The Bank of America 400 2026 brings the NASCAR Cup Series back to Charlotte Motor Speedway's 1.5-mile oval on Sunday, October 11. Kyle Larson arrives with a 40-point lead over Denny Hamlin after five Chase races, but Charlotte gives the chasing drivers another chance to close the gap.
Preview updated October 9, 2026. Check NASCAR's official schedule for any changes to race-weekend timings and broadcast information.
Bank of America 400 2026: Quick Facts
- Date: Sunday, October 11, 2026
- Venue: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
- Race coverage: 3:00 p.m. E. T.
- Expected green flag: Around 3:19 p.m. E. T.
- Distance: 267 laps, 400.5 miles
- US TV: USA Network
- Streaming: HBO Max
- Championship context: Sixth race of the 10-race Chase
- Points leader: Kyle Larson, 40 points ahead of Denny Hamlin
Check NASCAR's official Charlotte weekend schedule for the latest event information.
Table of Contents
- Quick Answer
- Kyle Larson's Championship Lead
- Denny Hamlin Needs a Big Sunday
- The Chasing Drivers
- Tyler Reddick at Charlotte
- The Hocevar and Keselowski Problem
- Why the Oval Return Matters
- A Weekend With a Heavy Moment
- Race Details, Schedule, and How to Watch
- Chase Standings Before Charlotte
- How the 2026 Chase Works
- Rule Changes That Matter on Sunday
- Charlotte Numbers Worth Knowing
- Bank of America 400 History and Past Winners
- Key Storylines
- FAQ
The Bank of America 400 2026 arrives with one question hanging over the garage. Can anyone take points off Kyle Larson?
Five Chase races are done. Larson has won two of them, finished second in two more, and holds a 40-point lead. A few weeks ago he was a defending champion without a win all year. Now he is the driver everyone is chasing.
Charlotte also marks a return. The fall race goes back to the 1.5-mile oval for the first time since 2017, after eight years on the Roval road course. It is the last of three straight 1.5-mile tracks, and the Chase moves to Phoenix, Talladega, and Martinsville after this. If the field wants to cut into Larson's lead on a track type that suits them, this is the weekend.
Kyle Larson's Championship Lead
Larson's 2026 season did not start the way a defending champion would hope. He went through the regular season without a win. By the time the Chase began, he had gone 51 races without a victory, and Chevrolet had gone nine races without one.
Then Gateway happened.
The second Chase race at World Wide Technology Raceway was chaos. The race set a track record with 18 cautions, and two overtimes were needed to decide it. Larson passed Joey Logano after a restart on lap 228 and held off his Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman by 0.333 seconds. The 51-race drought was over.
Two weeks later, he took over at Kansas. He retook the lead from Chase Briscoe with seven laps left and won for the second time in three races. That win put him in control of the standings.
Las Vegas last Sunday showed how hard he is to knock down. Larson struggled with handling early and fell from sixth to 14th. A slow 26-second pit stop under green cost him a lap. A caution for a Zane Smith spin let him get back on the lead lap. He still finished second, after a late charge that ended with a wall hit and a last-lap tangle with Tyler Reddick. His No. 5 Chevrolet, running a Kyle Busch tribute paint scheme, needed a tow afterward.
Larson has now finished first or second in four straight Cup Series races. Hendrick Motorsports says his five top-five finishes and 2.2 average finish are the best through the first five races of any postseason in Cup Series history. Rivals can point to his bad start at Las Vegas, but Larson turned that day into a second-place finish and a bigger lead.
Charlotte history is mixed but strong. Larson has one Cup win there and has led 447 laps. He finished second in last year's Roval race, behind Shane van Gisbergen.
Denny Hamlin Needs a Big Sunday
Hamlin started the Chase as the top seed with 2,100 points. He has not yet won a Cup Series championship, and the new Chase format looked built for him. He had one of the best regular seasons of his career.
The Chase has not gone as planned. He lost ground at Bristol and again at Las Vegas, where early splitter damage hurt his car. A fuel pump issue at the stage break pushed him back to 23rd for the final stage. He led 39 laps and still finished 16th, losing another 14 points to Larson.
NASCAR.com's Chase Report warned that the gap is nearing the point where one race cannot close it. That is a strong message for a driver with a long Charlotte résumé.
Hamlin has made 35 starts at Charlotte, the most among active drivers, and has led 543 laps there, also the most. He has only one win, in the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. He finished fourth the last time the fall race ran on the oval in 2017, and he had a top five at Charlotte earlier this season.
His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are close behind. Christopher Bell is third, and Chase Briscoe is sixth, so Gibbs has three contenders in the top six.
The Chasing Drivers
The Chase has been hard to predict. Five races have produced four different winners.
Christopher Bell opened the Chase at Darlington. He passed Larson with 12 laps to go to win the Southern 500, his first win of 2026. It ended a 33-race winless streak and followed seven runner-up finishes in the regular season. At Charlotte, Bell has a Next Gen win and three other top-10 finishes in five starts. Power-steering trouble dropped him to 23rd at Las Vegas, which cost him five points, but he is third in the standings, 55 back.
Joey Logano won at Bristol, passing Carson Hocevar with six laps left in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. It was his 40th career win. Logano is fourth, 71 points behind Larson, and has one Charlotte win.
Chase Briscoe won at Las Vegas. He swept both stages, led 175 of the 267 laps, and scored 75 points on the day, which pulled him within 84 of the lead. It was his second win of 2026, and both came on 1.5-mile tracks. His crew chief, James Small, said the solution is simple: win more races. That is true and hard.
Tyler Reddick is covered in his own section below.
Team Penske found speed on the 1.5-mile tracks. Austin Cindric was second at Kansas and fourth at Las Vegas. Ryan Blaney was fifth at Las Vegas, and Logano was 10th. Blaney is 80 points back and has a Charlotte win to his name.
Hendrick's depth matters too. William Byron and Chase Elliott finished sixth and seventh at Las Vegas, the second straight week, all three Hendrick Chase cars were in the top 10. Byron has led 485 laps at Charlotte in only 10 starts. Elliott won the 2020 Alsco Uniforms 500 at the track. They are 12th and 13th in points, so they need a big day to matter in the title race.
Title pressure is building in other series too. Read our Aragon Grand Prix 2026 preview for a look at another championship fight.
Tyler Reddick at Charlotte
Tyler Reddick drives the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan. He entered the Chase with a series-high five wins in 2026. At Charlotte, he is one of the drivers the field has to respect.
Reddick has the best average finish at Charlotte among active drivers. NASCAR.com's Chase Report puts it at 9.5 across eight starts. Christopher Bell and Hamlin are next at 11.8.
His Chase has been steady but not yet strong enough to catch Larson. He started from the pole in the Chase opener at Darlington and finished third. At Las Vegas last Sunday, he matched that result with another third-place finish.
That race was not easy. Reddick reported an alternator issue early, and his team changed the battery without losing a lap. He drove back to the front and closed on Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson in the final laps. On the last lap, Larson hit the wall, and Reddick ran into the back of him, spinning through the infield grass. Neither driver lost a position. Reddick said afterward that the moment summed up his day, with one thing after another going wrong.
The result gained him five points on Larson, but he still sits seventh, 106 points behind. That gap is large. A win is worth 55 points, and a stage win adds 10, so Reddick needs a win, a strong day in the stages, and a stumble from the leader.
There is also a family angle. Hamlin co-owns Reddick's team while racing for Joe Gibbs Racing, so the Charlotte weekend links two drivers in the same Chase. Bubba Wallace, Reddick's 23XI teammate, is 10th, 137 points back.
Reddick is not the points leader, but his Charlotte record makes him a driver to watch on Sunday.
The Hocevar and Keselowski Problem
Not every storyline in this Chase is about the front of the standings. The loudest one involves a young driver and a veteran.
Carson Hocevar, 23, drives the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. He is 11th in the Chase standings, 158 points behind Larson. He is also one of the most polarizing drivers in the Cup Series, known for hard racing and a candid social media presence. He leans into the role. He told reporters this summer that he enjoys having fun and that it is easy to get other drivers riled up. Larson said he believes Hocevar can become one of the sport's best if he calms the aggression.
At Darlington on September 6, Hocevar spun Brad Keselowski during the Chase opener. Keselowski, the 2012 champion, hinted at payback afterward. NASCAR said it would monitor the feud. Media reports said Hocevar's merchandise sales approached $200,000 after the clash, though that figure has not been confirmed by the team.
Keselowski is not in the Chase, which means he has less to lose. He also knows Charlotte. He has the most wins among active drivers there, with two, including the 2013 fall race, which he won after fixing a pit-road problem with a loose wheel and a jack that stayed under the car for a lap.
Hocevar has run well. He finished in the top 10 at Gateway and was leading Bristol before Logano passed him late. If those two cars meet on a restart at Charlotte, the garage will notice.
Why the Oval Return Matters
NASCAR announced on February 3, 2026, that the fall race would return to the oval. The schedule had listed the Roval, a 2.28-mile layout that used part of the oval and an infield road course. The Roval hosted the Cup race from 2018 through 2025.
The Roval races were tense, with chicanes and the risk of a bad day. The oval offers a different test.
A track teams barely know in the fall
This is the first fall Chase race on the oval since 2017. Many drivers have raced Charlotte only in the Coca-Cola 600, which runs in May under different conditions. Teams will arrive without recent fall data, so practice and qualifying on Saturday matter more than usual. Cup practice is a single 50-minute session at 1:00 p.m. ET, followed by qualifying at 2:05 p.m. ET.
Track layout shapes a race in every series. Our Italian Grand Prix 2026 preview at Monza looks at how one circuit sets the weekend's schedule and storylines.
Notorious bumps
Charlotte's bumps are a well-known challenge. NASCAR.com ran a feature this week with Cup drivers explaining how they handle the bumps and find grip around the oval. The track rewards drivers and crews who adjust well.
A shorter race, more urgency
The Bank of America 400 is 267 laps and 400.5 miles. The fall race ran 500 miles from 1966 through 2017. NASCAR.com's Inside the Race preview pointed out the urgency this creates in the Chase. A shorter race leaves fewer chances to repair a bad pit stop or an early mistake. For a driver trying to catch Larson, there is little room for patience.
Stages end on laps 80 and 165, and the final stage runs to lap 267.
A Weekend With a Heavy Moment
Charlotte is also hosting a moment away from the racing.
Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, died on May 21 at age 41. Charlotte Motor Speedway holds the Kyle Busch Celebration of Life on Friday, October 9, at 8:00 p.m. ET, after the Craftsman Truck Series race. FS1 will broadcast the service.
Richard Childress Racing stopped using the No. 8 and now races as No. 33. Austin Hill drives the car as a driver not eligible for series points. Larson ran a Kyle Busch tribute paint scheme at Las Vegas last Sunday.
It is a weekend where the sport's community will gather in the same place where so many of its teams are based.
Race Details, Schedule and How to Watch
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Race | Bank of America 400, NASCAR Cup Series |
| Date | Sunday, October 11, 2026 |
| Venue | Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina |
| Track | 1.5-mile asphalt oval |
| Distance | 267 laps, 400.5 miles |
| Stages | 80 laps, 165 laps, 267 laps |
| TV | USA Network, HBO Max |
| Radio | PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio |
| Entry list | 39 entries for 40 spots |
| Prize money | Information is not currently available. |
Reports before the Chase said the champion earns an extra $1 million on top of season winnings. Treat that as reported, not confirmed.
Charlotte weekend schedule (all times ET)
| Day | Time | Event | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Oct. 9 | 5:00 p.m. | Craftsman Truck Series Ecosave 200 | FOX, FOX One |
| Friday, Oct. 9 | 8:00 p.m. | Kyle Busch Celebration of Life | FS1 |
| Saturday, Oct. 10 | 1:00 p.m. | Cup Series practice | truTV |
| Saturday, Oct. 10 | 2:05 p.m. | Cup Series qualifying | truTV |
| Saturday, Oct. 10 | 4:00 p.m. | O'Reilly Series Blue Cross NC 300 | The CW, ESPN Unlimited |
| Sunday, Oct. 11 | 2:30 p.m. | Pre-race show | USA Network |
| Sunday, Oct. 11 | 3:00 p.m. | Bank of America 400 | USA Network, HBO Max |
The race booth features Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte. Charlotte Motor Speedway also announced a Tyler Hubbard pre-race concert, so check the track's website for current details. NASCAR pages have shown conflicting names and distances for the Saturday O'Reilly Series event; verify that listing against the latest official schedule before relying on it.
Start time by region
| Region | Race coverage starts |
|---|---|
| US Eastern | 3:00 p.m., Sunday |
| US Central | 2:00 p.m., Sunday |
| US Mountain | 1:00 p.m., Sunday |
| US Pacific | 12:00 noon, Sunday |
| United Kingdom (BST) | 8:00 p.m., Sunday |
| Sydney and Melbourne (AEDT) | 6:00 a.m., Monday, Oct. 12 |
| Brisbane (AEST) | 5:00 a.m., Monday, Oct. 12 |
For viewers in the UK, Canada and Australia, broadcast partner details are not confirmed in the sources used here. Information is not currently available. NASCAR lists international viewing options on its website.
Following more than one series this month? Our Austrian Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP preview covers another race weekend, with its own schedule and viewing details.
Chase Standings Before Charlotte
These are the standings after Las Vegas, the fifth Chase race.
| Rank | Driver | Points behind leader |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Larson | Leader (2,318 points) |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | -40 |
| 3 | Christopher Bell | -55 |
| 4 | Joey Logano | -71 |
| 5 | Ryan Blaney | -80 |
| 6 | Chase Briscoe | -84 |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | -106 |
| 8 | Ty Gibbs | -110 |
| 9 | Austin Cindric | -128 |
| 10 | Bubba Wallace | -137 |
| 11 | Carson Hocevar | -158 |
| 12 | William Byron | -160 |
| 13 | Chase Elliott | -163 |
| 14 | Daniel Suárez | -195 |
| 15 | Chris Buescher | -196 |
| 16 | Ryan Preece | -200 |
A win is worth 55 points, and stage winners earn 10. A driver who wins and sweeps both stages can gain 75 points in one race, as Briscoe did at Las Vegas. That is why a 40-point lead is large but not safe.
How the 2026 Chase Works
NASCAR brought back the Chase format this year, replacing the playoff system with four rounds and points resets.
- The top 16 drivers after 26 regular-season races qualify.
- The "win and you're in" rule is gone.
- Chase points are staggered by regular-season rank. Hamlin, the top seed, started with 2,100. The second seed started with 2,075 and the third with 2,065. After that, each seed dropped by five points to 2,000 for the 16th seed.
- No one is eliminated. All 16 drivers race for the title over 10 races.
- The driver with the most points after the November 8 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway is champion.
Larson's run shows how the format works. Two wins and two runner-up finishes built a lead that one bad finish does not erase.
New to motorsport scoring? Our MotoGP basics guide explains how points and race weekends work in another series.
Rule Changes That Matter on Sunday
- Win points: A win earns 55 points, up from 40.
- No playoff points: Each Chase race is about finishing position and stage points.
- Fastest lap: A driver who enters the garage during a race loses eligibility for the fastest lap bonus point, unless the lap was set before.
- Practice: Cup practice is a single 50-minute session at most tracks.
- Stage cautions: Since Iowa, a caution with 10 laps or fewer left in a stage makes the stage official.
- A-post flap: NASCAR mandates the permanent A-post flap at all races to help prevent flips.
- Chevrolet body: Chevrolet introduced a new ZL1 body style for 2026.
- Horsepower: The increase from 670 to 750 applies to tracks under 1.5 miles and road courses. It does not apply at Charlotte.
Charlotte Numbers Worth Knowing
- Most laps led among active drivers: Denny Hamlin, 543 laps in 35 starts.
- Next: William Byron, 485 laps in 10 starts. Kyle Larson, 447. Chase Elliott, 342. Joey Logano, 340.
- Most wins among active drivers: Brad Keselowski, 2.
- Chase drivers with one Charlotte win: Elliott, Logano, Larson, Hamlin, Suárez, Blaney and Bell.
- Best average finish among active drivers: Tyler Reddick, 9.5 in eight starts. Bell and Hamlin are next at 11.8.
- Larson's Chase record: two wins, five top-fives, 2.2 average finish.
Bank of America 400 History and Past Winners
Charlotte hosted its first fall race in 1960. It has carried many names since, including the National 400, National 500, Miller High Life 500, Mello Yello 500, UAW-GM Quality 500 and Bank of America 500.
The distance has changed too. The early editions were 400 miles, the long era ran 500 miles, and the 2026 race is 400.5 miles again.
Jimmie Johnson has the most wins with four (2004, 2005, 2009, 2016). Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Mark Martin each won three times. Hendrick Motorsports leads the teams with nine wins, and Chevrolet leads the manufacturers with 22.
The 2005 race was one of the wildest. Johnson won in overtime after a race filled with tire problems following changes to the track surface. The 1999 race was postponed from Sunday to Monday because of rain, and Jeff Gordon won it.
Recent oval-era winners
| Year | Winner | Team | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota |
| 2016 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 2015 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 2014 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 2013 | Brad Keselowski | Penske Racing | Ford |
| 2012 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota |
The Roval years
The race moved to the Roval layout from 2018 to 2025. Last year Shane van Gisbergen led 57 of 109 laps and won for the fifth time in 2025, his fifth straight road-course victory. Larson was second, Bell third, Chris Buescher fourth, and Michael McDowell fifth.
That makes van Gisbergen the technical defending winner of the fall Charlotte date, though the 2025 race was run on a different layout.
Key Storylines
Predictions are not facts. These are the points to follow.
Saturday sets the tone. With limited oval data, qualifying and practice shape pit strategy and setup.
Can Larson be beaten on pure speed? Las Vegas showed him recovering from a car that was not at its best. If he has a good car, the chasing pack needs perfect runs.
Hamlin's reaction. He has the experience and the laps led. He needs a clean race and a strong finish.
Reddick's Charlotte record. His average finish is the best among active drivers. A clean day could move him up quickly.
Briscoe and the Gibbs trio. Briscoe's two wins both came on 1.5-mile tracks. Bell has the Next Gen Charlotte win.
Penske's pace. Blaney and Logano are inside the top five. A strong run keeps them in the title conversation before Phoenix and Talladega.
Hocevar and Keselowski. If they run near each other, expect attention. NASCAR said it will monitor the feud.
.jpg "Pit stop strategy at Charlotte")
Pit road. With only 267 laps, one slow stop can decide a finish. For a recent example of a late-race finish deciding a result, see our Austrian MotoGP race report.
Weather. Check the forecast. Rain has changed Charlotte schedules before, including in 1999, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Charlotte also sets up the next stops. Phoenix is on October 18 and Talladega on October 25. The finale is November 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
FAQ
When is the Bank of America 400 in 2026?
The race is Sunday, October 11, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. ET. The expected green flag is 3:19 p.m. ET.
What channel is the Bank of America 400 on?
USA Network carries the race, with streaming on HBO Max. Radio coverage comes from PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Who leads the NASCAR Chase standings?
Kyle Larson leads by 40 points over Denny Hamlin after five of 10 Chase races. Christopher Bell is third, 55 points back.
Who has won the Chase races so far?
Christopher Bell won at Darlington, Kyle Larson at Gateway and Kansas, Joey Logano at Bristol, and Chase Briscoe at Las Vegas.
How long is the Bank of America 400?
The race is 267 laps, which is 400.5 miles. Stages end on laps 80 and 165.
Why is the race on the oval this year?
NASCAR announced on February 3, 2026, that the fall race would return to the oval. The Roval hosted it from 2018 to 2025.
How has Tyler Reddick done at Charlotte?
Reddick has the best average finish among active drivers at Charlotte, 9.5 across eight starts, according to NASCAR.com's Chase Report. He drives the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing and sits seventh in the Chase, 106 points behind Larson, after finishing third at Las Vegas.
Who won the last fall race on the oval at Charlotte?
Martin Truex Jr. won the 2017 Bank of America 500, the last fall Charlotte race on the oval before this year.