By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer CONCORD, N.C. – In qualifying for the Bank of America ROVAL 400, Ryan Blaney avoided the trouble that some of his Playoff Grid rivals encountered. His Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski was not as lucky, breaking the power-steering pump after hitting one of the blue ‘turtle’ curbs at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Compared to the first round of qualifying, the second round was tame. Blaney ended up ninth on the starting grid, running a 105.919 mph, 1:17.493 second lap. He was the seventh-fastest
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Denny Hamlin already had his work cut out for him heading into the inaugural Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but after the first day on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course, he and the No. 11 team have a challenging road ahead if they are to transfer on to the next round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. After two poor performances in the first two races of the postseason, Hamlin enters Charlotte with a 28-point deficit to
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Following two optional test sessions on Thursday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series got their first official crack at the new Charlotte Motor Speedway road course with a pair of practices on Friday afternoon. The results from Friday closely mirrored those from Thursday as Austin Cindric was fast again, putting up the quickest lap time in the first practice session with a lap of 1 minute, 18.443 seconds at 104.636 mph. He was followed by Daniel Hemric, Alex Labbe, Ryan Preece, and Justin Allgaier to
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – After making his presence known every step up the NASCAR ladder, Daniel Hemric is finally getting his shot at the big time as Richard Childress Racing officially announced him as the new driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet starting in 2019. “So many people want to have this opportunity and they work their whole lives for it,” said Hemric. “Going through this process, everybody who’s followed my career from racing the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout at Charlotte to super late models, whatever it was,
Read More By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer CONCORD, N.C. – Veteran Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers like Clint Bowyer have just one takeaway from Watkins Glen International (WGI) and Sonoma Raceway for the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. The 2.28-mile oval-road course hybrid is virtually impossible to compare to NASCAR’s traditional road course events. As Bowyer and his No. 14 Mobil 1 / Advance Auto Parts Ford Fusion team enter the Bank of America ROVAL 400, his experience in road course racing will be put to the test. In 26 Premier
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – After turning heads in the Xfinity Series over the last couple of years, Ryan Preece’s bet on himself has paid off as he will be headed to a full-time ride in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2019. Less than a week after JTG Daugherty Racing announced that they would be releasing AJ Allmendinger from his contract at season’s end, the team made it official on Friday that Preece would be taking over the seat of the No. 47 Chevrolet starting next
Read More By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer CONCORD, N.C. – During a weekend of firsts for the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Austin Cindric and Cole Custer paced the first two practice sessions on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. The two practice sessions were eventful as most incidents resulted in local yellows. Brendan Gaughan was the first driver to hit the track for the first practice for the Drive for the Cure 200. The session came to a quick stop after Spencer Gallagher backed into the wall. The damage was severe, and the
Read More By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer CONCORD, N.C. – It’s the 28th race of the season, and the second of the Playoffs. Four full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars have combined to score 12 victories. The Xfinity Series returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the second time this season but will compete on the 2.28-mile road course-oval hybrid for the first time. The Playoff battle, the unknown of the Roval, possibility of racing in the rain, and stage racing are just some of the storylines heading into the 28th race of the season. Coverage for
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor There are numerous adjectives that can be used to describe this weekend’s race on the new Charlotte Motor Speedway road course: unpredictable, volatile, treacherous, chaotic, etc. Once thing is for sure as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ventures into the unknown, it’s going to be a hell of a ride. In an effort to spice things up this season, Charlotte officials elected to switch from running another race on the 1.5-mile oval to creating what they are calling the ROVAL, incorporating both the high banks
Read More By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The newest and perhaps biggest challenge awaits the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with this weekend’s race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. The ‘Roval’ as it is more commonly referred is the final race of the first round of the Playoffs, which will eliminate the bottom four of 16 drivers. Our friends from Mobil 1 The Grid sat down with Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart to preview the unique challenges of the 17-turn, 2.28-mile circuit layout.
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