Charlotte a Key Race in NASCAR Cup Chase

Kyle Busch was the fastest Friday night in the final practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The race was postponed at 6:55 p.m. – 26 minutes before the race was scheduled to start – with rain still falling and weather radar indicating that it wouldn’t stop anytime soon.

The race victor was Joey Logano.

Kyle Busch, victor of four races this season and a driver who had finished no worse than 11 in 14 of his last 16 Cup races at Charlotte, got tangled on pit road with Kyle Larson and wound up 20. One of those days that.

A sparse crowd might have contested that point.

Kenseth and Kyle Busch will start on the front row, while Harvick will start 11th.

Joey Logano takes the win and what a difference a day makes.

The sparsity of the crowd..

Hamilton started second behind Rosberg but took over the lead when his Mercedes teammate experienced a throttle problem that forced him to slow to a crawl and then come into the pits to retire. All others combined for 35.

The modest crowd at the speedway Sunday did not see a lot of good things from several of the fan favorites. For Logano, the Charlotte victory means it won’t matter.

“This makes Talladega way easier”, Logano acknowledged.

Jeff Gordon, who scored his first career victory at Charlotte in 1994, goes into his final race at the track still seeking his first win of the season.

“Very happy. It’s been a hard weekend because of the little running we got”, Rosberg said.

Earnhardt Jr. came on to pit lane with 28 laps to go for fuel and tires while Logano continued to lead Harvick, followed by Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch. “Logano’s the only one who’s going to sleep for the next two weeks”. It lead to a fairly uninteresting event, and a less-than-jumbled top five that saw Chase drivers lock down the top six positions didn’t exactly add intrigue to the event.

Green flag pit stops began with 100 laps remaining. But with extensive damage with the right front suspension, it was just a matter of time before Kenseth’s day would end.

Kenseth excels at making an understatement.

“Everything kind of snowballed”, said the pole-sitter.

He also maintains a gift for self-deprecation. “You don’t even have the anxiety level at that top level that you will if you go to Talladega needing a good finish”.

It may have been the most un-Kenseth race ever.

There is more at stake this time around. Later he said he lost count. He hit the wall at least four times before parking the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and finishing 42nd.

“I don’t know”, Busch said when asked about what happened on pit road.