{"id":61562,"date":"2026-10-08T12:15:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T17:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=61562"},"modified":"2026-10-10T16:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T21:19:26","slug":"nascar-weekend-preview-charlotte-motor-speedway-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/08\/nascar-weekend-preview-charlotte-motor-speedway-7\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Weekend Preview: Charlotte Motor Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Jordan Brand Toyota, and Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, lead the field to start the NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 05, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jordan Bank\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service<\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Chase drivers come to Charlotte chasing wins<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite Kyle Larson\u2019s domination of the first half of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase presented by Mobil 1, both Joey Logano and Christopher Bell see a path to the championship.<\/p>\n

Both drivers are convinced that winning races\u2014probably multiple races\u2014is the key to title, and there\u2019s no better time to start than in Sunday\u2019s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

For the first time since 2017, Cup Series drivers will race on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval in the fall, a position on the schedule occupied by the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (ROVAL) for the past eight seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know exactly what a win is worth,\u201d said Logano, who is fourth in the Chase standings, 71 points behind Larson. \u201cWe know if you score stage points in the top two or three in each stage and win a race, you cut into that deficit quite a bit. You can gain 30 points on the whole field.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the guy finishes second, you still are going to gain 25 or so points at least. If you can string a couple of those together, yeah, you\u2019re right there. I think in our case, we have to win one of them at least to be able to say we\u2019re going to go up there and beat them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going have to win one, if not two, and if we don\u2019t win two, then we\u2019re going to have to\u2026 not that you hope for bad things to happen to people, but you\u2019ve got to hope for some misfortune a little bit from the competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logano\u2019s only victory on the Charlotte oval came in the fall race of 2015. On Sunday, the three-time series champion will make his 500th start in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford and his 647th overall.<\/p>\n

In each of his three victories this season\u2014at North Wilkesboro, Richmond and Bristol\u2014Logano has scored 73 points, three short of the maximum possible.<\/p>\n

Bell claimed his only Charlotte oval win in the rain-shortened 2024 Coca-Cola 600. He arrives at Sunday\u2019s race third in the Chase standings, 55 points behind Larson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to make up that 50-point deficit without that win bonus that is applied now,\u201d Bell said of the 20-point difference between first and second place. \u201cIt feels a little bit like the (previous) Playoff format. I believe that it\u2019s going to take wins for me to become the champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 11 (second-place Denny Hamlin, trailing Larson by 40 points), I think I\u2019m within striking distance where I can pass him without winning, but the 5 car (Larson) being out so far, I think it\u2019s going to take wins, and, yeah, just need to put our best foot forward to go out there and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell lost ground to Larson last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he lost power steering. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver wouldn\u2019t mind seeing Larson, his long-time dirt-track rival, go through the same experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it happens to him, so he can talk about it,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

Larson, however, shows no sign of faltering. His 2.2 average finish through five Chase races is the best since NASCAR introduced its first postseason playoff format in 2004.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, no Chase driver in the field for Sunday\u2019s race has posted more than one victory on the Charlotte oval. Hamlin has the most starts there (35) and picked up his only win at the track in the 2022 Coke 600.<\/p>\n

Defending NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Series champ looks for continued upswing<\/b><\/p>\n

Where the 2026 NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase is concerned, Justin Allgaier has been the poster boy for Murphy\u2019s Law.<\/p>\n

After suffering calamities in the first four postseason races, the driver of the No, 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet is looking for a reversal of fortune in Saturday\u2019s Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\u201cCharlotte has been a really strong track for us over the last few years, but all of those races were in the heat of May, so it will be interesting to see how this weekend plays out,\u201d said Allgaier, who has fallen from first to fourth in the standings since the Chase began at Darlington Raceway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that everyone on this team is ready to get there. Our Chase hasn\u2019t started quite like we hoped, but this group is ready to go out there and do what we\u2019ve done all year. There is still a lot racing left to be done, and I feel like Charlotte is a great place to get that momentum back on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allgaier, who trails Chase leader Sheldon Creed by 30 points with five races left, is the only former Charlotte oval winner in the field for Saturday\u2019s race. The last 14 races on the 1.5-mile track have produced 14 different winners.<\/p>\n

Both second-place Carson Kvapil (19 points behind Creed) and third-place Jesse Love (21 points behind) gained ground at Allgaier\u2019s expense in last Saturday\u2019s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

Love, the defending series champion, finished third behind race winner Corey Day and runner-up Kvapil at Las Vegas, sparking optimism for Saturday\u2019s race at Charlotte.<\/p>\n

“We were really good here in the spring,\u201d said Love, who finished second to full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain in a rain-shortened race in May. \u201cIt fits our package.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned some things last week in Las Vegas that we will implement in Charlotte and go from there. I think we’re struggling with some things that, if we fix for Charlotte, we’ll be in good shape.”<\/p>\n

The top six drivers in the Chase standings remain within striking distance of the Creed\u2019s lead. Sixth-place Sam Mayer, who has gained four positions in the standings since the Chase began, is 52 points behind Creed.<\/p>\n

Layne Riggs looks for return to form in NASCAR Truck race at Charlotte<\/b><\/p>\n

Scoring 75 of a possible 76 points in a dominating victory Sept. 26 at Kansas Speedway, Kaden Honeycutt seized control of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase, as top-seeded Layne Riggs suffered devastating issues for the second consecutive race.<\/p>\n

Honeycutt will try to expand his lead in Friday\u2019s Ecosave 200 (5 p.m. ET on FOX, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), as Riggs\u2014now 37 points behind Honeycutt in second place\u2014attempts to right his ship.<\/p>\n

Riggs was running second behind Honeycutt at Kansas when he smacked the wall in the closing laps and dropped to 19th at the finish.<\/p>\n

“I just went for it there at the end,” Riggs said. “I feel like we were kind of behind the eight ball all day long. Had rough stops on pit road, had issues. I was going for a win, had a shot at a win, and tried a little too hard. So definitely really disappointing. Really big blow to our points.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould have been just fine with chalking up a second-place finish instead of trying to go for the win. But at the same time, the team (Front Row Motorsports) pays me to go win races. And that’s what we did. I just have to be smarter in the long run if I’m going to get this thing. Keep my head about me a little bit better, instead of looking at just three or four laps. Got to look at the whole Chase.\u201d<\/p>\n

The good news for Riggs is that he and Honeycutt have created separation from the rest of the Chase field in just two races. Third-place Chandler Smith, Riggs\u2019 teammate, trails Honeycutt by 71 points, with fourth-place Gio Ruggiero 72 points back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR Cup Chase drivers come to Charlotte chasing wins Despite Kyle Larson\u2019s domination of the first half of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase presented by Mobil 1, both Joey Logano and Christopher Bell see a path to the championship. Both drivers are convinced that winning races\u2014probably multiple races\u2014is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":54990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[233,16],"class_list":["post-61562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-charlotte-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-g0W","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2239417603-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61563,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61562\/revisions\/61563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}