NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – After Sunday’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson can proclaim justifiably “The Boys are Back in Town.” But for five other Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, all of whom finished 30th or worse in the rain-delayed Bank of America 500, the race ended in a medley of dire straits. Taking the lead from Matt Kenseth after a restart on Lap 317 of 334, Johnson pulled away to win by 1.474 seconds over the driver of the No. 20Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer CONCORD, N.C. – Kasey Kahne came up just short of playing the role of spoiler in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday. The Hendrick Motorsports driver came off of scoring Top 10’s in four of the last five races and looked for the upset over teammate Jimmie Johnson, only to come up two spots short with a third-place finish.   On the initial start of the race, Kahne’s No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS slipped back to 19th after startingRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer CONCORD, N.C. – Jimmie Johnson is moving on to the Round of Eight. Since the Elimination-style format was introduced for the Chase for the Championship in 2014, the 41-year-old Californian had yet to advance all the way through to the Final Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In fact, he had yet to advance passed the second round of the Chase – until now. In qualifying, Johnson was able to place his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS 11th on the starting grid and quietly began to move upRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief What a difference a year makes. Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick finished 1-2 in last year’s edition of the Bank of America 500, but this year both drivers saw their day end early on Lap 155 of 334 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The No. 22 Team Penkse Ford of Joey Logano hit the Turn 1 wall on Lap 117 after a tire went down, a problem that plagued him again moments later, but the heavy impact forced him to go to the garage for repairs. “IRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer CONCORD, N.C. – The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway usually is the longest race day of the year on NASCAR schedule. Due to inclement weather and Hurricane Matthew, both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will run back-to-back races today. With the Bank of America 500 and the Drive for the Cure 300 being run back-to-back, the combined mileage of the two races is scheduled to be 800 miles. Prior to the weather delays, six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regularsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After being shut out in the win department in the first round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Team Penske’s two drivers, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, will be looking to make a splash as the second round of the playoffs kick off at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Logano will be looking for back-to-back Bank of America 500 wins after winning last season’s rain-delayed race, while Keselowski will be looking for his first Charlotte win since the fall race in 2013. Beginning with theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With persistent rain from Hurricane Matthew churning just off of the Carolina coastline, NASCAR cancelled all on track activities on both Friday and Saturday, moving the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series to Sunday for a doubleheader, where weather is expected to be much more favorable. The Bank of America 500 will kick off at Noon ET, with Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman leading the field to green, while the Xfinity Series race, the Drive for the Cure 300, will take place 45Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Climbing behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet in relief of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Alex Bowman was looking to provide a solid run for his Hendrick Motorsports team. In Thursday night’s qualifying session for the Bank of America 500, Bowman nearly pulled off the upset by stealing the pole, but came up just short, settling for the outside pole instead. “It’s always cool to come to Charlotte because you’re at home. My family and a lot of the team members’Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer CONCORD, N.C. – Starting position is key for any race at Charlotte Motor Speedway as 76.5% of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Charlotte have been won by drivers starting in the Top 10. Starting position is even more important during a Chase race, like the Bank of America 500. Kevin Harvick qualified his No. 4 Busch Hunting Chevrolet SS won the pole for Saturday night’s race. Harvick’s 196.029 MPH, 27.547 second lap was just barely enough to edge out Alex Bowman, who continuesRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After just one top-10 finish in the first round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Carl Edwards and his No. 19 team will head into Charlotte to start the Round of 12 needing to step up their performance in order to be able to move on to the next round of the Chase. Edwards’ average finish of 11.67 may have been enough to allow him to move into the second round with relative ease, but with four less drivers in the running forRead More