Charlotte Motor Speedway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service To say 2016 will be a year of enormous change in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing is to understate the issue. NASCAR is rolling out a new competition package in its foremost division, one that features lower downforce. The aim is to make the Sprint Cup cars more difficult to drive, which in turn will put more control in the hands of the drivers. You’ll see dramatic changes on the track. Chase Elliott, a 20-year-old rookie, succeeds icon Jeff Gordon behind the wheel ofRead More

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service There’s a possibility, albeit remote, that O. Bruton Smith could be entering the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a race car driver instead of a race promoter extraordinaire. Smith, at age 17, bought a race car and decided to be a professional driver. “One time, I actually beat (NASCAR Hall of Famers) Buck Baker and Joe Weatherly,” Smith said in a May 7, 2005 interview with Motorsport.com. “So I knew when I beat them I could be a contender, right?” Smith’s mother, however,Read More

CONCORD, N.C. – Will the mystery winner of Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 enter and sign in please? Hint: It’s the guy who does back flips every time he takes the checkered flag. But for the first 370 of 400 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway, no one would have picked Carl Edwards or his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as the likely winner of the season’s 12th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin had spent the lion’s share of time at the headRead More

For the second straight Saturday, Denny Hamlin had the chance to hold off a race’s strongest car for the victory. Unlike last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, however, there were too many laps left after the final restart in Saturday’s Hisense 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series, and polesitter Austin Dillon powered past Hamlin on Lap 186 of 200 to finish the race where he belonged—at the front of the field. By the time he crossed the finish line, Dillon was 2.692 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who had taken the lead duringRead More

After powering to his second pole of the season on Thursday night, Matt Kenseth will start NASCAR’s longer race from the most advantageous position—with his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota getting serviced in the most advantageous pit stall. Kenseth ran his fastest lap of the night (194.252 mph) in the third and final round of knockout qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway and secured the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET on FOX), the 12th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season. TheRead More

CONCORD, N.C.—Driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports, in the organization’s second start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, polesitter Kasey Kahne won a two-lap drag race against Erik Jones to earn his fifth victory in six starts in the series. Kahne’s victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway denied the dominant No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of Jones, who led 88 laps but ran a disappointing second after a late caution forced a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race five laps pastRead More

CONCORD, N.C.— In his return to racing after a serious injury, Kyle Busch has a lot on his mind. First of all, he has to acclimate to the feel of the 2015 rules package on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car and he has to do it immediately. Second, Busch has to figure out how to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, despite starting his season 11 races later than his rivals started theirs. Third, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota willRead More

Kasey Kahne has been selected to pilot the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet in the upcoming NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 15, JR Motorsports general manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller announced today. A veteran driver with 29 victories across NASCAR’s top-three series, Kahne will make his first NCWTS start since winning at Rockingham Speedway in 2012.  The Charlotte event also complements the 10-race schedule the No. 00 Haas Automation team will run with its primary driver, 17-year-old Cole Custer, announced earlier this year.Read More

NASCAR’s new Chase format is working out just as they hoped it would, but perhaps, it’s working out too well. The Eliminator 8 round in the Chase for the Championship has upped the intensity among the remaining contenders. After Martinsville, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick found themselves in a deficit heading into Texas Motor Speedway. The 1.5-mile oval was the sight of not only six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson’s 70th win, but the most dramatic post-race scuffle of the season between two of NASCAR’s best. The contact It allRead More