Next Race: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway The Date: Saturday, May 18 The Time: Open Race – 6:00 p.m. ET / All-Star Race – 8:00 p.m. ET TV: FS1 Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Open Format: Stage 1 (20 laps); Stage 2 (20 laps); Stage 3 (10 laps) All-Star Race Format: Stage 1 (30 laps); Stage 2 (20 laps); Stage 3 (20 laps); Stage 4 (15 laps) 2018 All-Star Winner: Kevin Harvick Here’s how it works The Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (Saturday, 8 p.m., FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) format will look much the same as it did in 2018, with the addition of five extra laps to the final stage of the thriller. The stage lengths will be 30 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and 15 laps. NASCAR Overtime rules are in effect for all of the stages if necessary and there are no mandatory pit strategy rules. Fifteen drivers qualified for the race by virtue of winning a race in 2018 or 2019, being a past All-Star race winner or being a past Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion. Additionally, the winners of each of the three stages (20 laps, 20 laps and 10 laps) in the Monster Energy Open race will move into the feature as well as the driver who wins the NASCAR Fan Vote. Ryan Newman is the only driver to win both the Open race then the All-Star main event, sweeping the weekend in 2002. Sterling Marlin is the all-time Open race winner – earning four trophies (1988, ‘89, ‘93 and 2004), however, he never won the All-Star Race. For the first time in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, Chase Elliott has earned his spot in the All-Star Race by virtue of race wins and not the Fan Vote. He scored his career first, second and third Monster Energy Series race victories in 2018 and already has another (at Talladega, Ala.) this season. Kasey Kahne is the only driver to earn a spot in the All-Star race (2008) through the Fan Vote and go on to win the All-Star race. Harvick back to defend Kevin Harvick shows up at Charlotte Motor Speedway a little more than eager to earn a second consecutive and third overall victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race. His work in the popular $1 million event has been top-shelf – his 11 top-10 finishes are tied with Jimmie Johnson for most among active drivers. His five top-five finishes are third-most as are his 124 laps in front of the field. In 18 previous All-Star starts – the most starts of anyone in Saturday’s race – Harvick boasts the best average starting position (8.5) of any driver in the field with more than one start. In addition to his two wins – 2007 and 2018 – he has three runner-up finishes tying him for most all-time with Ken Schrader and Sterling Marlin. This weekend, he will debut a “Millennial Pink” No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford – making good on a bet his sponsor Busch Beer made last season that if he didn’t win the 2018 championship (Joey Logano did), he would drive a “v lit paint scheme” in 2019. The decidedly new-look car was unveiled at the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this week and Harvick is hopeful to reclaim some of the same mastery he’s shown at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s historically been a good place for the 2014 Monster Energy Series champion. He has three regular-season wins there and 13 top-10 finishes in the last 16 races on the track. Harvick is coming off a strong outing Saturday night at Kansas where he won the Busch Pole position and led a race-best 104 laps, ultimately finishing 13th. He is ranked third in the driver point standings. New points leader after Kansas Team Penske’s Joey Logano didn’t have a stellar night at Kansas Speedway but his 15th-place finish in conjunction with Kyle Busch’s season-low 30th place result shifted the top of the points standings. Logano, the reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, took the lead – by nine points over Busch – for the first time since early this season. He’s led the standings twice before – following a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500 and after his only win in 2019, at Las Vegas. Logano won the All-Star Race in 2016 and his seven top-10 finishes in eight starts is the best such ratio on the field. His average finish of 6.875 is behind only four-time winner Jimmie Johnson’s average finish of 6.824 (17 starts) and Chase Elliott’s 6.000 (three starts) among active drivers with more than one start. He has only one win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Monster Energy Series – a dominating showing in the 2015 fall race when he led 227 of the race’s 334 laps. He has nine top 10s in 19 starts on the oval. Kyle Busch looking for redemption after Kansas Kyle Busch had his first finish outside the top 10 of 2019 last Saturday night at Kansas Speedway and the best medicine for redemption may be to hoist an All-Star trophy and cash a $1 million paycheck. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver tied a 29-year old record set by Morgan Shepherd in earning top-10 finishes in the opening 11 races of the season. Last week, Busch’s streak ended when he placed 30th after a frustrating run at Kansas. His mark of 11 top 10s, however, is still most among all drivers. Joey Logano – who took the championship lead by nine points with Busch’s uncharacteristic showing at Kansas – and Busch’s teammate Denny Hamlin are the only other drivers with six top-fives on the season. Busch and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski lead the series with three wins apiece. The All-Star Race has been all-or-nothing for Busch. He has four top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 13 All-Star race starts, winning in 2017. Only Jimmie Johnson and the late Dale Earnhardt have more top fives (nine). But Busch has either placed in the top-10 in the race or recorded a DNF. His 256 laps led is most among active drivers. Only Bill Elliott (267 laps) has led more. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota has won three pole positions and his 5.615 average starting position is tops among active drivers and fourth-best all-time. He has good juju of recent at Charlotte earning his first Monster Energy Series victory at the track from the pole position in last spring’s 600-miler – leading a dominating 377 of the 400 laps. All-Star Newbies The 2018 summer race win at Daytona has earned Erik Jones his first All-Star Race start. He shows up at Charlotte fresh off a third place showing in Kansas, which equals his previous season best coming in February’s Daytona 500. Joining him on the All-Star roster are Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon, who will each be making his second start. This is the third All-Star race for Ryan Blaney and fourth for Chase Elliott, who has been the Fan Vote selection for the previous three years. Jones is fresh off back-to-back top-10 finishes in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the second time this season and hopes to bring that good momentum into his All-Star debut. He has only one previous top 10 at the Monster Energy Series level at Charlotte, but a runner-up and two top-five finishes in NASCAR Xfinity Series races. Almirola is making his second career All-Star Race start. He finished 14th in 2015. Dillon finished 12th in his only previous All-Star race in 2018 but answered that with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 a week later at the track. Team Penske’s Blaney has a best All-Star finish of 11th, ironically coming in a DNF in 2017. He finished 15th last year but enjoyed redemption winning the inaugural Charlotte ROVAL race on a last lap pass during the Monster Energy Series Playoffs. Elliott has three top-seven finishes in his All-Star starts, including a best of fifth last year. A place where seven-time can shine Another track, another high mark. That’s the way it is for seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, whose four All-Star Race victories make him the winningest driver in the event’s history. The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is tied with Dale Earnhardt for the most top-fives (nine) all-time and is tied with Kevin Harvick for most top-10s (11) among active drivers in the race. His four victory total is double that of anyone else in the field this weekend and his 6.824 average finishing position (through 17 starts) is second to Chase Elliott’s 6.000 (three starts) for among active drivers. Among active drivers, only Kyle Busch (256) has led more than Johnson’s 238 laps. Johnson has eight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins at the Charlotte 1.5-miler, including five victories in a six-race stretch from 2003-05. He’s finished seventh or better in four of the last five oval races, including fifth in last May’s 600-miler. He nearly won on the track’s ROVAL course debut in October, crashing out in the final turns while attempting a pass for the win. A sixth place at Kansas Speedway last week was his fifth top 10 of the 2019 season. His best showing of the season came on Charlotte’s 1.5-mile “sister” track – Texas Motor Speedway – where he won the pole position and finished fifth. Kyle Larson needing to race for his shot at $1 million For the first time this season, Kyle Larson has earned consecutive top-10 finishes – answering a season-best third place at Dover with an eighth place at Kansas last weekend. The popular young driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet will have to race his way into the All-Star main show this week after having earned an automatic bid last year thanks to four 2017 regular season wins. But 2018 found him winless on the year, relegating him to the Open event. He won the pole position for the 2017 All-Star Race and finished second after some tough battles on track. Who to watch in the Open The Monster Energy Open race will decide three additional drivers for the All-Star lineup and there are plenty of big names and high hopes on the starting grid. Only one time – Ryan Newman in 2002 – has the Open winner gone on to win the All-Star race, but there are plenty of talented possibilities this year, in particular. The winner of each of the three segments advances, in addition to the Fan Vote. Among the current top 16 in the standings entered in the Open, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, and Kyle Larson have all made previous All-Star Race starts. Larson has a best showing of runner-up in 2017 and has a previous win in the Open (2017). Suarez was runner-up last year the best of his two All-Star Race appearances. Bowman has only one start, finishing 21st in 2018. Veteran Paul Menard earned his All-Star opportunity after winning the 2011 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. He finished 16th in his only All-Star appearance the following year. Stenhouse has three All-Star starts with an average finish of 16.6. The Roush Fenway Racing driver announced Wednesday that he was prepared to bring back his famous “mullet” haircut should he win the Fan Vote to automatically transfer into Saturday’s All-Star main event. Next Race: Alsco 300 The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway The Date: Saturday, May 25 The Time: 1:00 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ET Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200) 2018 Winner: Brad Keselowski Next Race: North Carolina Education Lottery 200 The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway The Date: Friday, May 17 The Time: 8:30 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 8:00 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134) 2018 Winner: Johnny Sauter Home again, home again…except for ThorSport The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series returns to NASCAR’s heartland to compete in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway this Friday evening (May 17th, 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And although most of the teams in the series call the Charlotte area “home” it is still a road trip for one of the most successful teams in the series as ThorSport Racing is based in Sandusky, Ohio. Duke and Rhonda Thorson’s team is the longest-tenured outfit in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and boasts an impressive full-time lineup this year of Johnny Sauter (No. 13), Matt Crafton (No. 88), Grant Enfinger (No. 98) and Ben Rhodes (No. 99). Their drivers currently occupy four of the top six spots in the driver points standings (First – Enfinger, fourth – Rhodes, fifth – Sauter, sixth – Crafton). Between the four drivers, they have an average finish of 7.7 through the opening seven races. And each driver in their lineup has a minimum of three top fives and five top 10s this season. Taking a look at Charlotte for the team, their current driver lineup has a total of three wins as well as 10 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes across 31 total starts. Crafton leads the team with two wins (2008, 2016), six top fives and 12 top 10s in 16 starts. Sauter holds the other win – although he did it while competing for GMS Racing last season. Rhodes has tallied a top five and a pair of top 10s over three starts while Enfinger has a top 10 in just a pair of Charlotte races to his name. Grant Enfinger maintains point lead A seventh-place finish last weekend at Kansas was enough to allow ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger to maintain the lead in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series points. He’s been battling Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen for the top spot the past few weeks, but Friesen was relegated to a finish of 15th last weekend after running out of fuel just laps before the checkered flag. Friesen’s finish also allowed Brett Moffitt to move up a slot to second in the standings. The GMS Racing driver finished eighth at Kansas and has four top-five and five top-10 placements through the opening seven races. In two starts at Charlotte, he has finishes of 18th and fourth. Enfinger (finishes of seventh and 12th) and Friesen (23rd and sixth) also only have two starts each at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch attempting to go five-for-five in 2019 After a two-race hiatus from NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series action, Kyle Busch is returning to make his fifth and final series start of the season. And he’s aiming for a perfect record behind the wheel of his own No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra. Busch entered four consecutive races earlier in the season (Atlanta, Las Vegas, Martinsville and Texas), parking the Kyle Busch Motorsports entry in Victory Lane each time. He is one of just seven different drivers who have won three races in a row – but Ron Hornaday’s record of five straight in 2009 (Milwaukee, Memphis, Kentucky, IRP, Nashville) stays standing alone at the top of the list after Busch missed Dover. But Busch has reason to be optimistic that he could sweep his fifth entered race this season as Charlotte is his best track, statistically, in the Gander Trucks. In 12 races, he has seven wins along with 10 top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. And his one finish outside the top 10 was an 11th-place finish in his third start at the track in 2007. His wins include his first two starts at Charlotte as well as four-straight from 2010-2014. Plus, he has three second-place finishes (2009, 2016, 2018). He’s started from the pole position in four races, but only two of them translated to wins at the checkered flag (2010, 2014). Previous winners in the field Three previous Gander Trucks race winners at Charlotte Motor Speedway are entered in this weekend’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 (Friday, May 17 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch leads the pack with seven wins while Matt Crafton (2006, 2016) has a pair of victories. Johnny Sauter is the defending race winner. source – NASCAR communications
