CONCORD, N.C. – Saturday night’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be the first in round two of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series playoffs.
After Sunday’s race at Dover, only 12 teams remain in the hunt for the championship title. Tune in to this weekend’s hometown race to watch the first chance for one of those drivers to lock in a spot in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Here are a few key notes to watch out for during Saturday’s race under the Charlotte lights.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Saturday night's race will air live on NBC at 7 p.m. ET. Can’t make it to a television? Tune into PRN or SiriusXM to catch the Charlotte radio coverage. This weekend’s qualifying session will take place Friday evening on NBC Sports Network. Tune in to this weekend’s practice sessions this Friday. Here is the full broadcast schedule:
Friday, October 9:
3:30 p.m. ET, Sprint Cup Series Practice, NBC Sports Network
6:30 p.m. ET, Sprint Cup Series Final Practice, NBC Sports Network
Saturday, October 10:
7 p.m. ET, Sprint Cup Series Race, NBC/ PRN/ SiriusXM (7:16 p.m. ET green flag)
THIS WEEK’S PAINT SCHEMES: Kasey Kahne will return to the No. 5 HendrickRideAlong.com Chevrolet SS this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 24 3M Chevrolet SS, while teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. compete in the No. 48 Lowe’s Red Vest Chevrolet SS and No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS, respectively.
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT CHARLOTTE: Hendrick Motorsports has 18 wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which rank tied for second for the organization behind only Martinsville Speedway, where it has recorded a team-best 22 wins. Johnson most recently won for the organization at the track in 2014 and has an all-time record seven career victories at Charlotte. Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammates Gordon and Kahne rank second and third, respectively, among active drivers in wins at Charlotte. The organization has 17 pole positions, 57 top-five finishes and 89 top-10 finishes and has led 4,722 laps at Charlotte since 1984.
DOUBLE DUTY: Kahne will be performing double duty this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. Friday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race will mark Kahne’s sixth start of the season in that series. His best NXS finish of 2015 (third) came earlier this year at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
KAHNE AT CHARLOTTE: According to NASCAR loop data in the last 10 years at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kahne ranks second in fastest laps run (676 laps), second in green flag passes (1,769 passes), third in average running position (12.056), third in average driver rating (100.1), third in average speed early in a run (178.782), third in laps led (894 laps; 11.8 percent), third in average quality passes (43.7 average; 917 passes), fourth in green flag speed (176.603 miles per hour), fifth in average speed late in a run (174.820 miles per hour), and fifth in laps in the top 15 (65.1 percent).
GORDON AT CHARLOTTE: Gordon’s 17 top-five finishes and 24 top-10 finishes are most among active drivers at the 1.5-mile track, while his nine pole positions are tied for most among active competitors.
JOHNSON AT CHARLOTTE: Johnson has a total of seven Sprint Cup wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with three coming in the 500-mile event. His victory in May of 2014 broke a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, making Johnson the all-time series points-paying win leader at Charlotte.
EARNHARDT AT CHARLOTTE: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt ranks seventh among drivers for green-flag passes during the last 10 years at Charlotte, completing 1,615 of them. In that span, the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevy SS is scored as the ninth fastest driver on restarts, and ranks 11th among drivers in fastest laps run (202) and 14th in laps led at the 1.5-mile oval (162).