CONCORD, N.C. -- The longest winless drought of Jimmie Johnson's career came to an end today with a dominant victory in the Queen City. The victory secures Johnson's spot in the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
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.
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.
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."
Sixteen started the Chase with some hope. That is now down to 12 as they pull into Charlotte. If we relied strictly on the season tally to award the trophy, it would already be down to Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick. Just two points would be separating them. Both could have sat out Saturday night’s race and still have been one-two in the standings come Monday. Hence, the Chase.
Allegations continue to be made against former NASCAR driver Bobby Hamilton Jr. following the claims made by ARCA drivers Kevin Hinckle and Cassie Gannis in August. Both drivers are pursuing legal action against Hamilton, with Hinckle and Gannis both filing breach of contract lawsuits.
Truex dominated at Dover, leading 187 laps on his way to the win in the Citizen Soldiers 400. Truex has two wins in three Chase races and has emerged as a clear Cup favorite.
Crew chief Patrick Donahue, car chief Dillon Bassett and engineer Morgan Olsen have been barred for the next four O'Reilly events due to fallen ballast from Patrick Staropoli's No. 48 entry during this past weekend's event at Sin City.
Hendrick Motorsports enters this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway as the facility's all-time leader in wins (16), top fives (58), top 10s (97) and laps led (4,269).
