Track: Charlotte Motor Speedway Location: Concord, North Carolina Track length: 1.5 miles When: 3 p.m. ET Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Race purse: $11,233,037 Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles Stages: 80 | 165 | 267 Sunday’s starting lineup| Pit stall assignments
Balancing championship defense with offensive mentality
CONCORD, N.C. — In all three national series, the No. 1 seed entering The Chase presented by Mobil 1 has lost the top spot.
Denny Hamlin, Justin Allgaier and Layne Riggs have each surrendered their points leads during The Chase and have ground to make up if they hope to hoist championship trophies at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Current points leaders Sheldon Creed (O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) and Kaden Honeycutt (Craftsman Truck Series) have each failed to build healthy gaps in their championship leads in their respective series’ most recent events. Honeycutt lost 20 points in his Truck Series lead to Riggs in the closing laps of Friday night’s Chase race at Charlotte after sliding up into the wall and being passed for the lead and win by the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports driver.
Those reversals offer a cautionary note for Cup points leader Kyle Larson, who enters Sunday’s Bank of America 400, the first fall race at Charlotte on the 1.5-mile oval layout since 2017, with a 40-point advantage over Hamlin after a blistering start to The Chase.
Ryan Blaney, who sits fifth in The Chase, compared the pressure of defending a points lead to a recent college football game between two of the country’s best teams.
“WhenOhioState (No. 1 ranked at the time)playedTexasearlythisyear,I’mabigBuckeyefan, theygotup,theykindofstartedplayingalittlesafe,andTexascameback,” Blaney said. “Whenyoustarthavingthatleadandtryingtokeepit,youcanmaybeshiftyourmindsettowhereguysthatarechasing, it’slike, ‘obviouslytheycan’taffordamistakeeither.’ There’s that pressure there of like, ‘we can’t bleed anymore.’ It’s just a different mindset of like, ‘oh, we have opportunity to go catch this person.’ But I’d much rather have that weight on my shoulders of leading it and just trying to maintain it than having to chase.”
With qualifying washed out due to inclement weather Saturday, two-time Cup champ Larson will lead the field to green Sunday and hold the advantageous first pit stall at Charlotte. He said bluntly that any pressure of being the points leader is a manufactured talking point and there’s no reason to change course regardless of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team’s situation.
Larson has breezed through the first half of the 2026 Cup Series Chase with a whopping average finish of 2.2. He joins a rarefied group of drivers who have blitzed through a five-race stretch during any iteration of the Cup Series postseason, which first debuted in 2004.
The two-time series titleholder joined a crop of drivers who have finished no worse than second in the points standings after race No. 36.
DRIVER
AVERAGE FINISH
YEAR
RACES
WINS DURING STRETCH
Jimmie Johnson
1.8
2006
Charlotte —> Phoenix
1
Martin Truex Jr.
1.8
2017
Kansas —> Homestead
2
Carl Edwards
2.0
2008
Martinsville —> Homestead
3
Jimmie Johnson
2.0
2004
Charlotte —> Darlington
4
Jimmie Johnson
2.2
2004
Martinsville —> Homestead
3
Jimmie Johnson
2.2
2007
Martinsville —> Homestead
4
Kyle Larson
2.2
2026
Darlington —> Las Vegas
2
Speed reads
Race-day essentials:
• Charlotte hub: Weekend information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more • Sunday Setup: Crew chiefs face unknowns after Saturday washout | Read more • Paint Scheme Preview: Home-cooked designs for Charlotte | View gallery • Neil Paine: Make-or-break moment looms for Denny Hamlin | Read more • NASCAR Classics: Rewind with video-vault replays from Charlotte | Watch now
• Power Rankings: Briscoe bolts forward in the latest Top 16 | This week’s ranks
CONCORD, N.C. — For the fourth time in six races, rain washed away practice and qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series – this time, at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Unfavorable forecasts provided ample opportunity for crew chiefs to be ready for yet another starting lineup set by the metric ahead of Sunday’s Bank of America 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Bubba Wallace will take the green flag from eighth place Sunday, matching his finishing result of last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he earned his career-best 15th top 10 of the season. The No. 23 team at 23XI Racing has been steady through The Chase presented by Mobil 1, garnering four top 10s in five races and sitting 10th in the standings. But with no practice and qualifying on Saturday due to inclement weather, all crew chief Charles Denike has to lean on is the work he and his team put into setting up their No. 23 Toyota at Airspeed, their race shop just 20 minutes west of the speedway.
At Spire Motorsports, Carson Hocevar and the No. 77 team rank 11th in points, the second-best Chevrolet behind points leader Kyle Larson. Hocevar has had excellent runs on the Charlotte oval in recent years, but trouble has thwarted those efforts, most notably through an engine failure in the 2025 Coca-Cola 600. Despite the lack of results to show for their speed, crew chief Luke Lambert is optimistic about returning to the facility’s 1.5-mile oval instead of the combination road-course/oval that is known as the Roval.
The Next Gen car has never been utilized on the Charlotte oval for a fall race or a Charlotte oval race scheduled for less than 600 miles. How crew chiefs call Sunday’s race must be different than the approach they bring into May’s Coca-Cola 600.
Charlotte also marks the third intermediate track NASCAR visits in a row, the final in a consecutive stretch of 1.5-mile tracks after Kansas Speedway on Sept. 27 and Las Vegas on Oct. 4. There are “a few things” that teams learned at those two tracks that carry over to Charlotte, but not a ton.
CONCORD, N.C. — With just five races remaining in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Daniel Suárez is on pace to record the best average finish of his 10-year career.
Suárez, in his first campaign piloting the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, holds an average finish of 15.3, highlighted by his triumph in the crown jewel Coca-Cola 600 in May. This year’s mark is nearly a full position better than his previous best average finish of 16.2, which he set in 2017 with Joe Gibbs Racing.
As a career year draws to a close, Suárez has yet to make his plans official for the 2027 Cup Series season, but a report from The Athletic on Friday stated the Monterrey, Mexico, native will return to Spire next year.
When asked about his future with the organization Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Suárez said: “We’restillworkingonit.We’reprettyclose,butwe’restillworkingonthat.”
Sunday’s Chase race presented by Mobil 1 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the first time the Cup Series has raced on the Charlotte oval in the fall since 2017. Suárez is also the most recent Cup Series winner on the Charlotte oval.
The Bank of America 400 comes on the heels of Kyle Busch’s Celebration of Life held Friday evening at the track. Thousands of fans packed the frontstretch grandstands as Busch’s friends, family and former teammates reflected on Busch as a driver, owner, father and husband.
Suárez, an alum of Kyle Busch Motorsports, spoke on stage alongside Christopher Bell and Noah Gragson to reminisce about the stern but fair feedback Busch gave them as an owner when they competed in the Truck Series. Once Suárez moved to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Joe Gibbs Racing, he spoke with Busch weekly on the phone, receiving advice and mentorship about upcoming tracks on the schedule.
At the end of the celebration of life, Suárez watched Busch’s son Brexton perform an emotional burnout in his father’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, which Kyle last drove at Dover Motor Speedway before his sudden death on May 21. Once the burnout was completed, Brexton climbed out of the car, was handed a checkered flag from his younger sister, Lennix, and gave the crowd a bow to remember.
“Ican’tevenimaginewhatwasgoingthroughhismind,” Suárez said. “He was actually doing a burnout in his father’s last Cup ride. Last nightwasveryspecialfortheBuschfamily.”
Suárez’s Coke 600 victory came in the first Cup race following Busch’s death, just three days later.
While the emotion was still raw that Memorial Day weekend, it made Charlotte Motor Speedway even more special for Suárez, who refers to the 1.5-mile oval as his home track.
“I mean this race track to me has always meant a lot just because it’s home, right?” Suárez said. “I don’t get to race in Mexico, so this is home for me. And 90% of the time, I always have family here. My mom is here this weekend, so it’s always special. This is one of my favorite races of the year just because I get to spend time with family.”
Suárez isn’t mathematically eliminated from winning the Cup Series championship, but his odds are far-fetched, sitting 14th in points — 195 markers behind championship leader Kyle Larson.
The Chase hasn’t gone according to plan for Suárez and the No. 7 team, with a best finish of 14th three times — all in the last three races. But Suárez said there’s still plenty to accomplish before the checkered flag waves at Homestead-Miami Speedway next month.
“We have goals, but it’s not a number,” Suárez said. “Most people will think that a goal has to be a number. For us, the goal is to maximize our potential. If we have a 10th-place car, finish 10th or better. If we have a top-five car, finish top five or better. So that’s the goal wherever that takes us, and continue to push yourself to be better.”
If Denny Hamlin needs encouragement after a lackluster start to the NASCAR Cup Series Chase presented by Mobil 1, he needs to look no further than his own performance in the regular season.
After falling 129 points behind fellow Toyota driver Tyler Reddick — who drives for the 23XI Racing team he co-owns with Michael Jordan — Hamlin won three straight races in June, overtook Reddick and earned top seeding in The Chase.
Over the first five Chase races, Hamlin has lost the 25-point edge he had to start the postseason — and then some. Currently second in the standings, Hamlin trails Chase leader Kyle Larson by 40 points entering Sunday’s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Hamlin’s bid for a first series title, however, is far from a lost cause.
“We know it can be done,” Hamlin said. “It’s a 10-race season. We got a little head start to that, but it’s a 10-race season. What happened in the first (26 races) doesn’t matter when we come down to these playoffs.
“Anything is possible, and if we go win, we’ll take care of the rest.”
A late-Chase surge wouldn’t be unprecedented. In 2007, Jimmie Johnson won four of the last five Chase races to snatch the title from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon. Four years later, Tony Stewart won three of the last four events to catch Carl Edwards and win the series championship in a tiebreaker.
It’s a home game for the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, as Charlotte Motor Speedway — just down the road from many race shops — plays host to the Bank of America 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But for the first time in nine years, the annual fall race is set for the 1.5-mile oval, a change from the infield road course that hosted NASCAR’s postseason from 2018-2025.
Sunday’s 267-lap race marks the third consecutive Chase presented by Mobil 1 event on an intermediate. It’s a key opportunity for championship-contending drivers to accumulate major points before Phoenix Raceway and Martinsville Speedway sandwich Talladega Superspeedway over the next stretch. Look no further than Denny Hamlin, who finished 16th last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and needs a strong result to remain firmly in the title fight. He enters Charlotte 40 points behind Kyle Larson after starting The Chase with a 25-point advantage.
With the Queen City on deck, take a look at drivers to keep an eye on over 400 miles, and keep reading for Racing Insights’ full race projections as postseason pressure continues to rise.
DRIVERS TO WATCH
KYLE LARSON: No driver in the Cup Series is hotter than Larson, who’s now earned five straight top-five finishes to open The Chase. He fell a lap down early at Las Vegas due to handling issues and a lengthy pit stop but battled through adversity to nearly claim the South Point 400 win. The two-time and defending series champion has averaged 54.6 points per race since the start of September, a massive jump from 27.85 points during the regular season. His 2.2 average finish is the best all-time through five postseason races, doubling as the second-best five-race stretch of his career. Larson is one of the best on intermediates, scoring a series-best 20 stage wins and leading 2,192 laps at 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen era. His results have been inconsistent at Charlotte, though, with an 18.1 average finish and just one win.
DENNY HAMLIN: With a car that he considered race-winning caliber, Hamlin spun from third late in Stage 1 at Las Vegas and never recovered. His finish outside the top 15 marked his first result worse than fifth at a 1.5-mile track since May last year, adding 14 points to his deficit to Larson. At minus 40, it’s the most the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team has trailed in points since Michigan in June. Hamlin has just one win in 35 oval Charlotte starts but has finished inside the top 10 in five of the last seven. He led 75 laps there in the spring and arguably had the best car before rain shortened the event and resulted in a Daniel Suárez victory. This weekend could make or break Hamlin’s championship hopes, and he’ll have some work to do — starting 12th after rain washed out practice and qualifying.
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Trailing Larson by 55 points, Bell continues to lurk but understands that he’ll need to click off multiple wins over the final five races to stay in the thick of the championship. That said, Charlotte serves as a great opportunity for the No. 20 JGR team to capitalize. Bell has a pair of podium finishes in the last three Charlotte oval events, including a 2024 Coca-Cola 600 victory. He’s finished inside the top 10 in four of the five Next Gen races, ranking sixth or better in points earned in each of those events, with an average finish of eighth. His average finish (11.75) is fourth-best all-time at Charlotte and second-best among active drivers (Tyler Reddick, 9.5). Through five Chase races, Bell has scored the second-most points (213), trailing only Larson. Like teammate Hamlin, Charlotte could determine whether Bell remains a viable title threat.
FULL PROJECTED RESULTS FOR BANK OF AMERICA 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA)
CONCORD, N.C. — Austin Cindric confirmed Saturday morning that he will return to Team Penske as driver of the No. 2 Ford for the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Cindric has driven the iconic car number for the historic team since 2022, winning the Daytona 500 that February. His new contract ensures a continued stay in Penske’s winningest car number for the near future.
Cindric sits ninth in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 standings after a strong recent run of results, earning two top fives and three top 10s in his last four races, including a notable and season-best second-place finish on Sept. 27 at Kansas Speedway.
Cindric responded simply but emphatically, “That’s correct,” when asked if he would be staying put for the 2027 season — secured by an additional “yes” when asked to confirm he’s remaining in the No. 2 Ford.
“It’s obviously come up in question, and I’m not entirely certain why it’s come into question, but there you go,” Cindric said during Saturday’s media availabilities at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The 28-year-old North Carolina native is producing a career-best 15.7 average finish through 31 of 36 contests this season, bolstered by an impressive stretch that began this summer. Over the last eight races, Cindric has finished 13th or better, supercharging his run into The Chase and performing once the postseason began.
“I feel like consistency is kind of due to necessity with where we were regular-season points-wise for really the last two or three months,” Cindric said, “so definitely critical for us to be able to execute at that high of a level, and obviously, it’s that time of year to bring our best stuff and be able to come to race tracks for a second time and apply good notebooks throughout the regular season and into The Chase. So obviously it’s shown, and we’ve got to keep it rolling for the next five weeks.”
Cindric’s champion teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano have taken notice of the general uptick around the No. 2 team’s performance. Blaney and Cindric have both finished inside the top five in each of their last two starts.
“Austin, I think, has been an incredible asset to our group,” said Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion. “It’s been fun to work with him since ’22, really, when he (went) full time. Brings a lot of knowledge for how young he is. He brings a lot of good ideas. I enjoy his insight in our meetings and things like that. He makes me think about things a different way — which I mean, Joey does that too. We all kind of play off each other, but it’s nice that group has been able to have some clean races and have the speed — not only have clean races, but have the speed to run up front. I mean, gosh, I think one thing goes different in Kansas, he wins that race.
“He puts a lot of work in. I think (crew chief) Brian Wilson is very good at what he does. So yeah, it’s nice for that group to get going, and Austin (is) probably one of the hardest working guys in the garage, I think, of just time and effort he puts into things, and being very methodical, and it’s nice that it’s finally paying off for that group.”
Logano, a three-time Cup title winner, has also seen the No. 2 team’s pace pick up, a trend that can help all of Team Penske in the long run.
“He’s been really strong here recently, and they’ve been executing solid races,” Logano said. “And really, they’ve brought a lot of speed to the race track. That’s the biggest thing that I’ve noticed different. Austin’s always been a great competitor, great teammate, real student of the sport. Works really hard at it. So it’s not a huge surprise to me. But obviously, we’re looking and saying, ‘Hey, why are you guys so fast? What’s going on over here? What are you guys doing?’ And that’s part of having a good teammate.”
Cindric stormed to the 2020 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship and was one corner short of a second straight title in 2021. Cindric has 13 O’Reilly wins, plus a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2017.
The Team Penske roster is now set for the 2027 campaign after a multiyear contract extension for Blaney was announced in May, and Logano is signed through at least next season. Defending O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love will take over the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in 2027, an affiliate car to Team Penske, replacing Josh Berry after the season ends.
With NASCAR Cup Series practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway canceled Saturday because of inclement weather, the starting lineup for Sunday’s Bank of America 400 was determined per the NASCAR Rule Book.
Kyle Larson will start first, with Chase Briscoe joining him on the front row. Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric round out the top five.
Cole Custer’s No. 41 Haas Factory Team failed pre-race inspection twice, resulting in the loss of pit-stall selection and the ejection of a crew member.
Sunday’s Bank of America 400 is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET (USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch’s legacy shone brightly at Charlotte Motor Speedway once again Friday night in an emotional celebration to remember the life of a legend.
Moments after the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race concluded around the 1.5-mile oval, 10 of Busch’s most iconic NASCAR rides rolled onto the speedway’s front straightaway in front of a packed grandstand, with family, fans, former bosses and drivers gathered to reflect on Busch’s enormous impact on the NASCAR world — through his on-track success, yes, but more importantly and more poignantly, the one-of-a-kind passion he delivered to his loving family.
On a night filled with “Rowdy” reflections from Busch’s contemporaries, the ultimate cap came courtesy of his 11-year-old son, Brexton, who fired up his father’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, waved to the crowd and performed a burnout beyond imagination. The smoke show near Charlotte’s pit entry ended the only way it could — Brexton climbed from the blue-and-white Chevy and stood on the roof in triumph through the smoke, with his 4-year-old sister Lennix delivering him the checkered flag, cueing Brexton to replicate Kyle’s signature post-win bow. Brexton leaped off the roof of the car after the bow and embraced his mom, Samantha, and Lennix in a beautiful finale to the evening.
After nearly five months of grieving for Kyle Busch’s fans, family and peers, Friday offered a chance to relish Kyle’s greatest victory of all: family.
Some of NASCAR’s brightest stars stood on stage with FOX Sports’ Mike Joy to share their funniest, most touching stories from their experiences with Kyle Busch. That list included Kyle’s older brother, NASCAR Hall of Famer Kurt Busch; Busch’s former team owner Joe Gibbs; former Kyle Busch Motorsports racers Daniel Suárez, Noah Gragson and Christopher Bell; defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson; and RCR teammate Austin Dillon.
Memories ranged from life growing up in Las Vegas as a phenom racer to telling Coach Gibbs — a two-sport Hall of Famer — “your cars suck,” to the many nights later in his life spent at Millbridge Speedway mentoring Brexton on the tiny dirt oval.
But the nucleus of the conversation remained the same through each memory, dedicating his life to being the best husband, father and racer all at once.
If Larson wasn’t Busch’s biggest rival by the end of Rowdy’s career, he was certainly Busch’s benchmark. Larson kept winning long into Busch’s winless drought, giving Larson moments in Victory Lane with his oldest son Owen while Brexton openly asked his father when he would win again in the Cup Series. But rather than let that fuel any animosity, Busch grew an even deeper admiration for Larson — whom he deemed “Tiny Kyle” — and even sought out Larson for help in bettering Brexton as an up-and-coming dirt racer.
“Andformetoo,havingkids a similarageasBrextonandmelookinguptoKylesomuchandhowhewasabletocoachandlead, ItriedtotakeasmanynotesasIcould,watchingfromadistance.Butyeah,justgettingtospendtimewithhimatrace tracksthatweremoremyelementwaskindofcool.”
Winning was everything for Kyle Busch. Until it wasn’t. Then his family became everything. That rang true at home in Busch’s latest chapter, even amid a career-long winless streak.
Those kids basked in his father’s glory and memory once again Friday night while beginning to write a new chapter following the celebration of Kyle Busch’s life. For the first time publicly, Brexton Busch climbed behind the wheel of a Cup Series race car and burnt the Goodyear tires off the car exactly like his father would have. There’s a chance it’s the first of many burnouts we’ll see from him in a Cup car. If he pursues a Cup career, it certainly won’t be the last.
But Friday gave everyone — his family, his friends, his fans — a public goodbye and thank you to one of the most important personalities NASCAR has ever had.
For someone who always played up to the crowd, the fans made their love for Kyle Busch known by Friday night’s end.
