NASCAR at Charlotte Wednesday race: How to watch, track info, starting order

NASCAR Cup racing continues at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 8 p.m. Wednesday for the Alsco Uniforms 500 race on FS1.

The 208-lap race follows a dramatic finish of the annual Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on Sunday, in which Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag in an overtime that stretched into Monday morning. With roughly half the distance of the 600-miler to race on Wednesday, the Alsco Uniforms 500 will be a shorter mid-week event, and hopefully a drier one, too.

The Coke 600 was delayed slightly over an hour in the first stage of the race due to rain at the Concord-based track. As of Tuesday afternoon, there was an 80 percent chance of showers before midnight on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The Observer will be at the track Wednesday monitoring weather conditions over the 1.5-mile asphalt track. Normally seats around the quad-oval speedway would normally be fan-filled, but the race will only have essential personnel in attendance as NASCAR sticks to its coronavirus event protocols.

Unlike the Coca-Cola 600, there will be no qualifying round before the race. Instead, the grid has been set using results from Sunday. The top 20 finishers from the Coca-Cola 600 have been inverted, meaning William Byron, who finished 20th, will start on the pole. Starting positions for slots 21-40 are the same as the order the drivers finished Sunday. Jimmie Johnson will start last after his No. 48 car was disqualified for failing post-race technical inspection after Sunday’s race.

WHO TO WATCH

All eyes were on Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch for Tuesday’s Truck Series race at Charlotte, but two other drivers dominated the Coca-Cola 600 despite a lower finish. No. 88 driver Alex Bowman won the first two stages of the race Sunday, with No. 19 driver Martin Truex Jr. closely behind him throughout the event. Truex Jr. finished sixth, while Bowman finished 20th, but both drivers led 87 laps apiece of the 405-lap race (Bowman led a race-high 164 laps). Their leads came earlier in the race, so with a shorter distance on Wednesday, that could translate to a first-place finish for either driver. Bowman is also starting in the front row on Wednesday in second behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron on the pole.

HOW TO WATCH NASCAR’S ALSCO UNIFORMS 500

• Race: Alsco Uniforms 500

• Distance: 208 laps, or 310.6 miles, or 500 kilometers (stage breaks on Laps 55, 115, 208)

• Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway

• When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

• TV: FS1 (broadcast starts at 7 p.m.)

• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

STARTING GRID

*Will drop to the rear at the start for driver change.

This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 6:00 AM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription