NASCAR Bank of America 400 preview: Favorite, underdog, top storylines

On Sunday, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series cap off a three-race stretch of 1.5-mile races as they stay in their backyard for the running of the Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Here is what you need to know ahead of the sixth of 10 races in the Chase.

Favorite: Kyle Larson (+400, per DraftKings)

An ill-handling car at Las Vegas forced crew chief Cliff Daniels to keep his driver on pit road for an extended stop during the opening stage. Despite losing a lap in the process, Larson rallied for a runner-up finish and extended his points lead to 40 with five races to go.

His overall body of work at Charlotte offers some mixed results with one win (2021) and three finishes of 30th or worse in the last six races. That said, his 2.2 average finish is the best all-time to begin the postseason, and it could be more of the same on Sunday after winning Stage 1 and finishing fifth in the Coca-Cola 600 earlier this season.

Underdog: Shane van Gisbergen (+10000, per DraftKings)

Of all the drivers who could be flying under the radar on Sunday, van Gisbergen may not be the first name that comes to mind. However, the road-course ace has taken to the Charlotte oval well so far in his career.

While he benefited from the metric when qualifying was rained out in the Coca-Cola 600, van Gisbergen took advantage by averaging a 7.8 running position before fading to 11th. He is also coming off a career-best 1.5-mile finish (ninth) at Las Vegas, so don't be surprised if the non-Chase driver does something similar from the 10th starting spot.

Practice and qualifying rained out

The forecast did not look promising coming into the weekend with the remnants of Hurricane Isaias expected to impact the Concord, North Carolina area where the track is located near Charlotte. 

That turned out to be the case for the entire Saturday schedule as NASCAR was forced to cancel all the on-track activity for both the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and Cup Series, referring back to the metric once again to set the lineup. 

As a result, Larson will start Sunday's race from the pole alongside Las Vegas winner Chase Briscoe as Chase drivers make up the first nine starting positions. However, with no on-track time until the green flag, it may not stay that way as drivers try to figure out the balance on their cars.

Championship picture beginning to take shape

Due to the combination of Larson's red-hot Chase performance and the mistakes from his competitors, the race for the 2026 title is starting to become a little clearer at the midway point.

Denny Hamlin now finds himself 40 points back after a huge missed opportunity at Las Vegas, while Christopher Bell (-55) has a little more work to do. Joey Logano (-71), Ryan Blaney (-80) and Briscoe (-84) are still within striking distance, but have a lot of work to do to make up some lost ground.

Oval date returns to the fall at Charlotte

After an eight-year run on the ROVAL layout that combined the infield portion of the track with the oval, the Charlotte oval returns to its fall date for the first time since 2017.

While the forecast appears to be improving for Sunday's race, it will still be 200 miles shorter in distance compared to the 600 miles in May, providing a little more urgency for drivers amid their title quest.