Charlotte a Key Race in NASCAR Cup Chase

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Posted by Keith Griffin 

                               

 

NASCAR’s next stop in the Chase for the Cup is the Bank of America 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Things look to especially benefit the Joe Gibbs Racing team at tonight’s night race (weather permitting). It had a strong showing there in May for the Coca Cola 600 and there’s no reason to doubt the success will propel all four members to the next stage.

 

At that race, all four Gibbs team members finished in the top 11. It was their best collective finish on a 1.5-mile superspeedway — the kind of tracks featured in the Chase for the Cup.

Matt Kenseth is going to start in the pole position for the Bank of America 500. Teammate Kyle Busch will be right beside him. Denny Hamlin is in the fifth position and Carl Edwards is in the eighth position.

 

What makes this race especially wide open is the fact that Jimmie Johnson did not advance to the second round of the Chase for the Cup. He’s won seven times at Charlotte but engine troubles at Dover ended his Chase competition.

Charlotte is a crucial race for the NASCAR Chase for the Cup. It begins the second round of the competition that features three races: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. After this round, the 12 drivers will be whittled down to eight for the third round.

Experts say Charlotte is an extremely important race because a win gives the cushion to get into the next round where eight drivers advance. Talladega is considered too “wild card” a race to need a win.