The 2016 Bank of America 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that was scheduled to be held on October 8, 2016, but was postponed to October 9, 2016, because of Hurricane Matthew, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate speedway, it was the 30th race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, fourth race of the Chase, and first race of the Round of 12.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer1Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet2Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord3Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet5Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Trevor BayneRoush Fenway RacingFord7Regan SmithTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet10Danica PatrickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet11Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota13Casey MearsGermain RacingChevrolet14Tony StewartStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet15Clint BowyerHScott MotorsportsChevrolet16Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord17Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Roush Fenway RacingFord18Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota19Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota20Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota21Ryan Blaney (R)Wood Brothers RacingFord22Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord23David RaganBK RacingToyota24Chase Elliott (R)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet27Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet30Josh WiseThe Motorsports GroupChevrolet31Ryan NewmanRichard Childress RacingChevrolet32Jeffrey Earnhardt (R)Go FAS RacingFord34Chris Buescher (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord38Landon CassillFront Row MotorsportsFord41Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet42Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet43Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord44Brian Scott (R)Richard Petty MotorsportsFord46Michael AnnettHScott MotorsportsChevrolet47A. J. AllmendingerJTG Daugherty RacingChevrolet48Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet55Reed SorensonPremium MotorsportsChevrolet78Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota83Matt DiBenedettoBK RacingToyota88Alex Bowman (i)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet95Michael McDowellCircle Sport – Leavine Family RacingChevrolet98Cole WhittPremium MotorsportsChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.870 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.870 193.757 2 88 Alex Bowman (i) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.996 192.885 3 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 28.034 192.623Official first practice results
Practice (post-qualifying) Both practice sessions scheduled for Friday following qualifying was cancelled due to rain stemming from Hurricane Matthew.
Qualifying
Kevin Harvick scored the pole for the race with a time of 27.547 and a speed of . He said afterwards that he "just got to the green a little bit better. The car was too loose the time before. And I got to the green better. It was good in (Turns) 1 and 2; but I felt like I gave up a little something in (Turns) 3 and 4 coming to the checkered. But, I’ve just got to thank all my sponsors and everybody on this team, Chevrolet and Hendrick engines and chassis for everything that they do and for everything that Stewart-Haas (Racing) does. This has just been a fun car to drive today. Hopefully we can get it dialed in race trim.”
Alex Bowman, who qualified second, said he "didn't put the greatest lap together. In (Turns) 1 and 2, we were a little free in (into the corner) and didn't really keep it on the bottom like I needed to. Turns 3 and 4 were really good. It means so much for Hendrick Motorsports to take a chance on me for these races. I'm really thankful to be here. I hate that we didn't get the pole. We were so close. It's definitely my best starting spot by a bunch, but you'd always like that pole."
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 14 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.727 27.635 27.547 288 Alex Bowman (i) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.815 27.523 27.551 324 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.994 27.660 27.585 418 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.934 27.746 27.660 514 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.864 27.787 27.660 647 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 27.799 27.734 27.680 778 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 27.978 27.703 27.717 819 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.898 27.776 27.756 911 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.859 27.710 27.811 1022 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 27.950 27.741 27.828 1148 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.097 27.800 28.033 125 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.021 27.680 28.640 1310 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.009 27.812 1416 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.103 27.834 1517 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.858 27.840 161 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.050 27.854 1720 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.903 27.865 1821 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.049 27.873 193 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 27.925 27.875 202 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 28.067 27.889 2131 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.033 27.949 2295 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 28.084 27.978 2341 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.017 28.095 2493 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 28.068 28.200 2542 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.128 2634 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.150 276 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.192 2827 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.194 2913 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 28.203 3044 Brian Scott (R)Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.216 3115 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 28.279 3238 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.329 3343 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.337 3423 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 28.413 357 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 28.592 3698 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 29.032 3746 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 29.036 3832 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) Go FAS Racing Ford 29.183 3955 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 29.400 4030 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 29.453 Official qualifying results
Race First half
Under clear blue North Carolina skies, Kevin Harvick led the field to the green flag at 12:05 p.m. He led the first 12 laps before Chase Elliott got a run on him exiting turn 4 and took the lead on lap 13. The first caution flew on lap 25. It was a scheduled competition caution. Five drivers – Aric Almirola, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard for their crews being over the wall too soon, and Michael Annett for speeding – were sent to the tail end of the field for the restart.
The race restarted on lap 31. The second caution flew on lap 62 for a two-car wreck in turn 3 that started when Alex Bowman suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall, as well as Casey Mears, in turn 3. “Blew a tire I guess,” Bowman said. "It’s really unfortunate. I hate it for these Axalta guys. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports worked so hard. They brought a great race car here, brand new and destroyed it. Really unfortunate, but it’s not anybody’s fault. We didn’t hit anything we just must have run over something." Mears said he "was going into the corner and I saw him come up all of a sudden. I don’t know. It’s too bad he didn’t put us out of our misery there. We were having a rough start of it. We were just kind of hanging on and actually those guys were going by us. They either blew a right-front (tire) or had something come loose or something and came up into us.” Mears went on to finish 40th. Brad Keselowski was sent to the tail end for his crew being over the wall too soon.
The race restarted on lap 71. Kyle Busch made an unscheduled stop from third on lap 90 for a right-front tire "delamination." Kyle Larson made an unscheduled stop a few laps later for the same issue. Green flag stops began on lap 111. Elliott pitted from the lead on lap 115 and handed it to Joey Logano. The third caution of the race flew on lap 117 after Logano suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 1. This handed the lead to Jimmie Johnson. Tony Stewart was sent to the tail end of the field for speeding.
The race restarted on lap 125. Denny Hamlin beat Johnson on the restart to take the lead. Harvick was running third when his engine shut off and began to fade on lap 156. He said in the garage that he "thought it was a power issue. So I cycled through everything. By the time I figured out what happened it just shut off. It looks like low oil pressure. I hate it for everybody ... they made some great adjustments today and got our car back where we needed to be to run up front and everything was going fine." The fourth caution of the race flew on the same lap for Logano suffering another right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in turn 1 again. When asked what the issue was that caused him to wreck twice, he said he didn't "know. Tires are popping. We’re not the only car that had the issue, but we’re the ones that hit the wall when it happen, so that's not the best place to have them go down. We had a fast car. Our car was capable of winning the race. We drove up from 10th and were up to third and running down the leaders, so I felt really good about what we had. I don't know. Things happen. It's part of racing, I guess.”
Second half The race restarted on lap 162. Johnson drove by Hamlin in turn 3 to retake the lead on lap 177. Another round of green flag stops started on lap 213. Johnson pitted from the lead the following lap and handed it to Ryan Newman. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Clint Bowyer. He pitted on lap 219 and the lead cycled back to Johnson. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was given a pass through penalty for speeding.
Debris on the frontstretch brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 228.
The race restarted with 98 laps to go. The sixth caution flew with 81 laps to go after A. J. Allmendinger suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 2.
The race restarted with 76 laps to go and the seventh caution of the race flew for a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch that started when Martin Truex Jr., wanting to push Austin Dillon ahead of race leader Johnson, got him loose, sent his car down the track and slammed hard into the inside barrier just past the exit of pit road. Elliott braked and swerved to the right to avoid Dillon. Unfortunately, Busch swerved to the left at the same time and hooked him into the wall and was rammed by Ryan Blaney and Paul Menard. After being released from the infield care center, Dillon said he was "fine, it just sucks. We will have to work hard the next two weeks to get the points back. I felt like I got to third gear pretty clean and then the next thing – I feel contact and I am spinning through the grass. It’s part of it and we took two tires there and you know the risk when you get into it. You just hope that doesn’t happen obviously. I got to third without spinning the tires, and I felt like we got contacted.” Elliott said he thought "the No. 3 they stayed out on tires and tried to get some track position. The No. 78 ended up getting him out of shape and then after that I tried to check up. I don't think the No. 18 saw it, got into us and got us turned the wrong way. It happens we just got to go and try to have more runs like that next week.” The race was red-flagged for 10 minutes and 48 seconds.
The race restarted with 69 laps to go. The eighth caution of the race flew for Denny Hamlin losing an engine on the fronstretch with 26 laps to go. Kenseth exited pit road with the race lead.
The race restarted with 18 laps to go. Johnson beat Kenseth on the restart to take the lead and drove on to score the victory.
Post-race
Driver comments