factored into the multi-car wreck that ensued after Dillon picked up nine spots to restart second on Lap 259. But it’s not as if he spun his tires, had a poor restart and stacked up the field. This mess belonged to Martin Truex Jr. The team’s troubles on his first two pit stops that played into his inferior track position, however, did not. Grade: C-

33. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Say all you want about Elliott’s decision to slow as he reached the end of pit road, which ultimately lined him up on the inside of the third row behind Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr. and resulted in him being collected in the ensuing Lap 259 melee. But it doesn’t change two facts: Elliott had led a race-high 103 laps to that point, and Truex, not  Elliott, ignited the wreck. Elliott was among the drivers who deserved better. Grade: B

34. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard was one of two drivers who ran into Chase Elliott‘s turned-around car in the Lap 259 carnage. Unfortunately for Menard, his car didn’t survive the impact. Grade: C-

35. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Tire issues, a pit-road speeding penalty and contact with the wall all preceded the No. 16’s demise in the big wreck. Grade: F

36. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. Tire troubles sent the No. 22 into the wall on two separate occasions (bringing out the third and fourth cautions). He was running 16th when it happened the second time, and the damage forced a trip to the garage. Logano was 78 laps back when he returned to the track, and he was able to improve his finish by one spot. We’ll know if that one point is a difference-maker after Talladega. Grade: F

37. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. The No. 47 was racy with the new Richard Childress Racing chassis, but he hit the wall hard on Lap 254, and that ended his day. Grade: D

38. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick was running fourth on Lap 154 when the No. 4 abruptly lost power. An oil pump bearing was the culprit. Harvick never returned. He has finished 37th and 38th the past two races, the first time he has posted back-to-back finishes in the 30s in more than two years. Grade: F

39. Alex Bowman, No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Bowman was running third on Lap 62 when the No. 88 cut a tire, ran up the race track, hit the wall and collected Casey Mears. The DNF marked Bowman’s worst finish in his fifth race in relief of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Grade: F

40. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Mears was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when Alex Bowman ran up the track after cutting a tire. Grade: U (for Unfortunate)

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RELATED: Tire dragon goes to work at Kentucky

Kentucky Speedway announced Monday that it will add another surface layer of asphalt to the 1.5-mile track this month.


The Bluegrass State circuit underwent a full reconfiguration earlier this year that included a increased banking in Turns 1 and 2, improved drainage, additional energy-absorbing SAFER barrier and a total repave. The work was completed ahead of a tripleheader NASCAR weekend for all three national series July 7-9.


“When our team examined the race track, portions of the paving performed earlier this year did not meet the construction specifications,” Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Simendinger said in a release provided by the track. “These deficiencies had no impact on this year’s racing and would affect only the long-term viability of the surface if left uncorrected. In order to remedy these issues, an additional surface course of asphalt will be applied. The track will cure over the winter and be fully in use in the spring.”


The speedway indicated that all work would be complete in October. The track hosts two NASCAR weekends on the 2017 schedule, the first for all three national series July 6-8 and a return trip for the XFINITY Series in September.

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RELATED: Recap of Jimmie’s wins | Recap all of Dale Sr.’s wins

Jimmie Johnson just got the biggest endorsement in NASCAR: from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“To be honest, yes I am rooting for Jimmie to get this championship,” Junior said in “The Dale Jr. Download” posted on Dirty Mo Radio Monday afternoon, which coincidentally was Earnhardt’s 42nd birthday. “I believe he does deserve it after everything he has put into the sport.”


A seventh championship for Johnson, a Hendrick Motorsports teammate of Junior, would tie the No. 48 driver with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the most championships ever won by a driver.


“I’m real excited for Jimmie,” Junior said. “He’s chasing that seventh championship to put him up there with Richard and my father. He wants that so badly. We’ve had a few conversations about that, and I know how much that would mean to him.


“He is one of the greatest drivers this sport has seen. Obviously to win five championships in a row is undeniable, and the arguments are undeniable that he is one of the greatest. He ranks right up there with the old man and anyone else you want to bring into that conversation.”


In February, Johnson got his 76th career premier series race victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, tying Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time wins list.


Junior, who finished second to his teammate that day said, “Knowing Jimmie Johnson and the way he operates, Dad would have loved Jimmie. How can you not like Jimmie? He’s just a good guy who never stepped over the line with anything he’s ever said or anything he’s ever did.”


Johnson got his 77th win, passing Earnhardt’s record, three weeks later at Fontana. He now has three wins on the season and is locked into the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with his Charlotte victory.


For this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Junior predicts that the No. 24 of Chase Elliott, another Hendrick teammate, will make it to the Round of 8 as well despite a rough day at Charlotte. He led 103 laps but finished 33rd after winding up in a wreck just after a Lap 259 restart with fellow Chase driver Austin Dillon and several others.


All the Hendrick cars looked good at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Junior said. The No. 88 was piloted by Alex Bowman, who wrecked early and finished 39th in the Bank of America 500. Earnhardt said he plans to attend all of the remaining 2016 Sprint Cup races except Phoenix.


“I knew and said many times during the summer that I knew when the Chase came around we would rebound and be strong,” Junior said in the podcast. “And we have. It makes me excited to get back in the car when I do.”

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Ryan Newman and Richard Childress Racing announced Monday that they had agreed on a multi-year contract extension to keep the veteran in the No. 31 Chevrolet.

 

Newman is wrapping up his third full-time season with Childress, and he’s notched 12 top-five finishes — including a fourth-place effort Sunday at Charlotte — and 40 top-10s during that time span.

“Ryan’s consistency on the track has been a benefit to our organization and this extension solidifies the future of our racing program,” said Richard Childress, Chairman and CEO of RCR. “Ryan proved the first year he was here that we could contend for championships and with this continuation, I believe we can fulfill our commitment to winning races and a championship. Ryan has worked hard to represent many of our partners, especially the primary sponsors Caterpillar, Grainger and WIX Filters, helping them to get the most out of their respective racing programs.”

 

While Newman and Childress have not won together, the driver advanced to the Championship 4 in 2014 and raced Kevin Harvick for the win — and championship — in the closing laps before finishing second.

 

“I am pleased to continue driving for Richard Childress Racing,” said Newman. “Our goal to win a championship all but turned into a reality during our first year together. I feel like since then, we have some unfinished business to complete. I’m fortunate to have forged a great relationship with my crew chief Luke Lambert, and I very much want to not only help him reach our goal of winning a Cup championship but also getting him his first Cup victory.”

 

RCR’s three-team lineup also includes Austin Dillon in the No. 3 and Paul Menard in the No. 27.

 

Newman’s return likely means Ty Dillon will not drive full time for the Richard Childress Racing contingent in 2017. Previously, Ty Dillon said he planned on being in the Sprint Cup Series full time in 2017.

 

“We’ve got a lot of options on the table,” Dillon said in July at Iowa Speedway. ” … I had talks with other teams in the past couple years and had opportunities, but it’s always been my dream to drive for RCR and be teammates with my brother.”

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RELATED: Harvick on his day | Logano on his troubles | Results | Chase Grid


CONCORD, N.C. — Joey Logano picked up a single point, and only time will tell if that seemingly insignificant amount will make any difference as drivers in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup regroup and prepare to head to Kansas Speedway (Oct. 16, 2:15 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) next weekend.

The Team Penske driver spent approximately 80 laps in the garage after bouncing off the wall a second time during Sunday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

His team, led by crew chief Todd Gordon, made repairs as best they could, then sent Logano back out onto the track in the scarred yellow No. 22 Ford. That helped him gain one more point, for a total of six in the race.

Kevin Harvick got no such second chance. Electrical issues had surfaced on the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet just before Logano crashed into the wall a second time.

There was no repairing the internal breakage for Harvick, and the 2014 series champion bowed out after 155 laps of the 334-lap event, 38th in the 40-car field.

“We’re not out by any means,” said Logano, who swept all three races in the Round of 12 a year ago. “We had a very fast car. … It was capable of winning.

“Things happen. It’s part of racing, but we’re not out.”

Logano finished 36th, one spot ahead of AJ Allmendinger whose No. 47 Chevrolet was silenced a bit later. One position and one point may not make a difference in the next two races of this round. Then again, as strange as Sunday’s race — which was postponed one day due to Hurricane Matthew — turned out to be, why take a chance?

A year ago, Logano won all three Chase races in the second round. Now, the No. 22 team will regroup and focus on Kansas and, beyond that, Talladega.

“We’re still fighting,” Logano said. “We’ve got a really good race team and we can go to Kansas and win. These two race tracks, Charlotte and Kansas, are our best ones and we proved last year that we can do it and we’ll just have to do it again.”

Harvick led once for 12 laps at CMS after starting on the pole. While he fell off the lead lap once when a round of green-flag pit stops were interrupted by a caution, he was able to get his lap back when Logano tagged the wall for the first time on Lap 117.

Barely 30 laps later, the No. 4 Chevrolet slowed and Harvick headed to the garage, done for the day.

It was the third DNF for the team this season.

“I thought it was a power issue,” he said, “so I cycled through everything. By the time I figured out what happened it just shut off. It looks like low oil pressure.

“I hate it for everybody … they made some great adjustments today and got our car back where we needed to be to run up front and everything was going fine.”

Logano (3,006) and Harvick (3,004) departed CMS 11th and 12th in the Chase standings, respectively. Only the top eight will advance to the next round.

Because other Chase drivers had problems of their own, the two find themselves just six (Logano) and eight (Harvick) behind eighth-place Denny Hamlin (3,012).

Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott also had trouble — both were involved in a late-race crash on a restart — and are ninth and 10th in points.


READ: Elliott, Dillon involved in big wreck


“Lots of things can go wrong,” Harvick said, “and today they did.”


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RELATED: Updated Chase Grid | Race results


CONCORD, N.C. — One point.


One point separated Ty Dillon from Darrell Wallace Jr. in the Chase Grid after Sunday’s elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway that dwindled the field of 12 to eight drivers.


And with one point, Dillon’s 2016 championship run came to a sorrowful end.


“Man, it’s heartbreaking,” an emotional Dillon said after the race. “We’re a team that should have been in the final round and you’ve got to expect things to happen, which happened in the first race at Kentucky. That’s the way this Chase is built. Things happen, some of the best cars are going to get knocked out. But you’ve got to be able to rebound if you’re going to win a championship and we weren’t able to rebound good enough.”


The Chase bubble fluctuated throughout the 300-mile event, as initial problems for Wallace & Co. set the No. 6 back in the field and on the Chase Grid. But Dillon’s crash that resulted in a 27th-place finish in the opening Chase race at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago put the No. 3 camp in an upward battle that needed an especially strong run at Charlotte.


And despite posting a runner-up result last week at Dover, Dillon’s 11th-place finish Sunday didn’t cut it, as he struggled to pass 10th-place Ryan Sieg on older tires for that one point he needed to advance.


“We had so much momentum coming off Dover,” Dillon said. “Had a car capable of winning a race and today we couldn’t even stay on the lead lap, so it’s just very upsetting.


“… I’ve wanted this championship so bad every year I’ve ran the XFINITY Series. Just, it hurts.”


As the checkered flag waved as the sun set in North Carolina, Wallace Jr. was on the other side of the Chase bubble, his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford advancing with a 20th-place result. But after battling a torn-up nose, pit road penalty and free-handling race car in the day time, Wallace was less than thrilled about his performance.


“We don’t deserve to be in the Chase,” Wallace said on pit road after the race. “Just bummed we couldn’t have a better showing for Leidos, especially at our home track. … When we race during the day, no matter what track we go to, we are all over the place. But here when nightfall came about, they were telling me to be conservative, but I felt like I could have drove up there to the lead, how much different the car was and how much better it drove.


“We’re missing something … I don’t know what … we’ve got going on for daytime stuff, but it’s just a bummer — yeah, cool we made it to the next round. But who the hell is happy about the way we ran?”


Despite the messy run, Wallace expressed gratitude for his advancement to the next round, a chance to improve upon the team’s daytime racing program.


“My team never gave up and I never gave up,” Wallace said. “Never got too pissed off, too frustrated, never put her in the fence. (Ran) up there in the top, I was trying to get it all I could to keep us going … We’ve just got to get better. I don’t like running 20th.”


Wallace will move on to Kansas next week to vie for the XFINITY Series championship, along with Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Justin Allgaier, Blake Koch, Brendan Gaughan and Ryan Reed.


Brennan Poole — who was forced to change the battery midway through the race in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet — Brandon Jones, Sieg and Dillon were the four drivers eliminated in the opening round of the inaugural XFINITY Series Chase.


For No. 3 crew chief Nick Harrison, these final four races are about redemption, finishing a disappointing Chase on a high note.


“Just one of those deals — you’ve just got to hold your head up and move on to the next race,” Harrison told NASCAR.com in the garage.  “It’s racing and (you’ve) gotta be a big boy — we weren’t good enough to advance, we had ourselves in a hole at Kentucky. Just didn’t make it.


“… The only way to have a little satisfaction of a season is to go out there and win some of these races and that’s definitely what we’re going to do — there will be no give-up here.”

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RELATED: Elliott, Dillon give their perspectives on wreck

CONCORD, N.C. — Leading 103 laps, Chase Elliott looked poised as a contender for the win in Sunday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

But a Lap 258 wreck steered the No. 24 Chevrolet — as well as the No. 3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon — to the garage, rather than Victory Lane, leaving the young drivers just outside the Chase bubble sitting ninth and 10th, respectively.

“We had such a good car and I am devastated that we didn’t get the result that the guys deserved,” Elliott said after the wreck, his No. 24 Chevrolet being scored 33rd. “They gave me such a fast 3M Chevy and that is all you can ask for. We just have got to go and do more of that next week.”

Elliott hung back on pit road before the restart, trying to grab the preferred line. But he wasn’t able to get the fourth spot and lined up fifth, as a gutsy two-tire call put Dillon on the front row. When the green flag waved, Martin Truex Jr. gave Dillon a shove, getting the No. 3 loose and sending it sharply into the SAFER barrier on the inside wall near the exit of pit road.

In a domino effect, Kyle Busch‘s No. 18 hit the back of Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet, causing Elliott to crash in the outside wall. Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Ryan Blaney, Paul Menard, Kurt Busch and Brian Scott were also involved in the multi-car melee that brought out the red flag for more than 10 minutes.

“It just sucks,” Dillon said. “We will have to work hard the next two weeks to get the points back. I felt like I got to third gear pretty clean and then the next thing — I feel contact and I am spinning through the grass. It’s part of it and we took two tires there and you know the risk when you get into it. You just hope that doesn’t happen obviously.”

Crew chief Slugger Labbe echoed his driver’s disappointment.

“We had been behind most of the day and we tried to make something happen by taking two tires,” Labbe told NASCAR.com in the garage. “We had 12 laps on the tires, thought it was the right call and on the restart, Austin had a good restart — the EFI data we just downloaded clearly shows that Austin didn’t spin the tires like the 48 did in the top groove — and Martin (Truex Jr.) just got into him turning left.

“It’s part of it … (No. 78 crew chief) Cole Pearn already sent me a text saying him and Martin feel terrible and he flat out wrecked us. … I’m sure Martin feels bad, (but that) doesn’t fix it and Austin’s pissed. It is what it is. We took a chance, it didn’t work out.”

Truex, who finished 13th, immediately expressed regret for his actions on the radio and then again after the race.

“Unfortunate, but more importantly I want to say that I’m sorry to Austin Dillon, the 3 team, Slugger and all those guys,” Truex said on pit road following the 500-mile event. “I know they’re working hard and they certainly didn’t need me to turn them around on that restart. I feel terrible about that. I was just trying to help get him going and just pushed way too hard so I just want to apologize to those guys and hopefully I can talk to Austin and make sure he’s OK with everything.”

Elliott and Dillon weren’t the only Chase drivers to experience misfortune: Denny Hamlin‘s No. 11 Toyota blew up late in the race, while Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano experienced electric and tire issues, respectively, that left them at the bottom of the Chase Grid.

For Labbe, that provides a little encouragement with two races left before the next round of eliminations.

“We were the underdogs, no one expected us to be here, so we could take chances,” Labbe said. “We took a chance, unfortunately we got dumped, that’s the way it goes. The thing that’s neat going to Kansas is there’s five Chase guys that had a bad day: the 11 blowing up, obviously the 4 guys, us … So it’s kind of crazy, but it is what it is — you don’t want it to happen but it’s the Chase and you gotta win.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Alex Bowman‘s promising start from the front row Sunday ended early with a crumpled No. 88 Chevrolet at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports entry suffered an apparent tire issue heading into Turn 3 on the 1.5-mile track, skidding into the outside retaining wall and collecting Casey Mears‘ No. 13 Chevy in its wake. The incident brought out the race’s second yellow flag on Lap 62 of a scheduled 334 in the Bank of America 500 and ended the 23-year-old’s day quite early.


Both cars were officially out of the race. Bowman was evaluated and released unhurt from the infield care center.

“They knew we were here, that is all that matters,” said Bowman, who was in third place at the time of the incident. “There is nothing more I can do, nothing more anybody on the race team can do. They all do a great job and did everything right, just bad luck.”

Bowman, who started second in the 40-car field, was making his fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the season as a substitute for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is out for the remainder of the 2016 season due to a concussion. Earnhardt was at the track atop the pit box of the No. 88 and looked on as the race car got pulled to the garage area.


Mears started 29th and failed to make major gains with an ill-handling car in the early going. “It’s too bad he didn’t put us out of our misery there,” Mears said of his contact with Bowman. “We were having a rough start of it. We were just kind of hanging on and actually those guys were going by us.”

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Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth, one of 12 drivers in the Round of 12 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, will start Sunday’s Bank of America 500 (noon ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Charlotte Motor Speedway from the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments.


The No. 20 Toyota was forced to make pre-race changes due to repairs made for a trackbar mount, according to the team. His car went through the inspection process multiple times.


Kenseth qualified 17th, but will fall back to 40th during pre-race warm-up laps.


All points in the driver standings were reset prior to this round, so all 12 drivers enter Charlotte with 3,000 points.


The Bank of America 500 will start on a green race track, necessitating a competition caution at Lap 25. The final two Sprint Cup Series practices, scheduled for Friday, were canceled due to rain. The race was slated to run Saturday night, but also was pushed back a day due to weather.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Find NBCSN in your area | Watch live online at NBCSports.com

The NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series will gather for a doubleheader showing at Kansas Speedway this weekend. Check out the full schedule below.


Note: All times are ET

SUNDAY, OCT. 16:

PRE-RACE RUN OF SHOW/ON-TRACK SCHEDULE

–1:35 p.m.: NSCS Driver Introductions with NASCAR Special Awards
–2:14:45 p.m.: Moment of silence for police officers

–2:15:15 p.m.: Presentation of Colors by Clinton High School JROTC from Clinton MO

–2:15:35 p.m.: Invocation by R.D. Fowler, Kansas City Raceway Ministries & Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church Lincoln, NE

–2:16:15 p.m.: National Anthem by Samantha Dawn, from Lake of the Ozarks MO

–2:17:30 p.m.: Fly-By TOT: B2 Bomber out of Whiteman AFB (Turn 4 to Turn 1)

–2:22:30 p.m.: “Drivers, Start Your Engines” by Jesse Metcalfe, Actor, Model, and Star of Hallmark Channel’s Chesapeake Shore’s

–2:31 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 (267 laps, 400.5 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Results)


PRESS PASS (Watch live)

— 6 p.m. (approx.): NASCAR Sprint Cup Series post-race


DAILY ROUNDUP

— Harvick wins at Kansas, clinches spot in Round of 8
— See a frame-by-frame of Keselowski’s wreck
— Contact from Hamlin sends Keselowski into the grass
— Tire issues hinder Elliott at Kansas
— See the best photos from Sunday at Kansas
— Ailing Bowman earns career-best finish
— Chase bubble watch: Playoff picture analysis of Talladega
— Logano, Dillon puzzled at how to stop No. 4 team
— Edwards explains costly final restart
— Harvick’s crew celebrate with ‘I believe’ chant


FRIDAY, OCT. 14:

ON TRACK

— 1-2:30 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 2:32-3:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 4:35-5:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 6:15 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App  (Results)

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
— 12:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series
— 2 p.m.: XFINITY Series

PRESS PASS (Watch live)

— 11:45 a.m.: Daniel Suarez

— Noon: Jimmie Johnson

— 12:15 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.

— 12:30 p.m.: Brendan Gaughan

— 2:35 p.m.: Carl Edwards

— 3 p.m.: Clint Bowyer

— 3:15 p.m.: Greg Biffle

— 7:30 p.m. (approx.): NASCAR Sprint Cup Series post-qualifying


DAILY ROUNDUP

— At-track photos: Friday at Kansas

— 2017 premier series rules package

— Foundation serves as partner in Hurricane Matthew relief efforts

— XFINITY practice results at Kansas

— Top consecutive 10-lap averages at Kansas

— Busch tops opening practice at Kansas

— Truex’s 400th start a ‘wow moment’ for contender

— Finalists for Comcast Community Champion Award named

— Truex, No. 78 team to pass on Homestead-Miami test

— XFINITY Round of 8 preview

— Kenseth on the pole at Kansas

— Starting lineup for Sunday


SATURDAY, OCT. 15:

ON TRACK

— 11-11:50 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series second practice, NBC Sports App (Results)

— noon: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 1:30-2:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 3 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Kansas Lottery 300 (200 laps, 300 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Results)


PRESS PASS (Watch live)

— 6 p.m. (approx.): NASCAR XFINITY Series post-race


DAILY ROUNDUP

— Bowyer back at home, eagerly awaits his SHR move

— Kenseth, Menard top Saturday’s practice sessions

— Photos from the day at Kansas

— Chase win brings sense of security

— Busch goes to backup car after big wreck during practice

— Top stories heading into Sunday’s main event

— Busch dominates at Kansas to win; Chase picture gets a shakeup

— Wild Kansas race gives Chase contenders motivation for Kansas