{"id":54945,"date":"2025-10-04T15:14:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T20:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=54945"},"modified":"2025-10-05T10:41:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T15:41:51","slug":"nascar-saturday-charlotte-road-course-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/04\/nascar-saturday-charlotte-road-course-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Charlotte Road Course Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Bubba Wallace tries to shake hangover from Kansas disappointment<\/b><\/p>\n

CONCORD, N.C.\u2014The emotional residue from last Sunday\u2019s last-lap conflict between Bubba Wallace and his team owner\/fellow driver Denny Hamlin haunted Wallace throughout the week leading up to Sunday\u2019s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

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Bubba Wallace. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In fact, Wallace and Hamlin tried to clear the around noon on Saturday in what Wallace characterized as a \u201cgood heart-to-heart conversation that came from a place of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace and Hamlin were battling for the lead on the final lap of overtime at Kansas, when Hamlin ran Wallace into the outside wall in the final corner. The cars of both drivers lost momentum, and Chevrolet driver Chase Elliott powered to the inside of Hamlin\u2019s Toyota to win the race, as Wallace fell to fifth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a somber week, for sure,\u201d said Wallace, who drives the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing, which Hamlin co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan. \u201cI hate it got to this point, the lingering effect, but Denny and I just talked 30 minutes ago\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt went better than I thought it would. He shared his side of things, and I shared mine, and we had common ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace surprised Hamlin, who drives the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, with one aspect of his point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust so you know,\u201d Wallace said he told Hamlin, \u201cI\u2019m not mad about getting fenced going for the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t fault Denny Hamlin for racing for a win, for racing for his team and his sponsors,\u201d Wallace added. \u201cI get the question a lot, \u2018What\u2019s it like racing Denny on the race track?\u2019 No offense to them, but I could give two (expletive), because he\u2019s a competitor, and he\u2019s labeled it that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was two competitors going for a win, and as much as it didn\u2019t work out, I have to respect that … My biggest thing is that Toyota didn\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what could Hamlin have done differently?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou turn left and go for the bottom\u2014as simple as that,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n

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Shane van Gisbergen still elated by top-10 run at Kansas<\/b><\/p>\n

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen is back in familiar territory this weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series races in the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

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Shane Van Gisbergen. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Van Gisbergen will try to win his fifth straight road course event in NASCAR\u2019s top division. Jeff Gordon holds the series record for consecutive road course wins with six.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, as he took questions from reporters before Cup Series practice on Saturday, van Gisbergen couldn\u2019t hide his elation at the 10th-place finish he achieved last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, his first top 10 on a NASCAR oval.<\/p>\n

The three-time Australian Supercars champion achieved the milestone despite a first-lap pass-through, an inspection-related penalty that put him a lap down from the outset.<\/p>\n

Van Gisbergen recovered to post the 11th-most green-flag passes during the race (111), even though he didn\u2019t return to the lead lap as beneficiary until the third caution on Lap 90.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a little penalty for a mistake, and then, yeah, having to be a lap down, or two laps down we ended up, and coming back was really cool,\u201d van Gisbergen said. \u201cIt was pretty genuine, the speed, as well. We were ahead of most of the crashes, and having a really good day.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, I was pretty excited. I’ve never been so excited for a top-10, but this series is tough on the ovals. Everyone’s so good, and it has taken all year for us to get up to speed. It\u2019s just a good reward for everyone who’s helped me to get here, the spotters and crew chief. I think everyone was pretty stoked after that race. It was a cool atmosphere.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NCSCMSSVG100425.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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Joey Logano returns to site of last year\u2019s big reprieve<\/b><\/p>\n

When last year\u2019s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course was over, Joey Logano was out of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.<\/p>\n

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Joey Logano. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hours later, Logano learned that Alex Bowman had been disqualified for an underweight car, a penalty that put Logano back into the Playoff field.<\/p>\n

A week later, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford won at Las Vegas and earned a spot in the Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway, where Logano won the race and claimed his third title in NASCAR\u2019s top division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the emotions leaving the track,\u201d Logano said. \u201cI was bummed. I was like, \u2018Well, on one hand, we did really good here last year,\u2019 so I was proud of the effort that we gave. I was bummed that we were just a little short, but it is what it is. That\u2019s how I am at the end of the race. It is what it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t change it now, and you just have to keep looking out the windshield and we went home. We went home and had a fairly normal evening, and then I got a call and it was like, \u2018Hey, honey, you ain\u2019t gonna believe it. We\u2019re back in.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the next seven days after that changed everything, because we went from out to in to winning Vegas and in the Championship 4 and winning our third title, so just a quick turn of events, but that\u2019s NASCAR racing for you. It\u2019s unpredictable. Things can change really, really fast. You just have to keep rolling with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logano comes Sunday\u2019s race eighth in the standings, just 13 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 8. The defending series champion isn\u2019t looking past the Roval.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one step at a time,\u201d Logano said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get through this week first. This week right now is the most important race of the season for us. We\u2019ve got to get through this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we can continue to be in the championship race after this, and at that point we\u2019ll look at Vegas (next weekend\u2019s Round of 8 opener), but right now 100 percent of our focus is at the Roval.\u201d<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NCSCMSJoeyLogano100425.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Bubba Wallace tries to shake hangover from Kansas disappointment CONCORD, N.C.\u2014The emotional residue from last Sunday\u2019s last-lap conflict between Bubba Wallace and his team owner\/fellow driver Denny Hamlin haunted Wallace throughout the week leading up to Sunday\u2019s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":53760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[233,16],"class_list":["post-54945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-charlotte-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2228235856-scaled.jpg?fit=1707%2C2560","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eid","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54945"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54970,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54945\/revisions\/54970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}