NASCAR Cup Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Bank of America 400
Team Chevy Post-Race Report
October 11, 2026
Larson Opens Second-Half of The Chase with a Sixth-Place Finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team started the second-half of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase with yet another strong campaign – leading the Bowtie brand with a sixth-place finish in the Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Despite coming just short of keeping their postseason top-five streak alive, the reigning champions put together a solid points day that included the Stage One win to build onto their points lead once again to now sit at a 49-point advantage over Denny Hamlin. Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen drove his No. 97 Chevrolet to back-to-back top-10 oval finishes, taking the checkered flag to earn a seventh-place finish.
RACE RECAP:
Stage One:
With inclement weather forcing the cancellation of yesterday’s on-track action, the lineup for this afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was set by the metric, putting the points leader, Kyle Larson, on the pole position to lead the field to the green flag and officially kickoff the second-half of The Chase. Staying door-to-door with Chase Briscoe for much of the opening lap, Larson was able to clear last week’s winner in turn four to resume the top position of the leaderboard. Wasting no time, Larson quickly went to work on building his cushion, pulling away to over a second lead before the race hit a double-digit lap count. With a competition caution scheduled on Lap 35, Larson was quiet on the radio throughout the duration of the opening green flag run. Reporting that he was building loose during that run, crew chief Cliff Daniels called his driver to pit road for four tires, fuel and a slight balance adjustment. Exiting first off pit road, Larson maintained the top position to lead the field to the green flag for the restart. A quick caution setup for another restart that ultimately saw Larson lose the lead for the first time of the afternoon, but the speed of his Chevrolet prevailed, regaining the lead as he brought the field to 20 laps to go in the stage. While it was trending towards a green flag run to the end of the stage, a caution with three laps to go ultimately brought the stage to an early end, giving Larson the first green-white checkered flag.
Stage Two:
Exiting first in the race off pit road during the stage break, Larson regained the lead to pace the field to the start of Stage Two. While the first-half of the stage saw Larson remain a steady fixture within the top-two, the No. 5 slipped up into the outside groove to lose a handful of positions. But with patience as the green flag run prolonged, Larson steadily made his way back up into the top-five before collecting fourth-place points at the end of Stage Two. Larson was one of three Team Chevy Chase contenders that drove to a points-earning run with Chase Elliott and Carson Hocevar taking the second green-white checkered flag in the ninth and 10th positions, respectively.
Final Stage:
With a call for four tires and fuel under the stage break, the No. 5 pit crew performed once again, giving their driver a two-position gain in the race off pit road to inherit a spot back on the front row for the start of the final stage. Sitting on the outside lane, it was a drag race with Ryan Blaney for the opening lap of the stage, but it was a move by Christopher Bell that took them three-wide that saw Larson slip back to the fourth position. As the run built, the leaders began to single out with Larson steady in the fourth position as the field was just a handful of laps away from what would have been the first green flag pit cycle of the day, but a caution flew shortly thereafter for a spin by the No. 66. Maintaining position on the final trip to pit road of the day, Larson stayed within the top-five through much of the final run, but after building loose throughout the closing laps, the reigning champion held onto a sixth-place finish to round out yet another strong points day in his championship defending campaign.
Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 Results
Pos. Driver
6th – Kyle Larson
7th – Shane van Gisbergen
Chevrolet’s season statistics with 32 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:
Wins: 8
Poles: 6
Top-Fives: 52
Top 10s: 109
Stage Wins: 22
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase will continue at Phoenix Raceway with the Freeway Insurance 500 on Sunday, October 18, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 26th
“I thought we had a good No. 3 Morgan and Morgan Chevrolet as the race got underway. We were a touch tight, but we were driving forward and were inside the Top 10. Unfortunately, we got a speeding penalty on pit road and lost those gains, but I was able to drive our car forward again. We just built too tight as the race went on and the track changed. The 54 ran into us towards the end of the race, and after that we built even tighter. We were out of the track and snappy at the end. Proud of everyone’s efforts and look forward to Phoenix Raceway next weekend.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 6th
“It’s just been a good start to The Chase for this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. It’s our first finish outside of the top-five, but only one spot out of the top-five. We just kind of lost the balance there at the end. I knew it was a really long run and I just tried to take care of my tires early, but it just got really loose. We’ll take it. The first stage played out exactly how we needed it to. The cautions were kind of coming out right when I was about to get passed. The second stage was promising. I had that really bad start, but we fought our way back into the top-five and got good points there. Coming home with a sixth-place finish, all-in-all, I feel like we maximized our day.”
With a 49-point lead, do you feel comfortable?
“No, I won’t feel comfortable until it’s over. Obviously, (Chase) Briscoe winning and having a good day; you can take big chunks out of it if you win. We’re going to go to some tracks where others are really good coming up, so we just have to keep putting together days like we did today. We weren’t the fastest, but we got good points.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 12th
There were a couple of times where you had to come back down pit road, but you still came home with a 12th-place finish. How did you feel about your car and how much do you think those issues affected your finish?
“It definitely affected it, how much, we’ll never know. We had a loose wheel there that one stop, and then I sped on the other one. I didn’t think I was speeding. I wasn’t concerned about my lights, at least, so that one surprised me based on our pre-race run. But it was what it was at that point. Unfortunately, it was a bad time to do that with starting the final stage. To get back to 12th, that was pretty good for all things considered.”
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident at the end of Stage One.
Finished: 39th
“It looks like the No. 48 (Alex Bowman) just got loose and overcorrected it into the wall. I was running the top and I lifted right away, but I couldn’t get low enough because he kind of came back off the wall. I hate it for this No. 24 Valvoline Blood Cancer United Chevrolet team. We had a top-five run going, so it’s just unfortunate.”
Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 32nd
“Long race for our Lucas Oil team. Nothing seemed to go according to plan today. Without practice or qualifying yesterday, we hoped the speed and balance from May would transfer over, but we fired off loose with the rear tires being out of the track. The guys kept working on it the entire race. We got on the other side of the balance but then were too tight. Our front windshield had a haze from the drop of the green flag and we tried everything. Removed all tear offs, cleaned the inside and outside windshield – nothing seemed to help. We’ll have to look over our Chevrolet back at the shop and improve for next season.”
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident at the end of Stage One.
Finished: 38th
“I just got loose. Honestly, I had been really tight. I don’t know, as soon as it got to the exit of the corner, it snapped and it kind of didn’t stand a chance. Unfortunately, I grabbed too much wheel, overcorrected it and got in those two guys’ (Bubba Wallace and William Byron) way. I hate that for our No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team. We had a pretty fast car. I hate that for the No. 24 and No. 23 teams. It’s one thing to get loose and crash, but to ruin their days too really sucks.
It’s on me. I just didn’t hang onto it well enough. I was just caught off guard. I don’t know why I got as loose as I did. I hadn’t been loose at all, but that’s part of driving a racecar and unfortunately I didn’t do a good enough job of it.”
Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 19th
“It was a busy day here in Charlotte. We had some speed in our Delaware Life Chevrolet, just not enough to accomplish what we were hoping for this weekend. We put ourselves in a great spot late in Stage 1 and Stage 2, unfortunately pit road was so tight and we got some damage there during one of our stops. We had an opportunity at a top 10, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Glad to have this 1.5-mile stretch behind us and looking forward to racing at home in Phoenix next weekend.”
Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 21st
“I really appreciate the hard work by everyone on the Red Bull Chevrolet team today. We made improvement from where we started the race and had a respectable finish. Randall and the guys made the car better, but it was still too tight there at the end. It’s certainly a step in the right direction.”
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 7th
Really good run on an oval again this weekend. Do you feel like you’re progressing to the point where you’re about to be a contender for wins?
“Yeah, I’m glad the organization has gotten better. Having Ross (Chastain) up there too, we’ve had too many days of running 30th as a team, so it was good that we’ve made some progress. This No. 97 SuperFile Chevrolet team has had two solid weekends in a row and we can be proud of that. We changed a lot on our cars, trying to understand them and get them better. It’s really nice to see some progress. Charlotte (Motor Speedway) seems to suit us. We seem to have a good base setup for this track.”
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