NASCAR Charlotte 2017 live stream: Start time, TV schedule, and how to watch Bank of America 500 online

With the threat of inclement weather brought on by Hurricane Nate making landfall, NASCAR moved the start time of the Bank of America 500 up an hour and the playoff race will now go green at 1:10 p.m. ET Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NBC will air the race, with the network’s coverage beginning at noon.

NASCAR altered the start time to give a bigger window to get the race, the first in the second round of the Monster Energy Cup Series. Twelve drivers remain in championship contention after the field was cut by four following last weekend’s Round 1 elimination race at Dover International Speedway. A win by any of the 12 title-eligibles on Sunday would automatically advance them to the eight-driver semi-final round.

Martin Truex Jr won the playoff opener Sept. 17 at Chicagoland Speedway, while Kyle Busch won Sept. 24 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and last week at Dover. Truex and Busch enter the second round as the top seeds and based off the bonus points they’ve accumulated thus far for overall race wins and stage victories, each is well positioned to transfer to next round.

Denny Hamlin earned the pole in qualifying Friday, posting a 191.598 mph lap around the mile-and-a-half Charlotte oval. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth (191.489 mph) will start second, followed Kevin Harvick, Busch and Clint Bowyer.

Improving weather forecast for Bank of America 500, but rain is still possible

Sunday is looking drier with a more scattered, hit-or-miss variety of showers than a large area of rain. … The forecast remains complicated, but the overall trend from the weather models is a drier Sunday, increasing the odds of getting at least an official race in if not all of it.

Bank of America 500 qualifying recap

Playoff challenger Kyle Busch, who won the past two postseason races, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. each needed multiple attempts clearing technical inspection and narrowly passed, just getting onto the track before the session had expired. Rookie Erik Jones of Furniture Row Racing did not pass and failed to turn a qualifying lap. All three face the loss of practice time on Saturday.

Busch and Earnhardt were involved in incidents earlier in Friday’s lone practice session. Busch slapped the wall off Turn 4, where earlier Earnhardt had pancaked the wall. Busch’s team was able to repair his Toyota, while Hendrick Motorsports pulled out a backup car for Earnhardt.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hits wall in practice Friday, switches to backup Chevrolet for race

Earnhardt got loose entering Turn 4 and slid up the track where he struck the outside wall. The contact heavily damaged the No. 88 Chevrolet and forced his Hendrick Motorsports team to switch to a backup car for the remainder of the race weekend. He said the PJ1 substance that officials had applied to the upper groove to provide additional traction actually had the opposite effect, causing him to lose control.