Fortune finally favors Chase Elliott in NASCAR Cup Series win at Charlotte: Lightning struck near Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday night. Bad luck didn’t, where Chase Elliot was concerned. After two crushing defeats since the re-opening of NASCAR’s 2020 season May 17 at Darlington, Elliott got to the checkered flag without incident and won the rescheduled Alsco Uniforms 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile intermediate track. In an event contested at 500 kilometers (312 miles), Elliott passed fading Kevin Harvick for the lead on Lap 181 of 208 and cruised to a 2.208-second victory over fast-closing Denny Hamlin, who passed Ryan Blaney for the runner-up position on the final lap.[Read More]
Paint Schemes
#9-Chase Elliott won the Alsco Uniforms 500(k) NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The win is his 1st of the year, 2nd win at Charlotte (first on the oval) and 7th career win.
#11-Hamlin finished 2nd followed by #12-Blaney, #47-Stenhouse, Jr., #1-Busch, #22-Logano, #2-Keselowski, #3-Dillon, #19-Truex, Jr., and #4-Harvick.
Elliott passed Harvick for the lead with 27 to go and pulled away for a win of 2.2 seconds.
The race was run Thursday night after being postponed Wednesday night due to rain.
Pole sitter #24-Byron finished 12th. He suffered some right side damage on pit road during the lap 20 competition caution after contact with #32-Lajoie.
Stage 1 was won by #22-Logano. Stage 2 was won by #88-Bowman.
There were 15 lead changes among 8 drivers and 7 cautions for 37 yellow flag laps.
The race was red flagged for 1 hour, 14 minutes on lap 30 because of lightning in the area and some light rain.
The average speed of the race was: 125.315mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Drivers Points Standings, Owners Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – Charlotte:
Chase Elliott won the Alsco Uniforms 500, his seventh victory in 157 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2020.
This is his first victory and fifth top-10 finish in nine races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin (second) posted his 18th top-10 finish in 29 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It is his fifth top-10 finish in 2020.
Ryan Blaney (third) posted his third top-10 finish in ten races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
John Hunter Nemechek (13th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Charlotte with 20: Jimmie Johnson (eight), Jeff Gordon (five), Darrell Waltrip (two), Ken Schrader (one), Terry Labonte (one), Casey Mears (one), Kasey Kahne (one) and Chase Elliott (one).
Chevrolet leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Charlotte with 46 points paying victories.
(NASCAR)(5-28-2020)
Cup Series Playoff Standings After Charlotte (May 28):
1) #22-Joey Logano [2 wins], 317 pts
2) #11-Denny Hamlin [2 win], 244
3) #4-Kevin Harvick [1 win], 331
4) #9-Chase Elliott [1 win], 290
5) #88-Alex Bowman [1 win], 288
6) #2-Brad Keselowski [1 win], 265
7) #12-Ryan Blaney, 264
8) #19-Martin Truex, Jr., 263
9) #10-Aric Almirola, 225
10) #1-Kurt Busch, 223
11) #21-Matt DiBenedetto, 220
12) #18-Kyle Busch, 217
13) #20-Erik Jones, 193
14) #14-Clint Bowyer, 192
15) #3-Austin Dillon, 190
16) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 188
See the Drivers Points Standings and Owners Points Standings.
Due to inclement weather, the NASCAR Cup Series Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway has been postponed until Thursday, May 28, at 7 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In addition, due to travel and setup challenges, NASCAR announced that the NASCAR Xfinity Series Cheddar’s 300 presented by Alsco at Bristol Motor Speedway has been moved to Monday, June 1 at 7 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Cars to the rear: #7-Bilicki (driver change), #77-Yeley (driver change), #10-Almirola (unapproved adjustments)
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Alsco 500(k) at Charlotte Motor Speedway have been made. Selections were made based on qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday.
Sunday’s pole sitter #1-Busch chose pit stall 1.
Sunday’s outside pole sitter #48-Johnson took the 22nd stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on Pit Stall chart.(5-26-2020)
#24-William Byron will start the Alsco 500(k) NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway from the pole.
#88-Bowman will start second followed by #34-McDowell, #21-DiBenedetto, #38-Nemechek, #10-Almirola, #3-Dillon, #22-Logano, #41-Custer and #20-Jones.
The starting lineup was based on the finishing order of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, with the top 20 finishers being inverted and the remainder of the field starting where they finished Sunday’s race.
See the complete Alsco 500(k) Starting Lineup.(5-25-2020)
Entry List for the Alsco 500(k) NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway is posted, 40 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Some of the drivers entered include: #7-Bilicki, #27-Gaulding, #51-Gase, #53-Smithley, #77-Yeley, #78-McLeod.
Since 40 cars are entered, all drivers will make the race.
See the full entry list on the Entry List (pdf)
Crew rosters
Pit selection process:
- Order based on qualifying for the May 24th race at Charlotte, followed by new entries in order of points. If qualifying is rained out, pit selection will be determined by finishing order on May 24. Pit stalls will be picked in advance and the pit boxes will be in the stalls when the teams arrive.
Starting lineup process:
- Positions 1-20: Invert the top 20 from the May 24th race at Charlotte
- Positions 21-40: In finishing order from the May 24th race at Charlotte, followed by new entries
Modified Competition Caution Procedures:
With the absence of practice, NASCAR will be modifying its Competition Caution procedures to allow teams additional time for adjustments.
The competition cautions will occur at or around the following laps:
Below are the procedures for the modified competition caution:
- Field will be frozen at the time of the competition caution
- Field will be assembled behind the pace car
- The running order lead lap / lap down will be established and the free pass sent
- Wave around rule is not in effect
- Pit road will open to the top 20 – car must beat the pace car off pit road to retain freeze position
- Pit road will open to the next 20 – car must beat the pace car off pit road to retain freeze position
- Above pit cycle repeats – each team allowed to pit two times
- Re-establish line-up per freeze and restart race
Infractions under modified competition caution:
- Not beating the pace car off pit road results in loss of lap and restarting at tail of the field
- Pitting more than twice or out of sequence results in restarting at the tail of the field
- All current pit road rules are in effect
Goodyear Tire Notes
