Kyle Larson was fastest in final Xfinity Series practice Thursday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a lap of 185.198 mph.
Erik Jones, looking to avoid Chase elimination in the Charlotte cutoff race, was second at 184.995 mph with Joey Logano third (184.856 mph), Daniel Suarez (184.332 mph) fourth, and Brandon Jones (184.150 mph) fifth. Larson and Logano are two of five Sprint Cup Series drivers entered in Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300.
Both Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series teams are scheduled to be in action today at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with Xfinity teams competing in the Drive for the Cure 300.
Rain from Hurricane Matthew could impact today’s schedule.
Here is today’s schedule with TV and Radio times.
All times are Eastern.
11 a.m. – Xfinity garage opens
1:30 – 10 p.m. – Sprint Cup garage open
3:30 – 4:25 p.m. – Sprint Cup practice (NBCSN)
4:45 p.m. – Xfinity qualifying; three rounds/multi-car (NBCSN)
6:15 p.m. – Xfinity driver-crew chief meeting
6:30 – 7:20 p.m. – Final Sprint Cup practice (NBCSN)
7:30 p.m. – Xfinity driver introductions
8 p.m. – Drive for the Cure 300; 200 laps, 300 miles (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
CONCORD, N.C. – Kevin Harvick may have won the pole for Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but Alex Bowman continued to open eyes as a substitute driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Touring the 1.5-mile speedway in 27.547 seconds (196.029 mph), Harvick knocked Bowman (196.000 mph) off the pole by a scant .004 seconds in the final round of Thursday evening’s knockout qualifying.
The pole was Harvick's first at Charlotte, his first of the 2016 season and the 16th of his career.
"It was good in (Turns) 1 and 2, but I felt like I gave up a little something in (Turns) 3 and 4 coming to the checkered," Harvick said of his lap in the money round. "This has just been a fun car to drive today. Hopefully we can get it dialed in race trim."
Where Harvick gave up speed in the final two corners, Bowman likely lost the pole in the first two turns, where he drifted up the track slightly and scrubbed off just enough speed to fall short of Harvick by the minute fraction of a second.
Nevertheless, driving in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in six of the last seven races of the season while Earnhardt recovers from a concussion, Bowman stole the show.
"The Showman Bowman was fast tonight," Earnhardt tweeted after the final round. "Great job @AlexBRacing and @AxaltaRacing gang. P2 @CLTMotorSpdwy."
Bowman, the fastest of the non-Chase drivers in time trials, recently posted his career-best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish, a 10th at Chicagoland Speedway. Though Bowman continues to show excellent speed as a substitute, he has no definite plans for next year.
But he came tantalizingly close to a monumental achievement on Thursday night.
"Honestly, we didn't put the greatest lap together," said Bowman, who ran the fastest lap of the day in the second round (196.200 mph). "In (Turns) 1 and 2, we were a little free in (into the corner) and didn't really keep it on the bottom like I needed to.
"Turns 3 and 4 were really good. It means so much for Hendrick Motorsports to take a chance on me for these races. I'm really thankful to be here. I hate that we didn’t get the pole. We were so close. It's definitely my best starting spot by a bunch, but you'd always like that pole."
Chase drivers claimed eight of the top-12 starting positions, with Chase Elliott qualifying third, Kyle Busch fourth, Martin Truex Jr., seventh, Carl Edwards eighth, Denny Hamlin ninth, Joey Logano 10th and Jimmie Johnson 11th.
Chase drivers Matt Kenseth (17th), Austin Dillon (19th), Brad Keselowski (20th) and Kurt Busch (23rd) failed to advance to the final round.
"I don't think anybody knew that we could go as fast as Bowman went in that second round," Edwards said. "That kind of raised the stakes for everyone."
Notes: Danica Patrick will start 13th, her second-best effort this year after qualifying 11th at Sonoma in June. Patrick just missed advancing to the final round; Johnson edged her for the 12th and final position by .012 seconds… Hendrick Motorsports continued to show improved speed, putting all four of its cars in the top 12 (with Kasey Kahne in 12th joining Bowman, Elliott and Johnson). Hendrick-powered cars claimed four of the top five spots on the grid, with Harvick on the pole and Tony Stewart fifth.
Coors Light Pole Qualifying is the next scheduled Sprint Cup event at 7:20 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App). The next Sprint Cup practice session is scheduled for Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN, NBC Sports App).
Logano is also the defending race winner of next weekend's stop at Kansas Speedway.
A week later, when the series rolls into Talladega? Yep, Logano will be the defending race winner there, too.
His sweep of last year's Round of 12 in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup
was remarkable. In addition to earning Logano the right to advance to
the following round, the sweep also kept others from doing the same. For
everyone except Logano, crew chief Todd Gordon and the No. 22 team, the
round suddenly became a three-race points battle.
"Last year
we talked a lot about not making mistakes in the first round," Logano
said earlier this week. "I feel like we were able to do that last year.
"This round coming up, (it) was obviously incredible sweeping it. We want to be able to do that again, right?"
The elimination element has only been a part of the Chase format since
2014. Winning consecutive Chase races isn't unheard of, but Logano has
been the only driver to do it under the current format. Tony Stewart won five of 10 Chase races en route to the title in 2011; Jimmie Johnson won three in a row in '04, then four straight in '07.
Outside of another sweep, choice No. 2 for Logano and his team would be
to win one of the first two races in the round, anything that would
guarantee a spot in the Round of 8. Hopefully before the round-ending
stop at wildcard Talladega.
"Winning one of these next two
races before Talladega, we all know, is very important," he said. "You
won't get much sleep if you don't.
"These next two races, a
lot of times we talk about them as the most important races in the Chase
because in this round someone always gets knocked out that has a chance
and is a threat. … Someone that you think you're going to see in the
final four most likely is going to get knocked out in this round.
Because there have been unknowns in each race … you never know what's
going to happen.
"We have to go out there and race
aggressively; that's the way the 22 car races and we're not going to
change that. But I think also eliminating mistakes and execution becomes
key."
Logano managed three top-10 finishes in the opening
round a year ago before going on his second-round tear. The results have
been similar this time around, which, according to Logano, has been
according to plan.
"The first round, Todd has preached to me
and to the whole team, I think at least a thousand times -- base hits,"
he said. "And we did that.
"We had a second, an 11th and a
sixth which would be in the base-hit category, which gets you through to
the next round. And that's the goal. The goal is to get through rounds
and get to Homestead and race for a championship.
"As the Chase goes on, base hits don't do it anymore. You've got to be hitting some … triples and home runs.
"I think we're ready for that."
Saturday's Bank of America 500 is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET start (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
