Bank of America 500

The Bank of America 500 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that is hosted annually at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, United States. The race is usually held in the month of October, as part of the Chase for the Sprint Cup and is 500 miles long. Prior to 1966, the race was a 400-mile event.

Television history

The race was shown on TBS from at least the mid-1980s to 2000. From 2002 to 2006, it was shown on NBC, and since 2007, it has been on ABC. The 2001 race was scheduled for NBC, but was moved to TNT just 30 minutes before the start when the United States government announced the start of hostilities against Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11th, 2001 Attacks.

The 2002 race was also known for beginning a practice where, if a race broadcast on a network was running long and ran into prime-time hours, the broadcast would not switch to cable. In this case, the race began as scheduled in the early afternoon but was delayed for hours due to weather. NBC did not move the race to TNT, as it did the year before, and broadcast the race in its entirety; the race ended early Sunday evening with Jamie McMurray winning in only his second NASCAR Winston Cup start. Since ESPN took over the rights to the race and to most of NBC and TNT's former NASCAR package, that policy has been discontinued.

From Sunday to Saturday

Thanks in large part to the ratings boost NBC received from the 2002 race being run in primetime hours, NASCAR made a decision to move the race date from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night beginning in 2003. NBC retained their rights to broadcast the race, unlike in most of the night events aired in their part of the season's contract which normally aired on TNT. With the move, then-Lowe's Motor Speedway became one of only two tracks in NASCAR to have two night dates on the schedule.

In 2005, the start was delayed by the finish to the Notre Dame-Southern California college football game which ran late. While the game was in its final minutes, NBC, the broadcaster of both events, had the race engines start and the pace laps proceed. As the pace car pulled off the track to pit road to start the race, NBC had just switched coverage from the game to the race, and the broadcast began as the field took the green flag.

The 2010 and 2011 running of the Bank of America 500 was the only Chase race that is not televised by ESPN; the race was aired on ABC.

Past winners

• 1964: Fred Lorenzen took lead with two laps to go after Richard Petty blew the tire and crashed.
• 1971: Race shortened due to rain.
• 1974: Race record for lead changes at 47; race marred by ten-car crash in which Marty Robbins suffered serious facial injuries, a two-car crash involving Grant Adcox and Ramo Stott, and a pit fire in Richard Petty's pit.
• 1975: Final race for track under promotion of Richard Howard.
• 1983: Marred by controversy involving outsized engine; Petty subsequently fined $35,000 and over 100 NASCAR points
• 1985: Cale's final NASCAR win.
• 1993: Ernie Irvan led race-record 328 laps.
• 1996: Marred by a brutal multicar crash involving Ernie Irvan
• 1999: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 2002: First win in second career NASCAR start.
• 2005 & 2007: Race extended due to a Green-white-checker finish.

External links

• Crittenden Automotive Library: Mello Yello 500
• NASCAR Banking 500 race page
• NASCAR Commentators Crews and Networks
• Ratings Drop Again, But NASCAR's Chase Hits High on ABC