2016 NASCAR Week 30 Preview: Charlotte

Bank of America 500

Charlotte Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

Race four in the 2016 Cup Chase is right around the corner. This weekend NASCAR hits Charlotte Motor Speedway after a lack luster first round. But, what do you expect? The first round is always the round with the least amount of drama.

From here on out, the drama will increase and I expect Twitter NASCAR fan's heads to start exploding. Something is bound to happen to one set of fans driver and the reaction on social media is always a fun and intense time.

So sit back and get your popcorn ready, the Chase and social media are about to get fired up.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Joey Logano- JoLo won this race last year in the Chase and won this years All Star Race. He has figured out Charlotte pretty well and might get off to a nice start this round.
• Carl Edwards- Edwards needs CMS after an unispirering first round. In 23 career races here he almost has an average finish in the top 10 (10.9).
• Brad Keselowski- BK has three straight top 10's here and five top 10's in the last six stops. Included in those last six was a win in 2013.

The Middle

• Denny Hamlin- Look, Hamlin has been very good here lately, but he just hasn't sealed the deal on a trip to Victory Lane yet. Look for another nice run this weekend.

The Bad

• Jimmie Johnson- You're not reading this wrong.. Yes, JJ has been very good here and I wouldn't bet against him, but three have his last four have all resulted in finishes of 17th or worse. I expect him to bounce back, but these stats should be noted.
• Kasey Kahne- Kahne has also had a nice career here (four wins), but none since 2012 and his last five have yielded only one top 10 and his average start position has been 25.25 in the last four.
• Paul Menard- 19 races. Two top 10's. That's really all you need to know here.

About the Track: Charlotte

Track Stats

• Martin Truex Jr was the first driver not named Jimmie Johnson to win from the pole earlier this year. The last time someone won a Charlotte race from the Pole not named Jimmie Johnson was 1998, Jeff Gordon. JJ has won 2 from the Pole since then (2004 and 2009)
• JJ won 4 straight from 2004 to 2005, sweeping both times. Four straight is also a track Cup record
• In that same stretch he (JJ) won 5 of 6 from 2003-2005 dropping the only race to Tony Stewart
• The most cautions was 22 during the 2005 May Charlotte race, which JJ ended up winning.
• In Jimmie Johnson's 7 wins, he (JJ) won 3 from the Pole, including this race in 2014.
• Those 7 wins are the most by any driver in a career.
• Bobby Allison has the second most wins with 6 total in 43 attempts
• Of current drivers Ryan Newman has the most poles (9). 
• David Pearson has the most career poles at Charlotte with 14.
• Jimmie Johnson has led 1,740 or 10,355 career laps he has run at Charlotte. That is enough for second most behind Bobby Allison (2,338 total).
• Richard Petty has the most top 10's in a career with 31 in 64 attempts. He is also tied with Bobby Allison for the most top 5's (23 total).

Track Info

• Surface: Asphalt
• Length: 1.5 mile
• Banking
• Turns: 24 degrees
• Straights: 5 degrees