Tag: Charlotte Motor Speedway

ThorSport Racing places three drivers in the top-10

It was a solid night for the Ohio based ThorSport Racing team with three of their four drivers finishing inside the top-10 with the exception of Johnny Sauter who wound up 17th after stalling on a late race restart.

Ben Rhodes, the highest finisher among his teammates, earned a fourth-place finish. Rhodes was up front for most of the race. He led the first couple of laps before settling into the top five for most of the race. In the first stage, Rhodes and the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150 finished fourth after leading a couple of laps early. However, in Stage 2, the Kentucky native fell back a little bit after pit stops and finished eighth.

Rhodes would find himself near the front again as the race continued to wind down. On a late race restart with three to go, he had the chance to run down eventual race winner Kyle Busch for a shot at the win and what would have been his first victory since Kentucky of last year. However, the No. 99 ThorSport team wound up fourth, the highest of the ThorSport finishers.

“Yeah, a little bit up and down,” Rhodes told MRN Radio describing his night at Charlotte. “Kind of missed the, I guess the audible that everyone pulled when me and Todd (Gilliland) stayed out. We had to drive through the field tonight. I’m wore out, that was a lot of work. I mean we had a fast Carolina Nut F-150. The guys at ThorSport, everyone back at home, Duke and Rhonda Thorson did an amazing job getting all their ThorSport trucks fast. Matt Crafton got the pole and I thought we were going to get second, but we were having a few issues with looseness. We know how to fix it, we’ll have to go home and do our homework, and we’ll be ready for the big money race at Texas.”

Crafton, in the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150, finished one spot behind his teammate Rhodes to round out the top five finishers.

Crafton’s day started off well by collecting the pole for the second straight week in a row and even winning the first stage. After winning the first stage, however, Crafton could not catch the leaders. He would fight in the top five, but could never get back to the front. Crafton was good enough to finish fourth in Stage 2. But alas, his winless streak is still intact as Crafton would earn his fifth top five of the year.

“We were actually really, really tight in the first half of the race, three-quarters of the race,” Crafton said to MRN Radio. “We were able to free it up in the end. Still needed a little bit more. The 51 (Kyle Busch) was definitely class of the field. All in all, I mean it wasn’t bad. We still have room for improvement, this group keeps getting better and better each week. As bad as we struggled last year, it feels good to run top five and top three and lead laps again.”

After finishing third in both stages, Enfinger, the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment driver, finished inside the top-10 in the ninth position.

“Not the finish we deserved but had a good truck all night,” Enfinger said in his post-race tweet. “These guys have been great all year on pit road and everyone who works for ThorSport Racing has brought us great F-150s. Hungry to get us a win.”

Sauter would be last of the ThorSport teammates finishing 17th after stalling on a late race restart.

May 18, 2019
Clint Bowyer wins pole for All-Star Race at Charlotte
Clint Bowyer captured the pole for Saturday’s Monster Energy All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his first pole in the event which features a $1 million prize.

Qualifying required each participant to complete three qualifying laps with one four-tire pit stop with no pit road speed limit. Bowyer’s best lap time of 136.371 mph and his 14.8-second pit stop in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was enough to earn the top starting position. It will be his 10th All-Star Race.

“Our Fords are extremely fast, frustrated that we haven’t been able to break into victory lane. We’re poised to do that. I’m telling you, the Stewart-Haas cars have been extremely fast,” Bowyer said. “Kevin (Harvick) showed his muscle last week in Kansas, had a mishap and didn’t get his win. We’ve been knocking on the door at Richmond and Bristol and Martinsville.

“With our 14 car, I’m very proud of the job that Buga (Mike Bugarewicz, crew chief) and everybody has been doing. That was the difference tonight. Tonight was all about going fast and getting the most out of three laps and I do love the aspect that you add that pit crew. It gives them a time to shine. My pit crew has been doing a jam-up job all season long and they were a big part of that. I call that a win. That is a victory. That’s something that’s not just a qualifying lap. It’s a total team effort.”

Kyle Busch, who fell short of the pole in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by .177 seconds, said, “I thought everything about the lap actually was pretty good. I’m not sure how fast the lap itself was — how fast our car was on the lap.

“I felt like my progressiveness onto pit road and pit road speed was relatively good, and then the braking point and being able to just chatter the tires all the way into the box was really close. Really on the money there. I thought we got all we could get out of it.”

Kevin Harvick, Bowyer’s teammate, will start third with his fastest lap time of 136.068 mph as Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr. round out the top five.

Harvick seemed pleased that his qualifying run went smoothly, saying, “I think I could have got a little better in the braking onto pit road was okay, a little better time in the braking and I spun the tires a little bit too much leaving the stall, but in the end you don’t want to make any big mistakes and I think we accomplished that.”

Of the remaining drivers who have already qualified for the All-Star Race, Ryan Newman will start sixth followed by Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch.

Qualifying for the Open was held prior to All-Star qualifying and Richard Childress Racing’s Daniel Hemric won the pole.

“I said on the radio this is the first box checked for the weekend,” Hemric said. “You’ve got to bring the fastest race car you can, and we’ve done that. Hopefully, we can do our jobs tomorrow and do what we need to do to get in the All-Star race and really have some fun.”

Fifteen drivers have qualified for the race and another three will join the lineup after the Monster Energy Open which will precede the All-Star Race Saturday night at 6 p.m. ET. The Open will consist of three stages and each stage winner will earn a spot in the All-Star Race. One final driver will be chosen from the Fan Vote, making a total of 19 competitors for the All-Star event.

This year’s All-Star race is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1 and will include four stages of 30, 20 and 20 laps with a final 15-lap shootout.

Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.
May 17, 2019

The Kyle Busch Show reigns supreme at Charlotte

Kyle Busch returned to the Truck Series after a short hiatus to race in the fifth and final event in which he is allowed to compete and went straight to victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It wasn’t easy for Busch, however, as he had to hold off the field in a late race restart with three to go including a hard-charging Brennan Poole for the 56th win of his career.

“Our truck was really, really good,” Busch told MRN Radio. “These guys prepared such a fast Tundra for me and I wanna thank Cessna Beechcraft, Toyota TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing. You know, it takes a whole group effort. Rudy (Fugle) and these guys are awesome at what they do, give me great pieces each and every time we come out here. We have not ever this year not unloaded great, but we really work on our stuff and improved it through practice and even into the race. You know there at the end, I didn’t want to have that last restart at the end. I knew being on older tires were going to be a handful for me. It looked liked it was for a couple of the other guys. Not a very good restart, but I was still able to hold them off thankfully.”

The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 got underway shortly after 8:30 p.m./ET. Matt Crafton qualified on the pole for the second straight week in a row and the 15th of his career.

There were three stages of 30/30/74 laps to equal the 134 lap race. Todd Gilliland took the lead after the start, but Ben Rhodes took the lead from Gilliland on Lap 2.

The first incident of the night happened early with Natalie Decker who had right side damage after making contact with the wall. Matters only got worse for the No. 54 DGR-Crosley team as they would bring out the first caution of the night on Lap 23 when Decker wrecked off Turn 2. During the pit stops, Angela Ruch was penalized a lap for pitting outside the box.

The restart for Stage 1 came with two to go and featured a thrilling finish. Pole sitter, Crafton, was able to rocket back to the front and pass Todd Gilliland off Turn 2 to win Stage 1.

Stage 2 began on lap 36 and went to lap 60. It was a relatively clean stage and saw no cautions. Eventual race winner, Busch took the lead on Lap 40.

There was a minor incident that involved Dover winner Johnny Sauter, as he barely wrecked off Turn 4. However, there were no issues for the all-time wins leader Busch, as he would go on to win Stage 2 which ended on Lap 60.

There was an issue with Chad Finley who slowed and was way off the pace. It was later reported that Finley was out of gas at the end of the stage, which eventually cost him a top-10 stage finish. Grant Enfinger also stalled on pit road as well during pit stops.

Stage 3 was restarted with 67 to go with two Truck Series veterans Kyle Busch and Matt Crafton.

With 62 to go, Codie Rohrbaugh smacked the wall off Turn 2 to bring out the fourth caution. Another caution took place with 57 to go, as rookie Gus Dean hit the wall off Turn 2 as well. Korbin Forrister and Ruch were also involved. During the caution, Ross Chastain, Enfinger and Gilliland, among others, went in to pit while Busch and the front half of the field stayed out.

The sixth caution came out for the No. 49 of Stefan Parsons who hit the wall. Parsons would wind up 24th.

After the restart with 44 to go, there was a wide variety of leaders. Sauter, who had issues earlier with his truck found himself in the lead for a short while before Busch would take the lead once again with 39 to go.

The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 would go on a long green flag run of 37 laps until the final caution broke out with eight to go for last year’s champion Brett Moffitt, who had a right rear tire come apart.

This would eventually set up a late race restart with three to go. Two-time champion, Sauter could not get going on the restart and jacked up the field who was behind him. Busch did not get a great restart either as he found Poole chasing him down for the upset win. However, Busch would continue his winning streak by going five for five this year.

“No, no I don’t think so,” Busch told MRN in regards to having such a dominating streak in 2019. “You know, a couple of years ago, I shot for it and wanted to have it, but only got two or three (races). Overall, I wish I could do more. It’s frustrating that you’re limited because you’re too good at what you do. I would love to be able to come out here some more and be able to win with this team, and all my guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports and for our partners here at Toyota, Cessna Beechcraft and everybody else.”

There were seven cautions for 31 laps with nine leaders among 19 lead changes during the race. Busch led five times for 102 laps and collected his eighth Truck Series win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and his fifth of 2019.

This will be Busch’s last Truck Series race of the 2019 season.

Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will take two-weeks off before returning to on-track action on Friday, June 7.

Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 8
Race Results for the 17th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery 200 – Friday, May 17, 2019
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC – 1.5 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 134 Laps – 201. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	8	51	Kyle Busch(i)	Cessna Toyota	134	7	1	0	Running
2	17	30	Brennan Poole	Madvapes Toyota	134	0	0	35	Running
3	2	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar International Chevrolet	134	6	6	44	Running
4	5	99	Ben Rhodes	Carolina Nut Ford	134	4	8	43	Running
5	1	88	Matt Crafton	Ideal Door/Menards Ford	134	1	4	49	Running
6	20	16	Austin Hill	United Rentals Toyota	134	0	0	31	Running
7	3	4	Todd Gilliland	Mobil 1 Toyota	134	2	10	40	Running
8	15	15	Anthony Alfredo #	STEELSMITH/Friends of Jacelyn Toyota	134	0	0	29	Running
9	9	98	Grant Enfinger	Protect the Harvest/Curb Records Ford	134	3	3	44	Running
10	13	45	Ross Chastain(i)	TruNorth/Paul Jr. Designs Chevrolet	134	5	2	0	Running
11	4	18	Harrison Burton #	Safelite AutoGlass Toyota	134	9	9	30	Running
12	10	2	Sheldon Creed #	Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet	134	8	7	32	Running
13	25	2	Tyler Dippel #	Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet	134	0	0	24	Running
14	22	97	Jesse Little	JJL Motorsports Ford	134	0	0	23	Running
15	28	3	Jordan Anderson	Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet	134	0	0	22	Running
16	23	56	Timmy Hill(i)	Southern Freight Services Chevrolet	134	0	0	0	Running
17	12	13	Johnny Sauter	Tenda Heal Ford	134	10	0	21	Running
18	18	42	Chad Finley	Strutmasters.com/Air Lift Chevrolet	134	0	0	19	Running
19	6	24	Brett Moffitt	JuniorJohnsonMidnightMoonMoonshine Chev	133	0	5	24	Running
20	7	4	Cory Roper	Preferred industrial Contractors Inc Ford	133	0	0	17	Running
21	29	22	Austin Wayne Self	GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet	133	0	0	16	Running
22	30	20	Spencer Boyd	1A Auto Chevrolet	133	0	0	15	Running
23	31	44	Angela Ruch	FOX Nation/The Ruch Life Chevrolet	132	0	0	14	Running
24	16	49	Stefan Parsons	Charlotte Strong Chevrolet	132	0	0	13	Running
25	27	7	Korbin Forrister	All Out Toyota	129	0	0	12	Running
26	19	12	Gus Dean #	LG Air Conditioning Technologies Chevrolet	123	0	0	11	Running
27	11	17	Tyler Ankrum #	May’s Hawaii Toyota	111	0	0	10	Vibration
28	32	33	Josh Reaume	HertzKompressoren/P&BCompressor Chev	98	0	0	9	Running
29	14	9	Codie Rohrbaugh	Grant County Mulch Chevrolet	72	0	0	8	Accident
30	26	8	Camden Murphy	Chevrolet	40	0	0	7	Suspension
31	21	54	Natalie Decker #	N29 Technologies LLC Toyota	32	0	0	6	Accident
32	24	87	Joe Nemechek	ROMCO/TMS Titanium Chevrolet	19	0	0	5	Rear Gear

May 17, 2019

Full schedule for Charlotte All-Star weekend

For one night a year, throw the points out the window as the Monster Energy All-Star teams take to their hometown track for the Annual All-Star Race. The Xfinity teams have one final week off before Charlotte but the Truck Series is back in action Friday night under the lights. Here is how you can watch all of the action.

All times are Eastern.

Friday, May 17

9:05 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live

10:35 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series final practice – NASCAR.com/live

11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice COMBINED Open and All-Star – NASCAR.com/live

1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series OPEN final practice – NASCAR.com/live

2:05 p.m. – 2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star final practice – NASCAR.com/live , FS1 (Delayed)

2:35 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 1) NASCAR.com/live

2:45 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 2) NASCAR.com/live

4:35 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Pole Qualifying (Single Vehicle/One Laps All Positions) – FS1

6:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying OPEN teams – (Single Vehicle/Two Laps) – FS1

7:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying All-Star teams – (Single Vehicle/Three Laps All Positions, Mandatory Pitstop) – FS1/PRN

8:30 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series North Carolina Educational Lottery 200 (Stages 30/60/134 Laps = 201 MILES) – FS1/MRN

Saturday, May 18

6 p.m.: Monster Energy Open Race (Stages 20/20/10 laps) – FS1/PRN

8 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (Stages 30/20/20/15 laps) – FS1/PRN

All-Star Race – Rules, Format, Eligibility

May 16, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Charlotte
After visiting the heartland this past weekend in Kansas, the NASCAR Truck Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway, home for most of the teams, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Digital Ally 250 presented another exciting race last week at Kansas Speedway with fan favorite Ross Chastain winning the event last Friday night. Chastain took the lead with three to go and never looked back to earn his first Truck Series win and quite possibly, Chastain’s biggest win of his career.

While Chastain’s win was certainly popular, one thing that caught the eye of racing fans was that the entry list was noticeably smaller. Just 28 Trucks were entered in the race, one of the smallest fields in the Truck Series season thus far. Only 11 trucks finished on the lead lap for the Digital Ally 250.

This week, however, the Truck Series preliminary entry list is quite large with 37 trucks entered so far and it sees the return of the all-time wins leader Kyle Busch who is slated for his final Truck Series race of the season.

While Busch will be making his 150th Truck Series start, some will be making one of their limited start of the season.

Some of these include Camden Murphy in the No. 8 Nemco Motorsports Truck and Trey Hutchens who will try to make his first Truck start since 2017 at Iowa where he finished 16th. After announcing the team would be cutting back their races due to sponsorship, Cory Roper returns to the track with his No. 04 Roper Racing team. Anthony Alfredo will pilot the No. 15 DGR-Crosley machine as Chad Finley Racing returns to the track with Chad Finley behind the wheel in the No. 42. Stefan Parsons will carry a UNC Charlotte Tribute and will try to make the field in the No. 49 truck owned by Ray Ciccarelli, Timmy Hill will be in the No. 56, Timothy Peters returns in the No. 92 Ricky Benton truck and Jesse Little will compete in the No. 97.

Update- It was announced Wednesday that the No. 1 Truck team of Mark Beaver has withdrawn from the race. Bayley Currey was originally slated to be behind the wheel.

With that in mind, here’s a look at who might pull into victory lane Friday night in the annual running of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200.
1. Kyle Busch – Surprise, surprise. It’s hard to count out the all-time wins leader of the Truck Series who is looking to go five for five. The last time someone went five straight in the Truck Series was NASCAR Hall Of Famer Ron Hornaday who accomplished the feat in 2009. Hornaday won at Milwaukee, Memphis, Kentucky, IRP and Nashville. However, those were five consecutive races in a row. So despite the fact that Busch may win on Friday night, Hornaday’s record of five straight wins will remain intact should Busch win. Nonetheless, Busch’s stats at Charlotte in the Truck Series are impressive. He has won seven times in 12 starts which is 58.3 percent of the time. Busch has won every time he has entered a Truck Series race at Charlotte. But the last time he won was two years ago in 2017. However, the Charlotte track has been kind to the polarizing driver who won in his first time out in 2005. The lowest Busch has ever finished was 11th in 2007. Other than that, it’s a win or second place for the KBM owner. His average finish is 2.7 with 662 laps led along with 10 top fives and 11 top-10 finishes. When he won in 2017, Busch led 90 laps of the scheduled 134-lap race. It’s hard to imagine counting Busch out of having a shot at the win.
2. Ben Rhodes – After falling short of the win last week at Kansas and finishing second, Rhodes and the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150 will look to carry their momentum to Charlotte Motor Speedway in hopes of a win this Friday night at the 1.5-mile track. He has just three starts here, all in a ThorSport truck with a best finish coming in last year’s race, where Rhodes finished fifth after starting seventh. His other finishes include an eighth in 2017 and 17th in his first time out in 2016. Rhodes has been strong this season with three top fives and five top-10s with 46 laps led. He has been winless well over a year and he is hungry to get back to victory lane soon.
3. Ross Chastain – Chastain has been riding high since his famous victory last week in Kansas. He’ll be looking to carry that momentum over this coming week. But, Chastain only has three starts at Charlotte, his last coming two years ago in 2017 where he finished 19th. The only top-10 finish Chastain received was way back in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski Racing entry and finishing ninth. In that race, he started seventh and led three laps. That’s the only race he has finished on the lead lap. Chastain also came here in 2012 for his first start and wound up 35th. However, Chastain and the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team have been a strong contender this year finishing in the top-10 in all the races he has entered before winning at Kansas last week. At 1.5-mile tracks thus far, Chastain has finished sixth at Atlanta, 10th at Las Vegas, seventh at Texas and of course, the win last week at Kansas. Look for Chastain and the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team to continue their race winning high this week at Charlotte.
  
  4. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland has made strides toward a turn around for the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team after finishing third last weekend in Kansas. Gilliland has one start here at Charlotte coming in 2018 where he finished 10th. However, if you ask him, he would probably tell you that he should have finished higher. Gilliland was involved in an incident on Lap 119 that ultimately cost him a better finishing position. Looking at the loop data, the No. 4 KBM team ran as high as third, ran sixth mid-race and finished eighth, and fourth in both stages in last year’s race. To note, Gilliland will use chassis KBM-057 which has had one outing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year with Gilliland behind the wheel. He started 13th and finished seventh. The Sherrills Ford, North Carolina native turned 19-years-old this week and what a birthday present it would be if Gilliland could get the No. 4 truck to victory lane Friday night.
  
  5. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has two starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a best finish of fourth in last year’s race after starting in the sixth position and leading 28 laps. He even won Stage 1 and finished third in Stage 2. His other start came with the Red Horse Racing team in 2017, where Moffitt finished 18th after starting seventh.
  
  Who To Watch:
  
  1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is the defending race winner but is coming off a poor finish at Kansas after a mechanical issue. He has three top fives and five top-10 finishes. Don’t be surprised, however, if Sauter and the ThorSport team race their way into victory lane Friday night.
  
  2. Matt Crafton – Charlotte could be the place Crafton breaks his long winless streak. He has the most active starts of any driver with 16 and even has two wins with the last coming in 2016 and his first in 2008. Crafton has six top fives and 12 top-10 finishes.
  
  3. Timothy Peters – Peters returns to the Truck Series piloting the No. 92 Ricky Benton Racing machine. It will be his first Truck start since Las Vegas driving for Al Niece where Peters finish 12th. He has 12 starts with a best finish of fifth (twice, 2014 and his last outing in 2017.) The Providence, North Carolina native has 58 laps led and three DNFs with an average finish of 17.7.
  
  The Truck Series has competed here since 2003 and has seen 16 races since then. Kyle Busch has the most wins here with seven coming in 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017. Ted Musgrave was the first winner in 2003. Since then the names of Dennis Setzer, Ron Hornaday, Crafton, Justin Lofton, Kasey Kahne and Sauter have all visited victory lane. To note, Crafton scored his very first Truck Series win here in 2008. Since then, he has won 14 races and has amassed two championships.
  
  Thrilling Finish – The track has seen a number of thrilling finishes including the race in 2015 when Kasey Kahne barely edged out Erik Jones by half a second for the win. It is most likely one of the most underrated finishes in recent Truck Series history.
  
  The Toyota-Chevy show – There has been a trend growing since 2009, where it is either a Chevy or Toyota going to victory lane. Toyota currently leads the way with six manufacturer victories while Chevy only has four.
  
  Qualifying is important at Charlotte Motor Speedway where the winner has come inside the top-10 13 times with the pole sitter winning three times in 2010, 2014 and 2018. The lowest a race winner has come from was 20th in 2006 set by none other than Kyle Busch. The most recent to ever come from a low starting spot was Matt Crafton in 2016 where he started 17th.
  
  It will be an all-day show once again for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. There will be two Truck Series practice sessions with the first at 9:05 a.m. ET and the final practice at 10:35 a.m. ET. Both sessions will be live streamed at nascar.com. Qualifying for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 is scheduled for 4:35 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1.
  
  The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will be broken up into three stages of 40/80/134 laps. Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio will broadcast the action with the green flag flying shortly after at 8:30 p.m. ET.
  
  This will be the last Truck Series race before the series goes on a short hiatus. The next time they’re on track will be at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, June 7.
May 16, 2019

All-Star Race – Rules, Format, Eligibility

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday evening for the 35th running of the All-Star Race with a $1 million prize up for grabs.

Jimmie Johnson leads the way with four All-Star wins in 2003, 2006, 2012 and 2013. Kevin Harvick is the defending race winner with one other victory in 2007.

Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano complete the list of active drivers who have won the All-Star Race, with one victory each.

This year’s event will include four stages consisting of 30, 20 and 20 laps with a final stage of 15 laps. During Stages 1-3 both green and yellow flag laps will count. Only green flag laps will count in the final stage. Pit stops are not mandatory.

NASCAR’s Overtime rules will be in effect. During the final stage, if the race is restarted with less than two laps remaining, there will be an unlimited number of attempts to ensure that the race will finish under green flag conditions.

This year’s race will add two technical elements to the cars. The first component is a single-piece carbon fiber splitter/pan. It is hoped that the splitter will “provide a more stable aero platform and create more consistent performance in traffic.” The All-Star cars will also be “configured with a radiator exit duct through the hood. This will separate aerodynamic performance and engine temperatures, creating more parity across the field.”

There are currently 15 drivers eligible for the All-Star Race. Competitors must have won a points-paying race in 2018 or 2019, be a full-time driver who is a former winner of the All-Star race or a past Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion.

The fifteen eligible drivers include Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Harvick, Johnson, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr.

Drivers can also qualify by participating in the Monster Energy Open. The Open will be held at 6 p.m. ET on FS1 Saturday and will consist of three stages,(20, 20, 10 laps). The winner of each stage will earn a spot in the All-Star Race.

The final driver will be determined by the Fan Vote, bringing the total to 19 drivers for the All-Star event. In 2008 Kasey Kahne earned a spot in the All-Star race through the Fan Vote and went on to win the All-Star race, the only driver to ever do so.

The Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race is set for May 18 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

Monster Energy Open Entry List

Entry	Veh #	Driver	Organization	Crew Chief	Mfg	Sponsor
1	00	Landon Cassill (i)	StarCom Racing	Joe Williams Jr	Chevrolet	Elongator Tailgates
2	8	Daniel Hemric	Richard Childress Racing	Luke Lambert	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Caterpillar
3	13	Ty Dillon	Germain Racing	Matt Borland	Chevrolet	GEICO Military
4	15	Ross Chastain (i)	Premium Motorsports	Patrick Tryson	Chevrolet	TBD
5	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Roush Fenway Racing	Brian Pattie	Ford	Fastenal
6	21	Paul Menard	Wood Brothers Racing	Greg Erwin	Ford	Menards \ Knauf
7	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chad Knaus	Chevrolet	TBA
8	32	Corey LaJoie	GO FAS Racing	Randy Cox	Ford	Freedom Hard
9	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Drew Blickensderfer	Ford	Dockside Logistics
10	36	Matt Tifft	Front Row Motorsports	Michael Kelley	Ford	Surface Sunscreen / Tunity
11	37	Chris Buescher	JTG Daugherty Racing	Trent Owens	Chevrolet	Kroger Your Personal Pit Stop
12	38	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Seth Barbour	Ford	MDS Transport
13	41	Daniel Suarez	Stewart-Haas Racing	Billy Scott	Ford	ARRIS
14	42	Kyle Larson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chad Johnston	Chevrolet	Advent Health
15	43	Bubba Wallace	Richard Petty Motorsports	Derek Stamets	Chevrolet	World Wide Technology
16	46	Joey Gase (i)	Motorsports Business Mgt	Mark Labretone	Toyota	MBM Motorsports
17	47	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Tristan Smith	Chevrolet	Kroger
18	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Michael Hillman	Ford	JACOB COMPANIES
19	52	Bayley Currey (i)	Rick Ware Racing	George Church	Chevrolet	TBA
20	53	BJ McLeod (i)	Rick Ware Racing	TBA	Chevrolet	TBA
21	66	Timmy Hill (i)	Motorsports Business Mgt	Brian Keselowski	Toyota	MBM Motorsports
22	77	Quin Houff	Spire Motorsports	Peter Sospenzo	Chevrolet	TBD
23	88	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Greg Ives	Chevrolet	TBA
24	95	Matt DiBenedetto	Leavine Family Racing	Michael Wheeler	Toyota	Anest Iwata

May 15, 2019

The White Zone: Let’s retire the All-Star Race

Wednesday, on NASCAR Race Hub, NASCAR announced the format for this year’s Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race.

Over its 35-year history, it’s had 15 different formats. Three of them have come in the last five years.

Does the All-Star Race excite anyone, anymore?

What’s even the most notable thing that’s happened in this event in the last 10 years? Probably 2012, when NASCAR incentivized the segment winners to sandbag, until the final pit stop (to their credit, however, they changed that the following year to best segment average finish).

This isn’t your father’s All-Star Race, where Rusty Wallace turned Darrell Waltrip to win the event or Davey Allison got turned, as he crossed the finish line. This is an event that’s become a victim of the aerodynamic-centrism that’s made races at 1.5-mile tracks so maligned. This is a race where the guy who exits pit road first on the final stop wins it nine times out of 10.

It’s yet another race in a season that’s already too long.

And unlike other All-Star Games in the stick and ball world, you’re not seeing players that, if you follow Major League Baseball, you’d only see three or four times a year (or 20 times, if you’re a fan of a division rival) in a 162-game season. You’re seeing the drivers that already race 36 times a year.

So what made it stand out? It was the gimmicks.

It made sense until 2004, when this was a race with gimmicks, during a season when the championship was decided in a season-long points format. But with all the gimmicks that permeate NASCAR now (and yes, stage racing and playoff points are gimmicks), what makes this race any different from a race during the season?

Is it the million-dollar prize? Aside from it not being the only race with a purse that large, what about that is supposed to appeal to the blue-collar worker that earns $31,900 a year? For context, the median household income in the United States (and this number can vary by source) in 2017 was $61,372.

It’s time to accept that the All-Star Race has run its course. The event, every year, is so over-hyped and enrages fans when it disappoints.

What if instead of the All-Star Race, we use it as an actual off weekend for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. And while it’s off, let’s run the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) and the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) at a short track, like — say — Hickory Motor Speedway or Myrtle Beach Speedway.

Then the next weekend (if we must run the NGOTS and NXS at Charlotte), run the NGOTS race on Thursday, NXS on Saturday and the Coca-Cola World 600 on Sunday evening.

Right now, as it is, the All-Star Race is just another race weekend taking up space in an already crowded schedule.

That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

April 17, 2019

Kurt Busch captures inaugural pole at Charlotte Roval

Kurt Busch won the Busch Pole Award Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the inaugural running of the Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 featuring a unique 2.28-mile, 17-turn, road course.

His 106.868 mph lap in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford earned him his fourth pole of the season and the 26th of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. Bush was the only Ford driver at the top of the leaderboard with Chevrolets scoring seven of the top 10 starting positions.

Busch, a playoff contender, spoke about the significance of the pole, saying, “It’s pretty special to get the pole at an inaugural event and to do it here at the Roval, I mean, there’s so much going on. There’s so much that everybody has to manage, crew chief, lead engineer, myself, engine tuners, everybody chipped in on this 41 car the right way. We had a plan for the first two rounds and it paid off. I struggled this year qualifying at Watkins Glen and at Sonoma, so we came here with a plan and it worked. Some conventional wisdom and thinking played out with our pole run today, but thanks to the guys, Monster Energy, Haas Automation, and Ford. We’re on the pole for the Roval.”

AJ Allmendinger’s expertise on road courses was evident as he will start beside Busch after qualifying second with a lap speed of 106.811 mph in what will be his final season in the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.

“It’s a crazy race track, for sure,” he said. “It’s like my Champ Car days. It’s a street course in the infield there. The walls are on both sides and if you make a small mistake, you’re going to pay the price for it. To me, it makes for a lot of fun because you’ve got to be on point. You’ve got to be aggressive but you can’t be over-aggressive. I could nit-pick both my laps and say there’s a lot more out there, but you could easily try to get that and find yourself in the wall. My strategy (for Sunday) is to go out there and try to win. I’ve got no job, it doesn’t matter. I’m going there trying to win.”

Alex Bowman (P), Chase Elliott (P) and Kyle Larson (P), rounded out the top five qualifiers. Jimmie Johnson (P), Clint Bowyer (P), Jamie McMurray, Ryan Blaney (P) and Chris Buescher will start in sixth-10th, respectively.

Bowman was pleased with his effort but said, “Well I didn’t think we would qualify third on the Roval, so this was a nice surprise! Greg (Ives) and this Axalta team made some great changes after practice, which made the car a lot better in some of the turns. I messed up off the bus stop, so I think the biggest thing on Sunday will be minimizing mistakes. I’m glad to be up toward the front to start this race and hopefully, we can stay up front all day on Sunday and have a clean Axalta Camaro ZL1 at the end of the day.”

Johnson spoke about the significance of starting up front.

“Track position is going to be super important after that first stage and we are after stage points,” he said. “Strategy is going to play a huge role in this race, and the first guy with enough fuel and tires for the finish is going to be in great, great shape. But we need points in each segment and then obviously a good result at the end. So, starting this close to the front is a huge, huge help.”

Playoff drivers Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Joey Logano qualified 12th-15th, respectively, with Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola starting 19th and 20th. The remaining drivers vying for the championship will start in the back half of the field, including Austin Dillon (24th), Brad Keselowski (25th) and Denny Hamlin (27th).

The Charlotte Roval course has proved to be challenging as evidenced by several incidents during practice and qualifying. It will also serve as an elimination race and cut the Playoff field from 16 drivers to 12. Only three drivers have clinched a spot in the next round – Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Truex. Bowyer, Johnson, Jones and Hamlin are currently below the cutoff.

Hamlin may face the biggest hurdle as he enters the race ranked last in the Round of 16. During qualifying, he hit the outside wall and damaged the rear of his car. The Joe Gibbs Racing team made repairs to the No. 11 and were able to make another qualifying run to start 27th. However, the decision was made to go to a backup car which means Hamlin will start from the rear of the field.

Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 will be televised on NBC at 2 p.m. with radio coverage by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

Starting Line Up
Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
The Inaugural Bank of America ROVAL 400

1	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Haas Automation/Monster Energy	Ford
2	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
3	88	Alex Bowman (P)	Axalta	Chevrolet
4	9	Chase Elliott (P)	SunEnergy1	Chevrolet
5	42	Kyle Larson (P)	Clover/First Data	Chevrolet
6	48	Jimmie Johnson (P)	Lowe’s for Pros	Chevrolet
7	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	Mobil 1/Advance Auto Parts	Ford
8	1	Jamie McMurray	DC Solar	Chevrolet
9	12	Ryan Blaney (P)	Menards/Pennzoil	Ford
10	37	Chris Buescher	Maple Cheerios	Chevrolet
11	8	Daniel Hemric(i)	Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff	Chevrolet
12	20	Erik Jones (P)	Reser’s	Toyota
13	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	Auto-Owners Insurance	Toyota
14	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s	Toyota
15	22	Joey Logano (P)	Shell Pennzoil	Ford
16	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Rehydrate	Ford
17	19	Daniel Suarez	Lenox	Toyota
18	34	Michael McDowell	K-LOVE Radio	Ford
19	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Jimmy John’s New 9-Grain Wheat Sub	Ford
20	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield	Ford
21	24	William Byron #	Unifirst	Chevrolet
22	21	Paul Menard	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	Ford
23	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	SunnyD	Ford
24	3	Austin Dillon (P)	Dow	Chevrolet
25	2	Brad Keselowski (P)	Alliance Truck Parts	Ford
26	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO	Chevrolet
27	11	Denny Hamlin (P)	FedEx Freight	Toyota
28	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Superior Logistics Services Inc.	Ford
29	31	Ryan Newman	Grainger/American Red Cross	Chevrolet
30	38	David Ragan	MDS Transport	Ford
31	15	Justin Marks(i)	GoPro Motorplex/Pickers Vodka	Chevrolet
32	95	Regan Smith	Procore	Chevrolet
33	72	Cole Whitt	Rinnai	Chevrolet
34	43	Bubba Wallace #	World Wide Technology	Chevrolet
35	7	Ross Chastain(i)	SOKAL Media Group	Chevrolet
36	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Adirondack Tree Surgeons	Toyota
37	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	iK9/Xtreme Concepts	Toyota
38	00	Landon Cassill(i)	Dairi O	Chevrolet
39	51	Stanton Barrett	Jacob Companies	Ford
40	66	Timmy Hill(i)	Ternio	Toyota

September 28, 2018

Full weekend schedule for Charlotte

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in action at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off. The Monster Energy Series heads to the final race of the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Playoffs, while the Xfinity Series Playoffs continues the Round of 12. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

THURSDAY, Sept. 27

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
1:20 p.m.: Matt Tifft
4:30 p.m.: Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric

FRIDAY, Sept. 28
12:05-12:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5) (Results)
1:05-1:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
3:00-3:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App(Canada: TSN App) (Results)
4:45 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5) (Results)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:30 a.m.: Clint Bowyer
10:45 a.m.: Joey Logano
11 a.m.: Ryan Blaney
11:15 a.m.: Aric Almirola
11:30 a.m.: JTG Daugherty Racing
1:30 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
1:45 p.m.: Austin Dillon
2:15 p.m.: Richard Childress Racing
5:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying

SATURDAY, Sept. 29
11:00-11:50 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series second practice, NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Follow live)
12:10 p.m.: Xfinity Series Pole Qualifying, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Follow live)
1:30-2:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN2) (Follow live)
3 p.m.: Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 200 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (55 laps, 125.4 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN2) (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
Noon: Sonoma Raceway announcement with Steve Page, Jeff Gordon and Marcus Smith
1:40 p.m. DeAngelo Williams, Drive for the Cure 200 presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield Honorary Pace Car Driver
5:15 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

SUNDAY, Sept. 30
2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America Roval 400 (109 laps, 248.52 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN2) (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:45 a.m.: Sherry Pollex, Honorary Pace Car Driver
11 a.m.: Daniel Hemric, Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones and Matt Duff, former Major League Baseball pitcher
11:20 a.m.: Smokey Yunick Award
12:45 p.m.: Ron Rivera, Grand Marshal
5:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

September 28, 2018
NASCAR Drivers Get First In Depth Look at Charlotte ROVAL™

Tuesday was a unique day at Charlotte Motor Speedway as 16 NASCAR drivers got their first up close and personal look at the new ROVAL™ course. You might ask, what is a ROVAL™? It’s a hybrid that was created to bring fans a whole new experience.

So let’s start off with the name, ROVAL™. It is exactly what it seems to be, a mix between the traditional oval track Charlotte Motor Speedway is known for and a road course. It is a first on the NASCAR circuit and looks to bring back the excitement in racing. We all remember the domination of Kyle Busch at the Coca-Cola 600, but hopefully, with the new configuration, there will be more passing and less domination by one individual. In turn, this will make for far more competitive racing and keep the fans and teams on the edge of their seats.

Today started out with a little bit of excitement with a crash by Bubba Wallace ending his day of testing but since then it has been mostly single-car runs and very little if any, passing. This is to be expected with any new track configuration on the NASCAR circuit. There have been a few instances where cars have been close to each other but it doesn’t seem like anyone is feeling comfortable enough to start trying to pass each other, at least not yet.

Jimmie Johnson stated, “I think surviving (is the biggest challenge). There are a lot of areas to make a mistake. It’s going to be tough with 40 cars on the track. I think survival will be the biggest hurdle to clear.”

Once the drivers begin to test the limits of their cars on the new layout, I believe it will produce a more aggressive and entertaining show.

And just a few moments after I wrote that it’s as though Brad Keselowski could read my mind as he ventured out into a different turn and you could hear the tires of his No. 2 Ford Fusion squeal as he pushed his car to its limits. But from the sound of it, he may still have some room to push his car further.

You could tell that the anticipation is building based on the number of fans in the stands and will only increase with testing next Tuesday, as well.

The Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 will premiere Sunday, September 30. Expect to see tempers flaring and cars being moved out of the way as Charlotte Motor Speedway attempts to bring back some of the old school NASCAR with a brand new concept.

July 10, 2018