Image via WikipediaA Saturday night Cup race means an accelerated schedule for the weekend. There are two races on the weekend schedule, both at Charlotte Motor Speedway: the Friday night Nationwide race, the Dollar General 300 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2), and Saturday night's Bank of America 500 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC). The Camping World Truck Series is off yet again, but returns next weekend at Martinsville.
Saturday night's Cup race is the fifth race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. Jimmie Johnson increased his points lead last weekend at Fontana; he now leads Denny Hamlin by 36 points. The contenders are now separating themselves from the pretenders. Kevin Harvick (-54) and Jeff Gordon (-85) are the only other drivers within 100 points of the four-time champion, but Tony Stewart lurks back in fifth, just 107 points behind Johnson. (Points standings)
Again, some bad news for those trying to catch Johnson: we're in the middle of a string of Johnson's best tracks. Johnson leads all active drivers with six wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His next win at CMS will move him ahead of Bobby Allison and Darryl Waltrip, making him the all-time winner at the track.
Jeff Gordon captured the pole for Saturday night's race in a rare Thursday qualifying session. Gordon ran a lap of 28.192 seconds (191.544 mph) to edge out Carl Edwards (191.455 mph) for the top spot. A. J. Allmendinger qualified third, followed by Mark Martin and Paul Menard. The pole was Gordon's first in almost a year, dating back 34 races to November 2009 at Texas. It was Gordon's eighth pole at Charlotte and the 69th of his career, tying him with Cale Yarborough for third on the all-time list. Gordon has now won a pole in 18 consecutive seasons, tying him with Richard Petty. David Pearson put together a streak of 20 consecutive pole-winning seasons.
Only four Chase drivers qualified in the top 10 -- Gordon, Edwards, Kyle Busch (sixth) and Johnson (tenth). Kurt Busch, who is going for an unprecedented three-race sweep at CMS, starts 15th. Matt Kenseth starts 17th, Jeff Burton 18th, Clint Bowyer 20th, Greg Biffle 22nd, Denny Hamlin 23rd, Kevin Harvick 24th, and Tony Stewart 29th.
Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Kevin Conway and Johnny Sauter failed to make the 43-car field. (Race lineup)
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile quad-oval with moderate banking -- 24 degrees in the turns and 5 degrees on the straightaway. The 1500 feet back straightaway is the only straight part of the track; the frontstretch has little doglegs before and after the start/finish line. Since drivers spend about two-thirds of a lap turning, downforce wins races here.
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