Charlotte Motor Speedway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Grabbing the lead from Carson Hocevar after a restart on Lap 111 of 134, Ben Rhodes pulled away to win Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Rhodes, the ninth different winner in 11 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races this season, also collected a $50,000 bonus for winning the first of three events in the Triple Truck Challenge, a bonus program that could mean $500,000 for a driver who can sweep all three.  “I didn’t think we were thatRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Auto racing’s long day’s journey into night begins on the European continent and ends with NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’s a feast for the motorsports enthusiast, from the Grand Prix of Monaco to the Indianapolis 500 to the Coke 600, which provides a perfect nightcap to the Sunday before Memorial Day. The Charlotte race is a welcome home game for the race teams, in that it takes place in theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. — Eight drivers down, eight to go. Round two of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is now complete, with four more drivers getting the boot when the checkered flag waved on Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte. Up until the closing stint of the race, it looked as if the four drivers that came into the race under the cut-off line would stay there when the checkered flag flew, but when a caution came out on lap 105, the race for theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – NTT IndyCar Series regular Conor Daly can now add NASCAR Cup Series driver to his resume after completing his debut race in the series Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. While the Bank of America ROVAL 400 weekend started inauspiciously with an encounter with the wall, which left his team scrambling to get the car repaired for race day, Daly held his own once the green flag dropped on Sunday, gaining confidence with each passing lap in his No. 50 Bitnile-sponsored Chevrolet. Even afterRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval has brought positive memories for Chase Briscoe in his NASCAR career. Back in 2018, Briscoe scored his maiden Xfinity Series win at the circuit. Fast forward to 2022, the Roval became the site of his playoff hopes staying alive. During Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400, Briscoe was among four drivers who were below the cutoff line. He was ninth in points, trailing eight-place Daniel Suarez by 12 points. Due to the Roval’s wild characteristics, survival was paramount for the Stewart-HaasRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a turn of events that bordered on the unbelievable, Christopher Bell found his only path to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. On fresh tires, thanks to a strategic pit stop under caution on Lap 105, Bell passed Kevin Harvick to the outside through Turns 1 and 2 after a restart on Lap 111 and pulled away to win Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. With the victory, BellRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Defending champion Daniel Hemric gave it a run Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but in the end, he just didn’t have enough to stay alive in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs and was eliminated from championship contention. Starting the Drive for the Cure 250 on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course in third place, things were looking up for Hemric to be able to advance on to the Round of 8 by the time the checkered flag waved, but everything went awry early onRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Marco Andretti just wanted to log laps and finish his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start in one piece, but unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go his way Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Driving the No. 48 Chevrolet for Big Machine Racing, Andretti rolled off from deep in the field, but held his own against the stock car regulars, climbing up the leaderboard as he gained confidence around the 17-turn road course. Andretti broke into the top-20 at the start of the final stage, butRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – It took a bit of thievery for AJ Allmendinger to preserve his perfect record at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. “We got that one—we stole that one,” shouted Allmendinger after spinning his car like a dervish during a celebratory burnout at the finish line of the 2.32-mile, 17-turn road course. Indeed, the 40-year-old Allmendinger swiped the lead from Ty Gibbs—a driver half his age—after an overtime restart on Lap 68 of the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCrossRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Safety has been the big keyword in the NASCAR Cup Series this season with all of the issues surrounding the Next Gen car and on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the sanctioning body sat down with the driving corps to try and carve out a path forward. Earlier this week, NASCAR tested proposed changes to problematic areas of the Next Gen car, namely the rear end of the vehicle, in a crash test in Ohio and on Saturday, they explained that the testRead More