NASCAR Charlotte preview: Winning Round 2 Chase race carries added importance

The value of a winning a Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff race is immense, providing automatic advancement to the next round. And as Kevin Harvick demonstrated a week ago, in some cases it’s also a “get out of jail free card” when calamity strikes in other races within the bracket.

But with the second round beginning Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the importance of winning either the Bank of America 500 or next week at Kansas Speedway carries even more incentive with Talladega Superspeedway ominously ahead, acting as the Round 2 elimination race.

“Because Talladega looms out there you just have to focus on being as fast as you can these next two weeks and we’re just getting our car as good as we can get it and try to get a win,” Carl Edwards said. “... If you have a shot and you can see the win at one of these next two races, you’re going to see some really tough racing for that win because nobody wants to go to Talladega with uncertainty.”

Perhaps the most daunting position in NASCAR is heading into Talladega facing a must-win scenario. While Brad Keselowski may have accomplished the feat a year ago via a very determined drive, the odds of someone again conquering the volatility and unpredictability associated with restrictor-plate racing are remote.

A driver doesn’t control their fate at Talladega, instead at the mercy of the draft and those around them. Confined to a tight pack there is often no escaping when trouble erupts -- often in the form of a multi-car wreck.

“There’s no telling what’s gonna happen (at Talladega), so when you look at Charlotte and Kansas, they’re super-important,” Joey Logano said. “If you can win, you’re gonna be sleeping a lot better at night because you feel a lot better about getting through Talladega.”

At a maximum, only two Chase drivers will enter the round’s deciding race with their spot secured in the next bracket. That means for the other 10, they’re racing to accumulate points, which presents a challenge with the running order relentlessly ebbing-and-flowing.

“You want to be one of the two drivers entering Talladega -- locked in because he’s won or one that has nothing to lose because you’re so far out on points you have nothing to lose,” Denny Hamlin said. “To try to do this thing on points at Talladega sucks -- we had to do it last year and it was miserable. Every lap was miserable because we didn’t know where we stood and every lap it changed.”

Even when a driver comes into Talladega in a seemingly solid position to advance, the track can still derail one’s championship aspirations. Racing smartly and with an eye on the big picture something he’s often struggled with throughout his career, Kyle Busch was second in points and just needed to finish just 24th or better to move on.

Wanting to avoid the craziness up front and give himself a better chance of escape when -- not if -- the “Big One” occurred, Busch elected to run towards the back. But when an accident ahead commenced, Austin Dillon rear-ended a slowing Busch, who would’ve otherwise avoided the accident, and sent him spinning into the inside wall.

Busch finished 40th and was eliminated. Also cut were Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., each of whom needed a win to advance, yet couldn’t conjure Keselowski’s same magic.

“Last year we played it right,” Busch said. “We were the top point total scorer of the first two rounds and we were seeded the highest guy without a win. We went to Talladega and we sure learned how to throw that away.”

Thus, the surest way to ensure a stress-free, drama-free Talladega is by winning Charlotte or Kansas. Win either and it makes no difference where you finish in the Oct. 25 race.

“Certainly with Talladega the third race in this round it would be great to get a win in the first two races,” Matt Kenseth said. “And if you can’t get that you want to gather as many points as you possibly can to hopefully give you a little protection if something bad happens there.”

Talladega’s spectrum only raises the stakes in what is already an intense playoff where the lowest four ranked drivers in points are eliminated from the Chase every three weeks.

In part, it’s why Keselowski was so desperate for a good result in last year’s Charlotte playoff race, he drove aggressively -- overly aggressive in the eyes of many competitors -- which prompted Matt Kenseth accost Keselowski in the garage post-race.

“This round is probably the most stressful because of Talladega,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “I think everybody is really putting a lot of pressure on themselves to do good in these first two and try to get a win so you don’t have to worry about Talladega.”

Said Logano: “Winning at Charlotte is special all the time because it’s home and your race team is there, but the fact it makes you feel better about Talladega is one of the biggest parts of that whole thing.”