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Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

  • Cup race at Charlotte postponed to Sunday

    Cup race at Charlotte postponed to Sunday

    CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR has postponed tonight’s Sprint Cup Series race in the Queen City.

    The Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be run tomorrow at noon. The XFINITY race that was postponed from Friday to Sunday will run immediately following the conclusion of the Cup race.

    The Cup race will be carried on NBC while the XFINITY race will be shown on NBCSN. Both will be carried by the Performance Racing Network.

    A ticket for the Cup race will be honored for both events. A ticket for the XFINITY race will be honored for just the XFINITY race.

    The race weekend in Charlotte has been plagued with weather issues stemming from Hurricane Matthew as it batters the Eastern United States coastline.

    NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell stated via Twitter that the reason for calling the race was, “Forecast changed late night/early morning w/rain lingering-tough call but made it early to avoid fans on road today-come out tomorrow!”

    In addition to moving the XFINITY race from last night as was originally scheduled, it also wiped out two Cup practice sessions that were scheduled.

    This is the second straight year that the Sprint Cup Chase race at Charlotte has been moved to Sunday afternoon because of rain.

    The weather tomorrow is expected to be sunny, clear blue skies, temperatures in the low 70’s and zero percent chance of rain (Weather.com).

  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Charlotte – Updated

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Charlotte – Updated

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series will compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series is off. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Thursday, Oct. 6:

    On Track:
    1:30-2:55 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    3-3:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    5:30-6:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    7:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN/NBC Sports App  

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    1 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series
    2:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    Noon: Martin Truex Jr.
    12:45 p.m.: Austin Dillon
    1:15 p.m.: Ty Dillon
    3:05 p.m.: Carl Edwards
    3:30 p.m.: Kyle Busch
    4:15 p.m.: Brandon Jones
    8:20 p.m.: Post-NSCS qualifying

    Friday, Oct. 7:

    On Track:
    3:30-4:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Second Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App – CANCELED
    4:45 p.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN/NBC Sports App – CANCELED
    6:30-7:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App – CANCELED
    8 p.m.: XFINITY Series Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC (200 laps, 200 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App – POSTPONED TO SUNDAY, 11 A.M. ET

    Saturday, Oct. 8:

    On Track:
    7 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 (334 laps, 501 miles) – NBC/NBC Sports App – POSTPONED TO SUNDAY, Noon ET

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    3:45 p.m.: Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota
    10:30 p.m.: Post-NSCS Race

    Sunday, Oct. 9:

    On Track:
    Noon: Green Flag – Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 (334 laps, 500 miles) – NBC/NBC Sports App
    4:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC (200 laps, 300 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    Post-NSCS Race
    Post-NXS Race

  • Friday Track Activity at Charlotte Canceled

    Friday Track Activity at Charlotte Canceled

    CONCORD, N.C. — Weather stemming from Hurricane Matthew has forced NASCAR to cancel all on-track activity for Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Constant rain showers around the greater Charlotte area has led to the Drive for the Cure 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race, which was originally scheduled for tonight, being postponed to Sunday at 11:00 a.m. It will remain on NBCSN and PRN.

    Two Sprint Cup practice sessions and XFINITY qualifying that were also scheduled for today have been cancelled as well.

    The lineup for the XFINITY Series race will be set by practice speeds, per the rules.

    The Bank of America 500 for the Sprint Cup Series remains on schedule for Saturday night at 7:00 on NBC and PRN.

  • Harvicks Gets the Pole in the Queen City

    Harvicks Gets the Pole in the Queen City

    Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green flag on Saturday night in the Queen City.

    The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet scored the pole for the Bank of America 500 after posting a time of 27.547 and a speed of 196.029 mph.

    It’s his 16th career pole in 568 Sprint Cup Series starts, first of 2016 and first at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Alex Bowman will start second in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 27.551 and a speed of 196.000 mph. Chase Elliott will start third in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 27.585 and a speed of 195.759 mph. Kyle Busch will start fourth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 27.660 and a speed of 195.228 mph. Tony Stewart will round out the top-five starters in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet after posting a time of 27. 660 and a speed of 195.228 mph.

    AJ Allmendinger will start sixth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. will start seventh in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Carl Edwards will start eighth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Denny Hamlin will start ninth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano will round out the top-10 in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    Jimmie Johnson will start 11th and Kasey Kahne will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Matt Kenseth will start 17th, Austin Dillon will start 19th, Brad Keselowski will start 20th and Kurt Busch will round out the Chase drivers in 23rd.

    Twenty-two Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and seven Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for Saturday night’s 500-mile race.

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  • Austin Dillon: ‘I think you can still have a really good finish at Talladega’

    Austin Dillon: ‘I think you can still have a really good finish at Talladega’

    When asked the importance of winning one of the first two races so as to not need to rely on a decent finish at the wild card race of Talladega, Austin Dillon said that it’s important, but “you can still have a really good finish at Talladega.”

    Speaking to the media this afternoon, the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet addressed the importance of winning either at Charlotte Motor Speedway or Kansas Speedway so as to not need to depend on a miracle run at the restrictor plate race of Talladega Superspeedway.

    “I think it’s important, but I think you can still have a really good finish at Talladega,” Dillon said. “There is obviously a lot that goes into it with luck and what have you. But there are ways to be smart at Superspeedways and try if you are in a good point’s position when you get there. I mean a win obviously takes the pressure off, but you saw what we were able to do in the last round. I mean it’s got to be a tighter finishing average than what it took last round, but I still feel like with no points buffer from the guys that have won races you still got to be smart the next three races, the next two really.”

    Since the introduction of the playoff format to the Chase in 2014, Talladega has served as the final race of the second round (Contender Round or Round of 12). In the last two years, the mantra amongst the drivers and teams in the Chase has been to get a win at either Charlotte or Kansas so you don’t have to sweat it out in the plate race.

    Brad Keselowski came into Talladega in 2014 mathematically out of racing his way into the next round. The only way he could advance was with a win, and he did just that. This came at the expense of Kyle Busch, who was caught up in a late-race wreck, and three of the Hendrick drivers.

    Last year, a wreck at the start/finish line on the restart with two laps to go prevented drivers like Matt Kenseth from advancing into the next round of the Chase.

    Despite the risks, Dillon went on to say having the chance to win is a great feeling.

    “Risking it for a win or just having a solid point’s day can make or break it,” he added. “It’s still a little bit of a risk if you have to go… if you’ve got the opportunity to win obviously it’s going to make you feel great. You can sit and relax when you get to Talladega. A good point’s day the next two weeks will also make you feel good going into Talladega.”

  • Truex Dominates, Outlasts “The Monster” At Dover

    Truex Dominates, Outlasts “The Monster” At Dover

    Not much could be lost for Martin Truex Jr. entering Dover. The New Jersey driver already won a race in this Chase round two weeks ago at Chicagoland, and so he could have finished 1st or 31st; it would have no bearing on his points situation in the Round of 12.

    Truex elected to go for the former.

    Truex dominated the 47th Annual Citizen Soldier 400, leading 187 laps, on his way to his second career win at the Dover International Speedway on Sunday.

    Truex started second, passed pole sitter Brad Keselowski on lap five and dueled with Kyle Busch for much of the first 124 laps. Truex took the lead on lap 125 and stayed there before being passed by Jimmie Johnson on lap 189. Johnson stayed out front before having to serve a pass-through penalty for having one crew member over the wall too soon on a green flag pit stop. Outside of giving up the lead a handful of times due to green flag pit stop cycles, Truex was unchallenged and led the rest of the way.

    It was Truex’s seventh career win and fourth of the season. Toyota has now won 14 races this season. Truex has led 1594 laps this season, just over 1000 more laps led than his career high before this season (581 in 2007). One of the most remarkable statistics from this race weekend is that Truex only had 24 laps of on-track practice before Sunday’s race, the second least amount of any other driver in the field.

    “What an awesome weekend for us, I love this place,” Truex said in the media center following the race. “I’ve had a lot of heartbreaks since my first win here back in ’07. I’ve had a lot of heartbreaks. I’ve led a lot of laps. I’ve been in position to win multiple times, and it never seemed to work out for multiple reasons.

    “Today I’m just thankful to have a great team, to have been able to lead lap 400 and get back to victory lane at a track that’s so special to me.”

    The first half of the race was notable for Chip Ganassi Racing drivers finding themselves at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Jamie McMurray, in a season with record low amounts of engine failures, had an engine failure on lap 194. It was only the second time this entire season an engine out of the Hendrick shop failed. McMurray finished last and missed out on the next Chase round. Kyle Larson started the day off wrong by losing power in his battery during the first caution, then made it even worse by blowing a tire and hitting the wall on lap 183. Although Larson would recover to salvage a 25th showing on the day, neither CGR car ended up making the Chase.

    The second half of the race became an endurance run. What would become the last restart of the day was on lap 198, making the 202 laps afterward a test of driver and crew to avoid mistakes. Only six cars finished on the lead lap, the least amount all season and the lowest amount in years. Johnson served a pass-through penalty but still recovered to seventh, the first car one lap down.

    Kyle Busch came in second, seven and a half seconds behind Truex.

    Chase Elliott followed up his third in the spring race at Dover this season with another third in this race. It was a strong race for Elliott, who drove his way into the Round of 12 after running in the top 10 for the vast majority of the race.

    Brad Keselowski led seven laps after starting on the pole but just didn’t show the pure long run speed the No. 78 and No. 48 cars did. Keselowski still rode home fourth. Matt Kenseth had a somewhat quiet day, finishing fifth after running top five almost the entire race.

    Joey Logano unlapped himself late due to short pitting and finished the race in sixth. Austin Dillon had a solid day and finished eighth, good enough to pass Larson for the final Chase position in the points. Denny Hamlin finished ninth and Jeff Gordon, in what will probably be his final start at Dover, finished 10th.

    Tony Stewart couldn’t gain ground on Austin Dillon or pass Larson in points with his 13th, ending his hopes for a fourth championship. Chris Buescher finished 23rd after coming in essentially needing a victory, and did not advance in the Chase by a wide margin.

    Ryan Blaney blew a right front tire on lap 106 in turn two and stalled in turn three trying to get down to the apron. Blaney finished 38th. Kevin Harvick had a terrible day; he broke a track bar mount to cause the first caution of the day on lap 35 and spent the next 43 laps in the garage. By virtue of his win last week at New Hampshire, however, his 37th at Dover had no impact on his Chase hopes this season.

    All cars cleared post-race inspection.

    Unofficial Results:

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    Unofficial Points Report:

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  • Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Asked how the experience of being in the Chase has been, Chris Buescher said it has “been a good experience.”

    Speaking to the media this morning at Dover International Speedway, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford spoke about the experience of being in the Chase.

    “It’s been a good experience,” Buescher said. “We’ve learned a lot through it. We look at Dover as the last race of this round and we really don’t have anything to lose. Chicago and Loudon weren’t the races that we wanted to have and we come into Dover, one of my favorite race tracks.

    “This should be a place where we can really have a good run and see if we can advance to that next round. It’s gonna be tough at this point, but this is probably our best race track out of this round, so I’m excited to get going.”

    Buescher earned his way into the Chase with a win in the rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400 during the summer at Pocono Raceway. He also earned a fifth-place finish in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

    During that same stretch of races, however, he’s finished 30th, 35th, 17th, 24th, 28th and 30th. He currently sits 16th in the Chase standings and 30 points out of the 12th place cutoff with this weekend being the first elimination race.

    In his first Cup start at the Monster Mile, he finished 18th four laps down. This time around, he’ll need to finish 11th or better to have a chance of advancing to the Round of 12.

    Despite the odds, Buescher said it’s a little nice to go into a race just worrying about getting the best finish possible.

    “It’s the racing that you’re able to do at the beginning of the year before you’re too worried about the points leading up to the Chase,” he added. “We’ve been in a lot of points racing situations over the last two years and to be able to have a handful where we can go out and like we said, we don’t really have anything to lose here today. All we have to do is gain, so, to me, it’s gonna make it to where we’re able to go out here and not worry about it, take some chances, try and utilize some risk and see if we can pull something off.”

  • Rain Washes Away Dover Sprint Cup Qualifying; Keselowski On Pole

    Rain Washes Away Dover Sprint Cup Qualifying; Keselowski On Pole

    A persistent rain forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway on Friday. As per the NASCAR rulebook, the field will line up based on points with points leader Brad Keselowski leading the field to the green flag on Sunday.

    Dover has been one of the better tracks for Keselowski on the Sprint Cup circuit, with an average finish of 12.8 and a win in his 2012 championship winning season. Keselowski enters Sunday with a 35 point cushion on making the next Chase round.

    “It’s great… because we obviously have been having a great season, maybe not with what we had done on track today, but with what we had done throughout the course of the year and scoring a lot of points and winning races,” Keselowski said. “So it’s certainly still something to be very proud of, to be this far into the season and being [in] the points lead, so these are the perks you get when you’re in that position. We’ll take it.”

    Starting next to Keselowski will be Martin Truex Jr. Truex has long considered Dover, the site of his very first Sprint Cup win, a home race. The New Jersey driver has nothing to lose on Sunday, thanks to his win at Chicago a couple of weeks ago guaranteeing him advancement to the second Chase round. Kevin Harvick, who starts seventh, is the only other Chaser who is locked in.

    Kyle Busch starts third and Matt Kenseth starts fourth. Joey Logano rounds out the top five starters.

    The drivers on the Chase bubble will all start right next to each other, with Kyle Larson (+5) in 12th, Jamie McMurray (-5) in 13th, Austin Dillon (-5) in 14th, Tony Stewart (-11) in 15th, and Chris Buescher (-30) in 16th. Keselowski seemed to be happy about not having to start in the middle of that; “That should be compelling to watch. I won’t get to see it, but you will”.

    It’s the third straight Sprint Cup race at Dover where qualifying has been rained out; the last time qualifying was completed at Dover was in the spring 2015 race.

     

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  • Larson Fastest In Opening Sprint Cup Practice At Dover

    Larson Fastest In Opening Sprint Cup Practice At Dover

    In the opening Sprint Cup Series practice session on Friday morning, Kyle Larson ended up being the fastest at the Dover International Speedway.

    Larson’s lap at 165.578 mph was his final lap in the practice session as the No. 42 team was preparing for qualifying. Larson enters Dover as the last driver in a Chase advance spot, only five points ahead of teammate Jamie McMurray. Dover just happens to be one of Larson’s best racetracks; the young California driver has four top 10s in his five starts at Dover, including a close second to Matt Kenseth in the spring race earlier this season.

    The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Carl Edwards and Kenseth were second and third respectively. Ryan Newman was the best non-Chaser in fourth while 10-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson was fifth.

    The Chase drivers who stand to be eliminated from Round 1 of NASCAR’s playoffs didn’t fare very well. Austin Dillon was the highlight in ninth followed by McMurray in 16th. Tony Stewart was 24th and Chris Buescher, who sits 30 points out and needs a win to advance to the next round, struggled in 31st.

    Four drivers ran 10 consecutive laps in this session. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch was the fastest, with an average speed of 159.336 mph. Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, was second and Dillon was third. Trevor Bayne, 27th on the overall chart, was the slowest of the four in fourth place. Busch was 28th on the speed chart, as the No. 18 team focused on race trim instead of qualifying trim.

    The practice started with a 15-minute delay due to rain. Rain is a major part of the forecast this weekend, with the Weather Channel reporting an 80 percent chance of rain on Saturday and a 60 percent chance of rain on Sunday.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/C1629_PRAC1-Cup-first-practice-Dover.pdf” title=”c1629_prac1-cup-first-practice-dover”]

  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series head to Dover International Speedway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, Sept. 30:

    On Track at Dover:
    10-11:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    1:30-2:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    3:40 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    1 p.m.: XFINITY Series

    Press Conferences: ( Watch live )
    8:30 a.m.: Chris Buescher
    8:45 a.m.: Chase Elliott
    9 a.m.: Jamie McMurray
    9:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
    9:45 a.m.: Erik Jones
    12:30 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
    12:45 p.m.: Regan Smith
    4:40 p.m..: Post-Sprint Cup Series Qualifying (time approx.)

    Saturday, Oct. 1:

    On Track at Dover:
    10:30-11:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Second Practice – CNBC/NBC Sports App
    11:45 a.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – CNBC/NBC Sports App
    1:30-2:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    3 p.m.: XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 (200 laps, 200 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    10 a.m.: NASCAR  Sprint Cup Series

    Press Conferences: ( Watch live )
    5 p.m..: Post-XFINITY Series Race (time approx.)

    On Track at Las Vegas:
    11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series First Practice
    1-2 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice
    6:10 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS2
    8:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series DC Solar 350 (146 laps, 219 miles) – FS1

    Sunday, Oct. 2:

    On Track at Dover:
    2 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Citizen Soldier 400 (400 laps, 400 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    5:30 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Series Race (time approx.)