Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: See the updated Chase Grid | Starting lineup in photos

 

Quick race facts

What: Bank of America 500

Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile tri-oval in Concord, North Carolina

Green flag: Sunday, Oct. 11, 12:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Forecast: Partly sunny, high of 72 degrees, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA.gov).

National anthem: Natalie Weiss

Grand marshal: Medal of Honor recipient Kyle White

Distance: 334 laps, 500 miles.

Pit road speed: 45 mph

Caution car speed: 55 mph

Competition caution: Lap 25

On the Front Row

1. Matt Kenseth , Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota (194.532 mph)

2. Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota (193.154 mph)

 

RELATED: See the full lineup

Failed to Qualify

Josh Wise , Go Green Racing No. 32 Ford; Timmy Hill , Premium Motorsports No. 62 Chevrolet

Fastest in Practice

First practice: Kevin Harvick , Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet (193.500 mph) | Results

Second practice: Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet (188.772 mph) | Results

Final practice: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota (189.354 mph) | Results

Key story lines

• Gordon still chasing first 2015 victory | Full story

• Crew cut? Earnhardt Jr. says no thanks | Full story

• With Talladega ahead, Charlotte race crucial | Full story

• NASCAR won’t police post-race celebrations | Full story

Former winners in the field

Jimmie Johnson (7); Jeff Gordon (5); Kasey Kahne (4); Kevin Harvick (3); Matt Kenseth , Jamie McMurray (2); Casey Mears , Tony Stewart , Brad Keselowski , Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards (1)

They Said It

“You’ve got to just play to your strengths, and I think our strengths are that we’re very consistent. We’ve got a lot of fight in us, and we’ve had to fight through a lot of things this year. So we’ve got a lot of experience at that.” Jeff Gordon on advancing into the Contender Round of the Chase

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Was Harvick’s burnout done to hinder inspection?

 

CONCORD, N.C. – NASCAR officials are not expected to “regulate” post-race celebrations following events, calling the long, smoky burnouts done by many race winners a part of the sport today and something that fans have come to expect.

“Post-race burnouts have been a part of the sport for a long time as they give the winning driver the opportunity to express their enthusiasm for their win and give fans an exclamation point to the victory,” NASCAR spokesperson Kerry Tharp told NASCAR.com Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of Saturday’s Bank of America 500 (7 p.m., NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).

“We don’t really see them being anything beyond that.”

Concerns about intentionally damaging a race-winning car came to light this week after defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick made contact with the inside wall while celebrating his victory in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. Harvick led 355 of the race’s 400 laps to advance into the Contender Round of this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Two days after the victory, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver said he wasn’t aware that the back end of his No. 4 Chevrolet had hit the inside wall during his Dover celebration.

His car passed post-race inspection at the track, as well as a more thorough inspection at the NASCAR Research & Development Center two days later.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Harvick said when asked about comments that he had purposely damaged his vehicle to avoid the prying eyes of NASCAR officials. “You’re supposed to try to create commotion.

“I don’t remember even actually hitting the wall. I remember the tires blowing out, but I don’t know if I actually even hit the wall.”

Fellow Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) said he was taking nothing away from Harvick’s victory at Dover, “because what he did was really, really impressive.”

“But obviously, as all the other competitors, whoever doesn’t win each week wants to make sure they’re on a level playing field with whoever did win,” Hamlin said.

Former series champion Brad Keselowski said intentionally damaging a winning car has “been going on for a long time.”

“I’m not making any accusations,” he said. “It’s not anything new to this sport.”

On Thursday, crew chief Rodney Childers said he wasn’t surprised that some had seized on something so innocent after his driver’s strong performance. He also once again stressed that his team’s cars had been to the R&D center more than any other vehicles this season without officials uncovering any irregularities.

The No. 4 team has made 14 trips to the center for final inspection this season and passed on each occasion.

NASCAR officials transport the winning and second-place entries, as well as a random selection, to the center following each race where engines, fuel cells and other pieces (such as transmissions) are removed and more closely inspected.

A computerized device known as a Romer Absolute Arm, the same equipment used to certify each chassis before competition, is used to check each piece for any changes or any inconsistencies.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: See the full lineup

 

Austin Dillon ruled qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series on Friday afternoon, securing the Coors Light Pole Award at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Dillon drove the Richard Childress Racing No. 33 Chevrolet to a fast lap of 183.524 mph on the 1.5-mile track. Dillon will start first in Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) after claiming his sixth pole position of the season and the 16th of his XFINITY Series career.

Fellow Sprint Cup Series regular Kasey Kahne will start the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevy alongside Dillon after posting the second-fastest lap at 183.150 mph. Erik Jones was third-best with series points leader Chris Buescher fourth and Kyle Busch completing the top five.

Defending race winner Brad Keselowski was among the drivers failing to advance to the final round of qualifying, posting the 13th-fastest time. Defending series champion Chase Elliott was 17th-fastest, also missing out on the final cut.

Buescher enters the 29th of 33 races this season with a 24-point lead over Elliott and a 36-point advantage over Regan Smith, last week’s winner and the 12th-fastest qualifier.

Cale Conley brought out an early stoppage in the first round of qualifying with a long spin out of Turn 2. Conley’s No. 14 Toyota made slight contact with the inside retaining wall on the backstretch before he was able to limp back to the XFINITY Series garage.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 2 results | Final practice results



Kyle Busch led the way in a brotherly 1-2 punch atop final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.



Busch landed a fast lap of 189.354 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota in the 50-minute session, the final tune-up for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM). He’ll start second to JGR teammate Matt Kenseth, the Coors Light Pole Award winner, in the fourth race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.



Brother Kurt Busch was second-fastest at 188.996 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet, backing up his fast time from second practice. The elder Busch was also fastest in the 10-lap average category, edging Jimmie Johnson over the longer run.


Joey Logano wound up third-fastest, turning a lap at 188.508 mph in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford. Chevrolet drivers Ryan Newman (188.488 mph) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (188.311) completed the top five.



Much like Friday’s earlier practice, the leaderboard was dominated by Chase-eligible drivers, who swept the top six spots. Kenseth was the furthest down the speed chart in 25th, battling through a tire rub after a slight scrape of the outside retaining wall.



Defending series champ and defending race winner Kevin Harvick managed the 12th-fastest lap, improving upon his 25th-best lap in the Friday’s earlier session.


Kurt Busch shows way in Friday’s first practice


Kurt Busch rocketed to the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series leaderboard Friday, topping second practice Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Busch, driving the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet, clocked a fast lap of 188.772 mph on the 1.5-mile track. He also logged the third-most laps (45) of any driver in the 55-minute session in preparation for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM), the fourth event in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. Only teammate Tony Stewart (49) and Kyle Busch (48) turned more laps.

Carl Edwards, the winner of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May, was second-fastest at 18.620 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. Ryan Newman claimed the third-best lap (187.630 mph) in the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet.



Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano completed the top five as Chase drivers swept the first eight spots on the practice leaderboard.



Jimmie Johnson, eliminated from title contention in last weekend’s Challenger Round finale at Dover, was fastest of the non-Chasers at ninth overall on the speed charts. His Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet was fastest in the five-lap average and 10-lap average categories, offering optimism for Johnson & Co. in terms of long-term speed.



Kevin Harvick, defending Sprint Cup Series champion and defending race winner, was 26th-fastest overall with the second-slowest lap among the remaining 12 Chase-eligible drivers. Jeff Gordon, prepping for what likely will be his final Charlotte Motor Speedway start, was slowest of the Chase drivers, 32nd overall.



Matt Kenseth, the Coors Light Pole Award winner in Thursday qualifying, was also well down the leaderboard in 22nd overall.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Complete results from Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. – Where Charlotte Motor Speedway is concerned, Austin Dillon doesn’t mind being a creature of habit.
 
After experienced veterans Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne knocked themselves out of contention on Lap 151 of Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at the 1.5-mile track, Dillon streaked away from Erik Jones to win by 2.809 seconds over the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
 
With the victory, Dillon completed a season sweep at Charlotte, both wins coming from the pole position. The triumph was Dillon’s fourth of the season in the XFINITY Series and the sixth of his career.
 
Dillon’s closest call came not on the track, but during the pre-race ceremony. A fireball from one of the skyrockets used to liven up the proceedings dropped out of the evening sky and singed Dillon’s firesuit.
 
“I was actually praying, and the fireworks hit me in the back,” Dillon said. “I didn’t know if it was a sign from God or what. But it got me going right there with a firework in the butt.”
 
Now that he’s completed a season sweep in the XFINITY Series, Dillon will go for a weekend sweep on Saturday night, but he’ll have to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to achieve it.
 
“We going to do our best (on Saturday) to do the same thing we did tonight,” Dillon said.
 
Brad Keselowski ran third, followed by Daniel Suarez and Regan Smith. Chris Buescher came home seventh and extended his series lead to 26 points over defending champion Chase Elliott, who finished ninth.
 
Busch lost several positions after a Lap 147 restart, and he and Kahne raced aggressively for third place — with repeated side-by-side contact between the two cars, before Busch pulled ahead. But Kahne drove hard into Turn 3 on Lap 151, tapping Busch’s Toyota twice and sending it up into the outside wall.
 
Kahne’s Chevrolet also sustained damage in the incident, but he managed to finish 12th. Busch took his car to the garage on Lap 154 and retired from the race in 31st-place.
 
“Kyle got mad because he got into it with his teammate (Jones) off Turn 2 on the start,” Kahne said after the race. “That shuffled him back to where I was, and I’m racing to try to get by him.”
 
By Kahne’s account, the hard racing soon escalated.
 
“He started beating on me down the back and on the front, and I overdrove Turn 3 and got into him,” Kahne said.
 
Busch was not available to comment after exiting his car.
 
Before the incident, Busch had led a race-high 102 laps, taking over the all-time lead in the series at Charlotte with 1,288 laps led. Mark Martin was the previous record holder with 1,257.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Kahne-Busch incidents through the years

 

CONCORD, N.C.—It looked like Kyle Busch would drive away to a victory in Friday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive for the Cure 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

 

But after leading 102 laps, Busch lost a top-two position on Lap 147 to race winner Austin Dillon and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones. Busch dropped back to third and was racing JR Motorsports and fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne for the position.

Then on Lap 151, Busch and Kahne made contact in Turn 4 that sent “Rowdy” into the wall and brought out the third and final caution of the race. Kahne appeared to make contact with Busch’s back bumper, which sent him up the track and into the wall. There had been more contact before that while the two were racing side-by-side over several laps. 

The Lap 151 contact was costly for both drivers, hurting either of their chances at a win, but the damage was worse for Busch, who suffered heavy damage to the right side of his No. 54 Toyota.

That led Busch to say over the radio, “The most obvious dump I’ve ever seen.”

Busch brought his wounded machine to the garage, where he ended the night 47 laps down and with a 31st-place finish. 

Kahne, who finished 12th, was not quite sure why Busch was beating on his car before the accident, but he did offer up his perspective.

“Kyle got mad because he got into it with his teammate on Turn 2 on the start and it shuffled him back to where I was,” Kahne said after the race. 

“I’m racing to try and get by where he was. He’s down on me in the corners and I’m against him on the straightaways just doing normal stuff and then he starts beating on me down the back and in the front. 

“I overdrove Turn 3, got into him. I don’t know why he started beating on me other than I think he was frustrated because his teammate kind of used him up a little bit and then got away from him in Turn 2.”

With both drivers regulars in the sport’s top series, does Kahne expect there to be payback Saturday night?

“I would hope not,” Kahne said. “I don’t know why he would want to have that battle. What, he wrecked me five times a couple years ago? Put me in a bad position for those two years when he was doing that. I don’t think he wants that battle on Sundays.”

And while both drivers will be back on track Saturday night in the Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM), the two will likely not be on track in the XFINITY Series until next month at Phoenix International Raceway. Kahne is slated to be in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports that weekend, while Busch has been making regular starts in the No. 54 Toyota over the past several months.

Over the years, Kahne and Busch have been involved in several wrecks with each other, notably and most recently at Pocono in June of 2014 as well as at Darlington in May of 2013. The duo even made a bet on Super Bowl XLVIII; after Kahne’s beloved Seattle Seahawks beat Busch’s favorite team, the Denver Broncos, Busch had to wear Seahawks gear en route to 2014 Daytona Speedweeks.

 

Busch was not available for comment after the race, but his wife Samantha tweeted the following.

 

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Dillon celebrates amid fireworks at Charlotte

 

CONCORD, N.C.—Pre-race ceremonies for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive for the Cure 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway had a scary moment for Austin Dillon.
 
A firework came down next to the pole sitter and his girlfriend, Whitney Ward. The firework landed on Dillon’s backside and burnt the back of his fire suit, NBCSN reported before the race got underway.

By the way the driver of No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet drove on this night, he seemed fine. He led 61 laps en route to completing a season sweep of the Charlotte XFINITY Series events in 2015, while also scoring his fourth XFINITY win of the year in just his 16th start.

“I was praying with my girlfriend and I think it was a sign from God,” Dillon said after the race. “He said, ‘your getting ready to have a good night or something.’ Get your butt in gear.”

Dillon said it hurt a little bit and showed off his burnt fire suit in the media center.


Dillon’s crew chief, Danny Stockman Jr. said that the whole thing didn’t seem real.

“To be honest with you, it was looking at a movie screen and seeing all the light crashing right in front of you,” Stockman said. “I thought it was not real for a second. Then, it kind of went in between the door and Austin’s butt. It burnt his fire suit up. It burnt the wrap on the car. They tell kids don’t play with fireworks for a reason.”

Stockman admitted to also being concerned about possible damage to the car from the firework.

“As it fell it hit the left front side skirt and went underneath the car. As hot as whatever is coming off that firework is, it could have burned something underneath there. We checked it out and it was good. Pretty wild.”

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: See the full Chase Grid

 

Entering the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, something looms over the remaining 12 drivers in the sport’s championship battle — massive Talladega Superspeedway.

 

Yes, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and from there the series moves to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400. Yet the 2.66-mile track, which hosts the CampingWorld.com 500 on Oct. 25, is firmly on the minds of all the competitors even though it’s two weeks away.

 

“I think this round is probably the most stressful because of Talladega,” Martin Truex Jr. told reporters earlier this week at Contender Round Media Day at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “I think everybody is really putting a lot of pressure on themselves to do good in these first two and try to get a win so you don’t have to worry about Talladega.”

 

And Truex is not the only driver who feels that way.

 

“Yeah, nobody wants to go to Talladega ‑‑ even if you’re Dale Earnhardt Jr. and you feel like you’re the most dominant car on those restrictor-plate tracks, and we’ve been, I think, as dominant as he has been just without the victories, I still don’t want to go there and have to be in the top 10,” four-time series champion Jeff Gordon said during media day. “You know, it’s just one of those tracks where there’s too many variables that can reach out and grab you.”

 

Carl Edwards simplified the approach even more, saying that he looked at the Contender Round as a “two-race series” instead of three races because of the uncertainty with Talladega. The two-time 2015 winner predicted drivers would be going even harder to try to get a win at Charlotte or Kansas to secure a spot in the Eliminator Round of eight drivers.

 

“If you have a shot, if you can see the win at one of these next two races, you are going to see just some really tough racing for that win because nobody wants to go to Talladega with the uncertainty,” Edwards said on Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “There’s going to be a lot of nerves at Talladega.”

 

Last year Kansas hosted the opening race of the Contender Round. That event saw Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. find trouble they ultimately could not recover from, while Brad Keselowski had to score a walk-off win at ‘Dega to overcome his Kansas trouble.

 

But simply navigating the opening two races of the Contender Round doesn’t make drivers immune to Talladega trouble, either. Kyle Busch scored top-five finishes at Kansas and Charlotte in 2014 before being caught up in a 10-car wreck at the Alabama track that sent him to a 40th-place finish and ultimately knocked him out of the Chase — something that wasn’t lost on the Joe Gibbs Racing driver this week.

 

“Last year we played it right, we were the top point total scorer of the first two rounds and we were seeded the highest guy without a win and we went to Talladega and we sure learned how to throw that away,” Busch said. “I think what we can do a better job of instead of being one of the only guys to race at the back of the pack and get ourselves caught up in something that none of the other Chasers were involved in, is race with all the rest of the Chasers and if they all get caught up in a wreck and we do too then hopefully our point total will all be lower, but all the same instead of me just being the only guy down at the bottom of the totem pole.”

 

The value of winning early in a round of the Chase is raised to an even higher level in the Contender Round with the uncertainty of Talladega on the horizon.

 

“When you look at Charlotte and Kansas — the first two races of this round — they’re super-important,” Joey Logano said. “If you can win, you’re going to be sleeping a lot better at night.”