NASCAR race at Charlotte live updates, results: Chase Elliott wins Alsco Uniforms 500

For a recap and takeaways from Thursday night’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, we have you covered here.

NASCAR’s slate of return races following the sport’s two-month, coronavirus-related postponement feels more like Daytona Speedweeks each day: The heightened energy after a break from competition, prime time television slots and rain. Lots and lots of rain.

The second Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was postponed to the following evening just as the race was scheduled to start on Wednesday night. Just like this year’s Daytona 500, the sport appears to be catching a break on its second try. As of Thursday evening, NASCAR’s Alsco Uniforms 500 was still on as scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday on FS1.

As of 5:30 p.m., the sun was shining over the 1.5-mile speedway in Concord, N.C, a promising look for the series that was forced to end a race early due to inclement weather in Darlington, S.C. last week and was delayed over an hour on Sunday during its annual Coca-Cola 600.

No. 24 driver William Bryon is starting on the pole for tonight’s race, which will hopefully end in neither rain nor flames.

Live updates are below. Full results will be posted shortly.

NASCAR Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte results

11:07 p.m. Checkered flag for Chase Elliott

A caution with two laps to go in the Coca-Cola 600 cost Chase Elliott a victory on Sunday. Last week at Darlington, a late crash caused by Kyle Busch cost him his chance to win. But Thursday, no one was stealing his trip to victory lane. Chase is the winner. Denny Hamlin came in second.

10:55 p.m. Can Chase Elliott hold on this time?

New leader. Chase Elliott passes Kevin Harvick with 28 laps to go. Elliott had slowly been creeping up, and now is pushing his lead to almost a full second. Elliott almost won here Sunday in the Coke 600 until a caution with 2 laps to go. Elliott won Tuesday’s Truck Series race.

10:44 p.m. Last 50 laps, can Ryan Blaney make his move?

Less than 50 laps to go now and Kevin Harvick remains in the lead, followed by Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. then Denny Hamlin. Again, Ryan Blaney keeps hanging around, but Harvick’s Ford remains superior.

10:35 p.m. Can anyone catch Kevin Harvick?

Leader Kevin Harvick and most of the field pits on Timmy Hill’s caution with 62 laps to go. Harvick and his team are planning to not pit again the rest of the night and should have enough fuel to do just that. Denny Hamlin, who won at Darlington last week, is less than a half second behind.

10:27 p.m. Bowman has to pit after hitting the wall.

Bowman continues to drive toward the front but lost the lead to Kevin Harvick and then bumped the wall, causing damage on the right rear. He pitted for damage repair. Ryan Blaney is worth keeping an eye on, though, constantly running in the top five (currently fourth). He keeps bouncing around the top 5 but can’t capture the lead -- yet. Blaney finished third in the Coca-Cola 600 and is the only Penske driver without a win this season.

10:08 PM, LAP 115: BOWMAN TAKES STAGE 2

Alex Bowman easily secures the Stage 2 win. The others who didn’t pit on the last caution in top-three, Blaney and Logano, finish in second and third, respectively. Elliott and Harvick finish in fourth and fifth after pitting for tires, proving both strategies can payoff. Kurt Busch, A. Dillon, Nemechek, Bell and Wallace round out the top-10. Wallace has also been a big mover of the evening after starting in P38.

10:02 PM, LAP 109: BOWMAN’S GOT A LARGE LEAD

As the stage closes in, drivers volley for track position and points. Bowman continues to lead the field 2.5 seconds ahead of Blaney in second. Then it’s Elliott and Logano vying for P3, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Bell, Wallace, Nemechek in the top-10. We have passed Lap 104, the halfway point, which means the race can be called official is rain returns.

9:54 PM, LAP 89: ELLIOTT MAKES MOVES

After Harvick pits for tires on the last caution, Bowman, Logano and Blaney stay out to lead the field off the restart. They easily fall into running the top three. Kurt Busch and Reddick also move into the top five before Chase Elliott, who re-entered the field in P20, moves all the way up to fourth place. Harvick gets back up to fifth after re-starting in 19th.

9:42 PM, LAP 74: CAUTION

The yellow flag is thrown for Quinn Houff who hits the wall rounding Turn 2. Brennan Poole also suffers light damage. This is the fifth caution flag of the night. Kenseth gets a free pass.

9:38 PM, LAP 68: HARVICK LEADS

Logano briefly led on the restart and is able to separate from Harvick in P2 for a few laps around the turns, but Harvick chases him down and passes Logano heading into Lap 66. Kyle Busch gets loose around Turn 3 as the field runs three- and four- wide, forcing Ryan Preece to drive into the infield briefly. Busch pits and returns to the field two laps down.

9:24 PM, LAP 55: TEAM PENSKE TAKES FIRST STAGE

Joey Logano wins Stage 1. He is followed by Penske teammate Blaney and Wood Brother Racing, Penske affiliate, DiBenedetto. Harvick and Bowman, finish fourth and fifth. Rounding out the top-10 are Stenhouse Jr., A. Dillon, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Buescher.

9:20 PM, LAP 46: LOGANO SOARS

The No. 22 driver leads second-place runner than DiBenedetto by 1.8 seconds. They are followed by Blaney in third. Kevin Harvick, who started in 16th, has moved up to fourth place after changing all four tires.

9:16 PM, LAP 34: GREEN FLAG RESTART

Logano jumps to the lead on the restart, ahead of DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch, who briefly moves into P3. Blaney follows closely behind in P4. Keselowski pitted before the red flag and starts at the rear on the restart. The stage ends on Lap 55.

9:07 PM: ENGINES RE-FIRED AND WE’RE BACK

Drivers re-fire their engines and begin rolling off pit road. Logano remains leading the field on Lap 30 after three cautions. Teams say they are dealing with loose race cars, per FOX Sports. Two laps before the green flag. A couple drivers, including Jimmie Johnson, pit for tires as the field takes laps under caution.

8:56 PM: RAIN DELAY

At 8:47 p.m., O’Donnell tweets an update that NASCAR intends to restart at 9:15 p.m. The lighting hold is lifted and teams return to their cars to uncover them and prepare to race. The Air Titans move back into the infield and jet driers are brought out to finish the job.

Light rain touched down around 8:16 p.m. and eleven Air Titans moved onto the track to begin drying as the rain passed through. Scattered rain continued for about 30 minutes. Remember iRacing?

7:54 PM, LAP 30: RED FLAG FOR RAIN

Charlotte Motor Speedway and NASCAR order teams to stop racing for severe weather in the area. Drivers park on pit road and teams begin covering their cars. There is now a massive, menacing dark cloud hovering over the speedway, but no rain. Yet.

A rainbow forms in Turn 3 as gray skies move over the speedway followed by, what’s this? Blue skies? At 8:08 p.m., NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell tweeted that if there is no more lighting or rain in the area, the race will resume at 8:25 p.m.

7:50 PM, LAP 29: CAUTION

Matt Kenseth spins out around Turn 4 after the No. 42 driver blows a left-rear tire. Brad Keselowski also blows a right front tire. The order is Logano, Blaney, DiBenedetto as another caution is called.

7:48 PM, LAP 24: LOGANO LEADS THE RESTART

Joey Logano leads the field on the restart after he stays out during the caution. The field briefly runs three-wide in the top-20. Logano quickly separates from teammate Ryan Blaney and DiBenedetto in second and third, respectively.

7:41 PM, LAP 20: COMPETITION CAUTION

Byron leads at the mandatory caution, but gets bumped by Corey LaJoie on pit road as most of the race leaders pit. Byron’s car suffers damage on the right side. Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin both receive a penalty are forced to the rear on restart for speeding on pit road.

7:37 PM, LAP 10: BACK TO GREEN

Byron takes the inside line coming to the green flag. He runs side-by-side with DiBenedetto briefly but is able to break away. DiBenedetto fall back to third and is also passed by Bowman. They run in the top-three by Lap 15. Meanwhile, the sky is darkening over Turn 2.

7:25 PM, LAP 1: EARLY CAUTION

Garrett Smithley hits the wall rounding Turn 4 before completing the first lap. A caution flag is called for the No. 53 driver, who also made contact with Joey Gase. Meanwhile, Matt DiBenedetto quickly moved inside pole-sitter William Bryon to take the lead position. He is running in first, followed by Byron and Alex Bowman in third.

7:24 PM, LAP 1: GREEN FLAG!

The race starts on time. Stage breaks will come on Laps 55, 115 and 208 (208 total). Alex Bowman won the first two stages of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

7:14 PM: ENGINES FIRED AT CHARLOTTE

Drivers begin rolling off the grid after health care workers from Atrium Health deliver the command to start engines. There will be a competition caution on Lap 20. Drivers Aric Almirola (unapproved adjustments), J.J. Yeley (driver change), and Josh Bilicki (driver change) will drop to the rear on the start.

7:02 PM: PRE-RACE CEREMONIES UNDERWAY

Cars from NASCAR’s track drying team, previously parked in Turns 1 and 4, are exiting to the infield as pre-race ceremonies begin. The invocation is delivered and former winner of NBC’s The Voice Cassadee Pope performs the national anthem.

6:18 PM: NASCAR GETS READY TO RACE

An hour before the green flag, cars are lined up on the grid and teams are moving around Charlotte Motor Speedway in preparation for a 208-lap race. Earlier in the day, CMS reported that NASCAR wanted to find a window to race even if storms hit this evening. The speedway has extra jet dryers on standby if needed, but so far, the rain is supposed to hold off until early Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Drivers would only need to complete 104 Laps, the halfway point, in order for the sanctioning body to deem it official.

NASCAR Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte race information

• 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: 7 p.m. Thursday

• TV: FS1 (broadcast starts at 6 p.m.)

• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Race starting order

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

This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 6:18 PM.

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