Harvick on pole for race in N.C.

Saturday’s Bank of America 500 is fourth in the Chase.

Kevin Harvick won the pole Thursday night for the opening race of the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

Harvick turned a lap at 196.029 mph to earn the top starting spot Saturday night for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. He edged Alex Bowman, the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Chase Elliott qualified third and was followed by Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and AJ Allmendinger.

Martin Truex Jr., winner of two of the first three Chase races, qualified seventh.

He was followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Joey L o gano and Jimmie Johnson as Chase drivers took eight of the top 11 spots in qualifying.

After this weekend’s race, the Chase moves to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Oct. 16, then the Alabama 500 Oct. 23 at Talladega.

Following the Talladega race, the field will be cut to eight.

Saturday race should be dry; Xfinity in doubt: Showers from Hurric ane Matthew are expected to clear out well before Saturday’s 7:05 p.m. start of the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., a National Weather Service meteorologist said.

Tonight’s NASCAR XFinity Series Drive for the Cure 300 could be a washout, however, NWS meteorologist Lauren Visin said. The race is scheduled to start at 8:16 p.m., with qualifying at 4:45 p.m.

There is an 80 to 90 percent chance of rain in Charlotte tonight, with heaviest amounts expected between 8 a n d 1 0 p. m. a n d a f t e r midnight, Visin said. Rain chances ramp up from a 60 percent chance beginning between 4 and 6 p.m. today, she said.

Showers are forecast to continue until about 11 a.m. Saturday in Concord. While Visin said meteorologists still can’t rule out the possibility of rain Saturday evening, the chance stands at only 20 percent.

“This is very dependent on the track of Matthew,” Visin said.

The National Hurricane Center predicts Matthew will curve eastward from the S.C. coast Saturday afternoon.

It’s too early to say whether the Xfinity race will be postponed to Saturday or Sunday, Charlotte Motor Speedway spokesman Scott Cooper said. But speedway officials “feel very good about Saturday evening” for the Bank of America 500, he said.

The speedway has 12 jet dryers — double the number required by NASCAR — and 12 Air Titans to dry the track, Cooper said. An additional 10 dump truck loads of gravel and two additional dump truck loads of sand are on hand to shore up any spots on the property affected by rain, he said.

Race of Champions: Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Kanaan will both compete in this year’s Race Of Champions all-star event, which will be held in their adopted hometown of Miami.

Kanaan competed in the event in 2004, the year of his IndyCar championship, when it was held in France.

Montoya will be making his Race of Champions debut. He and Kanaan bring the field to eight confirmed drivers for the event. Also committed to date for the Jan. 21-22 race at Marlins Park Stadium are Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sebastian Vettel, nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen and Kurt Busch.