FYI WIRZ: NASCAR’s top drivers talk fast Charlotte and Chase

The top five Chase drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week–Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart–talk about the
1.5-mile quad-shaped oval with 24 degree banking at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

The Bank of America 500, race 5 in the 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup, commences this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. on ABC.

This fast series includes comments by two of NASCAR’s most popular drivers—Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motorsports topics compiled, condensed and often written by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes provided by NASCAR and Sprint Cup team media.

Driver’s thoughts about Charlotte and the Chase:

Jimmie Johnson (No.48 Chevrolet)

“I’m looking forward to Charlotte,” Johnson. “I always like racing there. We looked at the balance of the car and the directions we were working on; there was enough that went wrong that we knew not to go down that road any longer.

“I’m optimistic and I feel that we’ve come to a good conclusion with things. But we’ve got to get on the track and really prove it and be in the hunt. There are only six races left, but that’s a lot of racing.”

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Toyota)

“We do have some great race tracks coming up for us,” Hamlin said. “We’re putting those guys in a position where if they make one mistake, we’re going to be right there. At California our car was definitely better than what the finishing position was. I go to Charlotte thinking I can win the race and lead the most laps. I feel pretty good about that.”

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

That’s our goal for the weekend is to run in the top 10 and have a solid day,” Harvick said. “Obviously you want to win every weekend, but our history at Charlotte has not been good, so I think a goal of finishing in the top 10 is more realistic.

“We’ve started the Chase better than we’ve ever started before. You never know how it’s all going to shake out, but I feel really good about the situation that we’re in as a team and we just go race every week as hard as we can.”

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Chevrolet)

“We leave the track each weekend knowing that we did everything we possibly could, but we’re not going to be satisfied until we win,” Gordon said. “We need those extra points so we don’t keep losing ground to those guys ahead of us who have wins either earlier in the season or now in the Chase.

“We’ve been strong on the intermediate tracks this year, but Charlotte is one where I felt we needed to improve to make a run at the title. Hopefully, we can run up near the front and have a shot at the win. I love Charlotte and I love coming here.”

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Chevrolet)

“It always seems like (at Charlotte), it’s a battle of trying to get your car to cut through the center of the corner and keep the forward drive in it; it seems like it’s a sacrifice of one or the other but the two ends are different,” Stewart said.

“It seems like you can carry a lot more speed through (Turns) 1 and 2 and (Turns) 3 and 4 are a little more like ‘thread the needle’ type corners.”

Kasey Kahne (No.9 Ford)

“I always like Charlotte,” Kahne said. “It’s a good track for us. Then just being close to home and being able to do some things whether it’s with the fan club, sponsor stuff or with our foundation.

“The cars have changed a lot with the setups as far as what we do and what other teams do, so we just need to keep working hard at that. If we hit on it, we’ll be up front this week.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet)

“You really don’t know what your car is going to do,” Earnhardt said. “You get it setup for the daytime, and it’s going to handle differently at night but a fast car is a fast car usually. So if you unload good, then you don’t try to mess it up too much.”

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motorsports topics compiled and condensed by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes provided by NASCAR and Sprint Cup team media.

ABOUT DWIGHT
Dwight Drum, a member of the National Motorsports Press Association, began in motorsports as a photojournalist and writer with Stripbike.com in 1998 and as editor created Zoomster.com (1999) and Racetake.com (2007). He has interviewed almost every big name in NASCAR, NHRA and IndyCar. He also has experience covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has two stories in the 2010 book “Chicken Soup for the Soul: NASCAR.”

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com