Charlotte 2: Team Chevy Advance

ROUND TWO AT CHARLOTTE:

The NASCAR Cup Series continues its quest of five Cup races in a 14-day span with a return trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday evening, May 27th, at 8:00 p.m. ET with the Alsco Uniforms 500. The event under the lights at the 1.5-mile North Carolina oval will be the series’ second mid-week race in 36 years as NASCAR continues with its revised schedule.

BOWTIE BULLETS:

  • Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 45 all-time wins in NASCAR’s premier division at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
  • Following Kurt Busch’s recent pole in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, a Chevrolet has sat on the pole 34 times at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
  • To-date, Chevrolet has scored 206 top-five’s, 415 top-10’s and has led 14,128 laps around the North Carolina oval in NASCAR Cup Series events.
  • Career-Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson, piloting the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, leads the series in wins with eight victories at the oval (2003 summer, sweep in 2004, sweep in 2005, 2009 playoffs race, 2014 summer, and 2016 playoffs race). He also leads all active drivers in top-five finishes at Charlotte, totaling 16 in his career.
  • Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway by taking Chevrolet to victory lane 19 times.

TEAM CHEVY FRONT ROW:

With no qualifying to set the field, the starting lineup for Wednesday’s race is based on the finishing result’s from Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600.

Starting positions 1 through 20 will be set by an inversion of the top-20 finishers in the May 24th event, putting William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE, in the pole position. Hendrick Motorsport’s teammate, Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/NOCO Camaro ZL1 1LE, will start alongside Byron to make up the front row. This is the third time this season that a pair of Camaro ZL1 1LE’s takeover the front row starting spots and will lead the field to the green.

The starting order for the remainder of the 40-car field reflect the finishing positions of the Coca-Cola 600.

IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR

Leading into race #8 of the season at Charlotte, Team Chevy has 1 win, 3 poles, 733-laps led and two drivers in the top-five in the points standings. Hendrick Motorsport’s Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/NOCO Camaro ZL1 1LE, currently sits third in points standings, with one victory to secure his spot in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Thus far this season, Bowman has three stage wins and has led 318 laps, the most in a single season in his NASCAR career. Accompanied by his teammate, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Camaro ZL1 1LE, is fourth in the points standings. In seven-point races, Elliott has captured an impressive three top-five and four top-10 finishes.

Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Okuma Camaro ZL1 1LE, has taken his rookie year by storm. Currently leading the rookie standings, Reddick has scored two top-10 finishes in the last three races and leads the NASCAR Cup Series in green flag passes with a total of 844.

TUNE-IN:

In compliance with the pandemic guidelines, the Alsco Uniforms 500 will run without spectators, but you can view the live competition on Wednesday, May 27th, at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1. Live coverage of the 208-lap, 312-mile race can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/NOCO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 3rd IN STANDINGS

“We were strong on Sunday and don’t have the finish to show that. This ChevyGoods.com/NOCO team has put together some fast cars this season and I know that what we unload on Wednesday will be just as good. We have a notebook from Sunday’s race and hopefully we can go back out and put on a good show for everyone at home.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 4th IN STANDINGS

“The last two weeks have been really tough. I feel like we have put ourselves in really good positions as a team, we’ve made good decisions and we’ve made good adjustments on the cars throughout these races. Those are things you don’t always get right. I think that’s what is frustrating to me, it’s a hard thing to make all the right moves, the right decisions and get the car driving exactly like you want it. When you have those days, those type of runs and those type of cars you want to make the most of it. I think that’s where the frustration is the worst for me, knowing that stuff isn’t forever. It’s not something you get right all the time. We’ve had two opportunities get away. I think that’s the hard thing to swallow. The silver lining is we’ve been running well and that’s encouraging, we’ve just got to keep doing it. It’s still early in the season.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 17th IN STANDINGS

“The track should be pretty consistent to what we experienced during the 600 with that race being largely run at night. I’m looking forward to being able to build on the setup we had and the foundation we built during the 600. I thought it was a pretty decent starting spot to build off of, and if we make a few minor tweaks we’ll be even better. I also think starting up front will be a great asset. We saw in the 600 that clean air was so important, so this will be our chance to have it and remain up front hopefully. I’m really looking forward to it and I think it’s going to be a really good race based on the racing we’ve seen there the last couple days.”

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 20th IN STANDINGS

“Charlotte Motor Speedway round two coming-up. It’s redemption time for Richard Petty Motorsports. Looking at our debrief data from Sunday, we know we brought a really fast Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the track. Our Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 United States Air Force (USAF) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was pretty decent all night until we ended-up having some bad luck with things that were out of our control. I have faith in our team to button everything up and bring another brand-new, fast Chevrolet to go out and compete in Wednesday’s Alsco Uniforms 500. We’ll go out and give it our all, and come back with a couple of changes to get through Turn Three and Four, that was our struggle point. All-in-all, we’re still hitting on some really good notes right now and continuing to build on that momentum. We’ll see what we’ve got!”

JERRY BAXTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLGOY CAMARO ZL1 1LE

“We have a brand new Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 World Wide Technology (WWT) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Wednesday’s Alsco Uniforms 500 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.”

“In Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600, our team showed some good speed. Everything was rolling along, and we ended-up having a parts failure. The new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Wednesday – we will take what we learned, and we’ll go on and hopefully run as good as we did at the second Darlington (S.C.) Raceway race.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 24th IN STANDINGS

“It’s so great to be back on a normal cadence of racing. I thought the Coca-Cola 600 went alright for us. We had good speed at the beginning of the race, but had a left rear wheel loose that forced us to pit early and we got caught a couple laps down. The cautions just didn’t fall our way to be able and get our laps back. While the 600 is unique in terms of it being the longest race of the year, I think it gave us some good momentum and notes that we can build on for Wednesday night’s race – which is essentially half the distance as Sunday. It took a little bit longer than I think we were going to for that top groove to come in, but I think with the Xfinity Series and Truck Series races this week, it’ll really help rubber the track up and give us a few more lane options. I like racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway and think we can really put a solid race together in our Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE on Wednesday.”

RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 COTTONELLE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 30th IN STANDINGS

“I’m very curious to see how the shorter race will play out on Wednesday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We didn’t start out the Coca-Cola 600 where we wanted to in terms of our setup and handling, but as the race went on Trent (Owens, crew chief) made some really good adjustments and I felt like we had a car that should have been contending at the front as the race went on. We pit just about two laps too early in the final stage before a caution came out that would have given us the Lucky Dog spot and put us back on the lead lap. We’ve got a good starting point for Wednesday night’s race and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can put together in our No. 37 Cottonelle Camaro ZL1 1LE.”

— Chevrolet —