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 

2016 NASCAR Schedule: Charlotte

Bank of America 500

By Richard Tix

All Times are Eastern Time Zone (ET)

Thursday October 6, 2016

• 1:30-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first practice- NBCSN
• 3-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series first practice- NBCSN
• 5:30-6:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice- NBCSN
• 7:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying- NBCSN

Friday October 7, 2016

• 3:30-4:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series second practice- NBCSN
• 4:45 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying- NBCSN
• 6:30-7:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice- NBCSN
• 8 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC (200 laps)- NBCSN

Saturday October 8, 2016

• 6:45 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 (334 laps)- NBC

2016 Pit Road Week 29: Dover

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Dover International Speedway

By Richard Tix

First thing's first: being called a hater by someone who has never read your articles or a tweet of your's before is ironic, because that person is as much a hater as you are since they know nothing about you.

I was called a hater on Sunday for calling out TV media (and others) who continue to try and hold onto the notion that Furniture Row is still a small team beating the odds. They're trying to sell the Cinderella story when the story has run it's course.

Why is this wrong? Because Furniture Row is no longer a small team, they're a legit title contender who is practically a fifth Joe Gibbs Racing car. That is no slight to Furniture Row, those guys worked their butt's off to get to this point and overcome the odds.

But, that story ended last season, it's time to stop harping on an old story and move on with the truth.

I like Martin Truex Jr and love that a once small team is expanding and becoming a real threat in NASCAR. However, this is like Gonzaga in college basketball (hopefully some of you get this). They were a media Cinderella darling for a short period of time, but eventually got so big they were a legit contender and the story-line was gone. College media understood that, the fans understood that, and Gonzaga understood that.

Story-lines change and we need to adapt with them. It doesn't make you a hater, it makes you a person who understands the context of situations and how they're forever changing. I try and keep is as real and unbiased as I can here. So, lets hit a few things you need to know if you just started following me.

I run Behind the Wall and try and keep my bias of drivers neutral for rankings and articles.

I am a huge Brad Keseloski fan and have been since he was working his way up. I am a Dodge fan so many of my drivers roots have passed through those ram horns.

I also like Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott (I know, weird situation), Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, and Kyle Larson.

When I first started watching in the 90's I was a young kid and latched onto Jeff Gordon like so many fans did over time. 

I was raised a King Petty guy (Mopar). By oldest brother is much older then me (I was an oops) and he was a Petty guy, so I followed suit. 

I have since dropped Gordon, Hamlin, and Kahne when people ask me who I am a fan of, but only because my list is huge (well some other things have turned me off from Denny as well). If you asked me, I would say I'm a BK fan, but I really do like a lot of guys. It comes with the nature of writing and just loving the sport.

I do like the newest Chase format and have from the start. However, I have always had a few thing's that I though needed adjustment (adding tracks to the full schedule and changing the final race year to year to name a few).

Even drivers I have disliked in the past have had their up's and downs when compared to m,y opinion. To be honest, I have had some of the best discussions on Twitter with fans of drivers I am not a big fan of. 

Last thing: I really wish they would add a few more short tracks (Iowa Speedway being one) and even a road course or two. I have held this opinion for awhile now and will not change it. I think they could drop a few 1.5 mile tracks that have two stops to make room. 

Oh, and I am from Minnesota and its tough to find a ton of people who consider themselves NASCAR fans. We're here, but we're hard to find. 

Now, onto the Power Rankings.

A review of the Chase Power Ranking Rules:

For the first three races we will have 16 drivers ranked and they will all come from the Chase field. Once NASCAR cuts the field to 12 so will Behind the Wall (again, all Chase drivers). Once we cut to 8 drivers I will still rank the top 12, but the top 8 will be only drivers left in the Chase and the remaining four can be anyone (previous Chase drivers OR someone who was never in the Chase). This type format will continue all the way down to the final (so in the end the Champion will be number one and the other eleven can be anyone in the Sprint Cup.

We're down to 12 Chase drivers so only those 12 are in the rankings this week.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 29 (Week 28)

1. Martin Truex (LW-1)- Right now Truex is as hot as they come and NASCAR will hit two 1.5 mile tracks in the next three. Why is that important? Well, because he has been pretty darn good on 1.5 mile's while at Furniture Row.
2. Brad Keselowski (LW-2)- Three top 5's in the Chase, tied for the most wins this season, the most top 5's all year, and stuck in 7th place in the standings. Weird, huh? It's a non factor if BK keeps running this well, these stats will advance him to Miami if he keeps it up. 
3. Kyle Busch (LW-4)- Rowdy led a lap ion every Chase race and also finished in the top 10 all three times. He was runner up at Dover on Sunday and knows how to navigate this Chase.
4. Joey Logano (LW-5)- It's a bit crazy to think JoLo has only won one race in 2016, but that's where we are right now. 
5. Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- Tough luck on Sunday, but guys it can happen at anytime, why all the Rodney Childers attacking on twitter? Harvick still looks like a title contender and already had a win.
6. Matt Kenseth (LW-6)- Hard to argue with 9th, 2nd, and 5th place finishes during the Chase. Nice work running well and advancing.
7. Jimmie Johnson (LW-8)- This season is the lowest on average I have ever had JJ in the rankings, weird. Whats not weird is the No. 48 team is running better in the Chase, but can they keep it going against JGR?
8. Denny Hamlin (LW-7)- Ten top 10's in the last eleven races, not bad Hamlin. The last time he was out of the top 15 was thirteen races ago, and that was the unpredictable Daytona.
9. Chase Elliott (LW-9)- Will he win the Championship as a rookie? Odds are 99% no, but two third place finishes this round are impressive stats to add to a great rookie campaign. 
10. Kurt Busch (LW-10)- They survived with a lone top 10 and three top 15's. It wasn't pretty and they will need more this round, but they made it.
11. Austin Dillon (LW-13)- Yeah, a poor running by CGR helped, but Dillon didn't hurt himself by finishing 8th, and that's what it is all about. Nice work moving on and doing what you could to gain points.
12. Carl Edwards (LW-11)- I'm not sure what to think of the No 19 team. They would reel off two wins in this round at any moment, but right now they're lagging behind the other four JGR cars (yes, the No. 78 is a fifth JGR car). 

2016 Pit Road Week 28: Loudon

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

NHMS

By Richard Tix

As you may know from this weekends race preview (Week 29 race preview here), I have been a busy guy. In that time I have missed a bunch of content that I normally like to have out weekly. In that spirit, I want to make sure I get to the Power Rankings. However, they will be striped down this weekend to save a bit of time so I can catch up on everything else!

A review of the Chase Power Ranking Rules:

For the first three races we will have 16 drivers ranked and they will all come from the Chase field. Once NASCAR cuts the field to 12 so will Behind the Wall (again, all Chase drivers). Once we cut to 8 drivers I will still rank the top 12, but the top 8 will be only drivers left in the Chase and the remaining four can be anyone (previous Chase drivers OR someone who was never in the Chase). This type format will continue all the way down to the final (so in the end the Champion will be number one and the other eleven can be anyone in the Sprint Cup. 

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 28 (Week 26)

1. Martin Truex Jr (LW-4)
2. Brad Keselowski (LW-3)
3. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)
4. Kyle Busch (LW-7)
5. Joey Logano (LW-5)
6. Matt Kenseth (LW-11)
7. Denny Hamlin (LW-2)
8. Jimmie Johnson (LW-9)
9. Chase Elliott (LW-10)
10. Kurt Busch (LW-12)-
11. Carl Edwards (LW-8)
12. Kyle Larson (LW-6)
13. Austin Dillon (LW-15)
14. Jamie McMurray (LW-13)
15. Tony Stewart (LW-14)
16. Chris Buescher (LW-16)