Nobody signs up for a bad online casino on purpose. People end up at one because the welcome bonus looked enormous, or a banner ad followed them around for a week, or a cousin mentioned a name at Thanksgiving. The casino itself did very little to earn the deposit beyond being visible at the right moment. Choosing well is mostly a matter of slowing down for twenty minutes and asking a handful of boring questions before the first Interac e-Transfer goes through.
This is a practical walkthrough of those questions, the mistakes that first-time players make most often, and the reason independent comparison sites have become part of the routine for experienced Canadian players. Anyone comparing every online casino in Canada worth considering can start with Casinoonlineruleta Canada’s tested shortlist, which labels each brand as Ontario-licensed or offshore and publishes the methodology behind the ranking. But a shortlist is a starting point, not a substitute for knowing what you are looking at, so let us begin with the thing that matters most.
Who licensed it, and does that licence protect you?
The licence question comes first because every other protection flows from it. In Ontario, a casino operating legally holds a registration with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. That combination means the operator’s games have been tested, its advertising is restricted, its player funds are segregated, and there is a provincial body to complain to if a withdrawal goes missing. Ontario residents who want recourse should look for that status and nothing less.
Outside Ontario, the only fully legal online casinos are the provincial lottery corporation sites: PlayNow in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, PlayAlberta, Espacejeux in Quebec, and the ALC in Atlantic Canada. Everything else a Canadian can reach is an offshore site, typically licensed in Malta, by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission or in Curaçao, operating in a legal grey area. Those licences are not equal. A Malta Gaming Authority licence carries real obligations and an independent complaints process. A Curaçao licence has historically meant much less, though reforms there are ongoing. The practical test is simple: scroll to the footer, find the licence number, and check it on the regulator’s own register. If there is no number, or the number does not match, close the tab.
Does it actually work in Canadian dollars?
A surprising number of sites that advertise to Canadians run their accounts in euros or US dollars and convert on the way in and out. That costs you a few percent at each step, which over a year of play adds up to more than any bonus is worth. Check that you can hold a CAD balance, that the game lobby prices bets in dollars, and that withdrawals arrive in dollars without a conversion fee from the casino’s side.
The payment question goes hand in hand with this. Interac e-Transfer is the method most Canadians want, because the money comes straight from a bank account without a card and arrives fast. Ontario-licensed casinos offer it as standard; offshore sites vary, with some using Interac through third-party processors, others relying on Instadebit, iDebit or MuchBetter as workarounds. PayPal is available at some Ontario brands. Cryptocurrency deposits are an offshore-only feature. Whatever you plan to use, confirm it is available for withdrawals as well as deposits, because the two lists are not always the same.
Which studios supply the games?
Game quality is mostly a question of which providers the casino has signed. The names that recur across Canadian lobbies are a reasonable quality signal: Microgaming’s Mega Moolah remains the country’s favourite progressive jackpot, Evolution supplies the live dealer rooms where Lightning Roulette runs, and studios such as Pragmatic Play, NetEnt and Play’n GO fill out the slot shelves. A casino with several hundred titles from recognised studios is more trustworthy than one with three thousand from names you have never heard of, because licensed providers only deal with operators who meet their own compliance checks.
Look too for published return-to-player figures. A reputable casino shows the RTP of each slot in the game information panel. If those numbers are missing, or if the same game shows a lower RTP than it does elsewhere, that is a sign the operator has chosen a reduced-payout version, which some providers allow.
Read the bonus small print, slowly
The welcome bonus is where beginners lose the most money, not because bonuses are a scam but because the terms are written to be skimmed. The number that matters is the wagering requirement. A $200 bonus at 35x means $7,000 in bets before anything can be withdrawn. Check whether the requirement applies to the bonus alone or to the bonus plus deposit, which doubles the effective figure. Check the maximum bet while a bonus is active, often five dollars, because exceeding it can void winnings. Check which games count: slots usually contribute 100 percent, blackjack and roulette often 10 percent or nothing. Check the expiry, which can be as short as seven days.
Ontario rules restrict public advertising of bonuses and inducements, which is why Ontario-licensed casinos tend to show their offers only after you log in. That can make them look stingier than offshore brands shouting about $5,000 packages, but the Ontario offers are generally more honest in structure. A smaller bonus with a 20x requirement is almost always better value than a huge one at 50x.
Support, mobile and the small things
Before depositing, open the live chat and ask a real question: how long do Interac withdrawals take, or what documents are needed for verification. The speed and quality of the answer tell you what to expect when something goes wrong with money on the line. A site that routes you to a bot loop or an email form with a 72-hour response time is telling you something.
Mobile matters because most Canadians now play on a phone. Try the lobby in your browser before registering. Does it load quickly, do games fit the screen, is the cashier usable with a thumb? A dedicated app is a bonus, not a requirement; a well-built browser site is often better than a poorly maintained app.
Finally, look at the responsible-gambling section. Deposit limits, session reminders and self-exclusion should be easy to find and to set. Their presence is a legal requirement in Ontario and a strong signal of good faith elsewhere. Legal age is 19 in most provinces and 18 in Alberta, Quebec and Manitoba, and a serious operator will verify it before the first withdrawal.
The mistakes beginners make most
The pattern repeats so reliably that it is worth listing plainly. New players choose by bonus size rather than bonus terms. They deposit before checking whether their preferred withdrawal method exists. They skip identity verification until they try to cash out, then discover it takes days. They play slots with a bonus active without knowing the maximum bet rule. They register at a casino whose licence they never checked, then have nowhere to complain when a payout stalls. And they treat a losing week as money to be won back rather than money that is gone.
Each of these is avoidable with ten minutes of reading before the first deposit, and none of them is the fault of the player for being inexperienced. The sites are designed to be signed up for quickly. The remedy is to be slow on purpose.
Where a comparison site earns its keep
This is where an independent comparison resource saves genuine time. Checking a licence register, reading forty pages of bonus terms, timing a withdrawal and testing live chat is work, and it is work that only needs to be done once per casino if somebody does it properly and writes it down. Casinoonlineruleta Canada’s approach, with real Canadian accounts, timed deposits and withdrawals, support tests and scheduled re-checks, is the kind of hands-on method that a reader cannot easily replicate for twenty brands. Its reputation rests on a track record built first in Chile, where the sister edition has long been a reference for players, and the Canadian site has carried over the same editorial independence and the same refusal to invent bonus numbers.
None of that removes the need to think for yourself. A shortlist narrows the field; the questions above decide the winner. Gambling has been part of human culture for thousands of years, as the Encyclopedia Britannica’s entry on the long history of gambling makes clear, and the people who have enjoyed it most across that span are the ones who understood the odds and set their own limits before the first wager. Online casinos are only the newest room in a very old house. Choose the room carefully, and the rest tends to follow.
Cosmetic surgery has become a possibility for individuals looking to improve their physical appearance, balance out the proportions of their bodies, or achieve certain aesthetic aims. Turkey has become an attraction for patients from other countries since it has a variety of options for cosmetic procedures and well-trained doctors working in modern healthcare facilities. Still, one should choose his or her treatment wisely, considering all possible aspects. It is important to know all your options in order to choose the best procedure. The research on best Cosmetic surgery turkey will help you find out about various surgeries.
Setting Your Beauty Goals before Cosmetic Surgery
It is always recommended that you first think about the reasons why you want to have any kind of physical changes. For some people, it might be the removal of the effects of aging, while for other people it might be related to reshaping of the body or even modifying one’s facial profile. Being able to define what your goals are will help you have an informed discussion with your surgeon. Of equal importance is to understand what a particular surgical procedure can achieve. Although a number of surgeries can improve certain physical traits, they cannot guarantee perfection.
Common Face Procedures for Plastic Surgery in Turkey
Face surgeries are often undertaken by people wishing to enhance certain features or correct aging problems. Rhinoplasty is a procedure that can be performed to change the shape of the nose, sometimes solving problems with breathing as well. Eyelid surgery is performed to remove skin or fat deposits around the eyes, while a facelift can be done to reduce facial aging signs. Other procedures include chin and facial contouring surgeries. It is vital in assessing plastic surgery Turkey procedures to research the qualifications and experience of the surgeon in the procedure.
Body Contouring and Cosmetic Surgery Turkey Procedures
Body contouring consists of surgical procedures aimed at modifying the appearance and/or shape of particular body areas. Liposuction will get rid of excess fat tissue from a certain area, whereas abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) will remove excess abdominal skin along with tightening the weak abdominal muscles. Body contouring surgeries are not alternatives to weight loss programs; therefore, the ideal patient must have realistic expectations and be at his/her proper weight. Additionally, breast surgery involving breast augmentation, reduction, and lift can also assist an individual to reach his/her proportions. It is advisable for someone interested in cosmetic surgery in Turkey to consult his/her surgeon about the past, present, and future.
Choosing a Well-Trained Surgeon and a Reliable Hospital
Choosing the right surgical center may be one of the most important steps in making a decision. In the first place, it is necessary for a person to make sure that the surgeon is adequately qualified and experienced in conducting a particular operation. Photos depicting the results of operations performed before can be analyzed, but none of the situations are the same. You should know everything about the hospital where the surgery will take place, types of anesthesia, infection prevention, and what should be done in case of an emergency situation. A professional surgeon can always make sure that his patients have all the necessary information and time to decide. Never trust promises and temptations.
Surgery Preparation and Post-Surgery Recovery
Preparation starts with an extensive physical examination. It is necessary to inform the surgeon about any diseases one may suffer from, any allergies, surgeries performed in the past, and any medications taken by a patient. A surgeon can recommend medical examinations and modifications in particular routines prior to surgery. Following pre-operative guidelines is essential in order not to run into avoidable complications. The post-operative period relies on many aspects, including surgery itself, the condition of the patient, and his/her reaction to the surgery. Swelling, bruising, pain, and other restrictions on movement are possible. Future patients planning to undergo operations in foreign countries need to consider appropriate accommodation, transportation, and recovery period.
The Importance of Plastic Surgery Turkey for Informed Decisions About Treatments
Research on Plastic surgery turkey may assist patients in understanding what treatment options they have, what kind of healthcare facilities there are, and how to evaluate their options before opting for the surgery. Yet at the same time, the popularity of any destination should never be a substitute for thorough examination. It is imperative that the patient be informed about all aspects of the procedure, including the consultations, the hospitalization, the medication, and even the cost implications that may follow after the surgery. Communication becomes very essential in instances where there exist language barriers or even travel distance since the patient is supposed to get written guidance on whom to deal with after returning home.
Final Thoughts
Selecting the right cosmetic procedure depends on the integration of one’s own standards of beauty, the physical ability to go through the operation, and its associated dangers. There are advantages to facial surgery, body contouring, and breast operations, but all operations come with their own possible side effects and recovery periods. Conducting research, validating the credentials of cosmetic treatment providers, knowing your options, and what you expect from the treatment are all critical steps that must be done. Turkey has many options for those seeking cosmetic treatment; however, individuals should critically assess each option and not take the easy path of following the hype.
Corey Day doubled down in his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase and rallied from early adversity amid a strong start to capitalize on a late charge and win the rain-postponed Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 11.
The 20-year-old Day from Clovis, California, led three times for 55 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row based on a qualifying metric formula and assumed the lead for the first time on the fourth lap. Amid an early competition caution and pitting with the field, Day proceeded to win the first stage period, but he was sent to the tail end of the field after being penalized for driving through too many pit stalls during the first stage’s break period. Day rallied to finish in seventh place at the second stage break’s conclusion and commenced the final stage period in fifth place.
As the event progressed, Day, who continued his march back to the front, was racing in third place with less than 20 laps remaining before he moved into the runner-up spot with 17 laps remaining as the leader Justin Allgaier scraped the outside wall. Following a late caution and a 10-lap dash to the finish, Day briefly dropped to third before he executed a bold three-wide move beneath Allgaier and Love to challenge for the lead through the backstretch. Day managed to motor ahead of both prior to the next lap and he proceeded to fend off Love’s late charge to notch his second consecutive O’Reilly Chase victory and be within striking distance of the points lead en route to his first O’Reilly championship.
The event’s starting lineup was determined by a qualifying metric formula due to inclement weather canceling on-track qualifying that was scheduled for Saturday, October 10, as the weather also postponed Saturday’s O’Reilly event at Charlotte to Sunday evening following the Cup Series’ Bank of America 400 event. As a result, Carson Kvapil was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with Corey Day, the latter of whom won last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. JJ Yeley was the only competitor who dropped to the rear of the field due to missing driver introductions.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Carson Kvapil and Corey Day dueled for the lead for half a lap before Kvapil motored ahead from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4. As the field jostled for spots early while navigating back through the frontstretch, Kvapil led the first lap over Jesse Love, Day, Sam Mayer and Austin Hill.
During the second lap, Day, who quickly navigated his way back into the runner-up spot over Love by the next lap, drew himself back alongside Kvapil in a side-by-side battle through the backstretch. With Love trying to ignite a three-wide move for the lead, Day got loose through Turns 3 and 4, but he managed to remain racing straight and duel with Kvapil as Kvapil led the third lap by 0.004 seconds before Day motored ahead. Day proceeded to lead the fifth lap mark by four-tenths of a second over Love while Mayer, Kvapil and Taylor Gray followed suit, respectively.
Through the first 10 laps, Day was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Love while Mayer, Kvapil, Gray, Austin Hill, Rajah Caruth, Jeremy Clements, Brent Crews and William Sawalich followed suit in the top-10 mark, respectively. With seven of 12 Chase contenders (Day, Love, Mayer, Kvapil, Gray, Hill and Caruth) racing in the top-10 mark on the track, the remaining Chasers that include Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Sheldon Creed, Parker Retzlaff and Brandon Jones were mired in 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 23rd, respectively.
When a scheduled competition caution flew on Lap 20, Day was leading by a second over Love as Mayer, Kvapil, Gray, Hill, Clements, Crews, Allgaier and Caruth were racing in the top 10, respectively. Following the pit stops, Day exited pit road first while Love, Mayer, Kvapil, Gray, William Sawalich, Allgaier, Hill, Crews and Caruth followed suit, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Ryan Sieg was penalized for crew members jumping over the pit wall too soon. In addition, Creed, who hit the outside wall after getting hit in the left-front area with Sammy Smith amid a tight three-wide action that involved Jeb Burton earlier in the event, spent an extensive period on pit road to have his entry repaired. Even Patrick Staropoli had the hood of his entry lifted up due to smoke coming out of his entry.
The event’s next restart on Lap 26 featured Day and Love occupying the front row, where Day motored ahead of Love, Mayer and the field from the inside lane through the first two turns. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Love and Mayer battled for the runner-up spot as Day led the next lap. Behind the top-three leaders, Kvapil and Gray fiercely battled for fourth place in front of Allgaier while Sawalich and Austin Hill battled for seventh place in front of Caruth. Amid the jostling and battles within the field, Day retained the lead by nearly half a second over Love on Lap 30 while Allgaier cracked the top-five mark by overtaking Gray for fifth place.
At the Lap 35 mark, Day maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Love while third-place Mayer trailed by nine-tenths of a second. Behind, Allgaier overtook teammate Kvapil for fourth place as Hill narrowed his deficit to Kvapil for fifth place. Meanwhile, Creed navigated his way into 22nd place while Gray slid back to ninth place. Amid Love’s charge, Day maintained the lead by six-tenths of a second by Lap 40 while third-place Mayer only trailed by a second.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Day claimed his fourth O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Love settled in second ahead of Mayer and Allgaier while Kvapil fended off Hill for fifth place. Crews, Jeremy Clements, Gray and Retzlaff settled in the top 10, respectively. With eight of 12 Chase contenders (Day, Love, Mayer, Allgaier, Kvapil, Hill, Gray and Retzlaff) racking up the event’s first round of stage points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Chasers that include Caruth, Sammy Smith, Jones and Creed were mired in 12th, 13th, 14th and 21st, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, nearly the entire field led by Day returned to pit road for service while select names that included JJ Yeley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Love exited pit road ahead of Day while Allgaier, Kvapil, Hill, Mayer, Crews, Sawalich, Sammy Smith and Gray, respectively. Once Yeley pitted just past the Lap 50 mark, Love cycled as the leader. Meanwhile, Day was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for driving through multiple pit boxes that include Creed’s, Allgaier’s and Myatt Snider’s.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Love and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Love was pushed ahead of Allgaier by Kvapil from the inside lane. This allowed Love to motor ahead and lead a fanned-out field through the backstretch before he motored ahead and led the next lap. Behind, teammates Kvapil and Allgaier battled for the runner-up spot ahead of Mayer, Austin Hill and Crews before Mayer used the outside lane to generate strong runs through the turns and move into third place by Lap 55. Mayer then crossed over to the inside lane as he battled Allgaier for the runner-up spot during the next lap. Allgaier, however, would prevail and fend off Mayer for the spot by Lap 57 while Love stretched his lead by more than a second.
Through the Lap 60 mark and with most of the field settling in single-file racing, Love led Allgaier by more than a second as Mayer, Kvapil and Hill occupied the top-five spots over Crews, Sammy Smith, Gray, Dean Thompson and Sawalich, respectively. Meanwhile, Day motored his way up to 16th place before he overtook Anthony Alfredo for another spot on the track. By then, he had Retzlaff, Caruth, Creed and Jeb Burton racing in front of him while Crews overtook Hill for fifth place. Crews proceeded to overtake Kvapil for fourth place on Lap 65 as Love maintained his lead by more than one-and-a-half seconds over runner-up Allgaier and by two seconds over third-place Mayer.
At the Lap 70 mark, Allgaier reeled in on Love for the lead as the former trailed the latter by three-tenths of a second. A lap later, Allgaier tried to draw beneath Love for the lead through the first two turns, but he slightly got loose, which allowed Love to maintain the top spot for the next lap. Love retained the lead over the next two laps before Allgaier capitalized on Love getting loose through Turns 3 and 4 to overtake him through the frontstretch, with Allgaier leading for the first time on Lap 74. As Allgaier led by eight-tenths of a second during the next lap, Day carved his way up to 11th place while Mayer, Crews, Gray, Hill, Kvapil, Sammy Smith, Sawalich and Thompson were in the top 10, respectively. Allgaier extended his lead over Love up by more than a second by Lap 80 while Day was up to ninth place.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Allgaier, who stretched his lead by more than two seconds and barely scrubbed the outside wall entering the frontstretch earlier, cruised to his 11th O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Love and Gray charged to second and third, respectively, while Mayer, Crews, Hill, Day (who scraped the wall four laps earlier), Kvapil, Sammy Smith and Creed were scored in the top 10, respectively. With nine of 12 Chasers (Allgaier, Love, Gray, Mayer, Hill, Day, Kvapil, Smith and Creed) notching the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Chasers that include Caruth, Jones and Retzlaff were mired in 14th, 15th and 21st, respectively.
During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Allgaier pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Love edged Gray and Allgaier off of pit road first while Mayer, Crews, Day, Sammy Smith, Creed, Hill and Kvapil followed suit, respectively. Not long after, Hill made a second pit stop to have a battery in his entry swapped.
With 102 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Love and Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Love maintained a steady lead for a full cycle in front of the field that fanned out and jostled for late spots. As Love led, Gray maintained the runner-up spot in front of Mayer and a hard-charging Day while Allgaier was mired in fifth place in front of a tight battle for sixth place that involved Creed, Kvapil, Crews and Sawalich. Amid the battles, Allgaier led by six-tenths of a second at the event’s halfway mark with 100 laps remaining.
Down to the final 90 laps of the event, Love led by more than a second over a tight three-car battle for the runner-up spot that involve Gray, Mayer and Allgaier while Day, who nearly made contact with Allgaier when the latter slid in front of him entering the frontstretch a few laps earlier, trailed in fifth place by less than two seconds. Meanwhile, Kvapil, who made an unscheduled pit stop under green two laps earlier to have a flat right-rear tire addressed, was mired a lap down in 31st place, but he eventually returned to pit road to have another flat right-rear tire and internal damage to his entry addressed.
Two laps later, the caution flew when Ryan Sieg spun through Turns 3 and 4 after he got aero-loose in front of Rajah Caruth. During this caution period, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier returned to pit road for service while Brent Crews remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Love exited pit road first ahead of Gray, Allgaier, Mayer, Creed, Day, Sawalich, Sammy Smith, Alfredo and Thompson, respectively.
As the event restarted with 83 laps remaining, Love outdueled Crews from the inside lane to reassume the lead through the first two turns. While Crews lost six laps in a single lap, Love led the next lap as he was trailed by Mayer, Gray, Allgaier, Day and Creed, respectively. For the following lap, the caution returned when Caruth, who had a tire rub that eventually popped a tire flat, got loose through the first two turns, slid up the track and ran into the side of teammate Jake Finch through the outside wall. As both Caruth and Finch pitted for repairs, Kvapil, who experienced another flat right-rear tire, took his entry to the garage.
During the next restart with 75 laps remaining, Love fended off Mayer and Gray for the lead while Day, who restarted in fifth place, was pinned in the middle lane through the first two turns after he went high instead of defending his inside lane. As a result, Day, who nearly lost momentum by sliding up the track through the first two turns, slid back to seventh place while Love checked out by leading by four-tenths of a second over Mayer and Gray while Allgaier, Creed and Alfredo followed suit in the top six, respectively. As Mayer, Gray and Allgaier proceeded to fiercely battle for the runner-up spot, Love stretched his late lead by more than a second while Allgaier outdueled Mayer and Gray for the runner-up spot.
With 60 laps remaining, Love continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Allgaier, the latter of whom was also logging in faster lap times than Love. Behind, Day navigated his way into third place and he trailed the lead by three seconds while Gray, Alfredo, Mayer, Creed, Hill, Clements and Retzlaff trailed in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Crews, who continued to race on older tires than the field, was mired in 26th place as Allgaier shrunk Love’s advantage down to four-tenths of a second with 55 laps remaining.
Then with 52 laps remaining, Allgaier dueled and overtook Love with a slide job through the first two turns for the lead. Love tried to crossover and reclaim the lead back through Turns 3 and 4, but the latter motored ahead. Allgaier’s pass for the lead occurred after he had reeled in Love before Love barely scraped the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 with 53 laps remaining. Allgaier proceeded to lead by two-tenths of a second over Love with 50 laps remaining, though Love tried to keep pace with Allgaeir, while Day and Gray trailed in third and fourth, respectively, by three seconds.
Then with 46 laps remaining, Crews pitted under green. Three laps later, the caution flew due to Ryan Ellis wrecking through the first two turns after he blew a left-rear tire. During this caution, the filed led by Allgaier pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Allgaier capitalized on a late pit service by his pit crew to exit pit road first while Gray, Love, Day, Creed, Alfredo, Mayer, Hill, Retzlaff and Clements followed suit, respectively.
For the next restart with 37 laps remaining, Gray and Allgaier dueled for the lead entering the first two turns as Allgaier, who briefly stumbled at the launch, managed to slide in front of Gray to lead through the backstretch. As the field cycled back through the frontstretch, Allgaeir led the next lap over Gray before Love overtook Gray for the runner-up spot through the backstretch. Day then challenged Gray for third place from the inside lane, with the former prevailing with 35 laps remaining as Love reeled in on Allgaier for the lead. As Gray was being pressured by Hill for fourth place, Allgaier maintained a steady lead of two-tenths of a second over Love while Day only trailed by six-tenths of a second in third place with 30 laps remaining.
Down to the final 25 laps, Allgaier retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Love as the former utilized strong defensive driving to fend off the latter’s charges through the turns and straightaways. Meanwhile, Day trailed by nearly a second in third place while Hill occupied fourth place in front of Gray and Creed. Over the next five laps, Allgaier’s advantage decreased down to three-tenths of a second over Love as the latter started to reel in the former. Just being the two leaders, Day remained within striking distance, which placed him along with Allgaier and Love mired within a near-tight three-car battle for the lead.
Then with 18 laps remaining, Allgaier scrubbed the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4. This allowed Love to assume the lead for the next lap. Seconds later, Day fiercely dueled with Allgaier for the runner-up spot before the former used the outside lane to motor ahead of the latter entering the frontstretch with 16 laps remaining. As Love led by three-tenths of a second with 15 laps remaining, Day proceeded to track Love for the lead and Allgaier remained within striking distance just before the caution returned due to Crews blowing a right-front tire, driving dead straight into the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4, and limping his wrecked entry to his pit stall. During this caution period, some like Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Sawalich, Carson Brown, Brennan Poole, Sammy Smith, Dean Thompson, Matt DiBenedetto, Josh Bilicki and Joey Gase pitted while the rest led by Love remained on the track.
With 10 laps remaining, the event restarted as Love gained a steady launch over Allgaier, Day and the field through the frontstretch before Allgaier made a move beneath Love and challenged him for the lead. Then through the backstretch, Day, who reeled in with no drafting help, launched a bold three-wide move beneath the latter two. Through Turns 3 and 4, Love was overtaken by both Day and Allgaier before Allgaier started to slide up. This allowed Day to motor ahead and assume the lead for the next lap while Love battled Allgaier to reclaim the runner-up spot. With Mayer falling off the pace and pitting due to a tire rub, Love ignited his charge on Day for the lead and potential victory. Amid Love’s charge, Day maintained the lead by four-tenths of a second with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Day, who maintained the top spot over the previous four laps, remained in the lead by half a second over Love. With Love unable to mount a final-lap charge, Day cycled his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry smoothly around Charlotte for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag and the victory by seven-tenths of a second over Love.
With the victory, Day notched his fourth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career win in his 40th series’ start, his first time winning back-to-back events and his first victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Day’s Charlotte victory was the 24th of the 2026 O’Reilly season for Chevrolet and the fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, with the organization notching its seventh O’Reilly victory at Charlotte.
With back-to-back Chase victories under his belt, Day jumped from fifth to third in the 2026 Chase standings and he shaved his points deficit from 41 to seven as he has four races remaining to narrow the deficit and contend for his first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship in his first full-time campaign.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I think that [Love] got really loose from what I could see up there in front of [Allgaier],” Day said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “I think I kind of messed them both up and that was just enough for me to get a good run off of them and take my run. That was crucial. I think if I don’t do that, then I don’t win the race. Man, what a job by my guys. I screw up and take too many [pit] boxes on entry and just have the car to do that, the execution on pit road. Just everything to finish one off like that is just so cool. I’d like to think [we’re a title favorite], but we still got to execute these next four or how many [races] are left. It’s a lot of fun right now.”
Love settled in the runner-up spot after he led a race-high 80 laps and was unable to capitalize on the 10-lap dash to secure his second victory in the Chase. Amid the disappointment of falling short of the Charlotte victory, Love jumped from third to second in the Chase standings and his points deficit decreased from 21 to two as he is within sights of defending his series’ title.
“I think I got through the gears good,” Love said. “I had a good launch and got to Turn 1 good, but just got caught off guard by lack of grip I had in [Turns] 1 and 2, slowed up a lot and have a big lift out of the gas on exit. On that [last restart], I had to lift a lot. I guess I just guessed wrong. I felt like I was gonna have to lift a little bit, but with how bad the launch was gonna be, I thought I was gonna be somewhat close to what I’d decided to try to do and ended up just pushing the track a lot. [I] Wished I could’ve had that one back, but still proud of myself for ripping the fence and driving really hard and doing a lot of things right tonight. Just made a mistake at the wrong time.”
Sheldon Creed finished in third place, which enabled him to retain the points lead by two points, while Justin Allgaier, who led 54 laps, settled in fourth place and is 15 points behind the points lead. Carson Brown notched an impressive fifth-place result in his second O’Reilly career start while Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, Anthony Alfredo, Taylor Gray and Brennan Poole completed the top 10 in the final running order on the track.
With Chasers Day, Love, Creed, Allgaier, Jones, Hill and Gray finishing in the top 10, the remaining Chasers that include Parker Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer, Brent Crews, Carson Kvapil and Rajah Caruth settled in 12th, 16th, 24th, 30th, 32nd and 36th, respectively.
The fifth O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase event of the 2026 season at Charlotte generated 16 lead changes for seven different leaders, and seven cautions for 38 laps. In addition, 22 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Race Results:
Corey Day, 55 laps led, Stage 1 winner
Jesse Love, 80 laps led
Sheldon Creed
Justin Allgaier, 54 laps led, Stage 2 winner
Carson Brown
Brandon Jones
Austin Hill
Anthony Alfredo
Taylor Gray, two laps led
Brennan Poole
William Sawalich
Parker Retzlaff
Harrison Burton
Dean Thompson
Joey Gase
Sammy Smith
Ryan Sieg
Josh Bilicki
Blaine Perkins
Jeremy Clements
Matt DiBenedetto
Jeb Burton
Austin Green, one lap down
Sam Mayer, one lap down
Myatt Snider, two laps down
Mason Maggio, three laps down
Lavar Scott, four laps down
Derek Lemke, four laps down
Garrett Smithley, four laps down
Brent Crews – OUT, Accident, four laps led
Jake Finch – OUT, Suspension
Carson Kvapil, 29 laps down, three laps led
Patrick Staropoli – OUT
Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident
Kyle Sieg – OUT, Engine
Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident
Dawson Cram – OUT, Brakes
JJ Yeley – OUT, Water Pump, two laps led
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
Following the fifth Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Sheldon Creed leads the Chase standings by two poitns over Jesse Love, seven over Corey Day and 15 over Justin Allgaier. The rest of the 12-car Chase field is displayed below.
Chase Standings:
Sheldon Creed
Jesse Love -2
Corey Day -7
Justin Allgaier -15
Carson Kvapil -40
Sam Mayer -59
Taylor Gray -87
Austin Hill -94
Sammy Smith -106
Parker Retzlaff -126
Brandon Jones -141
Rajah Caruth -180
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase schedule is Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the Timberland PRO 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 17, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.
RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric started Sunday’s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway from the fifth position in the No. 2 Menards/Libman Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Cindric quickly established himself among the frontrunners, advancing to second by the competition caution on Lap 35. After a four-tire stop under caution, Cindric restarted on the front row and continued to maintain a position inside the top five throughout the opening stage. Despite reporting a slightly free condition on corner entry, Cindric remained competitive and ended Stage 1 in fourth. The No. 2 team continued to fine-tune the handling of the Menards/Libman Ford throughout Stage 2, with Cindric reporting improved balance in the early portion of the segment. Running third when the caution flew on Lap 117, Cindric came to pit road for four tires and fuel before restarting sixth. As the run progressed, Cindric began experiencing a tighter handling condition that affected the car’s overall grip, ultimately finishing Stage 2 in sixth. Crew chief Brian Wilson called for an air pressure adjustment during the ensuing pit stop to help improve the balance heading into the final stage. Cindric restarted fifth for the final stage and initially reported improved handling following the adjustments. The No. 2 team continued working to optimize the car’s balance, making another air pressure adjustment during a caution period on Lap 206. Cindric restarted fifth but battled changing handling conditions over the closing laps, ultimately taking the checkered flag in 17th to conclude the afternoon at Charlotte.
CINDRIC’S THOUGHTS: “It’s a shame that our final run of the race went the way it did. It was pretty uncharacteristic from the other portions of the race. Past that, I thought that we had a pretty fast Menards/Libman Ford. Yeah, it’s just a shame that last run was by far our worst of the race. We’re going to have to go back and review that, but we still got some solid points.”
RYAN BLANEY No. 12 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
RACE RUNDOWN: After practice and qualifying were canceled for inclement weather, Ryan Blaney started from the fourth position for Sunday’s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse ran within the top-10 early on in the race up until the competition caution at lap 35. Pitting under the yellow flag with the rest of the field, Blaney suffered a speeding penalty and had to restart at the tail end of the field. From the ensuing restart, he made up more than 20 positions to finish 10th at the end of Stage 1, following it up with a second-place result in Stage 2 after running within the top-five for most of that race stanza. The No. 12 pit crew was able to get Blaney off pit road first to have him lead the field to green for Stage 3 where he led the first four laps of the final stage. In the last 55 laps of the race, Blaney fought back from a lengthy pitstop that put him in the backhalf of the top-10, ultimately finishing in the third position by the checkered flag, his third consecutive top-10 result. Heading to Phoenix next weekend, Blaney and the No. 12 team are fifth in the Cup Series point standings with four races remaining in the season.
BLANEY’S THOUGHTS: “I was able to come back from that [pit road speeding penalty], so proud of that effort. Yeah, just keep going, and I’m looking forward to the next month… I look forward to going no matter where it’s at every week. I think this team can do a great job at figuring out things when we need to, whether that’s going to a track we’ve been successful at, or going to tracks we need to work at. They’ve done a really good job. Phoenix [Raceway] has been a good one for us, and hopefully it’ll be a good one again next week.”
JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano delivered a ninth-place finish Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a milestone evening for the driver of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Competing in his 500th NASCAR Cup Series start with Team Penske and carrying the team’s special 60th Anniversary mosaic livery celebrating more than 650 victories across the organization’s history, Logano overcame early adversity to secure another top-10 result. After starting the event seventh, Logano was running inside the top 10 before sustaining right-front damage in a chain-reaction incident on a restart during the opening stage. Crew Chief Paul Wolfe brought the No. 22 Ford to pit road for repairs and fresh tires, forcing Logano to restart 36th and begin a climb through the field. Logano methodically worked his way forward to finish Stage 1 in 18th and remained a consistent top-15 contender throughout Stage 2, ultimately ending the segment 15th. The No. 22 team continued making air pressure and handling adjustments as track conditions evolved, allowing Logano to gain valuable track position for the final stage. Restarting 12th for the race’s closing segment, Logano raced his way into the top 10 before a caution on lap 205 set up the final pit cycle. The event remained green to the checkered flag, and Logano maintained his position through the lengthy closing run to bring home a ninth-place finish. The result moves Logano to sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, 92 points behind the championship leader.
LOGANO’S THOUGHTS: “We’ve got to win now. We’re 90-whatever something back. We’ve got to do some special stuff from here on out to make up the 100 points. We got that damage early in the race. I don’t know what happened. They all stacked up in front of me and I packed the nose in, unsealed the splitter, which surely didn’t help any. Maybe we could’ve been top five-ish if I didn’t have the damage. You know, it could’ve been worse, but we just didn’t get any stage points – that’s the worst part.”
The NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship continues next weekend when the Series revisits Phoenix Raceway for the seventh of 10 Chase events. Catch coverage of the Freeway Insurance 500 beginning at 3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
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.”
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.”
About General Motors
General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.
GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.
BRISCOE GOES BACK-TO-BACK IN THRILLING CHARLOTTE FINISH Chase Briscoe wins back-to-back races for the first time in his career
CONCORD, N.C. (October 11, 2026) – Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell battled to the line with the Indiana-native coming on top by mere inches to win consecutive races for the first time in his Cup Series career. Briscoe took the lead on the final pit stop and drove away on the final restart. With a tire going down, he battled through it in the final laps to hold off his teammate, Bell, at the line.
Joe Gibbs Racing had a strong day with Briscoe, Bell and Denny Hamlin (fifth) finishing in top-five, while Tyler Reddick was scored in eighth. Toyota Development Driver Corey Heim drove from 37th starting position to 11that the finish.
For Toyota, it was the 17th victory of the season, which is the second-most victories in a single season (19 – 2019). Toyota looks to clinch its fourth Manufacturers’ title, and first since 2019, in Phoenix.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Charlotte Motor Speedway Race 32 of 36 – 400.5 miles, 267 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, CHASE BRISCOE
2nd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
3rd, Ryan Blaney*
4th, Josh Berry*
5th, DENNY HAMLIN
8th, TYLER REDDICK
11th, COREY HEIM
18th, RILEY HERBST
24th, ERIK JONES
34th, TY GIBBS
35th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
37th, BUBBA WALLACE
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Freebird Spring Water Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How special is this victory today?
“Very, very special. I think this is only the second ever time that all of us have been at a win. Super special to be able to experience these type of things with family. It is awesome when you win, but they are on the grind with us and for them to be here and experience this is memories that will be forever for me. Really cool day to get to victory lane with them here, my grandparents are here and I don’t think they have been to a race since 2019. Really cool just to have everyone here. Really cool to be here at home – a lot of our crew guys, their families are here – pit crew guys families are here. There is just a lot of pride winning here, amazing day. Super cool to get Free Bird in victory lane. They’ve only done three races so to get them in victory lane on the third time – I’m pretty thankful. This Camry looked great out there.”
How close did the end feel?
“Yeah, when Christopher (Bell) got into me off of (turn) four, I kind of got sideways, and I thought I was going to wreck. I’m like I am going to get beat to the line, so I assume he got really sideways too. My right front was coming apart. Another lap I thought we were going to blow a right front tire. I’m glad that we won, but I wish they weren’t so stressful. I don’t have very much hair to begin with, but I’m definitely losing it really quickly. Just an awesome day and really cool to end up in victory lane.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
How do you come to terms with how that race finished then?
“I got a lot closer than I thought I was going to.”
Is this the missed opportunity you guys needed to go for the title, or will you have opportunities as we head to Phoenix and beyond?
“I mean, we should be really good at the next couple of races. Yeah, hopefully we can keep bringing these fast race cars and see what happens.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Progressive Insurance Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
What were you fighting with the race car at the end?
“Just the long run speed and obviously tanked there the last 15 laps or so. Just didn’t have the long run speed that we needed. I thought the short run was okay. It was decent. But I felt like we were a lot better when it was daytime, and then once it cooled off and the track got a little bit faster, we just lost the edge that we had.”
What was going on with your placement of the car in the pit stall?
“Just putting on the sign there. Not really sure, but I feel like just I wish we would have qualified. I certainly felt like we could have got a little better pit selection there and wouldn’t have had the 88. But they worked with us the whole race, Connor (Zilisch) and his team pitted the second time by a couple times. I appreciate that. Yeah, we’ve got to pick up the performance.”
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Hardee’s Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
What happened from your perspective? Was there any warning?
“No warning. I saw it in the last second – the 48 (Alex Bowman) come up and clip us. No hard feelings, that is just racing. I was starting to drop, and it gets into a tight spot. To get on pit road smooth, we wanted to stay in front of him. He just got loose and got us. The first hit wiped our brakes out. The second hit got me good. But we are good. Still got nine fingers and nine toes (laughter), so we are fine.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
Chase Briscoe made an emphatic championship statement for a second consecutive Chase event in recent weeks after he edged teammate Christopher Bell in a thrilling finish to win the Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 11.
The two-time Southern 500 champion from Mitchell, Indiana, led twice for 62 of 267 scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row based on a qualifying metric formula and battled upfront before settling in second place at the conclusion of the first stage period. For the second stage period, Briscoe commenced the period by extending his momentum and battling towards the front before he dropped to within the top-10 mark during a caution period just past the Lap 115 mark. Despite losing ground on the lead, Briscoe settled in seventh place at the second stage’s conclusion.
Briscoe restarted in third place when the final stage period commenced with 95 laps remaining and was racing in second place with 63 laps remaining when a single-car spin drew a caution and generated an opportunity for Briscoe to strike. During the ensuing pit stops, Briscoe’s pit crew delivered as they got the driver off of pit road first ahead of Bell and Kyle Larson. After motoring ahead of the field for the event’s final restart with 57 laps remaining, Briscoe maintained the top spot over Bell as the laps dwindled before Bell reeled in the latter on the final lap. Then, as Bell tried to make a move beneath Briscoe, contact ensued as Bell slid up the track and hit Briscoe to stall the momentum through the frontstretch. Amid the contact, Briscoe managed to retain the top spot when he crossed the finish line and took home the race victory by 0.029 seconds and remained within striking distance of his championship hopes for the 2026 Cup Series season.
Inclement weather canceled on-track qualifying scheduled for Saturday, October 10, so the event’s starting lineup was determined by a qualifying metric formula. As a result, Kyle Larson, the Chase’s points leader entering the event, earned pole position and shared the front row with Chase Briscoe, who won last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe fiercely dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes for half a lap. Amid Briscoe’s attempt to assume the lead from Larson from the outside lane, Larson used the inside lane to motor his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry ahead through Turns 3 and 4. This enabled Larson to cycle ahead on the inside lane and back to the frontstretch, where he led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Larson stretched his early lead up to seven-tenths of a second over Tyler Reddick as the latter overtook Briscoe through Turns 3 and 4 for the runner-up spot. Behind, Chase contenders Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott trailed in the top 10, respectively, while the remaining Chasers that include Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez were mired in 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece was the lowest-running Chaser in 25th place, and Shane van Gisbergen was the highest-running non-Chaser in 11th place as Larson continued to extend his lead by more than a second at the Lap 10 mark.
Through the Lap 15 mark, Larson stabilized his early advantage by more than one-and-a-half seconds over Reddick while third-place Briscoe and fourth-place Blaney both trailed by two seconds. By then, the top-12 spots were occupied the Chase contenders as Bell outdueled van Gisbergen for 12th place. Within the top-12 mark, Blaney, Cindric, Byron, Wallace, Hamlin, Logano, Elliott and Ty Gibbs occupied spots fourth through 11th, respectively. Behind, Hocevar, Buescher, Suarez and Preece continued to trail in 15th, 16th, 17th and 25th, respectively, as Larson maintained his advantage that stood above a second by Laps 20 and 25.
When a scheduled competition caution flew on Lap 35, Larson, who lapped Gray Gaulding, BJ McLeod, and John Hunter Nemechek, barely retained the lead over a hard-charging Cindric, the latter of whom slid in front of teammate Blaney on the backstretch and ran into the side of Reddick entering the frontstretch earlier to carve his way into the runner-up spot. Trailing behind Larson and Cindric on the leaderboard were Chasers Reddick, Byron, Briscoe, Hamlin, Wallace, Blaney, Logano, Ty Gibbs, Bell and Elliott, respectively, while Hocevar, Buescher, Suarez and Preece were mired in 15th, 16th, 17th and 27th, respectively.
During the competition caution, the field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Larson retained the lead by exiting pit road over Cindric, Byron and Briscoe while Reddick dropped two spots to fifth place. Teammate Wallace, Blaney, Gibbs, Bell and Logano followed suit, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin was penalized and sent to the tail end of the field for a safety violation due to a. Wheel rolling into Connor Zilisch’s pit box. Blaney was also penalized for speeding on pit road while Elliott pitted for a second time to address a loose lug nut.
The event’s next restart on Lap 40 featured Larson motoring ahead from the field that fanned out through the first two turns. Within the stacked field, Reddick, who restarted within the top-five mark, slowly slid up the track and scrubbed the outside wall as he was hit in the rear by Ty Gibbs, which got Gibbs also scraping the wall and loose through the turns, but the latter managed to keep his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE entry pointed straight entering the backstretch. Seconds later, however, Gibbs dropped off the pace and slipped sideways through Turns 3 and 4 due to a broken rear toe link. With Gibbs getting sideways, Brad Keselowski also got sideways and ran into the left side of Gibbs’ spinning entry before he spun, which drew a caution. At the time of caution, Larson retained the lead over Wallace, Briscoe, Cindric and Byron while Logano, who ran into the rear of Gibbs during the latter’s first incident, plummeted to 22nd place. Logano would pit to have his damaged front splitter addressed along with Gibbs and Keselowski.
For the next restart on Lap 46, Briscoe tried to mount ahead of Larson from the outside lane through the first two turns. It was then where Bubba Wallace ignited a three-wide move beneath both Larson and Briscoe as the trio dueled through the backstretch. With Briscoe backing out through Turns 3 and 4, Larson and Wallace dueled for the lead for the following lap until Wallace used the inside lane through the first two turns to motor his No. 23 Hardee’s Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead with the lead. Larson tried to execute a crossover move, but Wallace maintained his strong momentum and led the next lap.
As Wallace proceeded to lead at the Lap 50 mark, Briscoe and Suarez battled for third place in front of Alex Bowman, Bell, Cindric, Byron, Reddick and Austin Dillon while Hamlin and Blaney were mired in 24th and 26th, respectively. In addition, Logano was mired in 31st and Gibbs was pinned multiple laps down at the tail end of the field (39th) while Wallace maintained his lead by half a second over Larson on Lap 55. By the latter mark, Hamlin and Blaney battled for 21st place while Suarez dropped to sixth place behind Briscoe, Bowman and Bell, respectively. Hamlin proceeded to drop to 24th place on the leaderboard as Blaney and Logano overtook him while Larson reassumed the lead from Wallace through the backstretch on Lap 58.
Just past the Lap 60 mark, Larson led by seven-tenths of a second over Briscoe while Wallace dropped to third place. Behind, fourth-place Bell started to reel in on Wallace for third place while Bowman continued to race as the highest-running non-Chase contender in fifth place ahead of Chasers Cindric, Suarez, Byron, Reddick and Hocevar, respectively. Meanwhile, Corey Heim navigated his way up to 11th place and reeled in on Hocevar for 10th place as Austin Dillon, Buescher, Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell trailed in the top-15 mark, respectively. With Elliott and Blaney mired in 16th and 17th, Hamlin occupied 20th place in front of Erik Jones and Logano while Preece and Gibbs were mired in 32nd and 39th, respectively.
At the Lap 70 mark, Larson stabilized his lead by a second over Briscoe while Bell outdueled Wallace for third place. Behind, Bowman and Cindric reeled in Wallace for fourth place while the latter two also battled amongst themselves for fifth place. Cindric would outduel Bowman for fifth place before he overtook Wallace for fourth place by Lap 73. Behind, Byron reeled in teammate Bowman for sixth place as Larson had his lead slightly decrease down to seven-tenths on Lap 76.
Then on Lap 77, the caution flew for a heavy multi-car wreck that ignited through the first two turns when Bowman, who was battling Wallace towards the front, got loose from the inside lane, veered sharply right up the track and collided into Wallace. The contact sent both competitors’ entries hard against the outside wall, with Bowman’s wrecked entry getting hit by teammate Byron. As Byron nursed his damaged entry to the garage, Wallace and Bowman slid their wrecked entries below through the backstretch’s infield, where they exited under their own power.
The multi-car wreck concluded the first stage period under caution as Larson was awarded his ninth Cup stage victory of 2026 season. Briscoe, Bell, Cindric, Reddick, Suarez, Heim, Hocevar, Buescher and Blaney were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, Chasers Elliott, Hamlin, Logano and Preece were in 13th, 15th, 18th and 28th, respectivley, and Gibbs was mired being seven laps down in 39th while Wallace and Byron were knocked out of contention. During the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Larson pitted and Larson retained the lead by exiting pit road first. Briscoe, Bell, Cindric, Reddick, Heim, Suarez, Hocevar, Austin Dillon and Blaney followed suit in the top 10, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 86 as Larson and Briscoe occupied the front row. At the start, Larson maintained the lead for a full cycle over Briscoe, Bell, Cindric, Hocevar and the field. Larson retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Briscoe by Lap 90 before the advantage slightly grew up to eight-tenths of a second on Lap 95. Two laps later, Bell overtook teammate Briscoe for the runner-up spot as Larson continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second at the Lap 100 mark.
On Lap 107, Bell reeled in and overtook Larson for the lead. As Cindric, Reddick and Blaney occupied the remaining top-five spots over Briscoe and Hamlin, Bell had his lead grow up by nearly six-tenths of a second by Lap 110 before he extended it up to a second. By then, eight of 16 Chase contenders (Bell, Larson, Cindric, Reddick, Blaney, Hamlin, Briscoe and Hocevar) were racing in the top-10 mark on the track while the remaining Chasers on the track that included Elliott, Logano, Suarez, Buescher, Preece and Gibbs were in 11th, 12th, 13th, 21st, 27th and 36th, respectively.
Then on Lap 116, the caution flew when John Hunter Nemechek got loose and made slight contact with the frontsretch’s outside wall before he spun through the frontstretch’s infield grass and tore the right-front fender from his entry while trying to nurse it back to his pit stall. During this caution period, the field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Bell maintained the lead by exiting pit road ahead of Larson, Blaney, Hamlin, Reddick, Cindric, Briscoe, Hocevar, Elliott and Logano, respectively.
During the next restart on Lap 122, Bell motored ahead with the lead while Hamlin made contact with Larson, which got Larson sideways from the outside lane and dropped Larson down to seventh place for the next lap. Amid the contact, Hamlin settled in third place behind Blaney, and Bell maintained the lead by Lap 125 as Reddick, Hocevar, and Cindric trailed in the top-six mark, respectively. Larson proceeded to overtake Cindric for sixth place, but he trailed the lead by three seconds as Bell led by more than a second over Blaney and Hamlin while Reddick and Hocevar continued to race in the top five on Lap 130.
At the event’s halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, 33 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap, minus Gibbs as the latter was pinned seven laps down in 36th place. At the front, Bell continued to lead by more than a second over Chasers Blaney, Hamlin, Reddick, Hocevar, Larson and Cindric while non-Chasers Berry and Ross Chastain were in eighth and ninth, respectively. Behind, Chasers Briscoe and Elliott occupied 10th and 11th in front of van Gisbergen, Suarez, Heim and Logano while Buescher and Preece were mired in 20th and 23rd, respectively.
Through the Lap 145 mark, Bell extended his lead by two seconds over Blaney while third-place Hamlin trailed by three-and-a-half seconds. Behind, Larson was mired in fifth in between Reddick and Cindric while Berry was the lone non-Chase contender in the top-10 mark (seventh place). Berry raced ahead of Briscoe, Hocevar and Elliott while Logano was in 15th place behind Suarez. Buescher and Preece trailed in 18th and 22nd, respectively, as Bell retained the lead by more than two seconds on Lap 150.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Bell captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Blaney followed suit in the runner-up spot by more than two seconds while Hamlin, Larson, Reddick, Cindric, Briscoe, Berry, Elliott and Hocevar were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, nine of 16 Chasers (Bell, Blaney, Hamlin, Larson, Reddick, Cindric, Briscoe, Elliott and Hocevar) were racing in the top-10 mark on the track while the remaining Chasers on the track, including Suarez, Logano, Buescher, Preece and Gibbs, were in 14th, 15th, 17th, 22nd and 36th, respectively.
During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road ahead of Larson and Bell while Briscoe, Hamlin, Cindric, Reddick, Elliott, Berry and Hocevar followed suit, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Elliott was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 95 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Blaney and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney briefly motored ahead from the inside lane before Larson muscled back alongside Blaney entering the backstretch. Through the backstretch, Bell went beneath both Blaney and Larson and overtook both to assume the lead for the next lap. As Bell led, Briscoe navigated his way into the runner-up over Blaney and Larson while Hamlin was in fifth place ahead of a tight battle for sixth place that involved Cindric, Hocevar and Reddick. Berry and Logano would reel in the latter three as Bell maintained the lead over teammate Briscoe by four-tenths of a second with 90 laps remaining.
Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Bell was leading by nearly two seconds over Briscoe while Blaney, Larson and Hamlin trailed in the top five ahead of Reddick, Cindric, Berry, Logan and van Gisbergen, respectively. By then, Larson trailed the lead in fourth place by more than four seconds, and Blaney trailed in third place by more than two seconds while Buescher and Hocevar were mired in the top-15 mark. Behind, Preece, Suarez and Elliott occupied spots 20th, 25th and 27th, respectively, as Bell continued to lead by more than a second over Briscoe with 70 laps remaining.
Then with 63 laps remaining, the caution flew when Reddick, who was racing in sixth place, slid up the track and made contact with the lapped competitor of Gray Gaulding entering the backstretch. The contact caused Gaulding to scrape the wall and spin from the top to the bottom of the track, with a broken toe link spotted on Gaulding’s entry. During this caution period, the field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, AJ Allmendinger exited pit road first ahead of Briscoe, Bell, Larson, Hamlin, Cindric and Reddick, while Blaney dropped to eighth place following a brief stumble while having his right-rear wheel changed during his pit stop. Berry and Chastain followed suit before Allmendinger pitted, which handed the lead over to Briscoe.
As the event reached its final 57-lap mark, the event restarted under green as teammates Briscoe and Bell occupied the front row in front of teammate Hamlin, Larson, Reddick and Cindric. At the start, Hamlin shoved teammate Briscoe from the inside lane, which allowed Briscoe to motor ahead through the first two turns before Briscoe then slid up the track to stall any run from Bell. With the field fanned out through the backstretch, Briscoe cycled back to the frontstretch and led the next lap while teammates Hamlin and Bell fiercely battled for the runner-up spot in front of Reddick, Larson, Blaney and Berry. Following his battle with Hamlin, Bell motored ahead to maintain the runner-up spot as Hamlin was then starting to be pressured by Larson for third place. Meanwhile, Bell reeled in Briscoe for the lead, with the former trailing the latter by three-tenths of a second.
With 40 laps remaining, Briscoe maintained his lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Bell while third-place Hamlin tracked the latter two by two seconds. Meanwhile, fourth-place Larson trailed by four seconds while fifth- and sixth-place competitors Reddick and Blaney both trailed by five seconds. As Berry, van Gisbergen and Chastain raced as the highest non-Chasers from seventh through ninth, Logano was up into 10th place in front of Heim as Buescher, Suarez, Riley Herbst, Cindric, Hocevar, McDowell and Elliott followed suit, respectively.
Ten laps later, Briscoe slightly extended his advantage up to eight-tenths of a second over Bell. Behind, Hamlin retained third place while trailing the lead by three seconds, Larson trailed the lead by five seconds in fourth place, Blaney trailed by more than six seconds in fifth place and Reddick, who continued to fight with loose-handling grip for nearly the entire event, maintained sixth place on the track. Seconds later, Reddick would lose sixth place to Berry while Briscoe stretched his lead by more than a second with 25 laps remaining. Bell would then have his deficit grow up by two seconds another lap later as Bell began to fight loose conditions. Meanwhile, Briscoe, who was approaching lapped traffic, continued to lead by nearly two seconds with 20 laps remaining.
Down to the final 15 laps, Briscoe stabilized his lead by more than two seconds over teammate Bell and by four seconds over Hamlin, currently in third place, while Blaney and Larson trailed in the top five by five and seven seconds, respectively. Briscoe maintained a two-second advantage over Bell with 10 laps remaining before the lead slightly decreased to 1.8 seconds with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Briscoe, who had his lead steadily shrink while navigating through lapped traffic, remained in the lead by four-tenths of a second over Bell. Then, after Briscoe maintained a steady advantage over Bell for half a lap, Bell bolted his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE entry to the bottom lane as Briscoe kept his No. 19 Free Bird Toyota Camry XSE entry racing up towards the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4. Bell then briefly got loose and ran into the left rear of Briscoe. The contact got both Joe Gibbs Racing teammates loose as they dueled to the finish line. At the line, Briscoe managed to beat Bell by 0.029 seconds to win.
With the victory, Briscoe notched his eighth career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his first at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his third of the 2026 season and his second in a row in recent weeks. This season marks the first time ever that Briscoe has achieved back-to-back victories in the Cup Series division, and he became the fifth competitor to achieve victories both on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval and oval circuits.
Prior to Charlotte, Briscoe, who won last weekend’s Chase event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was mired in sixth place in the standings and he trailed the points lead by 84 points. With his victory at Charlotte, Briscoe jumped two spots in the standings to fourth place and he trails the lead by 65 points with four races remaining, with Briscoe remaining within striking distance of contending for his first Cup Series championship.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I just felt like I was gonna knock the wall down at any point,” Briscoe said on the frontstretch on USA Sports. “[The car] just quit turning. I don’t know what it is about these finishes. I gotta quit making it so exciting at the end. Just an amazing car. What an amazing run we’ve been on. [It] Should be three [wins] in a row. Just glad we were able to redeem ourselves. Amazing job to this team. This pit crew has just been unbelievable. My hero’s Tony Stewart. He made a pretty unbelievable run [to win the title in 2011] and hopefully, we can do the same thing. I’m having a lot of fun driving these race cars right now. Looking forward to the next one.”
Amid Briscoe’s celebration both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane, Bell, who led 93 laps and emphasized the importance of winning the remaining Chase events to regain his points deficit, was left dejected on pit road and with his eighth runner-up result of the 2026 season. Bell’s runner-up result kept the Oklahoma native in third place in the standings and he trails the points lead by 51 points while remaining within striking distance of contending for his first title.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I got a lot closer than I thought I was going to,” Bell said. “We should be really good at the next couple of races. Hopefully, we can keep bringing these fast race cars and see what happens.”
Ryan Blaney rallied from his early speeding penalty to finish third while Josh Berry netted his third top-10 result through the first six Chase events as a non-Chase contender by finishing in fourth place. Denny Hamlin settled in fifth place amid his issues navigating his way around his pit box in front of Connor Zilisch and not having enough speed at the event’s conclusion to contend for the victory, while points leader Kyle Larson, who led a race-high 97 laps, settled in sixth place.
Shane van Gisbergen, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher completed the top 10 in Charlotte’s final running order. With eight of 16 Chase contenders (Briscoe, Bell, Blaney, Hamlin, Larson, Reddick, Logano and Buescher) finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Chasers that include Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and William Byron settled in 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 34th, 37th and 39th, respectively.
The sixth Cup Series Chase event of the 2026 season in Charlotte produced 11 lead changes among five leaders and six cautions over 33 laps. In addition, 27 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.
Race Results:
Chase Briscoe, 62 laps led
Christopher Bell, 93 laps led, Stage 2 winner
Ryan Blaney, four laps led
Josh Berry
Denny Hamlin
Kyle Larson, 97 laps led, Stage 1 winner
Shane van Gisbergen
Tyler Reddick
Joey Logano
Chris Buescher
Corey Heim
Chase Elliott
Daniel Suarez
Carson Hocevar
Ryan Preece
Ross Chastain
Austin Cindric
Riley Herbst
Michael McDowell
Zane Smith
Connor Zilisch
Todd Gilliland
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Erik Jones
Noah Gragson
Austin Dillon
Cole Custer
AJ Allmendinger, one lap down
Brad Keselowski, one lap down
Ty Dillon, one lap down
Cody Ware, one lap down
Austin Hill, two laps down
BJ McLeod, three laps down
Ty Gibbs, eight laps down
John Hunter Nemechek, eight laps down
Gray Gaulding – OUT
Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident, 11 laps led
Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident
William Byron – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
Following the sixth Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Kyle Larson continues to lead the standings by 49 points over Denny Hamlin, 51 over Christopher Bell and 65 over Chase Briscoe. The rest of the 16-car Chase field is displayed below.
Chase Standings:
Kyle Larson
Denny Hamlin -49
Christopher Bell -51
Chase Briscoe -65
Ryan Blaney -85
Joey Logano -92
Tyler Reddick -114
Austin Cindric -145
Ty Gibbs -156
Carson Hocevar -180
Chase Elliott -185
Bubba Wallace -185
William Byron -208
Daniel Suarez -215
Chris Buescher -216
Ryan Preece -227
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series’ Chase schedule is Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the Freeway Insurance 500. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, October 18, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
RICK WARE RACING Bank of America 400 Date: Oct. 11, 2026 Event: Bank of America 400 (Round 32 of 36) Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps) Race Winner: Chase Briscoe of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) Stage 2 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 35th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (35th with 235 points)
Race Notes:
● Chase Briscoe won the Bank of America 400 to score his eighth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and second straight, and his first at Charlotte. His margin over second-place Christopher Bell was .029 of a second.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 33 laps.
● Twenty-seven of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Larson remains the championship leader after Charlotte with a 49-point advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin.
Sound Bites:
“Just a really disappointing way to end the day. Got some contact with a lap-down car and we were kind of on our back foot from there, but I’m really proud of this team. They brought a fast 51 Jacob Construction Chevrolet. We learned a lot going into next year with these 1.5-mile ovals.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Jacob Construction Chevrolet
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Freeway Insurance 500k on Sunday, Oct. 18, at Phoenix Raceway. The seventh race in the 10-race Chase starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I was able to come back from that [pit road speeding penalty], so proud of that effort. Yeah, just keep going, and I’m looking forward to the next month.” ON RECENT HISTORY AT PHOENIX – “I look forward to it, but I look forward to going no matter where it’s at every week. I think this team can do a great job at figuring out things when we need to, whether that’s going to a track we’ve been successful at, or going to tracks we need to work at. They’ve done a really good job. Phoenix [Raceway] has been a good one for us, and hopefully it’ll be a good one again next week.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU JUST STAYED IN THE HUNT AT THE END. HOW GOOD WAS YOUR CAR IN THE FINAL STAGE? “I felt like our car was really strong all day. We made some good progress at the start and then when the 54 got the wall on that restart we went all the way to the back again because it was right in front of us. We battled back from the back again and I was really happy with the car the majority of the race. We just kind of plugged along and finally had a real good long run there at the end and was able to make some progress.” DID THEY MAKE ANY CHANGES FOR THAT FINAL RUN TO CONTEND WITH THE LEADERS? “We felt like we were a better car on the long run and then early in that stage I tried to just manage myself a little bit just in case it ran long and ultimately it did. I think some of those guys started to cord their tires and fall off, but it was just a really good job by Miles and the whole group. That’s another good finish. We’ll go to Phoenix and try to do it again.” HOW MUCH HAVE THE FORDS IMPROVED ON THESE 1.5-MILE TRACKS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR? “I think everybody has been working really hard and it’s certainly gotten a lot better. Last week, I really liked my car in practice before we had the tire issue. I think that just kind of screwed the whole weekend up from there on out, but we kind of went back with what we learned last week there and the guys brought a really good car. Hat’s off to all of them for sticking with it and working hard. It was a lot of fun today.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We’ve got to win now, we’re 90-whatever something back. We’ve got to do some special stuff from here on out to make up the 100 points. We got that damage early in the race. I don’t know what happened. They all stacked up in front of me and I packed the nose in, unsealed the splitter, which surely didn’t help any. Yeah, we were ninth, maybe we could’ve been top five-ish if I didn’t have the damage. You know, it could’ve been worse, but we just didn’t get any stage points, that’s the worst part.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a top 10. We’ve been needing a good, solid run. We’ve been kind of inching up on it the last couple of weeks, but to drive in the top 10 and get some stage points on the day, that’s some progress. We’re not all the way there, for sure, but I’m proud of everybody to take this Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang and work hard at it. We had a pit stop mishap and I’m proud of everybody for calling it out and catching it and not letting us go out there and have a bigger issue. Thanks to the 60 bunch for tightening it up and we clawed back from there. They did a solid job on pit road the rest of the night, so it was good work by everybody. We’ve got to raise our ceiling. I feel like we’ve been looking at it as though our ceiling is about 10th place right now, so we kind of maximized what I felt like we had today. WIthout the penalty, we might have had another spot or two, but it was a solid day overall.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Libman Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a shame that our final run of the race went the way it did. It was pretty uncharacteristic from the other portions of the race. Past that, I thought that we had a pretty fast Menards/Libman Ford. Yeah, it’s just a shame that last run was by far our worst of the race. We’re going to have to go back and review that, but we still got some solid points.”
FORD PROUD TO HONOR VETERANS DAY CLASSIC
The inaugural Ford Proud To Honor Veterans Day Classic is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 11 at Daytona International Speedway. Ford, in collaboration with NASCAR, Blue Star Families, IMSA and HSR, is bringing together motorsports, music and a shared mission of military support all in honor of service members, veterans and their families. This is a first-of-its kind military tribute race with all six branches of the armed forces being represented by 12 Ford Racing drivers. In addition, Zac Brown Band will be performing. For fans wanting more information and to purchase tickets, they can go to the official website at fordveteransdayclassic.com.
“Growing Organization Also Announces Move to New Race Shop in Welcome, N.C.”
October 11, 2026 (Sanford, North Carolina) – Peterson Racing is proud to announce that Harrison Burton has joined the organization with a multi-year agreement to compete in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Burton joins the growing organization as teammate to Lee Pulliam and will pilot the No. 78 Chevrolet starting with the 2027 season opening event at Daytona International Speedway in February.
“I am really excited to join Peterson Racing and be a part of what they are building,” stated Burton. “It is a blessing to continue my career, and I feel this is a great opportunity to grow alongside this team as we focus on becoming a race winning organization. They have done a great job in putting together a group that is primed to take the next steps in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. I just feel that Peterson Racing and I are a great fit and share the same goals of going to the racetrack and winning. I am excited to get to work and chasing that goal together.”
Burton has 287 career starts in NASCAR’s top three series with 136 of those coming in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He has four wins in the series to his credit with the most recent coming at Martinsville Speedway in the fall of 2020. In that 2020 season, Burton became the first driver born in the 2000’s or later to win a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, and in 2024 became the first to win a NASCAR Cup Series race with his victory that summer at Daytona International Speedway.
“We are excited about adding Harrison to our program and expanding to a two-car operation in 2027,” stated Chris Seibel, General Manager for Peterson Racing. “Harrison is a great fit with what we have built so far at Peterson Racing, and we feel he will be a key piece to our continued growth process. We think that Harrison and Lee make a special combination of drivers and we look forward to them representing us on the track in 2027.”
In preparation for the 2027 season, Peterson Racing also announces it will be moving into a new race shop on the campus of Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, North Carolina. The move will come at the end of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season.
“The move to the RCR campus is another strong step in the growth of this Peterson Racing organization,” added Harrison. “I feel confident that bringing my experiences gained from racing with other organizations throughout my career combined with working alongside the structure they have built thus far at Peterson Racing that we will be able to continue this growth process. I am excited to have a teammate the caliber of Lee Pulliam and I think we will be great assets for each other. This is truly a unique situation that I embrace and am excited about.”
