RELATED: Full starting lineup

CONCORD, N.C. — The guy starting second in this weekend’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway isn’t racing to remain relevant in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

He’s racing to remain relevant. Period.

Alex Bowman, the former Sprint Cup driver, is now doing spot duty for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet. A nice gig if you can get it. But Bowman doesn’t want to become known as Mr. Fill-In.

“I don’t want to sit here and say that I want to take advantage of that, but it doesn’t hurt my feelings if that does come up, if I’m the guy that gets called,” Bowman, 23, said Thursday evening, shortly after wheeling his way to the No. 2 spot on Sunday’s starting grid.

 

RELATED: McMurray understands fill-in challenges for Bowman

“In a perfect world I would love to run a fourth XFINITY (Series) car for JR Motorsports.”

Perfect hasn’t been the case thus far, however. JRM is expected to field four full-time teams in the lower-tier series again next season. Bowman has been a part of that plan this year, sharing time in one of the organization’s entries.

But next year’s lineup will include current Camping World Truck Series driver William Byron and any plans for Bowman, at this point, don’t come with full-time status.

If he continues to deliver performances akin to Thursday night’s qualifying effort, maybe that won’t be a problem.

For now, though, that seems to be the case.

 

RELATED: Fan mistakes crew chief Ives for his driver Bowman

Bowman and Jeff Gordon have been sharing seat time in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet while Earnhardt Jr. continues his recovery from a concussion. Gordon won four championships at NASCAR’s top level. He won 93 races. He made it all the way to the Championship 4 last season, his final push before hanging up his helmet (temporarily) and heading off to the television booth.

Bowman?

He was a virtual unknown until a qualifying effort at Richmond two years ago drew the attention of Earnhardt, “and he gave me a shot in his XFINITY car,” Bowman said.

The opportunity to compete in a Hendrick Motorsports car has elevated not only his performance, it has elevated his status somewhat as well.

“You are definitely viewed differently depending on what you drive and what you do with it,” he said.

“It’s very interesting how the garage works. I feel like if you are in one of the back 10 cars, you are not really almost even looked at as a race car driver sometimes until you do something that you are not supposed to do.

“If you run better than you are supposed to, you pass somebody you are not supposed to or you out qualify somebody you are not supposed to. Once you do that I feel like that kind of changes, but showing up to the race track in a Hendrick Motorsports car … I feel like I walk in and I’m viewed differently.”

Nearly qualifying on the pole, he missed the top spot by just .004 second, hasn’t hurt. Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing) will start on the pole.

RELATED: See all the cars as they will line up this week

Earnhardt “saved my career,” Bowman said of the XFINITY opportunity. “He has been a big part of my life and I will definitely cherish that friendship forever.”

If there’s a debt owed, he knows the best way to repay it would be to compete at the level his friend expects.

“Obviously I hate the circumstances,” Bowman said, “but without him saying ‘Hey, put Alex in it,’ I don’t think that Hendrick Motorsports really would have thought of me.

“Maybe they would have, but who knows? I’m definitely thankful for all his support.”

MORE: Live radar | Friday on-track action canceled due to weather

 

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch has celebrated in Victory Lane at 21 different race tracks in the Sprint Cup Series, from superspeedways to short tracks to road courses.

But in his 13-year Sprint Cup Series career, two tracks have eluded the No. 18 driver: Pocono Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Bank of America 500 (12 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“It would certainly mean a lot,” Busch said on reaching Charlotte’s Victory Lane on Thursday at the 1.5-mile speedway. “We’ve been trying here for a long, long time and we’ve been close a few times and it just hasn’t all quite worked out the way we would have wanted it to I guess at the end of some of the races. So certainly we feel as though there’s no better opportunity to win a Charlotte race than in the Chase.”

A win at Charlotte would do more than check a box off Busch’s lengthy list of racing accomplishments: It would punch his ticket to the Round of 8 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

With wildcard Talladega looming at the end of the three-race round, that security is especially coveted.

“Somebody’s going to leave here really happy and I hope it’s me,” Carl Edwards said Friday at Charlotte. “This round I believe is probably the toughest one just with Talladega out there and these mile-and-a-halves. It’s so competitive right now. We saw it with the first round. You’d think that making the 12-out-of-16 would be easy. It’s actually — it was a pretty good battle there, so we hope to get a victory here.”

One of the biggest competitors for the Joe Gibbs Racing duo? The JGR-affiliated car of Martin Truex Jr., who has won three of the last five Sprint Cup races. His three recent trips to Victory Lane equal the four-car JGR’s total Sprint Cup wins in the last 10 races.

 

For Edwards, the No. 78 success foreshadows Joe Gibbs Racing‘s performances to come in the Chase.

“If we didn’t know what engines and chassis and setups those guys had, it’d be really easy to say they’ve got something (that) they’ve got something special that we don’t have,” Edwards said.

 

“But knowing what they have and knowing what they’re able to do with it, that’s a motivator and I’ve been telling people this week I really believe you’re going to see … the four JGR cars really step it up because Martin (Truex Jr.) is … that rabbit out there that we’re all chasing and we know it can be done and I think in the end that’s a gift to have somebody in your camp or close to you that can do that.”

The four Joe Gibbs Racing cars also have access to the No. 78 team’s notes from their dominant Coca-Cola 600 win, something Busch believes is an advantage with limited practice time due to inclement weather. 

“They were really, really good,” Busch said on the No. 78’s winning Coca-Cola 600 run. “So we feel like we’ve got a good baseline to base ourselves off of.”

“If we could get Cole (Pearn, crew chief for Truex Jr.) to tell us everything, that would help,” Edwards said with a smile. “But I mean seriously those guys are so good that it gives us a lot of optimism, because there’s no — everybody’s looking up, looking forward.”

The Chase is on! Watch the above video to see how the Round of 16 unfolded.

RELATED: Cast your vote now

 

In the midst of the inaugural Chase for both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, drivers from each series will begin chasing more than just the championship as voting has officially opened for the 2016 Most Popular Driver Award. 

 

The NASCAR XFINITY Series Most Popular driver race is wide open with past two-time winner Chase Elliott advancing to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year. Notable drivers who made their name in the series by winning the Most Popular Driver Award include Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1999), Kevin Harvick (2001), Martin Truex Jr. (2004-05), Carl Edwards (2007), Brad Keselowski (2008-10) and Danica Patrick (2012).  

 

John Hunter Nemechek will try to defend his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver Award. If Nemechek were to win the award, he would become only the second driver in series history to be honored multiple times, joining former series champion Johnny Benson Jr. Other notable Most Popular Driver Award winners include Greg Biffle (2000), Austin Dillon (2011), Ty Dillon (2013) and Ryan Blaney (2014).

 

Voting is open and runs through Friday, Nov. 18, for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Saturday, Nov. 19, for the NASCAR XFINITY Series, prior to the respective season finale races at Homestead-Miami Speedway during Ford Championship Weekend.

 

Fans can vote once per day online for the Most Popular Driver Awards at www.NASCAR.com/mostpopulardriver. 

 

The winners will be announced at the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Awards. The combined postseason gala will take place at the Loews in Miami Beach, Florida, on Monday, Nov. 21.

 

To be eligible to receive Most Popular Driver votes, drivers must have selected either the NASCAR XFINITY Series or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to receive 2016 championship driver points. Additionally, drivers must have attempted at least half of each series’ races this season.

Stewart-Haas Racing announced Friday that it had extended its partnership with ExxonMobil in a new multi-year deal that will make Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Chevrolet the team’s lead Mobil 1 car in the future.

Mobil 1 primarily has been on the hood of Tony Stewart, who will retire at the end of this season. Clint Bowyer will replace Stewart in the No. 14 Chevrolet.

Harvick will be the “lead driver,” as the team said, but Mobil 1 will be on the hood of all four drivers at some point in 2017. Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick, in the Nos. 41 and 10, respectively, fill out the Stewart-Haas roster.

Additionally, Mobil 1 will serve as an associate sponsor for the team’s new NASCAR XFINITY Series program with Cole Custer.

“Daytona International Speedway experienced moderate damage from Hurricane Matthew with impacts to lights, speakers, signage, fences, gates, awnings and palm trees. Daytona International Speedway Ticket Office and Tours and the Richard Petty Driving Experience will be closed on Saturday and Sunday for facility cleanup. We will provide more updates through the weekend.”

 

“Pictures of a past weather event at Daytona International Speedway have been circulating on social media during the storm. Those pictures are from a weather event in 2009. There was no flood damage to the facility from Hurricane Matthew.”

 

“We are working with local, regional and state officials on recovery efforts following Hurricane Matthew. Daytona International Speedway is once again serving as a staging site for Florida Power & Light crews. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been impacted by this weather system.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced today that 18-year-old Las Vegas native Noah Gragson will compete full time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series next season driving one of the team’s Toyota Tundras.

 

The NASCAR Next product cut his racing teeth on the same grounds as KBM owner Kyle Busch, getting his start at the age of 13 in the Bandoleros division at the Bullring – a 0.375-mile paved oval at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. After finding success in the Bandoleros, Gragson moved up to the Legends division in 2014 where he won the Young Lion Road Course championship and also began racing in the Super Late Model division at the Nevada track.

 

Gragson graduated to the K&N Pro Series West as a 16-year-old in 2015 and visited victory lane at Tucson (Ariz.) Speedway in just his third start. He went on to earn Rookie of the Year honors after producing two wins, one pole, seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 13 starts while finishing second in the championship standings. In 2016, he has collected a combined four wins, 11 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes across 26 starts while competing in both the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and Pro Series West divisions.  

“It’s hard to believe that about four years ago I toured Kyle Busch Motorsports as a young fan and aspiring driver in awe of the massive trophy collection, how immaculate the shop was and getting the chance to meet Darrell Wallace Jr. — now just a short time later I’m going to be competing for them full time in the Camping World Truck Series,” Gragson said. “The last few years KBM has developed some of the best young talent in all of NASCAR and I know that I’m going to be stepping into fast Toyota Tundras that are capable of running up front, competing for wins and that if I’m able to do my part that I’ll be able to add to the trophy cases I gazed into not long ago. As an up-and-coming driver that is all I can ask for as I try to continue my climb up the racing ladder with the ultimate goal of one day following in Kyle’s path from Las Vegas to the Cup Series.

 

“I can’t thank everyone at Jefferson Pitts Racing enough for their hard work the past two seasons, without them I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. I also have to thank Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development) for welcoming me into their racing family for the next step of my career.”

 

“It’s been very rewarding the last few years that Samantha and I have been able to provide an opportunity for young drivers to break into the Truck Series and with Noah being from Las Vegas and getting his start in racing at the Bullring like I did, you could say this one really hits home for me,” Busch said. “He’s already proven capable of winning races while running in both the K&N Pro Series East and West, so we’re looking forward to having him behind the wheel of our Tundras next season.”

 

Gragson’s sponsors, truck number and crew chief will be announced at a later date.

 

CONCORD, N.C. — Joey Logano, driver of the Team Penske No. 22 Ford, is the defending winner of Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
 
Logano is also the defending race winner of next weekend’s stop at Kansas Speedway.
 
A week later, when the series rolls into Talladega? Yep, Logano will be the defending race winner there, too.
 
His sweep of last year’s Round of 12 in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup was remarkable. In addition to earning Logano the right to advance to the following round, the sweep also kept others from doing the same. For everyone except Logano, crew chief Todd Gordon and the No. 22 team, the round suddenly became a three-race points battle.
 
“Last year we talked a lot about not making mistakes in the first round,” Logano said earlier this week. “I feel like we were able to do that last year.
 
“This round coming up, (it) was obviously incredible sweeping it. We want to be able to do that again, right?”
 
The elimination element has only been a part of the Chase format since 2014. Winning consecutive Chase races isn’t unheard of, but Logano has been the only driver to do it under the current format. Tony Stewart won five of 10 Chase races en route to the title in 2011; Jimmie Johnson won three in a row in ’04, then four straight in ’07.
 
Outside of another sweep, choice No. 2 for Logano and his team would be to win one of the first two races in the round, anything that would guarantee a spot in the Round of 8. Hopefully before the round-ending stop at wildcard Talladega.
 
“Winning one of these next two races before Talladega, we all know, is very important,” he said. “You won’t get much sleep if you don’t.
 
“These next two races, a lot of times we talk about them as the most important races in the Chase because in this round someone always gets knocked out that has a chance and is a threat. … Someone that you think you’re going to see in the final four most likely is going to get knocked out in this round. Because there have been unknowns in each race … you never know what’s going to happen.
 
“We have to go out there and race aggressively; that’s the way the 22 car races and we’re not going to change that. But I think also eliminating mistakes and execution becomes key.”
 
Logano managed three top-10 finishes in the opening round a year ago before going on his second-round tear. The results have been similar this time around, which, according to Logano, has been according to plan.
 
“The first round, Todd has preached to me and to the whole team, I think at least a thousand times — base hits,” he said. “And we did that.
 
“We had a second, an 11th and a sixth which would be in the base-hit category, which gets you through to the next round. And that’s the goal. The goal is to get through rounds and get to Homestead and race for a championship.
 
“As the Chase goes on, base hits don’t do it anymore. You’ve got to be hitting some … triples and home runs.
 
“I think we’re ready for that.”
 
Saturday’s Bank of America 500 is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET start (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).