Overview
- Heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Isaias canceled Saturday on-track activity at Charlotte Motor Speedway and NASCAR set the Cup starting grid by its rule-book performance metric instead of holding qualifying.
- The metric that set the lineup gives 70% weight to the previous race’s owner finish and 30% to current owner points, a formula that placed Kyle Larson on the pole and has been used repeatedly during this Chase.
- Larson starts from the front while carrying a 40-point lead in the Cup Chase over Denny Hamlin and will try to protect that margin when the Bank of America 400 is scheduled to begin around 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.
- NASCAR announced a competition caution at Lap 35 to give teams an early opportunity to check tire wear and make adjustments after the loss of practice, and forecasts show rain chances tapering in the afternoon with a realistic possibility of delays.
- The schedule was compressed into a Sunday doubleheader with the rescheduled O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Blue Cross NC 300 moved to 8:00 p.m. ET, and drivers such as Christopher Bell have urged NASCAR to try to preserve on-track qualifying when weather allows.