2017 NASCAR Week 30: Charlotte

Bank of America 500

Charlotte Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

What to Watch For

Battle of the Toyota's

• After the first round Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch once again asserted their dominance by winning all three races. The No. 78 and 18 have been the story of the season especially during the second half and will continue to be a focal point moving forward as they set the pace. The one hitch? Homestead is a straight up race so whomever makes the final four has a small shot to take them down.

Hendrick Motorsports

• Was it a one week thing? HMS brought some quality cars to Dover all around which seems to be a first in 2017. Heck, up to this point the only real title contending Chevy was Kyle Larson (CGR). Granted it was Dover and not a 1.5 D oval that makes up most the schedule, it was good to see some life in the four HMS cars. This week at Charlotte will be a bigger proving ground on if HMS is ready to compete now that the season is coming to a close. We all know you can never count out Jimmie Johnson, so it's even scarier to think that he could finally be getting some speed as well.

Cut Line

• This is an every week thing, but it's always a must watch. Each race that goes by the line gets more intense as the playoff field narrows. Truex has an 18 point lead on second, and a 56 point lead on 12th, but even two bad races by him could get him worrying a bit. The eight spot will be heated for the next three races and getting a good start at CMS is very important.

**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

• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth has back to back top fives, four top fives in his last five, and two poles in his last five Charlotte starts.
• Kevin Harvick- Since joining SHR (seven CMS starts) Harvick has a win, four top fives (three of them second place finishes), six top tens, and two poles. If he is going to get back on track, this weekend is the time.
• Jimmie Johnson- Way back when this was a lock for JJ, but lately he has been much streakier. Still, tough to argue with the guy who won this race last year.

The Middle

• Austin Dillon- AD won the first stop at CMS this year that got him into the playoffs, but his other finishes brought a 16th place average finish.

The Bad

• Joey Logano- JoLo is actually really good here, but the fact remains that he has had some poor luck and runs as of late. He is the most likely spoiler of this race and could go from this section to race winner...
• Kasey Kahne- Kahne has four career wins at CMS, but those days are long ago (so is the track surface). Since the start of 2014 (seven races), he has two top tens and an average finish of 19.86.
• Ryan Blaney- Small sample size, but Blaney has not been very good so far at CMS. He has one top 15 and two top 20;s in his first five career starts here.

About the Track: Charlotte

Track Stats

• Martin Truex Jr was the first driver not named Jimmie Johnson to win from the pole early in 2016. 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 8 wins, he (JJ) won 3 from the Pole, including this race in 2014.
• Those 8 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 1,930 of 11,089 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