Qualifying gets NASCAR race week underway at Charlotte

Charlotte’s race week gets underway in earnest Thursday at 7:20 p.m. with qualifying for Saturday’s Bank of America 500.

There’s a lot at stake: the race is the first of the second round of the Chase. Qualifying will last three rounds, with the field narrowed from 40 to 24 to 12 drivers.

Winning the pole didn’t do much good for Matt Kenseth in 2015. He crashed on Lap 236 and didn’t finish the race.

There’s quite a bit of track activity Thursday, beginning with Cup practice at 1:30 p.m. and Xfinity Series practice at 3 p.m. There’s another Xfinity practice at 5:35 p.m. before Cup qualifying. The Bad Boy Off Road Southern Slam 150, a Whelen Southern Modified Tour race, is scheduled for 8:40 p.m.

▪ Several Cup drivers received written warnings for failing pre-race laser-station inspections last week at Dover. Paul Menard failed for a fourth time and had to pick last in pit-stall selections. Menard, Kevin Harvick, Josh Wise, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Trevor Bayne, Michael Annett, AJ Allmendinger and Jeff Gordon will all be docked 15 minutes of practice time.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Qualifying gets NASCAR race week underway at Charlotte."