The next round of NASCAR’s playoffs will get started under the lights Saturday night (10/10) at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Bank of America 500.
The remaining 12 Chase Grid drivers that advanced in the Sprint Cup series to the Contender Round have three races to amass enough points or score a win to advance in the playoffs. Those three races begin this weekend with a track that demands the drivers have speed and handling built into their race cars.
The 1.5-mile track at Charlotte has 24 degrees of banking through the four turns. That means there will be plenty of speed racing down the straights and into the turns. There is plenty of room to get side-by-side racing two, three, four wide and possibly more.
However, an ill-handling race car can get loose and spin very easily at the high speeds and not only ruin the driver’s own day, but it can collect others that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Drivers will need to avoid their own mistakes and the mistakes of others on the track to be around at the end with a chance to win the Bank of America 500.
Let’s take a look at the 12 Chase Grid drivers and their Sprint Cup performance in the past at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
#1 – Matt Kenseth
Driver Rating of 95.6 (4th best)
2 wins, 10 top fives, 17 top tens
#2 – Joey Logano
Driver Rating of 89.6 (8th best)
0 wins, 4 top fives, 7 top tens
#3 – Denny Hamlin
Driver Rating of 93.9 (5th best)
0 wins, 4 top fives, 12 top tens
#4 – Carl Edwards
Driver Rating of 90.4 (7th best)
1 win, 7 top fives, 14 top tens
#5 – Martin Truex, Jr
Driver Rating of 79.8, (17th best)
0 wins, 1 top five, 5 top tens
#6 – Kurt Busch
Driver Rating of 86.2 (12th best)
1 win, 6 top fives, 8 top tens
#7 – Jeff Gordon
Driver Rating of 91.1 (6th best)
5 wins, 17 top fives, 24 top tens
#8 – Brad Keselowski
Driver Rating of 88.0 (10th best)
1 win, 2 top fives, 4 top tens
#9 – Kyle Busch
Driver Rating of 106.6 (2nd best)
0 wins, 10 top fives, 14 top tens
#10 – Ryan Newman
Driver Rating of 79.0 (20th best)
0 wins, 4 top fives, 12 top tens
#11 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr
Driver Rating of 82.4 (14th best)
0 wins, 6 top fives, 12 top tens
#12 – Kevin Harvick|
Driver Rating of 86.2 (11th best)
3 wins, 5 top fives, 12 top tens
As far as the remaining Chase Grid drivers, you would have to give a nod to Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch as being favorites head to the Bank of America 500. Among the 12 Chase Grid drivers Jeff has the most wins at Charlotte in the Sprint Cup division having been to Victory Lane five times. His driver rating of 91.1 is also the sixth best among active drivers over all. Grabbing the win to advance to the next round in the first race of this round in Jeff’s final full-time Sprint Cup season would be a big confidence builder for the #24 Chevrolet team.
Matt Kenseth is one of the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) drivers that have been dominating the Sprint Cup series in the second half of the NASCAR season. He also has two wins and the fourth best driver rating among active drivers at Charlotte. Matt won Chase Race #2 to automatically advance to this round of the Chase. He could easily win this race to advance automatically to the next round.
Kyle Busch is another one of the JGR Toyota’s that have been dominating the Sprint Cup season in the past few months. While Kyle has not won a Sprint Cup points race at Charlotte yet, he does have the second highest driver rating at the track of all active drivers. The way Kyle has been racing recently he could find the way to finally get that win at Charlotte in the Bank of America 500.
Kevin Harvick is another Chase Grid driver to watch closely Saturday night. He has three wins at Charlotte including this race in the 2014 Chase. After delivering last week in Dover in a must-win scenario to advance, you can bet Kevin and his team will be feeling the momentum as they get ready to race this weekend.
Carl Edwards managed to stretch his fuel when the Sprint Cup series came to Charlotte the first time this season and scored his first win at the track. If Carl could find a way to sweep the 2015 Charlotte races either by fuel mileage or by outrunning the field, it would get him one round closer to the championship.
Jimmie Johnson was eliminated from championship contention in last week’s race. However, he might be looking to make a statement this weekend and be the first non-contender to win a race during the 2015 Chase. He is a serious threat to play the role of spoiler in the Bank of America 500 since he has the highest driver rating among active drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway AND is the all-time leading winner at the track having scored seven Sprint Cup victories at the track.
No matter which driver pulls into Victory Lane, NASCAR Sprint Cup action at Charlotte Motor Speedway is often exciting and with the added incentive for the 12 Chase Grid drivers to win and advance it will likely get very interesting Saturday night when the Bank of America 500 gets started at 6pm central time.
By: Buck Stevens
